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no grammar… no spelling….

2 days ago on MacBook Air review (13-inch, 2013) 1 recommend

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And why not? Performance crossed the threshold of being ‘more than enough’ for most users years ago, especially amongst laptops, and even more especially amongst ultrabooks. Why do you think we have ultrabooks as a growing market segment in the first place? a full-sized laptop will always be cheaper and give you better performance, but that’s just not as relevant to people anymore when performance has gotten so good at the baseline. It’s not as if the performance went down by any significant margin, anyway.

2 days ago on MacBook Air review (13-inch, 2013) 3 recommends

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Haswell is the new standard for ultrabooks, in the next few months all ultrabooks will be on it and there will be dozens of reviews on this site to compare and contrast. That’s why they reviewed this refresh.

2 days ago on MacBook Air review (13-inch, 2013) 1 recommend

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“More affordable than ever” as a pro seems to conflict a bit with “Paltry 128gb” as a con, particularly when the low-end used to only have 64gb, I must have missed when 256GB(Solid State) became the standard for storage on $999 ultrabooks. I mean, sure 128 is ‘paltry’ overall but in the context of ~$999 ultrabooks…

2 days ago on MacBook Air review (13-inch, 2013) 2 recommends

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So does Hova get to claim platinum sales before the album even drops now?

2 days ago on Jay-Z giving away 1 million early copies of new album to Samsung owners 1 reply

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I think it is possible. Increasingly studios are putting all of their eggs in one basket with regards to super releases that are meant to buoy their operations for the entire year. Increasingly we’re seeing more esoteric and lateral schemes to improve returns and Box Office receipts(such as the evolution from trilogies to multiple interconnected franchise movies) and increasingly movies are all sizzle and no steak and audiences are increasingly aware of it(evidenced by the whole “Well of course it’s just a dumb action movie, that’s the point and why I liked it” line of reasoning becoming prevalent) even if they’re still more or less going along with it for now.

But, just the same, they have figured out, for the most part, how to make tons of money and mitigate much of the traditional risks that go along with making and selling movies, even the big ‘flops’ still tend to come out on top after a year or two of international promotion and Blu-ray sales. So maybe this system can essentially go on indefinitely because why would it have to stop if they can turn losers into winners more or less. Still though, after a while superhero movies and reboots and sequels and ‘based on a’ movies do start to lose their luster in a big way and I think the reliance on them can be inherently cannibalistic in a sense that while you are giving audiences what they ‘want’ to see(e.g. “yay it’s kirk and spock, I recognize them I’m happy now!”) you’re not necessarily giving them anything new to take home and think about and become fans of and give it a generation or so and the framework that enabled the remixing and rebooting to exist just simply won’t resonate as strongly or even at all. Maybe. Or maybe people just want to see shiny things and hear loud noises for 2 hours and that’s enough to pay $20-30 up to $100+ (for couples and families and stuff)

6 days ago on Steven Spielberg and George Lucas predict ‘massive implosion’ in film industry

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It’s almost as if the market has matured and (the perception and marketing of) innovation isn’t as important as it was when the market was initially establishing itself. Shocking.

8 days ago on Tracing iOS 7's influences: Apple remixes almost everyone in the industry 1 reply

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You have to pay for Xbox360 multiplayer and ‘the kiddies’ are still there en masse.

9 days ago on Sony prices PlayStation 4 at $399, ships this holiday season in US and Europe 1 reply 1 recommend

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My gut was already telling me that if I got a next-gen system I’d go for the PS4 over the X1, this just makes it that much more likely, though I’m not even sure if I’m going to get either at this point. Even though it looks like a sinking ship, Wii U actually has the most games I’m at all interested in playing in the future.

9 days ago on Sony prices PlayStation 4 at $399, ships this holiday season in US and Europe 1 reply

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I highly doubt anyone will be confused by this. The slide to unlock animation will still pulse left to right and people have been performing that function for a very long time by now.

9 days ago on The design of iOS 7: simply confusing 1 reply 3 recommends

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Not immediately a fan of the new look. I liked the detailed faux 3d icons that we’ve had pretty much since OS X first debuted and while sometimes that style could be a bit obnoxious, it still looks great overall. The new look, just kind of feels like following trends more than trying to create new ones. I feel like I’m seeing skinny fonts and lightish/pastel-like colors everywhere along with gaussian blur and abstract shapes and ‘flatness’. If you goto the iTunes music store right now(or whatever your choice of music store is) I’d bet you’d find at least two albums whose cover artwork features this style of design within 5 minutes of browsing the front page/popular links.

