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As for the Tumblr site - while amusing, Google has problems of its own which in practical terms would matter to more people than most of the errors shown in that Tumblr link.

But it has far fewer, and missing the location of ARBY's is hardly on par with incorrectly locating Berlin.

Apple just has some more highly visible issues out of the gate.

And of course that's what they are being chastised for, and rightly so. When Windows Phone came out there were apologists suggesting missing features or incorrect functionality would be fixed over time and were fine because iOS and Android had the same problems when they were released, well the bar has been raised, if you're not at least on par then you're not ready to be in the market, which is why the reaction to Apple maps has been so large and so negative.
The 'why' doesn't matter to people the fact that customers aren't being put first is what matters.

Nokia launched 3D on mobile first, and deserves props for that.

But have you looked at the Nokia 3D maps?

The maps they have do not look at good as Google Earth, or Apple Maps 3D in the areas I've looked.

I can't find coverage anywhere of current cities that support Apply flyover, but it would not surprise me if they were ahead in terms of building 3D data.

In terms of areas with 2D images mapped onto 3D terrain, it also does not look as good - look at Hoover dam. Nokia has a really old map (shows bridge still under construction) and also does the worst job of mapping the 2D image on the 3D terrain.

You can use it to "see through" buildings to find things nearby.

As you can with quite a number of augmented reality apps on the iPhone, and have for some time.

As for the Tumblr site - while amusing, Google has problems of its own which in practical terms would matter to more people than most of the errors shown in that Tumblr link. Over time Apple will correct those errors. If you really want to you can find issues with any of the mapping services, Apple just has some more highly visible issues out of the gate.

Longer term, Google already has more eyeballs than Apple looking at its maps

But not correcting them anymore. Google still has some things wrong that Apple has right already. Apple just has to reach roughly the same level of accuracy, which is then close enough for pretty much everyone.

it's not just that Android is more popular,

Just because something is more widely in use does not mean it's more popular. It can also simply be cheaper.

On the other hand, an iOS user using Google Maps is not really a significant gain to Google. What do they get from it, exactly? Only search history.

"Only search history" is the whole reason Google is as big as they are.

Google gains understanding of what people are looking for on maps. Sure they probably retain enough users (especially desktop users) to get similar data, but every data point helps. They also lose those users as an advertising target, promoting destinations for them and so on...

The utility company tried to call their bluff, Microsoft wasn't bluffing so they started their heaters, and the utility company folded.

Are you sure they didn't Start their photocopiers?

Thing is, Android is for hackers.

No, it's not.

It's open source. Who's that of interest to - accountants?

Absolutely. It's for accountants at carriers and OEMs who want a platform with no R&D expense.

And lawyers. Licensing is always about lawyers.

The fact that the terms of the license happen to mean that a few incidental hackers can get the source and tinker with it is a minor side benefit. Google's main purpose in open-sourcing Android is to get as many OEMs using the platform as possible, so that as many end users will be storing their information on Google's servers as possibles

Apple has no slogan. Don't know where you got that idea.

Perhaps from here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-525181561056700741

Or maybe it was this.

Or from The Prophet himself (may his turtleneck never sag)? http://www.flickr.com/photos/curiouslee/5807458526/

Or one of the other half million hits you can find when your mom overcomes her revulsion to your drooling for long enough to show you how to use Google.

Good idea. You should go look up what "slogan" means.

That's not a slogan, any more than "Don't be evil" is Google's slogan. (Really, it's not, never was.) They're both lines from various public statements that became internet memes.

Thing is, Android is for hackers.

No, it's not.

It's open source. Who's that of interest to - accountants?

There are forked versions of it (e.g. Cyanogenmod) - who created those - poets?

Apple has no slogan. Don't know where you got that idea.

Perhaps from here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-525181561056700741

Or maybe it was this.

Or from The Prophet himself (may his turtleneck never sag)? http://www.flickr.com/photos/curiouslee/5807458526/

Or one of the other half million hits you can find when your mom overcomes her revulsion to your drooling for long enough to show you how to use Google.

