Facebook round up
Macworld US: Facebook bug could give spammers names, photos
Reuters: Facebook and other media costs UK billions
BBC: Details of 100m Facebook users collected and published
BBC: Germany officials launch legal action against Facebook
Macworld UK: Suspicious Facebook app attracts nearly 300,000 fans
BBC: New Facebook Social Features Secretly Add Apps to Profile
Techcrunch: Purported interview with Facebook employee Details use of ‘Master Password’
BBC: Man Killed Wife in Facebook Row
BBC: Facebook Killer Guilty of Murder
BBC: Shock at Sydney Teenager’s ‘Facebook Murder’
Macworld UK: Sophos: Facebook hoax sex video hits users
Macworld UK: Facebook fixing embarrassing privacy bug
Wired: Facebook’s Gone Rogue; It’s time for an Open Alternative
The Wall Street Journal: Facebook, Myspace Confront Privacy Loophole
Ars Technica: Privacy Groups Complain to FTC over Facebook Privacy Tweaks
Reuters: Face-to-Face time makes us happier than Facebook
BBC: Facebook downplays privacy crisis meeting
New York Times: Facebook Privacy: A Bewildering Tangle of Options
All Facebook: Infographic: The History of Facebook’s Default Privacy Settings
Macworld US: Europe chastises Facebook over default privacy settings
BBC: Facebook changes are ‘not enough,’ say groups
Ars Technica: Report: Facebook caught sharing secret data with advertisers
Ars Technica: Understanding the latest Facebook privacy trainwreck
Benedelman.org: Facebook Leaks Usersnames, User IDs, and personal details to Advertisers
Macworld UK: Facebook admits censoring content in Pakistan
PC World: 4 Reasons to Worry about Privacy on Facebook
Quit Facebook Day: We’re quitting Facebook
Network World: Facebook users warned of sexy ‘Candid Camera Prank’ attack
Macworld US: Lifejacking’ exploit fools Facebook users and Friends
BBC: Facebook “clickjacking” spreads across site
Reuters: German minister sees Facebook fined over privacy
BBC: Boy detained for Facebook insult murder in London
Of course, it’ll never happen to you.
Updated periodically.
Claim Chowder: “BP’s Brands”
Should we also boycott the roads themselves? Do people still boycott Exxon? How about Shell in Nigeria and their plans to drill off Alaska? I’m sure with a bit of research all oil companies have done something you’d not approve of. Of course it wasn’t so long ago BP were being heralded when they discovered oil near the US reducing the countries reliance on imported oil. People tend to forget quickly and if the nearest place to buy petrol is BP, is there much logic driving further and use more petrol?
If you really want to make a difference, how about not driving at all?
Flash bang wallop
I concur:
One of
many
Adobe report Apple
Cry babies.
via, Daring Fireball
Eyjafjallajökull
It does have its upsides: Pollution levels must be down, those living under flight paths have some peace most of us take for granted. Eurostar is doing booming business, which can’t be bad after they had a terrible 2009 and the UK holiday market must surely be up!
It’s sad then to realise it won’t last long. Even if the volcano were to spue out more ash than it is now, you just know eventually the airline industry will find some scientist who’ll disagree with the current science,“It’s all okay, It’s really not that dangerous!”. Then it’ll be back to service as usual with fingers crossed nobody crashes. Hey, if the sky was on fire they’d say, “It’s not that hot!”.
The funny thing is, people who are desperate to go on their holidays wouldn’t care less if it were dangerous because they're all so grumpy now they'd fly through hell if it meant getting to some beach. Because that really is life or death stuff.
Update:
Like 9/11, volcano plane ban may hold climate clue, via Reuters.
Airspace Rebooted, via Vimeo
Planes or Volcano?, via Information is Beautiful
iPhone 4.0
“Watch Apple CEO Steve Jobs give a sneak peek into the future of the iPhone OS. See the video-on-demand event right here, exclusively in QuickTime and MPEG-4.”
Mac Cottages
We often stay in cottages
throughout the UK. Some are better than others, but we
have noticed an odd correlation between cottages which
have websites Made on a Mac being better than ones that
haven’t.
Not to say the ones that haven’t are awful, just
the ones which have are often better presented, or have
gone that one bit further with presentation.
