Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: The Southern Apps

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  • Russell Brown,

    Hmmm.

    I suppose you could say these forums are an example of an attempt to guarantee the overall experience by making some functionality highly accessible to non-experts -- and locking down the rest.

    I'm pretty sure people link more in PA System posts because we give them an easy way to do it. OTOH, no actual HTML works. I think it was a good call by Matt Buchanan to go for that.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Evan Yates,

    use a microwave to make micro ball lightning

    I saw an article that said ball-lightning may be a myth and is just a hallucination due to the overloading of visual brain circuitry by the strong magnetic field of ordinary lightning. re: this article

    So maybe you can see it but perhaps it can't be captured on a video camera...

    Interesting... may be worth sacrificing a microwave as an experiment...

    Hamiltron, Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Nov 2006 • 197 posts Report

  • Ian Dalziel,

    I saw an article that said ball-lightning
    may be a myth...

    obviously they have never worn tight
    rabbit fur and polyester underwear...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report

  • Kris V,

    Ruth didn't get a lunch invite?

    Didn't see Ruth!

    Also, I spelt Kristine's name wrong. I'd go in and fix it, but the plane I'm sitting in is about to take off.

    Anyway, it was the usual worthwhile experience: good course, bright, engaged kids.

    Ruth was away otherwise she would've been there with bells on, I'm sure :)

    and it's just Kris, not Kristine... but you let me play with your iPad so I don't mind...

    Shakeytown • Since Nov 2008 • 61 posts Report

  • SteveH,

    So maybe you can see it but perhaps it can't be captured on a video camera...

    Interesting... may be worth sacrificing a microwave as an experiment...

    I think what you get with that microwave experiment is a plasma ball. Whether "ball lightning" is the same thing or not, who knows?

    Since Sep 2009 • 444 posts Report

  • Steve Barnes,

    Still haven't found the perfect iPad game

    Frisbee?
    Sorry, couldn't help it.
    And... It does make me consider an argument against copyright, the iPad is a great starting point for a really useful device. It wouldn't take much to add a little more functionality, front camera and a USB port for starters but to turn it into a "Do Everything" device like a Desktop PC would see it crashing and burning like a... well, a desktop PC running Vista.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report

  • Tony Siu,

    iWorks on the desktop is fine for home users making newsletters and writing letters to grandma and light editing documents. But if you are writing papers for university (that's me), you can forgot using Pages.

    Seriously, Pages doesn't support layers, no direct selection tool (for Pete's sake, what millenium is this?), you can't have footnotes and endnotes together on a document, the master pages are primitive in the extreme and only exist for WP mode, there are no named colors that you can systematically use in styles and retrospectively change, no spot colors, no crop marks, reflections, shadows and text over bitmaps are rendered at a ridiculous 72dpi. I could go on for ever, but there just isn't room.

    /rant off

    Auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 82 posts Report

  • Islander,

    I was sold the iWorks package with the reassurance that it did all that iWord did (as well as the Numbers setup - which I never use). It doesnt.
    For someone who needs to really be able to properly edit material - and arrange it however I want - it is primitive.

    Fortunately, I still have my g4 iBook - with iWord...

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

  • Rachel Prosser,

    <quote>If there is a circle of hell for this heinous crime, I'm sure it's still several rungs farther from the bottom than the one where the designer of PowerPoint is going to be spending eternity.<quote>

    Loudest LOL ever at a PAS Post - thanks Giovanni.

    I don't think it's the designer of PowerPoint *TM* that is going to hell, so much as whomever designed the default templates.

    They're what encouraged people to write speeches on PowerPoint and doomed so many presentations to the onslaught of bullets, and the full death-by-powerpoint experience.

    That said, I suspect the use of bullets in general prose and formal writing went up as a result of the commonality of bullets in ppt - my instinct is that we see more now than we would have 20 years ago when "proper sentences" were expected in formal documents (like formal letters/cabinet papers and so forth)

    Christchurch • Since Mar 2008 • 228 posts Report

  • Matthew Poole,

    Happily, the news is that NZ On Screen is joining the O-zone.

