Description: An application error occurred on the server. The current custom error settings for this application prevent the details of the application error from being viewed remotely (for security reasons). It could, however, be viewed by browsers running on the local server machine. ---
Well, if you can't even debug a web server, I don't know if you have much of a chance with something as complex as Word.
Okay, fans, how does this compare to the T-Mobile Sidekick or RIM Blackberry?
I've had a Sidekick for some time, and the snap-out keyboard is a next to ideal form factor for Internet and email use, since it lets you type things with surprising speed on a screen that's actually a usable size.
My impression is that both the Treo and Blackberry have much smaller keyboards and displays, so they'd be a lot harder to type on. Because of that, I think the Sidekick is nearly ideal, and the just-introduced Sidekick II (available in roughly the same timeframe as this Treo) matches or beats most of the features I'm reading about.
Are there any phones out that would let you connect your laptop through WiFi? THAT would be a cool feature since you wouldn't have to worry about tiresome wires or even drivers on the laptop side.
Iraq the Model is my favorite blog for exactly this reason.
On the other hand, the pretentious leftist stuff I see all over the WorldChanging site ("The second superpower", indeed) doesn't strike me as particularly, well, world changing at all.
D
Re:cool to see it get fixes
on
Enlightenment Lives
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· Score: 3, Interesting
I tried it years ago, when it was the new great thing, and was discouraged by the hideously difficult installation.
I've pretty much replaced Linux with MacOS X (and I'm not the only one - I notice another similar reply already), but I would be curious to know if it's any easier to install than the old whole day or more nightmare where it seemed like you needed every library on the planet to get the thing working.
Actually, other than the obnoxious request for my zip code it worked fine. I'll have to try some of that next time I visit Staples, which is where I get my HP paper.
It will be a while before I need new paper. My premium choice laserjet paper was on sale at Staples last time I was there for $9.99 a ream, and I snagged four of them. That will keep me happy for a few months - when it comes to paper use, I'm all about quality, not quantity:-).
It's durable and has a full keyboard. You should be able to pick up one of the year or so old G3 models for about $500. For that price, expect a 700-odd mhz snow (white) model. Those have 1024x768 displays. The older color, toilet-seat style models have 800x600 displays and because of that I wouldn't recommend them.
When I advertised on Craigslist (LA) for an Apple laptop, I got a PowerBook G4 (original model) for $600. However, for a student the iBook might be better because it's closer to being indestructible.
If you don't like Apple, any used laptop would probably do better than a PDA, even with a keyboard attachment. I used a color palm with the keyboard attachment for a while, and I found that the keyboard folded up on me whenever I tried to type! She would have similar problems, especially considering her health situation.
For a non-Apple laptop, the best quality is probably an IBM ThinkPad. Older ones are dirt cheap, and they will still run reliably and connect up to the mother ship to send back the notes.
If she wants something fuss-free, though, I really don't think you can beat an iBook.
At least last time I looked, the expensive special paper for inkjet printers really makes the photos look a lot better than if you tried printing them on plain paper.
I had a Canon S900 photo printer until a friend borrowed it and never gave it back:-(. It printed stunning photographs on expensive inkjet paper and lousy photographs on plain paper. And of course the ink was most of the cost, so using plain paper is, simply, dumb.
Even my HP Color Laserjet prints much better photos on special paper than on cheap paper. Fortunately, HP's fancy deluxe laser printer paper only costs about $15 a ream (about 4c a sheet), which is miles cheaper than $0.50 a sheet inkjet paper.
So no, expensive paper is not a scam. Pity considering its cost, but there you are.
Concerning the patents, refilled inkjets are of variable quality, and Chinese-made ones are muddy. I work for a company that remanufacturers toner cartridges, and based on my discusssions with them, original manufacturer inkjet cartridges are still the right way to go if you need the best print quality. It's very difficult to successfully clean out an inkjet cartridge, and it requires amazingly expensive equipment to even try.
(1) I don't know of a single person who's passionate about Windows. They use it, yes, and they don't switch to the Mac, but they don't love it. It's just what's there, and they don't want to think about anything else. So you are wrong. There was certainly no hostility created towards Apple for not starting with a Windows version.
