Ben Goodger has decided to put away all these silly suggestions with his list of why Firefox 2.0 is still going to be called that. There are a couple items I think will be well worth it.
P1: Spell check for web text areas.
P2: Spell check option for text fields.
P3: Updated system integration for MacOS X, GNOME
The fact that the priority of these items enumerates is purely coincidental. I think the third speaks for itself. The first two however are why I’ve stuck with Safari for so long (as well as better plugin support and great bookmark syncing, but I digress). When I’m forced to use Windows, Firefox is a great companion, but leaves me in the cold with my sometimes lacking spelling skill.
Every person has their own personal obsession and it’s fast turning out that mine is an Apple DVR. I love digital video recorders, particularly when attached to a computer which could process that video all day long. I think it would complete Apple’s Front Row; Dan thinks it’ll cannibalize iTMS sales.
Ken Fisher is somewhere in the middle in an article for Ars Technica. He acknowledges Dan’s concern, giving it a lot of weight. However, he also sees things my way in that an Apple DVR could theoretically augment the iTMS in some ways. Ultimately, pricing the hardware for the DVR capability as well as an Airport Video could offset the potential loss of iTMS revenue.
I think the upshot is that until everything is available on the iTMS in some kind of truly affordable pricing deal, the DVR is needed to get everyone moved over to iTunes to watch their TV as well as listen to music (especially since TiVo seems to be off in the weeds somewhere). Being able to rip CDs didn’t prevent the iTMS from becoming the success it is today. There’s no reason for Apple to fear the DVR.
Apple Matters reminds us that on today, April 30th, exactly two years ago in 2004, Steve Jobs himself said he saw no reason for the iPod to have video playing capability. Now, we all know this turned out to be a big fat lie, but let's take a look at Steve's quote regarding do-all devices:
You know, our next big step is we want it to make toast, I want to brown my bagels when I'm listening to my music. And we're toying with refrigeration, too.
Ha. Ha. You're so funny Steve. Why are you working for Apple? You should be doing standup comedy somewhere. In any case, just remember that no matter what Steve says, the complete opposite could very well turn out to be true, just as we learned on October 12th, 2005.
Douglas Bowman at Stopdesign.com has published 13 tips for Google Calendar. He also comments that he has seen Mac users hesitating to try the new calendar, and therefore has added a few Mac specific hints. I for one am a loyal iCal user, but after reading all these tips, I'm strongly considering Google Calendar. Here's my two favorite tips:
[via Hawk Wings]
John Siracusa dropped a short note from the zfs-discuss mailing list onto FatBits.
Here's some exciting news!
Chris Emura, the Filesystem Development Manager within Apple's CoreOS organization is interested in porting ZFS to OS X. For more information, please e-mail him directly at cemura at apple.com.
Speaking for the zfs team (at Sun), this is great news and we fully support the effort.
It's got John all worked as he's quite a fan. There is some CPU loss associated with using the new filesystem, but with that comes a file system that can heal itself, dynamically add space as you add hard drives (instead of worrying about where you put your data), and even let you back up the state of your hard drive to retrieve a file you've slashed to pieces or deleted.
As computers gain cores and processing power, is it worth losing some in order to maintain piece of mind? I think anybody that's lost all their data due to hard drive corruption would agree. Then again, is HFS+ terribly prone to problems?
School districts and teachers everywhere are finding ways to incorporate iPods into the classroom as teaching tools. They can be great mediums to carry foreign language audio files on, or just a device to carry class lectures on. But the most recent round of iPods-in-schools is discovering another potential use for iPods: podcasting.
At a middle school in Arlington, VA, students stay after school to create their very own podcasts, containing original poetry, essays, and stories, all mixed to music and other sounds. Another school in Arlington, this time an elementary school, uses podcasts to broadcast student reports about the monuments in Washington. One student controls the computer, while another served as the director, and a third recited her report into a microphone. This podcast was discovered by a elementary school in Scotland, and now the two schools "podcast each other."
Yet another teacher uses podcasts to make recordings of vocabulary words, where they listen to the words over and over. They then create their own podcasts of the words, comparing their pronunciation to the teacher's.
Podcasting in schools is becoming more and more popular, but still only a small percentage of teachers actually utilize iPods and podcasting in class. However, the potential which iPods possess for assisting learning is undeniable, and will find its way into more and more classrooms in the coming years.
According to Jason O'Grady of The Apple Core, it seems that Apple's legal team is at it again in their quest to remove the name "iPod" from any and all URLs or product names. Most recently, the iPod enthusiast site iPod Garage will be changing its name to iProng this coming week. According to founder of iPod Garage Bill Palmer, the change is voluntary. He claims he never really liked the name "iPod Garage" to begin with and that the name was limiting them to be seen as "Apple fanboys or cheerleaders."
That reasoning sounds a little fishy to me. Let's take a look at the past. Remember in July of 2005 when iPodLounge.com became iLounge.com? They changed their name because "the next stage of this phenomenon will be bigger than any one product Apple may produce." Later on, in September 2005, Wired News reported that several online retailers received legal notices from Apple demanding they stop using the iPod moniker in their URLs and names.
Taking a quick look at Apple's trademarks and copyright guidelines reveals that "You may not use an identical or virtually identical Apple trademark as a second level domain name." Despite what any site may give as reasoning for an iPod-less name change, it certainly seems that Apple's lawyers are out to protect their territory.
Eyeing a new iPod, but don't have the cash? Bank robbing's a great way to get a quick cash influx, but it's what we call high risk (look how Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ended up). And there's that whole pesky legality issue. For those interested in avoiding unsightly jail time, there are other options. For example, if you currently own an iPod, you might be able to trade it towards a new one.
Apple offers 10% off a new iPod if you trade in an old one at the time of purchase. It's a pretty good deal, and it applies across the board, no matter what shape your old iPod is in (I traded in my totally brain dead 1G iPod towards my 30GB 5G). However, if you've got a working iPod, you might give GioPod a shot.
GioPod sells the iPods it buys to other customers, hence the reason they only accept working models (dead batteries are no problem though); you can even opt for cash if you decide to forego a new iPod if other things take priority, like food. In addition, they'll even pay for all shipping and handling of your old and new iPods, or reimburse you if you'd rather ship it yourself. Barring the possibility that it's all an elaborate plot to corner the used iPod market, it sounds like a promising deal.
Update: To clarify, all the iPods that are sent out to people who have traded in their old iPods are brand new, factory-sealed. The used iPods GioPod receives are sold off via online marketplaces and auction sites.
[GioPod via i-Newswire.com]
