Alternate Option

iPhoto 6 is good stuff

2006-01-18T16:46:00.000+11:00

I’m very impressed with what I have seen on iLife ’06. However, the application most essential to me is iPhoto, and has it managed to score some major new advancements. Oh yes. For me, speed is key, and is pretty much the only feature affecting me.

Even though Steve Jobs was touting “speed” in previous years, the true “speed” only arrived in this release. In fact, it has pissed me off knowing how many hours I have wasted using the previous versions of iPhoto, now knowing the potential speed on the same hardware. Some software tweaks have been done under the hood–why begs the question of why it takes Apple several years to optimise an important Cocoa application?

Yes, it does “scroll like butter” even on a PowerBook 15" 1.25 GHz/768RAM (My photo library is stored on an external 7200 RPM 3.5" drive). The telling thing is that I am no longer fearful of launching iPhoto; whereas in the past, the very thought of using it made me look at the clock and wonder whether my next couple of hours were free. And one more thing™: I no longer envy those Picasa users on Windows. Especially now that I know that the Macs are receiving a kick up the rear with the Yonah adoption.

More speed is always a good thing, and if that was the only new difference that would be OK. There are a few more “evolutions” though.

iPhoto has also adopted the “iTunes-look” which is not quite brushed-metal (Safari), and which I guardedly do like. It does look “lighter” than true brushed metal, and the border-less look works. The colours: dark grey title bar, light grey bits and the light blue album area do clash though.

Full-screen editing builds upon the editing capabilities in previous iPhotos. Now, palettes are not just translucent: some get out of the way when not needed—and quickly too. Images can also be compared side-by-side. Thankfully. there is no fade-to-black when entering/exiting full-screen mode. The usual “some may still need Photoshop” disclaimers apply.

The calendars/photos/book printing “features” are a continual slap in the face for those Macintosh users, who do not live in North America, Japan and Europe, since these features are not available to us. That would be not too bad, since surely we can disable their respective buttons at the bottom of iPhoto window. Nope. Even though the ability to customise that particular toolbar has been present since the last version… those particular buttons… can… not… be… removed. Personally I suspect this to be a simple oversight, although an Australian service would be nice. I don’t think I’d be keen on printing a custom-designed gorgeous calendar on my home inkjet.

It would be easy to just focus on these new features. iPhoto does still have the old faithfuls. My favourite features: the calendar, keywords, smart albums, enhance and adjust features are still there (and work faster too). And… even though iPhoto’s proprietary filing system is sometimes disparaged, I am a big fan and a convert.

Finally, and coming back to the new speed improvements, the Media Browser in other applications is now workable. Previously launching the Media Browser (which hooks into the iPhoto database) was as bad as launching iPhoto itself.

So, iPhoto: You’ve had the features. But now you’re fast enough to no longer be embarrassing to use. Woot!

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: iLife, iPhoto, Macintosh

Lynx browser: The Internet at 64 kbits/s

2006-01-13T10:10:00.000+11:00

It’s that time of month again—when I exceed my download limits, and my ADSL connnection slows down from 1.5 Mbits/s to 64 kbits/s. Better than the old 56 kbits/s POTS modem, and with much less latency, but still slow as.

Most sites I visit are so graphics heavy that it’s a real hassle to use Safari or FireFox to browse. And so despite wondering what in the world Opera’s long term strategy is: I’m glad there is a version on Mac OS X. Simply because Opera, has a single toolbar button that toggles graphics on and off.

I also took the opportunity to better get to know Lynx—which is a cross-platform text-based browser. I used DarwinPorts to get my OS X version a while ago, but of course had little incentive to use it at the time. Surprisingly, it’s very usable in this age of complex web pages. In fact I think it has given me a new appreciation as to how unimportant much of the data on most pages are. I just scroll through and ignore the lots of image tags on each page. The speed is refreshing. Even forums that require signing in work well.

Navigation is keyboard based, with each key having some function—reminds me of the old days of playing Ultima 3 & 4. Out of habit, I ﬁnd myself reaching for the mouse, and then realising that it serves no function. In fact, maybe Lynx would be useful in those aggravating times when one forgets to charge their wireless mouse.

There is no tabbed browsing either—although I can just open a new terminal window and type lynx apple to get to the Apple site. So each Lynx window is a separate application. I quite like this feature, since ocassionally some graphical browsers (e.g. Safari, Firefox) provide me with the spinning pizza of death (similar to the hourglass in Windows) preventing me from switching between any browser window/tab of that application.

So, Lynx… my browser of choice for the next 3 days—until my next Internet billing cycle.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Internet, Macintosh, Lynx

MacIntels: achilles heel is 3rd party hardware support

2006-01-12T23:25:00.000+11:00

The Macintels are here, and on paper look tremendous. Debate rages about the FireWire 800 issue, the modem issue, the missing 86400 pixels, and the ExpressCard issue.

There’s also the single vs dual DVD writer issue

And the price issue

I’m a heavy user of the FW800 port, and think there is a noticeable performance increase, when using a daisy chain of FW800 devices. I have noticed that plugging devices into both the FW800 and the FW400 port on my Rev A aluminium 15" PowerBook slows both ports down—which probably means there’s only a single bus on the motherboard to start with. If Apple wasn’t going to rectify this, maybe removing a FW port was a good idea.

Perhaps Apple should have removed the FW400 port instead.

The PowerBook is extremely tempting. Of course I am concerned that it is a Rev A product, but… my biggest reservation is compatibility with 3rd party hardware.

I expect storage and display devices should work perfectly, as should Postscript printers. But what about scanners, tablets and other printers, e.g. inkjet printers? The built-in GIMP printing should help somewhat, but my Canon i865 isn’t on the chart of supported printers. Less likely to work would be my Canon ScanSnap, my Epson Perfection 1670 scanner, and my Wacom tablet—in the short term at least. All those devices need a driver of sorts, because unfortunately there isn’t an industry standard. My HP LaserJet 2300 which uses Postscript requires a PPD and should work—although I suspect some printer plug-ins are also required.

Some 3rd party hardware manufacturers make an effort to release Macintosh drivers, and then let them languish without updates. Canon did this for some of the early USB scanners they released. So does HP apparently—although I don’t own one personally, the reason for this is that I have been scared off for that reason. Palm does this to a lesser extent—their official stance at one time was Mac users would do better to contact Markspace for Macintosh support. However since then they released “Revision D” of an existing driver. Who knows what that company is up to.

There’s an advantage of being a computer novice—fewer hardware compatibility requirements.

I know lots of Macheads have already plonked down their $ for a Macintel, so I’m sure there’ll be the tales of sorrow soon enough—hopefully eased by some updated Macintel drivers. Thank goodness for early adopters—saves the rest of us the trouble.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Apple, Macintel, Macintosh

Seems OK

2005-12-05T02:34:00.000+11:00

In general, things seem to be working OK. Still a few issues with the individual posts page, which I can fix up later on.

Ecto is a little better behaved, when not using WYSIWYG mode.

Technorati Tags: Blogosphere

Some CSS changes

2005-12-05T02:16:00.000+11:00

Ah, after finishing the CSS book (for Dummies), I decided to take the day to change my blog’s underlying structure. So the CSS has gone from Minima to something customised.

It sure took a while. Fortunately, TextMate has turned out to be a magnificent workhorse. I'm sure there are so many other features that I haven't even used. I can't seem to find a good manual that explains all the features. It is a little pricey too, compared to TextWrangler at least. I'll have to decide if it's worth the cost.

The HTML/CSS edits are incomplete though. But I need some sleep. And also to see if the Technorati tags show up properly.

Technorati Tags: Blogosphere

Progress

2005-12-03T00:18:00.000+11:00

Ah, managed to finish that HTML book while listening to Harry Potter. Most of the HTML stuff was probably quite outdated. Still, useful to know. Now, on to the CSS book.

In fact I might try entering all my blog posts in HTML just for the fun of it.

Editing the blogger.com template by hand was such a PITA. Until I found the right text editors. My favourite: Tex-Edit Plus just didn’t cut it for HTML/programming stuff. I’m currently tossing up between BBEdit, TextWrangler (free, from same company), and TextMate. TextMate looks like the newer kid on the block—I’ve heard about BBEdit since the System 7 days. TextMate did make the blogger.com template editing easier, and I’m leaning towards that. Pricey though.

[posted with ecto]

Video is not necessarily greater than audio

2005-12-01T15:56:00.000+11:00

Even though TV killed the radio star, audio-only content never really went away. And it’s making a comeback. Just in time too, just as video content is imploding.

I can’t bear to watch television anymore, and am staying away from the cinema complex as well. Movies, have become bigger, louder, whizzier, but not much fun. I regret wasting time to watch most of the movies I’ve seen this year. Just about the only things worth watching, are some video podcasts, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart—and I don’t mind missing those.

I found the video-podcast experience to be quite disappointing. The first problem is the massive file sizes. The second problem is one in common with most types of video: that video doesn’t bring much additional content with it.

On a side note: there is a stupid trend nowadays on television, to glitz up visuals, just to attract one’s attention to the screen. Just watch a news broadcast. Instead of mundane news, there’s shiny bullet points, and flying shimmering logos. Computer graphics are everywhere, the result of desktop publishing gone mad. Actors (newscasters) ham up their accents, and mannerisms. And silly camera shots that don’t add any information to the content being discussed.

But the main problem is that audio content can be consumed "in the background", while video cannot.

I love to listen to Adam Curry, Engadget and Roger Ebert while cooking. I feel little compulsion to fast forward through boring bits or advertisements, because I can just block these things out. And if I’m distracted and don’t catch something the first time, I can usually just ignore it; but I still have the option of going back to that track later to re-hear it.

(If I’m in front of the computer as the track is playing, I have hot keys set up to skip 30 seconds forward/backward, just to avoid those boring bits.)

My current audio delight is the Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets audiobook. I’ve never read the books, but finished the audiobook of book 1 (Sorcerer's Stone) over a couple of days while doing my other daily activities. If only I had an iPod, I could even do the listening while out walking, driving or gardening. There just isn’t that option with video.

In contrast, when I watch video versions of TWiT, and diggnation, or The Daily Show I always feel compelled to look at the screen, even though it’s just talking heads talking.

Self-help books understood this, and successfully moved to audiobooks a long time ago. Apple stuck polished up the audio experience for a long while even though others had “moved to” video. Devices such as Airport Express, SlimDevices are popular even though they only do audio. Skype became successful because they got the audio right. Video conferencing (while nice) continues to be the cool technology that few people use. Videophones are long-promised by non-existent.

The concept that "video is greater than audio", is simply false. Audio content is simpler and—with the help of MP3 compression, portable audio players, and the Internet—is increasingly compelling.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Podcasting, Television

Yay

2005-12-01T14:17:00.000+11:00

Ecto (preferred weblogs posting software) is functional again, after a super secret setting in an obscure dialog. See comment in previous entry. Cool bananas.

I did eventually pick up a CSS book to read—pretty interesting. Would be nice to alter the designs of this blog. Maybe one day. It would also be nice I suppose to move the blog off blogspot, although I don’t know if I’m ready for that. I’m not sure I’m ready to commit to the additional costs, bandwidth considerations and what not. Maybe later... just for the experience.

There are some massively customised blogs hosted by blogspot. I’ll probably just stick with them for now.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Ecto

Email posting

2005-11-12T13:02:00.000+11:00

It has come to this: posting via email. Ecto Mac is still unable to
post to Blogger accounts, and an update is coming early 2006—only 2
months from now. Blogger.com has not responded to an email about a
fix (aside from a form letter. Which contained instructions that did
not work).

See: http://bb.infinite-sushi.com/viewtopic.php?t=1193
And see: http://bb.infinite-sushi.com/viewforum.php?f=8

Hopefully this email post works (although the addresses above won’t
show up as links), so that I can send some more posts on Monday when
I have more time.

Ecto problem

2005-11-08T23:20:00.000+11:00

Ecto (blogging software) seems to be playing up. Instead of sending posts, it deletes it. Not good dammit.

test

[NOT posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Ecto, Software bug

Wow. Adam Curry goes 100% podsafe

2005-11-08T23:08:00.000+11:00

Today is a historic day of sorts. On Daily Source Code #275, Adam Curry declares that he will only play podsafe music on his podcast. Apparently the recording industry cabal have been nipping at his heels for a while now.

I say good for you Adam. Good for you podcasting in general. And good for you: recording industry. Their position on this issue: whether commercial music can be played on podcasts, in any form, has not been publicised until now. And the recording industry has every right to protect the million-song archive that they have accumulated over the years.

But I think that by employing their traditional strong arm tactics the recording industry have shot themselves in the foot this time. There has to better ways that this problem could be solved more amicably.

As if as a pre-emptive strategy, Podcasters have helped created a viable alternative source of music, namely the Podsafe Music Network—i.e. music licensed via Creative Commons. Some of this music is of very high quality. And now that commercial music is no longer going to be played on podcasts, it is likely that vacuum will be filled with podsafe music. And there is only so much music I can listen to, in 24 hours.

Of course I will always have the urge to occasionally listen to songs from the copyrighted million-dollar music archive. There are legal means for whetting that appetite. But for new and unfamiliar tracks, podsafe music fits the bill just as well as commercial music does.

Traditional media bastions have been challenged for years, more so in the digital age. Some examples: newspapers vs blogs, open source software, fan fiction, home-filmed/edited/produced movies vs traditional Hollywood, podcasts vs radio, CDs and DVDs vs MPEG, time-shifting, ad-removal and so on. In most (not all) of these cases, there is still the reliance, or addiction to, copyrighted materials.

The Podsafe Music Network circumvents copyright issues, and the tedium of DRM, DMCA, legal issues etc. Now, granted a monopoly on podcasts, podsafe music may not so much challenge a major bastion, but make it much less relevant.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Copyright, Music, Podcasting, Podsafe, Adam Curry

Apple Mighty Mouse: thumbs up, but don’t buy one

2005-10-31T12:04:00.000+11:00

The new iMac G5comes bundled with a Mighty Mouse: It looks like Apple plans to ditch the single button mouse, and bundle this newly released mouse with all new computers.

I was quite dubious about the Mighty Mouse when it was first released. And quite amused about the way it flew off shelves soon after. One of those buyers was my cousin, who bought one for my dad. Unfortunately my dad hadn’t upgraded to Mac OS X 10.4. Tiger, and was unable to install the Mighty Mouse software.

Not one to pass up on trying out new Apple technology, I happily installed the software and the mouse on my own Macintosh, with exceedingly low expectations.

Surprisingly, the nipple (scroll ball) on top of the mouse is quite functional. It’s small, but the sensitivity is sufficient that I can scroll through pages of text in single “strokes” i.e. before having to lift my finger off the ball.

I’m not sure diagonal scrolling actually works—not in Safari anyway. Left/right scrolling does, and quite nicely too. I like the scrolling nipple—it works well, but is also out of the way if someone decides not to use it.

Yes, the left finger needs to be raised when doing a right-click. And yes, that is annoying.

Apple has chosen to make only one physical clicking mechanism on the top of the mouse—the detection between the left, right mouse buttons, and the mouse ball clicks are totally electrical. Therefore if one’s finger is on the left and right mouse buttons when the clicking mechanism (“right mouse button”) is clicked, then the click registers as a left click. The same goes for clicking the ball itself.

For someone who uses a 8 button mouse (Logitech MX700), this is quite painful. Because, simply put: I can’t activate Exposé using the “ball button” while I’m dragging and dropping. Oop. I can use the keyboard, but… that’s a step backward.

However, I still am quite pleased that Apple made this approach. There are people out there (my mum) for whom 2 mouse buttons is one too many. And I was worried that Apple’s move towards multi-button mice meant that one-button mice would be forever off the market.

Not the case: by configuring the System Preferences, the Mighty Mouse still feels like, and functions as a one-button mouse + a bonus scroll ball.

I haven’t seen this being mentioned anywhere else, but I think Apple has made the best of its unique position as being the only mainstream one-button mouse maker on the planet. For anyone who buys a new Macintosh, the Mighty Mouse offers more than the earlier optical mouse did. And for those who crave a real “power mouse”, they can still get whatever 3rd party mouse they want from the shops—no change there. Value is added, features have not been removed, and Apple doesn’t compete head-on with hardcore mouse makers like Logitech. Very smart.

I wouldn’t recommend anyone buy one off the shelves though. Once this mouse replaces the old optical mouse, you’ll find all those power users eager to get rid of the Mighty Mouse on the cheap.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Apple, Gadgets

Batman Begins soundtrack good. Kingdom of Heaven not so.

2005-10-31T02:50:00.000+11:00

According to my iTunes playcount, I have listened to the Batman Begins soundtrack 26 times now. And some individual tracks (Molossus) even more than that.

It’s surprising, because I remember leaving the movie thinking the music was only OK, and definitely not anthemic like Danny Elfman’s 1989 version was. But now, I can’t stop listening to the Hans Zimmer/James Newton Howard version.

Anyway, I suppose both versions are worth a listen to. I didn’t particularly like the Prince version.

I eventually watched Kingdom of Heaven, which I was only semi-impressed with. I’ll put it in the “Ridley Scott’s movies that I did not enjoy” category—which consists about half of his works. There are good and bad things about that movie—it was nice to look at, and I’m glad I did watch it. But I definitely would not watch it again.

It’s really annoying how the Batman Begins double-DVD sold in Australia doesn’t include those features that the US version does—e.g. the “Man Who Falls” comic. I really wanted to see that.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Batman, Comics, Movies, Music

Ecto and updates

2005-10-30T23:41:00.000+11:00

One of the reasons I took a month’s hiatus from blogging was that I could no longer stand the little idiosyncrasies of Ecto—my primary blogging software.

Ecto (on Mac OS X) is bloody wonderful. I wouldn’t have blogged for long without it. It has really insulated me from the continuing developments in various blogging platforms.

But the rich text formatting editing portion of Ecto gets on my nerves big time. Text entry is OK. But simple things like bullet lists, and even italics (!!?) sometimes gets re-rendered horrendously.

The easy solution would be to wait till Ecto was updated. Ecto’s developer (Adriaan) seems quite cluey, and in the past updates to Ecto have been frequent and plentiful.

To my horror, Ecto wasn’t updated at all while I was away!

The harder, and probably more rewarding solution would be to delve into the intricacies of HTML and not rely on Ecto so much for that. While I was at it, I could pick up CSS, and maybe work on my embarrassing blog layout, yada yada. I could do that.