(2) I think the most likely reason there was no Windows version of iTunes is that they wanted to test-market it with their own audience first. Their own audience is very loyal and forgiving, and that's a major advantage. I don't think that's a bad idea at all for something mass-market; companies test-market things like laundry detergent all the time.
(1) To raise money for the company; (2) To make the founders wealthy.
(Since Google has a pretty good cash position, I actually think (2) is the main reason in this case, even though (1) is a nice side effect).
I would think the Dutch Auction method is superior since it should do both of those better than having the first shares sell at a low price and the market shooting up. That just makes early shareholders rich, not the founders (who are selling now) or the company (which would only receive money based on the original price).
Finally, it seems kinda funny to think of this process as a failure. After the sale of shares, Google's founders can both buy even the most absurdly expensive real estate available in the Bay Area, should they want to, and they seem a little more modest than that. Woodside's most expensive and second most expensive listings are $24 million and $18 million. Google's founders can afford it, no problem.
My only real criticism is that they should have issued more shares at a lower price (offering the same total share of the company) so more people could participate. I'm sure a lot of people would love to have some GOOG in their puny stock portfolios, and the price makes that difficult. Those people who wanted shares for sentimental value would have been likely to drive up the price, too.
They are only allowing Windows users to interoperate with their software. Mac users are left out, an attitude that seems a little short-sighted to me. Surely it wouldn't take that much effort to port their DRM to the Mac?
The Mac market for legal downloadable music is clearly healthy, and the anger of spurned Mac users is all too easy to predict. So why didn't they introduce a Mac version from the get-go? It would have only made sense.
This debacle, in other words, would have been easily predictable and preventable with minimal extra effort.
I think this kind of stupidity is one reason why Real is so widely hated.
(1) You can buy the same boring computer from 100,000 different vendors, all of whose products are virtually identical; or
(2) You can buy a unique, excellent quality, innovative computer from one vendor.
I don't mind vendor lock-in if I like the vendor. And with amazing programs like Final Cut Pro and the (just introduced) Motion, I consider myself very well taken care of.
As for innovations: The iPod, Aqua, the Unix base of MacOS X, the G5's variable speed fans and precision-engineered aluminum case, Final Cut ProMotion's real time animation using a graphics card, the iTunes music store, mainstream use of USB and FireWire, etc, etc.
Granted, if Apple charges $6,000 for basic computers, I'm not going to like it, but those days are long gone.
Interesting how they did this. The eye moves from left to right and is immediately attracted to the gold "FREE DOWNLOAD 14 day free trial". I moved down from there on the page and was about to write you a nasty message saying you were wrong.
But then I saw, on the top right corner, "Free RealPlayer". You will note that it's in the same subdued blue colour of the menu bar, maing it blend in and therefore not appear to be page content.
This is much better than it was before, when the free player was down about 500 levels of menus, but nonetheless I think you'd find the non-obsessive would wind up thinking that you'd have to buy the player.
D
Re:Separating Linux users from Windows users
on
The Spyware Inferno
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· Score: 1
Well, I solve that problem personally by being a Mac user, both at home and at work, and it works great.
But I have a Windows PC next to me at work. Why? Because we were dumb enough to buy a phone system whose client only runs under Windows. So when the client crashes, my phone doesn't ring. Of course i don't notice it because I don't actually use the Windows PC, so the big boss comes storming into the office asking why I don't answer my phone. Yes, that really did happen:-(.
This phone system dependency is also real, and the Linux-based CRM software I developed exports orders into the Windows-based accounting system. So getting rid of Windows would be next to impossible, since our workers talk on the phone using the phone client, and a limited number of them also access our accounting system. The CRM software I wrote is web-based and works anywhere, but there's enough dependency on Windows that it would be virtually impossible to switch, even though I, as the only computer nerd on staff, would strongly recommend it.
People are afraid of change, and as long as that's so, people will keep on using Windows despite the risks. I know because I see it every day. And in the case of ripping out our phone and accounting systems, I can sort of see their point.
Of course when I start my own company, Windows will be banned from the network. Period:-).