Yeah, all your examples are from 2010, and from cursory glance, they're all resolved

My example has not been resolved.

Also note that some of the issues on the Tumblr blog are not real either. So those should be dropped from consideration too, right?

You might think it's unfair that we're judging a map that's been out for less than a month to one that's been out for years,

I do not think that unfair at all, just as it's equally fair to compare any new mobile devices to what already exists in the market, a problem for WP8.

if you're going to release a new product it's going to be compared to what is currently available.

And if we are going to start doing such comparisons we have to be aware of issues with both the new AND the old, not just the new. Often the existing product is considered perfect simply because we have grown used to the flaws.

The fact is, there are too many errors in obvious stuff - misspelled capital cities, duplications of entire islands

Yes, there are flaws, some of them quite glaring (like city misspellings). But it's not as widespread as you make out, and it's usually off in less mainstream parts of Europe that we find most of the issues.

It's a complete abandonment of the philosophy of "It Just Works".

Of course it is. It has to be. Apple had to launch maps in a beta state, there simply is no other way to start improving it rapidly or really at all.

it's a mystery to me why this is a surprise or a big deal to anyone.

For most of the people that have the iPhone 5 though, this will not matter; local searches will generally work, places they know will generally be marked on the map correctly.

It will take far longer than 6 months to catch up to Google. If that's all long it takes, Apple would have got it right it during the beta.

You can only get so close without massive crowdsourcing of corrections. Apple got as far as they could in beta.

Apple already does one thing better than Google. It can find an Arby's that has been in the same place for years. If Apple is already ahead in some cases, why do you think they cannot catch up? Google has had years to correct that and failed to do so.

If you look at the actual errors posted around iOS maps, you'll note there are really not that many errors (since a number of items are humorous 3D map issues that Google Earth also exhibits) and they are easily fixed. Again, six months of user feedback and searches should work as well in iOS maps as they do in Google. Transit at that point will certainly be better on iOS than in Google maps.

You do realize the first image on that site (north america labeled as Australia) is a total fabrication, right? I mean if you're just going to outright lie about Apple Map problems people are really going to think you are crying wolf.

If you think Google is going to save you, you might want to think again. It can't even find an Arby's when you need it, much less this other stuff:

http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/11/05/21st-century-war-google-maps-error-leads-to-nicaraguan-invasion/
http://www.maproomblog.com/2010/09/google_maps_errors_and_disappearing_cities.php
http://www.maproomblog.com/2010/06/more_fun_with_google_maps_errors.php
http://www.maproomblog.com/2010/05/saint-pierre_and_miquelon_are_apparently_underwater.php
http://www.maproomblog.com/2010/06/more_fun_with_google_maps_errors.php
http://www.maproomblog.com/2010/05/saint-pierre_and_miquelon_are_apparently_underwater.php
http://www.firegang.com/google-maps-showing-errors
http://www.martijnbeijk.com/google-maps-errors-caused-by-teleatlas
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jjdelc/92865795
http://www.nodalbits.com/bits/google-maps-new-changes-new-errors

You do realize the first image on that site (north america labeled as Australia) is a total fabrication, right? I mean if you're just going to outright lie about Apple Map problems people are really going to think you are crying wolf.

If you think Google is going to save you, you might want to think again. It can't even find an Arby's when you need it, much less this other stuff:

http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/11/05/21st-century-war-google-maps-error-leads-to-nicaraguan-invasion/
http://www.maproomblog.com/2010/09/google_maps_errors_and_disappearing_cities.php
http://www.maproomblog.com/2010/06/more_fun_with_google_maps_errors.php
http://www.maproomblog.com/2010/05/saint-pierre_and_miquelon_are_apparently_underwater.php
http://www.maproomblog.com/2010/06/more_fun_with_google_maps_errors.php
http://www.maproomblog.com/2010/05/saint-pierre_and_miquelon_are_apparently_underwater.php
http://www.firegang.com/google-maps-showing-errors
http://www.martijnbeijk.com/google-maps-errors-caused-by-teleatlas
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jjdelc/92865795
http://www.nodalbits.com/bits/google-maps-new-changes-new-errors

Well yes, but the fact that they managed to come up with 10 failures for Google maps over the many years its been available

No, it's because people stopped caring about failures with google maps.

