Ford intros new Focus

Autoweek does a quick go over of the new Ford Focus and walks away with Mixed feelings, I can see their point of view, in the an age where Fords survival isn't guaranteed, Ford Motor has to be aiming for Best in class in everything they do, and the Focus seems to be coming up a little short.

But there is two sides to every story, and I can see where Ford is really trying to nail the basics here as hard as they can, and it seems they've done this, as much as most Automotive journalists would like to think they understand what people always value in a car, the great majority of small car buyers are looking for a balance between affordability, quality, comfort and of course these days, gas mileage.

If the new Focus can deliver on these fronts, then it will in all likelihood do well and help Ford along to its continuing recovery, if it comes up disappointing people, it will just reinforce the opinion that Ford doesn't make a quality product line.

And we all know that they can't afford that.

Joe

Why Windows Users don’t switch

One of my favorite tech journalists Paul Thurrott links to a post on a apple based Website that take a hard look at why most people stay windows users,

He makes some pretty good points that I'll link to here and ad my own thoughts to the mix. I've had a very long love hate relationship with the Mac in its various incarnations. but I've never swayed from the opinion that the legion of Mac zealots have done nothing more than hurt the image of Apple and its products, by continuously attacking anybody that would even shed a less than favorable light on anything to do with Jobs or the company he helped start.

As someone who spent quite a few years doing various different roles in sales, I've learned that you never trash your competition; it puts the person that you're trying to convert into a defensive position and they generally will close their eyes and ears to anything you're trying to say.

Joe

Internet Nexus

 

 

 

 

 

 

And their off!

Well after the better part of a year on the market and the fact that the Zune team and Microsoft took a lot of heat for not executing properly the first time around, the next generation of Zunes have been officially introduced to the world if not yet in person for the rest of us.

As expected the initial reaction seems to hover somewhere around positive to The Zune team didn't do enough scale, my first and admittedly limited impressions are that the Zune has become an even more solid competitor for Apple and is off to a good start, thanks to a solid upgrade and expansion of the product line. Even better news to hear is that Microsoft did a complete redesign of the Zune market place, it now has podcast support (thank you) and it looks like video and more features are on board or on its way,

The next few days should paint a clearer picture about the Zune.

Joe

New Zunes coming

I you haven't been keeping an eye or ear to the interweb, Microsoft's on the verge of introducing some updated Zunes just in time for the Holidays.

While there will be the normal amount of sarcasm and attacks form the Mac fan boy base, this new batch of players couldn't arrive soon enough, there may be even an opportunity here for the Zune team to exploit, namely the fact that Apple has left a large hole in its lineup, that being a hard drive based player with a large screen and large (80 gigs) and combination $249.99 price tag, the iPod touch Is certainly nice, but pricey with an underwhelming amount of storage space with a premium asking price, $399.99.

Apple has certainly raised the bar when it comes to overall flash of the screen, but the touch needs more gigs to handle my music collection, all this aside, the bigger test will most likely be to see how the Zune team handles the software and feature set of the new players, it's no secret that the Zune needs more features and it needs it'sWi-Fi capabilities reworked, and now that Apple has joined in and raised the Bar(after MSFT gave them a year to catch up) the Zune will really have to prove that it's up to the task and that the Zune team has learned some important lessons.

We shall soon see.

Joe

Enzo’s latest Baby

This latest article on Autoweek about the newest from the Scuderia shows that Ferrari is on its game, this car proves that the lessons learned in Formula 1 run deep at Ferrari, this latest creation sports a perfect balance between the advanced tech and the elemental feel that Maranello has honed to perfection over Fifty years.

Read and drool