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January 24th, 2006

Bad movie physics

January 24th, 2006

Rose and I have always been amused that cars in movies always explode if they fall off a precipice, or even roll down a somewhat small hill.

On the Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics page, there are a few more examples. Have you noticed that flashes and bangs from distant explosions tend to arrive at the same time? That bullets generate pleasing sparks when hitting things? These and other topics are discussed here. The site points out, for example, that if people hit by shotgun blasts were really blown off their feet and through the nearest window, the same thing would happen to the person holding the gun…

January 23rd, 2006

SFO

January 23rd, 2006

I’ve landed at San Francisco, but my suitcase hasn’t. I am both combatting my jetlag, and postponing the laundry I’m going to have to do in the bathroom of my hotel room, by playing with the Ixus 750 that I bought in Duty Free on the way out. Lovely.

SFO Marriott

January 21st, 2006

Jewel Case Calendar

January 21st, 2006

Now, this is quite a nice idea.

BrightBoard

January 21st, 2006

I borrowed a digital-8 camcorder from a friend – thanks, William! – because I wanted to salvage some footage from a few old Hi-8 tapes, which will soon be completely obsolete and unreadable.

The main thing I wanted to save was a little 2-minute clip about BrightBoard, the project which formed the bulk of my PhD work. This ‘video figure’ was done at the end of 1995 to accompany a paper I presented at the CHI96 conference. Click the picture to see a much younger and thinner Quentin… [12MB Quicktime H.264]

January 17th, 2006

E-Mail Is So Five Minutes Ago

January 17th, 2006

A Business Week article suggesting that email’s role is… well… if not superseded then at least diminishing rapidly.

I think rumours of its death have been somewhat exaggerated. But as my spam filters, of necessity, become ever more stringent, so I have to spend more time reading the logs to check for unjustified rejections. There may well be scope for wider adoption of an email model where, by default, no messages are allowed, and you have to contact me in person and get a code before I can receive any messages from you…

Still, the gist of this article is that email’s often not a very efficient way to communicate, and they may be right there.

January 16th, 2006

Tickr for Flickr

January 16th, 2006

If you have a Mac and you don’t need to get any work done for a bit… Tickr for Flickr is remarkably addictive. You type a word into its search box and it displays, along one side of your screen, a scrolling band of photos which have that tag on Flickr. It’s very nicely done. If you want some good words to get started, try ‘coniston’, ‘scuba’ or ‘night’…

Apple Surpasses Dell’s Market Value

January 16th, 2006

On Slashdot:

Nine years after Michael Dell said he’d shut down Apple and give the money to the shareholders, Apple has passed Dell in market value, at $72,132,428,843 compared to Dell’s $71,970,702,760…

January 13th, 2006

iMac Extended

January 13th, 2006

Apologies to those of you not interested in Mac-related posts. I expect the current flurry to die down soon!

I noticed a subtle but interesting change in the graphics specs for the new Intel-based iMac:

For the first time ever, iMac lets you use a second display in extended desktop mode, in addition to simply mirroring the first.

In the past, the iMac and the iBook have supported external displays but only as a clone of the main one, unlike the PowerMac and PowerBook. This was never a hardware limitation, only a marketing decision and there’s a good reliable hack to get over that foolishness. But it’s nice to see it won’t be necessary.

How To Install Front Row

January 13th, 2006

Here’s how you can install Apple’s Front Row software on any Mac running Tiger 10.4.4.

Works for me…

January 12th, 2006

Hopeful news from the USPTO

January 12th, 2006

Quoted on Paul Bissex’s blog:

Last month, USPTO representatives met with members of the open source software community…The meeting focused on getting the best prior art references to the examiner during the initial examination process.

I’ve always felt that published applications on the patent offices’ websites needed a button labelled ‘Click here to report possibly relevant prior art’. Maybe this is a step closer to that goal.

ExpressCard

January 12th, 2006

One thing my new MacBook won’t have is a PCMCIA (PC Card) slot. I’ve been rather fond of this on my old Powerbook – a CF card adaptor lives there permanently, and it means that I can always get photos off my camera without the need for cables.

CF adaptor

The new machines have an ExpressCard slot. This is the replacement for the old PC Card standard; it has been around for a while and has lots of advantages, but I haven’t seen any cards for it yet, and the slot is too small for a Compact Flash adaptor, so it’ll be back to cables, I guess, for transferring my photos.

Patience is a virtue

January 12th, 2006

Well, I’ve been very patient. Patient, first, while my insurance company took two months to pay up after my old Powerbook came to a tragic end, and then patient while I waited for Steve Jobs’ keynote address. But it was worth it, because he announced the Powerbook replacement, the MacBook Pro, and I have one on the way… Hee hee.

But my patience is not yet exhausted, and it’s just as well, because though they’re taking orders now, delivery is sometime in February. And the Apple retail stores will no doubt get them sooner than the local dealer with whom I placed my order. I’m hoping that good things come to those who wait…

Quentin Stafford-Fraser's blog

Bad movie physics

SFO

Jewel Case Calendar

BrightBoard

E-Mail Is So Five Minutes Ago

Tickr for Flickr

Apple Surpasses Dell’s Market Value

iMac Extended

How To Install Front Row

Hopeful news from the USPTO

ExpressCard

Patience is a virtue

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