People got so upset about the concept of skeuomorphism and it’s true that it can be taken too far and be made to look ridiculous but removing it entirely and going in the opposite direction hardly feels(or looks) any better to me really, and again, where the initial iOS design elements were striking and made a pretty strong statement, this time around it looks ‘great’ but doesn’t seem to connote much of a personality or uniqueness as it liberally takes inspiration from other popular aesthetics we’re seeing today.

Still, aesthetics aside, it does look like a solid upgrade.

Of course, joke is probably on me, just like so many times popular websites, apps, operating systems…etc. change their aesthetics the people who rail against it the most initially are usually pretty much completely ‘wrong’ against the multitudes that justifiably love it and before long even the harshest critics today will likely come to get used to the new look to where seeing screenshots of the older look will seem odd and out of place.

9 days ago on The design of iOS 7: simply confusing

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Cool. The 21st century is great. I’m happy.

13 days ago on Secret program gives NSA, FBI backdoor access to Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft data

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Well, this comment thread is surely bound to be full of rational and sane individuals discussing the topic at hand like adults who understand a more than us vs. them and all or nothing simplifications of the world. Can’t wait.

15 days ago on Samsung wins US import ban on AT&T iPhone 4 and 3G iPads in ongoing patent dispute 1 reply 1 recommend

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Been noticing this on a lot of sites lately, sign of the times. It really stands out when it’s a > 30 second video. Another awkward moment is when an emergency or serious breaking news story is developing(such as the recent tornadoes in OKC) and the news channel’s online stream hits you with ads before you can get to the feed.I mean, I get that they need the revenue, but you’d think in emergencies they could make exceptions.

16 days ago on Using Google Glass: on a hiking trip, completely offline

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Yeah, I personally think the main niche that might be attracted to Glass would be extreme sports and other active athletic hobbies, but realistically GoPro already satisfies that niche pretty well with helmet mounted cameras and bike mounted and glove mounted and etc etc etc. It’d probably be pretty easy for GoPro to make a compelling head mounted/glasses camera that outperformed Google Glass as a camera and was cheaper and more rugged.

16 days ago on Using Google Glass: on a hiking trip, completely offline

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Spot on, agreed with on all points. Glass is being billed as ‘the future’ or in someway the next major paradigm for consumer tech to replace smartphones, but it is destined to be a niche for people who tangibly can find a need for it(I think extreme sports enthusiasts will dig them, I think rock climbers will dig them, maybe cyclists too, but only while doing those hobbies, not for daily use), on its own it solves exactly zero actual real world issues other than addressing them in a novel/different way. Novel/different is fine and all, but on its own is not enough and not how technology tends to become mainstream and popular and most importantly actually useful.

16 days ago on Using Google Glass: on a hiking trip, completely offline 1 recommend

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It’s the type of story I’d have expected to get ~100 comments maybe and then fall off the front page, so anything over 150 or so doesn’t really make a difference!

20 days ago on Apple announces new $229 16GB iPod touch: 4-inch Retina display, no rear-facing camera

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How on earth does this thread have almost 400 comments? I mean, I know it’s Apple and they’ve been a little quiet with product updates/releases lately but seriously? This is one of the least interesting product tweaks they’ve ever announced.

20 days ago on Apple announces new $229 16GB iPod touch: 4-inch Retina display, no rear-facing camera 2 replies 1 recommend

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The ACA that got ‘rammed through’ is completely watered down from what was initially hoped to be passed and Liberals tend to hate it. So yeah, I call that moderate. There’s no public option, there’s no universal healthcare, and while more Americans will wind up being insured because of it, it will turn health insurance into something similar to car insurance, private companies battling out to entice you with their lowest rates and promises of helpfulness dominating every advertising slot on TV.

The provision about not being denied coverage for pre-existing conditions is nice and one of the more significant bits of the law, but even that is a ‘change at the margins’ compromise from a public option or universal healthcare.