Three come to mind:
The Old Gardener’s
Cottage in Canterbury. We loved
the underfloor heating, had everything you would
need, including wifi!
Buttslade House in the Cotswolds, a
lovely little cottage with a beautiful garden. We
spied the owner using a Mac when we walked past one
afternoon.
Sadly one of our favourites, 31a Rivers Street in Bath
appears to have vanished. Perhaps it’s been sold?
It’s still to be found on Enjoy England. It was a very quirky
little building, we could’ve imagined living
there.
Mad Men
Where is he?
Daring Fireball
Infinite Loop
MacWorld UK
Cult of Mac
Between those you should be able to stay up-to-date.
MacBook
I had some early niggles which may’ve tainted my initial excitement, blame the problems I had with my previous Black MacBook which made me paranoid. Talking of which; it has the same static noise issue. After some research it seems the problem is the sound-card sleeping, the static blip is the sound it makes when waking. C’est la vie.
There was an initial problem with the trackpad not always responding when pressed, fixed in the Trackpad Firmware Update. Two other updates fixed some problems I’d not had: MacBook EFI Firmware Update and MacBook SMC Firmware Update.
The lack of Firewire hasn’t been a problem. The one drive I had which used Firewire also could be connected via USB. It’s a pity there’s no way to use Target Disk Mode, even if used infrequently it was a useful feature.
It’s a beautiful computer, feeling lighter and more solid than the Black MacBook, due to the new unibody design, with none of the problems with greasy finger marks. It’s fast, easily capable of virtualizing Windows when I need to (blame 4oD, which is still Windows only). I’m using the cheap as free VirtualBox.
The new glass multi-touch trackpad features are great, even if I don’t use them all. Swiping back and forth in a browser, or four fingers for Exposé just feels natural. I’ve even got used to just tapping instead of pressing the trackpad (which itself is one big clunky button). It makes for a much quieter computer experience. It’s also nice to know it being glass it hopefully won’t end up all shiny like most trackpads.
Overall, I’m enjoying it more now than when I first unboxed it.
One other thing, it also has a very satisfying thhhud when you close the lid, it feels engineered like car doors.
Apple by design.
The first Mac was a well
designed machine, but sadly the Mac has become
associated with style over content in some people's
minds. When really it should be the content has
dictated the style, form follows function.
It wasn't always this way, I think people forget the
Mac existed for a long time between the first Mac and
iMac which helped bring the company back to life.
Macs were for a long time
light grey boxes and came in a variety of shapes and
sizes, and not all were that attractive. Just take a
look at Low End Mac.
Yes, that's a
Mac
For years I came across Mac
hating PC users, but style was never part of the
argument as to why Windows was superior. Nobody ever
said, "You're just a fashion victim". It was all mainly
about the OS, the speed of the chips, but not what it
looked like.
Besides, Apple had
licensed the OS in the early 90s and I
had happily used it on Mac Clone, a
Motorola Starmax. I never chose to use
Macs based purely on their design, it's always been
OS first. Which is why a lot of Mac ads have been
disappointing. So they should just focus on the OS,
and less on the case, or humour. Which is where the
iPhone adverts I think are more successful.
Motorola
Starmax
The people I know that
switched to Macs just use their computer more than when
they had a PC, I'm talking normal people at home. Mum's
and friends.
Apple have brought design to our attention, and
although I probably would still use a Mac if it wasn't
that great looking (being it's the OS first for me), I
have come to expect that a Mac will be generally
unobtrusive, which to me helps you focus on just
getting whatever it is you're doing done, with less
distraction (or at least not like it was manufactured
in the eastern block in the 80s)
Gateway PC -
It's a new one, honest!
Apple think more as
computer as appliance, not some sort of hobby in
itself. There are those who think the PC should
be some sort toy for those nerdy back-room boys, a
bit like train sets (not that there's anything wrong
with a train set), but a very male pursuit that you
tinker with and bash, like your old car you've been
doing up in the garage. Apparently it's a very
British thing?
(Oh, and Charlie Brooker,
Macs have had two button mice for along time. It just
doesn't look like it has.)
Why shouldn't a computer not look like a Frankenstein's
monster? Buttons splattered all over and you'd
certainly not want it where anyone could see it. An
ugly thing that you bash your shins on under the desk,
but great for flat pack companies who created a dozen
types of boxes to hide your shame away!
