WebKit First to Score 100 on Acid3 Test - My favorite rendering engine hits another significant achievement ahead of the pack. WebKit is utilized by Safari, Adobe Air, Google Chrome, and others.
WebKit First to Score 100 on Acid3 Test - My favorite rendering engine hits another significant achievement ahead of the pack. WebKit is utilized by Safari, Adobe Air, Google Chrome, and others.
Lightsaber Unleashed - After the original un-licensed Lightsaber iPhone app got yanked from the store, the fully licensed version is up - and is still free!
Automattic Buys IntenseDebate - IntenseDebate looks intriguing for a hosted commenting system, but I'm not sure this is the best direction of evolution for the traditional post/comment model.
TUAW Keeps Getting Worse and Worse - So can we expect blog posts for how to get to the preferences page of all native OS X apps? What's next? Entries which are full quotes from application Help?
Why Apple Rocks - Not only are there no "[PC Brand X] stores" to walk into to have this experience, you certainly won't get this from a big box store computer purchase.
If you haven’t seen a television commercial for the Mojave Experiment, visit the website.
Basically, people were asked to rate Vista on a scale of 1-10, were then shown a demo of Microsoft’s "new" operating system code-named "Mojave" when in fact it was just Vista, and asked to rate the "new" operating system. The average pre-demo rating for Vista was 4.4. The average rating for Mojave was 8.5.
One problem with this marketing effort is the subtext. See, you like Vista when you aren’t blinded by people’s bad perception (including your own) of the operating system! In order to improve Vista’s image, Microsoft has created this project which essentially is saying "told you so" to anyone who doesn’t like it. Is this really a good way to boost confidence in your product and to gain goodwill with your users? By telling them, via secretive and covert means, that they are stupid, and not capable of making a good conclusion about the product on their own?
Second, before Vista’s release, I’d imagine that a poll after a brief demo of it would also have scored high, and no where near the 4.4 that people score it now. You see, when you first launch and begin to use Vista, for the most part, you’ll like it. It’s immediately apparent at first how much better you think you’re going to like it than you did XP. As time goes on, however, that new gloss quickly fades and the rusted interior is exposed.1 Microsoft’s Mojave Experiment website even alludes to this, albeit unintentionally:
Many respondents said they would have rated the "new operating system" code-named Windows "Mojave" higher, but wanted more time to play with it themselves.
Why didn’t Microsoft allow more time? Not only would people familiar with Vista have caught on, but any extended period of time with the operating system would certainly bring the rating down, not up.
At best, the Mojave Experiment is a way for Microsoft to address a problem created by the fact that they failed to communicate effectively at Vista’s release: that there are some neat features that should change how Windows users use their computers, and that just using the OS the same way you’ve used Windows in the past is not getting the most out of it. At worst, it’s an insult to anyone who has spent an extended length of time with Vista and came to the conclusion that it wasn’t good enough. Ironically, that would include Steve Ballmer who has recently said that Vista is a "work in progress".
The whole experiment almost seems like the result of a frustrated development team publicly telling off the marketing department and management at Microsoft, laying the blame for the all-but-failed OS back in their laps. The truth however lies somewhere in the middle.
Blu-ray Coming to Mac - Looks like I was not too far off in an earlier prediction of Blu-ray finally coming to Mac sooner rather than later.
Recall on iPhone 3G Power Adapters - Affects all power adapters that shipped with 3G iPhones. Free exchange program here.
Some sites are linking to this article from Mike Ash as evidence of what’s broken about the iPhone app creation and distribution process. Personally, I see it as keeping the riff raff out. Even developers who are earnest enough to go through the hoops still make mistakes. And would anyone argue that Apple’s rejection of this app (twice) was a bad thing for either the end users or the developer? Hardly. Remove either or both of the checkpoints1 and finding good, working apps in the AppStore would become an even greater needle in a haystack game than it already is.
1: Time money and effort just to be part of the dev network and submit an app, along with Apple’s time consuming testing and qualification of submitted applications.↩
I’ve tried dozens and dozens of both free and commercial apps for the iPhone over the past two months, and here’s a list of my top picks, in alphabetical order:
2 Across ($5.99) - Crossword puzzles, download free puzzles from dozens of newspapers
AccuFuel (99¢) - track gas mileage of multiple vehicles with a beautiful interface
Ambiance (99¢) - looping noise of rain, waves, etc. to either block out noisy environments or to help you sleep
Beer Pad ($4.99) - the ultimate beer diary. Store variety, price, tasting notes, ratings, etc. Even take a picture of the label.
DieRoller (99¢) - random number generator. Great for making up statistics!
Fizz Weather ($5.99) - no other weather app is this clean, pretty, and informative
Light (Free) - There are a lot of free flashlight apps out there. This is the only one I found that works with a single touch and isn’t extremely goofy. Sadly, it doesn’t appear to be in the store right now. Update: It appears the app was removed by Apple for violating the SDK agreement by overriding the brightness. Oddly, that’s exactly why I preferred it.
NetNewsWire (Free) - best feed reader for the desktop and your phone
Pandora Radio (Free) - Make radio stations based on songs or artists that you like, and listen to them for free. Amazing, and reportedly going out of business soon. Get it now while they are up!
Remote (Free) - Apple’s app that lets you control any wi-fi enabled iTunes library from your iPhone. Pair with some outdoor wireless speakers for the best barbecue experience.
Scrabble ($9.99) - timeless classic and excellent time waster for long commutes
Solebon Solitaire ($9.99) - You know you want solitaire at some point. This is the best of all the ones I tried. Easiest to read cards, largest variety of games, best options.
Starmap ($11.99) - identify planets, constellations, galaxies, meteor showers, using GPS to show you the night sky for your location.
