If you like everything else about Picasa just request the features you want to be added. I'm sure it'll come along eventually and you won't have to move all your images again.
My 95 year old grandmother has been visually impaired for over a decade. She had trouble finding good software to improve her computer experience and ended up spending several hundred dollars on something called ZoomText. http://www.synapseadaptive.com/ Which I found to be a complete and total rip off. It's better than Window's built in stuff, but it's not worth more than $50.
However! Apple has done a pretty good job of including such features, and honestly I think they might be better. She'll still need a huge damn screen, but OS X has some pretty slick Accessibility options that should be able to help her get around.
The biggest problem I know of for people being introduced to the internet at this stage is clicking on things they shouldn't. Install Firefox and AdBlocker Pro (or plus?) and have it use one of the online maintained blocking lists. Additionally walk her through all her sites and block anything that needs to be blocked. I also use FlashBlock. Make sure she knows both are installed and tell her how to use them. Old people hate having anything hidden from them according to what someone else thinks will be their benefit - especially if this lady is prepaired to do internet banking at 80.
Remote Management! Apple provides remote management software but it's not free and requires a Mac to do the remoting, where Microsoft's is free and there is an MS client for both Windows and OS X, and a 3rd party version for *NIX. However I have used VNC (RealVNC to be exact) for OS X which functions and allows the user to see what you're doing. But I've had problems keeping the server side running on OS X. Might just be me. The nice thing is you can remote to her computer from any platform.
As far as securing it, that's a matter of restricting web access and monitoring mail. And once you're on a Mac the only real issues to watch for are phishing.
I'd get her a 20" iMac. It includes a camera and she could video chat with her grandkids. It would make visits to Grandma's a bit more enjoyable as well (:
Re:Some new things are more than souped-up old thi
on
NY Times Review of PS3
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· Score: 1
Not really. Usually, you do get something more than just "more of the same." Looking at the console history, you got things like 3D graphics (SNES -> PS1), analog sticks (PS1 -> N64), the ability to watch movies (Dreamcast -> PS2) or a real online service (PS2 -> Xbox). Sure, the PS3 brings Blu-Ray, but that's just a better DVD. What else does it have? Most things are faster.
Compare this to the Wii, which brings a really cool new controller. That's not souped up, that's new.
But you're not comparing new versions of the same product. You're not even comparing products from the same producer.
PS1 to PS2 to PS3. All game consoles from Sony, each time bigger / better / faster / prettier.
XBox to XBox 360. Same song, this time from Microsoft.
NES, SNES, N64, GameCube, Wii. Nintendo is slightly different, but they're doing the same thing. Bigger / better / faster / prettier each time. They just use goofy controllers in the process.
Sounds like a good plot for a movie. Moderately similar to "Dark Angel", the television show that got canned, but like Firefly I think it would make a good movie.
The real reason why the PS2 was such a success, is that it was a very cheap DVD player, and DVDs had just become established technology.
I personally don't know a single person who bought the PS2 for its DVD playing ability. That's not to say those people aren't out there, even in masses, but I don't know any of them.
No, gameplay can be quite independent of resolution quality. In fact the earlier games were often good because they had to make the gameplay good. The graphics were never going to impress anyone.
Here's an interesting approach - hire a team to design a game for the original Playstation and when they're done hire another team to reskin it for the PS3. Maybe the first team will make something that's actually fun instead of just making an interactive movie.
They may be spending more with Google than broadcast advertising, but which one is generating more bottom line revenue? And which one has the bigger ratio?
I think I've mentioned before, this sort of data is a lot like the Addys (ad award like Grammys) which are issued based on peer review rather than effectiveness. Who cares if the ad is really great - if it didn't cause anyone to go purchase the product or service what good is it as an ad?
I tell you who has the most effective advertising campaign right now and that's Google. They've apparently stolen broadcast advertising's market in the UK.
People don't crave OS X because it's beautiful, but because it Just Works.
