Cool! I don't doubt Apple. I have owned most of their stuff since I purchased an Apple Portable for £8000 ($16,000 in today's money!) and am typing this on a Macbook black with 2gig RAM. They do deliver when they get it right and I plan to buy an iPhone soon as it's available here in the UK. BTW, I do NOT like the iPod. I find the interface far far too slow to navigate. however, the touch screen on the iPhone looks wonderful. Having played with an LG Prada, which is actually quite nice, I do believe that touch screens done properly are the way forward, in conjunction with a limited 'hard' controls.
Both the demos given at the Apple expos and the inspiring TV ads could be simulations created in Flash or another authoring platorm that make the interface and operation far slicker than it is when connected to the network. (Journalists have had hands on use of the iPhone, but that does not mean it was not running an interactive Flash simulation.) We all know how advertisements and pre-launch demos tend to gloss over any flaws. Of course, with today's technology there is no reason why the iPhone should not be capable of what we have seen - after all, the iPod Nano is much smaller and an amazing feat of engineering on its own. And the stuff the current iPod Video can do (see the in store demos) is quite cool. But but but, if people own an iPhone but are constrained by the speed of their connection or any other archillies heel, then they will be in pocession of the world's most expensive and cool looking brick(ette).
...I am a massive Palm fan, and was convinced today's announcements would be an iPhone competitors or some amazing next gen Treo. The OLPC has more future proof and network centric technology than the Folio and I just do not see how people will step backwards from watching DVDs, PowerPoint, YouTube, Excel files on their laptop to a device the same size, almost, but that has to sync with a phone. Jeff, who I admire a huge amount, had a great opportunity here to launch an Apple level revolutionary device, such as an eINK rollup PDA/Phone and has taken a step backwards. He forgets, 90% of the world run MS applications and/or services and already carry laptops that do everything - including syncing with their phones using Microsoft Exchange. I would much prefer to carry a roll up cloth keyboard (they are available) and an iPhone or Treo and actually use the phone's screen with a large font if I'm going to leave my laptop behind. Damn, such a wasted opportunity. But, he may well find a niche market if the battery life is more than 24 hours - sich as writers who wish to lock themselves away on a mountain for a few days. "Here's Jack!"
...if a broadband or near broadband wireless connection is not available everywhere, then it is pointless. People cannot run their lives hoping to find a connection. Far better to put up with a slower but acceptable 3G or equiv connection through the cell/mobile providers where coverage is often assured. I reside in the UK and have a Vodafone 3G connect doo dah connected to my Macbook via USB and it works like a dream, anywhere I go. Even when it slows to GPRS, it is fast enough to surf most websites. I only use WiFi when back home or at the office where I am more likely to waste time watching YouTube videos and downloading stuff.:-) Seriously, my point is valid and when 4G is introduced (Google Samsung 4G trials), that will be it for public WiFi.
...come visit, and every day, a young person is shot, someone else is mugged. All criminals have to do is avoid the cameras. A police man has legs so can give chase and can make a common sense judgement. With a camera, you are guilty and your privacy invaded before you are judged guilty. I am British and am far more worried about our surveilance society than terrorism. And ironically, with many people or religious groups disliking being photographed in general, I believe such technology will in fact CREAT a new breed of 'terrorist', and that will be the silent middle class who are slowly realising what is happening to this nation and will rise up. Yes really. And the sooner the better too.
When I try to view the blog for Popfly guy John Montgomery, it prompted me to install Silverlight, which I did. So I re-launched Firefox and re-visited his blog, which was trying to mash Virtual Earth and Twitter. It crashes the browser each time. May not be Silverlight of course, but just interested to know if this happens to anyone else. Either way, I am still wanting to know what all this mashing malarky is about. I just want solutions, not things that require management and customization. Else, we're back to square one!
I was playing with an LG Prada touch screen phone and when you press the numbers to dial or text, the on screen buttons re-appear offset vertically above their original position. It works a treat. (This was in London, England.)
