Got Leopard by courier yesterday, so no lines for me as in NYC :-).
Upgraded in one hour and seems to be working perfectly, especially Timemachine is great for the future. Never having to think about making a backup.
Saturday, 27 October 2007
Friday, 26 October 2007
Thursday, 25 October 2007
Leopard, Apple's new Mac operating system, hits all the right spots (USA Today)
Leopard, Apple's new Mac operating system, hits all the right spots — When Steve Jobs unleashes Mac OS X Leopard on Friday, Mac fans and others considering an Apple computer for the first time will have questions. Is the new Leopard operating system worth the $129 upgrade price?
Source: USA TodayBlogged with Flock
Monday, 22 October 2007
From Webware: Flickr to use Picnik for online photo editing
Flickr plans to expand from photo sharing to photo editing through a deal with start-up Picnik, a major change in the nature of the Yahoo site.
"We are working on a relationship with Picnik, which will be available in the coming months," a Flickr representative said Friday, declining to share further details.
Picnik lets users perform a variety of basic editing tasks, including some color correction.
(Credit: Picnik)
News of the deal was reported Friday by TechCrunch from the Web 2.0 Summit. The site said Flickr will let users add edited photos to their accounts or, for pro account holders, they can use them to replace the online originals.
Picnik, based in Seattle, lets users perform a variety of basic editing tasks. Among them: users can crop and resize photos; change exposure, saturation, color temperature; sharpen edges; remove red-eye; and rotate pictures by 90-degrees or finer increments. It's got multiple undo levels, and edited photos already can be saved to a local computer or to Flickr, Facebook, Photobucket and Google's Picasa.
While that feature list is pretty feeble compared with what's possible with full-fledged desktop programs such as Adobe Photoshop, it does cover the basics of image editing. Picnik isn't alone, though; Adobe is working on an online Photoshop version and other competitors include Phixr, Snipshot, Pixenate, FotoFlexer, Wiredness, Pikifx and Fauxto.
Photo editing is a significant change in scope for Flickr. The option spotlights not only the increasingly sophisticated tasks that can happen in Web browsers--a technology generally called rich Internet applications--but also the gradual migration of features from desktop computers to online services.
It's been a newsy week for Flickr at the Web 2.0 Summit. The company also said it's planning to revamp its printing feature to make it easier to print a batch of photos and add new abilities to display geographically organized photos to take better advantage of pictures that have been geotagged with location information.
From MacRumors: Apple Posts Mac OS 10.5 Leopard Guided Tour
Apple has posted a guided tour of Mac OS 10.5 "Leopard."
Apple has been steadily expanding the flow of information about Leopard in the days leading up to its release, detailing all 300 features. Readers may also be interested in recent stories detailing some of the more less talked about features and under the hood improvements, as well as system requirements analysis.
If you haven't already ordered online, MacRumors readers are organizing meetups in their local regions.
Blogged with Flock
Saturday, 20 October 2007
Flock 1.0 Beta Released: Surprisingly Very Good
Flock 1.0 beta has been released for public download and is available here (at the time of writing it’s not shown on the front page).
The new version of Flock, the first full release was first demonstrated at the TechCrunch 40 conference in September. The new version builds on previous Flock versions by offering a variety of social networking tie-ins.
I’ve been hard on Flock in the past, believing it to be nothing more than Firefox with a couple of fancy plugins. In some respects that was true (it’s based on Firefox code) but the new Flock offers something completely unique that for me at least makes it surprisingly very good.
Facebook Comes To The Sidebar
The big change to Flock is the introduction of sidebar social networking integration. Flock now comes standard with support for Facebook, Flickr (more so than previously), Twitter and YouTube.
Facebook addicts will love the new Flock. Sidebar Facebook access is not dissimilar to the Facebook iPhone interface, but with better options including the ability to upload photos directly to Facebook. Some options do take you directly to Facebook itself, but it’s still very handy having them at your command in an easy to use sidebar.
The Twitter app does a reasonable job and is not unlike the TwitBin Firebox plugin we have previously review, but like the Facebook app it comes with a better feature set, including action buttons allowing for direct messaging, profiles and nudging.
My only gripe with the Twitter client is that it doesn’t update as frequently as Twitterrific and there was no obvious way of changing the update frequency that I could find.
