Work for Apple
Derik DeLong adopted this goal
A story about "Mezmerize"
by System of a Down
Pretty weak album overall. It’s extremely short and the songs generally don’t offer anything new or particularly good.
Clearly an "Improvement". Jeebus Apple.
Putz of last week. The article is rife with errors and comes to a dubious, moronic solution. The guy's site has a splash screen, need I say more?
And the world yawned. Jabber and Sametime have had this from the beginning.
It seems to me, that's not quite right.
I constantly say "Good, and you?" even if I asked first.
All it needs is a WiFi connection? Now this will give Skype some momentum.
Pretty weak album overall. It’s extremely short and the songs generally don’t offer anything new or particularly good.
The movie has some good moments, but it dragged a lot in the middle. It’s simply not as good as some others.
This movie is the very embodiement of the classic genre. I don’t think there’s a single bad thing I can say. I’m also now convinced that Paul Newman is the man.
The writing style of this book is both informative and interesting, being neither boring or overly comical.
If you’re ok with a really serious movie, check this one out.
I’m about halfway through the book. It’s starting to get pretty interesting but still seems to suffer from trying to plod the reader along with a carrot.
To be honest, the acoustic tracks that are part of the bonus section are the best.
I really liked Ocean’s Eleven, but I had a problem paying attention through the film. It felt like just more of the same.
Another Netflix selection that I had high hopes for. Unfortunately, it didn’t do all that much for me. I barely paid attention.
Shipped on 01/06/12.
When his father opts to sell the family vacation house in the Hamptons, a sophomoric 30-year-old (Jason Sudeikis) realizes the home's tradition of summer parties will soon end. So he decides to go out with a bang -- with many bangs, actually -- by throwing an orgy. Enlisting the help of his best pals, he sets out to make the dream a reality in this rowdy comedy, also starring Will Forte, Lake Bell, Leslie Bibb and Michelle Borth.
Received on 01/06/12. Go to http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Our-Idiot-Brother/70167133 to rate it.
Shipped on 12/31/11.
In this horror-thriller based on the popular comic book series, Paul Bettany plays Priest, a man-of-the-cloth hell-bent on rescuing his niece while taking down a horde of rampaging vampires in the process. With a terrific cast that includes Karl Urban, Maggie Q, Christopher Plummer and Brad Dourif, this is a genre-bending apocalyptic action movie that's every bit as wild and blood-soaked as its source material.
Received on 12/31/11. Go to http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The-Change-Up/70184053 to rate it.
Received on 12/31/11. Go to http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Hanna/70142823 to rate it.
d00d: Screw you movie industry and your dummy menu items that tell me to buy the full movie. There's a reason people hate you.
d00d: Power outage killed my Belkin UPS. Replacement UPS suggestions for a 2006 Mac Pro?
d00d: @rudyrichter You still looking for someone to take a shot at reworking the GrowlMail prefs?
d00d: RT @davetisch: Super shady - @jetblue raises prices automatically if you come back to check - new browser resets this - SHADY… thx @tech ...
d00d: If you're wearing flip flops to the airport, you're not a smart traveler, you're an unsanitary moron
d00d: Guh, turned on Google contact syncing in Lion only to discover that iCloud won't be sullied by it. Disappointing.
d00d: @danfrakes UI decay by attrition. A sad, oft-repeated story.
d00d: @danfrakes iPhone. Sadly, only my lady friend has an iPad.
d00d: @danfrakes @chartier I'm confused as well then. When I swipe right in article lists, I get three icons (one of which is the trash icon)
d00d: @chartier @danfrakes Swipe to the right, tap center button, tap second button in list at bottom of screen. MUCH harder now.
d00d: @chartier @danfrakes Yes, I realize that's where it is, but compare: Swipe to right, tap right side button to...
d00d: Maybe I'm missing something, but Instapaper 4.0 has made it significantly harder to do my #1 task: archive
d00d: RT @flargh: I feel bad for the dog, but this is awesome. http://t.co/g3UXPDBz
d00d: If you though Gawker's articles were terrible, you clearly haven't read the comments. I'm dumber for having read the site.
