GracefulFlavor

If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if you put your iPod into a blender, wonder no more.

Science!

[Via Daring Fireball]

Technorati Tags: ipod, blender, humor, science, will+it+blend, video

CNN has the best coverage thus far. Interesting to read about celebrations in Dearborn, MI, which is about 30 mins from where I live.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi dictator who spent his last years in captivity after his ruthless regime was toppled by the U.S.-led coalition in 2003, was hanged before dawn Saturday for crimes committed in a brutal crackdown during his reign.

Technorati Tags: saddam, hussein, execution, international, terrorism, politics

I told myself that I’d steer clear of this issue, because there’s a war raging on the web right now, and it’s more or less academic. So, with nothing to really discuss at a pragmatic level (as I see it), I had decided to avoid all the theory-based banter this time around.

I lied.

What I’m talking about is the news that Microsoft and its PR firm Edelman has been sending out loaded, high-end Acer Ferrari 1000 laptops pre-loaded with Windows Vista and Office 2007 to prominent bloggers (many of which are Apple/Mac blogs) in an attempt to buy favorable coverage and generate buzz. At first, the laptops were gifts — meaning they didn’t have to be returned — but now it appears MS has reversed its stance, calling the laptops loaners and asking for them to be returned (more on this later).

As I see it, what Edelman has done is technically unethical. They are sending out incredibly high-zoot machines to bloggers as gifts and “suggesting” the bloggers could, I dunno, maybe blog about their experience with Vista and Office 2007 if they’re so inclined. Or maybe they won’t — no worries, no obligation, but hey, enjoy the laptop nonetheless give us back our machine when you’re done.

Where is the line between this and overt bribery? Got me. Near as I can tell, they’re damn close to the same thing.  But I really don’t understand why some are screaming bloody murder about this, because it happens all the time; we just don’t get to see it firsthand.  But whatever.  My beef comes from another angle.

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You want off-topic? You got it.

I stumbled across The Gender Genie earlier today when ripping through my Google Reader feeds, which is a relatively amusing website that analyzes an author’s writing and determines, based on an algorithm (warning: pedantic PDF file ahoy), whether the author is male or female.

I can have some fun with this; after all, it’s a slow day during the holidays, and nobody wants to think too much or be all stiff and academic. So, I’ll clip some topmost front-page text (at the time of this writing) from popular websites (many of which are Mac web favorites) and see how the GG fares. I’ll start with my own.

Disclaimer: Gender Genie supposedly works best with 500 words or more, but if you need that much text to assert your gender, that’s your problem. I’m going to take text clippings between ~50-100 words, because that’s how most blogs are written and I’m making this up as I go along, and that’s what sounds good to me.

Here we go.

Graceful Flavor, 67 word sample:

Female Score: 185
Male Score: 205
The Gender Genie thinks the author is: male!

Whew. Nothing worse than being transgendered by an algorithm.

Let’s see how some others fare.

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I’m going to post my official agreement with what Robert Scoble and others are saying about Google Reader becoming, with a little work, the next Digg. Only this time around, with a lot less noise and more news/tech content that’s truly worthy of sharing. I mean, that is Digg’s downfall, right? Iffy content and noisy comments really limit what Digg can be to serious information consumers.

I’ve thought this very same thing about Google Reader once I started using it as my primary news feed (over excellent Mac apps like NetNewsWire and Newsfire), but I never really fleshed out the idea, and I suppose that’s my fault (I blame Christmas shopping and assembling wooden train sets consisting of 54,500 pieces). But here we are with some pretty big names speculating about this very idea: that with a little luck and effort, Google Reader could very much be in the game against Digg, perhaps even better.

A few things have to happen first, and Steve Rubel says it best:

The catch is a) people need to be using Google’s sharing features and b) they would need to add a feature that displays how many people have shared each post.

So yes, a pretty unknown feature of Google Reader would have to crack the zeitgeist, but that’s not terribly hard to do, especially when the blogosphere is going nuts over Google Reader (I’ve had several people email me thanking me for recommending Google Reader to them). If anyone can strongly encourage a web usage metaphor, it’s Google.

So the sharing thing + share count idea is great and all, but think about it one step deeper, as Scoble has:

Imagine what’d happen if Google bought TechMeme, and used its algorithms on Google Reader feeds too. Hmmm.

