Jim Ray on Google Chrome Frame

post from Daring Fireball on 23 September 2009 10:08:00 PM. © Daring Fireball

Jim Ray on Chrome Frame, a new IE plugin from Google which swaps out IE’s entire HTML/CSS/JavaScript engine and replaces it with Chrome’s version of WebKit:

As I?m in love, and a huge nerd, the first thing I did was start stalking my new affection.

And:

The irony here, as I see it, is that an old, insecure feature Microsoft built to try to beat Netscape is now being used by Microsoft?s biggest current rival to patch IE. The upside for developers is that Microsoft is going to have a hard time killing Chrome Frame because it actually does the right thing ? it?s not hacking IE via undocumented APIs or unscrupulous haxie-like code injection. They used Microsoft?s own well-documented and fully supported platform to do this. Bravo indeed, Google.

?

Read The Full Article:
http://jimray.tumblr.com/post/194793633/more-technical-details-about-google-chrom
e-frame

Digg this

Need Staff There’s an Apple Store for That

post from TheAppleBlog on 23 September 2009 08:00:00 PM. © TheAppleBlog

It took the designer-store concept from Apple. It took the Genius Bar concept from Apple. What’s left for Microsoft to take from Apple as it gears-up to the launch of its first brick-and-mortar retail stores?

Well, the staff, of course.

According to The Loop, Microsoft is poaching Apple’s retail store managers with the promise of “significant” salary increases and, in some cases, offering to cover all moving expenses. The Loop doesn’t say who its source is, only that it spoke on condition of anonymity. The Loop’s Jim Dalrymple writes;

Once hired, the ex-Apple employees are then contacting some of the top sales people in the Apple retail organization offering them positions at Microsoft retail. They have also been offered more money than what they made at Apple.

Dalrymple says this poaching is a smart move, though I’m not so sure of that. Apple’s staff are trained, shaped and brainwashed inspired by the Cupertino Mother Ship. The Apple Retail Store philosophy runs through their veins. Apple Stores are successful not only because they offer ‘insanely great’ products, but because the staff are carefully versed in the Apple way of life.

lisa-simpson-mapple

Truly, they are Mapple People.

That little slogan on their t-shirts and badges that reads, “I could talk about this stuff for hours”? They mean it, and it’s easy to see why. Forgive me for drinking the Kool-Aid here, but consider how seamlessly software and hardware works in the Apple ecosystem. For the most part things “just work,” right? And when things work well, the experience is a happy one.

Now imagine those same enthusiastic technology-loving Mapple People going to work at a Microsoft Retail Store where Windows 7 doesn’t work the same way on every PC, where OEM crapware and errant drivers cause slowdowns and DLL headaches on a daily basis and it’s near impossible to easily demonstrate even the most basic of digital media management without being forced to sign-in to Windows Bloody Live just to get anything done…

I doubt things will “just work” quite as seamlessly. Not as happy an experience, I imagine. And I’m not speaking as a fanboy either — I’m speaking as a power-user of every iteration of Windows since 3.1.

If Microsoft thinks poaching Apple’s employees will bring a little of the Jobsian Magic to its retail venture, good luck to them, but I reckon they’re in for a nasty shock.

Read The Full Article:
http://theappleblog.com/2009/09/23/need-staff-theres-an-apple-store-for-that/

Digg this

Alexander Limi: Firefox Mac Installation
Experience, Revisited

post from Daring Fireball on 23 September 2009 07:12:00 PM. © Daring Fireball

Sounds like a great solution to me.

?

Read The Full Article:
http://limi.net/articles/firefox-mac-installation-experience-revisited/

Digg this

Cabel Sassers Windows 7 Party

post from Daring Fireball on 23 September 2009 07:04:00 PM. © Daring Fireball

Microsoft releases painfully-awkward, cringe-inducing video with tips for how you can host your own Windows 7 “launch party”.
Cabel Sasser makes it dirty.
I can’t stop watching.

?

Read The Full Article:
http://www.cabel.name/2009/09/windows-7-party.html

Digg this

New iPod Nano Raises Privacy Concerns With
Fitness Chain

post from TheAppleBlog on 23 September 2009 06:00:00 PM. © TheAppleBlog

iPod nano & camera location One of the great things about the iPod nano is that you can use it with Nike+ to track your workouts. Or you could, if the fitness center would let you bring the media player in to the gym. Life Time Fitness, a U.S.-based gym chain, is officially blacklisting the device according to TwinCities.com, and others will likely follow suit.

The reason, of course, is the recently introduced video capture capability the nano now sports. Yes, it allows the iPod to compete with devices like the Flip pocket camcorder, but it also raises privacy concerns in environments where video and image recording devices traditionally haven’t been permitted.

Life Time has already put a restriction on the books banning the nano from its 84 facilities, spread across 19 states. Others are considering a similar move, or argue that the device is already covered by their existing regulations. The YMCA, for instance, already restricts photo and video gadgets to lockers, and argues that this applies to the new nano, too.

Of course, the problem with any such ban is enforcement. Are gym staff really going to stop each patron each time they visit to make sure that nano they’re wearing on their arm isn’t a current-generation model, especially when the average person probably couldn’t spot the difference unless the device is removed from its case?

As someone who already visits a gym daily with an iPhone in an armband case, I doubt new anti-nano regulations will end up having much of an effect on the average fitness center attendee. But in order to protect yourself, it is a good idea to be aware that less scrupulous individuals might be using the new iPods for nefarious purposes, and keep an eye out accordingly when you’re working out or in the locker room.

Read The Full Article:
http://theappleblog.com/2009/09/23/new-ipod-nano-raises-privacy-concerns-with-fit
ness-chain/

Digg this

The Ultimate Productivity Blog

post from Daring Fireball on 23 September 2009 05:40:00 PM. © Daring Fireball

I have to say, this is a pretty well-thought-out system. (Via Sippey.)

?

Read The Full Article:
http://productiveblog.tumblr.com/

Digg this

OS Breakdown of Technologizer Readers

post from Daring Fireball on 23 September 2009 05:34:00 PM. © Daring Fireball

Interesting numbers from a general-purpose technology site: 66 percent on Windows, 24 on Mac.

?

Read The Full Article:
http://technologizer.com/2009/09/22/operating-system-wars-the-technologizer-editi
on/

Digg this

Snow Leopard Adoption by Macworld Readers

Pretty similar to DF’s.

?

Read The Full Article:
http://macworld.com/article/142933/2009/09/snow_leopard_adoption.html

Digg this

IntelliScanner debuts new barcode scanner for Mac

IntelliScanner has announced a new barcode scanner, the IntelliScanner Classic, for organizing books...

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.macnn.com/click.phdo?i=4387c555a62a79b5fb82d387dda25965

Digg this

Strata Foto 3D CX 2 adds support for multiple
image sources

Strata has released an update to Foto 3D, its software for creating 3D models from images. CX 2 adds...

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.macnn.com/click.phdo?i=cc943fae683631d03bf38901425d9a85