I get exactly the opposite responces when I ask people why they like Macs. "Because it's so pretty!" And they spend lots of time complaining about the infamous beachball of death. 'Just Works'? I think not. Even with Apple controling the hardware they still can't keep the machine from seizing up running only their own software.... Linux distributions as we know them will never compete with OS X. You'd need to toss X and its bazillion GUI toolkits, and replace them with something new. Then you'd need to organize a Human Interface Police, whose job it is to kick developers who don't follow the guidelines. And I suspect that won't go over well among the Linux developer community with its "free to do whatever the hell I like" mindset.
That I can get onboard with. It's time to move on to newer better technologies but I honestly don't see it happening.
Have any of you had a chance to use the Sony cameras with touch screens? OMG! It works shockingly well. They replaced the five button (four directional and one center) along with various other buttons with a new layout on the enlarged screen.
I think we're going to see an iPod much like that. The whole face of the device will be one big 'wide' screen and the buttons will be right there on the screen. A bigger display and bigger buttons.
A lot of this is stuff the manufacturer already provides, but in addition to that I think this is specifically a service the manufacturer could provide. Imagine being able to drop a message on a Dell website asking a specific question about how one of their computers runs a specific program and them giving you detailed results within 24 hours. That'd be pretty cool.
Q: Dell, I'd like to run Microsoft Flight Sim on an XPS 700 with three 30" displays. Can you give me the frame rate on that?
Lots of comments about how the IE team is happy to be empoyed, a friendly gesture, poking fun, etc etc. But I think this sort of thing is more common place than most of us imagine. Big companies that spend a lot of their time working on similar products follow eachother's progress very closely and are aware of the same difficulties they're both having. They may not be on the same team, but they're fighting the same battle. Even physical wartime battles have been known to halt to celebrate a common holiday, together.
I know that Terminix (a client of my company) congratulated Orkin (the evil competitor) on one of their recent anniversaries. It's a way of saying "We know what you're up against, and we know it kinda sucks. Hang in there."
My wife and I watched an episode of Dharma & Greg last night (TiVo, don't know the air date) where they're entering a dancing competition. Dharma's parents were against it claiming competition makes people mean and greedy. I see that a lot in society, and it doesn't have to be that way. Competition is to make us better individuals. Without competition we'd never progress to the next level. And because of that we should thank our competitors for putting up a good measure of excellence.
Even in sports like track and cross country where you can effectively compete against yourself, where's the push to keep getting a faster mile time, higher polevault, or longer long jump if you have nothing to compare it against? At the end of high school track meets I remember walking around and shaking the hands of everyone I competed with. If it weren't for them I wouldn't have been "in the top three" regularly. I'd have just been a dude running crappy lap times on the weekend.
Here's to competition! The evolver of our modern society. Thank your competitors, for they are what bring us a better life.
As an anecdote, one of my customers (I am an IT consultant) lost the password to the video surveillance system. They immediately came to me, and were shocked and annoyed when I said 'Sorry, I wasn't involved in the installation of that system and was never informed of the passwords.'
Isn't it amazing how easily people get pissed off when we can't fix something?
I wait until their PC is toally virus/adware ridden and they call me in to help. That's when the now will you believe me when I advise Firefox starts to work. Admittedly this is a slow, user by user, transfer but once converted they never return.
Bingo! It's worked on all my family members and friends.
The other approach I take is that I am the system administrator at my office and they do what I damn well say!;) Actually I had to install it for everyone and remove their IE shortcuts, but never-the-less, they're all using FF now and I rarely have to fix spam / virus issues anymore.
The difference between using IE and using FF is like data backups or various forms of insurance. You don't realize it's a good idea until you've been burned a time or two. Then after everything has gone to shit you say "I'll never let that happen again, even if I have to sacrifice a bit of functionality".
To get other functionality try adding things like flashblock, adblock, and greasemonkey to their install. Show them how to use these awesome features and turn them loose. For a lot of popular sites there are already canned GM scripts ready to go.
