Flashback, early 80s: the IBM PC - developed by IBM, made by IBM, sold (at a premium) by IBM, mediocre performance determined by IBM, future direction determined (to not compete with mainframes) by IBM.
Today, early mid-00s: commodity hardware, made by anyone who wants to bolt it together, sold by anyone (at extremely low margins), phenomenally fast performance determined by industry competition, future direction determined by a wide cross-section of the industry (and Microsoft on the OS side, though anyone who throws together a good Linux distro could challenge that to some extent).
Compaq's reverse engineering was quite a good thing for us...
No. The only language that we support fully is Objective C. You can also try using Java, but I wouldn't recommend it.
Who is this "we" you're speaking from? Are you trying to claim you're someone on the Apple Cupertino campus?!
Clearly you're not... Mac OS X interface programming can be done in C or C++, to the same or higher GUI interaction level as Objective-C. There probably isn't a single line of Objective-C in something like Adobe Photoshop, and that is one hell of a GUI app!
I agree with the recommendation in your post, but to clarify, it's possible to write a fully fledged Mac GUI app using a non-Objective-C language.
There are two main APIs in the Mac OS X: Carbon (traditional C/C++ style function calls) and Cocoa (Objective-C methods).
Interface Builder.nibs (which are effectively the RAD GUI templates) can be used in both Apple's Xcode (which supports C / C++ / Objective-C / Java / AppleScript and other languages) and Metrowerk's CodeWarrior (mainly C/C++).
Perhaps the confusion arises because using the Cocoa framework requires Objective-C (or bridged Java), and Cocoa saves a lot of time once you know it, so it's worth doing it that way. But it's not the only way to program a Mac using Apple's developer tools, and many cross-platform apps will still use C++.
There doesn't seem to be a definition for sarcasim in my dictionary. Could you provide one please?
It's the next release in The Sims series. Quoting from the press release, "After getting wild in SimParty, wind down with SarcaSim - a complete simulation of online forum conversations. Chuckle as your sims take offense at the meaning of each other's post, hoot with laughter as they bring their OS prejudices out into the open, and goggle at the amazing effects of speech bubbles containing jokes whoosh over dimmer sims' heads."
In stores April 29, or you can use the open source version simply by visiting Slashdot.org.
I'm intersted to see if Apple upgrades any of the Mini's components (especially RAM) to ease customers into the Tiger upgrade. Also, any word on whether new Minis will come pre-installed with Tiger?
While 512MB standard would be good, I don't care so much about RAM (I always put my own in anyway), but the limitation I see with the Mini is the graphics card: although adequate for normal use, it doesn't "switch on" to the accelerated Core Image effects in Tiger, they have to steal CPU time instead.
I'd like Apple's rev 2 to bump it to at least the minimum spec to support that. Then it'll be, "Mac Mini, meet Me!"
Okay, not identical, but they're not a million light years apart are they?
Either there is a fan in the marketing dept. of the Sirius Cybern^H^H^H^H^H Apple Computer company, or this is just one of the many consequences of living in the ZZ9 plural Z alpha region of the galaxy...
You've forgotten the final, ultimate, "we apologize for the inconvenience" book...
The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time
Published after his death, The Salmon of Doubt includes unfinished chapters from the 3rd Dirk Gently book, articles he wrote for various magazines (starting about age 12), and tributes from some of his best friends, including Richard Dawkins and Stephen Fry.
Well worth a read, and if you listen to to the audiobook version, it is narrated by Simon Jones (Arthur Dent from the radio series) and the tributes are read by the authors themselves.
Touching and funny at the same time. A great encapsulation of a great man's thoughts.
The parent was talking about digital signal processing uses, and some of the AltiVec DSP routines are extremely fast, faster than equivalent SIMD instructions on x86.
Little known fact: G4 AltiVec is actually faster than G5 AltiVec, as the current G5 is based on an earlier implementation than current G4s.
