The illustrated screenplay is out there, and it's nothing to write home about. That leaves it up to the directing and editing to make the story good, and that's Lucas' big weakness.
We shall see (but I'm going to wait a week so as not to add to the initial gross!).
From: bonch Sent: Monday, May 16, 2005 2:24 PM To: thurrott@windowsitpro.com Subject: Just another gloating Mac users
It's nice that Microsoft has released the MSN Search Toolbar. I read on BetaNews that Microsoft employees are claiming Spotlight was taken from early Longhorn builds, but Apple has had an integrated search system that indexed local hard drives, server volumes, and the internet itself since 1998 with Sherlock in Mac OS 8.5.
MSN feels bolted on. With Spotlight, when you make a change, such as adding a new file, receiving an email or entering a new contact, Spotlight updates its index automatically, so changes don't have to wait to be indexed in order to show up in search results correctly.
So MSN Search is nice, but is there any word on Longhorn's file-indexing and whether Microsoft will be backporting it as well as the other Longhorn features? Or is MSN Search already sharing Longhorn's search technology? It seems that Microsoft is stuck, because if they're providing search functionality to Windows XP, that lessens the need for Longhorn. But if they cripple MSN's search functionality to make Longhorn appealing, it makes Windows fall short of the other offerings.
Just a curious, gloating Mac user (actually, I'm the lone iBook user who runs the company Windows network and wondering what's going on with Longhorn).
Looking forward to any behind-the-scenes Longhorn info on the website, bonch
---
On May 16, 2005, at 12:31 PM, Paul Thurrott wrote:
LOL. Microsoft has been doing indexing in Microsoft Office since at least 1995. Windows Desktop Search is actually just as integrated with the OS as Spotlight is, from both a technical and user experience standpoint. Nice that it's free, too. No OS upgrade required. Paul
---
From: bonch Sent: Monday, May 16, 2005 2:44 PM To: Paul Thurrott Subject: Re: [SPAM] RE: Just another gloating Mac users
It only handled Office files and only worked for Office open dialogs. If the definition of desktop search is broadened that far, I can cite endless examples dating back to the 80s of file index caches used to speed up browsing. Office Fast Find was hardly a desktop search service. Come on, Paul...
Can you create a real-time updated Smart Folder using MSN Search?
- bonch
---
On May 16, 2005, at 12:52 PM, Paul Thurrott wrote:
No, Smart Folders will be in Longhorn. (Which, incidentally, is where Apple got the idea, of course). But Smart Folders are just a feature. That isn't "integrated" any more than the search results window. Paul
---
From: bonch Sent: Monday, May 16, 2005 3:02 PM To: Paul Thurrott Subject: Re: [SPAM] RE: [SPAM] RE: Just another gloating Mac users
Smart Folders illustrate system integration because Smart Folders update in real-time through low-level filesystem kernel hooks. MSN Search Toolbar does not do this. Spotlight also exposes APIs for use in client apps. Mail uses it, and iPhoto is going to see a 5.1 update that finally adds support for it (and speeds up its slow picture browsing).
As for Smart Folders, they obviously came from iTunes Smart Playlists. In fact, iTunes' real-time search field is the original inspiration for Spotlight as a desktop search tool, and Spotlight uses a lot of iTunes' way of doing things.
But really, I was just wondering how much of the MSN Search Toolbar is technology from Longhorn.
- bonch
---
On May 16, 2005, at 1:20 PM, Paul Thurrott wrote:
The problem with Spotlight is that it's not integrated. You have to custom-connect applications to it. For example, an integrated OS solution would actually search help files too, which Spotlight does not. Maybe in Mac OS X 10.5.
Anyway.
Windows Desktop Search was created independently of the Longhorn work.
Paul
---
Any desktop search technology will be dependent on file format importers to understand arbitrary
Suppose you run Slashdot. As someone with access to the backend and tweaking with the webserver yourself, you're well aware of the absolutely massive traffic your site directs. Someone submits a link to a PDF. Knowing that as an editor, you never warn webmasters beforehand that their site is about to be Slashdotted, would you throw a PDF up on the front page with just a little throwaway warning?
