This is The End
This is the final post for this blog. ob.blog will remain online ever more since many of the posts still receive hits and comments that their content is helpful but after this, no more new posts will be made here. ob.blog has run its due course.
Adieu all.
Yeah Sure, Go Nuts
Good luck with that.
(Incidentally, I’d hope this would go without saying but Windows users, don’t go to the link mentioned in the dialog box.)
iTunes Movies in Canada: First Impressions
Up late last night hacking away it occurred to me to give the new iTunes movies a go, now that the feature is available in Canada. My first impression: very, very nice indeed. The rental process was trivial, iTunes downloaded the film in the background exactly the same way it does when buying music, [...]
The Reason Dev Environments Should be Sandboxed
We developers love getting detailed bug reports - the more detailed the better in fact. Unless you’re reporting that something broke your pr0n in which case, less detail might be best.
(If you’re not seeing it, keep scrolling down… and who is Paola Rey anyhow?)
CNN Shirts Beta
CNN Shirt is a great idea, made even greater by the gaping content security hole that allows anyone to create any t-shirt headline they want (look in the URL for details).
I’d love to get this shirt:
CNN is “America’s Most Trusted News Source” so it must be true.
HP Thinks I’m an Idiot
Actually, they think we’re all idiots if their printer driver installer is any indication.
Curious about why a printer driver would need 250 megs of space I clicked on the “More Info” button:
As a general rule of thumb when the user asks “What is it that’s being installed on my computer?” (which is really what the [...]
But It Always Says It’s Sorry Afterwards!
This is going to seem like an anti-Windows rant but really, Windows is just the catalyst for this, again. The deeper question driving this post is this: why do we still put up with this shit?
The machine: a brand-new HP 6820s laptop, out of the box.
The operating system: Windows XP.
The place: a nondescript urban office.
Yesterday [...]
Explaining My Twittering
I just finished reading Joe Kissell’s excellent article Instant Messaging for Introverts which is so true-to-form for me that it felt like I could have written it myself. The gist of it is this: Joe, an introvert, explains what life in in an always-on, Twitter/iChat world is like for introverts. I’m especially fond of this [...]
Creative Looks Gift Horse In Mouth, Shoots it In Head, Apologizes Afterwards
Dear Creative: you’re doing it wrong.
But in all seriousness, Creative’s mis-handling of this situation is a great learning opportunity for other companies. The lesson is simple:
If your users care enough about your product to improve it themselves, thank them. Use them. Hire them. Pay them.
William Gibsom famously wrote:
The street finds its own use for things.
The [...]
Ventus Available Gratis
I just noticed that Karl Schroeder’s Ventus is now available for free in digital format from Karl’s site in damned near every kind of format you could ever want.
In my opinion the description on Karl’s site really doesn’t do Ventus justice:
Ventus is a novel of information apocalypse set in the far future. For a [...]
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