And people say Vista nags about doing things. That warning happens every single time. I download a plugin to check and every single file I want to open and read I get that notice. Can I turn it off? No. Is Apple being ridiculous for not allowing that to be turned off? Yes. Is Apple preparing for the malware? Certainly.
So Leopard adds shiny stuff and just about the most annoying prompt ever. Thanks Apple, nice work.
Thankfully there is a cure.
It takes a lot for me to (1) stop working (2) watch a film and (3) to really be impressed given my cynicism but wow, did Crash do all that for me. Everything about the film was just so damn good, nothing jarred, nothing in it was wasted time, everything counted and it all knitted together into a film that is easily one the best I have ever seen. I know I could have made this discovery at any time in the last three years but damn, it was worth the wait.
Running Leopard.
Time Machine – can’t see the point as SuperDuper has done fine by me and I only want Users backed up anyway. This is a computer not a wiki.
Spotlight seems useful now, though why it keeps spinning up the backup drive is odd seeing as I have told it not to. Maybe it isn’t it..
They still haven’t fixed the clock to show the date. I know the workround but it should be an option.
The shiny dock. Hmm.
Stacks – I like stacks.
Spaces – I will love spaces. Zoom + Omnigraffle permanently in a space all ready for action. I’d like two browser instances (not windows) for spaces to be perfect for me. This is what XP does better – two instances.
Little icons – and Vista got knocked for eye candy?
So that’s it really.
Faster? Maybe.
Better looking? It’s all about performance surely?
Software? There’s a difference?
Now to check if Saft really is the only option for improving Safari before buying it. Primary need seeing as the tabs are utterly and completely unresizable is that the new tab must be opened next to and on the right of the active tab. Without that Safari is useless for work. Hanging tabs – how can anyone possibly work with those?
Two unconnected (no pun intended) but odd events.
The router completely reset itself. No connection details, nothing. Thankfully I had a config backup so I didn’t have to put all the machines back in – I have no encryption, but mac address access control. Not perfect but it works. So the full reset was odd, but the config file was in the macbook pro so I fired that up, went to the router and uploaded the file. All was good. And then for some reason it lost a connection it’s mac address was in the config). The network status showed that eth(en2) and eth(en3) were in use. It said Parallels and Parallels Host-Guest were using these. And that is really strange because I haven’t used Parallels on the mbp for a while. Started Parallels, closed the shared networking.
Last time the mbp was connected though was by wire to the router – again, no Parallels – so I can only assume something somewhere changed. I’m not used to fiddling around in the network settings and it’s not something I find intuitive but eventually I stopped those two directly and managed to get Airport to see the network – again strangely it would not see the network despite a machine 12 inches away being connected.
Postie delivered 2 identical letters today, one of which had to be signed for. Both had all the legal papers I was expecting. I called their number, they called me back just now.
The solicitors for the company whose name I own, had told the Tarmac lawyers that I had been aware of this action since December, that I had allowed the websites to stay up since December and that Tarmac were now suing me for 3 months trademark infringement. They were also going to sue me for something else (I forget). He said they wanted the domain names and they would very generously – despite their huge costs – just call that a deal.
I corrected him about the 3 months and told him the time on my email was less than 60 minutes from knowing. In the end he took me at my word.
I specifically asked if I could keep the domain names and use the websites to sell roses. He said No, that would be building upon Tarmac’s reputation. I asked if I could create a tarmac fan site, he asked if I was making threats (he did!). He said that there was no use at all I could have for the domain and that it had to be surrendered to Nominet.
I then got advised about legal and trademark details. At one point I asked him what the black stuff on roads was and he said he didn’t know. I pointed out of my window and said I see black stuff on the road and regardless of where it has come from people still call it tarmac. He said that would be correct if it had come from Tarmac. I asked him what he called the black stuff that our roads are made of. He came back at me with a question. He was lawyerly in the absolute extreme about this and other issues – that was supremely annoying. ( something like this …. “Does milk come from a cow?” “My milk came from that bottle and I cannot be sure of it’s provenance prior to that. I cannot speak about any other milk or for any cows”). I got a history of tarmac too.
