For anyone who hasn’t heard already, the background for this story is that someone allegedly created a mod called “Hot Coffee” that adds a sexual mini-game to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. As a result, Rockstar Games, which was suspected at one point of hiding the mini-game in GTA, has been embroiled in controversy over whether the ratings system for games works. The latest to weigh in is Sen. Hillary Clinton. ...
Man, step away from the Internet for a few days, and by the time you get back, hell freezes over. Okay, so hell didn’t freeze, it just caught a draft, but still: Apple is planning on using Intel chips? And they aren’t planning to do anything to keep those computers from running Windows as well? Admittedly, Apple can easily fix it so OS X only runs on its hardware, no matter what processor. However, the illogic of being able to run it on this Pentium IV while not being able to run it on that Pentium IV is going to be one more push down the path to widespread Mac clones. Maybe Apple’s counting on the idea that it’s the Microsoft in this picture, instead of the IBM. ...
Daring Fireball translates a recent Q&A about Adobe acquiring Macromedia: “Once Freehand, Fireworks, and GoLive are killed, customers will have the benefit of not having any competing apps to choose from, and we benefit from not having any competitors.” Link courtesy of ongoing
This is potentially very bad, if Adobe tries to make Macromedia products more Adobe-like. Adobe might “get” the print world, but Macromedia gets the Web, and I haven’t really seen any Adobe products that do as well for what I do. Of course, the other problem becomes readily apparent. If the companies’ competing products were already selling for high prices, what’s going to happen now?
Given that Google’s last April Fool’s trick/release turned out to be Gmail, I have to wonder about Google Gulp. None of the flavors sound good, though. Although, I am drinking a Grapeade Snapple right now, so my taste is in question. Sample FAQs: 7. How can I get my hands on a Google Gulp? This “limited release” beta product is available to anyone who turns in a used Google Gulp bottle cap at any local retailer. If you don’t have any Gulp caps, ask a friend to give you one. ...
Looks like the official site for WordPress got caught gaming search engines, specifically Google. Not illegal — despite some talk about violating Google’s Terms of Service — but annoying. The situation has now turned to questions of great ethical import, such as “How open do open source projects need to be about their funding” and “What responsibility does an open source community have in this situation?” You know, the kinds of questions open source folks agonize about every few weeks. ...
Okay, perhaps local officials everywhere can’t be trusted to learn the basics before making public statements. Subdermal GPS chips don’t exist yet! You’re thinking of those microchips they scan at the vet’s office! And, once again, I can only hope the Sheriff was joking when he was talking about electrically shocking parolees who were doing things in violation of their probation. I can sort of see it working as an Invisible Fence for keeping people in a certain area — if you had the GPS tracking chips — but the last time I saw a chip that shocked someone because of their behavior, it was on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. ...
I wince when I hear I’m invited to a brainstorming session. I understand why people have them, but I prefer for the ideas that I communicate to be in some sort of thought-out, vetted condition. In other words, I don’t like spouting whatever bizarre idea pops into my head until I think about it. (I save the bizarre ideas for when I’m bored in regular meetings.) :) What we seem to have here is a big brainstorming session on how to save the Internet from growing security and noise risks. At least I think it must have been, because folks came up with ideas such as this one: ...
Looks like American Express is sending out a fascinating little calculator as a promotional item. I haven’t seen one myself, but here are some of the results, as reported by Contentious: 100 - 10 = 10 7.1 + 3.4 = 24.14 144.35 + 525 = 75,783.75 246 - 13 = 18.923076
When I was a kid, I used to start when I walked into a natural history museum because of the ubiquitous whale model that would be hanging from the ceiling, right over my head. As a result, I don’t think I’m ever going into a Japanese natural history museum now.