13 February 2011

Behind The Scenes Of ‘The Social Network’ - fiction near fact is still useful fiction

This is a reply to the blog post below:
I wonder if it will also help remind people that the film nominated for eight Oscars isn’t a documentary about Facebook but rather a work of historical fiction.

The Social Network has been one of my favourite films over the past year.  It's quick, it's well thought out and has a killer sound track.  Best of all, even though it's not the "truth" (what ever that maybe) it's certainly enough that you can understand the background to Facebook which is now the world's biggest website. The argument here is, film is both entertaining and close enough to the truth.  In this sense it is very successful and educational at the same time.

It's a big budget movie; it is not a peer reviewed journal. Audiences ought to have a different expectation of truth, and ought to look a bit deeper on the matter if they wish to make judgements about Mr Zuckerberg‎ character or business management style.

So what if there weren't quite as many mostly naked girls in the real word? Timberlake was actually (surprisingly) a good actor and it was terribly entertaining.  Of course I know that nerds are no where near as cool as any film could ever possibly make out. Interestingly enough, I once met one of the Piranha Task Force detectives, and they were sledging the Underbelly because, as he put it "I followed Carl Williams for years, I listened to his every telephone call, I knew what he was up to, and never do I remember so much sex being involved".  Possibly because he being a professional voyeur, he might have enjoyed his work even more if that were the case.  Oddly enough however, all the other little details about the characters, (including their hair styles and choice of footwear) was rather accurate.


I'm sure that Hitler would claim that Downfall was incorrect. I'm lothe believe anything 100% from any one source, and especially not at the movies.  So ought  any other right minded person.  This isn't a courtroom, and facts are kind of slippery when you ask different people their sides of the story.

No. it's not an accurate representation, it's a dramatisation. But for the sake of telling a story (and a damn interesting one at that) - near enough IS actually good enough. 





11 February 2011

Teacher Suspended Over Blog About Students

OK: I know that I'd better be careful about what's on this blog. But then likewise, you should be careful about what you post on your Facebook page since the two are pretty much very close.

What's interesting is that people feel like there is some sort of privacy expected or an invasion of privacy where employers use Facebook posts to prejudice a employee. Yet  no such general expectation of privacy exists for open blogs.

 In this sense, the marketing and user interface people at Facebook Inc have done a very good job of convincing you that you live in walled garden. The truth is more like that you live in walled pit where everyone can look in but you can't actually see out.

Bucks Co. Teacher Suspended Over Blog About Students « CBS Philly

"English teacher Natalie Munroe is in a bit of hot water after she described the precious snowflakes in her class as: “Frightfully dim,” “Rat-like,” “Am concerned your kid is going to open fire on the school,” “I hate your kid,” and “Seems smarter than she actually is,” on her blog. The Central Bucks School District has suspended Natalie after parents complained to administrators. "

iPad THREE already? Comparisons on tablets, and future development.

OK.  I have blogged enough about Apple products of late.  But I can see the value of tablets in education.  At least, I can see why they really can add to textbooks, although I am not sure if they can replace textbooks.

Already there is a lot of talk about "iPhone 5" and  "iPad 2"  - however there is already SOME speculation about iPad THREE!  More to the point, the tablet market didn't exist 12 months ago and is likely to become full if Apple doesn't move quickly.  Therefore it makes sense that  a "low hanging fruit" iPad 2 would come out, closely followed by something that fixed a lot of the stupidities of the earlier model.  Think of the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS.  The 3GS had double the RAM, faster processor, better camera, etc etc etc... the fact that Apple put it in the same shell meant that consumers (especially Apples' consumers) really didn't understand or care about the difference.  Sales of both would remain strong.

Yes, Apple Is Lining Up For A “Surprise” This Fall. And Yes, It’s Likely An “iPad 3″: "
the new iPad we may see in the fall will be more of a “iPad 2.5″, whereas my guess was the other way around. He thinks the launch date could have more to do with Apple attempting to move the yearly release schedule of the iPad to be closer to the holiday season. Again, that’s just his guess, but it also makes quite a bit of sense.




However if you are still interested in the tablet revolution but hold onto a old-man style of hatred for a company like Apple (like I do), then perhaps you want to see what are the alternatives. Engaget have a face off between 4 of the biggest competitors out there and lay them end to end in an easy to compare table.

The only problem is that this table misses the point.  The ONLY reason I, and many others will put up with Apple is because of the app market.  I hate the idea of being mind controlled by one company.  Why can't I have a Playboy app if I want to?  It's not the point that I (probably) wouldn't download it anyway, the point is that I don't think that is your call to make, Mr Apple Jobes.

But I do actually want lots of apps. I do actually "want an app for that".  It's frustrating because with ubiquity we get interoperability of sorts. "Interoperability" in this company's view means the program can run on different versions of the iOS.  Frustrating as hell, but for now the trend isn't reversing.

In fact, rather than computers coming to phones, think rather that the touch basis of phone interface  is more likely to be coming to computers.  Although Windows 7 has drivers for multi touch screens, I haven't seen LG, Benq or other LCD manufactures jump on the bandwagon.  Why not?  It's not hard.  Get a bloody big LCD and lay a touch sensor over it.  It's as old technology and as about as difficult as Apple's facetime revolution.  Yet it will take Apple to play the "revolutionizer" and bring the iPad interface design to the MacBook Air to get this "revolution" happening.

At the moment the whole concept of "window focus" is tied up in the hardware of a mouse.  I'm sure that the Microsoft Windows 7 team actually know this. But in the same way that Windows 95 beat the market with IPTV bloatware, so too has Windows 7 built-it-and-no-one-came-to-the-party.

That's actually very sad.  I DO actually want a touch based glass desktop.  For the sake of going to cinemas, it should look like something out of Minority Report. Or Tron's computer desk.  Or the thing the old Adam Sandler was working on in the movie Click.  These are fairly reasonable suggestions as to what can be done. And the iPad is the kick starter for long over due tablet craze, then surely these lessons will be brought to Apple's computer interface.  You may find the next version of the MacBook Air has NO track pad at all, but looks more like a iPad with built-in (or even detachable) tactile keyboard.

Enough guessing.



01 February 2011

What will the soon coming iPad2 have in it?

The iPad 2's new features: Which rumors are realistic? | Mobilize - InfoWorld

A quick and interesting piece on what the iPad might have in it.  A forward facing camera (or how about any bloody camera at all) seem somewhat obvious.  The so called retina display is here for good too.  If you really want a regular SIM card, proper antenna receiver, or a SD card dock then you would be looking for the Samsung Galaxy.

But Apple tragics don't need none of that standard stuff now do they?

After recently moving to the iPhone 4, I have to say that I am totally underwhelmed by the iOS interface.  A friend of mine described the iPhone as "MY FIRST SMART FONE", in the same way that Fisher Price and Hasbro's Playskool has a My First Cooking Oven toys for kids. That's pretty much right. I feel like I have been dupped by my own stupidity in actually dogfooding myself such a disappointing device.

I still respect Apple - but just like when I watch the Titanic film, "My heart fully of hate, will go on".