iPhone now has MMS, but not really

The big day has come and gone. September 25th marked the launch of MMS on the iPhone, and guess what? It doesn't work.

Here we are 3 days past the launch date, and many AT&T customers still can't send or receive an MMS message. All we see is the dreaded red ! fail badge.

Yet again we find that the weakest link in the iPhone experience has nothing to do with the Hardware, the Software or Apple itself. It's the network.

Get your act together, AT&T.

Authorize.net is down!

Bad news for a TON of online retailers out there -- payment gateway service Authorize.net is DOWN. No transactions are being processed, and their own web site will not even load.

Worse yet, any site displaying their badge will load incredibly slow.

Hundreds of thousands of web site must be affected by this, yet it has received ZERO coverage by the mainstream press.

Spread the word!

Updated: 10:45am EST - Conflicting reports on Twitter and Digg regarding what is happening.

• Some are saying that a power outage at a Data Center in Seattle is the cause of the problems.
  
• Others are saying it's an Earthquake in Utah that has cause a fire in a Data Center.
  
• Finally, there's word of a flood at a Data Center in Dallas.

By all accounts the outage is closing in on 8 hours now. Bad news for many retailers...

1812 Overture

It occurs to me today that anyone who doesn't appreciate the brilliance of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture clearly doesn't know a damned thing about music.

In an age saturated by the drivel of Brittany Spears and Fergie, the mere presence of a violin makes any ditty seem sophisticated. Yet the Ouverture Solennelle, L'Année 1812, Op. 49 remains one of the most inspiring and emotion-evoking pieces of music ever written.

Granted, any composition that includes field artillery would get a high rating in my book, regardless of the melody. That said, I'm hard pressed to think of any other scrap of music that makes the excitement level rise, and gets the heart pumping as much as the last few minutes of the 1812. I never cease to be amazed by it's complex texture of themes, and the steady rise of anticipation as we move from the tranquility of the string that begin the piece to the cannon fire that punctuates the finale.

Mr. Tchaikovsky, I salute you. Well done indeed!

Apple Should Buy Valve

Apple should buy Valve, the makers of Half Life, Portal and Team Fortress 2.

I can already hear a lot of you saying "You're crazy! Valve doesn't even make software for the Mac. Why should Apple waste money on that?"

The answer is simple: Steam

Think of it this way: What are the major entertainment sources for Americans? Movies, Television, Music, Sports and ..... Games.

Apple already dominates Movies, Television and Music sales through iTunes. Dominates. Games are the next frontier.

Steam is the iTunes of Games. A simple way to buy games online, instantly. Imagine if Apple could incorporate this into iTunes. They would be the entertainment company. A market leader in four of the five major diversions for the US (let's forget about sports -- for now).

Apple has the influence to push game publishers to release their games on iSteam. From Half Life to Diablo III, Call of Duty and Left 4 Dead -- all available for download on your PC or Mac at a moment's notice. And Apple get a cut of every sale. It's a gold mine.

This alone would be reason enough to buy Valve. But it gets better. As the owner of Valve, Apple could also push them to release their games for the Mac as well. Apple has long claimed that they were serious about gaming on the Mac, but reality has shown otherwise. This could change everything.

Imagine Team Fortress 3 being released on the Mac a month before the Windows version? Imagine a Mac version of Half Life 3 released day and date with the Windows version? Imagine Portal 2 on the 50" plasma in your local Apple store?

Yes, it may sound crazy at first, but the more I think about it, the more it makes a ton of sense.

Where is Snow Leopard?

Is anyone else surprised that there was no mention of Snow Leopard (aka Mac OSX 10.6) at MWSF 2009? Isn't MacWorld the logical place to at least give us a sense of when we can expect to see it this year?

The lack of comment on it in the keynote seems foreboding to me...

The Cookie Monster Slayer

My favorite photo this month...

President Clinton on David Letterman

Did anyone else see President Clinton on Letterman last night (9/22/2008)? I recorded it and just watched it during lunch.

Brilliant.

I thought the interview was excellent, and it reinforces my believe that Letterman is a much more shrewd host than he gets credit for (or makes out to be).

Americans are getting nervous. The economy is in shambles. We're hearing alarms about "peak oil", and energy crisis. There are record home foreclosures. Natural disasters in the South. We're mired in Vietnam Part 2 in Iraq. Things look bleak.

Rather than another night of zany stupid pet tricks, Letterman instead books President Bill Clinton and asks him about what has happened, and what can be done to fix it. No off-the-wall antics or sill questions (well, maybe one), just a quiet studio and three full segments for Clinton to answer the few, pointed questions Dave asks. I thought it was a brilliant move. Clinton is knowledgeable, relevant, engaging, and in some ways, polarizing. A perfect guest for a meaty subject in a venue that usually trends toward the absurd.

Great stuff. If you didn't see it, you may be able to watch it at Letterman's Web Site. I don't know if the entire interview is there, but I would hope so.