Bush still has the ability to surprise. Not only does he want to escalate American involvement in Iraq, but he plans to attack Iran and Syria too. Meanwhile the Democratic response was actually great. We were there for Iraq, backed them up, gave the lives of our solidiers and our wealth, and democratic principles, we dug Saddam out of a hole and supported you while you tried, convicted and executed him, and that's enough. We won, time for us to go home, thank you very much.  

Computerworld Australia: "James Plamondon, the former technical evangelist for Microsoft who in a 1996 speech called independent software developers "pawns," said Wednesday he now regrets using the metaphor." 

Nick Carr: "User-generated content? Hah! We're not even allowed to change the damn battery. In Jobs's world, users are users, creators are creators, and never the twain shall meet." 

Doc Searls: "The influence of developers, even influential developers like you, will be minimal. The influence of customers and users will be held in even higher contempt." 

Press release: Cisco Sues Apple for Trademark Infringement. 

Google Trends comparison betw RSS and Web 2.0.  

CBS News piece (1967) on the hippies in San Francisco and the Grateful Dead. Echoed by early MSM articles about bloggers. 

Make it real for Bush 

It seemed fair to withhold judgement of the President's new plan for Iraq until he made it public, but the announcement has already happened, and it's as it was being telegraphed. His response to the electorate that voted his party out of control of Congress, because we wanted him to withdraw from Iraq, is to send more troops to Iraq. Part of his package is a $1 billion jobs package... for Iraq!

I will listen to his speech tonight, and I will listen carefully, for any sign that reality is creeping in. But I suspect that after tonight the problem is going to clearly rest with the people. We still need to find a way to make our will felt in Washington. The election, apparently, didn't work.

Did Steve get smarter? 

I've read dozens of reports on the iPhone; two stand out.

Paul Boutin notes that everything Apple announced is in vapor, and that's new for Apple (and disappointing for users), but all CES previews are vapor and Apple is, in every way, a consumer electronics vendor now. "By holding his own mini-CES 500 miles away, Jobs literally stole the show. As I sit here typing in a sulk, an NPR stringer in Vegas just messaged, 'CES is dead because iphone is all that mattered today. there is a mood of -- like everyone here went to the wrong party.'"

Tom Evslin: "The design of the phone -- no hard buttons, all touch on screen, sounds like everything we expect from Steve and from Apple: it's all about the GUI and that part'll be fun. But the business relationship is as old school as it can get: exclusive US distributorship through Cingular."

Tom has a point. Like many others, I was hoping that Apple would turn the cellphone business upside down. On the other hand, quoting from the essay I wrote yesterday, before the iPhone announcement, "Get in bed with the guy whose lunch you want to eat." Maybe Steve is more clever than we give him credit for?