Malarkey

the goofy amongst us...

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

1

Who wants to be a millionaire?

The most predictable way to make money on the stock market? Buy Apple stock the days before the event…

It’s tradition.

1) The press wildly inflates speculation on the new Apple (insert your favorite device here) - eg, iPad with stereo speakers, card reader, dueling cameras, supre-hires screen…all kinds of stuff

b) Then the speculators and naysayers come out, and also odd bits of personal bad news - eg, standard ram, no card reader, Steve very sick, Jony Ive possibly leaving Apple. The stock take a significant dip. Larger stock groups buy in.

iii) The products come out, the bad news is debunked, and generally the reception to the (product) is good. The stock jumps back up in a few days. Big groups sell out.

Profit!
Cynical, repeatable profit.

Posted by admin on 03/02 at 08:00 PM
Posted in: Gadgetry   Idle Chatter   Malarkey  
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Monday, January 10, 2011

Contract Killer

For the record, I hate “suit-speak”. It shouldn’t cost €500 in legal fees to make a contract for a €2500 site. Happily, there’s a great starting point for contracts…

The benefit of working with an independent web developer is the lack of onerous terms and conditions - it’s a much closer relationship than you’ll ever see from a company with more than 10 employees. We’re small and light on our feet, much like a cockroach after a nuclear war, and without the expensive infrastructure to support, small companies can often get far more work done for significantly less money.

Happily, Andy Clark from Stuff and Nonsense, a UK design site, has taken upon himself to supply us a great starting point: his contract killer, a great starting point for an easily-read, socially-friendly contract that you (probably) won’t ever need a lawyer for. Of course, it probably wouldn’t be bad to run it by a lawyer in your part of the world, just in case…  wink

Posted by admin on 01/10 at 09:47 PM
Posted in: IT notes   Malarkey   Personal  
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Tuesday, January 19, 2010

The 27th cometh for the last of a 1000 times

Ever since my trusty Newton was cancelled by the just-returned Steve Jobs over a decade ago, people have been speculating about what to expect in a new Apple Tablet. What they mean to say is that mouse-based computing was even back then beginning to suck. So will does Jan 27th mean to computing? Let’s prognosticate!

I think we can all agree - we’ve all had about enough of the Apple Tablet vapor/rumor-mill over the years. In some ways, I’m too nervous to even contemplate what the experience will be like on one. My experience with Sony smartphones never prepared me for an iPhone life; no-one saw it coming. It was new, fresh, a complete rethink of the phone experience, and while it’s not perfect, it’s a damn better world because of the iPhone.

I say that because people today poo-poo the Mac and it’s graphic interface, and there are generations living now that have no idea what it’s like to boot up a tape-drive and wait 5 minutes for a text adventure to start. And rightly so: these were neanderthal systems and the more advanced graphic systems left this branch of early hominid-interface far, far behind. You have to know where you came from to appreciate where you’re going.

For years, there was a constant howling about what the next steps should be. I genuinely missed my Newton (I still have one, a 2100, sitting on a shelf - near pristine and unused) but the downsides were too much to bear in this connected world. For years, at every coming of a MacWorld, the whispers that a new “tablet was coming” drove bloggers into a delicious madness.

Such speculation considered the Tablet to be a small, light Mac. With Apple’s current success, desires morphed it into a big iPhone. Big iPhone = Dumb Tablet, at least to me. The core of the iPhone’s success is it’s ability to move small bits of information to and from you - a photo, a video, a web page, a tweet. Small screen, small consumption.

Enter the Apple Invite for the 27th of January 2010:

image

Looks like whatever it is, it’s primarily a creative device. The Zapruderization of the invitation has already fueled another day’s speciousness and speculation. The truth is, as we always already know, not to be found on webpages anywhere. This is the age of the news we want, not the news we need.

I know nothing other than what I’ve experienced with the iPhone (v1 & v3), my Newton, a decade of experience with Macs and my desire for a Star Trek slate handed to me by a pretty yeoman. But since blogs are a suckers game…I’m in.

What I’d like to think is this:

  • It’ll have a new interface on a stable file system: It’s not going to be a big iPhone or a Half-Mac. It’s going to involve the immediacy you find in an iPhone and the depth of a real creative device. I can’t imagine a creative tool without a descending filing system, even with tags, too many visual clues would overwhelm selection, so I’d also expect the iPhone to upgrade its flat UI very soon too
  • Hardware: The card shows a thin, round-edged border, so there’s a good likelihood when closed that the Tablet will be similar in feel to a big phone; which is to say, very ergonomic. I have faith in Apple in this regard - say what you want about any of their products, they feel good to the touch.
  • I’m going to guess it’ll not have a removable battery but a moulded one like all their other products - we’re beyond throw-away batteries.
  • Yes, it’ll be wireless - it has to be these days. Will it be 3G? Only if there’s a way to have 2 devices on the same number, but without that I doubt Apple would niche the system by making you get a second phone account. With AT&T. Think about that a second and you’ll know I’m right.
  • The paint splatters everywhere give the impression of color, texture and density. Were I a betting man (and we know from past history it’s best I don’t) I would worry if I owned Wacom and PainterX stock. Possibly Adobe should worry too - this could be the cornerstone of an attack on the Creative Suite that could work if the apps were sold cheaply enough. You’d need the Tablet to use them; a reverse of the “Razor and Blades” theory, sure, but there’s plenty of other blades in the App Store, and it’s a way to get even with Adobe for the crap that CS4 and especially Flash have become.

    • But that’s all I can guess at, given what we all know; anything more is a mugs game. I’ve got the credit card warmed-up and parked in the garage, raring to go. I’ll let you know what happens to my bank balance in a bit over a week..

    Posted by admin on 01/19 at 10:07 AM
    Posted in: Gadgetry   IT notes   Malarkey   Project 52  
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    Saturday, October 17, 2009

    Hell freezes over

    If possibly only to shut me up (yeah, right) Strider Software has finally released Typestyler for OS X.

    What is that - 8-9 years? Does anyone have a workflow that can use this still?

    Okay - sour grapes on my part, but at least they finally released something. I will reserve judgement until read real stories of people relying upon it for work, but congratulations to the group there in getting it out.

    So what do I moan about now?

    Posted by admin on 10/17 at 12:19 AM
    Posted in: IT notes   Malarkey  
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    Wednesday, February 11, 2009

    THIS is why you’re fat

    Amazing micro photo website with some of the most disgusting fast-food you’ve ever seen.

    Witness this: The Double Bacon Hamburger Fatty Melt

    image

    Three bacon-stuffed grilled cheese sandwichs for buns, cheese, bacon and two four-ounce beefs patties.

    I only just wrote that and now I need to go spinning…

    Posted by admin on 02/11 at 03:23 PM
    Posted in: Idle Chatter   Malarkey  
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