d00d: @danfrakes I'm glad CNN decided to use iJustine using sex appeal to sell herself as a source in a tech article
d00d: BREAKING: Apple iPhone event breaks the internet, more when anything not Twitter comes back
d00d: I talk Growl 1.3, open source, and the Mac App Store with @The_Tick on Macworld http://t.co/mBBXkyle
d00d: In the other universe, you have frosty breath when you're cold instead of the air around you. #fringe
d00d: Applebee's unclear on concept. Baked Haddock described as "Haddock fillet dipped in batter and golden fried." http://t.co/UFruBoAQ
d00d: @rudyrichter Oh, probably, I'm in the process of updating it. :)
From How Wired.com Tracked the iPhone Finder:
In response to Wired.com’s scoop identifying the finder of the lost iPhone prototype, many have asked me how we did it. The process of uncovering digital footprints to identify Brian Hogan was indeed challenging and enlightening, so I thought I’d tell the story here. Heck, it might even teach police officers a thing or two so they don’t have to kick down doors.
Wired certainly deserves some credit for breaking the story. Initiative in this day and age of blogs usually get you the good kind of attention. However, it doesn’t give you free license to be a jackass and make smarmy comments that make no sense.
The facts are that:
Wired, kudos on your exclusive and please tone back the glib.
If you were confused about whether Apple was still committed to the Mac, their lack of Apple Design Awards for anything Mac pretty much says it all.
The Apple Design Awards 2010 recognize iPhone OS applications that demonstrate technical excellence, innovation, technology adoption, and quality.
I’ve been spending some time revisiting GTD and Inbox Zero. Several of the themes are important and in particular, the idea that your time is finite is probably most important. As I get older, my time becomes even more limited. I’m not sure how to explain this, but there it is.
As this is the case, the content you consume needs to match your limits. Trying to consume more than you have time for simply frustrates you and leaves you less time to consume the content you actually enjoy.
When you’re going to invest your time into something, make sure that it’s something you truly enjoy. Watching movies because a bunch of anonymous strangers think it’s a great movie, listening to podcasts because they’re about a subject your care about, or watching TV shows because you liked precious seasons are not rules that you must obey. Those motivations are great ways to home in on content you might like, but it doesn’t mean you will like it.
Podcasts are probably one of the best examples to examine because they’re almost entirely free, serialized, in directories with ratings, on any subject you can think of, and are obtained easily. Your first motivation is to subscribe to everything popular or concerning a subject you’re passionate about. Remember though, your tastes won’t align with everyone else and podcasts can be drivel in spite of the subject matter.
You want to be passionate about the content itself and not just because of the original motivation to check it out to begin with.
The fact is, that unless something was created by you (your own blog, your photos, your paintings, your own podcast), you have no reason to archive it like a librarian. That content isn’t going to disappear off the face of the earth if you don’t consume right away or hold on it “for later”.
It’s the internet age! If you aren’t holding on to it, you can rest assured some geek, somewhere, with too much time on his hands is. Not only that, he’ll be willing to post it to a half dozen places at a moment’s notice. Barring that, everything is being put on DVD (Bluray) now. Podcast authors want to feel immortal, so their back archives will be available forever.
You ever hear the phrase “same shit, different piles”? That’s more true than you realize. If you’re amassing piles of stuff, there’s a reason for it. You don’t like the content. You think it’s shit.
Let’s just ignore edge cases where you’re saving it for someone else or you’re catching up.
Those 15 episodes of the latest season of Law and Order are telling you that you really don’t want to watch them. Those 100 podcast episodes sitting in iTunes are telling you the same thing (and for the love of everything holy, don’t manual refresh feeds when iTunes notices you’re not listening and stops downloading on its own). Heck, that Netflix disc that’s been sitting next to your TV for weeks as you watch and return disc after disc is dying to be sent home.
You can quickly sort out some of the stuff you have the least interest in while freeing up the most bandwidth in one shot. Free yourself as well as your DVR’s hard drive. Delete the stuff collecting in a clump.
