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Derrick Story, the Mac DevCenter Managing Editor, writes in a recent newsletter:

bq. “First, I want to point out that as cool as the iSight is, it’s
only the tip of the Mac iceberg. The reason why it’s so powerful
is because your OS X computer is this amazing digital media
machine. As you will see, the iSight tricks are enabled by Apple
technologies such as QuickTime, FireWire, and Mac OS X. Plugging
the iSight into your Mac is like plugging a simple telephone into
a wall jack. It’s not so much the phone that’s incredible as it is
the infrastructure enabling it.”

I think Derrick highlights one of the fundamental advantages the Mac platform (and I mean platform in the all-inclusive, not-just-the-CPU sense) still maintains over any other hardware-OS combination. Because Apple maintains a level of control which each part of the platform, they’re able to ensure a really flexible, powerful infrastructure.

Or, put simply, “everything just works.”

And the value inherent in that simple statement is all to often overlooked and underestimated.
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written by Kyle

Yahoo! News – House Backs Launch of Do-Not-Call List

No surprise there, I just feel sorry for the lawmakers who voted against the measure.

Choice quotes (since this seems to be a choice quotes day) follow.

Referring to the speed with which the new bill was passed:

bq. “This legislation got to the House floor faster than a consumer can hang up on a telemarketer at dinnertime”

And on the court’s decision vs. the 50 million people already on the list:

bq. “Fifty million Americans can’t be wrong.”

written by Kyle

Experts: Reliance On Microsoft A Danger To National Security

There are some gems of quotes in here–some of my favorites include:

bq. “Ironically, Microsoft’s efforts to deny interoperability of Windows with legitimate non-Microsoft applications have created an environment in which Microsoft’s program interoperate efficiently only with Internet viruses.”

bq. “I don’t think that Microsoft can ever fix this.”

bq. “When the government uses a product whose monopoly position undermines its security, anti-trust becomes a national security issue.”

bq. –Dan Greer, CTO of @Stake

One other interesting tidbit from the report: Microsoft’s attempt to integrate applications (Internet Explorer, MSN Messenger, Windows Media Player) with the OS has resulted in code that 15 to 35 times more complex.

written by Kyle

Scribbles’ hundred and first posting, with sixty one comments. On to two hundred…

written by Kyle

From “Soccer Flick Has Legs Online” (at Wired News):

“We were pleased to see that there is interest in the film (online),” the spokesman said. “At the same time, we work with the MPAA and our legal department to vigorously prosecute those who take our property and use (it) for their own purposes.”

–Miramax spokesperson

Translation: “Wow, it’s cool people like this (cha-ching!). Now we will hunt you down like the criminals you are.”

Oh the irony…

written by Kyle

Today I called into the 60th District court in Muskegon to find out how much expired plates were going to cost me. After a few minutes on the phone, the helpful clerk asked me if my ticket had a green bar at the bottom. I replied that it did not, that it had a yellow bar. Apparently the officer ticketing me made a mistake and gave me the wrong kind of ticket, which meant paperwork needed to be re-done and I did not have to come into court (as the officer lead me to believe).

To re-cap: I made a mistake and had an orange sticker instead of a green sticker on my plate. The officer made a mistake and gave me the yellow ticket instead of the green. _My_ mistake cost me $70, and _his_ mistake cost me time and worry.

Is there any such thing as a citizen’s citation?

written by Kyle

Apparently C.S. Lewis is an ungodly author (see the note about Chris Rice at the very bottom).

For discussion in the comments: what should be our Christian response to brothers and sisters of this viewpoint? I’ve always struggled with this issue.

written by Kyle

Teen dies after complications from abortion pill

As the article points out, this incident will no doubt server as a rallying point for pro-life activists. Introspectively, knowing that kind of bothers me. I know some will be well intentioned, seeking only to protect other young people from harm. But others will take the zealot’s path, and use a tragedy to further their sacred crusade. That’s all this will be to them–something to use.

I do hope that this causes everyone involved in this debate to take a better look at legislation surrounding family planning counseling. Recently my wife and I were visited by a salesperson from a construction company. After four hours of selling and pushing to sell us their remodeling services, we signed on the dotted line. Now there were two reasons I signed–I wanted to go to bed (it was past midnight), and I knew that state law dictated a three day period in which we could cancel the contract without penalty.

Turns out that three day waiting period was a wonderful provision. I woke up in the morning with a clear head and knew all the reasons why we had no business signing that contract. I was naive (I should have kicked the salesperson out long before midnight) and was not thinking clearly. I canceled and we will be better off for it.

There’s no reason this protection should not be in place for those seeking family planning counseling, and for the same reasons.

written by Kyle

Wow – I’m not even sure where to begin with this one. 3 sentences, 3 strikes.
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written by Kyle

In William Grosso’s recent “National Review Continues to Get It (National Review Continues to Get It)”:http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/3748 I came across the comment “Technologoy and Left v. Right (Technologoy and Left v. Right)”:http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/user/view/cs_msg/23897.

Now then, I like to consider myself a moderate, but at the end of the day I’m 1) from the Midwest, grew up in the Midwest, still living in the Midwest and 2) a Christian with conservative theology (on a side note, I came across the phrase “radical orthodoxy” the other day). On the political spectrum of the nation, I’m definitely leaning towards the conservative side of moderation.

So here’s my question for those more liberal than I (which may be a rhetorical question, because I doubt very many of them read my blog, but oh well)–would you agree with the assessment that “Liberals only have politics to give meaning to their lives?” What about the assertion that “liberalism is now the establishment?”

Seems to me that both sides claim the other controls the media. I know most of my family members would swear up and down that mainstream media favors liberal positions. My blogging connections connect me with a fair number of vocal liberals; I’ve seen complaints about conservatives controlling the media.

So who’s really in control?

Devil’s advocate: maybe the journalists out there are doing their jobs (well, except for Fox News) and maintaining a neutrality that makes them a target for both sides.

written by Kyle