Here's a current one for example.

Or how about when I went to Berlin this April and Google claimed there was an Apple Store in a place where there was not? Fun times (that one at least is fixed).

Again, Apple has some fixing to do but to claim Google was the best mapping experience ever is to ignore real failings it also has. In fact all Apple has to do is listen to user submissions about problems in maps and they may well catch up to Google levels of accuracy within a year....

Apple seems to have made an order of magnitude more

I'm not seeing that Apple has an order of magnitude more mistakes. I'm seeing they have some big glaring errors but the particulars are mostly right as are most of the searches. And as noted the 3D stuff Google has almost as wrong in a lot of cases.

I mean one of the complaints about Apple maps in that Tumblr blog is that some of the satellite images are winter and some summer! OH NOES MORE ACCURATE MAPS FOR THAT CITY BUT IT'S NOT ALSO WINTER!

Apple has made an order of magnitude more errors than their competitors. Consequently they are being ridiculed for this.

They are being ridiculed because Apple Trolls attack at the slightest sign of any issue, and Apple is held to a standard which no other company must meet as a result.

You're right. I've been looking for this place called Schadenfreude and I can't seem to find it anywhere. Is it on your Apple map?

Got a heap of Schadenfreude right here.

Delightful. For you see, in the end if Apple can find food and Google cannot, which userbase will survive the coming winter?

Anyone wondering about the quality of this endeavor should check out the silly Discworld short that Snowgum Films did without a budget: Run Rincewind Run!

There's also the behind-the-scenes pictures.

Whenever I even see the word "Skeuomorphism" all I can picture is something like this:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4087/5045492048_423f953751.jpg

Is it not an original work of art?

The mustache might me. Maybe. But no, its a derivative work.

Would you say Andy Warhol was infringing upon Campbell's IP?

Yes. Absolutely. Without question. It was clearly a transformative but derivative work.

But that's not really the important question. The important question is whether it was fair use. The mustachioed mona lisa was parody and defendable as fair use.

The Warhol on the other hand... not so much... I expect Campbell's could have asserted trademark and copyright claims against warhol and won.

But it sounds like they went the other way:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4152/4843441474_f175f96718_b.jpg

ie... they likely had rights, but chose not to assert them here. It was effectively an authorized work at that point.

Here have some more faggot!

No, thanks, four faggots was enough for dinner.

Here's a link.

Would have thought the editors could have done this...

Ah, here it is... linked from within the spaceweather.com link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/19299984@N08/7976507568

Could you please compare Ferrari F1 and Liebherr T1-272 minin truck [e.g. http://www.flickr.com/photos/doncampbellmodels/3434490464/%5D? Not possible, right? Different products for different requirements.

Have a look at Qi Hardware's NanoNote. It seems like it it fit the bill pretty well, especially if you pair it with TuxBrain's Universal Breakout Board (a small breakout board that plugs into the NanoNote's MicroSD port).

I've bought two NanoNotes for use as portable music players (one for me, one for my wife). We've been running MPD + ncmpc on them (which makes it convenient to either browse or search for songs), along with smart auto-DJ (which means that you can just pick a song to start with, and it'll automatically keep the play-queue filled with appropriate-sounding songs), for the past two years or so.

Running just on the commodity battery that fits inside, we've found that they'll run for at least 8 hours; but they also support the addition of small external battery that'll get you another ~30 hours.

As a tourist who's been on one or two small, sightseeing aircraft - can I suggest going without the music?

