Apple iPhone and related items (cont.)

[Gromit]

Is there a decent French phrase book for the iPhone? I've spent ages trawling through the app store and most of them have shockingly bad reviews. How the fuck some of them got approved is anyone's guess.

I don't need audio files - just a simple, easy to use phrasebook. I don't mind paying a couple of quid, but if it's over a fiver I may as well buy a proper book.

Any tried'n'trusted suggestions?

Be careful that all the phrases are part of the download rather than the ap requiring a web connection to access a database. I got caught that way with my Bulgarian ap.

I tended to use the Lastminute ones. They aren't comprehensive but better than nothing.

 

[ooo]

Have you guys seen this?

http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/27/horus-coffee-table-ipod-dock-will-make-friends-question-your-san/

Love the headline

Horus coffee table/iPod dock will make friends question your sanity

 

[Vintage Paw]

Anyone posted this yet? Steve Jobs gives his thoughts on Flash:

http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/

 

[Crispy]

Broadly agree with him - Flash should be obsolete. But the transition will be painful.

 

[editor]

Anyone posted this yet? Steve Jobs gives his thoughts on Flash:

http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/

Now, that's what I call hyporcrisy!

Adobe’s Flash products are 100% proprietary. They are only available from Adobe, and Adobe has sole authority as to their future enhancement, pricing, etc. While Adobe’s Flash products are widely available, this does not mean they are open, since they are controlled entirely by Adobe and available only from Adobe. By almost any definition, Flash is a closed system.

 

[Vintage Paw]

ed, to be fair, he does make mention of Apple's proprietary stuff, and compares it to what he's talking about with Flash. Of course he's not going to slag himself off in his own piece, but neither does he completely ignore it.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

It's not hypocrisy: he then immediately says Apple has closed technology. It's counter to Adobe's bizarre PR that Flash is somehow some sort of "open system" and if you support open standards you must support it.

 

[Vintage Paw]

The quote in full:

Adobe’s Flash products are 100% proprietary. They are only available from Adobe, and Adobe has sole authority as to their future enhancement, pricing, etc. While Adobe’s Flash products are widely available, this does not mean they are open, since they are controlled entirely by Adobe and available only from Adobe. By almost any definition, Flash is a closed system.

Apple has many proprietary products too. Though the operating system for the iPhone, iPod and iPad is proprietary, we strongly believe that all standards pertaining to the web should be open. Rather than use Flash, Apple has adopted HTML5, CSS and JavaScript – all open standards. Apple’s mobile devices all ship with high performance, low power implementations of these open standards. HTML5, the new web standard that has been adopted by Apple, Google and many others, lets web developers create advanced graphics, typography, animations and transitions without relying on third party browser plug-ins (like Flash). HTML5 is completely open and controlled by a standards committee, of which Apple is a member.

 

[Sunray]

To support his claim, Another World JS plays on my iPhone. Its a bit slow mind and no key support, but it does look perfectly fine.

 

[editor]

It's not hypocrisy: he then immediately says Apple has closed technology. It's counter to Adobe's bizarre PR that Flash is somehow some sort of "open system" and if you support open standards you must support it.

He's every bit as bad as the company he seeks to criticise, so that makes him a hypocrite in my book.

Here's an interesting user comment from Engadget:

Actually Flash is most definitely an open format. In fact, here are the specifications themselves:

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/swf/

It's part of the Adobe Open Screen Project, which you can find here:

http://www.openscreenproject.org/

In fact, only part of the SWF file format that remains closed is the stuff they are unable to disclose due to patents, like codecs such as H.264.... Amusingly, something that Jobs himself heralded as something 'open' in his little diatribe. Far from it: H.264 itself is not open at all. In fact it's heavily encumbered in patents and licensing snafus:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC#Patent_licensing

 

[elbows]

Open can mean many different things. Adobe have opened up various aspects of flash in recent years, but it still falls short of being able to call flash an open standard - 1 company controls the spec, not a standards body.

Jobs does not talk about h.264 in the section where he is discussing open stuff, he talks about in a later section to try to refute Adobes '75% of web video is flash' argument, and also tries to make h.264 hardware decoding an issue. h.264 is partially open, in that it isnt one company with complete control over the spec, and there are plenty of opensource examples of how to use it. Where it isnt open is that its encumbered by patents and certain uses of it require a fee to be paid.

Most companies that try to play the open card are on shaky ground from time to time. In my book Apple score very highly when it comes to promoting open web standards, obviously they do not score at all well when it comes to how open their mobile hardware/OS platforms are.