I have heard that Ecto is going to receive a major update to its Rich Text engine—which I’m inferring to mean that it will be linked to Apple WebKit. It’s usually the case that software developers start to neglect updating their software (usually in a functional state though) when they try to solve a Gordian Knot.

I hope this is the case. Cross fingers: hopefully this new version will even be free.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Ecto, Macintosh, Software, Software bug

iTunes Music Store in Oz

2005-10-30T15:15:00.000+11:00

Finally, the iTMS is available in Australia. Although it does seem a little too much like a “foreign” product. The price is a little higher than the American site. And the catalog is skimpier.

The Batman Begins soundtrack (Warner Music?), at least, wasn’t available on iTMS Australia yet.

It’s in Apple’s interest to have the widest possible song range on iTMS as possible, and to keep iTMS song prices as low as possible, so as to spread the FairPlay love—my guess is that the discrepancy between countries is a record industry invention. Hopefully the iTMS continues to improve over time.

Apple did make a supremely clever deal to sell iTMS coupons through the Coles-Myer network—which has a massive chain of stores throughout Australia. This not only makes it easy for anyone to buy coupons; when I picking up some groceries, I actually saw some Apple silhouette advertising at the checkout. I never thought I’d see that day.

An alternative exists for the Australian iTMS: which is to use the USA iTMS instead. All that is needed is for someone who uses the USA iTMS (who has a US credit card on file with Apple), to email an Australian an iTMS electronic music voucher. With that, the Australian can open a USA iTMS account without a credit card. but requiring a USA mailing address.

USA iTMS credit can be purchased readily on eBay. It may even be possible to skip step 1, buy obtaining a voucher from eBay first up…

This has been working quite well. And if it violates some law… I’m not exactly remorseful.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Apple, Australia, iTunes Music Store, Music

Back

2005-10-30T13:55:00.000+11:00

Ah, finally back in civilisation. It’s incredible how it is possible to survive without email, blogs, podcasts and so on. Refreshing.

Just listening to the latest podcast of This Week in Tech (27th Oct 2005). Interesting talk about copyright. Although after a while I sort of lost it.

I’ve been watching a few Korean movies though: Joint Security Area is pretty good. I didn’t enjoy A Bittersweet Life too much. Can’t wait for Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. November 30th: DVD release.

It was fun to rewatch Batman Begins on DVD too. Excellent!

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Movies, Podcasting

Latham embarrassment

2005-09-20T14:23:00.000+10:00

Mark Latham was the dude who was one of two choices to become Prime Minister of Australia in the recent last election. Judging from his current behaviour, it is embarrassing that the Labour Party chose him to lead the party.

Despite having a President and Prime Ministers that are endlessly ridiculed, the opposition parties in Australia, The United Kingdom, and USA are too ineffectual to take advantage of their opportunities. What a sad joke.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Australia, Politics, Mark Latham

Surprises in movies

2005-09-17T17:24:00.000+10:00

I’ve just spent the last 20 hour taking an international flight (including transit time). The longest flight was on a Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777. Wow, even though it has been less than a year since I flew Malaysian Airlines, so much has changed—especially in in-flight entertainment .

The fact that each seat—even in Economy Class—can start, pause, fast forward and rewind movies was fabulous. I only realised that was possible when seeing several people in other seats starting up different movies at different times. And there was a wide selection of movies too. I ended up watching Mr and Mrs Smith, and half of Batman Returns.

The initial trailers for Mr/Mrs Smith made me sure that the movie was an updated version of James Cameron’s True Lies. And later trailers seemed to give away the entire story—it seemed like yet another clone Hollywood stupid summer movie. So I was quite happy to give it a miss at the cinema, and thought there was no way I was going to even rent the DVD. I’d wait till it was on free-to-air television, and maybe watch it then.

And so I grabbed the chance to watch it on the aeroplane—and surprisingly it was not as bad as I thought. It is definitely filled with implausibilities as most popcorn movies are, but the interaction between the 2 leads was something to see. I’m glad I saw it for “free”, but won’t try to see it again. Hopefully The Island is showing on my flight back.

While waiting for a transit flight I also got to watch The Interpreter on a laptop—that’s that United Nations movie with Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn. The Interpreter was panned by the podcast movie review show Cinecast (mp3), and was on their Worst Movie of the Year list (mp3). Furthermore, my wife had seen it earlier, and said it was super-boring.

Surprisingly, I actually liked most of The Interpreter, and went back to relisten to the podcast containing that movie review. I couldn’t really see the problems those reviewers had with the movie—maybe it pays not to be too learned in film studies. No doubt the movie has some stupid bits—e.g. its plot relies way too much on likeable but bumbling Secret Service agents.

Sometimes, I find myself wanting to dislike movies so as to avoid spending the time to watch them. So much so that whenever someone says a particular movie is any good, my initial reaction is to think that they must have really bad taste. I see that both Mr/Mrs Smith and The Interpreter got 6.6/10 in the IMDb voting. Maybe my low expectations make it easier for me to enjoy the movies that I do see.

I have to say I’m looking forward to watching The Constant Gardener.

Technorati Tags: Movies

iTunes AppleScripts podcasts

2005-09-08T13:07:00.000+10:00

iTunes 5 looks gorgeous. That’s subjective… but I like it.

Given that I interact with iTunes daily, the new glossy tweaked interface is a significant change. The second thing I went hunting for is new AppleScript features. Sure enough there are a few new commands. The ones most useful to me was the updateAllPodcasts command.

To AppleScript neophytes on the Mac platform, copy and paste this into Script Editor (in the utilities folder):

tell application "iTunes" to updateAllPodcasts

Click the “Run” button to launch iTunes launch (if not already), and simulate a click on the podcast “Update” button. Trivial, but niiiice. Optionally, save the script as an application that can be launched PRN.

I have yet to find an AppleScript action that changes the iTunes output to AirTunes speakers, which is a pity. I won’t be looking too hard though: if it’s there, I can be sure that Doug’s AppleScripts will find it in the next few days.

So far, all my other iTunes AppleScripts have worked. No funny DRM limitations have been revealed (yet, too soon). Hopefully this turns out to be a nice positive upgrade. Someone on the MacNN forums lost his iTunes music folder. Thank goodness that didn’t happen to me. And of course, since every Mac user should have an updated working backup of his data, he deserves little sympathy.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Apple, AppleScript, iChat, iTunes

ROKR: so what’s new?

2005-09-08T12:38:00.000+10:00

I don’t have any direct experience, but mobile phone usage in America seem totally different from that in the rest of the world. I’m used to the GSM standard, and having a massive range of mobile phones to choose from. And all the different mobile phone providers use GSM—even if I switch providers, I can still use the same phone.

So, the concept of a mobile phone with iTunes software, that is tied to cingular doesn’t seem all that impressive. Competitive phones that play MP3 files from SD or MMC cards not rare. My year-old Nokia 6230 did. The ROKR would (I’m guessing) support AAC and DRMed files, and uses a USB connection to sync with iTunes I suppose. I’d be most impressed if the phone uses a standard headphone jack… That’d would be new.

Anyway, people can’t make music purchases via the new ROKR, so why is it “iTunes” on the phone, and not “iPod” on the phone?

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Apple, iPod, iTunes, Music

iPod nano. Appropriate in these times?

2005-09-08T08:29:00.000+10:00

I just got off the couch, watching Steve Jobs giving his Special Music Presentation, during which he announced the new iPod nano, among other things.

I suspect Apple chose the “nano” moniker, so that the iPod mini can be reintroduced later, after the first-nano-adopters have had their fill, and due to “overwhelming customer demand”.

Secondly, I like Madonna.

Thirdly, I can’t help but wonder whether Apple has misjudged the mood of the market this time. The presentation was probably planned many weeks ago, and had several guest speakers. But is this really the right time for a big splashy launch of a new digital music player? It didn’t help that his co-announcers from Motorola and cingular weren’t as polished as Steve usually is.

After announcing the new ROKR phone, and the new iPod nano, Steve Jobs says that the most important thing is “the music”. I think he meant lives and homes. As we enter the Christmas quarter, America faces the double-whammy of a cataclysm and skyrocketing petrol prices. Ostentatious displays of materialism is the unnecessary.

Apple’s in the big leagues of music now. Unfortunately it shows. Disappointing.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Apple, iPod, Katrina, Rant

Apple’s FireWire 800 neglect

2005-08-27T03:41:00.000+10:00

10 years ago FireWire was a joke. Vapourware from Apple’s famous labs. Later on, it replaced SCSI and is now a standard across all Macintoshes. There have been setbacks to its adoption though. FireWire was the standard by which iPods (21M sold and counting) transferred data and charged—but Apple changed its mind on that recently… And the Wintel machines started to include FW ports only relatively recently, and only after USB 2 became standard.

Today, FireWire is still an important standard—just about every digital camcorder utilises FW.

However, FireWire 800, introduced 2 years ago, is a lame duck. Despite being potentially twice as fast, FW800 languishes on some of the “Pro” set of Apple’s machines. Virtually no other computer maker has adopted the new FW800 port. Finding a FW400 hub is hard enough; a FW800 hub is non-existent. In fact FW800 peripherals (in general external hard disk enclosures) attract a premium compared to FW400 versions.

The logical reason is FW800 is currently marketed as a “Pro” feature—i.e. a feature that makes the Apple “Pro” products more attractive. This is bad for the FW800 technology. Compare this behaviour with Apple’s adoption of BlueTooth 2.0, 802.11g and USB 2. These replaced the previous generation technology. And the different shapes of the FW400 and FW800 ports shouldn’t make a difference either: After all USB 1.1. replaced Apple’s serial ports, DVI ports has replaced VGA.

If Apple wanted to promote the FW800 technology, it would only have to phase out the physical FW400 port, and use FW800 ports across its product line. Particularly on the Apple machines that have a single FW port—the Mac mini, the iMac, iBook and 12“ PowerBook. Bundle a separate male 800 to female 400 converter with every one of these machines to allow backwards compatibility for FW400 cables and peripherals.

FW400 was made obsolete 2 years ago. Unfortunately Apple’s refusal to let it go is hindering the adoption of FW800.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Apple, FireWire

Mighty response to Apple’s mouse

2005-08-12T12:46:00.000+10:00

It’s been 10 days since Apple released the Mighty Mouse—their multi-button mouse adaptation. Since then some have bought it or tried it out, and there have been endless comments e.g.

“It doesn’t click!”, “Yes it does”, “No it doesn’t”, “YES IT DOES!”.
“It has a speaker!”
“Right click doesn’t work!”, “Yes it does”, “No it doesn’t”, “JUST LIFT YOUR FINGER OFF THE LEFT BUTTON!”
“The scroll ball isn’t configurable!”

And probably the most idiotic (also heard on the engadget podcast):

“Why isn’t it available in Bluetooth?”

Yikes. There are a myriad of multibutton mice out there. Why is a newly released wired multibutton mouse receiving this sort of attention? People are buying the Mighty Mouse sight unseen (and at premium prices too), and then complaining about this and that feature. Is this irrational or what?

And there isn’t a Bluetooth version because the wired version will give Apple a chance to tweak the hardware design before committing to a more pricey wireless version. AND some of those impulse buyers who bought the wired Mighty Mouse—will go out to buy the wireless one anyway. See, it didn’t take long to figure that out.

Should the Mighty Mouse be bundled with Apple’s machines then? USB multibutton mice are a commodity item. There’s no shortage of choice for 3rd party multibutton mice (my preferences is the MX series from Logitech). And I suspect a not insignificant number of people have spare unused USB multibutton mice lying around the house.

On the other hand, Apple has a stranglehold on the one-button mouse (1BM) market. And the 1BM has its benefits—I certainly preferred a 1BM when teaching my mum and dad how to use the computer. No chance of pressing the whole mouse button there.

Given the tangible benefits that a 1BM offers to some, and the wide range of cheap multi-button mice out there, I hope the Mighty Mouse does not become the default mouse bundled with Apple’s machines.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Apple, Gadgets

360 envy

2005-08-10T01:05:00.000+10:00

It’s August now, which means it’s time to think of Christmas presents. Actually no. It is a little early, and I don’t do Christmas ± presents anyway.

The Apple iPod has been the darling of XMas gifts for the last 2 years now. This year, if both the iPods and iPod mini go colour, that is likely to continue. XMas 2005 should be a windfall period for Apple and the iPod peripheral makers. There isn’t much on the MP3 player front offering a serious retail challenge. There is the PSP and a new video-capable thingamajig from Creative that looks… not bad.

Microsoft is wisely not highlighting the portable MP3 fight though—they have the awesome-looking XBox 360 primed for a November release. There is quite significant interest, judging from online comments—some of it possibly viral marketing. The three-way gaming console market is filled with a fanboys so the potential market is already there. I’m not going to be in line to buy one off the shelves—I’ll leave that to the younger generation of gamers—although I will be watching intently from the sidelines. Maybe when Halo 3 is released… XBox Live with XBox 360 looks particularly droolworthy. I have to say too: that the XBox 360 release is probably going to be on time, and create excitement: more so than Windows Vista.

Today, someone pointed me towards http://360.yahoo.com/ which I took a peek at. It does look like a nice pre-packaged blog/homepage—definitely less flashy than MSN Spaces was. It’s interesting to see how Yahoo! has returned to what used to be Geocities specialty. I haven’t created a serious page on that Yahoo 360, but I’m tempted to give it a whirl.

What I was really wondering was—360? What’s with the adoption the “360” moniker by both Yahoo! and Microsoft at the same time? Both products are probably in markets sufficiently different to avoid lawsuits and the like. I thought numbers had fallen out of favour since the Intel 80486.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Yahoo, XBox

Trouble in the House of iTunes

2005-08-06T03:29:00.000+10:00

Here in Australia we do not have an Apple iTunes Music Store—even though one has been impending for several months now. Several “possible music events” have come and gone. At one time, the badge showing the Australian flag was found on the Apple site, and someone in Australia managed to nab a few songs before whole thing was shut down again. Now, we hear that the iTMS has opened in Japan with two-tier pricing. And rumours abound of price increases of iTMS songs.

I gather all this is because someone at some music company wants to ensure proper compensation for allowing access to their precious music intellectual property. This is very understandable. From Apple’s point of view: it is in Apple’s interest to sell as many songs as possible from the iTMS—after all each song sold represents further lock into the FairPlay Digital Rights Management (hence iPod blah blah…)—and therefore Apple wants songs available as cheaply as possible.

The point-of-view from the music companies is more complicated—more likely profit-maximisation from each sale is key.

It is possible their view is that iPod owners are also locked out of any competing iTMS-wannabees. (i.e. Buymusic.com, Yahoo!, Napster etc). And since there are lots and lots of iPod owners out there—this number is increasing—there is an expanding captive audience for the iTMS, who in turn would tolerate higher prices. After all, the cost of legal digital downloads is (usually) considered to be underpriced compared to the cost of music on compact discs.

Who knows? I’m not familiar with the inner workings of the music industry. My view is that there will be those who will definitely buy CDs and not from the iTMS. The iTMS’s main competition however, is illegal music downloads which continue to be widely practiced. So far the combination of music company/lawyers/Apple/everyone else has been unable to put that genie back into the bottle. The mind boggles at whether it is at all possible to prevent music from being freely exchanged via electronic means.

And further to that, is the fact that good music is also increasingly freely available via other means. e.g. free legal downloads (e.g. direct from artists, or from Pod Safe Music Network), free Internet radio streaming. Podcasts represents an increasing amount of available free content. Don’t forget also, the traditional radio stations. And then there are portable video and portable videogames…

The fact is that there is only a finite amount of time in a day, and people generally only listen to one thing at a time. So any time I’m listening to something else… is time that I don’t have to listen to music. Music companies will need to take that into account, lest they overprice themselves out of the market.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Apple, iTunes, iTunes Music Store, Music

2 love stories movies

2005-08-06T02:11:00.000+10:00

I’ve seen two movies that turned out to be memorable love stories in the last 2 days. Both happen to be Non-English movies for which I needed subtitles.

The first was In The Mood For Love from China/?Hong Kong. Frequent collaborators Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung were excellent in this ultra-gorgeous movie.

The second was 3-Iron from South Korea. Some recent Korean movies have had such original story-lines and creative story-telling. This one is no exception.

Both movies are unconventional, yet simple and pleasing. And it is refreshing to see alternatives to the usual Hollywood passion-fests. Sometimes out-and-out massive Hollywood love stories like Titanic (cheesy) or The English Patient (epic) work—both are movies I found satisfying to varying extents. (I’ve only seen Titanic once in the cinema and hope never to see again ever; but it worked at the time).

However, more recent Hollywood efforts e.g. Cold Mountain left me cold; and I don’t have any desire to experience the witty-but-incredibly-unrealistic-dialog contained in the rom-coms that Hollywood continually dish out—e.g. Wedding Crashers and Must Love Dogs. Sure they have their fans. Just not me.

I can’t remember the last time 2 back-to-back movies impressed me as much as In The Mood For Love and 3-Iron have. I recommend them to anyone hoping to try something different.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Movie review, Movies

E-Ink and the sad ongoing tale of the Sony Librie

2005-07-17T02:36:00.000+10:00

Currently the exciting (relatively) gadgets are

MP3 players,
MP3 player accessories (i.e. iPod accessories),
Portable video/media players
Mobile phones
Windows-powered PDAs
Consoles
Television time-shifting stuff

Other less exciting things:

Tablet PCs
Notebook PCs

And the reliable mainstays

Digital cameras
Digital video cameras
Printers, storage, scanners, LCDs…
Wireless mice/keyboards

Sony has been sitting on the the Librie for about a year now. This is a E-Ink powered black & white ebook reader. Apparently it looks gorgeous and functional. But it is crippled by copy protection. Copy protection done right is acceptable—but the Librie’s is ridiculous. Out of the box it can only display Broad Band eBook files; and not text, HTML or PDF files.

There is an active Yahoo! discussion group devoted to extending the capabilities of the Librie, translating the operating system to English, and allowing other forms of text to display on the screen. Essentially this group exists because Sony has crippled the hardware—for non-technological reasons.

The damn thing is also not widely available worldwide—definitely not off-the-shelf in Australia.

In simplest terms, it looks like Librie is made up of

The screen,
A card reader,
A keyboard
Firmware/motherboard/CPU
Software for navigation etc.