Consuming your content is not a job. Don’t feel obligated to consume if you aren’t getting excited. Did you subscribe to a podcast because it was about something you liked but feel dread about playing that latest episode? Are you only listening because it’s filling up your iPhone/iPod? Stop listening. You should be anticipating the next episode, not dragging through it. Your doing this for enjoyment, not out of obligation (financial or otherwise).
I don’t know if I can stress this enough. Too many people continue to take in the same crap because they feel they should or because they’ll be left out if they don’t. Neither is true. Be Thomas Jefferson about it. Throw it away. If it comes back to through someone know or something you enjoy, it was important. If it didn’t, it wasn’t important to begin with. Save your time for the fun stuff.
Put you App Store icon on a less frequented page. You’ll feel less compelled to check for updates and look for new apps.
Derik DeLong wrote about How to learn to cook:
"Not that scary."
How I did it: Lots of practice and watching a more experienced cook. I bought some books, read up, copied everything my friend did and it wasn't long before I got the lay of the land.
It took me 6 months.
It made me Happy 
Watching this movie late at night probably wasn’t a good idea. It was entertaining, but I wouldn’t watch it again.
d00d: @thoughtsimple Ha, not really. I understand the excitement over a new toy, but honestly, the best the iPad has to offer won't be for a while
d00d: I didn't regret waiting until the iPhone 3G and I won't regret waiting until the ipad price drops
Cory Doctorow wrote a piece on why he won’t be buying an iPad (which extends to why you shouldn’t either. I don’t agree with his article, but the vehement arguments against some of his have been equally asinine.
Joel Johnson wrote an otherwise brilliant piece that says:
So what if you can’t make iPad programs on an iPad. I don’t complain I can’t make new dishwashers with my dishwasher.
Doctorow doesn’t outright call this out as an issue, but it fits with the theme of what he wrote. The problem is this is analogy is flawed. Let’s see if you can tell the problem with it if I put it in mathematical format.
iPad programs : iPad :: dishwasher : dishwasher
It becomes rather clear, doesn’t it? It’s essentially saying that iPad programs are iPads unto themselves. Let’s make it even worse.
Apologies to Dan Jalkut (I love MarsEdit; don’t hate me), but this gem is even worse.
“You can’t write apps for the device.” Yeah, and you can’t publish a book with a book. Or write a pen with a pen.
Joel’s analogy almost worked because he started talking about appliances. It goes wrong from there, but the groundwork is there. The above is just wrong from the get-go.
This isn’t to say I agree with the concept. Is it important to be able to develop iPad applications using an iPad? No. The ability to create content for a platform using the platform itself isn’t important. It’s really not. Computers are one of the few (if only?) devices that do this extensively. Let’s use some other (slightly more valid) analogies to argue against this idea.
You can’t make PS3 games using a PS3. You can’t make movies using a Bluray player. It’s easy. I’m sure you can come up with some as well.
The fact is that for consumer devices (which the iPad is), it’s not important to be able to develop content for it with the device itself. I agree with you. But I’m also begging you all to stop using bad analogies to argue this truth.
d00d: @blankbaby A delicious ending. And far better than cutting to commercial. Take that people on TV!
d00d: @chartier Loved the piece, didn't love the analogy. I'd compare it more to making PS3 games on a PS3, or movies on a Bluray player
d00d: @blankbaby can I join you? We can talk about how I'm an inferior human being for not getting one right away
d00d: @GlennF ah, I always just use the machine.username.member.mac.com address
d00d: @GlennF I still like using Back to my Mac to ssh directly into my computers, was the laptop not connected with Back to My Mac?
d00d: Attention LotR fans: http://shirt.woot.com/shirts/13218
d00d: Fascinated by the interest some companies are taking in the iPad that had none in the iPhone/iPod Touch
d00d: @jsnell Interesting, curious that it's iPad only for now then. An iPhone isn't ideal, but good in a pinch (the resume helps)
d00d: @jsnell Any reason you can tell that it couldn't work on an iPhone?
d00d: I'm looking for a "mark all goofy April fools stories as read" button in Google Reader
d00d: Had a problem with Netflix and it was resolved on the phone in under 3 minutes, other companies take note: this is how it should work
d00d: Signed up for my alma matter on LinkedIn, now I get spammed with email at least once a day, peachy
d00d: @chartier Or they could rename the iPad the GiPod.
