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 Wednesday, 27 April 2005
. .< 11:13:00 PM >
New Canadian Museum Has a Battlefield Focus
The new Canadian War Museum, which will officially open in May, honors the country's fallen soldiers but also warns of the horrors of battle.
[Via New York Times: Arts]
. .< 11:08:58 PM >
Guess Who album drawn from CBC variety shows
"I pick up my phone [and answered] 'Hello archives,'" he recalled. "'Colin Preston, you don't know me but I'm your new best friend, Randy Bachman.'"
The archival footage dates from the late 1960s, when music programs – complete with promos for the Canadian Bible Society or Wojack starring John Vernon – were shot in colour on two-inch broadcast videotape in cities like Winnipeg or Toronto.
[Via CBC | Arts News]
. .< 10:35:49 PM >
Apple grabs 3.6% PC market share in March quarter
Apple grabbed 3.6% of total U.S.-based PC shipments in the March quarter, up a full percentage point from the 2.6% obtained by the Mac maker during the year-ago quarter, Merrill Lynch said today.
[Via AppleInsider]
. .< 6:24:27 PM >
PC users drowning in data, Microsoft says
Experts must improve search systems so users can make sense of such mind-boggling amounts of information, Bill Gates says
[Via The Globe and Mail - Technology News] Well . . . you could buy a Mac and use Spotlight!
. .< 6:20:43 PM >
Tickets go digital
Paper airline tickets issued by some airlines are quaint but occasionally annoying reminders of a time when computers didn't control all aspects of travel
[Via The Globe and Mail - Technology News]
"Chamberlain's paper ticket, it turned out, was issued because she paid for the flight with her boss' credit card. United Airlines, which provided one leg of Chamberlain's trip, issued the ticket as a security precaution required by the credit card company.
It is not just heightened credit card and airline security that give rise to a paper ticket. Family members with different last names using frequent-flier miles can cause an airline to issue one. Or people connecting to different airlines that have no agreement to link their electronic tickets might also find themselves holding paper. And on international flights, paper tickets are still common."
. .< 6:04:55 PM >
Put a Tiger in Your Mac
Wired News: “The feature I’m most jazzed about, and the one that will have the biggest impact on how I interact with information on my Mac, is Spotlight. Spotlight is designed to help users find files—instantly. You type a keyword, and even as you begin to enter the letters, results are already popping up.”
[Via Ranchero.com]
. .< 5:18:33 PM >
News: Apple bumps Power Mac G5s to 2.7GHz
Apple on Wednesday unveiled upgrades to its line of dual-processor Power Mac G5 desktop computers, raising the top-end system’s processor speed from 2.5 to 2.7GHz. The systems all come equipped with Mac OS X v10.4 “Tiger,” and include 512MB RAM, 16x dual-layer “SuperDrive” optical drives, and other enhancements. Prices remain the same, with Apple’s highest-end Power Mac G5 tipping the scales at US$2,999. All new systems are available worldwide beginning today, according to Apple.
[Via MacCentral]
. .< 12:32:21 PM >
Back to the Record Store
It's safe to go back to the record store! A couple years ago I vowed I would not buy any more CDs. That may seem like a strange thing for someone who works in the record industry to say! But CDs were too expensive and the record companies were completely ignoring the solutions to the downloading problem: they could sell the kids the product they wanted and there were new, high resolution surround formats which could ad value to their product.
Things have changed . . .
[Via Canuck]
. .< 11:54:23 AM >
Housecleaning Tips for Tiger
Is your Mac ready for a smooth transition to Tiger? Maybe you're in need of a Spring housecleaning anyway. Check out these tidy tips from Derrick Story, then roll out the red carpet for Mac OS X 10.4.
[Via Meerkat: An Open Wire Service: MacDevCenter.com]
. .< 2:14:04 AM >
News: Amazon spills the beans on new Power Mac G5
Amazon.com may have spilled the beans on a new Power Mac G5 configuration that Apple hasn’t officially announced yet. The popular online catalog reseller has listed a 2.7GHz dual-processor Power Mac G5 model, equipped with 512MB RAM, 250GB hard disk drive and 16x dual-layer “SuperDrive” optical drive. Amazon’s price on the new Mac is US$2,994.99.
