Incredibly Fat Man

Test

2008-01-08T09:54:00.000-08:00

Things I Like

2006-12-15T07:19:00.000-08:00

Programmers with a sense of humor.

I was looking in the console to troubleshoot an AppleScript I'm writing. While I was there I ran into this...

Bwahaha! I am a LetterboxExpandingSplitView, and I shall always be vertical!

I actually laughed out loud and boy did I need it.

More info on the software in question cane be found here.

http://harnly.net/software/letterbox/letterbox_0.16.html

Blufr: Defining what the word "is" means...

2006-09-18T12:17:00.000-07:00

This should be pretty short. Via Lifehacker I was directed to what sounded like a fun little time waster called blufr. Billed as "Bruising your ego one bluf at a time." Now let's be clear, I'm not a person who hates to be wrong. In fact, I generally look at it as a learning experience and like to get new information that makes me rethink a previously held belief. But I was instantly turned off by what I would consider a large assortment of cheap questions.

For example. my first question was "Lemmings generally throw themselves off of cliffs." To which I answered "No way!" (their version of False). This turned out to be wrong, as some Lemmings due to poor eyesight do occasionally fall off the side of a cliff. Even by the most liberal definition of the phrase "throw themselves off" could possibly include accidentally falling, I still couldn't imagine a scenario where you could describe that as "generally". I hoped that this was a one time thing, but just about every question followed this pattern.

A good riddle/brain teaser should be apparent after you know the answer. You should say to yourself, "Damn! I should have known that." Blufr just makes you feel like you've been scammed.

Mac Min - DVD Drive = iTV?

2006-09-15T14:06:00.000-07:00

So I know that it costs less and is easier to configure, but if you already have a Mac Mini, I can't see any conceivable reason to buy an iTV. And let me make it clear that if it was just 17" wide so that it matched up with the rest of my home theatre, that would be enough for me. But it seems to just be a squished mini with no HD and no DVD drive.

I'd love for someone to prove me wrong, cause I've been waiting for the Apple set top box pretty much since I started keeping MPEG-1 files of TV shows (holy crap, that's been like 6 years ago!).

iPods and H.264 - Together Again for the First Time

2006-09-14T16:39:00.000-07:00

In a rather circuitous fashion, I just realized a fairly significant change to the iPod's tech specs. I've been considering switching over my personal video collection from MPEG-4 to H.264, but part of what was holding me back was getting .mp4 and .mov based H.264 to work in my Windows based HTPC. I finally worked that out (thanks to the QT Alternative) and then I remembered the other barrier. H.264 files can be no bigger than 480x480 to play on an iPod, forever denying me my lofty goal of having one media file that can be played everywhere I want to play it.

"But wait!" I hear you saying. "Aren't the movies newly available from the iTunes ~~Music~~ Store 640x480?" Yes indeed they are. And lo and behold, the iPod Specs page now declares that iPods can indeed now play 640x480. What's more, I assume that the recent firmware update to 5G iPods releases that ability on all 5G iPods.

I makes me wonder though. If the 5G iPod has always been capable of this, why in the world did they cripple it in the first place? To what end? And moreover, why didn't they make a bigger deal out of this in the presentation.

Edit: The answer to the last question is, of course, to not draw attention to the initial crippling.

eBay Sucks...

2006-08-28T06:23:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know I'm not exactly breaking new creative ground here with a blog post about how eBay has gone downhill, but nobody reads this thing anyway, right?

The problem, of course, isn't really eBay. It's the people who use it on both sides. eBay has become such a popular marketplace, that thousands of retailers have co-opted it as an inexpensive way to run an online business. The problem with this is the expectation it creates. 9 times out of 10, when you buy from eBay, you're buying from a retailer who does this for a living, he's able to offer a level of service and quality that a guy like me who's just selling junk he no longer needs can't hope to match. They expect the product to be in brand new condition, free shipping, shipping that day regardless of what the actual listing says. The expect immediate responses to emails and a customer service number. They expect, in short, a retailer.