For specialized DSP uses, a 1.4 GHz G4 would be a better choice than a 2.0 GHz G5, as it would equal its performance and use less power while doing it.
How are people supposed to "just know" the acronyms that pop up?
I didn't have a clue what FOSE stood for. I clicked the link to its home page, and not once is it defined there.
A quick Google search fixed this (FOSE - Federal Office Systems Exposition) but really: are things like this so commonly known that they don't need to be defined?
I think the real unsung heroes of this are the kind souls who actually do the capture and encoding, ready for the torrents to start flying about the world.
Case in point: Doctor Who: The End of the World
The most recent Doctor Who aired 7:00 pm Saturday night, UK time. By Sunday morning, Australian time, there were enough torrent seeds to have it a high quality 350MB DivX on my hard drive in less than an hour.
Given the 11 hour time zone difference, that's a very quick turnaround, and a very professional piece of capture and encoding. I don't know who originally sourced it (not even an ugly watermark to quench his/her ego!), but my warm thanks to you. There's no sign of the local broadcaster acquiring it for at least the next 6 months.
Maybe it's just me, that's a possibility, but I don't understand people's fascination with these kinds of services. Blogging, bookmark sharing, it all seems to me like a cry for attention from other people.
By posting here & now you're letting us know your opinion. We read it because we're interested in comparing your views to ours, learning something you know that we don't.
Bloggers are just doing that too, letting anyone interested know what they think or have learnt. Maybe on a more regular basis, in a more defined structure, but it's essentially the same thing.
Re:Now that we've seen the PSP nude,
on
Inside the PSP
·
· Score: 4, Informative
P acronym city
on
Inside the PSP
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Yes, it is necessary to read headlines carefully these days. At a casual glance it's easy to confuse:
PSP, P2P, PS2
(which refer respectively to the release of PlayStation Portable, the Supreme Court case of peer to peer sharing, and the PlayStation 2 patent infringement, all big topics in the news this week).
Re:Windows - Linux - Mac? - Lock in
on
Return of the Mac
·
· Score: 1
Moreover if you buy Mac hardware you have to live without Windows, which is often not possible.
There are two quite viable solutions here:
Remote Desktop Connection - have a [headless, noname] Windows box somewhere on the network, turn on Remote Desktop in XP, and you can control it just as well as if you were sitting in front of it. The screen response is generally excellent.
Virtual PC 7.0.1 - on my G5, Windows XP is emulated at between 500-600 MHz. That gives a reasonably usable machine. Sluggish by native hardware standards, but don't forget many Centrino based laptops/tablets speedstep down to that level when running off batteries anyway.
Interesting. I find this experience worrying:
I thought PDF was meant to be a "lock-in free" format?
Essentially what you're saying here then, is that you have to use Adobe's product. So PDF is no less locked in than Microsoft Word's.doc format.
A bit sad, if we have to rely on the original creator of a format to implement a reader/creator for it on all platforms.
I'll get one...when it's been hacked to run Linux!
on
PSP Launch Coverage
·
· Score: 0, Flamebait
I've heard of a hacker getting games running on the chip/LCD of a digital camera. What great things must be possible with the PSP!
First hack I'd like to see: a way of using something other than Sony's MemoryStick cards.
A lot of people here seem to be thinking that way. However, if you actually read the fine article:
"Microsoft's digital video competitor RealNetworks had been able to demonstrate a Media Player-free version of Windows running "without technical glitches", the Journal notes."
So, it's possible Microsoft wanted the word to get around that the Reduced Media Edition was flawed and would impair their ability to view Office documents, and thus not even consider buying it.
This would negate the EU's aim of reducing Microsoft's monopoly on the desktop. Removing the Media Player should not (and does not, as Real demonstrated) require disabling all video APIs.
I had an Apple IIC with a handle and a nylon case to put it in. Doesn't that make it portable?
I think the definition is something that has an internal battery and its own screen.
