February 2012
39 posts
Netflix Says "No" to BlackBerry Support →
“We don’t have any current plans to support BlackBerry devices, including PlayBook,” the company said on Twitter late on Thursday in response to a query.
Netflix is on practically every device with a screen and an internet connection these days. Just goes to show that RIM is having a tough time keeping up in a world dominated by iOS and Android. So much so that even Netflix...
TV is Broken →
“Why did you turn the movie off, Daddy?”, Beatrix worriedly asks, as if she has done something is wrong and is being punished by having her entertainment interrupted. She thinks that’s what I was doing by rushing for the remote.
“I didn’t turn it off, honey. This is just a commercial. I was turning the volume down because it was so loud. Shreck will come back on in a few minutes” I say.
“Did...
The Problem With Oil
We’re facing what can only be described as an oil crisis. It’s not a political issue, it’s a human issue, and I think it needs to be talked about. We’ve come a long way when it comes to alternative forms of energy, but we could be a lot further along.
So what exactly is wrong with burning oil as a source of fuel?
It’s hazardous to the environment. Even if...
J.K. Rowling's New Book →
The writer behind the wildly popular “Harry Potter” series has finalized a deal with Little, Brown for her forthcoming novel, which will be available both in print and e-books. This will mark a departure from her previous publishers, Bloomsbury in the UK and Scholastic in the U.S.
J.K. Rowling writing a new book, with a new publisher. It looks like she’s really trying to move...
Kinnect Voice Commands for Mass Effect 3 →
Say “Open” to open something.
Or just press the X…er, I mean B button. Really is anybody going to actually use this?
I’ve heard that this technology is impressive, and I believe it, but this seems like a very poor application. I honestly can’t imagine playing a game like Mass Effect and shouting commands at my TV when the button is right there!
Just because you...
Beware of Dog →
This week’s Tiny Tower mission is absolute gold for anybody who’s been following the developers drama with Zynga.
“After failing to buy your tower, a rival developer would like the following: 13,500 Tower Design (Architect Office) and 4,500 City Sim (Game Studio).” The icon for the individual awarding the mission is a little man dressed as a devil.
I’m a sucker...
Lack of iPhone to Blame for T-Mobile 4th Quarter...
T-Mobile has released their 4th quarter earnings for 2011, and it looks as if the iPhone being offered on all the other major carriers is causing customers to leave in droves.
…not carrying the iPhone led to a significant increase in contract deactivations in the fourth quarter of 2011.
Just one of 7 total mentions of the iPhone in the release.
I don’t think it’s that...
Flash: a Platform for the Next 5-10 Years? →
The company sees Flash as having two main markets that will resist the onslaught of HTML5: game development, and premium (read: encrypted) video. To that end, the features it has planned for future updates focus on making Flash faster, with greater hardware acceleration and improved script performance, and more application-like, with keyboard input in full-screen applications, and support for...
Good Move
Later today, you will be able to pre-order the digital version of Mass Effect 3 on the PSN, which will be released the same day as the disk version. In addition, you also get all the preorder DLC as well. This is how you do a game release, simultaneous physical and digital versions.
Good job BioWare!
A Good Sign →
We have extended the deadline for sandboxing your apps on the Mac App Store from March 1st to June 1st to provide you with enough time to take advantage of new sandboxing entitlements available in OS X 10.7.3 and new APIs in Xcode 4.3. Get more details about sandboxing your app and find answers to FAQs.
Apple is giving this some time, which is good. The more time they have to work with...
Do No Evil? →
When the IE team heard that Google had bypassed user privacy settings on Safari, we asked ourselves a simple question: is Google circumventing the privacy preferences of Internet Explorer users too? We’ve discovered the answer is yes: Google is employing similar methods to get around the default privacy protections in IE and track IE users with cookies. Below we spell out in more detail what...
Rise of the 'phablet' →
This one is a gem.
Past phablets haven’t succeeded in the market for one very simple reason: The idea was ahead of its time.
Wrong! “Phablets” (what a stupid name) haven’t succeeded because nobody wants phones almost the size of a small tablet. While phones and tablets generally run the same type of OS (iOS, Android) they serve completely different purposes.
The...
A Visual Look at Mountain Lion
I’ve spent the past couple hours playing around with Mountain Lion, and I have to say it is the best version of the OS X I have seen so far. As this is just a developer preview, and the final release is at least a few months away, there were a few issues, but I won’t go over them right now. I’m also not going to go over the Messages app, as you can check it out for yourself,...
The Designer's Candy Store
Click image to enlarge Infographic brought to you by oBizMedia
Going Annual, and More Ideas About the Future of...