This combination, in a 300 gram casing, is exciting. The most exquisite piece of hardware is undoubtedly the screen. Digital devices have included card readers, keypads etc. for decades; however the Librie’s screen is much praised and seems technologically unique.

So it is hard to say why Sony is being such a hard-ass about selling this product properly. Is it because:

Sony is technologically so far ahead of the game that they can afford to sell this product at a premium price to limited numbers of people (e.g. Lexus)?
The screen technology is patented, and there is no danger of anyone creating a similar product (e.g. Prius)?
One of the parts is obscure and hence Sony can’t make these products en masse (e.g. iPods in the early days)
There isn’t much demand for the item in the mainstream… (e.g. video/media players)
Aliens…

I think that this is a device with incredible mass-appeal. Cameras and audio players have successfully gone digital. A light robust digital ebook reader is likely to have more mass-appeal that the video/media players that are currently being pushed. PDAs are too small, and Tablet PCs are physically and software-ically too heavy and complex. There is also a vast amount of text content available to users. Text is smaller to download and easier to manage than video is.

The electronics market being what it is, eventually some company will get smart and ebook readers will be ubiquitous. The eBook market may potentially even go the same way as the iTunes Music Store.

But it is a shame that Sony has chosen not to make a land-grab with the first promising device on the market.

Technorati Tags: Gadget, Sony, Rant

Podcasting thumbs up (and iFill)

2005-07-14T00:34:00.000+10:00

I’ve been using the iTunes podcasting feature daily. Downloading updates every few hours, and then streaming new stuff via Airport Express to the stereo just outside my study area. Very impressive. The podcasting feature is version 1.0 rough-round-the-edges, and I don’t have an iPod yet, but the whole experience is still excellent.

Griffin Technology has a software called iFill that records streams off the net, into files, and then automagically syncs them to an iPod. Nifty—although I do wonder if Apple will incorporate that feature into iTunes. iTunes already has a “Radio” section that is full-featured, but which seems to be ignored. It wouldn’t take much programming muscle to insert a “Record” button beside a radio stream name…

Technorati Tags: Apple, Podcasting

Relook at Tom Cruise in The Color of Money

2005-07-12T21:57:00.000+10:00

In an effort to forget Tom Cruise’s War of the Worlds “performance”, I watched one of my favourite movies The Color of Money on DVD yesterday.

The Color of Money (TCOM) was released almost 20 years ago, and was a sequel to The Hustler which had been made 25 years prior (therefore 45 years ago, yikes). TCOM is not considered one of Martin Scorcese’s better movies. And I suspect the Oscar the Paul Newman won was due to sympathy from the Academy. However, since I watched TCOM at age 13, I always felt it was something special.

Tom Cruise plays one of his first adult “Tom Cruise character” roles—i.e. a cocky brash young man with one exception skill who needs some encouragement (in the form of a mentor, or reminder from a dead father, or a woman, or a war, or Jack Nicholson, or an autistic brother etc) to become someone exceptional by the end of the movie. In this movie, his exceptional skill is pool, or 9-ball.

TCOM was made when TC’s popularity was increasing exponentially—right after he had stripped off his Top Gun flight suit. At such an early part of his career, his acting was still fresh and inspiring; as was the “Tom Cruise character” and the famous smile. His role called for an irritating young prick, and he delivered in spades. And showed star quality far beyond the rest of the Brat Pack (see All The Right Moves, The Outsiders or Risky Business). He even holds his own as an effective foil opposite screen veteran Paul Newman.

I think TCOM shows TC in his element—right before he had to grow up and (fail to) mature. And I’m glad a director other than Tony Scott captured that time.

Just a point about the movie’s ending: TCOM is not the Rocky or Karate Kid of pool. Who wins the final game isn’t the point of the story. The movie is a character study that revolves around the behaviour, changes, manipulations and responses of the 2 lead characters. I’ve often wondered about the ending, and found it unsatisfying for a while. But after re-watching it 20 years later, it made sense that it be a mystery. I disagree that the movie was “building up” to a final confrontation. And I certainly would not want a Director’s Cut, to reveal any alternate ending. That would not make it more satisfying.

Although I am a fan of TC, I do wonder about whether overexposure of any actor makes it harder for him/her to deliver effective performances. I find Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Nicole Kidman, Keanu Reeves, Tom Hanks, Nicholas Cage, and even Kevin Spacey or Jack Nicholson to currently deliver very average performances, while their early work were surprisingly good. 3 of those actors were magnificent in Se7en many years ago, as was Brad Pitt in The River Runs Through It. Nicholas Cage became boring after the action hero era. Robert De Niro is a screen legend, but definitely not because of his recent movies.

Unfortunately the current method of “good acting” starts with the actor simply having a different haircut or a different accent. Or acting as a mental patient.

On the other hand actors who haven’t been bitten by the overexposed “bug”: e.g. Ralph Fiennes, Miranda Otto or Emma Watson—seem to be able to make their characters come alive.

It is possible that this overexposure is an inevitable result of the endless churn movie releases. Or maybe the result of having vast video libraries from which we can see any actor's past performances on crystal clear DVD. IMHO it is unfortunate phenomenon, because movies, and their actors are becoming more tedious and a bore.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Movies, Tom Cruise

War of the Worlds is not a comedy

2005-07-08T11:32:00.000+10:00

War of the Worlds could not commit the first worst sin: “the trailer reveals the whole story”, since it is really a remake. And Independence Day from 9 years ago still lives on in DVD.

However, it does largely commit the 2nd worst sin: “the best parts of the movie are already in the trailers”.

I think Tom Cruise was the very definition of a Hollywood male star—oozing charisma for years on and off the screen since Top Gun. And his movies usually delivers some blockbuster entertainment. Despite the fact that most of his roles are derivatives of the “generic Tom Cruise character”, he fits that role like Arnie fits into the Terminator.

However, like Harrison Ford before him, the variations on the same character have worn out. In WOTW, he is simply Tom Cruise the generic action movie male lead. The start of the movie establishes his macho with a few seconds of crane driving with a joystick, a few seconds of male banter, and then fewer seconds of muscle car driving. After which he switches to a few minutes of caring but useless father role. And then the movie starts.

Unfortunately, even with the destruction of an entire world, the movie turns out to be another vanity project for Cruise. Obviously everything centres around him—he appears in just about every frame. His son and daughter are present simply there to be confronted/comforted by the Cruise-man. Focusing on 2–3 people worked in a movie like Titanic. But at least that movie spent its 3 hours on more than just the survival of 2–3 people. And Leonardo DiCaprio was not shown to be semi-heroic enough to slow the ship sinking.

The movie itself does little better. The script is stilted, and characters move drudgingly between (Cruise-laden) action set pieces. Some bits of action looked quite unique at times. And the special effects were few, but well done and effective.

While I think the choice to emphasise the heroic Cruise-man was a flaw, it was exacerbated by his extra-cinematic activities. With his larger-than-life shenanigans, it was hard to see the movie character as anything but “a TC character”. And usually serious action or scenes generated laughs from the audience. One scene where TC sings a lullaby was particularly painful.

I went into this movie thinking, “Let’s get this movie out of the way. Next please”. I suspect so did the film makers. The result: 5–10 years from now, when people think of alien-invasion movies, Will Smith’s will come to mind; rather than Tom Cruise’s.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Movie review, Tom Cruise

Apple iTunes with podcasting is spectacular spectacular

2005-06-30T01:34:00.000+10:00

iTunes 4.9 was released earlier today. I don’t think the term “podcasting”—which erroneously implies the use of an iPod—was coined by Apple. But Apple has used the fortuitously named feature, and embraced it big time with the new iTunes release.

I no longer own any iPods. But I listen to Internet broadcasts quite a bit—usually via streaming. RealPlayer streams from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Windows Media from certain foreign radio stations, and iTunes for MP3 radio.

But I hardly listen to MP3 versions of previously recorded stuff, e.g. the MP3 archives of ABC Radio National. It is cumbersome to find newish stuff to download, and the download usually takes longer than my attention span. I can listen to the MP3 file within my browser window. But then I might be interrupted, or might have the urge to listen to music halfway instead, and then lose the page (for whatever reason). If I download the MP3 file to the desktop/hard disk, then I still have to navigate to look for it, and possibly listen to it in the Finder, or consider copying it to iTunes. And then remember to delete it after I’m done listening.

So, listening to “podcasts”—which really are just MP3 files of previously recorded audio—used to be a chore. The tech-minded found iPodder.org and its variants probably ages ago, but I didn’t…

And now I don’t have to. Podcasting in iTunes is a new feature of iTunes—not an extension of an old one. I decide what I want to listen to, and iTunes does the downloading, filing for me. And then automatically downloads more from the same ‘author’ when new material shows up. A radio subscription if you will.

This is logically the same direction that television has gone. Time-shifting is the buzzword nowadays, as digital television and personal video recorders becomes the hot new thing in Australian households. Time-shifting (TiVo etc. for non-Australians) frees viewers from television schedules, allowing them to watch what they choose when they choose to. And also to fast forward/rewind/archive when desired.

iTunes does that for audio broadcasts. And goes further to act as an interface for these content providers who want to set up their own podcasts. Large radio stations or any individuals alike can set up their own podcast, and iTunes makes it easier for listeners to subscribe to whichever podcast they find interesting. The current subscription interface is gorgeous. The iTunes Music Store (iTMS) currently handles a million-song archive, which suggests that the current podcast interface is likely to be scalable when more content providers choose to hawk their content via iTunes.

iTunes years entered the jukebox software market to compete with Winamp, MusicMatch, MediaMonkey etc. (on the Windows platform). It started off as an excellent library, with excellent optical-drive burning features. Then iTunes integrated with the iPod, and more recently with the iTMS. Entering new territory smoothly such that the entire experience is greater than the sum of each part. Doubtlessly with plenty of unseen hard work by software engineers working backstage.

The addition of podcasting is a similar bold step. One significant difference for the user: this step is free. There is no requirement to buy an iPod, or to spend 99¢ buying songs. Podcasting is for now… cost-free.

This is quite a canny move for Apple, and I suspect is an unintended solution to constant requests (by some) for radios on iPods. Radios on portable music players appear on some of the “iPod-killers” out there—and rightly out-feature any iPods if a checklist of features is compared.

Adding a radio to the iPod would probably be non-trivial, but would also probably add to the complexity of the iPod. The physical size would probably be larger, and the interface very probably need to be more complex. There will definitely be complaints about the quality of reception, and the radio acts as yet another point of failure.

Instead of adding a radio to the iPod, podcasting simplifies an existing Internet phenomenon, leverages the iTunes-iPod relationship and shifts any added complexity to the desktop computer; which suits the larger colour screens and the intricate keyboard/mouse interface. Podcasting also encourages the use of Apple software without an Apple-specific audio format. Finally, negligible change is made to the tried-and-proven design of the iPod itself. It is a brilliant move. Kudos.

Although each month heralds a new “iPod-killer” from Dell, Sony, Creative, Rio and Archos; Apple gracefully moves from strength to strength. Apple is dominant in the field of portable audio but, as mentioned in an earlier post, I do not think unbeatable. With some cooperation—and probably with the deep pockets of Microsoft—the rest of the field can still make make solid advances. While the other companies spin their wheels, Apple continues to innovate as if it has some real competition. This is good for consumers, but a challenge for the actual “competition”.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Apple, iPod, iTunes, iTunes Music Store, Software

King Kong

2005-06-28T22:17:00.000+10:00

Just when I thought there wasn’t much to wait for in the movies, the trailer for King Kong shows up. I wasn’t all that impressed by Return of the King (even the extended version), and I’m skeptical about big budget, big name, CGI-filled movies… but I must say the trailer looks bloody good.

http://www.kingkongmovie.com/

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Movies

Bad movie year

2005-06-27T16:58:00.000+10:00

After Batman Begins, hardly anything in the cinema looks interesting. I gave Kingdom of Heaven a miss after all, and will probably do the same for War of the Worlds. Early IMDb user comments for WoW (not always reliable of course) aren’t fantastic. I suspect—maybe wrongly— that I have seen most of the best bits of Fantastic Four and Mr & Mrs Smith in the trailers already. (Plus I really disliked the The Bourne Identity). And FF4 is just another super hero story a la Spiderman 1 & 2, X-Men, Incredibles and Batman.

My wife might drag me to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory… but it does look like a “can rent the DVD” title. In fact I will look forward to all these unwatched movies in the DVD/video rental store in 5 months time. I might even buy the Batman Begins DVD.

Thank goodness we have tickets for the local film society that provide weekly non-mainstream movies.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Movies

Plastic bag rant

2005-06-26T14:48:00.000+10:00

The local large supermarkets have been promoting reusable shopping bags for several months now, using stickers, signs, ads and sometimes a fee for every plastic bag dispensed. I remember a similar drive about 10 years ago, which did not take off (locally). The current campaign is much more successful. Reusable bags are a common sight nowadays at the checkout and around the streets.

This would represent a victory of sorts for the environment. A disturbing statistic from Clean Up Australia:
Australia puts 4000 plastic bags into landfills every minute. (Therefore 65 bags every second).

I have been using plastic shopping bags as bin liners for my entire life, and would find it inconvenient to say the least, to change practice. If this source of free bin liners dries up, I’d still need to buy plastic bin liners, and that results in no net benefit to the environment. However, the supermarkets benefit—as they can avoid providing consumers with free plastic shopping bags… especially with the higher price of petrol—the source of the plastic in plastic bags.

Therefore IMHO it is canny how supermarkets are using the environmental movement to divest themselves of providing a free consumer service. And in the process create a market (by selling reusable bags), increase the sale of garbage bags, and finally get points for looking environmentally friendly.

There are no environmental ads or warnings at the garbage bag sections of the supermarket… It seems to me duplicitous to discourage consumers from using plastic shopping bags, while continuing to sell garbage bags.

In my case, I have a couple of solutions: I could separate all food bits and leftovers (which tend to be sticky and soggy) into a compost bin. And toss every bit of rubbish into unlined bins. And then wash the bins out after emptying them. That’s quite hard work actually. Especially since I don’t have a garden worth talking about. And the smell accumulates. So that may not be ideal.

Alternatively, I could use get smaller bins, and then continue using the smaller plastic bags from the vegetable section of the grocery stores as bin liners…

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Enivronment, Rant, Slactivism

Batman is back, and good too (avoiding spoilers)

2005-06-21T23:03:00.000+10:00

There was a time when Michael Keaton as the best of the movie Batmen. Tim Burton was the best of the Batmen directors, and somehow Prince and Kim Basinger were nasty uninvited guests.

Superman—a relatively boring set of comics IMHO—had Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder. The XMen and Spider Man had their Wolverine, Magneto, Professor X and Tobey Maguire. It was painful that Batman had a rich set of history, themes and villains, but already run its course—mismanaged by some ego-driven Hollywood nuts.

Now, with the upswing of non-expendable superhero movies (the “new” Punisher doesn’t count), DC and a new crew has done what many fans wanted—to pretend the past movies never happened—and tell the Batman story that exists, but that has yet to be realised on screen.

Is it necessary, worth it, and possible to? The Batman mythology has been continually repeated in multiple films, comic flashbacks, cartoons. Almost everyone knows of the senseless shooting, the dropping pearls, Zorro, Alfred, and the sociopath billionaire Bats.

I did not have high expectations for this movie at all. But it works. The story is strong enough that it works as an excellent stand alone action movie. The characters are strong enough that I hope we get to meet them again.

I dreaded the presence of Michael Caine (not a favourite), Katie Holmes (can’t stand her), Liam Neeson (always the mentor), Morgan Freeman (always the same old thing). I even had doubts about Gary Oldman (one of my favourite). Surprisingly, all deliver believable performances in the short screen time they have. Liam Neeson in particular—His performance here makes George Lucas’s Phantom Menace look even worse than it is. Katie Holmes is actually not a hopelessly bad actress. She is probably the 2nd best strong femme fatale in the Batman series (behind Michelle Pfeiffer. Meow). Keep in mind the competition includes Nicole Kidman, Elle McPherson, Kim Basinger, Uma Thurman and Alicia Silverstone. Also note that in the Batman comics, the supporting actors seldom have all that much to do.

The penultimate Batman actor has yet been found. IMHO Christian Bale needs a bigger chin, and a bigger torso. He is the best available though, and does a great job. At least he brings some height and humanity to Bruce Wayne, and some nastiness to a somophore Batman.

The movie dispenses with the overdone architecture of Gotham City that sprung out of Tim Burton’s mind, and corrupted by the subsequent pseudo-director. Awful CGI is also avoided (praise, praise). However, the action scenes seem to happen largely off camera. To enhance the mysteriousness of Bats, or because of poor choreography? Who knows. That bit was a little disappointing.

For the longest time, Batman was best seen in print, and in the excellent Batman cartoons. Thankfully, he has been reborn on the big screen. If the cast is agreeable to make further episodes, hopefully it is done quickly and well. X-Men and Spiderman sequels show that it can be done. Hopefully the franchise does not become Hulk (there can only be one), or The Matrix, or repeat its own previous errors.

I left the theatre with a large smile on my face. I can’t wait to see this movie again.

ps; And this is not Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One.

Technorati Tags: Batman, Movie review, Movies

2 years on, no one wants to compete with iTunes Music Store

2005-06-15T19:00:00.000+10:00

Message to the rest of the world: Australia is still waiting for the iTunes Music Store. No ETA.

iTunes was a great standalone music jukebox software. When the iPod was released, its close bond with iTunes strengthened 2 already exquisite pieces of technology. The iTMS—which started selling a bit more than 2 years ago—applied even more glue to that bond, and started whispers of “monopoly” and “proprietary format”.

When buying music from the iTMS, some understandably feel nervous being locked into a single audio format, from a single company; which then locks one into buy a portable audio player from that single company. Especially when the company is Apple—usually perceived to be a producer of pricey iconoclastic Mercedes Benz-type products, and perpetually death knelled. While the iPod IMHO is an incredibly intuitive piece of hardware and deserves all its accolades; its major failing is that Apple is the only real player in that market.