Account support is also available for Photobucket, Piczo, Del.icio.us and Magnolia.
flock1.jpg
Media Bar
The media bar is not new to Flock, but where as the service was previously focused on Flickr, Facebook support is now integrated, providing drag and drop uploads. Another feature Facebook addicts will love.
Web Clipboard
Flock now comes with what they call a “web clipboard” that allows users to drag and drop anything they see into it via the sidebar, including urls, text and images. The idea is that they can then be used when needed on other sites by drag and drop again, or via image upload as required. We’ve seen Firefox plugins before that do a similar job, but the way this is built into Flock does make it a more appealing offering. It also helps that it works well.
Blogging client
The blogging client has long been one of Flocks selling points but I’m afraid that it was really my only major disappointment with the 1.0 release. It’s a solid blog client (always has been) in doing the basics, but it fails miserably with image management. Flock doesn’t support the uploading of images to a blog and provides users with only two alternatives: upload the image to Facebook or Flickr for displaying in the post, or worst of all display the picture sourced from another web site; basically stealing someone else’s bandwidth. It really isn’t that hard to build in image uploading to WordPress or similar blog platforms, here’s hoping it’s something that Flock might address in future releases
Other features
Flock offers a browser based RSS reader which does a decent enough job for those who prefer their feeds served locally as opposed to a service like Google Reader. The media bar has expanded from simply being a photo management tool to a browsing tool that includes YouTube videos. In the case of YouTube, user accounts of videos you view are added to the YouTube sidebar. I’m not sure exactly what the appeal of this feature is, but some will like it.
Overall
Flock launched 2 years ago tomorrow so they’ve been around long enough to get their product right. It’s been a difficult two years for the startup as they’ve had to battle against a marketplace that wasn’t that receptive to new browsers. The new Flock isn’t for everyone, but it will win new fans.
Powered by ScribeFire.
Flickr To Add Online Photo Editing Tools Via Picnik
Fotoflexer may be my personal favorite among the many online photo editing tools, but Flickr has chosen Seattle-based Picnik (profile) to handle the long requested photo editing feature for Flickr users.
Currently, you can rotate photos on Flickr, but the editing stops there. When the new tools launch, users will be able to edit photos more extensively using the Picnik Flash based tools (see our review here).
The deal has been signed and implementation will occur sometime in the next few months, Flickr told me yesterday. Users will be presented with an edit option on the photo page. Clicking it takes the user to a new Flickr photo edit page, with the Picnik tools integrated via an iframe. After editing, users can add the edited photo to their Flickr account or, if they are a Flickr pro user, overwrite the original.
Business terms around the deal are not being disclosed at this time. Picnik is self funded to date.
Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.
Blogged with Flock
Friday, 19 October 2007
Finally
Flock 1.0 Beta Release Notes
General
- Several performance enhancements have been implemented and several memory leaks have been fixed.
People
- Flock has been tested for users with up to two thousand friends. Beyond a thousand friends, unforeseen challenges may exist. Closing the People sidebar may return your surfing speed to normal. If you are incredibly popular with more than 2000 friends, we would love to hear about how the People sidebar is working for you. Please send your feedback to popularitycontest at flock.com.
- Flock 1.0 has added a "People" sidebar to support new service integration with Facebook and Twitter.
- Flickr and Youtube have been promoted to "People" services.
- Facebook associated avatars for friends will occasionally not show up.
- Due to a Facebook limitation, you can not upload more than 60 photos to your default folder.
Media
- Flock is unable to upload files with the “.jpeg” extension to Piczo.
- Accessing own private Photobucket photos when not logged in to Photobucket does not bring you to the Photobucket login page.
- If for some reason the upload process fails, perhaps a network connection issue, tags and descriptions associated with the photos will be lost.
- When using Hotmail in plain text, Dragging a picture from the media bar the email recipient will receive blank content.
Favorites
- Flock will not auto discover your account when logging into Magnolia using your Facebook account ID.
Blog Editor
- When customizing the blog editor toolbar, the customize window has duplicate icons.
Migration and Import
- Web clipboard content don’t always migrate when updating Flock
- Photos dragged to the uploader but not yet uploaded will not migrate when updating Flock
- When importing IE settings when starting Flock for the first time, if two or more sites are set as home pages, Flock will only import one page.
- Firefox live bookmarks not always handled properly during import.
