Some of my friends and family have been ribbing me about how “small” some of my good deeds are.

“How hard is it to open a door?” they laugh.

I’ve tried to explain that that’s the whole point of my efforts … to try to pay attention to the small stuff –  stuff I can actually do. Sure, I’d jet off and tend to lepers or remove land mines with my bare hands if I could. …. well, maybe not the land mines … but those grandiose deeds are beyond my feeble capabilities.

And that’s okay, because today I noticed just how much of a difference those little things make in my day. Three, count ‘em, three different people elbowed me out of the way today on their way to grab a seat … one on the bus, the other two on the subway.

And these weren’t pimple-faced kids who haven’t learned the rules of etiquette yet. In each case they were grown men … in fact, one of them was carrying a case, a briefcase, and he used that to maneuver his way past a grey-haired lady and onto the coveted bench.

These incidents put me in a foul mood until I got to my office building and a very thoughtful guy waited and waited for me, patiently holding the elevator, until I got in. It literally turned my frown upside down (sorry, cheesy, but true) and brightened my outlook for the rest of the day.

It also  reconfirmed for me the value of even the smallest good deed. I think I’ll go hold a door open now….

P.S. Enjoy!

Aeroplane “Chart Mix” November 2009

01. Music Go Music : “Warm in The Shadow” (Villa Remix)
02. Gossip : “Heavy Cross” (Siriusmo Dub)
03. Emjae : “Discoplex”
04. Two Door Cinema Club : “I Can Talk” (Golden Bug remix)
05. Palermo Disko Machine : “Vesuvia”
06. Joakim : “Spiders” (Extended Dance Mix)
07. Detachments : “Circles” (Mighty Mouse remix)
08. Don Diablo : “I am Not From France” (Cagedbaby’s Rollerdisco Lcross Campaign Mix)
09. The XX : “Crystalised” (Rory Phillips Remix)
10. Bot’ox : “Bearded lady Motorcycle Show”

E siamo a mercoledì, per noi lavoratori la metà esatta della settimana… come? ho detto noi? mi sembra già di sentire le risate… ok per i lavoratori il mercoledì rappresenta lo scollinamento, dopo oggi la settimana è in discesa.

Bene ora che ho buttato li un pensiero così profondo riprendiamo il discorso: siamo ai preparativi. Aspettati, rimandati, attesi… la lista è pronta, il panico da valigia è presente bello tonico, i dubbi maledetti che fino ad un’ora fa non c’erano… ora sono li belli chiari mi aspettano al varco.

Come dicevo un post di pensieri, il primo senza immagini… composto da parole che escono dalle mie dita attraversano la tastiera per venire impressi qui in questa casella di testo che poi il tocco magico del mio mighty mouse (che si ammazzino i dententori di questo nome, fottetevi il mio mouse di chiama ora e per sempre MIGHTY) pubblicherà online.

è giunto il momento: buona notte.

Even I initially bought it: the fearless blonde police officer, a young mom of two, hard-changing up the hill towards the danger and eventually taking down the big bad terrorist. It would have made great TV and Hollywood. It would have made great military recruiting PR. But after a while, it did not make sense; how could this woman have fired several shots at Major Nidal Hasan when she was already down and incapacitated? I kept seeing in my mind how this could have occurred, and it did not add up. It looked too Hollywood…and impossible.

Thing is, it wasn’t true that Sgt. Kimberly “Mighty Mouse” Munley alone took down Major Hasan. She may have simply distracted him, and slowed him up by taking him on. But she was shot and wounded by him. She may not have even struck him, because witnesses saw Hasan reload after taking her down. It was someone else who rather was ordinary, older, and up to that point, had never discharged his weapon at a suspect. It took days before the media finally began countering the military’s version of events. From the New York Times on November 11:

[...T]he story of how the petite police officer and the accused gunman went down in an exchange of gunfire does not agree with the account of an eyewitness who had gone to the base’s processing center, where the shooting occurred, to conduct business before being deployed.

The witness, who asked not to be identified, said Major Hasan wheeled on Sergeant Munley as she rounded the corner of a building and shot her, putting her on the ground. Then Major Hasan turned his back on her and started putting another magazine into his semiautomatic pistol.

It was at that moment that Senior Sgt. Mark Todd, a veteran police officer, rounded another corner of the building, found Major Hasan fumbling with his weapon and shot him.

