I have some thoughts on the iPad to share, perhaps in a subsequent post but right now, Apple is unveiling multitasking support (in it's own somewhat limited way) for the new iPhone (iPad) 4 OS.
Here is what multitasking support will open up:
Getting closer to a done deal for me. I wonder if their second rev will be lighter. I really would like about a half pound shaved off.
Spurred, in part, by a dying Tivo Series 2 and in part by the obsolescence* of a small 2-inch TV Jena had been using as part of her morning rituals, we at the Edwards' household are in the midst of a Media Center creation, or rather coalescence project.
While I didn't quite plan it this way, the first part of the media center is now in place, a 37-inch Samsung LCD. Samsung is a great choice for LCD's as they have great reviews and are generally innovators in their TV production. I briefly flirted with the idea of the LED but the smallest was 40-inches and for this particular room and space we needed it to be no larger than 37-inch. As it turns out, I was able to talk myself out of the more expensive 37-inch model primarily because I really do not like the Auto Motion Plus 120Hz™ feature that is supposed to smooth transitions between frames but ends up making everything look like it is shot on a hand-held HD video camera. Also the higher-end model achieved at least part of its 100,000:1 contrast ratio by shining up the screen surface, which in our house, like in the store, resulted in significantly more glare being produced. In this case, going to the store to see the products in action** also saved me money as I got this TV for just under $800 rather than the $1200 I was ready to spend.
NEXT UP: HD Antenna Selection
* The little LCD TV served us well for over 10 years, but the idea of getting a digital signal converter for it made me throw up in my mouth a little. So I installed a 22-inch LCD upstairs for her and connected the set to a hidden HD antenna with Scott's help.
** I also brought my MacBook Pro and and a Mini Display Port to HDMI Adapter.
I am pretty disappointed that the new iPhone doesn't have a new form factor at all. I actually do not like the way the iPhone 3G feels in my hand (too slippery and light) when compared even to the first gen iPhone.
The lack of support from AT&T for tethering (aka the only great feature being added) is nearly as bad. Sure video is great but not when preceded by rumors of HD-quality and video, conferencing features like a second camera on the front of the phone. And really Apple? You're going to make me get a mobileMe account to use the pretty cool Find my phone feature? I would use this in my house! But there's a digital compass you say? Wow are we going to get a digital abacus and digital sundial next?*
All that said, I would buy this phone just for the increase in processor and RAM, however slight they are (1.5x and 2x improvements respectively). It would have just been nice to get something more for my annual $200 "phone fee" to Apple.
* Ok that comment was more for snarkiness sake, the ability to add better turn-by-turn directions and improved geocaching is going to make that feature pretty well-received in my household.
Shazam is a great app that promises what it says it does. It has been out for a while and I have used it on other phones but for the iPhone it hasn't let me down. When I want to know what song is playing at the bar or in the Volkswagon commercial I simply fire up Shazam and in 12 seconds it lets me know.
Yesterday Netflix announced that it was discontinuing the Profiles feature that allows users with one account to keep separate queues and ratings of movies and tv shows. This absolutely sucks. I have come to rely on this feature and will be looking for alternatives to Netflix before the feature is eliminated on September 1st. I will look at DVD by mails services like BlockBuster or Intelliflix as well as on-demand services like cable/satellite providers or Apple TV. And yes I would switch regardless of the fact that it is likely that no other service offers this feature, just because of the way this has been handled.
What is even worse than the dropping of this feature, however is the way Netflix has handled it. Today I received this email:
We wanted to let you know we will be eliminating Profiles, the feature that allowed you to set up separate DVD Queues under one account, effective September 1, 2008.Each additional Profile Queue will be unavailable after September 1, 2008. Before then, we recommend you consolidate any of your Profile Queues to your main account Queue or print them out.
While it may be disappointing to see Profiles go away, this change will help us continue to improve the Netflix website for all our customers.
They aren't giving any indication as to why they are pulling the feature, just vague allusions to making the site better.
There is a petition to show Netflix that there is support for the feature. Not sure how far that will go in light of recent claims by the company that is is the "final decision". Here is more from the Hacking Netflix blog.
While discontinuing the Profiles feature is not desirable for the passionate folks who use it, the decision will ultimately benefit all Netflix members. By discontinuing the feature, we will be able to put more focus and resources site and service improvements that benefit everyone, consistent to how we have grown the service over the years.
Netflix makes it sound that only a few passionate users will be affected by this and perhaps the feature was under-utilized. And maybe the folks who use that feature and will be pissed off by this are not the most profitable customers for Netflix (i.e. they watch more movies and so cost Netflix more money) but they are forgetting an important thing here. These customers are the Netflix evangelists. I have told countless people about how I love Netflix since my membership began in August of 2000. I know I have been responsible for at least a half dozen people signing up and who know how many people have read my write-ups here on Alt Text.
Netflix is making a big mistake in killing the Profiles feature but are stepping into an even bigger blunder with the patronizing messaging around the decision. Read more on MetaFilter.
I finally got around to uploading some photos from this year's minnebar (un)conference. I didn't take most of these as I was running around from place to place in between presentations and panels. Many didn't turn out because I didn't have the right lens. There are many more photos tagged minnebar up on Flickr. Luckily my awesome wife rectified that situation on for my birthday this year and got me this 50mm f/1.8 lens I have been coveting for years.
