Dr. Bill | The Computer Curmudgeon
Join Dr. Bill as he examines the wild and wacky world of the web, computers, and all things geeky! Hot Tech Tips, Tech News, and Geek Culture are examined… with plenty of good humor as well!
Dr. Bill pontificates on all things technical!
Open Source is going further than ever! From software, to now, hardware… and even cars! Check this out!
OSVehicle: TABBY Timelapse from OSVehicle on Vimeo.
There is even an “Urban Model” that is “street legal!”
Urban TABBY – the road legal evolution from OSVehicle on Vimeo.
This one, with an electric motor… hey, my seven mile commute to work would be fun!
The CrossOver Full, Supported Version of WINE, is very, very nice! I purchased a copy back when I was running Linux as my work desktop. This new version is very targeted for Quicken users. Here’s the announcement from CodeWeavers I got via E-Mail.
“Hello all, I am delighted to announce that CodeWeavers has just released CrossOver 13.1.0 for both Mac OS X and Linux.
CrossOver 13.1.0 supports Quicken 2014. Because Quicken is such a popular application, we are releasing this version of CrossOver specially to provide our users support for the latest version of Quicken. In addition to support for Quicken 2014, CrossOver 13.1.0 has improved translations in some non-English languages. Quicken 2014 support is the main feature of this release.
A changelog for CrossOver 13.1.0 is shown below.
Mac customers with active support entitlements will be upgraded to Crossover 13 the next time they launch Crossover. Linux users can download the latest version from https://www.codeweavers.com/.
If Crossover asks for registration use your codeweavers.com email address & password to register and unlock Crossover. Email info@codeweavers.com if you need more help.
Thank you all for your support, and we hope you enjoy CrossOver 13.1.0!”
Here’s a Facebook post from Mark Zuckerberg: “Today is Facebook’s 10th anniversary.
It’s been an amazing journey so far, and I’m so grateful to be a part of it. It’s rare to be able to touch so many people’s lives, and I try to remind myself to make the most of every day and have the biggest impact I can.
People often ask if I always knew that Facebook would become what it is today. No way.
I remember getting pizza with my friends one night in college shortly after opening Facebook. I told them I was excited to help connect our school community, but one day someone needed to connect the whole world.
I always thought this was important — giving people the power to share and stay connected, empowering people to build their own communities themselves.
When I reflect on the last 10 years, one question I ask myself is: why were we the ones to build this? We were just students. We had way fewer resources than big companies. If they had focused on this problem, they could have done it.
The only answer I can think of is: we just cared more.
While some doubted that connecting the world was actually important, we were building. While others doubted that this would be sustainable, you were forming lasting connections.
We just cared more about connecting the world than anyone else. And we still do today.
That’s why I’m even more excited about the next ten years than the last. The first ten years were about bootstrapping this network. Now we have the resources to help people across the world solve even bigger and more important problems.
Today, only one-third of the world’s population has access to the internet. In the next decade, we have the opportunity and the responsibility to connect the other two-thirds.
Today, social networks are mostly about sharing moments. In the next decade, they’ll also help you answer questions and solve complex problems.
Today, we have only a few ways to share our experiences. In the next decade, technology will enable us to create many more ways to capture and communicate new kinds of experiences.
It’s been amazing to see how all of you have used our tools to build a real community. You’ve shared the happy moments and the painful ones. You’ve started new families, and kept spread out families connected. You’ve created new services and built small businesses. You’ve helped each other in so many ways.
I’m so grateful to be able to help build these tools for you. I feel a deep responsibility to make the most of my time here and serve you the best I can.
Thank you for letting me be a part of this journey.”
This looks so cool!
ASUS’ Chromebox arrives in March for $179
Emily Price for Engadget – “As promised late last year, ASUS unveiled its new Chromebox packing Intel’s fourth-generation Haswell processors today. The most compact Chromebox yet, the computer comes sporting either Intel’s Celeron 2955U or i3-4010 processor. Another i7 version of the box will be available outside of North America.