The true test of someone who claims to believe in Freedom of Speech is whether they tolerate speech which they disagree with, or even find disgusting.
What about the fact it's just plain illegal?
It's not "speech," it's exploited children. If you're just talking about child porn, that's freedom of speech. Have at it. But actual kiddie porn is trampling all over the rights of those children and is illegal to start with, not even getting into the fact that you're supporting a network that destroys young lives. That stuff ruins kids for life.
This reminds me of the ACLU defending NAMBLA. NAMBLA's magazine went so far as to provide widely published instructions on how to pick up little boys. At some point, you have to draw the line.
Besides, it's all moot. Freedom of Speech has to do with regulating the actions of the government, not the behavior of a Freenet node owner...
Your average PC user couldn't care less quite frankly. Did you ever look at how awfully incosistent apps look and behave on Windows? Not in my wildest dreams could I make Linux as inconsistent, yet quite obviously a lot average PC users use Windows.
Your average PC user will care when things look and behave differently, when copy-and-paste doesn't work, when keyboard shortcuts are different, and when applications behave completely differently.
Can you cite these inconsistencies you mention on Windows? I think it's ludicrious to state that you couldn't make Linux as inconsistent as Windows; it is already much worse than Windows in that department. You already have two entire GUI libraries being used by your apps (not even mentioning Firefox, OpenOffice, etc.).
Then I'm really sorry for you. Besides, simply use the gtk-qt-engine and Gaim will use your KDE theme and fit right it. Where was your problem again?
Your average PC user will wonder why they have to. "I have to use gtk-what engine? Huh? How come they don't just all work the same?" Idealistic arguments of choice and freedom will just get you blank stares as they move back to their Windows PCs and Macs (the kind of consistency even with its faults) where things simply work already.
In addition to the spreading thin of efforts, it also leads to embarrassing situations where we must now install two entire desktop environments to run each other's apps. That means two completely different widget and desktop libraries loaded into memory for no reason.
Add to that firing up Firefox, that's three entire widget libraries. Load up OpenOffice, and that's four.
And before anyone brings up the tired "Office is inconsistent too," it's not. All it's doing is overriding the paint event of standard Windows controls to draw outlines and things around them. Whenever someone tells me Windows is as inconsistent as Linux if not more so, I ask them to cite some simple examples, and they rarely can beyond things like Winamp, iTunes...mostly media players.
One hearing disclosed police invoked the Patriot Act 108 times in a 22-month period when surreptitiously entering and searching a home or office without notifying the owner.
You mean like they already do with suspected drug dealers?
And Playstation's features that Nintendo later copied?
Optical disk format.:)
I love the N64 like the next guy (I'm a huge Nintendo fan), but I recognize a misstep when I see one. N64 had great graphics for the time, and Super Mario 64 was another innovation you forgot to mention that other games copied repeatedly. But at the time, games were exploding with multimedia capabilities, and optical drives facilitated that. The N64 cartridge format meant all of its games were blocky models with very blurry textures on them to save space. Their developer relations didn't help either.
However, all is redeemed by Ocarina of Time and its underlooked cousin Majora's Mask. But let's face it, the Playstation was a real movement. It became a general term like "playing Nintendo" had become in the late 80s/early 90s.
The Gamecube, however, is a great system that just came out a little too late. Nintendo has vowed not to repeat that mistake, and I believe them. But we're hearing all about the X-Box 360 and the Playstation 3 and nothing about the Nintendo Revolution. With their statements that the DS is a third-tier system and not the Gameboy successor, as well as nothing being revealed, not even to developers, about the Revolution, Nintendo had better hit it out of the park at E3. This is the time where they need to build up the excitement leading to its release later in the year.