It's not too late to come by the Refactr offices tonight for the Groovy/Grails Users Group meeting. It's at 6pm and you can learn about some sweet technologies, if you are into that sort of thing. Get the details at groovy.mn.
Mark Coleran has the type of job designers dream about. He designs those futuristic, highly implausible interfaces for computers in movies.
MinneDemo is upon us again - this Thursday night at O'Gara's! Come check out the latest in software craziness from local designers and developers and enjoy some food and a few beers compliments of our great sponsors: Electric Pulp, ipHouse, Kinetic Data, New Counsel, and Split Rock Partners. Don't forget to RSVP. All the Refactr guys will be there, too. Ask Scott about robots.
Come out to O'Gara's tonight for the 3rd installment of Minnesota's Demo Camp event, MinneDemo. As word of these events has gotten out the past two years attendance has been steadily rising. We might need a convention center for next spring's MinneBar event. Seriously, I am getting worried :) If you know of some space we can check out for next year's (un)conference please let me know by emailing me (ben ut alttext dat com) or posting in the comments.
Part of me is disturbed by this* and part of me thinks it is just about the coolest thing I have seen**.
* Should we really be able to so easily change the data of a photo?
** Hell. yes!
[via swissmiss]
There are plenty of iPhone reviews out there. This is not another. This post is just an observation as to why the iPhone is so different and inspires such goodwill from those who use it. It is simple really, but Apple has taken tasks that on most (all?) other phones are cumbersome, non-intuitive, and often just plain crappy and made them a joy. I am not really over stating this, the iPhone is really fun to use. Browsing the web is not reminiscent of the "real" real web, it IS the real web (ok a web without Flash - for now). Google maps works just like Google maps should. Email is great, not some crippled version, and the phone, despite what some have said, is very nice too. Almost all the interfaces are easy to use and it is easy to know where to go and what to do to make things happen. My previous Windows Mobile phone and my Palm PDA phone before that, took a while to master and it was only because I learned their backwards way of doing things was I able to manage on those devices.
This should serve as yet another lesson from Apple that design matters. Make interfaces (both physical and virtual) that are fun and intuitive and people will enjoy using them and tell their friends.
A couple other observations - No wonder there is a 10% restocking fee if you return an iPhone. With the amount of plastic they use - wrapping everything multiple times in their way. It would take a while to wrap all that stuff back up, I imagine. And what is up with the industrial glue used on the bags they put the phones in when you buy them. Not sure if it is the same at Apple stores but at the at&t store the clerk put the phone in this bag and then pulled away a strip between the two insides and the bag sealed up tight - had to use keys to rip a hole in the bag to open it. When we asked him about it, he said Apple was making them do that. Think different, I guess.
By our count nearly 350 geeks and "geeks at heart" converged on the Railroader building in downtown Saint Paul this past Saturday and I think most everyone has been very positive about the result. I believe that number (or any number over 300) would make minnēbar the largest barcamp outside of India (Barcamp Bangalore 3 - just a couple weeks ago - drew over 500 people!). I know that barcamps are supposed to be about local community and ours was no exception, but it was still nice (and a little amazing) that we had quite a few people drive or fly in from New York (at least 2), South Dakota (at least 2), Wisconsin (6 or more), and Chicago (at least 1). Knowing that this event is worth someone's Saturday is one things, but also worth a six hour drive, or several hundred dollar plane ticket? That is awesome.
I am very happy with the way the event turned out. I think the sessions, by and large, were first-rate. The special guests such as William Gurstelle and his excitement for making things that go Whoosh, Boom, Splat as well as the Scout Robots from the University of Minnesota gave a nice real-life tech component to the day. Of course David Heinemeier Hansson was a highlight as he was his usual witty and charming self. I have had lunch with him before (at Etech last year) and have seen him present, but he seemed even better in this setting. All his answers came very freely and he didn't really seem to struggle with any of the questions. I am sure he had been asked about such things time and time again. Even so, I thought Jamie Thingelstad did a very good job with his side of the interview, as well.
I was very worried that the size of the crowds would really take away from the intimacy and sense of participation that is crucial to barcamps, but I don't think these fears turned out to be warranted. Plenty of people talked between sessions or headed off to an "ad hoc session room" to discuss this or that and the sessions (with a few exceptions) never got too full. I still believe that the 50 minute session length is good. It is not so much that it can get too detailed so people really have to know their stuff. I spoke with Shourya Sarcar, one of the planners of barcamp Bangalore, and he said that one of the differences between the Minnesota and Bangalore barcamps was that their sessions are 30 minutes and that they "vote with their feet" meaning they leave a session if it is no good, or not what they had hoped. Minnesota "nice" retards that practice a bit, but there was still some wandering between sessions.
Continue reading "minnēbar remembered"Jesse is presenting some ideas surrounding until testing using Groovy and Grails tonight at the 2nd meeting of the Groovy Users of Minnesota. Stop by at The Coffee Grounds in Falcon Heights at 6pm.
iPod, phone, camera, computer running OSX, bluetooth, wifi, and no buttons*. I am glad my Cingular contract is up in May, just in time to pony up for this amazing phone.
UPDATE: Now play around with it on the Official Apple Site.
* A fact that I am sure will get a whole cadre of usability professionals crying foul, but you know what, its all about sexiness and by and large buttons are not sexy.
