The Brooks Review

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Recent Articles

  • Capturing the Speed of Light on Camera

    Paul Sawers reporting: >“We have built a virtual, slow-motion camera where we can see photons – light particles – moving through space”, says Ramesh Raskar, Associate Professor at MIT Media Lab. “Now you have seen pictures of a bullet through an apple. But photons move about a million times faster than bullets. This camera can…

    Paul Sawers reporting:
    >“We have built a virtual, slow-motion camera where we can see photons – light particles – moving through space”, says Ramesh Raskar, Associate Professor at MIT Media Lab. “Now you have seen pictures of a bullet through an apple. But photons move about a million times faster than bullets. This camera can see the photons – or bullets of light – traveling through space.”

    >So, what could this technology be used for? “Such a camera may be useful in medical imaging, or in industrial or scientific use”, adds Raskar. “And in the future…maybe even for consumer photography.”

    It *could* be used for those things. But it *should* be used for better slow-mo high-def water balloon popping videos.

  • FOSS Patents on Three Accusations Against Apple

    Florian Mueller does a great job breaking down three complaints about Apple’s patent enforcement cases and what the real complaints about them are. Interestingly he notes that Apple is not alone in enforcing patents in this way — not that this makes it “right”.

    Florian Mueller does a great job breaking down three complaints about Apple’s patent enforcement cases and what the real complaints about them are. Interestingly he notes that Apple is not alone in enforcing patents in this way — not that this makes it “right”.

  • Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act

    Lucy Madison: >According the FCC, the new law will require that “commercials have the same average volume as the programs they accompany” and will establish “simple, practical ways for stations and [multichannel video program distributors] MVPDs to demonstrate their compliance with the rules.” Nice, but giving them a year to implement it? Come on.

    Lucy Madison:
    >According the FCC, the new law will require that “commercials have the same average volume as the programs they accompany” and will establish “simple, practical ways for stations and [multichannel video program distributors] MVPDs to demonstrate their compliance with the rules.”

    Nice, but giving them a year to implement it? Come on.

  • Shh This Is a Test

    Andrea Chang: >Verizon Wireless sent an emergency alert via text to wireless customers in Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean counties warning of a "civil emergency" and telling people to "take shelter now," according to the Associated Press. The message was intended to be a test but wasn’t labeled as such, the company later said. The alert…

    Andrea Chang:
    >Verizon Wireless sent an emergency alert via text to wireless customers in Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean counties warning of a "civil emergency" and telling people to "take shelter now," according to the Associated Press. The message was intended to be a test but wasn’t labeled as such, the company later said. The alert reportedly started a chain reaction across a wide swatch of central New Jersey, prompting a high volume of 911 calls.

    You gotta love the non-statement Verizon made too. Idiots.

  • Apple Softens Stance to Lure Mobile Ads

    Emily Steel and Jessica E. Vascellaro for the Wall Street Journal reporting on Apple’s iAd program: >Having originally asked marketers to commit to spend at least $1 million—an amount later dropped to $500,000—Apple is now discussing ad deals with a minimum commitment of just $400,000, according to a person familiar with the matter. This is…

    Emily Steel and Jessica E. Vascellaro for the Wall Street Journal reporting on Apple’s iAd program:
    >Having originally asked marketers to commit to spend at least $1 million—an amount later dropped to $500,000—Apple is now discussing ad deals with a minimum commitment of just $400,000, according to a person familiar with the matter.

    This is the same problem that I see with Twitter’s income model. By saying that you have to cough up $400k you are significantly limiting the pool of potential advertisers.

    I am not saying that there should be no minimum commitment, but it seems much to high. My best guess as to why: high quality ads and less clients for Apple to have to interface with.

  • WordPress 3.3 “Sonny”

    Nice update as always. I clicked the update button this morning and it was done before I had time to worry if the site was properly backed up. Funny, I remember years ago everything breaking with every update — I haven’t had that happen in the time I have been writing here. Kudos to the…

    Nice update as always. I clicked the update button this morning and it was done before I had time to worry if the site was properly backed up. Funny, I remember years ago everything breaking with every update — I haven’t had that happen in the time I have been writing here.

    Kudos to the WordPress team for making such an easy to use/install/update product.

