I've been playing around with RSS feeds for blogs (web log sites) as they are built into the Firefox browswer, but wasn't finding it useful there. I'd looked at them before, using stand-alone applications for reading RSS feeds, but never liked them. Probalby because this is a still-infant technology (despite them being used for podcasts in iTunes 4.9)
But I found a way to use RSS feeds to keep up on all my favorite sites without having to tediously visit each one to see if they've got anything new.
it's called BlogLines.com and it's a web site that does the same thing as the built in feature in web browsers or those stand-alone apps. And because it's on the web, I can access it from any computer on the 'net and get the latest news. Nothing to synchronize, etc.
Along with services like GMail, Google Maps, Blogger, etc, web sites that are applications (i.e. they serve a useful purpose other than just reading news or whatever) are becoming more and more popular. I'm not sure that web-apps will ever totally replace stand alone applications programs....but a lot of simpler programs can surely be made more useful by making them a web site.
Their only problem is when you need the service and you're not connected to the 'Net.
2005-07-22
Statistics about Apple are looking up!
The advent of low cost Macs like the Mac Mini and the iMac G5, as well as the so-called "halo effect" of the iPod have brought all sort of good statistics to Apple of late.
Their sales are increasing at 3 times the rate of the rest of the computer industry. Their sales of Macs for the last several quarters have increased greatly as Windows owners tired of viruses and having gotten a taste of Apple quality with the iPod have switched to Mac from Windows.
Just the other day, it was announced that Apple has moved up to the number 4 spot among computer companies in terms of market share.
Now Jupiter Research has reported on Apple's share of the business desktop and business server market.
You seldom hear about installed base, but this is a good example of what Mac users have know all along...there are a lot more Macs in use, and in use for longer out there than most Windows-zealots will admit. You can't go buy % of market share of sales in the last quarter. Heck, Apple has pretty much always been in 10 (and now in the top 5) companies. But that seldom is mentioned, because in our short-term-profit centric mindset, that never seems to show up on the radar. Until now.....when the bloom is way, way off the rose of Windows....and the promise of Linux has been diluted with the 15 trillion different distros you have to try and pick from, and the fact that it's still not a low-maintenance OS in most cases (the only exception I can think of being the Lindows/Linspire that Wal-Mart sells, which isn't exactly taking the market by storm)
Mac OS X is Unix/Linux done right, basically. And businesses and IT pros are starting to realize it. They take the best from the open source and Unix worlds and combine it with the polish and professionalism that business users expect of an off-the-shelf machine....and are laughing all the way to bank.
Oh...and ABSOLUTELY NO VIRUSES, vs. Windows 100,000 viruses (which doubled last year alone!)
Heck, 4 years ago when I was looking at houses to buy, whenever there was a computer in the houses I looked at, it was always a Mac. ALWAYS. I couldn't believe it, but there it is! I looked at places all over the city, too.
Congrats, Apple. It's about time you started getting the respect you deserve.
Their sales are increasing at 3 times the rate of the rest of the computer industry. Their sales of Macs for the last several quarters have increased greatly as Windows owners tired of viruses and having gotten a taste of Apple quality with the iPod have switched to Mac from Windows.
Just the other day, it was announced that Apple has moved up to the number 4 spot among computer companies in terms of market share.
Now Jupiter Research has reported on Apple's share of the business desktop and business server market.
You seldom hear about installed base, but this is a good example of what Mac users have know all along...there are a lot more Macs in use, and in use for longer out there than most Windows-zealots will admit. You can't go buy % of market share of sales in the last quarter. Heck, Apple has pretty much always been in 10 (and now in the top 5) companies. But that seldom is mentioned, because in our short-term-profit centric mindset, that never seems to show up on the radar. Until now.....when the bloom is way, way off the rose of Windows....and the promise of Linux has been diluted with the 15 trillion different distros you have to try and pick from, and the fact that it's still not a low-maintenance OS in most cases (the only exception I can think of being the Lindows/Linspire that Wal-Mart sells, which isn't exactly taking the market by storm)
Mac OS X is Unix/Linux done right, basically. And businesses and IT pros are starting to realize it. They take the best from the open source and Unix worlds and combine it with the polish and professionalism that business users expect of an off-the-shelf machine....and are laughing all the way to bank.
Oh...and ABSOLUTELY NO VIRUSES, vs. Windows 100,000 viruses (which doubled last year alone!)
Heck, 4 years ago when I was looking at houses to buy, whenever there was a computer in the houses I looked at, it was always a Mac. ALWAYS. I couldn't believe it, but there it is! I looked at places all over the city, too.
Congrats, Apple. It's about time you started getting the respect you deserve.
2005-07-21
"Slipped the surly bonds of earth..."
It's a sad day.