I cannot believe how easy the transition has been for me in my switch from Windows-based computing to my new Mac. I admit I was apprehensive and had a lot of worries that I wouldn't be up to speed as fast as I needed to be, but those fears appear to be unfounded. Sure there are a couple keyboard commands I am retraining my fingers on and there are a few Firefox extensions that don't work well, but all in all I have been pleasantly surprised by the ease of the switch.
I am sure it will take a couple months to erase some of the muscle memory of hitting ctrl + c and v in favor of command + c and v and I there are no doubt countless little things I will find in Photoshop that could slow me down (like the save for web keyboard commands, that is an awkward hand contortion). I picked up the new wireless, Bluetooth Mighty Mouse too and have adopted a wait and see approach there. It is a great mouse in many ways but it seems a bit small for my hands and I can't quite get it configured how I want (though the SteerMouse software I downloaded is helping by allowing me to set additional preferences and per application defaults). The Tabbrowser Preferences extension (does anybody else hate the change to the word "Add-ons"? I wonder if it has legal reasons) is something I cannot really live without and a couple others would sure be nice to have on the Mac side of things.
But let's talk a bit about what I am impressed with. First off, and it really does strike you before anything else, is just how physically well-made these laptops are. There was a tremendous amount of thought put into the closing mechanism, the placement of ports, and the power supply. The keyboard has a great tactile feel and the back lighting and lighted indicators for num and caps lock are great..
Inside, the operating system is intuitive and clean. It responds quickly (even with only 1 GB of RAM. There were a couple things I altered right off the bat to make it feel better to me (adjusted the font smoothing down to 6 from 8; turned on full keyboard access for all web form controls (like check boxes), and adjusted the settings for Dashboard, Expose, and the Dock.
Third party software (while I lament the dearth of free options, has impressed with the overall level of quaility in the interface department. Almost all of the applications I have downloaded (TextMate, Transmit, and Parallells), very nice and tied closely to the look of the OS.
There are still some things I would like to figure out, like how to efficiently use Dashboard and iPhoto, or how to get my Google Calendar to load into iCal like it is supposed to, but all in all I already feel very comfortable with my new Mac and am dreading going back to work in the morning and booting up my Dell.
The Java Developer's Journal has published the results of it's end-of-year poll of various Internet technology players which makes for some good reading. Here are a couple I found interesting:
Jason Bell, Editorial Board Member, Java Developer's Journal:
Incremental mainstream adoption of Ruby on Rails It's going to happen, isn't it? Keep an eye out for Sun's offering of JRuby. Whether this is the death of other open source scripting languages like Groovy remains to be seen. Ruby has been a wake-up call and has now drawn the line dividing serious scripting languages from "hobby" languages (ones that wouldn't see enterprise adoption). For me, my job just got a whole lot easier, a whole lot quicker.
David Heinemeier Hansson, Creator of (Ruby on) Rails:
2007 will be the year where LAMPers finally decide to stop being neutral about the WS-* mess and pick the side of REST: the next wave of Web APIs will stop supplying both a SOAP and REST API and just go with the latter.
Gary Cornell, Founder & Publisher, Apress:
-IE 7 will have a fast adoption curve and so Firefox will cease gaining market share.
-The AJAX bandwagon will gain even more speed.
-Ruby's momentum will slow down as Python and PHP frameworks to combat Rails grow in popularity.
-The open-sourcing of Java will have no effect whatsoever on Java's slow decline in favor of dynamic languages (Ruby, Python) and C#.
-Apple will no longer gain market share for its desktops and will stabilize at its current meaningless level.
-Ultra lightweight notebooks based on flash memory with instant on/off will start coming out in large numbers.
I agree that so-called dynamic languages and frameworks will make big gains in '07 but feel pretty optimistic about the prospects for non Ruby on Rails flavors too. Groovy and Grails is primed to be pretty big and while I don't think it will overtake RoR in the next year, there are significant advantages that make the prospects for Groovy and its framework Grails to become very mainstream, look very good.
From a press release on the new book: The Definitive Guide to Grails:
Ruby on Rails is hot, but it seems that more recent noise from the Java community has been focused on Groovy and its framework, Grails. Taking inspiration from innovative frameworks like Ruby on Rails, or the likes of Django or TurboGears, Grails makes simple things simpler, harder things possible, and brings back the fun of creating web applications. Continuing to affirm the hype, Guillaume Laforge and Dierk König, remark "Grails definitely has an ambitious name for being the Holy Grail all application developers have sought so far. But more than a mere ambition, Grails fulfills its promises by letting you be more productive than you could have ever thought possible."The Grails Framework is an open source, lightweight, agile Web development framework that leverages Groovy, an open source, lightweight, agile and dynamic Java-based scripting language, and complements Java web development. Grails is the ideal framework for developing in the web tier for Java developers and exemplifies the power of the Groovy language and its APIs.
I for one believe that there are too many Java developers out there (their community still dwarfs the next largest one) that are very interested in lightweight frameworks and rapid development but are not too keen on "throwing out" years of experience with the most popular language out here. Groovy in combination with the Grails framework offers the best of both of these worlds and I think people are just waiting for someone to really take up and champion Grails as David Heinemeier Hansson and 37signals have done for Rails.
If you are new to Groovy or Grails, this interview with Groovy project manager Guillaume Laforge is a good primer for learning about Groovy and Grails and where it stands in its current development.