Companies like Napster/Roxio, Microsoft, Virgin, Yahoo, Rhapsody, Buy.com and so on “compete” in online music sales. None have come close to emulating Apple’s success. Why? There are endless sabre-rattlings of iPod-killers, threats to the iTMS, threats to Apple's dominance and so on. We heard it when Buy.com entered the market, when Napster entered the market, when Microsoft announced an interest. And when Sony announced their music store and the Network Walkman. Then when Yahoo! started its subscription service. When Virgin Electronics released its cutprice player. And everytime Creative’s boss opens his mouth. Even the Playstation Portable was compared to the iPod. Apple’s end is impending. Is close. Is inevitable. Yea right.

Inexplicably no one actually creates something on par with Apple’s music strategy.

There is a simple sounding solution to challenge Apple: create an iTunes clone, that uses a iTMS clone, which uses a DRM that is a FairPlay clone. Which is compatible with iPod clones wannabes from a variety of 3rd party electronics companies. A iTMS/iTunes clone, backed by massive 3rd party support, can still challenge Apple’s dominance.

Apple’s maintenance of the iTMS/iTunes/iPod (and Airport Express) dominance is a weakness by itself. So far Apple has chosen not to license FairPlay to other 3rd parties. Companies like Netgear, Squeezebox and Sonos have relatively nice looking streaming (not copying) solutions to play music remote from a computer. But cannot play DRM protected AAC files.

Similarly, new HiFis, car stereos, and DVD Players are able to play MP3s off a CD/DVD. All these products are do not use FairPlay—and hence cannot directly access DRM protected AAC files.

PDAs from PocketPC and PalmOne now bundle audio players which are still unable to play protected AAC files. Neither can mobile telephones.

Apple’s first relationship with a 3rd party manufacturer to create a truly unique FairPlay product—that is Motorola’s iTunes phone—is still unproductive. (HP iPod doesn’t count).

I suspect that even though Apple seems to have it really cruisy at the moment, their success is the result of a massive amount of continuing negotiations with music companies, audiobook companies, independent companies, and Apple’s own R&D. Which no other company wants to perform the legwork for. Instead, all other companies opt for the “subscription model”—just to provide something different. And then hyping the hell out of that unproven marketing strategy. Meanwhile the iTMS/FairPlay formula has sold 450M+ songs, and is a proven strategy now.

The potential innovation in a DRM-filled world is still great. But for now it is a one-horse race. True competition to light a fire under Apple’s ass; is sorely needed. Meanwhile every sale from the iTMS serves as a global investment into Apple’s music strategy, and makes it even harder for any potential competition to gain a foothold.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Apple, iTunes, iTunes Music Store, Music, Rant

Constantine the movie—really bad

2005-06-15T01:06:00.000+10:00

This is a warning, not a movie review. Earlier this year, someone told me Constantine was quite “interesting”. I avoided it because The poster and the trailer looked like More-Of-The-Same Neo stuff. Then yesterday, my wife said the same thing: Constantine was “interesting”. 2 out of 2 can’t be wrong.

But they were. Constantine is an awfully bad movie. Story: the devil trying to destroy mankind—again. Hasn’t the Christianish Occulty thing been so done to death yet? End of Days, Stigmata, Exorcist sequels, Warlock, Seventh Sign, The First Power, The Order… wasn’t Keanu Reeves already in the Devil’s Advocate? I suppose Hell is a good place look for expendable movie villains, and now has the advantage of allowing nice special effects. But wait, there’s also the chance to use really unconventional, supernatural looking solutions to tie up loose plot lines! Just wait for The Da Vinci Code…

The hero is essentially Neo. Keanu Reeves acts as Neo’s cousin—like “The Cleaner” in La Femme Nikita vs “Leon” in Leon. Different, but same. In fact, the movie looks like The Matrix, some scenes are coloured greenish (like The Matrix), and it’s CGI-filled albeit worse. And there’s BulletTime. I’m sure the movie was promoted to fans of The Matrix fans, or fans of Keanu Neo.

Which makes it quite sad really. No doubt there isn’t much variation in the Men-Holding-Guns roles that Stallone, Arnie, Bruce Willis play, or the smarty-pants variant that Tom Cruise plays. But Keanu has now acted in 4 movies as the sullen-stony-faced-reluctant-hero-with-hidden-powers-saving-the-world-from-ULTIMATE-evil-in-a-movie-with-Bullet-Time. Not including Johnny Mnemonic.

The obligatory female counterpart is Rachel Weisz, whose acting I’ve never particularly liked. I can’t complain about her performance this time—it was actually quite good, and the best thing about the movie.

I sat through this thing thinking surely this is not just MOTS old crap. But it was.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Movies, Rant

Mac will be from Apple

2005-06-14T15:17:00.000+10:00

I really don’t know why there is so much speculation about whether Apple can prevent hackers from getting Mac OS X (Intel edition) to run on 3rd party hardware.

Just because an operating system runs on the same chips as another, doesn’t mean the operating systems are necessarily interchangeable. An XBox made by Microsoft for example, doesn’t run Microsoft’s own Windows family off the shelf. The PocketPC and PalmOne products use the same Intel XScale chips, but aren’t interchangable hardware.

Making a software compatible only with select hardware, can’t be a difficult thing to do. On the contrary, maintaining an installed operating system on a computer unsupported by the operating system creator can be a pain in the ass. Wintel users will need an XPostFacto equivalent.

Apple has really really miniscule experience working with a hardware from a plethora of sources. Most of their product line is made up of all-in-ones and (an Mac mini) for which the maximal supported internal upgrade is RAM and a new HD. Third party PCI card users on the PowerMacs have trouble sometimes when the OS throws a tantrum and refuses to go to sleep/crashes/refuses to shut down. This is unlike Microsoft—which has experience (from the MS-DOS days decades ago) to create operating systems robust enough to run on a myriad of hardware—of course those hardware manufacturers would:

Not want to go too far off the beaten path without telling MS either.
Continually release firmware and software to maintain compatibility with new versions of MS OSes.
Be encouraged my Microsoft to do so.

The creators of Linux don’t have a hardware product that they feel the need to protect. Their community benefits from individuals keen on compatibility with as much 3rd party hardware as possible.

We will find out in a years time—but for the next few years at least, a Macintosh is something we need to buy from Apple.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Apple, Intel, Mac OS X, Macintel, Macintosh

Movies, and costs

2005-06-12T00:52:00.000+10:00

A movie ticket where I live costs $13.50. Cheaper for kids, students, pensioners, senior citizens, and on Tuesdays.

Still, a movie experience would cost $27 for a couple, excluding food, petrol and parking. Add in extra time for driving and hunting for a parking spot. And the experience is variable, mostly depending on the crowd (e.g. talking, feet, movement and mobile phones…), and on the rare occasion due to technical faults.

3 years ago, I purchased a reasonable widescreen television, DVD player and a very ordinary home theatre system for A$3000. So… $3000÷$27≈ 111 movies. I probably would have got the $ back in cinema tickets by the end of the 4th year. Although there have been occasions when we had company over, or we watched the same movie twice, or separately. And several occasions when we paused the movie to go to the bathroom. And we never get tempted to buy popcorn or soft drinks when we are at home.

Not to mention the fact that we (used to) use the same television to watch free to air television (i.e. Schapelle Corby’s trial and verdict); and 24 episodes obtained through dodgy means. And play Halo 2 (with Dolby 5.1 sound).

However keep in mind the $ required to borrow/buy/drive to get DVDs… and electricity.

A comparable home theatre system costs much less today, and prices are always dropping. Television screens get larger, with increasing quality too.

With these sorts of calculations, the IMHO worsening quality of movies, the incessant rise in cinema ticket prices—I wonder if the cinema experience for “big” movies is soon doomed. We are members of the local film society—mostly arty films.

I suppose there’r always the kids and lovebirds who want to get out of the house.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Movies, Cinemas, DVD

Sin City is coming soon!

2005-06-12T00:01:00.000+10:00

Excellent!! Only 1 month and 3 days before I get to watch Sin City in a cinema. Thank goodness I’m don’t live in Germany. They still have 2 whole months to go.

Of course Sin City was released on the 1st of April 2005 in America. The release date schedule (from IMDb) is available here.

What’s with this prolonged wait for movies? In this day and age, when news travels across the Internet, and where movies zip across cyberspace for private viewing, or to be sold internationally on the hush hush for a few dollars. Why hype a movie leading up to April 1st, only to make it available 4 months later in some markets?

I can understand that movies may need to be dubbed and subtitled for some international markets, but most English movies are shown in Australia… in English and without subtitles.

Bad Santa was released theatrically in Australia one year after release in the USA, to take advantage of the next Christmas season. The DVD was available in the USA before the movie appeared in Australian cinemas.

The Incredibles took 2 months to arrive in Australia.

This sort of thing may be common with art house movies. i.e. make a splash at a film festival, and then slowly trickle over years into various markets. But for mainstream movies, which rely on the initial hype and word of mouth, the practice is unfathomable.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Movies, Rant

New PowerBook 12"; purchase

2005-06-11T01:10:00.000+10:00

I got a call yesterday afternoon from an ex-classmate who was standing outside an AppleStore, asking for final advice before buying a PowerBook 12";. She actually appreciated Apple’s product line simplicity (i.e. lack of choice), and knew which machine she wanted.

The thought of letting her know about the Intel-Apple lovefest crossed my mind; but I decided against mentioning it. My advice was simply: avoid build-to-order, try all AppleStores to see if there are any that have the machine in stock ready to take away, consider AppleCare, get RAM now if cheap, otherwise, later is OK (all laptops come with 512MB RAM). And get a combined receipt to claim on tax/salary packaging.

4 hours later, she called back to say she was home, and happy with the machine, and could I help her out with some computer-issues… She was a HP laptop convert, and this was her first Mac.

I suppose the crux of this tale is that (I think) for much of the population, issues like the new MacIntel debate etc… aren’t real dealbreakers when buying a Macintosh today. The current line of PowerBooks are purty good machines after all. And I’m cautiously confident that Apple will continue to support them. It’s really a minority of the ”In-The-Know“ that carry out this endless debate.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Apple, Mac OS X, Macintel, Macintosh, PowerBook

Macintel: Safe(r) recommendations for buying peripherals

2005-06-10T23:49:00.000+10:00

The word “sell-out” is frequently uttered, in relation to the Apple switch to Intel. Personally, I hope one day Steve Jobs’ WWDC 2005 keynote will be remembered fondly. The day when Apple decided not to muck around with 2-bit microprocessor manufacturers, and ally itself with the 800-pound gorilla of microprocessor manufacturers.

Or maybe this will be remembered as Apple’s Waterloo—I hope not.
In a crucial part of his keynote, SJ listed 4 types of software—scripts etc, Cocoa, Carbon, and non-Xcode applications. I’m not sure which group driver software fall into. And drivers are one of those things that will cause headaches next year. When I switched myself, my family and my in-laws to Macintosh, there would invariably be an old scanner or printer floating about which would be forgotten prior to Mac-purchase, and hyper-important after Mac-purchase.

Surprisingly, I have been able to find drivers for most of the above cases. Sometimes even when the cartridges for said printers were difficult to find.

For those keen on buying peripherals for their Macs, it would be safer if:

The product you buy follows some a known standard. e.g. a PostScript printer, DVI monitor, USB audio.
The product you buy follows some sort of standard. e.g. Gimp-Print. If it works on Linux, that’s a plus. If a scanner works via Image Capture, that’s a good sign (but not a guarantee).
The product you buy is as generic as they come. e.g. get a USB card reader or digital camera that does not need a driver or specific software for file transfer. Or a USB multibutton mouse and keyboard that you are happy with without installing the supplied software.
The product you buy has an appropriate interface. i.e. printers and scanners should be USB. Printers can also be Ethernet. Webcams should be iSight, or FireWire, or a generic Handycam. Webcams should not be USB/USB2. Hard disks should be Firewire (although USB2 should work now). ADSL modems should be Ethernet, not USB.
The product you buy, should have a company that has a history of supporting Mac OS. e.g. I would consider Griffin Technology, ElGato, MacAlly products to be fairly safe to buy.

Personally I would be particularly worried about buying: USB-based wireless dongles, USB-based ADSL modems, GPS modules, PalmOne hardware, PCI TV-input cards or PCI SCSI cards. Even more worrying would be those high end cards that some users rely upon: e.g. for music, sound processing, fast networking etc… And those are pricey too. I don’t have any experience in those unfortunately. And I am grateful.

ps: I have taken 15 minutes to put my thoughts to text. Caveat emptor, YMMV etc.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Apple, Intel, Mac OS X, Macintel, Operating System

Apple’s home runs

2005-06-10T10:21:00.000+10:00

I’ve had some more time to think about the new Apple Intel get-together. There is a lot of buzz on the Internet of course. Some pertinent questions, for example: “should I pay for my ordered PowerBook?”. Difficult question, but probably already answered in triplicate somewhere else on the Internet by now.

My thought for the day: When Apple defines its aims clearly, they usually cope with home runs quite well.

Well known are the transitions in chips and operating systems. Mentioned in the previous post are the axing of the floppy, SCSI, ADB. There was the sudden move to music, and moving from strength to strength in that regard. QuickTime continues to kick goals, continually incorporating new codecs. Don’t forget the overhauling of “classic networking” in favour of Open Transport many years ago.

It’s the small stuff and the follow through where Apple stumbles. When Apple gets half hearted about maintaining a product—it is double-plus-aggravating.

Few examples: The continual removal of 68k code from Mac OS 8/9 was a drawn-out process never really completed. Maintenance of AppleWorks, Sherlock, Mail.app junk mail capabilities, iSync compatible devices, MRJ (Java) compatibility, Safari compatibility… Anyone remember Apple iTools’ KidSafe feature where webpages continually needed to be whitelisted?

All these that require some element of ongoing maintenance were never really done properly—just waiting for the next “home run” solution. Which sometimes involves axing the product.

Further examples: Adding 3rd party printer support via GIMP; and adding MSN/Yahoo! messenger compatibility via Jabber.

On the whole, I like Apple’s approach, and it does seem to work for some people—if it didn’t I would be using something else.

I don’t doubt that Apple will get Mac OS X for Intel out lickety-split. And hopefully most things will fall into the can be solved by an all-encompassing solution camp. The things that don’t though… will be aggravating.

Continued next post…

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Apple, Intel, Mac OS X, Operating System

Apple and Intel… hooray

2005-06-09T00:53:00.000+10:00

Back from hiatus. Of course Apple had to make a major chip move while I was playing LAN Halo 2, away from decent Internet access. My panicked dad and brother managed to contact me about Apple’s move… slightly anxious themselves.

I’m on the whole quite excited about Apple’s shift to Intel. The Apple and WinTel machines started out worlds apart but have become more similar over time—mostly when Apple made their machines more compatible with industry standards. Adoption of USB, PCI, VGA/DVI , IDE were not decisions made on a whimsy, and have on the whole been positive moves—Mac users now have access to cheap PC-based peripherals that 10 years ago they did not.

The transition of chips would be technically a different thing altogether. But this time:

Apple is not in a death knell like it was when it passed over “Plan B” to buy NeXT.
It also has a cash cow called the iPod and a thriving cottage industry.
Apple no longer has an operating system that is the butt of industry jokes.
And, it looks like Apple has already done quite a lot of work on OS X/Intel compatibility.

So, kudos kudos kudos to the Apple team for having the brains to recognise their microprocessor problem, and the balls to make a change. Now is a good opportunity, and it’s going to be quite a ride.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Mac OS X, Operating System, Intel

Hitchhiker’s the book

2005-06-04T02:24:00.000+10:00

I just read the Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy for the 2nd time. The first would have been about 10 years ago or so. Hilarious! I think I enjoyed it more this time. It is so hilarious. Highly recommended. To the first time reader—don’t rush through it like I did the last time. From memory, the subsequent books weren’t as good. But I have them lying around, and they’ll be next.

I’m not too keen on watching the new movie on which this book is based upon—I’m not in the least curious as to how they will pull off the effects. Anyway, most of the book humour is quite cerebral which is hardly common in the cinema.

I’m also a little wary of movie adaptations of good books e.g. is it possible to think of Gandalf as anything but Ian McKellen now…? Well actually, the answer to that is yes. I re-read the LOTR last month, and I kept picturing Gandalf as that old wizard on the novel cover. The movie actually enhanced the book a little bit I felt.

However, there isn’t any way to forget the movie, or even forget the book, and read it afresh. Pity that.

Next series: Dune

ps: the initial 40 minutes of the Bourne Identity movie that I saw made it look like a piece of turd.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, Book

The Machinist (short without many spoilers)

2005-06-03T21:07:00.000+10:00

There’s something annoying about movies that employ a single gimmicks. e.g. computer generated characters in Phantom Menace (aargh), and Lord of the Rings (not too bad); Bullet-Time in The Matrix (excellent); Tom Hank’s character change in the middle of CastAway (quite average).

In the case of The Machinist it was Christian Bale’s slimness skeletalness. Yikes, he was thin. His figure went a long way to making his character Trevor Reznick materialise. When Trevor Reznick runs, I couldn’t tell whether his odd gait was Christian Bale’s acting or a physical defect. When he slopes around during the movie, he sure looks the pitiful bastard. The entire performance is quite decent, but I’m not sure he (or anyone) would have pulled it off without the extreme makeover. The end result is memorable.

His appearance also added to the overall high creepiness-factor of the entire movie. The story is a further exploration of the “twist” that has become a bit overused. I did enjoy the experience, and haven’t actually figured it totally out—a bit like yet another movie called Mulholland Drive(highlight to see). Not quite as strange.

So, one to watch if you’re in the mood for an eerie mysterious experience, that isn’t a horror movie. Aside from one skeleton figure.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Christian Bale, Movie review, Movies

Terrorism or not?

2005-06-03T00:11:00.000+10:00

In an earlier post, I mentioned that SC would be linked to “the first such terrorist attack on Australian soil”.

Now that the “biological substance” has been found to not be harmful, is it still terrorism though? Despite posts like these on Whirlpool, I’m having 2nd thoughts.

Bomb threats when I was in university in 1996 weren’t uncommon. Some police person would interrupt a lecture, and ask us to look under our chairs and in the lecture theatre looking for suspicious packages. Close by to telephones there were charts listing questions to ask callers that call through a bomb threat: “Where is the bomb?”, “What time does it go off?”, “What does it look like?”, “Did you put the bomb there?”… that sort of thing. Are false bomb threats in a university or on a plane terrorist activities?

This particular threat against the Indonesian embassy was particularly notable, because it was the first time I knew of anthrax usable as a weapon in Australia, and also because of the undercurrent of Corby-related hypersensitivity between each Australia and Indonesia.