On the other hand, the Apple//c did have a battery option and an LCD screen option as well. My memory is hazy, but I think the movie 2010 (Space Odyssey 2) showed one on a beach.
So, that was about 1983? Perhaps the article could have been better researched.
Slashdot Mirror
...wouldn't be where it is today.
Flashback, early 80s:
the IBM PC - developed by IBM, made by IBM, sold (at a premium) by IBM, mediocre performance determined by IBM, future direction determined (to not compete with mainframes) by IBM.
Today, early mid-00s:
commodity hardware, made by anyone who wants to bolt it together, sold by anyone (at extremely low margins), phenomenally fast performance determined by industry competition, future direction determined by a wide cross-section of the industry (and Microsoft on the OS side, though anyone who throws together a good Linux distro could challenge that to some extent).
Compaq's reverse engineering was quite a good thing for us...
Who is this "we" you're speaking from? Are you trying to claim you're someone on the Apple Cupertino campus?!
Clearly you're not... Mac OS X interface programming can be done in C or C++, to the same or higher GUI interaction level as Objective-C. There probably isn't a single line of Objective-C in something like Adobe Photoshop, and that is one hell of a GUI app!
I agree with the recommendation in your post, but to clarify, it's possible to write a fully fledged Mac GUI app using a non-Objective-C language.
There are two main APIs in the Mac OS X: Carbon (traditional C/C++ style function calls) and Cocoa (Objective-C methods).
Interface Builder .nibs (which are effectively the RAD GUI templates) can be used in both Apple's Xcode (which supports C / C++ / Objective-C / Java / AppleScript and other languages) and Metrowerk's CodeWarrior (mainly C/C++).
Perhaps the confusion arises because using the Cocoa framework requires Objective-C (or bridged Java), and Cocoa saves a lot of time once you know it, so it's worth doing it that way. But it's not the only way to program a Mac using Apple's developer tools, and many cross-platform apps will still use C++.
Or they could switch to cows.
It's the next release in The Sims series. Quoting from the press release, "After getting wild in SimParty, wind down with SarcaSim - a complete simulation of online forum conversations. Chuckle as your sims take offense at the meaning of each other's post, hoot with laughter as they bring their OS prejudices out into the open, and goggle at the amazing effects of speech bubbles containing jokes whoosh over dimmer sims' heads."
In stores April 29, or you can use the open source version simply by visiting Slashdot.org.
While 512MB standard would be good, I don't care so much about RAM (I always put my own in anyway), but the limitation I see with the Mini is the graphics card: although adequate for normal use, it doesn't "switch on" to the accelerated Core Image effects in Tiger, they have to steal CPU time instead.
I'd like Apple's rev 2 to bump it to at least the minimum spec to support that. Then it'll be, "Mac Mini, meet Me!"
April 29 is a good day for both Mac OS X fans and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy fans: both are being released on the same day.
But has anyone noticed the similarities between the Tiger Automator bot and the movie's Marvin robot?
Okay, not identical, but they're not a million light years apart are they?
Either there is a fan in the marketing dept. of the Sirius Cybern^H^H^H^H^H Apple Computer company, or this is just one of the many consequences of living in the ZZ9 plural Z alpha region of the galaxy...
The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time
Published after his death, The Salmon of Doubt includes unfinished chapters from the 3rd Dirk Gently book, articles he wrote for various magazines (starting about age 12), and tributes from some of his best friends, including Richard Dawkins and Stephen Fry.
Well worth a read, and if you listen to to the audiobook version, it is narrated by Simon Jones (Arthur Dent from the radio series) and the tributes are read by the authors themselves.
Touching and funny at the same time. A great encapsulation of a great man's thoughts.
The parent was talking about digital signal processing uses, and some of the AltiVec DSP routines are extremely fast, faster than equivalent SIMD instructions on x86.
Little known fact: G4 AltiVec is actually faster than G5 AltiVec, as the current G5 is based on an earlier implementation than current G4s.