...the website of the same name is actually quite good. I am rather enjoying reading Modern Life is Rubbish. Their Web Typography Cheat Sheet and a rundown on current trends in blog technology and more style are great. and I just like the way the site looks (well except for the huge Google ad in the middle of the page). The site offers some fresh takes on stuff we have been posting about for years with many new insights. Bloody good show, Stuart!
There have already been reports of malfunctions and strange electronic voting machine behavior and the threat of the systems being hacked, or worse (and more likely). I never thought it would be an issue, but I guess I was naive. Let's hope when those of us who vote using these new-fangled machines this Tuesday, we can trust that our vote actually counted. Then again, maybe we shouldn't worry.
I would be remiss if I didn't post a followup to the successful MinneDemo event put on last week by Luke Francl and Dan Grigsby. Aside from being a victim of that success (the room soon got to be too small for the burgeoning crownd) I think things went off really well and the way has been paved for future demo events to keep the community engaged between the larger MinneBar events (mark your calendars for the 2007 event to be held sometime in April). Here is a followup and here's another followup of MinneDemo and here are some photos from the event.
The web has come a long way baby. You don't need "fancy" software from Microsoft or OmniGraffle to make flowcharts, diagrams, and the like. Now you can use online tools such as the Flash-based Gliffy or the css and html, ajaxio. Both are very cool.
From a List of nifty tools for drawing diagrams, charts and flow-charts (Vitaly Friedman's Notebook).
An old post at Slashdot resurfaced, for whatever reason, and caused quite a stir about how non-compliant (with CSS standards) Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 browser will be. People can split hairs about this or that relating to IE7's standards compliance but when it comes down to it, it either will be or won't be.
In a good conversation with Chris Wilson, Group Program Manager of the Internet Explorer Platform team at Microsoft, Richard MacManus at ZDNet asks some pointed questions about IE7's plans for CSS compliance and gets some honest answers.
The bits about standards compliance versus backward compatibility were interested, and there are suggestions that the IE7 team is prioritizing standards compliance ahead of backwards compatibility. I also thought Wilson's characterization of many (most) of IE's user base as 'non-enthusiast users' was dead on (and funny).
I think backwards compatibility has always been a big challenge for us and certainly today it's a huge challenge. Particularly for IE, as we have a lot of what I'd term 'non-enthusiast users' - my mother is always my canonical example here. And for my mother, if I automatically upgrade her machine [its IE browser] and suddenly one of her sites breaks or looks a little funny, she's going to be upset about that. On the other hand if she were to install an alternative browser, and it looks different in that browser - she could probably understand why that would happen, because it's a completely different product.
More at Chris Wilson's blog.
[Source: Slashdot]
Luke Francl and Dan Grigsby have done a great job in putting together a follow-up event that plays off the success of minnebar and the strength of the Minneapolis / Saint Paul web and software communities. I think that minnedemo will be a huge success and can hopefully be replicated a couple times a year to show of some great work people are doing and to keep the momentum going in between annual minnbar events.
The new improvements made to the Flickr UI are great and well worth the wait. When you go, what you won't see are drastic changes to colors or brand, nor should you. What you will see are subtle enhancements (except for maybe the more radical improvement of the Organizr) that shouldn't confuse veteran users too much and should allow for new users to more quickly utilize many of the more powerful features of this great social photo sharing application.
Here is a small set of screenshots and discussion of the changes.
Some stories are coming out that point to Microsoft attempting to purchase large amounts of Yahoo! stock. The spin on this is that Microsoft wants to compete head to head with Google more effectively. This logic strikes me as a bit, well illogical. I can see Yahoo! wanting to secure the financial wherewithal to compete with Google on a larger scale but Microsoft has always had the option of doing as much or more than Google but has seemed content (until recently?) to not really get into Google's core businesses of, information, search and advertising.
Some ideas have Microsoft spending nearly $2 billion in the coming fiscal year toward building an ad-supported online service business, or selling its MSN network to Yahoo! for a minority stake in Yahoo!
This type of a merger makes a lot of sense, though I don’t think I would like to see it be more than an infusion of cash into Yahoo! or an elimination of MSN (in favor of Yahoo).
I have put the new Google Calendar app through its paces and like many people, have found many things to like (invite features are looking good. I think evite is in trouble and Skobee is likely DOA) and some to dislike (still very buggy with refreshing itself after certain actions and there are some issues with duplicating entries for the same shared event). The purpose of this post, however, isn't really about those things. It isn't really even about Google Calendar. It is about what's next for Google and the glimpse they have given us within this new application.
It is obvious that they will soon integrate their calendar and mail apps. My thought is, though, that they will not stop there. I think the time is ripe for them to unleash their first version of an integrate office style suite containing search, mail, calendaring, and word processing. I mocked up some screens as to what I think it may look like when it comes, posted them as a Flickr set and added notes to them as well. Here are some thumbnails:
With 90 participants as of about 5 minutes ago, minnēbar is really gaining momentum. Now I fear the venue will not be able to accommodate this mass of geeks, hipster designers, and open-sourcers all in one place. I think all this pre-conference excitement will really boil over to some great discussions at the conference. I hope everyone can check their "Minnesota Nice" (aka introversion) at the door and really participate.
The idea for a Fall event has already surfaced, this time with a focus on open source and open solutions: OpenBar. I will keep people updated on the event status and will post a review and such after the event. But with less than one month to go, I just hope I don't have to turn anyone away.