  • Amazon’s Jungle Logic

    Richard Russo doesn’t like the fact that Amazon encouraged people to price shop at bookstores to get credit on Amazon.com: >Like just about everybody I’ve talked to about it, I first attributed Amazon’s price-comparison app to arrogance and malevolence, but there’s also something bizarrely clumsy and wrong-footed about it. Critics may appear weak today, but…

    Richard Russo doesn’t like the fact that Amazon encouraged people to price shop at bookstores to get credit on Amazon.com:
    >Like just about everybody I’ve talked to about it, I first attributed Amazon’s price-comparison app to arrogance and malevolence, but there’s also something bizarrely clumsy and wrong-footed about it. Critics may appear weak today, but they may not be tomorrow, and if the wind shifts, Amazon’s ham-fisted strategy has the potential to morph into a genuine Occupy Amazon movement.

    I get the argument, but it is incredibly one sided. Yes buying solely from Amazon and using local bookstores to gain insight into what you may like is shady at best. But with the increasing amount of Kindle readers out there — what are these people to do? Should they buy a physical book and ditch their beloved Kindles, iPads, Nooks, Android XX?

    There’s no doubt that Amazon sells books cheaper than bookstores and that they can probably get those books to you the next day (sometimes the same day) for a very low cost. Certainly you can make the argument to support and buy local, but that idea completely fails once you start talking about ebooks.

    Barnes & Noble knows this.

    Your local bookstore? They’ve stuck their head in the sand proclaiming: paper is better.

    Paper is dead — you just don’t know it yet.

    And I haven’t even mentioned the self-published authors that Amazon is helping to launch…

  • TextMate 2.0 Alpha

    Boom. ((*Finally* — amiright?))

    Boom. ((*Finally* — amiright?))

  • ‘The Problem Is in the Name’

    Thord Daniel Hedengren refuting my [anti-styli sentiment](https://brooksreview.net/2011/12/arment-cosmonaut/): >Or to put it this way, the iPad styluses are more like felt pens and have very little in common with whatever you got with your old smartphone, your Nintendo DS, or your old school table PC. I get the argument for using a stylus with the iPad…

    Thord Daniel Hedengren refuting my [anti-styli sentiment](https://brooksreview.net/2011/12/arment-cosmonaut/):
    >Or to put it this way, the iPad styluses are more like felt pens and have very little in common with whatever you got with your old smartphone, your Nintendo DS, or your old school table PC.

    I get the argument for using a stylus with the iPad — I truly do. My actual problem though is that the iPad wasn’t made for such an input and as hard as app developers, and stylus makers, try they can’t force a stylus to seem integral on the iPad.

    Marco Arment was most accurate with his description of the stylus problem is [his review](http://www.marco.org/2011/12/12/the-cosmonaut-stylus-review) of the Cosmonaut:

    >Most styli with the traditional shape encourage you to hold them the same way you’d hold a pen: firmly and close to the tip. This often causes your hand to inadvertently rest on the screen, confusing the input to the app and often resulting in errors. The Cosmonaut’s size and shape encourage you to hold it the same way you’d hold a dry-erase marker when writing on a whiteboard: further up the barrel, with a loose grip, and with your hand floating far above the screen.

    That’s what intrigues me about the Cosmonaut, but in the end I doubt I would be happy with it. I don’t see a stylus of any kind being any more accurate than my finger unless I can also rest my hand on the screen while I doodle.

  • iPhones vs. The Police

    Caleb Crain pens a fantastic post for *The New Yorker* talking about the relationship that we have with the police. Really fascinating.

    Caleb Crain pens a fantastic post for *The New Yorker* talking about the relationship that we have with the police. Really fascinating.

  • Definition of an ‘Apple Fanboy’ and Those That Use the Term

    Well said.

    Well said.

  • ‘Effort over Ease’

    Vlad Savov reviewing the Xoom 2 for *The Verge*: >One of the odder moments in that Super Bowl Xoom advert was the scene where the iconoclast with the Xoom tablet opted to walk up the stairs while all the conformists rode the escalator alongside him. Well, that’s the experience of using a Honeycomb tablet in…

    Vlad Savov reviewing the Xoom 2 for *The Verge*:
    >One of the odder moments in that Super Bowl Xoom advert was the scene where the iconoclast with the Xoom tablet opted to walk up the stairs while all the conformists rode the escalator alongside him. Well, that’s the experience of using a Honeycomb tablet in a nutshell. You’re choosing effort over ease, grind over grace.

  • When Truth Survives Free Speech

    David Carr looked into the [Oregon Blogger](https://brooksreview.net/2011/12/blogger-oregon/) case from earlier this month and found that there is quite a bit more to the story that initially reported.