Having not used IE in a couple years I'm not possitive, but I doubt there's anything quite like those three apps for the MS product;)
Apple, who produced one of the most talked-about piece of consumer electronics in the last 10 years, gets ready to combine it with a phone, probably THE most talked-about piece of consumer electronics in the past 10 years.
Why would anyone care?
Underestimating the phone! I'd go so far as to say the telephone is the most talked about piece of consumer electronics since the telephone (:
Day 60: Was traded for pot today. New owner drives a Tercel, owns a pit bull, and has a "music collection" consisting of nothing but Reggae. I am in hell...
As a pit bull owner I take personal offense!;)
Nice write-up. Reminds me of the cat and dog diaries.
Not the type of "fraidy cat gamer I was expecting.
on
Fraidy Cat Gamer
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· Score: 3, Interesting
I was expecting this to be more of an article about people who were afraid to play games the way they were intended. (intention in the eye of the beholder)
I have several friends who play StarCraft completely defensively. On team games a couple of us will completely destroy the enemy while these RTS campers build base defenses the entire time. Highly frustrating.
Speaking of campers, what's with people who hide under the stairs in FPS and wait for someone to walk around the corner? Are you afraid of real combat?
I also play Travian, a stupid web based RTS, and people constantly bitch and moan about being attacked. Hello! It's a war game.
As far as the subject, I don't really understand horror in any medium. But why seek out the best horror game and then try to find ways to get through it? You're just watering it down! Take it like a man, you pussies! (:
That's all DSG are doing: choosing their stock to suit their market.
I don't know if I'm surprised that/. used a media hype tactic, but you are correct. "Banned" is not the appropriate word. They've simply decided to not stock the product.
A friend of mine ownes what is effectively a modern arcade. He has XBoxes and PCs set up for playing current games and actually packs the house on the weekends, with regular customers throughout the weekdays. Parents often ask him what kinds of games the children will be playing and what activities go on there. He tries to keep it clean and friendly and chooses to not offer certain games. It keeps the parents happy and after all it's their money he's getting.
I have about 10 servers at a 65 employee place - we put the servers as close to the return air duct as we could.
Most people think that cooling computers has more to do with offering cold air to them, but it's actually all about removing the hot air that they're producing.
One of my clients, involved in cartography (making maps), showed me his brand new 30" screen and said he had upgraded from 20" because on one single project, he was losing about 25% of his time scrolling around. So I'd have to say it not only made him more productive, but it also eventually paid for itself.
BINGO!
I'm a sys admin for an ad agency. My 15(+/-) artists beg for dual displays or bigger monitors just about every month for this very reason. "If I had a bigger monitor I could get more work done." I have to aggree - I use three 19" CRTs at home at 4800 x 1200 resolution and it's AMAZING how much I can get done on my personal projects by being able to see everything at once (not to mention large display centerfold pr0n!).
The problem is usually cost. Does two 24" display make them twice as productive as one 24" display? Likely not. That's $1000(USD) for the display, and you may also need an additional video card to drive it. Also, I've found that more displays drastically reduce the performance of the computer. So where the user may be more effecient with more screen space, the computer is not. Unless you upgrade it too - more added costs.
At work right now I have a dual 3.2Ghz Xeon with 2GB of memory and a 24" display. I'm seriously considering buying two more cards to drive two more 24" displays that are not currently deployed. Maybe I'll let you guys know how it goes (:
By the way, we upgraded our artists from 21" CRTs at 1600 x 1200 to 24" LCDs at 1920 x 1200. They're noticably happier, though I don't know that they're any more productive.
Slashdot Mirror
If you like everything else about Picasa just request the features you want to be added. I'm sure it'll come along eventually and you won't have to move all your images again.
My 95 year old grandmother has been visually impaired for over a decade. She had trouble finding good software to improve her computer experience and ended up spending several hundred dollars on something called ZoomText. http://www.synapseadaptive.com/ Which I found to be a complete and total rip off. It's better than Window's built in stuff, but it's not worth more than $50.