Real is notorious for offering about the world's worst spyware/nagware. If you go to their web site to download the free player, you'll have an awfully tough time finding it. Because of this and their ceaseless marketing efforts, they feel like one of those electronics stores you see in poor areas with bad music blaring through awful stereo systems.
Apple, on the other hand, is classy. You may not want to pay a premium for their stuff, but they don't use the kind of in your face marketing that's so common on the rest of the web.
It's also hard to hate a company that's so innovative, that at least makes an effort to put together something that you, as customers, will enjoy.
Finally, I think Apple gets some slack cut for it through being a slick, polished alternative to Windows. Slashdotters as a class don't like Windows, and the enemy of your enemy is your friend.
It's an intentional loss to promote their software. Right now they're losing about 3-4c a share and this is going to widen those losses by about 1c a share.
I don't think it was a very smart move, to tell the truth, but I suppose I could say it's gutsy.
You may not be in the minority in Slashdot, but in the overall world, I'd say you are.
I will point out, though, that the DRM conditions of iTunes music are not as ardurous as you think. You can, in fact, burn a CD with your music on it and that CD is then free of restrictions. You can copy the music to any number of iPods. You can also play the music on up to five different computers, so making a backup of your music is not an issue at all.
I play my music on my home computer, work computer and laptop, and I'm happy as a clam.
Could someone tell me why Apple is so upset about Real being able to its music work in the iPod? Apple has said their Music Store is not meant as a profit center, so isn't it better for them (in the sense of selling more iPods) that the store's compatible with Real?
Of course this is of little interest to me since Real's not supporting Macs and I'm certainly not going to switch to Windows on their behalf.
I don't think Real stockholders are going to think much of the bleeding, and when prices go back to $ 0.99 each I doubt that most people will stay with Real, given their software's general level of obnoxiousness and hard-sell promotion. Apple, for all its faults, has a very classy and nicely done music store I think most people will prefer by a huge margin.
Instead of having keyframes, you take an object (say a crab), and tell the program to throw the crab across the screen at a velocity and angle you specify. Then you go to the time you want it to stop and you add a "stop" behaviour to the timeline at that point and it will stop.
That doesn't sound too different from keyframes. But take the "throw" behaviour and add a "drag" and it will slowly glide to a stop, the speed depending on how much drag you add. Then add "gravity" of a certain amount and the crab will drift down to the bottom of the screen. Add the Edge and it will bounce off the edges, repeatedly, with the parameters you select.
This makes it really simple to do a lot of things that would take massive time and effort with keyframes.
Of course Motion still has keyframes for when you need them, and many of Motion's behaviours can be keyframed, too.
Hope that piqued your interest. It really is one amazing application.
I've used 5.5 and 6.0, and each time I remember reading that rendering speed was up, and each time I remember not thinking there was much change. So I guess I'm a bit jaded about promised AE speed improvements.
There are features that I have not explored that look suspiciously like the velocity graphs of After Effects, which I assume is what you're referring to. It certainly looks like there is a lot of scope for precise teaking, and some of the behaviours can be keyframed for greater precision.
However, if you love displaying all your AE timeline graphs on one screen, as I do, Motion might not make you that happy because you can only see the timeline for one object at a time. I can already tell that's going to be a major problem when I go to manual tweaking.
But you can also tweak in ways that are somehow more natural to me. Instead of manually affecting motion paths, you can throw an object, and use an invisible object to attract and/or repel the object and thus change its motion path. I've been playing around with this and it creates some very nice looking motion with minimal effort. Needless to say if I can concentrate on what I want to animate instead of concentrating on how to do it, that's going to create a much better show in the end.
The canned effects seem to have a pretty good range of parameters. My way of thinking of it is that you have the same power, it's just more accessible. I recommend that if you have a spare G5 handy, you give Motion a chance. I think that if nothing else, you'll appreciate the effort that went into building it. I like it because I'm a single person, not a team, and I just don't have time to deal with a program requiring one. Motion's great for someone who wants to produce professional-looking results as an amateur - and for a kids' cartoon (which is my project), I suspect I don't need the power and total originality you do.
Interesting; thanks for the response. It's worth noting that Shake costs $2,995, which is way over my budget, while Motion is $299, which fits very nicely in my budget.