    That's nice, but there are many other things that I think would be more useful. A discounting of traffic originating over peering links would be nice, and reflective of the actual cost of presenting that traffic to the user. As would an Orcon-based mirror of the Ubuntu and Fedora repositories, and the Windows Update site. Those can be some seriously hefty downloads, and Orcon offers no way to get them without eating into your traffic allocation.

    Similarly getting TV3's streaming site onto the O-zone would benefit a lot of people. I'm sure there are many others, such as all the various radio stations that stream from their sites.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report

  • HORansome,

    Of course, if you're using Word for academic use, then you're using the wrong software.

    Tāmaki Makaurau • Since Sep 2008 • 441 posts Report

  • George Darroch,

    then you're using the wrong software.

    Which do you use? I find all the alternatives equally painful.

    WLG • Since Nov 2006 • 2264 posts Report

  • giovanni tiso,

    Again, sorry, if you can use styles and master documents, and your thesis is in the humanities, Word is just brilliant. What's not to like?

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • st ephen,

    I don't think it's the designer of PowerPoint *TM* that is going to hell, so much as whomever designed the default templates.

    They're what encouraged people to write speeches on PowerPoint and doomed so many presentations to the onslaught of bullets, and the full death-by-powerpoint experience.

    That said, I suspect the use of bullets in general prose and formal writing went up as a result of the commonality of bullets in ppt - my instinct is that we see more now than we would have 20 years ago when "proper sentences" were expected in formal documents (like formal letters/cabinet papers and so forth)

    • TL
    • DNR

    dunedin • Since Jul 2008 • 254 posts Report

  • Ben Austin,

    Are there any interesting Android app developers in NZ I should be looking out for?

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    That's nice, but there are many other things that I think would be more useful. A discounting of traffic originating over peering links would be nice, and reflective of the actual cost of presenting that traffic to the user.

    Oh no. That would be "too complicated for users" ...

    As would an Orcon-based mirror of the Ubuntu and Fedora repositories, and the Windows Update site. Those can be some seriously hefty downloads, and Orcon offers no way to get them without eating into your traffic allocation.

    Slight diversion here ...

    According to this, Microsoft's Azure content delivery network doesn't have a node in New Zealand.

    It seems wildly underpowered in comparison to Akamai (which has had Apple as a customer for a long time) and Google, whose cacheing servers are located with most ISPs. Akamai says it has 65,000 servers in 1000 different networks globally. Azure has 20 nodes worldwide.

    What gives? Do they rely on ISP cacheing? Are there Windows Update caches that aren't part of Azure?

    Apple's content delivery via Akamai is spectacular. There are two things that will reliably saturate my 10 mbit/s (from the cabinet) DSL connection -- really bangin' torrents, and Apple software updates. Do you see the same with Windows Update?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • HORansome,

    I've seen too many people in the last few months of their PhD try to work out why Word is skipping footnotes or refusing to paginate their document properly; it's just not designed for long-form work. The proprietary file format it uses is also a minus.

    (I also dislike the constant UI changes Word goes through, but that is another matter.)

    I must admit that I use a different kind of painful; I use LaTeX. It's primary advantage is that you don't need to worry about how a document looks; you just focus on the content. It requires learning a certain amount of mark-up, but it's remarkably stable, was made for academics, produces great looking output (LaTeX is a fontographer's dream, given it's impressive kerning system and its understanding of ligatures) and...

    Well, no one uses its because WYSIWYG is all the rage.

    Tāmaki Makaurau • Since Sep 2008 • 441 posts Report

  • Danielle,

    Again, sorry, if you can use styles and master documents, and your thesis is in the humanities, Word is just brilliant. What's not to like?

    I must agree - it may be made by the Great Satan or whatever, but I think it's a really great programme for humanities writing. I tried using OpenOffice for a while and I don't think there's much of a comparison.

