January 3, 2014
Fender Custom Shop 2014 line-up ∞
Speaking of Fender, they just announced their 2014 line-up.
Fender Vaporizer amp ∞
A new amp in Fender’s Pawn Shop Series. I bet this sounds great.
30 movies turning 30 in 2014 ∞
Mashable:
We gathered up some of our favorite flicks from the year George Orwell warned us all about.Sorry in advance for making you feel old.
Sigh. So very, very old.
Apple’s strategy ∞
Ben Bajarin:
Folks claim that because Apple’s competition is doing something that Apple should also or they will lose. Yet what I love about Apple’s strategy is that it is never around what the competition is doing. Apple marches to beat of their own drum. This is fundamentally mis-understood by so many.
I agree with Ben. Companies will release products that may be in a category Apple is interested in, but Apple is not going to change its strategy to release something before it’s ready. The so-called experts fail to realize that many of the products introduced are guesses by companies to try to beat Apple to a market. Often times, these products are not thought out very well and eventually fail. Apple enters a market because it feels it can dominate that market. It makes products for its customers, with the expectation that the money will follow—exactly the opposite of how most other companies operate.
Analog optical guitar cable ∞
I’m intrigued.
Android’s clusterfuck ∞
As Michael Mulvey points out, it’s not just fragmentation, but Google’s lack of attention to design.
BlackBerry sues Ryan Seacrest ∞
Blackberry has today filed a lawsuit against startup Typo Keyboards, which is backed by Ryan Seacrest. The company alleges that Typo copied BlackBerry’s patented ‘iconic’ keyboard design.
I actually agree with BlackBerry.
SubmitDMCA ∞
Our mission is to take the pain and tediousness out of the DMCA takedown submission process. We make this as easy as possible by creating tools that help you quickly create submissions, track existing submissions and organize the results.
Great idea.
The case for open robotics
As technology evolves, it frequently faces a fork in the road, a choice between becoming open or closed. We’re used to this choice with software. There are shades of grey with software licenses, but to me, if I can access the source code, modify it, rebuild it, then pitch the whole thing back into the public pile, that’s open.
Art can be open or closed. Most of the books you read are protected by copyright. Some have moved into the public domain. A recent lawsuit moved the characters Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson into the public domain.
Leslie Klinger, a Sherlock Holmes expert, had sued the Conan Doyle Estate Ltd. in February 2013, claiming that it has no copyright on the Holmes and Watson characters or the world of Baker Street, as the key elements of that fictional world, including 46 of the 56 Sherlock Holmes stories, are in the public domain.
The choice to be open or closed is becoming a critical issue in the world of robotics. A great deal of excellent work is being done using open source platforms such as the Arduino microcontroller. A universe of open source software has emerged based on the Arduino. Other computers used in robotics or in computer science have emerged. Some are not open hardware (manufacturing is done under license), but support an open source community of operating systems and software.
On the flip side are robotics efforts by the military, or by corporations like Sony (The AIBO mechanical pet) or iRobot (The Roomba vacuum robot). Their efforts are clearly either secure or closed (at least they started that way).
As was the case for software and for the arts, a strong case can be made for opening up robotics, as much as possible. This article does a good job on laying all this out.
The trouble with open platforms is that they open the manufacturer to a universe of potential lawsuits. If a robot is built to do anything, it can do something bad. If it can run any software, it can run buggy or malicious software. The next killer app could, well, kill someone.
Liability in a closed world is fairly straightforward. A Roomba is supposed to do one thing and do it safely. Say a Roomba causes an injury in the course of vacuuming the floor. Then iRobot generally will be held liable as it built the hardware and wrote or licensed the software. If someone hacks the Roomba and uses it to reenact the video game Frogger on the streets of Austin, Texas (this really happened), or used the Roomba for a baby rodeo (it’s a thing), then iRobot can argue product misuse.
In some sense, there’s a battle between liability and the evolution of robotics. There’s also the battle between education and profits. This is a critical time. Robotics is still in its infancy, but its character is being formed. Interesting stuff. Lots to think about here.
