Articles
No Longer Loving Google - Feb 01
I refuse to give in to a cynical view of Google’s “Don’t be evil” motto; that ethos was very real, a sincere and important guiding principle... But I think Google as an organization has moved on; they’re focussed now on market position, not making the world better. Which makes me sad.
Via John Gruber at Daring Fireball.
Think about how much of your daily life revolves around Google services. Just remember that you are the product that Google is selling.
BASIC - Dec 13
A case study on why you shouldn't put BASIC code in your email:
From: Ray To: All Subject: in late tomorrow All, 10 GOTO Subject 20 PRINT "I am going to be " + Subject 30 END Thanks, Ray ================================================================================== From: John Line 20- is never reached, optimized out. Perhaps you mean gosub? ================================================================================== From: Eric I detect an infinite loop: - read the subject - read "All," - read line 10 - goto the subject - read the subject - ... and as we all know: recursion is preferable to side-effect based looping. (def read-email [email] (read-subject email) (read-email email)) ================================================================================== From: Ray Re-factored with apologies: 10 Subject == getConfig(Email[Subject]) 20 PRINT "I am going to be " + Subject 30 IF getConfig(Email[TO]).RespondedToThisEmail 40 PRINT "You took this way too seriously - now the email will never end" 50 GOTO 40 60 ENDIF 70 END Thanks, Ray ================================================================================== From: Dave Did this message go through an E & A? ================================================================================== From: Eric Why are we writing code without tests? ================================================================================== From: John At least it’s going through PQA. ================================================================================== From: John But will it have two ship its before tomorrow? ================================================================================== From: Ray I am so glad that you all are so interested in my project! In order to move forward more efficiently, I have created a wiki page to continue to track the progress: http://devwiki.../Basic_In_Late_Email Please feel free to add yourself and comments to the page going forward. Thanks, Ray ================================================================================== From: Dave It's kind of scary how far outside the process this project has gotten in such a short time. We really need to reign this in. For example, I'm assigned to setting up an E & A, and I can't help but notice we have no story cards for this project. We really need to get those cards written (let's think in MMF's here, gang). Oh, and Jackie, we'll need to get a Kanban board set up ASAP. I think we're all agreed that we'll do a review of what Ray has already done followed by a retro on Friday. ================================================================================== From: Eric Is this part of an Impact Area? Should we even be doing this without executive oversight? ================================================================================== From: Davin Good point Eric. This project is of core importance to this company, and we should give weighty consideration to forming 2 oversight committees and a special impact area for this. I'm also wondering if we can earmark any of this for an innovation grant to help offset the cost to us. Marketing needs to weigh in...
That's really quite funny.
The Book of Jobs - Dec 13
Joseph E. Stiglitz at Vanity Fair has written an excellent article on monetary policy, the great depression, and the current economic situation. Although the article focuses on the US, it's still a great read, and I think it applies to more than just what is happening to the US economy.
Via Marco Arment.
Black Friday - Nov 25
Thanksgiving is a one of our better ideas. We, theoretically, reflect on how fortunate we are to have what we have. The day after Thanksgiving would be a great day to start thinking how we might start addressing wrongs perpetuated on anybody trampled in the process of putting together the comfort and security we are so thankful for. Instead, we’ve turned it into a symbolic date for acquiring shinier objects in anticipation of how we can best miss the point of our next major holiday. Perhaps worse, it infects Thanksgiving itself, turning the holiday into, effectively, a paean to culinary gluttony in preparation for commercial gluttony.
Sad, but true.
Via Marco Arment.
National Geographic 2011 Photo Contest - Nov 15
The National Geographic is currently holding it's 2011 Photo Contest. The Atlantic has a gallery up showing a sampling of some of the categories. Some of them are just really beautifull.
Steve Jobs Biography Part 2 - Nov 15
John Siracusa has managed to capture everything that's wrong with Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs in his latest Hypercritical podcast.
Well, almost everything... As seems typical for John Siracusa (see his epic 8000+ word reviews of Mac OS X for example), he has a lot to say, and this podcast is only part 1 of 2, with part 2 coming out sometime this week.
Here are some of my comments on Steve Jobs and the biography.
Steve Jobs Biography - Nov 02
Writing about and criticizing someone that has passed away is cheap and tactless, all for the more so when it's someone you didn't meet or know in real life.
So here goes.
Having finished the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson, it seems to me that the underlying theme revolves around how incredibly talented a designer, visionary, and thinker Steve Jobs was. However, at the same time, it also seems to me that Steve Jobs wasn't a very nice person. Perhaps one might go so far as to say that it seems he wasn't a very good, well, human. He seemed very emotional, but often only when he felt things were not going his way. However, at the same time, it seems to me that he was was completely lacking all traces of empathy.
His family and friends might disagree, but the biography contains a number of stories that portray Steve Jobs as lacking empathy, being self-centered, and just not caring about the effect his actions had on those around him, including his family and close friends. Sometimes he seemed to actively find ways to hurt people.
Was it for a "greater good"? Maybe. It seems Steve Jobs often felt that it was.
As to whether or not his passing will lead to Apple slowly fading out, well, only time will tell. In the meantime, they seem to be in good hands, with great business and design leadership.