For specialized DSP uses, a 1.4 GHz G4 would be a better choice than a 2.0 GHz G5, as it would equal its performance and use less power while doing it.
A dingo took my server?
Which is why they need a guide with "Don't Panic" in large, friendly letters.
Ah Hitchhikers... I'm looking forward to the movie far more than Star Wars Revenge of the Sith.
Sounds interesting. An "open-source" version of this would be a great article for Make magazine, alongside its one on Kite Aerial Photography.
Industry solution: "So that must mean we need to move to a 32-bit channel index!"
How are people supposed to "just know" the acronyms that pop up?
I didn't have a clue what FOSE stood for. I clicked the link to its home page, and not once is it defined there.
A quick Google search fixed this (FOSE - Federal Office Systems Exposition) but really: are things like this so commonly known that they don't need to be defined?
I think the real unsung heroes of this are the kind souls who actually do the capture and encoding, ready for the torrents to start flying about the world.
Case in point: Doctor Who: The End of the World
The most recent Doctor Who aired 7:00 pm Saturday night, UK time. By Sunday morning, Australian time, there were enough torrent seeds to have it a high quality 350MB DivX on my hard drive in less than an hour.
Given the 11 hour time zone difference, that's a very quick turnaround, and a very professional piece of capture and encoding. I don't know who originally sourced it (not even an ugly watermark to quench his/her ego!), but my warm thanks to you. There's no sign of the local broadcaster acquiring it for at least the next 6 months.
There's a whole bunch of starry-eyed geeks at this forum who would disagree with that!
Personally, I rank her way up there with Romana 2 (Lalla Ward), Sarah Jane (Liz Sladen), and Leela (Louise Jameson).
And unlike them, she was allowed to ooze a bit of sexuality in this modern, the-Doctor-knows-about-sex version.
You spelled it like this twice, so maybe it wasn't a typo. Is this Illuminati + astronaut?
Sounds good to me. Just as long as Dan Brown doesn't give the game away.
By posting here & now you're letting us know your opinion. We read it because we're interested in comparing your views to ours, learning something you know that we don't.
Bloggers are just doing that too, letting anyone interested know what they think or have learnt. Maybe on a more regular basis, in a more defined structure, but it's essentially the same thing.
Take Your Porn on the Road
Yes, it is necessary to read headlines carefully these days. At a casual glance it's easy to confuse:
PSP, P2P, PS2
(which refer respectively to the release of PlayStation Portable, the Supreme Court case of peer to peer sharing, and the PlayStation 2 patent infringement, all big topics in the news this week).
There are two quite viable solutions here:
Interesting. I find this experience worrying: I thought PDF was meant to be a "lock-in free" format? Essentially what you're saying here then, is that you have to use Adobe's product. So PDF is no less locked in than Microsoft Word's .doc format.
A bit sad, if we have to rely on the original creator of a format to implement a reader/creator for it on all platforms.
I've heard of a hacker getting games running on the chip/LCD of a digital camera. What great things must be possible with the PSP!
First hack I'd like to see: a way of using something other than Sony's MemoryStick cards.
Second hack: Linux.
A lot of people here seem to be thinking that way. However, if you actually read the fine article:
So, it's possible Microsoft wanted the word to get around that the Reduced Media Edition was flawed and would impair their ability to view Office documents, and thus not even consider buying it.
This would negate the EU's aim of reducing Microsoft's monopoly on the desktop. Removing the Media Player should not (and does not, as Real demonstrated) require disabling all video APIs.
And Mac OS X!
Oh, on second thoughts, scrub that. Microsoft makes more money from an iMac sold with Office than Apple does.
Gotta love those 80% gross margins for software empires...
I think the definition is something that has an internal battery and its own screen.
On the other hand, the Apple //c did have a battery option and an LCD screen option as well. My memory is hazy, but I think the movie 2010 (Space Odyssey 2) showed one on a beach.
So, that was about 1983? Perhaps the article could have been better researched.