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New user? Wednesday, October 4, 2000
Apple rallies troops after slump
ZDNet: News: Apple rallies troops after slump -- "Jobs reportedly told employees that the company plans no layoffs; a hiring freeze is in effect, Jobs said, with a few exceptions."
Also...
"Meanwhile, Jobs said, the company is considering scaling back a number of nonessential projects, although he reportedly did not identify which products would be affected by the cuts."
Someone rightly asked how projects could be scaled back without layoffs. Well, one way would be to reassign those people to essential projects -- if there are any programmers working on non-essential projects you can bet they'll be reassigned to the Mac OS X project, or some close derivative.
I've heard Apple had been hiring WebObjects developers like mad for their iServices department -- seeing as that's a pretty profitable business, I wonder if if it will be an "exceptional" area not to be hit with a hiring freeze.
My take on this whole Apple thing: (look at Jim the Apple pundit!)
The sky is NOT falling. Apple needs to admit the Cube is a failure, come up with another non-iMac computer that people can afford and would want to buy, fast. In the mean time cut the price of the Cube BIG time.. they have huge margins on the G4 and PowerBook, not sure about the Cube but they've got some room to work with, I'm guessing.
They need to do this so that confidence is up and no-one is predicting their doom when OS X is released, because confidence alone could make or break the OS X debut, I'm afraid.
I'm hearing from many PC and Linux/BSD users who are totally interested in buying Macs JUST so that they can run OS X -- yes it really is THAT good. They can't miss that opportunity.
Challenge to the Neurobiology community
Slashdot :Online 'Sand Mouse' Tests Neurobiologists
This is very cool stuff!
Yashin can already hear the boos
Yashin can already hear the boos -- "Alexei Yashin is back in Ottawa but after refusing to play last season, he can expect a steady chorus of booing every time he touches the puck this year."
It's too bad Ottawa needs his talents... otherwise they could bench the bum for this season too, just to make a point.
RE: Apple rallies troops after slump
I'm hearing from many PC and Linux/BSD users who are totally interested in buying Macs JUST so that they can run OS X -- yes it really is THAT good. They can't miss that opportunity
I know so many people (mostly BSD people) that are looking to buy a powerbook because of OS X. A turnkey portable BSD solution. Who else has that?
Not many portable turnkey Linux systems either.
Justin Trudeau
Justin Trudeau's funeral tribute stirs talk of political potential
"It occurred to me that perhaps this was the first manifestation of a dynasty," said Claude Ryan, former Quebec Liberal leader.
Things are getting veeeerrrry interesting. Not only this but:
PM narrows down election date -- "Prime Minister Jean Chretien is calling on Liberals to defend Pierre Trudeau's legacy and they could be doing it for a Nov. 27 election."
That excites me because then I could focus on Canadian politics for a change instead of American politics! Yay!!!
BBC News | SCI/TECH | Giant wave could threaten US
BBC News: Giant wave could threaten US -- "put it this way: if I was living in Miami or New York and I heard that the Cumbre Vieja was erupting, I would keep a very close eye on the news."
The wave would be caused by the side of a volcano collapsing during an eruption and hitting the Altantic ocean.
Have you seen Deep Impact? Sounds like it'd be something like that.
Tuesday, October 3, 2000
About the Scripting.com Mail Pages
About the Scripting.com Mail Pages: What Steve Ivy Said...
But, let me add that since the DG has gone on vacation, the "tension level" when visiting Scripting News has gone waaaay down, and I've noticed Dave isn't writing as defensively anymore. I stopped reading Scripting News earlier this year, for quite a few months, because I just didn't need the stress of reading that site and "picking sides" in my head. I picked it up again when Radio UserLand was released.
Back to the good ole' days... (deep breath... sigh :-))
Another way we're back to the good ole' says... Frontier is free, Frontier's really a scripting tool again, and we're less than a year from Apple shipping it's new operating system*. (cough)
* but this time, UserLand's going with them!
PS: I nominate this song as song of the day: I can see clearly now
AUTONET.CA - Canada new cars & used cars, new car dealers, trucks, reviews, new car prices!
Why is it that the coolest cars always come out within two months of me getting a new car?
AUTONET: Nissan unveils electric Xterra -- "Nissan will unveil its fuel-cell powered electric Xterra concept in Canada on Oct. 16, 2000"
The Sherlock Files
Macworld, The Sherlock Files: Command F -- The Origin -- By Damien Barrett
But that's Mr. Barrett to you, thank you very much.
Way to go Damien!
Ars Technica: Mac OS X Beta - Page 1 - (10/2000)
Hey, software developer!
Want to be rich and/or famous? Read this article!
Ars Technica: Mac OS X Beta - Page 1 - (10/2000) (Page 1 of 16, by the way)
Especially pay attention to the section on the User Interface, specifically the "what's wrong with it" section.
Can you spell "3 r d p a r t y o p p o r t u n i t y"?
I kneeeeeewwww you could.
EOGenerator
If you're a WebObjects developer, and you don't use EOGenerator or something like it, you're wasting time.
Use it or lose.
Monday, October 2, 2000
Breast Cancer ad
TV ad for breast cancer: Let Cam do your breast exam, for free!
