Now that no one is reading this story any more, can anyone suggest a replacement for Draw? I've been using it for about 20 years now and haven't seen a decent equivalent.
Doesn't it seem out of character for Apple to announce iTV well before it's ready? They haven't even picked the real name yet. What's the idea? Trying to make sure the event doesn't seem like a "me too" following Amazon's movie service?
Why this assumption that "they shouldn't necessarily have been fired" must automatically mean "they shouldn't have been punished at all"?
I agree the punishment was harsh. I'm not defending Apple. I just didn't like the statement in the summary, "Because we had the character to tell the truth and to face the consequences of our actions, we were terminated." It's a weaselly way to put the blame on someone else, denouncing the consequences by claiming to accept them. We would (and do) cry foul for that sort of talk from politicians and CEOs, so why not when it comes from regular folks as well?
Bork bork bork?! I know they are right next to each other and all, but they are two different countries (at the moment).
Other elements of note: the ombudsman's name is Thor!*, and other headlines on the Aftenposten site include: "Women wont [sic] give up laundry" and "angry hare attacked dogsled". I thought Norway was only silly in Monty Python sketches?
"Apple has no desire or plan to sell or support Windows, but many customers have expressed their interest to run Windows on Apple's superior hardware now that we use Intel processors," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, in a voice dripping with disdain.
Also eyebrow-raising, Apple's take on the XP logo:
Ewwww! Why would you implement RSS now, when Atom even has an RFC number, and is sooooo incredibly much better specified (and thus easier to implement)? Just didn't know?
In general, when people think about newsfeeds, they think "RSS", not "Atom". At least, I do. Plus I thought I could knock off RSS quickly by adding the Perl module XML::RSS to my existing page building script. (It turned out that XML:RSS implements only up to 1.0, and I ended up needing to do 2.0, but that's another boring story.)
Maybe I'll do Atom the next time I have a couple spare hours. Thanks for the suggestion.
I happen to have RSS on the brain at the moment, since I just this week implemented RSS 2.0 for my personal webpage. The comments on the linked articles mostly go like this:
- It works for me! - It doesn't matter that it works for you; it violates standards! - But there are no standards for RSS! - Are too!
Just a guess, but the iTunes video store is "mainstream" while BitTorrent is not. So it's not that BitTorrent decreased the ratings, but rather that it had no effect (or caused a non-measurable increase).
The more cynical answer is that the change in ratings in both cases is irrelevant; iTunes results in profit for NBC so they tout it; BitTorrent doesn't so they slam it.
What a strange little article. The guy answers his own question: "Apple doesn't want to see ads for Dell or Victoria's Secret on.Mac." Apple's market is people who will pay extra for things like an uncluttered interface.
Nor is.Mac a Web portal with all the external content and Web services-a missed opportunity.
"Your iPod is like your home answering machine," McNealy said. "I guarantee you it will be hard to sell an iPod five or seven years from now when every cell phone can access your entire music library wherever you are."
I don't really agree with the reason (networking), but I do agree that eventually the iPod is going to lose some steam. Presumably they have a few things in the pipeline to potentially be "the next thing", the leading contender being a move into the living room. My guess is the same as everyone else's: a device to allow you to use Front Row on your own TV, receiving data wirelessly from your desktop Mac. (A followup to the Airport Express.)
It's no worse than Amazon tracking your purchase habbits and using it to suggest what other shoppers must buy
I don't think it's a big deal, but it is different than this. With amazon, you are explicitly sending info to them via their website. iTunes is a locally-running program sending info about your locally-stored data without asking. Other programs with this behavior have been called "Spyware".
Logic boards, and their continuing problems, were specifically mentioned in the article.
"But by affected percentage of models, the G3 iBooks were the worst by far, with more than half requiring logic board replacements. Apple created a warranty extension program for some versions, but not all. (MacInTouch readers are still reporting newly failed iBook G3s, and the warranty extension program has ended.)"
"Logic boards (motherboards) were the most replaced components, followed by displays and hard drives. The white G3 iBooks skewed the results, however, demanding logic board replacements at stunning percentages of 30-55%. No other model showed particular problems here; most ranged from 6-12% needing replacement."
One problem with this idea is that it increases the winner-take-all effect. That is, it encourages producers to chase big hits while ignoring niches (the "long tail" mentioned in the article). It used to be selling a million was worth 100 times as much as selling ten thousand. Now it will be worth 400 times as much or more.
But that's a sociological objection. From a technical standpoint, I think it's neat!
Another weird line from the article:
But each obscure indie rock or klezmer song that gets sold for a quarter is almost pure profit...
How is that true? Seems like the profit margin would be much lower for these tracks.
Most of these are local exploits, but I count 4 vulnerabilities (2 in Safari, 1 each in CoreFoundation and curl) which could allow "arbitrary code execution". No thanks, I'll patch today.
Slashdot Mirror
Now that no one is reading this story any more, can anyone suggest a replacement for Draw? I've been using it for about 20 years now and haven't seen a decent equivalent.