Now, with respect to the biography itself, it was disappointing. It felt rushed, and there were numerous technical errors within the book. In addition, some parts of the book appear to be simple summaries of earlier books on Apple and Steve Jobs, such as Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer, Revolution in The Valley: The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made, and stories from Folklore.org.
The Next Mac Pro - Aug 29
I have a suspicion that the next Mac Pro is going to be very interesting. Well, I suppose that the very question of whether or not there will be a new Mac Pro is also interesting. Let's assume that there will be.
All recent Mac computers have been moving towards incorporating Thunderbolt connectivity, both for peripherals (of which there are currently only a few) and external monitors. It would be easy to assume that the next Mac Pro would also include Thunderbolt connectivity.
However, stop and think about this for a minute. How exactly would this work? The Mac Pro computers are unique to the Mac line-up in that they allow for discrete video cards. If the Mac Pro is to offer Thunderbolt connectivity, how would the Thunderbolt port interact with the discrete video card, and where would the Thunderbolt port physically be located? Would the port be on the video card?
Placing the Thunderbolt port on the video card might be the simplest solution, but then it would mean that all Thunderbolt data is being routed through the video card. I am by no means an expert on hardware, but I suspect that this would be somewhat problematic. At the very least it would mean that Apple would be depending on third party hardware for their Thunderbolt connectivity, and I don't think Apple in general likes to rely on third parties for anything. On the technical side of things, it would mean additional bandwidth and load on what is already a hard working, hot running part inside your computer. In fact, video cards are usually the loudest part as well because of the fans required to cool them.
OK, so maybe the Thunderbolt port will be on the Mac Pro chassis itself. This would also seem to pose a problem for the discrete video cards, as they normally (based on my limited understanding of hardware) route their video signals out through the ports on the video card itself (i.e. some combination of DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort, or VGA ports on the back of the video card). Having the Video Card route the video signal back to the Mac Pro motherboard and then out through the Thunderbolt port would strike me as being problematic. Once again, based on my very limited knowledge of hardware, it would seem like this would be problematic. First, it would be limited by the bus bandwidth, and second, it would require a custom video card, as this is not something that normal video cards do.
So where does this leave us? Perhaps the Mac Pro will not have a Thunderbolt port. I doubt that. Thunderbolt is perfect for external storage, and the typical use case of Mac Pros is for sound and video editing, where users needs tons of storage. Mac Pro users probably want Thunderbolt more than most typical users, who might not ever add external storage.
So that leaves Apple with either adding the Thunderbolt port to the video cards, or adding the Thunderbolt port to the chassis and running video signals back from the video card to the motherboard and out through the Thunderbolt port.
Or does it?
Perhaps there is some third option. What if the next Mac Pro chassis is radically different. What if it doesn't have an internal video card at all. What if instead of an internal video card, the motherboard has Thunderbolt ports that allow for external video cards. This wouldn't be unheard of. In fact there has already been a somewhat limited demo of this. Or, as Robert X. Cringely suggests, perhaps the video card will be in the monitor.
Interesting times ahead for sure.
Software Patents - Aug 08
Mark Cuban has two excellent suggestions on patent reform:
- End all software patents. Don’t make them shorter, eliminate them.
- End all process patents. They serve absolutely no purpose. None.
Obviously he elaborates some more on this, but really, it's this simple. Software patents do not make sense.
Sennheiser HD 25-1 ii - Jun 17
I've been using a pair of Sennheiser HD 25-1 ii headphones for just under two years now, and I thought it was time to mention them. I picked them up because I was looking for a pair of over-ear headphones for use at work. However, after looking at several reviews of over-ear headphones, I stumbled onto the Head-Fi website. After looking through the forums and video reviews, it quickly became apparent that the Sennheiser HD 25-1 ii headphones were much-loved by literally everyone that talked about them. Seriously, go out and try and find a bad review on them. They're just that good.
About that name
These headphones are named terribly. The name is so bad that it's actually difficult to find them for sale online or at retail, as there are several other Sennheiser models with similar names (Sennheiser HD 25, Sennheiser HD 25-SP, Sennheiser HD 25-SP ii, and Sennheiser HD 25-1 ii Originals headphones). In fact, you might notice that I am using the lower-case "ii" instead of the "II", as that actually made them easier to find online.
Sound
There's not much to sound other than the sound is simply fantastic. But don't take my word for it, go do a quick search and check out some of the very detailed, comprehensive reviews out there.
Build Quality
The first impression you receive when seeing or holding these headphones is that they look fragile. In reality, this couldn't be further from the truth. I've been carting these to and from work on the bus for over a year and they are just as solid as the first day I owned them.
Comfort
While some of the reviews do say that these headphones are not comfortable for extended use, I have to disagree. Although this is always going to be subjective, these are the most comfortable on-ear headphones that I've ever tried. I find most on-ear headphones irritate me or are downright painful after less than a few minutes of use, but I've used these headphones for entire days at work without any discomfort.
Conclusion
I really like these headphones. They are the best sounding and most comfortable on-ear headphones I've ever used, and based on my experiences thus far, they're going to last me for years to come.
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