October 2007 Archives

One of the Windows guys brought up the Zune music store during our meeting today. So if you go to the Zune store and search for an artist, it will show you the artist and their albums, but it won't show you that you can't buy say and AC/DC or Beatles song until after you tunnel down to the album. Which then throws their entire store into Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.

Then again, that's always my experience with using Winblows. “Will it work? I hope so. Let's see... squint, brace myself, click Whew, it worked.

With the Zune store you can have the same experience. Can I buy the song? I hope so. Let's see...

From this NYT Article

There are no “verbs” in the iPhone interface, he said, alluding to the way a standard mouse or stylus system works. In those systems, users select an object, like a photo, and then separately select an action, or “verb,” to do something to it.

Hey, I pointed out a long time ago that Windows was this bastard child that forced you to think verbally while using a GUI... Here it is. I'd actually been saying that for years, and I know for a fact that a long email I wrote on the subject even before the above posting was heavily CC'ed around the Apple UI team.

Steve Jobs stole from me!

Oh well, my iPhone is cool. Much love Steve.

Hi Pierce,

This is a follow-up to Bug ID# 4924560 . Apple has just announced via Apple HotNews an iPhone SDK will be made available to developers in February 2008.

Third Party Applications on the iPhone

Let me just say it: We want native third party applications on the iPhone, and we plan to have an SDK in developers’ hands in February. We are excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users. With our revolutionary multi-touch interface, powerful hardware and advanced software architecture, we believe we have created the best mobile platform ever for developers.

It will take until February to release an SDK because we’re trying to do two diametrically opposed things at once—provide an advanced and open platform to developers while at the same time protect iPhone users from viruses, malware, privacy attacks, etc. This is no easy task. Some claim that viruses and malware are not a problem on mobile phones—this is simply not true. There have been serious viruses on other mobile phones already, including some that silently spread from phone to phone over the cell network. As our phones become more powerful, these malicious programs will become more dangerous. And since the iPhone is the most advanced phone ever, it will be a highly visible target.

Some companies are already taking action. Nokia, for example, is not allowing any applications to be loaded onto some of their newest phones unless they have a digital signature that can be traced back to a known developer. While this makes such a phone less than “totally open,” we believe it is a step in the right direction. We are working on an advanced system which will offer developers broad access to natively program the iPhone’s amazing software platform while at the same time protecting users from malicious programs.

We think a few months of patience now will be rewarded by many years of great third party applications running on safe and reliable iPhones.

Steve

P.S.: The SDK will also allow developers to create applications for iPod touch. [Oct 17, 2007]

Best Regards,

The Bug Reporting Team Apple Developer Connection

Now I feel all warm and fuzzy...

From the leopard feature set:

Sandboxing

Enjoy a higher level of protection. Sandboxing prevents hackers from hijacking applications to run their own code by making sure applications only do what they’re intended to do. It restricts an application’s file access, network access, and ability to launch other applications. Many Leopard applications — such as Bonjour, Quick Look, and the Spotlight indexer — are sandboxed so hackers can’t exploit them.

Which means that the next iPhone update will definitely close the 1.1.1 “bad TIFF” exploit.

So it was bugging me that iTunes doesn't automatically sync between computers.

So I filed as a bug with Apple, and I gave it a funny name: “Too many single iTunes Engineers”, because if you're married and have two computers and one iTunes account, its an issue. So obviously all the iTunes engineers are single...

I got back a duplicate report as I expected (still worth filing the bug, because filing duplicates raises the priority of the original bug).

But I had to laugh when I read the message...

Subject: Re: Bug ID 5540373: Too many single iTunes Engineers

This is a follow up to Bug ID# 5540373. After further investigation it has been determined that this is a known issue, which is currently being investigated by engineering. This issue has been filed in our bug database under the original Bug ID# 3165623.

Trojan Condoms Website

I laughed so hard it brought tears to my eyes...

The Movie wasn't his idea, he didn't write it, he didn't put up the money for it.

All he did was star in the movie, read his lines, and for that he won a Nobel Prize?

Technorati Tags: moonbat, Al Gore

Every time I see that “1-in-4 women will be raped” statistic it makes me grit my teeth. The local hippie rag (you know, the one I write for) trotted that one out a bit ago, and this article on Feminism at Newsvine I was reading said it lately as well.

I know I'm good at math, but does that mean no one else on the planet can multiply?

