February 2012
4 posts
3 tags
4 tags
Dear startups and other relevant parties: It's...
chartier:
Not offer a way to download our data in some sort of a standard, transparent, and at least somewhat human-siftable format
Hide or otherwise be opaque about precisely what personal data you smuggle out of our devices
Not offer a one-to-two-click process for deleting our accounts
Fail to actually remove our data from your servers after we delete our accounts (while complying with...
5 tags
The state of Apple's platform lock-in →
I’ve written a piece for macgasm, outlining the current state of Apple’s ecosystem regarding platform lock-in.
If you’re interested in how ‘Apple’s golden cage’ — as it is sometimes called by pundits — actually looks like, I encourage you to read the article.
4 tags
How to make Twitter's favourites more useful →
Something I wrote for macgasm.net, that’s been bugging me for a while. The solution works nicely, I recommend checking it out.
January 2012
14 posts
5 tags
Facebook Timeline Privacy Tips →
On February 7th Facebook’s timeline feature will go live for all users.
what used to be an opt-in feature will be mandatory for all users.
A consequence is that many things the user might think long forgotten, will be easily accessible and many posts that were private will now be visible to the public.
The linked site gives an overview of the things you can do to protect your privacy...
5 tags
WatchI found this video thanks to Glenn Fleishman and he really sums it up best:
This 10-minute Hobbit walkthrough is a tour de force education in digital 3D stereography and filmmaking.
A few keywords that made my jaw drop: RED Epic, 48 fps, 5k, stored on 128 GB SSDs, Alan Lee and John Howe producing 3D artwork for Peter Jackson.
3 tags
The UK gives you a brand-new way to infringe...
Harry Marks on his website Curious Rat:
From Amateur Photographer:
Photographers who compose a picture in a similar way to an existing image risk copyright infringement, lawyers have warned following the first court ruling of its kind. UK souvenir maker Temple Island Collection Ltd has won a ruling against New English Teas which it had accused of breaching copyright by using a...
5 tags
Mac OS X is weird sometimes
Over the last two days a bug in OS X Lion has been driving me crazy:
My 2011 Mac mini simply wouldn’t go to sleep.
I tried everything: Pressing the power button on its back, clicking the sleep item on the -menu and pressing ⌘+⌥+⏏. Nothing worked.
Then I hit the internet and started searching for solutions, this is what I tried:
Is some kind of sharing function was switched on? — No.
...
2 tags
I wrote a few posts for Macgasm.net
… and I hope there will be many more :)
Here’s the link to my author profile on the site.
5 tags
I don't want booth babes.
There’s a nice and very sensible post on The Loop regarding booth babes at trade shows (like CES and IAA). Peter Cohen quotes a Gizmodo piece by Mat Honan regarding the complaints about booth babes directed at the organiser of CES.
Read it here.
A comment by a guest named ‘Coward Anonim’ rubbed me the wrong way, though:
If companies want to pay them and they want to get the...
4 tags
John Welch on the 'no comments on my blog'... →
He hits the nail square on the head and actually makes a point I haven’t thought about: Search Engine Optimisation.
It’s a good and honest post, with a healthy amount of profanity mixed-in.
My take is that sometimes it doesn’t make sense to add comments to a blog, but many bloggers, developers and journalists who used to have comments on their site, are simply being dishonest...
2 tags
When and how I attibute
Stephen Hackett had a nice post up on his site about how and when to attribute content or links to other people.
Proper attribution is important and sometimes not that easy. Yesterday he posted a simple attribution rule that Chris Martucci lives by:
My criteria for via links are simple: If someone points me to an article I did not find on my own (either through my RSS reader or at its original...
4 tags
Curious Rat - An Observation →
A quote from the post:
You can preach all you want about rooting your phone and hacking your tablet to do inane things, like control your refrigerator light, but my family was actually getting things done within 30 minutes of opening and activating their new computers - yes, computers.
Ease of use and seamlessness are some of the things that convince many people of Apple’s products in my...
3 tags
The Mother of all Hot Wheels Tracks — 512 Pixels →
Click through to Stephen’s site for the link to this video, you won’t regret it. My thought during the first 30 seconds of the video was: “Meh, I’ve built more complicated things back in the day with my Darda tracks, but then at checked the time code and length of the video. My second though was: “I want to believe!”
3 tags
Post-PC era, indeed – Wind on a Leaf →
David Chartier recounting a story that happened during a recent Christmas dinner with his larger family.
It describes the way a high school student interacts and productively uses her iPad in school.
I consider myself to be pretty tech-savvy, which might be the reason why it took me so long to realise how greatly a device like this would benefit me. If I had know this, I’d have bought the...
5 tags
What the Original iPhone Teaches About a... →
Great article by Stephen Hackett on why Apple would be stupid to put 4G chipsets into iPhones anytime soon.
Not only are actual 4G networks still very rare in the U.S., Europe and large parts of Asia, the technology on the handset side if very much in its infancy.
3 tags
December 2011
11 posts
You need to watch this, now: The first trailer for... →
Seriously, it’s awesome and I want it to be next December already.
3 tags
6 tags
“How many times have you been to a product website and seen big bold letters...”
–
Brent Simmons on Twitter’s new nomenclature. Spot-on.
I absolutely agree with Brent Simmons’s statement. Having read the articles by Cody Fink and John Gruber, I believe that—at least for me—Twitter’s apps (including the web app) have finally jumped the shark.
The new Twitter iPhone...
2 tags
Sh2-171 nebula large
universe-of-waves:
So incredibly cool!
Thanks for the link @yuize.
