rebootied

(OK, it looks like this is a 3.1 issue; I thought I'd installed 3.1 at launch but apparently I was running 3.0.whatevs until this morning.)

TLDR version:I hate being made to feel stupid. Why do engineers ever think it's a good idea to put multiple search fields available in an application's user interface? iTunes does some weird crap, but even iTunes knows enough to make Search contextually sensitive to location within the app. In your Library? I'll search the library. In the Apple Store? I'll search the store. It probably also isolates if you're in your iPod or iPad...

One of the things which irks me a lot are shortsighted UI changes which look efficient but are actually confusing. Like MS Office "ribbon"? I hate that thing. It may be great for new users, but for users who are accustomed to Office, suddenly it's just about impossible to find my own ass with both hands, a flashlight, and a GPS.

Thunderbird mandated a "minor" revision this morning (actually with 3.1) and its search functionality has changed. Until this morning, it had a single search field, and the magnifying glass icon was a drop down for Search Type, e.g. search all messages, message body, subject, to: and subject, etc.

In today's revision, in addition to the Search field at the top, now there's a Quick Filter bar underneath it, with the ability to show only mails with attachments, tagged mail, mail from contacts, etc. The whole Quick Filter bar can be minimized/hidden, so you don't have to see it all the time. It also has its own Search field for text entry.

The functionality for Quick Filters was previously inherent to the universal search field, but now the various drop down Search options are now buttons. These are displayed only if text has been entered, so what was one step is now a progressive isolation of search results. That's not inherently bad, but it's a big change.

But now there are two fields for text entry when searching: "Search All Messages" field and a "Quick Filter" field. I just don't see a reason why this wasn't included in a "Search" bar. Anytime a user has to go multiple places to find things, it's confusing. And I can't believe the change isn't advertised in mile high flaming letters on the greeting screen.

Gartner forecasts phones overtaking PCs as most common web browsing device by 2013 -- Engadget:

and that by as soon as 2012, 20% of businesses will "own no IT assets" -- meaning that employees would be using their own personal computer, and that the businesses themselves would be relying on cloud-based services.

I am stupid in love with my iPod right now. I've had a "Recently Added" smart playlist for some time, which contains only the stuff added in the previous 30 days. When I spend much time perusing the MP3 blogs, it briefly swells with a few interesting tracks, some of which I like, others get tagged for deletion after a couple of listens.

Recently I joined eMusic, which has resulted in some crazy cool finds. Right now I've got Peter Murphy's "Alive Justforlove" live album, St. Vincent, AUTECHRE, and Khate blowing me from breezy female vocals to Peter aurally twiddling my pleasure centers, and AUTECHRE and Khate leading me by the hand through frightening, blown-out desolate audio landcapes.

And just when all hope seems gloriously lost, recent free lightweight pop downloads from iTunes music store or Last.fm (Parachute, Moby, Jessie James), recently acquired The Cars' (1978) eponymous first album, or Radiodread's reggae covers of Radiohead come on, appearing like a cartoon bluebird of happiness.

OMG - Webmonkey: google adds SMS chat; I'll be nickel-and-diming you all to death soon.

ASUS | Eee PC: I'm seriously thinking about getting one of these for email/web use around the house. The Wife loves the little Panasonic Let's Note r4 which work provided to me, but it's work's machine, not mine -- and by extension "not hers."

Do any of you have an opinion on these little buggers, or suggestion of alternatives for similar functionality?

Edit: xposted to tech_support

MPAA wants to stop DVRs from recording some movies:
MPAA has pressed its Petition for Expedited Special Relief on behalf of Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal City Studios Walt Disney Studios, and Warner Brothers. How did these media companies get an FCC proceeding so fast? Ars bets that hiring former FCC Commissioner Kathleen Q. Abernathy as their attorney helped. Abernathy supported former FCC Chair Michael Powell's drastic relaxation of the agency's media ownership rules in 2003, along with Kevin Martin, now head of the agency.

Movies go through a timeline of staged releases that lasts about three years. First they go to theaters; 60 days after that they start showing up in airplanes and hotels; in 120 days from their theatrical release they transfer to DVD and Internet download; about a month later to video on demand/pay-per-view; by the end of the year to premium subscription systems like HBO and Showtime; and eventually to basic cable and free TV.

MPAA says these studios want to release their movies to multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) "significantly earlier and prior to DVD release"—although the trade groups' filing won't say exactly how much sooner. But in exchange for the accelerated service, MPAA wants permission to obtain SOC blocking of recording capabilities. The group promises that once said movies have reached the home video sale/rental stage, the blocking will stop. (remainder of article) (via /.)

I know there's a bunch of you who think Cory Doctorow's a loudmouth, but he's got one thing right about DRM and copy protection: nobody wakes up and says to themselves, "Gee, I really want to do less with my media today." And that's all this is about; the MPAA wants to be able to restrict your ability to use the technology you bought in a way that you've already been using it. Horse puckey.

I'm going back to books. Well, videogames and books.

Sony delays PSP Skype in Japan // GamesIndustry.biz:

Sony Computer Entertainment Japan has delayed the launch of the Skype service for PSP users just 24 hours before it was due to launch.
The company had prepared two first-party microphone packages for launch day, but neither of these has met specifications defined by Skype.

Huh? How does Skype's parent company not know that the microphone is not up to their standard until the day before launch? How man units were manufactured and will now need to be destroyed?

I'm just flabbergasted that Sony made a first-party bit of hardware kit for Skype and somehow it's not good enough for the brand. It seems backward.

Every time I get stumped and resort to Altavista's Babelfish or Google Translate to translate Japanese to English, I feel like a complete genius for understanding what little I do of this language. The stuff that comes out of the automatic translators is like Burroughsian cut-up poetry.

This has got to be one of the most bullshit pieces of fearmongering, wrong-headed tripe I have read outside of a Bush presidency State of the Union transcription:

Wi-Fi piggybacking widespread: Sophos has revealed new research into the use of other people's Wi-Fi networks to piggyback onto the internet without payment. The research shows that 54 percent of computer users have admitted breaking the law, by using someone else's wireless internet access without permission.

According to Sophos, many internet-enabled homes fail to properly secure their wireless connection properly with passwords and encryption, allowing freeloading passers-by and neighbours to steal internet access rather than paying an internet service provider (ISP) for their own. In addition, while businesses often have security measures in place to protect the Wi-Fi networks within their offices from attack, Sophos experts note that remote users working from home could prove to be a weak link in corporate defences.

Stealing Wi-Fi internet access may feel like a victimless crime, but it deprives ISPs of revenue. ( remaining claptrap )

Sharing is not a crime; if I have a phone and am entitled to limitless free local calls, and if I choose to let my neighbor come over and make free local calls whenever they want, or even give them a satellite phone so they can use it without bothering me, that's not a crime. As for the EULA, I'd be hard pressed to believe it would hold up in a court.

I lock up my computers, but not my WLAN. I'm willing to let people use my WLAN as long as no-one goes crazy-abusive on it.

Edit: Apparently this is an IT security blog in the UK, where accessing a wifi network without permission is illegal. This is not /generally/ illegal in the USA, though there have been exceptions (see commments).

Nerd Chic Arrives on TV - New York Times:

The Web, which has been seen as an ancillary medium for brands established elsewhere, is becoming an incubator of media properties that can extend over any number of platforms.