What he is complaining about may not be interesting, but the flaw in iTunes he brings up can be a pain. Why won't Apple let users alter the URLs of the podcasts?
I used iTunes for a while until some of the URLs were corrupted for my podcast feeds. You literally cannot fix these yourself -- you have to resubscribe to the feed, but without a way to consolidate the old listing with the new listing. So you end up having two listings for the same podcast.
Why won't Apple let you edit the URLs? You can edit bookmark URLs in every browser, so why not on iTunes?
Aha! I can tell you never learned the magical Shift-Command-3 shortcut for ejecting a floppy on a Mac. Of course, this is even less intuitive.
I think that the design decision they made was about two things: creating a sense of safety, and making sure the OS knows what you are doing.
By requiring you to eject the disk via a software command, the OS can always tell if the disk is in or out. On older macs with only one drive you could eject the disk, but leave a "ghost" of the disk on the desktop. This made it possible to copy one floppy to another with only one floppy drive. You could insert the first disk, eject it, insert the second, and then drag the second disk onto the "ghost" of the first disk.
As someone else pointed out though, they could have put a non-mechanical eject button on the drive linked to the OS.
The "data safety" issue: Have you ever pulled a usb memory accessory off of your PC without first "unpluging or ejecting your hardware?" Windows and Mac both grumble at you when you do this, warning that you may have lost data. To an advanced user this is an annoyance, but to a novice user, this is a bad experience that leaves them wondering what damage they have done. By always letting the OS override whether the disk could be ejected, the user no longer was responsible for potentially damaging data by ejecting the disk at the wrong time. This creates a better user experience in the long run because the user no longer is part of the equation of data loss from the floppy. It reduces worry at the expense of making the process of ejecting the disk more complicated.
On a totally unrelated note: I do think Apple deserves credit for being the first to ship a desktop PC with no floppy drive (the original iMac). At first I thought this decision was crazy -- but I don't think I've used a floppy disk in the last three years. Sometimes design decisions should show leadership, not always attempt to do whatever users want. In this case they took a big step forward.
I don't know about others, but the state I live in (Indiana) already asks us to estimate how much we purchased out of state and report it on our state taxes. So, unless they are aiming for double-taxation, I can't see how they could do this.
If you don't drag at all from the opening page, and simply zoom in, you will find that Coffeyville Kansas is the center of the United States. Is this an Easter Egg thrown in by a sleep-deprived developer, or is there really such a place?
Why would anyone buy the eMac now? It was the budget mac, but an all-in-one design is not an advantage. If your monitor dies on an eMac, it will cost a lot more to repair than simply swapping out the monitor of your MacMini.
Since no one has figured out how to bash Microsoft on this and this is slashdot, let me take a stab...
The way to explain all this similarity is that Microsoft must have based Normal.dot (the default document) on a 1970's era IBM Selectric typewriter. It's irrefutable. Retype those documents from the 70's in Word, and guess what? Word replicates the typewriter letter for letter, word for word, and line for line. Do you smell an IBM vs. MS lawsuit here?
I am also betting Microsoft must of hired this guy named Jerry Killian when they were programming the automatic word wrap feature. If you compare the ends of lines on a modern Word document, they end just were Mr. Killian would have ended them. I hope his family is getting royalties for this.
Yet another example of Microsoft rehashing old technology. Losers........
Sorry, you are almost completely misremembering. There is not an "Orthodox" branch, and the "Reformed" break-off of the Church does not practice polygamy. Those who practice it in this day and age are not recognized as Mormons by the leaders of the Church nor the members.
However, you are correct that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, what Mormons (such as I) consider the mainstream, condemned polygamy. If you want to understand more, go to http://www.mormon.org.
You might be interested in Variations2, a project at Indiana University that combines a digital music library (yes, it's legal!) with a library of scores. See for example a page from the Variations2 manual that explains how to synchronize music playback with score viewing:
With the score viewer, you can listen to a selection and follow along on the score at the same time. You can bookmark pages in online scores for future use, and score views can be changed according to your preferences. If the score you want to view is unavailable in Variations2, it likely has not yet been digitized but is probably available for checkout
(However, if you want to actually try it out, you will have to visit Indiana University because it is only available on campus for legal reasons).
From Wired's article:
"Hatch said damaging someone's computer "may be the only way you can teach somebody about copyrights," the Associated Press reported. He then suggested the technology would twice warn a computer user about illegal online behavior, "then destroy their computer."
I'm not saying I agree with this (ridiculous) proposal of Senator Hatch. I just think that the accusations of piracy are no longer an issue since Hatch remedied the situation by getting licensed quickly after the issue was publicized.
If this legislation were applied to stolen code, every computer on the internet would self-destruct. Talk about a WMD!
We are kidding ourselves when we compare stolen art to stolen computer instructions. EVERYONE COPIES CODE.
Slashdot Mirror
What he is complaining about may not be interesting, but the flaw in iTunes he brings up can be a pain. Why won't Apple let users alter the URLs of the podcasts?
I used iTunes for a while until some of the URLs were corrupted for my podcast feeds. You literally cannot fix these yourself -- you have to resubscribe to the feed, but without a way to consolidate the old listing with the new listing. So you end up having two listings for the same podcast.
Why won't Apple let you edit the URLs? You can edit bookmark URLs in every browser, so why not on iTunes?
Funny how the Register's first related story listed at the bottom of the one about escaping from a burning xbox is
Related Stores
"Playing video games 'good for your health' (15 July 2005)"
You might want to check out Pandora (a result of the Music Genome Project).