But I think I’ll change my mind about calling it terrorism now. No wonder the government avoided the phrase last night. Clever bastards.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Australia, Bali, Indonesia, Anthrax, Schapelle Corby, Terrorism

Christian Bale & The Empire of the Sun

2005-06-02T23:43:00.000+10:00

In the last week I’ve been watching 2 movies which I previously watched when they were first released—The Empire of the Sun and The Color of Money. And then I watched something new:
The Machinist. It’s a Tom Cruise/Christian Bale bonanza, just like the upcoming summer movies.

Empire of the Sun is such a fantastically done movie. When I first watched it I remember wondering “where’s the beef?” However I never really forgot it. The song Suo Gan made an indelible impression, as did many, many visuals from the movie. The current repeat viewing on DVD was an amazing experience.

I expect the portrayal of the Japanese troops as a fairly benign would have been a criticism when the movies was released. Considering the Japanese war crimes in China, such a portrayal seems blasphemous even today. Spielberg did humanise some of the Germans in his other “serious” war movies as well.

I’m not much of a film critic, but I think EOTS is a look at events through the eyes of the spoilt 11–15 year old Jim Graham (played by very young Christian Bale). Hence the “braver” victorious Japanese—especially the pilots—would have a greater influence on him at the time. Jim did appear in most of the scenes in the movie, and the story makes more sense told from his point of view throughout.

Some of the earlier scenes depicting Shanghai were amazing. English movies in China typically seem a little out of place to me. I think filming The Last Emperor in English for example, was a bad move. And every time anyone speaks English in a Jackie Chan/Stephen Chow Hong Kong movies, it’s always for a laugh. In EOTS the early scenes were done realistically on such massive scale against a backdrop of 1940s Shanghai. It’s a credit to the director, and whoever organised those crowds/costumes. Thank goodness computer generated visual effects wasn’t as widespread then. I think I know what George Lucas would have preferred…

The movie is quite sanitised in terms of cruelty by the Japanese. Knowing the events on the Death Railway etc, it seems odd that a large group of prisoners would be kept alive and fed in the middle of China for years. Instead, the movie places much emphasis on real hunger. Jim’s and the other character’s desperation when short of food and water occurs several times in the movie and looked authentic. Politeness and graciousness among prisoners goes right out the window when everyone is famished. Criticism: everyone still looked so fattish at the end.

With the combination of the on-location filming, incredible set pieces, multiple kids on the set, and a kid in the lead role, so much could have gone wrong. But it didn’t. In fact, somehow Christian Bale gave an excellent 2.5 hour performance, and together with the usual Spielberg touches, the team really pulled this one off. It may not have been a monetary winner, but it is still an incredible experience.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Christian Bale, Movie review, Movies

What does boycotting Bali mean anyway? Slactivism…

2005-05-30T20:34:00.000+10:00

This dude Jeff Seemann wants to be a congressman (?) in 2006. He has written about the SC case, at length. And in the middle of his post says he will do everything he can to help Corby. And will start by boycotting Bali. Boycotting Bali has become a common war cry on the Internet. Banbali.com must have the prize for the most to-the-point domain name on this subject.

I believe everyone can decide how to spend their own $—that’s fair enough. I live in Australia, and have never been to Bali, nor am keen to. I travel lots to Malaysia. Bali sounds quite similar, but more touristy. Not my cup of tea. I’m guessing that most people—most travelers even—on the planet haven’t been to Bali either.

My point is, it is actually quite easy to boycott Bali. For most people it means you don’t buy an flight ticket and fly over there. It’s not like Bali manufactures anything that you can buy in the shops around the world. Boycotting Bali is really small effort on one’s part.

So, all these SC supporters who announce that they are boycott Bali—are doing this, wow, drastic thing, which doesn’t take up any effort at all. Whoop de doo. This is such slactivism at work.

On the Internet forums, when the topic is raised of boycotting Qantas and Brisbane [and/or] Sydney airports, there is a muted response. Why? Is it because of a silent admission that maybe the baggage-handler/airport security theory is suspect? Or is it because Australians who consider such a move will find it actually affects their life? Is it because it is actually more work to go picket Brisbane Airport and avoid Qantas, than to boycott Bali? I suspect so.

It’s harder to boycott Nike—widely thought to have sweatshops in Indonesia—than to boycott Bali.

I’m strongly boycotting the Isle of Wight, for no particular reason. I can be the world’s top Isle of Wight boycotter by sitting on my ass all day.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Australia, Bali, Schapelle Corby, Slactivism

iPod shuffle 2GB and 4GB rumours

2005-05-28T01:54:00.000+10:00

Read here.

If Apple does release such beasts, will they need a screen? Well, maybe not. I do think though, that Apple should support multiple playlists on the iPod shuffle. That shouldn’t be an overly difficult engineering job. And maybe some niceties like Sound Check support.

Technorati Tags: Apple, iPod

Tom Cruise the big mouth doctor

2005-05-26T10:54:00.000+10:00

Tom Cruise is excellent. During the peak of my movie-attending life > 10 years ago, Cruise's career was on the up. That was when he was in movies like The Color of Money, Rain Man, Cocktail, 4th of July etc.

Unlike many actors, he seems to have maintained his drawing power over the years. I still enjoyed the Mission Impossible series and Minority Report; and now look forward to War of the Worlds. One day he and Brad Pitt may appear in the same movie.

He's managed to keep his Scientology thing quiet for a while, which I think is great. He is free to believe anything he wants, really. But now, he says this (from IMDb):

Tom Cruise has criticized Hollywood pal Brooke Shields' “misguided” use of the anti-depressant Paxil, while declaring the actress' career as over. In an interview with Billy Bush on TV show Access Hollywood, to be screened on Thursday, Cruise speaks of his disappointment to learn Shields used Paxil to fight post-natal depression following the birth of her daughter Rowan. Shields is currently weaning herself off her medication so she and husband Chris Henchy can have another child. Cruise, who claims to have helped people fight drug addictions through his controversial Scientology religion, says the Suddenly Susan actress should have used vitamins to help her feelings of despair. Cruise says, “Here is a woman, and I care about Brooke Shields because I think she is an incredibly talented woman. You look at, where has her career gone?” Despite the Minority Report actor's declaration her career is over, Shields is currently receiving rave reviews playing murderess Roxie Hart in the London theatre production of Chicago. Cruise maintains, “These drugs are dangerous. I have actually helped people come off. When you talk about postpartum, you can take people today, women, and what you do is you use vitamins. There is a hormonal thing that is going on, scientifically, you can prove that. But when you talk about emotional, chemical imbalances in people, there is no science behind that. You can use vitamins to help a woman through those things.”

It actually seems a little silly. Just because Tom Cruise is an actor, or a celebrity, that doesn't make him an authority on every single thing. Is he an authority on paroxetine and anti-depressants now? By all means state your preferences in public, but there's no need to disparage other actors/actresses while you are doing it.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Celebrities, Medicine, Tom Cruise

24 Season 4 finale

2005-05-25T00:49:00.000+10:00

Ah, what a brilliant ending to 24 Season 4. Can’t say the same for the rest of the series. But live and let live. I don’t think I’m looking forward too much to Season 5. For me the thrill is in knowing the story and plot, not really in watching the crew. Much of the “mid-game”, and the actors in general were pretty poor. Negative words like contrived, stupid, cliche, routine come to mind. So, this will probably be the last season for me.

Till next time.

Looks like Behrooz got forgotten. And whatever happened to the President vs Speaker of the House issue?

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: 24, Television

Sith

2005-05-24T20:21:00.000+10:00

I saw Revenge of the Sith on the Friday (20th May 2005, 4 days ago). For some reason, it is so hard to write a review of. I thought it was an awful movie, but can’t seem to express just why it is so bad. IMHO there are so many mediocre movies out there, that my expectations have been watered down. Or maybe it is because Phantom Menace and Clones were horrible by themselves.

I wanted to write a proper critique, given that the rating on IMDb (as of 24th May) is 8.2/10—obviously a whole bunch of people disagree with me.

As always, at least there’s the original (original original i.e. not DVD, not special edition) trilogy to fall back on.

Can’t wait to watch the finale of 24. That’s another disappointment. From Fox too.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Movie review, Movies, Television

24 finale in 5 days time

2005-05-19T10:35:00.000+10:00

Thank goodness Season 4 of 24 is ending soon. I haven't particularly enjoyed this season. The first 6 hours, and last 5–6 hours have been OK. But the “midgame” has been quite bad. What was all that about the McLennan-Forrester company bosses who started a firefight with Jack Bauer downtown? Are they going to pop up in the finale? Or just a plot device to get Paul Raines dead?

And what about having Erin Driscoll to start the season purely as a seat warmer the seat for Michelle (setting up the Tony-Michelle non-existent-tension)… and Buchanan around to be the “tough”… and the Buchanan-Almeida rivalry that isn't. What about the torture of Sarah? And the China consulate invasion/investigation/Bern recognition—just another plot device?

I suspect the last 2 hours will be devoted to the Almeida killing, missile downing, and possibly a Mandy-Jack show down of some sort. Leaving the McLennan-Forrester, China, Amnesty Global (!) threads unresolved by the end of the season.
The writers of 24 have much more freedom than those in other television series. Massive numbers of plot devices can be used, with seemingly no repercussions. The above issues will probably have a mention (if that) in Season 5 as “been fixed”. In the current season, they are just “filler material”.

All a bit silly really. There might be debate as to the merits of Season 1, 2, 3. But Season 4 makes them all look good.

And where is newly orphaned Behrooz, who had a transmitter excised from his scalp? No urgency in his solving his abduction I'm sure.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: 24, Television

Bloggers vs Journalists

2005-05-17T11:22:00.000+10:00

Looks like Apple is ahead of the game again—although not in an exciting positive way. The lawsuit against Think Secret which I thought was about trade secrets eventually became spun as a David vs Goliath thing, and eventually also somehow exploded into the mainstream as a bloggers vs journalists issue. Prior to that of course, the Macintosh news sites (which I think preceded blogging), were already constantly being threatened for revealing screenshots of software and hardware in development.

Since the Think Secret suit, there has been the Singapore blogger thing that was picked up and reported in the Straits Times—Singapore mainstream newspaper (paid subscription needed). Looks like the threat of lawsuits has affected the Singapore blogosphere. The site in question is still shut down.

And now Australia's Mediawatch has highlighted a blogger vs journalist thing in the Janet Albrechtsen/Wall Street Journal/Opinion Journal/Arthur Chrenkoff issue here and here. And roped in Rupert Murdoch as well.

It's a bit repetitive really—the arguments always seem quite similar—freedom of speech, opinion, censorship, bias, influence, accountability blah di blah. Supporters on either side making impassioned arguments with all sorts of points of views. Googling for blogging journalist reveals that this issue has been going on for years. I'm sure there'll be more of this coming up. Now that Rupert Murdoch has said “blog”, the topic of blogging can only become bigger. And murkier.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Australia, Blogosphere

Will the real Shayne Hatfield please stand up?

2005-05-16T23:58:00.000+10:00

One of the people implicated in the Australian Police drug crackdown Operation Mocha, is Shayne Desmond Hatfield.

A Google search of “Shayne Hatfield” reveals a link to the Line Up Surf Australia website (now defunct).

But a Google cache is here.

The Shayne Hatfield on Line Up Surf Australia, seems like a nice guy.

His “Likes” include “…Money…” which is good. His “Dislikes” include “…drugs; alcohol; dishonest people.”

And: “…Be true to yourself - stay away from drugs and alcohol - remember you are important and worth of the best life has to offer.”

What a coincidence, that 2 people with the same name, and age, in the same Australian state, are poles apart.

Ooh.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Australia, Crime, Drugs

Not missing television

2005-05-16T22:55:00.000+10:00

Less than ten years ago, I remember a television advertisement for the Commonwealth Bank (one of a handful of large Australian banks).

It was one of those “lifestyle ads” so it wasn’t much about the bank services at all, rather aimed at inspiring us consumers to get out and do something with our lives. There were images of smiling people, traveling, playing sport, smiling and so on. The soundtrack consisted of a enthusiastic speaker. During a montage of several images in the middle of the 30 second ad, the speaker said “…switch off your television…” and this was accompanied by a close-up image of a television falling from a height, hitting the ground, and breaking.

If the creator of that ad is reading this: kudos to you. I’ve never seen anything like it since.

Since then I kept hearing this thing about television. This was the time when shows like the X-Files and ER were popular. I did notice that television shows were becoming increasingly sophisticated, and targeted at the younger generation. Think “The Jeffersons” vs “Friends”.

In the name of “being daring”, and “pushing the envelope”, television shows also started to insidiously (or not) include more sexual, realistic violence, and profanity.

“So what” I thought—this has probably been happening since movies were first available. Complainants could either be luddites, or oldies (yea, like my dad). New TV was cool—and surely openly portraying sex, homosexuality, realistic crime, torture, murder, and other “issues” was a good thing? Everyone else—magazines, movies etc—was doing it, and the public demands it. Or pays for it.

However, something was bothering me—Were we buying televisions just to watch commercials? What’s this bad rap about television, as opposed to radio, movies, computer games? Movies and games have been criticised for worsening violence, but there criticism is usually limited to the content. The act of watching movies, or playing video games—aren’t usually the problem.

(I do recall an argument that video games indoctrinates the “save game” or “restart” feature into people’s minds, causing them to be poorly prepared for making choices in life.)

On the other hand, television itself, and not just the content, seemed to be a bad thing:

The Red Hot Chili Peppers sang:
“Throw away your television…”

Bruce Willis in The Fifth Element said:
“…rot your brain…”

The narrator in Fight Club said:
“By the end of the first month, I didn’t miss TV.”

Steve Jobs said in an interview: “The most corrosive piece of technology that I’ve ever seen is called television…”

Another interview: “The majority of people in this country want to turn on a television and turn off their brain and that’s what they get.”

Cameron Diaz said: “I don’t even own a TV because I think it’s the devil.”

Frank Lloyd Wright said: “Television is chewing gum for the eyes.”

One of the senior doctors at my previous hospital had 3 boys at home, and rumours started to circulate that he did not have a television in the house.

These are all non-idiots. There had to be a fragment of truth to all that. So three months ago, I unplugged the television. And now I think it is true: television is bloody evil.

Now, I pretty much regret even owning a television. I was going to buy a personal video recorder, but no longer have that urge with television out of my system. I no longer feel the urge to buy a plasma television. I no longer feel compelled to watch every episode of… anything now (exception). I no longer get aggravated when advertisements come on, and are too loud, strident or repetitive; or that TV shows are too bland and boring. Sitcoms, dramas, Big Brother, Dr Phil… all come and go with me oblivious.

Getting rid of the television has to be one of the best things I have done recently. Highly recommended… Even the space the television occupies, I wish could reclaim it and put an exercise bike (or whatever) there.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Rant, Television

Apple’s Sherlock shame

2005-05-13T01:15:00.000+10:00

Apple has 2 ways of maintaining their applications: Good, and totally shite. Sherlock falls into the latter group.

Sherlock arrived much heralded. It was a Internet search tool, that used multiple the search engines. This preceded Google, so it wasn’t a horrible idea. But multi-engine searching could be done on any computer platform with Metacrawler, and the benefits of searching more than one search engine was dubious anyway. Unfortunately Copernic decided to enter the Macintosh market at the time. Bad move.

Despite all that, and a brushed metal interface; phrases like VT-Win, relevance search and all that, made it sound good. Sherlock was a star attraction, even showing up in Apple ads, “Dad, why is the sky blue?”, “Why does a curve ball curve?”.

Somehow, Apple managed to insert ads into their search results.

Sherlock also came with other searches e.g. Amazon and auction searches. Apple encouraged 3rd party plug-in development, for a while. Sherlock plug-in downloads became popular for a time. And then Apple itself lost interest in updating their own bundled plug-ins.

Even more worrying, was that Apple decided to make this Internet search tool, the official file find tool as well. By default, command-F in the Finder launched Sherlock. Result: every file find caused a delay while a bloated (even back then) application launched.

File finding also incorporated file indexing, with the funky VTWin technology. In practice, indexing was total and utter crap. Actually, IMHO, the operating system was crap, and would never have handled it. UltraFind, which performed in-file searching without indexing, was more realistic, faster and better.

Sherlock was one of the first applications ported to Mac OS X, and it looked the same. It did start to make some sense why a brushed metal interface was chosen. Nonetheless, the Internet plug-ins continued to be un-updated; neither was the speed. Soon, Sherlock became useless.

And then when Jaguar arrived, Apple revitalised Sherlock—announcing it as one of the key Jaguar features. They did so by making a clone copy of a shareware company’s (Karelia) only application—Watson. Ethics aside, it was a home-run, a great leap forward. It was the golden days again. Movie times and trailers, flight details, auctions, dictionaries… you name it. File find, and indexing was removed from Sherlock. It was a focused Internet search tool now—even demoed by Steve Jobs on stage.

Scratch deeper though… and reveal superficial beauty. Sherlock was no comparison to Watson. Personally I suspect it made users appreciate Watson more.

Apple announced Panther for release a year later, and Sherlock entered maintenance mode immediately. Bugs were left unfixed e.g. It took minutes, to switch between channels (plug-ins), and the movie finding tool was buggy. There was no localisation either.

Apple claims that they had Dashboard on their minds when they created Exposé, which probably explains why Sherlock was mothballed during Panther development. After 1 year of Jaguar, and 1.5 years of Panther, Dashboard arrived. So did Spotlight. Sherlock—having lost its Internet searching task to Safari’s Google box, lost the rest of its functions to Dashboard. And also now Spotlight reminded us how file searching should be.

Although Watson outclassed Sherlock in every way—of all Apple’s conquests (LiteSwitch, Konfabulator) I think Watson stood out as being the best “original”—Karelia sold Watson to Sun Microsystems and stopped supporting it. Watson is still available for download. But its replacement is slow to show up.

Now, Sherlock sits like a lame duck in the Applications folder. After huge wastes of Apple programmer, developer and user time, it looks like it’s on the way out. Good riddance—Sherlock was a program that—by its nature— needed continual attention and little updates. Which is something Apple (and maybe Karelia) just could not do. Apple was happy enough to just create a little homeruns. Pity about Watson.

