Posted by Rich Chuckrey in Shorts
Mitch Joel over at TWISTIMAGE on the potential of YouTube search:
Not sure how to wash a dog? Change a diaper? Jailbreak an iPhone? Build a deck? Do a magic trick? Play the solo in Van Halen’s ‘Running With The Devil’? Understand what Google TV will be? Whatever random question you have, someone, somewhere has created a video with the answer and the tutorial on how to do it.
Posted by Scott Jarkoff in Shorts
Interesting observation on the Wired app for the iPad:
Why is the magazine so large? Being the intrepid hacker that I am (*wink*) I mounted my jail broken iPad via AppleTalk and quickly tore into the app itself to see how it was constructed. Similar to the PopSci+ magazine application, each Wired issue is actually a bunch of XML files that lay out a bunch of images. And by “a bunch of images” I mean 4,109 images weighing in at 397MB.
Each full page is a giant image – there are actually two images for each page: one for landscape and one for portrait mode. Yes, I’m laughing on the inside too. There is no text or HTML, just one gigantic image. The “interactive” pieces where you can slide your finger to animate it are just a series of JPG files. When you press play on the audio file and see the progress meter animate? A series of PNG files.
On the one hand I can see the point but on the other hand I have to wonder what he expected? Surely as publishing for the iPad matures, the manner in which the “magazine” is constructed will change over time.
I cannot help but wonder what he expected as far as the so-called interactivity. Surely Wired could have done some really cool things had they opted to, but I suspect they were more interested in focusing on displaying advertising and the content they created for the magazine – the articles themselves.
It is easy to laugh at an app weighing in at 4000+ images costing almost 400MB in download size. But to criticize without nary a suggestion other than using HTML 5? Consider me unimpressed with the feedback even though I am, too, completely underwhelmed with the Wired app offering.
Posted by Scott Jarkoff in Shorts
John Gruber on the annoying use of Tynt on certain high-trafficked web sites:
All of this nonsense — the attribution appended to copied text, the inline search results popovers — is from a company named Tynt, which bills itself as “The copy/paste company”.
It’s a bunch of user-hostile SEO bullshit.
Everyone knows how copy and paste works. You select text. You copy. When you paste, what you get is exactly what you selected. The core product of the “copy/paste company” is a service that breaks copy and paste.
He goes on to offer a simple, easy-to-implement trick to disable Tynt on all web sites in one fell swoop. It took me a mere five seconds to do and works like a charm.
Any web site believing they can get away with bullshit tactics like this does not deserve to be visited. I am not certain what these sites believe they are getting out of using a service of this nature. Seems much more counterproductive than anything.
Posted by Scott Jarkoff in Shorts
Buried at the end of this Reuters report regarding the iPad being a huge hit in Japan is this little nugget of information:
NTT Docomo, Japan’s biggest mobile phone operator, will sell wireless LAN routers for the iPad’s Wi-Fi connection next month to rival No.3 operator Softbank, which exclusively provides 3G networks for iPad.
So rather than providing a SIM to insert directly in to the iPad itself, it appears NTT Docomo will be selling what I assume to be some form of a portable WiFi access-point which connects to their 3G network on the WAN side and allows your iPad to connect on the LAN side.
This sounds far more beneficial overall, seeing as it ostensibly would provide access to more devices than just an iPhone, than paying Softbank solely for iPad 3G access.
It will be quite interesting if such a product does become offered, especially since it is widely accepted here in Japan that DoCoMo has a far better 3G infrastructure compared to Softbank’s spotty coverage.
Posted by Scott Jarkoff in Shorts
Fred Wilson has changed his mind about the iPad after using it for a while and letting it sink in:
Over the past week, I have fallen in love with the thing. And so I am telling you why.
It may be the best email device I have ever owned. It took me a while to warm up the way Gmail is rendered on the iPad and I really miss my Google Labs hacks, but I prefer doing email on the iPad to my two phones and my laptop right now.
I suspect this is the way a lot of folks feel about the iPad.
Folks are jazzed about the idea of the iPad so they buy one. After bringing it home and playing with it for a bit they realize the iPad is a drastically different computer than they are used, often resisting the urge to change.
Then after using it for a period of time they realize the iPad is a game changer – that it is truly the magical device Apple believes it to be.
…I think we can see the writing on the wall that Android is going to dominate iPhone market-share wise which will eventually make it a more attractive platform business-wise.
We’re ringside for a promising smartphone battle. Android vs. iPhone.
Posted by Rich Chuckrey in Shorts
Google commits to security with its rollout of SSL encrypted search. This has nothing to do with how Google tracks your search habits.
From the Google Blog:
…today we’re gradually rolling out a new choice to search more securely at https://www.google.com.
Google will still maintain search data to improve your search quality and to provide better service. Searching over SSL doesn’t reduce the data sent to Google — it only hides that data from third parties who seek it.
Posted by Rich Chuckrey in Shorts
Two weeks in a row we are seeing the spread of salacious malware on Facebook. Steer clear of Facebook’s “Distracting Beach Babes.”
Gramah Cluley makes a curious point on his award winning security blog regarding the timing of malware:
I’m beginning to wonder if the cybercriminals deliberately launch these campaigns on the weekends, imagining that anti-virus researchers and Facebook’s own security team might be snoozing.
Posted by Rich Chuckrey in Shorts
First, We all know RSSis great. Why it’s not exploited more than it is, I’ll never really know.
In comes Feedly. An aggregate Chrome extension to kill all RSS aggregate extensions. Thank you Feedly.
Then… Fast flawless browsing is owed to all of us. Why Firefox is so damn slow now, I’ll never know. Thank you Chrome.
Between subway stations well, thank you Reeder. Keep me sync’ing happily and you’re the one.
The trio: Feedly, Chrome and Reeder.
Bow.
Posted by Rich Chuckrey in Shorts
Over the last 24-48 hours we are [again] seeing a DM phishing attack blowing through Twitter accounts. Are you spamming your Twitter followers with Direct Messages (DM) that contain links leading to phishing websites? Have you received a Twitter DM to a Twitter login page that isn’t the actual Twitter login page?
How would you know?
One quick way is to filter tweets on yourself by using the @’youaccountname’ link to the right on Twitter’s home page. Do you see tweets from you, but in fact not from you? If you answered yes, your Twitter account may likely be compromised. Continue
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