Uh oh. I was doing a web search for "Nano voice recorder" and found a merchant selling a Creative Zen Nano. Do I smell a law suit?
The Apple Nano + Creative Zen Nano = Nanonano
While they are at it, I hope they add the ability to mask password characters in a javascript input popup.
Good point. It would be great if it were integrated into SlickRun.
It really, really works!
And I love the cream. --J
P.S. Thinking of you,
and having a great time
in Disney World.
To me, Dashboard looks like a throwback to the Mac System 6 Desk Accessories. Oh the nostalgia. The tile puzzle! What comes around, goes around.
when you can already read the book?
Not only that but...
I noticed while walking into a Wal*mart and seeing a display right inside the front doors that you can even already buy the novel of the movie as well as the customary DK detail books such as Incredible Cross-sections of Star Wars, Episode III.
Aha! I can tell you never learned the magical Shift-Command-3 shortcut for ejecting a floppy on a Mac. Of course, this is even less intuitive.
I think that the design decision they made was about two things: creating a sense of safety, and making sure the OS knows what you are doing.
By requiring you to eject the disk via a software command, the OS can always tell if the disk is in or out. On older macs with only one drive you could eject the disk, but leave a "ghost" of the disk on the desktop. This made it possible to copy one floppy to another with only one floppy drive. You could insert the first disk, eject it, insert the second, and then drag the second disk onto the "ghost" of the first disk.
As someone else pointed out though, they could have put a non-mechanical eject button on the drive linked to the OS.
The "data safety" issue: Have you ever pulled a usb memory accessory off of your PC without first "unpluging or ejecting your hardware?" Windows and Mac both grumble at you when you do this, warning that you may have lost data. To an advanced user this is an annoyance, but to a novice user, this is a bad experience that leaves them wondering what damage they have done. By always letting the OS override whether the disk could be ejected, the user no longer was responsible for potentially damaging data by ejecting the disk at the wrong time. This creates a better user experience in the long run because the user no longer is part of the equation of data loss from the floppy. It reduces worry at the expense of making the process of ejecting the disk more complicated.
On a totally unrelated note: I do think Apple deserves credit for being the first to ship a desktop PC with no floppy drive (the original iMac). At first I thought this decision was crazy -- but I don't think I've used a floppy disk in the last three years. Sometimes design decisions should show leadership, not always attempt to do whatever users want. In this case they took a big step forward.
I don't know about others, but the state I live in (Indiana) already asks us to estimate how much we purchased out of state and report it on our state taxes. So, unless they are aiming for double-taxation, I can't see how they could do this.
If you don't drag at all from the opening page, and simply zoom in, you will find that Coffeyville Kansas is the center of the United States. Is this an Easter Egg thrown in by a sleep-deprived developer, or is there really such a place?
Then why is listening to the news or music on the radio considered a non-issue? Robert Siegel never stops talking when I almost rear-end people.
Why would anyone buy the eMac now? It was the budget mac, but an all-in-one design is not an advantage. If your monitor dies on an eMac, it will cost a lot more to repair than simply swapping out the monitor of your MacMini.
Since no one has figured out how to bash Microsoft on this and this is slashdot, let me take a stab...
.......
The way to explain all this similarity is that Microsoft must have based Normal.dot (the default document) on a 1970's era IBM Selectric typewriter. It's irrefutable. Retype those documents from the 70's in Word, and guess what? Word replicates the typewriter letter for letter, word for word, and line for line. Do you smell an IBM vs. MS lawsuit here?
I am also betting Microsoft must of hired this guy named Jerry Killian when they were programming the automatic word wrap feature. If you compare the ends of lines on a modern Word document, they end just were Mr. Killian would have ended them. I hope his family is getting royalties for this.
Yet another example of Microsoft rehashing old technology. Losers.
Now that's more like it!
By far the most useful feature I think:
Interface Language Options
I'm glad to hear it works with iChat AV. I have been trying to find this out for a while. Thanks for the info.
However, you are correct that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, what Mormons (such as I) consider the mainstream, condemned polygamy. If you want to understand more, go to http://www.mormon.org.
In particular, if you would like a better understanding of the Church's position see What is the Church's position on polygamy?
It was probably an OCR error, i.e. scanned in from paper.
You might be interested in Variations2, a project at Indiana University that combines a digital music library (yes, it's legal!) with a library of scores. See for example a page from the Variations2 manual that explains how to synchronize music playback with score viewing:
With the score viewer, you can listen to a selection and follow along on the score at the same time. You can bookmark pages in online scores for future use, and score views can be changed according to your preferences. If the score you want to view is unavailable in Variations2, it likely has not yet been digitized but is probably available for checkout
(However, if you want to actually try it out, you will have to visit Indiana University because it is only available on campus for legal reasons).
Use Radio Userland. Your blog and archives reside on your hard drive, plus you can blog offline to your heart's content (then upstream it later).
Expanding the topic a little, here is a website that has a large selection of bad product designs: http://www.baddesigns.com/
I think you have misread his statement.
From Wired's article:
"Hatch said damaging someone's computer "may be the only way you can teach somebody about copyrights," the Associated Press reported. He then suggested the technology would twice warn a computer user about illegal online behavior, "then destroy their computer."
I'm not saying I agree with this (ridiculous) proposal of Senator Hatch. I just think that the accusations of piracy are no longer an issue since Hatch remedied the situation by getting licensed quickly after the issue was publicized.
If this legislation were applied to stolen code, every computer on the internet would self-destruct. Talk about a WMD! We are kidding ourselves when we compare stolen art to stolen computer instructions. EVERYONE COPIES CODE.