One of the things I get emailed about all the time is a request for an 'about the site' page, which is a pretty reasonable request. In my spare time I've been throwing them into a folder in the hopes of making one, but as I've gotten closer to posting it I've realized there's probably a lot left unasked. I'd hate to throw it up and then get a bunch more questions once people realize I'm willing.
If you have a question about the site, throw it in the comments here or shoot me an email so I can take care of all of them at once... speak now or forever hold your peace. I can't promise I'll answer everything, but I'll do my best. Please be as specific as possible.
posted on February 28, 2005 at 04:24 PM
My my plate was full when I got the news that Thompson had passed, which was a really, really sad thing. I'm a huge fan of Thompson, and with a couple of drinks in me chances are I'll end up saying lines from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. "We can't stop here! This is bat country!" is a personal favorite.
FYI, Growl 0.6 is out in the wild today. If you're curious as to what on earth it is, please see an older interview we did on it. I haven't had a chance to really put it through its paces, but luckily they leave 0.5 available just in case you have a major problem.
If you want to be wigged out, imagine what it's like to have a grown man ask you what your Desktop looks like. Often they won't make their intentions clear from the start, but the trained eye can catch them trying to take a peek around your shoulder.
I hesitate to call it an addiction, but the aesthetic pleasure of one's Desktop for many can easily be categorized as a fetish. Like most fetishes involving technology, while they exist on other platforms, Mac users seem to have a higher number per capita.
A few weeks ago, I received an email asking me to hand over my logs. It's not quite what you think, although my brain went there too. Rather it's a University group doing research on the characteristics of flash mobs...
The Sci-Fi channel has put up the first episode of Battlestar Galactica up for viewing online, commercial-free, along with several deleted scenes. If you're curious about the show -- I'd go check it out, although if you had the option I'd find some way to view the mini-series first.
I love pictures in general. Time is fluid and transient, and to grab a microsecond snapshot of it to be able to point to and say "That happened" has always amazed me.
Why is it that you can screw on a lid with a certain amount of force, yet you're completely unable to later open said lid?
I've encountered this like ten times over the last few days with pop (midwest baby) bottles and my collection of coffee mugs, and I just know without my readers help I'll end up spending hours googling on it.
iPodlounge has a story up on the iPod photo's new packaging, along with an, um, photo:
In releasing newly affordable iPod photo hardware, Apple Computer has changed the product's packaging to a thinner and highly attractive black and metal foiled design. Metal foil is used for the box's front text, while an all-black matte background highlights the metallic luster.The new packaging, which you can see more fully with the Read More button below, dramatically de-emphasizes the word "photo" on its front, reducing it to a tiny badge underneath the letters "PC." This contrasts markedly with Apple's new iPod mini packaging, which continues to grant the word "mini" equal prominence with the iPod name.
Back in 'This one goes to eleven', I gave a whole bunch of reasons for why I just didn't understand the iPod Photo, and among other things said...
Richard writes:
Congratulations... you made Canada's national newspaper! National Post had a piece on this item yesterday. It was almost a full page in the front section. They referenced DrunkenBlog and they included a picture of Steve Wozniak.
Well, that explains all the emails ending in 'Eh?' today. If you're a subscriber to the National Post you can view the article online, but it would be cool to view this in hardcopy and it would be even cooler for you to be able to see it as it's very well done.
I'd really like to know the story behind that post, when are you going to do your usual redux?
It seems what people are really after is not so much a redux but a post-mortem on how it came together and such. I can completely understand wanting that, and it's something I'll probably do, but the time isn't really right for that... mostly because this story isn't over and it's still in-progress as far as I'm concerned.
However, I'll try to get through some of the other questions. Where appropriate, they're paraphrased as usual to try to take out more birds with fewer stones...
waferbaby.com had its tenth anniversary the other day, and if you go check it out you can see a quote from myself and others with larger names than i. if you're curious as to what exactly waferbaby is, the truth is no one really quite knows.
Timothy says:
Woz and your site was featured on the screen savers. They had a phone interview with Woz. FYI :) It plays again at midnight EST, and tomorrow at noon. I didn't tape it, I don't have that kind of technology. They had nice web zooms and crops of your site tho. Do you get G4/TechTV?