Blogged with Flock
Tuesday, 16 October 2007
Mac OS X Leopard drops on the 26th
The Apple store went down this morning and the world held its breath as we waited for Apple to spill the details. As expected, Leopard has gone gold and you can now pre-order it for an October 26th release date. $129 for a single-user, $199 for the 5-person family pack and $0.00 for those of us with BitTorrent, Usenet and DVD burners.
Blogged with Flock
Luxembourg
Tomorrow I have an appointment in Luxembourg. Although I traveled through the country many times, I never visited the city Luxembourg itself. I may have some time this evening to do a small tour.
Some info from WikiPedia:
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (Luxembourgish: Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg, French: Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, German: Großherzogtum Luxemburg), also spelled Luxemburg, is a small landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. Luxembourg has a population of under half a million people in an area of approximately 2,586 square kilometres (999 sq mi).[1]
Contents |
Luxembourg is a parliamentary representative democracy with a constitutional monarchy, ruled by a Grand Duke. It is the world's only remaining sovereign Grand Duchy. The country has a highly developed economy, with the highest Gross Domestic Product per capita in the world. Its historic and strategic importance dates back to its founding as a Roman era fortress site and Frankish count's castle site in the Early Middle Ages. It was an important bastion along the Spanish road when Spain was the principle European power influencing the whole western hemisphere and beyond in the 14th-17th centuries making the polity an important place.
Luxembourg is a founding member of the European Union, NATO, the United Nations, Benelux, and the Western European Union, reflecting the political consensus in favour of economic, political, and military integration. The city of Luxembourg, the capital and largest city, is the seat of several institutions and agencies of the European Union.
Luxembourg lies on the cultural divide between Romance Europe and Germanic Europe, borrowing customs from each of the distinct traditions. Luxembourg is a trilingual country; French, German, and Luxembourgish are official languages. Although a secular state, Luxembourg is predominantly Roman Catholic.
For many people in other parts of Europe, Luxembourg is best known for its radio and television stations, Radio Luxembourg and the RTL Group, Europe's largest TV, radio and production company.
History
The recorded history of Luxembourg begins with the acquisition of Lucilinburhuc (today Luxembourg Castle) by Siegfried, Count of Ardennes in 963. The current name of Luxembourg comes from the former name Lucilinburhuc.[2] Around this fort, a town gradually developed, which became the centre of a small, but important, state of great strategic value. In 1437, the House of Luxembourg suffered a succession crisis, precipitated by the lack of a male heir to assume the throne, that led to the territory being sold to Philip the Good of Burgundy.[3] In the following centuries, Luxembourg's fortress was steadily enlarged and strengthened by its successive occupants, the Bourbons, Habsburgs, Hohenzollerns, and the French, among others. After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, Luxembourg was disputed between Prussia and the Netherlands.[4] The Congress of Vienna formed Luxembourg as a Grand Duchy in personal union with the Netherlands. Luxembourg also became a member of the German Confederation, with a Confederate fortress manned by Prussian troops.[5]
The Belgian Revolution of 1830-1839 reduced Luxembourg's territory by more than half, as the predominantly francophone western part of the country was transferred to Belgium.[6] Luxembourg's independence was reaffirmed by the 1839 First Treaty of London. In the same year, Luxembourg joined the Zollverein.[7] Luxembourg's independence and neutrality were again affirmed by the 1867 Second Treaty of London, after the Luxembourg Crisis nearly led to war between Prussia and France.[8] After the latter conflict, the Confederate fortress was dismantled.[9]
The King of the Netherlands remained Head of State as Grand Duke of Luxembourg, maintaining personal union between the two countries until 1890. At the death of William III, the Dutch throne passed to his daughter Wilhelmina, while Luxembourg (at that time restricted to male heirs by the Nassau Family Pact) passed to Adolph of Nassau-Weilburg.[10]
Luxembourg was invaded and occupied by Germany during the First World War, but was allowed to maintain its independence and political mechanisms. It was again invaded and subject to German occupation in the Second World War in 1940, and was formally annexed into the Third Reich in 1942.