I trust them...but I'm just saying. If they miss E3, it's not going to be good for them. I look forward to them knocking my socks off. I don't look forward to the endless X-Box/PS3 hype that will be streaming from E3 with not a peep about Nintendo if they don't appear there in person to demo their Revolution...
Add a rocket on the back, bat shaped fins, and dual machine gun turrets and you'd have yourself one slick Tamundson-mobile with a Linux-powered uplink to your butler.
Look, the X-Box 360 and Playstation 3 are already designed and getting ready to debut at E3. It's not like they can radically change the design in time for their ship dates by stealing Nintendo's ideas at E3.
Nintendo is quickly losing steam with its developers. Who wants to develop future games for a console they know nothing about? While I appreciate Nintendo's position as well as their avoidance of pre-product hype these days, they need to get something out the door and let people know that yes, Nintendo is still around and planning something very big. And then show it to us! The old Nintendo was such a marvel because of its huge library of games. The Playstation and Playstation 2 enjoyed this same developer support. Nintendo needs to do as much as it can to appear as a viable platform and get some games on that thing. "Real artists ship."
I'm a programmer, not a lawyer. Too many licenses to keep track of. Sometimes the hoops you have to go through to make sure you're not violating some possible arcane aspect of a license (see: GPL font article) is a big hassle that's keeping me from just getting to work.
The funny part is that in situations like these, some people decide to invent their own license that fits their needs, increasing the hassle for everyone else.
This may be slightly off-topic. But more and more lately, I've been noticing that people call other people's opinions FUD when they disagree with them.
Just because someone believes differently doesn't mean they're spreading Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. Tell them you think they're wrong, but don't call it "spreading FUD." It's an overused term. It's the same as calling everybody a troll just because they believe differently about something.
The old NASA geeks were true geeks. They had to solve incredible problems on the fly. For example, like in the film, where a roomful of geeks sit down at a table, a bunch of random stuff is dumped on a table, and they have to get a square peg into a round hole using nothing but what was there. Imagine having to debug a remote system failure that's floating in space, using nothing but radio communications and screw instrumentation data?
The movie is a dramatization as Ron Howard points out, but I saw an Apollo 13 documentary that played actual recordings from the transmissions, and the film used a lot of the dialogue word-for-word. "Let's not make things worse by guessing."
It's been so long since I've even followed this company that I'm out of touch with what has happened in the past six months. Can anyone link to a summary timeline that we mere mortals can understand (i.e., what's an ex parte motion to adjourn)?
Anyone else intrigued by the statement that Longhorn will drive PC sales? No wonder it's touting such pointlessly hefty system requirements. Dell and Intel are hoping Windows Longhorn forces people to upgrade when they don't need to. Windows XP on 1ghz with 512MB of RAM is more than enough than most people will ever need to just check their e-mail and send pictures to people.
Bill Gates knows this, which is why he had written that recent piece proclaiming that PC sales weren't dead, desperate to convince people that they should keep buying computers when they already have one that does what they need.
I have a feeling Longhorn will take a while to get accepted. Years. And that's simply through people buying new PCs with Longhorn pre-installed, not buying Longhorn.
Wow, some real specific advantages over Tiger there. I love how their search is somehow better simply because you can "organize and view the results" in different ways. And let's disregard that there will be enough time after Tiger's release for Apple to ready another OS X release in time for 2006.
The most interesting part of this article, however, which I read earlier today, is that Microsoft is actually discussing a competitor and explaining what they think makes their product better.
They're actually competing. When was the last time a Windows release felt any pressure from a competitor?
While I understand the "social contract" point, it's hard for me to accept that I am unable to control what is downloaded to my computer through my Internet connection. Just as I can use a firewall to block certain information, I can also choose to block certain information on a webpage. It's my Internet connection, after all.
Web site owners have the right to display whatever they want on their pages whether I want to see it or not. Nobody's stopping them from doing that. And I can choose not to see it. Nobody should be stopping me from doing that either.
