Tag: tech

Fliers Still Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why – NYTimes.com

Fliers Still Must Turn Off Devices, but It’s Not Clear Why – NYTimes.com

“According to the F.A.A., 712 million passengers flew within the United States in 2010. Let’s assume that just 1 percent of those passengers — about two people per Boeing 737, a conservative number — left a cellphone, e-reader or laptop turned on during takeoff or landing. That would mean seven million people on 11 million flights endangered the lives of their fellow passengers.

"Yet, in 2010, no crashes were attributed to people using technology on a plane. None were in 2009. Or 2008, 2007 and so on. You get the point.

"Surely if electronic gadgets could bring down an airplane, you can be sure that the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration, which has a consuming fear of 3.5 ounces of hand lotion and gel shoe inserts, wouldn’t allow passengers to board a plane with an iPad or Kindle, for fear that they would be used by terrorists.”

And to add insult to injury: you can’t use your iPad during takeoff and landing, but United’s issuing iPads with flight procedures, manuals, and maps to its pilots.

parislemon:

Apple’s vision for the future of computing versus Microsoft’s vision for the future of computing.

Any questions?

Looks about right to me.

New goodies on Flickr.

For the new 11-inch MacBook Air: backup drive, and the latest from Gary and the gang at Waterfield.

“I am on a mission”

The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs:

Will you write on a tablet, or just read from it? Or will you just buy it and put it on your desk and look at it a lot and never use it at all? Or will you maybe carry it around and put on the table in restaurants to show the other humanoids in your tribe that you are more advanced and wealthy than they are, and they should fear you because you have powerful magic that they do not understand? You see what I mean? What is the anthropology here? And what about the ergonomics? Can you mount it on a wall? Will it have a shiny surface so that Macolytes can adore themselves as they use it in public? (Yes. It must.) The tablet must look and feel not like something that was made by man — it must feel otherworldly, as if God himself made it and handed it to you.
I’m so glad Fake Steve came back.

You can still buy XP

If Windows Vista is giving you fits, you can still buy Windows XP from Amazon. (And put a little coin in my pocket if you use these links.)
Windows XP Home Edition
Windows XP Professional
We used XP Professional on my wife’s PC before it gave up the ghost, and, having used Vista on the Dell we bought to replace it, I sometimes wish we’d stuck with XP Pro.
At least I spend the majority of my time in OS X…

Um, yeah

MacJournals News:

Expert Macintosh users who see “MacWorld” in an article know you don’t know what you’re talking about, just as most technology-literate readers would laugh at “MicroSoft,” “QualComm,” or “LexMark.” Referring to a famous technology event without the correct name or spelling is a quick way to throw away your credibility. Saying “That’s how I always thought it was spelled, and besides, everyone knew what I meant” is saying “I didn’t bother to get the facts about my subject before I wrote my article.” Don’t be that writer.

The awkward kid

Jamie Phelps:

If any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, Windows is that awkward kid that can’t remember how the trick goes.

Differences

Michael Gartenberg:

Every time there’s a new OS release from MSFT they talk about the shortfalls of the current OS & how the new version will fix all problems.

Ever hear Apple dis a former version of their OS? Me neither. 🙂

Some day…

There must have been a lot of holes

An Upstart Challenges the Big Web Browsers:

Browsers have always been viewed as crucial on-ramps to the Web. Nevertheless, after vanquishing Netscape, the first commercial browser developer, Microsoft waited five years before releasing the sixth version of Internet Explorer in 2006. Dean Hachamovitch, general manager of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer group, says the company was focused on plugging security holes during that time.
[Emphasis added. –R]