Am I the Only One?

1.

You've no doubt seen the news story about how Apple stores have their employees tilt the laptop screen at precisely 70 degrees to encourage people to adjust it to their own eye level. It's been all over the news. I must have seen the same story reported about a dozen times over these past two weeks or so. It's getting way to much attention. Am I the only one that thinks that it's not a big deal? In fact, I would go farther than that and argue that it's flat out ridiculous. The employees at Apple stores are certainly not walking around throughout the day readjusting the laptop screen to an exact angle. They may do it in the morning — before the store opens — but that would only affect the first customer to use the laptop. I don't know about you, but I think that this story about the screen tilts is nothing more than "cute". Apple stores are indeed wonderfully different than just about all other retail stores in the world — but it's not because of this.

2.

A story broke last night reporting something to the effect of Orbitz suggesting pricier hotel rooms to Mac users online. This is done because, apparently, Orbitz has found that Mac users on average are willing to spend more money on hotel rooms. Am I the only one that finds this absurd? A hotel booking company who's goal it is to provide you with the best deals on rooms should not be suggesting pricier rooms to Mac users. Or anybody for that matter. I just find this absurd. Macs can be given as gifts, to college students as part of an honors program, sold at discounts to students, and are not really more expensive than PCs in the first place. Plus, more and more people are switching to Macs every day. I am not sure that Orbitz's data is valid now, forget if it will be in about a year's time. I suppose I do get what Orbitz is doing, but am I the only one that is totally not okay with it?