When the issue of whether the images are intentionally placed in the database comes up, the Google guy kind of sidesteps it:
He also explained that because of things like fog and clouds, specific regional satellite images can be a composite of several stitched-together pictures.
That reality leads people like Leeds to wonder if images like the Burning Man setup and the Castro Street Fair show up because Google or Keyhole employees wanted them to be there.
But Hanke prefers to focus on the excitement users are getting looking for the unexpected.
"It's kind of like playing one of those adventure games," he said, "where you have to click on every part of the screen to find that box that will open."
I mentioned this elsewhere; I e-mailed Thurrot about this, and he replied:
I will likely update the review over the weekend to address Core Image, Core Audio, and some other features I ignored, mostly out of not feeling like I had a strong enough handle on them, not because I was trying to underplay their value. I agree, actually, that Tiger is more than a service pack. I'll be updating the review to reflect that.
I e-mailed Thurrot about the service pack comparison and the lack of mention about Tiger's other features. He replied thusly:
I will likely update the review over the weekend to address Core Image, Core Audio, and some other features I ignored, mostly out of not feeling like I had a strong enough handle on them, not because I was trying to underplay their value. I agree, actually, that Tiger is more than a service pack. I'll be updating the review to reflect that.
The iPod has revolutionized music in the past few years because of its simplicity and style. It does one thing, it does it very well, and it looks damn good while doing it. The iPod photo kind of blurs those lines. Obviously, the iPod could become the next-gen portable media center: music, video, a Belkin iTV something-or-other. This gives us a glimmer of where they plan to go with this. iPod Movie Store?
It might not, also, but I'm leaving it up to somebody else to consider thinking of ways the iPod could change the way we even think about our personal photography and wallpapers and whatnot -- like the iPod changed the way many people listen to music (albums out, playlists and shuffle in).
I also want to know, where does this leave iPhoto? "Now, you too can organize your pictures...in iTunes! But you don't. You just download them there. You organize your pictures in iPhoto but you download them with iTunes, but you can also do it in iTunes if you want. Got it?"
Music, and the way that we deal with it, is such a rich site for interaction (music, audiobooks, speeches, recordings, class lectures, whatever) that it's hard to imagine where they could take photos.
"Doesn't it bother anyone else, the idea that God...is fucking with our heads? 'Huhuh, I'm a prankster God! Huhuh...I kill me. We'll see who believes in me now!'"
As the Jurassic Park references are inevitable in this discussion, let's get it out of the way. This is different in many ways. This isn't about resurrecting long-extinct species, it's about comparing past generations (via old eggs that are miraculously still alive...I'm curious how they survived) to current generations and examining the changes they underwent to survive. It's evolution in action.
Slashdot Mirror
The illustrated screenplay is out there, and it's nothing to write home about. That leaves it up to the directing and editing to make the story good, and that's Lucas' big weakness.
We shall see (but I'm going to wait a week so as not to add to the initial gross!).
From: bonch
Sent: Monday, May 16, 2005 2:24 PM
To: thurrott@windowsitpro.com
Subject: Just another gloating Mac users
It's nice that Microsoft has released the MSN Search Toolbar. I read on BetaNews that Microsoft employees are claiming Spotlight was taken from early Longhorn builds, but Apple has had an integrated search system that indexed local hard drives, server volumes, and the internet itself since 1998 with Sherlock in Mac OS 8.5.
MSN feels bolted on. With Spotlight, when you make a change, such as adding a new file, receiving an email or entering a new contact, Spotlight updates its index automatically, so changes don't have to wait to be indexed in order to show up in search results correctly.
So MSN Search is nice, but is there any word on Longhorn's file-indexing and whether Microsoft will be backporting it as well as the other Longhorn features? Or is MSN Search already sharing Longhorn's search technology? It seems that Microsoft is stuck, because if they're providing search functionality to Windows XP, that lessens the need for Longhorn. But if they cripple MSN's search functionality to make Longhorn appealing, it makes Windows fall short of the other offerings.