However! Apple has done a pretty good job of including such features, and honestly I think they might be better. She'll still need a huge damn screen, but OS X has some pretty slick Accessibility options that should be able to help her get around.
The biggest problem I know of for people being introduced to the internet at this stage is clicking on things they shouldn't. Install Firefox and AdBlocker Pro (or plus?) and have it use one of the online maintained blocking lists. Additionally walk her through all her sites and block anything that needs to be blocked. I also use FlashBlock. Make sure she knows both are installed and tell her how to use them. Old people hate having anything hidden from them according to what someone else thinks will be their benefit - especially if this lady is prepaired to do internet banking at 80.
Remote Management! Apple provides remote management software but it's not free and requires a Mac to do the remoting, where Microsoft's is free and there is an MS client for both Windows and OS X, and a 3rd party version for *NIX. However I have used VNC (RealVNC to be exact) for OS X which functions and allows the user to see what you're doing. But I've had problems keeping the server side running on OS X. Might just be me. The nice thing is you can remote to her computer from any platform.
As far as securing it, that's a matter of restricting web access and monitoring mail. And once you're on a Mac the only real issues to watch for are phishing.
I'd get her a 20" iMac. It includes a camera and she could video chat with her grandkids. It would make visits to Grandma's a bit more enjoyable as well (:
Not really. Usually, you do get something more than just "more of the same." Looking at the console history, you got things like 3D graphics (SNES -> PS1), analog sticks (PS1 -> N64), the ability to watch movies (Dreamcast -> PS2) or a real online service (PS2 -> Xbox). Sure, the PS3 brings Blu-Ray, but that's just a better DVD. What else does it have? Most things are faster.
Compare this to the Wii, which brings a really cool new controller. That's not souped up, that's new.
But you're not comparing new versions of the same product. You're not even comparing products from the same producer.
PS1 to PS2 to PS3. All game consoles from Sony, each time bigger / better / faster / prettier.
XBox to XBox 360. Same song, this time from Microsoft.
NES, SNES, N64, GameCube, Wii. Nintendo is slightly different, but they're doing the same thing. Bigger / better / faster / prettier each time. They just use goofy controllers in the process.
You can't compare SNES and PS1 to PS2 and PS3.
Sounds like a good plot for a movie. Moderately similar to "Dark Angel", the television show that got canned, but like Firefly I think it would make a good movie.
it really felt like nothing more than a souped up PS2
Isn't that what the next generation of anything is? If it's something different then it's something different.
How many people on Slashdot have said that the gene pool has become watered down due to the protections of civilization?
I don't know that I've ever seen that before on Slashdot, but it's something I've been thinking for many years.
The real reason why the PS2 was such a success, is that it was a very cheap DVD player, and DVDs had just become established technology.
I personally don't know a single person who bought the PS2 for its DVD playing ability. That's not to say those people aren't out there, even in masses, but I don't know any of them.
No, gameplay can be quite independent of resolution quality. In fact the earlier games were often good because they had to make the gameplay good. The graphics were never going to impress anyone.
Here's an interesting approach - hire a team to design a game for the original Playstation and when they're done hire another team to reskin it for the PS3. Maybe the first team will make something that's actually fun instead of just making an interactive movie.
They may be spending more with Google than broadcast advertising, but which one is generating more bottom line revenue? And which one has the bigger ratio?
I think I've mentioned before, this sort of data is a lot like the Addys (ad award like Grammys) which are issued based on peer review rather than effectiveness. Who cares if the ad is really great - if it didn't cause anyone to go purchase the product or service what good is it as an ad?
I tell you who has the most effective advertising campaign right now and that's Google. They've apparently stolen broadcast advertising's market in the UK.
People don't crave OS X because it's beautiful, but because it Just Works.