Fantastic collection of Mac keyboard shortcuts ∞
This is worth looking through, even if you already are a savvy Mac user. Know any Mac newbies? Pass this along.
Reservoir Dogs the movie via Twitter ∞
Reservoir Dogs on Twitter:
Eight men dressed in BLACK SUITS, sit around a table at a breakfast cafe.
Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, “Reservoir Dogs” is a great movie. This Twitter account recreates the movie in 140 character chunks. Interesting experiment in what Twitter can do.
January 2, 2014
Using the new Mac Pro on its side ∞
I had no idea you could use the Mac Pro on its side, but according to this Apple support document, you can.
Snapchat knew about security hole for months ∞
Snapchat, the red-hot private messaging service, said on Thursday that it knew for months about a security loophole that allowed hackers this week to harvest millions of phone numbers and announced changes to its systems.
Assholes.
The Loop Magazine Issue 18: Begging for App Ratings ∞
In this issue Wil Shipley talks about why developers ask you to rate their apps; Darren Murph wonders why American companies don’t give employees more time off; Jonathan Rhyne looks at some steps developers should take to legally protect themselves and their business; Matt Dusenbury tells of a sad story between a mother and daughter; and Doyle Armbrust talks about the new classical music scene.
BlackBerry is parting ways with Alicia Keys ∞
I don’t even know why I posted this. Just for a chuckle I guess.
I was an NFL player until I was fired by two cowards and a bigot ∞
Deadspin:
Hello. My name is Chris Kluwe, and for eight years I was the punter for the Minnesota Vikings. In May 2013, the Vikings released me from the team.I honestly don’t know if my activism was the reason I got fired.
However, I’m pretty confident it was.
Kluwe became famous off the football field back in September of 2012 when his letter to a politician went viral. It’s a sad end to his NFL career.
Foraging in Italy’s capital of white truffles ∞
Vocativ:
The truffle. It’s the hallmark of haute cuisine. Sorry, caviar, but you’re no match for the truffle’s earthy-flavored tastiness, beloved by chefs and epicures alike. The specialty comes in several varieties, including black and burgundy, but Italian white truffles are the most revered, and in turn, the most valuable. Alba, a hilly area in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy, is especially famous for its culinary gems, and it’s the place to look if you are hoping to find some.
I had never had real truffle (I thought it was a chocolate treat) until I went to Italy and was blown away by how even a little bit thinly shaved over a simple pasta dish could create such an explosion of flavour.
The skinny on incandescent bulbs ∞
Incandescent light bulbs are on the way out. But not right this second. A US law, passed in 2007, has made it illegal to manufacture or import incandescent bulbs that do not meet the new efficiency standards.
The old style 75- and 100-watt incandescent bulbs were phased out earlier this year. And this week the law hits 60- and 40-watt incandescent bulbs, as well. New incandescents that meet the new standards and generate almost the same brightness, however, have already hit the market.
People like my parents are preparing for the worst, just in case. The 2007 federal law that triggered such bulb collections actually does not favor one energy-saving technology over another; rather, it requires that all light sources such as compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and next-generation incandescent bulbs (like the GE 43W bulb designed to replace the 60-watt incandescent) meet a higher standard of energy efficiency, requiring less power to emit roughly the same amount of light.
One important point made by the linked article is the hazardous nature of fluorescent bulbs (CFLs).
Each CFL contains about five milligrams of mercury (less than one one-hundreth of the amount of mercury present in a mercury thermometer), essential to producing its light. Whirling the substance into smaller bits would send mercury vapor into the air, a bad idea because mercury is toxic and can cause neurological damage that is especially harmful to children and fetuses.
Point being, don’t throw CFLs in the trash. Recycle them at your closest hazardous waste recycling facility.
