bestrooftalkever:

webkitbits:

Anthony Calzadilla has recreated an animated Star Wars AT-AT Walker purely with CSS3. Hopefully we’ll start to see things like this being integrated into games that run purely in the browser.

I can’t figure out if I’m excited for new technologies like HTML5 video and CSS3, or worried that a company like Apple can just decide what we are (and aren’t) going to be using in the future by incorporating (or not incorporating) elements into their new products. It seems an awful lot like their personal beef with companies like Adobe is unjustifiably informing their strategies. Jobs says the flash is buggy. Does anyone else actually think so? Flash may bug out from time to time, but I would say I relaunch Finder more times than I restart my browser due to a flash crash.
As someone who makes my living working on powerful, customizable machines (especially Apples), their new direction of Apple and the iPad induces some serious worry for me.
BRB, creating a Final Cut Pro that will run on Linux.

Companies like Apple have always held sway over what we will and won’t be using. The recent Blu-Ray/HD-DVD war is a pretty good example of how technological merits often play no role in determining what tech gets adopted.
As for this “new direction of Apple”, I think you’d be hard-pressed to name another company that’s placed more emphasis on vertically integrating its product lines since 1998.
And yes, Flash is indeed a buggy, resource-chomping mess. I think if you spent more time in the browser and less time doing heavy lifting in FCP, your Flash-crash/Finder relaunch ratio would be about 10:1.
That said, I don’t think Flash is going anywhere just because Apple and Adobe have had such an acrimonious divorce. Flash is just too good as a pacifier.

bestrooftalkever:

webkitbits:

Anthony Calzadilla has recreated an animated Star Wars AT-AT Walker purely with CSS3. Hopefully we’ll start to see things like this being integrated into games that run purely in the browser.

I can’t figure out if I’m excited for new technologies like HTML5 video and CSS3, or worried that a company like Apple can just decide what we are (and aren’t) going to be using in the future by incorporating (or not incorporating) elements into their new products. It seems an awful lot like their personal beef with companies like Adobe is unjustifiably informing their strategies. Jobs says the flash is buggy. Does anyone else actually think so? Flash may bug out from time to time, but I would say I relaunch Finder more times than I restart my browser due to a flash crash.

As someone who makes my living working on powerful, customizable machines (especially Apples), their new direction of Apple and the iPad induces some serious worry for me.

BRB, creating a Final Cut Pro that will run on Linux.

Companies like Apple have always held sway over what we will and won’t be using. The recent Blu-Ray/HD-DVD war is a pretty good example of how technological merits often play no role in determining what tech gets adopted.

As for this “new direction of Apple”, I think you’d be hard-pressed to name another company that’s placed more emphasis on vertically integrating its product lines since 1998.

And yes, Flash is indeed a buggy, resource-chomping mess. I think if you spent more time in the browser and less time doing heavy lifting in FCP, your Flash-crash/Finder relaunch ratio would be about 10:1.

That said, I don’t think Flash is going anywhere just because Apple and Adobe have had such an acrimonious divorce. Flash is just too good as a pacifier.

jamesnord:

Was there any reason to build a city in SimCity other than to ruthlessly destroy it?
If there was I never got it.

This is trending? Tumblr, come on…a stolen, lossy JPG from a WordPress blog with an obvious comment?  About 15-year-old video game?
Low bar.
At least let me add something useful: here’s the classic Mac OS download. Here’s an emulator that can play it (OS X version). Here’s the old Mac System 7 OS that the emulator needs to run. You’ll also need a Mac Quadra ROM—link to that on this page.
How it works:

Download/install Basilisk emulator.
Download SimCity 2000
Download Apple System
Download Mac ROM
Make a 100MB (or so) disk image in HFS format. (do this with Disk Utility). 
Install System 7 on that Disk Image
Copy the contents of the SimCity 2000 download to that disk.
Open the emulator. 
In the Preferences section of Basilisk, select your ROM and set the Disk Image to mount when the emulator runs
Keep messing with things until it works (this will take a while).

TIPS: Try altering the file extension of your disk image (“.img” is what works for me). Google is your friend.

jamesnord:

Was there any reason to build a city in SimCity other than to ruthlessly destroy it?

If there was I never got it.

This is trending? Tumblr, come on…a stolen, lossy JPG from a WordPress blog with an obvious comment?  About 15-year-old video game?

