Scripting News - Latest Comments

Re: Scripting News: Why the netbook category is fading

dgfleagle — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 22:12:01 -0000

I bought an HP Mini with an ~18 GB SSD about 18 months ago. Not much disk, but I wasn't going to install that many programs on it, and I was planning to keep all of my files on a USB drive.

I noticed that over time it just seemed to run slower and slower. Finally, a month ago, I got a "low disk space" warning. When I checked, I learned that I was down to ~385 MB of disk.

Aside from a few podcasts (thanks, Dave!), the only things that I added to the machine were Windows XP updates and virus software updates. Is it really possible that they took over my disk?

In any case, it took about a year for something to turn a machine that I absolutely loved into a slug that irritates me every time that I turn it on, since it takes a good twenty minutes to download everything and become usable.

I'll probably use the restore disk to reset it, then turn off the automatic updates.

Oh, well. It was fun while it lasted.

DGF

Re: Scripting News: Apple's change

paulmwatson — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 19:35:18 -0000

Dave, I just saw on DaringFireball that the Commodore 64 app. for iOS has a BASIC interpreter built-into it; http://daringfireball.net/linked/2010/09/17/c64

Might be good news for an outliner app.

Re: Scripting News: My fifth time through The Wire

brian — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 17:41:37 -0000

The one that still gives me chills is the insane homeless guy during interrogation for the copy-cat murder (who Rawls wants to pin all the serial non-murders on): "Liar. Black Liar. " "I always know what I'm going to do before I do it." "I did it because I knew I was going to do it."

I think it's chilling because the words themselves don't seem that insane...
Regardless of race, maybe there can be white and black liars (like white and black lies I guess).
I ran a marathon because I knew I was going to do it.

Great series..

Re: Scripting News: My fifth time through The Wire

ezeu — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 16:44:08 -0000

Two scenes that really got me:

When Carver goes to see Randy at the group home and we get a glimpse of Randy's forced, hardened transformation. Especially in light of his, "You gonna look out for me, Sgt. Carver" line in the hospital.

Michael and Dukie splitting up when Michael has to go into hiding. You just knew it wasn't going to end well for Dukie. Michael not being able to remember Dukie's story just illustrated his lost childhood/innocence. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0ZIEvMu5NI

Re: Scripting News: Today's ride: Fall is coming

ahynes1 — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 16:39:33 -0000

As a general rule, I got used to it, as I believe most boat basin inhabitants do. I've often joked that if I ever live in California and experience an earthquake, my first reaction is likely to glance out the window to see if it a tug boat or the Circle Line that is passing by.

That said, there were some stormy winter nights where the rocking did get a little old.

Re: Scripting News: Today's ride: Fall is coming

dave — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 16:36:47 -0000

Doesn't all the rocking and rolling get old or do you get used to it?

Re: Scripting News: Today's ride: Fall is coming

ahynes1 — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 16:29:59 -0000

I used to live on a sailboat at the 79th St Boat Basin and my brother still lives on a boat there. it is a great way to live.

Re: Scripting News: Why the netbook category is fading

cshotton — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 16:03:05 -0000

Part of the challenge is that the NetBook arose more from an economy of manufacturing than a perceived market need. That's not R&D or market research. It's getting lucky. I don't think most of the companies that drove the NetBook's initial wave of popularity are particularly well-known for innovative R&D and expecting them to "get lucky" a second time is not likely in the short term, IMO.

Re: Scripting News: My fifth time through The Wire

danielha — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 15:44:28 -0000

Watched through the Wire for the first (and currently only) time just a couple months ago. Easily my favorite experience going through a TV series. The characters make this show work. And the writers are so ballsy — they'll kill key characters all the time so you can't take anything for granted.

Re: Scripting News: My fifth time through The Wire

danielha — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 15:42:39 -0000

You think I'm gunna be the scapegoat for the whole damn machine? Shiiiieeet.

Re: Scripting News: Why the netbook category is fading

empoprises — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 15:38:20 -0000

I'm not ready to give up my keyboard just yet. When I had to get a new personal mobile phone, I intentionally stayed away from the touch version of the LG phone and went with a keyboard version. Now another family member is having to replace a touch phone because it's broken; admittedly a small data sample, but I'm not sold on using touch yet.

Re: Scripting News: Why the netbook category is fading

empoprises — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 15:35:19 -0000

After wanting one for some time, I finally got a netbook several weeks ago, and it's performed as well as I expected. The small size is definitely a plus, and the only time that I really notice the 1 GB memory restriction is when watching some videos. Ideally I'd like a more powerful computer at the same size, but unless the market changes and people sour on iPhones and tablets, I don't see that happening.

Re: Scripting News: My fifth time through The Wire

twitter-2749701 — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 15:29:35 -0000

This is fascinating to me. I have never done anything like this, to re-view a TV series so many times. In fact, I have never seen the Wire. I imagine (although not knowing, of course) that I am far from the Wire, and the Wire is far from me. I like the idea of user-added subtitles, even without knowing anything about the show. I'm glad you are all enjoying it so much.

Actually, come to think of it, I have watched Marcel the Shell (with Shoes) three times; it is wonderful. Although definitely a Small Picture production (in more than one way) and born of happiness, bearing same. Cheers!