Manitoba Museum reports Winnipeg’s temperature as cold as surface of Mars ∞
CBC News:
In terms of astonishing weather facts, it doesn’t get much more impressive than being as cold as a distant planet for a day.The Manitoba Museum is reporting Winnipeg’s temperatures on Tuesday were actually as cold as the surface of Mars.
According to the Curiosity Rover, Mars reached a maximum temperature of -29 C on Tuesday, a temperature Winnipeg only reached shortly before 3 p.m.
If asked the question, “Why will you never live in Winnipeg?”, I will simply point to this.
Amplified: A Very Small Button ∞
Jim travels to Austin, Texas to join Dan in person for this very special episode. Along with 5by5 Producer Haddie Cooke, they discuss the new Mac Pro, Bitcoin, iPad keyboards, the iA Writer patent controversy, Tim Cook’s thank you to Apple employees, and more.
Sponsored by HostGator (coupon DANSENTME), SquareSpace (coupon DANSENTME1213) and Shutterstock (coupon DANSENTME12).
Four tech legal cases to watch in 2014 ∞
Good writeup on these 4 legal challenges, moving forward in 2014:
NSA spying litigation:
The Snowden leaks made public a great deal of information about government surveillance, both at home and abroad. Arguably, the most stunning and controversial program was the first that was revealed: the dragnet collection of every phone number called. That bulk data collection program inspired at least two lawsuits against the government and changed the nature of a third case.
The two lawsuits have had starkly different results; with both now sure to rise to appeals courts, it seems likely that the issue will ultimately reach the US Supreme Court. Certainly, the court as currently composed hasn’t been shy about weighing in on the most controversial and politically charged issues in recent years.
Megaupload:
2014 could prove to be a pivotal year for one of the United States’ most bizarre criminal suspects, Kim Dotcom. In July 2014, the German-born Dotcom is finally set to have his extradition hearing, which will decide whether he will be forced to decamp from New Zealand to the US to face criminal charges of copyright infringement. Further, he’s awaiting a decision from the Supreme Court of New Zealand to determine whether he should be allowed to have all the evidence that American authorities gathered against him. And to top it off, he’s suing the New Zealand government for millions for illegal surveillance and search, and those allegations will progress in 2014 as well.
The Silk Road:
2014 could also see the conclusion of the saga of Ross Ulbricht, the 29-year-old Texan accused of being the mastermind behind the notorious Silk Road site. If he doesn’t reach some kind of agreement with the government, Ulbricht’s case will head to trial next year.
Here’s a link to the Silk Road Wikipedia page.
Lavabit:
Just days after it was revealed that NSA leaker Edward Snowden had been using a secure e-mail service called Lavabit, it abruptly shut down. The service’s founder, Ladar Levison, made cryptic statements about how he had been forced to abandon the company he’d put ten years of hard work into, lest he become complicit in “crimes against the American people.”
Levison built e-mail “by geeks, for geeks”—and then turned off 410,000 accounts. Since then, much of the story has been made public. The FBI showed up at Levison’s door seeking to tap into his e-mail service to pursue a target, widely believed to be Snowden. Because of the way Lavabit was constructed, there was no way to tap into the e-mail of one particular Lavabit user. Once they learned that, federal agents demanded Lavabit’s private SSL key, which would effectively give them the “keys to the kingdom”—the ability to monitor every Lavabit user, in real time.
While Levison has said he’s always been willing to help law enforcement go after their specific target, he balked at handing over the private key. Once he was slapped with an order to hand over the key or pay $5,000 per day, he shut down the service, deleting the e-mails belonging to about 400,000 users, including his own.
Now, Levison is appealing the order at the US Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. It’s impossible to miss the fact that Levison’s appeal treads over some of the same grounds that the NSA litigation rests on, because the FBI agents are arguing that what they want to install on his e-mail service is basically a “pen register.” Thus, their legal grounds are similar to the justification for widespread NSA spying—the “metadata” simply isn’t constitutionally protected. Lavabit is arguing that the “pen register” statute can’t possibly be broad enough to justify the handover of private SSL keys, which would enable the collection of private data on hundreds of thousands of users.
