by cameron | Mar 21, 2007 | Melbourne, Podcast, technology
Despite Scott’s slagging of Vista today, I like it – especially now that I’ve got 2GB RAM. Don’t tell anyone. I’d hate for Jeff Putt to hear about it.
Okay so, as I said on the show the other night, it isn’t the major new paradigm that was promised over those long, long, Longhorn years. Remember quotes like these from BillG?
Longhorn, the next version of Microsoft Corp.’s Windows desktop operating system, will be so different from its predecessors that users may not like it right away.
(link)
Longhorn makes it easy for your information to show up on any device. It makes it easy to navigate that information.
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Say you keep lists. Anytime that you’ve mentioned a restaurant, it automatically goes onto this list of restaurants, and your system would automatically keep track of what are the hours there, how that menu has changed.
(link)
There is more R&D being spent on Longhorn than on the 747.
(link)
Now that we are moving to this Web services world–a loosely coupled, message-based breakthrough that computer scientists have dreamed of for decades–all of the things that let that be possible need to be in the US$50 operating system. And so here we have Indigo that will be in Windows and let you do transactions and queuing.
(link)
And let’s forget about WinFS….
But as an operating system, it’s pretty “neat” (I can imagine BillG calling it that… isn’t he just the child of the 50s??).
Here’s my desktop at the moment:
What do I like?
1. It’s prettier than XP.
2. When folders open and close they do this little.. shrinky… thing. It’s… neat.
3. Ummm… having the sidebar pre-installed is nice but I’d been running Yahoo Konfabulator for a few years on and off so it’s not an entirely new experience. It is, however, packaged. The widgets I’ve got installed are currently:
iTunes controller
News.com.au RSS feed
Dual Core monitor
Shortcuts to key docs and folders
Melbourne’s weather
Calendar
4. The little clock thing in the taskbar allows multiple timezones!! Now I can see what time it is in Scotland and Washington when I’m hiding from Ewan and Scott on Skype. I can wait until I know they are asleep before I stop lurking.
5. Most nearly everything I need is running. All except my printer. I had trouble with the scanner but Photoshop figured out how to make it work.
6. The “snip” tool from Windows XP Tablet PC Edition ships with it and that is VERY handy.
7. It’s pretty (did I already say that?)
8. The new Win-TAB is old technology (I can’t remember what it was called but I used to have an app which did that years ago) but great to have in the OS.
9. The way the little previews of the windows you have open pop up when you hover your mouse over the taskbar.
10. ummm. it’s pretty?
The list of things I don’t like is shorter…
1. The integrated search is better but not, IMHO, as good as Google Desktop. Come on Microsoft. Catch up.
2. Hmmmm… no podcast support?
3. It doesn’t swallow?
4. Oh yeah. Google Desktop searches open in IE and not FF. I haven’t been able to figure out how to stop that. Anyone know the secret (no, not the stupid new agey documentary which says “whatever you conceive and believe you can achieve”, but just… the regular type secret)?
5. Oh yeah… I had to spend the first two days turning off the stupid security features. YES – I WANT TO RUN THIS FRAKKING APPLICATION! THAT’S WHY I CLICKED ON IT STUPID!!
I don’t know. I can’t pick much fault with it so far I guess. But then again I’ve only had it four days. Give me some more time.
Would I go out and pay real shells for it? No. The benefit over XP is really just cosmetic as far as I can tell. I really cannot for the life of me tell what’s truly new and innovative in Vista apart from the prettiness and I wouldn’t shell out $600 – $1000 for that.
However, if you are getting a new PC and you have Vista as an option – and you are well aware that some of your software and/or peripherals may not work – then go ahead and move to Vista. Mum – that means you.
by cameron | Mar 21, 2007 | Podcast, science, TPN
With the success of The Napoleon Podcast on TPN, I’d really like to develop a whole catalogue of educational podcasts. It strikes me that there are probably tens of thousands of retired educators around the world who have knowledge, educational skills, and time. With podcasting they can each continue to make a significant contribution to the world by taking their educational skills and producing a series of podcasts (video or audio) to convey that knowledge to the rest of us.
Personally I would love to listen to a series of podcasts on mathematics, science, history, language, philosophy, literature – you name it. I’m an information junkie. I think there would be a big market for educational podcasts. Most podcasts are still news and reviews of the week but there is a growing list of shows like our Napoleon show – linear format, educational shows.
If you’re an educator and you are interested in sharing your knowledge with the world, please shoot me an email.
by cameron | Mar 21, 2007 | TPN
Today we’re launching The Wii Show on TPN! Charlie George and Brian Ibbott will be taking a weekly look at Nintendo’s Wii console with news, review and interviews to make sure you get the most out of your Wii investment!
by cameron | Mar 20, 2007 | censorship, climate change, environment, freedom of speech, US politics
From the LA Times’ coverage of the Hansen case:
James Hansen, director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, took particular issue with the administration’s rule that a government information officer listen in on his interviews with reporters and its refusal to allow him to be interviewed by National Public Radio.
“This is the United States,” Hansen told the House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee. “We do have freedom of speech here.”
But Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) said it was reasonable for Hansen’s employer to ask him not to state views publicly that contradicted administration policy.
Of course, the most shocking suggestion here is that the Bush administration has a policy? Who knew!?
The suggestion that a senior scientist on the government payroll should not be able to talk openly about his scientific views because they might contradict administration policy is absurd. The dangerous theory here that Issa wants to sell is that the Government is a regular employer who should be able to determine what is said publicly by their “employees”. This theory fails to recognize that ALL Government employees and actually employees of the PEOPLE, paid for by THE PEOPLE, and their first (and only) duty is to fulfill their public responsibility, not to toe the line.
By the way, know where the term “toe the line” comes from?
According to the Grammar Tips site:
The phrase “toe the line” is equivalent to “toe the mark,” both of which mean to conform to a rule or a standard. The Oxford Dictionary of Word Histories (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2002; ed. by Glynnis Chantrell) says, “The idiom toe the line from an athletics analogy originated in the early 19th century”.
The specific sport referred to is foot-racing, where the competitors must keep their feet behind a “line” or on a “mark” at the start of the race–as in “On your mark, get set,
go!”
So one who “toes the line” is one who does not allow his foot to stray over the line. In other words, one who does not stray beyond a rigidly defined boundary.
by cameron | Mar 20, 2007 | Podcast
My guest today is Elizabeth Godo, a media studies student from Toronto, who has written an excellent analysis of the US media’s treatment of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.
Elizabeth recently went through all of the New York Times’ coverage of Chávez over several years and picked out the recurring labels used to describe him: “ex-coup leader”, “leftist”, which, as she says, “repeatedly establishes the context within which the American audience is lead to evaluate President Chávez.”
Other Links:
Video of Jon Stewart on “CROSSFIRE”
ZMag
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The G’Day World Theme Song is “Save Me†by The Napoleon Blown Aparts.
