The Brooks Review

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Leica Sofort 2June 13, 2024
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  • The website of the world’s first-ever web server

    It would be even cooler if the original server still powered it. Though it was a NeXT computer, so that is cool enough.

    It would be even cooler if the original server still powered it. Though it was a NeXT computer, so that is cool enough.

  • Google Executive on Why Google Is Not “Healthy”

    The executive, Susan Wojcicki, does not say Google is unhealthy, I do. She does effectively say that Google buys companies because it is easier to do so than it would be to start from scratch. Which is pathetic if you ask me. The iPhone was made from scratch and it is pretty damn great. I…

    The executive, Susan Wojcicki, does not say Google is unhealthy, I do. She does effectively say that Google buys companies because it is easier to do so than it would be to start from scratch. Which is pathetic if you ask me. The iPhone was made from scratch and it is pretty damn great.

    I have previously written about this topic before.

  • The Woz

    A fascinating article from CNN’s Mark Milian about a tour he took with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. Of note is that Woz carries way too many cell phones (up to 10 sometimes), which is all forgiven by the fact that he apparently has a white iPhone 4 (jealous). Worth the time to read the entire…

    A fascinating article from CNN’s Mark Milian about a tour he took with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. Of note is that Woz carries way too many cell phones (up to 10 sometimes), which is all forgiven by the fact that he apparently has a white iPhone 4 (jealous). Worth the time to read the entire article.

    [Updated: 12/8/10 at 12:50 PM]
    Stephen Hackett reports that the white iPhone Woz has is fake. Which bums me out a bit.

  • Apple iOS the New Mobile Gaming Platform?

    Chris Foresman on how iOS is affecting devices like Sony’s PSP: That point is underscored by the fact that nearly a quarter of those that use a mobile phone exclusively for gaming have a DS or PSP but never use it. That seems pretty logical to me. For instance: before my iPhone the last mobile…

    Chris Foresman on how iOS is affecting devices like Sony’s PSP:

    That point is underscored by the fact that nearly a quarter of those that use a mobile phone exclusively for gaming have a DS or PSP but never use it.

    That seems pretty logical to me. For instance: before my iPhone the last mobile gaming device I owned was a Sega Game Gear (that thing rocked back in the day).

  • Quality photos of Motorola’s upcoming Honeycomb tablet

    Notice the Motorola branding right smack on the front of the device. Even Samsung had the good sense to not do this on the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

    Notice the Motorola branding right smack on the front of the device. Even Samsung had the good sense to not do this on the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

  • Quote of the Day: Scott Berkun

    “I write in WordPress, Microsoft Word, Notepad, I don’t much care, and chasing tools is a waste of time. Shakespeare, Hemingway and Carver didn’t need much from their pre-electric and pre-web tools to write masterpieces and neither should you.” – Scott Berkun

    “I write in WordPress, Microsoft Word, Notepad, I don’t much care, and chasing tools is a waste of time. Shakespeare, Hemingway and Carver didn’t need much from their pre-electric and pre-web tools to write masterpieces and neither should you.”

  • Ian Hines Helps You Move From Tumblr to WordPress

    Ian has put together an exhaustive guide on how you move from Tumblr to WordPress while keeping all of your posts and those posts’ URLs working. This looks like a simple process, but a very tedious one. I recommend though, that if you rely on your blog for anything you get off of Tumblr soon.

    Ian has put together an exhaustive guide on how you move from Tumblr to WordPress while keeping all of your posts and those posts’ URLs working. This looks like a simple process, but a very tedious one. I recommend though, that if you rely on your blog for anything you get off of Tumblr soon.

  • A Winter Wallpaper

    I put together this quick wallpaper/background image last week for myself, thought I would share it with everyone. I am not big on decorations so it is very subtle. Enjoy.

    I put together this quick wallpaper/background image last week for myself, thought I would share it with everyone. I am not big on decorations so it is very subtle.

    Enjoy.

