Recent Posts

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Living Room / Re: Should Apple recall the iPhone4? Or should the user "Hold the phone the right"?

« Last post by zridling on July 20, 2010, 04:53 PM »

This Video show in an extremely clear way that the "Death Grip" issue is totally different from what happen with other phones when you cover some spots. So, no Steve, this doesn't happen with other phones. Not at all! 

-Mark0 (July 20, 2010, 02:17 PM)

Death grip? Try one finger in the video. Amazing. My question always is: Really Jobs, really? You didn't NOTICE this before final approval?

Point is, Jobs' response to this problem tells us a lot about the man and his ego -- when a billionaire can't control the world, he gets pissy with the rest of us.

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Living Room / Re: Should Apple recall the iPhone4? Or should the user "Hold the phone the right"?

« Last post by zridling on July 19, 2010, 11:44 PM »

http://www.slate.com/id/2260619
Farhad Manjoo of Slate said the press conference came with an overly “condescending” message. He summed up the event’s message this way:

Still, if you want to be a total jerk about it and keep insisting there’s a problem with your magical iPhone, Jobs has an offer for you. “OK, great, let’s give everybody a case,” he said. Happy now, whiners?

I just wish Jobs could have handled this mini-crisis in a classier way. His data clearly show that the new iPhone is dropping more calls than the old one. He could have admitted a problem, offered a fix, and said, "We're sorry for any trouble we caused you." Instead, he sounded wounded and paranoid, as if we were all being ungrateful for not recognizing Apple's contributions to the world. "We love our users so much we've built 300 Apple retail stores for them," he claimed at one point. Wow, thanks, Steve—all this time, I thought you built those stores just to sell stuff! He said that a Bloomberg Business Week report that he'd been warned about potential antenna problems was "total bullshit." At another point, he asked a questioner, bizarrely, "What would you prefer, that we're a Korean company? Do you not like the fact that we're an American company leading the world right here?"

What I'd prefer, since Jobs is asking, is a company that doesn't pee on my leg and tell me it's the "most revolutionary rain storm ever!" A free case is all well and good. Just lose the attitude, Steve. You screwed up. We know it. You know it. Just admit it.

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Living Room / Re: Lists of Forums with help on home contractor problems (roof, heating, etc.)

« Last post by zridling on July 18, 2010, 08:44 PM »

Sounds like a job for Canadian Mike Holmes, who sometimes comes our way south. Check out his extensive forums:
http://www.mikeholme...com/phpbb3/index.php

They might lead you exactly where you want to go. For example, see this very similar discussion:
http://www.mikeholme...php?f=10&t=34507 (must be logged in)

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Developer's Corner / The Hacking Business Model -- not just about the code

« Last post by zridling on July 18, 2010, 08:34 PM »

The hacking business model -- not just about the code!



Purpose
- Create a sustainable business model that can be adopted and adapted by others.
- Create a fair and democratic company that is owned by the workers.
- Have long-term, trustworthy and meaningful relationships with our staff and customers.

Principles
- Egalitarian: The belief that all people should be treated equally. This includes equality, non-discrimination and inclusivity.
- Sustainable: We have a long-term view on our business. We watch our profits & spend wisely, we take care of each other, we support the things we depend on.
- Transparent: We communicate in an honest and genuine way. Any information or process that can be made open, will be made open.
- Fun: Create a workplace where people can have fun and want to work.
- Agile: Be flexible, receptive & adaptive, especially when dealing with staff and customers.

Methods
Concrete tools for helping us live according to our principles, including:
- Consensus-based decision making.
- Corporate transparency - any information or process that can be made open, should be made open.
- Licensing that helps benefit our company, our staff, our customers, our partners and society at large.
- Profit-sharing with staff, contributors and worthy causes.
- Don't try to change people. Focus on getting the best from their strengths. Develop ways to work around their weaknesses.
- Prefer to work with people who share our values.
- Work against patents and other legislation that harms individual rights.

_______________________
More details:
http://askmonty.org/...cking_business_model

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Living Room / Re: Should Apple recall the iPhone4? Or should the user "Hold the phone the right"?

« Last post by zridling on July 16, 2010, 11:16 PM »

I was wrong. But I found it funny that Jobs begrudgingly offered bumpers: "If you need one, we'll issue it, are you happy now?"

Weird, angry quote.

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Living Room / Re: Should Apple recall the iPhone4? Or should the user "Hold the phone the right"?

« Last post by zridling on July 13, 2010, 09:35 PM »

Absolutely, but given that Jobs & Co. were busy deleting entire Apple forum topics devoted to this subject for the past 48 hours, it's unlikely unless there's a class action suit. Meanwhile, there's no way Apple is going to give away iPhone bumpers for free.

