Umm, iPods are MP3 players, Apple never intended for them to be used as audio recorders, and they have no control over the quality of third party dongles.
The microphone add-ons may be made by third parties, but the firmware that drives them is very much Apple's. Pre-3G iPods could not record at all, the accessories only became possible because Apple added the innards.
The sound recording is limited to 8 KHz WAV format, either because of limitations of the support chip, or because the cosy relationship Apple has with the record companies saw them want to limit the use of iPods for recording concerts, etc.
I have a 60GB iPod photo and I love it to bits, but I also have a Belkin Voice Recorder, and though it's functional, the sound quality is utter crud, and I know full well who is responsible for the poor recording quality...
It's pretty easy to make empty promises with a product that won't even be released until next year.
Uhh, no. It's not easy at all. They merely make it *look* easy because they've got an R&D budget larger than the Pentagon's and over two decades of practice.
Seriously, that's always amazed me about Microsoft: they have so many resources (at least 10x what a niche player like Apple has), why can they make stuff better and/or sooner?
Maybe this adage is relevant:
You can't make a baby in 1 month by throwing 9 women at the problem.
I wish Apple would revive the intended "Yellow Box" concept (running NEXTSTEP / Cocoa apps cross-platform).
The development cycle in Cocoa + Interface Builder + Xcode is so much nicer than.NET + Visual Studio 2005 + C#, even if VS's code completion/editor is superior (probably because it needs to be: the framework is so obtuse).
Well I hope that the Linux Flash player is maintainted-if Adobe kills it, I won't buy any additional Flash studio products...
Good point.
I think however that having Linux/Mac OS X solutions will be a key strength of the new mega-Adobe. Hell will freeze over before Microsoft ships Linux software, but Linux compatibility and cross-platform deployment in general is becoming more and more a requirement of those seeking an alternative to the Windows monoculture.
If Adobe supports multiple platforms, it should give its products a significant edge in the market.
Just great. Now all my reasonably-priced Macromedia products are going to be replaces with Adobe's expensive bloatware.
I disagree. I have found Adobe's upgrade policies much more reasonable than Macromedia's.
I am still sore over the enormous amounts I have spent updating Macromedia Director over the years, including having to pay full retail price just because I missed one upgrade cycle - Macromedia upgrade requirements were draconian. By contrast, people can still update quite old Photoshops for a very reasonable amount.
And your claim that Photoshop is useless for vector art is interesting... as there is no reason it should be used for vector art: that is what Illustrator is for.
Probably what helps most in the perceived speed area is Panther's very aggressive caching scheme. OS X eats memory for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but if it has the goods, it really shines.
Luckily, there's absolutely nothing that's actually forcing people to use Windows.
There is though... It's what people are used to, what all their friends and colleagues use, what businesses expect them to know how to use, what their games run on...
And no matter how much people who want to see alternatives to the Windows monoculture thrive, XP offers a damn good out of the box experience.
A good Linux distro is a beautiful thing, but even for the skilled it takes a fair bit of tweaking to get it nice. For most people, It's just so much easier to just keeping using what they're used to.
I'd argue that it's the force of inertia that is literally forcing people to use Windows.
There is a lot of hype surrounding OS X; don't believe all of it. In reality, it's what you'd expect it to be: an operating system that's about the same as Windows and Linux, but perhaps not quite as well tuned, given that Apple has fewer resources. What Apple does well is marketing and theming...
By theming do you mean the UI?
In my opinion it's that aspect that makes it worth putting up with Macs' shortcomings, and as an aspect of an OS it's hardly the unimportant afterthought you seem to imply.
I'd agree the Linux kernel is superior, better tuned, etc. If you were setting up a server, Linux would be the prime choice. However, as long as it doesn't crash, for desktop uses it's what sits on top that is, to me at least, more useful.
A smooth uncluttered interface that works as expected with a minimum of tweaking, and features like graphics accelerated Exposé rank a bit higher than just theming, don't they?
It's like saying a Mercedes is just about having fancier trim.
I'd agree about the marketing though: even with an irrelevant marketshare, Apple have still managed to raise a ferocious army of fanboys that makes far more noise than you'd expect from such a niche player in the computing landscape.
I think Peter Davison was a more appealing Doctor than both Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy. He was like a younger Patrick Troughton for me.
What spoilt virtually all of the Peter Davison era for me was the companions, especially Tegan. There was just so much tension in the TARDIS.