6 tags
5 tags
Don't Be A Free User - Pinboard Blog →
chartier:
Maciej Ceglowski, calling the “start a free web service, refuse to implement a business model, and eventually get bought” shenanigans for what they are:
Whether or not this is done in good faith, in practice this kind of ‘exit event’ is a pump-and-dump scheme. The very popularity that attracts a buyer also makes the project financially unsustainable. The owners cash out, the acquirer...
4 tags
Doug Drexler on the building of the Bajoran... →
A few great photos and some commentary on one of the important spots from one of my favourite DS9 episodes.
4 tags
5 tags
Sasha Grey on education →
Please follow the link to Jonas Wisser’s blog. He posted a quote from Sasha Grey, regarding demands she should stop reading to children. Wisser’s commentary is equally insightful.
4 tags
4 tags
First impressions: Infinity Blade 2
Yesterday the sequel to ‘Infinity Blade’ by Epic Games was released. The initial reviews on gaming centric websites were almost unanimously positive.
I downloaded the game this morning and took a few minutes to check it out. What I saw was impressive to say the least:
Incredible graphics, diverse, changing environments and cutscenes
Gone is the tedious repetitiveness of the first...
November 2011
13 posts
3 tags
CrunchFund? No Matter What You Call It, It's... →
Go ahead and read Kara Swisher’s article, here’s the tl;dr version: Mike Arrington is an amoral douchbag.
(via Instapaper)
3 tags
Toward Better Master Passwords | Agile Blog →
Great advice, well worth a read.
(via Instapaper)
4 tags
→ A Strange Sort of Prison, a Strange Sort of... →
Harry McCracken on some pundits’s feelings towards the prison that is using Apple’s products.
(via Instapaper)
3 tags
Red Sweater Blog – Open Source Obligations →
The problems that result from a false sense of entitlement.
I don’t want to give people the “holier than thou” feeling, but my opinion is that when someone gives the fruit of their labour away for free, the things you say to them should consist of constructive criticism and lots of ‘Thank you!’s, nothing more.
(via Instapaper)
2 tags
The original iPod, 10 years later: a re-review →
Timeless design is timeless.
(via Instapaper)
4 tags
On Nokia's Windows Phones →
I share Harry Marks’s sentiment towards Nokia’s Windows Phone 7 phones. I sincerely hope they succeed and are able to make a dent in the market.
(via Instapaper)
4 tags
the understatement: Android Orphans: Visualizing a... →
[Schandroidfreude]
Oh my! How bad iOS users have it in their closed environment. So so bad.[/Schandroidfreude]
(via Instapaper)
5 tags
Richard Stallman is pretty much insane →
This might be beating a dead horse, but it’s just too much fun. Ignoring the good the man did and the things he gave us, I’m going to go on the record here by saying that he’s a crazy, asocial and self-centered arse.
Read the story over at macgasm and if you have the time and need a good chuckle, read the entire document by Stallman, it’s hilarious.
(via Instapaper)
4 tags
David Chartier on Shit work and technocentrism →
chartier:
Zach Holman:
The problem with shit work is that no one likes doing it, but an awful lot of people say they do.
I disagree with almost everything in this piece. It’s based entirely on one core assumption that is wrong in so many ways, I told Siri to set a timer for how long I can take to respond to this.
Holman hates managing Twitter lists, Google+ circles, email folders, and task...
1 tag
“If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous he will not bite you. This...”
– Mark Twain
3 tags
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Scientists manage to disarm the AIDS virus's...
yuize:
Scientists Disarm AIDS Virus’ Attack on Immune System http://t.co/05eNiyqk
Amazing stuff. More of this, please.
3 tags
David Chartier: An unordered list of words that...
chartier:
Thanks to software trends, pop culture, entitled customers, the tech press, and the next meme on your favorite site, these words (and one acronym) have been stripped of their intrinsic value and almost all hope of meaning. In no particular order:
premium
sexy
awesome
revolutionary
HD
beta
literally
pro
killer
instant
amazing
seriously
Did I miss any?
Addendum
epic
...
October 2011
8 posts
6 tags
6 tags
4 tags
Jim Dalrymple's review of the new iPhone 4S →
Great and to-the-point review of the new iPhone 4S, showcasing nicely how the improvements over the iPhone 4 will affect everyday usage.
If you only read one review of the device, make it this one.
3 tags
Goodbye Steve Jobs
I know this will sound stupid to some people, but it feels like a friend has died.
I’ve never met Steve Jobs, I don’t even work in an industry connected to Apple, I’m just a consumer who’s been using Apple products for a few years.
Still I feel connected to this man, through his legacy that is Apple Inc. and the products which have made my life more pleasant and my job...
4 tags
David Chartier: Apple's fall from grace - BGR →
chartier:
Zach Epstein:
But an interesting takeaway from yesterday’s announcement may simply be that Apple has fallen from grace in some respects. Apple is fallible, even if the 4S ends up being a success. A company that could do no wrong in recent history just, well, did wrong in the eyes of pundits who had previously viewed every Apple product announcement as a gift from the heavens.
Oh...
7 tags
The Topolsky Spin — The Angry Drunk →
Another handy law to invoke when discussing tech news and articles written by New Media Douchebags and wannabe pundits.
The other one, of course, is Betteridge’s Law of Headlines.
6 tags
6 tags
"Let's talk iPhone" event recap
I followed the event on Twitter, Arstechnica.com and Macworld.com (as long as their live blogs were up).
I wasn’t overly impressed, but far from disappointed:
We finally have a shipping date for iOS 5 and iCloud (Oct. 12th), which is what I was most interested in.
The ‘Family and Friends’ feature is a nice addition that will surely come in handy sometime.
The new watch faces...