I’m sure you’ve seen the new, slick ad for the Apple iPod Nano, or what I like to call the iBigot.

The commercial is catchy, with the catchy music and high production quality we have come to expect from Apple. It is also, in my eyes, racially insensitive.

The commercial show people’s hands holding the iPod Nano. Tossing it, flipping it, looking at it with curiosity. All the hands are white.

The only time an obviously black hand is shown is when it is trying to grab the iPod out of a white person’s hand.

See for yourself.

Simple oversight? Our country is inherently blind to racial inequality and the way it is quietly and shamefully accepted.

I was just reading an interview Bill Gates did with CNET. Something caught my eye.

Snip:

CNET: So that would be the philosophical difference between Microsoft and what Google is up to at this point?
Gates: Well, we don’t know everything they are up to, but we do know their slogan and we disagree with that.

The Google slogan is “do no evil.” Gates just said he disagreed with it.

Time to buy a mac.

I was going to post about the new Google Talk on my search engine marketing blog, but it has nothing to do with search other than it’s made by Google.

I’m not overly impressed with Google Talk, though I will likely end up using it. While it is still in beta, it lacks many features people expect in an IM client – smileys and a web cam tool to name two. Having an integrated voice chat is nice, but Yahoo! has that already. In short, there is nothing that makes this stand out.

I think Google undermined themselves with this. There is no prize for being the fourth IM on the market, unless it’s stellar. It’s not stellar. Of course, it’s still beta so they might have a trick or two up their sleeves.

The Bush administration, following in the footsteps of the Family Research Council, has objected to the creation of a .xxx domain, suggesting it would create a virtual red-light district for Internet pornography.

Michael Gallagher, assistant secretary at the Commerce Department, has asked for a hold to be placed on the contract to run the new top-level domain, which was slated to receive final approval today, until the .xxx suffix can receive further scrutiny. “The Department of Commerce has received nearly 6,000 letters and e-mails from individuals expressing concern about the impact of pornography on families and children,” Gallagher said in a letter made public on Monday.

Undoubtedly, some of those letters and emails came from members of the Family Research Council headed up by Tony Perkins, who, in a statement made in June, said, “Attorney General Gonzales … intends to smash these criminal enterprises on the Internet and elsewhere with a new obscenity strike force” and that the domain should not be allowed because it “will increase not decrease porn on the Internet.”

Without getting into the censorship issues this creates, why would someone object to creating a domain specifically for pornographers? Everyone would know exactly where or where not to go. It would be much easier to detect when reviewing the history on a particular computer and would, in all likelihood, be even easier to block with parental guide software. Furthermore, the idea that the .xxx domain would increase Internet porn is laughable. What’s the point in attempting to decrease it? Besides having a particular domain would not increase porn. What increases porn activity on the Internet every day, which already has more than 4 million porn sites, is the money that can be made from it. And that’s certainly something Bush and his money-hungry cronies can understand.

I’m now a member of the iPod nation. This weekend my wife graciously purchased a colbalt blue iPod mini as a birthday gift.

I resisted getting one for a single reason: everyone was buying them. Kind of like those yellow Lance Armstrong wristbands, I didn’t want to feel like a lemming.

But now that I have one, I wonder, what took me so long? iPods, simply, are brilliant.

Ergonomically, they are unrivaled. It’s a snap to operate with one hand. iTunes could use more development, but I’m a convert to that as well.

One problem, the instruction manual is spartan. I’m a guy that likes to have lengthy, wordy instruction manuals. The manual literally says, install CD, plug in, play. But what happens when the installation is not that easy, as mine was? There is no place to dig in to find more help. I know they are trying to make it seem simple, but sometimes it’s not. And simplicity, while nice, needs to be second place to information when it comes to instruction manuals.

Another problem are the damn ear buds. The music quality in them is better than I expected, but that’s not my issue. If you set your iPod down, the ear buds get tangled up faster than Karl Rove at a grand jury.

I could buy a different set of headphones to take care of the problem. But while I was fighting iPod purchase to begin with (but now love it), I’m now fighting becoming an iPod person. You know what I mean. I own an iPod, but I’m not an iPod person. iPod people accessorize whereas I use mine to listen to mp3s.

OK, I did get one accessory. I picked up an FM transmitter. It’s very small and clips on the top where the headphone jack is. You tune it to a blank FM station and all the music on your iPod will play on your car stereo. Brilliant. Seriously, with this thing there is no reason to use my 10-disc CD changer anymore. Ever.

Apple is now working on a video version of the iPod. It will play music videos as well. We are one step away from an iPod playing TV shows as easy as they play podcasts. Yes, the screen is small (they could probably make it bigger), but if you want to watch something, especially on a plane for example, it’s a perfect solution.

Now, I just have to find me some good podcasts. Suggestions?

This morning while reading the latest Esquire, I came across an article covering a certain radio host’s problems with the Federal Communications Commission. In said article, there was mention of several conversations that prompted millions of dollars in fines, including a substantial penalty for a particular act that the magazine suggested readers learn more about on the actual FCC web site.

At first, I thought it impossible to find such language on a government web site. Let alone the web site of an agency intent on eliminating free speech. After searching two to three words that might be considered unsuitable for television or radio, however, I discovered that the FCC has one of the most pornographic and obscene sites on the entire Internet. I know this because I’ve read the entire Internet. Twice. And I, for one, am astounded and embarassed at the audacity it takes to allow this information to be easily accessed by anyone who bothers to search.

I have been drooling and dreaming of a nice Mac system for a couple of years now. Because I wanted to torture myself, I thought I would fill up a cart with some great stuff with no regard for money and this is what I came up. Click the pic for a larger view.

I know thought a lot of folks have been talking about customers waiting for the Intel-based Macs to come out before buying one. I could see that being a point. I wonder how the prices for these models will be affected as we move closer to the Mactel release date sometime next year. Maybe then I might actually be able to afford something like this without having to sell a kidney.

For those of you who bought Macs for yourself, how did you justify the increased cost over a PC? Is the operating system that much better? I have a feeling that most people who use Macs are using them at work or for work even if they are at home. I honestly wonder how many people are choosing Macs as their primary home machine and paying for it out of their own pocket.

Children of the 80s can rejoice. Teddy Ruxpin is back. And this time, he’s packing MP3 cartridges instead of cassette tapes. Reports claim the 80s toy icon, unfortunately, will not include “I’m Teddy Ruxpin, beeyotch!” among his recorded phrases.

Robert Cringely, who writes a column at PBS regarding technological issues, has come up with a perfect solution to phishing.

Why wait for the government or big corporations to solve the problem. You can help!

Like any new technology offering, there seem to be a plethora of companies offering legally licensed music downloads. But what’s the best?

Is it iTunes because of the way it seems to work seamlessly with the iTunes player? Or is it something else since that service limits the number of times I can burn what I buy?

Is it Walmart because they undercut the competition and charge .88 cents instead of the fairly standard .99?

How about Napster because they have such a humongous selection? Or MSN because … okay, forget I said that. Anyone have any thoughts?