Reddit’s tips for AppleTV owners ∞
Reddit user DeepWoods got a new AppleTV for Christmas and started a thread asking for cool tips. As always, Reddit replied. If you’ve got an AppleTV, follow the headline link and dig in.
January 1, 2014
This pickup truck is made of ice and you can actually drive it ∞
Gizmodo:
Behold the first self-propelled ice sculpture ever—a truck made of ice that actually works! It’s a real truck, using 11,000 pounds of ice over a regular truck chassis complete with engine and electrical system. Check out the videos to see how they built it—and how it melted.
This commercial is in heavy rotation here in Canada.
iMore Editors’ Choice ∞
Great list of iOS and Mac apps.
Apartment, completely unused since 1942, discovered in Paris ∞
I absolutely love stuff like this. Wish I could have been a French-speaking fly on the wall as they dug through the apartment.
Back in 2010 a Parisian apartment on the Right Bank, near the Opéra Garnier, left unoccupied since 1942 was discovered. It was owned by Madame de Florian – a socialite and an actress – who fled to the South of France during the second world war, leaving everything behind. She never came back to Paris but kept on paying her rent until the day she died when she was 91.
It’s only after she died that someone – a Commissaire Priseur – Auctioneer – re-enter her apartment for the first time in over 70 years.
Polydimethylsiloxane + sand = FUN
This has been around for a while, but is new to me. So deliciously awesome! Polydimethylsiloxane (or PDMS) is used in lots of products, from chicken nuggets and fries, to caulk, to shampoo. This use is my favorite.
Adding items to the Finder sidebar
Though this is likely old hat to many of you, I thought this was worth passing along for folks new to Mavericks or to the sidebar.
Before Mavericks, to add a file to the Finder sidebar, you simply dragged it over and released it. Easy to remember, easy to perform. The down side was accidentally adding items to the sidebar. Not a big problem, but it’s happened to me.
With Mavericks, Apple changed the way this works. If you drag a file to the sidebar, you can drop it into a folder stored in the sidebar, but releasing the file won’t add it to the sidebar itself.
There are two ways to do this. You can hold down the command (⌘) key while you drag the file, then drop it where you want it. Alternatively, you can select the file in a Finder window, then either choose File > Add to Sidebar or type the keyboard shortcut ⌘-control-T. Hat tip to Kirk McElhearn for that last one.
Pass it along.
AnandTech review of the new Mac Pro ∞
This is the review I’ve been waiting for. When I am in the market for a new camera, I always make my way to dpreview.com. Anand Lal Shimpi brings the same level of detailed, geeky goodness to his reviews.
This is a long, thoughtful review. A few highlights from Anand’s conclusions (but no substitute for reading the entire thing).
On taking advantage of multi-threaded software:
The new Mac Pro offers an option for those users whose workloads can benefit from having more cores, memory and GPU performance. The latest version of Final Cut Pro as well as the rest of Apple’s professional apps do a great job of splitting their work across multiple CPU cores. Even simple tasks like importing photos into iPhoto or Lightroom is extremely well threaded these days. It’s in these workloads where a 6, 8 or 12-core Mac Pro can offer a healthy performance advantage.
On the dual GPU design:
Apple’s big bet with the new Mac Pro however is on GPU computing becoming even more relevant in the future. Relying on CPU scaling alone the Mac Pro is doomed to moderate speed increases going forward. By leveraging a pair of high-end GPUs, including one more or less dedicated for compute work, Apple hopes to realize the sort of huge performance gains it has enjoyed in its phones/tablets over the years. The modern Apple is a company that values GPU performance, investing heavily in the GPUs used in all of its products. Even those that leverage Intel’s integrated graphics are pushed as far as possible within thermal constraints. It makes total sense that Apple would choose to outfit its highest end Mac with two GPUs.