There was no way past this guy. He made it crystal clear that I would not be allowed to keep the domain under any circumstances and that if I hesitated now I that I really did know the circumstances that they would come after me. So… that’s that really. While we were talking he asked if I could stop the domain so the nameservers have been changed and now point nowhere sensible. I say ‘asked’ – I was told it had to be done again because I knew.
Bugger.
About 18 months ago I was talking to a friend whose Dad wanted a website. But first he wanted the name. While he was on the phone with his Dad I tapped his suggestions into Namecheap and he picked the one he wanted. He knew something about webhosting – which he had just about got – but not about how to get the name which is why I got phoned. Anyway, he picked the name and I bought the .com and .co.uk They went on auto-renew at Namecheap and that was that. They were his names, I just happened to have bought them.
He called last night. http://tarmac.co.uk own the trademark ‘tarmac’ and they wanted the site and his business renaming – the domain name has the word ‘tarmac’ in it. I’m no lawyer of course but I pointed out that his business had been around since the early 90′s so history was on his side. I also said that if he just quit the domain name they’d probably be happy – they only want him out of any search results. It was at this point I realised the names are mine. And then he said he’d signed something the company had sent him. He wasn’t entirely sure what he had signed but what he could not have done is agreed to anything about the domain name because it’s not his. It is his as far as I am concerned, but seeing as they are throwing lawyers at him then it’s actually mine right now. Now Dave is looking at another domain name which he will buy, move his sites to and as far as he is concerned the matter is closed. Dave has a small business in the Midlands. Does driveways, playgrounds, carparks. He can’t afford new vans let alone challenge a multinational company worth millions.
If the owners of http://pineapple.com decide to sell computers, and the owners of http://frapple.com and http://appleappleapple.com decide to sell music players then I might, just might, see Steve Jobs sending a squadron of lawyers in to silence them. Apple are no slouches at protecting their trademarks (even though they rip from others). But tarmac?
I have emailed them to ask what offer they are going to make me. I suspect they will demand that I give them the names (no), that I do not use them for anything tarmac related (no) and have lots of legalese in there too. This is just a big guy trying to bully the little guy. Tarmac porn? I have every intention of either them buying them from me, or me being a PITA for them. I could have a tarmac blog. Boring but a good crack at it would get to the front page of Google easy enough – not like the ‘tarmac’ tag at Technorati is hotly contested is it? Even in our village we have tarmaced roads so no shortage of images and camera angles here. And I could always ‘transfer’ the sites to another identity so hiding them from their sticky black fingers.
They have my address. After the call last night I took the dog out and while out realised that my privacy might not have been complete – it wasn’t. So that’ll be a letter they’ll send then. I think I’ll email Sir Mark Moody-Stuart – the head guy at Anglo-American – and see what he reckons.
Yesterday in #wordpress I was talking to someone who was publishing the work of others on their site. The person’s name doesn’t matter. Their site was apparently ‘okay’ being sponsored by Reuters though with WordPress having had ‘sponsored’ themes that word isn’t as clean. What was actually happening was that the work of others was being taken and displayed on another site.
This post should appear in a feed. That’s where I know it will be and where I suspect most bloggers expect their work to stay too. If you take my work and display it on your site then you are not simply giving me an extra link back – you are stealing my work because you intend to use my work to boost your site. I checked one blog from this site – it had the word Copyright in the sidebar and on every single post. Yet the site it was being displayed on did so under a CC license. Another blog had no copyright information but the same CC license was being used. It was a blanket license with no regard to the incoming work.
Something else I noticed – of the 10 or so links I checked, not a single one was a WordPress blog. This means that (a) WP bloggers are not very good at global issues or (b) the incoming links in the dashboard would give them away. My money is with the latter. I also checked to see if these blogs had a notice that they were proud to have been selected to have their work shown on a site sponsored by Reuters. They had no such information. So the bloggers involved have no clue at all that their work was being taken and displayed elsewhere.