It’s been a long time since I took a hard look at my backup situation, but a series of blog posts in my reader has caused some naval gazing.
My backup plan was once dead simple. I used CCC or Super Duper to create a clone of my boot drive whenever I thought of it. Sometimes I was good and did it weekly, sometimes I went months without.
Thankfully I had no crashes during this period. I never had to experience the frustration of losing a month of data.
Time Machine! I was so excited when I finally got a drive to use with it. I turned it on and got frustrated any time it monopolized my I/O attempting to back up. Honestly I can’t tell you if specifically Snow Leopard fixed it, but I haven’t gone searching for the Time Machine menu to stop the backup for a long time.
I still did my Super Duper backups, but it became less of a priority because it wasn’t automated.
It finally happened. I lost my boot drive (which was under warranty thankfully). I could cool off the drive and get a few minutes of work, but not enough time to do a Super Duper backup and I/O just made it die faster. I was using my Super Duper drive to temporarily back someone else up.
Luckily, I had a Time Machine backup ready to go. That was almost not the case as just weeks before I finally replaced the power supply on my Time Machine disk (thank you OWC for quick diagnosis and replacement).
It was time to see if the machine would do its job.
Once I got my replacement boot drive, it was time to stick in the SL disk and try the restore. As you can already guess, it worked. I selected my Time Machine disk and initiated the restore.
Your mileage may vary, but Time Machine is now my preferred method for incremental and bulk backup. There are a few reasons why.
Time Machine works great if you have a desktop or regularly connect your computer to a series of peripherals, but I haven’t chained a laptop down like that in years. Needless to say, the cloning plan I used on my MacBook wasn’t working for me.
I could in theory use a Time Capsule to use Time Machine for this situation. Problem 1 is that I’m cheap. Time Capsules are expensive. Problem 2 is that assuming I could get it accessible using Back to My Mac behind my FiOS router, it’s not really supported.
The solution was to use Crashplan. If you use their software to backup to another computer belonging to you or a friend, it’s free. I have a computer that’s on a lot with lots of storage and it’s own backup plan in place! I installed the software, told the Mac Pro to use a specific hard drive as the destination, and initiated backup from the MacBook.
Now anytime the two are on at the same time, the MacBook will back up to my Mac Pro regardless of local network or over the Internet proximity. Crashplan has fantastic in the background incremental backup. It meets the requirement of doing its work without me.
I only have it set up to back up my home directory, but I don’t store significant irreplaceable data anywhere else, so at worst I reinstall and then restore my home directory.
As written (correctly) elsewhere, my backup plan is incomplete. One fire at my house would wipe it all out. More specifically, my plan doesn’t include offsite backup.
When I finally stop being cheap (can’t help it), I will probably sign up for Crashplan’s subscription service. I have two options for that.
I’m not saying my plan is a blue print for everyone else. I am saying that you need to consider the profound importance of a backup strategy that requires no action on your part. The biggest risk in any backup plan is always you. Backups are for the improbable situation. The most probable unfortunate event is you failing to connect your backup drive and running your backup software. Take it out of the loop, or at the very least, make it a redundant bonus.
d00d: @jsnell Oddly enough, despite it's speed issues and lack of a good web browser, the stability was so damn good, I switched
d00d: Got sent to Technorati on a link today, when was the last time they were relevant?
d00d: Just recommended an iPad to my parents (because it actually fills exactly their needs)
d00d: RT @nick: I hope you all defriended anyone who's against health care reform, because it's wise to sequester yourself from all opposing p ...
d00d: @ejacqui I'm told on good authority that Fig's in Boston makes a Fig pizza that tastes just like Peking Duck on pizza
d00d: Gah, why is it so hard to figure out if I can use BTTM in all its glory with an AEBS and FiOS?
d00d: @rgriff Very nice Rob! I'm expecting great things.
d00d: @danfrakes I'm hoping it turns out to be a real success for Rob.
d00d: @danfrakes You mean it's not good to declare war on your own userbase?
