Seriously. The double-density screen substantially improves legibility of type (rendered at the same optical size) on-screen, especially for older eyes than yours or mine.
* * *: Evidence of crippled comms infrastructure?
on
Strike on Iraq
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
It seems likely (based on accounts of weapons and aircraft used) that this strike was not so much an attack of opportunity (implying very short preparation time) as a carefully-planned prologue (prepared over the last 48-72 hours, say). Further speculation along these lines supports the notion that if in fact this was a "decapitation" action, planned in advance, that it was carefully designed to cripple communications in Baghdad (rather than take out leadership).
And now I'm having a lot of trouble getting through to well-known Iraqi hosts. (viz., uruk.uruklink.net returns very, very few packets. Star, star, star, says traceroute. Spin, spin, spin, says Safari.)
Maybe there was an EMP bomb among the ord dropped in southern Baghdad, or perhaps conventional damage was done to the telecom system, and local network health is evidence?
After all, the internet "routes around damage", but that doesn't help much if endpoint hosts have been fried (or disintegrated).
Absolutely. Mr. Flatt was a graduate student at the Rice CS dept. while I was an undergrad (thanks for your help in lab balancing parentheses, Matt), and while the department's Seasonal Lisp Machine may not actually have lived in his office, I'm quite sure he saw it once or twice.:-)
AOL Time Warner had said that would threaten copyrights for such movies as "Casablanca," "The Wizard of Oz" and "Gone With the Wind."
Uh, aren't these copyrights still under threat, despite this ruling? They've been given 20 more years, but after that they will still expire.
Ostensibly.
It's statements like these that convince me that corporations fully intend to use this new precedent to extend copyright indefinitely.
Extending the lifespan of the 68000
on
Real PDA Wristwatch
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
It's underpowered, sure, but the 68k architecture has been around long enough that, by now, it's a straightforward proposition to manufacture cores at low cost. Device makers are still trying to figure out how to put together ARM devices that land in impulse-buy territory, but Fossil can pack a totally functional 68k PDA into a $150 wristwatch. Nifty.
Quartz Extreme isn't, so much. (Yet.)
on
Is Mac OS X Slow?
·
· Score: 3, Informative
There are some things in OS X that need improvement - notably window-sizing - but then again, the Win2000 box still does outline-drawing for resizing so it's not fair.
In the end I think Quartz Extreme is Apple's answer to this.
It's not a complete answer, however. Extreme is only able to offload window composition to the GPU, which is a big win for some responsiveness situations (dragging windows around, with irregular shapes, and fat drop shadows, under a fancy 32-bit cursor) but doesn't help off-screen drawing ops (note that almost everything in Aqua is drawn off-screen).
It gets even worse when your off-screen drawing touches every pixel in your window. Apple encourages apps to do this, of course, by offering particularly gluttonous Aqua features like brushed-metal windows (Extreme has no way to ask the graphics hardware to chew on a full-window gradient, atop a texture, being rendered to an offscreen pixmap). Don't believe me? Fire up Quartz Debug (part of the developer tools; allows you to ask Quartz to highlight update rectangles before they're painted) and see for yourself.
I'm confident that Apple will continue to make improvements, but right now apps like iCal (which shouldn't be computationally intensive, but is all hopped up on Aqua) are miserably slow in screen updates.
I think you're thinking of Rocky's Boots (more info), written by Warren Robinett and published by The Learning Company (which he founded; now subsumed into Broderbund, I think) in 1982.
[I personally remember playing that game at school (on our single Apple ][) whenever I could get the chance. It wasn't until years later that I saw those symbols again and realized what the game had really been about!]
And, yea, I thought I asked you to mow the heavens
on
The Wireless Arcade
·
· Score: 1, Funny
Despite its superiority for most applications (including spamfighting), IMAP is still losing to POP and will continue to do so for some time. Why? Because ISPs (and other mailbox providers) don't like providing diskspace for their users' mailboxes. A huge mailspool is bad enough, but the default behavior of most POP clients will is to move a user's incoming messages from her inbox to her PC -- removing the burden from the provider.
It's a perfect case of service-provider myopia, too: if the technology were better applied, IMAP clients might be able to delete viral attachments (or IMAP servers might strip them out) before they're even downloaded, cutting down on virus retransmission, and eventually reducing the overall storage requirement of those users.
As with everything else, the best solutions to the spam problem will only be available to those savvy few (hey, that's you!). Unfortunately, just like with a communicable disease, you can't just cure a few people -- you have to cure the whole population.
