MySpacebook?

I like Facebook a lot better than MySpace. Facebook lets you connect with your friends and see what they're up to easily, without having to sift through any unrelated garbage, or what I'll call social networking byproduct - the waste that often gets produced when so many people with nothing better to do start finding inane ways to waste their time and the time of everyone their connected to. Bad social sites like MySpace suffer from this since the actual social networking side of their operation is lacking, and as a result this byproduct is produced to fill the void. Since Facebook has social networking down pat, there's very little in the way of a void that needs filling. Yet more and more often on Facebook I'm seeing instances of this waste cropping up in my messages inbox, on my wall and in my news feed.

"Check it out," one of the headlines declares, "Go to my profile and take a look at my new celebrity look-alikes!" Um, no.

"YOU HAVE OFFICIALLY BEEN HIT BY..

............|\
............| \
............|_\
...______|__________
...\___ A BOAT_____/
....\_____________/," a popular wall post begins, "which probably makes you pretty angry." Yeah? No kidding. So how about you fuck off throwing bullshit at my wall, dumb-ass?

Let me ask, do you go running up to your friends on the street and cry out, "Hey, I'm hitting you with a boat! Please! Talk to me!?" I doubt it. Or perhaps you approach everyone you know with the latest issue of Celebrity Crap Magazine and start flicking wildly through the pages while declaring proudly the names of all the stars you barely resemble? Probably not.

Such approaches to socializing, be they off-line or on-line, are impersonal. I know its not actually important to you that I specifically see the results of your latest tryst with time wasting, but rather that someone at least does and that they acknowledge it. To achieve this you spam these results out there to everyone you know, and in the process diminish the impact of your own actions, not to mention that of Facebook as a social networking service.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying Facebook should be for serious play only, but there's silly and then there's just inane. What's happening right now on Facebook is quite nearly the MySpace equivalent of the sparkling animated GIF. If we ever get to that point, people, Facebook will be lost. Sparkling animated GIF's are truly the point of no return. They've devoured MySpace, and they'll devour you, too, if you're not careful.

Please, for the love of Facebook, just be careful.

GUI of the Future: Reflection of the Past

First, quickly: Every OS (operating system), like Mac OS X or Windows XP or Vista has a graphical user interface, or GUI (lovingly pronounced "gooey"). The GUI is basically all the stuff you interact with in the operating system, like folders, icons, windows, buttons, menus, even applications. Most of what you know about your computer exists on the GUI level, and that's the way it was intended. The GUI is just a shell for the guts of all that's really going on inside your computer, which is incredibly complicated stuff, which is why you need the GUI to dependably and easily interact with it, to get it to do things like play movies, burn CD's, send e-mails, write blogs, etc. Some GUI's are arguably better than others, and there are often trade-offs between functionality and appearance when designing a GUI (though I think OS X has a pretty impressive handle on both). As technology and our understanding of it improves, however, this trade-off diminishes and we come closer and closer to having pure functionality co-existing harmoniously with alluring appearance in an OS, the way it truly ought to.

While our OS should be smart and fast at doing all the tasks we require of it, its appearance should tell us things, not only about our computer, but about ourselves. What I would like to see as a feature in a future OS would be "aging". I'd like every unique aspect of the OS, every individual application's screen, every menu, button, folder, wallpaper, all of it to age based on use. Applications we use a lot, buttons we press a lot, would all show signs of aging sooner than ones used less often. The edges of windows could start to chip and crack and peel, buttons could wear down, smudge, fade, or even fall off. Folders could tear, wallpapers could scratch and peel and even fall on a slant. Just like objects in the real world, our GUI objects could all show wear and tear. This would give us some sort of feedback on our usage habits, which would be interesting to see in such a real world fashion. Of course, if we really started to dislike the look of all these signs of aging, would could initiate repairs, bring elements back to their original condition, keep on top of it all and have things looking nice and cared for part of or even all of the time, if such were our inclination.

I can do this for the exterior of my computer, and this care or lack thereof is in part a reflection of who I am, so why shouldn't the rest of my computer be the same?

Buying a Used Bicycle: Help Wanted

Despite the lion-like way in which March is going out, I do believe that Spring is upon us. Spring is a time when certain urges are known to take hold, and I am feeling one of those particular urges quite strongly at the moment. That's right: I want to ride a bicycle.

I've found a local used bike for sale, and the price looks right, but I'm none too sure I know enough to make any judgments on its quality or style or suitability towards me, so perhaps you can help. Here's a picture:


From what I can tell, its a Dyno. The bike is described as being in good condition, 26" tires, summer usage, the back tire is a little bigger because the original tire was blown out and replaced, it has grip shift gears, shocks on the front forks and under the seat, gel seat and U-lock included. Originally $350, he's now asking $125.

In terms of size, he is 6'6" while I'm 5'9", though he says that shouldn't be a problem since he hunched over and the seat can still be adjusted. I'd be trying it out for size, anyway. I'd just like to know if anyone knows enough to say whether this is a decent deal at all. I'd like to be able to ride back and forth across town in it for work to avoid the bus and get in shape.

Advice welcome!

Apple TV + DVD = Hack-o-Rama

Its not even been a week, and Apple TV has already had the crap hacked out of it. People really seem to have taken a shining to Apple's latest big-kid's toy, and it got me to thinking, maybe I've been a tad hard on the little guy. Especially since my one main conflict with the entire Apple TV ecosystem, its inability to incorporate DVD's into the mix, has already been resolved. The solution is no more legal than it is simple and straightforward, but Mike Curtis lays it all out at his very own Apple TV Hacker blog with lots of detailed description and screen shot goodness to guide you through the procedure.