It’s actually shocking how poorly Final Cut Pro 10.1 runs on older Mac Pros without an upgraded GPU (or even newer Macs with integrated graphics). It’s not uncommon to see an 8-core Mac Pro have the vast majority of its cores remain idle, waiting for effects to finish rendering on the GPU in some of these older configurations. If you haven’t upgraded the GPU in your Mac Pro you’ll likely see a tremendous performance increase when going to the new Pro.
On the thermal core design:
The new Mac Pro’s thermal core works extremely well in practice. The single, shared heatsink and large fan keep the system cool and quiet. Real world workloads that I threw at the machine weren’t enough to throttle any of the processors (CPU or GPU). Despite its compact proportions, the Mac Pro’s cooling solution is appropriately sized for the silicon it serves. I don’t see much room for Apple to move to more powerful GPUs though. If the next generation of GPUs aren’t significantly more power efficient, Apple may have to wait for 14/16nm FinFET based silicon before it can substantially upgrade the graphics power of the Mac Pro.
On 4K display support:
As the first Mac with proper 4K support (meaning not only resolution but 60Hz refresh rate as well), the Mac Pro does a reasonable job – assuming you pick the right monitor. It turns out there’s a very good reason Apple only offers the Sharp PN-K321 via the Apple Store: 4K display compatibility under OS X is still a bit like the wild west at this point. I do expect that Apple will quickly fix things (and likely offer their own 3840 x 2160 and/or 5120 x 2880 panels) in the near future, but early adopters beware.
I am disappointed that Apple didn’t enable any HiDPI modes on the 32” Sharp display. While I found 3840 x 2160 a great resolution for video work, for everything else it made on-screen menus and text a bit too small. I would love to see a 2560 x 1440 HiDPI option (rendering offscreen at 5120 x 2880 and but scaling down to 3840 x 2160 for display) but it looks like I may have to wait for Apple’s own display before I get something like that.
The final, final word:
All in all the new Mac Pro is a good update to its aging predecessor. Apple did a great job with the new chassis and build a desktop that’s extremely dense with compute. When I had to dust off the old Mac Pros to prepare them for this comparison I quickly remembered many of the reasons that frustrated me about the platform. The old Mac Pro was big, bulky, a pain to work on and was substantially behind the consumer Macs in single threaded performance. The new Mac Pro fixes literally all of that. If you have a workload that justifies it and prefer OS X, the Mac Pro is thankfully no longer just your only solution, it’s a great solution.
Mac Pro teardown from iFixit ∞
The new Mac Pro is built to be taken apart. This well-executed teardown from iFixit shows off the engineering excellence behind the Mac Pro design.
The teardown starts by removing the cover. Slide the lock-switch, pull off the cover. So easy. Truly a thing of beauty.
This leaves us with two upright graphics cards, forming the two legs of an isosceles triangle. One of the cards has an SSD mounted on it. The i/o panel, with its RAM slots forms the short leg of the triangle. The RAM cards are easily removable. Undo a single Torx 8 screw to remove the SSD. The two cards and the i/o panel are all attached to a giant triangular heat sink, the core of the entire operation.
While this stacks up fairly well for current Apple GPU offerings, the proprietary nature, and lack of an elegant external GPU option, may age this device before its time.
This is a fair point. Tough to replace these GPUs as they age.
Mac Pro Late 2013 Repairability Score: 8 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair)
That’s an excellent score.
While it will require a bit of digging, the CPU is user-replaceable—meaning intrepid fixers should be able to save considerably by upgrading from the base-level processor configuration.
I’ve done a fair amount of disassembly, repair, and upgrade on Macs over the years. This one seems much more accessible than most. That said, there clearly are limits to what you can do yourself. Upgrading from a base CPU to a higher-core CPU may be within reach for the handy, but there doesn’t appear to be any way to add additional storage or upgrade GPUs.
Dig in to the teardown for all the gory details.
Personally, I think the Mac Pro is a home run. I get the limitations, but the elegance of this design, the sheer power that the new Mac Pro brings to the table is plenty enough for me. As I said, a real thing of beauty.