How the authorities came to issue the original version of the story, which made Sergeant Munley a national hero for several days and obscured Sergeant Todd’s role, remains unclear. (Military officials also said for several hours after the shooting that Major Hasan had been killed, although he had survived.)

After the witness’ admission, the mainstream media scrambled to reclaim control of the story. CBS’ Early Show immediately contacted Sergeant Mark Todd after a joint appearance by both Sergeant Kimberly Munley and Sergeant Todd on The Oprah Winfrey Show. However, the pair did not give a timeline of events that would have led to identifying who it really was who shot Hasan down.

However, Sgt. Todd, by himself, gives a pretty credible statement of what he did. A 25-year military police veteran, Todd only discharged his weapon for the first time ever at Fort Hood as part of its civilian police corps.

Sergeant Todd, 42, is a native of California who spent most of his adult life as a military police officer in the Army. He left the military police after 25 years to join the civilian force at Fort Hood. Like most members of the military, he has moved around a lot, serving at four bases in the United States and two in Germany.

This is really strange. Ballistics reports could settle once and for all who did what and when. Why wouldn’t they be as forthcoming on Oprah? And why is the military suddenly buttoning up, saying that they could not comment on specifics. Just what is the big problem owning up just who did take down Major Nidal Hasan?

A lot of this does have to do with manipulating public perceptions of what and who is in control. Army spokespeople were too quick to paint Munley as this female John Wayne-type. Seems we haven’t learned our lesson about this kind of thing. Remember what happened with PFC Jessica Lynch in Iraq? Wiki can remind you how the Pentagon’s propaganda machine crashed and burned six years ago with another blonde white “heroine” who refused to play by the script:

On March 23, 2003 she was injured and captured by Iraqi forces, but was recovered on April 1 by U.S. special operations forces, with the incident subsequently receiving considerable news coverage.

Lynch, along with major media outlets, has since accused the U.S. government of embellishing the story as part of the Pentagon’s propaganda effort.

On April 24, 2007 she testified in front of Congress that she had never fired her weapon; her M16 rifle jammed, as did all weapons systems assigned to her unit, and that she had been knocked unconscious when her vehicle crashed.

Some people think that this promotion of white female fighters or police in the Armed Forces is an argument the military is trying to make that women can make great soldiers. In this overstretched as well as under-equipped military, this is indeed a development. But the emphasis frankly is getting a bit overdone–and obvious; like the white, blonde middle-class girl in distress meme which runs every time someone fitting the description is reported missing. Greg Mitchell at Editor and Publisher concluded the following:–

Plus: Just coincidence that a white woman got the credit over a black male? We’ll soon find out. Perhaps. But this time, put aside the military’s official narrative. First time, shame on the source. Second time, shame on the media. Third time?

I think people should remain skeptical about what happened at Fort Hood. Just don’t believe everything you read and hear. Our military and intelligence communities all are at fault for not intervening with Major Hasan much earlier, as more individuals finally stood up and told of their disconcerting encounters with the man. Everyone is agreed that they dropped the ball, especially when it came to lone wolf Hasan presenting PowerPoint-led lectures that fairly flowed with jihadist rhetoric. They are going to want an investigational outcome that will not make them look any worse, but might at least enhance their reputations.

The same thing goes with quickly identifying a wiry blonde white officer known for jumping into the fray rather than her alter-ego, a tall, heavier, older and mature black professional who reportedly was trained as a hostage negotiator. Her image may indeed have been reassuring to the populace watching on TV and cable news, and even to the soldiers and families affected. But such images can be too reassuring, and even dangerous. Especially to our understanding of how justice is going to be served in this case.

We lived in four different locations in the eight years we lived in Jackson, MS, the third one being Verdemont Drive.  My parents took a lot of photos of us there, but I don’t think we lived in the house very long.  It did provide some interesting times for us, however.

For some reason neither of us remember, my parents got my brother an Irish Mail push car which made him quite the neighborhood hero. The vehicle was propelled by pushing forward on the handlebars, then pulling them back, and steering was done by pushing the feet either to the left or right on the crossbar in front. My brother remembers that it was more than a little dangerous going down hills, because the push bar flew forward and backward at a high rate of speed. An unsuspecting driver was sure to get smacked in the face. Verdemont was a dirt road, and my brother recalls getting his ankles cut up when rocks flew up or when he hit the curb.

