I am not an early adopter

1. A friend once remarked that I was an early adopter. She argued that I fall in that category because while I don’t buy the latest and greatest as soon as it comes out, I adopted new tech earlier than most people. That much is true, but I hardly ever buy anything first generation, I prefer to let other suckers bitch and moan about problems before making an informed choice. Hey, it’s not my fault some people are stupid enough to buy first generation stuff!

2. Take, for example, games consoles. I picked up my first Playstation when the Playstation 2 came out. Mostly because I’ve always wanted one, but also because I couldn’t afford the PS2, so I got the PSone instead. I picked up all my games either 2nd hand or on special, and just dealt with the fact I didn’t have the “latest thing”. My wallet sang soothing melodies to placate my injured soul, a tune that sounded very much like 800 dollar coins falling into a cash register. 4 years later, my love has returned to me. I bought a PS2.

3. I wasn’t my fault. Honest! At $294 with a free game and memory card, how could I resist? The damned dirty apes over at Sony Australia made me do it. Honest, Guv. So what if I’d been lusting after it for years? So what if I’d been dying to play Final Fantasy X when it first came out? So what if Gran Turismo 4: Prologue is at once the coolest game demo and the biggest ripoff? I have a PS2, with a smack of cool games. So screw sense.

4. It’s only money, right?

Now that’s not politically correct….

1. I was digging through some old links I’ve saved, and found this gem, regarding illegal drag races in Sydney. The quote to note:

“These guys are driving pissy little four cylinder ladies’ cars,” said Sergeant Mark Nielsen of Green Valley Highway Patrol. “It’s not like the days of V8 Holdens and Fords.”

2. muhahaha!

Gruber on Apple’s iPod strategies, and why certain USA Today columnists are as thick as the tree they are printed on

1. John Gruber of Daring Fireball has a great write up about Apple’s iPod business strategies, and that any argument making parallels between the Mac and the iPod is bunk. That much is true, and he explained why in a previous post, but there was one point I don’t think he delved into enough. To quote:

And so the argument goes, If the iTMS is just there to sell iPods, why not welcome another music store that supports the iPod?

It’s foolish to think that every public statement from Apple’s executives is the plain truth about their actual strategy.

The fact is, the market for DRM music is nascent. It remains to be seen whether any DRM-protected media format will be a long-term success. The entertainment industry certainly hopes so; consumer advocates certainly hope not.

If consumers revolt against DRM, and protected media slowly fades into oblivion, Apple has lost nothing. The iPod and iTunes have embraced unprotected audio files from the beginning.

But assuming that DRM-protected media takes hold, history indicates that one format will dominate the industry. The three major contenders now are Apple, Microsoft, and RealNetworks — and it’s generous to put RealNetworks in the list.

2. All true points, but given that the music industry has shown a level of conservatism that rivals the churches, isn’t it very likely that any music sold will have DRM in one form or another? And if that were the case, and if Apple were planning on dominating the DRM music market, why would they not spread their version of DRM far and wide? Their reluctance to do so hints either they have some grand scheme to make iTMS more profitable than they are right now, or that Apple is still cautious from it’s Mac Clones fiasco. Or maybe both. Gruber is absolutely correct when he states that it’s foolish to take every Apple press statement as gospel about their business plan, and any talk of what Apple will or won’t do is either a reflection of what the writer wants or just a load of goat cheese.

3. Of course, one other possible reason is that Apple just doesn’t like Real, and they want to stick the boot in whenever they can. If that’s the case, GO APPLE!

txt is != englsh

1. A quote from a story on Wired News that I stumbled upon tonight, written back in 2000:

The Internet landscape as it exists in 2000 is a far different place than it was in 1996. It is mainstream, and growing more so every day. And while people still can’t spell or punctuate correctly when they dash off an e-mail (or anything else, for that matter), no editor worth the name can justify looking on benignly while the English language is butchered in the name of some tin-pot revolution, regardless of its narcotic effect at the time.

2. Amen.

3. Some might argue that language is always evolving and change is inevitable, but for christ’s sake can we at least choose who it is that’s making the changes? I can think of nothing worse than having one’s language butchered by a bunch of attention deficit thumb twaddling mobile phone messaging kiddies that wouldn’t be able to follow a thought from one end to another. If for no other reason than for clarity, let’s not replace letters with numbers. Let’s not replace whole words with single letters. Let’s not abbreviate words to the point of illegibility. SMS may only include 160 characters per message, but that just means one has to be succinct, not illegible. And for the love of all things sacred, let’s not use such abominable language IRL.

4. So pls mum, stp usng ths hrbl txt crp, ok?

Mmmmm….

Sketches of Apple's new patent

Another example of AppleLust, Apple’s patent of a “Handheld Computer” (as reported by The Register).