  • “You’re either with us, or you’re with WikiLeaks”

    Marc A. Thiessen: WikiLeaks represents a new and unprecedented cyber threat that cannot be ignored or wished away. Just as terrorism allows small groups of individuals to wreak destruction on a scale that was once the province of nation-states, information technology allows small actors such as Julian Assange to wreak previously unimagined destruction on U.S.…

    Marc A. Thiessen:

    WikiLeaks represents a new and unprecedented cyber threat that cannot be ignored or wished away. Just as terrorism allows small groups of individuals to wreak destruction on a scale that was once the province of nation-states, information technology allows small actors such as Julian Assange to wreak previously unimagined destruction on U.S. national security through cyberspace. This is a threat that requires aU.S. response. Hillary Clinton is right – WikiLeaks has attacked America.

    A piss-poor analysis. I don’t like Assange, and I don’t agree with the way he is conducting WikiLeaks. That said I don’t think that it should be attacked and shut down, this is freedom in its rawest form. I don’t know where I am really on this issue, but I do know that I can’t agree with Thiessen on this.

  • Air-Powered Star Trek Door [Video]

    I want this, I really want this. [via Julio Ojeda-Zapata]

    I want this, I really want this.

  • Google Chrome OS gets detailed

    Nilay Patel: Overall, Chrome OS is very much a modern riff on the “thin client” idea from the 90s — an idea that Eric Schmidt himself pioneered while at Sun. Indeed, Schmidt took the stage at the event to explicitly draw the connection, saying that “our instincts were right 20 years ago, but we didn’t…

    Nilay Patel:

    Overall, Chrome OS is very much a modern riff on the “thin client” idea from the 90s — an idea that Eric Schmidt himself pioneered while at Sun. Indeed, Schmidt took the stage at the event to explicitly draw the connection, saying that “our instincts were right 20 years ago, but we didn’t have the tools or technology.” That’s a pretty wild statement — and now Google has to deliver.

    I don’t get it. Can some please, in no uncertain terms, explain to me why you would want this over an iPad or Android Tablet?

  • Cameron Moll on Tumblrs Downtime

    Cameron Moll: While we don’t pay services such as Tumblr and Twitter in monetary means, we do pay them in usage, not to mention attention given to any revenue-generating services (i.e. ads or sponsored items). This usage and attention is what attracts the huge sums of investment dollars these kinds of companies acquire. In the…

    Cameron Moll:

    While we don’t pay services such as Tumblr and Twitter in monetary means, we do pay them in usage, not to mention attention given to any revenue-generating services (i.e. ads or sponsored items). This usage and attention is what attracts the huge sums of investment dollars these kinds of companies acquire. In the end, if our attention and usage cannot be “paid” to these free services, it’s likely we’ll pay them elsewhere.

    A great way to look at the relationship Tumblr has with its users.

  • Motorola Android Tablet

    Jaroslav Stekl: Additionally, Engadget, whose editor-in-chief was sitting at the event, noticed that the tablet has no buttons at all, for better or for worse. I don’t know about the no buttons route, there needs to be at least one button that performs the action to get back to the home screen, or you could call…

    Jaroslav Stekl:

    Additionally, Engadget, whose editor-in-chief was sitting at the event, noticed that the tablet has no buttons at all, for better or for worse.

    I don’t know about the no buttons route, there needs to be at least one button that performs the action to get back to the home screen, or you could call it ESC if you prefer.

  • One Month in Here Is How I Feel About the MacBook Air

    Over the past week or so I have been getting a bunch of questions from readers asking how I am liking the MacBook Air now that I have been using it for a lot longer. ((Since Oct 26th, 2010)) It has been over a month now that I have used the MacBook Air as my…

    Over the past week or so I have been getting a bunch of questions from readers asking how I am liking the MacBook Air now that I have been using it for a lot longer. ((Since Oct 26th, 2010)) It has been over a month now that I have used the MacBook Air as my primary machine, and one thing is for sure: it is the best upgrade over the MacBook Pro that I could have made. Yes, I consider it an upgrade.