Let's find a place that can accommodate 200 next year. Any ideas?
Daniel M. Harrison at blogcritics has been all over the potential sale of Sun to Google and what it might mean. He, along with some others, have proposed a Google move into the financial services and healthcare industries.
"Google is going into Financial Services and Healthcare!" he exclaimed over the lengthy conversation. "This is the last stage of the Java project!"
This could also be the true start to the "G-drive platform" or GO-OS (Google OS) and could also mean the open sourcing of Java? This last part is intriguing especially as other platforms and languages gain ground* on the reigning king of the enterprise application.
This claim is, however speculative and not proven true by poor indicators such as book sales and various internet pundits.
Here are couple quick observations from the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference 2006:
1. Don't wear your goddamned bluetooth ear piece the whole time - not sure why I get so irrationally annoyed with this, but I do.
2. Newsflash: Apple overtakes PC laptop market with strong 70% share - or so it would seem by the looks of things here.
3. There is nothing sadder than a bunch of full-grown "hard-core" programmer types forcing themselves to fake their excitement about now doing JavaScript coding.
4. Some men can apparently pull off wearing a skirt - oh sorry a util-i-kilt
5. Web 2.0 means "we realized that crappy looking interfaces weren't selling and so now we hired a designer".
I had the good fortune to accidentally sit down to lunch at a table with David Heinemeier Hansson of 37Signals and lead developer of Ruby on Rails and Rich Kilmer of RubyForge who had begun a discussion of the things you might expect, Ruby, Rails, AJAX, and the like. Then Phil Windley (who has some excellent posts about a couple tutorials here at eTech) and Rohit Khare of CommerceNet Labs added to the mix some discussion of microfomats, JavaScript, and some ideas that definitely push the envelope of what those things have traditionally done such as, mini-ml and some JavScript talk during which I was treading water so it wouldn't go over my head. Finally, fellow Minnesotan, Dan Grigsby of SiteGoFaster infused some more energy into the ruby on rails discussion as it eventually turned to a preview of David Heinemeier Hansson's tutorial about how with Rails 1.1 (coming this weekend?) you can create great AJAX apps without writing a single line of JavaScript.
The Korean company, Gamepark Holdings, makers of the GPX2 probably did not know that their product would catch on, as it has. Because it runs Linux, it is easy to customize, add to, and hack. And despite a slew of shortcomings (no wi-fi, lack of mainstream games, less-than-stylish design, and short battery life – rumored to be fixed), the GPX2 can do many things that the more popular Nintendo DS and Sony PSP cannot (support for many common file types – mp3, mpg, DivX, bmp, jpg, etc, the ability to emulate classic games) - all because it is open.
When will device manufacturer's learn that opening up their products will make them infinitely more attractive to, hackers and developers at first, but then later, as more hacks and mods are available, to the mainstream market? Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, and mobile phone makers should be embracing freeness and openness as a means of being more profitable. Stop the arrogance (of thinking you can do it better) and start the acquiescence (and yield to the open movement).
Just completing a couple days in Chicago meeting with users of the products I help create. It has been very useful and I have enjoyed my time here, despite being wiped by travel and "glad-handing". I am going to suggest to the “higher-ups” at my company that we hold online product-specific user sessions a couple times a year to solicit direct, actionable (I do have a business degree) feedback that we can use when defining and designing new products and features. Another clear theme I heard was a desire to have software tat is simple. Perhaps 37Signals is on to something; of course they are. Maybe I should look Jason and the boys up while I am in town. Simple, Powerful, Accurate. It may not make for a particularly original idea for developing software products but it is most assuredly what I will be looking for on each screen of future development work.
if anyone understands what im (sic). saying please e-mail me at this e-mail adress (sic).
does anyone here bilieve (sic) that there are aliens in other planets? who really made us is there really a god? im not saying there isnt (sic). but who made god? seriously please answer back at me
I have been pretty busy lately and now I can finally post about some of the work I have been doing. I have co-authored 3 white papers centering around Extreme Programming and web services. Here they are for your review. As you will see I had some well respected help. And I guess some help that is not as well respected.
Metamorphic, Extensible, Autonomous Communication for Web Services
Extreme Programming Considered Harmful
A Theoretical Unification of Extreme Programming and the Transistor
UPDATE: In case you haven't guessed by now these are fake, they are generated by a little application that turned out at least one that has been accepted to a written publication. Ha.
In a deal that will have huge impacts on the web design and publishing industries, Adobe to buy Macromedia. How can two companies who pretty much control most of the design software industry merge. This basically means we are losing half our options. I want to think that this could be good - less but more powerful software to buy, etc. and I think it may work that way in the short-term, but the long term benefits of two companies competing against each other would (and has) benefit the consumer more.
GoLive meet Dreamweaver
Fireworks meet Photoshop
Freehand meet Illustrator
Encore meet Director
LiveMotion (R.I.P.) meet Flash
Innovation meet Stagnation
Choices meet Monopoly
Designers & Web Developers meet MacdobreMedia
Sony has announced that it is getting into the movie on demand game by offering downloadable movies via Movielink. Unfortunately, Firefox users will get an error when attempting to go to the Movielink site that states:
"Sorry, but in order to enjoy the Movielink service you must use Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher, which supports certain technologies we utilize for downloading movies. Click here to get the latest version of Internet Explorer.We do not support Mozilla or Netscape. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."
