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Next: Google Docs drops support for .docx format

6 days ago on Google demands Microsoft remove YouTube Windows Phone app, cites lack of ads 1 recommend

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“Closing products always involves tough choices, but we do think very hard about each decision and its implications for our users.”

Then, Because We Can, we just do it. The competition is just a click away.

9 days ago on Google's SMS Search is the latest legacy service to get the axe

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We’re entirely pleased with Pixelmator. My only gripes have been with the selectivity of the magic wand (maybe that’ll be improved tomorrow) and the visibility of their marching ants. The ants are true crap. When I really need them for fine details, I find that I must drop out of Pixelmator for a moment and into the lumbering beast GIMP.

14 days ago on Pixelmator 2.2 goes after graphic design with new shape tools and vectors-first UI 1 reply

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Google Glass is the pocket protector of the modern era. All it needs is a pencil with a slide-on clip.

16 days ago on Google Glass' awkward interactions parodied on 'Saturday Night Live'

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Yep, BTDT. Can be time-consuming at times, especially when areas to be excluded from the desired selection are quite near (to Pixelmator’s eye but not to the human eye) the shade of the shape being selected). I usually have better luck with polygon-select. At least it deals a bit better with the occasional manual “spastic jerk” than the free-form lasso. ;-) Oh well, it’s a great life if ya don’t weaken, but who the hell wants to be strong?

18 days ago on Acorn 4 flies through image editing with new filter UI, improved speed, and curves

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GIMP in my experience is the Photoshop replacement (having used the latter). We’re not among the rich and famous able to continually afford to buy new upgrades to Photoshop. I think Adobe is too damned arrogant in its pricing strategy. Photoshop has some nice stuff, though. And I haven’t found anything that compares with Bridge in speed and ease of use.

20 days ago on Acorn 4 flies through image editing with new filter UI, improved speed, and curves 1 reply 1 recommend

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I’m curious. Someone please weigh in. My two greatest gripes with Pixelmator, and why I’d consider Acorn, are this. First, Pixelmator has pure crap for “marching ants”. I can barely see them. At times, I drop out of Pixelmator and into GIMP when I need to make a very delicate selection, just to see the ants. Then I copy the result of the selection back to Pixelmator and proceed. Second, Pixelmator’s magic wand and lasso tools leave much to be desired. The former is at times either too sensitive or under-sensitive, and its feathering is unpredictable. The latter is jumpy and may suddenly create a selection across the layer from the beginning to the current point of process. There is no “intelligent” lasso. Does Acorn whup Pixelmator here? (I depend on a graphics editor for my and clients’ websites: we could use GIMP, but it can be overwhelming at times.)

20 days ago on Acorn 4 flies through image editing with new filter UI, improved speed, and curves 1 reply

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Matter of taste. I rather like it.

21 days ago on Space robots land on Canadian currency 2 recommends

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It’s going to be hard to tread the line between the privacy that folks want and the protection they demand. There’s a haze over the continuum between the outrage over TSA patdowns and the perception that Boston (and potential New York) bombings could have been more readily foreseen through more intensive surveillance.

21 days ago on White House responds to petition against CISPA, calls for new bill that 'protects privacy'

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When I saw suggestions about internet surveillance as a means of preventing the Boston (and potential New York) bombings, the first thing I thought was, “CISPA”. According to the Google Transparency report https://www.google.com/transparencyreport/userdatarequests/countries/?t=table the good ol’ USA is the leader in “the number of law enforcement agency requests for information” received at Google and YouTube. Sad, but true. Privacy, schmivacy.

25 days ago on Privacy is 'off the table' in a 'post-9/11 world,' says New York City police chief

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While in many respects you are very correct, if you’ll investigate that report, you’ll note that the good ol’ U.S.A. is a world leader when it comes to the amount of information requested about Google users by the government. Sad, but true.

26 days ago on Senate Commerce Committee suggests CISPA may be dead in the water 1 reply 3 recommends

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Excuse me, legislators, but just what the hell distraction difference to the driver is there between this phone use and dealing with a bunch of bawling brats in the backseat?

28 days ago on Department of transportation thinks cars should stop you from texting while driving

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“…a USB token that plugs into the user’s computer and communicates its identity via a website…”

Hmm… I wonder whose website Google has in mind. /sarcasm

As for biometrics, I’m not sure I’m comfortable having my bios on file and traceable by Google (or anyone else) as a condition for using the internet: just another (greater) target for advertising, not to mention identity theft, risk were the database store to be compromised. Gonna take some real creative minds to get around all this…

28 days ago on Google accelerates push to replace passwords by joining FIDO Alliance

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But a man can scream “Fire!” in a crowded theater if indeed there is a fire.

29 days ago on AP Twitter account hacked, makes false claim of explosions at White House (update)