The brilliance of the OLPC project is the almost crash proof simplicity of the product. A fresh start. For anyone who has used a (now defunct) Psion Organiser, one of the easiest to use and reliable (albiet unconnected) PDAs ever launched anywhere in the world, a user friendly stable GUI is what empowers people to focus on the task at hand, not the device. Think Toaster, Microwave or iPod. As a Mac user who has just spent two weeks playing with Vista, I wish to state as a software designer that MS products are a hindrance, not a tool for productivity. The majority of the world's greatest structures (Pyramids, Empire State Building, every (old) cathedral and church) ever build were designed and constructed before computers using intuitive tools - paper and pen(cil). Windows, and even OSX is a barrier to true creativity and expression. The unique GUI of the OLPC was a fantastic opportunity to start afresh and empower people who have never touched a computer before. Now all these people will do is send emails and run spreadsheets. How exciting. How original. How inspiring. Not. A sad sad day. I think it's time I got back together with my industrial designer and created an OLPC that meets the original vision of NN at MiT. Watch this space. (www.owonder.com)
I was in Silicon Valley in the 1990s and Microsoft did buy up a number of players, one of whom had developed a fantastic MPEG4 based video codec. It could do all kinds of amazing things that even today's codecs cannot do - such as embedded data, like graphs, text and more. MS ended up with the lacklustre Windows Media player. Doing nothing with the technology they purchased. MS and others often make a purchase to block their competitors or prevent the companies they buy from becoming a threat. Of course, normally, it is simply as case of not re-inventing the wheel. How many people know where Apple's iTunes came from? Not Apple! They purchased a relatively ugly looking but technically proficient 3rd party MP3 playback application, prettied it up and et Voila! But on the whole, unlike MS and Google, Apple do tend to design and develop most of their software and products in house which is why it interoperates so well.
As per my other posting on a thread about Second Life real estate, only face to face allows for true understanding and use of our 5 natural senses. Email or other 'written' communication should then be used for confirmation of specific information, such as contracts, events planning, meetings etc! Common sense really!
Back in the 1980s, I was very enthusiastic about these 2 and 3D worlds. Older slashdotters may recall terms such as 'Virtual Reality' and such. Fast forward to today and it is not hard to notice a consistent flaw in people who rely upon electronics communications and escapist realities such as WOW, Second Life, MSN etc. The problem is these provide a barrier to genuine human interaction where our 5 senses come into play. So, such people become socially inept and in the eyes of those of us who have some values, incredibly rude and cold. I believe that the best use of these artificial worlds is not social interaction but simulating real world scenarios - from a business model to an aircraft design - before taking them to market or production. Those I interact with on MSN are the worst at real life social interaction - and I find this consistent, no matter the age group and am doing my best to ban iM from my company. (Yes, I use it as my team insist!) The most polite, 'together' and successful people I know do not use instant messaging or any artificial community. They use voice telephone calls and face to face meetings. I imagine this post is going to get flamed, but that is not the intent. I aim to trigger debate! Bring it on!
Omitted to mention that my main issue here is why on earth are Microsoft and the hardware manufacturers even bothering to ship machines that are incapable of running Vista at a speed that makes it usable? I have never purchased a Mac that didn't run it's (authorised) software at a usable speed, except for some clunkers in the 1990s.
OK, I just purchased a Toshiba laptop, yes, it only has 0.5Gig RAM and is not equipped with the fastest processor, but it came pre-installed with Vista Home Basic. Comments: The machine itself is light and relatively well made. And for the price, does a lot. DVD Burner, WiFi, PC Card slot etc. Only design negative is no caps lock light. Now for Vista. I am a Mac user, but have used XP.
a) It takes forever to wake up or start up.
b) The graphical user interface (GUI) is appallingly sluggish.
c) The GUI breaks countless human factors rules, such as security dialogs that contain text in a box that looks like a hotspot when it isn't, and hotspots that one doesn't know are hotspots. It gets worse.
d) Said secrurity dialogs and upgrade reminders keep popping up all the time making it impossible to get anything done - and we only just purchased the machine!
e) It often slows down to a crawl and the windows don't redraw properly
f) The screen darkens for no reason or when an error is displayed, but you cannot see the error right away.
g) Adjusting the screen brightness and other Function key options is a nightmare. You have to hold down [Fn] and wait a few seconds for a (visually attractive) icon bar to appear at the top of the screen, and then, fiddle with the keys to make adjustments. (On the Mac, you just press a key!)
h) The whole Vista experience is confusing and way way behind OSX from all angles - and not a touch on XP. XP was/is actually pleasing to use, in particular the file manager which is IMHO better than Apple's appalling effort.
