I had one of the original Bondi Blue iMacs. While other people were praising its beauty, I thought it was kinda ugly. As a fashion statement, the blue translucent plastic seemed somehow akin to bell-bottom trousers and leisure suits. The periodic release of new machines with different color schemes seemed to support that view.
But it was a fine computer. The original iMac was a brave departure from the beige boxes we'd all become so accustomed to. The compact all-in-one design simplified things for people who don't want to invest a lot of time in figuring out how everything goes together. (You or I may feel unfulfilled with any computer we haven't built with our bare hands from raw sand, but there are plenty of folks who just want to use the thing.)
The iMac moved things forward in part by turning its back on a lot of legacy stuff. The iMac upset a lot of long-time Mac fanatics who were upset that they couldn't plug their old ADB and serial peripherals into the USB ports. Some people were aghast at the absence of the floppy drive. Now that Dell has embraced the idea of computers without floppy drives, I guess the iMac's work here is done.
Snif... Drat... I promised myself I wouldn't cry...
You can call up Tivo's customer service and opt-out of their data collection.
Perhaps Tivo is completely trustworthy today. But can I be completely certain that won't change with some new hires, or when the financial picture is looking a little rocky, or when they've been acquired by some bigger, not-at-all trustworthy company?
If they enter into a legally-enforceable agreement not to collect data from customers who have opted-out, is that contract loaded with sneakwrap provisions that let them alter the terms of the agreement at will? (I've altered the agreement. Pray I don't alter it further.)
I don't give anyone a key to my house unless I'm willing to have them use it. Unfortunately, Tivo makes their own key capable of collecting data I'm unwilling to share with them. It's depressing, because otherwise, Tivo sounds great.
I'll tell you why a PVR (or a digital cable box) isn't in my home: whether it reports back to Big Brother, Microsoft, AOL/Time-Warner, or Tivo, I don't want my TV watching me.
I was just getting a handle on email, Usenet newsgroups, FTP and that newfangle Gopher thing when Mosaic came along. I didn't think it had much of a future, personally. There was no way the upstart would ever overshadow existing internet communities and their information-rich tools, just because it could (very slowly) bring us perty pictures.
I was wrong.
I'm tempted to predict that the web of 2013 will be completely owned or controlled by no more than three giant corporations. But I think the impulse to make oneself heard is a powerful one, and the web will continue to be the most significant outlet for that impulse.
Thanks to advances in multimedia technology, the web of 2013 will resemble the original dream for cable TV. There will be a billion channels. And there STILL won't be anything worth watching.
I haven't seen Penn and Teller's new show, but I have taken delight in seeing them puncture some of the mythology of "magic" without sacrificing the entertainment value. (They probably make the field more difficult for less talented magicians.)
For many years now, I've argued that Magic (sleight-of hand, stage magic, etc.) should be a mandatory part of the high-school curriculum. I believe that schooling in the methodology of deception would give students a healthy skepticism that could help them spot nonsense and lies wherever they appear.
(I still like this idea, but it comes perilously close to setting off my bad-idea detector with the following trigger:
Any social or political reform that calls for changing the way everybody thinks is probably a very bad idea.)
Heck, millions of lines of any kind of legacy code.
A few years back, we all spent a bit of time trying to plumb the mysteries of that huge, virtually forgotten trove of tech that just keeps giving and giving.
It makes me nervous whenever the Supreme Court hears a case involving fundamental Constitutional issues. They may knock this law down as unconstitional. But it seems at least equally likely that this Court will bless CIPA, thus ensuring a bountiful crop of similar laws.
Well I don't know if I'd call a watered down 500mhz MIPS based chip "high powered". Maybe once you lash 128 of them together you'll have a decently powered box, but individually, it's way less than yesterdays tech.
I'm wondering how many computer users need the power of 128 64-bit CPUs to get their work done? On the desktop, my own observation has been that most of the raw CPU power growth during the past several years is being used for entertainment or GUI eye candy.
Certainly, there is a class of computable problems that comes in reach only with lots and lots of CPU horsepower. But to dismiss this CPU, created at this early stage in China's development as a chip-maker, seems short-sighted. This CPU will be useful for lots of tasks. And we haven't heard the last of these guys.
Here's another vote for Code Complete, the best book about programming I've ever read.
McConnell discusses a lot of popular programming practices and the rationale behind them. He clearly likes some practices more than others, but he doesn't force any particular methodology down the reader's throat. There are lumps of pure gold scattered throughout the book.
I think it would be difficult to read this book with a receptive mind without becoming a better programmer.
Re:Time Heavy on Their Hands
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Server In A Fly
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If we could just harness the energies of all these folks with too much time on their hands, we could... dare I say it?... rule the world!!
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I had one of the original Bondi Blue iMacs. While other people were praising its beauty, I thought it was kinda ugly. As a fashion statement, the blue translucent plastic seemed somehow akin to bell-bottom trousers and leisure suits. The periodic release of new machines with different color schemes seemed to support that view.