Of course he is. Dan Johnston, longtime general counsel for Be, is now the CEO (and receptionist, and IT staff).
The real benefit of higher resolution: type
on
Palm OS 5.0 Preview
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I'm not sure what aspect ratio is "ideal" (it's certainly handy to have a square screen if you want to support 90 rotation of your UI without breaking a sweat), but in my mind the big win with high-res devices isn't multimedia; it's text readability.
At 72 ppi, anti-aliasing (and subpixel LCD tricks like ClearType) will only get you so far, especially with users looking so closely at the screens on these devices (they're handhelds, after all -- you're likely to hold them closer to your face than, say, your 30-pound CRT). Reading long passages of text at 72dpi, even on a good LCD, is still miserable.
However, with 320x320 packed into a couple of inches, we're talking about a dot pitch of 150ppi or higher, which approaches the pixel density (read: sharpness!) of a low-end inkjet printer. Assuming Palm (er, "PalmSource") can come up with some high-quality screen fonts (to replace the now-quaint bitmap fonts that once contributed strongly to the visual identity of the platform), future PalmOS devices could finally offer a pleasant e-book experience to end users.
Re:Great OS, but Palm's platforms are lagging...
on
Palm OS 5.0 Preview
·
· Score: 1
The OS is flashable, so I expect I'll upgrade to 5.0 when the time comes [...]
Sadly, you won't. As far as I know, OS 5 will only run on (as-yet nonexistent) ARM devices, and not 68K devices like your Clié.
Re:Perhaps too little too late?
on
Palm OS 5.0 Preview
·
· Score: 1, Informative
Perhaps you're referring to the i705, which uses Secure Digital cards (as have all other expandable Palms since the V). It's the SONY Clié that uses Memory Sticks.
Some common elements of this thread: "learn about time management", "become comfortable writing specifications", "broaden your expertise", "understand the big picture".
Joel Spolsky, another engineer-turned-architect writes thoughtful, entertaining, straightforward essays on these topics and other elements of software management based on his experiences at MSFT (regardless of your opinion of their business practices, they are certainly successful at orchestrating large, complex software projects) and, more recently, at his own company.
This stuff is such good reading that I've converted most of it into Plucker format for browsing on my PalmOS device. You never know when you'll need it for reference or inspiration.
So now the very popular matte-metal and purple colors and svelte enclosure are junked in favor of shiny black plastic and white tubular moulding. It's like a prop for Tron 2.
Although I must say, there is something to be said for that, er, sophisticated-lookingkeyboard. (Maybe this is it.)
Seriously, one of the major selling points for the VAIO series has been (no, not the easy-to-pronounce name) its very high-tech, executive look. Business users and geeks alike are proud to be carrying these little gems of late-twentieth-century innovation. The iBook is less popular with professional users for these very reasons, but (1) it is still quite popular on account of its design, which is more whimsical but still very sophisticated; and (2) its target demographic has never been professional users.
This design, however, feels very much like the shiny plastic vacuum cleaner sitting in my closet. Sure, it works, but it's flimsy; the plastic handle flexes under applied torque, and the little plastic "accents" are starting to fall off. The iBook may "look like a toy", but I fear the new VAIOs may "look cheap like a toy."
Slashdot Mirror
Seriously. The double-density screen substantially improves legibility of type (rendered at the same optical size) on-screen, especially for older eyes than yours or mine.
And now I'm having a lot of trouble getting through to well-known Iraqi hosts. (viz., uruk.uruklink.net returns very, very few packets. Star, star, star, says traceroute. Spin, spin, spin, says Safari.)
Maybe there was an EMP bomb among the ord dropped in southern Baghdad, or perhaps conventional damage was done to the telecom system, and local network health is evidence?
After all, the internet "routes around damage", but that doesn't help much if endpoint hosts have been fried (or disintegrated).
Ostensibly.
It's statements like these that convince me that corporations fully intend to use this new precedent to extend copyright indefinitely.
It's underpowered, sure, but the 68k architecture has been around long enough that, by now, it's a straightforward proposition to manufacture cores at low cost. Device makers are still trying to figure out how to put together ARM devices that land in impulse-buy territory, but Fossil can pack a totally functional 68k PDA into a $150 wristwatch. Nifty.