    With the way I use the MacBook Air the speed is a wash with my old MacBook Pro, but the hardware is immensely lighter and smaller. I use the MacBook Air more than I ever used the MacBook Pro outside of work. I like to think of the MacBook Air as everything I needed in the MacBook Pro, just in a smaller, lighter, cooler package. ((Both temperature and looks wise.)) It hasn’t failed me yet.

    Here are my thoughts about the MacBook Air to date

    • It is hands down the best Mac I have ever owned. Before this I had owned two Macs that I loved dearly my 12” Powerbook and my 1st generation Mac Pro. I loved both of those machines immensely, but this Air is something else. The Powerbook never felt fast, it felt quick, but not fast – but the size was very nice. The Mac Pro felt massively fast, but was just about the biggest, heaviest computer I have ever owned. The MacBook Air feels like their love child.
    • See this post from MG Siegler – I agree with him.
    • I love typing on this machine more than I did on my old 12” PowerBook which is really saying a lot. I talked about this in my review of the Air, but this is the best typing experience I have ever had on a laptop. The taper is very, very nice.
    • I have missed having a 15-inch screen exactly 0 times. Screen size was one of my biggest concerns in switching to the Air, I have been using a screen size of 15-inches or greater for the past 2.5 years, so I worried that moving down to a 13-inch screen would be far too restricting to be productive. I have found though that the high resolution of the Air’s 13-inch screen has yet to make me miss the 15-inch screen I used to have. There are a few apps that feel cramped, mostly apps in Adobe’s creative suite with all the dialogs that need to be on screen. This of course can all be mitigated if you have an external monitor.
    • I have yet to run into any speed or RAM limitations, actually this machine feels faster in some respects. Let’s face it, most of us don’t spend our days using all the processing power of our Macs. No,most of us I suspect spend most of our time on the Web and in Email programs. I have a MacBook Pro that I can use if I need it (my wife’s), but guess what, I have yet to even consider wanting to use it. This machine is snappy thanks to the SSD, I can’t say this machine ever feels slow.
    • Another big concern was photo editing, and aside from a touch slower exports those concerns are unfounded in both Aperture and Lightroom. Lightroom feels much faster doing adjustments, while Aperture seems to export much faster. Honestly if exporting is the only thing that I noticed to be slow, then this machine really is not slow at all. Exporting is always slow, and thankfully something that can be done while you make a cocktail. ((Or just drink a nice Scotch.))
    • I still am amazed at how light this computer is, it doesn’t seem possible. If you have ever picked up the Kindle then you know the sensation I am talking about, it just doesn’t seem possible that it is that light. Same goes for the Air and it certainly is not a bad thing.
    • The battery is perfect – I might like another hour, but that is just being greedy. I don’t even pack the charger in my laptop bag when I go away for the weekend, instead I leave it in my suitcase, because I only will need to charge the Air once while I am away (usually). In fact between the iPhone, iPad and Air I only charged my Air twice while I was away during Thanksgiving (from Wed – Sunday).
    • The speakers, well, they leave something to be desired. Really, Apple had to skimp on some aspect so they had something to improve upon the next time around right? The speakers are just fine for watching web videos, but they really suck for music. I have been looking into getting some speakers for my desk for the first time in a few years, though probably I will end up with some nice headphones instead.
    • The one USB port on each side confuses me every time and really messes with how my desk is setup. It is a little annoying to have to stretch cables around the computer just to be able to plug things in. I doubt there is a real solution for this, and there is no way that just one USB port would suffice.
    • I don’t think I will ever get used to how thin the machine is, especially on the front edge of it. Next time you see one in the store (Apple or otherwise) take a second to close the lid and pick it up. The weight and thinness of the machine will blow you away. When you open back up the lid feel how thin the top lid is, that will really blow you away, still amazes me.
    • I needed the optical drive the other day to install Office 2008. I used remote disc over Wi-Fi and the install speed seemed just fine to me, in fact I rather like doing the remote disc deal so I don’t have to hear the drive in my MacBook Air. That actually was the only time that I needed an optical drive and I doubt that I will need it again for quite a while.

