"As for returning the iPhone, I keep meaning to, but somehow it has become...precious...to me. Maybe Apple will claim a new iPhone user out of all this after all."
Where does it say he threw it away? That would be an idiotic thing to do in any case.
Me: Type dir then enter User: it says bad command or filename Me: huh? retype it. dir then enter. User: it says bad command or filename Me: Type this exactly, D-I-R then hit the enter key. User: OH! I was typing in direnter.
That's just the thing. 3Dfx didn't do a thing for Carmageddon. It was the same thing with Descent, I seem to recall; really hard to pick out a non-moving object in the mid-to-far distance.
You may be thinking of Carmageddon II, which did, evidently, support hardware acceleration.
Sure, I still like Ports of Call, Dune II, et cetera, because their game play holds up very, very well. But there is a limit.
I found that out when I tried to replay Carmageddon -- OH MY EYES TEH GOGGLES THEY DO NOTHING! -- I remembered it as being a fairly pretty (if gore-filled) game with nice body damage (the cars! I'm referring to the cars!)... but when I replayed it, it suddenly dawned upon me that it wasn't 3D-accellerated, everything was blocky almost beyond recognition. This was quite a shock, because I swear I never noticed that when playing it the first time 'round.
I guess what I'm saying is, good games don't need good graphics, but games that make a point out of their graphics better have good ones.
This holds up rather well I find: I was an avid Day of Defeat player (before the DoD v2 days), and even though the graphics could have been better they were *sufficient for the task* -- which was to get you to duck the hell for cover at every crack, not to be impressed by the effects. Conversely, a certain unnamed rally game may have all the lens flare effects in the world, but if the physics are all wrong then it's a dud. It's all very good that the car doors get dented and the windows smashed when you hit the rail, but if just turns your vector instead of slowing and turning the entire car, the rest is just pointless bling.
I usually run with "North up" and zoom out occasionally, so I have a better picture of how I move around. This annoys my wife endlessly, because she prefers "Track up" mode where you always seem to go straight ahead. But then she's one of those people who struggle with "which way is left" while looking at a map when you're driving anywhere but north.
So I agree that if you care about it, a GPS can assist you in building knowledge about your surroundings; just as it can be detrimental if you don't care about it.
"The Absolute Minimum Every Software Developer Absolutely, Positively Must Know About Unicode and Character Sets (No Excuses!)" is also a very good -- but very much shorter -- introduction to Unicode.
Today I got yet another invitation to "Come join the amazing new social network, SomeUnheardOfName.tld and meet with your friend Jimmy!", said Jimmy of course having helpfully entered my address at that site (or, more likely, clicked a Facebook button that automatically invited all his friends).
Things like that mean that it's just plain futile to try to claim any kind of ownership of your email address. I used to be really p*ssed about these occurrences, but realised that: (a) half the globe are dumber than average, you can't win so just stop trying; and (b) it's more important to have an effective spam filter, because (c) if your email address were really private to you alone, what use would it be?
How the hell can a format that's supposed to be passive plain text yield root access? Just receive and store the damn text, don't try to interpret it! If other apps want to peek into received messages and perform actions on that, fine, but this is just Outlook all over again!
One possible reason for people to have unused accounts is simple to reserve the name. That is to say, to ensure that nobody can go around tweeting "in their name".
Serious advice. I find that few people will want to endure borrowing my computers because they don't want to deal with my Dvorak keyboard layout. More useful for me, less so for others -- it's perfect!
Apart from that, the only thing Berto Kraus needs to do is say no. If that doesn't work, adopt a habit of long tedious lectures on viruses, data privacy, and any other thing that could go wrong; before long, people will go straight for the desktop-on-a-cart (fun name) rather than being subjected to that lecture yet again.
Hey, now you listen. I've been polite and to the point throughout, and you're talking bullshit.
No, I have not tried a multitude of Windows phones, because you can't exactly borrow them to take them for a test drive, can you? All you can do is feel up the fake ones at the store, with they toy screens. You can't ask the salespeople if there's a proper phone book with birthday and anniversary and note fields, or how you access 3rd-party apps or how they integrate with the OS, or if the handwriting recognition is full-screen or confined to that little corner down there, or if it can be adapted to your personal handwriting or if it can be extended with aliases and macros, or how long the battery life really is if you don't friggin' Facebook (that's a verb now, apparently) all day long, or how long the GPS takes to acquire a lock, or if you can reassign the hardbuttons or how long it takes for one of the standard PIM apps to start up, because all they know is what is says on the tin, and that's all about the megapixels and the replaceable fashion covers and matching key chains.
