"Made in the USA" must be an expensive feature.
To be exact $200 because that's the price difference between the new Google Nexus Q media player and the latest Apple TV which is $99.
Santino just also "finds it fun" to bug humans. He even appears to target certain people that perhaps really get on his nerves. The attacks are all the more successful because Santino plays it cool, holding back on posturing before whipping out the stone or other projectile.
Sounds like a human, a bully human.
So as a buyer I get to be treated like a pirate with all these warnings. But if I download the same content from the infamous channels the warnings are removed.
Doesn't it seem weird to these companies to treat your customers like pirates?
The Netherlands adopted crucial legislation to safeguard an open and secure internet in The Netherlands. It is the first country in Europe to implement net neutrality in the law
The Netherlands may be the first country in Europe to adopt net neutrality but it is just the second in the World!
While I'm proud of what my country has accomplished, as a world citizen I'm somewhat disappointed. This law has only been adopted by two countries so far, Chili being the first.
Three great things captured in a single picture, I added the drinks myself: Having drinks and ideas worth sharing.
Credit goes to James Minchin III for his awesome behind the scenes at Mad Men photo collection.
Got fed up with typing my password in iTunes Connect every time because the form won't let me copy/paste it. Not sure why Apple is making this more difficult than it has to be.
To circumvent the annoyance you can either disable Javascript or override the onpaste function in the password input field and have it return true instead of false:
document.getElementsByName('theAccountPW')[0].onpaste = function() {
return true
};
To automate the process we turn that code into a bookmarklet which can be run by clicking a bookmark in your browser. Install by dragging the following link to your bookmarks bar: Enable password pasting on iTunes Connect.
Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs in a board meeting, August 1997:
Ed Woolard, Gareth Chang, you can stay, everyone else is getting punk'd!
I guess Steve's Reality Distorting Field™ is still at work.
This comment on HN sums it up nicely:
1) They Osborne'd their product line by prematurely showing off new products that weren't ready.
2) They tried to meet the iPad head-on in the consumer market by calling their device a Playbook but their strength is in enterprise. Thus the marketing message came out confused and having a pompous "Amateur hour is over" campaign sealed their own fate.
3) Repeated, worldwide BBM network failures that went on for extended periods of time, alienating its most loyal customers when RIMM needed them the most. This was their core competency and they neglected it. Having alternatives on competing phones like iMessage, WhatsApp etc didn't help.
Harry Potter ebooks and audio books sans DRM, sans vender lock-in, works everywhere. This is how we want our entertainment.
What a great idea.
Following the rumors of the iPad Mini, A.T. Faust at AppAdvice makes a good argument why 7.85 inch would be a good size for an iPad.
But keeping the same resolution of 1024 x 768 and shrinking the screen size by 20% would have a negative effect on the effective touch surface area. Interface elements like buttons would become to small to touch. Apple's Human Interface Guidelines recommends a minimum touch surface area of 44 x 44 points, 88 x 88 points for the newer generation iOS devices with a higher pixel density.
But how many inches of the screen should your finger cover to interact with the interface? The math says, 0.33 inches for iPads:
iPad 1st/2nd generation: 44 points / 132 ppi = 0.33 inch
iPad 3rd generation: 88 points / 264 ppi = 0.33 inch
And 0.27 inches for the iPhones, regardless of the higher pixel density on the newer models:
iPhone 4/4S: 88 points / 326 ppi = 0.27 inch
iPhone 2G/3G/3GS: 44 points / 163 ppi = 0.27 inch
So if the iPad Mini would have a 7.85 inch screen with a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels it would have a touch surface area equivalent to an iPhone 3GS:
iPad Mini: 44 points / 163 ppi = 0.27 inch
This makes the rumored iPad size at least more plausible because it follows Apple's Human Interface Guidelines.
But I'm still sceptical. Apple has been upgrading all of its iOS devices with higher ppi displays since the iPhone 4, followed by the iPod Touch and now the 3rd generation iPad. Even OS X, with Mountain Lion, is headed to support high ppi displays.
Releasing a new iPad with old technology doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Apple is notorious for moving forwards regarding technology, not backwards, but who knows.
The entertainment industry often exaggerates their losses from piracy to get sympathy from congress and the public.
In this comical video on TED, Rob Reid from Rhapsody puts these losses in perspective.
A side note, I think Mr. Reid meant the $6 Billion iPod.
Funny and clever promo video from Ecotricity, a green energy company based in the UK.
Fun fact.
This video shows the implications when a nation turns on their cookers and kettles to make tea, at 8pm, right after the closing credits of EastEnders.
Within a decade, the FAA is predicting that space tourism will become a billion-dollar industry, according to a Reuters report.
Space Tourism made possible by capitalism.