Doesn't it seem out of character for Apple to announce iTV well before it's ready? They haven't even picked the real name yet. What's the idea? Trying to make sure the event doesn't seem like a "me too" following Amazon's movie service?
Every year, the bottom 10% of students are expelled?
I agree the punishment was harsh. I'm not defending Apple. I just didn't like the statement in the summary, "Because we had the character to tell the truth and to face the consequences of our actions, we were terminated." It's a weaselly way to put the blame on someone else, denouncing the consequences by claiming to accept them. We would (and do) cry foul for that sort of talk from politicians and CEOs, so why not when it comes from regular folks as well?
The incentive to tell the truth in the first place is being able to look at yourself in the mirror.
The point is that "accepting responsibility for one's actions" is being used to mean "looking for an optimal outcome given one's actions".
Bork bork bork?! I know they are right next to each other and all, but they are two different countries (at the moment).
Other elements of note: the ombudsman's name is Thor!*, and other headlines on the Aftenposten site include: "Women wont [sic] give up laundry" and "angry hare attacked dogsled". I thought Norway was only silly in Monty Python sketches?
* NB: It's actually Thon. Drat.
Also eyebrow-raising, Apple's take on the XP logo:
http://images.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/images/pa
Looks pretty close.
Oh wait, no it doesn't.
Right -- my other thought at seeing this was, "Microsoft lost user confidence due to FUD?"
In general, when people think about newsfeeds, they think "RSS", not "Atom". At least, I do. Plus I thought I could knock off RSS quickly by adding the Perl module XML::RSS to my existing page building script. (It turned out that XML:RSS implements only up to 1.0, and I ended up needing to do 2.0, but that's another boring story.)
Maybe I'll do Atom the next time I have a couple spare hours. Thanks for the suggestion.
I happen to have RSS on the brain at the moment, since I just this week implemented RSS 2.0 for my personal webpage. The comments on the linked articles mostly go like this:
c asting-Hyperbole/
- It works for me!
- It doesn't matter that it works for you; it violates standards!
- But there are no standards for RSS!
- Are too!
and so on.
For a counterpoint, check out this blog entry:
http://www.intertwingly.net/blog/2006/01/18/Photo
The whole flap is quite a learning experience if you're interested in RSS.
Just a guess, but the iTunes video store is "mainstream" while BitTorrent is not. So it's not that BitTorrent decreased the ratings, but rather that it had no effect (or caused a non-measurable increase).
The more cynical answer is that the change in ratings in both cases is irrelevant; iTunes results in profit for NBC so they tout it; BitTorrent doesn't so they slam it.
Oh yeah, thanks!
Am I the only one who find web portals pointless?
And more to the point, why didn't they capitalize "Himself"?
I don't really agree with the reason (networking), but I do agree that eventually the iPod is going to lose some steam. Presumably they have a few things in the pipeline to potentially be "the next thing", the leading contender being a move into the living room. My guess is the same as everyone else's: a device to allow you to use Front Row on your own TV, receiving data wirelessly from your desktop Mac. (A followup to the Airport Express.)
Alternately, there's the TuneBuckle. Yes! It looks dorky even on the company's own model -- sign me up!
I don't think it's a big deal, but it is different than this. With amazon, you are explicitly sending info to them via their website. iTunes is a locally-running program sending info about your locally-stored data without asking. Other programs with this behavior have been called "Spyware".
Logic boards, and their continuing problems, were specifically mentioned in the article.
"But by affected percentage of models, the G3 iBooks were the worst by far, with more than half requiring logic board replacements. Apple created a warranty extension program for some versions, but not all. (MacInTouch readers are still reporting newly failed iBook G3s, and the warranty extension program has ended.)"
"Logic boards (motherboards) were the most replaced components, followed by displays and hard drives. The white G3 iBooks skewed the results, however, demanding logic board replacements at stunning percentages of 30-55%. No other model showed particular problems here; most ranged from 6-12% needing replacement."
One problem with this idea is that it increases the winner-take-all effect. That is, it encourages producers to chase big hits while ignoring niches (the "long tail" mentioned in the article). It used to be selling a million was worth 100 times as much as selling ten thousand. Now it will be worth 400 times as much or more.
But that's a sociological objection. From a technical standpoint, I think it's neat!
Another weird line from the article:
But each obscure indie rock or klezmer song that gets sold for a quarter is almost pure profit...
How is that true? Seems like the profit margin would be much lower for these tracks.
Most of these are local exploits, but I count 4 vulnerabilities (2 in Safari, 1 each in CoreFoundation and curl) which could allow "arbitrary code execution". No thanks, I'll patch today.
Fear not: the new mini will include a GPS unit to handle this contingency.
The video iPod is getting all of the attention, but that's not the whole story.
Apple is moving into the living room. That means video, and Apple is getting started with a three-pronged strategy:
* Front Row
* iTunes Video Store
* iPod with video
It would not make sense for Apple to make the move into video and leave the video iPod out of it.