The best companions have been curious and playful, willing to experience all the wonder of a wide universe. I particularly liked those who were the Doctor's equal, especially Romana #2.
Tomorrow's news today: Microsoft invites bloggers with high readership to dinner. Shows them previews of Minority Report style interface. Bloggers write gushing reports about it.
The ROTFLOL acronym has gone out of fashion but I am seriously doing that at this. Your account is exactly the impression I got reading the blogs.
Why you're sitting at 1 and haven't been modded +5 something is beyond me!
Re:The only relevant thing in the interview
on
Longhorn Preview
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· Score: 1
Good points, but as to the "fear" Microsoft has of OS X, I'd opine that it's almost non-existent.
Microsoft "owns" the PC market. It is the OEM OS which every PC maker from Dell to Jim-the-garage-white-box-maker MUST install for people to buy the hardware.
Do you really think they care about a single vendor with less than a 2% marketshare, selling proprietary hardware, who is always going to be fighting the "it's stylish but far too overpriced" meme that has been established for Apple.
If they fear anything, Microsoft may fear Linux, because it is an OS which Dell, HP and Jim in his garage can install on the commodity hardware INSTEAD of theirs. Some parts of enterprise market are already doing this. Once the business and home markets start doing it, Microsoft will start quaking in their boots.
I prophesize that Apple will remain exactly where it is: a small niche used by those willing to go against the groupthink and seek an alternative to the Microsoft monoculture, by simple folk who like the packaging, and by tech connoisseurswho appreciate innovation.
However, that's not to say the Microsoft doesn't OBSERVE Apple: it is their R&D lab after all...
Yeah, but maybe that's good for an educational setting.
When the cheap hardware falls to bits the CS students get to fix them, which could be good practice for their eventual role as technicians when they can't get jobs in programming because they've all been outsourced.
Slashdot Mirror
Let's see, Intellectual Property Of Duke School (IPODS).
The trick is to also play them back. Recording alone just doesn't do it.
The microphone add-ons may be made by third parties, but the firmware that drives them is very much Apple's. Pre-3G iPods could not record at all, the accessories only became possible because Apple added the innards.
The sound recording is limited to 8 KHz WAV format, either because of limitations of the support chip, or because the cosy relationship Apple has with the record companies saw them want to limit the use of iPods for recording concerts, etc.
I have a 60GB iPod photo and I love it to bits, but I also have a Belkin Voice Recorder, and though it's functional, the sound quality is utter crud, and I know full well who is responsible for the poor recording quality...
Seriously, that's always amazed me about Microsoft: they have so many resources (at least 10x what a niche player like Apple has), why can they make stuff better and/or sooner?
Maybe this adage is relevant:
You can't make a baby in 1 month by throwing 9 women at the problem.
Too true.
.NET + Visual Studio 2005 + C#, even if VS's code completion/editor is superior (probably because it needs to be: the framework is so obtuse).
I wish Apple would revive the intended "Yellow Box" concept (running NEXTSTEP / Cocoa apps cross-platform).
The development cycle in Cocoa + Interface Builder + Xcode is so much nicer than
Key-value coding, bindings, clear visual RAD, helper objects, intelligent & predictable APIs, self-documenting method names... beautiful stuff.
Good point.
I think however that having Linux/Mac OS X solutions will be a key strength of the new mega-Adobe. Hell will freeze over before Microsoft ships Linux software, but Linux compatibility and cross-platform deployment in general is becoming more and more a requirement of those seeking an alternative to the Windows monoculture.
If Adobe supports multiple platforms, it should give its products a significant edge in the market.
I disagree. I have found Adobe's upgrade policies much more reasonable than Macromedia's.
I am still sore over the enormous amounts I have spent updating Macromedia Director over the years, including having to pay full retail price just because I missed one upgrade cycle - Macromedia upgrade requirements were draconian. By contrast, people can still update quite old Photoshops for a very reasonable amount.
And your claim that Photoshop is useless for vector art is interesting... as there is no reason it should be used for vector art: that is what Illustrator is for.
I doubt this is a Carbon vs Cocoa thing.
Acrobat 7 is faster than 6 on other platforms too.
Quite likely, Adobe took the feedback onboard and optimized the codebase for the later version.
What is Trillian's phone number, and is it by a staggering coincidence the same as the level of probability against her going out with me?
No, the universe has been replaced by one that's even more inexplicable.
At least, I think that's the reason so many people use Windows!