During World War II, Luxembourg abandoned its policy of neutrality, when it joined the Allies in fighting Germany. Its government, exiled to London, set up a small group of volunteers who participated in the Normandy invasion. It became a founding member of the United Nations in 1946, and of NATO in 1949. In 1957, Luxembourg became one of the six founding countries of the European Economic Community (later the European Union), and, in 1999, it joined the euro currency area. In 2005, a referendum on the EU treaty establishing a constitution for Europe was held in Luxembourg.[11]
Government and politics
Luxembourg has a parliamentary form of government with a constitutional monarchy inherited by male-preference primogeniture. Under the constitution of 1868, executive power is exercised by the Grand Duke or Grand Duchess and the cabinet, which consists of a Prime Minister and several other ministers. The Grand Duke has the power to dissolve the legislature and reinstate a new one. However, since 1919, sovereignty has resided with the country.[12]
Legislative power is vested in the Chamber of Deputies, a unicameral legislature of sixty members, who are directly elected to five-year terms from four constituencies. A second body, the Council of State (Conseil d'État), composed of twenty-one ordinary citizens appointed by the Grand Duke, advises the Chamber of Deputies in the drafting of legislation.[13]
The Grand Duchy has three lower tribunals (justices de paix; in Esch-sur-Alzette, the city of Luxembourg, and Diekirch), two district tribunals (Luxembourg and Diekirch) and a Superior Court of Justice (Luxembourg), which includes the Court of Appeal and the Court of Cassation. There is also an Administrative Tribunal and an Administrative Court, as well as a Constitutional Court, all of which are located in the capital.
Military
Luxembourg's contribution to its defence and to NATO consists of a small army(currently consisting of around 800 people). As a landlocked country, it has no navy, and it has no air force, except for the fact that the eighteen NATO AWACS airplanes were registered as aircraft of Luxembourg for convenience.[14] In a joint agreement with Belgium, both countries have put forth funding for one A400M military cargo plane, now currently on order. Luxembourg still jointly maintains three US Air Force Boeing 707 model TCAs for cargo and training purposes based in NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen.[14]
Districts, cantons, and communes
- Further information: Administrative divisions of Luxembourg
Luxembourg is divided into 3 districts, which are further divided into 12 cantons and then 116 communes. Twelve of the communes have city status, of which the city of Luxembourg is the largest.
Geography and climate
Luxembourg is one of the smallest countries in Europe, and ranked 175th in size of all the 194 independent countries of the world; the country is about 2,586 square kilometres (999 sq mi) in size, and measures 82 km (51 miles) long and 57 km (35 miles) wide. To the east, Luxembourg borders the German Bundesländer of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, and, to the south, it borders the French région of Lorraine. The Grand Duchy borders the Belgian Walloon Region, in particular the latter's provinces of Luxembourg and Liège to the west and to the north respectively.
The northern third of the country is known as the 'Oesling', and forms part of the Ardennes. It is dominated by hills and low mountains, including the Kneiff, which is the highest point, at 560 metres (1,837 ft). The region is sparsely populated, with only one town (Wiltz) with a population of more than four thousand people.
The southern two-thirds of the country is called the "Gutland", and is more densely populated than the Oesling. It is also more diverse, and can be divided into five geographic sub-regions. The Luxembourg plateau, in south-central Luxembourg, is a large, flat, sandstone formation, and the site of the city of Luxembourg. Little Switzerland, in the east of Luxembourg, has craggy terrain and thick forests. The Moselle valley is the lowest-lying region, running along the south-eastern border. The Red Lands, in the far south and southwest, are Luxembourg's industrial heartland and home to many of Luxembourg's largest towns.
The border between Luxembourg and Germany is formed by three rivers: the Moselle, the Sauer, and the Our. Other major rivers are the Alzette, the Attert, the Clerve, and the Wiltz. The valleys of the mid-Sauer and Attert form the border between the Gutland and the Oesling.
Luxembourg has a marine west coast climate (Köppen: Cfb), marked by high precipitation, particularly in late summer.[15]
Demographics
Ethnicity
The people of Luxembourg are called Luxembourgers.[16] The native population is ethnically a French and Germanic blend[17]. The indigenous population was augmented by immigrants from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and Portugal throughout the twentieth century. Since the beginning of the Yugoslav wars, Luxembourg has seen many immigrants from war-torn and politically unstable Balkan states, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia. Annually, over 10,000 new immigrants arrive in Luxembourg, mostly from EU states, as well as Eastern Europe. As of 2000, there were 162,000 immigrants in Luxembourg, accounting for 37% of the total population. There are an estimated 5,000 illegal immigrants in Luxembourg.[18]
Language
Three languages are recognised as official in Luxembourg: French, German, and Luxembourgish, a Franconian language of the Moselle region very similar to the local German dialect spoken in the neighbouring part of Germany, except that it includes more borrowings from French. Apart from being one of the three official languages, Luxembourgish is also considered the national language of the Grand Duchy; it is the mother tongue or "language of the hearth" for nearly all Luxembourgers.
