And that, my friend, is why I believe we'll see an Excel replacement coming out of Apple as soon as next year.
Lotus Improv was one of the killer apps on the NeXT platform, one which Jobs took notice of and he had a lot of influence on the product's features. Since so much of OS X came from NeXT, I wouldn't be surprised if an Apple version of this shows up. In fact, IIRC Apple sued ThinkSecret right after they published rumours about Pages, also mentioning that a spreadsheet was in the works. Perhaps Apple sued because they wanted to keep their alleged development of a spreadsheet app under wraps, since it obviously wasn't near completion if they were actually working on one. The thing that struck me about that lawsuit is that ThinkSecret always published rumours about something Apple was about to release without getting sued, without any repercussions up until that point. Maybe they got sued because they published something about a product Apple wasn't ready to release.
but I am concerned about this development, as there are few websites (including my bank) which don't work with Safari
Try out Safari Enhancer. It adds a debug menu to the browser that allows it to pretend it is a different browser, for example like it is IE on a Windows machine. I found that it allows me to use sites that even IE for OS X wouldn't work with for some reason. I believe that many instances where a website says it can't work with Safari, it is actually the server detecting what browser you are using and it relays that message, even if the website works fine under Safari.
Of course, somehow the editors don't seem too interested in the idea.
If enough people want the option, it could eventually happen with code contributions to Slash on SourceForge. I made a small recommendation before that would have been a simple modification and got a response that patches are always welcome. Considering the amount of traffic this site gets, I'm sure they're overwhelmed with story submissions and editing. I'm surprised they even have time to work on the code. I suspect that after editing, they barely have time to even fix bugs in Slash that people encounter. At least I think that's what's going on, I may be wrong.
What helps is to start making a dream journal, Whenever you wake up write everything you can remember as soon as you wake up, before the memory starts to fade.
I've been doing that for over a decade. For years I wrote them down, but then I switched to an Olympus digital voice recorder which allowed me to record things more efficiently. They're really useful for this; a 128 megabyte compactflash card in one of them allows it to record 22 hours of dictation. The recordings transfer easily to a computer via USB. I've been using it for 2 years, and despite making heaps of recordings (sometimes daily), I have only used up 460 megabytes on my hard drive to store all of the them. I got it before they had voice recorders for the iPod, so I don't know how well the iPod compares in terms of usability. The buttons on the Olympus recorders allow you to record, rewind a bit, then re-record if you made a mistake very easily without having to even look at the display. I don't know how using the clickwheel would compare. The only problem with the Olympus recorders is that they record in a proprietary ".dss" file format. I think it is optimised for voice recording and has better compression and audio quality, but you are limited to the software they provide for playback, which has limited functionality and takes a while to launch when you've accumulated as many files as I have.
So far it's been working. I've also been using it assist with lucid dreams.
I've been interested in hypnosis for ages, but never had any results with hypnotists or self-hypnosis. I'm also very interested in lucid dreaming, but have had difficulty with that as well. I think it's interesting that you actually got it to start working for you eventually, and that you've used it for lucid dreams. I'm on a PowerBook, so I can't run the software you mention. Do you know of any that runs on OS X? What made you begin to realise it started working for you. Did you start noticing post-hypnotic suggestions began working, or influencing senses while in a trance? And what interesting things have you tried with it?
According to sony, overheating and shutting itself down is something normal that should happen to a $2k laptop.
You're shitting me! That's the worst performance I have ever heard for a laptop. That's pathetic! No wonder they're causing all this furore about the rootkit. They're bloody incompetent and can't get their act straight with anything they're doing. Out of all the laptops I've had through the years, I've experienced my laptop shutting shown similarly only once. Of course, it involved accidentally spilling a drink onto it that drained through the keyboard and soaked its innards.
For some reason, I actually prefer purchasing a CD and ripping it. It's like having a backup copy, and you can also re-rip it into better codecs or higher bitrates as storage capacity increases. And no need to worry about DRM restricting it to being played in just one application and portable music player, in case you decide to transfer to a different OS the next time you upgrade your computer. I recently spent heaps purchasing music videos through the iTMS, but I find I'm just not compelled to purchase plain music the same way.
I doubt they would actually do this, but I'd like to see the iTMS actually send you the real albums in the post, if you've bought the albums online. If you buy individual songs, then they can send music CDs of your individual songs every time you purchase enough music to fill one up. Not only would they actually be maintaining the sale of music CDs, but again, it would serve as a backup, and can be used with better codecs and higher bitrates as they come along. Basically like being a music CD retail outlet that also lets you download the music and listen to it immediately.