    David Carr looked into the [Oregon Blogger](https://brooksreview.net/2011/12/blogger-oregon/) case from earlier this month and found that there is quite a bit more to the story that initially reported.

  • Apple’s MacBook Air to Dominate Ultrabook Market

    Lance Whitney for CNET: >As other vendors try to mimic Apple’s model by introducing their own lightweight laptops, the ultrabook field stands to get increasingly crowded. Here’s the question I have: why is that every time Apple launches a successful product “analysts” seek to shove that product into a new category? The iPad is great,…

    Lance Whitney for CNET:
    >As other vendors try to mimic Apple’s model by introducing their own lightweight laptops, the ultrabook field stands to get increasingly crowded.

    Here’s the question I have: why is that every time Apple launches a successful product “analysts” seek to shove that product into a new category?

    The iPad is great, but the iPad is in a market of its own — that’s why we can look at sales of the other tablets without including the iPad.

    No, no — the MacBook Air isn’t a laptop — it’s an Ultrabook…

    Give me a break.

    It’s like a defense attorney saying: “Hey, *I* know you are innocent. But I don’t know if *they* believe that.”

  • Seattle, Day One

    A great video from Garrett Murray showing his visit to one hell of a city.

    A great video from Garrett Murray showing his visit to one hell of a city.

  • iPhone Lunar Eclipse

    Great shot of the lunar eclipse using an iPhone and a spotting scope. That couldn’t have been easy to do.

    Great shot of the lunar eclipse using an iPhone and a spotting scope. That couldn’t have been easy to do.

  • [Sponsor] OmniGraffle

    OmniGraffle is the easiest and most elegant way to create website wireframes, process flows, organization hierarchies, and, frankly, almost anything. Rely on OmniGraffle to create beautifully simple documents to share with anyone. Even through an TV. Created for both Mac and iPad, OmniGraffle’s smart shapes, stencils and contextual styling elements gracefully guide you from rough…

    OmniGraffle is the easiest and most elegant way to create website wireframes, process flows, organization hierarchies, and, frankly, almost anything.

    Rely on OmniGraffle to create beautifully simple documents to share with anyone. Even through an TV.

    Created for both Mac and iPad, OmniGraffle’s smart shapes, stencils and contextual styling elements gracefully guide you from rough outline to pixel perfection.

    For ages 5 to 105, and available [here](http://click.syndicateads.net/2011/12/Omni-2/brooksreview.html).

  • The TBR Store

    I have launched a new store where you can buy a bunch of my old stuff. From gadgets that I reviewed to old bags that I no longer need / want. I give my honest opinion about the item in the description so that you aren’t misled at all. I will be adding items as…

    I have launched a new store where you can buy a bunch of my old stuff. From gadgets that I reviewed to old bags that I no longer need / want. I give my honest opinion about the item in the description so that you aren’t misled at all.

    I will be adding items as I have things to add, and I only have one of each item. So check back often and order things when you see one that you want. All proceeds go towards running this site.

    Thanks for your support.

  • Styli

    Marco Arment on the new Cosmonaut stylus for tablets: >The Cosmonaut is the only capacitive stylus I’ve wanted to use for more than thirty seconds. The others were novelties, but this is a truly useful tool. It’s excellent, and I’m going to start bringing it in my computer bag. Me a few days ago on…

    Marco Arment on the new Cosmonaut stylus for tablets:
    >The Cosmonaut is the only capacitive stylus I’ve wanted to use for more than thirty seconds. The others were novelties, but this is a truly useful tool. It’s excellent, and I’m going to start bringing it in my computer bag.

    Me a few days ago on Twitter:

    Perhaps Marco is right and the Cosmonaut is different — but if that is the case then it is probably a misnomer to call it a “stylus”. My feelings about the Cosmonaut have always been that it can’t possibly be better than a finger, but from what Marco says it is.

  • Nook Tablet vs. Kindle Fire

    Andy Ihnatko: >The two tablets have the same dual-core Texas Instruments CPU but boy, it’s immediately clear that either Barnes & Noble is doing something right with their implementation of Android or Amazon is doing something wrong.

    Andy Ihnatko:
    >The two tablets have the same dual-core Texas Instruments CPU but boy, it’s immediately clear that either Barnes & Noble is doing something right with their implementation of Android or Amazon is doing something wrong.