But back in the day, when monstrous thunder lizards roamed the earth and music came on vinyl disks and a CD was something you talked to your banker about, B-Sides were very much a part of the musical experience. In those hoary times, when you wanted the latest hit single, you bought a 45-rpm record. Side A contained the hit that was skyrocketing up the charts, while Side B contained a second song—sometimes a song of equal or greater value, occasionally another cut off the same album—that gave you another side of the recording artist.
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MacBook Air Meets an Airbag
On Push Notification Madness
This is exactly what I’ve been wanting to write about push notifications for the iPhone.
The Problem of Thin Clients
Google’s announcement of Chrome OS has brought the idea of the thin client back into focus. Simply put, a thin client is a computer workstation that runs very limited software—sometimes just a browser—to connect the user to a server (or the cloud) that does all the heavy-lifting.
Thin clients offer several advantages that make them a good solution in some cases. Thin clients mean cheaper hardware, lighter network traffic and a uniform user experience across machines.
Even More on Eric Schmidt
Because Google’s new Chrome OS would compete with Apple’s own computer software, Schmidt said on Thursday he would talk to the Mac computer maker about whether he should recuse himself from Apple’s board.
“I’ll talk to the Apple people. At the moment, there’s no issue,” Schmidt told reporters at a Sun Valley media and technology conference organized by boutique investment bank Allen & Co.
While Google and Apple compete directly or indirectly in a number of areas – the most obvious being the smartphone market – Google’s announcement this week that it will launch an operating system raised more questions about the relationship between their boards.
OS 9 Gets New Browser
OS 9—killed off several years ago— has been almost forgotten. But almost.
Enter Classilla, a project to get a modern port of Mozilla’s browser running on OS 9:
Classilla is bringing back web browser support to your classic Macintosh – built on WaMCoM, a port of Mozilla to classic Macintosh systems, using the same technology underpinning the popular Firefox browser. It’s completely free and it’s open source, and it’s standards-compliant. Use it without cost or restriction; or, if you’ve got the skills, hack it and make it your own. Classilla brings your wonderful old Power Macintoshes back to life and back online.
TechRestore Records 3GS Disassembly
The best part? It’s in stop motion:
More on Eric Schmidt
From an open letter written by CNET’s Tom Krazit:
When Google announced plans to develop Android, a smartphone operating system that competes with Apple’s iPhone OS for consumer and developer attention, you said you would recuse yourself from any discussions about the iPhone during meetings of Apple’s board. You reiterated that stance in May after reports emerged that the Federal Trade Commission had raised an eyebrow at your presence on both boards, and when asked if you recuse yourself from any other topics at Apple meetings, you answered, “Not that I recall.”
A Brief Look at Apple and Google’s Ever-Growing List of Competing Products
If there are any products I missed, let me know.
This makes me wonder how Google’s Eric Schmidt can continue to sit on Apple’s board of directors.
Chrome OS
Google dropped a bombshell late last night:
It’s been an exciting nine months since we launched the Google Chrome browser. Already, over 30 million people use it regularly. We designed Google Chrome for people who live on the web — searching for information, checking email, catching up on the news, shopping or just staying in touch with friends. However, the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web. So today, we’re announcing a new project that’s a natural extension of Google Chrome — the Google Chrome Operating System. It’s our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be.
App Store One Year Old
I can hardly believe it’s only been a year. In that short time, developers have gone from writing web apps—basically web pages formatted to better-fit the iPhone’s screen—to full blow, cocoa-based applications. And the applications are good. Sure, they’re some crappy apps out there, but I am surprised weekly by something that appears in the catalogue that suddenly changes how I go about my day. And as time goes on, the apps keep getting better.
White iPhones Selling Out?
Apple has been having trouble keeping the entry-level white iPhone in stock since the new 3GS went on sale two and a half weeks ago. But as of Tuesday morning, it has all but disappeared.
The 16 GB model — apparently the most popular — is out of stock in the 30 of the 41 states in which Apple has stores, as well as in the District of Columbia.