Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Warning: contains pieces of Apple

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  • David Ritchie,

    Lady Gaga, Yo Yo Ma and U2

    Didn't everybody have these as suggestions?

    Since Nov 2006 • 166 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Bennett,

    In its current form, Ping is very disappointing.

    As a purported social networking tool, it's impossible to converse with contacts about music - surely the whole point of the thing.

    The number of recording artists available to follow is pitiful.

    Last.fm does a much better job.

    I've been an Apple user (fan/advocate) since 1989. I can't believe this innovative company would actually release something so half-baked.

    And the new Apple TV feels like two steps backwards. No onboard storage? With our internet speeds?

    I get more functionality from my old AppleTV, which I actually use to sync with my Macbook Pro so I can play music through the stereo, watch photos on TV, and rent a movie that I can then hold onto and watch at a time that suits.

    Not impressed.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 174 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    Apple's intense, secretive development process ....

    I used to be a serious Apple developer when I lived in the US - back in the good old days before the iEverything .... I've seen the Apple development process up close and personal .... basically it's highly political, chaotic, thrives on leaks (as one internal group try to get their thing adopted)

    I distinctly remember one of the (what's now called) firewire team coming to me to try and get a quote he could take out of context hyping his about to be (but in the end not actually) canceled project

    It always seemed a terribly toxic environment - I resisted the pull to go work for them - they paid well but I like to make stuff people actually use - too many people gave years of their lives designing really cool stuff to have it canceled at the last minute - like the guys who built the Apple CPU just before they went PPC

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • MikeE,

    First heard the Shangann electro stuff at cassette a few weeks ago when Ramadanman dropped a tune or two at the end of his set, asked Tommy flowers & boof what it was and hooked since.

    Must buy, apparently conch has soem vinyl samplers..

    Washington DC • Since Nov 2006 • 138 posts Report Reply

  • Jacqui Dunn,

    Re Shangaan video, all I have to say is sacroilliac!

    Deepest, darkest Avondale… • Since Jul 2010 • 585 posts Report Reply

  • joseph,

    You can change the vertical buttons to horizontal with a quick Terminal command. With iTunes NOT running, open Terminal and type/paste the following...
    defaults write com.apple.iTunes full-window -1
    and to revert back to vertical,
    defaults write com.apple.iTunes full-window -0

    Cheers,
    Joseph.

    Auckland, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 10 posts Report Reply

  • andrea quin,

    Does anyone else find itunes one of the world's more annoying pieces of software? The constant updates adding functionality for bits of hardware I dont have (idevices) certainly dont help.

    Auckland • Since Dec 2009 • 44 posts Report Reply

  • Brenda Leeuwenberg,

    Apple aside, for your Friday viewing entertainment, if you haven't seen it already, check out this 1987 episode of Close Up featuring a 25 year old John Key as a 'senior forex trader'.

    Other than the glasses, the waterbed, the hairdos and the wooden technology (as someone described it), it's quite the fascinating insight into the past of our PM.

    See it here.

    Wellington • Since Oct 2008 • 41 posts Report Reply

  • philipmatthews,

    Is there any significance in the digital clock reading 3.33am when he got the phone call in the middle of the night?

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2007 • 656 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    Truly scarey stuff--visions of these jumped-up pricks soiling their underwear!!

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • Martin Lindberg,

    Is there any significance in the digital clock reading 3.33am when he got the phone call in the middle of the night?

    Wasn't that the time when the guy woke up every night in Amityville Horror?

    Stockholm • Since Jul 2009 • 802 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    Also, Hilary Clinton would have been up for thirty-three minutes already at that point.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    I used to be a serious Apple developer when I lived in the US - back in the good old days before the iEverything .... I've seen the Apple development process up close and personal .... basically it's highly political, chaotic, thrives on leaks (as one internal group try to get their thing adopted)

    I think one of the good things Jobs did when he returned as "interim" CEO was to crack down on that culture, which really had got out of hand and had little to do with the good of the company. I gather there's a little more direction these days -- although it's amusing how little the different divisions know about each others' marching orders.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Don Christie,

    Warning: contains pieces of Apple

    Thanks, makes me feel like I got my own personal shout out :-)

    Because it is Friday and I *am* cool, I give you Tom Jones (who is the new old cool)...

