On CNET, an during an interview between Ina Fried and and Brad Brooks, vice president of Windows Consumer Product Marketing.

If you had to list the top couple of things that you think people don't understand about the value of Vista, what would be on that list?
Brooks: No. 1 is that I think, first and foremost, people don't realize the versatility of what a Windows Vista machine can give them around their entertainment and media experiences.

(source http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-10064580-75.html)

I watched a video with a bad sound on my girlfriend's laptop. I used the built it equalizer presets to see if I could improve something. The sound manager process failed. The laptop is mute since then.

That's what I call a media experience.

Read the rest if you wanna have a laugh. Brooks bad-mouth Apple quite a lot there though, adds to the fun.

Technorati Tags: Brooks, Microsoft, Windows, iDiot, Vista, Multimedia

I was wrong, Chrome is NOT sharing 5% of the browser market. But 8% already !!

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/16/update-on-techcrunch-reader-chrome-usage-trending-up-to-812/

It doesn't represent the whole market, of course. But it's pretty impressive.

I am impatient to see how it will evolve.

Apple wants to DRM your sneakers, your pants, your pets and possibly your family -in-law.

Ok, the family in law is probably not for tomorrow. Nonetheless the sneakers are the real deal. Apple want to DRM them.

I read it on Slashdot ( - First Source here- ) a couple of hours ago, and I can't resist ranting over it. You'll have to understand that Apple owe me a surgery: I blow my diaphragm every time I read something about them.

But enough beating around the bush, here is the story :

In June 2006, Apple announces a new function for their iPods : a sensor paired with your Nike shoes which let your music player become your "personal trainer" (I wonder if the iThing iKicks you in the soft parts if you are not running fast enough).

Some shoes geeks have, of course, found a way to remove the sensor from its special "insole pocket" an place it wherever they'd want, including on other shoes.

Here comes the funny part: Apple don't like their things touched by other people, Apple don't like when user actually use their product, Apple like when their users keep their products in a frame and stare at it until they get iHigh.

So Apple apply for a patent to render such act of barbarism illegal, they DRM your shoes.

Sit down, and read that :

"Some people," the patent application observes, "have taken it upon themselves to remove the sensor from the special pocket of the [iPod-linked] Nike+ shoe and place it at inappropriate locations (shoelaces, for example) or place it on non-Nike+ model shoes."

It seems that they really consider getting half the planet against them.
Google builds open source products.
Amazon distributes DRM free mp3.
Sony, Philips, Intel and Microsoft amongst others, form a "Buy once play everywhere" alliance... And what does Apple do ?

Apple bundle Quicktime with iTunes (personal grudge here).
Apple air an extremely frustrating locked iPhone and a year after, air the same product just faster, cheaper, 3G capable and, yes with WPA2 problems (just Google it), and yes refusing third party applications because they could compete with their own.

And now they want to DRM your sneakers.

But hey, Digital Right Management is here to manage your rights after all...

Technorati Tags: Apple, iDiot, WTF,
DRM

Web 3.0: The Web as an Operating System - When your Internet (almost) replaces your computer.

The Internet is going to turn out to be the new, universal, gigantic operating system everybody uses. Windows, MacOS and Linux are going to slowly die and fade to the status of shrunken hypervisors, whose only function will be either used as services or as virtual machines to support extended versions of our current browsers.


I was slow in the brain, I should have seen it coming way before. I have read a couple of articles, and finally opened my eyes to something so big that I couldn't see it without stepping back a couple of light-years.


What makes me think so ?


Well, first, the sparkle of revelation began gleaming in my synapses when I first read this post from Loose Wire Blog.


"Sharing Killed the bookmarks[...]RSS killed the bookmarks".


Clearly, the first thing that remained desperately attached to your computer when it came to internet (I am talking about the late 90's) has become sharable, search-able and mobile. This may not be a revolution when you look at it as "simply bookmarks", but we are now able to find back our whole knowledge pool (or work environment) anywhere, provided there is an Internet connection available.


Then there is this little sentence, almost an argument snippet : "In the same timeframe I marveled at how the Internet is the platform without a platform vendor. "
(I took it here, note how I am not ranting against the iPhone this time)


There it is, right ?


Look at the big thing:

• Internet is one of the most standardized platform nowadays (although the standards are often bashed on the toes by either a blue E or an orange F).
  
  
• It is becoming more and more interactive, allowing you to store data and preferences, to create documents and to share them.
  
  
• Developing for the Web is easier than developing for an operating system.

Today, if I have a computer strong enough to bear a browser and a couple of plug-ins plus a descent access to the Web, I can :

• Search for stuffs XD
  
  
• Organize my information ( bookmarks, calendars, dictionaries, encyclopedias, images, videos...)
  
  
• Share more or less everything digital (see above)
  
  
• Produce data ( e-mails (duh!) , office documents, music, even pictures )
  
  
• Play games
  
  
• Communicate via chat, voice chat, or video chat
  
  
• Watch movies, TV shows and listen to music or radio
  
  
• And if it's not enough, I can access a whole range of virtual desktops

All of these without installing any other software than my web browser.


All I need more, in fact, is a nice hard disk to store the data I produce, in order to transfer them to an online storage service. The day this step is gone, I won't need anything but my browser. Web 3.0 ? (Just needed to coin this :D).