All I want is for the dog-gamned PDA companies to build a dog-gamned PDA, preferably with a phone in it but I'm flexible on that point. You'd think it's not that hard, but they are really trying to look past all their experience and put out crummy consumer-grade shite.
End of discussion. Don't bother answering because I won't bother to read it.
My phone has locked up 3 times in over 2 years of owning it. Less than any other phone I've seen.
Duly noted, that is good.
Cross platform development? Java? And why does it need to be cross platform? The other big boys certainly aren't.
Well obviously, so that I am not forced to install a particular OS in order to write those missing apps. I can accept not getting the full use (desktop companion, backup) out of it, but not being able to write new software is a major roadblock. True enough, the (current) 'big boys' aren't cross platform -- not that that's a very good argument. You could, though, write PalmOS apps on BSD and Linux, and you certainly will be able to write WebOS apps using anything.
"Why the hell do you think I'm using a free (as in, any way you like) OS at home?" Because you don't like paying for shit and you have an irrational hatred of Microsoft. Also, you are a young male nerd who's time is worth very little, so you can waste it on Linux.
Frankly, I take offence at this. True, I have no desire to pay for shit; I expel more of my own than I care to keep. Software, though, has a price that can be compared to its value, and Windows, along with the Office suite, just don't tip the balance for me. As for the 'irrational hatred', when have you ever seen me write "Micro$oft", or otherwise come across as hateful? I dislike Windows first and foremost for its security faults, and I consider the overall business strategy and conduct of Microsoft rather unappealing -- but not much worse than average, really. As for time spent, I have not stated anything. I'm sure a Windows user also needs to spend a certain amount of time to keep up with system updates and so on, but beyond that it's individual how much 'tinker time' is really required. I spend very little. In any case, putting a price on one's spare time is missing the point; any hobby could be considered an utter waste of time by a non-hobbyist. What I'm saying is this: You don't know me. Please refrain from personal attacks, and stay on topic. Thank you.
I dismiss Apple because they're Apple, too. But I dismiss Apple in general because I hate their design, I hate their build quality, and I hate their lack of customer service. Apple Care my ass, they'll still charge you a billion dollars to fix something that was their fault, and deny it all the way to the bank.
Now who is spouting irrational hatred?;-) But really, you're entitled to that outlook and I'm not going to argue.
"Touch screens *are* useful. However, having a number of hardbuttons is vital." I should be able to use the entire phone without touching the damned touch screen at all. [...] It's a preference, but it's also a usability issue.
It's good that we agree that it's a personal choice.
"That sounds awfully big" Nope. Check out the BlackJack, BlackJack II or Samsung Epix (BlackJack 3 basically). Full qwerty. Nice size. None of this half qwerty shit that one blackberry tried to pull.
Oh I see! You're right of course, chicklet-size keyboards aren't very big, and T9-keypads aren't proper keyboards. I just understood from your post a full *size* keyboard that you could touch type on (as with the Psions). I'll take a look at them, if I can get hold of them here.
Windows Mobile isn't that slow. It's no more unstable than any other phone I've tried.
Well, my experience differs. I expect a PIM to load any standard app within fractions of a second (as is the norm with rom-based devices running real-time operating systems); it seems to me that on WinMo, it takes a few (just a few) seconds to switch between applications. That's not an eternity, but just too slow for the instant response I expect from a good pda.
"Windows Mobile is the best option" All my friends' experiences with WinMo involve lockups and reboots several times per week. Coming from a Palm platform (heck, any platform), that's just unacceptable.
"If said app doesn't exist, make it." I don't suppose you can point me to a cross-platform development environment, then? Seriously. That would score some good points for this option.
"If you want an app, but don't want to pay, steal it." I'll just pretend you didn't write that. Why the hell do you think I'm using a free (as in, any way you like) OS at home? A certain somebody keeps suggesting I should just install his MacOSX on my pc so that I can program for the (his?) iPhone, but that's just not going to happen.