Hopefully this will be Sherlock’s last OS X appearance.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Apple, Mac OS X, Macintosh

Douglas Wood—hostage in Iraq

2005-05-12T01:41:00.000+10:00

Here’s a plug for Douglas Wood’s official website. Nicely done by his family.

http://www.thewoodfamily.info

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Australia, Iraq

Apple iTunes continual absence & Yahoo

2005-05-12T00:22:00.000+10:00

While Apple has expanded into an additional number of European countries, the Australian and New Zealand stores are still no-show.

I’m quite excited about Yahoo!’s entry into the subscription music download market. Yahoo! usually behaves like they have an idea about what they are doing. The Yahoo! features I use the most consist of Yahoo! slapping their brand on a 3rd party service. e.g. Yahoo! Travel, Yahoo! Weather, Yahoo! TV Guide, Yahoo! cinema times.

Yahoo! Auctions disappeared on me though, and I can’t remember the last time I used Yahoo! Search.

So, Yahoo! Music. Hopefully it’ll place continual downward pressure on the price of digital downloads.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Apple, Music

Spotlight: DevonThink killer

2005-05-10T19:58:00.000+10:00

Spotlight continues to surprise me. I exported my DevonThink data out of that program’s database, into actual files. DevonThink had been one of my most-used programs, and also one of the more expensive downloadable software I have bought.

I used it to store all my PDF files and text documents. DevonThink stores all this in a monolithic database, hence text-searching was fast, and this was probably the killer feature. Over time, as a database grew, launching it at startup began to take ages. Slug city.

My previous text storage programs included IdeaKeeper in OS 9 (both now defunct). I then moved to MacJournal, which at the time was free. After a stint with VoodooPad Lite, I tried, and then bought DevonThink. Now, DevonThing’s era is over.

Over the years, there has been disquiet about Apple’s inclusion of shareware functionality into its operating system. The kill-list now includes:

Watson
LiteSwitch
Konfabulator (looks on the site like v2 is showing up real soon now)

Not to mention the countless email programs, and browsers whose features overlapped with Mail.app and Safari.app.

Some of those moves have been more controversial than others, and most have been discussed ad nauseam elsewhere. I think the saddest story is that of Watson. Previously a software that I used daily. I don’t have any evidence at hand, that Apple’s re-tooling of Sherlock directly caused Watson’s demise—that could easily have been due to other developer-related reasons, and moreover Karelia would need to be committed enough to continually keep their lookup APIs updated. Be that as it may, Watson is all but gone now. Worse, now Apple’s Sherlock looks like it’s gone and tripped into the “neglected” bin. At least its link points to a defunct Jaguar site.

http://www.apple.com/sherlock/

I don’t quite think that DevonThink fits right into this category. Still, it is quite sad… I was looking forward to DevonThink Pro a while ago. Now… I have a prediction that I won’t even notice when it is released.

Meanwhile, my Spotlight searches are revealing notes which I forgot I even made years ago, so now I’m glad.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Apple, Mac OS X, Macintosh, Software

Get A$123 from ING Direct (bank) on 10th May 2005

2005-05-10T01:47:00.000+10:00

I found this link on link on the Sydney Morning Herald while reading about the cocaine bust in Sydney.

Seems genuine.

Or you can go to a Fairfax newspaper, and click on one of the text ads.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Free money

One macro a day — AppleScript etc.

2005-05-09T13:19:00.000+10:00

I bought Matt Neuberg’s AppleScript The Definitive Guide around September of 2004. It's quite a good book. I have enjoyed it lots. I read the first half, then tried some scripts out. And since January this year, have been trying to write at least one script a day. No matter how simple. One script that partially automates my computer. I do use both iKey (version 1.0.7) and AppleScript as they complement each other.

I now use Matt's book as a reference-type book. Other resources that have been useful have been Apple’s own AppleScript Language Guide, MacOSXHints and Google.

Google has been quite useful, since I can append “AppleScript” to searches to limit them. e.g. google Camino “new tabs” applescript. No, I haven’t figured out a good way to automate Camino's tabs.

So far, I’m quite pleased with my progress. The scripts I have written are simple to the extreme, but at least AppleScript is no longer the big dark mystery it once was. And I have a great appreciation of Automator's functionality. I think Automator is a really big achievement for Apple.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Apple, AppleScript, Mac OS X, Macintosh, Software

One macro a day — AppleScript etc.

2005-05-09T12:19:00.001+10:00

I bought Matt Neuberg’s AppleScript The Definitive Guide

around September of 2004. It's quite a good book. I have enjoyed it lots. I read the first half, then tried some scripts out. And since January this year, have been trying to write at least one script a day. No matter how simple. One script that partially automates my computer. I do use both iKey (version 1.0.7) and AppleScript as they complement each other.

I now use Matt's book as a reference-type book. Other resources that have been useful have been Apple’s own AppleScript Language Guide, MacOSXHints and Google.

Google has been quite useful, since I can append “AppleScript” to searches to limit them. e.g. google Camino “new tabs” applescript
.
No, I haven’t figured out a good way to automate Camino's tabs.

So far, I’m quite pleased with my progress. The scripts I have written are simple to the extreme, but at least AppleScript is no longer the big dark mystery it once was. And I have a great appreciation of Automator's functionality. I think Automator is a really big achievement for Apple.

[posted with

ecto

]

Technorati Tags: Apple, AppleScript, Bali, Japan, Mac OS X, Macintosh, Prisons, Software

One macro a day — AppleScript etc.

2005-05-09T12:19:00.000+10:00

I bought Matt Neuberg’s AppleScript The Definitive Guide

around September of 2004. It's quite a good book. I have enjoyed it lots. I read the first half, then tried some scripts out. And since January this year, have been trying to write at least one script a day. No matter how simple. One script that partially automates my computer. I do use both iKey (version 1.0.7) and AppleScript as they complement each other.

I now use Matt's book as a reference-type book. Other resources that have been useful have been Apple’s own AppleScript Language Guide, MacOSXHints and Google.

Google has been quite useful, since I can append “AppleScript” to searches to limit them. e.g. google Camino “new tabs” applescript
.
No, I haven’t figured out a good way to automate Camino's tabs.

So far, I’m quite pleased with my progress. The scripts I have written are simple to the extreme, but at least AppleScript is no longer the big dark mystery it once was. And I have a great appreciation of Automator's functionality. I think Automator is a really big achievement for Apple.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Apple, AppleScript, Bali, Japan, Mac OS X, Macintosh, Prisons, Software

More Singapore blogging furore

2005-05-07T03:36:00.000+10:00

My Firefox bookmarks menu frequently scrolls beyond a single screen, and defies organisation—sickening. Occasionally I take a peek at my Firefox history to see which links will be expiring soon. Like life, History expiration is forever.

I wandered into the Singapore Palm User Groups forums to catch up on the PSC scholar racist blog issue (my earlier comments). Ooh, it looks like it only took me 10+ days to find out that something newer has happened. A legal threat has been made against a Singaporean who broke his PSC scholarship—effectively shutting him up for now. After scrolling through what exactly did happen: this looks like the best summary.

Despite the blog disappearing act, another site has an email that tells the bloggers side. Looks like it ain't over yet. Emotionally, Acid.Flask has my vote. This feels like the Apple vs blog/O'Reilly of recently.

Good luck in your exams Mr Flask :). Not only Apple behaves like Apple.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Singapore, Blogosphere

Tom White movie

2005-05-06T11:30:00.000+10:00

I watched an Australian movie called “Tom White” last night, which starred Colin Friels whom I like, and Rachel Blake, who was in Wild Side on ABC TV a while ago; along with several other Australian actors.

The movie revolves around an Australian white collar male—who looks like he was not coping well for whatever reason—who takes the plunge and dramatically changes his life. One days he leaves work and does not go home. Instead roaming and sleeping around the Melbourne streets. He meets characters along the way, and the movie documents random events that follow.

I honestly didn't get it.

Colin Friel's in the lead role gave a pretty good performance. The actors portraying his family (including Rachael Blake) did well with their limited screen time. Unfortunately the rest of the cast was pretty bland. When Tom White “steps out” of his world into the seamy side of Melbourne, there are the obligatory bar scenes, drug and party scenes, the obligatory gay young man, obligatory female, and the obligatory “man-who-has-been-there-before” among others. Poor acting, events and characters memorable only for incredibly cliched dialogue.

Tom White follows a handful of movies with similar theme: Falling Down with Michael Douglas, Fight Club, American Beauty. Unlike those movies, the characters and episodes documented here are disconnected, and nothing much eventuates. Which reminded me of a cheap man's Magnolia.

The movie uses too much shorthand to replace character development. For example Tom starts off as a middle class man, then metamorphoses into a homeless man (with a hair stylist).

The reason for this change is hinted to be few things: the word “despair” is tossed around, possibly work or family related. Or was he having a psychotic episode? Was he depressed? Or did he have Parkinsons Disease? The movie doesn't explain this. Instead it just shows Tom's hand tremor, his daughter complaining about his work, some lunch time drinking, lots of yelling, some of Tom's computer drawings, and leaves it at that. Maybe that was the movie maker's intention—to keep things open-ended and for viewers to decide for themselves. In which case it lost me.

Unfortunately the rest of the movie follows this model, such that the only things I remember are irritatingly bad dialog, unmemorable characters and events, and melancholy music.

3 out of 10.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Movie review, Movies

Spotlight… needs work

2005-05-03T02:32:00.000+10:00

My PowerBook 1.25 GHz Aluminum has been an excellent machine. Since I find myself working at a desk more often—possibly related to the new Dell 24“ LCD I just bought—I run it closed screen all the time now, with an external keyboard and mouse.

Recently I added a FireWire 800 250 GB harddisk to the mix, mainly for backup purposes. However, I booting from the external HD was so much faster that I soon realised to use the PowerBook internal HD as the backup, and run off the external harddisk exclusively. I thought it might also help reduce heat from the PowerBook.

I use SuperDuper!—a disk cloning application—to make sure both disks are identical before changing the boot drive.

So far it has been good. The speed is addictive. I can see myself getting something new real soon now.

Spotlight has not coped well with the change though. Indexing when booted from the new drive is bloody unreliable. I followed some hints from MacOSXhints, on how to re-index the hard disk. That part works, but searches are no longer magically kept up to date.

In an earlier post I mentioned how I felt that Spotlight was earnestly trying to keep my data and its data in sync. This is how what happens when it fails.

I'm not sure what to do now. I better just do a restart. Should do anyway—the external hard disk doesn't benefit from the PowerBook internal battery, and could shut down anytime there was a power failure.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Apple, Mac OS X, Macintosh, Operating System, Software bug, QuickTime, Software

Hi Definition trailers of Kingdom of Heaven and others

2005-05-02T01:29:00.000+10:00

I'm not too keen on the new Ridley Scott movie Kingdom of Heaven. The subject matter doesn't appeal to me; and lots of people charging at each other with medieval weapons doesn't do much for me. Movies I have previously seen like this one include:

(Yes, thank goodness I skipped Alexander.)

Other movies have similar fantastical themes: e.g. Gladiator, Starship Troopers, Attack of the Clones…
CGI dudes fighting CGI dudes with a whole lot of bad actors (pretenders, really) prancing around, buffed up with period costume—who knows if they are accurate—and around green screens. Where's the excitement in that? What next? Hannibal…? Oh yea.

Black Hawk Down, at least that had people acting as kids, behaving like kids.
I have to say though that the new high definition trailer on Apple's website is breathtaking on few levels. First the quality is jaw-dropping. It does look a little too pristine maybe. It reminded me a little when the first time computer games moved from VGA to SVGA. e.g. some in-game shots of Wing Commander IV and System Shock. VGA at the time was a little faster, and blurrier. Sometimes the SVGA versions of the same thing just looked too—sterile.
The second thing about the KOH trailer: the scenes are unbelievable. Scenes of fire rocks being tossed about, quiet scenes in the forest, battle scenes.
Third thing, is the excellent music. At least until the electric guitar came on. Having that in the final movie—can't do wonders for suspension of disbelief. Although imagine it being a good idea.
Fourth is a negative: Killer overuse of the fade-to-black. Turn-off! Bad bad.
Fifth: Why does Liam Neeson keep acting as the same character: Gui-Gon Jinn in Phantom Menace, Henri Ducard in Batman Begins, and now whatever in Kingdom of Heaven. Not one of my favourite actors.
By comparison, the Batman Begins trailer looked a little tame. I've seen the Batman origin story once in a movie now, and in several comics, all in one form or another. It is easier to see in full high definition glory that Katie Holmes' lopsided smile is “Right corner up, left corner down”. Can you say “Annoying”! I'm excited about Gary Oldman as the the future police commissioner though.
On the whole, curiously, I'm more tempted to see Batman Begins that KOH on the big screen. Maybe just to stick to what I know. I think I'll end up watching both on DVD.

High definition! I have seen it, and I can't wait.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Blockbusters, High definition, Movies, Apple, QuickTime, Rant, Trailers

iChat AV 3 does not work. Move along now.

2005-05-01T21:24:00.000+10:00

From my personal experience, and from (extensive) travails over the Internet, the prize for most overhyped Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger technology has to be iChat AV 3.

iChat AV 3 was one of the highlights of Steve Job's MacWorld Tiger demos. Video conferencing lended itself well to a gorgeous live demo when it worked. For Steve it did.

There was the sliding animations, crystal clear audio and video and the emulated shiny desktop. Indulgence personified.

The current iChat AV 3 discussion board is filled with misconnections. “1 frame per second… Virex… 15 frames per second… No improvement over iChat AV… Cannot chat with Windows… It used to work goddammit…” (paraphrased).

The current solutions are further questions… usually about configurations that the original poster did not include.

e.g. someone mentions “this used to work, now it doesn't”. The advice are picked from: “Maybe you should do a Archive and install/clean install”, “Did you repair permissions?”, “What sort of broadband connection do you have?”, “You have opened the ports on your router?”, “Have you done it correctly though?”, “Have you tried a DMZ?”, “What about the other side?”, “What was his installation…?”, “Maybe he should do an Archive and install/clean install…”.

Just pick one response, that covers the details the original poster did not, and send that one.

Disturbingly, there have been no happy posts at all. Usually, there are a couple of posts, that say “It's working for me…”. Just take a look at the iWork Pages forum. From the posts, my solution is simple: “iChat AV 3 as it is is flawed, and will not work. At least not on most of the computers out there…”. However, it is only at “Longhorn” stage, not quite “cold fusion”, so at least there is something to look forward to.

Unfortunately video conferencing itself is a bear to troubleshoot. The above “advice” are unfortunately relevant. There are twice as many Mac configurations to figure out + the network + it is easier to pick up the telephone.

Previously
Steve has done it before—when iChat AV was demoed. That time, the iSight was shown off, at eye-level vs being on the table, single cable, no configuration, many frames per second. iChat AV (to me) is still the best video conferencing effort on a consumer computer. After AV was announced, and bundled with Panther though, complaints started coming on the discussion boards. Some were dismissed, as scum who either wanted to get a < 600 MHz G3 to use video or those who insisted on using USB webcams. There were those who could not get their router working, and Apple worked and worked on those.

Most importantly though, there were those who did get it working, on not-very-powerful machines. A 600 MHz G3 with iSight could video conference well over a broadband connection. Woo wee, they said. Over time, Apple has somehow made the experience even better. From my experience in the last 6 months, iChat AV has been wonderful.

The pity then, is that those who installed Tiger, cannot go back to iChat AV 2. A big shame.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: iChat, Macintosh, Operating System, Rant, Software

Audio Hijack Pro is now scriptable!

2005-04-30T21:08:00.000+10:00

Yippee. Version 2.5 of Audio Hijack Pro is Applescriptable. Thank goodness. Previously, to automate a recording I had to use GUI scripting. It worked, but always felt a like a kludge (for lack of a better word). Now, a couple of lines of code/script later: clean and easy automatic recording.

I have to say, automation could be one of those software killer apps that Apple needs. Anyone using a combination of iKey, Quickeys, AppleScript and so on, will have to find equivalents, in the event that they switch platforms. Finding equivalent software is hard enough, let alone equivalent macro software.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Macintosh, Software

In general, Tiger is OK

2005-04-30T16:51:00.000+10:00

I have mixed feelings about Tiger. A couple of features are outstanding and new. But that’s about it. Little else about the OS is super-exciting. Is this a good thing? An OS that gets out the way could be a considered a good one. However, Tiger just seems… boring…

I won’t go into the details of Spotlight as that would only be repeating what has already been mentioned countless times prior to OS X’s release. There is no denying the impressive feat that Spotlight is. The new focus on metadata shows results—and I mean that in more ways than one. My issue with Spotlight is that it does still seem a little tacked on. Not as “tacked on” as OpenDoc was (of course). Spotlight seems to try to do what a database does… but is not actually a true database. In the back of my mind I keep thinking that my computer is valiantly trying to keep everything in sync. So far it has, and doesn’t seem to have much trouble doing so. Thankfully Spotlight isn’t really a mission-critical bit of the OS—like moving the mouse is, for example. So any faults it shows later isn’t likely to ruin any of my data. I hope not anyway.

I’m not yet ready to give accolades to Apple Mail.app. Mail itself has a few pluses and minuses. It so happens that the large part of the Mail.app new incredible-ness, comes from Spotlight.

So the second impressive thing about Tiger is Automator, which is aimed at the intermediate user. Automator is a natural progression for AppleScript however is a little more “high level” i.e. more user friendly. I find it has solved the major difficulties I had with AppleScript e.g. finding out if an Application is scriptable, accessing the “objects” I wanted, and finding out the right combinations of “actions” to apply to those objects. As a new AppleScript user, everything is experimental. As there are so many possible applications, data types, and possible commands, anything beyond “simple”, involves incredible form of trial and error. Now, Automator makes the simple things simple.

An example: I wanted to add the .jpg suffix to a group of files I selected. I could get away with using AppleScript. AppleScript or Perl aficionados would pooh pooh at such a simple task. However, the difficulty with such programming is real. Automator simply makes such automation within reach of the general user.

So far I have written 10 or so Automator scripts. Part of me thinks that I’ve chickened out of real AppleScript programming. However, the other part just enjoys the fruits of such automation. Automator: lowering the entry requirements for automation. While Spotlight has been emulated by Google and Yahoo!, Automator is truly Apple’s genius—finally they have managed to leverage AppleScript into something truly useful. I’m still glad I know some AppleScript: spend 20 seconds with Automator to reveal glaring limitations.

