This morning I noticed that David Pouge, New York Times columnist, wrote an article about Second Life. He also did a report for CBS Sunday Morning. Both the article and the report are linked below. Feel free to check them out. Whether you would actually want to log-on and play around in Second Life or not; the phenomenon is still very interesting. Apparently over $600,000 is spent every day in Second Life.
David Pouge Article
An Experiment in Virtual Living
CBS Sunday Morning
Second Life
Apparently Microsoft is very concerned about the security of Vista, so much so they have decided that those individuals wishing to run Vista in a virtualization environment, they will have to buy the more expensive editions of Vista; even if all they need are a few applications that run only on the Windows platform. Okay, so what does this mean? Well, if you don't own an Intel Mac or you don't run Linux as your standard OS; it means little. If you are tempted to buy a Mac because you know you can now run Windows applications on an Intel Mac using either Boot Camp to boot directly into a Windows partition or via virtualization software that allows you to run Windows as though it were a program on a Mac or Linux based computer; then you will care.
Here is the link to the story that ran in the Seattlepi.com. Basically Microsoft is saying that if you run the lower end version of Vista (the home versions) the EULA "End User License Agreement" states that you can not use your license to run your copy of Vista in a virtual session. They say that they can not guarantee security, and it seems the end game here is to ensure that less savvy users that might get the home versions may not have the savvyness to make necessary adjustments to ensure security. Of course to many the whole conversation is rich since Windows is not know for being super secure. Microsoft says the security holes are due to the new virtualization optimization Intel and AMD have done recently with their new chip lines to improve the experience of software tasks like OS Virtualization.
What people are thinking is that there is more to this decision, that this is more of a marketing decision than a security and safety decision. Many don't think that the holes Microsoft is worried about that are apparently exploitable in a virtualized environment, are really a big enough problem to forbid the use of the low end versions on Intel Macs and Linux PCs.
If you are wondering what a Virtualized environment looks like, check out the photo to the right. It shows Vista running in a window on an Intel Mac. The software known as Parallels has become a major player in the Mac OS world as it is allowing "switchers" the ability to easily run their favorite Windows apps on their new Intel Macs. These apps may be for work or a tool they need to complete some process that doesn't yet have a Mac counterpart or not one they like. The software costs about $80 with the home versions of Vista running $199 and $239 (new license). The version users will have to buy costs $299 and $399.
I'm sorry, but the whole thing sounds a bit fishy. You would think that Microsoft would want to sell as many copies as possible, but they may see opportunity here. Folks that needs to run Windows on a Mac that don't want to use Boot Camp (allows the user to boot a Mac as though it were a PC); may have no option but to buy the more expensive version of Windows. It doesn't have better security, as far as I know, so it leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. I will have to read more to see if ever makes sense to me; but I don't have a great deal of hope. To make it even more confussing, the home versions will run in a virtualized environment, it's just against the EULA. I guess that means if you do it, and you get caught... you are going to jail!
The iPhone, scheduled for release sometime in June, was announced to much fanfare back in January; but even after two hours of a demonstration there were many unanswered questions as well as questions about what Steve Jobs left out of the demonstrations. Apple loves secrets and loves to release some information today and more information tomorrow. The below video analyzes Steve Job's MacWorld 2007 keynote and attempts to read between the lines. Is he correct? We won't know for another few months; although with a teaser commercial expected during the Oscars, we may know more sooner.
Well, as crazy as it seems, terrorism has finally made it's way from the streets of Iraq to the online world of Second Life. In an effort to get the attention of the operators of Second Life, Linden Labs, long time users of the virtual world game set off two "virtual" nukes near two major corporate headquarters to protest the unfriendly turn that Second Life has taken in recent months as the population has grown by mammoth proportions and so to apparently has the in-game violence. You can read the original article here.
I came across this article reference on Digg.com which was in turn a reference to a story on TheLastBoss.com. I don't know if I should think the situation is funny or extreamly sad. Here are the thoughts of DiggityDugged, who posted the article on Digg.
Last year the virtual population of Second Life soared from 100,000 online players to well over 2 million. The veterans were upset with the way the newcomers were playing the game disrespectfully, so to get Linden Labs attention, they set off two nukes within the same day. Talk about overkill.. They started their own official army too. (Read Digg Article)
Those that know me, know that I've once again become a Mac Head. I love my PowerBook and really do believe that Apple continues to create some of the best hardware and software in the industry today; and is doing a kick butt job with consumer devices as well. Anyway, their much anticipated competitor to Windows Vista is Mac OS 10.5; code name Leopard, is apparently on track to get released in early Spring instead of late Sprint or Early summer. The later time frame has been given by Apple for some time now, but it seems things are going better than anticipated.