There are a lot of theories about why the push-pull car was called an Irish Mail, but they’ve been around since 1877. A mechanic named George Sheffield developed a device to ride on a railroad track to cut down on his seven mile walk home from work. It consisted of a bicycle with a third wheel that served to balance the contraption. He wasn’t charged for trespassing on railroad property by saving a train from derailing when he reported a break in the tracks.

One theory about the name is that since railroad work camps had a high percentage of Irish workers, the device that delivered their mail came to bear the designation Irish mail. In Germany, Irish mails are known as Dutch mails. Whatever the origin, the vehicles were popular as children’s toys in the early 20^th century and were offered in the 1919 Sears catalog for around $6. They are still available on-line, old ones on eBay and others as kits parents can build.

My parents were not ones to quickly embrace new technology, especially since we didn’t have a lot of money for extras. Nonetheless, we thank our neighbors for spurring them on to buying our first television set. The people next door had a television, and we went over every afternoon to watch Howdy Doody. Mother and Dad didn’t have a problem with that.

However, our coming home smelling of beer was another matter. While we were visiting, the father liked to give us sips of his beer. I’m sure he knew our family was super religious and probably thought it was funny to give us beer to drink.

Mother and Dad were not amused, to say the least. We were forbidden to visit them when my parents weren’t home, but the siren call of Howdy, Buffalo Bob Smith, Clarabell, Princess Summer Spring Winter Fall, Phineas T. Bluster, Dilly Dally, and the bizarre Flub-a-Dub was too great. It wasn’t long before a big console TV took over our living room and our lives.

At one point, we were given a Howdy Doody marionette which we loved. I’m saddened to report that one of us accidentally left it out in the rain sitting in the swing in the far corner of our backyard. Il est mort.

When the Mickey Mouse Club came along in 1955, we reveled in every adventure. From the three Spin and Marty serials to my favorite, Corky and White Shadow, we were hooked.  Soon we were filling the house with sounds of “…why? Because we love you!” It wasn’t long before we added Saturday morning’s quasi operatic Mighty Mouse Playhouse to our repertoire.

I’m still a TV junkie and truth to tell a remote control hog. I think nothing of watching three different shows at the same time. And it all started with a few sips of beer on Verdemont Drive.

©2009 jgschenck

Nu am cuvinte referitor la cum arata si ce face noul mouse de la Apple… genial!

Primul mouse Multi-Touch din lume. Enjoy!

Am auzit de el de la prieteni.

M.Net M!Countdown (2009-11-05).avi [1.2 GB]
Comeback: Brown Eyed Girls, FT Triple, U-Kiss, SeeYa, Lyn | 4minute, Hwanhee, Wheesung, MBLAQ, BEAST, Mighty Mouth, Mina, Seo In Kook, Secret, Sunny Side, Woo Ki Young, Lee Na Young, Zin Tae Hwa, IVY, JQT, Lady Collection, MC Mong, Top.az

Cuts available

http://down.clubbox.co.kr/shewshewbox/lkia22
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=AGWRDBIM

Do NOT take these cuts out. Thanks!
(Cashews’ GOLDEN Rule)
—
4Minute – What A Girl Wants on M.Net M!Countdown (2009-11-05) [cashemania].avi [45.0 MB]
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WPK7412Y

BEAST – Bad Girl on M.Net M!Countdown (2009-11-05) [cashewmania].avi [42.4 MB]
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=R2A17VX1

Brown Eyed Girls – Sign on M.Net M!Countdown (2009-11-05) [cashewmania].avi [47.79 MB]
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NV84AU2B

FT Triple – Love Letter on M.Net M!Countdown (2009-11-05) [cashewmania].avi [39.5 MB]
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JTP1UKUI

Hwanhee – Because I Missed Your Heart on M.Net M!Countdown (2009-11-05) [cashewmania].avi [42.8 MB]
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=PUZ03SYH

MBLAQ – Oh Yeah on M.Net M!Countdown (2009-11-05) [cashewmania].avi [45.3 MB]
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=03NDIYL4

SeeYa – His Voice on M.Net M!Countdown (2009-11-05) [cashewmania].avi [40.8 MB]
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HEE6D5TY

Seo In Kook – Calling You on M.Net M!Countdown (2009-11-05) [cashewmania].avi [40.6 MB] ~Winner of Superstar K~
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5L8TAEVE