My eyes, will
someone close the doors!
Apple are not perfect, far
from it, but they do have a way of pushing new
technology into the mainstream, which is then copied by
all and sundry. I'm talking more software there, but
Apple were first to get rid of the floppy, and though
vilified at the time, who on earth really wants a
floppy drive now? You may also remember when the iMac
arrived, everything suddenly was coming in transparent
plastic and Compaq stuck coloured bits of
plastic on the front of their Presario PCs, this is design by
decoration.
Compaq Presario
- We do transparent plastic too!
Apple doesn't have an exclusivity on design, and there
are others I'd use if I could take my favoured OS with
me. I think now it's just normal to expect something
well designed, and if I ever end up running Linux, I
probably would want a non-hideous computer to run it
on, call me crazy.
To fault Apple over design
should also mean you're questioning all companies concerned with
improving design.
After years of many people not knowing what a Mac was,
I still find it strange that Apple has risen to such a
well known brand, so I guess they're bound to get some
people's noses out of joint.
So, my point? Macs aren't and never have been just for
those who are design conscious and design isn't just
how something looks, but how well it works as a whole.
Ah well, seems as a Mac user you can't ever win.
Further reading:
From Beige to Bondi
Blue
Mac images
courtesy of Apple Computer, Inc.
Apple Autogiro G-AXVK
It's an Autogiro (G-AXVK, Campbell Cricket) in old Apple livery. You may remember seeing a similar one in James Bond - You Only Live Twice (1967) called Little Nellie.
I can't remember the programme, it was in July 2005 on
the UK Discovery Channel (+1), but I did take a quick
snap (on the ancient telly).
Why Apple was sponsoring it I do not know, and the only
other images I've found of this
particular Autogiro has it in British Airways livery
in the
late 70s.
Leaving Facebook
I've recently deleted my
Facebook account; it was no easy feat. If you don't
know what Facebook is, essentially it's a way to be
nosey with a plethora of people you know, half know,
once knew, but mostly don't know. It plays on our
natural curiosity & no doubt, boredom.
Firstly, I didn't have a
bad Facebook experience, I deleted it because I became
uncomfortable that Facebook is very self-serving, as a
user you're there just to be moneterized in any way
possible, or as I say, you're Facebook's money-bitch.
Someone sends you a message, Facebook will email you to
tell you, but oh no, won't show you it, you must log-in
to see it, can't be missing those ads! There's a nice
quote from Information Week which puts it
well: "Facebook has all
the social graces of a nose-picking, hyperactive
six-year-old, standing at the threshold of your
attention and chanting, "I know something, I know
something, I know something, won't tell you what it
is!"
There's been quite a few scandals recently involving
Facebook. First putting your information on
Google. More recently they've
been forced to change their Beacon advertising to be opt-in rather than
opt-out. Did you really want all your purchases at
say, eBay displayed to all your supposed friends?
"Stuart bought Big Girls Go Wild 4". Sounded like a
good way to ruin a lot of Christmas & birthday
surprises.
Update: Facebook's Beacon system appears to continue to
track you even if you've turned it off. See
here and here.
Then there's those terms &
conditions, if you've ever
bothered to read them:
By posting User Content
to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and
you represent and warrant that you have the right to
grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual,
non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide
license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy,
publicly perform, publicly display, reformat,
translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute
such User Content for any purpose, commercial,
advertising, or otherwise, on or in connection with the
Site or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative
works of, or incorporate into other works, such User
Content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the
foregoing.
You don't mind having anything, your photos etc. used
in that way right?
Yet, we all happily give
them just what they want, listing everything you like,
it's an advertisers dream! Would you seriously put all
that information on if it was a government agency?
Thinking about it, there's something deeply childish
about the whole thing, or what seems to make people act
like children; writing lists of favourite things, their
best friends, who's their bestest friend, you match
so-and-so 98% I like beer you like beer too quiz, every
part of your life's ephemera.
I also didn't like the idea of Microsoft
taking a stake in the company,
after-all, Microsoft aren't exactly above reproach
with shady deals. It's not like they've been in
the European Court or
anything.
Then, maybe you'd not mind having your
identity stolen, or screw up
your future employment
perhaps?