It's enough to convince myself, I may now go and study s'more JavaScript, Python and WhatEverOnRails hoping that one day I'll be able to write plug-ins for Chrome.


Technorati Tags: Internet, OS, Operating System, Web services, Web 2.0, Web 3.0

Unscrew the IPhone, Screw the user. Your IPhone is spying on you.

You IPhone is spying on you ! Conspiracy again !


The new IPhone 3G is being released factory uncorked, faster, cheaper.
As usual, this is marvelous thing for the 1st version's buyers, knowing that the "cheaper" and "3G" tags could (should ?) have been implanted from the very beginning. But Nintendo does that too, these companies have their ways with their addicts.


Also, a little thing I just read on wired blogs retained my attention. I seems that the IPhone is potentially making screenshots of everything you do.


You just have to follow me here, not much effort to understand.


Some pieces of choice, from the same article :

"This flaw can only be exploited by somebody with physical access to a device, but your phone could get into the hands of someone with more malicious intent," [Jonathan Zdziarski ] said.

Zdziarski said this is only one way forensics experts collect evidence. Other methods include taking data from the iPhone's keyboard cache, Safari cache, Google Maps lookups and so on. Experts and hackers can also recover deleted photos or e-mails from months ago.

I spend an incredible amount of time finding a good keylogger to spy on my girlfriend, I'll just get her an IPhone.


Technorati Tags: IPhone, Apple, IDiot, Security, Hacking

About:Crome... Is there a plan behind the plan ?

I am currently testing Chrome, as half a jazillion people might also be doing right now...


I do not know why, but this browser tends to freak me out.


First impression when I opened it : "Woah!". The interface is the allegory of sleekness, everything is neat, clean and blue; the browser looks like a toy, and as a toy, it's really easy to use.
Five minutes are enough to face the fact, Chrome is far from being one of these Chinese gadgets coming plated with...er...chrome, glistening to the eye but total pains in the neck to operate. Chrome is fast, Chrome is user friendly, Chrome renders perfectly the site I'm developing for IE and FF...


The concept underlying the interface is somewhat simple : remove the bloat. The developers did it in a quite brutal way, getting at first rid all the features and deciding afterward which one to include back in the UI. So goes, for instance, the status bar.


One will tend to think: "Well, Google is targeting the masses, a simple browser for users with no need of the bling bling."
To my mind one will be so terribly wrong.


Why so ?


I remember this year of 2000 when one of my teachers said " I like to use Google, I know it's just a runner-up but the interface is simple"
Stating the same about Chrome would be closing your eyes on History...


Think about it : The browser war is raging now between FF and IE who are getting together 90% of the market. The rest is shared between Safari, Opera, Konqueror and MyMarginalBrowser. If Google wanted to penetrate a market with 3% chances to get 2% of it, they would surely release a browser that's just a browser.


What makes me think this way ?


First of all, there are the Google Gears.

Gears was designed to be used on both Google and non-Google sites. A number of web applications currently make use of Gears, including two Google products: Google Reader and Google Docs.

This only, has to attract one's attention to what could be actually happening. Google Docs are not only targeting a mobile businesspersons audience, but MS Office as well. As the journalist Jeremy Wagstaff points out, word processors developers won't concentrate on redesigning the basics, and just keep updating (heavily) the interface. Google, nevertheless, is not trying to copy other desktop based application, their devs are just getting rid of the bloat.


The second reason why I suspect Google to be far more ambitious than just airing a browser is this :





First thing first, why a process manager in a web browser ? That's the geekish thing to do, and well, such a geekfruit was to be expected; but would there be another purpose ? If every tab is a separate process, what can this process host ? Only a web page, or much more than that ?


And, right to the right if it... what's that ? Doesn't it look like... a little something we already know in Firefox maybe? No plugins yet? Really? With this brand new V8 engine?


Chrome is open source, Chrome is polyvalent, Chrome will see plugins coming soon (just a hunch), Chrome is targeted to be not only a browser but a, let me coin the term, WOS -Web Operating System.


We have not seen the end of it. Mark me words capt'n.


Technorati Tags: Google, Google Gears, Browser, Web

Blackbeard, a black bearded pirate with a Black beard.

I have a pretty good statistic tool. Gives me a lot of info about who comes around looking for what and so on.
It seems that, lately, pirates have become a trend.

I can't tell you why, I won't tell you, because I do not know.

Naught the less, I counted a whole bunch of people coming around to get to know Black Beard the Pirate. I cannot let them wander and spread their lost hope in the premise, lost hope is very hard to mop.

Thus I shall spare thou the pain o' look'ee to Google, ye see, an' give ye s'material to pirate with, and sink me.

Let us begin with some pick o' the ruffian :


Source : http://www.cindyvallar.com/LPBlackbeard.jpg


Source : http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/f/f1/Black-Beard.jpg


Source : http://mtvgames.typepad.com/mtv_video_games_blog/images/blackbeard.jpg


Source : http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/upload/img_400/PU2732.JPG

And now for ye, the websites, they are relevant or split me, with a curse.

At the North Carolina Maritime Museum

On Wikipedia

In an Online Game

National geographics

Heave O (with a curse) !