    In case you missed it you can read my full review here.

  • Tumblr’s Explanation of Downtime

    David Karp on the Tumblr staff blog: While you might feel like you’ve gotten used to seeing errors on Tumblr recently, know that this is absolutely unacceptable to our team, and unacceptable for a platform determined to be the best place in the world for your creative expression. Might and feel are two words that…

    David Karp on the Tumblr staff blog:

    While you might feel like you’ve gotten used to seeing errors on Tumblr recently, know that this is absolutely unacceptable to our team, and unacceptable for a platform determined to be the best place in the world for your creative expression.

    Might and feel are two words that I would not have used. Perhaps he should have phrased it: “I know we have been down a lot lately.” Don’t push off the blame on your customers, they “feel” like Tumblr has been down a lot lately because it HAS been down a lot lately.

    Secondly there really is no explanation here and that is truly disappointing, dive into the details and show some transparency, because frankly your product is not good enough to give Apple explanations for problems.

    If you agree reblog this post from Patrick Rhone.

  • Making Something Ugly into Something Pretty

    This is an extension that makes Google Reader look more like Reeder, and it is mighty pretty.

    This is an extension that makes Google Reader look more like Reeder, and it is mighty pretty.

  • Appointment Reminder: A New Way to Annoy Your Clients

    From the web site: Then your life just got better: we’ve just released Appointment Reminder, a new service which makes automatic phone, text message, and email appointment reminders to your clients on your behalf. Basically it calls your clients to remind them of an appointment thus conveying to your clients that you otherwise would expect…

    From the web site:

    Then your life just got better: we’ve just released Appointment Reminder, a new service which makes automatic phone, text message, and email appointment reminders to your clients on your behalf.

    Basically it calls your clients to remind them of an appointment thus conveying to your clients that you otherwise would expect them to not be competent enough to show without a reminder.

  • Reuters Best Photos of 2010

    2010 is not over, so it bugs me that they are saying no better photos can be made before the year is out, that said these are some great shots (journalistic shots mostly). [via Coudal]

    2010 is not over, so it bugs me that they are saying no better photos can be made before the year is out, that said these are some great shots (journalistic shots mostly).

    [via Coudal]

  • 60 Apps a Year, Only Six Paid on Average

    Dan Sabbagh on the iPad as a newspaper savior: This is a seductive looking number – as long, that is, as people spend their time using their iPads for reading. It’s well in excess, say, of the combined average daily sale of the upmarket press – just over 2 million Monday to Saturday. But the…

    Dan Sabbagh on the iPad as a newspaper savior:

    This is a seductive looking number – as long, that is, as people spend their time using their iPads for reading. It’s well in excess, say, of the combined average daily sale of the upmarket press – just over 2 million Monday to Saturday. But the problem is – for those who dare take their iPad out on the way to work – is that an iPad is not newspaper with moving words. Screen Digest, again, reckon that the average owner downloads about 60 apps a year, of which all but six are free. That certainly leaves room to buy an iPad newspaper, but will it leave time to read it when there is all that other stuff to play with?

    People only pay for 6 apps a year on average, how do they practice such restraint?

  • TSA: Still Jackasses

    Stacey Armato: I then begged him to read the TSA rules I had printed out. He read the first form which stated that medical liquids can have alternate screening (no x-ray). He was quick to say “well this isn’t a medical liquid!” So I had him read the second form which says breast milk is…

    Stacey Armato:

    I then begged him to read the TSA rules I had printed out. He read the first form which stated that medical liquids can have alternate screening (no x-ray). He was quick to say “well this isn’t a medical liquid!” So I had him read the second form which says breast milk is to be treated like a medical liquid. He then says, “well, not today.” I started balling all over again once he said that.

    This needs to stop, what ridiculous behavior.

    [via DF]