Ok… Apple, you win.

iDon’t simply mean the Samsung v. Apple court case in California, the 70% (iPad) tablet market share and arguably the best OS in the world. I mean – I can’t sit back without sinking my teeth into Apple, Inc. any longer.

After three and a half years – I’m bringing Thunk Different back. (maybe)

Yep.

More on that later…

For now… some ABC’s on why (exasperated!) “Diaspora*” failed. Frankly, It was never going to do well even though we all wanted it to.

I’m sure it was an exhilarating ride, one with an explosive beginning and a tragic ending. So, hat tip for trying, the timing was right when the team of NYU students announced it. Eager students, lots of press, a precursor to silicon alley site, but alas… diaspora is now history. Here is a summation of evidence.

EXHIBIT A: The name

You would think that a new company willing to unseat another relatively new company (facebook) would be more bold, more stealth, or more path-like in its meaning. The very word, “Diaspora” according to Dictionary.com means:

Yikes!

Look it up there yourself. It would not be my first choice.  It’s a term citing an event from an epoch long ago. So not only was the name centuries past its prime, it’s a four syllable word, hard to spell for kids, (unlike say, face book) and pretty much means a “scattering, dispersion… a running for the hills. Yes – that’s what it means.

So yeah, poor choice in a name for a social network designed to be new and bring people together*.

EXHIBIT B: The domain name.

JoinDiaspora.com. 99% of a good domain is a good domain. Sure you can add a .me or a .in or an ingenious impossible to fail, del.icio.us type sub-tld hybrid, if you can’t get the .dom/net/org. But to me this seemed like the name of a place holder, not the domain. Perhaps there was a road map to change it (outside of the “too long to tweet” cousin site, diasporafoundation.org), if there was we’ll never likely know.

EXHIBIT C: Zuck’s Buck.

On May 28th, 2010 Mashable.com wrote the headline, Mark Zuckerberg Donated to Facebook Alternative, Diaspora.” Ouch is what I thought when I read that headline that day. I’m sure the Disapora team had good intentions and one could cite that, “a rising tide carries all ships.” Yet, good grief… they signed their death warrant before they could launch. Could you imagine what the thought process was? I’m sure any potential VC, angel or investor would scratch their head at that. Pretty sophomore move. But let’s given them a break, they were students and they tried.

So, I was not surprised to hear the news reported today and receive co founder Dan Grippi’s email tonight. As an owner of a successfully failed startup, I get it. It feels like the world is upside down, but hear me, it is not. Sleep on it, in a few hours the sun with come up and everything will be right side up again.

Best of luck to the bright minds and brave hearts remaining of the Diaspora Project.

-Joined Diaspora. (Every little thing is going to be alright.)

Hi all,

iKnow that I said my last post would be 3 years to the day that I started this thing AND that I said I’d be creating another blog (which I have) BUT I wanted to take the time to salute WordPress for the platform & Apple for the products, and you the readers that over the years made this blog a success. I still receive 100-200 hits a day thanks to SEO, but in it’s “hay day” this blog brought in bit more than that. I was up to 100,000 a month at my peak and that was without twitter & facebook. How the times have changed. Thanks again, for reading and continue to stay tuned to what I am up to on both Twitter and the general interwebz. Cheers to 1,000,000 and counting…

Love,

Ryan

Folks  it’s time to move on from WordPress.com onto something that offers more flexibility and is more compatible for a better blogosphere.

So this will be the last post on ThunkDifferent.wordpress.com. The site will be transforming in aesthetic & moving to ThunkDifferent.fuelpress.com

It’s been a great ride, reached nearly 1,000,000 hits and has been a big since a pride in terms of being a mac guy. I feel’s it’s appropos that nearly 3 years to the day – the biggest leak in Apple history took place with postings of the iPhone 4(HD) prototype on another gadget/gizmo blog. Gizmodo. I leave you with a delicious site & an exciting rumor about the ultimate Apple product.

You will still be able to locate it at ThunkDifferent.com or on our newly formed Twitter Account. Until then, feel free to read another new blog iCreated, coming soon…

iThank you.

Sincerely,

@RyanThompson

11:16 a.m.: He thanks everyone for coming. That’s the end, folks. We’ll have continuing coverage including reviews of the new devices coming later today from CNET’s Donald Bell and plenty of video and further analysis from CNET News. Thanks for joining us!

11:15 a.m.: Norah Jones concludes her performance. The lights are back up and Steve’s on stage.

11:11 a.m.: Jones says: “Thanks to Steve Jobs for having us. Really happy to see he’s doing well.” Now we get a preview of a song from her upcoming album called “Young Blood.”

11:06 a.m.: Now Jobs is talking music. “It’s the primary reason we do this.” Live performance coming up. It’s Norah Jones.

People clap, but there seems to be some palpable disappointment for those expecting a Beatle or Coldplay, which were some of the rumors. She starts with “Come Away with Me.”

11:04 a.m.: We’re getting a preview of the new ad, which highlights the video feature and colors of the Nano–with a cutesy pop song as backing, of course.

11:04 a.m.: It will come in a variety of colors: pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, silver, black. 8GB $159 and 16GB for $179, both will be available today.

Jobs touted brilliant new iPod colors.

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)

11:02 a.m.: The voice over feature from the iPod Shuffle will also be in the Nano, as well as Genius Mixes which were discussed earlier. The Nano will also have an FM radio, and a voice recorder app and pedometer. The pedometer will sync online with Nike Plus.