They’re hoping in 2006 to be where we were in Jaguar, basically. That’s what they’re hoping. Obviously we’re going to have a few more releases before 2006 so we’d be way ahead of them by then. But that’s what they’re hoping for, and maybe they’ll do that. They have a lot of people to work on it, but it’s a rough row to hoe. [SeattlePi via anil]
Lunar Eclipse
Spent some time checking out the lunar eclipse tonight… Fortunately we had a great view right from our window on this crisp fall evening. The shots are far from my best work (as if I was a pro), but give a good sequential overview of the events.
Scripting Mac OS X
As an administrator, when you think of automating tasks, you naturally think of scripting. James Reynolds shows you how to apply a variety of scripting languages to automate your workflow on Mac OS X. [O’Reilly MacDevCenter.com]
Vegas Airport to roll out RFID tag system
The process starts at the check-in desk, where a baggage tag with an RFID chip and antenna imbedded in it will be printed out and attached to each bag. Each tag will carry a unique identifier and will be read while the bag is transported on conveyors through the appropriate explosive-screening machine and onto the plane. If the bag fails to clear the explosive-screening machine, it will be sent to a special facility to be checked by hand. [ComputerWeekly.com]
Greenwich OKs cell phone parking meters
Newsday reports that Greenwich (CT) motorists will soon have the option of passing on the parking meter and settling parking fees with their cellular phones. [textually.org]
Very cool and I believe the first in the US. I don’t have a car and I don’t live in Greenwich, but I can certainly appreciate the convenience of this.
Energy Secretary Just Assumed Cabinet Knew He Did Porn Films In The ’80s
Love The Onion…
Sharing your iPod over iTunes…
You can share the music on your iPod as if it was a playlist in iTunes over your local network which works well – exactly as you would expect it to.
You just need Music Publisher. Drag your iPod to the app’s preference panel (I had to switch the port from 3689 to 3690) and voíla! Thanks to Jason Snell on the SliMP3 mailing list for the tip!
SightFlex stand ships for iSight
If you’re looking for a different way to plant your Apple iSight Webcam on your desk or near your computer than the clips that Apple includes, Mac accessory maker MacMice has introduced the SightFlex. The SightFlex is shipping today and costs US$29.99. [MacCentral]
Penn State Will Pay to Allow Students to Download Music (not exactly…)
Pennsylvania State University has agreed to cover the cost of providing its students with a legal method to download music from a catalog of half a million songs. [New York Times]
Taking student mandatory student fees does not classify as the school paying for anything. It’s the students who are paying for the service… just aggregated through the university’s deal. I guess it doesn’t hurt that the university president led a committee with the RIAA and the entertainment companies to find alternatives to file sharing networks. They came up with quite a revolutionary alternative plan… you pay.
ITMS a loss leader…
“Most of the money goes to the music companies,” admitted Jobs.
“We would like to break even/make a little bit of money but it’s not a money maker,” he said, candidly.
So now we have it on record: the music store is a loss leader. Jobs said Apple would pay its dues to the RIAA, then seek to make money where it could, from its line of hardware accessories. When the conversation turned to rivals such as eTunes and Napster, Jobs said: “They don’t make iPods, so they don’t have a related business where they do [make money]” [The Register]
BAMF
A U.S. commander has created a commando force to hunt Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden and key terrorists in the Middle East. [New York Times]
Sun To Open RFID Test Center
“RFID is a game changer for retailers, manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies to name just a few of the impacted industries,” Sun executive vice president Jonathan Schwartz said in a statement. “Sun is committed to providing open, standards-based RFID middleware software that leverages our Sun Java Enterprise System.”
RFID (define) technology allows manufacturers, retailers, logistics providers, and other organizations to “tag” physical goods with tiny radio transponders that can then be used to identify the goods without having to visually inspect them. Applications for the technology include automatic inventory management for retailers and manufacturers, improved supply chain efficiency for logistics companies and their customers, and better tracking of goods to reduce theft and loss. [internetnews.com]
AOL tests streaming-video IM service
Cross platform iChatAV??