Each of the three languages is used as the primary language in certain spheres. Luxembourgish is the language that Luxembourgers generally speak to each other, but it is not much written. Most official (written) business is carried out in French. German is usually the first language taught in school and is the language of much of the media and of the church.[19]
Luxembourg's education system is trilingual: the first years of primary school are in Luxembourgish, before changing to German, while secondary school, the language of instruction changes to French. [20] However, as proficiency in all three languages is required for graduation from secondary school, half the students leave school without a certified qualification, with the children of immigrants being particularly disadvantaged.[21]
In addition to the three official languages, English is taught in the compulsory schooling (mostly from the eighth grade, i.e. at the age between 12 to 14 years) and much of the population of Luxembourg can speak some simple English, at any rate in Luxembourg City. Portuguese and Italian, the languages of the two largest immigrant communities, are also spoken by large parts of the population, but by relatively few from outside their respective communities.
Religion
Since 1979, it has been illegal for the government to collect statistics on religious beliefs or practices.[22] It is estimated that 87% of Luxembourgers are Roman Catholics, and the other 13% are mostly Protestants, Orthodox Christians, Jews, and Muslims.[23] Luxembourg is a secular state, but the state recognises certain religions as officially-mandated religions. This gives the state a hand in religious administration and appointment of clergy, in exchange for which the state pays certain running costs and wages. Currently, religions covered by such arrangements are Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Greek and Russian Orthodoxy, and Protestantism.
Economy
Luxembourg's stable, high-income economy features moderate growth, low inflation, and low unemployment. The industrial sector, which was dominated until the 1960s by steel, has become increasingly more diversified to include chemicals, rubber, and other products. During the past decades, growth in the financial sector has more than compensated for the decline in steel. Services, especially banking and other financial exports, account for the majority of economic output. Agriculture is based on small, family-owned farms. Luxembourg has especially close trade and financial ties to Belgium and the Netherlands (see Benelux), and as a member of the EU it enjoys the advantages of the open European market. Luxembourg possesses the highest GDP per capita in the world (US$87,995 as of 2006),[23] the twelfth highest Human Development Index, and the fourth highest quality of life.[24] As of March 2006, unemployment is 4.8% of the labour force.[25] For the fiscal year of 2005 and 2006, Luxembourg has run a budget deficit for the first time in many years, mostly because of slower international economic growth.[26]
Culture
Luxembourg has been overshadowed by the culture of its neighbours, although, having been for much of its history a profoundly rural country, it retains a number of folk traditions. There are several notable museums, mostly located in the capital; these include the National Museum of History and Art (MNHA), the History Museum of the City of Luxembourg, and the new Grand Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art (Mudam). The National Museum of Military History (MNHM) in Diekirch is especially known for its representations of the Battle of the Bulge. The city of Luxembourg itself is on the UNESCO World Heritage List, on account of the historical importance of its fortifications.
The country has produced some internationally known artists, including the painters Joseph Kutter and Michel Majerus, as well as the photographer Edward Steichen. Steichen's The Family of Man exhibition is now permanently housed in Clervaux, and it has been placed on UNESCO's Memory of the World register.
Luxembourg is the first city to be named European Capital of Culture for the second time. The first time was in 1995. In 2007, the European Capital of Culture will be a cross-border area consisting of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland in Germany, the Walloon Region and the German-speaking part of Belgium, and the Lorraine area in France. The event will promote mobility and the exchange of ideas, crossing borders in all areas, physical, psychological, artistic and emotional.
Blogged with Flock
Apple Dropping iTunes Plus (DRM Free) Song Prices to $.99?
In May, Apple launched the Digital Rights Management (DRM) free portion of their Music Store called iTunes Plus. The copy-protection free songs sold for $1.29 and were encoded at a higher 256kbps quality AAC.
Blogged with Flock
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)