782

General Software Discussion / Re: ALL cloud applications should offer downloadable installs.

« Last post by zridling on July 13, 2010, 09:29 PM »

On a semi-related note (for developers), IBM shows devs how to move your Linux application to the Amazon cloud, Part 1: Initial migration:

http://www.ibm.com/d...1/index.html?ca=drs-

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is a great concept: You use computing resources, you pay for them. You want more computing power, you pay more. The downside of this model is that you're working with computers that you're never going to see, nor do you really know much about them. Once you get over that, however, there's a lot to be gained by using IaaS.

Because the IaaS model is so different from the traditional model of buying servers, the way you manage your virtual computers changes. It also means that the way you run your application in the cloud changes. Things you once took for granted, such as negligible latency between servers, are no longer a given.

This series of articles follows the migration of a Web application from a single physical server to Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2). Along the way, you learn how to adapt your application to the cloud environment and how to take advantage of the features that the cloud has to offer. To start, you see a straight migration from one physical server to a cloud server.

783

Living Room / Re: App Culture vs. Free Culture

« Last post by zridling on July 12, 2010, 06:11 PM »

The article forgot: The cheating factor. Apple restricts the use of some of its API only to  Apple. If your application uses those parts of their API, its not accepted. Unless you are google.

-rxantos (July 12, 2010, 12:01 PM)

This is why Android (Linux) will dominate the mobile market in a couple of years, now that Apple is increasingly looking like a very ugly company that's easy to hate, oh, and that Apple's iPhone design flaws have been independently confirmed.



Users can even build their own mobile apps, however crude or simple. How fun is scripting for most of us? Dumb that down and you've got an even more powerful toy (er, tool) in your hand.

Capitalism only works where there is no party controlling the market. So concentrating too much decision power on a company that might also be your competitor is always a bad idea. Is like having the bad parts of Comunism (one party decides what goes on), without having any of the good parts.

-rxantos (July 12, 2010, 12:01 PM)

Unless it's a form of "state capitalism," widely practiced around the world by China, India, Brazil, Russia, Saudi Arabia, et al., the goal of which is to keep a political party in control and ensure that its industries keep people working and make money for the state -- or in this case, to keep a corporation in strict control of its customers.

784

Living Room / Re: A special gift from Veign.com to DonationCoder - thank you!

« Last post by zridling on July 12, 2010, 05:52 PM »

Chris Hanscom has definitely helped me over the years in a variety of ways. And when I was a Windows guy, I really liked his software. Thanks Chris!

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Living Room / Re: 35 Beautiful Photography Websites

« Last post by zridling on July 12, 2010, 05:50 PM »

I don't care, I love it. Thanks, Tomos!

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Living Room / Re: iPhone4 vs HTC via Xtranormal: Point Counter-point, Funny, Animated and NSFW

« Last post by zridling on July 08, 2010, 05:56 PM »

"I don't need my children growing up in a world populated by dipshits like you. Holy f..."

Oh my, I haven't laughed so hard in months!

Good job, April!

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Living Room / Re: App Culture vs. Free Culture

« Last post by zridling on July 08, 2010, 05:47 PM »

Once an app store has you locked in to its "buy-here-or-get-out" structure, what's to keep the owner, e.g., Apple, from taking 35, 40, and eventually 50% of your 99 cents? If you protest, what are you going to do -- shut up, take less, and be happy for the privilege of being ripped off.

If you know of an example where a "payments technology company" such as Visa or PayPal ever take less and reduce fees, I'd love to hear it.

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Living Room / Re: App Culture vs. Free Culture

« Last post by zridling on July 07, 2010, 05:45 PM »

Is 30% that bad when you consider it means you don't have to set up a store, actually handle credit card fees, or pay for the bandwidth? I'm seriously asking as it doesn't seem that bad to me. I dislike Apple's policies and the corporate attitude they project, but I'm not sure I see this 70-30 split being so outrageous.

-TheQwerty (July 07, 2010, 06:13 AM)

It's outrageously high, I think. You do 100% of the work and they take 30%! Why not 5%? It's not like they need the money; they've already made their treasure on the hardware, and if you're buying Apple, they know you're coming back very soon to upgrade. The only reason Apple, et al., set up "app stores" is to get their pound of flesh. I'll bet if I sold Apple hardware in my own store, they wouldn't let me take 30% of the $600 for an iPhone.