Just a curious, gloating Mac user (actually, I'm the lone iBook user who runs the company Windows network and wondering what's going on with Longhorn).
Looking forward to any behind-the-scenes Longhorn info on the website,
bonch
---
On May 16, 2005, at 12:31 PM, Paul Thurrott wrote:
LOL.
Microsoft has been doing indexing in Microsoft Office since at least 1995.
Windows Desktop Search is actually just as integrated with the OS as Spotlight is, from both a technical and user experience standpoint.
Nice that it's free, too. No OS upgrade required.
Paul
---
From: bonch
Sent: Monday, May 16, 2005 2:44 PM
To: Paul Thurrott
Subject: Re: [SPAM] RE: Just another gloating Mac users
It only handled Office files and only worked for Office open dialogs. If the definition of desktop search is broadened that far, I can cite endless examples dating back to the 80s of file index caches used to speed up browsing. Office Fast Find was hardly a desktop search service. Come on, Paul...
Can you create a real-time updated Smart Folder using MSN Search?
- bonch
---
On May 16, 2005, at 12:52 PM, Paul Thurrott wrote:
No, Smart Folders will be in Longhorn. (Which, incidentally, is where Apple got the idea, of course).
But Smart Folders are just a feature. That isn't "integrated" any more than the search results window.
Paul
---
From: bonch
Sent: Monday, May 16, 2005 3:02 PM
To: Paul Thurrott
Subject: Re: [SPAM] RE: [SPAM] RE: Just another gloating Mac users
Smart Folders illustrate system integration because Smart Folders update in real-time through low-level filesystem kernel hooks. MSN Search Toolbar does not do this. Spotlight also exposes APIs for use in client apps. Mail uses it, and iPhoto is going to see a 5.1 update that finally adds support for it (and speeds up its slow picture browsing).
As for Smart Folders, they obviously came from iTunes Smart Playlists. In fact, iTunes' real-time search field is the original inspiration for Spotlight as a desktop search tool, and Spotlight uses a lot of iTunes' way of doing things.
But really, I was just wondering how much of the MSN Search Toolbar is technology from Longhorn.
- bonch
---
On May 16, 2005, at 1:20 PM, Paul Thurrott wrote:
The problem with Spotlight is that it's not integrated. You have to custom-connect applications to it. For example, an integrated OS solution would actually search help files too, which Spotlight does not. Maybe in Mac OS X 10.5.
Anyway.
Windows Desktop Search was created independently of the Longhorn work.
Paul
---
Any desktop search technology will be dependent on file format importers to understand arbitrary
Suppose you run Slashdot. As someone with access to the backend and tweaking with the webserver yourself, you're well aware of the absolutely massive traffic your site directs. Someone submits a link to a PDF. Knowing that as an editor, you never warn webmasters beforehand that their site is about to be Slashdotted, would you throw a PDF up on the front page with just a little throwaway warning?
Most of us would have a little consideration.
What about the fact it's just plain illegal?
It's not "speech," it's exploited children. If you're just talking about child porn, that's freedom of speech. Have at it. But actual kiddie porn is trampling all over the rights of those children and is illegal to start with, not even getting into the fact that you're supporting a network that destroys young lives. That stuff ruins kids for life.
This reminds me of the ACLU defending NAMBLA. NAMBLA's magazine went so far as to provide widely published instructions on how to pick up little boys. At some point, you have to draw the line.
Besides, it's all moot. Freedom of Speech has to do with regulating the actions of the government, not the behavior of a Freenet node owner...
Your average PC user will care when things look and behave differently, when copy-and-paste doesn't work, when keyboard shortcuts are different, and when applications behave completely differently.
Can you cite these inconsistencies you mention on Windows? I think it's ludicrious to state that you couldn't make Linux as inconsistent as Windows; it is already much worse than Windows in that department. You already have two entire GUI libraries being used by your apps (not even mentioning Firefox, OpenOffice, etc.).