TeeShot ($19.99) - Crazy easy to use course creator and downloader, track your scores and skills no matter where you play. Can be used to keep group scores as well. Very deep statistical analysis. Very responsive developer. The only golf score keeping app worth your money, and costs less than a box of balls.
Things ($9.99) - GTD / Task Manager. I’ve tried so many of these that my head hurts. Omni is more capable, but a tremendous pain to use in comparison. And Things is much easier to sync to its desktop cousin.
Update: I just downloaded began using Air Sharing (Free for one more week, then $6.99). It is amazing. Store and view just about any file imaginable. Even syntax highlights code!
I am an extreme spoilerphobe. If I’m interested in a movie, I won’t even watch trailers. If I become interested in a movie because of a trailer (which I might watch if I have no concept of what a certain movie is about), following that, I avoid information about the movie altogether. I like to experience a film as the creators intended, not necessarily as the studio intended via their spoiler-laden trailers. So have no fear, this entry about Cloverfield contains no spoilers. Well, no plot spoilers, there will be general production spoilers. As a true spoilerphobe, if you haven’t seen the movie yet, I’d watch it before reading, as it will color your opinion of the film whether you like it or not.
After having finally watched it, I’m really trying hard to like it. Like, really, really try. I get everything that the film is trying to be, what Abrams’ intent is, and the artistic quality. But I can’t get past its failings.
1) There was nothing gained or improved in this movie by producing it with a camera handheld primary by one of the actors. It did not add to the immersiveness, but rather quite the opposite, it made me constantly aware of the gimmick and prevented me from allowing myself to suspend disbelief and enjoy the film. It also dated the film, placing it firmly in the time of YouTube popularity, with the current trend of "entertainment" being created by the lowest common denominator for the lowest common denominator. I find it unintelligent, unartistic, unentertaining, and very distracting. I feel sorry for the DP who had to work on this project.
2) Length. This movie is short. Like, children’s movie short. That should tell you something. No, length does not define quality, but there are calculated reasons to the length of any film. In this case, there’s a limitation artificially created by the aforementioned gimmick, the fact that a consumer DV camera with a standard tape can record just over 60 minutes. The other reason, no doubt, is because they realized that by this point, the audience is bored, understands that they will be treated to no further exposition, and are just ready to see how it ends.
3) Points 1 and 2 are driven into your head by the extremely long and unnecessary introduction. It’s a home video, and contains all of the junk, bad takes, and wasted tape that a home video has. We get it. We don’t need to see it. We fast forward through these moments on our own tapes, even though they actually matter, they were part of our lives with people we care about. Seeing these moments with strangers makes it even less entertaining, and even insulting. It would be difficult to think of a more contrived way to introduce the audience to the protagonists of the film. Video testimonials, really? That’s the best you could do?
4) This movie is not made for my demographic. Why is this a failing? Because the advertising and Abrams’ previous projects have caused this film to be targeted at my demographic, and it’s far outside of that basket. Well, most of them. Cloverfield is not Alias Abrams, it’s The Pallbearer Abrams. It’s Lost Abrams at the series’ low point. Had I gone to the theater, I would have felt particularly cheated, since it’s obvious that Abrams and the studio knew what will attract my demographic, and used that to lure my dollars from my pocket. Yes, of course movies are a commercial business, and I expect that they do what they do for money and not solely for gratification of making something compelling and entertaining. However I hope that the latter two are part of that equation. In this case, goodwill that was built from a few good projects and some interesting marketing was exploited.
5) There is a salvageable movie here, and as a science fiction short story, it would read great on paper. So I’m disappointed at the execution. From an artistic and literary viewpoint, I even like the ending, though most will feel cheated. My problem is that aside from the ending, every thread of the movie that could have been used to engage my intellect was subverted. The story has great potential for something much larger, but it settles for a monster movie, and falls short of both intellectual Sci-Fi and the classic movie monster flick.
I suppose in a sense the movie succeeded. I don’t often take the time to write about a movie, but I did this one. Kudos, Cloverfield, you irritated me enough to spend more time writing an entry about the movie than it took to watch the movie. ::sigh::
From the Mac OS X 10.5.5 update:
Addresses performance issues related to displaying IMAP messages.
Woot! This has been a major problem for me since switching to Wildblue. I suspect that whatever this bug was, my old low latency super fast cable internet hid the problem, whereas the latency of satellite internet made me painfully aware of it.
The following is directly from the label, verbatim. Spelling (and ingredient) errors intact. There is no chocolate, for instance.
"Strawberry Cheese Bites"
flour, chocolate chips, sugarshortening,nonfat dreid milk-soybean oil,egg whits &—-yokes,baking soda, soy flour artifical color & flavor,—whey, baking soda, salt,syrawberries
First, researchers were alarmed by death threats from fearful observers who worried the device would generate huge black holes, despite reassurance from the world’s top scientists that any tiny black holes that did arise would quickly evaporate.
Is it just me, or does this entirely real news item sound like a sentence penned by Douglas Adams?
At tomorrow’s event you can prepare to see:
* Sales figures for iPods and iTMS
* A new form factor for iPod Nano - too many are reporting the "tall" version for it to not be true
Those are the no brainers. These I’m going out on a limb:
* Insane amounts of storage on the iPod Touch.
* No more DRM in the iTMS on music
* iPhone firmware update, TomTom-like GPS navigation, cut and paste(!)
And an out of the blue One More Thing:
* Update to notebooks - Nehalem core
* Blu-ray drives on all Macs.
Yes, I’m stretching, but it’s gotta be something, right? Rather unusual that they’re actively telling press to be there because they claim it is going to be huge.