So then you have a mathematical underpinning to help real content rise and chaff fall away, which is exactly what makes TechMeme such an incredible site. And when it comes to using algorithms to define and clarify information delivery to consumers, well, I think Google’s got a few people who know a thing or two about this. Just guessing.

The more I watch Google, the more I agree with Dave Winer’s sentiment that Google is becoming the dominant software vendor to many, many people these days.

Technorati Tags: google, google+reader, digg, web+2.0, social+web

Merry Christmas everyone.  I hope today finds you happy, healthy and safe.

Gift time: thanks to kind reader joyfarm6, I discovered that John Hodgman’s audiobook verison of The Areas of My Expertise is available for free on iTunes, at least for the time being. TAOME is currently on my required reading for 2007 list, so this is a great find.

I just downloaded it from iTunes myself, and it nets you three files, 6:57:31 total reading time, and weighs in at 95.8 MB. This is abridged from the printed version but Hodgman himself reads it, so that’s a fair trade to me.

If you want this, nab it now before it’s no longer free. Free is good.

Thanks joyfarm6.

Technorati Tags: itunes, john+hodgman, humor, free, deal, expertise

On January 29, 2007, Microsoft will officially launch Windows Vista and Office 2007 to a throng of presumably-excited consumers in Times Square, NY. The seminal event, which represents the mainstream launch of Microsoft’s two most dominant products, has endless amount of marketing dollars behind it, as evidenced by its incredible slogan: Wow Starts Now.

Look, I’ve said here before that Windows Vista will dominate the OS market and doesn’t deserve all the heat it’s taking, and I think Office 2007 just absolutely rocks and is the best office suite available.

But “Wow Starts Now”? That’s plain wretched — if I didn’t know this was real I’d think it was a joke. Is this what happens when you get two dozen 55-year-old besuited execs sitting around a mahogany table at 3:30 PM on a Friday?

Microsoft marketing lags light years behind Apple’s. No way you’d ever catch Apple doing something so campy. Allchin, you gotta make it stop.

Just goes to show that it’s almost impossible to duplicate Apple’s marketing/event allure and charisma. Apple does it better than anyone on the planet.

[via Paul Thurrott's Internet Nexus]

Technorati Tags: windows, vista, osx, apple, office+2007, microsoft

I’m going to share with you my substantial book backlog reading list for 2007 in the hopes that maybe you find something interesting, or, in turn, maybe I learn about a good book or two of which I was unaware. I feel there’s something here for everybody. I’m a book geek at heart.

These are presented in no specific order other than the sequence in which they came to me. It’s like Ouija, but only with a list of books and a lower threat of inviting a poltergeist into your house.

Letter to a Christian Nation, by Sam Harris.

A short, lucid book about the increasing (and disturbing) unification of church and state and what it means for us, for the future of reason and rational thought, and why the bigotry and superstition of the masses needs to be challenged. It’s not just a plea for the virtues of atheism and its humility, but also a manifesto against the judgment, violence, and trappings of inflexible religious thought.

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Probably not your ordinary, everyday fart dilemma.

The FBI questioned a passenger who admitted she struck the matches in an attempt to conceal body odor, Lowrance said. The woman lives near Dallas and has a medical condition.

The flight took off again, but the woman was not allowed back on the plane.

“American has banned her for a long time,” Lowrance said.

There have to be ways to mask a smell other than lighting matches on an airborne plane in this day and age.

I apologize in advance for the forthcoming image.

[story via Boing Boing]

Technorati Tags: humor, news, aircraft, emergency, medical

It’s absurd how goddamn creepy this is, and it’s only a remix.

Technorati Tags: youtube, horror, remix, scary+mary, mary+poppins

A scant few days ago I wrote a bit about Computerworld’s article on how Apple needs to fix 15 things in OSX to make the Mac even better than it is today. It got a ton of pageviews, which is great, but the comments were even better. Thanks to everyone who joined the discussion.

I want to take a sampling of the comments that I feel are the most interesting and talk about them here.

From Peter Wilson:

I’d love an option to turn off the effects on the dock, so that when it’s hidden and you slip your mouse to the bottom of screen, it pops up INstantly. Those momentary Pause/Glide delays — 50 times a day — drive me NUTS!

Absolutely. I hide my dock, and the fact that you have to hover/rest your cursor at the screen’s edge to invoke the dock is annoying as hell. It’s doubly annoying when you slightly wiggle the mouse trying to get it to trigger, which actually delays the pop-up even further because OSX doesn’t know if you’re trying to invoke the Dock or just having a seisure trying to click an icon.