As Curtis refers to it, both in his blog and in the comments (of which there are many) below his DVD hack entry, what he frequently does with his Apple TV is the technological equivalent of doodling. With that in mind, unless you're willing to crack a few pencils, shade outside the lines and crumple up the odd scrap of paper with yours, so to speak, then perhaps you'd best leave this one alone. Did I mention already that its illegal? Interestingly enough, if you read to the end of the entry, Curtis mentions this as well, at least with respect to the popular "Rent, Rip, Return" craze that's sweeping the nation.

Pogue Weighs In, Way Off

I won't spend too much time on this, but I have to follow up on my previous post here after David Pogue's review of the Apple TV produced this little gem of an insight right at the start:

"In the technology world, conventional wisdom says that we’ll soon be saying R.I.P. for the DVD. Internet downloads are the future, baby. No driving, no postpaid envelopes. Any movie, any TV show, any time."

Indeed, anyone with an Apple TV wishing to rent a movie or watch an episode of TV will be kneeling at the altar of the internet download at the iTunes store, but that's hardly the makings of a true eulogy for the DVD. Even still, a movie on iTunes isn't going for rental prices, but rather is more inline with DVD purchase prices. So remind me again why you'd pay the same price for something that's locked into your home network, has no additional content and perpetually teeters on the brink of accidental deletion? Oh right, because the Apple TV demands it.

If people were going to replace their DVD's with purchased internet downloads of movies, they would have done something similar already with CD's and music from the iTunes store. While I'm sure some people have done just that, they're a very rare breed; I know of but one, and his passion is for drawing comics, not exactly a reflection of the Western zeitgeist. Its a shame, because if DVD's were easily and legally rip-able the way CD's are, I think the Apple TV would indeed become the iPod of the home entertainment world (just, you know, without the always breaking within the first year part).

The Amazingly Incompatible Apple TV

Apple TV is shipping, and suddenly the latest Apple product that no one really seemed to care about is all anyone can talk about, or blog about anyway. Case in point, here I go. I was perfectly willing to leave Apple TV well enough alone, it never quite looked like anything I'd be interested in but I didn't see anything inherently wrong with it, either, until now.

There are comparisons that can be made to the iPod with Apple TV, in particular with its integration with iTunes. Supposedly, its this tight integration that is going to make yet another tag team knockout in the digital entertainment arena, this time in our living rooms as opposed to, well, wherever the heck we go with our iPods. In terms of music, Apple TV will indeed do just this. It will replace our ear buds with whatever sweet little (nay, large) bass pumping, 'nad dropping sound system we have set up in our homes and get our complete music library, from all of our iTunes purchased DRM'd sing-alongs to our ripped collection of CD's, flowing readily through. That's all fine and dandy, but what about TV? This is, after all, Apple TV we're discussing, right?

Lets assume TV means anything you'd normally watch on your screen; primarily TV shows and movies (the whole photos-on-your-TV thing never really seemed to take off, did it?). Sure, Apple is ramping up the content drive on its iTunes store, so you can buy TV shows and movies which will stream to your HD screen via Apple TV. Similar to what many cable services are now offering; with iTunes and Apple TV you'll have your very own on demand service running, watching what you want, when you want, and that's all you'll ever pay for in terms of content. Apple TV owners, you can kiss your cable bill goodbye. That's swell, for casual viewing, anyway.

Coming back to iTunes music store for a moment, purchases made from there are usually pretty casual. Almost anyone with a real appreciation for a band will still go out and buy the CD if they want the whole album, and with TV and movies you can bet DVD sales will continue to work the same way. TV on iTunes has more of an appeal because each episode is available as its aired, while the complete package of a season won't come out on DVD for some time later, but movies are a tidy package, no staggering there. While with music you can take your purchased CD, rip its contents to your computer and then carry it around in your iPod or stream it to your Apple TV and wake up all your neighbors, TV shows and movies don't rip from DVD's... easily or legally anyway. This is the problem.

Statistically, most of the contents of a person's iPod is music they've purchased on CD that has been ripped to their computer. The iTunes store is a great accessory to the iPod, but its just that. Apple TV is essentially dependent on an accessory for its functionality. Enjoying content on an Apple TV will be like trying to dress yourself while staring at a closet full of clothes but only having access to the scarves, or perhaps more to the point the scarves you bought off the internet from that one store. All those DVD's you lovingly collected and own, and the ones you're still planning on collecting for years to come, will be incompatible with Apple TV.

Unless Steve Jobs has a yet-unveiled plan in place which will suddenly make ripping DVD's easy and legal (another finger pointing letter to be written, perhaps?), I see no real future for Apple TV. A tight integration with the iTunes store is not nearly enough to make this otherwise promising device as necessary and ubiquitous as the iPod so readily became. Which is a shame, because for some reason I still find myself really wanting one.

The Real Six Months of iPhone Bugs?

A friend on Facebook has suggested my pseudo-insider information on the iPhone's toxic release may in fact be another example of Steve Jobs and his spymaster ways, as it has been speculated was the case with Asteroid. The problem with that analysis is that it would seem imprudent for Jobs to be going out on the hunt for his neighbors, particularly when the only information they would ever possess in the first place would be that which he gives them. There's nothing to gain and plenty to lose with that strategy.

Everyone, hold on to your irony hats.

The other possibility is that this is all just a sad example of the telephone game gone international. When I looked a little closer at the details here, I noticed a coincidence. The speculation is that the iPhone will launch roughly six months from the date it was announced. These six months will see the iPhone riddled with bugs, the overwhelming majority of which, one would expect, should be getting squashed as we come up to the launch date. So what gadget-geek's best friend's mom might have heard Steve say was something more like there are still six months of bugs to be worked out before we release the iPhone to the public. Tell that to someone, who tells someone else, and immediately you begin to see the breakdown.

Now if only I'd thought of that last night.