Macrumors is reporting that this news is currently "unconfirmed," but their confidence must be at least somewhat strong or they would have put the news on what they call "Page 2," their stories that are very much rumor with no credible source. Apparently they have recieved their information from a Financialwire.net report. Could be true, might not be... who knows...
Though unconfirmed, Financialwire.net claims that Apple's Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard will be shipping by the end of March "according to sources."This date corresponds to an earlier report from ThinkSecret that Leopard development was "wrapping up faster than many at Apple even anticipated". Based on this earlier report, the new versions of iLife '07 and iWork '07 are expected alongside Leopard. Even after many false rumors about potential Apple media events, buzz continues about the possibility of a future Apple release event.
Last month Steve Jobs unveiled the much rumored and extremely secretive iPhone. What can i say but simply, COOL! I don't want to get stuck in the propaganda or marketing machine; but this phone does do some cool things that no phone has done or at least done well so far.
If you haven't heard about it yet, which means you must have been in the deep rain forest, then you are in for treat. Once you are done reading this entry, head on over to the Apple Website to read more about it and see a few demos. Suffice it to say though, that the iPhone is 1/3 Phone, 1/3 Mobile Internet Device and 1/3 Wide Screen iPod Video. Each of these has been long rumored to be in development at Apple and each has been eagerly awaited; but none probably more than the Wide Screen iPod Video. What's really cool though, is that when you rotate the iPhone the screen rotates; making the best use of the screen. It also means that you can look at your photos in either landscape or portrait positions.
The phone and internet communicator are equally cool and allow you more control over your mobile telephony and mobile internet experience than ever before. Those features are very new and i can't even begin to imagine how they will actually work. I've seen the demos; but I will actually have to see it in use before I can make any judgments. Never-the-less I strongly encourage you to check out this very cool new product from Apple. it isn't slated for release until June, so you can't see one just yet. Owning one though isn't just a matter of waiting, it's also one of dollars and "sense." It will cost $499 for a 4 gig model and $599 for an 8 gig model; yep, 4 gigs and 8 gigs. That's in line with the most popular ipod, the Nano; but far from the capacity of the traditional iPod that also plays video but in a 4:3 ratio. Another draw back is that this new iPod does not have a 16:9 screen ratio; but it is closer and bigger than any current model or competitor.
Is it worth getting? I can't answer that yet. The price is high and you have to use Cingular; which isn't a problem for my family as we use Cingular, but could be a problem for some. The price is also set, the contract you sign will not reduce the price; although there are rumors the data plan will be cheaper. We do know that Apple has signed a deal with Yahoo to give users "push" e-mail making the iPhone more Blackberry like and there are hints from Cingular and Apple that there are more as-of-yet un-announced features that will single out the iPhone even more.
Stay tuned...... the iPhone could be the biggest thing to hit the mobile phone market since the Blackberry.
Do you use a Mac? Do you shoot tons of photos? Then you need to take a look at PhotoReviewer. This application has only one real job, digital photo selection. What does that mean? Well, let's say you are on say your honeymoon and taking some 200 photos every day. You know that not all of those photos are keepers, do you really want to import them all into iPhoto? Probably not since iPhoto doesn't really handle choosing which photos you want to keep. It's a perfect shoebox, but not great for getting them into the shoebox with any kind of eye to storage limitations. At 1 to 3 megs per photo when you shoot at 5 megapixles, 200 photos can take up a great deal of space and if you are shooting as you should, there will be photos that you don't want to keep. PhotoReviewer will take care of you, and do so for only $15!
When you first look at PhotoReviewer you might think that is is a knockoff of iPhoto, basically doing the same thing. After a few minutes you will realize that iPhoto's purpose is totally different than PhotoReviewer. The quick description of both is this: PhotoReviewer is your first stop for your photos. It will take the photos off of your camera and allow you to Approve or Veto each and every photo. Approval means you keep it, veto means you either move it off to a secondary location or just delete the photo. iPhoto is you every day stop for reviewing your photos, printing your photos, sharing your photos with other applications as well as minor edits and cropping.
Here's how you can use it...
After you download your photos into PhotoReviewer you can review each photo individually in near full screen view, even using a loop to see the full detail of your photo. The loop allows you to see if everything was actually in focus as you had intended. You can also view a histogram to aid you in photo selection. To the left you will see thumbnails of your photos as well as the data collected by your camera when it took the photo. Your camera may collect more data than is available to be seen and you can choose what you want to see of what is available.
If you want to see more photos at a time, you have two options (three if you count the thumbnail view to the left). Your first option is to display your photos in a very iPhoto like way. Lots of thumbnails together. You can sort your photos in various ways to fit how you shoot. You can select multiple photos and once for processing, or just do them one at a time. There is a quick key to go from single photo view to multiple photo view. This all works very quickly as all of the photos are stored in memory. This also means that the more photos you try an import, the more memory your computer will need to process them all at once. Once you hit your memory wall, you can still see that you have the photo, just not the thumbnail of the photo.