[Via MacCentral]
. .< 2:06:18 AM >
Feature: The inbox makeover
The key to managing important e-mail messages is to evaluate each one for the response it requires and then quickly convert that evaluation into action. What follows is one such system.
[Via MacCentral]
. .< 1:43:50 AM >
RollingStone.com: Bruce Springsteen : DualDisc Format Takes Off : News
Six months after the low-key launch of the CD/DVD hybrid known as DualDisc, major labels are planning a big show of faith in the fledgling format: Two of April's highest-profile releases -- Bruce Springsteen's Devils and Dust and Rob Thomas' solo debut, Something to Be -- will be available only as DualDiscs. The format pairs a standard CD on one side of a disc with a DVD on the flip side that offers video content and, often, a surround-sound mix of the record.
DualDisc versions of the new Nine Inch Nails and Bon Jovi albums are in the works, and a flood of extras-packed reissues -- from AC/DC's Back in Black to David Bowie's Reality -- are already exploiting the format. "In the long term, we definitely see a transition from CD to DualDisc," says Thomas Hesse, president of global digital business for Sony BMG. Sony, which owns Springsteen's label, Columbia Records, formed a consortium last year with the other three major record companies to promote the new discs.
. .< 1:41:31 AM >
Flip sides
CDs and DVDs in one, Dualdiscs make their play
[Elliot Scheiner] "You take a look at the Dualdisc: You've got the CD layer, you've got the other side, which has DVD. You've got a video zone. You get the surround sound. You get stereo. You get high resolution. You get pictures. You get lyrics. You get all kinds of content. That's a great thing."
[snip]
"New releases are coming in the Dualdisc format. Recent releases from Judas Priest and Jennifer Lopez take advantage of the format, and the April 26 release of Bruce Springsteen's Devils & Dust is being touted as a watershed - he'll be the first major artist to release an album exclusively in Dualdisc. Nine Inch Nails and Jon Bon Jovi will release new albums in that format, and record companies are quickly putting existing 5.1 mixes to Dualdisc, ranging from Nine Inch Nails' The Downward Spiral to Miles Davis' Kind of Blue."
. .< 1:37:40 AM >
Today@Playlist: DualDisc and me
In which I try really, really hard to make Bruce Springsteen’s Devils & Dust DualDisc do something funky. And it won’t.
[Via MacCentral]
"I kind of expected that I could find something that wouldn’t play the thing.
But I failed." The biggest Dual-Disc release to date. After all the SACD camp-endorsed hoopla over incompatibility I'm very happy to see this kind of report.
. .< 1:14:23 AM >
International Campaign Against Mass Surveillance
An International Campaign Against Mass Surveillance was launched 20 April 2005 in London, Manila, Ottawa and Washington,with initial endorsements on its declaration from almost one hundred groups from around the world.
The introduction and detailed White Paper on the campaign's Web site speak for themselves, specifically in highlighting the significnace of "The Registration of Populations", "The Creation of a Global Identification System", and "The Creation of an Infrastructure for the Global Surveillance of Movement" as 3 of 10 key "signposts" of the emergence of a global infrastructure for mass registration and surveillance -- the same things I have identified as among the key trends threatening the right to travel.
I've immediately endorsed this campaign. I hope you will too.
[Via The Practical Nomad] I'm in.
. .< 1:10:00 AM >
how-to record on your ipod (for free
Cool hack!
. .< 12:41:30 AM >
CBC announces job cuts
Notice given to publicity and Newsworld International employees
[Via The Globe and Mail - Entertainment News] ""Seventy-four people have had their positions declared redundant, or have had their contracts terminated or . . . not renewed,” said CBC spokeswoman Ruth-Ellen Soles, adding that a bumping process would begin and some employees would end up in other jobs at the public corporation."
. .< 12:33:53 AM >
Creemore Is Less
Molson-Coors has just bought the microbrewery in Creemore Springs, Ontario, brewer of Creemore Lager. This is a shame. Creemore was a very good beer. It was the only one the brewery made, except for a seasonal Bock, and the focus enabled them to keep the quality high. It had a unique taste, something that’s important if you aspire to being a great beer. And many would say that Creemore was the best beer brewed in the country.
[Via Xanada] Argh. One less fine beer.
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