webwielder

Just remember: the greatest perk of all is flexible working hours and location. And a couch.

So happy to see Planet Morphiter alive and well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAHBOtOgz0Q

Whither Comic Serif?

Almost every single feature of Twitter (including its logo!) was created by third party devs or users. Not surprising that when the API is severely restricted, the fun stops.

As humans, we tend to aspire to more than absolute necessity. Go too far and it turns into indulgence. Personally, I'd like to continue living in a place that allows for movement beyond 180 degrees of rotation.

Well I love share sheets, iCloud syncing, and AirPlay, personally. Gatekeeper is a great compromise between a fully locked down system and a fully vulnerable one. And the new Safari is the best Safari ever, as the saying goes. So I count 4.5 on my end.

Anyway, an OS is more than the sum of its newest features. On the whole, OS X 10.8 is a stable, polished, powerful, fully-featured operating system. There might not have been a big feature like Time Machine or Exposé in a couple versions, but I'd much rather use 10.8 than 10.5.

FCP may not be a pro application for editors who use tape, but it is most definitely a pro app for editors who have gone fully digital. I doubt Apple spent millions of dollars and several years to rebuild FCP from the ground up in order to sell iPhones to Moms and Dads.

I like inverse scrolling. Old scrolling feels weird to me now. And anyway, why is a minor, optional tweak to scrolling direction anything more than a minor, optional tweak to scrolling direction? It seems like every move Apple makes, no matter how trivial, takes on apocalyptic significance to people.

Notification Center is a list of notifications you can turn off if you don't like notifications. What's the big deal?

Launchpad is a little icon you can click to see your apps. What's the big deal?

What is rotten exactly? Besides the fact the FCP X debuted with some missing features that were quickly restored in dramatically improved form.

Your list of minor interface tweaks made in 10.8 isn't giving me an overwhelming sense of hostility toward personal computers.

I'd say the economic harm of bootlegging 10+ year old games from large publishers on platforms that are no longer produced is close to zero.

>If you are the kind of person who can choose to remain single and lonely for life when you burn with passion for the opposite sex

Who said anything about choosing?

Thanks, that was very informative.

I am not a programmer, and I've used Macs since 1987. As far as I know, I haven't ever used a package manager and don't really know what they are beyond something that lets you install and delete apps.

If I want an app, I download it. If I don't want it any more, I move it to the trash. If I really don't want it anymore, I use AppZapper. Can someone explain to me why the issue of package managers comes up so often around these parts and why they're so important to people?

See also: http://thetoasterproject.org

I'm curious as to whether Apple without Jobs will continue to be the company that redefines* computing (PC, GUI, touch, tablet). Or will change come from another giant like Google or from an upstart like LeapMotion?

*Yes, I know they didn't "invent" these things. But they were instrumental in refining them and positioning them so as to catalyze the industry toward sea changes.

Come to think of it, this story isn't about Apple or the Apple Store at all. A better title would be "The Time I Wasn't Mean to Fake Deaf Kids and Felt Great About It".

And why were there tears at the end? Was everyone so moved at the theoretical plight of real deaf kids that they broke down?

Also, I imagine real deaf people don't have a habit of walking up to salespeople and assuming they know sign language.

Actually they did, briefly. But was probably a mistake.

You might want to consider doing laundry more than once a year, but until then: http://www.postmates.com/getitnow

I opened Steam three times in the past hour and it updated itself every time. Ask me tomorrow and something else weird/buggy/slow will have happened.

Every time I read about how Valve is composed of only the finest minds in the industry, I wonder how Steam can be a a) slow, kludgy desktop app with inconsistent and at times amateurish UI and visual design, and b) a slow, unreliable, glitchy network service.

>And iTunes does indeed suck and I don't understand why someone hasn't written a replacement for it that fits the Sparrow:Mail==X:iPhoto equation. Perhaps I'll take a crack at it.

I don't think iTunes sucks, but someone has solved the equation you mentioned. It's called Enqueue: http://www.enqueueapp.com

Style tip: Companies and products are not works of art and shouldn't be italicized.

I would be able to stomach this vague, disjointed rant if it had a different title, something like "I am experiencing minor inconveniences as a result of wanting to switch computing platforms".

A native app with a WebKit canvas would be much nicer, no?

It's always pained me that the only AAA publisher/developer to maintain strong Mac support through thick and thin has been the one whose games I have no interest in (no slight intended, just not into MMOs, strategy, and hack 'n' slash).

Apple's software has plenty of problems, but it's successes are numerous and outshine the competition from other heavyweights. Safari, Preview, iMovie, the panorama feature in iOS 6, Mail on iPad, the App Store model (though not all of its UI), Pages, and Keynote, are just a few random examples of simplicity and elegance in their software, and there's plenty more examples.

Even its power user apps, like Aperture and Final Cut Pro X (controversies notwithstanding) show a thoughtfulness and polish that I just don't see in the products of other large software companies, let alone a company that is also a first-class hardware manufacturer.

>Did anyone seriously think that MG would like the Surface?

No, but you might expect Paul Thurrott and Peter Bright to, if you were judging it on the basis of their general opinion of Microsoft.

The problem with ascribing opinions of the Surface/Windows 8/RT to one's general opinion of Microsoft and/or Windows is that so much of it is incongruous with what we think of as "Microsoft". People who like one Apple product tend to like most Apple products because there is a clear thread of simplicity and elegance that runs through them.

I'm not sure what thread has traditionally run through Microsoft products (lots of buttons, lots of choices, lots of legacy?), but the Surface, with its vertical integration model, and Metro, with its "non-power user" interface, breaks that thread. But then at the same time you have the desktop mode, which tries to maintain a connection to the Microsoft of old. So in conclusion it's a big mess and old biases don't necessarily apply.

I am eternally indebted to you for filling my brain with the image of Andy Rooney (wearing a scarf and goggles) on a scooter, barreling down a New York sidewalk, pedestrians leaping out of the way in terror.