512 Pixels

A while back, Apple announced new earbuds with a mic (like the iPhone’s earbuds) for iPods. And while the earbuds haven’t shown up yet (being promised in October), Apple has dropped updated software for the new iPod Nano and Classic to turn on support for the in-line mic. Apple:

The control capsule located on the cable of the right earpiece includes a microphone and three buttons. With this convenient remote, you can adjust the volume, control music or video playback — including play/pause and next/previous — and record voice memos.

Ars, on the development of Besiegement ( iTunes Link), a tower defense game for the iPhone, made (mostly) on a PC:

The PC development side consisted of two OpenGL windows representing landscape and portrait views. These windows translated mouse movements into “touches,” similar to fingers. The right mouse button simulated a second finger, similar to the iPhone simulator on the Mac. In addition to touches, Randall added keystroke equivalents for standard system events including the Home button press, the lock button, low memory conditions, incoming calls and so forth. He used a pop-up dialog to stand in for the iPhone’s keyboard, and added other placeholders to represent iPhone UI elements. In the end, he not only matched the Simulator’s event suite, but built upon it to add events that Mac-based developers would love to see included.

Whoops:

DHL has lost nearly $10 billion in the U.S. in the five years since it purchased Airborne Express in an attempt to challenge FedEx and United Parcel Service. Despite its dominance in the rest of the world, DHL was never able to take enough share from the two major carriers in their home market. The company’s decision to largely withdraw from the U.S. will push parent Deutsche Post to an estimated $1 billion loss for the full year as it books writedowns totaling $3.9 million to cover severance payments to workers and other restructuring.

( Source.)

Tim Cook is believed to be Steve Jobs’ successor as CEO at Apple. CNN examines this possibility. On Tim Cook:

One day back then, he convened a meeting with his team, and the discussion turned to a particular problem in Asia. “This is really bad,” Cook told the group. “Someone should be in China driving this.” Thirty minutes into that meeting Cook looked at Sabih Khan, a key operations executive, and abruptly asked, without a trace of emotion, “Why are you still here?”

The short of it is, Tim Cook is a hard-ass.

I stumbled across a link to the original “My iBook G3 Keyboard Smells Like Ass” thread this morning over at discussions.apple.com:

Terrible body odor type smell coming from keyboard that seems to increase with the machine temperature. It can be smelled when walking by the iBook when it’s on.

If you haven’t smelled it, it’s awful. New keyboards was the only reliable fix, even hardcore cleaning offered temporary relief.

CNet posted a story about Wal-Mart selling a really lame laptop, but for only $298, today only. Check out some of the comments:

- Of course people who shop at Wal-Mart will buy this laptop along with their Happy Meal and churro. Ahhh…happy times…happy times.

• Where else can you buy a hammer, rawhide chews, grass seed, frozen chicken thighs, tomato sauce, tomato paste, Marvel action figures, Call of Duty 4 for the PC, Resistance 2 for the PS3, socks, boxers, 5 spiral notebooks, bologna, cheddar cheese, etc. etc. at 2:30 in the morning? Aaaaaaah, truly these are happy times….

• The biggest question is will it have Windows? A few years ago WalMart did this on Black Friday and they all had Linux on them… SURPRISE! Unfortunately the audience Walmart is targeting can barely handle computing let alone Linux.

• Yeah, CNET is fine, but your review of this machine is elitist and unfair. I own a sub franchise in case you wonder if I’m some hack for WalMart or Compaq.

And my favorite:

Wow Dan Ackerman. You certainly are a horrible person. I can’t believe Cnet lets a snob like you write for them.

The Internet is a wonderful place.

Seems the build of Android (Google’s Open-Source phone OS) released on the G1 has a nasty, nasty bug. Engadget:

It turns out that G1 firmware revisions RC29 and earlier literally interpret everything you type as command-line operations, so if you happen across a legit command, it’s going to get executed – with superuser permissions, no less. No, seriously. Just go to the messaging app, the browser, or anywhere else a text box is convenient, type “reboot,” press the enter key, and watch magic happen.

I mean, damn.

The New York Times talked with Joe Trippi, a political consultant who ran Howard Dean’s campaign in 2004:

“This medium demands authenticity, and television for the most part demanded fake. Authenticity is something politicians haven’t been used to.”

This story disgusts me:

A Mid South church is ready for a fight. They said they cannot keep a minister all because the area around their church is a mess. Members of Antioch Baptist had to put a fence up to hide what is on the other side.

“I can see the home behind me is unsightly, but I guarantee it will be cleaned up in the next day or so,” property owner David Boswell said.

Boswell is having to defend himself after accusations that his trailer park is an eyesore. “Not breaking any laws. Not trying to hide anything,” Boswell said.

Munford mayor Dwayne Cole said Boswell is complying with the city’s requests to clean up the property. Boswell said he is trying to find out exactly what church members want him to do. “I tried to talk to them last night about what they wanted and got no answer from them,” Boswell said.

Why doesn’t the church get out there and help clean the neighborhood themselves?

PCWorld.com discusses 5 lessons Apple has learned in the last year:

“Overall, Leopard is a pretty stable operating system at this point, but the interesting thing is that it really wasn’t so when it shipped,” says Michael Silver, VP of research for Gartner.

Apple’s ability to quickly identify the problems and release fixes successfully turned what could have been a major black mark for Apple into a minor blemish. Microsoft has had less success dodging a problematic reputation for its flagship operating system, Windows Vista. It’s not necessarily an apples-to-Apple comparison: Windows Vista is a major rewrite of Microsoft’s operating system, while Apple’s Leopard is a minor revision. Still, Microsoft’s failure to quickly fix the problems left the company with public relations damage, Silver says.

“Certainly it was a rocky road to start with Leopard, but Apple was able to make changes much quicker, and it was able to avoid that reputation that Vista has been stuck with,” Silver says.

Steve Ballmer, on Android:

“They can hire smart guys, hire a lot of people, blah dee blah dee blah, but you know they start out way behind, in a certain sense.”

He also doesn’t think the iPhone is doing well. ( Source.)

Obama’s transition website is up at change.gov:

“The change we need isn’t just about new programs and policies. It’s about a new politics - a politics that calls on our better angels instead of encouraging our worst instincts; one that reminds us of the obligations we have to ourselves and one another.”

Another example of Obama’s great use of the Internet.