So yes, I call that moderate. It is ‘sweeping’, it is ‘big’, but it is still compromised, it is still mind numbingly longwinded and complex, it still benefits private companies more than anyone else and the few bones that were thrown to the left are stripped down and likely to be mostly meaningless.

27 days ago on Obama promises more oversight for drone strikes, progress on closing Guantanamo Bay 1 reply 3 recommends

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Emotional, yes, baseless, no. Republicans are losing sway in this country. Increasingly they do not command the type of constituency that will enable them to thrive as a viable political party. They’ve alienated too many voter groups from blacks and hispanics to gays and muslims. Traditionally ‘red’ states are becoming increasingly ‘blue’ as populations grow and people have to address urbanization while the strongest ‘red’ states are the ones with the smallest population density.

The only way the Republican party stays relevant into the future is if they completely redefine themselves away from the proven nonsense of Reagan and Bush and towards a more socially progressive, religiously and ethnically tolerant and actually fiscally conservative direction. Abandon the proven failures of supply-side economics and side with research and science and away from religious ideologues. Abandon the All or Nothing Us vs. Them mentality and put America back to being a priority with a willingness to actually work through differences in strategy and accept that the goals and objectives outweigh what amount to minor feuds at the end of the day.

Basically, be a party that actually listens instead of a party that merely shouts slogans about personal responsibility and limited government and taxation while exhibiting none of those traits in their own operations or governance. There is room for such a party, much of the country would support it.

27 days ago on Obama promises more oversight for drone strikes, progress on closing Guantanamo Bay 1 reply

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That’s not really true. Executives says things and then have to backtrack on them in every industry and typically they keep their jobs just fine. Since this is a tech board, we don’t need to look far to see many examples of executives making claims or promises or statements about the release of a particular product only to find it taking longer or winding up compromised and half-assed. Happens all the time with executives. That’s one of the perks and curses of leadership that you don’t lose your job for such things, but also that such things fall on you to take the heat over(even if there are good reasons, it doesn’t matter)

27 days ago on Obama promises more oversight for drone strikes, progress on closing Guantanamo Bay 1 recommend

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Nah, History will probably (functionally) forget him in the big picture just as most presidents have been (functionally) forgotten. Well, he’ll be remembered for being the first ‘black’ president, and he might be remembered for ending the war in Iraq and Afghanistan(if and when that ever happens, realistically, we’ll probably have a US presence in both countries well into the foreseeable future). But nearly everything else about his presidency has been marked by frustrations, complications and gridlock without many ‘big’ things going through. ACA happened, but in a pretty compromised and pale way compared to what people might have initially wanted. Nearly everything else has been minor and largely inconsequential changes that any president could just as easily change back in the future.

History isn’t going to hate him, but it’s not going to love him either. Much like everything else in his presidency, just moderate and ‘change at the margins’ to a fault and ultimately, forgettable.

27 days ago on Obama promises more oversight for drone strikes, progress on closing Guantanamo Bay 1 reply 1 recommend

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Wow. You’re seriously comparing Benghazi to the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars? Are you deliberately pleading to a complete lack of scale and perspective? The “IRS Scandal”, care to tell us some more about that, because the more we learn the less of a scandal it appears outside of anywhere but FOX and the organizations affected by it were not solely ‘right-wing’ and while they probably shouldn’t have been targeted in the first place, they exist in a gray area of taxation that does merit more investigation. But again, if that’s a serious scandal to you, you should read more.

Last I checked, the targets of drone strikes were known terrorists, under Bush, this would have been applauded, under Obama, it’s castigated and we focus on “American Citizens” to make it seem like Obama is coming to get YOU. Last I checked Djhokar Tsarnaez is an American Citizen too. Funny how that works out. Yes, we should be careful with the road that Drone strikes takes us on, and it is regrettable and tragic if and when a mistake is made here, but exactly where is the scandal here? where is the corruption? How many American military personnel died accidentally in fire fights in Iraq or because of a bad executive or command decision? It’s sensationalistic FUD. The Worst you can say is that the Obama Administration has been trigger happy, though even that is disputable and by no means excessive given the shit storm that was Iraq and Afghanistan. I don’t love the idea of drone strikes, I don’t condone the idea of America being world police or pursuing the “War on Terror”, but you know damn well that if Obama hadn’t pursued the drone program that the Republican talking points would all be based around how much more at risk we are, how much more dangerous the world is, how weak Obama is…etc. Given the choice between engaging tens if not hundreds of thousands of soldiers on the ground versus the comparatively smaller operational logistics of drones and their potential upside for pursuing difficult-to-track targets, the latter makes a lot of sense. We are, after all, in a war, are we not? And again, if 4 “American Citizen” deaths are affecting you so badly, where the hell was this outrage when we went to war in the first place?