U-Kiss – Man Man Ha Ni on M.Net M!Countdown (2009-11-05) [cashewmania].avi [47.4 MB]
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=90MB8NV3

Wheesung – Trickling on M.Net M!Countdown (2009-11-05) [cashewmania].avi [43.5 MB]
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7G0JLY8N

Zin Tae Hwa – Fallen Angel on M.Net M!Countdown (2009-11-05) [cashemania].avi [37.6 MB]
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WW99LD3L

Thanks a bunch, Angelica
Please comment if downloading^^

Note: Full show MU link is up. It’s over 1GB which means only Premium MU accounts can access them. However, check out our post on how to bypass that limit / download as Premium member
http://cashewmaniakpop.wordpress.com/2009/07/10/cashews-move-to-megaupload/

Unlike recent posts I want to congratulate Apple for something – namely the launch of the mighty mouse.  It’s a great addition to the product lineup.  It’s a bit of a pain to install and to make use of all of its features requires everything to be updated – including the mouse software for some reason.  Anyway, despite an install that reminded me of what Microsoft products used to be like to install, it is a great product and shows that Apple can reinvent technologies, even peripheral ones.

PS – the Motorola/Verizon/Google Droid officially launched today.  That means we won’t be seeing any more of the teaser ads.  But has anyone really paid attention.  I stopped by Best Buy at lunch today and saw one person playing with the new phone.  Not exactly the mania a new iPhone creates…

Wie in einem Schneewittchensarg kommt die neue Apple Magic Mouse daher. Keine große Umverpackung wie früher, sondern in einer schlichten durchsichtigen Plastikverpackung ist die Maus aufgebahrt. Hier wird das Auspacken eines Produkts wie bei Apple immer zur Zeremonie erhoben. Und: Apple macht auf grün.

Formschön und ergonomisch kommt das Bluetooth-Device daher. Sie ist deutlich flacher als ihre Vorgängerin Mighty Mouse mit dem schicken Nippel. Die neue Maus ist deutlich eleganter und basiert auf der Multi-Touch-Technologie. Das Umgewöhnen dauert. Die Navigation findet jetzt ausschließlich mit den Fingern statt. Anstelle mechanischer Tasten, Scrollräder oder Scrollbälle besteht die gesamte Oberseite der rund 70 Euro teuren Magic Mouse aus einer Multi-Touch Oberfläche. Und die Arbeit damit ist cool, sehr cool sogar.

Die Installation ist ein wenig gewöhnungsbedürftig. Zunächst konfiguriert man die Maus als klassisches Blauzahn-Gerät. Ist dies geschehen, bitte unbedingt die Softwareaktualisierung starten. Und siehe da: Es findet sich ein 67 MByte (!) großer Maustreiber in the Cloud zum Laden. Nach einem Neustart (bin ich jetzt bei Windows?) lässt sich die Magic Maus in der Systemsteuerung Maus konfigurieren.

Die Arbeit kann beginnen: Die Magic Mouse besitzt ein nahtloses, berührungsempfindliches Gehäuse, das sie zu einer Einzel- oder Mehrtasten-Maus mit hochentwickelter Unterstützung von Gesten macht. Durch intuitive Fingerbewegungen können die Nutzer sehr einfach durch lange Dokumente scrollen, über große Bilder schwenken oder sich rückwärts und vorwärts durch eine Sammlung von Fotos oder Webseiten bewegen. Gerade das Wischen ist anfangs gewöhnungsbedürftig. Hier braucht man als User ein wenig mehr Einarbeitungszeit.

Wer zwei Finger auf der Multitouch-Oberfläche zugleich nutzt, können Sie etwa zwischen Bildern wechseln, die Größe verändern. Spitze für mich: Es lässt sich in der Videobearbeitung der Clip ein Stück vorspulen. Bewege ich die Fingerchen schnelle, wird auch der Clip schneller. Damit werde ich mein Contour Shuttle langsam in Rente schicken.

Die Magic Mouse ist gleichermaßen für Links- und Rechtshänder geeignet und die Befehle zur Mehrtasten- und Fingerbewegungs-Steuerung können sehr einfach in den Systemeinstellungen konfiguriert werden. Das Abtasten der Oberfläche durch den Lasersensor der Magic Mouse bietet, im Vergleich zu herkömmlichen optischen Sensoren, ein deutlich geschmeidigeres und gleichmäßiges Arbeiten auf mehr Oberflächen. Wer große Hände hat, der wird mit der Magic Maus ein Problem bekommen. Das zierliche Device wird schwer zu bedienen. Während die Mighty Maus vier belegbare Funktionstaste hatte, sind bei der Magic Maus nur noch zwei übrig geblieben. Mir persönlich reicht das, weil ich die vier Tasten nie belegt hatte.

