The BBC covered the event [Vox O'Malley can be seen coyly entering and high fiving the double line of Apple staff.] and several bloggers recorded the occasion, Here and Here.

I was there from 6:40am, an enthusiastic effort on my part. The crowd were in great spirits and I met some great people – thanks also to Starbucks for donating free mini hot chocolates!

At the risk of adding cheese to the Apple pie, I did think it was an unusual sight in cynical Belfast to see such smiles, albeit for a beloved retail brand. It was, I do think, and is, “good” for Belfast.

My own footage is here:

In order to keep the non Apple / Mac people happy I have given birth to Vox’s first offspring – Max O’Malley. From here on all Apple related news / banter will be given its due home there. Previous posts have been copied to Max O’Malley.

voxo.wordpress.com

maxomalley.wordpress.com

We all breathed a sigh of relief last week when we realised that the rumours about Beatles music coming to iTunes passed without incident (I say this to wind Carrie O’Hara up). My wife and I are doing a bit of running/jogging/flopping along the road and she is coming to terms with an ancient female issue. (She’s doing the running, I’m on the flopping along side). It is good also to know that the spiderhorse has departed from whynotsmile’s bath.

The world seems to be ‘course correcting’ as they say on Lost (Series 3) (I’m over half way through and loving it). Lost is like a bedtime story I tell my girls – I start out with some amazing scenario with no idea where its going to go and just throw in characters and incidents on the way… occasionally it will circle back on itself and make some sense. It will of course be enjoyable if not a masterpiece.

For anybody who knows Zoomtard we are waiting with baited breath the outcome of the gorilla vs Zoomtard WWF tournament. Knee to the nuts then two fingers in the eyes to start with I’d suggest. Use your intellectual energies on the tender parts Zoomie!

I remember sitting in a restaurant in Tenerife circa 1986. I was with my mum, dad and sister eating my usual Margarita pizza covered with tuna and onions. The chef was flambeing (I have no idea where the accent goes there) a steak beside us and generally all was well with the world. The “entertainment” for the night was the usual sort you get in Tenerife, Joe Schmo from Middlesex transports his sound equipment to southern climes, develops a tan, waits for the sweat to build up on his forehead and begins to murder popular songs. One of those songs I vividly remember was “Yesterday” by the Beatles and written by Paul (oops I was a silly old man) McCartney. I admit now that I enjoyed it. It may also have been my first introduction to the song. Its a big hit and has been covered in places more (and less) exotic that Tenerife and Middlesex. I enjoyed it. I admit it, it stuck with me, I maybe hummed it a few times over the next few tuna pizzas. But do I want to buy the original on iTunes?

Next Wednesday (5th September) Apple are putting on a media event entitled “the beat goes on” and the speculation is that this not only means the release of an entirely new generation of iPods but that wait for it … movies will be free from now on on iTunes.No, that wasn’t the big thing… it was that people are expecting the Beatles’ music to be released on iTunes store. Now I have had time to think about this… I asked a friend “what’s the big deal?” and we both decided that we didn’t give a Douglas Hurd if the Beatles were on iTunes. I mean I liked “Yesterday” and a bit of “Hey Jude” but do they EVER make my playlists, do I EVER think – I’ll put this on in the background at a dinner party – they’ll enjoy this – NOPE. Maybe somebody else cares (who already has their entire collection on DVD and ripped to their iPod anyhow) but it ain’t me and I don’t fully understand why anyone else should. Maybe it is a landmark muso-historical reason rather than a commercial reason. It matters to music execs and Liverpudlians and the executors of the two deceased Beatle’s wills.It don’t matter to me – tell me , does it matter to you? 

On another note, if you want a laugh. Watch this then followed quickly by this.

Apple – Downloads – Dashboard Widgets – Facebook Watch  - Having suffered a week of facebook addiction I found this little tool for Mac users.  Its a great widget that instantly shows the latest happening on your facebook homepage without firing up the browser.  You can just hit your f12 key and the Dashboard swoops in as beautifully as Macs can and bingo you get a facebook fix. 

Vox O’Malley – will come back to blogging when facebook lets him have a holiday.