... Linux distributions as we know them will never compete with OS X. You'd need to toss X and its bazillion GUI toolkits, and replace them with something new. Then you'd need to organize a Human Interface Police, whose job it is to kick developers who don't follow the guidelines. And I suspect that won't go over well among the Linux developer community with its "free to do whatever the hell I like" mindset.
I get exactly the opposite responces when I ask people why they like Macs. "Because it's so pretty!" And they spend lots of time complaining about the infamous beachball of death. 'Just Works'? I think not. Even with Apple controling the hardware they still can't keep the machine from seizing up running only their own software.
That I can get onboard with. It's time to move on to newer better technologies but I honestly don't see it happening.
Have any of you had a chance to use the Sony cameras with touch screens? OMG! It works shockingly well. They replaced the five button (four directional and one center) along with various other buttons with a new layout on the enlarged screen.
I think we're going to see an iPod much like that. The whole face of the device will be one big 'wide' screen and the buttons will be right there on the screen. A bigger display and bigger buttons.
Haven't we already seen 'rumors' of this design?
A lot of this is stuff the manufacturer already provides, but in addition to that I think this is specifically a service the manufacturer could provide. Imagine being able to drop a message on a Dell website asking a specific question about how one of their computers runs a specific program and them giving you detailed results within 24 hours. That'd be pretty cool.
Q: Dell, I'd like to run Microsoft Flight Sim on an XPS 700 with three 30" displays. Can you give me the frame rate on that?
Wow! I had no idea that was available. That's so cool!
Lots of comments about how the IE team is happy to be empoyed, a friendly gesture, poking fun, etc etc. But I think this sort of thing is more common place than most of us imagine. Big companies that spend a lot of their time working on similar products follow eachother's progress very closely and are aware of the same difficulties they're both having. They may not be on the same team, but they're fighting the same battle. Even physical wartime battles have been known to halt to celebrate a common holiday, together.
I know that Terminix (a client of my company) congratulated Orkin (the evil competitor) on one of their recent anniversaries. It's a way of saying "We know what you're up against, and we know it kinda sucks. Hang in there."
My wife and I watched an episode of Dharma & Greg last night (TiVo, don't know the air date) where they're entering a dancing competition. Dharma's parents were against it claiming competition makes people mean and greedy. I see that a lot in society, and it doesn't have to be that way. Competition is to make us better individuals. Without competition we'd never progress to the next level. And because of that we should thank our competitors for putting up a good measure of excellence.
Even in sports like track and cross country where you can effectively compete against yourself, where's the push to keep getting a faster mile time, higher polevault, or longer long jump if you have nothing to compare it against? At the end of high school track meets I remember walking around and shaking the hands of everyone I competed with. If it weren't for them I wouldn't have been "in the top three" regularly. I'd have just been a dude running crappy lap times on the weekend.
Here's to competition! The evolver of our modern society. Thank your competitors, for they are what bring us a better life.
I'm looking forward to Google Mars. Should be a nice companion to Google Earth.
As an anecdote, one of my customers (I am an IT consultant) lost the password to the video surveillance system. They immediately came to me, and were shocked and annoyed when I said 'Sorry, I wasn't involved in the installation of that system and was never informed of the passwords.'
Isn't it amazing how easily people get pissed off when we can't fix something?
I wait until their PC is toally virus/adware ridden and they call me in to help. That's when the now will you believe me when I advise Firefox starts to work. Admittedly this is a slow, user by user, transfer but once converted they never return.
;) Actually I had to install it for everyone and remove their IE shortcuts, but never-the-less, they're all using FF now and I rarely have to fix spam / virus issues anymore.
;)
Bingo! It's worked on all my family members and friends.
The other approach I take is that I am the system administrator at my office and they do what I damn well say!
The difference between using IE and using FF is like data backups or various forms of insurance. You don't realize it's a good idea until you've been burned a time or two. Then after everything has gone to shit you say "I'll never let that happen again, even if I have to sacrifice a bit of functionality".