Information on your own website blog of course would be
available for all, but then, at least you might think
about what you put on it and not just imagine it's all
safe in la la Facebook land, because you feel you have
some false notion of control.
So, I left, as
I didn't really have much a use for it, or use it much
(other than doing a quiz when bored), the people on
there (which wasn't many) I can just as well talk to in
other ways, the internet being one social network, plus
there's the phone/texts email, messengers; oh even a
letter or a postcard, now there's a thing (not likely I
know). Maybe we should make more an effort, instead of
pretending that just because you can see someone's
Facebook status, it constitutes a friendship and if
you'd not talk to them without Facebook, what does that
say? Just a thought.
Daily Californian - My friend Ryan
Hallahan loves merkins. How do I know this? Because
I've seen the collection. How would I know this if
he hadn't locked me in his trunk that one time?
Because he says so on the Facebook. It's funny how
you learn more about your friends via semipublic
virtual forum than you do via face to face
communication. Wait, did I say "funny"? I meant
"soul-crushingly sad."
Enough pontificating, and I'll get to the point: The
leaving isn't as easy as you think. Facebook give you
the option of disabling
your account,
but that's not deleting it, all your data will still be
there. To have your account deleted, you must first
delete everything you've ever done on Facebook, all
those posts, messages, photos, everything. It's not so
easy with say the wall, having to delete each one by
one. After that you can disable your account and then
email Facebook at info@facebook.com and ask them to
delete it fully, if you happen to have left even one
message, they'll email and say you still have user data
and they can't help you until you've removed it. I had
this problem several times. Ironically the reason they
won't just delete your account for you is, they say, to
protect the privacy of users. Really? I thought it was
to make the whole idea of deleting your account as
difficult as possible, which made me think they were
even more dodgy than before.
Am I overreacting? Probably a smidge. I'm not the only
one of course, here's my list to reinforce my world
view (you know; when you Google
"so and so is crap" to make yourself feel that you were
right all along):
Steven Mansour - 2504 steps to closing your facebook
account & Privacy Round-up including the amusing
quote (don't take it too seriously):
"People
- including some of the smartest people I know -
have stopped asking questions, not so much because
they don't care, but because they don't want to have
to reflect upon their perfect little friend-poking,
facebook-app-adding, group-joining little sterile
world."
The Independent - Facebook backlash over
sale of personal data.
DannyMadScientist
Video
Facebook is the end of
humanity
Move-on to Facebook: We caught you
red-handed.
and the more disturbing Album of the Day
Update: Facebook founder has had to make an
apology.
Leopard Dock
1997-2007 History Lesson
Here's a little history lesson: "At the 1997 Macworld Expo, Steve Jobs announced that Apple would be entering into partnership with Microsoft. Settlement discussions regarding Apple's "Look and Feel" lawsuit and the "QuickTime piracy" lawsuit resulted in a five-year commitment from Microsoft to release Microsoft Office for Macintosh [Which they've continued beyond 5 years, because it makes them money] as well as a US$150 million investment in non-voting Apple stock. (This event is often inaccurately described as a "bailout" of Apple by Microsoft. At the time Apple had a little over US$1 billion in cash and cash equivalents according to their 10-Q statement.[29] Microsoft later sold its shares for a tidy profit [Had they held onto the stock, it would now be worth a great deal.] Jobs also announced that Internet Explorer [No longer made] would be shipped as the default browser on the Macintosh. Microsoft chairman Bill Gates appeared at the expo on the large screen, explaining Microsoft's plans for the software they were developing for the Macintosh, and saying that he was very excited to be helping Apple. This was met with a less than positive response from the audience"
Read more at: http://en.wikipedia.org
It was still important at the time, and the ending of legal disputes was was probably more important than any money, but may as well get the facts right. People who say things like 'It's lucky MS saved Apple, or they'd be no iPod' are missing the point, they'd also be no Microsoft Windows if Apple hadn't created the Mac.
Microsoft Surfaces
Surfaces is a way of interacting with a computer using hand gestures, with the addition of utilising other technology like wifi to interact with your devices in perhaps a more user friendly or human way. At the moment it's accessed using a coffee table top (although the device is the whole thing). The videos are impressive, although it's not quite a real world product yet.
