Firefox 4
Somehow the Firefox 4 launch feels less significant than the Firefox 3 one. Not only have fewer people downloaded it so far (by about half — four million so far), but WebKit browsers have managed to wrest away much of Firefox's mindshare. If I want an innovative browser today, I look to the latest Safari and Chrome, not to Firefox.
Nevertheless, while Safari is my browser of choice, Firefox remains my personal recommendation for a browser for Windows users. I have not yet been sold on Safari for Windows and I think Chrome's user interface is still less than ideal. What I like about Firefox 4 is that it gives me something to recommend to my clients that keeps that familiar, friendly user interface without compromise.
That's a good thing.
Last Year's Asisaid Stock Tip
I wrote on March 12, 2010:
With that in mind, and with full disclosure that I am an AAPL shareholder, let me suggest that I think $250/share is not an unrealistic price target within the next three to six months.
Apple closed today 345.43, down 8.13.
U-verse Issues
Andrew Robinson on the “plus sides” of AT&T U-verse:
On the plus side, I watch a lot less TV, spend less time on the phone and am forced to take breaks from my various online duties from time to time, so it's not all bad I suppose. Maybe I'm looking at this the wrong way, maybe it's not that AT&T U-verse is the entertainment equivalent of swine flu; maybe it's that AT&T wants to make sure its customers have time for their other hobbies like reading or enjoying a real sunset instead of watching one on Sunrise Earth on Discovery HD.
I missed this review when it was published last year and it has a few technical errors in it, but it gets to my long time thesis: cable is not worse than the alternatives. Cable just has worse PR.
Xoom, Xoom, Xoom
Verizon has loaned me a Motorola Xoom to review. So far, Honeycomb is a massive improvement over Samsung's tweaked Android 2.x that is used on the Galaxy Tab. As I work through testing, the big question will be this: does the Xoom offer anything compelling that is not offered on the iPad?
The jury is still out.
Romeo and Juliet in a Nutshell
Andy Griffith explains the plot of Romeo and Juliet to a young Ron Howard in this clip from the Andy Griffith Show:
You can change the name of a rose but you can't do nuthin 'bout the smell.
Chrislam
Google that word and you will discover dozens of blog articles hailing the approaching end times, noting how people like Rick Warren are now pushing for a merger of Christianity and Islam. Reading even one of these reveals the poorest of justifications for saying Warren has “embraced Chrislam.” I am no Warren fan, but any Christian who writes such junk should be ashamed.
But, if fallacious argumentation is not enough to demonstrate the flaws of these “reports,” maybe plagerism will do the trick. All of the content I have found seems to originate from a pseudo-journalist named Paul L. Williams. The posts seem to be minor variations of each other, using the same words — and even the same church sign picture. Also note that all of them talk about the same events happening “this week” despite being posted anywhere between November and this week.
This smells more of an email urban legend than news. Yet this misinformation is being passed around as news and people will take it as such. Even when we disagree with people, we must reject spreading mistruths, no matter how perfectly they may confirm our biases.
To do otherwise is sin.
UPDATE: My friend Ed Hurst notes that the Chrislam church sign accompanying such posts was fabricated using a church sign making site.
Intriguing
Engadget reports,
C-Mount lenses (commonly used on 16mm film cameras) have already found a bit of new life on Micro Four Thirds cameras thanks to adapters, and it look like the compact lenses are now also found another fan in the form of Japanese camera manufacturer Kenko. It's now showing a new compact camera that will apparently accomodate C-mount lenses directly, and be available in Japan this summer for [yen] 32,000, or about $370 (it's not clear if that includes any lenses).
A new camera line with a not new mount. Intriguing.
Das Auto
This is a perfect way to build up to the relaunch of the iconic car.
The Blizzard that Never Was
Last night was the first time I can recall hearing a blizzard warning for anywhere around the St. Louis metro region. For days there has been talk about the destructive ice, snow and wind headed to the area. There was enough fear with the storm presently crossing the midwest that many businesses closed today that usually would not for mere snow. We as a city were prepared.
But, the blizzard did not come and only a few inches of accumulation happened.
I didn't want to get hit by anything severe that did great damage, but somehow after all the hype, this little snow storm seemed anticlimactic — like a story that builds up great drama only to invoke deus ex machina to fix it all in a most sensational and unsatisfying of fashions.
Oh, well, the snowfall was pretty today.
