Finally after 15 years I got my first malware attack on my Mac. Or would have if I hadn't known better. It downloads by itself, and claims your computer is infested and you need the app to clean it up. Then it puts up it's own porn spam which disappear when you pay them to "clean it up".
Don't set your browser to open "safe" files automatically. And don't install anything you don't for sure where came from and what is.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Windows 8, is that a tablet OS??
Why Windows 8 Is Fundamentally Flawed as a Response to the iPad, Daring Fireball article.
But I think it’s a fundamentally flawed idea for Microsoft to build their next-generation OS and interface on top of the existing Windows. The idea is that you get the new stuff right alongside Windows as we know it. Microsoft is obviously trying to learn from Apple, but they clearly don’t understand why the iPad runs iOS, and not Mac OS X.
[...] Consider the differences between the iWork apps for the Mac and iPad. The iPad versions aren’t “touch friendly” versions of the Mac apps — they’re entirely new beasts designed and programmed from the ground up for the touchscreen and for the different rules and tradeoffs of the iOS interface (no explicit saving, no file system, ready to quit at a moment’s notice, no processing in the background, etc.).
The ability to run Mac OS X apps on the iPad, with full access to the file system, peripherals, etc., would make the iPad worse, not better. The iPad succeeds because it has eliminated complexity, not because it has covered up the complexity of the Mac with a touch-based “shell”.
-
I think this is a good observation. Building Windows 3 and '95 originally as a shell on DOS gave Windows users a decade of constant headaches. And now Windows 8 may do the same for Win tablet users. You don't eliminate complexity by throwing a tarp over all the buttons.
But I think it’s a fundamentally flawed idea for Microsoft to build their next-generation OS and interface on top of the existing Windows. The idea is that you get the new stuff right alongside Windows as we know it. Microsoft is obviously trying to learn from Apple, but they clearly don’t understand why the iPad runs iOS, and not Mac OS X.
[...] Consider the differences between the iWork apps for the Mac and iPad. The iPad versions aren’t “touch friendly” versions of the Mac apps — they’re entirely new beasts designed and programmed from the ground up for the touchscreen and for the different rules and tradeoffs of the iOS interface (no explicit saving, no file system, ready to quit at a moment’s notice, no processing in the background, etc.).
The ability to run Mac OS X apps on the iPad, with full access to the file system, peripherals, etc., would make the iPad worse, not better. The iPad succeeds because it has eliminated complexity, not because it has covered up the complexity of the Mac with a touch-based “shell”.
-
I think this is a good observation. Building Windows 3 and '95 originally as a shell on DOS gave Windows users a decade of constant headaches. And now Windows 8 may do the same for Win tablet users. You don't eliminate complexity by throwing a tarp over all the buttons.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
What is this "Cloud" really good for?
I am not entirely sure, beyond the companies' need for finding new sources of income, why this "Cloud" thing is becoming so big. What is it really solving for us, apart from forgetting to bring your laptop? Apart from convenience, what important issues does it solve for us? There is probably things I haven't gotten yet, it's been known to happen.
... Mossberg talks about how the vision is that basically the data, the computing power, most of the Operating System, will be left to the cloud servers, so what we we, we can do on very compact and cheap terminals, because they don't need all the storage space and computing power. Well... it sounds great, but... it demands an awful lot of trust, doesn't it? Several huge companies recently have had big breakins where they lost personal data for millions of customers. Not to mention, can we trust our internet connections to be up and fast enough when we need it, ten minutes before a deadline or meeting? Can we trust our documents not to disappear? I think these things need years and years of development and also getting-used-to once they do work, for it all to become a real alternative way for serious work.
Ironic: I have been paying Apple $100 every year for ten years, first for .Mac, then for its replacement, MobileMe, all the time waiting for some feature which really made it worthwhile for me. (I got my .mac email address when it was free, and then they started charging...) And now with iCloud it seems like it may actually begin to become useful to me, and now they make it free! What a friggin' weird world.
