Archive for October, 2006
NeXTSTEP: 11 Years Ago
Oct 31st
So, I was recently pointed to Steve Jobs’ NeXTSTEP Release 3 demo. It’s pretty amazing to watch what would eventually become OS X in its first incarnation. What’s more amazing is how much of that framework still exists today. In fact, it almost makes you wonder what they have been doing with OS X since so much of it was obviously functional in the early 90s.
NeXTSTEP’s code is still seen today in OS X – if you poke around in the code or even some little hacks from the command like, you’ll still see objects referred to with their original “NS_” prefixes.
Anyway, check out the video. It’s long, but it’s really interesting.
Windows Vista Can Go &#@% Itself
Oct 31st
After reading about the nonsense buried within the Windows End User License Agreement, and the crazy restrictions Vista is going to introduce, I’m happier than ever to be on a Mac.
Let me quote: So you can’t create a virtual image using Home Basic ($199) or Home Premium ($239). However, the EULA does allow you to use Vista Business ($299) or Vista Ultimate ($399). Hmmm… I wonder why? It couldn’t possibly be because those editions cost more, could it? Wanna bet? The fact that there aren’t any technical restrictions in place to prevent users from loading Home editions into VMWare, only legal and support barriers, sure lends credence to that supposition.
Let me ask – is the language in the EULA even legal? Can Microsoft actually prevent me from running software I purchased – and therefore, is properly licensed – in a virtual machine? What’s next – can they dictate that certain types of devices cannot be attached to my computer? Or certain BRANDS? What about certain files not being stored in NTFS? Can they tell me that I’m not allowed to visit certain websites with their browser? Or that I can’t install certain programs?
I use Microsoft products at work, almost exclusively, but I must say, I really wish there were an *easy transition* to an alternative, because Micrsoft licensing SUCKS with a capital “FRIGGIN SUCKS.” I’ve written about Windows licensing and how much it sucks before. But it’s getting worse. And what’s even worse is that people won’t read the EULA and will continue to sign away more and more freedoms. Sigh.
What I’m Hoping to See in PicasaWeb 2.0
Oct 30th
Google’s PicasaWeb program has been out for awhile now, it’s had a chance to sink in and get a little more popular. It hasn’t taken off like Flickr, but no one expected it to, since it’s not feature-packed enough to make it an actual competitor.
I’ve got close to 1GB of photos in my PicasaWeb account now, spread across 46 albums, and PicasaWeb is getting a little clunky now. So, Google, now that we’ve shipped and rolled out fairly well, it’s time to start talking about how to kick it up a notch.
PicasaWeb is in dire need of several features just to keep it usable. We all have our “this would be cool” features – mine is “public groups.” But there are some that are just plan necessary. Read on for more.
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My Dream App More Like A Nightmare
Oct 27th
So, awhile back, someone came up with this idea – invite users to dream up an application, then hold a contest and actually develop the best ones. I mean – how cool is that, right? ANYTHING you can think of! What a great opportunity to see some incredible ideas come to life.
Let me cut to the chase: it appears the vote has been hacked. Clearly, something fishy is going on here!
The winners are – get this – a cookbook, a sync manager, and a thing that makes your desktop look like the weather. I cannot believe it. I’m stunned. THIS is what Mac users wanted? THIS is the best we could come up with?
One guy dreamt big: you hum into your computer and it pitch corrects and allows you to create a song. Whoa! Cool!
One girl had an interesting idea: you take pictures of your clothes and then can keep a “virtual closet” where you can look at your clothes together and design outfits.” Holy crap – NOTHING I know of does this, even if I don’t have much of a need for it.
But you see, these are REAL apps that are the first of their kind. Who needs a new sync manager? And who but chefs will really use Cookbook? And I couldn’t care less about my desktop wallpaper matching the weather, being as though I can LOOK OUTSIDE if I want to know!
What a letdown.
received via the firsttube.com API
Firefox 2 is RSS Stupid
Oct 27th
I’ve used Firefox since at least 2002 when it was “Phoenix 0.2.” The internet trail proves it. I *think* I used Phoenix 0.1. Either way, I’ve been on the Firefox bandwagon since the very beginning – actually before it – since I used Mozilla on Linux even earlier when it was in the 0.9x days. So it really burns me to say that I’m VERY disappointed in the Firefox devs. They have intentionally deprecated an XML convention called “xml-stylesheet” by ignoring it alltogether and overriding what developers put in their code. I believe that RSS/XML is BROKEN in Firefox 2, no matter what anyone says.
This is the bug, check it out and please vote for it.
Update: 17 minutes after I added my comment, the bug was re-opened. Thanks, Jake Olefsky!
New Admin Panel and Voting
Oct 26th
You may notice that there are now buttons next to each entry on my blog. These are “agree” and “disagree” buttons. Although right now each post is assigned a “score,” soon it will probably be “X positives, Y negatives.” You can vote once per entry.
Also, I’m going to be rewriting the administration panel of Small Axe shortly. It’s not because it’s dirty, because it’s not, it’s actually modular and easy to write new plugins. However, It’s not ideally organized. I’ve updated the icons from a mix of random icons and Tango icons to mostly Echo icons from the forthcoming Fedora Core 7. I really like the new ones.
As you can see, I’ve finally added preference panes(!) for some features that I’ve had for awhile, such as User Agent review. The database cleanup link doesn’t work yet, nor does the Recent Votes link, but both are functions I will be implementing shortly.
What We Learned From AllOfMP3
Oct 26th
After reading an article on The Reg that claims that the Danes have blocked access to AllOfMP3.com, I decided to spout off a bit about this. The RIAA and record labels need to wake the heck up and listen to consumers. And they are speaking VERY loudly. Continued…
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Tony LaRussa Just Took a Dump on Baseball
Oct 25th
I’m really sick of hearing about Kenny Rogers and the pine tar controversy, and it’s only two days old. For those who don’t know, Tigers pitcher Kenny Rogers was spotted with an oily brown substance on his inner thumb in the first inning while pitching in Game 2 of the World Series the other night. The goop, which was later explained as “dirt,” was removed by the second inning, and Rogers went on to pitch another 6 innings of masterful ball. But the story gets a little weird from there. Read on for more.
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