Under the hood of the svelte 4.88 x 4.88 x 1.65-inch device, you’ll get Intel-integrated HD graphics and 16GB of onboard storage. If you need more room to store your stuff, ASUS is also offering buyers 100GB of free cloud storage through Google Drive. Display-wise, the i3 and i7 Chromebox supports 4K Ultra High-Definition displays, and all three have HDMI and DisplayPort out ports for dual-monitor capabilities. You’ll also find four USB 3.0 ports on the device, as well as a built-in SD card reader. You can snag your own ASUS Chromebox in March starting at $179.”
Now, Android phones and tablets, as well as Apple iDevices will be able to run Chrome apps (such as run on Google’s Chromebook) with the help of the Open Source Cordova Project!
Chrome desktop apps move to Android, iOS with Apache Cordova
ZDNet – Liam Tung – “Makers of native-like Chrome apps for desktops now have a new set of tools to help wrap their products in a format suitable to distribute on Google Play and Apple’s App Store.
The mobile move builds on Google’s recent efforts to get Chrome app developers to build apps that bring a Chromebook experience to Windows and Macs — for example, web apps that appear to live outside the browser and that can run when the device is offline.
Google yesterday announced an early developer preview of a toolchain based on Apache Cordova, the cross-platform mobile development framework that Adobe donated to the Apache Software Foundation after it acquired PhoneGap-maker Nitobi. The toolchain offers a Cordova command line tool, workflow and other helpers, for example, to correctly format icons and splash screens to iOS and Android specs.
Essentially, it helps developers build mobile apps based on HTML, CSS and JavaScript, without requiring them to be rewritten in native languages such as Java for Android or Objective-C for iOS.
‘The toolchain wraps your Chrome App with a native application shell and enables you to distribute your app via Google Play and the Apple App Store. We provide a simple developer workflow for packaging a Chrome App natively for mobile platforms. You can run your Chrome App on a device or emulator using the command-line or an IDE.” Google software engineer Andrew Grieve wrote.
While the developer preview currently allows developers to publish apps to Google Play, instructions for publishing to the App Store are yet to be released.
Some of the Chrome APIs Google has made available for Chrome Apps on mobile include:
Yet to be supported APIs, such as Bluetooth, mediaGalleries, permissions and others are listed here, while developers can use APIs supported by Cordova.”
Due to a lawsuit, Microsoft is backing off it’s “SkyDrive” to refocus on “OneDrive” as a branding for it’s cloud drive offering.
Microsoft’s SkyDrive becomes OneDrive after trademark dispute
https://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/microsofts-skydrive-becomes-onedrive-after-trademark-dispute-235066
Cross-posted from VirtZine InfoWorld – “Microsoft has chosen OneDrive as the new name for its SkyDrive cloud storage service, which it had agreed to rebaptize after losing a trademark dispute last year with British broadcast TV and broadband provider BSkyB.
After losing the case in a U.K. court, Microsoft reached an agreement with BSkyB in July that gave it a period of time to choose a new name for SkyDrive.
[ Control your storage requirements by eliminating data redundancy. InfoWorld lays it all out in our Deep Dive Report on Data Deduplication. | Keep up with the latest approaches to managing information overload and compliance in InfoWorld’s Enterprise Data Explosion newsletter. ]
In its announcement on Monday, Microsoft made no direct mention of the BSkyB dispute, although it did include a link to an article about the companies’ settlement deal.
Instead, Microsoft is trying to position the name change as an opportunity to give SkyDrive a branding upgrade of sorts. The OneDrive name better communicates Microsoft’s goal for OneDrive to be the only cloud storage service users need across all their devices and for all their files, including photos, videos and documents, according to the company.
‘We believe the new OneDrive name conveys the value we can deliver for you and best represents our vision for the future. We are excited about what is to come, and can’t wait to share more,’ wrote Ryan Gavin, general manager of Consumer Apps & Services at Microsoft, in a blog post.
Microsoft has also posted a one-minute video on YouTube promoting the new name.