Jimmy Doohan, the actor who portrayed Scotty, the man who kept the Enterprise flying in the original Star Trek, the movies, and one of the best Next Generation episodes, died yesterday (July 20, 2005) at age 85.
I've seen Jimmy many times at Trek cons, and he was the nicest person you ever met. Several times he actually went around a PACKED auditorium and shook EVERYONE'S hand. Everyone. He was always a joy to listen to. A true gentleman. I've seen or met most of the original Trek actors (except Nimoy) and all were very nice, but he was the BEST.
And I'm not the only one who thinks so. All the coverage and comments by people about him I've read the last day or so are all the same. Everyone absolutely loved him.
How fitting that he passed on the 36th anniversary of the first manned landing on the moon, and the 29th of the first successful probe to land on Mars (Viking 1)
I also see today that some of his ashes are going to be launched into space, as Roddenberry's were. Personally, I think the Space Shuttle should take some up too. It's only a pity that it can't be the shuttle Enterprise (the fans goofed up there, asking NASA to call the test orbiter "Enterprise" when it was never goint to go to space.)
On a lighter note...Jimmy lived in Redmond, WA. The same city where Microsoft has it's home base.
Would that Microsoft could've hired Scotty to fix up Windows and make it work properly.
Goodbye Jimmy. Hope you're having a great time catching up with De Kelley ("Bones") somewhere in the multiverse.
Jimmy Doohan, the actor who portrayed Scotty, the man who kept the Enterprise flying in the original Star Trek, the movies, and one of the best Next Generation episodes, died yesterday (July 20, 2005) at age 85.
I've seen Jimmy many times at Trek cons, and he was the nicest person you ever met. Several times he actually went around a PACKED auditorium and shook EVERYONE'S hand. Everyone. He was always a joy to listen to. A true gentleman. I've seen or met most of the original Trek actors (except Nimoy) and all were very nice, but he was the BEST.
And I'm not the only one who thinks so. All the coverage and comments by people about him I've read the last day or so are all the same. Everyone absolutely loved him.
How fitting that he passed on the 36th anniversary of the first manned landing on the moon, and the 29th of the first successful probe to land on Mars (Viking 1)
I also see today that some of his ashes are going to be launched into space, as Roddenberry's were. Personally, I think the Space Shuttle should take some up too. It's only a pity that it can't be the shuttle Enterprise (the fans goofed up there, asking NASA to call the test orbiter "Enterprise" when it was never goint to go to space.)
On a lighter note...Jimmy lived in Redmond, WA. The same city where Microsoft has it's home base.
Would that Microsoft could've hired Scotty to fix up Windows and make it work properly.
Goodbye Jimmy. Hope you're having a great time catching up with De Kelley ("Bones") somewhere in the multiverse.
Radio Shack to sell Apple products
Actually, they already DO sell the "Apple iPod from HP" (one of the silliest product brand names ever....what is HP thinking?)
But this will sell iPods directly from Apple.
And they are moving toward selling Macs (probably the Mac Mini and the iMac, I'd guess) at Radio Shacks too, if the iPods work out (and they WILL).
I worked for a Radio Shack Computer Center from 1980-82 when the two mass-market personal computers were the Apple ][ lines and the Radio Shack TRS-80 line. I used both in high school in the late 70's (we had three TRS-80's, one Apple ][)
In 1984 I switched from a TRS-80 Model IV to an original Mac...and have been Apple ever since (at home). So it's kinda cool to see the place whose computers I first used, who eventually just became another PC clone-box maker, move back towards my computing preference!
But this will sell iPods directly from Apple.
And they are moving toward selling Macs (probably the Mac Mini and the iMac, I'd guess) at Radio Shacks too, if the iPods work out (and they WILL).
I worked for a Radio Shack Computer Center from 1980-82 when the two mass-market personal computers were the Apple ][ lines and the Radio Shack TRS-80 line. I used both in high school in the late 70's (we had three TRS-80's, one Apple ][)
In 1984 I switched from a TRS-80 Model IV to an original Mac...and have been Apple ever since (at home). So it's kinda cool to see the place whose computers I first used, who eventually just became another PC clone-box maker, move back towards my computing preference!
2005-07-17
Harry Potter 6 sales: "When a book beats out movies, we're in great shape"
Well, the 6th book in the Harry Potter series is out, and it's kicking the crap out of MOVIES.
Gotta love it.
Especially when it's everyone from kids to grandparents buying a huge 600 (almost 700) page book...and then spending the weekend reading it.
GOOD ON YOU, READERS!
Now go out and read some more books besides just Harry Potter please...the rest of the industry needs you too!
Gotta love it.
Especially when it's everyone from kids to grandparents buying a huge 600 (almost 700) page book...and then spending the weekend reading it.
GOOD ON YOU, READERS!
Now go out and read some more books besides just Harry Potter please...the rest of the industry needs you too!
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