Oh wait, they retain complete control (and still manage to be insecure and drop calls). Welcome to my nightmare.
__________________
PS: My old cellphone is just about to go (bad speaker), and when it does, I won't replace it. The bill collectors will scream 'round the clock!

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Living Room / Re: App Culture vs. Free Culture

« Last post by zridling on July 06, 2010, 05:11 PM »

Just found this very relevant tidbit:

Patent Lawyer Insists Open Source Stifles Innovation
http://techdirt.com/...06/03220710079.shtml

790

Living Room / Re: TV Controls (rant)

« Last post by zridling on July 06, 2010, 05:07 PM »

When I do watch TV, I can only watch something that's been recorded. I can't tolerate the endless commercial breaks. TV sitcoms used to do 22 minutes (for every 30) back in the day, but I think these modern reality shows (Pawn Stars, DIY network, Food porn, Cake Boss, et al.) only throw up about 18-19 minutes tops. I've yet to go digital since I can't afford a widescreen TV. Honest.

I've noticed that every single reality show family gets incredibly rich, from the psycho Kate Gosselin to the Chopperheads in New York to those smug little people in Oregon. In every show, they're always building monster businesses or mansions after they've been on the air for a while. Oh, and don't forget the world travel for everyone.

791

Living Room / Re: App Culture vs. Free Culture

« Last post by zridling on July 06, 2010, 04:59 PM »

Don't forget that despite not coding one line in your app, Apple willingly takes 30% of your profit off the top. That's effing greedy, folks!

792

Living Room / Re: More ammunition why patents are EVIL

« Last post by zridling on July 06, 2010, 04:55 PM »

If corporations and various companies decided to start actively enforcing their patents, you'd see almost all software grind to a halt around the world, or at least its innovation. I figure this is why most hackers code without looking up patents first (willful infringement carries much greater penalties). But it's the most commonsensical things that get patented, e.g., Apple patented "gestures" on a flat screen a few years ago. Really? Gestures!

793

Living Room / Re: App Culture vs. Free Culture

« Last post by zridling on July 03, 2010, 10:12 PM »

I find the entire app store concept -- from the corporate/control side -- very weird. They make and control the hardware, and now they restrict which software can and cannot be installed. It's as if I bought a car but was only allowed to drive on roads with 4 lanes or more.

Motives For Writing Free Software
http://www.gnu.org/p...ophy/fs-motives.html

Selling Free Software
http://www.gnu.org/p...losophy/selling.html

794

Living Room / Re: Apple/ATT sued over iPhone 4 Antenna issues

« Last post by zridling on July 02, 2010, 07:47 PM »

The iphone pose, similar to Captain Morgan's! Oy. At some point, Apple users have to get pissed, right? Pissed enough to stop buying that junk?

795

General Software Discussion / Re: The Odds Are Increasing That Microsoft's Business Will Collapse

« Last post by zridling on July 02, 2010, 07:42 PM »

After even thinking of getting in the phone market, much less attempting the "kin," (and then killing it soon after launch), I'd like to reiterate that Microsoft needs new management. $500mn doesn't grow on trees anymore.

What the hell is going on at Microsoft? | ZDNet
http://www.zdnet.com...=mantle_skin;content

“The sudden rise and fall of the Kin is a clear pointer to the fact that Microsoft has no clear mobile strategy. The company is flailing wildly, throwing money about like it’s a solution to everything. It isn’t. the phrase that lingers in my head to describe Microsoft’s current mobile plan is “here today, gone tomorrow …”.”

796

Living Room / Re: Dell knowingly shipped millions of defective computers?

« Last post by zridling on July 02, 2010, 07:37 PM »

Gateway did the same thing for years in the early-mid-90s. Their feeling was, make the money on the sale and wait until the customer complained. Then make it so difficult for the customer to get it fixed that they would give up. As you can see, they eventually lost zillions.

797

Living Room / Re: Obama Can Shut Down Internet For 4 Months Under New Emergency Powers

« Last post by zridling on June 30, 2010, 09:50 PM »

And yet Finland becomes the first country to make broadband a legal right for every citizen.
http://news.bbc.co.u...hnology/10461048.stm

Go Fins!

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Living Room / Re: Weekend moment of zen -- Caturday!

« Last post by zridling on June 27, 2010, 09:13 PM »

You may also like this little guy.

799

General Software Discussion / Re: Opera/Chrome no longer supported on chase banking sites after 18July

« Last post by zridling on June 27, 2010, 09:11 PM »

Wow, well I'm glad I don't bank with those old fogeys.

800

Living Room / Re: Weekend moment of zen -- Caturday!

« Last post by zridling on June 27, 2010, 02:06 AM »

So true, so true.