All Forum Comments
Comment by Shaky posted on Whatt spec systems are you running! at 10/02/2010 - 18:06
thoughton wrote:
I'm rather sorry to say I simply do not equate "freedom of information" and "personal liberty" with "what software is available for my chosen computer" and "what video formats does my media player handle". I wish I did, just so I could parrot those grand phrases more often!
Fine.I'm rather sorry to say I simply do not equate "freedom of information" and "personal liberty" with "what software is available for my chosen computer" and "what video formats does my media player handle". I wish I did, just so I could parrot those grand phrases more often!
To those who say that threads like this are a complete waste of time, one can now point to the current example, where – through a process of dialogue and exchange – we have established to my satisfaction that a high degree of mutual contempt exists for our respective positions.
Comment by Shaky posted on iPad or iPad Which One? at 06/02/2010 - 08:55
thoughton wrote:
Freedom of information and personal liberty eh? Leaving aside the fact that every single iphone developer. . .
Without wishing to give the appearance of resorting to hyperbole, I am simply astonished you seem to believe the main concern related to freedom of information is from the viewpoint of software developers.Freedom of information and personal liberty eh? Leaving aside the fact that every single iphone developer. . .
The problem is end users, who are not at liberty to decide for themselves what content their devices should display.
Does your position at all change in light of this new information?
Comment by Shaky posted on iPad or iPad Which One? at 05/02/2010 - 20:42
thoughton wrote:
It's as if some journo wrote a piece in today's Guardian alerting everyone to the fact that Steve Jobs took a 6 month medical leave of absence to have a secret liver transplant in January 2009.
C’mon Tim, that’s a silly analogy for what is a deeply serious matter.It's as if some journo wrote a piece in today's Guardian alerting everyone to the fact that Steve Jobs took a 6 month medical leave of absence to have a secret liver transplant in January 2009.
In my view it is solely Jobs’s messianic status (died and resurrected) that blinds true Apple acolytes to what I would have thought were fairly obvious issues of freedom of information and personal liberty. Absolute power corrupts absolutely and all that.
And I believe you are dead wrong to dismiss this as old news, because I have recently detected a rapidly growing groundswell of anti-Apple opinion, also emanating from meejah circles, as I mentioned a few dozen pages back.
Of course Rupert Murdoch is said to be thrilled to bits that Apple shares his view of DRM and consumer pricing--nuff said.
Comment by Shaky posted on iPad or iPad Which One? at 04/02/2010 - 13:11
As for Mac reliability here’s a few snips that crossed my desk today:
Quote:
The Faulty iMac Saga, Chapter 4: Apple Buying Out Customers
In this week's iMac update, we talk to an Apple Authorized Service Provider/Reseller from the UK. And what does he tell us? Apple is so short on 27-inch displays that they're paying customers 15% to simply return faulty iMacs.
Can You Safely Buy a New iMac Yet?
Nope.
Why?
The yellow screens have yet to be fixed. The flickering screens have just been addressed with a second firmware update, but we can't tell whether or not this update fixed the problem. (Write [email protected] to let us know your experience).
What's Being Done?
27-inch iMacs are still being delayed in what is allegedly a complete halting of their assembly line, though Apple has denied it. The three-week delay of last week has been shifted to a two-week delay (but such is to be expected, as we're a week later in whatever fix Apple appears to be working on). Of course, if Apple's screen issues are in any way related to believed supplier LG's production methods, these delays might not help. LG-sourced Dell displays are having color issues, too.
What's With the Apple Payouts??
A UK-based Apple Authorized Service Provider/Reseller shared some interesting information with me. First, the UK appears to be totally out of 27-inch panels to repair iMacs (which makes sense if Apple's assembly lines are halted). Here's what he said, after sharing inventory lists with me:
http://gizmodo.com/5463415/the-faulty-imac-saga-chapter-4-apple-buying-out-custo...
The Faulty iMac Saga, Chapter 4: Apple Buying Out Customers
In this week's iMac update, we talk to an Apple Authorized Service Provider/Reseller from the UK. And what does he tell us? Apple is so short on 27-inch displays that they're paying customers 15% to simply return faulty iMacs.