Spotlight and Automator just about takes up 70% of the “Wow” factor, for me. 15% of the “Wow” goes to speed. 4% “Wow” goes to the fact that swapping the Command and Option keys is now built into the operating system itself. 4% goes to the fact that most of my applications work, and that the OS itself is so stable. And 7% goes to miscellaneous, including
Dashboard
.

Dashboard has been seems to belong to another world. Simply because I don’t feel it to be much related to the operating system at all. It doesn’t seem to do anything that couldn’t have been done by a 3rd party, on any operating system. An activation key brings up a new environment, that runs little applications. OK, so like SideKick on MS-DOS. You didn’t really need a new version of MS-DOS just to run SideKick.

There several other miscellany throughout Tiger. The ones I know of have been contributed to this MacNN forum thread, and there isn’t much point in duplicating them here.

The most exciting new things that I have learnt about Tiger came from this Ars Technica article. Once again, logical and non-emotional. All that data about metadata and underlying APIs were so exciting. I somewhat wish there were more releases like this one, that improved the underpinnings of the OS, rather than introduce flashy new features. While Mac OS 9.2 looked much different from System 7.5 for example, the underlying architecture was so hopeless that Apple were really just spinning their wheels.

Panther is dead, long live the king.

[posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Macintosh, Operating System, Software

Tiger delay

2005-04-27T23:30:00.000+10:00

I have been fiddling with Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger for the last few days. Finally gotten round to running ecto.

Tiger is great! Love it. It’s not the incredible breakthrough that Apple would have use believe. That’s a good, and bad thing. For now, I think it’s mainly good.

[posted with ecto]

What more can the iPod do? My lateral thought.

2005-04-24T02:40:00.000+10:00

The Apple iPod is a magnificent device. I have had 2 different iPods—the first generation, and a 3rd generation 20 GB one. Sadly they did not fit into my digital lifestyle, and both have been eBayed.

At the time, my work consisted of answering a pager, or concentrating on a task, so listening to headphones wasn’t conducive. My work travel time was about 15–20 minutes, so the hassle of charging, carrying and hiding an iPod wasn’t worth it. When at a desk, I would listen to music on my PowerBook via speakers or earphones (if I was at home). Having an iPod also meant more cables, a dock, charger, case which was just more, in an already cluttered life.

Since then newer iPods have been released. As always the hard disk capacity increase; aside from that new features have been colour, and a longer battery life. Nice. But eventually all iPods with screens will have them in colour. And then what? Possibly OLED screens? Video maybe?

Larger iPod capacities introduce a problem on their own: the current concept of using an iPod involves synchronising data from a computer to the iPod hard disk. As iPods reach 80 and 100 GB, they will be catching up with laptop hard disks, which then mean that synchronising by itself no longer becomes a feasible thing. The Mac mini would have the same problem. “Real” desktop hard disks now go up to 250 or 400 GB so not yet a problem there. Soon either portable computer users start to put their music on external hard disks; or the iPod starts to become more of a hard disk backup and not synchronise everthing.

So far, iTunes’ design as having a monolithic music database has compounded the problem somewhat. It takes effort to maintain a music database with external hard disks, or in multiple locations, while avoiding deleted or duplicated files. I wonder if Apple will eventually recognise this problem by fixing it the “Apple-way”—which involves buying more iPods.

The fix
What if Apple further emphasised the iPod’s role as a music carrying device, adding a feature such that our music is only stored on the iPod? This eliminates the full music library from the notebook or desktop machine. At any time when we launch iTunes to listen to our MP3s, the MP3 files are streamed off the connected iPod. Clever buffering technology could then cache our most played songs and playlists on the notebook/desktop machine hard disk without user intervention. Similarly, groups of songs could be copied at a time to the notebook/desktop hard disk allowing the iPod hard disk to spin down. Disconnecting the iPod then still allows the user to listen to a subset of his entire library.

There are many benefits of this. Primarily is that it involves mostly innovative software. No tweaking to the iPod is necessary—essentially a portable hard disk itself; although knowing Apple they would probably market it as a new feature unavailable to older iPods.

For the user, it allows one to get rid of entire libraries of music—a duplicate of what is already on an iPod anyway. I now have 26 GB of music on my 80 GB PowerBook hard disk.

The benefits to Apple are plenty. If our music is solely on the iPod, our dependence on Apple’s white portable audio player increases. The iPod becomes even more associated with the music listening—even at our computers. Currently iPod=music. My plan can change this (slightly) to music=iPod. And maybe more people would buy iPods because they are running out of space to fit those pirated MP3 files. Of course it just so happens that they can listen to their music on the run as well. It’s all good for Apple.

Eventually, it may even be possible to plug my white music player into any computer, and listen to my music via iTunes. Listening only, not copying of course (and authorisation still applies). This way, I get to manipulating music and playlists on via iTunes (infinitely easier than on an iPod). I also get the benefit of desktop speakers, and charge my iPod battery at the same time.

Bad points: It does introduce some complexity to the current “just sync and it works” strategy—which is why the above idea should be optional. Secondly, having a redundant duplicate of our music, is a good thing—which is why the music needs to be further backed up to CDs/DVDs/more external hard disks. Backing up is a good thing, and more is better. It just doesn’t need to be in my PowerBook internal hard disk, that’s all.

[posted with ecto]

Dell 2405FPW 24" LCD screen

2005-04-22T16:25:00.000+10:00

A month back, someone had an idea to “mass buy” the newly released Dell 24" LCD screen direct from Dell Australia. The actual price was about A$1780, and this was negotiated down to A$1310 (or so, not sure) with several hundred buyers.

I made my order a little later, at A$1420, with Dell did their not-uncommon “20% off” sale. Aside from corporate orders or mass orders, this is about as low as the Australian prices go. As a comparison, Apple’s 23" LCD screen costs A$2551 (education pricing).

Anyway, 2.5 weeks later, the Dell 2405FPW has arrived at my doorstep. What a wonderful view this is.

My main source of information for this deal was Whirlpool Australia—a site devoted to broadband news coverage in Australia. It also attracts quite a few tech-savvy people, hence the organisation of the A$1310 mass order. Thanks to Whirlpool and forum participants.

I also can’t complain about Dell’s service. Despite continual reports of online about off-shoring and the language barrier issues, I have had no problems with them. They have been polite, helpful and efficient. Thumbs up!

For the last 2 weeks, the 2405FPW has not been available on Dell Australia’s site—probably because of low stocks. Some participants of the mass order are reporting very slow deliveries and long waits. One poster has seen boxes and boxes of 2405 LCD screens in one of the Australian courier warehouses, awaiting delivery. Is it possible this formerly luxury item will become one of the most commonly seen screens in Australia? I would’t be surprised.

I’m using Webshots for my high-resolution widescreen desktop pictures. Excellent!

[posted with ecto]

iTunes phone

2005-04-22T09:17:00.000+10:00

The iTunes phone keeps showing up in the news, but unseen. In the GSM market, a phone that is ready to be released, is released. Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola have their mobile phone line en masse in tons of shops here in Australia, and also in Singapore, and Malaysia.

Not the iTunes phone though: It needs to be manufactured by one company, approved by the next, and then be “accepted” by the phone companies. By the time it is sold, the design would be months old. Get it out there already.

It better be a good phone it its own right: Somehow I don’t see iTunes Music Store compatibility being a major plus to someone selecting a mobile phone. In fact at this moment, when it comes to mobile phones, would you choose:

listen to your protected AAC files, and have a choice of one phone model, or
listen to unprotected MP3 files, and have plenty of options.

Apple is really successful with the iPod. If they are keen on the mobile phone market as well, they aren’t doing very well.

On a miserable note, all this talk of mobile phones and iPods is just trivia, to all those people struggling to live their lives, around the World.

[posted with ecto]

Amnesty Global, right.

2005-04-19T20:37:00.000+10:00

This week’s 24 episode features Amnesty Global! An attorney from there prevents CTU from torturing someone. Even funnier, is that the CTU boss dude gets on the phone with a Judge and explains that a suspect is found in the context of finding a missing nuclear warhead, and the judge says that the Patriot Act does not apply… What the president does is unrealistic—anyone knows you can’t organise a meeting in half an hour.

I suppose the creator of the show took the opportunity to demonstrate how the Patriot Act is actually a really warm and fuzzy thing to have. That’s the cynical me. Maybe they actually do want to give us the viewer food for thought. Mmm… or maybe they just wanted to inject some fresh ideas into a tired series.

Funny, I remember “Western Countries” complaining about the Malaysian and Singaporean “Internal Security Act” 10 years ago. Now everyone wants one. Amnesty International and what it stands for just got mocked on television I think. It’s scary how I find that entertaining.

Can’t wait for next week.

“I’m not going upstairs until I know it is safe!”

[posted with ecto]

PSC scholar

2005-04-18T23:44:00.000+10:00

Looks like the verbal swashbuckling is still going on at the SPUG forums. CZ (the PSC scholar) has some friends that have showed up defending CZ now. And some calming word are being spoken giving a good overview of the situation. Not really a flame war just yet. It would be much easier to read if the participants used proper punctuation, and capitalisation. I don’t think after today I will be going back to have a look.

As I’ve posted before, I think it is impossible for me to follow a discussion on an Internet discussion board. My temperament is such that I usually end up unhappy, or regretting something I posted.

So this guy got pwned big time. He got caught doing something not uncommon, but not generally done in public. The question of whether it was ethical for someone to “hack” into his blog to find that information is a valid one. I for one would be uncomfortable if my 10 years of email got sent to the public domain. Most of us keep our email passwords relatively secure, but what if our emails/private thoughts were leaked? Should details such as our love letters, image attachments, evil private thoughts be endlessly discussed on a public forum? Let he who has no sin cast the first stone…

First point to note, is that the “hack” was a pretty easy one, from the sounds of it.

The 2nd point is, no matter what you think the ethics of the hacking: the word is already out. That discussion is moot. The revelations are now an event. And now the discussion will be about repercussions.

When Ceciliantas was caught gallivanting in Everquest, was the tattler punished? No…

When Paris Hilton’s phone was hacked into, and the details splashed all over the Internet, the “hacker” certainly wasn’t jeered. Because the exposé had already happened, and the discussion was about the details. Was Ms Hilton heckled like CZ was? Um… no.

But CZ’s detractors have been baying for blood… Why?

My thoughts are:
• Partly because he is a PSC scholar his actions reflect upon Singaporeans.
• Partly because he comes across on his blog as a prick.
• The bigger reason is that his comments—verbatim—have now made its way into the public domain, open to netizen. With the full text out there, there is no question about “…taken out of context…”, “…inside joke…”, “…different persona…”. These posts are from the horse’s mouth.
• And another big reason: his apology, seen in the Sunday Straits Times, and on his website ring hollow

So what was his mistake?
From my experience being in Singapore, thoughts like his are not exactly uncommon. I can imagine his being a self-professed crème de la crème living an insular, upper class life, it is his version of the truth.

His mistakes are: he got caught. And he did not come across as contrite.

So what now?
It is only early days. What happens now is only up to the Singapore authorities—depending on how the facts are spun. He could be tarred and feathered (surprise me Singapore). Or the topic of racism could become front page news, and endlessly discussed until nothing is left.

Or his online persona could just disappear. The fact that his main mistake was to get caught is emphasised in the comment column of the ST. Bloggers are criticised for yelling “Fire” in a crowded cinema. The “other side” of his persona is revealed. PSC gives him a public slap on the wrist. He quietly does whatever it is that PSC math majors do. Then 2 years later Life! does a “This-is-your-life” with CZ—his life and achievements celebrated, and the world is a better place.

Details of his blog exploits are murky and forgotten by Joe Public. Or the insane will remember them. That is what will happen.

[posted with ecto]

Bittorrent again

2005-04-17T16:31:00.000+10:00

This is a followup to the original posting here.

It took me exactly 7 hours to download a 2 GB image file.

Now, if this 2GB represented computer software, would I still be willing to pay full price simply for the privilege of receiving the same thing on a DVD? A DVD that contains an identical set of ones and zeroes as the image file I now have on my hard disk?

If I transferred this image file to a friend, would he/she/it be tempted to pay full price for a DVD before being “allowed” to use this software? I doubt it.

I have a 1.5 kbit/s download via ADSL—by no means the fastest connection in Australia. ADSL2+ has just been announced and touted by at least 3 broadband Internet Service Providers now. Someday, 2GB downloads will be… Pfft. Nothing. With 400GB hard disks, and large pipes, the future is downloading. 4–5 hours of letting the computer do its work. No need for driving around, parking, calling ahead to check stock and so on. Instant gratification.

Software companies—get smart about selling software now. Get your software into as many hands as possible, using whatever means available. Then sell licenses over the Internet instead. Hopefully by the time Mac OS X 10.5 is released, digital distribution of large images will be the norm.

[posted with ecto]

My own boring blog

2005-04-17T11:09:00.000+10:00

The Straits Times—much loved Singapore broadsheet—reported on a Singapore scholar posting racist comments on his blog. This was much discussed on SPUG.net, and a 2nd site which seems to have removed much of their comments—so not linked.

It’s quite eye-opening, flipping through archives of his blog though, as to how much people feel compelled to put their whole lives and thoughts onto blogs… Yes, and how capital letters and punctuation need not apply on blogs. I just had to add these here: ~~. It’s not a blog if you don’t ~~ have ~~ these ~~.

I don’t particularly feel that this dude's thoughts are unusually uncommon, from what I recall being in Singapore for 7 years (12 years ago). The people I knew who were Chinese mixed mostly/only with Chinese. They were indoctrinated that Singapore is the success story of South East Asia, surrounded by Muslim countries. Their exposure to other races within their own country was minimal. Derogatory comments get surreptitiously passed all the time. But dude keep these sorts of thoughts in the master race of your own mind. To write them down is a bit stupid. To type them up in public is idiocy. One word: PWN3D!

Just take a look carefully at the reaction in the Straits Times article: the remarks were racist. But his friends and dad say he isn’t.

Remarks can exhibit innate racism than the writer did not have, see…?

My own blog is so much duller… :(

http://www.scs.uiuc.edu/~chen6/blog/pivot/tb.php?tb_id=435

[posted with ecto]

Think Secret… made stronger

2005-04-15T17:58:00.000+10:00

It looks like Think Secret—one of the 3 websites involved in the Apple/Asteroid lawsuit—has gained instant notoriety and credibility. Think Secret has got some things right recently. They did get the April 1st Tiger release date wrong. Oh yes, the Pope did die then…

Think Secret's brush with Apple seems to have bought it some street credibility. Posters in the online discussion in the days running up to April 1st were brimming with confidence of the April 1st date. Now that Think Secret has posted more rumours of Apple's upcoming hardware, more fan sites have referenced to them again—sometimes verbatim.

e.g.
Insanely Great Macintosh
Slashdot
Mac Rumors

Almost all of whom start with: “ThinkSecret cites ”highly reliable“ sources to…”

[posted with ecto]

Apple’s sales

2005-04-15T12:31:00.000+10:00

I haven’t had a good look at Apple’s recently announced numbers yet. The shipped number of Macintoshes is the first thing I look at. Apple hasn’t been able to sell 5 million Macs in a year, for a quite a few years now. Hopefully they will sometime in 2005.

They managed to shift roughly the same number of Macintoshes this quarter, as they did last quarter. Last quarter was special, given that it was an end of year XMas quarter. The current numbers seem to represent the Mac mini maintaining sales numbers rather than dramatically increasing them.

The online news outlets seem to emphasise the comparison with the same quarter last year. I suppose that’s accurate, although coincidentally that comparison provides a nice printable statistic (“xxx% more Macs!”).

To me, as long as Apple keeps shifting more computers—it’s a good thing. The baddish news is that I think the Mac mini is cannibalising sales of the consumer Macintoshes, rather than increase the market. The phrase commonly heard when referring to yesteryear’s Macintosh clones.

Given that Apple has had 10-week waiting lists for the Mac mini, this cannibalising is not a good thing.

Think Secret is reporting new machines, and the word is they might be released next week! Just in time… But… would it benefit Apple if they were officially announced before Tiger, after Tiger, or on 29th April 6 pm? Mmm… the mind boggles.

[posted with ecto]

Wikipedia resignation

2005-04-14T00:09:00.000+10:00

After having edited both the Wikipedia articles on the iMac and the iBook, I’ve decided to stop right there. I love Wikipedia, and visit it almost everyday. It ranks slightly below the Internet Movie Database, AppleTalk Australia, Whirlpool, MacNN forums, all my RSS feeds, Google News, and Google itself. So about 7th most visited site—see I am quite passionate about it.

I don’t get/grok/dig the idea of editing a free encyclopaedia though. The iMac and iBook articles were so aimless and disorganised, I couldn’t stand it. I felt like I was slashing and burning the entire article when I rewrote the whole thing. Yes, and it took me about 4 hours ×2 (for 2 articles). Later, I just had to edit the Launceston (Tasmania) article as well, although that was really short.

The Wikipedia help file does have some good advice for new contributors. I might be a spectator again for a while, before making more contributions. One day, when I’ve got really nothing to do.

[posted with ecto]

Tiger system requirements

2005-04-13T10:01:00.000+10:00

Ah, another day, another… but no, the Tiger’s release announcement dominates the online chatter.

Apple’s official system requirements are listed here. Just a summary of my additional thoughts system requirements:

FireWire is required. The last Macintosh that shipped without FireWire was one of the iMac G3s that were end-of-lifed in February 2001 (maybe).
For some reason the Pismo is left off Apple's chart (same link as the one above)
iChat AV 3 has a different set of system requirements that I was unaware of. A chart can be seen here. The one that particular affected me was the Dual G4/G5 needed for initiating a multi-party chat. A 300+ kbit/s upload speed is also required. Looks like no PowerBook on the universe (outside Infinite Loop) will initiate multi-party chats in the year 2005. Ah well…
Mac OS X does not support processor upgrade cards! For a while now, Apple has made sure their computers are not processor upgradeable. From memory, the last one worth mentioning was for Power Macintosh G4 sold 2 years ago. Processor upgrade companies tout their “full Mac OS X” compatibility frequently. I wonder how this changes things.
WWDC is chock full of Tiger workshops, so there is no way 10.5 will be announced there. 10.4 will have to keep us happy for a while. It’s hard to believe that Panther will no longer be the cutting edge. :(

The online chatter is again hilarious. Mostly with regards to the FireWire requirement. Although there was this forum speculating about the Tiger’s DVD drive requirement. Again proving my previous point about impossible online discussion.