"I demand a LACK of touchscreen bullshit (having one is fine, but everything sure as hell better navigable/usable without it)." I don't know how much experience you have with PalmOS or Epoc (what later became Symbian), but it sounds you've only tried some comparatively poor alternatives. Touch screens *are* useful. However, having a number of hardbuttons is vital.
"I demand shit that doesn't flip or slide or do some other bullshit that will just be one more thing to break." If I read your post correctly, you want a full-size qwerty keyboard on a non-collapsible device? That sounds awfully big (I mean, when you're not using it and it's in your pocket). The Psion Series 5 has been notorious for wearing out the screen ribbon cable after some years(!) of opening and closing, so I do see your point. I'm just saying that, for me, the Palm T3 was the best darn PDA I ever had -- huge screen when you looked at it, but it collapsed together when you put it back in the pocket. I didn't really miss a keyboard because its handwriting recognition was solid, fast, and adaptable to my handwriting. That is not bullshit, that is practical.
"By far the most important application any phone can offer (beyond the phone/address book functions, obviously) is a good web browser." Again, to each his own. I fully agree that storing your contacts, along with a calendar, is *the* thing a PDA needs to do. On that note, it seems that Symbian is shooting itself in the foot, because the address book is actually more of a phone book -- names and numbers, but no provision for storing addresses, dates, or personal notes. Too bad, really, that all the good PDA makers are focusing on phones these days. My usage pattern is probably different (less web-enabled) than yours, but my second most important tool is not a browser but an outliner; that is, a glorified to-do list, project manager, and plain text editor (if you want to get specific about it, something like Natara's "Bonsai" or Llama Graphics' "Life Balance"). Actually, I get along quite well without web access.
"You dismiss Windows Mobile because it's Windows." No I don't; I see I should have elaborated that point. Sorry. The reason I dismiss it is because it's slow, expensive, and, most of all, unstable. Those are objective reasons. I dismiss the iPhone because it's Apple, even though I freely admit that the UI and appearance are second to none -- that is deliberately philosophical.
> My point wasn't that these are full replacements to last.fm My point wasn't that they weren't. They are what they are. I was merely commenting on their usefulness as a background music service.
I do see your point about how big a cut the artists get, but as I've never bought anything from an online music store it doesn't really matter (for me).
Jamendo - Horrible web interface, wants to use full-window m-player plugin instead of embedded player so you can see the rest of the page (artist info, etc). Half a minute of buffering between tracks, no thanks.
Magnatune - seems all right, haven't tried searching in depth yet, but insists on "you have been listening to X from the album Y on Magnatune" between tracks, plus 4 seconds lead-in silence on every track. Meh.
Libre.fm - oddly home-drawn look to it, can't see much without registering (a la Facebook). No go.
Blip.tv - great, but seems to be tv rather than radio? Not applicable for an at-work background jukebox.
I repeat: these are the first impressions of a single individual. For now, I think I prefer Last.fm, at least until we have a full understanding of what really happened with Last, CBS, RIAA, and TechCrunch.
Sorry nerds, the best way to drive success is to dangle shiny bobbles in front of the plebes, and charge them out the ass for it. Deal with it.
That might be the true reason why this story landed on Slashdot... that we are not that willing to be charged out of the ass for shiny bobbles, and are actually trying to deal with it.
Me, I'm taking a good long look around the pda/smartphone market. Alas, what I have found so far is that the best thing out there is --well, was-- the PalmOS platform. Now that that is thoroughly dying, what's the next best alternative?
OpenMoko? Nope. It's a fine project, but really: it's not yet capable of even a simple phone call.
iPhone? Nope. It's very much the aforementioned 'shiny bobbles' concept, and very closed to tinker with. Note that I'm not saying it's not possible, just that it's closed and you have to 'break' it to do it. Besides, you more or less need a Mac to develop for it, which is quite a steep entry cost.
Windows Mobile? You're kidding, right?
Android? Perhaps. I speak for nobody else, but personally I'm one of those luddites who some years ago began to be quite a bit uncomfortable with the sheer size and power of Google, so Android is not going on my phone.
