Uhm, that's weird. Seeing as this morning my office gave me a brand new Blackberry 8700G (Edge network, fast processor) and the first thing I did was install Google Maps.
It installed with Zero problems, and it runs great.
Blizzard Software's new hit, the MMORPG "World of Warcraft", has a fully programmable and extendable UI. Using XML described UI enhancements, and a backing application, you can actually add all sorts of things - i've even seen someone add multiplayer chess that you can play with other players with the same UI extensions.
What is the programming language they use for the UI?
I thought people might appreciate the humour of this story...
Several years ago, I went through training as an EMT in the great state of Pennsylvania. We were fortunate to have our main training classes held in a Vocational Technology college - which meant we had all sorts of great rooms and setups for running scenarios.
As part of our final exam, we were dispatched to the woodshop room - a room full of hundreds of bandsaws, etc. - for a report of a possible bandsaw accident.
Now there are two things we were trained to keep in mind with possible amputations: 1) Find the limb immediately and pack it in ice - it is very likely it can be saved and reattached. 2) The patient/victim rarely realises, due to the shock of things, that they've actually lost the limb. So for godsake, don't let them notice.
We arrive on 'scene' in this gigantic shop room, which had row upon row of bandsaw, and the actor is sitting there, fully done up complete with fake severed hand gushing blood, which she has a towel pressed against. She informs us that she was working on the bandsaw and cut herself, and she thinks it's pretty deep. My partner carefully approaches, lifts the towel - and it's quite clear [thanks to the instructors insistence on proper special effects to simulate the injury] that the hand is completely severed.
Taking the initiative on action point #1, I scan the nearest bandsaws for any sign of the severed limb, and see nothing. My brain takes control before I can think, insistent upon finding this limb, and of course states to the patient "Ma'am, Where is the rest of your hand?"
And as if on cue, the actor flips out and starts wailing and shrieking and flailing, and then descends into shock...
And all I wanted to do was help her find her hand!
[We ended up passing the exam, with a minor downcheck for not being more delicate about the severed limb with the patient - the hand was in the very back of the room. Apparently none of the other groups even thought to find the limb, and took the patient to the hospital immediately].
Obviously this is offtopic; but I see it as at least marginally worth responding to. What you have to keep in mind is that Apple's revenue is DRIVEN by hardware. They aren't making money on ITMS. But it sells a shitload of iPods. And having visited the Apple Store recently after a series of iBook problems (Dead Firewire port, fucked up battery), I can attest that there are plenty of Windows monkeys who buy iPods and then end up buying Macs just to make their iPods easier to use.
The fundamental problem with licensing the OS is the same problem that was introduced by former CEO Michael Spindler - allowing clones eroded Apple's market share significantly. Sure, more people could use Macs. But less money would go into Apple - it's a losing proposition for them.
As much as I hate the idea, being a huge lover of OS-X, I don't think we'll be seeing OS-X on x86 anytime soon. While iTunes for Windows makes sense because it sells iPods, OS-X for x86 would eliminate Apple's largest profit base - the hardware necessary to run it.
One of the hallmarks of classic science fiction, Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelles' "The Mote In Gods Eye", proposes this very thing. The opening sections of the book are based upon on premise: lacking true FTL travel, an alien race reaches a human colony by building humungous lasers in their asteroid belt and planet surface, and using them to propel a light sail armed interstellar craft between stars.
Good book all around, and it's cool to see decent Science Fiction become more than just speculative drivel (it's one of my favourite books).
Why pat down? There have been numerous items of news on people who've come up with devices to block cellphone signals. I believe there was a Slashdot story a few years ago about a guy who came up with wooden panels for movie theatre seats, etc. that could completely block cell signals.
This is what we need. Just last week I was in Barnes and Noble and some dimwitted, inconsiderate ignoramus was chatting loudly on her mobile. I consider the bookstore to be like the library - it should have a certain level of quiet. Having yammering idiots with cell phones stuck to their heads ( which are often stuck up their asses in return ) yacking away kind of defeats all that.