One other interesting aspect of the Mountain Lion announcement is the fact that it will be coming about a year after Lion. Is this a sign that Apple is going to be releasing yearly OS X updates, instead of going 2 years between releases?
Even further on that note, perhaps we’ll be seeing some more feature parity between iOS and OS X. My guess is that we will see them both updated around...
Mountain Lion
Well by now you’ve heard the news, Apple has already announced Lion’s successor, Mountain Lion. Looks pretty nifty. I’m not sure what I can say beyond what others have said, simply because I do not have an advance copy to play with myself, but I will talk about it as far as I can without talking out of my ass.
The one part I have access to is something everybody running Lion...
Life Lesson #1: Don't be a Hypocrite
Because if you’re a hypocrite, you may end up sounding like a total idiot.
“The facilities are first-class; the physical conditions are way, way above average of the norm.”
So said Fair Labor Associated president Auret van Heerden about the top 8 Apple suppliers in China. I’ll bet these people feel really stupid, especially when there’s far worse out there.
(via...
Assassin's Creed 3?
Ubisoft announces Assassin’s Creed 3.
Can Ubisoft count? So far (in the main series) we have:
Assassin’s Creed
Assassin’s Creed 2
Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
Assassin’s Creed: Revelations
Aren’t we on Assassin’s Creed 5 then?
(via Joystiq)
Whitney Houston Price Hike "Mistake" →
Sony stayed quiet about the price change, even as criticism spread online. But on Tuesday the company said that the changes — which were in effect only on the British version of iTunes, and were reversed Sunday evening — were made by mistake.
The “mistake” being that they didn’t anticipate the backlash.
(via The Loop)
BitTorrent Does Not Hurt US Box Office →
Economics researchers at Wellesley College and U Minnesota have published a study showing that feature films’ US box office returns are not correlated to BitTorrent sharing. They also show that shorter delays between the US exhibition and overseas releases result in less file-sharing — that is, people outside the US download movies because they can’t buy tickets to them.
...
Valentine's Day Last Minute Gifts 2012
If you’re a super last minute Valentine’s Day shopper, you’ve come to the right place for awesome gift ideas. It’s my semi-annual, and totally legit, Valentine’s Day shopping guide!
First on the list we have this wonderful Kissy Kiss Toilet Paper. With this smooch-covered butt-wiping paper, you can remind that special somewhat what a kiss-ass you are.
Secondly we...
Skype Uses You →
ARTICLE 4.1: PERMISSION TO UTILIZE YOUR COMPUTER. In order to receive the benefits provided by Skype software, you hereby grant permission for the Skype software to utilize the processor and bandwidth of your computer for the limited purpose of facilitating the communication between Skype software users.
Well, that’s creepy. Yet another reason to not use Skype.
Update: Well it seems...
It's Not Apple, it's the Industry
There’s been a lot of hoopla regarding Apple’s working conditions in China. There have even been protests at Apple stores. The main cause for concern is Apple’s use of Foxconn factories for most of their manufacturing.
Now I’m not defending this, I think we can do a lot better with how workers are treated in factories overseas. What’s really bugging me about these...
The Future of the MacBook Pro
Lately, there have been rumors involving the entire MacBook Pro line becoming more Air-like (that is, basically bigger MacBook Airs). I see quite a few problems with this concept, which is unfortunate because I do feel this is the way Apple is going to be headed with the MacBook line.
The biggest problem I see with the MacBook Air is price. Compare the 13” Air to the 13” Pro...
Pizza Hut Proposal →
Really? I mean after you go all out on the proposal, the cheap fast-food dinner kind of kills the mood. I’d be curious to find out if anybody actually does this.
Order fast! Only 10 ‘packages’ available.
High Res Macs Coming Soon?
The great thing about Apple rumors is thats sometimes they’re so stupid that they couldn’t possibly true and only represent the wildest hopes and dreams of Apple’s biggest fanboys who ironically don’t understand how Apple works. Then there are the ones that are so obvious that it’s basically 100% certain top happen. Take the high res Macs (and iPads) that are rumored...
Windows 8
Indeed, I can’t think of a single significant new improvement in Windows 8. The ability to refresh the operating system? Faster booting? A Windows Store? Live boot from a USB drive? Come on! All these features have been around in other operating systems for years, and while sure, they’re nice, put them all together and at most they’re worth a Windows 7 Service Patch–not a whole new operating...
Samsung, the Stylus, and the World of Reality
Samsung put out a very stupid ad during the Superbowl, and I’m not even going to talk about the FaceTime UI rip-off they showed. They were touting the Samsung Note. It’s biggest selling point is the fact it comes with a stylus. Apparently, as the ad insinuated, this would be enough to get a whole line of Apple fanboys drooling over this new phone, and starting a very musical riot.
The...
