You're right about recordability - but apart from the "NIH" aspect from the NeXT guys, the fact is that writing recordable apps is really hard. You have to pretty much architect the whole thing from the ground up to operate by sending applevents to itself to get everything done. It's unnatural and performance sapping, so people tend not to bother. It should be being handled at a lower level by the OS so that programmers can concentrate on making the app work, and not on assisting the OS in its job.
i.e. HHGG treated as a mathematical formula. This was very popular in the 80s, for example European Silicon Systems used to shorten their name to ES2 (with the 2 as a superscript). Thankfully the practice seems to have fallen into disuse in these more enlightened times.
Everyone seems to be saying read the book first. I disagree - get the radio series (a very nice CD box set came out last year). This is the start of the whole thing - the books were written afterwards. The radio series is where all the original ideas were born. Sometimes they didn't quite work, and the book sorted out some of that and a few inconsistencies... but that's part of the radio series' charm. In addition the sound effects are wonderful (even ground-breaking, for their time), and only enhance the imaginative experience. In other words, the radio series is the "one true source", and everything else is basically a rehash (not that it means they're bad, just best read/seen in the oredr in which they were published).
This won't work. The main point for the average person trying on clothes is to see that they fit, and this system won't determine that with any useful degree of accuracy. Often a few millimetres makes all the difference.
The problem with the iBook hinge is bad engineering, not low cost. Doing it properly would not cost any more, in fact it would probably cost less because the wires wouldn't need to be crushed into such a weird assembly. Have you noticed how swish and stylish the hinge looks though? That's the problem, they have sacrificed function for form. I wrote up my hinge problem and solution to it (i.e. full disassembly, remaking of the cable and reassembly) on my blog here. I haven't had a problem with the video connector but I did notice in passing just how darn fragile it is - the slightest movement of the connector (at the screen end anyway) caused bad scanlines, weird colours, or complete blanking. I figured that was another fault just waiting to happen, but so far just left well enough alone. Apple should sort these issues out before they start to damage their reputation - they are stupid, easily avoided issues that would cost nothing to get right. They need an engineer there who understands reliability issues (hint: it's always the connectors, and always where there is mechanical movement. They should spend a little time building some rally cars, they'll soon learn this!)
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You're right about recordability - but apart from the "NIH" aspect from the NeXT guys, the fact is that writing recordable apps is really hard. You have to pretty much architect the whole thing from the ground up to operate by sending applevents to itself to get everything done. It's unnatural and performance sapping, so people tend not to bother. It should be being handled at a lower level by the OS so that programmers can concentrate on making the app work, and not on assisting the OS in its job.
i.e. HHGG treated as a mathematical formula. This was very popular in the 80s, for example European Silicon Systems used to shorten their name to ES2 (with the 2 as a superscript). Thankfully the practice seems to have fallen into disuse in these more enlightened times.
Everyone seems to be saying read the book first. I disagree - get the radio series (a very nice CD box set came out last year). This is the start of the whole thing - the books were written afterwards. The radio series is where all the original ideas were born. Sometimes they didn't quite work, and the book sorted out some of that and a few inconsistencies... but that's part of the radio series' charm. In addition the sound effects are wonderful (even ground-breaking, for their time), and only enhance the imaginative experience. In other words, the radio series is the "one true source", and everything else is basically a rehash (not that it means they're bad, just best read/seen in the oredr in which they were published).
This won't work. The main point for the average person trying on clothes is to see that they fit, and this system won't determine that with any useful degree of accuracy. Often a few millimetres makes all the difference.
By the way, iPod isn't a flop. That it doesn't play OGG is irrelevant to 99.999999% of buyers. In fact, only you care.
Firewire 400 Mbit/s (or 800 if you have the later type)
Wi-Fi 11 Mbit/s (or maybe 54 if you're lucky enough to get it to work).
I daresay if wireless synching becomes popular they'll put it in the iPod soon enough.
The problem with the iBook hinge is bad engineering, not low cost. Doing it properly would not cost any more, in fact it would probably cost less because the wires wouldn't need to be crushed into such a weird assembly. Have you noticed how swish and stylish the hinge looks though? That's the problem, they have sacrificed function for form. I wrote up my hinge problem and solution to it (i.e. full disassembly, remaking of the cable and reassembly) on my blog here. I haven't had a problem with the video connector but I did notice in passing just how darn fragile it is - the slightest movement of the connector (at the screen end anyway) caused bad scanlines, weird colours, or complete blanking. I figured that was another fault just waiting to happen, but so far just left well enough alone. Apple should sort these issues out before they start to damage their reputation - they are stupid, easily avoided issues that would cost nothing to get right. They need an engineer there who understands reliability issues (hint: it's always the connectors, and always where there is mechanical movement. They should spend a little time building some rally cars, they'll soon learn this!)