 

[GoneCoastal]

Is anyone else using the latest version of tapatalk ? It seems to have removed the ability to remove thread titles before replying to a post again... anyone else got this ?

 

[Kid_Eternity]

Is anyone else using the latest version of tapatalk ? It seems to have removed the ability to remove thread titles before replying to a post again... anyone else got this ?

Eh?

 

[editor]

Good piece on Engadget about h.264 licensing. It's quite complicated, but well worth a read.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/?s=t5

 

[elbows]

Good piece on Engadget about h.264 licensing. It's quite complicated, but well worth a read.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/?s=t5

Hooray, a sensible article about H.264. As it points out the discussion on the net has gotten very silly recently, especially since Microsoft said that H.264 is the only HTML5 video format that IE9 will support, at least initially.

 

[grit]

He's every bit as bad as the company he seeks to criticise, so that makes him a hypocrite in my book.

Here's an interesting user comment from Engadget:

Jobs didnt claim that H.264 is open.

 

[Crispy]

If flash is so open, why aren't there any 3rd party players for it?

 

[stupid dogbot]

Adobe = good
Apple = bad

Simples.

 

[editor]

LOL!

Cupidtino: Dating Site for Apple Fanboys and Fangirls

We’re not sure if this is a joke or not, but Cupidtino is an upcoming dating site for fans of Apple products.

The site is currently in (closed) beta, but it has an active Twitter account which is (mostly) trying to convince people that the project is for real. From the site: “Diehard Mac & Apple fans often have a lot in common – personalities, creative professions, a similar sense of style and aesthetics, taste, and of course a love for technology. We believe these are enough reasons for two people to meet and fall in love, and so we created the first Mac-inspired dating site to help you find other Machearts around you.”

Cupidtino should launch in June 2010, and it’ll be (surprise) exclusively on Apple platforms, with some location-based social apps for the iPhone and iPad in the works. We’ll believe it when we see it.

http://mashable.com/2010/05/05/cupidtino/

 

[Kanda]

There's a dating site for Furrys out there too.

 

[stupid dogbot]

LOL!


Cupidtino should launch in June 2010, and it’ll be (surprise) exclusively on Apple platforms, with some location-based social apps for the iPhone and iPad in the works. We’ll believe it when we see it.

http://mashable.com/2010/05/05/cupidtino/

Wow, that's the one for me.

Apple girls, look out!

 

[teqniq]

The iPhone gets flash whether Steve Jobs likes it or not:-

Android on the iPhone

Probably for the seriously geeky and not for the faint-hearted I would imagine....

 

[stupid dogbot]

Tread very, very carefully:

EDIT: Apparently on some iPhones, the installation of openiboot appears to be failing (THIS MEANS IT WON'T BOOT UP AGAIN).

 

[Sunray]

I don't know about people here, but the one computer I want to have near 100% reliability is my phone. The uptime on my iPhone is amazing given how sophisticated and new it is. I must have reset it less than 10 times in two years and that was not because it had stopped working but to get CoPilot to run.

Quite why you would want to make it unstable is beyond me.

 

[Gromit]

I don't know about people here, but the one computer I want to have near 100% reliability is my phone.

Its the one that runs my life support machine for me.

 

[ChrisFilter]

My iPhone died. Tsk. Won't charge, but can't see any bent pins. Have to go to the fucking wank bar.

 

[editor]

My iPhone died. Tsk. Won't charge, but can't see any bent pins. Have to go to the fucking wank bar.

You have my sympathy.

Get ready to high-five! Or punch.

 

[Crispy]

The one time I've seen the genius bar at work, there was no smugness, high fiving or that other nonsense, just excellent and polite service and the problem solved in less than 10 minutes. don't know what you guys have an issue with?

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

The one time I've seen the genius bar at work, there was no smugness, high fiving or that other nonsense, just excellent and polite service and the problem solved in less than 10 minutes. don't know what you guys have an issue with?

The name for starters, it just shouts "wankers"

 

[Lazy Llama]

My iPhone died. Tsk. Won't charge, but can't see any bent pins. Have to go to the fucking wank bar.

Mine's gone like that a couple of times.
Rebooted the machine I was charging it from and it started charging, no idea why.

Might be worth a go, though you may have already tried different charging mechanisms.

As for the Genius Bar, Microsoft have a Guru Bar in their shops which proves that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Best Buy have a Geek Squad (I hear they have that over here now at the Lakeside branch), and PC World have "The Tech Guys". All a bit wanky if you ask me.