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Comment Re:Every Android vs iPad review... (Score 1) 524

If we look at the closest existing Android phone to the iPhone 3G, it lost Cyanogen support around the same time Apple dropped the iPhone 3G. The G1 lost "official" support far earlier, at Android 1.6. Look at my link in the post you replied to about what versions people are actually running in their Android phones. The number that are stuck on 2.1 is a little lame. The glut held back to 2.2 is a flat-out embarrassment. I'd one to see a counter-argument supported with facts, but as far as I can see, Android users can rely on being abandoned by the OEM within two years of release in most (all?) cases. Apple, on the other hand, has supported a given phone for at least three years from release.

Comment Re:Every Android vs iPad review... (Score 1) 524

Some people need to have their hand held when using gadgets. Those people need Apple to hold them close and assure them that as long as the money flows all will be okay and Apple will protect them from the big bad world out there.

Could you be a more condescending twat? I can hear the arrogance over here.

What I find funniest about your statement is the idea "as long as the money flows...Apple will protect" you, implying that Android is the key to having software support for a much longer period of time. In reality, many Android device manufacturers have seen fit to stop releasing software updates as soon as the stop selling the hardware. It's a huge factor in the crazy-wide distribution of version numbers in use. And Cyanogen doesn't really count; if you're going to run the Android equivalent of jailbreak apps you need to be intellectually honest.

Comment Re:Anticipated Hardware Specs (Score 1) 229

if I am in an FPS, I want an axis for forward/back motion, an axis for side-to-side motion, an axis for left/right turning, and an axis for up/down look control. Four axes = two sticks, easily controlled with two thumbs and leaving the fingers free for triggers.

I haven't really dug into any of the Wii FPSes, so this is based on what "could be," not necessarily "what is." But couldn't the two axes on the nunchuk thumbstick combined with the two axes of pointing control on the wiimote provide exactly what you're asking for?

Comment Re:Far better features (Score 1) 365

You clearly don't understand what you're commenting on. There's no shame in that, but you have to know that people that have direct experience with the feature may have a bit better insight. For example, AirDrop. It allows a person to quickly set up an ad-hoc drop box with anyone else within WiFi range. There is no configuration required; in fact, you don't even need to be on the same network. The file manager (Finder) sets up a session directly with the WiFi (AirPort) hardware and broadcasts availability. Sans-"network."

You go on to state that this is stuff you could do on "free platforms" "10 years ago." I don't know how short your memory is, but to attribute the word "automatic" to ANY Free Software feature and/or product from fifteen years ago is delusional. We're only recently getting decent automatic X11 configuration. If there is some Free project that can accomplish anything close to AirDrop it's new to me. Note that I'm not saying it doesn't exist or that it's a lie.

Because I realize that stating things as fact when I don't in fact know their factual status is a total dick move.

Comment Re:Launchpad (Score 1) 365

What's fun about that is that it was a very bad idea in earlier versions od Mac OS X, but as of late is (usually) a non-issue. The Apple-provided packages and Installer are smart enough to relocate most things based on the bundle identifier, meaning that things will get updated without issue. This was definitely a problem in earlier versions of OS X but since about 10.4 or so it's worked as you might expect. It's still a bad idea to move applications around, as other users may not be able to access them, but it should not prevent updates from running properly.

Comment Re:Been running a dev build for a few weeks now (Score 1) 212

Or it could mean that you don't know how the "multitasking" API works. In short, most applications are suspended when in the background. Only certain pre-determined classes of applications are allowed to continue operating in the background, and when their background functionality is not in use (e.g. Pandora stops playing music) the app is suspended like any other. As such, most apps that may technically still be running are only using RAM but no other system resources.

Comment Re:Just because (Score 1) 361

The sync of meta-info allows all sorts of extra functionality. First of all, people that say "I'll just put it into folders" are rather silly. You're totally disregarding all sorts of really useful metadata.

Playlists generated on the computer - or generated on the portable device - that sync both ways. Play counts and ratings, which feed into dynamic, rule-based playlists. The ability to quickly establish "sets" that synchronize, that include multiple artists, albums, etc, while still maintaining easy access to an alphabetical list of artists. Or albums. Or genres.

It's like somebody trying to manually manage all of their photographs. Works great for 100. Works somewhat alright for 1,000. Totally unworkable with 10,000. It becomes more and more work, which is what computers are supposed to do, right? What Picasa/iPhoto are to photos, iTunes/(insert media player here) are to music. They allow you not just to use your music but to manage it. Let the computer do the work.

Comment Re:TINSTAAFL (wrong!) (Score 1) 283

Except you're wrong. Memtest86 is largely assembly, based on the (2.2?) Linux kernel. It requires no OS and handles all hardware access on its own. Memtest OS X is a userspace app that one runs from the command line. As it is a "fat binary" that runs on PPC as well as x86, and was around before there even were Intel Macs, I rather doubt it was based on Memtest86 at all. They just happen to share similar names.

Before you drag someon'e name through the mud, please know what you're talking about.

Feed Apple TV review (engadget.com)

Filed under: Features, Reviews, Media streamers, Internet, Apple

In a day where everyone (including us) expects their gadgets to do everything, Apple again bucks the trend and releases a product that does a few things, but tries to do them very well. From day one the Apple TV wasn't expected to be the right for everyone -- especially not many of the gadgetrati that patronize our fine publication. It does have a specific target audience (namely, those happy to live in the iTunes ecosystem), but will it be the gateway device to bring digital video to the living room? What's more, will "the iTunes adapter" still pass muster with the ever-scrutinizing CE enthusiast crowd? Learn everything we think you'd want to know about this thing (except how to upgrade the drive) our full-on Apple TV review.

Continue reading Apple TV review

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!


Feed Apple not fighting back against Apple TV hacks (engadget.com)

We had a word with Apple yesterday about the Apple TV -- specifically about that supposed backdoor. We asked whether enthusiasts really are in fact having services and hacks shut down through surreptitious software updates and backdoors into the Apple TV, to which Apple let us know that is absolutely not the case. Although they didn't account for any issues these have been experiencing when upgrading their machines, Apple is certain that they didn't do any of that funny stuff that would make Sony's legal team cringe. Apple's stance, it claims, is more along the lines of: it's your box, do with it what you please -- but be mindful of voiding that warranty. Guess this is just the stuff you've got to deal with when tooling around with an STB -- your hacks aren't necessarily always going to stick and work, which is why they're hacks.

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!


Music

Apple's Move May Make AAC Music Industry Standard 428

stivi writes "BusinessWeek has up an article about a war: a standards war in the online music business. Apple's recent deal with EMI to sell DRM-free songs from the publisher's catalog on iTunes may clinch the iPod's AAC format as the industry standard. The article talks about possible reasons why AAC might marginalize WMA, as well as deals with some of the implications of drm-free aac-standardized industry. 'Online music stores, like Napster, Yahoo Music, URGE, and all the others that sell WMA songs will be forced to consider jumping into the DRM-free AAC camp, and thus become iPod compatible, and in so doing become competitors of iTunes. Apple will be fine with this, because in its range of priorities, anything that sells more iPods can only be a good thing. With time, practically all music stores will be selling iPod-compatible songs. This will be considered a Richter 10 event at Microsoft.'"

Feed ITunes Glitches Remain on Vista (wired.com)

Want to corrupt your iPod? Use it with Microsoft's new operating system. Apple concedes that its music software still isn't compatible with all versions of Vista. By the Associated Press.


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