So it's cool that I can do all those things in Shake, but as long as animation is more a hobby than a business for me, Motion will have to do.
Well, I got an excuse. I've been eyeing that 30" Cinema Display, which requires the fancy graphics card recommended to make Motion sing ($599). So I'll probably get the card, possibly even before I buy the display.
So we'll see how it does then.
After Effects actually stops displaying previews when you switch to another application. Motion keeps on running. It will indeed be interesting to see how the higher-end graphics card affects multitasking, but bear in mind that this was just an exercise done out of curiosity; you would normaly stop motion's playback before switching to other applications, thus solving the problem.
I've been continuing to use Motion and so far it hasn't stopped impressing the heck out of me. If you like motion graphics, you'll love Motion.
I'm a budding motion graphics artist who's used After Effects for about a year, without a lot of success. After Effects is very powerful, but it's also extremely slow, even on my dual 2ghz G5. The immediate feedback you really need when doing motion graphics design just isn't there, unless you shrink your image to near the point of invisibility.
Motion is an amazing program. To start with, the user interface is almsot entirely intuitive. Whenever I had a question, nine times out of ten I could just look around the screen and find the answer. The overall feel of everything is very smooth and fluid.
Motion creates superior performance by using the computing power of your graphics card. For the first time in my life, the power of my graphics card is actually important. (I don't care for games, so that's never been an issue). It also creates a very odd pheonmenon: A machine where 25% of CPU is being used, but multitasking is sluggish. This, of course, is because the graphics processor is being used at full speed!
With my graphics card, the standard one on the G5, Motion can do simple animations at full speed, and more complex ones half-speed. (After Effects, even with a fairly small image, would do its preview at about quarter speed). I found I could figure out a lot of things successfully at half speed and only occasionally had to render the RAM preview to view them at full speed.
You can build an animation in pieces. Comps in After Effects are like layers in Motion. You can save a layer in motion (which can have nested layers forever) as a Favorite. Then you can pull it out of Favorites to another project. This is one of the few things in Motion that's not fairly obvious, so it's good to note it here. For example, I was able to make my crab's legs move in a short animation. Then I saved that as a layer called "Crab Walk". When I want my crab to walk, I just drag that animation from favorites into the canvas, and start moving the crab around; the legs will keep moving automatically.
Motion has several innovative features, which as far as I know exist in no other program today. For example, instead of keyframing a motion path (which you can also do, if you want), you can use behaviours. For instance, the Throw behaviour simulates pushing something until another force stops it. The gravity behaviour creates simulated gravity, and so the item that you Throw will drift down towards the bottom of the screen. You can adjust the speed of the throw and the amount of gravity you want. You can then use the Edge simulation to cause the object to bounce when it hits the bottom, top or sides of the screen. This is amazingly fun to work with and makes it very easy to do realistic animations which would take hours of tedium in After Effects.
I've only had the program for a few days, so obviously I've only scratched the surface. But this program is one of the few I've seen that's truly worth the hype. After Effects is in grave danger of becoming a deposed king; this program is easier to learn and use, faster and saves hours of effort. For everything it can do, it blows away AE.
I don't see that much potential for fraud in Craigslist. I bought a PowerBook through it; I went to the guy's house, checked out the PowerBook, bought it, took it home and it's worked great ever since.
I much prefer that to eBay, where you're essentially committed to buy the item before you get to see it. In most cases, I still try to buy big-ticket items from people who are nearby, so I can pick up the item and make sure it exists.
(Erotic Services, of course, are illegal and so cannot be described accurately. That's a problem for consumers of same).
The new iMac is supposed to have electronics in back of the screen, instead of as a separate unit, so perhaps it just has something of a stand and an external keyboard. That would make a lot of sense...... except that it has a G5, and we don't have a G5 PowerBook yet, so that's not possible.
Slashdot Mirror
I click on the article and get:
Server Error in '/' Application.
Runtime Error
Description: An application error occurred on the server. The current custom error settings for this application prevent the details of the application error from being viewed remotely (for security reasons). It could, however, be viewed by browsers running on the local server machine.
---
Well, if you can't even debug a web server, I don't know if you have much of a chance with something as complex as Word.