Inbox is going off the hook about this one -- honestly bear with me I am trying to keep up -- but yep, it's true. I haven't seen the episode (yet -- feel free to send snaps), and I only had a short ping with him earlier today when passing on some information from a reporter.
From what he said earlier today to the reporter, and what I've heard about his call on the show, Woz basically reiterates why he's saying what he's saying regarding the lawsuits (and the repercussions) against Sunny.
The site is getting hammered from many fronts, so things are going to be slower while I'm trying to move some things around and praying to the Gods of web hosting.
It's been a little over a month since I sat down with Vivek "Sunny" Sambhara (desicanuk) for an interview on the lawsuit he was faced with, and what led up to it. This is a separate set of lawsuits from Apple's other ongoing cases.
A lot of feedback flowed in from that interview, most notably from Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer:
"I was shocked reading the interview. Everything fits into place that this is an unintentional oversight and the interviewed student appears to be one of the most honest people on this planet. I have to question who is most right in this case.I wish that Apple could find some way to drop the matter. In my opinion, more than appropriate punishment has already been dealt out. In this age of professional spammers and telemarketers making fortunes, we're misusing our energies to pursue these types of small time wrongdoers. I will personally donate $1,000 to the Canadian student's defense."
Sunny is one of three defendants who have been named in the suit, along with 25 other "John Does", for leaking a pre-release build of the upcoming Mac OS 10.4 onto the internet. It must be noted that this lawsuit is separate from what is being brought against ThinkSecret.
Things are looking pretty grim for Sunny. In order to deal with this, he'd need an attorney in, or licensed to practice law in, the state of California. They'd also need to be an expert in the field of intellectual property, and he's exhausted public avenues of help. Those are primarily geared towards helping a tenant deal with a landlord, with the expectation that the person is in-state. Nothing like this.
Those attorneys he's been able to to return his emails or calls have given a requirement of a $7,500 minimum retainer just to try to mitigate damages. Most required drastically higher retainer fees. This is a civil jury case in a Federal Court, which means there are no such things as public defenders.
There are things you need to do when you've been sued, like responses to the court. If you don't do them, the case defaults into a win for the other side and it all comes down to what they ask for in damages. You're at their mercy. Going by what they're asking for in the court papers, they aren't planning on being particularly merciful when it comes to damages.
Steve Wozniak is one voice in the Apple community, with his own frame of reference. To get a better snapshot of where the community stands on what Apple is doing here, I'm bringing you the words of 24 others from the Macintosh community, from 23 separate companies and projects.
I've specifically talked to developers because they also have large interests in intellectual property in one form or another, and they're a reasonable microcosm of the communities they represent.
Awhile ago, I linked to one of the odder (and amusing) things I'd seen in awhile -- what looked to be a bunch of students from a technical school in the czech republic posing naked with computer hardware covering up their nether regions (admittedly, my sense of humor can be a bit whacked -- I thought the angelina jolie rap movie was stupid to start, then completely rounded the horn on it by the end).
A few things happened since then:
- Most couldn't see it, because it went offline fairly quickly due to bandwidth constraints.
- I was politely, and in some cases not politely, educated on just how the czech republic was affiliated with the soviet union.
- The guy responsible for this odd bit of web history contacted me, and I was able to get the story on what was behind the whole thing in the first place, because that's what I do.
- I developed a small crush on Matylda, whose picture you see linked above.
He also sent along an archive of the pictures, just so his connection didn't get hosed any more than it was. And yes, I mentioned these aren't safe for work, so don't click below the fold if you're going to be offended, although there isn't any actual nudity.
Chances are you'll just crack up and also want to know the story behind what on earth led to their existence...
Frank Hecker has a good write-up on the decision making process of the Mozilla group's security disclosure policies which caused me to lose time today that I really didn't have to lose.
Oliver asks:
I'm an avid reader of the blog and i frequently post comments. This morning i posted 2 comments about your Opaque Apple article (one about Apple's behaviour being similar to 1984 and the other about my experiences with Panic and OmniGroup), and when I checked out the site tonight both comments had been removed. What's up? Did I say something offensive?Kind of ironic that when you are talking about Apple removing posts from their discussion forums that the same should happen to you readers...
I started a comment on Brent's Battlestar Galactica post, then realized it's a good excuse to pimp the show in general. It's one of the few shows this year, if not the only new show, that I really don't want to miss an episode of in any way.
