The Brooks Review

Category: Links

  • Windows 8: A Giant Misstep Forward

    Christian Cantrell:
    >Metro should only be for tablets, and for computers that convert between tablets and laptops. Only if a device doesn’t have a keyboard and mouse should it be in Metro mode.

    That makes more sense that Windows 8. Imagine those crappy convertible tablets that were sold in the pre-iPad days. Now imagine if they ran regular Windows when you had the keyboard and trackpad available and switched to Metro when you “converted” the notebook to a tablet — I think that would be a neat solution to the problem that was only created by these convertible devices.

    [via Gruber]

  • Omni Sync Server: Beta No More!

    Brian on the Omnigroup Blog about their sync servers coming out of beta:
    >We’ve had the server up for almost two years now – it launched way back in April of 2010. In that time[…]

    Imma let you finish, but first let me finish that sentence for you.

    In that time:

    1. Cultured Code (makers of Things) wrote post after post about how syncing is *really* hard.
    2. Cultured Code (makers of Things) actually shipped a beta version of their syncing engine for just Things — surprised me too.

    In other words the Omnigroup ran a very stable (in this testers opinion) sync service that grew to more than just one app, while Things *just* launched a beta version of sync.

    Ok, go ahead with the good news Brian:

    >Oh, and did we mention that you can have this all for the low, low price of zero? One of the things we learned is that we can build and run a service like this without needing to charge for it.

    Great work guys.

  • Sentenced to Remedial Training

    Chris Morran on the latest TSA fuck up:
    >The mother of four says she’s a frequent flier and has never been hassled about her breast pump in the past.

    >Before going through security last week, she’d even dumped out the milk that she’d already pumped and bottled so that the TSA wouldn’t hassle her.

    >But it’s precisely because those bottles were empty that the TSA screener gave her trouble.

    She had to go into the public bathroom and pump milk to *fill* the bottles before she could pass through TSA security. Read that again. What a bunch of dumbfucks.

    Oh and:

    >The TSA admits that the screener made a mistake, and “The officer in question is receiving remedial training.”

    *Fantastic*. Wouldn’t it just be easier and cheaper to actually train these “officers” in the first place?

  • ‘I Use My iPad Like an iPad, Not Like a PC’

    Jim Dalrymple:
    >The right question to ask is “does the iPad fit my lifestyle?”

  • ‘How Can I Opt-Out of Readability View?’

    Basically you have to email them. Not sure if I am going this route yet or not.

  • ‘A Dependable iPad’

    Michael Lopp on what he needs from iPad:
    >Via whatever my final usage patterns are, if I need to charge the iPad more than once a day, I’ll be disappointed.

    *Ditto*

  • The Macalope Weekly: Punchlines

    The Macalope on Android phone announcements:
    >Well, remember, it’s all about choice, and having as many lousy, eye-bleeding, and poorly-thought-out choices as possible. Because Apple doesn’t offer that.

    Pure gold this week from The Macalope, go read it.

  • Square Register

    Can’t wait to see one in person.

  • Studio Neat: FRAMES

    This is a great little app from the guys behind the excellent [Glif](http://www.studioneat.com/pages/glifoptions). This is a simple time-lapse app that I have been playing with for quite a while now. Even though I don’t make a ton of time lapse videos, the app is simply a joy to use.

    I downloaded a few other time-lapse apps just to see how this compared and all I can say is that this is far superior to the apps I tried. I have used it a couple of times to shoot time-lapse videos of my drive into work, but unfortunately for me — even though the app is great — it doesn’t make my videos interesting by default. Go check it out, it’s $2.99.

  • ‘Dude, it’s a laptop you want, not an iPad’

    Andrew:

    >Basically, people want cases that (a) prop the screen up and (b) have a keyboard. The thing is, we already have a gadget that does these two things. It’s called a laptop.

    He’s got a point, but I think there is more to it than his conclusion of wanting a ‘MacBook Air with a detachable screen’ — I think it’s mostly about wanting the simplicity and fantastic-ness of iOS.

  • Lytro Light Field Camera Review at Digital Photography Review

    Richard Butler:
    >As it is, it feels like a product arriving before the underlying technology is really ready.

    This is a really great and in-depth review so if this camera interests you (it should) then be sure to read this. I have no more questions about the Lytro after reading this and am glad I didn’t preorder one.

  • The B&B Podcast – Episode 49: Dude I’m Holding a Phone

    Shawn’s out caring for his new son, so I asked Federico Viticci to fill in. We talked about the iPad 3, iPhone 5, iOS privacy, and Samsung for good measure. It’s a fun episode so be sure to check it out — also I say ‘button’ a few times for everyone.

  • Ars Examines Nokia’s 41 Megapixel Smartphone Camera

    Chris Foresman goes over just how that 41MP Nokia smartphone camera works. A nice primer if you are wondering if Nokia is nuts. ((Also, good job on the straight forward headline Ars.))

  • Canon EOS 5D Mark III

    The new hotness — man do I want this.

  • Did Twitter Change the Way Replies Work? Maybe Not

    Matt Honan has the word:

    >Twitter says it’s a bug, and they’re going to fix it

    I guess we will see.

  • How I Use Hazel

    Sorry for the self link, but back in 2010 I post about how I use Hazel on my Mac. Seems a lot of you aren’t using it yet, so this is a decent place to start.

  • ‘How Twitter Broke Twitter’

    Austin Frakt:
    >Clicking “reply” now means that only joint followers see the tweet even if you prefix it with a “.” (or anything else for that matter). You can still tweet at (@) someone with a “.@” construction and have all your followers see it but not if you click reply. When did this change occur? I cannot find anything on the internet that documents it. Is this the first post to do so?

    I have seen a lot less of these types of replies and I thought he may be wrong — until I saw that a few were using a work around: not hitting the reply button instead creating a new tweet. What a pain in the ass.

  • ‘Sony and Samsung Tablets Miss the Mark Thanks to Contracts and Pricing’

    Abdel Ibrahim and Jon Dick:
    >The Galaxy tab 7.7 will set you back a minimum $499, and that’s with a 2-year contract. If you say to hell with carriers, the price of the puny tablet swells to an eye-watering, deal-breaking $699.

    Maybe that’s what they [meant by “double down”](http://parislemon.com/post/18390218572/winning-duh)?

  • Stupid Misleading Headlines at Ars Technica: Round 2

    Jonathan Gottfried runs with this headline: “Don’t bet on “Linsanity”: US seizes online gambling domain over sports wagers”. Aside from the headline of the post and the link to the very article you are reading in the side bar, “Linsanity” is never mentioned again.

    Actually the post is just about the U.S. seizing Bodog.com. I would assume Ars went with the headline to drive pageviews making the weak connection that Bodog is/was about sports betting — but really that’s pretty lame.

  • ‘A Precious Hour’

    Michael Lopp:
    >Starting at the beginning of February, I made a change. Each day I blocked off a precious hour to build something.

    >Every day. One hour. No matter what.

    I’m in.