Ohhhh yeah…

Mockup of a G5 iMac Cube

1. This is exactly what I want. It’s a bloody nice mockup posted at MacKompass. Mmmmm….

Ivan Reitman, he’s a Geeenious.

1. Aside from massaging layouts and beating my head against dense computer literature, I’ve found time to watch a bunch of moofies[1] I’ve always wanted to see but haven’t — until now. Just watched Donnie Darko, dark, but not that dark, funny, but not that funny. I thought I’d be laughing harder at the idea of a giant evil rabbit telling people to commit acts of violence. Nice development of characters and the story, ultimately let down by an awkwardly paced ending that didn’t tie up all the philosophical themes, but also does not encourage any further thought into them. However it is still a thoroughly enjoyable movie.

2. It’s a shame that I did not see Donnie Darko earlier, because The Butterfly Effect has a very similar ending, and though I knew Butterfly Effect predates Darko by 3 years, I still couldn’t help feeling I’d already seen Darko before. If anything that says a lot about how good The Butterfly Effect is. I’d never thought Ashton Kutcher could act, and certain not be that good. Amy Smart was a show stealer, making it difficult to look away from her when she’s on screen. Overall another thoroughly enjoyable movie.

3. In a class of it’s own though was Eyes Wide Shut. While it probably won’t go down (no pun intended) as Kubrick’s greatest, it’s a Kubrick, which makes it sensational. I’ve read reviews and have talked to people who complain of it’s slow (and to them boring) pacing, but I found that to be the film’s greatest strength — the way Kubrick could take his time and yet you just can’t pull your eyes from the screen. It invites the viewer into a deeper level of intimacy, to watch the mechanics of marriage and relationships as the are lived, not as they are acted on screen. Match this to a perfect score and sensational performances from all involved made this a winner in my book.

4. Following along with the master filmmakers brought me to the other great moving pictures — animation. I finally had the chance to sit down and watch the bulk of Hayao Miyazaki’s films, from Nausicaa to Spirited Away (including my personal favourite, Laputa: Castle in the Sky). I love Miyazaki. I love love love love Miyazaki! He can turn a simple drawing style into living, breathing, expressive characters, his movement from frame to frame is beyond compare, his storytelling is so fluid yet detailed and can carry substance and entertainment at the same time. Is there no end to the man’s talent? I can’t wait to see Howl’s Moving Castle when it comes out!

[1] Sorry, the only people likely to get the joke (particularly the Ivan Reitman refernce) would be Australians aged over 21 that watched the ABC some years back. I’m ripping off Tony Martin’s impersonation of Arnie on The Late Show.

Hello Kitty Doom 3 Flashlight Skin!

Doom3 Hello Kitty Flashlight Skin

1. Picture says it all! More here (Yes, I have played it. Yes, it does kick arse. No, I can’t afford to buy a computer that can run it yet. Yes, I am shitty about that.)

Newer, better, cheaper and more standards friendly

1. Yah, I’ve been quiet over the last week or two because I was busy working on the new layout. It started out as being a clean up of the code and make it validate (which it does, check it out here), but as soon as I started I just couldn’t stop myself. Gone is the side blog, I just couldn’t be bothered with it, it’s easier to just update the main blog. I’ve made the posts more of a focus, because I do (despite the sometimes convoluted expression) spend a reasonable amount of time write the longer posts, and I think it deserves a proper amount of attention. Of course I go and ruin all that with a big graphic smudge on the right, which I still can’t decide whether I like or not. Will see I suppose….

Halle-fuckin’-lujah!

1. I was really starting to lose hope for Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch (who is also known as Mark Latham and the Australian Labor Party), when I heard they will support the Aus-US FTA. But now it seems the two reasons as to why I and many other Australians opposed the FTA are being addressed by Labor.

He [Latham] said Labor would back the FTA only if the government agreed to two amendments covering local content and the PBS.

“This is in Australia’s interests to do this,” Mr Latham told reporters.

“We’re going to fight like Kilkenney cats to be sure those amendments get through.”

(SMH, ALP, Govt headed for Senate showdown, August 3, 2004)

2. My biggest fear was the scrapping of regulations controlling local TV programming, and the influence of Hollywood on the Australian film industry. While the economic benefits might have been reasonable (I’m not qualified to talk on that, but from what I’ve read there are little to no benefits for Australians, apparently a government report stated the net worth of the agreement was only about $53 million), for the FTA to go unopposed would be akin to Jack selling his soul for a couple of magic beans that didn’t grow into a beanstalk. We would be selling our cultural identity for a measly $53 million. Not to mention opening ourselves up to more American political meddling, like the US telling us not to recognise China as a market economy, effectively derailing our current FTA plans with China, which is the most dynamic economy in our region. And certainly one where we stand to make a heap more money than the FTA with the US.

3. C’mon Mark, don’t let us down.