Category: Macintosh

Mac-related computer stuff. I also put iPod-related stuff here so I guess this should have been called Apple.

Dell DJ Ditty

Dell DJ Ditty

Dell DJ Ditty, originally uploaded by tychay.

Dell is about to introduce the long-awaited (I’m sure) DJ Ditty (purchase).

An eyesore and an eight month turnaround to copy a device consisting of generic components. Is this what “player-hater”, Robert Enderle, meant when he said, “Historically staid companies like Gateway, HP, Acer, and even Dell are much more aggressive on design today, often surpassing Apple, which was preeminent in this area in the 90s.” Enderle singing a dirge for Apple: Seventh time’s the charm Rob!
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Posted on by tychay 7

Since when did being a geek mean being moron?

A simulation of how filiaments might form as the universe evolves

A simulation of large-scale structure
formation, from University of Chicago Center for Cosmological Physics.

This Wired article is a wonderful example about how unpractical our country’s basic math education is.

The reporter wastes the first page on his idiot attempt to find a truly random playlist. A little knowledge is a highly dangerous thing. After learning that computer generated random numbers are not truly random, he assumes that this is why he sometimes gets his Rolling Stones songs clumped together.

The limitations of pseudorandomness is a serious issue in statistical physics (Monte Carlo simulations) and theoretical physics (modeling). In some cases, poor psuedorandom number generators have allowed people break encryption algorithms.

But even the most primitive random number generator causing a problem with your iPod playlist? C’mon!

One difficult issue when looking at maps of the large scale structure of the universe is that our eyes detect spurious filaments (chains of galactic structures) that aren’t there, even though such things have been found to exist.
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Posted on by tychay 0

iTunes 5 adds lyrics

One thing that has barely been noticed about the new iTunes 5 upgrade announced yestereday by Apple is that they have finally added Lyrics support to their MP3 and AAC files.

Plaxo-AIM signin

iTunes 5 adds lyrics, originally uploaded by tychay.

To get to the lyrics, simply choose “File > Get Info…” on a song. Apple also has added a property called “lyrics” to the AppleScript dictionary so full automation is now possible: imagine a small AppleScript that automatically adds lyrics from a website into your tunes.

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Posted on by tychay 2

Karma catches up with Jack?

Trent is reporting that MacMice has shut down.

I’ve alluded to Jack Campbell’s abusiveness and deceptiveness before. One thing I never understood about the Mac world was their willingness to give this guy the benefit of the doubt. Granted, you shouldn’t hold a man’s criminal record against him, but it should bias your opinions. I mean how many time does the community need to be clocked on the head to realize that enough is enough? MacTable, MacWhispers “rumor site”, Griffin/DVForge, his verbal abusiveness and lying on multiple comment boards, Kensington/DVForge, and finally this marketing stunt.

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Posted on by tychay 1

Why I need an “abject stupidity” category

CNN:Police try to control the crowd rushing to get cheap iBooks.

So what sort of braintrust in Henrico thought up this clusterfuck?

Here is my favorite quote:

“It’s rather strange that we would have such a tremendous response for the purchase of a laptop computer—and laptop computers that probably have less-than-desirable attributes. But I think that people tend to get caught up in the excitement of the event—it almost has an entertainment value.”
—Paul Proto, director of general services for Henrico County, to CNN

“rather strange that we would have such a tremendous response” You knew it was going to be bad which is why you required proof of residency and changed the date.

“laptop computers that probably have less-than-desirable attributes…” STFU. You already had to issue a redaction because you said these iBooks were always broken and Apple wasn’t repairing them according to contract when the real reason you wanted to switch to Dell is because of MS Office (a totally valid reason).

“it almost has an entertainment value” Porquoi? What is so entertaining about your neighbors getting injured and peeing their pants?
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Posted on by tychay 2

Pirates of Silicon Valley DVD

Pirates of Silicon Valley DVD

MacMinute clued me in to the fact that Pirates of Silicon Valley is coming out on DVD. I recorded this movie when I last had cable (back in 1999) because I was out the days it aired. I enjoyed this movie, and because of it’s high geekfest quotient, right up there with Real Genius.

I think Dave still has my videocassette of it. I had forgotten I had recorded it until a few years ago when I saw part of it with him. We had great fun watching all the 1999 dot-com boom commercials that were aired on TNT along with it (too bad the DVD doesn’t have that as a special feature.)

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Posted on by tychay 6

Regulating podcasts

This thread has been rated S

Now that Apple is offering Podcast integration into iTunes, an absurd argument has popped up concerning warnings vs. parental responsibility.

In typical polarizing fashion the discussion has been divided into a neat dichotomy: those who demand that Apple should censor/rate content for the sake of the children and those who think that you are just a lazy parent out-of-touch with today.

Even the people who disagree drop into the illogical and irrational. Take this high rated response from someone who claims to not “entirely agree with either of these guys” (but clearly is showing his biases):

It seems that they would, even by their own standards. We (meaning society in general, not just parents) expect such a system for movies, TV, video games, music, etc. And btw, we’re missing the point with some of this by focusing solely on children. I know plenty of adults who don’t care to see or hear “adult content” and would appreciate a warning in advance so a label system would serve people other than just parents.

My wife dislikes “adult content” in music and ironically, Apple does such a thing for iTunes Music Store (those little ‘explicit’ tags on some songs and albums.) It would seem even by Apple’s own standards they have come up a little short with their implementation of podcasts.

It would be very easy for Apple to classify podcasts in this manner (or ask providers to self-rate) and then give parents control over what podcasts their children could access via the parent controls panel.

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Posted on by tychay 0