d00d: And no, I don't count "Republicans are evil, uninformed bigots" and "This bill is clearly win for everyone" as real information.
d00d: I'd love a "turn off politics tweets" option for a day or two. No one I follow is giving me any real information.
d00d: Wells Fargo, What part of me not calling back the first two times you left voicemail made you think calling the third time was a good idea?
d00d: And seriously, you signed up at Disqus to do that? http://disqus.com/fuckdifuck/
d00d: To the dingus at 84.63.126.122 in Germany, I know the f-word and spamming it on comments on an old post is infantile
d00d: I rage out every time iPhone podcast downloading fails when "processing" that last bit of data
d00d: Hmmm, BusyCal doesn't automatically bring in iCal calendar groups
d00d: For some reason, my iPhone can't connect to Twitter.com over 3G.
d00d: @chartier Could take the cheap way out of the comment problem. Install Disqus on your WordPress Blog, import all the comments, then switch
d00d: Scumbags at TheiPhone AppeReview http://bit.ly/d4nL0f
d00d: @danfrakes now you need to share your favorites
d00d: Thinking about buying BusyCal so I can use Google Calendar to edit my MobileMe stuff, can't find any valid coupons though
d00d: Nothing I love more than unsolicited financial advice from Wells Fargo. Stop calling me.
d00d: Totally loving the Instapaper support in Tweetie the last few days
d00d: @danielpunkass They have one, but it just publishes to Facebook. Based on what they said, I don't think they see value in improving it
d00d: @dmoren You had to remind me how nice it'll be today as I'm stuck in an office building.
d00d: Got a quick half hour of God of War 3 in last night. Fantastic so far.
d00d: @danielpunkass On just one question?Doesn't make any sense to me, but then again the week before notice in the mail didn't either
d00d: Why does the census need my age on April 1 if I'm telling them the date of my birth?
d00d: @GlennF Yojimbo's use of a single large database makes it unsuitable for use with Dropbox barring a near full rewrite
d00d: @MikeTRose problem with replacing iDisk with Dropbox type mechanism is you effectively kill syncing on apps utilizing it's WebDAV nature
d00d: @FiOSTV Fair enough, that will be huge when it is released, keep up the good work!
d00d: @FiOSTV Will the list of drives be big enough to be able to shop around effectively?
d00d: @FiOSTV What's the plan then? Only certain drive enclosure and drives are approved?
d00d: @FiOSTV Honestly, once it was enabled, I'd just go buy the cheapest enclosure I could buy and slap a big, cheap drive in it
d00d: @chartier Isn't that functionality in the latest betas?
d00d: @danfrakes I'm looking forward to trying Dropbox sync out, any thoughts on it bein app? Call me old school, but I liked it as a pref pane
d00d: It's trying to figure out whether an older but higher end line of Sony tv us better than a later but lower end line one
I blew through most of the series over the course of a couple days. Now I’m prepared for the second season premiere on Tuesday. Great series.
d00d: I've come to realize I don't regret my Office to iWork decision at all
d00d: Hey, anyone else hear about this census thing? I got something in the mail saying it's coming soon... in the mail
d00d: Tiny bubbles under my iPhone's screen make me sad
d00d: It seems to me that Android's biggest failing right now is the fact that OS updates aren't released for all phones at once
d00d: @flargh must go Facebook Fan it then
d00d: @flargh I've tested, quite there is nothing. I keep a bottle anywhere I'll be for more than a day.
d00d: @flargh Ah, ok, wasn't sure if perhaps you'd gotten a sneaky peek. I demand a review so I know whether to spend a trivial amount of money.
d00d: @flargh Graphics look good. Have you played them yet Peter?
Everyone is jumping all over this book because it’s successful and they’re not. That’s for the record.
I’m getting closer to the end and it’s starting to get more interesting, though the tangents are getting more frequent. I’m hoping the ending ties them all together.
d00d: Reading a certain video game blog editor's Twitter has made me realize that he hates his readers/commenters. That's a sign to step away.
d00d: This is probably my last year with Vonage. Paying $80 on top of my yearly bill (1/3 of it) for fees is too much.
d00d: @flargh how did I know you'd respond?you're right, styrofoam cup is the key.