Symbian? Perhaps. It's not quite as closed down as the iPhone, and it does have a large user base, but 3rd-party apps and dev tools are still scarce compared to the PalmOS community. There's also some form of required membership or application certification that I'm not done looking into.
Others? I'm sure there are some other platforms that I've not listed here.
I agree with your points -- except that the Treos *are* capable of handwriting recognition. My 680 even runs it fullscreen, thanks to TealScript, so I don't have to use that crummy li'l slippery-keyed keyboard.
My 680 replaced my oh-so-nice T3's because I needed to be connected; the 680's have the biggest screens of what can still be found (used, natch).
Well, this is certainly an interesting article to be reading as I am looking for a replacement for my aging Tungsten E.
Guess who I probably won't be going with this time?!
I hear you. I'm currently suffering withdrawal pains after having replaced my (beloved) T3's with a relatively crummy-but-connected Treo 680. But I'm not blind, I can see which way the Palm (pre-Pre) community is headed.
What are you considering, then, if not Palm?
I'm looking for a pda-cum-phone that I can write my own apps for as easily and freely as I can for the PalmOS. Apple is right out, with its expensive gear and dev's license, opaque validation process, and MacOS-bound dev suite.
And don't talk to me about Windows. I don't even run the stuff on my pc. Enough said.
Right now I'm looking at the Nokia N9x line, looking for some insight into the upcoming N97. I've played a bit with the N96 (I think it was), and the handwriting recognition is just crummy (confined to a small corner window, for one thing). At least it seems there's some dev suite choices, but I haven't figured out their licensing/cert/id/key/whatever system yet.
But you gotta go somewhere. So, what's your current best candidate?
Slashdot Mirror
Back in 1982, Bill Atkinson also found it hard to measure progress by lines of code: "-2000 lines of code"
"As for returning the iPhone, I keep meaning to, but somehow it has become...precious...to me. Maybe Apple will claim a new iPhone user out of all this after all."
Where does it say he threw it away? That would be an idiotic thing to do in any case.
Believe you me, there really is no limit to how much worse you can reimplement code, no matter how bad it was to begin with.
A classic tale:
Me: Type dir then enter
User: it says bad command or filename
Me: huh? retype it. dir then enter.
User: it says bad command or filename
Me: Type this exactly, D-I-R then hit the enter key.
User: OH! I was typing in direnter.
That's just the thing. 3Dfx didn't do a thing for Carmageddon. It was the same thing with Descent, I seem to recall; really hard to pick out a non-moving object in the mid-to-far distance.
You may be thinking of Carmageddon II, which did, evidently, support hardware acceleration.
Do not discredit our most holy historical documentaries!
I am divided on this point.
Sure, I still like Ports of Call, Dune II, et cetera, because their game play holds up very, very well. But there is a limit.
I found that out when I tried to replay Carmageddon -- OH MY EYES TEH GOGGLES THEY DO NOTHING! -- I remembered it as being a fairly pretty (if gore-filled) game with nice body damage (the cars! I'm referring to the cars!) ... but when I replayed it, it suddenly dawned upon me that it wasn't 3D-accellerated, everything was blocky almost beyond recognition. This was quite a shock, because I swear I never noticed that when playing it the first time 'round.
I guess what I'm saying is, good games don't need good graphics, but games that make a point out of their graphics better have good ones.
This holds up rather well I find: I was an avid Day of Defeat player (before the DoD v2 days), and even though the graphics could have been better they were *sufficient for the task* -- which was to get you to duck the hell for cover at every crack, not to be impressed by the effects.
Conversely, a certain unnamed rally game may have all the lens flare effects in the world, but if the physics are all wrong then it's a dud. It's all very good that the car doors get dented and the windows smashed when you hit the rail, but if just turns your vector instead of slowing and turning the entire car, the rest is just pointless bling.
I usually run with "North up" and zoom out occasionally, so I have a better picture of how I move around. This annoys my wife endlessly, because she prefers "Track up" mode where you always seem to go straight ahead. But then she's one of those people who struggle with "which way is left" while looking at a map when you're driving anywhere but north.
So I agree that if you care about it, a GPS can assist you in building knowledge about your surroundings; just as it can be detrimental if you don't care about it.
"The Absolute Minimum Every Software Developer Absolutely, Positively Must Know About Unicode and Character Sets (No Excuses!)" is also a very good -- but very much shorter -- introduction to Unicode.