Wer mit Windows arbeitet, hat zunächst Probleme: Ebenfalls interessant: Laut Apple Knowledge Base sagt die Apfelfirma, dass die Maus unter Windows entzaubert wird, Unter Windows mit Boot Camp geht das Ding nur als 1-Tasten-Maus. Herunterscrollen und das Tippen mit zwei Fingern geht nicht. Aber wer braucht schon Windows?

Après le léopard des neiges

Checkout the impulse buy, which happened to be the new Apple Magic Mouse “the world’s first Multi Touch mouse” which is a treat to use in Windows 7 as it is in OSX which is smooth and slick. Well worth the upgrade from the Mighty Mouse!

There have been numerous reports of people receiving shipping notices from Apple stating their Magic Mouse orders have been shipped. When it was introduced, Apple announced the mouse would not be available for standalone purchase until the end of October. Apple should be meeting that goal, however customers are still waiting for the device to appear in retail stores. Yesterday, Apple released software updates allowing Snow Leopard and Leopard to access the full range of functions available with the Magic Mouse.

New Apple Magic Mouse

Apple is a company that is known for unveiling new products that are innovative and elegant in design. This is somewhat of a deciding factor which attracts potential buyers regularly to purchase their products. The company has added many new additions recently to their store, most notably the new Magic Mouse.

The Magic Mouse, is the first multi-touch, capacitive sensored mouse available on the computer market. The mouse lacks any visible buttons, or the scroll ball from the last mouse released by Apple. All scrolling and clicking is done through the sensors on the surface, which allows momentum scrolling; similar to the iPod Touch and iPhone. The wireless Bluetooth mouse features fingerswiping, meaning you can swipe along the surface in any direction and the page your on responds in that manner.

While the product is graceful in design, the novelty of multi-touch can wear off for some used to the Apple Mighty Mouse.  According to Macworld, those used to the multiple button functions of the Mighty Mouse, may be disappointed with this product. In essence, the Magic Mouse merely functions as a two-button mouse, and if not used on Mac OS X 10.5.8 or higher, it is just that. The same applies (for those with the current Mac OS build) running Bootcamp, Parallels, or the like; no multi-touch available.

Yet the design and multi-touch features will be the clincher in the deciding factor for potential buyers. If having two buttons only isn’t an issue, then this iteration of Apple’s mouse will be the perfect buy for you.

Official Site:   http://www.apple.com/magicmouse

Peace,

Sha’ul.

The other day Apple released the successor to their horribly failed “Might Mouse”, “Magic Mouse“.

The Magic Mouse is, but of course, touch sensitive. Yes. It is, according to Apple, “Intuitive, smart, dynamic,” as well as “[reaching] another milestone.”

Now, the picture of it looks great. But once you realize what it actually is, you begin to also realize (if you’re like me) what a terrible idea it is. It’s touch sensitive, which means that you have to actually lift and tap down your finger to click on something. Think about it. When was the last time you did that? Everyone nowadays rests their finger on the mouse and simply presses down to click. It would be terribly inconvenient. Also, I imagine that the surface would become dirty, wet, or whatever.

Apple does this thing, which they like to call “intuitive” along with other colourful adjectives. They generally try to simplify things. But what they don’t realize is that there’s a fine line between simplicity and pain-in-the-assity, and they tend to cross it. Look at the iPod Shuffle. One button? The user has to essentially use morse code to control all the features.

Also, there are certain products or things that don’t need simplifying, or changing. Do you think all books are going to be replaced with digital media soon? No! Because books are fine the way they are. We’re used to them, and we like them. Mice are the same. Does anyone not like tactile response? Buttons? No. They work just fine, and replacing them with touch-sensitive stuff just makes them worse.

I also think that the gestures are going to be both confusing and/or annoying, but maybe not as much as the rest. I just think that it’s too complicated, and I suspect that mistakes may be made, what with the touch-sensitivity.