Not wanting to bash Toshiba as it's not their fault, but I think we're going to return this machine and for the extra £200 get a refurb Macbook or even an iBook that will run about 4 times faster and offer a pleasing trouble free experience! (Yes, a machine that is 1 or 2 years older than a Vista machine at not much more money. I guess if you choose Apple, you're sort of travelling through time to a better future! Those using MS stuff are living in the past. Hmm, interesting.
Dude, see my posting further down, reference to gonumber.com. We're adding the ability to locate businesses using various search factors, such as "open now" or at a specific time plus other keywords etc. Here's a listing showing our real time opening hours indicator: pressgang.gonumber.com.
Meant to mention that a) We are focusing on a few areas of London, England only at this point, plus a few entries from other cities. b) The 'directory' (www.gonumber.com) is morphing into a service, so the term 'directory' may become obsolete in due course.
As per porcini.gonumber.com, we have been including photos and (real time) opening hours for a while, plus coupons, price lists and/or menus. For example, no5belgravia.gonumber.com. Yes, we charge for 'listings' in our directory, but include some interesting and innovative features (many more to come) and don't re-sell data or embed any 3rd party advertising within it. Site looks boring, but is nice on a mobile device thanks to some sweet CSS and yes, we're working on a new logo! We use Google maps but hope to be different enough from them to avoid being squished. (For the geeks, gonumber.com is built using PostgreSQL and RDF for some nice metadata goodness.) One more thing, our entries end up high in Google. Try searching on 'Albertine London' in Google and see where the very top link takes you! If anyone out there wishes to partake in re-selling listings once we upgrade the service and take it Stateside, drop us a line at www.owonder.com/contact We have some cool ideas and seek top talent.
The compact form factor, reliable hardware and stable OS offered Apple an excellent opportunity to attempt the following strategy:
a) Target small businesses. Mac Mini + 17" monitor + MS Office or Apple's own software suite. Value proposition, higher entry point but long shelf life.
b) Once established, target corporates with their servers with driveless Mac Minis acting as terminals.
c) Software as a service and local applications combined to offer a reliable, intuitive and compelling solution.
Think this a dream? Not so, we (O'WONDER) have already pursuaded some trial customers to scrap their PCs and use our own web services under Firefox. Ironically, one chose a more expensive 20" iMac over a Mac Mini. The trial continues.
Corporate interests are bound to influence the content - this happens all the time. The solution is a small (optional) subscription fee plus a 'Donate' button linked to PayPal. Those who use Wikipedia a lot will be encouraged but not forced to subscribe or donate. In a way, this is like tipping. If you find the service good (in this case, useful!), you contribute - if you are able too.
...will get worse under the PC Gordon Brown, who may well be our next PM. I am British, but spent from 1991 to 2000 in the USA. Although some of what goes on stateside is enough to drive one nuts, I have been stunned at how Britain has gone down the toilet. From celeb culture (which unlike the USA, is not limited to talented Hollywood folk, but losers) to criminals being given MORE rights than us law abiding types whose greatest sin is to drive 45mph in a 40 zone and get fined for it - and then be dragged through the courts if losing when contesting said fine. The decline here in values is extreme and far worse than anyone can imagine. One only really notices it if leaving the country and then returning. Like all flawed entities, we are doomed unless we change or something, such as a revolution occurs - but with CCTV cameras and all manner of other 'devices' in place, we're stuck - possibly forever. And in a way it's worse than 1984 or a Hollywood movie because there is no hero to come save the day. Where's Superman* when you need him? *Or Superwoman, to be PC.:-)
...not yet, so don't get grumpy if you think it's crap, but later in the year, we'll be trying a few things to give people a more dignified online presence! The backend is based on some nifty RDF and FOAF machinery. (Firefox only for now, else somethings will break.) GONUMBER.COM.
Are you in the UK or US? Either way, good on you. The desire to learn and be fascinated by the world around (and beyond!) us, is so much more exciting than the superficial 'crap' that is fed to us on TV and in the print media today. Incidentally, if you want to take a tongue in cheek look at what could become commercial reality in the not too distant future, check out Mars Hydro, a teaser holding site I put up a while back when they first thought they had found the stuff of life on the red planet.;-)
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Cool! I don't doubt Apple. I have owned most of their stuff since I purchased an Apple Portable for £8000 ($16,000 in today's money!) and am typing this on a Macbook black with 2gig RAM. They do deliver when they get it right and I plan to buy an iPhone soon as it's available here in the UK. BTW, I do NOT like the iPod. I find the interface far far too slow to navigate. however, the touch screen on the iPhone looks wonderful. Having played with an LG Prada, which is actually quite nice, I do believe that touch screens done properly are the way forward, in conjunction with a limited 'hard' controls.