By blocking the cell signal outright, you'd eliminate the Cameras ( from what I've seen alot of these camera phones lack the storage to do a picture locally - rather, they send them off to a server for storage almost immediately... ), and the idiots.
They are removing the 'Arcade' application that came with the t-mobile build of the sidekick.
Rocks & Rockets will remain on device.
Note also that this is ONLY for Color SideKick users - B&W SideKick was properly licensed for the Arcade application and will continue to have it. T-Mobile neglected to license Arcade for the new Color units and violated their license. Likely they'll renegotiate and we'll see it back on device sooner rather than later.
Also, I see some confusion on how this is being done. HiptopOS has the ability to do an OTA (Over The Air) update; you'll receive a popup saying "A new software patch is available, would you like to install?" or something along those lines. You *can* decline it, but I get the feeling sooner or later you'll be forced to be running latest OS.
Pickup the following discs, and see where Jazz became Ska...(eventually ska became reggae and rocksteady as well, and went through 3 waves of rebirth in different forms [the third wave recently finished]):
The Skatalites - Hi-Bop Ska The Skatalites - Ball of Fire The Skatalites - From Paris With Love
A few possibilities present themselves to me here: 1) Move to IP Locking. Only allow 'approved' IPs to pass through your network. This would limit use of the APs, although they could still 'proxy' (some APs have NAT) using the persons assigned IP while they use an internal IP on their laptop, etc. This could be solved by: 2) MAC locking, either on firewall or DHCP. Even if you simply locked out a 'class of MACs' (IIRC, each manufacterer/product type has a block of MAC that identifies manufacturer + product) it would limit use of APs.
Open source relies upon the community to contribute. Ximian is a Boston based company employing primarily English speaking programmers. It's not that we think the only language in the world is English - it's that many of us don't speak Japanese.
It's up to people who use the product and find a need for locale support like Japanese to contribute. If you find it lacking, please by all means HELP OUT!
Your help will be welcome and the products will be the better for it.
The other option is to whine about it, hoping someone else contributes better Japanese locale support... Or you could help out yourself.
Old PowerBooks and Macs will be unable to put Airport Extreme in the Airport slot.
The slot is a special slot with a limited bus speed; the old motherboards only give enough bandwidth to the Airport slot to allow Airport to operate at its full speed at 11 Mbps.
They redesigned the motherboard/slot on the new AE supporting machines (new powerbooks, imacs, powermacs) to support the faster transmit speed of 54 Mbps.
So yes, the PCMCIA is an issue on the iBook, but theoretically the 15" Titaniums can take a PCMCIA upgrade card.
I got my 12" PowerBook last Monday. Having had it now for a week I have to say this is simply the finest piece of hardware I have ever owned.
Granted, it's probably not as cool as a 17", not as fast as the 15", etc.
But it fits in my backpack and doesn't weigh a brick. With the leather notebook (pen and paper) and a hardcover book in my backpack, the 12" makes no difference in weight.
Having upgraded from an old Dell Inspiron 5000, this is key. My fucking Dell is a brick.
The issues on the LCD I can't agree with. The first thing I noticed, and everyone in my office remarked on was the spectacular clarity of the display. If this is Apple's low-end, cheap display, I'd kill for a high-end one. The clarity and crispness of display is better than any other I've seen. It is at least as good as the two 19" Trinitron CRTs on my desk here.
The font issue? I don't see it. I'm new to OS-X but the first thing I did when playing in the settings was find, in System Preferences, General, an option for font smoothing. There was a setting marked 'Medium - best for Flat Panel' which really improved the clarity of text on the screen.
Heat is a bit of an issue but I've found it's mostly if the machine doesn't have sufficient airflow. Sitting on a thick wooden desk, my PB heats up rather fast. Sitting on my lap on the couch it seems to stay fairly cool. As for being 'fanless' as I believe was mentioned, I could swear a few times when the machine got real hot on my desk that I heard a fan kick in and start blowing air to cool it down. There was no CD in the drive so I can't think of what else would spin up like that.