Does anybody know if Sony pre-installs this rootkit in the computers they sell? I thought their laptops were good products, and normally would be among my choices if I were to get a new one (slight possibility I may want to get a Windows laptop), but this whole rootkit thing changes that. If they so blatantly forced it onto people's computers through music CDs, even trying to on Macs, then I don't imagine they would have any qualms about forcing it onto their computer buyers as well.
As an ex-record store owner, I stopped selling due to Amazon's competitive pricing and selection. I'm a fan of competition, yet the music scene I catered to is completely gone as stores like mine ran the street teams that grew the movements.
I had no idea Amazon messed up niche music scenes. Has online music from non-RIAA sources (such as the "A few alternatives" list" on this page) somewhat reversed that? I thought online music would somehow help new music movements gain more widespread popularity faster.
What if every product page was a wiki where customers could customize it for other customers? I think Amazon is missing out.
I heard a rumour that Amazon allegedly removes some negative comments about products in order to keep the inventory flowing. A wiki would probably make it harder for that kind of thing.
I came across AGL Green Living and they claim that this service from their company is based on 100% renewable energy.
AGL Green Living is 5% accredited Green Power and 95% non accredited energy from 100% renewable sources. It is derived from sources such as windmills, solar energy and land fill sites rather than sourced from coal, as coal-generated energy production contributes to global warming and climate change.
I was wondering if it was actually true or if there was some catch. I didn't think that 100% renewable energy was anywhere close to being feasible at this point in time for mass consumption. Something just doesn't seem to sit right about this, like it's just some marketing gimmick to get people to switch to their company. Otherwise, I'd assume it would receive heaps of attention. Anyone else hear of this and can confirm that it's valid?
Hacking and Cracking Sites - Posting is not permitted for the promotion of hacking or cracking. For example, items must not provide instructions or equipment to illegally access or tamper with software, servers, or websites.
That's not cool. What about legitimate hacking? The quote mentions examples of illegal methods, but the scope could be broader in practice. There's also mention of mod chips on the list, citing copy protection circumvention as an example, but what about legitimate mod chips? The "Posting is not permitted for the promotion of body parts or human remains" is hilarious, but what's the deal with "Posting is not permitted for the promotion of raw precious metals"?
Is it me or does it seem like Google is average 1 new service/product every 2 months or so. This is a scary pace.
I agree. I actually think this can be confusing. It's great they're producing so many interesting things, but I keep having to hear about them by "word of mouth" in online discussions. Otherwise, I wouldn't even know they existed. It would be useful if they actually provided some simple notification of updates to the services they provide, possibly just some small blurb on search result pages or something. And they need to do something like make a menu of all their services just a click away from any main project page, search result page, or any other page from their site. Sure, they have the Google Labs page, but at the moment that doesn't even mention Google Base. They need to consolidate navigating through these services in their interface. By the way, have you heard of Google Moon?
I just had the surgery in August and things are going fantastic. Although, my condition was not very drastic, it was just enough of a pain that I finally decided to go through with it. It cost me in the range of $30,000, including the models. My teeth were only wired for two weeks after the surgery. That was the time I had to be on a liquid diet. Strictly broth, milks (dairy, soy, rice for variety), and strained soups (the little pulp bits clog up your mouth).
Then they put rubber bands on, which I can remove to eat. It was difficult at first, because I couldn't open my mouth too wide to get anything in. I couldn't eat anything really solid other than things like risotto, cous cous, as well as things like cheese that can spread onto crispbread. But as time passes it opens wider and wider, and I eat whatever I can fit in there that isn't too hard to chew.
In 6 months, my mouth should be opening normally, the braces come off, and things are back to better than normal. The things they did to my jaw were different to what you've described, but just as gruesome. I didn't have any side effects from the surgery or any medicine- I was simply on antibiotics for a week or two to make sure there was no infection. No puking at all. Not even the urge. In fact, the most uncomfortable part of the surgery in my case was simply the initial needle prick to start the general anaesthesia. I went out like a light, and woke up after the surgery. I was surprised how I just wasn't in any pain after.