Of course, none of this is really that new. Just go take a look at Jeff Hahn's presentation at TED from last year who has now set up Perceptive Pixel (which seems more impressive). Also you might be surprised but this sort of more human interaction with a computer goes right back to the 70s, for instance the Spatial Data Management System (Scroll down to 1979). The iPhone also of course uses a gesture interface.
Who knows? We might be in Minority Report yet.
Hats off to Channel 4
"Thank you for your email regarding 4oD.
Unfortunately we cannot say when the 4oD service will be available to users of other platforms, including Mac OS and Linux. The problem is, our content providers (e.g. the production companies who make our shows), insist on using a DRM licensing system.
The DRM (Digital Rights Management) system basically protects the video content from duplication and broadcast outside the UK & ROI. Currently they insist on using Microsoft's DRM, and because of this we can only support Microsoft operating systems.
Linux currently has no such DRM system available and so our content providers will not allow us to support the Linux operating system. Macintosh do have a solution, however the closed DRM system used by Apple is not currently available for licence by third parties and there is no other Mac-compatible DRM solution which meets the protection requirements of our content owners. Unfortunately, we are therefore unable to offer 4oD and other video content to Mac users at this stage.
We are sorry to disappoint on this occasion and assure you that if changes throughout the industry happen, as we would like, we will ensure the support of other operating systems.
If you require further information, feel free to email me back or visit http://help.channel4.com/4oD/
Regards,
Rebecca O'Kane
Channel 4 Customer Support"
So it seems they're pulling a Steve Jobs, and blaming the content providers (although Microsoft's lack of Mac support is also to blame). I'm not sure how well this holds up in light that the BBC are now committed to a platform agnostic approach.
Channel 4 4OD
Will you offer 4oD for the Macintosh?
Unfortunately not at the launch of 4oD.
This is an industry-wide issue caused because the accepted Digital Rights Management (DRM) system used to protect online video content, which is required by our content owners, is not compatible with Apple Mac hardware and software. The closed DRM system used by Apple is not currently available for licence by third parties and there is no other Mac-compatible DRM solution which meets the protection requirements of content owners. Unfortunately, we are therefore unable to offer 4oD content to Mac users at this stage.
Make a complaint using their feedback form, I'd use their above statment as the error message.
Macs do work too
Apple have put together a nice page that should give you some pointers, and applications you could. run. There's no need to run out and buy a PC for that stuff.
Take a look
I’ll never buy another PC
It also gives you that warm fussy feeling if you're a long time Mac user.
On the same note, well known Tech columnist Walt Mossberg complains of the awful out-of-the box experience you get with new PCs, and Vista's slow start-up times.
Flux
Vista
Not so much a Mac thing. Microsoft's new Windows OS,
Vista is upon us and is being compared to the Mac
(what, Microsoft ripping off the Mac? that
surely hasn't happened
before?),
there's an
interesting article by the renowned Walt
S. Mossberg
on the new OS.
I think this says it all: "Nearly all of the major, visible
new features in Vista are already available
in
Apple's operating system, called Mac
OS X, which came out in 2001 and received its last
major upgrade in 2005. And Apple is about to leap ahead
again with a new version of OS X, called Leopard, due
this spring."
Well, if you like your OS with
plenty of built in
DRM,
go for it. If you like a little tongue in cheek
humour, have a look at New York Times,
David Pogue's comparison
between the two and
The Joy of Tech
Comic.
Windows on the Mac
Recently I had a meeting with a technology company for
some work. Running windows on a Mac came up, and they
mentioned Boot Camp, I told them about Parallels (see
below), which unlike Boot Camp allows you to run
Windows without the need to restart, oddly, the chap
said a colleague had told him about it, but hadn't
believed him. Strange that a technology company
wouldn't know these things? Anyway, this made me think,
I'd quickly note the various ways Windows applications
can be run on the Mac at the moment.
Running
Microsoft Windows
on a Mac.
On PowerPC Mac's there is still pretty much one option
(though, there is also some software called
Q
you could look at). Microsoft's
Virtual PC.
It will require a copy of Windows, but doesn't
require you to restart. Version 7 was designed to
take advantage of the G5. I don't believe anyone
would describe it as being very fast. You can see a
little review
here.
Virtual PC will never be released for Intel Macs, for a
good reason, there are a lot more better options
available.
Firstly Apple's own
Boot Camp,
available now, and is meant to be rolled into
Mac OS 10.5.