Both the demos given at the Apple expos and the inspiring TV ads could be simulations created in Flash or another authoring platorm that make the interface and operation far slicker than it is when connected to the network. (Journalists have had hands on use of the iPhone, but that does not mean it was not running an interactive Flash simulation.) We all know how advertisements and pre-launch demos tend to gloss over any flaws. Of course, with today's technology there is no reason why the iPhone should not be capable of what we have seen - after all, the iPod Nano is much smaller and an amazing feat of engineering on its own. And the stuff the current iPod Video can do (see the in store demos) is quite cool. But but but, if people own an iPhone but are constrained by the speed of their connection or any other archillies heel, then they will be in pocession of the world's most expensive and cool looking brick(ette).
...I am a massive Palm fan, and was convinced today's announcements would be an iPhone competitors or some amazing next gen Treo. The OLPC has more future proof and network centric technology than the Folio and I just do not see how people will step backwards from watching DVDs, PowerPoint, YouTube, Excel files on their laptop to a device the same size, almost, but that has to sync with a phone. Jeff, who I admire a huge amount, had a great opportunity here to launch an Apple level revolutionary device, such as an eINK rollup PDA/Phone and has taken a step backwards. He forgets, 90% of the world run MS applications and/or services and already carry laptops that do everything - including syncing with their phones using Microsoft Exchange. I would much prefer to carry a roll up cloth keyboard (they are available) and an iPhone or Treo and actually use the phone's screen with a large font if I'm going to leave my laptop behind. Damn, such a wasted opportunity. But, he may well find a niche market if the battery life is more than 24 hours - sich as writers who wish to lock themselves away on a mountain for a few days. "Here's Jack!"
...if a broadband or near broadband wireless connection is not available everywhere, then it is pointless. People cannot run their lives hoping to find a connection. Far better to put up with a slower but acceptable 3G or equiv connection through the cell/mobile providers where coverage is often assured. I reside in the UK and have a Vodafone 3G connect doo dah connected to my Macbook via USB and it works like a dream, anywhere I go. Even when it slows to GPRS, it is fast enough to surf most websites. I only use WiFi when back home or at the office where I am more likely to waste time watching YouTube videos and downloading stuff. :-) Seriously, my point is valid and when 4G is introduced (Google Samsung 4G trials), that will be it for public WiFi.
...come visit, and every day, a young person is shot, someone else is mugged. All criminals have to do is avoid the cameras. A police man has legs so can give chase and can make a common sense judgement. With a camera, you are guilty and your privacy invaded before you are judged guilty. I am British and am far more worried about our surveilance society than terrorism. And ironically, with many people or religious groups disliking being photographed in general, I believe such technology will in fact CREAT a new breed of 'terrorist', and that will be the silent middle class who are slowly realising what is happening to this nation and will rise up. Yes really. And the sooner the better too.
Comment for you Mr. Automated posting checker bot! (Or are you a Slashdot fembot?)
When I try to view the blog for Popfly guy John Montgomery, it prompted me to install Silverlight, which I did. So I re-launched Firefox and re-visited his blog, which was trying to mash Virtual Earth and Twitter. It crashes the browser each time. May not be Silverlight of course, but just interested to know if this happens to anyone else. Either way, I am still wanting to know what all this mashing malarky is about. I just want solutions, not things that require management and customization. Else, we're back to square one!
I was playing with an LG Prada touch screen phone and when you press the numbers to dial or text, the on screen buttons re-appear offset vertically above their original position. It works a treat. (This was in London, England.)
