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This is one of those handy dandy tips that you wish were not hidden, buried and kept secret:
"Hold down the option and control keys while launching iPhoto and you will be treated to a very nice set of options for trying to recover your photos that have mysteriously disappeared."
I write this to save the next person a few hours of blind allies.
Technorati Tags: iphoto
This is a perenial debate with lots of sides. Here' s just some fodder for those of you who are pondering the question:
I guess right off the bat I would exclude Java for a browser based application. Why? Unfortunately it requires a so-called JVM which may or may not be present.
AJAX on the other hand requires a 'modern' web browser, which I think in this day and age (FireFox) is a pretty safe bet.
And Flash requires the Flash runtime, which again, in this day and age, is also a pretty safe bet.
Exhibit #1: Check out Zimbra, which, if you believe the web site is built with AJAX. Very impressive. All I was able to see was the Flash demo (ironic isn't it?) but it's quite nice.
Web 2.0 is one of those phrases that gets used and used and then people go nuts because they realize that they are all talking about something different. It becomes a heroic fight of personalities, emotion, politics, ego and oh, a little technology. Haven't we seen this with other terms (memes) on which careers got built? "open source", "blog", "journalism"? As usual, Dave cuts through the crap and figures out the way: "What if Web 2.0 is actually about sex?" :-D
Technorati Tags: web2.0
Here's a survey being conducted by BlogOn, where I am on the advisory board, about the state of enterprise blogging. If you have a couple of minutes, you can participate and be in the running for an iPod nano, and who doesn't want one of those?
Click here to participate in the survey.
Technorati Tags: blog, enterprise
Interesting and amusing little article from ACM Queue:
"One of the students, Jeremy Stribling, explains how they had developed a computer program to generate random sequences of technobabble in order to confirm their suspicions that papers of dubious academicity were bypassing serious, or indeed, any scrutiny. In fact, the students claim ulterior, financial motives behind this lack of proper peer review." (from Call That Gibberish?)
Technorati Tags: funny, interesting
I often cite Microsoft as an example of corporate blogging that seems to really works: If you work with, for, against Microsoft (and who in the computer industry doesn't do one of those?) Microsoft Bloggers will give you a view into Microsoft's thinking, attitude, plans and challenges that is incredibly valuable.
You (generally) won't learn any trade secrets. You will hear what you might have heard if you ran into this or that Microsoftie in a Starbucks or at a conference. But few people do.
Exhibit #1 is a recent post by Steven Sinofsky, a very senior Microsoft manager, about how Microsoft thinks about management, how it structures its development teams, and what kind of people and performance it values.
"The typical organization in Office development is one where there is a group of about 5-8 developers (we’ll use developers for this post, but the discussion is just points of the dev/test/pm triad) managed by a lead developer. That is the first level of management called a feature team.
There are then 3-5 leads that report to a development manager. That is the second level of management, usually called a group. The development manager reports to a general manager or an executive manager that represents the place that development, testing, and program management come together. This structure is matched by development testing and program management (where there are about equal numbers of testers, and about half that number of program managers).
The general manager or executive is where the product or technology comes together (think SharePoint, or Excel, or the new Office “12” user interface). In some groups, if there are a lot of products or a very large team there might be one additional level of management.
I manage these general managers. My boss manages the overall Office P&L, so marketing, finance, HR, etc. as well as other products report to him." (from What do managers do and how big should my team be?)
If you have ever tried to develop a relationship with a Microsoft product group information like this, basic as it is, is really important. Check out Steve Sinofsky's blog. It has many other gems just like that one.
Technorati Tags: microsoft
And in classic Blogosphere form, you can find a report on the report from Nicole-Ann Boyer on World Changing, where she says:
"With the FT riding high as the world's best daily for the business intelligentsia, take heed large organization types: if you ever needed a piece to put in front your boss's nose and add credibility to some of your open source ideas, this should help." (from World Changing)
She goes on to comment and link to some especially interesting parts of the FT Special Report.
I guess that makes this post a report on the report on the report. Can anyone spell e-c-h-o-c-h-a-m-b-e-r?
Technorati Tags: dangillmor, opensource
Even though this is from the National Enquirer, which has no credibility, it's a scary scary thought
Technorati Tags: georgebush
I guess it's the time of year, but I came across this site for Baseball umpires which is a fun entertainment if you are into the esoterica of Baseball.
For the more obvious (seemingly) questions that still stump me, Wikipedia is a good resource. For example, do you think you know what a balk is? Or what a cutter is?
Technorati Tags: baseball
My Treo 600 recently died a hard death. I had to learn a new cell phone, a relatively low end one, and it was a serious undertaking.
Someone I know recently did a 90 minute drive in 3.5 hours because their car's GPS inadvertently was set in the 'avoid highways' settings and they were in unfamiliar territory, without a map, and so had no choice but to follow the long way.
I've seen this idea suggested elsewhere, but how a cell phone for people who don't read manuals? Why can't a cell phone be as easy to operate as a regular telephone? (Yes, the new home cordless sets with built in answering machines are almost as complex as cell phones!)
It seems someone has finally done it!Thank you KDDI, Kyocera and Toshiba.
If you are interested in the Intelligent Design debate, this is an fascinating and somewhat surprising article about a survey done by the Pew Research Center for the People. As usual with this kind of thing it is useful to know the bias of the folks doing the survey, which I have not looked into at all.
"Despite these fundamental differences, most Americans (64%) say they are open to the idea of teaching creationism along with evolution in the public schools, and a substantial minority (38%) favors replacing evolution with creationism in public school curricula." (from "Religion: A Strength and Weakness for Both Parties")
Interesting reading.
