You click on this from the home page:

You go to this page and click to download… Wait… iTunes 9? FAIL!

Can we imagine a world without iPods? That world existed, it can be confirmed. People had mp3 players previous to the iPod. But did anybody care? Not really. Was the mp3 player the stylistic commodity that it is today? Hardly. They were big, they were ugly. Then came along the sleek, and ever increasingly smaller iPod, and the whole world now owns mp3 players.

The iPod made the market, and it made the market cool.

Think about Apple’s website. Did you know that Apple was the first company to allow you to order your own customized computer from their website? Can you imagine a world where you couldn’t order exactly what you wanted from a computer maker’s site?

Their advertising campaigns are on a whole ‘nother level. Do you remember the last Microsoft ad campaign?

Neither do I.

But I can easily recall Apple ads. Remember when the original iMac came out? How about the “Think Different” campaign? My roomate, who uses a PC, has his own iPod dance in mockery of the highly graphic and memorable iPod commercials. Needless do we need to remind you about the ubiquitous Mac vs PC commercials.

So that brings us to the iPhone.

And you’re dang right I want to get one.

But I’m a Mac nerd to begin with. How about my friend Nathan who absolutely hates Macs?

“Man, I hate Macs, but that iPhone looks sweet.”

The dumb thing hasn’t even come out yet, and people are already proclaiming it the greatest phone ever. Can we imagine a world without iPhones? That world exists, it can be confirmed. But it’s hard to imagine that world come July/August.

So what does all of this mean? It’s all about culture and style. Apple has it. Microsoft doesn’t. Plain und Simple. The funny thing is, is that it has always been that way. Steve Jobs mentioned it a long time ago:

Steve Jobs Interview

It’s only now that the entire playing field of the world of computers has leveled out that people are starting to notice or care.

The needs of most computer users haven’t changed much in the past 5 or so years. Processor speeds have leveled out. Graphics needs, outside of extreme gamers, has leveled out. People just don’t need that much more performance to be happy.

What they need now is style and culture. And living in this culture-less era, this cesspool of regurgitated ideas and half-baked schemes, I for one thank Apple for at least having the nerve to do something different. You might not like Apple for whatever valid reason you may have, but you’ve got to respect them for at least trying.

For all of those “gotta have it all” Mac people, like myself, this is awesome. Soon I shall be placing my Powerbook, 30″ Cinema display, iPhone, and iPod all on their very own table.

And it comes with a fishtank. Beat that Microsoft!

Linotype FontExplorer X – Let’s get this right off the bat. I am a font nerd. I love fonts. I have lots of them. I know more about them than you. And I am telling you that you should use this program to manage your fonts because it is awesome.

Adium – Adium is a free IM program for Mac that can connect to AIM, MSN, Jabber, Yahoo, and others. It’s skinnable, pluggable, and has an adorable duck. Need I say more?

Google Earth – It’s amazingly addicting, but also useful. I recently planned an entire trip to Vancouver, BC using only Google Earth.

NeoOffice Aqua – It’s still in Beta phase, but dammit, it’s good enough. I officially have zero Micro$oft applications on my computer, and NeoOffice Aqua is now at the point that I feel no shame in using it.

The Unarchiver – OS X’s built in zip utility is ok, Stuffit Express is fine, but the Unarchiver is best. It will open a ton of different compressed files, and integrates nicely with the OS.

Unison – Usenet is totally oldskool, but it doesn’t have to feel like it. Unison makes an attractive solution to browsing Usenet newsgroups and makes a great tool for downloading information. It will automatically group .PAR files together and assemble them together for your downloading pleasure.

Transmission – The most simple and direct BitTorrent client for OS X. Want a fast download without having to think about it? Transmission is for you.

Handbrake – From the same programmer as Transmission comes this great utility for ripping your DVDs to MPEG format for viewing on your iPod. My art history uses this to rip sections of movies to show to our class on the big projector. Make backups of your favorite movies simply and cleanly.

Text Wrangler – Who needs Dreamweaver? Buy yourself a copy of Head First Html with CSS and XHTML, download Text Wrangler, and soon you’ll be on your way to your blackbelt in webmastery.