Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 22nd Jan 2010 17:06 UTC
Taking a break from reporting on the latest netbook or phone rumours, Engadget posted an article yesterday about several elements in desktop operating systems writer Paul Miller finds outdated. While there's some interesting stuff in there, there's also a lot to discuss.
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RE: "It's a far cry from a decade ago"
by StephenBeDoper on Sat 23rd Jan 2010 20:35
in reply to ""It's a far cry from a decade ago""
Member since:2005-07-06
I agree with Thom about touch on the desktop, I think it's something that seems neat, but just isn't practical in day to day use. Touchscreens are fine for phones and kiosks, but on a desktop computer, running most applications, touchscreens are virtually useless. Not significantly faster than using a mouse, and you just end up with an aching arm and greasy smears on your screen. No matter how advanced, I can't imagine multitouch screens becoming a real alternative to a mouse.
Agreed, for the most part. Before the mouse was invented, there was a fair amount of research into the use of "light pens" as an input device - and they were found to cause a large amount of arm strain. With current "TV-style" desktop monitors, you'd run into the exact some problems using touch for any significant amount of time.
To make touch feasible on the desktop, as the primary input method, we'd need displays that were basically a hybrid between a drafting table and Surface.
But in the shorter term, I think it's more likely that we'll see smaller, secondary touch-capable displays (things like the Wacom Cintiq)
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/19/13 23:02 UTC, submitted by M.Onty
"Microsoft has sensationally abandoned its controversial plans to restrict the sharing of XBox One games, and has also removed daily online authentication requirements for its forthcoming console", reports The Guardian. They had no choice. Still a good move.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/19/13 22:28 UTC
"A snippet of code in the Steam digital distribution platform has revealed that Valve may be planning to let users easily share their games with friends in the future. The Verge has verified the code's authenticity, which was originally spotted by a member of the NeoGAF gaming forum; the code references a 'shared game library' and a notification that would alert a user when their games are currently in use by a borrower." This would change the, uh, game.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:33 UTC
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
Linked by Anonymous on 06/18/13 22:26 UTC
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:25 UTC
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:45 UTC
"I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:32 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)".
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:58 UTC
"The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:52 UTC
"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 21:03 UTC
Jon Rubinstein, former CEO of Palm: "Well, I'm not sure I would have sold the company to HP. That's for sure. Talk about a waste. Not that I had any choice because when you sell a company you don't get to decide that. Obviously, the board and shareholders decide that. If we had known they were just going to shut it down and never really give it a chance to flourish, what would have been the point of selling the company? I think the deal we had with Verizon really hurt us, but who knew that at the time? These things are all hindsight."More News »
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Member since:
2005-11-16
Around a decade ago I was using Windows 2000 and BeOS, five years before that I was using OPENSTEP and OS/2. Two decades ago I was using RISC OS, and still prefer its UI to Windows.
All multitasking, all pretty stable/reliable and easy to use. I think it's disappointing just how little real mainstream progress there's been over the last decade. Nothing wrong with Windows 7 and OS X, but the added eye-candy and internet integration don't do much to impress me.
As for the author's suggestions, I can't say that I find any of them very exciting either. Mostly either impractical, or little tweaks to the existing system rather than anything radical, and pretty vague on the details of how most would be implemented.
I agree with Thom about touch on the desktop, I think it's something that seems neat, but just isn't practical in day to day use. Touchscreens are fine for phones and kiosks, but on a desktop computer, running most applications, touchscreens are virtually useless. Not significantly faster than using a mouse, and you just end up with an aching arm and greasy smears on your screen. No matter how advanced, I can't imagine multitouch screens becoming a real alternative to a mouse.
It's a shame how many recent UI developments seem to be more style than substance...