Back in "Heading over the cliff while whistling", Carl said:
Following the general thread of these comments, I think we should make a wiki of some sort to list out and detail complaints about UI devolution. I could host it if there's interest and no one else wanted to do it, but I think it would be better if DB sponsored it...
This has actually crossed my mind before, and instigated one of the few times someone working at Apple actually went apeshit on me. This settled down once things were clarified, but the man wasn't happy.
Eweek has a story up where they dish that Apple has agreed to hold back their subpoenas of the websites, and their ISPs, etc. in their bid to find their leakers until the hearing petitioned by the EFF takes place:
Annalee Newitz, a policy analyst for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told eWEEK.com that Apple, which is represented by the San Francisco law firm of O'Melveny and Myers LLP, has agreed to hold off on serving subpoenas until after the Superior Court of Santa Clara County, California, has held a hearing on the EFF's request for a protective order for its clients, two of the Web sites listed in Apple's suit. EFF filed the request this week; a date for the hearing has not yet been set, but it may be held in early March.
It's a pretty good article, breaking down why the EFF is involved and where they think Apple has gone wrong. Highly recommended.
Yesterday the EFF announced that they were asking the California Supreme Court for a protective order preventing Apple Computer from going after the individuals they've subpoenaed to hand over their sources regarding various product leaks:
Today the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) asked a California Superior Court for a protective order that would prevent Apple Computer from forcing three online journalists to identify their confidential sources and hand over unpublished materials. EFF, serving as co-counsel for the journalists, argues that online journalists are protected by the same "reporter's privilege" laws that shield print journalists from having to reveal the names of anonymous sources.
I'd suggest you read the whole thing... but if you hadn't followed, various websites published information about a rumored product Apple was coming out with called "Asteroid", among other things, but it seems that "Asteroid" is what really set them off.
I know, it's been quiet again. It's going to continue to be quiet because of something I'm working on which will be posted very early Monday. It's just taking up all of my time. We're in the home stretch though, so stay tuned.
Take a few minutes to go watch the Delicious Guys (I need a new term, that one makes me feel dirty) get profiled on their local news about working in the coffee shop, and their Delicious Library software. It's nice to see people having a good time, and being excited, by doing what they love to do.
Someone not too long ago woke up and said, "I wonder just how many people I can piss off in one day, in how many ways." In other words, they did some benchmarks of various web browsers on multiple platforms, including Mac OS X, Linux and Windows.
Even under the most stringent and clean conditions this is just asking for trouble, as caveats and clauses get up in arbitrary ways, but you have to give the guy props for trying to do it in such a thorough way. Someone gave up some serious time.
I've gotten a bunch of mail asking what's on my shoulder in an older post. It's a WaterField Cargo bag, and I'd highly recommend their kit.
I've used them for a long, long time, going back past three years. I just dig their stuff, even if there are some things that aren't quite perfect.
They were offline for a good part of early morning till this afternoon, along with the trackbacks. Sorry about that, but the easiest way to piss me off before 8am now is to hit the blog with 70+ trackback spams and double that for comment spams. The comment spams were dealt with easily enough, but something is going on to where MT-Blacklist doesn't seem to be able to take care of the trackback spam. Not cool.
I'll keep them up for as long as possible, but no, I'm not inviting these asshats to do this crap and have better ways to spend a morning than manually deleting these things. I'd prefer to just turn it all off, it just isn't worth it if it continues.
As a quick note related to the comments, and anonymous comments. I don't keep logs for more than a week, and I like the fact that someone doesn't have to give an email or who they are. However, it can really help me out in case I need/want to get in touch with you for some reason. If you can see a case where I'd want to get in touch with you, but are worried about spam, just protect it in some way. IE, db.NOSPAM@gmail.removethis.com.
As February 14th approaches, and brings with it the exponential and probably artificial rise in the cost of flowers, I'm reminded both of the power of brands and their decline in relevance over the last while.
Chances are if you have a significant other, you're going to have to send some gift for Valentine's Day to him or her.
Even if it's you are on your own this holiday, you often still have someone you need to pick some things up for, or rather someone's day you could make by making sure they get something. It's primarily a Western thing (I think?) but like all good commercial western holidays, chances are it'll be exported well eventually.
