CNN has a story claiming MySpace helped foil a school shooting. Last week I said that MySpace isn’t the problem the news media has made it out to be. Heck, any place high schoolers can […]
Author: Joe Wilcox
Nyokki
Couple weeks back, my daughter and I discovered cute egg pet plant Nyokki on one of the Japanese retail Websites. We almost ordered one, if not for shipping that would have cost more than the […]
Where Old News is the Only News
On Friday, a good friend asked me to look at a news story about Apple legal sending an unwelcome letter to an eight year-old girl. The letter basically told her to get lost. Apparently, the third grader had sent a letter to Apple CEO Steve Jobs suggesting a new feature for iPods: Lyrics viewing. She got her response, not from Steve but an Apple lawyer, about three months later. Turns out that Apple has a policy against taking unsolicited ideas, which the letter clearly stated.
The news story focused on the little girl’s hurt feelings and Apple’s slap-in-the-face response. Earth to Apple: Lawyers=bad PR. Always. But the response was lame for another reason: The feature already is available on iPods. It’s just not well publicized.
Apple Answers ‘What If’
Nearly two weeks has passed since Apple released Boot Camp, and I’ve said absolutely nothing on my personal blog about the software. The reason: I would never run Windows on a Mac that I own.
Boot Camp makes sense for people who think they might need Windows or have actual, occasional need. The software answers the question, “What if I need Windows?” But that’s a psychological more than real concern for most, potential Mac switchers. I’m convinced that most people thinking they might need Windows won’t. I know people who can’t throw away stuff, even if they haven’t used it for years, because of the “What if I need it” question. The barrier, while psychological, is real.
Be Better Neighbors
Yesterday, I wore my Alienware T-Shirt, with the company’s logo on the front—an alien, of course. For some reason, I got several questions about it. So I said: “Well, this is my illegal alien. He’s afraid of getting sent back to his home planet, and I’m protesting with him.”
There’s truth to what I said. I’m unfavorable to the hardline US legislators are taking with this immigration bill. I just don’t see turning all these immigrants into criminals, or turning them away. As one of the sixth graders pointed out today in the Sunday school class I teach, most Americans are immigrants. And to the Native Americans here 400 hundred years ago, the off-continent settlers were the illegals and, as it turned out, invaders, too.
The End Begins
Last night, I moved my domain to a new host and started setting up a new Weblog using WordPress. Please note the new URL and new Webfeed. If you subscribe to my TypePad feed, please, […]
Hacker Commandos
Looks like Orthodox Jewish hackers are replacing porn with pictures of Rabbi Menahem Mendel Schneerson. Dubbed “sex commandos”, they place text, “we, the Da-Net group, have hacked into this site and erased all its abomination”, […]
MySpace Isn’t the Problem
Shoot, will people lay off poor MySpace. Today the company hired a new Chief Security Officer, in response to a bunch of news stories about kids online safety. Yesterday, my mom called to make sure that I didn’t miss a Dateline story about the dangers of MySpace. Sorry, Ma. I spent time with my daughter rather than watch about parents that weren’t looking after their kids.
The problem isn’t social networking sites, but unmonitored kids and their uninvolved parents. In December I warned of kids risky, online behavior. But the greater risk is from the parents. C’mon, if kids are posting on public blogs, why should predators be reading them and not the parents?
When Magazines Mattered
To promote the Macintosh 22 years ago, Apple purchased all—as in every—ad space in the Newsweek 1984 election issue. That was 39 pages.
The folks over at Graphical User Interface Gallery (aka Guidebook) have preserved every page from that Newsweek issue. It was a time when magazine advertising really mattered, unlike today when the Internet undermines magazine circulation.
The D200, After All
Okay, so call me bogus. Back in February, I made clear that there would be no camera switch, as I previously contemplated—from the Canon EOS 20D to the Nikon D200. I’ve been unhappy with my EOS 20D for sometime, even as I acquired several nice Canon lenses. The Canon camera’s ergonomics doesn’t suit me, nor have I been satisfied with the photos compared to the Nikon D70. The Nikon D70 felt more like an extension of my eye, capturing images just as I saw them.
But low-light photography is important to me, and that’s one area where the EOS 20D excels over the Nikon D200, based on tests like PBase forum member Norm’s 20D-D200 photo comparison. I resigned to sticking with the EOS 20D—after all, I had some nice lenses.
The 9-11 Degrees of Separation
I have been thinking about Zacarias Moussaoui’s trial and an important lesson taught by the tragedies of September 11, 2001. We really all are connected, in more obvious ways than we realize. There’s a concept […]
Funerary Relief Bust Lament
I took my daughter and her friend downtown today, hoping to catch some remnant of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. But there was none. Day before, my daughter and I braved the steady (and pelting rain) for a few short hours. We gave up on the parade, but managed to shop the merchandise along Pennsylvania Ave. I bought her a kimono jacket and trinkets.
But, today, cars rather than merchants filled Pennsylvania Ave. So we continued the walk up 12th Street to the National Mall. For young girls the mall means someplace to shop, so I explained the difference of this Mall. I have yet to break my daughter of calling the Washington Monument, which flanks one end of the Mall, the “big pointy thing”.