Especially on a helicopter where the background noise is already quite phenomenal, going without some barely-audible music warbling away over the headset is hardly going to impair my experience. I'd much rather be looking out the windows (or absence thereof) and listening to what the pilot has to say...

As a tourist who's been on one or two small, sightseeing aircraft - can I suggest going without the music?

Especially on a helicopter where the background noise is already quite phenomenal, going without some barely-audible music warbling away over the headset is hardly going to impair my experience. I'd much rather be looking out the windows (or absence thereof) and listening to what the pilot has to say...

As a tourist who's been on one or two small, sightseeing aircraft - can I suggest going without the music?

Especially on a helicopter where the background noise is already quite phenomenal, going without some barely-audible music warbling away over the headset is hardly going to impair my experience. I'd much rather be looking out the windows (or absence thereof) and listening to what the pilot has to say...

You don't know anything about Redifon simulators? If so, there is a broken classic Trident 3 simulator of that era in need of repair...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/neil_lomax/sets/72157624752599289/

The website's a bit buggered up, but the owner can be contacted via: http://hs121trident.co.uk/G-AWZQ.php

The problem is you don't have a say over this: Even if you're not a iPhone-weilding Youtube-uploading Instagram-snapping Facebook-addicted Gmail-enabled Twitter-junkie, you will have friends that are and upload information about you without thinking about it. I'm Privacy aware, but many non-technical people aren't. Now add to that webcams and surveillance video and there is no escape. No wonder they've been dragging their heals on privacy legislation with real teeth: Corporations will love it for data-mining and government will love it for surveillance.

Take this girl: She had a photo snapped of her at a friend's BBQ. They uploaded it to Flikr without thinking, and next thing she knows she's on advertising billboards: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sesh00/515961023/ http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1047772/virgin-mobile-sued-virgin

I'm pretty sure that 5081 refers to a specific single-field layout, not to 80-column punched cards as such. There were many layouts. I seem to recall using something very similar to this FORTRAN card even when I wasn't doing FORTRAN, and I don't think they had "FORTRAN STATEMENT" printed on them.

I don't recall anybody loathing punched cards. They were a simple, reliable, if somewhat bulky medium. It is true that magnetic discs represented a great improvement. In my case, floppies were never more than a backup medium, since the systems I worked with always had hard disks.

Yep. Dug into the closet and only the "blank" cards say 5081 on them. The yellow Assembler cards have a different number (two of them actually, since they're not Genuine IBM), blue COBOL cards are 3393 and the pink FORTRAN (sic) cards have a 88157 on them.

I recall being disgusted because after too many trips through the RJE card reader, a quarter-inch wide notch would wear out in the top center of the cards (where the picker pushed them) and quite a few incidents of woe from dropped decks, but the only floppy I ever got near on a mainframe was the one that held its microcode. For actual data and program entry people were either using punched cards or key-to-disk/disk-to-tape systems.

I'm pretty sure that 5081 refers to a specific single-field layout, not to 80-column punched cards as such. There were many layouts. I seem to recall using something very similar to this FORTRAN card even when I wasn't doing FORTRAN, and I don't think they had "FORTRAN STATEMENT" printed on them.

I don't recall anybody loathing punched cards. They were a simple, reliable, if somewhat bulky medium. It is true that magnetic discs represented a great improvement. In my case, floppies were never more than a backup medium, since the systems I worked with always had hard disks.

why go with such big apertures if you want everything in focus? the beauty of such apertures is you can isolate your subject and blur everything else in the frame.

Note to prospective camera geeks: don't take that at face. Consumer pocket cameras lenses and sensors don't provide that type of blur and the number means different things for different lenses. Besides, the fastest apertures they offered at brick stores a month ago were 3.5 to 3.1. My android phone does about the same --everything is "in focus". The end result is zero "blur" for your average group shots. My advanced point and shoot forces 2.0 whenever it can and has a large sensor... yet its "blur" effect looks more like normal sensor noise or slight myopia than helpful cinematic framing.