Current users of SkyDrive and SkyDrive Pro won’t have to do anything as a result of the name change. SkyDrive Pro, which is designed for workplace use and is part of the Office 365 cloud email and collaboration suite, has been renamed OneDrive for Business.
The transition to the new names will be carried out ‘soon,’ according to Microsoft.”
It will be tomorrow sometime. I am running into rendering issues on the files. Hang in there!
I am getting a Canon EOS Rebal T3i DSLR to do the video netcast! I am SO jazzed! But, that makes this week’s GSotW very, very targeted! So, if you don’t have one of the supported DSLR’s…. sorry!
“Control your Canon EOS with your Android device!
TP-Link TL-MR3040DSLR Controller was the first and is still the best app to fully control your Canon EOS DSLR from your Android device, with nothing more than a USB cable. No computer or laptop required, no root required. All you need is a compatible mobile device, a compatible camera, and the right USB cable. If you have Wi-Fi-capable EOS model or a WFT box, it also possible to connect via Wi-Fi.
BREAKING NEWS: Turn a cheap TL-MR3040 pocketable wireless router into a Wi-Fi module for any supported Canon EOS model, and use DSLR Controller wirelessly!
Though we still call it a BETA officially, DSLR Controller is the oldest and most complete app to remote control a Canon EOS DSLR from a smartphone or tablet. It offers you remote liveview, control of most common settings, capture, focus and zoom control, image and video review, timelapse, HDR/AEB, focus bracketing – and much more! See the about page for a full list of features, system requirements and screenshots.
DSLR Controller has been covered by several large news outlets, as well as a number of magazines. A prominent core developer of Android itself even called it his app of the year.”
It can even work as a wireless remote with a cheap TP-Link pocket router! Watch this YouTube video for more info:
This is wild! I can remember when the Macintosh was announced. I was just getting into IT at the time. (Yes, in mini-computers like the Digital VAX!) Wow, seems like yesterday! This writer was there covering it!
The Macintosh Is 30, and I Was There for Its Birth
Wired – By: Steven Levy – “Nineteen eighty-four was not like 2014. When Steve Jobs launched the Macintosh, he had to generate excitement about a product — a computer — that was unfamiliar to most people, if not downright scary. His creation would eventually entice them into changing their minds, but first, they had to be intrigued enough to learn about it.
The Macintosh was new, but the media would have to be old. There were no tech blogs, no Facebook, no Twitter, and certainly no Mac rumor websites. There were no websites at all. So Jobs had to generate his own campaign to tell the world about the computer that he would announce on January 24, 1984, 30 years ago today.
Part of the effort came in the production of the now-famous Ridley Scott Super Bowl commercial that climaxed with a dynamic woman athlete flinging a hammer to disrupt the ravings of an unnamed evil empire’s mouthpiece. For those in the know, the oppressive regime was supposed to represent the ruler of the digital world in those days, IBM. (See, that was a long time ago.) But the stratospheric production values and the epic sweep of those 60 seconds created a promo that was revolutionary even without subtext.
Almost no one remembers who played in the Super Bowl (the Los Angeles Raiders beat the Washington Redskins.1 Like I said, 1984 wasn’t like 2014). But the commercial, aired two days before the Mac launch, is part of history, and many can recite the tagline verbatim: ‘On January 24, Apple will introduce Macintosh. And you’ll see why 1984 won’t be like ‘1984.”
Jobs also planned a massive advertising campaign to follow, including a complete mini-publication that would run in multiple magazines. But, as he would do often in his subsequent career, Jobs relied on the news media to provide the narrative focus for his effort. He decided to give the exclusive story, along with early access to the team, to Newsweek and Rolling Stone, though he also gave briefings to a new magazine called Macworld.
I was the Rolling Stone writer.