Quoting Philip Defranco on YouTube, “Apple could have replaced the Mighty Mouse with a piece of wood and it still would have been better.” At least they made the effort.

In the meantime, I’ll try to get to an Apple store to test one out. Sure as heck not buying one, at $69 bucks.

Avant-hier Apple a mis à jour la quasi-totalité de sa gamme d’ordinateur et, force est de constater que les améliorations sont pas dégueux. Côté portables les MacBook voient leur finition améliorée, avec un écran éclairé aux LEDs, ce qui est un gros plus. Les iMacs prennent en puissance avec des processeurs de fou furieux en option et profitent d’un nouveau design pour accompagner des écrans encore plus grands. Mais la grosse nouveauté de pseudo ouf malade c’est la nouvelle souris des iMacs, la Magic Mouse. Ouais, chez Apple on n’a peur de rien question marketing. Vous comprenez les gars, notre souris elle est « magique ». Effectivement c’est sexy la branlette du tout tactile, la souris sans boutons et son algorithme mystique qui détermine ce que veut l’utilisateur à tout moment. Ce qui m’aura très vite gavé, c’est qu’il aura fallu moins d’une heure après l’annonce du nouveau matos pour qu’un de mes potes évangéliste de la pomme vienne me dire de changer de bord.

On peut reprocher un max de trucs à Apple, l’opacité de la communication, la politique de management, les tarifs élevés, le manque de souplesse pour l’utilisateur et bien d’autres griefs. Mais ce qui ce, perso, me casse le plus les couilles, ce qui m’énerve le plus chez la pomme, c’est ses fans. Y’a rien de plus chiant qu’un connard qui tient absolument à te convertir, à te faire lâcher ton ordi de prédilection, comme si en n’étant pas mac user, tu étais dans le péché. Vous ne trouvez pas que ça a un côté super religieux, niveau prosélytisme ? La plus grosse force de frappe d’Apple, c’est ses consommateurs. Sans même leur intimer l’ordre d’aller évangéliser les masses, les bouffeurs de pomme se font une joie de monter au clash et d’aller forcer le dialogue. Le rêve de tout département marketing, posséder une armée de drones bénévoles entièrement dévoués à la cause. Un comportement d’autant plus suspicieux et flippant qu’il ne se retrouve pas ailleurs.

Certes, je me fais souvent prendre à parti par des linuxiens, mais c’est plus pour me cracher leur mépris au visage que de tenter de me faire basculer. On ne voit pas souvent non plus des mecs aller faire chier une pauvre fille avec son MacBook, a lui rabattre les oreilles pendant des heures pour aller chez Microsoft. Perso je n’ai pas besoin de me rassurer dans mon mode de vie en allant lobotomiser mes amis. Les iMoutons me rétorqueront que c’est parce que Windows, c’est de la merde, que ma souris Logitech double mollette quintuple bouton, c’est de la merde. Et que si je ne pars pas évangéliser, c’est que je sais que mes goûts sont à chier. Sauf que j’ai bossé des mois de stage sur un iMac, j’ai habité un an chez une copine à qui j’avais conseillé un iMac pour son utilisation perso. J’ai conscience des forces et des faiblesses de chaque camp. L’objectivité fait que je ne ressens pas le besoin d’aller pourrir mon entourage à moins qu’ils ne me le demandent.

M’est avis qu’il y a moyen de faire une vraie thèse de socio-marketing sur l’inconscient collectif des Mac Users. Tout ce que j’espère, c’est de pas m’en reprendre plein la gueule avec ces nouveautés. J’ai encore des migraines induites par les vociférations des pros iPhone et j’angoisse déjà de l’arrivée de l’iTablet en 2010. Sérieux, si vous avez du matos Apple, faites moi plaisir et gérer votre passion comme votre branlette quotidienne : en plaisir solitaire.

Demain, je réaliserai que je suis un adulte.

A PART CA STAGE !!!

A part ça, aujourd’hui, Windows 7 sort. Pour avoir bien tâté la béta, je peux vous dire que c’est une tuerie et le top départ pour la mise en route de l’achat de mon nouveau PC. Je vais kiffer jusqu’à compenser toute l’énergie négative envoyée par mes parfois connards d’amis.