[posted with ecto]

Apple copyright violation, futility of Internet discussion, and Mac OS X Tiger

2005-04-13T00:26:00.000+10:00

This is an interesting post. Looks like someone’s copyrighted text has appeared somewhere on Apple’s developer site. On first glance, it looks like the owner reported the violation, and Apple removed the violating text. Sounds good.

However, the discussions that follow are so heated and emotional, that I didn’t feel much point in reading further to see if there actually remains some controversy. I cringed when the author felt that a person at Apple Norway wasn’t as helpful as he wanted. I’ll see what happens in the next few days, if I remember.

I’ve been thinking over the last few days, that is seems impossible to maintain a productive on-topic discussion about some important issues over the Internet. Try to discuss abortion, Terry Schiavo, digital rights management or politics on the Internet, and the resulting signal-to-noise ratio is hopeless. And yet, the discussions continue. No one wins except the people that run the website—if they wanted some extra hits on their website.

Reading the comments about actors and movies at the Internet Movie Database is hilarious: “This actress can’t act.” followed by responses like “She was great in this!!”, “If you hate her so much, why do you post on her page?”, or “I hate trolls like you. Why don't you try acting, if you think you know so much…”.

Other honeypots for controversy are the Paul Thurott/Scobleizer/Dvorak rants. Thurott is particularly sneaky with his condescending Apple-isn’t-as-cool-as-you-think-angle. Er… yea OK. BFD.

Oh, by the way, we are 16 days away from Mac OS X Tiger. Yahoo. Looks like AppleTalk Australia got it right. The fantastic thing of course, is that Australia gets it first. I wonder what the official Bittorrent release date will be.

[posted with ecto]

24 Season 4 Episode 17

2005-04-13T00:02:00.000+10:00

Wow, episode 17 of 24 was one of the best of the season in recent memory. I suppose the writers do have some interesting stuff in the final 6 hours. Some of the recent hours have seemed like much padding.

Last season, the villain Steven Saunder's mid to end game was quite apparent once it as identified that he had a daughter—hence some pressure point. The ending was “we'll use his daughter for this…”, “we'll use his daughter for that…”. Although the Almeida angle was fun.

This week, the main villain doesn't yet have a loose ends as yet. Maybe Behrooz knocks him out, or steals something he needs… I wonder whether the McClennan-Forrester “defense company” comes back into play. You know how evil corporations can be… starting a shootout in EMP-blackouted L.A.

I thought I heard that the David Caruso/Michael J. Fox/Eric Stoltz-lookalike and his F-117 had been shot down. Thank goodness. That guy was as exciting as sushi. Whatever happened to the Curtis dude (black dude 2nd in command that didn't become head of CTU), and Audrey Raine’s dad? I suppose they went to have a snooze, since it would be “unrealistic” if no one had any downtime/went to the toilet/took a bath… I don't think they moonlighted as surgeons treating Paul Raines. The CTU trauma surgeon/spinal specialist position has already been filled.

I just had to insert a cougar mention right here.

[posted with ecto]

DealBITS drawing

2005-04-12T13:26:00.000+10:00

TidBITS is a free weekly Macintosh publication that has been around for years. In the last year or so, they have started to holding weekly drawings of sponsored software.

This week, they are drawing PDFPen Pro which is quite a nifty piece of software. Almost a US$100 value.

If you want to join, please follow this link. Doing so also gives me an extra chance to win.

[posted with ecto]

Ah, Wikipedia

2005-04-12T04:24:00.000+10:00

I've just spent 4 hours editing the Apple iMac page on Wikipedia. I hope it's worth it. I'm going to have a snooze now.

[posted with ecto]

Tiger requests

2005-04-11T22:06:00.000+10:00

The Apple forums are filled with questions about Tiger's compatibility!

“Is Tiger compatible with application x?”
“Will Tiger run well on my current machine?”
“Does Tiger have this feature?”

Why don't these people wait until Tiger is actually released? Tiger is at most 80 days away, and we will find out then won't we? Instead, we get speculation after speculation. “Yes it will…”, “No it won't…”, “Yes too…!” ∞

FFS, we still have Panther to play with!

[posted with ecto]

Apple iSight

2005-04-11T00:08:00.000+10:00

I have to sing the praises of the Apple iSight. My wife and her family spend their lives apart, but get to see each other over their broadband connection, and chat for hours a day.

When the iSight and iChat AV were first released, there was a plethora of complaints about the inability to have stable connections. The purported compatibility for audio and video chats with AIM 5.5 seemed to increase the number of complaints.

Now, months and months later, I don't know what has changed, but something has. Video connections between iChat AV clients running the latest system updates are flawless. As with most discussion of audio/video chats, I should specify that both sides are running latest versions of Panther, with all the system updates, and have broadband. Both are G4s 1.25 MHz and above, with more than 512 MB of RAM.

We are in Australia, and use a 1.5Mbit/256kbit ADSL connection, via an airport connection to a Netgear DG834G with all sorts of security measures. No ports are open on our end.

The other party is in Malaysia, and use a direct connection via an ADSL modem without a router.

We can't wait for Tiger to be released, just so that my brother-in-law can join in the fun as well—three-way-chat. Woo hoo.

[posted with ecto]

Having 2 computers (or backups)

2005-04-09T00:05:00.000+10:00

I just read this in a forum… (paraphrased)

If you have need your Mac for work, you should install Tiger on a spare partition, so that you can revert to 10.3.8 just by rebooting. Otherwise, you should not install Tiger until you see read about the experiences of others.

The poster had good intentions, but did not go far enough: Everyone must have a backup of their work before even thinking about starting to install Mac OS X Tiger on a Macintosh.

There should be a “no backup, no sympathy” policy for everyone who complains on an Internet forum that a software install hosed their system, and they had to reinstall from scratch.

Now that I have that off my chest, the initial point of all this was that the value of 2 computers is greater than the sum of them separately.

Most of the requests for help online that I have read come from a computer nerd wanting advice on why something isn't working. Sadly, the rest of the requests are from those who have just bought their first computer and things aren't as rosy as they would like. Advertisements and ringing endorsements from other buyers raise expectations too high. Questions abound, like “Why do all my DVD burns fail?”, “My iPod doesn't work”, “My broadband isn't working”, “I can't scan”… on and on.

Unfortunately, most of these types of questions are easier to solve with a 2nd computer available at hand; and the types of people who need this type of help are those without a 2nd computer. It is hard to find a solution better than: “Try it on another computer/hard disk/account/DVD burner/FireWire port”.

For people with single computers, the frustrated solution is usually “bring it back to the shop”, “do a full reinstall”, “create a new account and try again”. Which for the novice, must suck, and for the helpers is also unsatisfactory. Operating system reinstallation nowadays is a difficult task. For those in isolated areas, the problem is compounded.

I have had to deal with computer issues from family and relatives. Most of my relatives now are quite savvy and can fix things themselves now, thanks to loads of experience, and also to Mac OS X which isn't as fussy as OS 9 was. Probably also because over the years, they have continually upgraded from the ancient Power Macintosh 6200 machines up to the current PowerBook G4s, with about 8 Macintoshes or thereabouts in between. All distributed among themselves, and in use.

Troubleshooting is so much easier then—a Quick-And-Dirty backup (QDB) of important files involves copying them over a network to another Mac. Multiple Macs can perform backups on separate partitions on a single FireWire hard disk. Similarly DVD burners, printers, scanners, and so on, can be shared and troubleshooted on multiple machines/platforms.

A spare power cable, USB cable, video cable and so on, can sometimes be all it takes to separate a major disaster, from a minor inconvenience.

I wonder then, given the amount of computer advice that seems to be required all over the Internet, whether it should be semi-mandatory to expect computer beginners to have 2 computers; or at 1 extra at hand, for troubleshooting. In which case it would be kosher for us to say “get another computer to try it out”, as a response to technical support requests.

If it isn't, then at least let them:

Think twice before putting that old computer on eBay,
Before buying that new computer, set aside some money for that extra RAM. And then set aside another pile of cash for a USB 2 or FireWire hard disk.

At least to do a QDB, if not a clone. Remember: “No backup, no sympathy” is the word.

[posted with ecto]

Mac mini shipping delays

2005-04-08T18:00:00.000+10:00

The delays in Mac mini shipping doesn’t seem to be in the news much.

The situation in Australia is pretty bad, judging from this thread on AppleTalk Australia—a Macintosh fan site. I can only describe 10 weeks on the waiting list as “sucks ass big time”.

Even more aggravating is that some people have to pay upfront when placing their order. Apple should not be rewarded for this type of behaviour.

IMHO, every day after a computer is released, is a day closer to when it will be superseded, hence the value of the computer drops daily; whether it’s in your hands or not.

The only plus point is hopefully Apple is shipping a super incredible amount of these in the States, making it physically impossible for them to ship Australia’s. The breakdown in numbers will be interesting to see.

Format=flowed

2005-04-08T15:02:00.000+10:00

Today I received an email, and to my surprise it supported format=flowed. I thought only Apple Mail.app and Eudora supported f=f, and I was quite sure this dude who sent me this email was using neither.

The heading was:

Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2005 14:23:15 +1000
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
format=flowed;
reply-type=response
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2180

So I suppose Outlook Express 6 for Windows supports it as well then. Surprising.

Disappointingly, most people are unaware of the significance of f=f. Considering the massive amount of email circling the globe, it's such a waste to have a perfectly good idea being unused. Unfortunately there isn’t a body or company that specifically promotes it, and it’s all really sad.

Sony's MP3 player

2005-04-07T07:44:00.000+10:00

My RSS feed showed me this BetaNews announcement of Sony’s new NW-HD5. I would take MP3 players so much more seriously if they weren’t referred to as iPod killers.

Someone will eventually rethink the whole MP3 player/portable music player concept, and then maybe Apple will lose it’s current dominance. But for now, headlines like “XXX’s iPod killer” suffixed with a “?” just earn an eye rolling and “Yea right. Next.”

Mac OS X Tiger on May 1st? Or April 30th?

2005-04-06T22:02:00.000+10:00

It looks like AppleTalk, a forum based in Australia has "confirmed" a May 1st date, with speculation of April 30th since that would be a weekend. Somehow Think Secret, and the usual rumour sites haven't mentioned any further dates aside from “sometime in April”. So this would be a totally different source from the “usual ones”.

I still consider June 30th to be the actual release date, just to avoid disappointment. Ha!

24

2005-04-06T21:42:00.000+10:00

Last nights episode of 24 (episode 16) was one of the high points for season 4. At least something interesting happened. The events of the last few “hours” have been a little contrived. I suppose all the seasons had times like these, when it's not close enough to the end, to start wrapping things up.

For me at least, watching 24 has become sort of a “duty”, like watching Matrix Revolutions, or Star Wars Episode III. In the back of my mind I think that “as long as it doesn’t suck too bad, it’s okay”. But I know it ain’t going to be great.

Get new with selling software

2005-04-05T21:11:00.000+10:00

In my time...

Yea, about 10 years ago, this game called Maelstrom from Ambrosia software was released. It appeared in FTP mirror sites of the InfoMac archives around the world. Description of the software was found on Usenet, and in the text file included in the archive. The expectation was that people copied it to their computer on, get this, floppy disks.

Yes, the Internet was available then. However, the World Wide Web wasn't really worldwide yet. And you think that was old? Maelstrom was an iteration of the Asteroid game, which 10 years ago was already really really old.

On with the story now. Maelstrom was released as a free download, with the expectation that if you liked it, you would pay for it. If you didn't, you shouldn't play it further. However, the author did not waste code trying to restrict non-payers from playing the game. Entering a serial code simply disabled a start up reminder screen. The game was one of your routine arcade things, so there wasn't any level design to speak of. Each level just included more “baddies”: more rocks, metal asteroids, more UFOs, and everything moved faster. As Ambrosia SW started to write other games that required level design, and for various other reasons, they started to get rid of that type of copy protection.

Ambrosia SW have done well for themselves. While Aspyr, Westlake Interactive have done a remarkable job porting games from the PC world, Ambrosia SW have created a library of original games most of which are simpler, but excellent. A significant portion of their games were based on tried-and-tested classic games -- Apeiron is based on Caterpillar, Mars Rising and Deimos Rising were shoot ups, and Ferazel's Wand was a side scroller . Another company that has been doing a similar thing, is Freeverse. Freeverse concentrated on card games for a while, then branched out into an Airburst series. And also publishes the odd PC conversion; although I don't think the PC conversion is done in-house.

In the last 10 years, the world has changed. Computers are faster, bigger, and largely cheaper. Operating Systems are not upgraded, but overhauled. Classic games stay the same though: Ambrosia SW just released an update to their 2nd famous game Apeiron that “caterpillar” game, mainly for OS X compatibility. It is a tribute to Ambrosia, for creating a game, that 10 years later, essentially unchanged, still looks gorgeous.

That could be the end of my blog: the point being that old classic games have the potential to live for ever. There's no reason that “Caterpillar” iterations start to become boring just because our computers are faster. In comparison, newer games since then have come, burned out, and gone. Diablo and Diablo 2, Warcraft, Command and Conquer -- all less than 10 years old. They would be a tougher sell to a random gamer than Apeiron or even Tetris would be, I suspect.

The point to this blog is: Large game companies would do take a look at the shareware distribution models. To some extent, the line between application software and shareware is blurred. I can't get Microsoft Office Mac 2004 for download yet (From now, download = legal download unless mentioned otherwise), although I can get a Test Drive from Microsoft. Similarly with FileMaker Pro. In the open source universe of Linux, downloading software is the rule, not the exception. Downloadable software no longer equates to shareware. Interarchy, a Macintosh FTP program, and File Buddy, a Macintosh utility software take pains to emphasise that they are not shareware. They are commercial software are distributed via the Internet. A TidBITS Talk thread debates the point.

It looks like everywhere you turn, everywhere where some software is mentioned, a download of a demo is possible. We do it all the time, trying this and that shareware. Downloading trojan horses, and virii. It's so fast and easy. Apple doesn't have OS X Tiger available for download, and won't. But they make damn sure that they have excellent QuickTime movies that whet the appetite of the curious. Everyone wants the instant gratification, of downloading, trying, and maybe paying. Suprnova allowed the public to see the numbers of seeders and leechers downloading large disk images of software. Weekly television shows are routinely seeded over the Internet so that we are not beholden to the local television station taking it's own sweet time to bring a television series to us.

The large software companies, including the companies that port Mac games are resistant. Macintosh games like Halo, Call of Duty, B1942, Return to Castle Wolfenstein are distributed only on disk form because of the ongoing perception is that large games like these need to be shifted in physical form. With Bittorrent though, that is no longer true. The ability of the public to download files of that size have increased markedly. Over an ADSL connection, a 650MB disk image can be obtained in hours -- 3-5 hours would not be on the lower end of the spectrum.

We have the need. We can fill that need, with or without you.

Point 1: make the Internet a primary way of software distribution. It is already being done on the hush hush anyway. Leverage the Internet to distribute your gigabytes.

Point 2: Sell serial numbers. People will pay for software, if you give them a chance AND if you make it necessary. You can't stop the determined pirater no matter what. But you can give the honest dude the chance to do the right thing. Paying for software is actually easier than finding a crack for it; especially when unique serial numbers are needed for online play. When a buyer buys a box, he knows that a significant percentage of the money paid went into the packaging, the shelf space, the transport. Little taxes along the way -- what a turn off. If someone has free bandwidth, why should he pay physical transport costs of digital bits and bytes?

The Plain Truth Abouth Piracy

Point 3: Keep updating your software, so that it runs well, but only until it's superseded by a more fun game on a faster computer. The installed base in the future will always be made of faster computers. The return from updating the original Wolfenstein 3D would be miniscule because the Wolf 3D market has moved on to more “fun”, realistic games. But Tetris... like Caterpillar and Asteroids is always the same concept, no matter how fast the computer is.

It can be done. Look at Ambrosia software, and look at sites like Home of the Underdogs.

Home of the Underdogs is a site devoted to “disappeared” games. Games like Prince of Persia 1&2, Lode Runner, Flashback, Out of This World, Carmen Sandiego and so on; were excellent game ideas. The reason games like these faded away is not just that they were superseded by new technology -- although there is that. Just like jokes and riddles, there is no reason to think that the market for games of these types have dried up. 2D games have been unfairly tossed aside because of the perception that 3D > 2D. Some publisher felt the cost of distribution was too high, it was no longer worth producing the boxes, and the games were no longer distributed. When the floppy disks, and CDs containing them disappeared, the game disappeared as well. Excellent computer games, unpromoted, ceased to existed.

Excellent games, promoted, supported and distributed, will continue to have a chance.

One more thing: I love Bubble Trouble now, like I did when I paid for it 8 years ago.

Tiger not on April Fools day

2005-04-05T01:05:00.000+10:00

It looks like the rumour sites were wrong about April 1st. Specifically Think Secret. No direct admission from them though (“We were wrong!”). Just silence. We did get a 2nd wave of rumours that Tiger had gone “Golden Master” though. I suppose that is a good thing.

The further spin is that Apple is delaying the Tiger announcement because of the Pope’s death. While I don’t doubt that the Pope is dead, and that announcing a release of a major operating system during this period just isn’t Steve Job’s style, I wonder whether that detracts from the possibility that the April 1st date was just wrong to begin with.

In the meantime, some of Apple’s other hardware is overdue for updates - the list is a long one. I’ll just exclude the PowerBooks since they were updated recently. Buying Apple hardware is one strange thing. I haven’t formulated my thoughts about this yet. At this point, I do wonder if the ongoing “release watch” for Tiger is damping down on new hardware sales. I for one ain’t buying a new machine without Tiger on it. Bwa ha ha.

With regards to Tiger: Take your time Apple. Whatever you are doing, sounds good so far.

RIP

2005-04-04T10:00:00.000+10:00

The Pope is dead. Rest in peace.

911 call

2005-03-28T14:57:00.000+10:00

I just came across that 911 call from the disgruntled Burger King patron. It’s hilarious. I think the person taking the call performed excellently. From the discussions online, calls like these aren’t rare.

The mp3 version is available here.

http://homepage.mac.com/chik/Fun/iMovieTheater22.html