In fact the problem wasn't pain, but rather numbness. Because they have to move around a nerve in the jaw, your mouth and chin go numb for a couple of months. It fades gradually over the span of six or more months. There is also the risk in some surgeries that the nerve is damaged and some patients end up with permanent numbness. However, the model I had made helped with the doctors planning their way around the nerve, and I didn't end up with that problem. It has helped with my TMJ, primarily because the problem with my jaw was causing it. However, it isn't meant to be a fix for TMJ because in some cases it doesn't alleviate the problem.
As for the thing with your teeth- why don't you just consider permanent implants? I know people that have them and they're just like having the real thing.
I have a mandibular excess, causing TMJ "pain" and massive nightly grinding.
Have you ever heard of Orthognathic surgery? It's getting pretty sophisticated now, using CT scans to develop 3D models and Computer-aided surgical planning to assist doctors with surgery. It costs a fortune, but some health funds cover it. The company, Materialise, can use colour stereolithography to make a prominent nerve that runs along the lower mandible visible within a transparent model. This helps Orthognathic surgeons, because handling that nerve is one of the tricky parts of the procedure.
Most "pirate enthusiasts" are people who do not have the means to purchase the software they want. These include children, students of any sort, the unemployed, and so on. Nobody loses revenue from these people, they don't have the money to buy the product.
I can recall some time ago that there was an argument that to combat piracy, software companies could lower the price tag, so the people who would normally pirate it could afford it. If you could make just as money by selling your product to more people at a lower price as you would selling it at a higher price and putting up with more piracy, then why not go with the former? As for the software producer, they would at least have a larger legitimate customer base that I'm sure helps with marketing the product even better.
Perhaps if they lower their prices just right (and I mean so low that it would seem ridiculous), they may suddenly tap into a large enough user base, and actually make more money than if they kept their prices high. I'm sure the "pirate enthusiasts" even have a price they are willing to pay. People actually would prefer to have legitimate copies that came with manuals and were guilt-free.
I think there is a much greater cost to piracy, though, for very small, independent software developers who are releasing shareware or other niche software.
I don't know if that low price idea I heard of took off as a trend, unless the shareware industry actually follows that philosophy. I personally buy heaps of shareware. On occasion, I don't even bother with trial periods and just buy fully registered copies. I also recall reading a comment someone posted online mentioning that in the old Apple II days, he would never pirate or let someone copy his collection of Beagle Brothers software. At that time, other companies were raising their prices and working copy protection schemes onto their disks. But Beagle Brothers kept their prices reasonable, and didn't use copy protection. It was a kind of "customer loyalty" thing, out of respect for them because they were really into programming and making it fun, rather than trying to make a profit.
Slashdot Mirror
And that, my friend, is why I believe we'll see an Excel replacement coming out of Apple as soon as next year.
Lotus Improv was one of the killer apps on the NeXT platform, one which Jobs took notice of and he had a lot of influence on the product's features. Since so much of OS X came from NeXT, I wouldn't be surprised if an Apple version of this shows up. In fact, IIRC Apple sued ThinkSecret right after they published rumours about Pages, also mentioning that a spreadsheet was in the works. Perhaps Apple sued because they wanted to keep their alleged development of a spreadsheet app under wraps, since it obviously wasn't near completion if they were actually working on one. The thing that struck me about that lawsuit is that ThinkSecret always published rumours about something Apple was about to release without getting sued, without any repercussions up until that point. Maybe they got sued because they published something about a product Apple wasn't ready to release.
but I am concerned about this development, as there are few websites (including my bank) which don't work with Safari
Try out Safari Enhancer. It adds a debug menu to the browser that allows it to pretend it is a different browser, for example like it is IE on a Windows machine. I found that it allows me to use sites that even IE for OS X wouldn't work with for some reason. I believe that many instances where a website says it can't work with Safari, it is actually the server detecting what browser you are using and it relays that message, even if the website works fine under Safari.
Of course, somehow the editors don't seem too interested in the idea.
If enough people want the option, it could eventually happen with code contributions to Slash on SourceForge. I made a small recommendation before that would have been a simple modification and got a response that patches are always welcome. Considering the amount of traffic this site gets, I'm sure they're overwhelmed with story submissions and editing. I'm surprised they even have time to work on the code. I suspect that after editing, they barely have time to even fix bugs in Slash that people encounter. At least I think that's what's going on, I may be wrong.
What helps is to start making a dream journal, Whenever you wake up write everything you can remember as soon as you wake up, before the memory starts to fade.
