Dick on Iraq

Note the date in the upper right corner. via BoingBoing.

Thoughts on WWDC Keynote (2007)

So, now, that I've had time to digest some of the WWDC Keynote address, here are my thoughts:

1) Cover View - This iTunes-initiated interface is getting out of hand. It's on Apple's redesigned web site, it's now a view option in Leopard's Finder. It's on iPhone.

I just don't think it's very effective for a large amount of stuff. It's nice in iTunes, as you see the album covers, and it harkens back to a time of flipping through LPs…but for the Finder? No way. Give me a list of files and their content and I'll be happy. A better way to improve Finder navigation would simply make column view default to always show full filenames (instead of truncating them). People need better ways to find their stuff (like Spotlight, not another way to view icons).

2) Safari on Windows & Ver. 3 - Hooray for re-arrangable tabs! Finally!

People are bitchin' about restarting upon installation. Doesn't bother me too much. I'm sure the newer versions won't have that.

The fact that it is available for Windows is so smart and so huge. iTunes is on everyone's PC, and it's ease of use has piqued people's interest in Macs and OS X. It does open up an interesting question of how these two operating systems (Windows and Mac) are starting to come closer together and are we beginning to see the end of true differentiation between platforms.

3) New dock - Eh. Not sure how cool it is. Kind of weird to see it recess into space, although it seems to be working towards the feel of Time Machine. I just don't think I need to see more reflections in design. Our Web 2.0 obsession with the properties of glass has jumped the shark, I hope.

4) New menu bar - Oh, we're just realizing that people put their own pictures on their desktop? And now we're going to make the menu bar semi-transparent so you can see 10 pixels more of a photo. I don't think so. This reeks of degrading functionality and seems unnecessary. Hopefully, it'll be an option we can turn off.

5) Stacks - Like tabbed browsing in iChat, this seemed a long time in coming. My biggest question is why are these opened stacks leaning like the tower of pisa? Is it just me or is there some funky reasoning behind this windblown effect?

6) iChat - Looks awesome. Tabbed chats, finally! Love the presentation feature. It makes it much more appropriate for business use. The changing backgrounds thing is weird, and I can foresee more pornographic uses for this than actual functional uses. Plus, I don't know how many times the holographic version of me can bee seen before getting old and just weird.

7) Time Machine - Sounds great, but seems like it will be less easy to use than Jobs has been boasting. First, you need a massive hard drive to keep backed up with all your home computers stuff. Second, if you're going to do this wirelessly-even with the new 'n' protocol-it seems like it will take a much longer than demonstrated.

Ultimately a good first step, but I don't think most people will have the resources needed out of the box. Plus, am I the only one who feels like the whole swirling space time-contiuom feel is a bit to treky for my liking?

8) Quick Look - Seems like a great answer to a common frustration. Opening the wrong file, and waiting for an application to load is always a tad frustrating. So, if this can help that's great. I don't think I'll be using it a lot, and I actually think there are some big problems with it.

I think people are going to open files via Quick Look and then want to edit them. I don't think people will understand that it's a "quick look." I see it's use in driving the iChat functionality, but I'm afraid most everyday users will misunderstand the purpose and find it frustrating.

Plus it seems like the biggest pain is having developers add the quick view functionality to their files. I can Quick Look this file, but not this one? Seems like something's not working right, then. How much bigger are these files with a high quality preview in Quick Look? How much resources does it take up to use it? Is it a RAM hog like Dashboard?

Plus, for some apps, what's the difference between Quick Look and the app? For example: Quicktime and Preview. If I can play a quicktime file via Quick Look and make it full screen, then why do I have an app for Quicktime? Same with Quick Looking PDFs. What's the point of having the Preview app?

9) iPhone apps - This seems like a joke. I'm no developer, but if you wanted to show me how developing an app on the iPhone is cool, you could give me something better than a directory. Doesn't this thing already have an address book? Don't I already have a sense of what that looks like? Didn't you just do the same thing with an LDAP on the back end?

This is the coolest extension of the iPhone's capabilities that I have seen: a shopping list application called OneTrip.

10) .Mac stuff - "Back to my Mac" is fantastic, and really nice the way the IP integration works behind the scenes. My biggest question is will it work when the computer I want to access is asleep?

11) Boot Camp - Parallels is way better. I don't know why you just wouldn't use that.

Overall, I'm not too excited about Leopard yet. Tabbed iChat browsing and the Safari features are honestly all I'd want right now. Tiger is so nice, and these newer features seem like they will really need some solid user time to work out their functionality.

Lastly, does anyone know for sure if Leopard will be a Universal app?

Has Google become a modern, technological paparazzi?

Apparently, some folks are up in arms about Google Map's new "Street View" feature. The interesting thing to me, is not that people are being caught picking their nose or entering a strip club, but that people are reacting the same way celebrities do to paparazzi.

Of course, the big difference here, is that Google's cameras are not seeking to photograph people intentionally, nor in non-public view. What people don't realize is that you can rightfully be photographed any time you go into public.

In some places this is not a concern (mostly where you can't be easily identified as you, i.e. crowded places like train stations or busy city streets or huge riots :-) But when someone takes a photograph of us fixing ourselves when we thought the coast was clear…that is suddenly outrageous.

The outrage does not derive from Google, but instead the fact that Google is an Internet company and these images have a good chance of being seen by many a set of eyes. Think of all the photos you have where someone in the background is picking their nose, or making a weird face, or propositioning a hooker. (You know what I mean.) It wasn't a big deal to have those bits of our lives in other people's photos, because most of the world wouldn't see it, nor would they be scouring your negatives to find it.

So, has Google become the modern equivalent of a technological paparazzi? Maybe, but there's nothing you can do about it. Perhaps this will get people to think a little more before doing some of the things they do in public.

Steve Jobs at D

Terrific, if for nothing else, the last 15 seconds.

Memorial Day and Prayer

I watched some pretty powerful stories about our soldiers this Memorial Day. Thinking about the families involved and putting it in their perspective really drives home some powerful thoughts. I noticed how much it seems that those in power say that they are praying for the safety of our soldiers and it reminded me of this quote:

"To say 'prayer changes things' is not as close to the truth as saying 'prayer changes me and I change things.'" - Oswald Chambers

Somehow I don't see a lot of changes, despite all the praying.

Caption contest

Okay, so let's have some fun. Gates and Jobs were seated together at some D4 conference thing-a-ma-bob (I'm sure not as cool as TED).

Anyway, let's write some captions for this photo. Whoever writes the best one will be given…a brand new Zune! There's enough leftover, that we're willing to give some away. So, caption away.

*Zune prize to be awarded if and only if Zune sales exceed iPod sales in the next 3 months.