Linked List: January 8, 2015

Thursday, 8 January 2015

Karissa Bell Bought a Fake Apple Watch for $27 at CES ★

Karissa Bell, writing for Mashable from CES:

Needless to say, the whole thing was more than a little suspicious. I had to pay cash, and when I returned from the ATM, the representative told me the watch’s price was actually $30 — not $27 as she said earlier. However, I managed to persuade her to sell it at the original “wholesale” price.

The representative, who did not remove her sunglasses the entire time we spoke, told me that Hyperdon sells its products at retail stores in the U.S and China, but did not elaborate on locations or types of stores.

Update: I agree with Paul Kafasis: This is the best reason I’ve ever seen to go to CES.

Jason Snell on the Purported Minimalist 12-Inch MacBook Air ★

Jason Snell:

Meanwhile, consider the trajectory of the MacBook Air. When it was released in 2008, it was a crazy design. It threw away a huge number of what we considered to be standard laptop features in order to be insanely thin and light. In my review of the original Air for Macworld, I used the word “compromise” ten times.

No optical drive. An incredibly slow processor, compared to all other Macs. A teeny-tiny 80GB hard drive (or an even tinier 64GB SSD for $999 more!). A single USB port. And, to top it all off, a price that started at $1799.

Selling Apple Watch ★

Neil Cybart:

Over the past few months, I’ve learned to change the way I explain Apple Watch to friends and family. Instead of starting out with a list of reasons why they may enjoy an Apple Watch, I now begin with a pretty simply explanation: Apple is making a watch with customizable faces and bands. I then let that person respond, and depending on their answer, I mention how Apple Watch can serve as a communication device, a health and fitness tracker, or a mobile payment facilitator. As a result, I now get a much more open response from people that want to see and learn more about Apple Watch. That is how Apple will sell Apple Watch.

Astute. When in doubt, don’t overthink.