... Mossberg talks about how the vision is that basically the data, the computing power, most of the Operating System, will be left to the cloud servers, so what we we, we can do on very compact and cheap terminals, because they don't need all the storage space and computing power. Well... it sounds great, but... it demands an awful lot of trust, doesn't it? Several huge companies recently have had big breakins where they lost personal data for millions of customers. Not to mention, can we trust our internet connections to be up and fast enough when we need it, ten minutes before a deadline or meeting? Can we trust our documents not to disappear? I think these things need years and years of development and also getting-used-to once they do work, for it all to become a real alternative way for serious work.
Ironic: I have been paying Apple $100 every year for ten years, first for .Mac, then for its replacement, MobileMe, all the time waiting for some feature which really made it worthwhile for me. (I got my .mac email address when it was free, and then they started charging...) And now with iCloud it seems like it may actually begin to become useful to me, and now they make it free! What a friggin' weird world.
Friday, June 10, 2011
The baby iPad is born
Did you know that the iPad was planned before the iPhone? But seeing an iPad prototype, Jobs said "this would make a great phone!" So they put the 'pad on the backburner.
It is clear Apple knew they had something big...
It is clear Apple knew they had something big...
Steve Jobs presents building plans to Cupertino City Council
That's going to be one kewl building. Holding 13,000 people, completely circular, most parking underground, and of course state of the art all through.
from Yahoo:
"There is not a single straight piece of glass in this building," says Jobs.
The grounds will be transformed from primarily asphalt to green. Parking will go underground and the CEO says Apple plans to almost double the 3,700 trees on the property. He wants to add apricot orchards like the ones he recalls growing up with nearby.
The structure will also be fueled primarily by natural gas.
They will supply their own electricity and use the grid as backup!
Personally I'd have said that in a building that size, it would not be visible if the glass panes were not curved. And it would be much, much, cheaper. But Steve does not do anything by halves, and they are having their own huge glass panes made, and they will be curved, dammit! :-)
from Yahoo:
"There is not a single straight piece of glass in this building," says Jobs.
The grounds will be transformed from primarily asphalt to green. Parking will go underground and the CEO says Apple plans to almost double the 3,700 trees on the property. He wants to add apricot orchards like the ones he recalls growing up with nearby.
The structure will also be fueled primarily by natural gas.
They will supply their own electricity and use the grid as backup!
Personally I'd have said that in a building that size, it would not be visible if the glass panes were not curved. And it would be much, much, cheaper. But Steve does not do anything by halves, and they are having their own huge glass panes made, and they will be curved, dammit! :-)
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Kobo and Barnes & Noble Offer New E-Readers
Kobo and Barnes & Noble Offer New E-Readers, NYT article.
The touch-screen (not multi-touch though) is the most important feature, an important advantage over the Kindle.
For now at least. Let's see what Amazon will dish out in the coming few months.
The touch-screen (not multi-touch though) is the most important feature, an important advantage over the Kindle.
For now at least. Let's see what Amazon will dish out in the coming few months.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Buy books in the iTunes store
You can finally buy e-books in the iTunes store. At least in the U.S. so far.
I never got why they didn't do that from the beginning? Everything else had been shoe-horned into iTunes, films, TV-shows, audio-books, podcasts, university lectures, music social networks, dinosaurs, antique airplanes, parts for nuclear bombs... but e-books? Nah, need a separate app for that. Silly.
One thing missing yet, though: we still can't read the books on a Mac or PC so far as I can see. Need an iOS device for that. That has to change too. Even though I prefer an iPad for reading, there's no reason I shouldn't be able to read on my MacBook Air if that's what I have with me. It needs a table or stand, but otherwise it's a perfectly serviceable reading device with a very good screen, outstanding screen in fact, even better than the iPad's.
Fortunately Kindle already has an excellent app for Mac, so I'll just have to use that one instead of buying my books in the iBookstore... :-)
I never got why they didn't do that from the beginning? Everything else had been shoe-horned into iTunes, films, TV-shows, audio-books, podcasts, university lectures, music social networks, dinosaurs, antique airplanes, parts for nuclear bombs... but e-books? Nah, need a separate app for that. Silly.