Is this a Microsoft partnership deal? They do only use Windows Media Player format.
Shoddy technology decisions aside, this is just a poor business model from beginning to end. They claim they are modeling the service after iTunes, but it is really not anything like it except that it is distributed online. Most movies I saw were downloadable for between $4.49 and $4.99 (though they claim there are some for $1.99 I didn't see any that low). The thing is, this just buys you a viewing - and you must complete that viewing within 30 days of purchase and within 24 hours of beginning to watch the film.
Who do they think their audience for these things is? Anyone who is downloading movies to view on their computer is or would be a Netflix or similar service subscriber before they would do this. With Netflix you can keep a movie forever and can start watching a movie in 2001 and complete in 2005 if you want. AND you can easily watch it on your TV.
Maybe they think their market is people who normally get pay-per-view movies. They are delusional if they think this is smart. Pay-per-view movies are available immediately in most cases without waiting 30 to 90 minutes to download, they usually cost between $1.99 and $4.99, and they too can easily be watched on TVs rather than computer screens.
Here's an idea for Movielink, given free of charge. When people pay for and download movies from your service, they should either pay a bit more ($12.00) and own them just as iTunes users do or they should pay less ($2.00) and be able to watch them for a specified period of time.
Why doesn't Picasa w/Hello (from Google, sort of) work more like Flickr? (or perhaps Flickr is solely for the moblogger and not the traditional photo sharer) Is this in the works? Sure sharing photos easily with one or a couple other people has its place but if Picasa could publish photos to the web and network them for sharing purposes you would think that would be much more in line with the rest of Google's offerings?
Many of you may know that I have started a new job this year, indeed a new twist in my career. Because my business cards now say designer on them I can finally enjoy all the perks those prima donnas have been wallowing in for all these years. One such perk is a fantastic workstation setup currently consisting of a Dell Inspiron 9200 laptop with a great 17" screen with a wide aspect ratio (1920 x 1200 native resolution). It has wireless and Bluetooth built in, is fast as all get out, and even has a friggin' subwoofer built-in! What better monitor to accompany this fine machine than a 23" Apple Cinema Display with the same native resolution. If there is a better feeling in the world than looking at this screen all day, I don't want to know it.
A couple weeks ago I posted a suggestion for a Share with a Friend feature for Netflix. In addition to posting these thoughts here on Alt Text I sent a note to Netflix regarding it.
Today I received an email from Netflix inviting me to a sneak preview of their new "Friends" feature. Now it isn't what I had in mind - as my idea focused on sharing a DVD with people who are not Netflix members.
I don't know how valuable this new service will be, it does show that Netflix is trying to improve their service all the time. I will be checking it out in the next few days and reporting on it here.
I think a great feature to add to the Netflix service would be a Share With Friend feature that would allow me to send a DVD directly from my Netflix queue to a friend I think may enjoy it. Netflix could wrap the DVD in a special envelope directed at converting those who try the service (through sharing) to becoming members.
Of course there would be some restrictions to curb the potential for abuse. I can foresee three basic rules: 1) Members can only share with any given friend (address) once per year. 2) Members can have only one movie shared at a time. 3) Members are responsible for loss/damages of any shared movies.
With these rules in place and a willing user base this new feature could be a boon for Netflix's existing viral marketing efforts.
I mocked up some screens of how this feature may be incorporated.
This is one of the coolest uses of wireless technology I have seen.
Here are some of the sayings I want to see on the streets of new York:
Re-Defeat Bush
War is Not Pro-Life
Buck Fush
No one died when Clinton lied.
Save a tree, remove a Bush
Bush: Like a Rock .... only dumber.
The only bush I trust is my own.
We're all wearing the blue dress now.
If you can read this, you're not the president.
This morning (yesterday I guess) as I made my rounds on the web and came to Jason's site I was once again amazed at the amount of time that boy spends on his site. Now gainful employment has its perks, but the ability to post dozens of links and make several planned out posts has got to take a serious chunk out of your day. I would bet Jason spends 3-4 hours of time in his site or on other sites finding links for his site each day.
I may be wrong. Maybe Jason is some kind of webloggin' idiot-savant.
If he does spend that kind of time, however, we really ought to find a way for him to earn some cash. I started thinking about the idea of selling ad space as some weblogs are now doing but the idea seems to make me ill, plus it really clutters up an interface. Then there is the selling of the wares. Jason could sell T-Shirts and mugs, perhaps Silkscreen can become shareware?
Then it came to me — product placement. Maybe Jason could write about his walk home and how he got a craving for a Chalupa from Taco Bell. Perhaps he could tell the world that he just bought a new Trek mountain bike. Each time he would make one of these posts, even if the product is only mentioned in passing, Jason could make some dough. So why not take a little cash on the down-low for a quick word about a sponsor's product?
In fact, I suspect that this is already the case in the "blog community". I find it interesting that 95+% of the personal computing market consists of PC users, yet, I challenge you to find a non-Mac user on Jason's link list. Most of my friends in the web design/development industry have "switched" to Mac after being PC zealots.
Maybe this is not a coincidence? Maybe it is part of a grander, more sinister plot by Apple to "infiltrate" well-visited weblogs and buy their support with shiny new titanium iBooks and iPods — an elaborate campaign that uses the influence of culture creators at the grassroots level.
Though I have not upgraded to Firefox 0.9 yet (actually I have but have found it very buggy and less stable) I do want to take some time to sing the praises of 0.8 and some if the great features of this browser.
