Archive for June, 2007
Phoning It In MacBreak Style
Wow, MacBreak has really gone to crap over the past few weeks. The latest edition features the trio jabbering about WWDC announcements that they clearly didn’t know jack about. All of Leo’s insight was 2nd, 3rd, 4th-hand, and Merlin was eagerly poised as the contrarian-de-jour. It wasn’t difficult to simply stream the audio and listen/read along, which was too much for Scott to get out of bed to do and any listeners who had must have been as irked as I. These guys have been slacking a bit of late anyway, but this latest episode was beyond ill-prepared and Merlin seems intent on sinking discussions and sparring with Scott regardless of his insight on any given topic. The “I haven’t done anything all week but here’s a Jerry Lewis joke” schtick was funny the first 4 times he pulled it, but it’s become tiresome.
Did you see his latest podcast? Christ I’m a musician and I was bored listening to him talk over his guest about how he once tried to play guitar and had never heard of people ‘punching-in’ tracks on a recording. Not sure why I thought so highly of him in the past, it’s not that tough to post a bunch of GTD links to del.icio.us and call yourself an expert.
Vanilla Fudge
I’m guessing the use(s) of Vanilla Fudge’s cover of You Keep Me Hanging On in the Sopranos Finale are why it’s so popular on iTunes this week. Funny how that works…hope Carmine and the boys get their due.
Bashing iPhone Development
I’ve already seen a few posts bashing the fact that Apple isn’t opening the iPhone up to the world beyond Safari-based apps. Gizmodo’s Jesus Diaz had a particularly long winded rant that seemed to boil down to this…no SDK means no wicked cool games on the iPhone…sheesh talk about missing the point. I don’t remember there being a revolt when the video iPod was released sans games, that’s because it’s a media player not a console, same goes for the iPhone. While I think it’s great that people expect sooo much from Apple, they also like to stray beyond sensible. Give it a chance, more importantly give the developers a chance. It’s a new platform and I’m sure there are some wickedly creative folks who can make some brilliant, iPhone-specific apps. Let’s give them a little time.
…Of Apples and iPhones
Today’s Apple announcement of “if it works in Safari, it works on the iPhone” is both a call to action and an affirmation of effort. Web apps have come into there own in most respects, and this movement away from complied to web will force the hand of many who have held out thus far. It also positions those companies that understand how the web works and the power of social/community/collaborative products at the front of a very long line of interested parties.
Among those rejoicing the announcement are Jason Fried and the 37signals crew. Hells yeah indeed Jason. (Be advised the comments on that post have the makings of a flamewar over the merits of objective-c versus web2.0, pointless meandering ensues…) I assume you will see simlar posts and pronouncements from across the web, including Google, Yahoo and other powerhouses, I look forward to seeing the response once people get a chance to digest and connect some of the dots.
On a technnical note, I hope Apple’s assertion that there would be no SDK is an overstatement. Please, give us all some design guidance and/or assets to truly “match the look of the phone”.
Global Warming, Another Tax Mechanism
Denver is proposing strict new policies in an effort to fight ‘Global Warming’ in the absence of what Denver’s mayor feels is an “absence of federal leadership on the issue.”
My views on the subject are mixed, yes our current use of fossil fuels and consumption have a negative impact our our environment, we need to fix that and cleanup these issues. Are those issues directly related to climate change and aqn immenent disaster, no way. The motivation for the current “global warming’ hysteria is simple, money. It’s a new tax mechanism to offset and divert from those parties ultimately responsible for the pollution - big industry and the reality of global trade. The UN and now apprently local goverments under the recently signed U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement are looking to extort and blackmail citizens into some eco-gustapo.
Don’t get me wrong, I think behavior should change. But look at this plan. It links insurance premiums with miles driven. You have a city that has sprawled, as many have in recent decades, penalizing drivers for poor urban planning because they need to commute. Ok, that’s handy. All of this is a charade to cover and insulate those that are most culpable in all of this. Kudos for trying to effect change at the local level, but do it through incentive and reward based programs, at least until there’s a time that it’s more cost-effective to be clean and consume less.
Tremendous Photo Essay
Time magazine photo essay on what makes a week’s shopping list around the world. Stirring. I have to say the American menu(s) look the least appealing to me, and obviously the most like my own diet. The Mexican family by far looks the best, so-much-fruit, and the Brits sure love their candy bars.