Oh, the web server IS as complex as Word?
There's your problem.
Sigh.
D
Okay, fans, how does this compare to the T-Mobile Sidekick or RIM Blackberry?
I've had a Sidekick for some time, and the snap-out keyboard is a next to ideal form factor for Internet and email use, since it lets you type things with surprising speed on a screen that's actually a usable size.
My impression is that both the Treo and Blackberry have much smaller keyboards and displays, so they'd be a lot harder to type on. Because of that, I think the Sidekick is nearly ideal, and the just-introduced Sidekick II (available in roughly the same timeframe as this Treo) matches or beats most of the features I'm reading about.
Are there any phones out that would let you connect your laptop through WiFi? THAT would be a cool feature since you wouldn't have to worry about tiresome wires or even drivers on the laptop side.
Thoughts?
D
Iraq the Model is my favorite blog for exactly this reason.
On the other hand, the pretentious leftist stuff I see all over the WorldChanging site ("The second superpower", indeed) doesn't strike me as particularly, well, world changing at all.
D
I tried it years ago, when it was the new great thing, and was discouraged by the hideously difficult installation.
I've pretty much replaced Linux with MacOS X (and I'm not the only one - I notice another similar reply already), but I would be curious to know if it's any easier to install than the old whole day or more nightmare where it seemed like you needed every library on the planet to get the thing working.
D
Actually, other than the obnoxious request for my zip code it worked fine. I'll have to try some of that next time I visit Staples, which is where I get my HP paper.
:-).
It will be a while before I need new paper. My premium choice laserjet paper was on sale at Staples last time I was there for $9.99 a ream, and I snagged four of them. That will keep me happy for a few months - when it comes to paper use, I'm all about quality, not quantity
D
It's durable and has a full keyboard. You should be able to pick up one of the year or so old G3 models for about $500. For that price, expect a 700-odd mhz snow (white) model. Those have 1024x768 displays. The older color, toilet-seat style models have 800x600 displays and because of that I wouldn't recommend them.
When I advertised on Craigslist (LA) for an Apple laptop, I got a PowerBook G4 (original model) for $600. However, for a student the iBook might be better because it's closer to being indestructible.
If you don't like Apple, any used laptop would probably do better than a PDA, even with a keyboard attachment. I used a color palm with the keyboard attachment for a while, and I found that the keyboard folded up on me whenever I tried to type! She would have similar problems, especially considering her health situation.
For a non-Apple laptop, the best quality is probably an IBM ThinkPad. Older ones are dirt cheap, and they will still run reliably and connect up to the mother ship to send back the notes.
If she wants something fuss-free, though, I really don't think you can beat an iBook.
Hope that helps.
D
Correct. We expanded into ink and pretty much gave up on it for the reasons I mention in my message.
I like the 32lb 98br color laser paper HP makes. For some reason I really enjoy the thick, creamy feel even though it's pretty expensive.
But I've never seen 108br color laser paper - who makes it? I thought the highest possible paper brightness would be 100.
D
At least last time I looked, the expensive special paper for inkjet printers really makes the photos look a lot better than if you tried printing them on plain paper.
:-(. It printed stunning photographs on expensive inkjet paper and lousy photographs on plain paper. And of course the ink was most of the cost, so using plain paper is, simply, dumb.
I had a Canon S900 photo printer until a friend borrowed it and never gave it back
Even my HP Color Laserjet prints much better photos on special paper than on cheap paper. Fortunately, HP's fancy deluxe laser printer paper only costs about $15 a ream (about 4c a sheet), which is miles cheaper than $0.50 a sheet inkjet paper.
So no, expensive paper is not a scam. Pity considering its cost, but there you are.
Concerning the patents, refilled inkjets are of variable quality, and Chinese-made ones are muddy. I work for a company that remanufacturers toner cartridges, and based on my discusssions with them, original manufacturer inkjet cartridges are still the right way to go if you need the best print quality. It's very difficult to successfully clean out an inkjet cartridge, and it requires amazingly expensive equipment to even try.
D
(1) I don't know of a single person who's passionate about Windows. They use it, yes, and they don't switch to the Mac, but they don't love it. It's just what's there, and they don't want to think about anything else. So you are wrong. There was certainly no hostility created towards Apple for not starting with a Windows version.