The last thing I’ll say before this devolves into more internet idiocy is your ridiculous appeal to “Liberal Extremism”. Calling Obama a Liberal is like calling Gandhi Hitler. He is a moderate by any definition of the word, Moderate-right in terms of international politics and much of history. But, even then, why bring up “Liberals” at all? What do they have to do with anything? Do you truly believe that anyone who isn’t Republican is a “liberal”? Or that anyone who doesn’t think Obama is the worst or near-worst president is one? There couldn’t possibly be any other explanation? The existence of “Liberal Extremism” as a thing has exactly zero relevance in this discussion when it is demonstrably less cohesive and less prominent than Republican(note, I’m not saying conservative here, I’m talking about the actual Republican Party) extremism. This appeal to false equivalency needs to stop. “Yes there are shitty people on both sides” is an utterly meaningless thing to say and enables the shittiest people to coexist and thrive in the relative shadow cast by the specter of ‘shitty people on the other side’. It is, in short, how extremism thrives.

But back to the point. Obama is by no means ‘as bad’ as Bush. Saying so is revisionist, blotting out reality nonsense. Most of the worst of Obama’s presidency has come in direction relationship to situations that Bush’s presidency is directly responsible for creating, as to the above, drone warfare is complicated, but is a potentially far more effective tool at dismantling terrorist activity than sending 100,000 troops onto the ground and throwing away a trillion dollars. You’re complaining that Obama fucked up here, and it is easy to say that in hindsight, but look at the situation he is dealing with fercrissakes. His options: Leave the area entirely and earn the scorn of claiming he should have been more responsible with the exit strategy. Stay in a full-scale conflict status and face the scorn of endangering tens of thousands of American lives and keeping American military presence unnaturally strong as well as keeping us in ‘open war’ status(and be chided for even more reckless spending and waste). Or, start to withdraw personnel and operations while using new advances in automated warfare to stalk high priority targets in an attempt to dismantle existing operations and discourage new ones from forming. All three options suck in different ways, but the option Obama has chosen, like nearly everything else he has ever done, is the moderate path, the least extreme and while you can give him your scorn for ‘mishandling it’, um…. where were you circa 2000-2008? and furthermore, by all indications, they are actually acknowledging that things could be handled better! Again, where was that sensibility with Bush?

27 days ago on Obama promises more oversight for drone strikes, progress on closing Guantanamo Bay 1 reply 4 recommends

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That’s absurd. He is by no means ‘as bad’. People need to stop treating this shit like it is some gameshow. Yes, Obama has continued many of Bush’s dumb policies, he’s also been particularly hamstrung by a historically oppositional “other side” in attempting to waylay and disrupt anything he tries to do, at all. But to consider that “as bad” as Bush, who oversaw one of the most corrupt and destructive decades of modern American politics and openly embraced the worst aspects of capitalism and excess while engaging us in two ludicrously expensive wars? Get some perspective. Obama is by no means the best president, but he is far from the bottom of the list.

Nearly everything about Obama has been moderate and ‘change at the margins’ to a fault. He talks sweeping changes and he markets himself bigger than he is sure, but his strategies have always been built around trying to compromise, trying to make incremental progress, trying to find common ground…etc. He has approached governance with responsibility, patience and temperance. Even if he failed at everything he did, the simple premise of having that attitude alone makes him better than most presidents. Certainly the fake-cowboy yokels Reagan and Bush II. Could you imagine if that attitude was normal instead of being exceptional?

People complain that politicians don’t demonstrate the qualities Obama has demonstrated all day long, Obama does and they complain that he doesn’t get enough done or that he is slow to make changes, what are you asking for? The US isn’t a dictatorship, Obama, like any president, can only work within the system and when that system is being saturated by partisanship and ideological extremism, what else can be done? Really?

27 days ago on Obama promises more oversight for drone strikes, progress on closing Guantanamo Bay 3 replies 8 recommends