To get other functionality try adding things like flashblock, adblock, and greasemonkey to their install. Show them how to use these awesome features and turn them loose. For a lot of popular sites there are already canned GM scripts ready to go.
Having not used IE in a couple years I'm not possitive, but I doubt there's anything quite like those three apps for the MS product
Apple, who produced one of the most talked-about piece of consumer electronics in the last 10 years, gets ready to combine it with a phone, probably THE most talked-about piece of consumer electronics in the past 10 years.
Why would anyone care?
Underestimating the phone! I'd go so far as to say the telephone is the most talked about piece of consumer electronics since the telephone (:
Day 60:
;)
Was traded for pot today. New owner drives a Tercel, owns a pit bull, and has a "music collection" consisting of nothing but Reggae. I am in hell...
As a pit bull owner I take personal offense!
Nice write-up. Reminds me of the cat and dog diaries.
I was expecting this to be more of an article about people who were afraid to play games the way they were intended. (intention in the eye of the beholder)
I have several friends who play StarCraft completely defensively. On team games a couple of us will completely destroy the enemy while these RTS campers build base defenses the entire time. Highly frustrating.
Speaking of campers, what's with people who hide under the stairs in FPS and wait for someone to walk around the corner? Are you afraid of real combat?
I also play Travian, a stupid web based RTS, and people constantly bitch and moan about being attacked. Hello! It's a war game.
As far as the subject, I don't really understand horror in any medium. But why seek out the best horror game and then try to find ways to get through it? You're just watering it down! Take it like a man, you pussies! (:
That's all DSG are doing: choosing their stock to suit their market.
/. used a media hype tactic, but you are correct. "Banned" is not the appropriate word. They've simply decided to not stock the product.
I don't know if I'm surprised that
A friend of mine ownes what is effectively a modern arcade. He has XBoxes and PCs set up for playing current games and actually packs the house on the weekends, with regular customers throughout the weekdays. Parents often ask him what kinds of games the children will be playing and what activities go on there. He tries to keep it clean and friendly and chooses to not offer certain games. It keeps the parents happy and after all it's their money he's getting.
I agree. A sane person would of turned around after 30 miles.
Or thought up a better weapon on the way.
I have about 10 servers at a 65 employee place - we put the servers as close to the return air duct as we could.
Most people think that cooling computers has more to do with offering cold air to them, but it's actually all about removing the hot air that they're producing.
Simple and effective.
One of my clients, involved in cartography (making maps), showed me his brand new 30" screen and said he had upgraded from 20" because on one single project, he was losing about 25% of his time scrolling around. So I'd have to say it not only made him more productive, but it also eventually paid for itself.
BINGO!
I'm a sys admin for an ad agency. My 15(+/-) artists beg for dual displays or bigger monitors just about every month for this very reason. "If I had a bigger monitor I could get more work done." I have to aggree - I use three 19" CRTs at home at 4800 x 1200 resolution and it's AMAZING how much I can get done on my personal projects by being able to see everything at once (not to mention large display centerfold pr0n!).
The problem is usually cost. Does two 24" display make them twice as productive as one 24" display? Likely not. That's $1000(USD) for the display, and you may also need an additional video card to drive it. Also, I've found that more displays drastically reduce the performance of the computer. So where the user may be more effecient with more screen space, the computer is not. Unless you upgrade it too - more added costs.
At work right now I have a dual 3.2Ghz Xeon with 2GB of memory and a 24" display. I'm seriously considering buying two more cards to drive two more 24" displays that are not currently deployed. Maybe I'll let you guys know how it goes (:
By the way, we upgraded our artists from 21" CRTs at 1600 x 1200 to 24" LCDs at 1920 x 1200. They're noticably happier, though I don't know that they're any more productive.
Nice state-of-the-art pants that kid is wearing.
*gaffaw*! *gaffaw*!
But seriously, it's interesting their choice in games. I might have gone for Tetris or Spy Hunter.