I've been doing that for over a decade. For years I wrote them down, but then I switched to an Olympus digital voice recorder which allowed me to record things more efficiently. They're really useful for this; a 128 megabyte compactflash card in one of them allows it to record 22 hours of dictation. The recordings transfer easily to a computer via USB. I've been using it for 2 years, and despite making heaps of recordings (sometimes daily), I have only used up 460 megabytes on my hard drive to store all of the them. I got it before they had voice recorders for the iPod, so I don't know how well the iPod compares in terms of usability. The buttons on the Olympus recorders allow you to record, rewind a bit, then re-record if you made a mistake very easily without having to even look at the display. I don't know how using the clickwheel would compare. The only problem with the Olympus recorders is that they record in a proprietary ".dss" file format. I think it is optimised for voice recording and has better compression and audio quality, but you are limited to the software they provide for playback, which has limited functionality and takes a while to launch when you've accumulated as many files as I have.
There's always the suppository version.
I've been interested in hypnosis for ages, but never had any results with hypnotists or self-hypnosis. I'm also very interested in lucid dreaming, but have had difficulty with that as well. I think it's interesting that you actually got it to start working for you eventually, and that you've used it for lucid dreams. I'm on a PowerBook, so I can't run the software you mention. Do you know of any that runs on OS X? What made you begin to realise it started working for you. Did you start noticing post-hypnotic suggestions began working, or influencing senses while in a trance? And what interesting things have you tried with it?
Imagine someone wanted to kidnap you. In that case they would be happy for you to have a tracker on you that they could use to find you :P
And just for the things you may have missed, you can look up the extensive information about Slashdot subculture on Wikipedia.
You're shitting me! That's the worst performance I have ever heard for a laptop. That's pathetic! No wonder they're causing all this furore about the rootkit. They're bloody incompetent and can't get their act straight with anything they're doing. Out of all the laptops I've had through the years, I've experienced my laptop shutting shown similarly only once. Of course, it involved accidentally spilling a drink onto it that drained through the keyboard and soaked its innards.
For some reason, I actually prefer purchasing a CD and ripping it. It's like having a backup copy, and you can also re-rip it into better codecs or higher bitrates as storage capacity increases. And no need to worry about DRM restricting it to being played in just one application and portable music player, in case you decide to transfer to a different OS the next time you upgrade your computer. I recently spent heaps purchasing music videos through the iTMS, but I find I'm just not compelled to purchase plain music the same way.
I doubt they would actually do this, but I'd like to see the iTMS actually send you the real albums in the post, if you've bought the albums online. If you buy individual songs, then they can send music CDs of your individual songs every time you purchase enough music to fill one up. Not only would they actually be maintaining the sale of music CDs, but again, it would serve as a backup, and can be used with better codecs and higher bitrates as they come along. Basically like being a music CD retail outlet that also lets you download the music and listen to it immediately.
Does anybody know if Sony pre-installs this rootkit in the computers they sell? I thought their laptops were good products, and normally would be among my choices if I were to get a new one (slight possibility I may want to get a Windows laptop), but this whole rootkit thing changes that. If they so blatantly forced it onto people's computers through music CDs, even trying to on Macs, then I don't imagine they would have any qualms about forcing it onto their computer buyers as well.
Yup, tried that out first thing I came across it.
Thanks for that. Of course, I had to hear about that by "word of mouth" online, too :)
Your comment just reminded me to look up Cleveland Steamer after hearing it mentioned on Family Guy. That show is so friggin' demented.
I had no idea Amazon messed up niche music scenes. Has online music from non-RIAA sources (such as the "A few alternatives" list" on this page) somewhat reversed that? I thought online music would somehow help new music movements gain more widespread popularity faster.
I heard a rumour that Amazon allegedly removes some negative comments about products in order to keep the inventory flowing. A wiki would probably make it harder for that kind of thing.
If they thought of anything new, they would have patented it.
I came across AGL Green Living and they claim that this service from their company is based on 100% renewable energy.
I was wondering if it was actually true or if there was some catch. I didn't think that 100% renewable energy was anywhere close to being feasible at this point in time for mass consumption. Something just doesn't seem to sit right about this, like it's just some marketing gimmick to get people to switch to their company. Otherwise, I'd assume it would receive heaps of attention. Anyone else hear of this and can confirm that it's valid?
That's not cool. What about legitimate hacking? The quote mentions examples of illegal methods, but the scope could be broader in practice. There's also mention of mod chips on the list, citing copy protection circumvention as an example, but what about legitimate mod chips? The "Posting is not permitted for the promotion of body parts or human remains" is hilarious, but what's the deal with "Posting is not permitted for the promotion of raw precious metals"?