First off, even the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network only claims 1-in-6. But that number is obviously bogus, because on the same page, they say 200,780 victims/year.

200,780 victims/year over a life expectancy of 72 years is...14 million.

Out of 150 million women, that's 1-in-10. I guess RIANN can't multiply either.

Meanwhile, the FBI says 30.9/100,000. Over 72 years, thats 1-in-45.

But rape is underreported. According to RIANN, only 41% are reported.

So that 1-in-45 becomes 1-in-27. But that's nowhere near 1-in-4. You don't even have to be good at math to recognize that 1-in-4 is just a made up number. A woman is 8 times more likely to be mugged then raped, and being mugged is nowhere near 1-in-4, so there's no way rape could be that high.

Ok, so that said, lets talk about the other side. Just because the whole “bad at math” thing bugs me doesn't mean I think we should ignore the problem. I just think you have to get your numbers right before you can solve problems.

My wife has started carrying a baseball bat in her car, because she got tired of getting accosted by homeless people. She has had to pull it and threaten to use it nearly 3 times now in the last 6 months. My wife is not a small, helpless women, so I can't even imagine what its like for a less physically capable woman. We live in a fairly small city, Flagstaff AZ, so that's a pretty large number.

She got the idea when she was going to night school in CA 20 some years ago. There had been 20 rapes in a year on campus. When she called the local police the detective told her:

1. They weren't even allowed on campus until a crime had been committed.
2. The 20/year number.
3. That while he couldn't tell her she should start carrying a baseball bat, he could tell her that if the detectives daughter was going to Mt San Antonio College, he would give her a gun.
4. That bizarrely, the college had been reducing the number of security people.

So my wife started carrying a baseball bat.

The college starting hassling her, and after several other women on campus starting carrying bats instituted a rule that you weren't allowed to carry a baseball bat on school grounds. So my wife bought a length of pipe and put tape on it to make a handle...

Eventually, they threatened to expel her. So she told them they would be hearing from both her lawyer, and the press...

They didn't expel her, and the local paper ran a story, which got picked up by the LA Times, and the college hired 3 more security guards.

Why am I saying all this?

Because 1-in-4 is like the weather. It makes it sounds inevitable that you'll get raped if you're a woman. But 1-in-25 isn't inevitable. When my wife was carrying a baseball bat to class, the women students were supportive sure.

But the male students were even more supportive, and took it upon themselves to escort women to and from the far parking lots.

See, repeating 1-in-4 is like saying “All men are evil rapists”. But a rape rate of 60.9/100,000 women says that 99% of men are not evil rapists. So those good 99% of men can be part of the solution. But people who go around saying 1-in-4 don't seem to really want a solution.

Which I guess explains why I'm not a feminist. I'm a modern gentleman. Which means that I believe in chivalry. Men should protect women, not because the women are helpless, but because what it says about ourselves as men; might for right. On date nights, I open the door for my wife, not because doors are so hard to open in this modern age that she couldn't, but because of what that small kindness says about me as a man.

Too often, the dogma of feminism seems to get in the way of what I feel is the chivalrous ideal. I understand why; one need only look at a muslim country to see how my ideal of “protection for the weak” can turn into “we're going to lock you away so you can't get hurt”. So I understand, but I wish the feminists seemed more willing to work with the men to work out some sort of modern form of chivalry.

And I wish they could multiply.

Technorati Tags: politics, feminism, rape

Once Upon a Time in Iran, there were 4 army buddies all named Azim. One was from the country, and was a farmer. One Azim was always interested in politics and always said “it's who you know”. Another Azim was very religious. The last Azim was of a very practical bent, and didn't care much for politics or religion.

After the Iran/Iraq war, one guy went back to live in the country, while the other 3 lived in Tehran on the same street. All 4 prospered after the war.

A few years ago, the Azim from the country went to visit his friends. They had each decided to put up a fence around their individual properties. The country Azim went to talk to the political Azim first, who was standing next to a young man dressed in a suit holding an address book.

“Death to America”, the country Azim said to the political Azim, and then they both laughed. The political Azim introduced the young man to the country Azim. “This is Aurangzeb, he's going to be building my fence. Did you know the Minister of Finance is his uncle?”.

The country Azim wished the political Azim luck with his fence, and went and visited the religious Azim, who was standing next to a young man dressed in traditional robes carrying a Koran in one hand. “Death to America,” the country Azim said to the religious Azim, and then they both laughed. “This is Muhammed,” said the religious Azim. “He's going to be building my fence. Did you know he's the 16th great-grandson of Muhammed?”