Once you've installed Boot Camp (and your own copy of
Windows), it's a simple matter of restarting and
holding down the option/alt key and selecting Mac or
Windows to boot up into. You've then pretty much turned
your Mac into a PC and everything should work as such,
the only problem being, you do have to restart. But
even
PC users
think it's impressive.
Next comes
Parallels,
it requires no restart as it takes advantage of the
Intel chips virtualization technology (VT). You can
run Windows (XP, 2000, 3.1 etc) as a guest operating
system, and Linux if you feel like it, all at the
same time. It also runs a lot quicker than Virtual
PC. You will of course need a copy of the operating
systems. You can read more about it
here.
The newest addition is
Codeweaver's
CrossOver.
It allows you to run some Windows Applications, at
the moment they're concentrating on getting specific
applications to run, but the
list is increasing.
Now, the main difference with CrossOver is, you
don't need a copy of Windows! It doesn't run or
emulate Windows, you are able to run Windows
applications straight from the finder. You can read
more about it
here
and
here.
Why do people want to run Windows applications anyway?
New switchers are meant to find it comforting, there
are still some Windows applications that aren't
available on the Mac, so using one of these products
would allow you to run AutoCad or Access. Though there
are alternatives to these already, for instance
FileMaker
and various Mac CAD software can be found at
architosh.com.
Of course, there are situations where you HAVE to
run Windows software. Another reason is Games,
although surprising to some, there are
many games available
for the Mac, as can be found at
MacGameFiles.
There are still a lot of games which don't make it
to the Mac (or to the PC from game consoles really),
so these solutions above makes running them an
option. The other reason is probably web developers,
being able to run Windows Internet Explorer to check
how sites look.
Anyone fancy buying me an Intel
MacBook?
There's a lot more information available on running
Windows on the Mac over at
macwindows.com.
Backache?
"Body Positioning Your body, monitor, and keyboard should form a straight line—you shouldn’t have to rotate your trunk or neck to type or to read your screen."
Buying a Mac? Hold it right there...
They should at least be showing off Mac OS 10.5 Leopard.
So hold your horses on buying for now, if you can.
Reasons to be cheerful 1. 2. 3.
Read the story at the Beeb. We're not perfect, but we are better.
Macs? Expensive? Nah
Zoom Zoom
http://interact10ways.com/usa/information_interactive.htm
Careful you don't zoom too far, you might find you're clicking on the back of your head.
Nothing on telly?
You're thinking, 'isn't that just for geeks?' Well, once, perhaps, and there probably are more geeky podcasts than not, but there are some gems out there that might have you clicking, rather than tuning in for each episode. The beauty is you choose when you want to watch (and they're free)
So, firstly, incase you have been living in a box: Wikipedia describes it as: "Podcasting is the distribution of audio or video files, such as radio programs or music videos, over the internet. Podcasting; is a portmanteau word coined in 2004, that combined two words: iPod and broadcasting."
Video Podcasts, are also known as 'Vlogs' from Video Blog, 'Videocasting' or 'Vodcasting' etc.
and no; you don't need an iPod or other portable media player to watch/listen to Podcasts. You can watch them straight on your Mac/PC
Now that's out the way, how do you get them?
The easiest way to subscribe to a Podcast is through iTunes. There are other ways of doing it, but iTunes is by far the simplest.
Open iTunes (make sure you've the latest version)
You'll notice in the left pane a little logo, labeled 'Podcasts'
Select it and you'll be presented with an empty window, unless of course you've already subscribed to some Podcasts, and in that case I'm teaching you to suck eggs.
Select:
at the bottom.
You'll be taken to the Podcasting directory in the iTunes Music Store.
As you can see, there are a LOT available. There are more Audio, podcasts than video. I don't listen to many audio podcasts, but there are some good ones out there. Great alternative to the radio, and you can take them away with you to listen on your iPod, in your car (if you have the technology) etc.
But, we're talking video here. So click on:
There, a long list of Video
Podcasts, you can either press subscribe, which will
take you back to your list of subscribed Podcasts in
iTunes, but I'd recommend clicking on the picture
thumbnail of a Podcast you're interested in. It'll show
you more detail, and also you'll be able to download
individual episodes, before deciding to subscribe to
the whole thing.
