Earlier this week, I was lucky enough to spend the day working at the Google booth at Macworld, and boy howdy, was it an event. At one point, I took my lunch/snack break, and thought it might be fun to wander around the hall to look at the other companies' booths. My god. I haven't felt that overwhelmed and unenthusiastic in a long time. Mostly, I think it was because of the teeming mobs of people, shuffling around somewhat aimlessly (as was I), because man, there were a lot of people and I don't like crowds. Also, I think it had something to do with the fact that I didn't know anything about most of the products. I don't need a designer laptop case, or a rubbery holster for my blackberry. I don't want to buy software I don't understand, though much of it was shiny and pretty. I did eat a fortune cookie that told me something along the lines of "your personality shines the brightest on the showroom floor," though I have no idea what company was handing them out or what they had to do with fortune cookies. Probably nothing.
Anyway, I did have a great time working the schwag counter at the booth. It brought back fond memories of working box office windows, concession stands, bars and merch tables for so many years. I do enjoy the customer service aspect of these jobs -- interacting with people like this is something I think I'm good at and don't get to do all that much. I think it would be really tiring to do it all day, every day, but every once in a while, I do enjoy it. And hey, I got my backside photographed and published online in an article on CNET (Thanks Josh!). I do love his comment about how we were the most popular booth (aside from Apple's, I assume) even though we weren't showcasing any new products (though we did just announce our 2008 Google.org philanthropic efforts). Also, The MacBook Air. Too cool. I mean, come on. It fits in an interoffice envelope. Awesome. I'm not sure how I feel about the iTunes movie rental thing. I don't like watching movies on my laptop if I can help it, and I'm sure not buying an Apple TV thingy. Josh wrote another article about how Apple is possibly trying to get rid of traditional media, and how there is the potential that someday we will rent movies and TV shows (and purchase software?) on our iTunes, watch them on our iTV or iPod and never hold a CD or DVD in our hands again. I don't like that; mostly because, as many of you know, I am not so good with the technologies. Yes, I know I work at Google. But I think there's something to be said for holding a physical THING in your hands. Not that I buy too many CDs these days--truth be told, I tend to buy one or two songs from iTunes and put 'em on my iPod. But I DO burn CDs for road trips and such...which I couldn't do with the MacBook Air, I don't think. I don't think that thing has a CD drive. Maybe it just doesn't have a DVD drive. I don't remember, and I don't care enough to look it up. I think that says something about my feelings towards the technologies, no?
And just one final tidbit...I have less than zero intentions of seeing this movie, but I love this review of Cloverfield. It's the kind of review I love to write. Snarky and sort of mean, but with lots of references that show that I kind of know what I'm talking about. It's my guilty pleasure.
the Air does not have a cd drive, though you can buy an external one that connects via USB. what they encourage you to do, though, is use your wireless network (like an airport extreme, maybe?) to connect it to other computers in your house that have cd/dvd drives, and import them from there. i think its retarded. what guarantee do you have that you have other computers in your house? why buy an $3100 machine, just to find its incomplete and you have to buy a $100 disc drive? the future of unnecessary cds is not here yet.
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