America Online is quietly testing a video feature for its instant-messaging products now that the government has lifted restrictions against launching such a feature. [CNET News.com]
Penn State students blast Napster deal
Angry at what they see as a misuse of their funds, some Pennsylvania State University students are protesting their college’s new deal with the Napster music service. [CNET News.com]
Perhaps making it a mandatory part of student computer fees was not the best idea…
The Matrix Revolutions
With The Matrix Revolutions, the Wachowski Brothers have cemented their place in the pantheon of science fiction movie masters. While some people have been disappointed by this capstone of the trilogy, I thought it delivered on the promise of the last two movies very well, and will hold up in time. [Blogcritics]
One word: IMAX
I won’t reveal anything here… I’ll let you enjoy it on your own.
If you have access to see this one in IMAX, I would highly recommend it. It was by far the coolest way to check out the action. The screen was so massive and the action totally intense. It never hurts when the crowd is fully engaged and quiet as well – a rarity in NYC.
Ballmer cheers Apple’s iPod with Monkey Boy Dance
Dance Monkey Boy!!
An avid Mac fan has taken the infamous Monkey Dance Boy video of Ballmer and repurposed it as an iPod commercial. The finished product is exceptional. (Caution! Stay close to volume controls.) It’s complete with glowing sweat-stained Ballmer pits and maintains the same enthusiasm present in the original video. [The Register]
Teens want phones for Xmas
A survey in the US has found that cell phones are the third most desired present this Christmas for teenagers. While the report found that computers, cd players and games consoles lead the stakes, some 30% of teenagers said that they are looking forward to buying a cell phone.
Computers top the “must-have” holiday wish list for teens this year, according to results of the recent “First Annual Youth Holiday Purchase Patterns” survey conducted by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). This marks the first time teens age 12-17 were surveyed as part of CEA’s annual holiday shopping consumer research.
“The feedback from today’s tech savvy and influential teenagers are important to us and our members,” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of CEA. “This survey is one of many initiatives we are using to reach out to teens and reiterate the fun and educational benefits of consumer electronics. As expected, the results reflect how teens are actively embracing a wide array of technology and that they recognize technology influences almost all aspects of their lives.”
In addition, the survey shows that teens plan to purchase portable CD players as a gift to others (49%) this holiday season. Other products targeted for gift giving include game consoles (35%), cell phones (30%), hand-held game systems (28%) and portable MP3 players (27%). Just over half of the teens surveyed (51%) said they were planning to pay for all or most of the gifts with their own money.[Cellular News via textually.org]
McDonald’s to give away up to 1 billion iTunes songs?
If this is true, this would make Apple the defacto leader of digital music.
A story appearing in today’s New York Post claims that McDonald’s is close to announcing a deal with Apple, whereby the fast food giant will give away up to 1 billion songs from the iTunes Music Store. Pepsi and Apple recently announced a deal with Apple to give away 100 million songs to customers. According to The Post, both Pepsi and McDonald’s are paying Apple’s regular retail price of 99 cents for each song. The article notes that “a spokesperson for Apple declined comment, and a representative of McDonald’s was unavailable for comment.” [MacMinute]
Plan A for Microsoft
Is Microsoft’s new version of Windows, code-named Longhorn, a radical innovation or a return to the company’s winner-take-all software strategy from a decade ago?
Longhorn, which had its official coming-out party last week, marks Microsoft’s return to “fat client” application development–software that resides largely on desktop or portable PCs rather than on a shared server or network. The company is even considering phasing out the development of a stand-alone browser, instead building Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Web-based applications that would run directly in Longhorn as “native” Windows code.
The result would be “increased lock-in to Windows,” said Michael Silver, an analyst at market research firm Gartner. “Microsoft wants enterprises to write browser applications that take advantage of Longhorn application programming interfaces (APIs), which means that they won’t work on non-Longhorn browsers,” Silver wrote in a research report last week.
With Longhorn, some industry veterans believe, Microsoft is attempting to steer software development back toward the Windows desktop and away from software such as browser applications that can run on other companies’ OSes. Longhorn reinforces Microsoft’s commitment to the notion of powerful desktop machines that have large hard drives. [CNET News.com]
Voyager 1 Probes ‘Final Frontier’
Whether or not it has escaped the sun’s sphere of influence — known to astronomers as the heliosphere — Voyager 1 has exceeded all expectations and on Wednesday was more than 8 billion miles from Earth, or 90 times the distance between Earth and the sun. [Wired News]