Overall, this is a great machine. While it may not compare to other higher end APPLE boxes, it is simply light years beyond any PC laptop I've handled recently. And it is the most meticulously, beautifully engineered pieces of hardware I've ever had.
And being completely uncreative the last week or so, I have yet to come up with a better name than MiniMe. Check it out at: http://www.jacked-in.org/mini-me
I've noticed for about 2 - 3 weeks now on the NJ Transit trains into New York City, that Cartoon Network has been running Futurama ads for their Adult Swim segment. It's an ad with Cartoon Network Logo at top, the Futurama gang, and the words "Visit the Future - Again, and Again, And Again..." and the 'Adult Swim' info at the bottom.
Slashdot Mirror
The likelihood of things like "Oh, of COURSE has kiddy porn on it!" is high.
Even scarier is the inevitable:
"No, we can't show you the list of sites you can't visit because then you might use it to go to the site on another ISP That's not blocking it".
The transparency issue here is incredibly frightening.
The best piece of professional advice I ever received was this:
"Don't use software to solve social problems"
This seems pretty apt here - instead of spending money and time trying to do this the hard way....
Just fucking smack him, and tell him to behave responsibly or lose his internet privileges.
Uhm, that's weird.
Seeing as this morning my office gave me a brand new Blackberry 8700G (Edge network, fast processor) and the first thing I did was install Google Maps.
It installed with Zero problems, and it runs great.
So... what's this about banning third party apps?
Blizzard Software's new hit, the MMORPG "World of Warcraft", has a fully programmable and extendable UI. Using XML described UI enhancements, and a backing application, you can actually add all sorts of things - i've even seen someone add multiplayer chess that you can play with other players with the same UI extensions.
:)
What is the programming language they use for the UI?
You guessed it. LUA.
It's pretty cool, if you ask me
I thought people might appreciate the humour of this story...
Several years ago, I went through training as an EMT in the great state of Pennsylvania. We were fortunate to have our main training classes held in a Vocational Technology college - which meant we had all sorts of great rooms and setups for running scenarios.
As part of our final exam, we were dispatched to the woodshop room - a room full of hundreds of bandsaws, etc. - for a report of a possible bandsaw accident.
Now there are two things we were trained to keep in mind with possible amputations:
1) Find the limb immediately and pack it in ice - it is very likely it can be saved and reattached.
2) The patient/victim rarely realises, due to the shock of things, that they've actually lost the limb. So for godsake, don't let them notice.
We arrive on 'scene' in this gigantic shop room, which had row upon row of bandsaw, and the actor is sitting there, fully done up complete with fake severed hand gushing blood, which she has a towel pressed against. She informs us that she was working on the bandsaw and cut herself, and she thinks it's pretty deep. My partner carefully approaches, lifts the towel - and it's quite clear [thanks to the instructors insistence on proper special effects to simulate the injury] that the hand is completely severed.
Taking the initiative on action point #1, I scan the nearest bandsaws for any sign of the severed limb, and see nothing. My brain takes control before I can think, insistent upon finding this limb, and of course states to the patient "Ma'am, Where is the rest of your hand?"
And as if on cue, the actor flips out and starts wailing and shrieking and flailing, and then descends into shock...
And all I wanted to do was help her find her hand!
[We ended up passing the exam, with a minor downcheck for not being more delicate about the severed limb with the patient - the hand was in the very back of the room. Apparently none of the other groups even thought to find the limb, and took the patient to the hospital immediately].
and buy a pair of fucking headphones, dumbass
> Does George Lucas own the copyright to every Star Wars book ever published--say, the Timothy Zahn trilogy?
Yes, actually, he does.