To provide minor blur without huge, bulky DSLR lenses, the ratio of distance-to-background to distance-to-target has to be past 20:1. That's pretty good compared to most $300 point and shoots. Still, I must focus just inches from the camera to have the living room walls look blurry.

For baseball-player-at-a-stadium photos that really isolate people in an that pretty, defocused background / pro look (even just this simple kind of shot), you need to carry a telephoto lens or some other big-camera gear. It is all fun, though. But I must share my camera with elders that are afraid of complex, bulky things and can't go DSLR to get my "blur" on.

BURN MORE OIL

My how The Times have changed.

When I was a young'un, it was all about Burn The Hippies!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/andyrkett/4368260369/

2002

Sony Ericsson P800 - full web, full touch, apps and app stores - 2002

http://www.flickr.com/photos/andyrkett/4368260369/

Disclaimer: I worked on the software, Symbian Quartz/UIQ, between 1999 and 2001.

WRT the print edition quality, most world-class musicians prefer autograph scores.

Eh, no they don't. This is an autograph score.

MMMMMmmmmm

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lizziemabbott/6160451340/

That reminds me of back in 2003. There was a large fire in San Diego, and the wind carried the smoke and ash all over the city. I remember walking around and thinking how martian it all looked.

Not my picture, but one of the event when it happened: http://www.flickr.com/photos/slworking/327999960/sizes/o/in/photostream/

Check out my new paint job: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mr38/189121025/lightbox/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wrwetzel/7585494254/in/set-72157630609076830

In the words of the product description:

The iJohn digitizes both liquid and solid waste products and sends them electronically to a central facility for processing and disposal. Because of the high level of redundancy in the waste stream it can be compressed to a small fraction of its original size resulting in transport costs far lower than with traditional methods. And because the waste products are in digital form they can be easily routed to alternate destinations based on available capacity, labor costs, and the regulatory environment.

Get a chair that vibrates. It will cost you a quarter an hour but think of the all the money you will save for retirement. Make sure your chair have arm rests that are adjustable and has a seat cushion that breathes and does not get hot. Adjust the height of the chair so your feet flatly touch the floor. Also make sure that underneath your knees they do not contact the chair edge (cutting off circulation). The table height should be low enough so your arm is flat on the table. If your arm / shoulder is raised up all the time you will feel it with your shoulder aching all the time. Stop gripping that mouse. Find one the right size. I remember my Packard Bell mouse from the mid 90's that was shaped like a mouse. It caused problems with my hand as it was too high in the middle and wide on the sides and narrow where the buttons were. Google search: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyekungfu/2982910813/

a DIY I wrote on how to open up a cm102 (cmedia usb audio dongle) and find the 3 solder pads you need to connect in your own toslink (TOTX) opto transmitter for your home stereo:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4086/5052505190_07d7ec5903_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4148/5052506250_c71b26586a_b.jpg

it was just that simple. there was already an onboard cheap-o toslink sender but I prefer the standard square block style.

the TOTX part is a dollar or so at digikey or mouser (suppliers). the usb dongle is $15 or less, often much less. make sure its cmedia and cm102. it will work very well then.

usb powers it and you know its working when you get the red light out of the toslink end ;)

I'm not sure it passes dts or dolby digital but its fine for 44.1 cd audio (and mp3) as well as 48k dvd downmix to stereo 2.0

a DIY I wrote on how to open up a cm102 (cmedia usb audio dongle) and find the 3 solder pads you need to connect in your own toslink (TOTX) opto transmitter for your home stereo:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4086/5052505190_07d7ec5903_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4148/5052506250_c71b26586a_b.jpg

it was just that simple. there was already an onboard cheap-o toslink sender but I prefer the standard square block style.

the TOTX part is a dollar or so at digikey or mouser (suppliers). the usb dongle is $15 or less, often much less. make sure its cmedia and cm102. it will work very well then.

usb powers it and you know its working when you get the red light out of the toslink end ;)

I'm not sure it passes dts or dolby digital but its fine for 44.1 cd audio (and mp3) as well as 48k dvd downmix to stereo 2.0

Like this one to the Flickr blog post Finding a new species on Flickr, which even has a link to the actual photo.