Your average PC user will wonder why they have to. "I have to use gtk-what engine? Huh? How come they don't just all work the same?" Idealistic arguments of choice and freedom will just get you blank stares as they move back to their Windows PCs and Macs (the kind of consistency even with its faults) where things simply work already.
In addition to the spreading thin of efforts, it also leads to embarrassing situations where we must now install two entire desktop environments to run each other's apps. That means two completely different widget and desktop libraries loaded into memory for no reason.
Add to that firing up Firefox, that's three entire widget libraries. Load up OpenOffice, and that's four.
And before anyone brings up the tired "Office is inconsistent too," it's not. All it's doing is overriding the paint event of standard Windows controls to draw outlines and things around them. Whenever someone tells me Windows is as inconsistent as Linux if not more so, I ask them to cite some simple examples, and they rarely can beyond things like Winamp, iTunes...mostly media players.
No, because nobody has HD-DVD players yet.
Personally, I think it's obvious Blu-ray will succeed based on its increased storage capacity as well as Sony's and Apple's backing.
You mean like they already do with suspected drug dealers?
And Playstation's features that Nintendo later copied?
:)
Optical disk format.
I love the N64 like the next guy (I'm a huge Nintendo fan), but I recognize a misstep when I see one. N64 had great graphics for the time, and Super Mario 64 was another innovation you forgot to mention that other games copied repeatedly. But at the time, games were exploding with multimedia capabilities, and optical drives facilitated that. The N64 cartridge format meant all of its games were blocky models with very blurry textures on them to save space. Their developer relations didn't help either.
However, all is redeemed by Ocarina of Time and its underlooked cousin Majora's Mask. But let's face it, the Playstation was a real movement. It became a general term like "playing Nintendo" had become in the late 80s/early 90s.
The Gamecube, however, is a great system that just came out a little too late. Nintendo has vowed not to repeat that mistake, and I believe them. But we're hearing all about the X-Box 360 and the Playstation 3 and nothing about the Nintendo Revolution. With their statements that the DS is a third-tier system and not the Gameboy successor, as well as nothing being revealed, not even to developers, about the Revolution, Nintendo had better hit it out of the park at E3. This is the time where they need to build up the excitement leading to its release later in the year.
I trust them...but I'm just saying. If they miss E3, it's not going to be good for them. I look forward to them knocking my socks off. I don't look forward to the endless X-Box/PS3 hype that will be streaming from E3 with not a peep about Nintendo if they don't appear there in person to demo their Revolution...
Add a rocket on the back, bat shaped fins, and dual machine gun turrets and you'd have yourself one slick Tamundson-mobile with a Linux-powered uplink to your butler.
Look, the X-Box 360 and Playstation 3 are already designed and getting ready to debut at E3. It's not like they can radically change the design in time for their ship dates by stealing Nintendo's ideas at E3.
Nintendo is quickly losing steam with its developers. Who wants to develop future games for a console they know nothing about? While I appreciate Nintendo's position as well as their avoidance of pre-product hype these days, they need to get something out the door and let people know that yes, Nintendo is still around and planning something very big. And then show it to us! The old Nintendo was such a marvel because of its huge library of games. The Playstation and Playstation 2 enjoyed this same developer support. Nintendo needs to do as much as it can to appear as a viable platform and get some games on that thing. "Real artists ship."
I'm a programmer, not a lawyer. Too many licenses to keep track of. Sometimes the hoops you have to go through to make sure you're not violating some possible arcane aspect of a license (see: GPL font article) is a big hassle that's keeping me from just getting to work.
The funny part is that in situations like these, some people decide to invent their own license that fits their needs, increasing the hassle for everyone else.
This may be slightly off-topic. But more and more lately, I've been noticing that people call other people's opinions FUD when they disagree with them.
Just because someone believes differently doesn't mean they're spreading Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. Tell them you think they're wrong, but don't call it "spreading FUD." It's an overused term. It's the same as calling everybody a troll just because they believe differently about something.