If you take multiple shots of the same subject in the hopes of getting the perfect photo, you ended up with more photos than you need and photos that look nearly identical. Figuring out which you want to keep can be difficult, but keeping them all just doesn't make sense. You may want ot keep various versions, but not each photo you took. To help you compare them there is a way to view selected photos next to each other and even use the loop to look at the exact same spot on all the photos. This way you can find the photos with imperfections and "Veto" them before you ever have to import them into iPhoto. You can also use this took as a means to review similar photos or photos of a series.
At any time during the process, you can easily Approve or Veto any particular photo. As you Approve and Veto photos they are tagged to be moved and disappear from the "No Vote" selection tag. There are three tags, No Vote, Approved & Vetoed. You can view the tags alone or together. Think of them as pre-categories. The voting is easy. You can use your mouse or the keyboard. In fact, nearly every aspect of the selection process is keystroke based. This makes the review process very fast.
Once you have made your selections you can move right to the end of the process or you can review your approvals and your vetos. You can also rename photos to something more descriptive. This is the first and only time the program will make changes to your files. iPhotos imports photos with the file name given to them by your camera, while this helps to insure there are no duplicate photos; it makes file review very messy outside of iPhoto. The choice is yours to rename, and if you do it will do them in sequence; just like iPhoto does only iPhoto never actually changes the name of your file, just what it shows in iPhoto. By renaming your photos you can give them shoot names, dates in the file name or any other system you prefer; or do nothing and let iPhoto do what it does so well, organize your photos.
Take a look at the PhotoReviewer site. They have a lot more information as well as a free trial. If you shoot hundreds and hundreds of photos, it is worth taking a look at this little program that does a big job.
Dear BlackBerry,
I know that you are having more than your fair share of problems these days with the United States Patent Office, NTP, the United States Supreme Court and a certain judge that will remain nameless, but don't let all these problems get you down. You know as well as I do that while e-mail changed the world we live in, you my dear BlackBerry friend changed e-mail for ever. Notebooks may have freed man from the cords that bound them to their desktops at work, allowing them to travel to parts far and wide; but you my dear friend, you freed them from their 10 pounds of notebook, cables, cases and long boot-up times all in an effort to see if the important deal was done or if Johnny got a home run in the big game against the home town rival.
You my dear friend, you made it possible without cords, bags or boot-up time. Yes, as in the days of old when cowboys ruled the land, man can once again reach for his hip and snuff out a problem faster than a salesman can explain how he sat on his notebook, cracking it in two. If only he had had you by his side. Had he had you sitting in your trusty holster he would not have been caught off guard by the news that his biggest customer was leaving his firm. All because he couldn't respond to their repeated e-mails for help because he had not way to dial home and fetch his e-mail. You could have done all that, happily holding them until he landed only to gently buzz him letting him know you had his mail ready to read.
Think of it my trusted friend, you really have changed the world. You have created a loyal base of fans, second only to the followers of Steve and his jolly OS called X. A relationship so real and true, they call you by a pet name "CrackBerry." They mean no disrespect, they know what you have done for them. It isn't your fault their spouses left them and their children don't even know their names. You are simply the messenger. Civilization as we know it won't end because Tom can't stop communicating with Beijing, Moscow and Cabot Cove. In fact the world is a better place. Business can now be done 24 hours a day, seven days a week. All you need is a bar or two of strength and you can send our messages to the far corners of the globe. When the bell strikes five and we head home, we don't have to stop reading, sending, replying, responding, forwarding our many e-mails. Business doesn't have to stop at the waters edge, it can now continue on and on and on.
Don't pay attention to those nay sayers who call your creators thieves and criminals. Besides, the US Patent Office keeps ruling in your favor. The world is behind you. The world is with you my black and blue friend. Yes the judge who shall not be named doesn't seem to care that your patent case is pending. Yes NTP is asking for not just huge sums of money, but more money than most of us can even dream of seeing, much less being handed over.
So my dear friend. Don't leave me here, all alone without my e-mail or access to the web. Don't leave me to try and find a replacement for you? A friend such as you can not be replaced. Yes, I may find a friend that comes close and in time you will be but only a memory; but you will never be fully replaced. Should it come to an end though, feel strong in knowing that our time together these past few years has not just been wonderful but very fulfilling. Our friendship was worth the sleepless nights, the annoying buzzing, the sharp ringing, the constant bother, the wishing for shorter battery life, the tiny keys, the longing for silence, the demand for more and more and more... Wait.... February 24th they may pull the plug... CAN I HELP!
“The best camera, is the one you have on you.”