First off let me start by saying that I am not a Microsoft basher by any means and have never had problems with Internet Explorer since version 4.x except of course for the security issues (which I believe have less to do with inferior code than with the desire by many to "take Microsoft down" and of course Microsoft's insistence that the browser is integral to every aspect of their OS — but that is another post).
I have used IE exclusively (except for testing) for several years now as both Netscape and Mozilla (and Gecko) all proved to have issues and problems that IE did not have. Furthermore IE was fast AND (not to be too hypocritical) I liked the seeming "integration" IE enjoys with Windows and how many of my web-based tools (Movable Type as the most notable, used the DOM of IE and Windows to provide additional control over things, such as allowing me to highlight a word and add a link to it or format it how I see fit.
A couple things have changed in the browser world however — the biggest of those changes are tabbed browsing as I have become sick of window pollution for various browser windows. A natural progression for me was to try a IE based browser variant with tabbed browsing. I chose Avant Browser and thought I had found the solution. Well, Avant proved too buggy for me and soon outlived its welcome on my desktop.
Just about this time a nice little browser called Firebird. I had heard some about it but after having tried Mozilla, the new Netscape and Gecko I was not impressed — at least on a PC. In addition, I did not (nor do now) understand the convoluted development roadmap at Mozilla and how every initiative fits together. But I like to try new things and Firebird (previously Phoenix and now Firefox due to legal issues) sound like just the thing.
Continue reading "Of Fires and Foxes"So the, very well spread, rumor is that on Monday Apple is going to hold a press conference to announce iTunes Europe. Where it gets interesting, is that it has also been rumored that Steve Jobs is going to announce that he bought the rights to the Beatles songs and he is going to announce this in London on Monday. I would guess that Apple is really only getting the online distribution rights to the songs, if that. I don't know if Michael Jackson can afford to sell all the rights to the Beatles songs any time soon.
An interesting side note from this Reuters article is that Apple has been embroiled in a legal dispute with management for the Beatles, Apple Corps. since September.
The Beatles management have said Apple Computer broke the agreement when it used the logo and trademark to promote its iTunes online music store, the most popular Internet download service in the world.
You won't have to guess which side of this I am coming down on. Even if its only Paul and Ringo, I'll take it over Steve.
When I first say the new G5's I was very impressed. It was beautiful, simple, and powerful — and as a bonus it finally had an operating system that could make it worth using. But there was always a bit of me that was thinking that sure it looks cools but it can't be that great.
After touching one and seeing one in person I now think that if I was given one (for free of course) then I would be a convert and sing its praises all day long — so Apple, there's your option, send me a new G5 and I'll be a convert.
... I'm just saying that the new G5 looks damn cool. I don't really care about whatever speed Apple boasts about. Apple computers are always going to be slower than my PC 6 months after they release their latest and greatest. But who cares - Apple is about design, and the design of the G5 (especially the inner workings of the case) are so sweet. I want one just for its simple beauty.
I think a great feature that Google should develop is a little bookmarklet that allows you to highlight any word on the web and then right-click or something to search for that highlighted word or phrase. I can find some that open a little window to do a search but that isn't what I am looking for. I know someone out there has done this. In fact, Bookmarklets.com has their More Info About bookmarklet but that wasn't quite what I wanted either. So I adapted it and made a bookmark that will allow me to highlight text and then click on it to do a Google search.
Here's the Google Hi-Lite Bookmarklet. Does anyone want to help me make it more robust? I would love the following features:
1. I would like to have it on my right-click menu as an option. I know how to edit the registry for IE for this function but I am getting errors when I try to use the right click option.
2. I would like to have a second option to search exact phrases like you get when putting quotes around a phrase.
Anyone volunteering?
Chances are you do. Google, it is no surprise is the most popular search engine. But did you know that these characters are always coming up with new ways to search for stuff?
Take the Google Catalog Search that searches print catalogs and returns visual results from those catalogs.
Or what about Froogle (fresh out of beta)? While neat, I still would like to see many improvements in this tool. Is a sort by price from lowest to highest really that hard to implement? Or what about a shopping cart feature across all the sites that is stored on Google and can be accessed like an Amazon Wishlist?
Then you can look to Google Labs for the next big (and small) things from Google. Examples include Google Glossary, Google Sets (create a set of like items and Google will expand the set with like items), WebQoutes which annotate your results with quotes from other sites, and Google Shortcuts (which I may end up using a lot), and then there's the not so useful but kinda cool Google Search Viewer.
Check out these files that change your default search engine in your browser to Google. And to think I was just relying on a link in my favorites moved to the toolbar!
Anil pointed out one of the slicker web applications I have seen in a while, BrowserCam takes screenshots of any URL you give it in any of the many browser/platform configurations they support (which is a lot). Now you can see what your site looks like in Safari 1.0b on Mac, Konqueror 3.0.5 on Linux, and Netscape 7 on Windows 2000 to name just a few. The best feature however is that the site will create a layered Photoshop file with each platform configuration as a layer so that you can easily see the minor differences in rendering on each.
The pricing is pretty aggressive at $10.00 for up to 10 URLS or $39.95 per month (unlimited use) but it is a very useful tool. Plus there's a free 8-hour trial! (I'm not kidding - I have like 6 hours and 57 minutes left.
