Bruce Willis - Apple Terms and Conditions

When I opened up my browser this morning the Apple software had new T&C attached to be read and agreed with before taking me to itunes.  Now like most people, I suspect, when we download programmes and simply click on ' I agree' or 'I accept' and then get on with downloading.  Now, until I saw the recent article informing the world that Bruce Willis threatened to sue Apple over the fact that should, or rather when, he dies, he would be unable to leave his many thousands of songs, videos and films to his children in his will as he has not actually purchased the items, but is only renting them, I too was unaware of this fact! After all when you 'rent' anitem from the itunes store it actually states 'buy album, single, video, film'.

It does not say 'purchase license' or redirect you to a note stating that you are not actually buying the item selected but rather, you are only buying or purchasing a license to keep the item, in your life time!

So, interestingly when this popped up this morning I had a look at it and I wonder if the mighty Apple have decided not to take on Mr Willis:

3. Transfer. You may not rent, lease, lend, redistribute or sublicense the Apple Software. You may, however, make a one-time permanent transfer of all of your license rights to the Apple Software to another party, provided that: (a) the transfer must include all of the Apple Software, including all its component parts, original media (if any), printed materials and this License; (b) you do not retain any copies of the Apple Software, full or partial, including copies stored on a computer or other storage device; and (c) the party receiving the Apple Software reads and agrees to accept the terms and conditions of this License.

But, as the license only allows you transfer to 'another' person, will Mr. Willis continue his threat to sue as he wants to make his collection, worth in the region of £40.000 (GBP), to all three of his daughters?  Watch this space.

Twitter, Apps and iTunes

This morning I awoke to a tweet from a friend asking me, "Is that the tune from Oliver?"

I did think that Ian had sent me a question that he had intended for someone else, but no, it was for me as the 'conversation' on twitter appeared and 'I' had tweeted twice, earlier this morning, that I 'liked' two particular songs on iTunes.

Now I do have an iTunes account and recently I clicked on the 'ping' mode to tweet about a song that I had listened to and did personally want to share....

Now we have all seen the apps where we have to click to authorise on Twitter and it does say that they can post tweets for you and I have to say that I am fairly uncomfortable with that, and normally then click cancel,  If I have something to say, I'll say it, and I certainly don't want anyone or indeed any organisation large or small saying things that I may not agree with, in my name without me knowing. And, I wouldn't know, as it is very rare for me to click on 'my' tweets to check what I have said previously. And so, if Ian hadn't asked me the question, I would have been oblivious to 'my tweets'.

Now it may seem like a small insignificant thing to be getting my knickers in a twist over, after all, they have only said that, 'I liked a couple of tunes' and even although I had never heard these I probably would like them, but they are not in my collection and I have never listened to them on iTunes either fully or in review.  

So, they made an assumption and they lied.  It may only be a small, white lie, but they lied....

Now, what if iTunes and Apple suddenly started tweeting in my name about other things; 

Tom Stronach prefers reading books purchased from iTunes to Amazon
Tom Stronach doesn't believe that the US case against APPLE and Book Publishers in relation to book price fixing is warranted

You see where this is going, Apple and others whom you allow to tweet in your name could basically tweet anything they wanted, all in your name........

Oh, and I prefer, at the moment Amazon and Kindle and have never purchased a book from iTunes, and on the other, if they have and are found guilty, the law, hopefully will sort it out..

But the message to iTunes and Apple and any other App creator out there is: 

DON'T USE MY NAME TO PROMOTE YOUR SALES /CAUSE OR COMPANY 

By the way, the one singer I did tweet about through iTunes was the utterly gorgeous velvet voiced Jazz Songstress:

Georgia Mancio you can visit her web site here and have a taste 

Sunday Dinner

Couple of quick recipes for you, but not much in the way of ingredient measurements

Braised Pork Chops:

Depending on how hungry you are and on how big the chops are, so this was for Ishbel and me:

4 small to medium pork chops, Ishbel likes the fat off I don't mind

2 or 3 small onions sliced

About a tablespoon of finely chopped fresh ginger

A handful of fresh chopped coriander ( cilantro )

nob of butter and Olive oil

A glass or two of red wine

Chicken Stock

Take an nice deep pan and add the nob of butter and a couple of tablespoons of olive oil melt down.

Add the pork chops on a medium to high heat and brown on both sides.

Once the chops are nicely browned add the onion, ginger and coriander and cook on a medium heat until the onions are soft and just beginning to brown too.

Once the onions have softened add a glass or two of good red wine and turn the heat up a little.  Once the wine starts to bubble add chicken stock and reduce the heat.

You can cook this on the hob on a very very low heat or in the oven at say 140 to 160 for an hour to an hour and a half.  Keep an eye on it and if need be add some more chicken stock as it will be reducing as it braises the chops.

Once ready served with veg of choice and mashed potatoes,  Today's mash had a table spoon (or was it two) of Southern Comfort.

Enjoy!


Rhubarb, Apple and Raisin Pie 

Don't suppose you need me to tell you how to make one of these, and I am lousy at pastry, even when I buy the damned stuff I end up getting holes in it or breaking it up, go figure, but there you go....


