Specifically, here are highlights from Piper analyst Gene Munster’s note this morning:

• 77% of iPhone 4 buyers polled in three cities (San Francisco, New York, and Minneapolis) were upgrading from old iPhones. That’s up from 56% last year and 38% in 2008, and represents brand loyalty that is likely unmatched in the mobile industry.
• 16% of buyers were switching to AT&T from other carriers, down from 28% last year. Apple REALLY needs to add another carrier if it wants to maximize sales. (Preferably Verizon Wireless, the nation’s biggest.)
• 54% purchased the $299 32 GB model, up from 43% who bought the 32 GB iPhone 3GS last year.
• 28% of iPhone 4 buyers owned an iPad, which confirms that the people waiting in line were the most serious of the Apple fanatics. Of the 72% who did not own an iPad, 39% said they would probably buy one within the next year, while 61% said they would not.
• 65% were Mac owners, down from 75% at the first iPhone launch in 2007.

The takeaway: Apple has a reliable stable of devoted users who will likely upgrade to the newest iPhone every year, assuming there’s nothing better on the market.

Found this online – a 1973 ad from Kenner – makers of the Six Million Dollar Man bionic action figure.  This, along with the Evel Knievel figure, was the bomb back in the day.  The ad was in heavy rotation in early to mid-Seventies Marvel comics.

Neat blurb about a startup art project documenting ‘heroin brands’ – the stamps found on bags of heroin identifying their maker or seller.  This has always been a little intriguing to me.  You can support their project with a small donation here.

Like many, I’ve had a long, strange relationship with Apple.  Since the 80s I’ve owned Apple II’s, Macintoshes, Performas, Quadras, G4s, G5s, Powerbooks, MacBooks, iBooks, iPods, iPhones, etc etc etc.  My disposition toward the company teeters between unabashed fanboy-ism to outright fury.

Because we live in an age of rapid progress, I can’t find fault with Apple for replacing their products more frequently than I can seem to purchase them – these days, that’s the way of the world to some degree.  Still, my ‘Apple graveyard’ could fill a garage.  Premium-priced devices that never seem to serve me for more than two years before emerging hardware or software renders them obsolete.

So here comes the latest ‘insanely great’ earth-shattering product – the unfortunately-named iPad.  My initial reaction is somewhat skeptical, though I love to see new form factors – I can’t wait to play with the interface.  That said, from what I understand, it’s a iPhone on roids.  No multitasking, no Flash, and no printing are all pretty big downers from my perspective, but I may end up caving and picking one up a bit further down the road.  For now, I’ve got my iPhone for the road and my MacBook Pro for everything else, and I don’t feel like there’s a void in my life…

I guess I’m just not big on “Magic” when it comes with a price tag.

Delicious infographic from the economic crisis blog.  Apparently something called Consumer Sentiment is down to its lowest levels since 1980.  Coincidentally, so is my Frequency of Visits to Crappy Stores at Crowded Malls index.

This is pretty neat – nice application of augmented reality in a business card context.

AR Business Card from James Alliban on Vimeo.