(2) I think the most likely reason there was no Windows version of iTunes is that they wanted to test-market it with their own audience first. Their own audience is very loyal and forgiving, and that's a major advantage. I don't think that's a bad idea at all for something mass-market; companies test-market things like laundry detergent all the time.
D
The purpose of an IPO is:
(1) To raise money for the company;
(2) To make the founders wealthy.
(Since Google has a pretty good cash position, I actually think (2) is the main reason in this case, even though (1) is a nice side effect).
I would think the Dutch Auction method is superior since it should do both of those better than having the first shares sell at a low price and the market shooting up. That just makes early shareholders rich, not the founders (who are selling now) or the company (which would only receive money based on the original price).
Finally, it seems kinda funny to think of this process as a failure. After the sale of shares, Google's founders can both buy even the most absurdly expensive real estate available in the Bay Area, should they want to, and they seem a little more modest than that. Woodside's most expensive and second most expensive listings are $24 million and $18 million. Google's founders can afford it, no problem.
My only real criticism is that they should have issued more shares at a lower price (offering the same total share of the company) so more people could participate. I'm sure a lot of people would love to have some GOOG in their puny stock portfolios, and the price makes that difficult. Those people who wanted shares for sentimental value would have been likely to drive up the price, too.
D
They are only allowing Windows users to interoperate with their software. Mac users are left out, an attitude that seems a little short-sighted to me. Surely it wouldn't take that much effort to port their DRM to the Mac?
The Mac market for legal downloadable music is clearly healthy, and the anger of spurned Mac users is all too easy to predict. So why didn't they introduce a Mac version from the get-go? It would have only made sense.
This debacle, in other words, would have been easily predictable and preventable with minimal extra effort.
I think this kind of stupidity is one reason why Real is so widely hated.
D
You got two choices:
(1) You can buy the same boring computer from 100,000 different vendors, all of whose products are virtually identical; or
(2) You can buy a unique, excellent quality, innovative computer from one vendor.
I don't mind vendor lock-in if I like the vendor. And with amazing programs like Final Cut Pro and the (just introduced) Motion, I consider myself very well taken care of.
As for innovations: The iPod, Aqua, the Unix base of MacOS X, the G5's variable speed fans and precision-engineered aluminum case, Final Cut ProMotion's real time animation using a graphics card, the iTunes music store, mainstream use of USB and FireWire, etc, etc.
Granted, if Apple charges $6,000 for basic computers, I'm not going to like it, but those days are long gone.
Interesting how they did this. The eye moves from left to right and is immediately attracted to the gold "FREE DOWNLOAD 14 day free trial". I moved down from there on the page and was about to write you a nasty message saying you were wrong.
But then I saw, on the top right corner, "Free RealPlayer". You will note that it's in the same subdued blue colour of the menu bar, maing it blend in and therefore not appear to be page content.
This is much better than it was before, when the free player was down about 500 levels of menus, but nonetheless I think you'd find the non-obsessive would wind up thinking that you'd have to buy the player.
D
Well, I solve that problem personally by being a Mac user, both at home and at work, and it works great.
:-(.
:-).
But I have a Windows PC next to me at work. Why? Because we were dumb enough to buy a phone system whose client only runs under Windows. So when the client crashes, my phone doesn't ring. Of course i don't notice it because I don't actually use the Windows PC, so the big boss comes storming into the office asking why I don't answer my phone. Yes, that really did happen
This phone system dependency is also real, and the Linux-based CRM software I developed exports orders into the Windows-based accounting system. So getting rid of Windows would be next to impossible, since our workers talk on the phone using the phone client, and a limited number of them also access our accounting system. The CRM software I wrote is web-based and works anywhere, but there's enough dependency on Windows that it would be virtually impossible to switch, even though I, as the only computer nerd on staff, would strongly recommend it.
People are afraid of change, and as long as that's so, people will keep on using Windows despite the risks. I know because I see it every day. And in the case of ripping out our phone and accounting systems, I can sort of see their point.
Of course when I start my own company, Windows will be banned from the network. Period
Hope that helps.
