Oh is THAT right.

Jan
28th

Thu

“Our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price.”

The tagline for the iPad may be turgid and laughable, but it is admittedly an improvement over some of the alternatives that Jobs had considered.

We MAKE THINGS from THE FUTURE.
You will understand it when you see it.
If you remember just FOUR THINGS about it…
Don’t make us say it.
You people just don’t fucking get it. Ever.
We made it. It’s awesome. WHAT IS THE PROBLEM.
So apparently I have to spell it out for you people.
Fuck it, you wouldn’t believe me anyway.
LOOK, IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT IT’S FOR.
It’s useless to even talk to you right now.
Yes we are driving to the future but we will turn this car around, mister.
No one. Ever. LISTENS to me.

Curiously, enough, President Obama borrowed one of Jobs’ alternate taglines for his State of the Union address just a few hours later:

[I]f anyone from either party has a better approach that will bring down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured, strengthen Medicare for seniors and stop insurance company abuses, let me know. Let me know.

Jan
27th

Wed

Meanwhile, inside Apple’s marketing department, the business and political issues surrounding the inclusion or non-inclusion of Flash on the iPad and iPhone are not of heightened concern.

Note the NYT Flash Video widget clearly visible in the lower left-hand corner in the screenshots shown on launch day. On an iPad this rectangle should show the broken plug-in icon (as seen in today’s demo).

It’s not a big deal, as these things go. All marketing (and software) ships with bugs. The website will be corrected/updated before the product ships (possibly before you are reading this), and I know some people who know some people who will get it right before it shows up four feet tall and glowing on the wall of an Apple retail store.

And while there are might be people high up at Apple who care very much whether an image suggests the existence of Flash on an iPad (see for instance the cheat used on Jobs’ static Keynote slide), the Photoshop artists and web producers (and—updated—video producers) preparing for launch day might very well be cut off from communicating with someone who would know.

Or who might remember fixing THIS EXACT MISTAKE two and a half years ago.

Jan
26th

Tue

In Tall Buildings - John Hartford

While Hartford’s song about a newfangled electric washing machine is perhaps more characteristic (including clogging on a plywood board and making funny noises with his mouth), I’ll instead share this melancholy farewell to youth BECAUSE I AM FEELING SAD and BECAUSE IT IS AWESOME.

Recorded solo without audience at WSMV-TV in Nashville in his trademark bowler, vest, and tie.

John Hartford [Wikipedia], photographed in 1972. From an awesome online collection of Jim McGuire’s Nashville Portraits of country musicians. [via Draplin]

A heartcrushing shame to have lost him at the tender age of 63 to non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

Hartford was one of the exceptions that stands out to reveal what was once actually awesome about the monolithic Music Industry. Wrote one (!) hit song (“Gentle on My Mind”, popularized by Glen Campbell, and recorded by many many others) that sustained him financially for the rest of his life, freeing him to follow his passions: clogging, old-time fiddle and banjo, and PILOTING STEAMBOATS.

A goddamn American treasure.

weselec:

moltz:

Newton “Cadillac” Prototype (splorp)

Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this before.

My kid has one of these. Out of the box, it’s nothing special, but you can totally get books and cartridges that make it pretty cool. She has “Disney Princesses” and “Cars” and some other one I can’t remember. Touch the green ‘GO’ circle!

My boy has one too. The best part is how six months after you buy the thing you go back to Target and they’re only selling cartridges for the newer model.

My First ObsoletePad™.

Jun
18th

Thu

Genre's not for everyone

cleversimon:

I have 45 GB of music in my iTunes library.

I don’t really use the Genre tag

How do you keep your music library organized?

Or rather, Genre is only useful if you LISTEN within genres.

If, instead, you are the sort of person who is content to shuffle among SONGS YOU LIKE then Ratings are what matter.

In this case I recommend creating two (smart) playlists:

Songs I Like (rating = greater than ★★★)
Songs to Rate (rating = less than ★)

It will be useful to spend an evening starring some of your favorite songs so that “Songs I Like” contains some content.

When you are in a task-oriented mood, listen to “Songs to Rate”, and rate-as-you-listen. This can work while driving if you have a dashboard cradle for your iPod/iPhone.

Recommended ratings:

★★★★★ = favorite; never a letdown

★★★★ = like very much

★★★ = fine enough

★★ = novelty songs and deep album cuts; hard drive space is cheap

★ = delete me

Plan on spending two years actively rating songs before you can start to have a decent handle on your collection. (I’ve been rating mine for five.)

I currently use nested versions of these smart playlists to give me greater control.

For the Road (aka “Songs I Like”) meets ANY of the criteria:

playlist <is> Recent Faves
playlist <is> Old Faves
playlist <is> All-Time Faves

Recent Faves meets ALL the criteria:

rating <is greater than> ★★★

last played <is not in the last> 1 week

limited to 500MB <sorted by> most recently added

Old Faves meets ALL the criteria:

rating <is greater than> ★★★

last played <is not in the last> 6 months

limited to 200 MB <sorted by> random

All-Time Faves meets ALL the criteria

rating <is greater than> ★★★★

last played <is not in the last> 3 months

last skipped <is not in the last> 3 months

limited to 100 MB <sorted by> most often played

Hot List (aka “Songs to Rate”) meets ANY of the criteria:

playlist <is> Recent Rate Me
playlist <is> Rate Me (Random)
playlist <is> Lost and Unrated

Recent Rate Me meets ALL the criteria:

rating <is less than> ★

last skipped <is not in the last> 1 week

limited to 500MB <sorted by> most recently added

Rate Me Random meets ALL the criteria:

rating <is less than> ★

playlist <is not> Recent Rate Me

limited to 200MB <sorted by> random

Lost and Unrated meets ALL the criteria:

rating <is less than> ★

limited to 100MB <sorted by> least often played

That all said, I myself DO use thinly-sliced Genre tags to create thematic smart playlists. I also use del.icio.us-style tags in the Info field for the same purpose.

But then, in the 90s I used to program my mixtapes using Filemaker.

So bear in mind who you are dealing with.

May
14th

Thu

monstersofpod:

Directed by Lonely Sandwich

I already upped from $5/mo. to $10/mo. but after seeing this I might need to up it again.

May
9th

Sat

There is nothing shameful or wrong about a fuzzy costume of the naked human body.

via Awkward Family Photos

May
4th

Mon

Damn you, Draplin.

phylhrmnix:

…at this point, if you’re still having a bad day, there’s not much more YouTube can do for you.

Also:

I wonder if they offered Kate Pierson the chance to appear in person, or to have a muppet made in her likeness (see: Billy Idol’s muppet in “Rebel L”).

They had a fine Muppet alternative in my pal* Stephanie D’Abruzzo, later Kate Monster/Lucy T. Slut in Avenue Q. A fine Muppet alternative, indeed.

*For some reason the Wikipedia article neglects my role in introducing Stephanie to her husband. Must get on that.