The brilliance of the OLPC project is the almost crash proof simplicity of the product. A fresh start. For anyone who has used a (now defunct) Psion Organiser, one of the easiest to use and reliable (albiet unconnected) PDAs ever launched anywhere in the world, a user friendly stable GUI is what empowers people to focus on the task at hand, not the device. Think Toaster, Microwave or iPod. As a Mac user who has just spent two weeks playing with Vista, I wish to state as a software designer that MS products are a hindrance, not a tool for productivity. The majority of the world's greatest structures (Pyramids, Empire State Building, every (old) cathedral and church) ever build were designed and constructed before computers using intuitive tools - paper and pen(cil). Windows, and even OSX is a barrier to true creativity and expression. The unique GUI of the OLPC was a fantastic opportunity to start afresh and empower people who have never touched a computer before. Now all these people will do is send emails and run spreadsheets. How exciting. How original. How inspiring. Not. A sad sad day. I think it's time I got back together with my industrial designer and created an OLPC that meets the original vision of NN at MiT. Watch this space. (www.owonder.com)
I was in Silicon Valley in the 1990s and Microsoft did buy up a number of players, one of whom had developed a fantastic MPEG4 based video codec. It could do all kinds of amazing things that even today's codecs cannot do - such as embedded data, like graphs, text and more. MS ended up with the lacklustre Windows Media player. Doing nothing with the technology they purchased. MS and others often make a purchase to block their competitors or prevent the companies they buy from becoming a threat. Of course, normally, it is simply as case of not re-inventing the wheel. How many people know where Apple's iTunes came from? Not Apple! They purchased a relatively ugly looking but technically proficient 3rd party MP3 playback application, prettied it up and et Voila! But on the whole, unlike MS and Google, Apple do tend to design and develop most of their software and products in house which is why it interoperates so well.
As per my other posting on a thread about Second Life real estate, only face to face allows for true understanding and use of our 5 natural senses. Email or other 'written' communication should then be used for confirmation of specific information, such as contracts, events planning, meetings etc! Common sense really!
Back in the 1980s, I was very enthusiastic about these 2 and 3D worlds. Older slashdotters may recall terms such as 'Virtual Reality' and such. Fast forward to today and it is not hard to notice a consistent flaw in people who rely upon electronics communications and escapist realities such as WOW, Second Life, MSN etc. The problem is these provide a barrier to genuine human interaction where our 5 senses come into play. So, such people become socially inept and in the eyes of those of us who have some values, incredibly rude and cold. I believe that the best use of these artificial worlds is not social interaction but simulating real world scenarios - from a business model to an aircraft design - before taking them to market or production. Those I interact with on MSN are the worst at real life social interaction - and I find this consistent, no matter the age group and am doing my best to ban iM from my company. (Yes, I use it as my team insist!) The most polite, 'together' and successful people I know do not use instant messaging or any artificial community. They use voice telephone calls and face to face meetings. I imagine this post is going to get flamed, but that is not the intent. I aim to trigger debate! Bring it on!
Omitted to mention that my main issue here is why on earth are Microsoft and the hardware manufacturers even bothering to ship machines that are incapable of running Vista at a speed that makes it usable? I have never purchased a Mac that didn't run it's (authorised) software at a usable speed, except for some clunkers in the 1990s.
OK, I just purchased a Toshiba laptop, yes, it only has 0.5Gig RAM and is not equipped with the fastest processor, but it came pre-installed with Vista Home Basic. Comments: The machine itself is light and relatively well made. And for the price, does a lot. DVD Burner, WiFi, PC Card slot etc. Only design negative is no caps lock light. Now for Vista. I am a Mac user, but have used XP.
a) It takes forever to wake up or start up.
b) The graphical user interface (GUI) is appallingly sluggish.
c) The GUI breaks countless human factors rules, such as security dialogs that contain text in a box that looks like a hotspot when it isn't, and hotspots that one doesn't know are hotspots. It gets worse.
d) Said secrurity dialogs and upgrade reminders keep popping up all the time making it impossible to get anything done - and we only just purchased the machine!
e) It often slows down to a crawl and the windows don't redraw properly
f) The screen darkens for no reason or when an error is displayed, but you cannot see the error right away.
g) Adjusting the screen brightness and other Function key options is a nightmare. You have to hold down [Fn] and wait a few seconds for a (visually attractive) icon bar to appear at the top of the screen, and then, fiddle with the keys to make adjustments. (On the Mac, you just press a key!)
h) The whole Vista experience is confusing and way way behind OSX from all angles - and not a touch on XP. XP was/is actually pleasing to use, in particular the file manager which is IMHO better than Apple's appalling effort.