D
Real is notorious for offering about the world's worst spyware/nagware. If you go to their web site to download the free player, you'll have an awfully tough time finding it. Because of this and their ceaseless marketing efforts, they feel like one of those electronics stores you see in poor areas with bad music blaring through awful stereo systems.
Apple, on the other hand, is classy. You may not want to pay a premium for their stuff, but they don't use the kind of in your face marketing that's so common on the rest of the web.
It's also hard to hate a company that's so innovative, that at least makes an effort to put together something that you, as customers, will enjoy.
Finally, I think Apple gets some slack cut for it through being a slick, polished alternative to Windows. Slashdotters as a class don't like Windows, and the enemy of your enemy is your friend.
D
It's an intentional loss to promote their software. Right now they're losing about 3-4c a share and this is going to widen those losses by about 1c a share.
I don't think it was a very smart move, to tell the truth, but I suppose I could say it's gutsy.
D
You may not be in the minority in Slashdot, but in the overall world, I'd say you are.
I will point out, though, that the DRM conditions of iTunes music are not as ardurous as you think. You can, in fact, burn a CD with your music on it and that CD is then free of restrictions. You can copy the music to any number of iPods. You can also play the music on up to five different computers, so making a backup of your music is not an issue at all.
I play my music on my home computer, work computer and laptop, and I'm happy as a clam.
D
Could someone tell me why Apple is so upset about Real being able to its music work in the iPod? Apple has said their Music Store is not meant as a profit center, so isn't it better for them (in the sense of selling more iPods) that the store's compatible with Real?
Of course this is of little interest to me since Real's not supporting Macs and I'm certainly not going to switch to Windows on their behalf.
I don't think Real stockholders are going to think much of the bleeding, and when prices go back to $ 0.99 each I doubt that most people will stay with Real, given their software's general level of obnoxiousness and hard-sell promotion. Apple, for all its faults, has a very classy and nicely done music store I think most people will prefer by a huge margin.
D
Instead of having keyframes, you take an object (say a crab), and tell the program to throw the crab across the screen at a velocity and angle you specify. Then you go to the time you want it to stop and you add a "stop" behaviour to the timeline at that point and it will stop.
That doesn't sound too different from keyframes. But take the "throw" behaviour and add a "drag" and it will slowly glide to a stop, the speed depending on how much drag you add. Then add "gravity" of a certain amount and the crab will drift down to the bottom of the screen. Add the Edge and it will bounce off the edges, repeatedly, with the parameters you select.
This makes it really simple to do a lot of things that would take massive time and effort with keyframes.
Of course Motion still has keyframes for when you need them, and many of Motion's behaviours can be keyframed, too.
Hope that piqued your interest. It really is one amazing application.
D
I've used 5.5 and 6.0, and each time I remember reading that rendering speed was up, and each time I remember not thinking there was much change. So I guess I'm a bit jaded about promised AE speed improvements.
There are features that I have not explored that look suspiciously like the velocity graphs of After Effects, which I assume is what you're referring to. It certainly looks like there is a lot of scope for precise teaking, and some of the behaviours can be keyframed for greater precision.
However, if you love displaying all your AE timeline graphs on one screen, as I do, Motion might not make you that happy because you can only see the timeline for one object at a time. I can already tell that's going to be a major problem when I go to manual tweaking.
But you can also tweak in ways that are somehow more natural to me. Instead of manually affecting motion paths, you can throw an object, and use an invisible object to attract and/or repel the object and thus change its motion path. I've been playing around with this and it creates some very nice looking motion with minimal effort. Needless to say if I can concentrate on what I want to animate instead of concentrating on how to do it, that's going to create a much better show in the end.
The canned effects seem to have a pretty good range of parameters. My way of thinking of it is that you have the same power, it's just more accessible. I recommend that if you have a spare G5 handy, you give Motion a chance. I think that if nothing else, you'll appreciate the effort that went into building it. I like it because I'm a single person, not a team, and I just don't have time to deal with a program requiring one. Motion's great for someone who wants to produce professional-looking results as an amateur - and for a kids' cartoon (which is my project), I suspect I don't need the power and total originality you do.
