Tough day today; started with one of my biggest and best customers being unhappy, which caused me to spend most of the day figuring out what to do about it (both now and going forward), and had much else to do besides...  ended up being a productive day, but not a good day, if that makes sense.  I need a weekend!

(Fortunately I have one right here, coming up :)

What is it about Adirondack chairs that makes them so cool?  Just the sight of a pair of them on the beach, as at right, lowers my blood pressure.  We have a couple on the deck outside our bedroom overlooking the back yard and golf course, and I'm going to be sitting right there tomorrow morning, enjoying my morning coffee...

(Meanwhile, it's all happening...)

So yesterday we were talking about Apple's decision to pull the Google Voice app from their App Store (or maybe it was AT&T's decision?); now Michael Arrington has decided to quit the iPhone, and the FCC have opened an inquiry.  Huh.  Looks like maybe this will have ramifications... 

Would you have guessed?  The collective optimization of individual driving routes by drivers using realtime traffic maps slows everyone down.  Interesting.  I wonder if there is a corresponding market effect?  [ via Kottke ] 

Lovesick.  Looks like a great book, might have to Kindle it (yes of course "Kindle is a verb, just as "Amazon"...).  Check out this interview by Dr. Helen (Instapundit's wife) of author Alex Wellen. 

To nobody's surprise, Alberto Contador turns down Astana's offer to renew his contract.  I was surprised to read the offer was $4M Euros per year, wow, that's pretty good money for riding a bike :) 

Huh, so eBay is in a dispute with the founders of Skype over licensing their core technology, and it might shut down Skype altogether?  I find that amazing.  I agree with John Gruber: eBay paid $2.6 billion for Skype, but that didn’t include the licensing rights to the core technology?  That seems... dumb. 

Wow who knew?  Blue food coloring un-paralyzes rats.
Not to mention, makes them look really cute :) 

More Gruber: Microsoft's Long Slow Decline.  "I’m not arguing that Microsoft will collapse. They’re too big, too established for that to happen. I simply think that their results this quarter were not an aberration, but rather the first fiscal evidence of a long, slow decline that began several years ago."  That seems right to me... 

Ian Betteridge: Daring Fireball is wrong about Microsoft's weakness.  "Windows 7 isn’t a mediocrity. It’s good. It’s not going to get Mac users to switch, but it is going to stop a lot of Windows users from switching. And, more importantly from Microsoft’s perspective, something that will persuade the legions of their most important customers - IT managers - that it’s time to move on from Windows XP."  I agree with Ian - Win7 will staunch the bleeding - but I don't think it rebut's John's point - Microsoft is on a long, slow decline. 

PS it's much more about the Internet and Google than about Apple and the battle for the desktop.

Photo essay: the big air show in Oshkosh.  Maximally cool, including White Knight Two (at left) and be sure to check out the massive amazing Airbus A380 dwarfing a C-130 (at right). 

Off to the backyard I go, bottle and Kindle in hand... see ya!