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/Unicode.html
I frequently send this to people that I need to work with who don't "get" it.
Today I got yet another invitation to "Come join the amazing new social network, SomeUnheardOfName.tld and meet with your friend Jimmy!", said Jimmy of course having helpfully entered my address at that site (or, more likely, clicked a Facebook button that automatically invited all his friends).
Things like that mean that it's just plain futile to try to claim any kind of ownership of your email address. I used to be really p*ssed about these occurrences, but realised that:
(a) half the globe are dumber than average, you can't win so just stop trying; and
(b) it's more important to have an effective spam filter, because
(c) if your email address were really private to you alone, what use would it be?
How the hell can a format that's supposed to be passive plain text yield root access? Just receive and store the damn text, don't try to interpret it! If other apps want to peek into received messages and perform actions on that, fine, but this is just Outlook all over again!
> In Norway and the rest of Scandinavia (and the rest of western Europe), language will not be an issue.
When speaking with people, no, you're right.
But when dealing with paperwork? Forms for taxes, DMV, post office, utilities, ... ? That's a whole other can of worms.
One possible reason for people to have unused accounts is simple to reserve the name. That is to say, to ensure that nobody can go around tweeting "in their name".
That's Video Graphics Array to you, TeknoHog. IAEATMTWPOA, eh? Sheesh. ;-)
I was going to say something witty, but the characters of the two-liner matched up so perfectly that they disappeared in a puff of points.
Serious advice.
I find that few people will want to endure borrowing my computers because they don't want to deal with my Dvorak keyboard layout. More useful for me, less so for others -- it's perfect!
Apart from that, the only thing Berto Kraus needs to do is say no. If that doesn't work, adopt a habit of long tedious lectures on viruses, data privacy, and any other thing that could go wrong; before long, people will go straight for the desktop-on-a-cart (fun name) rather than being subjected to that lecture yet again.
Hey, now you listen. I've been polite and to the point throughout, and you're talking bullshit.
No, I have not tried a multitude of Windows phones, because you can't exactly borrow them to take them for a test drive, can you? All you can do is feel up the fake ones at the store, with they toy screens. You can't ask the salespeople if there's a proper phone book with birthday and anniversary and note fields, or how you access 3rd-party apps or how they integrate with the OS, or if the handwriting recognition is full-screen or confined to that little corner down there, or if it can be adapted to your personal handwriting or if it can be extended with aliases and macros, or how long the battery life really is if you don't friggin' Facebook (that's a verb now, apparently) all day long, or how long the GPS takes to acquire a lock, or if you can reassign the hardbuttons or how long it takes for one of the standard PIM apps to start up, because all they know is what is says on the tin, and that's all about the megapixels and the replaceable fashion covers and matching key chains.
All I want is for the dog-gamned PDA companies to build a dog-gamned PDA, preferably with a phone in it but I'm flexible on that point. You'd think it's not that hard, but they are really trying to look past all their experience and put out crummy consumer-grade shite.
End of discussion. Don't bother answering because I won't bother to read it.
My phone has locked up 3 times in over 2 years of owning it. Less than any other phone I've seen.
Duly noted, that is good.
Cross platform development? Java?
And why does it need to be cross platform? The other big boys certainly aren't.
Well obviously, so that I am not forced to install a particular OS in order to write those missing apps.
I can accept not getting the full use (desktop companion, backup) out of it, but not being able to write new software is a major roadblock.
True enough, the (current) 'big boys' aren't cross platform -- not that that's a very good argument. You could, though, write PalmOS apps on BSD and Linux, and you certainly will be able to write WebOS apps using anything.
"Why the hell do you think I'm using a free (as in, any way you like) OS at home?" Because you don't like paying for shit and you have an irrational hatred of Microsoft. Also, you are a young male nerd who's time is worth very little, so you can waste it on Linux.
Frankly, I take offence at this.
True, I have no desire to pay for shit; I expel more of my own than I care to keep.
Software, though, has a price that can be compared to its value, and Windows, along with the Office suite, just don't tip the balance for me.