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Blogger Beta has now gone gold, shedding its “beta” tag with very little fanfare.

I wish them well. I used to be on Blogger Beta before moving to WordPress.com, which I find massively better. Perhaps the GA version of Blogger has improved things.

Has anyone been sticking with Blogger (Beta) for a while now? What is the state of the union?

Technorati Tags: blogging, blogger, google, beta, wordpress

It appears that Greenpeace digs its Macs and iLife software, but at the same time has decided to single out Apple for not being “green” enough.

If you check out the link, you’ll find we can all agree on one thing: Greenpeace is taking its shot at Apple pretty gently, going so far as to mimic Apple’s website, its graphics, its look-and-feel, even its navigation. They even have what might be the absolute worst parody of the Get a Mac campaign under the sun with two stand-in actors with the collective talent of a carrot, but it’s harmless and almost benevolent in its spirit.

So why is Greenpeace doing this? Well, it appears it’s out of tough love and genuine respect for Apple. No, seriously.

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I fully admit that Graceful Flavor was all over the rumor that the Apple phone (”iPhone”) was going to be announced on yesterday, Monday, December 18th. And by all over it I mean writing updates like crazy as the rumor unfolded.

Well, joke’s on us, by way of Gizmodo. The iPhone certainly did get released, but by Linksys as a Skype/Yahoo Voice Messenger/VoIP/landline phone — not as the vaunted Apple gadget. Infogear/Linksys/Cisco has held rights to the name “iPhone” since 2000.

OMG LOL LOL LOL. Wotta riot. Etc.

Problem is, Gizmodo’s original page headline read “Apple phone” not “iPhone”. It got changed somewhere along the line. I know this because I kept having to write “Apple phone” carefully to get the captitalization (and lack thereof) right when I wrote my posts about the rumor.

So yeah, something changed, which is not real cool. I suspect they used “Apple phone” to drive initial hits, then switched to “iPhone” later to be congruent with the Linksys iPhone announcement.

In any event, lame. I expect more of Gizmodo.

Technorati Tags: apple, iphone, apple+phone, rumor, gizmodo

Computerworld has quite a good article about how Apple should improve 15 minor annoyances of OSX to make the Mac all that it can be. One of the authors, Scot Finnie, wrote a similar piece about what users won’t like about Windows Vista, and immediately after reading that I thought it would be interesting to see the same thing about OSX. And voila, here it is.

Quick editorial note: et tu, Computerworld? You’re doing the, “Hey, let’s split up a relatively simple article into four pages to artificially inflate our pageview count?” That’s a shame, because it sucks.

OK then.

I’m going to tackle each of CW’s 15 points about OSX individually, starting with #15 and leading up to the #1 annoyance about OSX Tiger.

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I’m a tremendous Family Guy fan; I think it might be the funniest show on TV alongside The Office. In the most recent episode, there’s a bit between Stewie (the baby) and Brian (the dog) that I have to share. I know it’s off-topic, but it’s so worth it.

Technorati Tags: family+guy, stewie, brian, humor, youtube

The color/graphics/photography industry lost a giant on Saturday, Dec 16.

From Macworld:

On Saturday, Dec. 16, a long-time friend and colleague of mine, Bruce Fraser, passed away. He succumbed after a short bout with lung cancer, a few weeks shy of his 53rd birthday. To many of us, he was a warm, gregarious man and a loyal friend. To anyone who ever read his columns, reviews or books, he was a writer of wonderfully clear and often highly opinionated prose. To those fortunate enough to see him speak, he offered valuable tips and tricks with a minimal amount of technobabble and a fair helping of Scottish humor.

RIP Bruce.

Technorati Tags: news, graphics, digital+photography, photoshop, software

Speculation arises anew about some level of support for ZFS in Leopard, thanks to this bit from Mac4Ever. ZFS was discussed previously, not long after Leopard’s Time Machine feature was revealed by Jobs, but then died down as opponents said it’s too aggressive a feature for OSX and that there would be other mentions of it by now, seeing how Leopard dev builds are in the wild.

The faithful may be right afterall.

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Here’s a good review of Vista by well-known Mac technologist/author David Pogue of the NYTimes. He sums his experience up by suggesting that Vista’s current marketing tagline “Clear, Confident, Connected” would be more accurate as “Looks, Locks, Lacks”. I know this sounds like more blogosphere Vista bashing, but it’s not.