Can You Safely Buy a New iMac Yet?
Nope.
Why?
The yellow screens have yet to be fixed. The flickering screens have just been addressed with a second firmware update, but we can't tell whether or not this update fixed the problem. (Write [email protected] to let us know your experience).
What's Being Done?
27-inch iMacs are still being delayed in what is allegedly a complete halting of their assembly line, though Apple has denied it. The three-week delay of last week has been shifted to a two-week delay (but such is to be expected, as we're a week later in whatever fix Apple appears to be working on). Of course, if Apple's screen issues are in any way related to believed supplier LG's production methods, these delays might not help. LG-sourced Dell displays are having color issues, too.
What's With the Apple Payouts??
A UK-based Apple Authorized Service Provider/Reseller shared some interesting information with me. First, the UK appears to be totally out of 27-inch panels to repair iMacs (which makes sense if Apple's assembly lines are halted). Here's what he said, after sharing inventory lists with me:
http://gizmodo.com/5463415/the-faulty-imac-saga-chapter-4-apple-buying-out-custo...
Quote:
Nehalem Mac Pros take 20% performance hit when playing audio
Apple's latest Mac Pro, jammed with multicore Nehalem-based Xeon processors, is designed to be a computing beast with power to spare for the most demanding tasks. Since the current Mac Pros became available in October of 2009, though, numerous users have reported a glitch, which appears to be related to audio processing, that causes those Xeons to run much hotter than expected. The problem also saps a surprising amount of performance as well.
It turns out that the most recent revisions of the Mac Pro—"Early 2009" as well as "Late 2009" models—exhibit very unusual behavior when playing any source of audio. The problem manifests as what has been described as excessive increases in power use and processor core heat when playing songs in iTunes, watching videos via Quicktime, or even when keeping USB or FireWire-based audio interfaces plugged in and active. While hardware monitors only report a small percentage of processor use, it can still cause performance decreases of up to 20 percent for other tasks.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/02/nehalem-mac-pros-take-20-performance-h...
Nehalem Mac Pros take 20% performance hit when playing audio
Apple's latest Mac Pro, jammed with multicore Nehalem-based Xeon processors, is designed to be a computing beast with power to spare for the most demanding tasks. Since the current Mac Pros became available in October of 2009, though, numerous users have reported a glitch, which appears to be related to audio processing, that causes those Xeons to run much hotter than expected. The problem also saps a surprising amount of performance as well.
It turns out that the most recent revisions of the Mac Pro—"Early 2009" as well as "Late 2009" models—exhibit very unusual behavior when playing any source of audio. The problem manifests as what has been described as excessive increases in power use and processor core heat when playing songs in iTunes, watching videos via Quicktime, or even when keeping USB or FireWire-based audio interfaces plugged in and active. While hardware monitors only report a small percentage of processor use, it can still cause performance decreases of up to 20 percent for other tasks.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/02/nehalem-mac-pros-take-20-performance-h...
Comment by Shaky posted on iPad or iPad Which One? at 04/02/2010 - 12:14
thoughton wrote:
Aherm, I assume based on your somewhat smug and dismissive tone that you have never heard of the ‘journo’ in question, Jonathan Zittrain.Shaky wrote:
Speak of the devil?
I suppose it's an example of decent journalistic English, but other than that everything in this story is ancient news. Speak of the devil?
Quote:
A fight over freedom at Apple’s core
By Jonathan Zittrain
Financial Times 4/2/2010
In 1977, a 21-year-old Steve Jobs
Full StoryA fight over freedom at Apple’s core
By Jonathan Zittrain
Financial Times 4/2/2010
In 1977, a 21-year-old Steve Jobs
Here is a snip from his extensive Wikipedia entry:
Quote:
Jonathan L. Zittrain (born December 24, 1970) is an American professor of Internet law at Harvard Law School and a faculty co-director of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society. Previously, Zittrain was Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute of the University of Oxford and visiting professor at the New York University School of Law and Stanford Law School. He is the author, most recently, of The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It; and co-editor of the book Access Denied.