No Cover for the Mac
The assignment was my idea. I had been covering the computer world for a couple of years, and while the rest of the world paid little attention, Silicon Valley was buzzing with anticipation about Apple’s mysterious new machine. I managed to overcome editorial skepticism at Rolling Stone to get an OK to cover the launch, something of a stretch for the magazine of music and youth culture. But I was stunned when Apple did not embrace my idea right away. Its reps insisted — on orders from Jobs, I later learned — that my coverage was contingent on putting the Macintosh (or, presumably, Jobs) on the cover of Rolling Stone. And that wasn’t going to happen.
Finally, Jobs relented, and in November, I found myself at Bandley Three, the modest building in which the Mac team was frantically trying to squash software bugs and lock down features before the launch. It was to be one of the greatest days of my life in reporting.
First, I met the machine. From the instant the woman running the demo switched on that strange-looking contraption (inspired in part by the Cuisinart food processor), I knew the Macintosh would change millions of lives, including my own. To understand that, you must realize how much 1984 really was not like 2014. Until that point, personal computers were locked in an esoteric realm of codes and commands. They looked unfriendly, with the letters of text growing in sickly phosphorescence. Even the simplest tasks required memorizing the proper intonations, then executing several exacting steps.
But the Macintosh was friendly. It opened with a smile. Words appeared with the clarity of text on a printed page — and for the first time, ordinary people had the power to format text as professional printers did. Selecting and moving text was made dramatically easier by the then-quaint mouse accompanying the keyboard. You could draw on it. This humble shoebox-sized machine had a simplicity that instantly empowered you.
I had barely taken that in when I was introduced to some of the team that created the machine. I was blown away by the energy of people like Andy Hertzfeld, Bill Atkinson, Joanna Hoffman, Susan Kare, Steve Capps, and others. They went out of their way to connect with me because they adored Rolling Stone. Mostly in their twenties, the Mac people viewed the computer they had created as something akin to the rock and roll that flowed in their veins. The Macintosh was built to be as transgressive and empowering as the music that played on their stereos and opened the world to them.
That’s what had excited me about computers too, so the Mac team charmed me from the get-to. To this day, some of them remain my close friends.
And Then There Was Jobs
After a series of meetings, I was to meet the impresario of the Macintosh, Steve Jobs. We were scheduled to go to dinner together. By then, I had heard a lot about him, and gotten more than a whiff of the intrigues involved in the creation of the Mac (including an earful from the exiled manager who originally conceived of the project).
I have to admit my first moments with Jobs were not auspicious. He complained again that the story would not be on the cover. Then he proceeded to use scatological terms to describe a recent Rolling Stone story about MTV. I interrupted the rant by informing him that I had written that story. Jobs simply changed the subject.
At dinner, though, he was loquacious, candid, and of course wildly enthusiastic about the launch. He portrayed Apple as a pirate aggregation that was civilization’s last hope against an evil dominant force — just like in the commercial. (He spoke about the 1984 ad with some wistfulness, since at that time the Apple board had decided not to run it on television. Of course, it reversed that decision).
He was also wildly dramatic about what he might do if the world didn’t understand the excellence of his creation — perhaps go to Italy and ride motorcycles, he said. He also talked about the future of Apple, sharing its dream that it would grow to be worth $10 billion. But, he said, he hoped it would be a $10 billion company that did not lose its soul.
It was the first of many conversations I would have with Jobs over next few decades, up to the year he died. But it was perhaps the most unforgettable, simply because it was all so new. The computer. The team. Steve. The whole package was, in a nutshell, the essence of the seismic shift about to occur, one that would indeed, as I heard it said that day, put a dent in the universe.
Universe, consider yourself dented. In 2014, IBM doesn’t even make PCs. Apple is not a $10 billion company, it is a half a trillion dollar company. Jobs is gone, but he left us after having had rebuilt the company beyond its previous glory, satisfied that he’d restored its soul.
Amazingly, one thing has not changed: Through three decades of evolution, we still have a machine whose DNA recognizably traces back to its origin. Indeed, 30 years after Jobs introduced his machine at the Flint Center in Cupertino, I am writing these words on a Macintosh.
So, at least in one sense, 2014 is just like 1984.”