The site owner will argue that the blogger gets a link and gets traffic. As the blogger is not being told about their work being shown elsewhere they are not in a position to make a judgement are they? So that argument is nonsense and used to justify their actions.
The site having no ads is not a claim for good. In fact I think if it had ads it would be more honest. Whoever set this up wants more work, they want this site to enhance their reputation and they are currently using the work of others to do that. So saying there are no ads and therefore no gain is at best disingenuous and at worst plain lying.
The fact that the aim of the site was to raise awareness and do good is of no importance. It’s still wrong to take without knowledge. Fact is that Reuters have strict usage policies on their output (“All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.”), so why is a blogger of less importance?
Strange that the parent site does acknowledge contributions – http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/for-bloggers but that this site only links to ‘some’ – http://voiceswithoutvotes.org/blogs/.
Here’s what should happen.
The site asks blogger for permission to use certain posts.
The blogger is then being acknowledged as the owner of their work.
The blogger knows that certain posts will be getting a wider audience so may actually produce better posts.
The blogger gets the chance to set their own license.
The blogger gets the chance to link directly to the other site.
The blogger gets a buzz from knowing their work is deemed to be good enough to be added.
The overall project gets more links, more traffic, more visibility.
Total cost of the above? “Hi, I’d love to use some of your posts on our site…”
Make a proper contributors page – hardly a lot of work but makes people feel even better.
It would probably enhance the site and the person behind it even more.
You’d think that a site such as this would do the right thing … http://voiceswithoutvotes.org
I’m out with Winston for the usual evening walk. The last mile or so is next to a road that connects our village to the one next. It is bounded by a hedge on one side and trees on the other. The narrow path is on the left side with the trees so we are walking with the flow of traffic. It’s gone 9pm so it’s dark.
Winston sees someone up ahead and I hear them. As I look up, they are lit by the headlights of a car coming from behind. Standing still, I turn into the trees. My left hand – holding the extending dog lead – goes to my behind my left side. My right hand holds Winston’s collar. All perfectly normal, done this a hundred times. And then 3 things happen: I feel a solid pain where the extending lead whacks into my butt, the extending lead flies from my hand, extends then clatters to the ground and that car goes past.
The couple walking toward me say nothing as they pass other than to remark how big Winston is. I’m still finding the lead and holding on to Winston and boy does it hurt. Wing mirror? No – too far away from the road. Slapping? Possibly. Strange? Certainly is.
All the sleep weirdness has finally caught up – I feel really ill. Felt roughish for the day but in the last few hours it’s got a whole heap worse.
I think I have found the OS X program I have been looking for. It could just be perfect but I’m doing the full demo experience first. I will be really happy if it pays off.
And I can’t get the Bamboo tablet to work with a vertical monitor which is a bit of a downer. I’ve edited the prefs files but no joy. I’m waiting on an email / forum answer at wacom but from searching around my hopes are low. Still, at least I have no hand pain.
I really enjoy going to the gym. I like being out of the house, away from the computer for a couple of hours and I love the elliptical trainer. The bike is cool, the treadmill is not. So I’m happiest on the former and use the fantastic Podrunner podcasts. He’s topping iTunes regularly so many know how great he is. Having that steady fast tempo really does work. Recently though for various reasons – another post – my attendance had dropped. But from Monday it’s going back up.
I use the cardio setting on the trainer because I get the stable speed and I’ve not been keen on those that do the hills. The harder/easier does not appeal even though I knew it was slightly better, would give me variety, and it didn’t appeal because of the lack of a tempo. It’s like trying to keep up with music that stops/starts/faster/slower. Didn’t work for me. That applies no longer.
We now have Podrunner Intervals. I think I might start these on the bike – or do both that and the trainer on different days. Either way it looks to be an amazing trip along a new way of using the machines and if it gets my routine back into shape it will be a certain winner. If you have even the slightest interest I strongly recommend you download these and his podcasts – as wrong as I might be at times all the others on iTunes are not. So that’s the gym for me with all it’s benefits – certainly beats
going outside :)