Apple is doing a great job with their continuous efforts bringing beautiful technologies to our hands. Remember the amazing Mighty Mouse? well that’s history! Now it’s the new Magic Mouse. Just one piece of slick, smooth, clear plastic covers the whole mouse. No buttons, no scrolls, yet it’s clickable, scrollable even swipe with two fingers! They’re kind of taking the concept of their trackpad in notebooks to the mouse itself. Once again Apple, Bravo.

Wczoraj Apple uraczyło nas wysypem nowości, choć może właściwiej byłoby napisać “odnowionych produktów”. Wyjątki to mini, które zyskało interesujące, serwerowe wcielenie i nowa Magic Mouse. Osobiście potrzeby posiadania serwera na razie nie czuję, a od niedawna nie posiadam także myszki!

Już od dłuższego czasu nie mam serca do gryzoni z logo jabłuszka: albo są zupełnym nieporozumieniem (“krążek” dostarczany z pierwszymi wersjami iMac), albo przesadzają z minimalizmem (jeden przycisk w czasach OS X był już dziwny), albo z ceną i awaryjnością (problemowa kuleczka w Mighty Mouse). Z tych powodów od dawna używałem myszek… Microsoft. Tak, tak, z pozostałych producentów jedynie MS umiał stworzyć coś, co nie wymagało osobnego odbiornika (Bluetooth), zapewniało 4-kierunkowe przewijanie i miało więcej niż 3 klawisze. Ostatnia z moich myszek pozwalała także na wygodne ładowanie, nie każąc mi rezygnować z możliwości użycia bateryjki z kiosku, ale i ona przegrała z najnowszym produktem firmy Wacom.

Bamboo Fun Pen & Touch to niewielki tablet (mam wersję Small), będący równocześnie sporym touchpad’em. Tak jest, nowy tablecik reaguje nie tylko na dotyk, ale i gesty! Obsługiwane gesty są świetnie znane posiadaczom iPhone czy nowszych MacBook’ów: mamy znajome powiększanie, obracanie, zmianę na poprzedni/następny element. Wszystko ładnie działa w iPhoto, Preview, Photoshop Elements czy Safari. Muszę przyznać, że ten produkt wyjątkowo przypadł mi do gustu – piórka używam rzadko, ale multi-touch w tym wydaniu wydaje mi się wygodniejszy niż w najnowszym gryzoniu Apple. Cena też jest konkurencyjna – zwłaszcza w stosunku do cen myszek z jabłkiem, a wybrana przeze mnie wersja Fun zawiera m.in. licencję Adobe Photoshop Elements (6 dla Mac OS X, 7 dla Windows). Dla tych, którzy ani programu graficznego, ani piórka nie potrzebują, Wacom przygotował Bamboo Touch, który kosztuje mniej niż Magic Mouse (mysz ma kosztować 309 zł). Najmniej atrakcyjnie wg mnie prezentują się wersje Pen (tylko piórko) i Pen & Touch (bez Fun) – ta ostatnia jest tylko 40 zł tańsza od wersji Fun, ale nie zawiera licencji Photoshop’a. W dodatku czarny tablet nie pasuje do aktualnego wzornictwa Apple.

A oto, jak wygląda tablet na moim biurku:

Go buy this t-shirt:

Or just follow the advice found thereupon.

News

• A nuclear fuel agreement is reached in Iran.
• Human Rights Watch says dozens of ethnic Uighurs have disappeared since being detained after riots in China.
• The really, really smart people at Apple release a brand new iMac, complete with the really, really pretty Magic Mouse (below). They really know how to make attractive products over there.
  

Health care

• According to CBO estimates, the House’s desired bill–which includes a public option, hurray!–will cost $871 billion, and will cut the deficit.

Green

• Conservative values to achieve liberal goals?

Miscellaneous

• Freakonomics authors Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt get climate change wrong.
• Marginal Revolution points out some successful government bureacracies.
• Illustrator Marc Johns’ "If Paper Towels Could Talk." Hilarious.
• If you don’t like reading about giant spiders, don’t click on this link.

So apple have finally revealed the new magic mouse. Bringing the iPhone’s Multi-touch capability to the mouse you can slide your finger in any direction to perform various actions, vertically to scroll (it can read the momentum of your finger for faster or slower scrolling) or horizontally to browse through tabs in Safari or pictures in iPhoto which is pretty dope and eliminates the problem of the old mighty mouse’s scroll wheel getting goobed up. Coming in a nice flat design and only costing 69$ and releasing very soon.

Cheeeeyeeh!!

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