One thing missing yet, though: we still can't read the books on a Mac or PC so far as I can see. Need an iOS device for that. That has to change too. Even though I prefer an iPad for reading, there's no reason I shouldn't be able to read on my MacBook Air if that's what I have with me. It needs a table or stand, but otherwise it's a perfectly serviceable reading device with a very good screen, outstanding screen in fact, even better than the iPad's.
Fortunately Kindle already has an excellent app for Mac, so I'll just have to use that one instead of buying my books in the iBookstore... :-)
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Apple says Yes
[Thanks to geekbeat.tv.]
True story: a guy had bought an iPad 2 in an Apple Store, but the next day he returned it for domestic reasons, most probably "are you crazy, we can't afford that!". Apple likes to know why any returns happen, so the stores report to them in each case. So this iPad went back to Apple with a sticky on it saying "Wife says No".
So somebody at Apple made a decision, and the guy got a free iPad shipped, with a note saying "Apple says Yes".
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Jann Wenner: iPad Magazines a Bad Move for Publishers
Jann Wenner: iPad Magazines a Bad Move for Publishers, article.
"Mr. Wenner thinks the digital magazine market is still too small, and he offered up the Popular Science iPad magazine app as an example. “It’s selling 16,000 on a million-plus rate base, it’s like nothing,” he said.
The transition to ubiquitous digital magazines will be some time coming, too, he thinks. “Who knows how far down the road — years though and possibly decades,” he said.
Decades? OK, *really* ubiquitous *could* take more than ten years. But publishers are really caught between two hard places: while digital mags aren't profitable yet, paper prices, printing prices, and distribution costs have been rising and rising for decades and ads sales falling, does he have any reason to think those trends will reverse? I think not. I think while the jump to the shore may be a long one right now, the boat is not getting any closer from now on.
"Mr. Wenner thinks the digital magazine market is still too small, and he offered up the Popular Science iPad magazine app as an example. “It’s selling 16,000 on a million-plus rate base, it’s like nothing,” he said.
The transition to ubiquitous digital magazines will be some time coming, too, he thinks. “Who knows how far down the road — years though and possibly decades,” he said.
Decades? OK, *really* ubiquitous *could* take more than ten years. But publishers are really caught between two hard places: while digital mags aren't profitable yet, paper prices, printing prices, and distribution costs have been rising and rising for decades and ads sales falling, does he have any reason to think those trends will reverse? I think not. I think while the jump to the shore may be a long one right now, the boat is not getting any closer from now on.
"Novel in 30"
The maker of one of the earliest writing apps for iPad (My Writing Spot) has made a new app with a fun idea, Novel in 30.
I think it's inspired by the yearly November workshop where people set themselves the goal of writing a novel in 30 days. If you think that sounds hard, you should know that some people go to workshops where they write a novel in 24 hours! And according to reliable witnesses, some people even write *good* novels in that time.
I think that forced production, while it might or might not make for good work, can really help to flush out the blocks in the ol' creative channels, all the bullshit which is just based on fear and doubt and uncertainty. (Wow: Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt, that's the same things used in some black PR campaigns, FUD.) One often finds that when you simply *do*, you see that you *can* do.
I think it's inspired by the yearly November workshop where people set themselves the goal of writing a novel in 30 days. If you think that sounds hard, you should know that some people go to workshops where they write a novel in 24 hours! And according to reliable witnesses, some people even write *good* novels in that time.
I think that forced production, while it might or might not make for good work, can really help to flush out the blocks in the ol' creative channels, all the bullshit which is just based on fear and doubt and uncertainty. (Wow: Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt, that's the same things used in some black PR campaigns, FUD.) One often finds that when you simply *do*, you see that you *can* do.
NYT: Female Magazine Readers Flock to Nook Color
NYT: Female Magazine Readers Flock to Nook Color, article.
Women's magazines are selling like hotcakes on the Nook Color.
A very interesting article which to me show that, more important than the differences between platforms (Nook and iPad), the market is already ready for what I'd call a *real* tablet reading experience, as opposed to the Kindle "old man reading experience", a tiny gray screen which can only show text, for people who think that colors and pictures are for people who didn't finish high school, and who would be a little afraid of reading on a device which is too much like a computer. :-)
Actually, by the way, I've noticed myself recently really looking forward to the day we get a "super-tablet", like an iPad, only with a much larger screen and resolution. Even as the iPad obviously is a huge leap up when you come from a smartphone screen, it simply is still too small for many tasks, including just most web pages! Not to mentioned technical books, comic books, etc etc.