As for the 'irrational hatred', when have you ever seen me write "Micro$oft", or otherwise come across as hateful? I dislike Windows first and foremost for its security faults, and I consider the overall business strategy and conduct of Microsoft rather unappealing -- but not much worse than average, really.
As for time spent, I have not stated anything. I'm sure a Windows user also needs to spend a certain amount of time to keep up with system updates and so on, but beyond that it's individual how much 'tinker time' is really required. I spend very little. In any case, putting a price on one's spare time is missing the point; any hobby could be considered an utter waste of time by a non-hobbyist.
What I'm saying is this: You don't know me. Please refrain from personal attacks, and stay on topic. Thank you.
I dismiss Apple because they're Apple, too. But I dismiss Apple in general because I hate their design, I hate their build quality, and I hate their lack of customer service. Apple Care my ass, they'll still charge you a billion dollars to fix something that was their fault, and deny it all the way to the bank.
Now who is spouting irrational hatred? ;-) But really, you're entitled to that outlook and I'm not going to argue.
"Touch screens *are* useful. However, having a number of hardbuttons is vital."
I should be able to use the entire phone without touching the damned touch screen at all. [...] It's a preference, but it's also a usability issue.
It's good that we agree that it's a personal choice.
"That sounds awfully big"
Nope. Check out the BlackJack, BlackJack II or Samsung Epix (BlackJack 3 basically). Full qwerty. Nice size. None of this half qwerty shit that one blackberry tried to pull.
Oh I see! You're right of course, chicklet-size keyboards aren't very big, and T9-keypads aren't proper keyboards. I just understood from your post a full *size* keyboard that you could touch type on (as with the Psions). I'll take a look at them, if I can get hold of them here.
Windows Mobile isn't that slow. It's no more unstable than any other phone I've tried.
Well, my experience differs. I expect a PIM to load any standard app within fractions of a second (as is the norm with rom-based devices running real-time operating systems); it seems to me that on WinMo, it takes a few (just a few) seconds to switch between applications. That's not an eternity, but just too slow for the instant response I expect from a good pda.
Expensive? It was free, and the phones w
"Windows Mobile is the best option"
All my friends' experiences with WinMo involve lockups and reboots several times per week. Coming from a Palm platform (heck, any platform), that's just unacceptable.
"If said app doesn't exist, make it."
I don't suppose you can point me to a cross-platform development environment, then? Seriously. That would score some good points for this option.
"If you want an app, but don't want to pay, steal it."
I'll just pretend you didn't write that. Why the hell do you think I'm using a free (as in, any way you like) OS at home? A certain somebody keeps suggesting I should just install his MacOSX on my pc so that I can program for the (his?) iPhone, but that's just not going to happen.
"I demand a LACK of touchscreen bullshit (having one is fine, but everything sure as hell better navigable/usable without it)."
I don't know how much experience you have with PalmOS or Epoc (what later became Symbian), but it sounds you've only tried some comparatively poor alternatives. Touch screens *are* useful. However, having a number of hardbuttons is vital.
"I demand shit that doesn't flip or slide or do some other bullshit that will just be one more thing to break."
If I read your post correctly, you want a full-size qwerty keyboard on a non-collapsible device? That sounds awfully big (I mean, when you're not using it and it's in your pocket).
The Psion Series 5 has been notorious for wearing out the screen ribbon cable after some years(!) of opening and closing, so I do see your point.
I'm just saying that, for me, the Palm T3 was the best darn PDA I ever had -- huge screen when you looked at it, but it collapsed together when you put it back in the pocket. I didn't really miss a keyboard because its handwriting recognition was solid, fast, and adaptable to my handwriting. That is not bullshit, that is practical.
"By far the most important application any phone can offer (beyond the phone/address book functions, obviously) is a good web browser."
Again, to each his own. I fully agree that storing your contacts, along with a calendar, is *the* thing a PDA needs to do. On that note, it seems that Symbian is shooting itself in the foot, because the address book is actually more of a phone book -- names and numbers, but no provision for storing addresses, dates, or personal notes. Too bad, really, that all the good PDA makers are focusing on phones these days.
My usage pattern is probably different (less web-enabled) than yours, but my second most important tool is not a browser but an outliner; that is, a glorified to-do list, project manager, and plain text editor (if you want to get specific about it, something like Natara's "Bonsai" or Llama Graphics' "Life Balance"). Actually, I get along quite well without web access.
