I first saw the Macbook Air at Macworld at the Moscone Center and I was very, very impressed with it. In many ways it delivers on the promise of what a “Portable” computer or laptop should be.

I was initially surprised at how many people were bashing the Macbook Air, and talking about the laundry list of missing things. It did not make sense to me. I had been praying that Apple would create a low weight laptop without a Superdrive for a long time.

I think the ideal laptop is one that weighs 2 to 2.5 pounds, but the Air is close to perfection at just under 3 pounds.

Many people who were critics of the Macbook Air were saying that you are a wimp if you don’t feel comfortable carrying around an extra 2-4 pounds, but I will point out that those pounds are exponentially heavier.

The big question is which model to get? Do you get the Dual 1.6 for $1800 or 1.8 with the solid-state drive for $3,100?

My opinion is that the $3100 model of the Macbook Air is a huge waste of money.

It is novel, but that is about it. I tried using both machines and did not notice much if any performance difference. The differnce between the two Macbook Air models was initially very confusing. You would assume since one is almost twice as much as the other that there must be a huge performance difference, but that was not the case.

This reminded me of when I was trying to figure out what the differnce was between the Lexus LS460 and the Lexus LS600h (hybrid). The hybrid is more than $30,000 dollars more expensive. In all fairness, the hybrid does have four wheel drive which the LS460 does not, but I could not seem to figure out where the $30,000 extra was paying for???

Both cars get the same gas milage and do 0-60 around the same time. The SSD Macbook Air is the LS600h of laptops.

It is a technological marvel, but ultimately it symbolism over substance.

My opinion is that the $31,000 more LS600h model is a huge waste of money.

The LS460 is the 1.6 Macbook Air Model.

In my opinion, the Lexus LS460 is the best car ever made and the Macbook Air is the best portable ever made. Oh, yeah, same with the iphone.

The BulletTrain Platform has been evolving for many years and soon everybody will be able to benefit tremendously from it.

BulletTrain is just finishng Alpha testing and getting read to go into Beta.  We hope to be shipping by Q3 2008. 

• Fun and dependable without the unnecessary drama.

• Beautiful on the inside and outside.

• Nice trim figure with beautiful curves and a nice voice (can you say Marimba).

• She looks like a super-model.

• She is chic, stylish and intriguing.

• She doesn’t play any games.

• Very intelligent, dynamic, resourceful, and doesn’t talk back too much.

• She is also not constantly trying to test me and change me.

• She is great the way she is but you know she will only get much better with time.

• She is always full of energy and never seems to get tired.

• Her Skin is silky smooth with a flawless complexion.

• She rarely complains.

• I always want her by my side.

• She is extremely intuitive and easy to understand.

• I am constantly learning new and interesting things about her.

• She is not fragile.

• She is very healthy, hardy, robust, never gets sick and has no viruses.

• She is very stable and predictable.

• I really trust her to always make the right decision.

• She does not require an instruction manual.

• Obtaining her was not easy when she first became available because everybody wanted her.

• She required a significant commitment up front, both financially and long term.

• With all the ones in the past I felt like I was wasting my money, but with her I have no challenge with paying for her.

• Now that I have her she is very low maintenance.

• She has great accessories that work really well with her.

• She is a very good notetaker.

• She is always accurately finishing my sentences.

• She is always available to chat.

• I can play with her for hours and never get bored.

• She comes from a good family that supports her well.

• She never bothers me.

• She does not throw temper tantrums.

• I can’t keep my eyes off her when she is sleeping next to me.

• When I wake-up after a full nights sleep I can’t wait to wake her up play with her again.

• She loves all kinds of music, movies and TV (without commercials).

• She is a great workout partner.

• Children love her and find her to be extremely easy to communicate with.

• She looks so cute and peaceful when she is sleeping.

• She doesn’t roll her eyes when I start talking tech.

• She is very good with numbers.

• She is not a backseat driver and she is great with giving and taking instructions.

• I knew long before she came into my life that one day I would find her.

• Everybody loves her and thinks she is fun and extremely entertaining.

• I can’t keep my hands off her.

• I take really good care of her and she takes really good care of me.

• Her favorite line from a song, is from Prince’s Purple Rain where he sings “I don’t care where we go, I don’t care what we do. I don’t care pretty baby, just take me with you.”

• Louis Vuitton makes some great cases for her, but if you ask me she looks so great naked you don’t want to see her covered up.

If I could only find a woman like the iPhone!?! 

Jake

The Louis Vuitton iPhone cases shown below are real and are currently available at the New York Louis Vuitton Store:

If you really think about it, the iPhone is like a real light-saber. So I grew up on Star Wars. My favorite thing from Star Wars was probably the light saber.

When I was a kid I used to think It would be so cool if the light-saber were real. (Actually, I still think it would be very cool.) The only challenge is that if it were real, you could easily cut off an arm or head…by mistake. [Side-thought: One thing I could never figure out about a light saber is that if it were real, wouldn’t it know you were you and not ever cut you?]

When I was younger I bought light saber replicas. I would turn them on in the dark and run around pretending I was Luke Skywalker or Obi Won. It was kind of fun, but no matter how real the light saber looked, it was not real. This brings me to the iPhone. To me the iPhone has the same wow factor that a light saber has, but the iPhone is real!!!

When Steve Jobs first mesmerized us by showing us the iPhone at Macworld is was like Obi Wan showing us (or Luke) the light- saber in Star Wars–Except that the iPhone was real.  I equate the iPhone experience as being like having a real light-saber. That is how cool and mesmerizing it is…Jake

(Pictured below: Speaking of light-sabers, Here is Jake Ehrlich with DaMayor of San Francisco [The Honorable Willie Brown: Probably one of the greatest poloticians that ever lived].

This Photo was taken in San Francisco at a Chritmas party my pal Miles O’Reilly was throwing in North Beach at his Irish pub and namesake, O’Reilly’s. In this photo, Brother Willie has taken control of my light-saber and seems to be enamoured with it. You should see what he did next…)

Computers are far from perfect. They continue to become increasingly powerful, but if you do anything interesting with them, you can easily run into challenges. If you think about it this is perfectly analogous with life. How? With computers I have never had a challenge that I was not able to overcome.

So much of this probably has to do with your threshold for pain, but I have NEVER had a challenge that I did not overcome.  This attitude, of course carries over into my business and personal life.   Now when a serious challenge presents itself, I look at it as a challenge that MUST be overcome.

As Napoleon said “Impossible is not a word that exists in my dictionary.

“George Washington put it even better when he said “What should lead us to believe that we shall overcome this serious challenge is that we have experienced challenges worse that this, and overcome them. “If you think about it this can-do attitude is all you really have in life.

Albert Einstein said, “It is not that I am any smarter than anybody else, I just tend to stick with problems longer. “Computer challenges really are a perfect metaphor for life…

Tyson and I are going to be blogging quite a bit about our experience with the iPhone.

We are going to talk about all the things we like and dislike and we are going to talk about ways to improve it.

Jake

I would like to welcome everybody to the official BulletTrain Blog aptly named BulletBlog.

In the BulletBlog we will be discussing everything BulletTrain releated as well as computing technology in general. This will include things like the iphone, macs and any innovative technology.

It should be fun.

Jake