Interesting tidbit from Bill Gates whom also invests in clean energy:
He suggested that intermittent energy sources such as wind and solar power shouldn’t be eligible for government subsidies unless they’re matched with energy storage technology. Spending government money on wind power by itself, without also investing public money in energy storage and expanded transmission capacity to make the power more widely available, is "foolish".
This confirms my impression of solar and wind power that it is not an alternative energy source.
To use the car analogy, solar and wind power are like a hybrid car. You can run the car on battery power for some time but when the battery runs down you need to switch to the petrol engine again.
A free beta of the new Photoshop was released today and Marc Edwards posted a rundown of some of the improvements:
Layer styles can now be applied to groups in the same way they can be applied to bitmap, vector and type layers
This is great, turning groups into smart objects is no longer necessary.
The colour picker now accepts HEX colours that include a #.
This was an annoying bug when copy/pasting color strings from the web.
Adobe also re- redesigned the interface, looks cleaner still.
Some backing from CGI experts who work with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg on why the viral flying bird man video is a fake.
I'm guessing they will reveal their secrets on April 1st.
Weird event where 30 or so dolphins swim to shore in Brazil and get rescued.
Excerpt from Zed Shaw, in his book "Learn Python The Hard Way":
Which programming language you learn and use doesn't matter. Do not get sucked into the religion surrounding programming languages as that will only blind you to their true purpose of being your tool for doing interesting things.
This really applies to any tool or product you use professionally or personally. Wether it's Python or Ruby, Git or SVN, iOS or Android, Canon or Nikon, flat or carbonated water. Pick the right tool for the job and start making interesting stuff. Don't waste your own or someone else's time just because they chose a different tool or product.
But it's easy to fall back and get yourself into new tech religion. As an ex-fanboy from the Mac vs Windows era I still failed to avoid the religion of programming languages when getting into programming. So it's good to be reminded not to get distracted from your true goal:
... it's not the languages that matter but what you do with them. Actually, I always knew that, but I'd get distracted by the languages and forget it periodically
Tech religions are often fueled by users unfamiliar with the alternative technologies. Choosing the right tool requires a thorough understanding of both the tool chosen and its alternatives. Understanding technology takes time and experience and by the time you really understand both technologies you'll come to the conclusion neither technology is superior to the other.
Picking the right tool depends on the problem to solve, tech religion isn't going to change that and it certainly isn't going to solve your problem any faster.
A nuclear meltdown is often associated1 with a nuclear wasteland as a result:
Nuclear Power plants are absolutely terrible for the environment. They have the potential to destroy life for Centuries and make areas inhabitable. All it takes is one slip up. Is it worth it? I don't think so.
But you might be surprised how well wildlife in Chernobyl is doing. And although the plants and animals aren't as healthy as their neighboring counterparts outside the disaster zone, wildlife is thriving none the less, making the site anything but a wasteland.
Brake the US law, loose your domain name.
I have no intention to violate US law but this is not the freedom the internet was built upon. Note to self:
In the future, do not register a domain under .com, .net, org, .biz or .info for business or personal use.
It might be safer to register a .ly domain name from Libya.
That's got to hurt.
Interesting turn of events in Apple's and Proview's iPad dispute.
- 1998, May: Apple unveils the iMac
- 1999, Jul: Apple unveils the iBook
- 2000, Aug: Proview releases the iPad
- 2009, Dec: Apple acquires worldwide iPad trademark from Proview for $55k through a shell company called IP Application Development, IPAD Ltd for short
- 2010, Jan: Apple announces the iPad
- 2011, Oct: Proview demands $800M from Apple to use the iPad trademark in China
- 2011, Dec: Apple loses right to use the iPad trademark in China
- 2012, Jan: Proview loses battle to ban iPad in China
- 2012, Feb: Proview charges Apple with fraud and unfair competition in iPad trademark acquisition
Notice that Apple's iMac and iBook preceded Proview's iPad and how Proview's iPad looks awfully similar to Apple's iMac.
An investor asked Tim Cook if Apple was interested in buying Greece:
Turning the conversation back to cash, an investor asked whether Apple would consider using its cash to buy Greece, which faces a debt crisis.
His reponse:
We’ve looked into many things, but not that.
There is no such thing as a stupid question.
The new Ubuntu HUD resembles a product Aza Raskin developed a while back for Windows. It's called Enso Launcher and has similar functionality. Besides launching apps it could control apps, manipulate text and do simple calculations as is shown in this screenshot.
A similar feature exists in Mac OS X and it's especially helpful when controlling a Mac with a keyboard. It works and looks similar to spotlight. To use it, hit the following key combo and start typing:
Command + Shift + /
Apple picked the wrong subject when showcasing the bennefits of the digital textbook.
A transcript from Apple's promotional video, 31 seconds into the video:
With US history they print a textbook and it's outdated almost the second that it's printed.
