The Silicon Valley Geek

Applejack is a utility that scans your OS X system and fixes things like permissions and file system errors.

It has a mode called “deep scan” mode that seems to break Parallels Desktop’s SmartSelect mode.

With SmartSelect, you can right-click on a file on the OS X desktop or file system and open it with an application running on the Windows virtual machine.

After running Applejack’s deep scan, I found that this feature no longer worked.

The solution was to re-install Parallels Desktop. Fortunately, this was a non-destructive install as it does not require you to remove the previous installation.

An article at CNET aka News.com wonders when iTunes will replace Wal-Mart as the number one music retailer.

As of the time of writing of this blog, iTunes is the number two music retailer.

This means that more people are buying music online and downloading the purchases over the Internet, thereby bypassing physical media entirely.

The CNET article concludes with the following observation which I found very telling:

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Teens lack credit cards and this often prevents them from buying at almost everywhere but iTunes, Crupnick said. Apple avoids credit cards by pushing the gift cards, which teens can pay for at retail locations and then use them to purchase songs online by keying in a code. No credit cards needed.

“That’s the question that the music industry has to answer soon,” Crupnick said. “How do we get young people to start paying for music again? They’ve got to make it easier for teens to buy online. Apple CEO Steve Jobs has done a wonderful job of this. Teens have a way to do commerce with iTunes.”

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The article does not mention however, that iTunes gift cards are also ideal gifts for teens.

This is the self-selection factor. Teens know what they want and their tastes change very quickly. So iTunes gift cards allow teens to buy the music that they care about. There is less disappointment and unkind comments like “Thanks Mom but Green Day is so yesterday!”.

iTunes gift cards also ensure more responsible spending. Teens can’t (yet) buy some other rubbish (e.g. Xbox 360 video games) with an iTunes gift card.

This creates an avalanche effect. As people get more of their music from iTunes, they will tend to stick to using iPods (music from iTunes cannot be played on other players). This means that they will continue buying music from iTunes.

I am sometimes amazed that the kind of stuff that comes out of Detroit.

I am referring to the level of stupidity/ineptitude.

Example: Ford just brought back the Taurus brand after dumping it in favor of the Five Hundred.

Apparently, someone at Ford finally realized that successful Japanese car companies do not change model names every few years. Duh!!

Japanese companies stick to the Civic, Accord, Camry and Corolla year after year. Perhaps the first few models were not perfect. But in typical Japanese fashion, Toyota and Honda kept plugging away patiently. And now, Toyota is fighting head to head with GM to become the biggest automotive company in the world. I am driving a Honda and will be canceling my GM Card.

So my question to the folks at Ford is “Where the **beep** have you guys been?”

Hatchbacks are making a comeback.

The Mazda3 hatchback is selling like hotcakes and making Mazda a zoom-zoom brand again.

The Mini is as popular as ever. Even Dodge has got into it with the Caliber. There is Volvo with the C30, Suzuki with the Reno and SX4, Nissan with the Versa, various Scions, the VW Rabbit and performance variants, Saturn Astra and the Chevy Aveo. Even the new Subaru Impreza is styled like a hatchback (instead of a wagon).

What is Ford doing about that?

Well, Ford canceled the Focus ZX3 and ZX5 and rolled out a …. drum roll…. coupe….

That was several years after they had decided that coupes were really bad sellers.

Don’t forget that Ford contributed to the new found popularity of the performance hatchbacks with the original ZX3. The first ZX3 had exceptional handling and packed a higher performance ZETEC engine. Then Ford did one better with the Focus SVT. A huge aftermarket sprang up offering everything from turbochargers to suspension upgrades.

So why did Ford drop the ball on the segment it helped re-vitalize?

My suspicion is that we have a bunch of guys at Ford who are not car guys. These are people who do not have a gut feel for the products they sell. They are unable to view cars the way their customers see the cars.

We see this in Silicon Valley all the time: engineers who work to earn salary. They do not understand the technologies they are wielding. They do not have any passion in what they are doing. They are not interested in technology. Period.

So CEO Mulally has a big job in his hands.

The way to get Ford out of its current mess is to make products that customers want to buy. In order to make products that customers want to buy, the company needs to understand who the customers are. The cancellation of the Focus hatchbacks shows that the company does not understand and apparently does not want to understand.

As long as Ford continues in this brand/product merry-go-round, it is not going any where.