Technorati Tags: intelligentdesign, science
Ever notice in restaurant menus how the dish descriptions are made to sound fancier and fancier by adding adjective?
"green beans" are not as good as "fresh green-beans", which are not as good as "native fresh green-beans", which are not as good as: "hand-picked native fresh green-beans", which are of course the best!
Is this a similar phenomenon in geek-world? It seems like you can tack "X driven development" or "agile Y" or "object oriented Z" to make anything sound cooler and more a-go-go. Why has no-one written the papers on "agile idea driven development" or "agile concept-driven object-oriented debugging" yet?
Or have they?
This is pretty cool: a framework to easily manage the demonstration of UI elements, inspired by JUnit. Here's what they say:
"As supplement to test driven software development, JDemo provides a new approach of demo driven development: When developing software, you write short code snippets (demo cases) that use your new API. The demo then demonstrates both: how to use the API and what happens when you execute the code. So you can for example interactively test the usability of GUI components." (from JDemo web site)Pretty cool. Check it out!
Technorati Tags: cooltool
I've come across a flurry of commentary on the fact that apparently TiVo has added content protection allowing a broadcaster to protect any program as it is broadcast. The result of this is:
"[A program] recorded with a red-flag next to it (an icon I've never seen before). When I selected the episode, I got a message to the effect that "the copyright holder prohibited saving the episode past date mm/dd". (from PVRBlog)
Read the whole post to see a good explanation and rundown of what apparently is going on.
I'm a TiVo fanatic and truly hope that they survive. It's a wonderful product which unfortunately is under pressure and from where I sit is at risk.
One other thing. Down lower in the post I see the following self-righteous comment which seems always to be the first refuge of people getting upset about any kind of copy protection:
"It treats all TiVo customers like they are criminals with big scary warnings about what you can and can't do. "
Boo-hoo. The louder people complain about being treated as criminals. the biggest offenders I suspect they really are. I mean I grant that copy protection or DRM is a pain in the butt, but let's admit that it's totally within the right of the publisher. iTunes,
Windows XP, and now TiVo. Boo-hoo.
Technorati Tags: tivo
This is from a dictionary:
Banana problem: noun
A situation of uncertainty about when a task is complete and therefore when to stop working on it
The term banana problem is often used in computing when talking about badly written or incorrect conditions for the termination of a computer program. It has also been applied in website development, referring to a situation in which a designer adds so many different features that the whole thing looks messy, for example: ‘If you insist on adding that video clip, I’m afraid we’re going to have a real banana problem on our hands.’
Background
The term originates from the story of a little girl who said ‘I know how to spell 'banana', but I don’t know when to stop!’
In the computing world reference is often made to a one-banana problem, a phrase which looks similar but in fact has a completely different meaning. This term derives from the idea that those with less-skilled jobs in the IT industry, such as computer operators, can be compared to monkeys, and incentives given to monkeys (bananas) can be used to describe the level of difficulty of a task. A one-banana problem is therefore the simplest, for example: ‘It’s only a one-banana job’. In contrast, two- and three-banana problems would constitute more complex activities."
Technorati Tags: funny
Do you follow Ben Hyde's blog? I recommend it - he has always fascinating intellectual tours-de-force.
I guess it was a slow day in the Hyde office when there were no world-changing problems to be addressed, so check out this analysis of what it costs you to use your car.
Interesting, relevant in today's $3.00+ per gallon world, and (intentionally?) funny too!
(And someday I will be able to parse the sentence “Ascription is Anathema to any Enthusiasm :-)
Yesterday, this appeared on my Mac desktop:
Here's a little movie showing you what it does.
Pretty weird. It's like a UFO.
I don't know where it came from or what it does.
Is it a virus? Spyware? Some undiscoverable bit of Mac UI?
If you know, please, people want to know!
Robin Good points to: "The Myth of The Rock Star and of the Need To Sing-up For a Major Recording Label":
"Music" does not equal "compact disc". Music is data. It doesn't matter whether you burn it to a CD or rip it to an iPod or a Memory Stick or store it on your hard drive. It's still music.
Take a minute to internalize this concept.
Once you get past the notion that music has to come in the form of a shiny little Frisbee that retails for $16.99 at your local MegaSuperMusicPavilion, certain other truths that once seemed self-evident begin to unravel -- such as the idea that the only way to become a successful musician is by signing a recording contract with a giant corporation." (from "Burn Down the House")
Read the whole thing. It's enlightening.
Technorati Tags: music
My new cellphone supposedly has GPS capabilities. It has to do, apparently with the new E-911 standard, which requires a cell phone to be able to tell emergency responders where a cell call is coming from.
I'm a pretty big GPS aficionado and I thought GPSs had to have these big ugly antennas, complex expensive circuitry, and lots of software. I don't understand how all that stuff can be crammed into a tiny little phone.
So I got to thinking that they were just using the term 'GPS' loosely, and that instead what was going on is a much more simplistic triangulation between cell towers which, I suppose could produce a rough location reading. Apparently I was wrong!
Now, here come Sprint and Garmin, with a turn-by-turn navigation application that runs on my new phone. It looks pretty cool!
What a rip-off: $9.99 per month!
I can't wait to try it :-)
I don't have anything to add, but here are some incredible bits that I came across:
There's lots more but just read those and follow their links. And our President said: "No one could have foreseen this". Huh?
"What, me worry?"
Technorati Tags: katrina
I've been away for several days, while following the catastrophe in the gulf unfolding, via TV and radio. I (yes oddly) didn't have internet access but thought to myself that there would be lots of very interesting blog posts covering the events from a unique angle. And indeed, now that I came across these two perspectives:
Technorati Tags: katrina
