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finermac:

The auto-updating tool in OmniFocus, the crazy powerful task and project manager from The Omni Group, offers a number of useful options for power users. You can change the install location while updating, archive the previous version, and ditch the downloaded disk image since you probably don’t need it anymore.

This is a great feature. It is especially good because the installer is an area of the application experience few developers think about improving. This is a bar that other software developers should try to meet.

This is one my rants. You have been warned.

Last weekend we flew to the beach with my family. It was a 1.5 hours flight. On the way back, a flight at 9 PM, I experienced first hand how unbelievably annoying the crew in a plane can be.

We were flying with a 6 month old baby sitting one my wife’s and my lap. We were tired from a fun weekend, and from what I could see most of the people on the plane wanted just to either get a shut eye or read quietly on the 1.5 hours back to our destination.

The crew on the plane had other plans.

As soon as we boarded the plane they started: “Welcome to the flight from X with destination Y, we are very happy to have you on board”. This was the flight attendant in charge. Then as most of the people semi-efficiently sat down, the captain open the comm and said: “Hello, this is captain Bubu, I want to welcome you to the flight…”. Basically the same crap as the flight attendant said only minutes ago, but OK, they are being polite.

Then, it really started. These are only a sample of the messages on the comm, every minute or so.

• Once we are all seated we can close the door and depart. (the flight attendant)
• We are now ready to close the door. (the flight attendant)
• We are closing the door, please check that your seatbelts are fasten and …. (the flight attendant)
• We closed the door now. (the flight attendant)
• FCC requires that all electronic devices must be turned off, this because… and include… (the flight attendant, followed by 7 minutes of a long list of electronic devices including tape recorders, TAPE RECORDERS!)
• The door is closed (the captain, followed by the same message about the electronics, message total time: 6.12 minutes)
• We are turning the lights off for departure (the flight attendant)
• We are turning the lights off (the captain)
• Once again we would like to welcome you on board of flight crappy-1-2-3. We want to specially welcome our elite member passengers. You can earn valuable miles with this flight. Please also remember that… (the flight attendant, followed by a HUGE list of the things you COULD earn if you become a member of the elite, total time a fantastic 8 minutes!)
• We are now approaching the runway (the captain)
• Please turn off all electronics (the flight attendant)
• Please turn off all electronics (the captain, which at this point I began calling captain Magoo)
• Please pay attention to the attendant in front of you for the flight safety features… (the flight attendant, followed by a 3 minute very loud video of some safety features)
• Airline crappy crap would like to welcome you all to flight kaka (the flight attendant, a 3rd fucking time)

Then we finally took off. The baby was finally falling asleep with the 10 minutes of silence we had.

It was too good to be true.

• Welcome once again to fucking flight fucking fuck, we are going to be cruising at an altitude of… and if you pay attention you might be able to see blah blah (might be able to see? why bother telling me then….?) and we’ll reach kaka in 1.5 hours (the captain Magoo)
• We will begin serving beverages in 10 minutes (the flight attendant) (what the fuck? just serve them and leave me alone)
• You can now use the following electronic equipment… a long list (the flight attendant)
• You can enjoy some of the discounted merchandise and pay with blah blah… (the flight attendant)
• Elite member can earn valuable miles… (the flight attendant)
• We are now serving beverages… (the flight attendant)
• What a cute baby! (the flight attendant followed by a pinch in the face. Don’t you see that the baby is trying to sleep? YOU DICK HEAD!)
• etc etc etc etc

By the time they were done with all the messages we were about to land. The baby cried most of the flight because the speakers were really loud and constantly ON.

Why on earth do I need to know that the lights are being turned off? or the door shut? or welcomed 4 fucking times? or reminded every 5 fucking minutes to fasten by belt? and gazillion other pointless messages?

Just tell me the important things. Like the flight time or there is turbulence coming please seat down or we are delayed because X and Y. Not the useless, annoying if you see to the right… It’s the fucking night! you can’t see anything outside the plane!

Anyway, moving towards the world of PCs and Windows.

Windows suffers from the exact same thing as the airlines: countless annoying and pointless messages being constantly displayed and thus distracting you from the work you are doing.

Some samples include:

• You are now connected to network X (why would I need to know this? If I am connected I will see it because I can reach whatever I need to reach)
• Your battery is now fully charged (the fuck? I can see that!)
• Windows was updated (huh… do I need to reboot? if not, then fuck you I don’t need to know)
• A new USB device was plugged in (I know! I plugged it!)

The things I think are important are:

• warn me when I lose connectivity
• warn me when the battery is almost empty
• warn me when there is a security concern or something really bad happened to the core of the OS

Minimizing messages - and thus cutting on the annoyance - is something both Micro$oft and the airlines need to learn.

I solved the problem with Windows with a little command line application called killballoon (direct download link). It will tweak windows into ONLY showing you urgent messages and nothing else.

As for the airlines… I don’t have a solution. I guess we will have to suffer the annoyance. The same we do with removing shoes and not bringing mineral water or other silly security measured that won’t stop any terrorist but the TSA has to do it to cover their own inefficiency.

End of rant.

fuckyeahbass:

Custom luthier-built bass. The beauty lies in its simplicity.

“Text and email are polite invitations to a conversation. They happen at the speed and leisure of both the sender and the receiver. In stark contrast, when you get a phone call, it’s almost always a convenient time for the caller and a bad time for the recipient, who I refer to as the “victim” because I insist on accuracy. My philosophy is that every phone conversation has a loser.”

- Scott Adams: Phone

As I mentioned in my post regarding the iPhone 4 shortly after its release, my plan was to practice what I preached, avoid upgrading, and remain satisfied with my iPhone 3G. The fact was, no single feature of the iPhone 4, as compelling as they were, was strong enough to justify the immediate upgrade. The 3G was doing all that I needed it to and, since the purchase of the iPad, I found that I was using it less than before. It was good enough for the foreseeable future.

That choice was going just fine until I upgraded to iOS 4. Like many other iPhone 3G users, it really impacted the speed and responsiveness of the device for the worse. It rendered the phone all but unusable. In short order, some tricks for making it slightly better were found and published. That said, even those offered only minor improvement. I dreaded any time I needed to do almost anything on my 3G. At best, it was a lesson in patience. At worst, a waste of my time.

Well, I’m happy to report that, as rumored, today’s iPhone iOS 4.1 release has returned the snappy performance my 3G enjoyed before the upgrade. Applications once again launch and are usable in short order, multi-touch responsive, and confidence restored. The iPhone 3G is, once again, enough.

Note to Princess Bethany: This is not to say that I would refuse an iPhone 4 should you decide it would make the perfect gift for a certain upcoming occasion. Just saying.

(via Dan Morrison)

“A mind forever voyaging through strange seas of thought…alone”

– William Wordsworth, The Prelude

I’ve always wondered if this quote, found on the original Apple logo above, was being incorrectly attributed to Newton. It would seem so, due to its placement, but then I think to myself that Steve Jobs was far too detail oriented and educated to make such an error. I’ve never been able to discover, in my light searching, what the story is here. That aside, it was a beautiful piece of work – though not nearly as iconic as what came to be.

Update: The answer to my question comes from Nick Cernis who states “The Wordsworth quote on Apple’s first logo is not misattributed; it’s abbreviated.” Here is the text of the full passage:

The antechapel where the statue stood

Of Newton with his prism and silent face,

The marble index of a mind for ever

Voyaging through strange seas of Thought, alone.

Original here