It gets even worse when your off-screen drawing touches every pixel in your window. Apple encourages apps to do this, of course, by offering particularly gluttonous Aqua features like brushed-metal windows (Extreme has no way to ask the graphics hardware to chew on a full-window gradient, atop a texture, being rendered to an offscreen pixmap). Don't believe me? Fire up Quartz Debug (part of the developer tools; allows you to ask Quartz to highlight update rectangles before they're painted) and see for yourself.
I'm confident that Apple will continue to make improvements, but right now apps like iCal (which shouldn't be computationally intensive, but is all hopped up on Aqua) are miserably slow in screen updates.
[I personally remember playing that game at school (on our single Apple ][) whenever I could get the chance. It wasn't until years later that I saw those symbols again and realized what the game had really been about!]
"But Dad! I'm Bejeweling!
Troll. (If you want a little BeOS in your Palm, install Khroma and turn your form tabs orange!)
Despite its superiority for most applications (including spamfighting), IMAP is still losing to POP and will continue to do so for some time. Why? Because ISPs (and other mailbox providers) don't like providing diskspace for their users' mailboxes. A huge mailspool is bad enough, but the default behavior of most POP clients will is to move a user's incoming messages from her inbox to her PC -- removing the burden from the provider.
It's a perfect case of service-provider myopia, too: if the technology were better applied, IMAP clients might be able to delete viral attachments (or IMAP servers might strip them out) before they're even downloaded, cutting down on virus retransmission, and eventually reducing the overall storage requirement of those users.
As with everything else, the best solutions to the spam problem will only be available to those savvy few (hey, that's you!). Unfortunately, just like with a communicable disease, you can't just cure a few people -- you have to cure the whole population.
Of course he is. Dan Johnston, longtime general counsel for Be, is now the CEO (and receptionist, and IT staff).
I'm not sure what aspect ratio is "ideal" (it's certainly handy to have a square screen if you want to support 90 rotation of your UI without breaking a sweat), but in my mind the big win with high-res devices isn't multimedia; it's text readability.
At 72 ppi, anti-aliasing (and subpixel LCD tricks like ClearType) will only get you so far, especially with users looking so closely at the screens on these devices (they're handhelds, after all -- you're likely to hold them closer to your face than, say, your 30-pound CRT). Reading long passages of text at 72dpi, even on a good LCD, is still miserable.
However, with 320x320 packed into a couple of inches, we're talking about a dot pitch of 150ppi or higher, which approaches the pixel density (read: sharpness!) of a low-end inkjet printer. Assuming Palm (er, "PalmSource") can come up with some high-quality screen fonts (to replace the now-quaint bitmap fonts that once contributed strongly to the visual identity of the platform), future PalmOS devices could finally offer a pleasant e-book experience to end users.
Sadly, you won't. As far as I know, OS 5 will only run on (as-yet nonexistent) ARM devices, and not 68K devices like your Clié.
Perhaps you're referring to the i705, which uses Secure Digital cards (as have all other expandable Palms since the V). It's the SONY Clié that uses Memory Sticks.
The product is called Documents To Go.
Joel Spolsky, another engineer-turned-architect writes thoughtful, entertaining, straightforward essays on these topics and other elements of software management based on his experiences at MSFT (regardless of your opinion of their business practices, they are certainly successful at orchestrating large, complex software projects) and, more recently, at his own company.
This stuff is such good reading that I've converted most of it into Plucker format for browsing on my PalmOS device. You never know when you'll need it for reference or inspiration.
Some personal favorites: The Joel Test of effective s/w development processes, painless software schedules, writing effective (read: convincing) functional specifications, and plenty of other gems.
Incidentally, let's all hope that they drop the Newco moniker.
Minor URL correction:
l 11.gif
http://www.filepile.org:8080/f/pictures/ual175_aa
Although I must say, there is something to be said for that, er, sophisticated-looking keyboard. (Maybe this is it.)
Seriously, one of the major selling points for the VAIO series has been (no, not the easy-to-pronounce name) its very high-tech, executive look. Business users and geeks alike are proud to be carrying these little gems of late-twentieth-century innovation. The iBook is less popular with professional users for these very reasons, but (1) it is still quite popular on account of its design, which is more whimsical but still very sophisticated; and (2) its target demographic has never been professional users.
This design, however, feels very much like the shiny plastic vacuum cleaner sitting in my closet. Sure, it works, but it's flimsy; the plastic handle flexes under applied torque, and the little plastic "accents" are starting to fall off. The iBook may "look like a toy", but I fear the new VAIOs may "look cheap like a toy."