I have attempted to purchase machines at both a 'Gateway Country' store in Indy and the abortive Micron effort at retail in Minneapolis (where I actually purchased two machines). The staff at the Gateway store couldn't show me how to get into the BIOS setup screen (necessary for me as I was running some serious hardware based debugging equipment), and Micron's promised local support vanished a two months later when the store closed.

Apple Stores are different: they're well stocked without all their inventory being set in boxes on the sales floor. The staff actually knows how to run the machines. The support staff is on the sales floor, and is available to answer questions and reconfigure machines at what amounts to no charge.

Like practically everything they've done since Jobs returned, they've done this right. The first time. And that's a rarity in the high pressure world of tech sales.

The iPod is always cited as key to its maker's recent success, but there's another factor that's often overlooked: Apple's hip, high-street stores. Commentary by Leander Kahney.

(link) [Wired News: Top Stories]

Mon, 01 May 2006 23:00 /Technology | 0 writebacks | permanent link

It's been done.

ARS - How do you find the "bad" seeds in the bunch? You listen very carefully, according to Thomas Pearson, an Agricultural Research Service scientist.

(link) [Prairie Star]

Mon, 01 May 2006 23:00 /Humor | 0 writebacks | permanent link