Soul Calibur 5 - A Review
Transcending history, and the world, a tale of souls and swords eternally retold…
No idea what that’s supposed to mean, but whatever. This is my review of the latest entry in the Soul Calibur/Soul Edge series, the aptly named Soul Calibur 5.
I’ve been a Soul Calibur fan since the second one on the GameCube. Unfortunatly, I totally bypassed the third one because that never saw...
iBooks Author 1.01 out with updated EULA →
parislemon:
Notes Megan Lavey-Heaton for TUAW:
The change is an important one though, clarifying that Apple has rights over the format a book is in, not the content.
And we have yet another bit of controversy to file away under: Apple Is Not Fucking Stupid.
I haven’t weighed in on the EULA hubbub for this exact reason. If Apple was actually trying to suggest that they own the content of all...
Lighter Leather for iCal
Inspired by Twitter user @omi5280, I put together this lighter ‘skin’ for iCal for the people who don’t like the strong dark leathery look of iCal but don’t want to get rid of it completely.
You can download it here.
Before you start, quit iCal.
Go to the Applications folder, and find iCal
Right click or control click on iCal and click on ‘Show Packaged...
If I Had $1 Million...
…I would not purchase stock in Facebook.
I am not a finance expert, but I seriously think you’d have to be an idiot to purchase stock in a company that’s entire business model is based on a fad.
The Apple-haters are no doubt lining up to say “isn’t that what Apple does?” Well no, their business model is based on a string of fads, and they’re always the...
My Dad Buying an iMac
My Dad: *points to the iMac he wants* I want that one.
Apple Store Sales Rep: Woah there! My name is [redacted], welcome to Apple. Have you ever used a Mac before?
My Dad: My first computer was an Apple II.
Apple Store Sales Rep: I'm not familiar with that model.
My Dad: ...
Rundown of the Major Web Browsers
There are so many web browsers to pick from out there, so how do you decide which one is for you? Here’s a quick rundown of some of the major web browsers you can get right now!
Safari - Like iTunes, the Mac version is ok, but the Windows version is shit.
Chrome - It’s a pretty good standards compliant browser, but it spies on you.
Firefox - In it’s own little world.
...
January 2012
35 posts
The Solution to Movie Piracy
Hey Hollywood, I have a secret to share with you. I think you’ll really like it. It’s how you can put a dent in piracy, in one easy step!
See, here’s the thing. Most people pirate movies because they can get around the bullshit, like this, or this. See, people want your media, and most are willing to pay you for it. But when you make consuming your content such a pain in the ass...
Launchpad
It’s been around half a year since Lion was unleashed upon the world, and honestly I thought I had written about why I hate Launchpad before. Evidentially I did not, because all I could dig up was this gem. I feel it basically glazes the whole issue.
My first criticism comes from the fact that it’s very similar to what Microsoft is trying to do by shoehorning Metro into Windows 8. The...
Developers, Developers...
Ok, when is Intuit just going to throw in the towel and stop making Mac software? It’s clear they have absolutely no desire to, they just do it to make a little extra cash on the side. Their flagship product, Quicken, hasn’t been updated for Mac since 2007 (and now doesn’t even work well on Lion). Today they listed their half-assed version, Quicken Essentials for Mac, on the Mac...
Open Letter to the Food Industry
Dear Mainstream Food Industry,
Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to make food entirely with ingredients the layman can pronounce. Instead of filling our food with chemicals like preservatives and other nasty things, which do a wonder to keep food from going bad, but also do a number on the bodies of the people for which this food is intended.
For example, with my lunch today I had...
Why Not Try An Infinity-Day Window? →
parislemon:
Matt Drance on Warner Bros. idiotic new 56-day DVD rental window:
Also under this new deal, pirated movies remain free of charge, free of non-skippable ads, free of five-minute load times, and are now nearly three months ahead of the competition.
And:
iTunes changed the music industry because it was more convenient than stealing. Most people made the value judgment that ten...
“As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have...”
– -Twitter
Oh boy, this is gonna get ugly.
*grabs popcorn*
“by the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon,...”
– -Newt Gingrich
Oh dear God, I think I have tears in my eyes. It’s just so preposterous. I mean, never mind our $15 trillion defect, and NASA being grossly underfunded. The whole idea just sounds like a bad sci-fi show.
Hey Newt, if this presidential run doesn’t work out for you, I...
Apple Packaging
I had an interesting thought this morning. Next to my dresser, I have a small stack of Apple boxes (MacBook Pro, iPad, Apple wireless keyboard) which I kind of looked at for a while.
I realized just how far Apple has come in making their packaging more efficient. It used to be monstrous. I remember my first iPod came in a giant cardboard cube that could have held 5 iPods. My first Apple laptop...