That's the thing about history, it hardly changes. On the flipside, digital textbooks are the future.
As long as it's optional I couldn't care less.
Apple used Xerox in the past but copying others is not what led Apple to become the most successful company of the past ten years. Regarding Samsung, it can never be "The Next Apple" if it continues to copy others, so shamelessly I might add.
You don't need to read 636 words to understand why but I encourage you to do so.
Excellent location.
Excerpt from John Gruber:
It also occurs to me that there’s no company in tech with as many enemies as Google. Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter — Google has taken the fight to all of them. In this sense they’re like Microsoft 15 years ago.
Google is the next Microsoft, Microsoft is the next IBM and IBM is the next.. I don't know, I haven't been around long enough to know. Facebook is the next AOL, Twitter is the next ICQ and Apple is the next Apple.
History repeats itself and torches are passed on even in tech.
Update: You could argue Facebook is the next Google.
The trend in Marco's list is your privacy and the question is: How much of it are you willing to trade for these free services?
Scientists propose a new calendar and eliminating time zones:
The two men also propose eliminating time zones and adopting a universal time around the world to streamline international business.
In the 90s the wristwatch company Swatch pushed a similar concept called Internet Time or beat time. Seconds, minutes and hours were replaced by beats and beat time would be the same throughout the world, eliminating time zones.
Excerpt from Wikipedia explaining Internet Time zones:
Like UTC, Swatch Internet Time is the same throughout the world. For example, when the time is 875 .beats, or @875, in New York, it is also @875 in Tokyo: 0.875 × 24 hours = 21:00 BMT = 20:00 UTC
Internet Time never caught on but Swatch still sells wristwatches with beat time.
No one eyed me suspiciously when I put the adapter in my pocket. I just scanned it and walked out.
Service is one feature which have made the Apple stores so popular. And trust is just one aspect of good service.
Great talk about using Gamification in Marketing by Gabe Zichermann.
He makes a point about how status is used to gain customer loyalty and how everybody cares about status, even people saying otherwise.
They care of how outside of our status system they are.
At the Thenextweb they seem to think the UK has separated from Europe.
Can't wait to try iTunes Match in Europe though.
Most popular online services find their way to a mobile platform via iOS and eventually add support for Android. Some online services even start out as an iOS app like Instagram or remain entirely iOS exclusive like Path.
As the Android platform grows and has recently surpassed the iOS platform in marketshare, 45% vs 27% in the US according to a Comscore report, developers remain to prefer iOS as a first release platform.
This to dismay of Eric Schmidt which has recently called developers to prioritize Android:
Whether you like ICS or not, and again I like it a great deal, you will want to develop for that platform, and perhaps even first.
What is keeping developers from prioritizing Android is what many already have speculated. And now has been backed up by numbers from analytics firm Flurry Analytics. Their revenue analysis prove iOS to be roughly 4x more profitable per app. This is despite the larger market share of the Android platform.
It's up for speculation what makes the iOS platform more profitable but Google's stance towards apps and selling them through an app store is certainly not improving the matter. Google's own priority lies with the Web and not with native apps. An excerpt from an article posted by CNET in February to prove my point:
Google's philosophy of pushing Web development over native software development when possible, a strategy that isn't always practical on smartphones but is starting to make more sense as computing power grows in tablets.
Google's quest in this world is to one day replace software developed for specific machines with software developed on and for the Web.
And for most mobile users the web is something that is free to use, albeit paid by ads or your privacy. Contrary to native apps for which users pay for in an app store.
If Eric Schmidt really wants developers to prioritize the Android platform, Google itself has to prioritize native apps.
As a developer you have limited resources and need to prioritize in order to succeed and starting to develop for the most profitable platform makes a lot of sense.
Google apologizes for releasing a buggy Gmail app for iOS:
Earlier today we launched a new Gmail app for iOS. Unfortunately, it contained a bug which broke notifications and caused users to see an error message when first opening the app. We’ve removed the app while we correct the problem, and we’re working to bring you a new version soon. Everyone who’s already installed the app can continue to use it.
I respect Google for admitting they released a buggy app. But what they should have done is not release it at all.
In its current form the Gmail app for iOS is a Frankenstein app, not really native and a worse experience than its web counterpart. Google is pushing web apps where they do not belong.
Web apps are to Google what Windows is to Microsoft, the only solution to every problem.
Steve Jobs never spoke openly about giving to charity and Apple hasn't been known for taking part in charity programs but that is about to change according to an announcement made by Tim Cook:
Starting September 15, when you give money to a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, Apple will match your gift dollar-for-dollar, up to $10,000 annually. This program will be for full-time employees in the US at first, and we’ll expand it to other parts of the world over time.
Although this could have been in Steve Jobs' company testament I'd like to think this is a move made by the new Apple and would like to see more of it.