Linked List: October 24, 2007

Wednesday, 24 October 2007

Device Driver Updates Causing Vista to Deactivate ★

This is exactly the sort of thing that makes me thankful that Mac OS X doesn’t use activation. (Via Justin Blanton.)

Video From Steve Jobs’s Introduction of the Original iPod Six Years Ago ★

“But interestingly enough, in this whole new digital music revolution, there is no market leader.”

Apple Wireless Keyboard LED at 40X Magnification ★

Steve Moore:

Ever wonder how the power LED shows through the aluminum of Apple’s new wireless keyboard when it’s on, but blends into the metal when it’s off? Here’s how.

Google Rejiggers PageRank Algorithm ★

Kottke has a report on Google changing their PageRank algorithm, with speculation that the aim was to penalize sites that run text link ads and scads of cross-network promotional links, such as Weblogs Inc. sites like Engadget and TUAW. A reader sent Kottke this note:

Two weeks ago I lost 80% of my search traffic due to, I believe, using ads from Text-Link-Ads, which does not permit the “nofollow” attribute on link ads. That meant an overall drop of more than 44% of my total traffic. It also meant a 65%-95% drop in Google AdSense earnings per day and a loss of PageRank from 7 to 6.

I don’t run text link ads on DF, so, unsurprisingly, my PageRank is unchanged (7). But there must be something more going on here than a penalty for text links ads, because Aaron Swartz’s site still has a PageRank of 9, and he runs text links ads. Apple.com dropped from 10 to 9, and they run neither text link ads nor cross-network promotional links.

Update: DF’s PageRank dropped from 7 to 5 at some point tonight, so I’m chalking it up to a rejiggering of the scale.

The User Experience Flip Mode ★

Christopher Fahey on switching:

In 1896, a scientist named George M. Stratton, showing an ingenuity that must have seemed like madness at the time, conducted a fascinating experiment in visual perception with himself as the subject. He constructed a pair of goggles with special lenses that inverted his view of the world by 180 degrees, causing him to see everything upside down, as if he were standing on his head, continuously. He wore the goggles for many days, never once opening his eyes without wearing them (he would shower with his eyes closed, for example).

‘It’s Fun to Play With Stuff (or Why I’m Glad I Switched to the Mac)’ ★

Ben Sargent is exactly the sort of nerd switcher I wrote about yesterday — the sort of guy who never would have considered a Mac 10 years ago, but who is now a steadfast Mac OS X convert:

For me, using a computer has only partially been about the tools that it provides. It’s also about playing. I love to install things, mess around with servers and settings, just to see if I can get it to work. It’s the same reason I bought a PSP — because it was hackable. I could make it do fun and interesting things. I could play with it, not just on it.

Right now, it’s the Mac that embodies this sense of play the best for me in the computer world.

Matt Neuburg: The Best (and Worst) of Leopard ★

Matt Neuburg:

Quick Look and Cover Flow. Together, these offer file previews on steroids. They’re utterly silly (“waste cycles drawing trendy animated junk” was my first thought) until you need them, and then they are just terrific. Being able to flip through a bunch of music or photo files looking for the right one, right in the Finder without starting up any other application, is really great.

Merlin Mann on TaskPaper 1.0 ★

Merlin Mann:

The approach is similar to OmniFocus — but even more obsessively concerned with keeping the system focused solely on completing tasks (rather than grooming and feeding them for months while they grow long hair and learn how to drive a stick).

Transmission 0.9 ★

Updated version of the freeware BitTorrent client.

Off-the-Record ★

Nelson Minar:

TechCrunch has a strange habit of blogging things where the only source is off the record. […] Anyone talking to media knows that telling a journalist something “off the record” means you’re telling them so they know it. It’s not going to stay secret. But it also clearly means that the comments aren’t to be used as a primary source.

I’ve noticed this too, but my assumption has been that Mike Arrington says “off the record” when he means “not for attribution”. If he really just turns around and publishes things he’s been told “off the record”, he’s a bigger doofus than I thought.

Why Enterprise Software Sucks ★

Jason Fried:

The people who buy enterprise software aren’t the people who use enterprise software. That’s where the disconnect begins. And it pulls and pulls and pulls until the user experience is split from the buying experience so severely that the software vendors are building for the buyers, not the users. The experience takes a back seat to the feature list, future promises, and buzz words.

Agreed 100 percent. I think this applies to any product where the buyer isn’t the user, but I think the problem is especially acute with software.

Hidden Defaults Preference to Disable Glassy Leopard Dock, Even at Bottom ★

So even if you’re a Dock-at-the-bottom person, you can get the non-goofy look.

Venn Diagram Comparing the Various PlayStation 3 Console Models ★

Compare and contrast to the diagram for the Nintendo Wii:

(Wii.)

Simple Answers to Stupid Questions ★

Saul Hansell, writing about Apple’s success:

In that world, Apple has some choices to make: Will its iLife and iWork applications move onto the Web? More importantly, will it compete in the mass business PC market, where the C.I.O. of an insurance company buys desktops by the truckload?

No and no.