Is it me or does it seem like Google is average 1 new service/product every 2 months or so. This is a scary pace.
I agree. I actually think this can be confusing. It's great they're producing so many interesting things, but I keep having to hear about them by "word of mouth" in online discussions. Otherwise, I wouldn't even know they existed. It would be useful if they actually provided some simple notification of updates to the services they provide, possibly just some small blurb on search result pages or something. And they need to do something like make a menu of all their services just a click away from any main project page, search result page, or any other page from their site. Sure, they have the Google Labs page, but at the moment that doesn't even mention Google Base. They need to consolidate navigating through these services in their interface. By the way, have you heard of Google Moon?
I just had the surgery in August and things are going fantastic. Although, my condition was not very drastic, it was just enough of a pain that I finally decided to go through with it. It cost me in the range of $30,000, including the models. My teeth were only wired for two weeks after the surgery. That was the time I had to be on a liquid diet. Strictly broth, milks (dairy, soy, rice for variety), and strained soups (the little pulp bits clog up your mouth).
Then they put rubber bands on, which I can remove to eat. It was difficult at first, because I couldn't open my mouth too wide to get anything in. I couldn't eat anything really solid other than things like risotto, cous cous, as well as things like cheese that can spread onto crispbread. But as time passes it opens wider and wider, and I eat whatever I can fit in there that isn't too hard to chew.
In 6 months, my mouth should be opening normally, the braces come off, and things are back to better than normal. The things they did to my jaw were different to what you've described, but just as gruesome. I didn't have any side effects from the surgery or any medicine- I was simply on antibiotics for a week or two to make sure there was no infection. No puking at all. Not even the urge. In fact, the most uncomfortable part of the surgery in my case was simply the initial needle prick to start the general anaesthesia. I went out like a light, and woke up after the surgery. I was surprised how I just wasn't in any pain after.
In fact the problem wasn't pain, but rather numbness. Because they have to move around a nerve in the jaw, your mouth and chin go numb for a couple of months. It fades gradually over the span of six or more months. There is also the risk in some surgeries that the nerve is damaged and some patients end up with permanent numbness. However, the model I had made helped with the doctors planning their way around the nerve, and I didn't end up with that problem. It has helped with my TMJ, primarily because the problem with my jaw was causing it. However, it isn't meant to be a fix for TMJ because in some cases it doesn't alleviate the problem.
As for the thing with your teeth- why don't you just consider permanent implants? I know people that have them and they're just like having the real thing.
I have a mandibular excess, causing TMJ "pain" and massive nightly grinding.
Have you ever heard of Orthognathic surgery? It's getting pretty sophisticated now, using CT scans to develop 3D models and Computer-aided surgical planning to assist doctors with surgery. It costs a fortune, but some health funds cover it. The company, Materialise, can use colour stereolithography to make a prominent nerve that runs along the lower mandible visible within a transparent model. This helps Orthognathic surgeons, because handling that nerve is one of the tricky parts of the procedure.
There's a note on the Wikipedia article you've linked to.
Actually they just wanted to plug your hole from both ends.
I can recall some time ago that there was an argument that to combat piracy, software companies could lower the price tag, so the people who would normally pirate it could afford it. If you could make just as money by selling your product to more people at a lower price as you would selling it at a higher price and putting up with more piracy, then why not go with the former? As for the software producer, they would at least have a larger legitimate customer base that I'm sure helps with marketing the product even better.
Perhaps if they lower their prices just right (and I mean so low that it would seem ridiculous), they may suddenly tap into a large enough user base, and actually make more money than if they kept their prices high. I'm sure the "pirate enthusiasts" even have a price they are willing to pay. People actually would prefer to have legitimate copies that came with manuals and were guilt-free.
I don't know if that low price idea I heard of took off as a trend, unless the shareware industry actually follows that philosophy. I personally buy heaps of shareware. On occasion, I don't even bother with trial periods and just buy fully registered copies. I also recall reading a comment someone posted online mentioning that in the old Apple II days, he would never pirate or let someone copy his collection of Beagle Brothers software. At that time, other companies were raising their prices and working copy protection schemes onto their disks. But Beagle Brothers kept their prices reasonable, and didn't use copy protection. It was a kind of "customer loyalty" thing, out of respect for them because they were really into programming and making it fun, rather than trying to make a profit.