One of the photos on his Flickr account.

His blog post about this one and others.

Really?

This is the power supply for a Vectra. This particular one is 100W, and by the date I'd guess it was for a 486. Most of the ones I had were 120W, manufactured in 1996, and ran Pentiums.

Note the odd shape? That little slanted area on the bottom of it is where the fan is. It blew onto the processor's heat sink. Here is another picture, where you can see that fan.

Here is a picture of a 486 Vectra's processor. The Pentium models were very similar, and had no dedicated processor fan.

You don't know what you're talking about, and my guess is that you were in diapers when these machines were made. Go back to your tinker toys, little AC - the adults are talking.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/56980942@N07/7729195958/in/photostream

Can't get that ball back now, can we?

It's easy for people to forget but Apple didn't always dominate the MP3 player market. This is mostly interesting for historic value since the top end of the MP3 player market has been getting overrun by smartphones for quite some time already. Their margins on MP3 players (iPod) have already been squashed to near irrelevance.

It's not uncommon. Consider that Illinois is a "gimme" blue state... http://www.flickr.com/photos/28549588@N05/6589935329/

Does anyone use these tiny mouses?
I don't know A SINGLE person who actually uses these mini-mouses, and ultraportable tiny mouses, etc.

As a matter of fact, I own a Logitech Performance MX, which is quite huge actually, and don't have any issue carrying it around. Especially since the laptop is the actual bulky thing. I've also noticed most people that try it seem to prefer to actually have something large and comfortable, since it's only ~150g vs the ~2kg that a laptop can weight.

What's the point of saving space and weight in a mouse, when you can't even save 10% of what the laptop weight. Not to mention the charger. Especially since the price you pay (in comfort) by using a small mouse is really really high.

Yes, I do. I currently use a Dell bluetooth travel mouse, as my main mouse. I do also have a full-size Logitech cordless mouse (similar to yours) but it's on a computer I use less often. The 'travel mouse' isn't 'for a laptop', it's just a mouse I really like. I find it comfortable and easy to use. Small mice also mean more desk space to fill with clutter.

As an aside, I started using mice on Xerox workstations back in 1985, and they were pretty small by modern standards. The original Mac mouse was also quite small.

Does anyone use these tiny mouses?
I don't know A SINGLE person who actually uses these mini-mouses, and ultraportable tiny mouses, etc.

As a matter of fact, I own a Logitech Performance MX, which is quite huge actually, and don't have any issue carrying it around. Especially since the laptop is the actual bulky thing. I've also noticed most people that try it seem to prefer to actually have something large and comfortable, since it's only ~150g vs the ~2kg that a laptop can weight.

What's the point of saving space and weight in a mouse, when you can't even save 10% of what the laptop weight. Not to mention the charger. Especially since the price you pay (in comfort) by using a small mouse is really really high.

I took this years ago at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville AL.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kimhill/4412421201/

Wide shot: http://www.spacelaunchreport.com/s5msc1.jpg

>never built

http://www.flickr.com/photos/timserge/3352770806/

Seeya.

--
BMO

Hahaha, absolutely classic, with "absolutely LIVE" BMO (we don't call him Biggest Mentalcase Online for nothing! Well, he calls himself that, so he's just being honest, lol!). BMO, you aren't very photogenic here in this portrait of you either http://www.flickr.com/photos/mr_carl/3426106666/ Yea, "live" alright. As in "live wire". How's your nose doing BMO? Putting a hot 220 electric line up into it must have hurt, lol! People, BMO is a clearcut case why trying "homegrown" electroshock therapy is a no-no, lmao! I bet you miss the days when 110 was the standard for homes, right? Hahaha.