    ETA:

    It requires learning a certain amount of mark-up

    I'm an *arts* graduate. You know we're not capable of that. ;)

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

  • Russell Brown,

    And... It does make me consider an argument against copyright, the iPad is a great starting point for a really useful device. It wouldn't take much to add a little more functionality, front camera and a USB port for starters

    My understanding is that Apple did try a front-facing camera in user-testing, but people didn't like the world seeing up their nostrils, which is the view you'd get in a typical position.

    I wouldn't hold my breath for the USB port though. What's more likely is an opening of the Apple camera connection kit, which turns the standard iPad/Pod/Phone connector into a USB interface -- and offers undocumented support for a few other devices too.

    As Ted Laundau pointed out, the implementation of file-sharing on the iPad is a mess. Apple developed a shared directory that would mount like a drive on the user's computer when the iPad was connected, but decided not to implement it in the initial release. For now, I can transfer files via iTunes or use something like Dropbox to get a shared directory.

    You only need look at the rise of Android malware to understand why Apple went for the lockdown, but I think they're going to have to make it work better in the near future.

    but to turn it into a "Do Everything" device like a Desktop PC would see it crashing and burning like a... well, a desktop PC running Vista.

    And it is seriously the opposite of that. Apps launch very, very fast -- especially if you're returning to one that's cached, when it's effectively instant. That's tremendously appealing as a user.

    I also really want to see third-party music apps be able to use the iTunes library, the way they can on a Mac. There are a number of hands-on DJ apps already, but they require tracks to be uploaded separately for the app in question, which is annoying.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Phil Lyth,

    the full death-by-powerpoint experience

    Anytime it gets too much for me I re-read the Gettysburg Address as PowerPoint.

    Forgive me if you have had this before from me.

    Wellington • Since Apr 2009 • 458 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    CIO rounds up potentional iPad killers, which will start appearing later in the year, and reports iSuppli's prediction that none of the competitors will dent Apple's market until 2012.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • David Winter,

    Microwave hacks, in order of try-at-homeness:

    You missed the all important determining the speed of light

    And since people are having the argument. I spend most of my time on Linux, but I'm writing my thesis in Word. If you were to start writing from top and type to thet bottom it would be horrible. But if you take a while to learn about styles, master documents, breaks and the rest; and you combine it with a good reference manager; it's fine. Tools like the document map (called something else in Mac I think) actually make writing the thing easier.

    Dunedin • Since Aug 2010 • 10 posts Report

  • George Darroch,

    I've seen too many people in the last few months of their PhD try to work out why Word is skipping footnotes or refusing to paginate their document properly; it's just not designed for long-form work. The proprietary file format it uses is also a minus.

    I started a thesis on Open Office, moved to Word 2003 with Zotero as my reference manager, and then spent part of the last month making minor corrections on Open Office. Russell notes that things like instant response matter. In my case, what really bugged me was the scrolling - in Word it is clean and smooth, in OO you can never use it to find the page you want. And since OO paginated the document differently that was a major headache too. Since I'm poor I use the free product on my home computer, but if I had to do a lot of work I'd very happily shell out for the superior product.

    As others have said, it will take a little learning styles and pagination, things that should be learned well before a final deadline. It took me two days to build an autopaginated table of contents - that would have killed me had I only two days left. I've heard that Word 2010 supports a variety of TeX-like features, but I haven't used it

    WLG • Since Nov 2006 • 2264 posts Report

  • Steve Barnes,

    Having watched every episode so far of "This is not my life" (jeeze, is it slow or what?) I think I'll wait for one of those nifty credit card sized "do everything pad" things, they are the Jizz.
    Until then, say after me "Apple is Evil, Apple is Evil" cos the Bibble , a poem by John Milton, says so.
    Would you Adam 'n' Eve it?.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report

  • Paul Campbell,

    I have the dubious distinction of having submitting the first ever thesis that had not been hand typed at Otago Uni (25 years ago now) - took a lot of hassle to get them to accept it in a different format .....

    Even more of a hassle was helping someone else debug their page layout language at the same time ....

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report

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