The country Azim wished the religious Azim luck with his fence, and finally went and visited the practical Azim. He too was standing next to a young man, who in this case was busy digging what looked like a hole for a fence post. “This is Arsham,” said the practical Azim, “I've hired him to build my fence”.

The country Azim then went back home, and a couple of years passed before he decided to visit his friends again. Again, he visited the political Azim first. The political Azim had 4 lone fence posts in front of his house.

“Death to America,” he said to the political Azim, but this time the political Azim didn't laugh. “What's wrong?” asked the country Azim. “Woe is me”, said the political Azim. “You know that young man Aurangzeb I hired to build my fence? Well, he seduced my daughter and got her pregnant.”, the political Azim said angrily. “Then, when I confronted him, his uncle the Minister threatened me with arrest.”, the political Azim said, gesturing towards the few fenceposts with his fist.

The country Azim gave the political Azim his condolences, and then went to visit the religious Azim. The religious Azim had 2 lone fence posts, and his house was boarded up.

“Death to America,” he said to the religious Azim, but this time the religious Azim didn't laugh. “What's wrong?”, asked the country Azim. “Woe is me,” said the religious Azim. “You know that young man Muhammed I hired to build my fence? Well, he raped my daughter. When I confronted him, he claimed my daughter seduced him, and complained to the religious authorities. They ruled in his favor, hung my daughter as a whore, and seized my house.”, the religious Azim said, gesturing towards the boarded up house.

The country Azim gave the religious Azim his condolences, and then went to visit the practical Azim. The practical Azim had a fully completed fence, and the country Azim noticed numerous other touches around the house.

“Death to America,” he said to the practical Azim, but the practical Azim didn't laugh. “What's wrong? What happened with your fence?”, asked the country Azim, dreading the answer.

“The fence? That young man completed the fence years ago.”, replied the practical Azim. “Why so sad, then?” asked the country Azim. “I have to move,” replied the practical Azim. “Why? What happened?”, asked the country Azim. “Well, you know that young man Arsham I hired to build my fence? Well, he did such a great job that I hired him to do lots of other things around the house as well. He asked to marry my daughter, and though he didn't come from a very important family, he was such a hard worker and impressed me so much I said yes. For a dowry, I helped him start a construction company, and he worked so hard that soon he and my daughter were more wealthy then I was.”

“That sounds wonderful!”, cried the country Azim, “but I don't understand why you have to move?”

“Yes, well, he became so rich and prosperous that both the government and the mullahs told him he had to give them money or they would put him in jail. He got mad and refused to pay, and he and my daughter fled to America. Though he went there with nothing, he has become even richer in America. So rich in fact, that he and my daughter have asked me to go live with them and my grandson, Azim. So I leave tomorrow.”

The moral of this story is as follows: Iran keeps getting poorer every year, while America gets richer in comparison. That's because America hires the guy with the shovel.

Spoof trailer for the Shining.

OK, so I was listening to the songs that people turned into ringtones just out of curiosity.

Then I thought, “you know what would make a great ringtone? The alarm clocks from Pink Floyd's Time off the Dark Side of the Moon”.

Except...turns out that you first have to buy the song, then you can turn it into a ringtone. Except Time is album only.

Plus I already own it on CD.

While I wouldn't have minded paying $.99 to turn it into a ringtone, making me buy the album to make it into a ringtone when I already own the album...that's just lame.

Plus the UI sucks, it's very non-obvious that you have to buy the song, download it, then click on the bell to make it into a ringtone.

It's so bad I reported it as a bug, bug 5518031.

Here's what I said:

Summary:

Making a ringtone is confusing and poorly thought out, requiring at least one-leap-of-faith, and rubs the users nose in DRM limitations.

Steps to Reproduce/Expected behavior:

Try to turn the alarm clock sounds from “Time” on Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon into a Ringtone. You'll hit everything that's wrong with the whole system all at once.

1. Clicking on the bell icon does...nothing. It doesn't even say “you have to buy the song first dummy”. Leap of Faith: You have to know to buy the song, THEN click on the bell in the purchased window.
2. You can't buy the song, its album only. But anyone with any musical taste at all already owns this album on CD.
3. Searching for “Time” in your Library. Select “Create Ringtone...”. A dialog will come up saying “You can create Ringtones from many purchased songs in your library”. But it won't tell you you can't do it from that one...