    "It's just like standing next to the tube coming in..."

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1645 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    Thanks, makes me feel like I got my own personal shout out :-)

    I had to take powerful stimulants to get through that. Ping: it's a whole new way to ( falls unconscious )

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Hilary Stace,

    Brenda, there is something seriously depressing and lonely about that video. Substitute something else similarly mythical and addictive for foreign exchange dealing and it could be science fiction, or a documentary on a strange cult. Young brains that will burn out after only a few years, but the toy Porsche makes it all worth while. That wierd opulence of the silver tree-lined foyer of the DFC symbolises the introverted decadence of that pre-1987 crash era. (Most shocking to me, however, was the same 1987 duvet cover that I just found in my cupboard - what does that mean?)

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report Reply

  • Brenda Leeuwenberg,

    (Most shocking to me, however, was the same 1987 duvet cover that I just found in my cupboard - what does that mean?)

    Strangely, this is the 3rd time I've had that comment made to me. Were there any other duvet patterns in 1987?

    Wellington • Since Oct 2008 • 41 posts Report Reply

  • Hilary Stace,

    Possibly not. That was best Kirkaldies sale quality of the era.

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    "Were there any other duvet patterns in 1987?"

    O my, YES!

    I had 2 hand-dyed oceanic beauties made that year. It was called 'supporting local artists'.

    Unfortunately, they didnt survive a year of washing (= 6x)

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • recordari,

    Ping me? No, probably not.

    Seemed odd they could trademark the action of sending a network IP request*, but actually it was owned by a golf company.

    Still with us Gio?

    * Strangely trying to describe that process was too much for 5.40pm on a Friday. But you know what I mean.

    AUCKLAND • Since Dec 2009 • 2607 posts Report Reply

  • Tim Michie,

    And I'm Discworldly advised, a dialect word meaning "watermeadow".

    Auckward • Since Nov 2006 • 614 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    More fanboi musings ...

    The interesting (well, to some of us) thing about this NBR story from yesterday's Apple event isn't Steve whining about reported Android activations, it's Apple's own numbers.

    230,000 iOS activations a day, worldwide. That's a lot of customers expecting it to just work, a lot of new relationships to manage. And generally, they do. God knows how much they spend paying Akamai to distribute it all, but Apple's service online really works.

    But I wonder whether the strain is starting to show. Ping just looked unloved, and the shambles around iTunes 10's availability was uncharacteristic of Apple. They really seem to be scrambling. And it's clear they don't feel ready to go App Store with Apple TV (which I'm sure they want to call iTV -- but have a trademark fight with Britain's ITV).

    The HTTP video streaming of the event was billed as a chance to road test this bad boy -- Apple's massive new data centre in North Carolina, which doesn't fully open till the end of the year:

    But the 'boi blogs are saying that Akamai still had a lot to do with delivering that video.

    Then there are difficult and crucial media deals to do, not least an epochal showdown (along with Google, Netflix, etc) with the US cable industry. They'll have to get something working with Facebook. Possibly even the Beatles catalogue on iTunes, although that can be said of any year.

    It would be a hell of a lot for any CEO to hold down, let alone one who's had pancreatic cancer and a liver transplant and still doesn't look vey well. I think there's a certain awareness of mortality about Jobs now -- as if he feels he needs to get on with it.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    Does anyone else find itunes one of the world's more annoying pieces of software?

    I just don't even use iTunes at all (unless I have to get an iPhone software update). It takes so long to do anything, and I'm terrified that it will get a bee in its bonnet and 'sync' something I don't want it to and poof, there goes my 160GB of music. I really hate it.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    Apple's massive new data centre in North Carolina, which doesn't fully open till the end of the year:

    It kind of looks like a motherboard, doesn't it?

    It would be a hell of a lot for any CEO to hold down, let alone one who's had pancreatic cancer and a liver transplant and still doesn't look vey well.

    If you have pancreatic cancer, let alone a liver transplant, I think "looking well" goes way down your list of priorities, or indeed prospects. I applaud him for being alive.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    I applaud that last comment of your's Giovanni -+ laud Steve Jobs for just being alive (I know, from intimate family experience, just how extremely hard it is to keep a transplanted organ alive- and yourself with it)

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

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