davextreme

30 September 2006

Zoom Using Scroll Wheel

Okay, I linked to this yesterday, but I didn’t realize how cool it was going to be until I had the update installed. If you’re using a Mac, run Software Update (go to the Apple Menu if it hasn’t popped up already), then hold control and use your scroll wheel (or use two-finger scrolling if you’re using a MacBook or MacBook Pro).

29 September 2006

Daring Fireball: New in 10.4.8: Zoom Using Scroll Wheel

Cool new feature. (You could do this via the keyboard before, now you can use the mouse.) Very useful for blowing up small YouTube movies.

New Google Reader

Google has released a new version of Google Reader that’s worth checking out. It sports an interface that should be easy to get a hang of if you’re already used to Gmail. Interestingly, Google makes no mention of RSS anywhere on their site, even though the job of Google Reader is to let you read RSS feeds. This isn’t a bad call on their part. RSS is a tricky technology to explain to non-techies, and “Your inbox for the web” is a nice analogy.

My number one RSS reader of choice remains NetNewsWire, but my need to be able to read feeds on any of few computers makes it inconvenient. I had been using NewsGator Online, which provided very nice syncing with NetNewsWire, but I hate the interface, I don’t like the typography of the feed text, and all the buttons below each entry are too busy. (Also, let me mention how much I don’t like FeedBurner’s FeedFlare feature that seems to be gaining popularity. If I wanted to email your entry, I’d copy and paste it into my email program. I don’t need a button to do that, and having all those links at the bottom of every entry makes everything too busy.)

Google Reader looks nice and presents all the text with the same clean look as the rest of Google’s growing suite of applications.

My new, revised recommendation for people who want to start reading RSS feeds:

For Mac users who are only going to subscribe to a few sites: Safari’s built in RSS reader is great.
For everyone else: Google Reader.
For Mac users who are going to subscribe to more than 20 or so sites, and who don’t have a need to be able to read their feeds on multiple computers: NetNewsWire.

28 September 2006

Official Google Reader Blog: Something looks... different.

Official Google Reader Blog: Something looks… different.

Google launches new version of their RSS reader. Funny, I had just decided today to play around with Google Reader for a little bit.

On Apple's cease-and-desist letters

On Apple’s cease-and-desist letters

Short Daring Fireball post about the real reason for Apple’s “podcast” nastygram. (They don’t want to stop the word “podcast”, just stop people from trying to trademark it.)

They're not fonts!

They’re not fonts!

On the difference between “font” and “typeface”. (You probably mean typeface whenever you say font.)

Border Volleyball

Great story about playing volleyball over a fence seperating the US from Mexico.

27 September 2006

Iwata Asks

Nintendo is running a very nicely done series of interviews between Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo, and the developers of the Wii. Each piece is long enough to cover information you probably didn’t already know and gives a nice look at the thought behind designing the device. So far they’ve covered the Wii hardware, the controller, and the software web channels.

The sense I get reading it is how proud the developers are of what they came up with. Wii is a huge risk for Nintendo, in departing so much from the status quo of console design. At one point in the interview they’re discussing what it was like when people actually started being able to demo the thing:

Ikeda: […] I was very moved by Nintendo’s Media Briefing. It started with Mr Miyamoto getting up on stage and using the controller to conduct a virtual orchestra, and it finished with Mr Iwata playing Tennis from Wii Sports. By the time it finished I was close to tears. (laughs) I’m a little embarassed to say this in front of you guys, but I was overflowing with emotion. And even after that, I thought I was going to cry again when I saw how much everyone enjoyed using the controller. (laughs)
Ashida: I spent all of E3 at Nintendo’s exhibition corner, and I’ve never witnessed at previous E3s anything like the excitement I saw there at the Nintendo booth.
Iwata: We had that glass case with lots of controllers lined up, didn’t we? The people crowding around there, it was a truly unforgettable sight.
Ashida: There were so many of them! Sure, there have been displays like that in the past, but the atmosphere… it was the first time I’d ever experienced anything like that.
Iwata: There was a great air of excitement, wasn’t there? Their eyes were glued to the case!
Ashida: It was absolutely incredible. Everyone looked so thrilled, including the staff from Nintendo of America. And the smiles on the faces of everyone who got to play the games.
Iwata: That’s what I remember the most. I actually found myself wondering “why are they smiling so much?” as if I didn’t know what they were doing. I wondered what was happening.

Go read: Iwata Asks.

Battlestar Galactica: The Story So Far

Recap of the first two seasons of Battlestar Galactica, free from iTunes. (Link opens iTunes.)