The Brooks Review

Month: January 2012

  • ‘Google: Do Yourself a Favor and Just Come Clean Already’

    Sarah Lacy:
    >I’d respect Google more if they came out and said, “This is a change in the way we’ve presented search results in the past and here’s why…” than make another statement trying to throw blame back at Twitter and Facebook. Quibbling and asterisks aren’t going to work, because Google is the one who made the unequivocal statements to begin with. Don’t make this become an issue for anti-trust lawyers, because that’s not the point. This is between you and your users, Google.

  • The New Vimeo

    Fantastic work putting the content first. Well done.

  • ‘iBooks Ideas’

    Great list of the types of books that you could use iBooks Author to create. I think it is the perfect tool for creating modern day cofee table books and travel guides.

    The latter of which I really want to see created.

  • Judge: Americans Can Be Forced to Decrypt Their Laptops

    This is an interesting debate. On one side you have those that feel giving up a password/key to unencrypt a hard drive is no different then being compelled to hand over a key to a safe. On the other side you have those that say it is a violation of our Fifth Ammendment rights.

    I can see both sides of this. I don’t know where I personally stand, but I do believe that this is an incredibly important issue that needs a resolution.

  • Tweet of the Day: @Drdrang

    “People with smartphones shouldn’t have “I’m out of the office” autoreplies. We know you’re still getting your mail.”
    — Dr. Drang (@drdrang) January 24, 2012

  • DuckDuckGo !Bang

    It appears that a lot of people don’t know about the `!bang` syntax with DuckDuckGo. Take a look at this page for some of the cool things you can do.

    Searching `!amazon airswimmers` will take you to Amazon.com and search it for `airswimmers`. That’s neat, but there’s more.

    Here’s two of my favorites:

    – `!twitter`
    – `!wordpress`

    Give it a look — because it is a killer.

  • DuckDuckGo Search on iOS

    They also have a free, universal, iOS app.

  • Change the Default Safari Search Engine to DuckDuckGo with Safari Omnibar

    Steven Teskey has another method for adding DuckDuckGo to Safari that omnibar lovers will like.

  • Let’s Ditch Google for DuckDuckGo

    I am done with Google. I think they have lost their way.

    I don’t remember when, or where, I found out about DuckDuckGo, but a quick search of this site has me [promoting it first](https://brooksreview.net/2011/02/chrome-10/) in February of 2011. It’s my go to search engine right now and I am trying to not use Google for anything. Here’s how I am making DuckDuckGo a default across my computing.

    ### LaunchBar

    First things first you need to add it to LaunchBar so that you can get fast access. [Here’s the guide to do just that](http://www.obdev.at/resources/launchbar/help/SearchTemplates.html).

    As an added bonus I set up another search template for searching my website with DuckDuckGo, here’s how that looks:

    Done.

    ### Safari

    While Chrome [makes it easy](http://help.duckduckgo.com/customer/portal/articles/216440-chrome) to change default search engines, Safari takes a bit more work. ((If you want it to replace Google in that nice little search area next to the address field — which I do want.)) DuckDuckGo [has a guide](http://help.duckduckgo.com/customer/portal/articles/216447-safari) for doing this and I have used the Glims method — it works fantastically well and looks stock.

    Don’t turn on all that fancy crap that drops down search results, just install DuckDuckGo and turn everything else off. That will give you the most “stock” look.

    ### Your Website

    Lastly I had to change the search at the footer of this site. I was porting it through Google previously and now have changed it to go through DuckDuckGo.

    There’s a [handy tool on the DuckDuckGo site](http://duckduckgo.com/search_box.html) that allows you to customize an iFrame (not the best, but better than using Google) and while it is much bigger than what I had — I like what it stands for: true search.

    Here’s the key to adding DuckDuckGo: you can customize a few key areas to make it match your site better: the colors and whether DuckDuckGo can show ads. Check out all those param tweaks [here](http://duckduckgo.com/params.html).

    ### Done

    If you have done everything correctly you shouldn’t need Google search anymore. If we want Google to stop jacking around our search results then we have to hit them where it hurts: search. That starts with people leaving Google search.

    That’s what I am doing.

    DuckDuckGo often has better quality results from what I have seen, but you will notice that the results aren’t as instantaneous as Google’s — they take a second.

    Give it a go, I bet you like it.

    *(As an added bonus, take a look at their [privacy policy](http://duckduckgo.com/privacy.html).)*

  • Ultrabook Rules

    Casey Johnston for Ars on [all the new ultrabooks that were announced](http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2012/01/ultra-in-name-only-the-failures-of-intels-ultrabook-rules.ars):
    >But the new Ultrabooks, meant to be PC competitors to the MacBook Air, seemed suspiciously fat. And heavy. And lacking in solid-state drives.

    That too me is anything but an ultrabook. Johnston goes on to state the rules (made by Intel) for calling your PC an ultrabook:

    >Intel’s official requirements for Ultrabooks are as follows: each model must have a configuration that falls below a $1,000 price point, notebooks with screens smaller than 14 inches must be thinner than 18 millimeters (14-inch-plus screen notebooks can be as thick as 21 millimeters), they must wake from hibernation in no more than 7 seconds, and they must have a minimum 5 hours of battery life, as measured by MobileMark 2007.

    For comparison the MacBook Air’s 13″ model is 17mm at its thickest and weighs just 2.96lbs with a 7 hour battery life. It’s clear to me that Intel wants “ultrabook” to be defined as “a MacBook Air”, but what’s also clear (to everyone) is that PC manufacturers will do what ever they need to be able use a trendy new name.

