The Way the Camera Follows Us in Slo-Mo

post from Daring Fireball on 02 January 2008 11:08:00 PM. © Daring Fireball

On the final day of a trip to Disney World with my family last month, I saw something remarkable: a boy, 4 or 5 years old, with two artificial legs, running around Mickey’s Toontown Fair in the Magic Kingdom. Running. If he had been wearing pants instead of shorts, you’d have simply thought he had a bit of a limp.

He was born without legs, but yet there he was, galloping across the playground on a warm, sunny December morning, every bit as happy, excited, and carefree as every little kid in the world ought to be.

His legs — sleek, lightweight, and impressively dextrous — were inspiring and beautiful. And they were made using technology that simply did not exist when I was his age, one generation ago. Focus solely on current events and it’s all too easy to despair at the state of the world. But science and progress march ever forward, and the world is a better place today than it used to be.

Happy New Year.

Read The Full Article:
http://daringfireball.net/2008/01/follows_us_in_slomo

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The Iowa Scam

post from Daring Fireball on 02 January 2008 08:12:00 PM. © Daring Fireball

Christopher Hitchens on the Iowa caucuses:

It’s only when you read an honest reporter like Dan Balz that you appreciate the depth and extent of the fraud that is being practiced on us all. “In a primary,” as he put it, “voters quietly fill out their ballots and leave. In the caucuses, they are required to come and stay for several hours, and there are no secret ballots. In the presence of friends, neighbors and occasionally strangers, Iowa Democrats vote with their feet, by raising their hands and moving to different parts of the room to signify their support for one candidate or another. ? [F]or Democrats, it is not a one-person, one-vote system. ? Inducements are allowed; bribes are not.” One has to love that last sentence.

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Read The Full Article:
http://www.slate.com/id/2181008/

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CompUSA Mac discounts

post from MacNN | The Macintosh News Network on 02 January 2008 08:00:00 PM. © MacNN | The Macintosh News Network

In brief: We've published a review of the Wacom Bamboo series, there are 10 new ways to trick out yo...

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http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/01/02/compusa.mac.discounts/

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Setting Up Local Virtual Hosts on Leopard

post from Daring Fireball on 02 January 2008 07:39:00 PM. © Daring Fireball

Nice write-up from Jeremy Keith on setting up local virtual host web sites on Leopard — it’s a bit different on Leopard because Mac OS X now includes Apache 2.

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Read The Full Article:
http://adactio.com/journal/1395

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GrabFS: The Screenshot File System

post from Daring Fireball on 02 January 2008 07:30:00 PM. © Daring Fireball

Amit Singh:

In a pinch, GrabFS is a file system that shows you a live view of the window contents of currently running applications. In a GrabFS volume, folders represent running applications and image files represent instant screenshots (?grabs?) of the applications? windows. You simply copy a file or just open it in place, and you have a screenshot. Open it again, and you have a new screenshot!

I’m not sure I’d ever find this useful, but I love it anyway.

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Read The Full Article:
http://www.osxbook.com/blog/2008/01/02/grabfs-the-screenshot-file-system/

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Sears Installs Spyware

post from Daring Fireball on 02 January 2008 06:59:00 PM. © Daring Fireball

Jacqui Cheng on security researcher Benjamin Googins’s discovery that a supposed “community” service on Sears.com and Kmart.com (Kmart is a Sears subsidiary) is actually an atrocious spyware system.

Raymond Babbitt said it well in Rain Man: “Kmart sucks.”

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Read The Full Article:
http://community.ca.com/blogs/securityadvisor/archive/2007/12/20/sears-com-join-t
he-community-get-spyware.aspx

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Macworld: Add More Power to 10.5S Screen Sharing

post from Daring Fireball on 02 January 2008 06:49:00 PM. © Daring Fireball

Rob Griffiths reveals hidden features in Leopard’s Screen Sharing app.

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Read The Full Article:
http://www.macworld.com/article/131094/2007/12/screensharepower.html

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Regarding the RIAAs Lawsuit Against Jeffrey
Howell

A few days ago I linked to a Washington Post story regarding Atlantic v. Howell, a lawsuit the RIAA filed against Jeffrey Howell. The Post, and many other media outlets, reported that the RIAA’s attorneys have argued in their brief that merely ripping music to MP3 files from the CDs you legally own constitutes copyright infringement.

Ends up this isn’t what the RIAA’s legal brief states. What the RIAA claims, and which led them to file suit against Howell, is that he both ripped 2,000 songs to MP3 and shared them publicly via Kazaa. Big difference.

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Read The Full Article:
http://www.tenreasonswhy.com/weblog/archives/2007/12/unbelievably_st_1.html

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Fortune Ranks Steve Jobs Most Powerful
Businessperson in World

Followed by Rupert Murdoch, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, and Google’s Schmidt/Page/Brin triumvirate.

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Read The Full Article:
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0711/gallery.power_25.fortune/

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Radiohead comes to iTunes

Alternative rock band Radiohead has added its latest album, 'In Rainbows,' to Apple's iTunes Store. ...

Read The Full Article:
http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/01/02/radiohead.comes.to.itunes/