Pogue feels Vista wins on looks, has reasonably strong security features, and decidedly lacks in some areas. With looks, in particular, Pogue says that the blatant ripoffs from OSX aren’t subtle at all.

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I wore this t-shirt Christmas shopping yesterday, and I’ve never had so many people comment on or ask questions about what it means. People of all ages — the youngest being 19 or so, the oldest about 50 — were drawn to its deep, trenchant, bold lines. It was especially popular in the Apple Store in the Somerset Collection in Troy, MI, where I could have walked out with at least three free MacBook Pros had I invoked the shirt’s full power.

Observe:

It’s far too powerful for some to bear witness to, let alone wear. If fact, if you put your ear up to your computer screen right now and listen carefully, you can hear the shirt talking to you, beckoning. It might sound a lot like a computer fan, but don’t be a fool. Keep your wits about you, or else you might find yourself buying one right here.

(I love unique t-shirts. Who doesn’t?)

Technorati Tags: tshirt, humor, thinkgeek, meh

UPDATE: Finally added YouTube video. The CNN link wasn’t working because CNN thinks that they can control every nuance of their content when there are things like YouTube and Google Video around.

No matter what your views on faith/religion are (and it’s not hard to figure mine), this is a spectacular display of talent.

Is god speaking to her? Has she really visited heaven and is now recreating her visions thereof?

I’m thinking no. What I feel we have here is a true prodigy, or someone who can demonstrate mastery or profound expertise in a field normally undertaken by adults. Incredible neuroplasticity, better cerebral bloodflow, who knows.

Regardless, her talent is amazing. Give it a look.

Technorati Tags: genius, art, music, prodigy, faith, atheism, christian, science

Fairly amusing parody of the popular Get a Mac ad campaign, but massively misrepresenting Zune’s WiFi song-sharing capability (also called squirting for some godforsaken reason).

Zune can share songs, yes. But the recipient can only play the song three times or for three days (whichever comes first), after which it’s gone. Poof. History. And you can’t share an already-shared song with a third person unless you buy it first, which probably ain’t gonna happen for the sake of just another share.

So, the Zune’s sharing is a viral concept that’s seriously flawed as a real viral marketing vehicle to build street cred. The viral movement is stopped dead in its tracks at the first shared Zune.

Anyway, enough pendantics. Parodies aren’t supposed to be bastions of truth, and Paul Thurrott is right: this one is pretty good.

Technorati Tags: apple, ipod, microsoft, zune, mp3, social

OK, sit down. Have a coffee. You’ll like this.

If you’ve ever tried to make heads or tails of enterprise software marketing, you might be able to finish the rest of this article for me. If you haven’t, then you’re about to be subjected to a Byzantine, intentionally-complex world in which I firmly believe the goal is to obfuscate, confuse, and buzzword-ify as much as possible so that the consumers of such marketing – meaning, the actual customers – are forced to do a number things and endure an unnecessary game. I’ll explain more later.

Foremost, I’m no dummy. I’ve worked as a director of product management for a small but enterprise-focused company pretty much right out of college, and currently I serve as a senior product manager for quite a large one. Meaning, I have experience with this stuff, I live and breathe it every day, and it still confuses the hell out of me. And I’m not afraid to admit it.

I don’t think I’m alone. Not by a longshot. This is a call to reason and sanity for enterprise software marketing. I’m hoping somewhere in this diatribe I’ll make Seth Godin happy.

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The only “real” logic behind announcing the Apple mobile handset on Monday, Dec 18 instead of at MWSF in January is that Apple can then capture some buying attention for those looking to get a new phone over the holiday season. The phone would then be released shortly thereafter and have more initial buyers than if the holiday phone shoppers just went and got their RAZRs or BlackJacks or Pearls or whatever.

Still, I don’t know. I want to like the rumor, but I still hitch a little on Apple’s timing. It is either driven by what I mention above, or because MWSF has another theme entirely (iTV, Leopard, new hardware, new apps) and the Apple phone wouldn’t get its due attention or facetime.

Still, a silent release for something as huge as the Apple phone? No Jobs keynote? No executive salesmanship with such a massively strategic product? No splash into the market?

Doesn’t make sense to me, the more I think about it.

Technorati Tags: apple, apple+phone, iphone, ipod+phone

According to Gizmodo’s Brian Lam, the Apple phone will be announced on Monday, December 18, 2006. The most interesting part of his very short guarantee is this:

It isn’t what I expected at all.

