Boot2Gecko
This looks interesting, though I can't help but wish they were announcing their support for Open webOS instead. WebOS is so good, if the FOSS community really wants to take iOS head on, that's the way to do it.
Grace Annual Talent Show
We had our annual talent show tonight at church. The show, dinner and silent auction serve to raise funds for the youth group's summer trips, which, in itself, is a worthy goal. But, also worthy is just how delightful it is for the portion of the body of Christ placed in this little church to get to spend time laughing together. The event is never anything close to dull! I'm looking forward to next year's show…
Teller on Magic
Smithsonian Magazine has an insightful article on magic written by Teller of Penn and Teller:
But magic's not easy to pick apart with machines, because it's not really about the mechanics of your senses. Magic's about understanding””and then manipulating””how viewers digest the sensory information.
Later on, he refers to magic as an art. Given his description here, I think he has a point. Today, we typically think in terms of inputs and outputs: if I insert $x materials, I should get $y widgets. A magic act, though, isn't about raw materials, but what you make of them. The trick may be illusion, but it isn't merely illusion. We are delighted to be misguided when watching a magic trick. It achieves something more than the sum of its parts. In a similar way, more traditional forms of art — painting, writing and the like — may often seem superfluous, but there is a lot going on beyond what we immediately register.
Because Android is So Much More Secure than iOS
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes writes:
The report makes depressing reading. Across all platforms, mobile malware attacks are up 155 percent, with mobile malware samples increasing from 11,138 in 2010 to 28,472 in 2011. BlackBerry malware grew by 8 percent, and Java ME saw a 49 percent increase. But the platform hit hardest was Android, with malware increasing by an incredible 3,325 percent in a year. During the last six months of 2011, Android malware samples had increased from 400 to 13,302.
Conspicuously absent from the list of devices affected by malware attacks is the iPhone. You don't suppose that is because there is no malware for the iPhone, do you?
HT: Gruber
Mastered for iTunes
Kelly Hodgkins writes about the new Mastered for iTunes songs on the iTunes Store:
Apple's trying to differentiate iTunes from its competitors with a new “Mastered for iTunes” section that's filled with high-fidelity, ear-pleasing music. These tracks are processed using a set of guidelines and tools that'll maintain as much of the sound quality of the original, uncompressed file as possible.
I'm curious to see if they sound any different. Assuming they do, another question remains: if someone registers a track on iTunes Match and then redownloads it, do you receive the “Mastered for iTunes” version?
Ash Wednesday
I've posted it before for Ash Wednesday, but I thought I would link to it again: T.S. Eliot's Ash Wednesday is well worth taking a few minutes to read and what better day to do it on?
And pray to God to have mercy upon us
And pray that I may forget
These matters that with myself I too much discuss
Too much explain
Because I do not hope to turn again
Let these words answer
For what is done, not to be done again
May the judgement not be too heavy upon us
The Voice, Week 4
The Voice has been off to a great start this year. If you haven't started watching it yet, you really ought to give it a whirl on YouTube. Good singers and an overall good show.
Great Commission Baptists?
Travis Loller reports:
A panel for the Southern Baptist Convention recommended Monday that its leadership endorse a new, add-on description for the denomination - “Great Commission Baptists” - stopping short of a complete name change.
I think shedding the SBC's regional and related baggage is a good idea. Still, I get uncomfortable with names like the proposed one, since it suggests there are the “Great Commission Baptists” in the SBC and non-Great Commission Baptists everywhere else.
Maybe that's just me.
Hymn Du Jour
From William Sleeper:
Out of unrest and arrogant pride,
Jesus, I come; Jesus, I come.
Into Thy blessed will to abide,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of myself to dwell in Thy love,
Out of despair into raptures above,
Upward forever on wings like a dove,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
Windows Gets a New Logo
Sam Moreau posted a piece on Microsoft's “Blogging Windows” blog to show a history of Windows logos and present a new one for Windows 8. The retrospective is enjoyable; the new logo, on the other hand… Well, at least for me, I'll say the jury is still out.
I think I'll actually miss the “Windows Flag.”