Not wanting to bash Toshiba as it's not their fault, but I think we're going to return this machine and for the extra £200 get a refurb Macbook or even an iBook that will run about 4 times faster and offer a pleasing trouble free experience! (Yes, a machine that is 1 or 2 years older than a Vista machine at not much more money. I guess if you choose Apple, you're sort of travelling through time to a better future! Those using MS stuff are living in the past. Hmm, interesting.
See my posting below, re gonumber.com.
Dude, see my posting further down, reference to gonumber.com. We're adding the ability to locate businesses using various search factors, such as "open now" or at a specific time plus other keywords etc. Here's a listing showing our real time opening hours indicator: pressgang.gonumber.com.
Meant to mention that a) We are focusing on a few areas of London, England only at this point, plus a few entries from other cities. b) The 'directory' (www.gonumber.com) is morphing into a service, so the term 'directory' may become obsolete in due course.
As per porcini.gonumber.com, we have been including photos and (real time) opening hours for a while, plus coupons, price lists and/or menus. For example, no5belgravia.gonumber.com. Yes, we charge for 'listings' in our directory, but include some interesting and innovative features (many more to come) and don't re-sell data or embed any 3rd party advertising within it. Site looks boring, but is nice on a mobile device thanks to some sweet CSS and yes, we're working on a new logo! We use Google maps but hope to be different enough from them to avoid being squished. (For the geeks, gonumber.com is built using PostgreSQL and RDF for some nice metadata goodness.) One more thing, our entries end up high in Google. Try searching on 'Albertine London' in Google and see where the very top link takes you! If anyone out there wishes to partake in re-selling listings once we upgrade the service and take it Stateside, drop us a line at www.owonder.com/contact We have some cool ideas and seek top talent.
a) Target small businesses. Mac Mini + 17" monitor + MS Office or Apple's own software suite. Value proposition, higher entry point but long shelf life.
b) Once established, target corporates with their servers with driveless Mac Minis acting as terminals.
c) Software as a service and local applications combined to offer a reliable, intuitive and compelling solution.
Think this a dream? Not so, we (O'WONDER) have already pursuaded some trial customers to scrap their PCs and use our own web services under Firefox. Ironically, one chose a more expensive 20" iMac over a Mac Mini. The trial continues.
Corporate interests are bound to influence the content - this happens all the time. The solution is a small (optional) subscription fee plus a 'Donate' button linked to PayPal. Those who use Wikipedia a lot will be encouraged but not forced to subscribe or donate. In a way, this is like tipping. If you find the service good (in this case, useful!), you contribute - if you are able too.
...will get worse under the PC Gordon Brown, who may well be our next PM. I am British, but spent from 1991 to 2000 in the USA. Although some of what goes on stateside is enough to drive one nuts, I have been stunned at how Britain has gone down the toilet. From celeb culture (which unlike the USA, is not limited to talented Hollywood folk, but losers) to criminals being given MORE rights than us law abiding types whose greatest sin is to drive 45mph in a 40 zone and get fined for it - and then be dragged through the courts if losing when contesting said fine. The decline here in values is extreme and far worse than anyone can imagine. One only really notices it if leaving the country and then returning. Like all flawed entities, we are doomed unless we change or something, such as a revolution occurs - but with CCTV cameras and all manner of other 'devices' in place, we're stuck - possibly forever. And in a way it's worse than 1984 or a Hollywood movie because there is no hero to come save the day. Where's Superman* when you need him? *Or Superwoman, to be PC. :-)
What is it with this stupid country? Why are people always blaming the wrong persons or group?
Yes, we are building this on FOAF, and RDF. We hope to have some interesting features available in the future.
...not yet, so don't get grumpy if you think it's crap, but later in the year, we'll be trying a few things to give people a more dignified online presence! The backend is based on some nifty RDF and FOAF machinery. (Firefox only for now, else somethings will break.) GONUMBER.COM.
Are you in the UK or US? Either way, good on you. The desire to learn and be fascinated by the world around (and beyond!) us, is so much more exciting than the superficial 'crap' that is fed to us on TV and in the print media today. Incidentally, if you want to take a tongue in cheek look at what could become commercial reality in the not too distant future, check out Mars Hydro, a teaser holding site I put up a while back when they first thought they had found the stuff of life on the red planet. ;-)