Tonight: a boozy talk at Book Larder, an Apple fanboy's cinematic wet-dream, and a load of laffs you won't be able to resist. Hooray for hump day!
Can't Miss It: Wednesday
Nerd News: Apple Stores Close (Briefly); Microsoft Store Opens
Apple Stores worldwide are shutting down for an hour (10-11 Pacific) today to watch a live stream of a memorial for Steve Jobs, the Apple co-founder, company-rescuer, and industry-revolutionizer who died two weeks ago. The memorial will take place at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California.
News from the Neighborhood Blogs
The people, events and goings on around Seattle as seen by its neighborhood blogs.
Gallery: This Week in Seattle
The return of Amanda Knox, the death of Steve Jobs, and Occupy Seattle may have occupied the headlines this week, but that wasn't all that went on. It's also harvest season, and one of Seattle's prettiest times of year.
In Theater News: Steve Jobs' Monologuist Mike Daisey Places Jobs' Death In Perspective
The famed monologuist, formerly of Seattle, Mike Daisey has written an Opinion piece which places the recent death of Apple founder and CEO Steve Jobs in a new light, at once respectful and forthright. It makes for a fascinating read.
Extra, Extra: Things Other Than Occupy Seattle (Like Steve Jobs, RIP)
While the protests at Westlake seem to have finally gotten the attention of the rest of the media (arrests have that effect), that's not all that's going on. Here's what you may have missed while you were Occupying Seattle:
Starbucks Stock Sinks, Seattlest Says Hold
Even though some of us around the Seattlest newsroom like to beat up on little ol’ Starbucks whenever the opportunity arises, today’s news that Starbucks' stock dropped like a hockey puck of used espresso knocked out of a porta-filter didn’t put a spring in the steps of all us Seattlests.
Steve Jobs On the Kindle: "The Whole Conception Is Flawed"
John Markoff of the NY Times talked gadgets with Steve Jobs.
Today he had a wide range of observations on the industry, including the Amazon Kindle book reader, which he said would go nowhere largely because Americans have stopped reading.more ›
Elsewhere in the Ist-a-verse
Londonist are starting to think their city is getting just a little bit too expensive, when even Christian Slater can't afford to go out there. And there's no escaping, as local singer Lily Allen discovered when she was barred entry to the US. The British mapping agency caused further bad karma, by blocking a 3-D representation of London in Google Earth. But the smiles returned to Londonist's faces as they interviewed Baroness von Reichardt, who has completely covered her house in mosaic tiles.
Seattlest Roundtable: Do We Care If Copy Protection for Downloaded Songs is Lifted?
Steve Jobs announced yesterday that he'll advocate eliminating copy protection for downloaded songs, also known as DRM. We asked our various music dorks what they think.
Microsoft Vista's #1 Hater
According to this guy's cost analysis, not only is Vista going to screw you, the person who purchased the software, it's also going to doom Microsoft itself and quite possibly the computing universe as we have come to know it. Particularly, he's got issues with the Visa Content Protection specification of which he says in the Executive Executive summary of his paper "The Vista Content Protection specification could very well constitute the longest suicide note in history." Nerds will be able to parse the fact that a content protection specification has to do with DRM. Normal people might need to be told that DRM has to do with copy-protection and that kind of thing. Bill Gates himself isn't so high on DRM these days, despite the fact that he's about to stake Microsoft on an operating system that holds digital rights as one of its core truths. In December he told a blogger that the best way to ensure that your music is legal and playable is to rip CDs yourself. We'll see if that holds true under Vista.
Is That An Accelerometer In Your Pocket?
Steve Jobs just unveiled the new iPhone in his keynote speech at Macworld in San Francisco. If you're a Mac freak you already know this because you've been sucking down the Mac Insider streaming coverage like crack through a straw. If not, would you just lookit this thing?
iPod Saves Mushroom Picker From Certain Death. Zune Nowhere To Be Found.
When the Zune marketing team was formed at Microsoft they probably had a bunch of meetings with the Xbox guys and, well, every other product marketing team in Redmond. There is precedence for Microsoft delivering a product into a crowded marketplace with a clear stand-out, and Xbox/Playstation isn't the only instance of the company having success there. But with the iPod it's a hell of a problem, iPod being the defacto term for portable music player and all. The Kleenex, Band Aid and Q-tip of portable electronics (or the walkman of our age) is the iPod. It's a long uphill road from there.
iWoz hits UW
Steve Wozniak hit Seattle like a whirlwind, gracing the Chamber of Commerce, RealNetworks, and more for a total of an alleged 8 speaking appearances on Friday. The last of those was at the University of Washington, where Woz dazzled a full house of eager acolytes.