I was pretty excited when I saw "User experience differences between Windows and OS X" listed in the remaindered links section on Kottke.org. I am very interested in this topic and in interface design in general so it seemed like a good read. Unfortunately what I found was a generally biased account of the Mac OSX and the Windows 98/2000 (5+ years old) operating systems. Even if it did target Windows XP (which incidentally incorporated many of the advantages the article claims OSX has sole ownership of: clean layouts, high quality color icons, context sensitive toolbars and menu items) the piece was written like one of so many switch ads and not in an objective manner as I was hoping.
I have been playing with HyperScore today and it is pretty amazing. I know there is other "music making" software out there but HyperScore's power is in its simplicity. The interface used to compose complex musical compositions can quickly be mastered by an 8 year old - though it is taking me a bit longer.
HyperScore was developed at MIT and I saw it in action on a PBS show: Scientific American Frontiers with Alan Alda. I really love that show. It covers such varied topics as Native American diet, to communicating with animals, to wearable computers.
If it wasn't for PBS I may only watch TV for 24 and the Simpsons.
I had nearly given up hope in getting my hands on the unreleased Radiohead album: Hail to the Thief. All my attempts at downloading it had failed with my previous repertoire of file sharing software, then in stepped Hiromi to save the day. He recommended SoulSeek and it worked like a charm.
Radiohead and their record label are understandably pissed off about the theft and subsequent leaking of their latest work. They are such a perfectionist band that having a rough copy of their music out there must trouble them.
Regardless of the purported poor technical quality or unfinishedness of the songs I like the latest work from my favorite band.
Today's Musical Fun Fact: Radiohead began as a band of Oxford students (all current members) named On a Friday.
On another music software-related note: the new WinAmp 3.0 is a step backwards. I am sticking with 2.8 until they fix some of the usability features of it. WinAmp's strength has always been that it wasn't bloated, didn't try to be a media library on your computer and focused on Playing and organizing playlists. Great features like double-clicking to add songs and select all has been replaced with slow-to-render menus and a clunky interface. No thanks.
Probably not, but if benchmark tests such as the ones outlined in The Great Render Race at Adobe.com are any indication, then PCs could be the better machines for designers. (I know this is slightly old news) I am sure many people have noticed the way fast PCs perform better with Photoshop, et. al. but I still felt compelled to present this info in light of all the recent switching going on.
I have been using Opera 7 for the past few days and I really like it. It's a lot like Mozilla but without all the crashes. It is very standards compliant. Related: IE 6 seems to be slightly more standards-friendly than its predecessor but I still need workarounds to get CSS to look similar in Mozilla/Opera/IE 6. Ugh!
Sure there was some Japanese cellular phone issues and the National Weather data feeds got disrupted for like an hour, but big deal, that stuff doesn t even make page 2.
I guess, all I am asking is where are all the extremists, fanatics, rioters, hackers, etc? Have we become a world of wait-and-see-ers? Everyone was so interested in what was going to happen and watching those events that they didn t take the time to draw up terrorist plots of their own. Well shame on us all! Shame on those lazy militia groups and mass suicide cults, shame on anyone calling themselves an extremist or a guerrilla. Now there won t be another good "end of the world" day for some 1000 years!
The lunacy of the precautionary disconnect is so great that I am surprised there aren't mass suicides by IT leaders across the globe. Because you know there was weeks of memos and discussions directed to "management" from the heads of IT at all of these companies attempting to explain why the site going down is a dumb idea. Then management reads an article in Forbes about security and mandates that everyone turn the power off on their computers throughout the company. Hadley!
Here's an article about the precautionary disconnect.
And just remember, there's a whole year left in the 20th century so don't buy into all this 21st century crap just yet. I hate Y2K hype.
And for everyone's (well at least geeks) pleasure here is the freshest "yo mama" joke I have heard in a while:
Yo momma's so fat she makes emacs look like pico!
I am tired of using 216 colors, and looking at the world through a 600 x 400 pixel box. I am tired of dithering and aliasing, and verdana. I am bored by the "web-culture" out there, and of clients choosing the worst designs.
I am soo over this site and all my sites and all my friends' sites
I am tired of ranting and I know I feel like this every once and a while.
I need something to fall in love with again. I need to work outside of the industry for a while. I need to get time for my own thoughts and ideas to grow and evolve. I need the kick in the ass to really learn the programs I used often. I need inspiration to take that first damn art class.
I need to quit my bitching.
People PC - the idea is you get a new computer, unlimited internet access, free on-site support, and other deals passed your way for $24.95 / month
Here's what they say:
The computer is a Toshiba 366 Mhz Intel Celeron, w/64 MB of RAM and a 6 GB hard drive. You get an 8 MB video card, a 56 k modem, a 15" monitor and speakers to boot. It seems ike a great deal for mom's (hopefully mine wouldn't need to call me for computer help then)
First Internet Bank - basically everything is online.
I am thinking about doing something like this. They offer ATM usage at any of 42,000 ATM's and give you $6/month to cover out of network ATM usage. They have 3% interest on checking accounts and its really set up to pay bills on-line (a definite plus). I just wish there we're more competitive forces at work in this industry. Really this should all be free because we are allowing them to not hire tellers and the like.
Don't even get me started on ATM fees. I cannot stand them!
Oh yeah, I back on the eBay again. I need a 12 step program.
And when the hell can I expect Homesite 5. I will not switch to 4 but I think it could be better.
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