Low bar.

At least let me add something useful: here’s the classic Mac OS download. Here’s an emulator that can play it (OS X version). Here’s the old Mac System 7 OS that the emulator needs to run. You’ll also need a Mac Quadra ROM—link to that on this page.

How it works:

  1. Download/install Basilisk emulator.
  2. Download SimCity 2000
  3. Download Apple System
  4. Download Mac ROM
  5. Make a 100MB (or so) disk image in HFS format. (do this with Disk Utility).
  6. Install System 7 on that Disk Image
  7. Copy the contents of the SimCity 2000 download to that disk.
  8. Open the emulator.
  9. In the Preferences section of Basilisk, select your ROM and set the Disk Image to mount when the emulator runs
  10. Keep messing with things until it works (this will take a while).

TIPS: Try altering the file extension of your disk image (“.img” is what works for me). Google is your friend.

Aaahhhhggg Frick.

I found a mistake in something. It’s not a big mistake, and maybe 2% of people would ever notice but I PRIDE MYSELF on earning the approval of specifically that 2%.

Not only is it in something I cannot edit from work (this shouldn’t be surprising—imagine trying to take a Model T out onto a modern urban Interstate) but it’s also something that needs to be approved by humans, during work hours.

Which means it won’t be fixed until tomorrow at this time. At the earliest.

GoodReads is an Evil Site

If you got a Good Reads email from me, I apologize.

Any site that defines “find contacts” as “aggressively recruit everyone who’s ever emailed you”, and sends out 900-address invites at a single burst without a “Whoa, there, killer” dialogue box or even a CAPTCHA is a poorly-coded invitation to spam bots, and something I do not want to be associated with.

I have since deleted my account.

Ok—seriously? I’m not as versed on the technical end of this as I’d like to be, but I’m pretty sure .m4v, .m4a, and .m4r are artificial designations of .mp4 that Apple made up.
You know what happens when you make stupid fake file extensions? You get stupid fake file extension fake Wikipedia articles.
Thanks, Steve.

Ok—seriously? I’m not as versed on the technical end of this as I’d like to be, but I’m pretty sure .m4v, .m4a, and .m4r are artificial designations of .mp4 that Apple made up.

You know what happens when you make stupid fake file extensions? You get stupid fake file extension fake Wikipedia articles.

Thanks, Steve.

ohryankelley:

Flash Arriving by Year-End on Every Smartphone… Except iPhones

This is fine. Flash is resource heavy garbage—an ugly, buggy processor tax on users being too dumb to install their own plugins.

ohryankelley:

Flash Arriving by Year-End on Every Smartphone… Except iPhones

This is fine. Flash is resource heavy garbage—an ugly, buggy processor tax on users being too dumb to install their own plugins.

Reblog of Oh! Ryan Kelley
This is how people who have to deal with the Internet on a regular basis feel.
(more wrath at source)

This is how people who have to deal with the Internet on a regular basis feel.

(more wrath at source)

What’s a Guy Gotta Do to Get a Nut in this Town?

what am I?

Q: What am I?

A: The reason bike shops shouldn’t hire hipsters!

I admit it’s tough that the world uses two separate, yet completely incompatible measuring systems. And hey, I’m not above tossing a 15mm wrench on a 9/16ths bolt every now and then. But with fine threads, you really can’t mess around.

A certain Cambridge bike shop would do well to note that track nuts come in several different varieties, and—despite the well-intentioned efforts of the plumber-crack sporting hipster who served me—just because a nut threads onto a particular axle DOES NOT mean it fits.

Next time someone comes in asking for a 9.5mm* x 26 TPI track nut, don’t just test the shop’s box-o-random-nuts over the ProMax hub that you know matches these dimensions. The 10x1mm thread used by Shimano, Surly, etc. will thread onto the 9.5 x 26 size with deceptive ease.

But the second you apply enough torque to clamp the wheel firmly in place, the threads of the nut will sheer off, leaving you with a piece of hardware that’s useless on any threading.

Sadly, until Converse starts making some All-Stars with this message scrawled across the toe-box, the best bet for local cyclists is probably just to order directly from Harris. It would have saved me another week of playing sardines on the 1 Bus.

*I realize this is mixing measurement systems. But that’s how the industry sizes them. If it bugs you, just pronounce “9.5mm” as “3/8ths”.