[Thanks to Dave]
Good fun.
I wonder how many years it will actually take before reading on a hand-held screen will be more common than reading on paper? I'd say 12-15.
Monday, April 05, 2010
New times
Good fun.
I wonder how many years it will actually take before reading on a hand-held screen will be more common than reading on paper? I'd say 12-15.
Liberty Comics #1
Liberty Comics #1, review/article.
Are censorship issues really moot in the Internet age? I'm not so sure. Certainly they have been pushed back, but they push back too. For example Karen Fletcher, who ran a tiny web site (Red Rose or something). Granted, the site was pretty disgusting to almost anybody, containing text stories including violence to children and such. But: it was fiction. Not even any photos or illustrations. And yet the woman was arrested and got a pretty harsh sentence in a plea bargain. This is one of the best examples of how, if you really want free speech, you have to defend the indefensible. Policing fiction is policing thought. What kind of society has thought police?
Are censorship issues really moot in the Internet age? I'm not so sure. Certainly they have been pushed back, but they push back too. For example Karen Fletcher, who ran a tiny web site (Red Rose or something). Granted, the site was pretty disgusting to almost anybody, containing text stories including violence to children and such. But: it was fiction. Not even any photos or illustrations. And yet the woman was arrested and got a pretty harsh sentence in a plea bargain. This is one of the best examples of how, if you really want free speech, you have to defend the indefensible. Policing fiction is policing thought. What kind of society has thought police?
Update on Trackball
Just a quick update on the Slimblade trackball.
... After a little software adjustment and practice, I find it gives me the best combination of speed and precision I ever had. I can zip across two wide screens in half a second, and yet make as precise work as I've ever made.
Admittedly I was a bit in doubt there in the beginning, it felt tricky to control, but it was just sorta like getting a different bicycle.
... After a little software adjustment and practice, I find it gives me the best combination of speed and precision I ever had. I can zip across two wide screens in half a second, and yet make as precise work as I've ever made.
Admittedly I was a bit in doubt there in the beginning, it felt tricky to control, but it was just sorta like getting a different bicycle.
the padform
TTL said:
Maybe we non-iPadists need to wear a T-shirt that says “Mind the gap” ... just as a friendly platform warning to those who are not used to seeing iPadless people. :-)
Good one. And it'll give us a couple seconds to swallow our pity so it doesn't show.
By the way, it's very unhandy to say, for example: "software for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and the iPad"... So I've invented a word for that platform: it's now called "the padform".
Maybe we non-iPadists need to wear a T-shirt that says “Mind the gap” ... just as a friendly platform warning to those who are not used to seeing iPadless people. :-)
Good one. And it'll give us a couple seconds to swallow our pity so it doesn't show.
By the way, it's very unhandy to say, for example: "software for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and the iPad"... So I've invented a word for that platform: it's now called "the padform".
Sunday, April 04, 2010
"Free audiobooks", an app
We talked before about audiobooks, free and otherwise. I just found a two-dollar iPhone app, "Free audiobooks", which lets you download 3000 librivox-recorded audiobooks for free. They are all out of copyright, and recorded by volunteers, but you can't beat the price.
In the app, if you choose "email to iTunes", you can listen to the book while doing other things on the iPhone (or Touch). (So far, the iPhone only lets Apple's own apps multitask.)
There are several ways of getting the free librivox audiobooks onto an iPod, but this one may be the most handy. OK, admittedly, the only iPod it works on is the Touch.
By the way, in newest version of QuickTime, Apple has in their infinite wisdom removed some features, like easily saving files, even if one is paid up with QT Pro. Does anybody know how to save a file from the interface seen above?
(I can make a web page with the link to the file and select "save" when right-clicking on the link, but that's a real clumsy workaround.)
M. Pipolo saves the day:
I know... Apple's removal of features from QuickTime X after I had paid $30 for the Pro version irks me still. Grrr.
If the video file is its own autonomous URL (i.e., not embedded in another page), in Safari I usually just press Cmd-L > Cmd-C > Option-Cmd-L > Cmd-V it. (That is, highlight the URL in the address bar, copy it, bring up Safari's downloads window, then paste the link in.)
If the file is embedded, I have to first make it begin playing (so the video file begins buffering), then press Option-Cmd-A (Show Activity window), then find usually the largest file in the list (it will be streaming, so its size will look something like "1.2 MB of 34.8 MB"), click it, then copy and paste it into the Downloads window as above.
Its still a little clunky, but using all keyboard shortcuts, it can be streamlined down to about a 4 to 6 second process. :) Note that this method requires Safari to download it afresh, so there's no reason to wait for the video to buffer/play any longer than necessary to retrieve the links.