If you wanted to subscribe to Tiki Bar, you'd just
click Subscribe.
Or, just download one episode by selecting 
Once subscribed, whenever a new episode is available,
iTunes will download it for you, without you needing to
do anything.
To watch, it's as simple as playing anything in iTunes,
just double click.
Here are some of my favourites. The name, links you to
their website and Feed is a quick link straight to
iTunes (Saves you searching).
Mac Observer's; Mac Geek Gab Feed
The
Mac Observer's Dave Hamilton and John F. Braun talk
about all things Mac. Dave is TMO's publisher, John
pens the Monday Mac Gadget column.
One of the few Audio podcasts I listen to on a regular
basis, I've even got a mention a few times.
Ask A Ninja Feed
A
Ninja answers questions sent to askaninja@gmail.com in
this hilarious video podcast.
Rocketboom Feed
Rocketboom is a
three minute daily video weblog. Agenda includes
releasing each new clip at 8am est, Monday through
Friday. Some topics involve New York City, the arts,
technology, internet culture, commentary on internet
culture, commentary on commentary on internet culture,
and so on.
Diggnation Feed
The
top technology news stories on digg.com (digg is the
new slashdot), hosted by
Kevin Rose & Alex Albrecht.
GeekBrief Feed
GeekBrief.com is
a video podcast featuring the gadget loving hottie,
Cali Lewis. The hottest gadget news is delivered to you
in 3-5 minute shows 2-5 days a week.
Stu's
iTunes Review: Enjoyable, but sometimes embarrassing
***
"The geek brief can be informative on its good days,
introducing you to some great things you may have
missed. On its bad days, Cali can feel like she's a
little too desperate to make the 'big time'. Her
laughter, and "impromptu-I'm a sexy geek" dancing, can
feel forced almost insincere (maybe she's nervous?) A
little less sycophancy would go a long way. If you can
deal with a bit of cringe, then it's still worth a
watch. I'm staying subscribed"
She is very good at acknowledging feedback.
Danny's Contentment Feed
Drivin' an
electric car in London.
Tiki Bar Feed
Swingin'
bachelors and forbidden cocktails in a swank pad. One
of the big hits in Podcasting.
Strong Bad Emails Feed
Strong Bad
answers real emails from real morons, draws his
independant comic "Teen Girl Squad!" and freaking lots
more. This is a feed from Homestar Runner, where you
can see more than just the emails.
Sky News Feed
A
Digest of the latest headlines from Sky News, as well
as an in-depth look at the day's top story.
Okay, I've never really watched this, but wanted to
include something serious, to show it's not all just
people being daft.
The Wedding Feed
Paul
Knight: "Our wedding video chopped up into 15 small
chunks for all to enjoy, 10 of which you can download
for your iPod (but not just your iPod), the last 5 you
can only watch on my blog courtesy of
dailymotion.com"
If you want to be reminded of a good traditional
British wedding, then here it is, in all its glory.
It's a pure classic!
So, there you go! Never be bored again, you'll be
avidly waiting for the next diggnation or what Doctor
Tiki will do next? Have a search yourself; there's
bound to be something you'll enjoy! This is where TV is
headed don't you know.
Some descriptions from PodCastAlley, another source for all
things Podcast.
Update
Normal service shall resume shortly.
Hoo Ha
I posted a little about the similarity between between Apple's new Intel Mac ad & The Postal Service's (a music band, not a delivery company) 'Such Great Heights' video below (see: Happy New Year!)
Spot the
difference?
Since then it's been
widely
discussed
on the
net.
Ben Gibbard from The Postal Service has published a
note on their website.
"01/19/06
A
Note from Ben
It has
recently come to our attention that Apple Computers'
new television commercial for the Intel chip features a
shot-for-shot recreation of our video for 'Such Great
Heights' made by the same filmmakers responsible for
the original. We did not approve this commercialization
and are extremely disappointed with both parties that
this was executed without our consultation or consent.
-Ben Gibbard, The Postal Service"
This
follows an earlier statement by Sarah Moody, from their
record company
Sub Pop
(from
Cult of Mac)
"...
the Apple commercial is indeed very similar, it wasn't
licensed in any form, and was made by the same
directors as the Postal Service video. We weren't
alerted to the fact that it existed until the day it
came out."
