Apple has a patent for displaying ads in an operating system. Basically, ads would pop up and prevent you from doing work every once in awhile. The patent shows a mechanism where the ads could be delayed for 10 minutes or you could view one immediately so it won't interrupt you for a bit longer. What do you think? Are people so accustomed to being interrupted during work that they would accept something like this? … [Read more...] about Apple’s Patent on Destroying Productivity
apple
The Downside of Macs
In general, I am happy with using a Mac. The operating system is very well designed and gives me everything I want from Linux without the complexity. The hardware is well designed and thought out and is (for the most part) a pleasure to use. However, there is one area that Apple is sorely lacking in and since I often mention how I like using a Mac, I felt I should take the time to mention what I hate about Apple--the repair process. When I buy a laptop, I expect to use it very heavily for 3 to 4 years. I expect it to be powered on about 75% of that time. Given the mechanical nature of laptops and the complexity that goes into their construction, I expect to have some type of … [Read more...] about The Downside of Macs
Mobile Me Email Down for a week.
My .mac (now Mobile Me) email has be non functional since last Friday. I can't believe a company with the resources of Apple can't get an email server fixed in 4 to 6 hours much less a whole week. Walt Mosberg says the other services aren't very reliable either. I had been told that they were storing all incoming emails in a queue, but when I asked them if they could print out my emails and fax them to me (I know that is insane, but they weren't offering me anything useful and being down for a whole week is even more crazy than faxing emails) I found out that their servers are simply rejecting incoming connections so after four days they will be returned as undeliverable. At this point, … [Read more...] about Mobile Me Email Down for a week.