This implies that it’s far better than even Lam expected, or it’s disappointing. I’m betting on the former, just because I can see blog post auras, and this one is strong. And good.

The only two things that make me wonder if this is plain old rumormongering are:

1. Tuesdays are Apple’s announcement days, not Mondays.
2. Why would you announce something as anticipated as an Apple handset this close to Macworld San Francisco? Unless, of course, MWSF will have a totally different focus/theme and the Apple phone isn’t really part of it or would command too much keynote time.

Monday will be interesting.

Technorati Tags: apple, iphone, apple+phone, ipod+phone

It’s about time someone put a stake in the ground to limit trans fats in restaurant foods, and if chefs say that some of their dishes might not be 100% reproducible as a result, that’s too damn bad.

It’s a disgrace that America is a society that has any tolerance for poisons like trans fats. But with obesity, adult-onset diabetes, heart disease, and cancer rates skyrocketing — which leads to massive healthcare spending, especially later in life — we’re quickly becoming a poisoned nation on which the concept of real food and nutrition is completely lost. Undeveloped nations eat better than we do in very many ways.

As in the case of an ignorant child, if we’re not going to look out for our own health, someone else has to. And the irony here is that NYC’s state government is the one starting the movement. That’s pathetic.

I’m not a fan of government intervention in much of anything, but the complete lack of education and understanding about nutrition and the foods we eat is so staggering that something has to be done whether the public likes it or not. Most people either lack the willpower to make proper choices or the intellectual wherewithal to care.

Yes, to each his own and all that, but when we, as a country, become a slovenly, sick culture because we can’t do basic things like eat whole, unprocessed foods and cut out trans fats, then clearly we’re in crisis mode. Harsh measures are sometimes needed, and apparently NYC agrees.

Trans fats are horrible substances whose dangers far outweigh those of saturated fats. The evidence is everywhere and is growing exponentially every day. I don’t give a shit if your pie crust isn’t as flaky — find another way to prepare it or replace it with something else on your menu. Not poisoning your customers should be a larger concern to you than worrying about if your fritters taste the same.

Just unreal news. Doesn’t anyone think about their health anymore?

Technorati Tags: health, nutrition, trans+fats, fitness, diet

You absolutely must see this if you’re at all a fan of Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris.

I repeat: you must see this. It’s equal parts fantastic and hilarious and smart.

If you’re religious, you might want to avoid it. Full disclosure.

Technorati Tags: atheism, richard+dawkins, sam+harris, the+god+delusion, religion

Daring Fireball’s John Gruber gets served by yours truly in what is easily the most accurate indicator of high-function intelligence and overall charisma to be found anywhere.

I got 13/14; Gruber got 11/14.

I got game. Or something.

On second thought, I’m not so sure I should be bragging about this.

Technorati Tags: off+topic, humor

I love doing these. I can’t even explain to you how much I love deconstructing some moron’s analysis, because it’s always so flawed and done only to drive hits to his blog or website. I sometimes feel like a bad person for getting so excited about this, but then it goes away.

I’m looking forward to this almost as much as when I ripped Larry Bodine into tiny bits.

Let me explain what’s happening here. I’m essentially doing Graceful Flavor’s version of Daring Fireball’s “Jackass of the Week” series, in which John Gruber points out some extravagant level of stupidity by someone or another in the press. They’re classic, and the whole idea is way too much fun to pass up, so full disclosure: this is my version of Gruber’s idea. If you like it, thank him.

In the spotlight this week is Michael Kanellos, a C|Net News.com editor. He has graced us with a column not only about the yet-to-be-released Apple iPhone, but also about how it will “largely fail”. He does throw in a blurb about how he hasn’t antagonized Apple fans in a while, but that’s no excuse to write such bullshit, so he’s fair game, disclaimer or not.

So then, ready? Off we go.

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I’m assuming this is just an early bug, something that will be squashed, because these days a modern OS should sleep and wake effortlessly. Shouldn’t even have to think about it.

For those not inclined to read TFA, the issue here is that Vista has “hideous wakeup support,” which is odd because the betas/CTPs I’ve played with have handled wakeup from “Deep Sleep” quite well. Not as nicely as OSX — which I still say has the best sleep/wake of any OS on the planet — but better than XP, which it should given how spotty XP’s wake behavior is.

But now, in the GA build of Vista that’s out there right now, there are big, big problems:

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