It's strange Apple didn't try to
avoid the same fiasco they had with Lugz. Which also saw comparisons being
drawn between an Apple advert, and one previously
made by Lugz footwear.
You can look at it two ways, it's either great exposure
for the band, and/or a lack of creativity by
TBWA Chiat Day (Apple's Ad agency)/Josh &
Xander, the directors behind both Ad and video.
I can understand the band being peeved, after-all, they
were doing quite well and probably don't want to be
know as 'you know, that band Apple nicked the video
from'. Still, if it encourages a new album from a band
I enjoy, then that's great.
You can watch Apple's ad here, the Such Great Heights
video here. Elite
Productions, have done a complete comparison,
including a side by side video.
Update:
A better version of the Such Great Heights video can be
seen here, via the
Last Minute
Blog
Ironically enough, you can now also purchase the video
from Apple's iTunes Music
Store.
My iTMS UK
Review
iPhotoed Safari
iPhoto 6, part of iLife '06 has a new full screen mode,
with translucent menus and palettes that appear as
you mouse over them, then vanish.
iPhoto 6
It's the best new
feature, and got me thinking. Would this new full
screen mode translate to Safari? So, to give you some
idea, I made this mock-up (click to zoom)
iPhoto 6, inspired Safari
The bottom and top menus wouldn't appear at the same
time in reality (like iPhoto), it's just for show. They
appear on mouse over.
Keeping the navigation buttons at the bottom as iPhoto
(they could be customised), having the same interface
layout would make switching applications more familiar.
Instead of a list of photos at the top, in Safari it
would be thumbs of recently visited web pages/sites
(showing the sites name on mouse over) This could be
changed to show bookmarks? It would also replace tabbed
browsing, a little like
OmiWeb.
OmniWeb's Tabs
Dragging them out of the top menu would remove them
(Poof, like the Dock).
I wasn't sure what to do with the bookmark bar, but
thought having a Bookmark floating palette, might take
care of that. I'm sure there could be other palettes
for other functions?
What else could get the full screen treatment? How
about the Finder?
Watch this space...
BBC News Watch
According to Bill Thompson
(from his blog) on the BBC "Mac users 'too smug' over security"
Seeing that headline you'd think "Oh no, there's some
new vulnerability". There isn't, so don't worry
The whole thing could've be summed us like this:
Turn your firewall on.
Don't open mail with attachments from strange
places/people (don't forward it)
Turn off automatic log-in
Use a decent password (that's eight characters and
over)
Have some common sense and stay informed, I'm bound to
tell you if there ever is a new security threat.
I'd not recommend at this time spending money on
Anti-Virus software, Instead, read this and this. In summary, as there are no
known Mac OS X viruses, having anti virus software
won't really do anything, and may possibly cause
more problems with your system.
My thoughts. The article does seem slightly
patronising. He has made things slightly more clear in
a later posting. But then he says:
"and although I’m not their (Mac users) favourite
person at the moment since I dared question
the
absolute security of their
godhead,
I was still allowed to comment on air."
Just comes across as another sort of
smugness. He had many comments, made to his blog (not
all by curmudgeons) etc, that prompted his later post,
where he admitted making mistakes. So, throwing away
people's views because you think they're 'fanatics'
could be insulting.
Apple or Mac users may need to be taken to task over a
lot of things, this just doesn't seem one of them.
Wind-up merchants.
I think someone at the BBC
has a wicked sense of humour. It's not like Mac and PC
users need any extra goading to go at each other.
You can just imagine whoever choose it sitting there
thinking "nyayahahahaha, let the fun commence".
Welcome to Stu's News
To get us started, here's a great little tip when you really can't remember how to spell a word. (You'll need to be running Mac OS 10.4 Tiger)
So you've typed a word like 'subservence' and it's got that red dotted line underneath. You're thinking 'bother'. Well, before you go to all the trouble of launching the dictionary, OmniDictionary or even that thing with real pages in you keep in the cupboard. This is what you want to do:
Place your cursor over the word in question, right click or hold down the control 'ctrl' key and 'click' on it.
Up will pop a handy little contextual menu with guesses at the word you meant to spell. (more of less depending on the word) In this case it gets the word straight away.
Just select the one you want from the list and there you have it, or 'subservience' in my case.
This works in most applications with few exceptions.
There, I'll see what else I can think of....