As you may have guessed, I recently sold something on eBay.

This may or may not be ironic....

2006-08-09T07:11:00.000-07:00

Does anyone else find it funny that the first thing a Mac geek does when he/she gets a new Mac now is to install Windows?

Alright Al Gore....

2006-08-02T09:53:00.000-07:00

You win this round. It's freakin hot out.

Star Wars 1977

2006-05-05T05:52:00.000-07:00

Today's post is a lazy one, because I'm essentially just going to rehash an email I sent to Scott Kurtz today in reference to his post on his wildly successful webcomic PVP. LucasFilm recently announced that they are finally going to release the original cut of the original Star Wars trilogy on DVD, something they swore they would never do. The only version currently available on DVD (or new in store in any format) was the special edition version released in the late 90's. You can find out more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Shot_First about the changes. Most people are being ridiculous about the whole thing. I actually read a site once where someone did a shot by shot comparison, and he was enraged that Darth Vader's light saber had changed in color ever so slightly. Seriosuly.

I'm not a fan of the special editions because the CGI additions. They just feel completely out of place in the movie and don't mesh with the original effects in a natural way at all. They're completely different in style and tone from the original practical effects and even if you've never seen the movie, it couldn't be more obvious what's new and what's old. The best effects support the story and stay out of it's way. The new effects do the exact opposite, drawing attention to themselves.

Anyway, on the Kurtz's post.

But the marketing train over at Lucasfilm has been playing us fans like suckers ever since they started re-editing the trilogy. Hasn't the Lucas camp been swearing on Bibles since the late 1990's that they would NEVER, EVER release the theatrical versions of these movies on DVD? And since then, how many versions of the original Trilogy have been put out for fans to purchase in lieu of what they truly wanted? Two or three at least. And we bought them. What else could we do?"

I agree entirely with his post except this part. What else could you have done? You could have not bought them. If everyone who complained about the special editions had not bought them, we would have been watching the original cuts years ago even if they really didn't ever intend to put out the original cut. Lucas has proven time after time that he couldn't care less about making good movies any more (and while his skills as a director/screen writer are always questionable, I really do believe he WANTED to make good movies in the 70's). He cares about making bank. Period. Lucas is greedy, but you guys let him do it, so part of me can't blame him.

Here we see LucasFilm muscle forcing another mild mannered citizen to purchase all six Star Wars movies

Everyone acts as if they have no choice in the matter, that they HAVE to purchase the new hot thing even if it's clearly not what they really want. To create a not entirely on topic allegory, it's the same thing we're seeing with the MacBooks. The whine problem everyone is organizing protests over was clearly known to anyone frequenting the forums they're all whining in now, but if they had exercised the tiniest amount of self control and just not bought the damn thing until Apple fixed it, the problem would have been fixed by now.

A Perfect Example

2006-04-25T07:07:00.000-07:00

This Ads in iTunes story is a perfect example of my last post on the Apple rumor mill. Everyone is all a twitter over an Advertising Age article that claims Apple is going to start putting ads in iTunes. Everyone has jumped all over this as if Apple is going to be putting out ads that play along with your music, but there is NO information available to support this conclusion.

It's all based on the fact that ESPN has said that they are "looking at new technology that will provide a much richer advertising experience and hope to roll that out very soon." for their podcasts.That's it. Nothing more. They could do that with a standard enhanced podcast. Ad Age then tries to bolster the argument by saying that Steve has publicly supported ads in podcasts. What? How in the world does that translate into Apple providing the advertising?

So we've essentially made a huge logical leap from one free content provider saying that they're going to start providing "a richer advertising experience" (i.e. enhanced podcasts...something they've been free to do since day one and that video podcasts do all the time) to Apple providing ads while you listen to music in your own library.