Obviously this is offtopic; but I see it as at least marginally worth responding to. What you have to keep in mind is that Apple's revenue is DRIVEN by hardware. They aren't making money on ITMS. But it sells a shitload of iPods. And having visited the Apple Store recently after a series of iBook problems (Dead Firewire port, fucked up battery), I can attest that there are plenty of Windows monkeys who buy iPods and then end up buying Macs just to make their iPods easier to use.
The fundamental problem with licensing the OS is the same problem that was introduced by former CEO Michael Spindler - allowing clones eroded Apple's market share significantly. Sure, more people could use Macs. But less money would go into Apple - it's a losing proposition for them.
As much as I hate the idea, being a huge lover of OS-X, I don't think we'll be seeing OS-X on x86 anytime soon. While iTunes for Windows makes sense because it sells iPods, OS-X for x86 would eliminate Apple's largest profit base - the hardware necessary to run it.
... and the telephone sanitizers. Shortly thereafter the entire planet died of telephone-borne infections.
And the spaceships they sent out landed on Earth, at the dawn of time...
One of the hallmarks of classic science fiction, Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelles' "The Mote In Gods Eye", proposes this very thing. The opening sections of the book are based upon on premise: lacking true FTL travel, an alien race reaches a human colony by building humungous lasers in their asteroid belt and planet surface, and using them to propel a light sail armed interstellar craft between stars. Good book all around, and it's cool to see decent Science Fiction become more than just speculative drivel (it's one of my favourite books).
Why pat down? There have been numerous items of news on people who've come up with devices to block cellphone signals. I believe there was a Slashdot story a few years ago about a guy who came up with wooden panels for movie theatre seats, etc. that could completely block cell signals.
... ), and the idiots.
This is what we need. Just last week I was in Barnes and Noble and some dimwitted, inconsiderate ignoramus was chatting loudly on her mobile. I consider the bookstore to be like the library - it should have a certain level of quiet. Having yammering idiots with cell phones stuck to their heads ( which are often stuck up their asses in return ) yacking away kind of defeats all that.
By blocking the cell signal outright, you'd eliminate the Cameras ( from what I've seen alot of these camera phones lack the storage to do a picture locally - rather, they send them off to a server for storage almost immediately
They are removing the 'Arcade' application that came with the t-mobile build of the sidekick.
Rocks & Rockets will remain on device.
Note also that this is ONLY for Color SideKick users - B&W SideKick was properly licensed for the Arcade application and will continue to have it. T-Mobile neglected to license Arcade for the new Color units and violated their license. Likely they'll renegotiate and we'll see it back on device sooner rather than later.
Also, I see some confusion on how this is being done. HiptopOS has the ability to do an OTA (Over The Air) update; you'll receive a popup saying "A new software patch is available, would you like to install?" or something along those lines. You *can* decline it, but I get the feeling sooner or later you'll be forced to be running latest OS.
-rit
(aka z_ on efnet #hiptop)
Pickup the following discs, and see where Jazz became Ska...(eventually ska became reggae and rocksteady as well, and went through 3 waves of rebirth in different forms [the third wave recently finished]):
The Skatalites - Hi-Bop Ska
The Skatalites - Ball of Fire
The Skatalites - From Paris With Love
You've been "Bridged" for ages.
ICQ uses the AOL network.
Type your ICQ # and Password into ANY AIM Client, for example the sidekick which I know works, and connect.
AIM loads you in, loads all of your buddies, etc.
If you use GAIM, there is no AIM plugin or ICQ - there's one called AIM/ICQ.
Same protocol...happend ages ago =)
A few possibilities present themselves to me here:
1) Move to IP Locking. Only allow 'approved' IPs to pass through your network. This would limit use of the APs, although they could still 'proxy' (some APs have NAT) using the persons assigned IP while they use an internal IP on their laptop, etc. This could be solved by:
2) MAC locking, either on firewall or DHCP. Even if you simply locked out a 'class of MACs' (IIRC, each manufacterer/product type has a block of MAC that identifies manufacturer + product) it would limit use of APs.
Just some thoughts... I'm sure I have more.