D
Interesting; thanks for the response. It's worth noting that Shake costs $2,995, which is way over my budget, while Motion is $299, which fits very nicely in my budget.
So it's cool that I can do all those things in Shake, but as long as animation is more a hobby than a business for me, Motion will have to do.
D
Well, I got an excuse. I've been eyeing that 30" Cinema Display, which requires the fancy graphics card recommended to make Motion sing ($599). So I'll probably get the card, possibly even before I buy the display.
So we'll see how it does then.
After Effects actually stops displaying previews when you switch to another application. Motion keeps on running. It will indeed be interesting to see how the higher-end graphics card affects multitasking, but bear in mind that this was just an exercise done out of curiosity; you would normaly stop motion's playback before switching to other applications, thus solving the problem.
I've been continuing to use Motion and so far it hasn't stopped impressing the heck out of me. If you like motion graphics, you'll love Motion.
D
I'm a budding motion graphics artist who's used After Effects for about a year, without a lot of success. After Effects is very powerful, but it's also extremely slow, even on my dual 2ghz G5. The immediate feedback you really need when doing motion graphics design just isn't there, unless you shrink your image to near the point of invisibility.
Motion is an amazing program. To start with, the user interface is almsot entirely intuitive. Whenever I had a question, nine times out of ten I could just look around the screen and find the answer. The overall feel of everything is very smooth and fluid.
Motion creates superior performance by using the computing power of your graphics card. For the first time in my life, the power of my graphics card is actually important. (I don't care for games, so that's never been an issue). It also creates a very odd pheonmenon: A machine where 25% of CPU is being used, but multitasking is sluggish. This, of course, is because the graphics processor is being used at full speed!
With my graphics card, the standard one on the G5, Motion can do simple animations at full speed, and more complex ones half-speed. (After Effects, even with a fairly small image, would do its preview at about quarter speed). I found I could figure out a lot of things successfully at half speed and only occasionally had to render the RAM preview to view them at full speed.
You can build an animation in pieces. Comps in After Effects are like layers in Motion. You can save a layer in motion (which can have nested layers forever) as a Favorite. Then you can pull it out of Favorites to another project. This is one of the few things in Motion that's not fairly obvious, so it's good to note it here. For example, I was able to make my crab's legs move in a short animation. Then I saved that as a layer called "Crab Walk". When I want my crab to walk, I just drag that animation from favorites into the canvas, and start moving the crab around; the legs will keep moving automatically.
Motion has several innovative features, which as far as I know exist in no other program today. For example, instead of keyframing a motion path (which you can also do, if you want), you can use behaviours. For instance, the Throw behaviour simulates pushing something until another force stops it. The gravity behaviour creates simulated gravity, and so the item that you Throw will drift down towards the bottom of the screen. You can adjust the speed of the throw and the amount of gravity you want. You can then use the Edge simulation to cause the object to bounce when it hits the bottom, top or sides of the screen. This is amazingly fun to work with and makes it very easy to do realistic animations which would take hours of tedium in After Effects.
I've only had the program for a few days, so obviously I've only scratched the surface. But this program is one of the few I've seen that's truly worth the hype. After Effects is in grave danger of becoming a deposed king; this program is easier to learn and use, faster and saves hours of effort. For everything it can do, it blows away AE.
Hope that helps.
D
(For a more detailed discussion of Motion, see Creative Cow's Motion Forum, and the Peter Wiggins' Review of Motion.
I don't see that much potential for fraud in Craigslist. I bought a PowerBook through it; I went to the guy's house, checked out the PowerBook, bought it, took it home and it's worked great ever since.
I much prefer that to eBay, where you're essentially committed to buy the item before you get to see it. In most cases, I still try to buy big-ticket items from people who are nearby, so I can pick up the item and make sure it exists.
(Erotic Services, of course, are illegal and so cannot be described accurately. That's a problem for consumers of same).
D
I'm wondering if it might be the new iMac.
... ... except that it has a G5, and we don't have a G5 PowerBook yet, so that's not possible.
The new iMac is supposed to have electronics in back of the screen, instead of as a separate unit, so perhaps it just has something of a stand and an external keyboard. That would make a lot of sense
Interesting speculation, though, no?
D