In the app, if you choose "email to iTunes", you can listen to the book while doing other things on the iPhone (or Touch). (So far, the iPhone only lets Apple's own apps multitask.)
There are several ways of getting the free librivox audiobooks onto an iPod, but this one may be the most handy. OK, admittedly, the only iPod it works on is the Touch.
By the way, in newest version of QuickTime, Apple has in their infinite wisdom removed some features, like easily saving files, even if one is paid up with QT Pro. Does anybody know how to save a file from the interface seen above?(I can make a web page with the link to the file and select "save" when right-clicking on the link, but that's a real clumsy workaround.)
M. Pipolo saves the day
I know... Apple's removal of features from QuickTime X after I had paid $30 for the Pro version irks me still. Grrr.
If the video file is its own autonomous URL (i.e., not embedded in another page), in Safari I usually just press Cmd-L > Cmd-C > Option-Cmd-L > Cmd-V it. (That is, highlight the URL in the address bar, copy it, bring up Safari's downloads window, then paste the link in.)
If the file is embedded, I have to first make it begin playing (so the video file begins buffering), then press Option-Cmd-A (Show Activity window), then find usually the largest file in the list (it will be streaming, so its size will look something like "1.2 MB of 34.8 MB"), click it, then copy and paste it into the Downloads window as above.
Its still a little clunky, but using all keyboard shortcuts, it can be streamlined down to about a 4 to 6 second process. :) Note that this method requires Safari to download it afresh, so there's no reason to wait for the video to buffer/play any longer than necessary to retrieve the links.
Thanks, these are brilliant! Did you figure these out?
Scarface School Play
Funniest fudging thing I've seen all week.
"You son of a bee! I'm leaving, you mother-fudger!"
ROTFL.
"You son of a bee! I'm leaving, you mother-fudger!"
ROTFL.
Steven Levy
Steven Levy, who wrote "Insanely Great", one of the best books about the Macintosh, said:
"Back in 1975, Ed Roberts's Altair cost $397, only a bit less than the iPad does today. But it had no screen, no web, no apps and you had to assemble it yourself. We've come a long way since then. And as of Saturday, we're a little way further."
I just had to quote this to mess with reader TTL, who is very tired of me making historical comparisons like that. "Yeah, so it gets a bit faster and at bit cheaper every year, so what, get used to it!" I'm trying, but it's hard.
And further: those people who are getting sick of hearing about the f***ing iPad have better skip this blog for a while, because I'm totally obsessed with it. This is an event I have been waiting for, for fifteen years. Perhaps most people view it as just another new gadget of little consequence, but I am not alone in seeing it as an important milestone in the history and development of publishing, education, and global communication. (Apple is not the huge hero here, admittedly; like the MP3-player this was a thing that was happening anyway, they just stepped in and took the limelight by doing something with more panache.)
"Back in 1975, Ed Roberts's Altair cost $397, only a bit less than the iPad does today. But it had no screen, no web, no apps and you had to assemble it yourself. We've come a long way since then. And as of Saturday, we're a little way further."
I just had to quote this to mess with reader TTL, who is very tired of me making historical comparisons like that. "Yeah, so it gets a bit faster and at bit cheaper every year, so what, get used to it!" I'm trying, but it's hard.
And further: those people who are getting sick of hearing about the f***ing iPad have better skip this blog for a while, because I'm totally obsessed with it. This is an event I have been waiting for, for fifteen years. Perhaps most people view it as just another new gadget of little consequence, but I am not alone in seeing it as an important milestone in the history and development of publishing, education, and global communication. (Apple is not the huge hero here, admittedly; like the MP3-player this was a thing that was happening anyway, they just stepped in and took the limelight by doing something with more panache.)
13 bright bulbs
13 of the Brightest Tech Minds Sound Off on the Rise of the Tablet/Magazine, article.
Negroponte said:
"The unsung advantage of current ebooks is being able to use them in bed."
I guess he's not reading my blog, that's one of the first things I "sang".
Some of the quotes/posts are a bit weird though. "Advertising pioneer" George Lois says that a magazine on a tablet is a very poor substitute for the "real" thing. Apparently glossy paper has some magic quality unknown to science which makes the same pictures and words soar to the skies and heavens and shine with a divine light which just is not possible on the unworthy LCD screen. He thinks a computer screen is "bland" and "crammed". Well, screen already show more colors than you can print on paper with off-set. And while the iPad is a bit smaller than most magazine pages, that's just for now. There's no reason in a couple of years it can't be twice as large for a reasonable price, and hopefully barely heavier too. (I wonder if it could be strong enough if Apple bit the style bullet and made more use of plastic so it could be lighter?)
