Thursday, June 28, 2007

GPL 3 launches on the 29th of June!

Now this release is way more important than all the iPhones in the world!

And there will be a live stream too.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

I hate the iPhone

It's not even out yet (unless you're special) and I've never seen one in real life, but damn, do I ever hate the iPhone.

To be more precise it's not the actual gadget I hate as much as all the exaggerated hype and media hoopla surrounding it. For goodness sake people! It's a friggin' cellphone! It's not some magical device that will bring peace, stability and prosperity to the Galaxy.

Goddamnit, there are actually people camping outside of the Apple Store on 5th Avenue in New York already, just to be the first to get one. I'm sorry, but that's simply retarded.

Every damn tech news site I read is completely drowning in iPhone-spam (i.e. repetitive articles about how awesome it will be) and I'm just sick of it. On top of it all now that's it's just a couple of days until release the reviews are starting to pop up. I wanna puke.

But it's not just the hype that gets on my nerves, it's also the fact that I don't see what is really that special about the iPhone. Sure, it's most certainly a nice gadget, Apple's stuff usually is one way or another, but it's not that great. I mean, calm down people.

Just by reading not much more than the specs on Apple's website I quickly find the following serious flaws:

  • It's just a GSM-phone, i.e. no 3G. That sucks.
  • No videocamera, and that means no videochat. This from the computer manufacturer with the largest install base of webcams of all. Suck-o-rama.
  • It can't send MMS-messages. Come fucking on! Can you say "medieval technology"?
  • The camera is just 2 megapixels. Hardly impressive.
  • No support for other video-formats than MOV and MP4. That means no DivX/XviD, which means it's hardly an ideal video playing device. More suckage.
  • You can't use songs as ringtones. Wow, that's really fresh for a cellphone released in 2007.
  • No removable battery. Are you kidding me?
  • Non-expandable storage space. No memory-cards, nothing. Oh man, more suckage.
  • Apple decides what provider you can use, not you. Suckfest deluxe.
  • And finally, taking into account all of the above, it is way too expensive.
  • Being a programmer myself I find the lack of an API for the iPhone very disturbing. Sure, Steve says it's all gonna be webapps run from within the phones browser, but no matter how awesome the web2.0 and AJAX revolution is there are still a shitload of things that simply can't be done with webapps. So yes, a real API would be nice.

That said, will someone please give me one real valid reason why this should be seen as such a revolutionary and a must-have item? Yes, I've seen the demo-movie on Apple's website and I know all about the snazzy touch-screen and its glorious sexiness. But hey, the fact that Apple make great user interfaces shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone and still, no matter how awesome the GUI is, it doesn't make up for the lack of features.

Or are you gonna spend the time you would sending MMS-messages to your friends flipping windows about and pinching stuff on the screen instead? And instead of videochatting with your peeps, maybe you can watch a video and gasp in awe when the movie pivots automatically as you rotate the device? Wow dude, that's real productive and worthwhile.

There is basically nothing that the iPhone does that my Nokia N80IE can't do, or at least nothing really significant, and it does everything noted above that the iPhone doesn't. In comparison the new wonder from Apple is a technological cripple. My cellphone (or any other phone out there) is however not enjoying the most tremendous tidal wave of hype ever like the iPhone is.

So for $499 I could buy a phone that compared to my current cellphone more or less sucks but has the power to make all Apple-fanboys wet themselves in awe? No thanks.

And please stop yapping about it. Really. STOP.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Murderer in training

I spent four hours yesterday playing "Manhunt" on my PS2 (yeah, I bought one a couple of months ago), so I'm now not far from being a full-fledged killing machine ready to stalk and slash my fellow citizens to death.

And I will do it, oh yes I will, it's just a matter of time now (maybe after I finish the next stage or so?), because Jack Thompson says that's what happens when you play "murder simulators".

Oh man, Jack Thompson is such a dimwitted moron... And I can't wait for "Manhunt 2" on the Wii. That'll be sweet for sure.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Hardcore tourism

So I went to Italy with my girlfriend and my parents for a much needed one week vacation. We had a great time, good food, plenty of wine and good times.

We visited several cities and lots of places worthy of any tourist, amongst the most tourist-infested was Venice. I did not let the tourist madness make me lose my mind though. I kept it cool and still managed to focus on the really important stuff...


I hear there are lots of pretty architecture, gondolas, bridges and stuff like that to see in Venice. But come on, "Ecks Vs. Sever" on the GameBoy Advance is pretty sweet too!

It's all about the wireless baby

The last passage from this article nicely delievers a buzzkiller of truth to Eye-Fi's upcoming wi-fi memory cards:

There are currently digital cameras on the market that offer built-in wireless networking, but they haven’t exactly taken the world by storm. Given that you can buy a 2GB memory card for less than US$30, you’ve got to wonder whether consumers will be willing to cough up US$100 just so that they don’t have to go through the hassle of hooking up a USB cable.

Very true, but the sad part is that personally I would easily fork over an additional $70 for some wireless sexiness. You see, I'm a sucker for anything wireless.

Indeed I am. I'll readily admit that I'm a total sucker for any and all wireless gadgets. It's like a disease. I just can't help myself. I just find the "no need for cables"-thing so cool, even if it is hardly a new and revolutionary thing by now. It doesn'tmatter if I really need the gadget in question or not, if it's wireless it is just that much sexier to me and I want it bad.

I remember fondly back in the eighties when our family got our first TV that came with a remote control. It was the coolest thing ever! Just imagine the joy of not having to get up and walk over to the TV when flipping the channel! Now that's life changing technology if there ever was any.

Bluetooth, wi-fi, even infrared, I love them all. Sweet wireless technology be mine, now and forever.

Saturday, June 2, 2007

So work is out is out of the question.. Wii anyone?

We had a temporary power outage at work the other day, and because of this the IT-department (where I work) was left without any means to do any real work. So we basically got a couple of hours off until the electricians could get the power working again.

So this is what we did:


Yeah, that's right - Wii Sports Boxing! Our sysadmin lives just across the street and he has a Wii. Kick ass!

I'm hoping for a power outage once a week from now on ;-)

That's me on the right by the way...