The review says Trillian will be a romantic interest of Arthur Dent. If anything, this convinces me they did something seriously wrong with the movie.
Did you know they had a child together...?! (Fifth book)
(Okay, if you know the scenario it wasn't in quite a romantic way, but there were actually cases of romantic heroism:)
Arthur picked a fight with a Norse god (Thor) to get her back. (Third book)
Arthur killed someone to protect her (Second radio series)
There was also some past sexy business alluded to in the Fourth book... "Just what did Arthur and Trillian get up to in the wings."
That was when discussing the all important question: does Arthur, in fact, fuck? (To which the answer was, "mind your own business.")
Some geeks are friends with other geeks!
(Though it always surprises that geeks have friends at all, given that most of us are meant to have Asperger's Syndrome. Gotta love stereotypes.)
Probably what helps most in the perceived speed area is Panther's very aggressive caching scheme. OS X eats memory for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but if it has the goods, it really shines.
There is though... It's what people are used to, what all their friends and colleagues use, what businesses expect them to know how to use, what their games run on...
And no matter how much people who want to see alternatives to the Windows monoculture thrive, XP offers a damn good out of the box experience.
A good Linux distro is a beautiful thing, but even for the skilled it takes a fair bit of tweaking to get it nice. For most people, It's just so much easier to just keeping using what they're used to.
I'd argue that it's the force of inertia that is literally forcing people to use Windows.
By theming do you mean the UI?
In my opinion it's that aspect that makes it worth putting up with Macs' shortcomings, and as an aspect of an OS it's hardly the unimportant afterthought you seem to imply.
I'd agree the Linux kernel is superior, better tuned, etc. If you were setting up a server, Linux would be the prime choice. However, as long as it doesn't crash, for desktop uses it's what sits on top that is, to me at least, more useful.
A smooth uncluttered interface that works as expected with a minimum of tweaking, and features like graphics accelerated Exposé rank a bit higher than just theming, don't they?
It's like saying a Mercedes is just about having fancier trim.
I'd agree about the marketing though: even with an irrelevant marketshare, Apple have still managed to raise a ferocious army of fanboys that makes far more noise than you'd expect from such a niche player in the computing landscape.
George Lazenby
That's not canon of course (Comic Relief charity special), but it was very very funny.
"Oh look, the sonic screwdriver has another setting..."
I think Peter Davison was a more appealing Doctor than both Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy. He was like a younger Patrick Troughton for me.
What spoilt virtually all of the Peter Davison era for me was the companions, especially Tegan. There was just so much tension in the TARDIS.
The best companions have been curious and playful, willing to experience all the wonder of a wide universe. I particularly liked those who were the Doctor's equal, especially Romana #2.
Yeah, they'd wonder why the motion wasn't being eaten with Worcestershire sauce and bangers and mash.
True. But it is for the military, so maybe it could be part of a fitness regime as well.
Then you better try the Apple solution: it will only come with one glove.
Tomorrow's news today: Microsoft invites bloggers with high readership to dinner. Shows them previews of Minority Report style interface. Bloggers write gushing reports about it.
The ROTFLOL acronym has gone out of fashion but I am seriously doing that at this. Your account is exactly the impression I got reading the blogs.
Why you're sitting at 1 and haven't been modded +5 something is beyond me!
Good points, but as to the "fear" Microsoft has of OS X, I'd opine that it's almost non-existent.
Microsoft "owns" the PC market. It is the OEM OS which every PC maker from Dell to Jim-the-garage-white-box-maker MUST install for people to buy the hardware.
Do you really think they care about a single vendor with less than a 2% marketshare, selling proprietary hardware, who is always going to be fighting the "it's stylish but far too overpriced" meme that has been established for Apple.
If they fear anything, Microsoft may fear Linux, because it is an OS which Dell, HP and Jim in his garage can install on the commodity hardware INSTEAD of theirs. Some parts of enterprise market are already doing this. Once the business and home markets start doing it, Microsoft will start quaking in their boots.
I prophesize that Apple will remain exactly where it is: a small niche used by those willing to go against the groupthink and seek an alternative to the Microsoft monoculture, by simple folk who like the packaging, and by tech connoisseurswho appreciate innovation.
However, that's not to say the Microsoft doesn't OBSERVE Apple: it is their R&D lab after all...
Yeah, but maybe that's good for an educational setting.
When the cheap hardware falls to bits the CS students get to fix them, which could be good practice for their eventual role as technicians when they can't get jobs in programming because they've all been outsourced.