Negroponte said:
"The unsung advantage of current ebooks is being able to use them in bed."
I guess he's not reading my blog, that's one of the first things I "sang".
Some of the quotes/posts are a bit weird though. "Advertising pioneer" George Lois says that a magazine on a tablet is a very poor substitute for the "real" thing. Apparently glossy paper has some magic quality unknown to science which makes the same pictures and words soar to the skies and heavens and shine with a divine light which just is not possible on the unworthy LCD screen. He thinks a computer screen is "bland" and "crammed". Well, screen already show more colors than you can print on paper with off-set. And while the iPad is a bit smaller than most magazine pages, that's just for now. There's no reason in a couple of years it can't be twice as large for a reasonable price, and hopefully barely heavier too. (I wonder if it could be strong enough if Apple bit the style bullet and made more use of plastic so it could be lighter?)
Magazines and "issues"
Back ten years ago, MyMac.com used to send out a PDF magazine. A closed issue with illustrations, articles, and so on. And I'm realizing I miss it. They have an active web site, now, lots to read, but it's not the same. With a "magazine issue" I felt that I had "something". I felt, "ah, issue 124 of MyMac is out now, now I have something to read over lunch, and I'd put it in my laptop and read it over lunch, seeing what my favorite authors such as Nemo, Beth Lock, and Tim Robertson had to say this month.
Here's a sample issue from 1996, which has been sitting on my computer in a folder named "reading" for over a decade! For one thing it's fun to read about "waiting for Copland", the huge Mac OS system which never arrived, and stuff like that. But also it's noteworthy that while the layout was simple and direct as it had to be, this is definitely a real magazine. There are many articles, and they are full articles and of good quality.
(I was interviewed in 1999 in issue 51. Though I can't find the PDF version, the interview is still online.)
Here's a sample issue from 1996, which has been sitting on my computer in a folder named "reading" for over a decade! For one thing it's fun to read about "waiting for Copland", the huge Mac OS system which never arrived, and stuff like that. But also it's noteworthy that while the layout was simple and direct as it had to be, this is definitely a real magazine. There are many articles, and they are full articles and of good quality.
(I was interviewed in 1999 in issue 51. Though I can't find the PDF version, the interview is still online.)
Contracts and the Net
I just had a long and pleasant conversation with one of my beatiful and talented friends. (I'm serious, she's played the fiddle in some of the most prestigious venues in the world, and she's an outstanding composer and writer too.) With her brother, an artist, she wants to publish childrens books, as ebooks first, and with music in them. They talked to some woman who loved it, and would publish it and so on. And then came the contract... basically, this woman would own their work, their soul, and 99.9% of their income for life. Slightly exaggerated, but not much.
But, but, but... that's exactly what the Net is for! So we no longer have to be prey to such people. We can be autonomous.
A problem is my friend has a hard time with computers, so I am not sure what to say to her.
But, but, but... that's exactly what the Net is for! So we no longer have to be prey to such people. We can be autonomous.
A problem is my friend has a hard time with computers, so I am not sure what to say to her.
iBooks
iBooks has finally appeared on iTunes!
It only works on iPad, not iPhone or iPod Touch. An odd choice. Maybe they'll rather sell more iPad than sell many books for smaller devices?
The iBook store is only available to US customers, that sucks.
You can load your own ebooks into iBooks, if you can get them converted to epub format (you can use calibre for that).
It only works on iPad, not iPhone or iPod Touch. An odd choice. Maybe they'll rather sell more iPad than sell many books for smaller devices?
The iBook store is only available to US customers, that sucks.
You can load your own ebooks into iBooks, if you can get them converted to epub format (you can use calibre for that).
Popular Science magazine
Popular Science magazine comes to the iPad, article and video.
I think this is a good example of actual thinking going on, when somebody tries to move to a new medium. Surely not all their ideas will work equally well, but it's clear they are working very hard to do it right, to make most of a very different medium, and I respect that highly.
In something like this, there is a huge number of factors, many of them unknown, both psychological, economic, and technological, to take into consideration, and I don't think there's a single person on the planet with a mind who can handle it all at once.
I think this is a good example of actual thinking going on, when somebody tries to move to a new medium. Surely not all their ideas will work equally well, but it's clear they are working very hard to do it right, to make most of a very different medium, and I respect that highly.
In something like this, there is a huge number of factors, many of them unknown, both psychological, economic, and technological, to take into consideration, and I don't think there's a single person on the planet with a mind who can handle it all at once.
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