Zittrain works in several intersections of the Internet with law and policy including intellectual property, censorship and filtering for content control and computer security. He founded an organization that develops classroom tools.[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_ZittrainJonathan L. Zittrain (born December 24, 1970) is an American professor of Internet law at Harvard Law School and a faculty co-director of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society. Previously, Zittrain was Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute of the University of Oxford and visiting professor at the New York University School of Law and Stanford Law School. He is the author, most recently, of The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It; and co-editor of the book Access Denied.
Zittrain works in several intersections of the Internet with law and policy including intellectual property, censorship and filtering for content control and computer security. He founded an organization that develops classroom tools.[1]
Comment by Shaky posted on iPad or iPad Which One? at 04/02/2010 - 12:09
Speak of the devil?
Quote:
A fight over freedom at Apple’s core
By Jonathan Zittrain
Financial Times 4/2/2010
In 1977, a 21-year-old Steve Jobs unveiled something the world had never seen before: a ready-to-program personal computer. After powering the machine up, proud Apple II owners were confronted with a cryptic blinking cursor, awaiting instructions.
The Apple II was a clean slate, a device built – boldly – with no specific tasks in mind. Yet, despite the cursor, you did not have to know how to write programs. Instead, with a few keystrokes you could run software acquired from anyone, anywhere. The Apple II was generative.
. . .Thirty years later Apple gave us the iPhone. It was easy to use, elegant and cool – and had lots of applications right out of the box. But the company quietly dropped a fundamental feature, one signalled by the dropping of “Computer” from Apple Computer’s name: the iPhone could not be programmed by outsiders. “We define everything that is on the phone,” said Mr Jobs. “You don’t want your phone to be like a PC. The last thing you want is to have loaded three apps on your phone and then you go to make a call and it doesn’t work any more.”
The openness on which Apple had built its original empire had been completely reversed – but the spirit was still there among users. Hackers vied to “jailbreak” the iPhone, running new apps on it despite Apple’s desire to keep it closed. Apple threatened to disable any phone that had been jailbroken, but then appeared to relent: a year after the iPhone’s introduction, it launched the App Store.
. . .But the App Store has a catch: app developers and their software must be approved by Apple. If Apple does not like the app, for any reason, it is gone. I Am Rich was axed from the Store after it was ridiculed in the press. Another app, Freedom Time, never made it in. It counted down the days to the end of George W. Bush’s US presidency, and that was deemed too politically sensitive. An e-mail reader was denied because it competed with Apple’s own Mail app. Imagine if Microsoft’s Bill Gates had decreed that no other word processor but Word would be allowed to run on the Windows operating system. Microsoft lost a decade-long competition lawsuit for far less proprietary behaviour
Full StoryA fight over freedom at Apple’s core
By Jonathan Zittrain
Financial Times 4/2/2010
In 1977, a 21-year-old Steve Jobs unveiled something the world had never seen before: a ready-to-program personal computer. After powering the machine up, proud Apple II owners were confronted with a cryptic blinking cursor, awaiting instructions.
The Apple II was a clean slate, a device built – boldly – with no specific tasks in mind. Yet, despite the cursor, you did not have to know how to write programs. Instead, with a few keystrokes you could run software acquired from anyone, anywhere. The Apple II was generative.
. . .Thirty years later Apple gave us the iPhone. It was easy to use, elegant and cool – and had lots of applications right out of the box. But the company quietly dropped a fundamental feature, one signalled by the dropping of “Computer” from Apple Computer’s name: the iPhone could not be programmed by outsiders. “We define everything that is on the phone,” said Mr Jobs. “You don’t want your phone to be like a PC. The last thing you want is to have loaded three apps on your phone and then you go to make a call and it doesn’t work any more.”