So, today I took

five stalks of rhubarb stripped of outer skin

Two large braeburns

Large cupful of California raisins

Two Tablespoons of cognac

Four tablespoons of Demera Sugar

Some grated nutmeg

Cup of water

Combine all the ingredients in a pan and reduce down until the fruit is soft, remove from heat and leave to cool.


While the fruit is softening line a pastry dish 

 Add the cooled fruit to the dish














Cover the fruit with some more pastry and brush with melted butter












Place in a preheated oven at 180, best not to use the fan, and bake for about 35 - 40 minutes


Remove from Oven and allow to cool, sprinkle with icing sugar, slice and serve, with fresh cream, custard or ice cream.

Amid The Market Carnage, Apple's The New King -But is it digging its own grave?

Amid The Market Carnage, Apple's The New King - Yahoo! UK & Ireland Finance

As of last night, Apple was valued at a cool $337 billion, trumping the oil giant ExxonMobil at $331 billion. Other companies in the mega-cap list include:

Petrochina - $277 billion

Industrial (Mexico: ST2000.MX - news) and Commercial Bank of China - $226 billion

Nestle (BSE: NESTLE.BO - news) - $217 billion

Microsoft - $203 billion

This story got me to thinking about video recorders, whhhaaaat? I here you say, in fact some of you reading this probably don't even know what a video recorder is, or care for that matter.

But for those of us who do, do you also recall that there were two systems, Betamax and VHS and of the fight for survival between the two.  Now if you look at the links for both you will see that Betamax comes out on top as the better system, technically, but clearly with drawbacks as described in the articles, and this is where VHS won the battle.  But the battle wasn't just one of technical superiority, as I recall. There was also a cost implication for most people.  As home video took of in the UK in the early 80's to buy a recorder of any description was one that had  to be looked at as a major luxury item.  I wasn't long out of the Army and I recall my first job was as a warranty administrator for a commercial garage and my take home wage was circa £75.00 after tax, etc., per week.  So just under £4k a year.  Video machines were on sale (and for rent) for anything from £300+ to £600+, so, as you can see, while desirable, one of these machines was way down the order in terms of things that we needed, but really wanted!

Interestingly while looking at this I found this blog that looks at all things 80's and there was also an article on videos recorders as well, here for your delectation is the link 1980s-coming-to-your-home-vcr

So, what is the link between Apple today and video recorders of the 1980's, well, maybe none, but it got my thinking going of again in a lateral direction, as I usually do with these things.  Today, as in the 1980's I am working and as in the 1980's I do not earn a big wage and while Ishbel and I have been left to fend for ourselves by our children, who have grown up and gone on to have families of their own with no consideration to looking after us any more (only kidding), we still don't have that much money to throw around.  Now being a bit of a technophobe, in that I like to own gadgets, but can't always afford them, I have and do, on a regular basis, pop in to the local Apple shop and drool over the sleek lines of the ipods and ipads, and macs, but I have never bought one.  My kids have, (hate them) but I haven't. Ishbel wanted one as she travels around on the train to visit the kids mid week when she isn't working, but ended up with Creative's Vision M  mp3 player .  Having listened both to the ipod and the vision M I believe that the latter is every bit as good as the former.  What drove me to that was nothing more than price, but since she got it about 4 years ago now, it has let us down only once.  It was popped into a box sent back to Ireland and a replacement was sent by return, and that has functioned without problem ever since.


So, quality, of product, quality of sound and size of memory cannot be faulted.  Compared to and iPod, well I can't really but I wouldn't change from Creative to Apple for those reasons mentioned and also for price.  Sure Creative have much more expensive products as well but they are well below the price of Apples stable of gadgets and this is where I think Apple may well be digging there own grave ahead of toppling in to it!


Apple are now the most valued company on the planet and they have achieved that by building and selling what is unquestionably quality merchandise.  But how can they justify the continued high prices that they continue to maintain, especially as, a) we have been told since Adam was a boy that the more of a product that is produced the lower the cost, doesn't seem to be the case with Apple though does it? And, b) we know that the vast majority of their products are built using what one would loosely term as 'cheap labour, in the far east and China,  Again then the question has to be asked how they can continue to justify the continued high prices?


But the final spadeful of dirt being dug out of that hole that they may well get buried in surely has to be the Android operating system. As well as the report that Apple is now the most profitable company on the planet we learn that Smart phones and other gadgets containing the Android OS are outselling Apple by two to 1 across the world.  As I said I do not have an iPhone and nor does Ishbel.  I have an HTC and Ishbel has a Samsung Galaxy S.  We both 'love' these phones, although I am a late entrant to the smart phone market, I wouldn't want to do without it now. On the other hand for our daughter's, Marie, who swears by her iPhone and Jennifer is counting down the 'sleeps' until she gets her new iPhone, but Brian, our son, who according to Ishbel, 'gets more like his dad' everyday to the riposte, 'Oh shut up, mum!' also swears by his HTC.


The point of all this is of course, that Apple, like windows before them have a virtual monopoly on their OS system and will not share.  They continue to charge premium prices in every country they operate in and while we all might aspire to own an Apple gadget, it is always going to be out of the reach of many more than it sells to.  On the other hand Android is in everything else from the cheap and gaudy to the, 'as expensive as an Apple' and can much better supply more economical gadgets to the masses around the globe.  Surely this has to be a warning to Apple to change their strategy and make their product less elitist!