I’m a fan of Low End Mac‘s Mac catalog. It’s a quick and easy way to go look up vital stats about old computers, such as when they were released, the original specifications, and the original price. I’ve settled many quibble’s using its information.
However, their other columns present sometimes out of date, and sometimes even wrong information. For example, Charles Moore often writes about the failure of IMAP. This goes back years, but let’s check out the latest installment.
Why am I not an IMAP fan? Guess I’ve spent too many years with slow Internet access and prefer to have my email archives on my hard drive and accessible without being online. Not many wireless hot spots in this neck of the (literal) woods, and with IMAP your messages remain on the central mail server, whereas POP downloads all messages in your inbox onto your computer where you can access them for reference whether you’re online or not.
I appreciate that IMAP can be a good choice for people who need to access email from multiple computers, but for my own accounts where that is more convenient, I use Gmail with POP access configured to leave the messages on the Gmail server, which seems to me the best of both worlds.
The entire argument centers on the idea that IMAP doesn’t allow for email reading and searching when you’re not online. That would be a great argument against its use in some cases (as it is for webmail) if it were true. It’s not.
The fact is that IMAP email clients for as long as I can remember have cached the contents of your IMAP account. Mail.app does it. Entourage does it. Thunderbird does it. There may have been cases in the long past when this was turned off by default, but I can’t remember the last time I had to check the “Cache my mail” option.
If you’ve ever watched Mail.app’s Activity Viewer when working with an IMAP account, you’ll notice it making a series of connections as it traverses your folder structure, downloading headers, and the message bodies of all your email. It writes them to your disk and from that point on, if you try to look at that email and you’re offline, it simply reads it from the disk.
It seems totally obvious if you take a moment to think about it. When you do a Spotlight search, it goes through all your email trying to find that phrase. Does it really seem practical or even possible (when accounting for speed) that it would be prodding a server for all that information every time you did a search? Of course not.
The fact is that there is no good reason to use POP over IMAP anymore. None. Well, that is unless you have a hankering to use Claris Emailer again.
Do not watch this movie in a dark room with really good headphones all alone. I made this mistake and one scene severely freaked me out due to great use of tension and stereo channels.
Spooky.
So, I finished the book last night. I had a scant 60 or so pages left in the book last night and for some inexplicable reason, I felt compelled to finish it. I layed in bed, watching the clock increment in 15 minute blocks as I read intently. Great book, but I felt like ass this morning.
The recent Firefox 3.6 update made me re-examine my add-ons as always. What struck me as odd was that Google Gears wasn’t compatible. Clearly that was a mistake. Google couldn’t possibly ignore the chosen browser of most of the tech elite.
It’s not totally ignored no. Indeed there’s a ticket for the problem. It has a Medium priority. Medium? Not working with Firefox isn’t that important?
That got me thinking. The last time I checked, the latest Safari in Snow Leopard wasn’t supported. Still true. Also has a Medium priority.
So, it’s not supported on Safari in Snow Leopard, the latest Firefox, or Chrome for Mac OS X. That leaves… nothing. No Snow Leopard support using the latest browsers.
There’s two conclusions. First, Google Gears isn’t a priority for Google. Second, Mac OS X support isn’t a priority for Google. Take your pick.
Edit: Turns out that I missed the Google announcement that Gears was effectively dead in favor of HTML5′s storage capability. While a move to a standard is good, nowhere on Google’s Gears site does it mention this fact. Indeed this fact probably makes all non-security Gears tickets a “WONT-FIX” but it’s very poorly being communicated and does nothing to address the fact that today’s sites with offline capabilities still use Gears.
In order to get any satisfaction as a Snow Leopard user, you’ll need to download Firefox 3.5.x. That’s a little backward.
Update: Finally, some kind of acknowledgement.
Netflix hasn’t been doing so hot lately and the last disc in the season came yesterday but it wouldn’t play more than halfway through the first episode. Hopefully I’ll get the replacement to watch this weekend.
Last updated:
January 08, 2012 10:00 PM
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