The openness on which Apple had built its original empire had been completely reversed – but the spirit was still there among users. Hackers vied to “jailbreak” the iPhone, running new apps on it despite Apple’s desire to keep it closed. Apple threatened to disable any phone that had been jailbroken, but then appeared to relent: a year after the iPhone’s introduction, it launched the App Store.
. . .But the App Store has a catch: app developers and their software must be approved by Apple. If Apple does not like the app, for any reason, it is gone. I Am Rich was axed from the Store after it was ridiculed in the press. Another app, Freedom Time, never made it in. It counted down the days to the end of George W. Bush’s US presidency, and that was deemed too politically sensitive. An e-mail reader was denied because it competed with Apple’s own Mail app. Imagine if Microsoft’s Bill Gates had decreed that no other word processor but Word would be allowed to run on the Windows operating system. Microsoft lost a decade-long competition lawsuit for far less proprietary behaviour
Comment by Shaky posted on iPad or iPad Which One? at 04/02/2010 - 07:25
Who “gets” the iPad can only be constructively discussed on a personal basis, hinging solely on whether we individually perceive a need that the device can fulfil.
Whether the market as a whole will get it on a scale commensurate with past iBranded consumer accessories is a matter of pure speculation. However, fashion and the cool factor have undeniably played a key role in past successes, and given the notorious variability of the market it is clearly naive in the extreme to suppose that Apple have some kind of formulaic magic touch that ensures the iPad will also be a massive hit.
However, one thing I find interesting and possibly highly significant with the recent spate of iPad parodies is their generally high-quality production. Much of this looks polished and very professional, which suggests that the growing backlash against Apple’s draconian DRM policies I have recently been casually detecting are indeed gaining traction amongst their traditional heartland of digital professionals.
Combine this with Apple’s slap in face to America’s fine pornography industry through the iPad’s absence of flash support and suddenly their market foundation starts to look very wobbly.
Whether the market as a whole will get it on a scale commensurate with past iBranded consumer accessories is a matter of pure speculation. However, fashion and the cool factor have undeniably played a key role in past successes, and given the notorious variability of the market it is clearly naive in the extreme to suppose that Apple have some kind of formulaic magic touch that ensures the iPad will also be a massive hit.
However, one thing I find interesting and possibly highly significant with the recent spate of iPad parodies is their generally high-quality production. Much of this looks polished and very professional, which suggests that the growing backlash against Apple’s draconian DRM policies I have recently been casually detecting are indeed gaining traction amongst their traditional heartland of digital professionals.
Combine this with Apple’s slap in face to America’s fine pornography industry through the iPad’s absence of flash support and suddenly their market foundation starts to look very wobbly.
Comment by Shaky posted on iPad or iPad Which One? at 02/02/2010 - 17:48
Comment by Shaky posted on iPad or iPad Which One? at 02/02/2010 - 06:59
technoidiot wrote:
I have to admit that as a MacHead I'm also puzzled by the iPad . I don't know what market it's aimed at .
That’s easy; it is aimed squarely at the stock market.I have to admit that as a MacHead I'm also puzzled by the iPad . I don't know what market it's aimed at .
The iPod and iPhone have been runaway commercial successes that have recently propelled Apple stock far above the highs even from the dotcom bubble in the late 90s.
However, the stock market is all about growth, and alas iPod sales have long ago reached market saturation and the iPhone is rapidly approaching that stage too. And with core Mac sales disappointing Jobs has been under severe pressure to bring out another category killer product to support the share price valuation and generally assuage market jitters.
I await the verdict of the real market on the iPad with interest but for now I am a short seller of Apple stock.
Comment by Shaky posted on iPad or iPad Which One? at 30/01/2010 - 14:27
16 Gb fully buffered ram
Intel 5000x motherboard with 2 ram + 1 cpu slot free
Nvidia Quadro FX 3500 video card
4 x 320 Gb in Raid 10
1 x 1 Tb external via eSata
2 x Dell 17” Ultrasharp
Win 7 Ultimate (Win XP x64 & Ubuntu 9.10 workstation via VMware)
Shopping list:
2x 256 Gb SSD SATA III (& controller?)