This is all totally disregarding the point that this would be a terrible idea. As the almighty John Gruber reminds us of on a nearly weekly basis, Apple is a hardware company. iTunes is there to sell iPods. The music store is there to sell iPods. It's all there to sell iPods. So as long as it breaks even, mission accomplished. Ads would be a perfect way to kill iTunes and it's iPod halo. And even there was some grain of truth to this, do you really think Apple would let ESPN talk about it so casually?

Double sigh....

The blog telephone game, or why I hate the Apple rumor mill.

2006-04-21T18:09:00.000-07:00

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good rumor as much as the next gadget hound. What I hate (and Apple is especially prone to this) is how they get blown totally out of proportion by the blogosphere.

Robert Cringely's recent article is a perfect example. In his latest article, the ever topical Cringely posits that Apple will have virtualization in the newest version of it's OS, allowing Mac users to run Windows without the rebooting gymnastics that Boot Camp currently requires. While I think this is a great idea, Cringely bases this on what really boils do nothing more than a gut feeling. And don't get me wrong; I think the odds are around 50/50 that Apple will indeed do this at some point (I'm far from certain though...while Apple would benefit from virtualization in some ways, there are some clear advantages to letting the third party companies take care of it that I won't go into here), but that's not the point. The point is that Cringely is saying this essentially because HE thinks it's a good idea.

And that really isn't the problem either. The problem is the blogs and news sites that pick up and report the story. The smaller sites essentially just want to link to the article, and they give it a headline like "Next version of OS X to have virtualization". From there, it makes it's way up through the foodchain to the mainstream sites, where it finally lands in the hands of the analysts. And this is where it becomes a problem, because the analysts consider it a credible rumor (after all, so many sites are talking about it) and they release a statement with their belief that this is what Apple will do. And all the blogs pick that up as confirmation of the initial rumor, proving that there's something behind it.

All because one guy thought "Wouldn't it be cool if Apple....?"

And again, I'm not in any way trying to be critical of Cringely (I'll save that for another article). And I'm not saying this happens to every rumor (only time will tell if it will happen with this one). But the next time you read about an analyst reporting on what they see in Apple's future, ask yourself if it was the lead article in Think Secret two weeks ago.

You'll see a pattern.

Dear Apple

2006-04-13T08:16:00.000-07:00

Please decide where you want the freakin' customize toolbar command. In 3 different Apple products it can be found under either the Edit, View or Window menu.

Argumentative

2006-04-13T06:47:00.000-07:00

I hope that title reflects an actual word. I've realized that I'm really argumentative. Not in a surly way, but any time I hear someone state something that I disagree with, I immediately start formulating facts and figures so that I'm might cohesively spell out why they are wrong wrong wrong. I had this discovery when I was listening to a standup comic on my iPod. He made a joke, and my internal response was "yeah, but..."

Sad but true.

Inaugural Whine - Dancing

2006-04-13T06:21:00.000-07:00

I've never understood why all people are required as if by law to enjoy dancing. It starts in high school, where every major memory making event is essentially a dance (homecoming, prom, etc...). The big dance is always the climax of a teen movie. Even after adolescence, weddings, anniversaries and holiday parties all generally focus around dancing.

That by itself wouldn't really bother me much. The thing that really gets my goat (aside from goat snatchers) is that if you go to one of these events and don't dance, then it's assumed that you're embarrassed by the way you dance. Or you're "no fun". Or you can't find the beat. For me, none of this is true. I just don't like to dance. It's just not fun. And we don't do this with anything else. If you don't like playing Monopoly, no one assumes that you can't count or have a fear of tiny hats.

Of course, it could be worse. I could live in India. According to every Bollywood film I've seen, dancing is 2/3 of their average day.

Let the whining commence!

2006-04-10T18:04:00.000-07:00

I can't imagine why anyone would be reading this, but this is where I'll come to whine and complain for the most part. The other goal is to use it as a place to hone my writing skills a bit. I've considered trying to write for a few tech blogs accepting proposals, but I don't have much in the way of samples to send their way.

So....uh...yeah. You come here often?