how much does an apple cost?

According to an International Herald Tribune article reprinted by the New York Times, Neil Aspinall, managing director of Apple Corps, rejected an offer from Mr. Jobs in 2003, in which the Apple Computer chief executive had sought to buy the rights to the Apple Records name for $1 million. Who is Apple Records? It is a division of Apple Corps, Ltd., on which the Beatles had released several of their albums.

First of all, let us set the record straight. The Apple Records logo is, in part, a perfect Granny Smith apple as has been cited in the AP articles. On the Beatles LP’s, Side 1 shows the exterior of the Granny Smith apple; Side 2 shows the inside, cut down the middle, seeds and all.

That said, what does Apple mean in the music business? Now, to the young, hipster generation, Apple means Apple Computers, Inc.’s iTunes Music Service (iTMS). But to the iTMS generation’s forebears, Apple means some of the most cherished music in rock n’ roll. Let It Be was an Apple Record. Abbey Road – an Apple Record. Imagine, John Lennon’s iconic album, was also an Apple Record. The Anthology series as well as the “Let It Be…Naked” album also bear the Apple Records name.
Additionally, the Beatles, once they went their separate ways, released music through Apple Records. George Harrison’s albums carried the Apple Records logo, as did Wings, and Paul McCartney’s solo work. Also Ravi Shankar, whose music influenced the Beatles, still releases albums on Apple Records (curiously, his daughter Norah Jones does not).

I mention this to counter the charge that Apple Records is defunct or just a clearinghouse for Beatles royalties. So, the question remains, is Apple Records’ name worth more than $ 1 million? Evidently, Apple Corps, Ltd. believes so. And, perhaps, Mr. Jobs thinks so as well.

That offer does not bode well for Apple Computers, Inc.’s defense. Not to overstate the value of that evidence, it tends to prove that Mr. Jobs thought that he would have to buy his peace with Apple Corps, Ltd. It appears he “low-balled” Apple Corps, Ltd. So now, the High Court in London will decide – what’s the going rate for an apple.

dirty rotten review later

i’m seeing dirty rotten scoundrels tonight. i don’t think i’ll be able to post a review tonight, but one should be coming either tomorrow or friday.

congratulations to rr on leaving the ranks of the unemployed. da lousy bum.

i have to say… i hate when my mom comes to town. i put on so much weight. i now need to lose 2 inches off my waist in the next few weeks.

no pudding for lunch::no lunch for puddin’

Autistic Spends 16 Years Designing an Amazing World

Gilles Trehin is an autistic 28-year-old. Since the age of 12, he has been designing an imaginary city called Urville. He has created detailed historical, geographical, cultural, and economic descriptions of the city, as well as an absolutely extraordinary set of drawings.

read more | digg story

at the core of apple v apple

(posted from a 27 mar 2006 times of london article)

IT IS the ultimate battle of the generations over an image of a half-eaten piece of fruit.

In one corner Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, the ultimate stars of vinyl who defined music in the 1960s. In the other, the creators of a small white box that has revolutionised the way we buy and listen to music.

This week the Apple Corps goes to the High Court seeking multimillion-pound damages against Apple Computer, the creators of the iPod, over their hugely successful iTunes Music Store.

Apple Corps, owned by the former Beatles and their heirs, still owns the licensing rights to Beatles’ products. It is claiming that the introduction of iTunes broke a $26 million settlement under which Apple Computer agreed to steer clear of the music business, for which the Beatles’ company retains the famous trademark. It is the latest clash in one of Britain’s longest-running corporate legal battles.

Any damages for this latest clash could amount to tens of millions of pounds because it concerns Apple Computer’s hugely successful iTunes Music Store and iPod digital music players.

The court will be treated to a demonstation of an iPod, but it is unlikely to play a Beatles song, as they have not been licensed for download and it would therefore be illegal.

The Beatles first used a logo of a Granny Smith in 1968 when they founded the Apple Corps to distribute their records and those of other artists they signed to the Apple record label. The records had a ripe apple on one side and a neatly sliced half on the reverse.

The Apple Records subsidiary is still active as the licensing agent for Beatles products.

Steve Jobs, chief executive of Apple Computer, founded his company in 1976 with a logo of a rainbow-coloured apple with a bite taken out of it. Apple Corps sued him five years later, accepting an $80,000 settlement and a promise that the computer company would stay out of the music business.