But it was a fine computer. The original iMac was a brave departure from the beige boxes we'd all become so accustomed to. The compact all-in-one design simplified things for people who don't want to invest a lot of time in figuring out how everything goes together. (You or I may feel unfulfilled with any computer we haven't built with our bare hands from raw sand, but there are plenty of folks who just want to use the thing.)
The iMac moved things forward in part by turning its back on a lot of legacy stuff. The iMac upset a lot of long-time Mac fanatics who were upset that they couldn't plug their old ADB and serial peripherals into the USB ports. Some people were aghast at the absence of the floppy drive. Now that Dell has embraced the idea of computers without floppy drives, I guess the iMac's work here is done.
Snif... Drat... I promised myself I wouldn't cry...
You can call up Tivo's customer service and opt-out of their data collection.
Perhaps Tivo is completely trustworthy today. But can I be completely certain that won't change with some new hires, or when the financial picture is looking a little rocky, or when they've been acquired by some bigger, not-at-all trustworthy company?
If they enter into a legally-enforceable agreement not to collect data from customers who have opted-out, is that contract loaded with sneakwrap provisions that let them alter the terms of the agreement at will? (I've altered the agreement. Pray I don't alter it further.)
I don't give anyone a key to my house unless I'm willing to have them use it. Unfortunately, Tivo makes their own key capable of collecting data I'm unwilling to share with them. It's depressing, because otherwise, Tivo sounds great.
Hey, I'd probably sprain my back, carrying around a wallet that heavy.
I'll tell you why a PVR (or a digital cable box) isn't in my home: whether it reports back to Big Brother, Microsoft, AOL/Time-Warner, or Tivo, I don't want my TV watching me.
I was just getting a handle on email, Usenet newsgroups, FTP and that newfangle Gopher thing when Mosaic came along. I didn't think it had much of a future, personally. There was no way the upstart would ever overshadow existing internet communities and their information-rich tools, just because it could (very slowly) bring us perty pictures.
I was wrong.
I'm tempted to predict that the web of 2013 will be completely owned or controlled by no more than three giant corporations. But I think the impulse to make oneself heard is a powerful one, and the web will continue to be the most significant outlet for that impulse.
Thanks to advances in multimedia technology, the web of 2013 will resemble the original dream for cable TV. There will be a billion channels. And there STILL won't be anything worth watching.
iControl? Actually, sounds like I control nothing.
No, this sounds like The Outer Limits. You know:
"WE control the horizontal. WE control the vertical."
I haven't seen Penn and Teller's new show, but I have taken delight in seeing them puncture some of the mythology of "magic" without sacrificing the entertainment value. (They probably make the field more difficult for less talented magicians.)
For many years now, I've argued that Magic (sleight-of hand, stage magic, etc.) should be a mandatory part of the high-school curriculum. I believe that schooling in the methodology of deception would give students a healthy skepticism that could help them spot nonsense and lies wherever they appear.
(I still like this idea, but it comes perilously close to setting off my bad-idea detector with the following trigger:
Any social or political reform that calls for changing the way everybody thinks is probably a very bad idea.)
The B-52 Stratofortress was put into service in 1955.
Millions of lines of COBOL source code.
Heck, millions of lines of any kind of legacy code.
A few years back, we all spent a bit of time trying to plumb the mysteries of that huge, virtually forgotten trove of tech that just keeps giving and giving.
Strong binding? Oh, no--you mean we're not already in strong bondage to Microsoft?
It makes me nervous whenever the Supreme Court hears a case involving fundamental Constitutional issues. They may knock this law down as unconstitional. But it seems at least equally likely that this Court will bless CIPA, thus ensuring a bountiful crop of similar laws.
These are the times that try men's souls.
Well I don't know if I'd call a watered down 500mhz MIPS based chip "high powered". Maybe once you lash 128 of them together you'll have a decently powered box, but individually, it's way less than yesterdays tech.
I'm wondering how many computer users need the power of 128 64-bit CPUs to get their work done? On the desktop, my own observation has been that most of the raw CPU power growth during the past several years is being used for entertainment or GUI eye candy.
Certainly, there is a class of computable problems that comes in reach only with lots and lots of CPU horsepower. But to dismiss this CPU, created at this early stage in China's development as a chip-maker, seems short-sighted. This CPU will be useful for lots of tasks. And we haven't heard the last of these guys.
I'm getting old, and my eyes are getting feeble. How many people are going to be able to read text on their laptop screen at this size and resolution?
Prime time for resolution-independent display technology, I think.
Here's another vote for Code Complete, the best book about programming I've ever read.
McConnell discusses a lot of popular programming practices and the rationale behind them. He clearly likes some practices more than others, but he doesn't force any particular methodology down the reader's throat. There are lumps of pure gold scattered throughout the book.
I think it would be difficult to read this book with a receptive mind without becoming a better programmer.
If we could just harness the energies of all these folks with too much time on their hands, we could... dare I say it? ... rule the world!!
No CPU, no RAM, and no display. But on the plus side, your Windows installation opens fewer security holes than on other laptops.
I guess when all you have is an axe, everything looks like a grindstone...