Here is bubbly "Kate" who helps customers understand what a Nook is:
Update:
TCGirl said:
Funny: "Generically speaking, the iPad and other tablets are men's toys,"
I guess I'll stop dreaming of, someday, owning a Pad! lol! :-/
I think that the Androids like the Xoom are "men's toys", they have capabilities, but are hardly any fun. But everybody loves the iPad, across genders and literally from age 2 to 82. (Lots of two-year-olds actually using the durn thing!) It's just a pleasure to use, and I think *that* is the thing that is *really* hard to achieve, and that probably no competitor will ever match.
Women's magazines are selling like hotcakes on the Nook Color.
A very interesting article which to me show that, more important than the differences between platforms (Nook and iPad), the market is already ready for what I'd call a *real* tablet reading experience, as opposed to the Kindle "old man reading experience", a tiny gray screen which can only show text, for people who think that colors and pictures are for people who didn't finish high school, and who would be a little afraid of reading on a device which is too much like a computer. :-)
Actually, by the way, I've noticed myself recently really looking forward to the day we get a "super-tablet", like an iPad, only with a much larger screen and resolution. Even as the iPad obviously is a huge leap up when you come from a smartphone screen, it simply is still too small for many tasks, including just most web pages! Not to mentioned technical books, comic books, etc etc.
Here is bubbly "Kate" who helps customers understand what a Nook is:
Update:
TCGirl said:
Funny: "Generically speaking, the iPad and other tablets are men's toys,"
I guess I'll stop dreaming of, someday, owning a Pad! lol! :-/
I think that the Androids like the Xoom are "men's toys", they have capabilities, but are hardly any fun. But everybody loves the iPad, across genders and literally from age 2 to 82. (Lots of two-year-olds actually using the durn thing!) It's just a pleasure to use, and I think *that* is the thing that is *really* hard to achieve, and that probably no competitor will ever match.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
eReaderPain
It just keeps shocking me; how slow downloads often are on tablets and phones, on perfectly good broadband connections. I have tablets/phones of four different brands (Apple, Dell, Samsung, Motorola), and it's the same: downloads of videos or apps are hideously slow compared to the same downloads happening on my desktop machine. Which is on the same connection of course.
I have not made scientific tests, but I would not be at all surprised if the difference on average is at least one full order or magnitude (1:10). It's really clear and really weird.
The only explanation I've heard is that solid state memory is much slower to write to than hard disks. But I doubt that this can be it, because then sometimes the download speed will be useful for real-time video watching, and other times it will take an hour to download 2MB. If it was the storage medium, you'd have even slowdowns. And they are not, in fact "uneven" is a central concept to understand re this phenom.
Example: I tried to download three apps to my iPad. It took half a day before I had them all. And then, trying to get downloads going for app updates, I gave up and just went to my Mac and told it to download all app updates. Including all the apps I don't currently use, there were seventy-four app updates of various sizes, some quite large. It downloaded them without trouble in like two minutes, boom boom boom, cha-dam, done.
Why this great incommensurateness in ability?
I have not made scientific tests, but I would not be at all surprised if the difference on average is at least one full order or magnitude (1:10). It's really clear and really weird.
The only explanation I've heard is that solid state memory is much slower to write to than hard disks. But I doubt that this can be it, because then sometimes the download speed will be useful for real-time video watching, and other times it will take an hour to download 2MB. If it was the storage medium, you'd have even slowdowns. And they are not, in fact "uneven" is a central concept to understand re this phenom.
Example: I tried to download three apps to my iPad. It took half a day before I had them all. And then, trying to get downloads going for app updates, I gave up and just went to my Mac and told it to download all app updates. Including all the apps I don't currently use, there were seventy-four app updates of various sizes, some quite large. It downloaded them without trouble in like two minutes, boom boom boom, cha-dam, done.
Why this great incommensurateness in ability?
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