I've been testing Google's chrome since yesterday. Its got a few glitches but overall I must say I'm quite impressed. It is nifty, sleek and shines with simplistic gorgeousness. One "feature" of Chrome surprised me in particular: my Gmail works faster than light! I trotted over to some other Gmail products (calendar, docs, photos, reader) to see if I'd have the same luck. And surely enough, Google apps have gotten an discriminating speed bump.

O meglio, paura che questa solitudine duri per sempre.. Sì, perchè di questa solitudine che vivo da sempre non ne posso proprio piú. Io cerco la mia anima gemella, e sono convinto che da qualche parte in questo mondo esista. Sono stanco di passare le serate a navigare in internet e chattare con il mio iPod Touch. Voglio iniziare a vivere, con la ragazza della mia vita. La voglio tutta per me, ed io voglio essere tutto per lei. Uniti per sempre, nell'eternità. Sognare e sperare non costa nulla, alla faccia della solitudine.

So I finally made it back home from the Apple Store about my laptop. It was cool up until last week. When I decided to download and install the new version of iTunes in addition to some security updates, the computer mentioned something about an error. I did everything I could think of to remedy the issue but nothing worked. After that, I downloaded some music from iTunes, and all went well until about 8 of the songs I paid for ended up disappearing. I finally gave up and decided to head to the Apple Store. Here's what happened:<!--more-->

Me: "Hey. My computer's been on the fritz lately"

Genius: "Okay. Let's take a look at it."

...five minutes pass by and after he tried to fix it he says...

Genius: "Okay. It appears that you have some keys out of order."

MacOSX is build upon FreeBSD, the purest Unix system (contrary to the Linux branch), and brings the most evolved network layer (without mentioning Apple optimizations) and the most tested (by the open source community). As it uses the Unix architecture (system files cannot be accessed without the root password) there couldn't be any virus in theorry from outside without the pirate knowing that password. Then no virus was ever encountered on OSX since its late 2000 introduction. At least there was (some years ago) a fake mp3 file that was in fact a disguised application.

What did happen this thursday at TF1 national news (8pm, France). The screener switched (without any logic) from a technology subject to a "serous security flaw in iPhone that Apple finally recognized... the flaw was said to be easily reproduced in 3 steps... and the comment ended saying it was the first dismiss for Apple at a time where it tries to enter the enterprise market". We can read the corresponding article on the channel site.

A Apple marcou para terça-feira, dia 9 de Setembro, o evento no qual ela irá anunciar a nova linha de iPods. Espera-se que a empresa anuncie uma linha toda renovada, incluindo uma segunda versão Touch e do Nano 4G. Os tocadores terão, provavelmente, um novo design e maior memória de armazenamento. Além disso, considera-se a possibilidade de uma atualização na linha de Macbooks e/ou Macbooks Pro.

Ficaremos no aguardo!

[Via Techguru]

The iPhone gps uses various means to manage localization : cellular network, wifi, or geolocalization. The later requires at least 3 well positionned satellites (can take from a few seconds to 20 minutes) and it does not work inside (open windows at least).
The bluetooth on the iPhone is limited to handsets.

We remember the lower audio quality problem with 6G classic iPods (use a Cirrus Logic DAC instead of the Wolfson from previous iPods - there is to note however that no other audio players or phones company provides better audio quality than Apple's devices). Good news, the l'iPhone3G still uses a Wolfson DAC, a newer model in fact, the WM6180C (replaces the Wolfson WM8758 from the first iPhone, whose quality was said to be average to bad, so even such a famous company can produce low cost chips that aren't of audiophile quality).

At certain time, the iPhone3G virtual volume slider (in iPod mode) stops working (does not respond anymore to touch) when at full right (max volume). Then it can't scroll back to left... it works again after many try (using the physical volume button to lower it a bit helps). Sometime we have juste to press a bit below the slider axe, but other times it doesn't help. So the touch management software for the volume control seems to work a bit randomly, as if it felt to sleep after some idle time. The problem doesn't occur at the left end.

The site idrankthekoolaid provides an article that shows how to easily create an OSX screensaver using QuartzComposer only. The animation definition is made by graphically assembling modules, transformers and generators (LFO, etc.) to modify the shapes and paths (see also a tutorial on ADC site).