Open source relies upon the community to contribute. Ximian is a Boston based company employing primarily English speaking programmers. It's not that we think the only language in the world is English - it's that many of us don't speak Japanese.
It's up to people who use the product and find a need for locale support like Japanese to contribute. If you find it lacking, please by all means HELP OUT!
Your help will be welcome and the products will be the better for it.
The other option is to whine about it, hoping someone else contributes better Japanese locale support... Or you could help out yourself.
Hiptop is J2ME based. It's a danger API running on a CLDC (minimal J2ME) configuration.
I'm running one now.
It's available to registered developers, as part of the SDK, complete with source.
Very useful, although they use blowfish for the algorithm. It's a bit heavy for a small device like the sidekick.
With a good GPRS signal though, it kicks ass.
There was a reason they crucified jesus...
and Stallman is next, if I get my say...
Old PowerBooks and Macs will be unable to put Airport Extreme in the Airport slot.
The slot is a special slot with a limited bus speed; the old motherboards only give enough bandwidth to the Airport slot to allow Airport to operate at its full speed at 11 Mbps.
They redesigned the motherboard/slot on the new AE supporting machines (new powerbooks, imacs, powermacs) to support the faster transmit speed of 54 Mbps.
So yes, the PCMCIA is an issue on the iBook, but theoretically the 15" Titaniums can take a PCMCIA upgrade card.
That should read "Until they're delivered" not "until they ship".
All Powerbook shipments will show a Delivery Location of "Indiana" until they ship.
Apple ships the PowerBook direct from the Taiwan factory, and they have to clear customs. FedEx clears customs at their hub in Indiana.
Don't worry, your laptop will arrive safe and sound!
This fits more in line with what I'm seeing.
Also interesting to note that the 12" has a higher DPI than the 17.
I simply found it hard to believe when people were referring to this display as cheap... it is beautifuly!
I got my 12" PowerBook last Monday. Having had it now for a week I have to say this is simply the finest piece of hardware I have ever owned.
Granted, it's probably not as cool as a 17", not as fast as the 15", etc.
But it fits in my backpack and doesn't weigh a brick. With the leather notebook (pen and paper) and a hardcover book in my backpack, the 12" makes no difference in weight.
Having upgraded from an old Dell Inspiron 5000, this is key. My fucking Dell is a brick.
The issues on the LCD I can't agree with. The first thing I noticed, and everyone in my office remarked on was the spectacular clarity of the display. If this is Apple's low-end, cheap display, I'd kill for a high-end one. The clarity and crispness of display is better than any other I've seen. It is at least as good as the two 19" Trinitron CRTs on my desk here.
The font issue? I don't see it. I'm new to OS-X but the first thing I did when playing in the settings was find, in System Preferences, General, an option for font smoothing. There was a setting marked 'Medium - best for Flat Panel' which really improved the clarity of text on the screen.
Heat is a bit of an issue but I've found it's mostly if the machine doesn't have sufficient airflow. Sitting on a thick wooden desk, my PB heats up rather fast. Sitting on my lap on the couch it seems to stay fairly cool. As for being 'fanless' as I believe was mentioned, I could swear a few times when the machine got real hot on my desk that I heard a fan kick in and start blowing air to cool it down. There was no CD in the drive so I can't think of what else would spin up like that.
Overall, this is a great machine. While it may not compare to other higher end APPLE boxes, it is simply light years beyond any PC laptop I've handled recently. And it is the most meticulously, beautifully engineered pieces of hardware I've ever had.
And being completely uncreative the last week or so, I have yet to come up with a better name than MiniMe. Check it out at:
http://www.jacked-in.org/mini-me
I've noticed for about 2 - 3 weeks now on the NJ Transit trains into New York City, that Cartoon Network has been running Futurama ads for their Adult Swim segment. It's an ad with Cartoon Network Logo at top, the Futurama gang, and the words "Visit the Future - Again, and Again, And Again..." and the 'Adult Swim' info at the bottom.
Looks like it's double confirmed!