I've had Tivo and torrents on my mind a lot lately. One of the things that happens when you start linking to torrents is that people then ask you for help with them.
There are tricks to bittorrent, and if you're not aware of them things can slow way down. At some point I'll write a primer on it, but I was struck how after I'd send them a bunch of tips, I'd be asked questions like:
"For someone who's anti-piracy, you seem to know an awful lot about..."
Truth be told, depending on who you ask I probably am a 'pirate' when it comes to bittorrent, or at least was. Just probably not in the way you might think. For awhile, bittorrent just became my personal Tivo.
Sven writes:
Hey Drunk,
As you were interested in the new trackpad feature by Apple, you might also be interested in this:
Two-Finger-Scrolling with pre-2005 PowerBooks and iBooks
Looks like some of the Al and i-Books already have the better hardware built in. So what's the meaning of all that 'patent' vs. 'open source' stuff here? Do they mean anything?
A bit back I mentioned I wanted an iPod Shuffle, and that lust hasn't really gone away. There's a clear difference here, at least for me, between the Apple iPod Shuffle and the Mac Mini when it comes to lust.
Both inspire lust on the right side of my brain, but in the case of the Mac Mini the left side of my brain has enough fodder that while I want it, some part of me is just unable to commit or really get behind it. Same happened with the iPod photo, it just didn't feel like something I could get behind. However, in the case of the iPod Shuffle, the left side of the brain hasn't been able to put up that strong of a fight.
That image landed in my inbox awhile ago, and you've probably seen it on sites like slashdot and such by now, but it's a good excuse to talk about the upcoming CD specifically geared for Mac hardware. If you weren't aware, Cube is an open source game (FPS, ala Doom/Quake/Unreal) that's cross platform.
So many random things coming across my desk lately, so little time. Things are going to be a little quiet while I'm pushing through the home stretch on some things, but this was worth passing on because of how it'll tie into some things you'll see here later.
I'm reminded again on this early, early morning of just how much I loathe airports in general, especially the one I'm at now, and this PowerBook model.
Well, the campus does. Mac users are going to love this one:
"About 80 percent of Microsoft employees who have a portable music player have an iPod," said one source, a high-level manager who asked to remain anonymous. "It's pretty staggering."
The source estimated 80 percent of Microsoft employees have a music player -- that translates to 16,000 iPod users among the 25,000 who work at or near Microsoft's corporate campus. "This irks the management team no end," said the source. So popular is the iPod, executives are increasingly sending out memos frowning on its use.
This is going to cause so much havoc I don't know whether to laugh or cry:
According to the SpamHaus Project--a U.K.-based antispam compiler of blacklists that block 8 billion messages a day--a new piece of malicious software has been created that takes over a PC. This "zombie" computer is then used to send spam via the mail server of that PC's Internet service provider. This means the junk mail appears to come from the ISP, making it very hard for an antispam blacklist to block it.
It's pretty depressing stuff. It primarily focuses on the larger ISPs, but I'd have to think this is going to put a huge burden on the smaller hosting companies. ISPs like Earthlink have cut them out of the picture to an extent by completely ripping out the ability to go out over port 25, but geez.
I was going through Rory's blog the other day, where he has 'Apple's UI department going insane?' up for reading. He has some good points to make on where and how brushed metal is used, some great points on the Finder, and wraps up his points on the upcoming 10.4 with:
Come on Apple, at this rate Windows users might actually be pointing and laughing at us for how bad our UI looks by the time Longhorn ships sometime this decade.
The thing to keep in mind about Rory is that he's the maker of the excellent NewsMac software for OS X, and not long ago quit his day job to write code his heart out for the platform full time. He's not just a user with a couple of quibbles, he's a developer with an investment in Mac OS X.
I've written blurbs about this here and there throughout my posts, but the bottom line is that there's a huge elephant in the room when it comes to Mac OS X: The UI is going to hell in a hand basket and everyone is just averting their eyes.
BSDNexus has another Matt Dillon interview up, probably the most technical I've seen. I say that because I saw it last night, started to skim, and realized this was a fantastic stopping point for a drink and hopefully sleep. It's pretty deep. However, it does do a good job of further explaining why they think the DragonFly approach is a better way to go than the direction FreeBSD is going.