"You dismiss Windows Mobile because it's Windows."
No I don't; I see I should have elaborated that point. Sorry.
The reason I dismiss it is because it's slow, expensive, and, most of all, unstable. Those are objective reasons.
I dismiss the iPhone because it's Apple, even though I freely admit that the UI and appearance are second to none -- that is deliberately philosophical.
> My point wasn't that these are full replacements to last.fm
My point wasn't that they weren't. They are what they are. I was merely commenting on their usefulness as a background music service.
I do see your point about how big a cut the artists get, but as I've never bought anything from an online music store it doesn't really matter (for me).
You're right, it was affected by my extensions. Thanks for the tip!
Initial impressions:
Jamendo - Horrible web interface, wants to use full-window m-player plugin instead of embedded player so you can see the rest of the page (artist info, etc). Half a minute of buffering between tracks, no thanks.
Magnatune - seems all right, haven't tried searching in depth yet, but insists on "you have been listening to X from the album Y on Magnatune" between tracks, plus 4 seconds lead-in silence on every track. Meh.
Libre.fm - oddly home-drawn look to it, can't see much without registering (a la Facebook). No go.
Blip.tv - great, but seems to be tv rather than radio? Not applicable for an at-work background jukebox.
I repeat: these are the first impressions of a single individual. For now, I think I prefer Last.fm, at least until we have a full understanding of what really happened with Last, CBS, RIAA, and TechCrunch.
Sorry nerds, the best way to drive success is to dangle shiny bobbles in front of the plebes, and charge them out the ass for it.
Deal with it.
That might be the true reason why this story landed on Slashdot ... that we are not that willing to be charged out of the ass for shiny bobbles, and are actually trying to deal with it.
Me, I'm taking a good long look around the pda/smartphone market. Alas, what I have found so far is that the best thing out there is --well, was-- the PalmOS platform.
Now that that is thoroughly dying, what's the next best alternative?
OpenMoko?
Nope. It's a fine project, but really: it's not yet capable of even a simple phone call.
iPhone?
Nope. It's very much the aforementioned 'shiny bobbles' concept, and very closed to tinker with. Note that I'm not saying it's not possible, just that it's closed and you have to 'break' it to do it. Besides, you more or less need a Mac to develop for it, which is quite a steep entry cost.
Windows Mobile?
You're kidding, right?
Android?
Perhaps. I speak for nobody else, but personally I'm one of those luddites who some years ago began to be quite a bit uncomfortable with the sheer size and power of Google, so Android is not going on my phone.
Symbian?
Perhaps. It's not quite as closed down as the iPhone, and it does have a large user base, but 3rd-party apps and dev tools are still scarce compared to the PalmOS community. There's also some form of required membership or application certification that I'm not done looking into.
Others?
I'm sure there are some other platforms that I've not listed here.
I agree with your points -- except that the Treos *are* capable of handwriting recognition. My 680 even runs it fullscreen, thanks to TealScript, so I don't have to use that crummy li'l slippery-keyed keyboard.
My 680 replaced my oh-so-nice T3's because I needed to be connected; the 680's have the biggest screens of what can still be found (used, natch).
Well, this is certainly an interesting article to be reading as I am looking for a replacement for my aging Tungsten E.
Guess who I probably won't be going with this time?!
I hear you. I'm currently suffering withdrawal pains after having replaced my (beloved) T3's with a relatively crummy-but-connected Treo 680. But I'm not blind, I can see which way the Palm (pre-Pre) community is headed.
What are you considering, then, if not Palm?
I'm looking for a pda-cum-phone that I can write my own apps for as easily and freely as I can for the PalmOS. Apple is right out, with its expensive gear and dev's license, opaque validation process, and MacOS-bound dev suite.
And don't talk to me about Windows. I don't even run the stuff on my pc. Enough said.
Right now I'm looking at the Nokia N9x line, looking for some insight into the upcoming N97. I've played a bit with the N96 (I think it was), and the handwriting recognition is just crummy (confined to a small corner window, for one thing). At least it seems there's some dev suite choices, but I haven't figured out their licensing/cert/id/key/whatever system yet.
But you gotta go somewhere. So, what's your current best candidate?