The companies clashed again in 1989 after Apple Computer introduced a music-making program. The computer company settled in 1991, for $26 million. Apple Corps was awarded rights to the name on “creative works whose principal content is music” while Apple Computer was allowed “goods and services . . . used to reproduce, run, play or otherwise deliver such content”.

Critically, however, the agreement prevented Apple Computer from distributing content on physical media. This was designed to cover CDs and tapes, but it is unclear whether it included later inventions such as digital music files or devices used to play them.

Apple Computer will argue that its music service, which has sold more than a billion songs since 2002, is merely data transmission.

The case is scheduled to begin on Wednesday at the High Court before Mr Justice Mann, a self-professed fan of music and computers. He is no stranger to the iPod, having inquired of both sides some time ago if he should disqualify himself from hearing the case because he owned one.

The owners of Apple Corps — Sir Paul, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison — will not attend the hearing, but witnesses will include Neil Aspinall, the company’s managing director and the former Beatles road manager; and Eddy Cue, head of internet services at Apple Computer.

original found at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2105800,00.html

liz chung, the author of this article, is in no way affiliated or connected with hipster-union.

Apple C.E.O. Jobs Pays His Taxes – With Apple Stock

Steve Jobs has sold 10 million shares, representing about 1.2 percent of Apple’s 849 million shares, according to its latest quarterly report. Now, he is down to a stake of about 0.6 percent.

read more | digg story

phrase that pays

today’s phrase that pays:

“thrown under the bus”

as in “look, i’m not looking to throw anyone under the bus, but that dumbass really screwed up the file.”

basically, its not as bad as finking. more like a reticent ratting-out.

i’m trying to find out senor decibel’s the Bus’ official definition

note: the Bus of this article is not to be confused with the Bus (Jerome Bettis)

rule violation

(from fri 24 mar 2006)

dumb questions of the day:

is london, england in great britain?
where is the union square station on the irt?

the answer to question 1: no, london, england is not in great britain. it is in the united kingdom.

the answer to question 2: the union square station on the irt is not at union square. it is about 50 feet below union square.

those, of course, are smart-ass answers to the 2 dumb questions of the day.

we’re number 3,312,745

just did an alexa search. this site is the 3,312,745th most visited site. yeah baby! climbing the rankings. woot.

three pennies’ worth of sketch comedy-cum-musical

i saw “the threepenny opera” on saturday night. although there was a crew of moronic goth-punks posing one row up, the audience was not bad. to be fair, i’ve never seen the threepenny opera and am not familiar with the story at all. this was my first exposure to the play. of all the cast, i was most excited to see alan cumming, whose work in cabaret i enjoyed.

the staging was postmodern minimalist. an led prompter sat at the top of the viewing area, displaying the song that was too commence. meanwhile, each setting in the script had its own neon sign that would be displayed in the background. the neon signage, on occasion, was the only scenery. this was a spartan staging indeed.

in the desire for glam-punk minimalism, however, it seems that the entire story was expurgated. there was no way to understand who any of the characters were nor their relationships to each other. i am to understand that there is a rivalry between peachum (played wonderfully by jim dale) and macheath – better know as mack the knife – played with cumming’s scottish brogue. most of the rest of the cast played their characters with their native accents. this, in and of itself, is not bad. cyndi lauper’s pirate jenny seemed to work with a brooklyn drawl. ana gasteyer, herself an immense talent for getting laughs with the driest of deliveries, brought mrs peachum to some semblance of comic life.
the strong casting and solid performances, though, could not provide the literal clarity that was needed once the story had been removed. it was not until after the show that i learned that peachum is the king of the beggars, which, in retrospect, explained his opening scene where he chastises a beggar for working without a license. there is a mention in passing that mack is the king of the thieves, but there is no connection that he and peachum are vying for control of london’s criminal underground. instead, i was left wondering why peachum was so upset that his daughter polly had been hitched to mack. what was left was a pastiche of musical numbers amounting to little more than a series of skits.

of the skits that worked, mr dale had the lion’s share. one early moment in particular encapsulates the problem with the show. peachum explained to the amateur – and unlicensed – beggar the five types of begging. after listing two, the scene ends. obviously, the delivery does not meet the expectations from the set-up. likewise, as this is an opera, i expected a story. instead, there was merely a highlights reel. perhaps “vignettes from the threepenny opera” would have been a better title.

review of threepenny later

it’s hard to post when family is in town. nevertheless, i’m going to post a review of threepenny later in the day.