    In other words: PC manufacturers don’t have their heart in the ultrabook game.

    They don’t care to make a MacBook Air.

    They just want to sell more computers.

    And the easiest route to sell more computers is to go with the minimally accepted specifications to make a product fit into a “hot” new product category — which right now is tablets and ultrabooks.

    And *they* wonder why their sales are tanking.

    I actually wonder when the last time a computer manufacturer, not named Apple, gave a damn about making a computer that made lives easier. Think about it: they don’t make the software, just the hardware — and yet that’s the part that seems like utter crap.

    To put it another way: if Apple hadn’t made version 2 of the MacBook Air a wild success, would any other PC manufacturer care to try and make a competing product — one that Intel is begging them to make?

    I doubt it. And that’s the problem.

  • Quote of the Day: Brad McCarty

    “You tell me I’m biased like it’s an insult, but all I hear is that I’m doing my job.”

  • ‘Waking Up at 5am to Code’

    Matt Greer on waking up at 5am to work on personal projects (coding in his case) before he heads off for a full day of work (even doing so on the weekends):
    >It’s 5am and I will be also putting in a full day’s work afterwards. Not being stressed out or frustrated during this time is essential. I ensure this by working on truly personal projects that interest me and I have complete control over. I’m only two weeks in but so far no signs of getting worn out, in fact quite the opposite. It’s been pretty invigorating.

    I actually used to do this very thing, only waking up at 5:30a instead. I loved it, but I had to go to bed early enough to be awake at that time — this did not make my wife happy. Now I wake up at 6a and do a bunch of things before work.

    I work with every chance I get, whether for this site or my day job — it’s just a part of my life. Luckily one of those two jobs is something that I can hardly call work.

    Bottom line: mornings are underrated — give them a try.

  • ‘RIM Can’t Save Itself’

    Dan Frommer on RIM’s chances of saving itself:
    >Consider Palm, Motorola, Windows Phone, and other similar comeback efforts — all with arguably better resources and management than RIM. None has succeeded yet, Palm is finished, and Motorola managed to sell itself to Google to help in a patent war.

    Not that I ever thought RIM had a chance, but when you put it like that things *are* bleak for RIM.

  • ‘Don’t Be Evil’ Bookmarklet

    Joel Mathis:
    >Google’s recent move to emphasize results from its own Google+ social networking service is getting some new pushback—in the form of a *Don’t Be Evil* bookmarklet that reorganizes the site’s search results to place more emphasis on other social networks.

    Nice.

  • ‘Translation of New RIM CEO’S Car-Crash Video on YouTube’

    Craig Grannell on the RIM CEO video making the rounds:
    >Unfortunately, your correspondent fell asleep at this point, due to Heins’s relentless monotone, and so we have to guess as to the remainder of the video’s content.

    I didn’t make it past the first 30 seconds.

  • TSA Turns Away Sen. Rand Paul at Airport Checkpoint

    Dana Bash reporting on an incident with U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, statement by his father congressman Ron Paul:
    >”One of the ultimate embodiments of this (police state) is the TSA that gropes and grabs our children, our seniors, and our loved ones and neighbors with disabilities,” the congressman said in a written statement. “The TSA does all of this while doing nothing to keep us safe.”

    He set off the body scanner and the TSA wanted to pat him down, he asked to go back through the scanner again — TSA refused. The story’s not interesting, but his statements are certainaly true.

  • Amazon Studios

    Amazon is giving away $1.1 million this year for test movies and movies scripts. They essentially are creating Kindle Singles for movies — except now they are willing to help you out with the cash outlay neede to produce a movie.

    I think this is a fantastic idea, something that Netflix and Hulu should have been already doing.

    From the [FAQ](http://studios.amazon.com/getting-started):

    >Amazon Studios makes money by getting movies made, so while we can’t guarantee it, our goal is to make that happen. To that end, we have established a first-look development deal with Warner Bros., the biggest movie studio in Hollywood.

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  • Google’s Distorted Statistics

    Rocky Agrawal:

    >But what concerns me most is that Google is touting these meaningless statistics in the hopes that journalists will misunderstand them and report that Google+ is seeing rapid growth. The bottom line is, those 60 percents, 80 percents and 90 million registered users are just there to mask the fact that Google doesn’t want to tell us how many people are actually using Google+.

    >It’s intellectually dishonest. And as a public company, it raises questions of Google’s intent — the market is watching Google’s moves in social and needs to see traction. I expect better from Google.

    You should read this entire post, because it is a scathing look at how Google and other companies report numbers. The one thing I think Google really screws up are the vague “X devices *activated* this quarter” numbers they release for Android device usage.

    It’s getting harder and harder to keep your head in the sand and trust Google.

  • If I Were CEO

    If I were CEO of RIM, here’s what I would do:

    1. Call a meeting of all top executives.
    2. Pull my iPhone 4S out and rest it gently on the table in front of me.
    3. Wait for dramatic effect.
    4. Fire anyone not patient enough to wait for me to speak first.
    5. Tell everyone left in the room that they have 3 months to bring me a working prototype that makes me want to use it over my iPhone. (While gesturing towards my iPhone already placed on the table.)
    6. Fire anyone that asks “How?”
    7. With everyone gone, hire a new executive team.

    That’s where RIM should start and this isn’t a joke. Why bother with anything else if you can’t make people want to use your product? Beats me.