There's a poll on CANOE asking if the add sends a positive message to women. Currently 54% said Yes (including me, I have a sense of humour thank you very much), only 19% said it's offensive.
eMedicine, Inc. Receives Patent for Internet Publishing Software
Al Gore and the Internet
Via Q: Excellent summary of Al Gore's actual role Al Gore and the Internet by Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf, the creators of TCP/IP.
I'm glad to have read that, I have new respect for Gore.
AskTog: Why is Apple in Trouble?
AskTog: Why is Apple in Trouble? (via Scripting News)
Excellent article, just about mirrors my opinion, except that I can't understand how Apple could have lost half its value in a day -- they're still profiting, it's way too early to jump ship.
Adobe, Interwoven form alliance
Adobe, Interwoven form alliance -- "The first joint development effort of the alliance will focus on Adobe GoLive 5.0 and Interwoven TeamSite software."
Whatever happened to the GoLive Publishing System? I remember looking forward to this back in the pre-Adobe-GoLive era. Even once they were bought, Adobe was still promoting it on their web site.
Corel Forms Strategic Alliance with Microsoft
Corel Forms Strategic Alliance with Microsoft -- "Corel said it will work together in testing, developing and marketing on Microsoft's .NET platform. It will work with Microsoft in product launches, trade show events, and on mutual Web sites."
Microsoft bought $135M of non-voting preferred Corel shares. This reminds me of that new Elizabeth Hurley movie that's coming out soon, where Brendan Fraser's character gets 7 wishes in exchange for his soul.
IOC Chief Urges Athens on Games
IOC Chief Urges Athens on Games
I heard somewhere that if things don't improve with the Athens games that Seville or Sydney might be awarded the 2004 games. No disrespect to Athens, but I would love to see the Olympics in Sydney again.
New U.S. Government Web Site Flunks Security Test
New U.S. Government Web Site Flunks Security Test -- "A one-stop gateway to all 27 million U.S. government Web pages set up last month is inadequately protected from hackers, congressional investigators told a House panel on Monday."
Related story:
Mitnick tells IT managers to trust no one
If you love me, you'll eat that
This is hockey news? Stefan's girlfriend eats rabbit brain to prove her love
Big guns must fire for success
The Globe and Mail: Big guns must fire for success -- a story about the Edmonton Oilers as the new season approaches.
I'd never checked out the Globe for hockey stories before, it looks like they have great stuff.
RU plug-ins
Update: The Tools architecture ships. Tools Home Page
Update 2: Apparently the reason for the delay was so that Brent could take part of Sunday off. Most companies announce a delay when a feature or product is delayed by days, weeks, months -- at UserLand, a delay can mean hours! That's working at Internet speed. :-)
The "Tools" plug-in architecture is apparently being delayed, while UserLand decides how it will work and which build-in Radio UserLand features will be Tools. (my interpretation of what was said, it wasn't said quite that explicitly).
A couple of days ago I pointed some friends at the Tools stuff as a sign that Radio UserLand was getting some serious focus -- something my friends felt was missing. I guess it won't matter how long it takes to get there, if it gets there.
Regarding the McSorley trial
What do you think about violence in hockey? Even (or especially) if you don't watch/like hockey, I'd really like to know what you think.
Regarding Marty McSorley: I don't think he should be convicted of assult, nor should he even have been charged. Of course he shouldn't have injured Brashear like that, but that's a side-effect of how the game works today, so it's not fair to him to charge him -- it's just as much a blindsided action as his slash.
Here's a good article related to the trial:
NHL hasn't learned its lesson -- "If you banned fighting, as other civilized sports have done, there would be no need for teams to employ goons. It would open spots on the roster for real hockey players, who don't regard goal as just a dirty four-letter word."
My opinion of fighting in the NHL changed, last night. Until last night, I believed fighting was a necessary part of the game, necessary for two reasons:
1) Goons protect skilled players from being run at.
2) Fighting (as an outlet for anger) prevents other more serious infractions like stickwork and hitting from behind.
Both of those are true in today's NHL.
However, remove the goons and give much bigger fines and suspensions for dirty-play and:
1) You won't need the skilled players to be protected like that.
2) People who use stickwork and other dirty play will be GONE from the game.
What made me change my mind?
Rugby
I was watching a New Zealand Rugby match last night. Rugby is very agressive sport, to say the least. However, I saw no thuggery, dirty play, or serious violence.
How can it be that some very agresssive sports can avoid horrific violence, fighting and dirty-play, and hockey can't? There is no reason, no excuse. Hockey players have just been raised to be dirty and mean. (with apologies to Wayne Gretzky and a few other great NHL players who were not)
I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'd like to see fighting banned, and massive fines and suspensions for stickwork (slashing, intentional high-sticking, spearing, etc) and dirty-play (checking from behind, kneeing, etc) to clean up the sport.
It's time to bring new respectability to hockey.
PS: Some irony: Wayne Gretzky appeared in the courtroom during the McSorley trial in support of his former teammate. He didn't take the stand. What does Wayne Gretzky think about fighting? I honestly can't remember if he's answered that before.