Okay, that's all.
The old NASA geeks were true geeks. They had to solve incredible problems on the fly. For example, like in the film, where a roomful of geeks sit down at a table, a bunch of random stuff is dumped on a table, and they have to get a square peg into a round hole using nothing but what was there. Imagine having to debug a remote system failure that's floating in space, using nothing but radio communications and screw instrumentation data?
The movie is a dramatization as Ron Howard points out, but I saw an Apollo 13 documentary that played actual recordings from the transmissions, and the film used a lot of the dialogue word-for-word. "Let's not make things worse by guessing."
Slashdot didn't always have the warm fuzzies for Apple. See the two links in my sig. Taco seemed to have an actual disdain for them.
Sweet SCO articles, how I missed you so!
It's been so long since I've even followed this company that I'm out of touch with what has happened in the past six months. Can anyone link to a summary timeline that we mere mortals can understand (i.e., what's an ex parte motion to adjourn)?
Anyone else intrigued by the statement that Longhorn will drive PC sales? No wonder it's touting such pointlessly hefty system requirements. Dell and Intel are hoping Windows Longhorn forces people to upgrade when they don't need to. Windows XP on 1ghz with 512MB of RAM is more than enough than most people will ever need to just check their e-mail and send pictures to people.
Bill Gates knows this, which is why he had written that recent piece proclaiming that PC sales weren't dead, desperate to convince people that they should keep buying computers when they already have one that does what they need.
I have a feeling Longhorn will take a while to get accepted. Years. And that's simply through people buying new PCs with Longhorn pre-installed, not buying Longhorn.
Wow, some real specific advantages over Tiger there. I love how their search is somehow better simply because you can "organize and view the results" in different ways. And let's disregard that there will be enough time after Tiger's release for Apple to ready another OS X release in time for 2006.
The most interesting part of this article, however, which I read earlier today, is that Microsoft is actually discussing a competitor and explaining what they think makes their product better.
They're actually competing. When was the last time a Windows release felt any pressure from a competitor?
While I understand the "social contract" point, it's hard for me to accept that I am unable to control what is downloaded to my computer through my Internet connection. Just as I can use a firewall to block certain information, I can also choose to block certain information on a webpage. It's my Internet connection, after all.
Web site owners have the right to display whatever they want on their pages whether I want to see it or not. Nobody's stopping them from doing that. And I can choose not to see it. Nobody should be stopping me from doing that either.
The iPod has revolutionized music in the past few years because of its simplicity and style. It does one thing, it does it very well, and it looks damn good while doing it. The iPod photo kind of blurs those lines. Obviously, the iPod could become the next-gen portable media center: music, video, a Belkin iTV something-or-other. This gives us a glimmer of where they plan to go with this. iPod Movie Store?
It might not, also, but I'm leaving it up to somebody else to consider thinking of ways the iPod could change the way we even think about our personal photography and wallpapers and whatnot -- like the iPod changed the way many people listen to music (albums out, playlists and shuffle in).
I also want to know, where does this leave iPhoto? "Now, you too can organize your pictures...in iTunes! But you don't. You just download them there. You organize your pictures in iPhoto but you download them with iTunes, but you can also do it in iTunes if you want. Got it?"
Music, and the way that we deal with it, is such a rich site for interaction (music, audiobooks, speeches, recordings, class lectures, whatever) that it's hard to imagine where they could take photos.
"Doesn't it bother anyone else, the idea that God...is fucking with our heads? 'Huhuh, I'm a prankster God! Huhuh...I kill me. We'll see who believes in me now!'"
- Bill Hicks
As the Jurassic Park references are inevitable in this discussion, let's get it out of the way. This is different in many ways. This isn't about resurrecting long-extinct species, it's about comparing past generations (via old eggs that are miraculously still alive...I'm curious how they survived) to current generations and examining the changes they underwent to survive. It's evolution in action.