Re: Scripting News: My fifth time through The Wire

KevinS — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 15:19:36 -0000

I liked all the characters but not necessarily what they stood for. I worked in Baltimore during its run and know many of the locations and real life Wire characters. My wife is a principal in Baltimore and season 4 was very close to home.

Simon is the master of taking life in the streets and bringing it to TV. Homicide, The Corner, The Wire and now, possibly, Treme.

Re: Scripting News: My fifth time through The Wire

phongleland — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 15:00:25 -0000

The most touching scene for me was when Snoop turned away from Micheal and ask, "How's my hair, Mike?", just before he blew her head away. There's something about a people accepting their fate with dignity that makes them memorable. The Wire is full of them.

Re: Scripting News: My fifth time through The Wire

sull — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 14:44:05 -0000

Agreed. Still rank it as the best show i've seen. I went through all seasons twice. My wife didnt watch it with me the first time so i re-watched it all with her. Perfection. And I miss it badly.

Re: Scripting News: My fifth time through The Wire

shajith — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 14:40:12 -0000

"The most touching moment: Kima sitting in the window with Elijah, saying goodnight to the neighborhood."

Yes! So much that just reading that sentence brought tears to my eyes.

It appears to be based on a children's book by Margaret Wise Brown: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodnight_Moon

Forgive me for repeating the words here:

"Goodnight moon, goodnight stars, goodnight po-pos, goodnight fiends, goodnight hoppers, goodnight hustlers, goodnight scammers, goodnight to everybody, goodnight one and all."

Re: Scripting News: My fifth time through The Wire

twitter-26104764 — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 14:36:11 -0000

I couldn't agree with Dave more. The Wire is an IMPORTANT show. I watched it a bunch as well and pick up something new every time through. Growing up in the ghetto in New York, (East Harlem) I really could identify with the kids feeling of not belonging. One of the great scenes is Bunny Colvin taking his delinquent student class to a nice restaurant and them just not having any clue how to act. Those scene really hit home the feeling of being from the Ghetto. You grow up without hope, and success is just not an option because you have no idea what it looks like. Survival is all you know. OMG, making me crazy! Everyone should watch the wire, again and again!

Re: Scripting News: No more Twitter apps

EtotheZ — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 14:31:46 -0000

The important thing (and this has been the case ever since Twitter acquired Tweetie & made it the official client) is to provide a value-add differentiator of some kind. Whether it's a tangental service or a full blown client, there are still lots of ways to innovate using Twitter's API (especially with cool stuff like annotations on the horizon).

For example, we've created a client that really increases Twitter's value by providing ways to filter out the stuff you don't want to see, and aggregate the tweets you do want to see. It's called TweetAgora, and you can check it out here: http://tweetagora.com

I did an interview with Mashable at the Chirp conference (days after the Tweetie deal), and everything I said then is just as true now with the new Twitter.com: if you made a client that was just competing based on UI tweaks, you're going to have a tough time now. If you're providing a unique differentiator, you'll probably be ok - that said, you can't stop innovating. We knew it would just be a matter of time before other clients started doing filters, so we just recently added integration with the Cadmus service (http://thecadmus.com). If you have a clear goal (in our case, helping people sift through the noise to find what matters), you'll be better off than someone who just reacts to what others are doing.

...at least, that's what we're hoping. Being a small 2-man operation with no PR muscle makes it tricky to get noticed in a sea of "me too" clients.

Re: Scripting News: My fifth time through The Wire

galtroarc — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 14:21:15 -0000

Wow you too. I am going through season 2 now and saying I am hooked is an understatement. I go through 2 episodes a night and live in fear of hitting the last episode of S5.

And your post hits a trifecta of The Wire associations this week. 1st being well, I've been watching The Wire every day this week. Then I heard the This American Life podcast which is about an officer who wears a wire and records the going ons in his NYC burroughs and rats out his superiors - and every single thing in that incident screams The Wire. And now your post.

I am going to blog about this soon because the way earnestness and talent are neutralized in the Police, the unions...anywhere...so well chronicled in The Wire...deserves some thought.

Bubs is the best portrayed character for me - the actor is a genius. But the most delicious character is Omar. Omar is a philosopher and speaks like one - and is as dangerous as one. But damn, his character makes each scene he is in.

Re: Scripting News: How to reboot RSS

twitter-16353558 — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 14:18:44 -0000

This is exactly how I use GReader. Not as some kind of newest-topic-only service, but as a way to stay up-do-date (or catch up) on content from the sites I enjoy reading every day. If I ignored all the recent articles that [insert tech blog here] put out, only to read the latest article, I'd be missing out on all SORTS of great info that may have been useful to me.

It's a comfort knowing that I'm not missing out on anything from my subscriptions, which is why I completely disagree with the author's statement about unread counts.

Re: Scripting News: How to reboot RSS

Ben — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 14:14:01 -0000

I can definitely see your point that there is a need for a way to keep up with what's new in a high-volume or high-noise pool of information, but I think that's the need for a new feature rather than evidence that Reader is dead. I subscribe to several blogs where I want to make sure I read each post - take a web comic for example. I want to see how far behind I am and I want the unread items to jump out at me so I can easily pick up where I left off.

But there are groups of feeds (e.g. tech news sites) that need a different approach - maybe something like a more customizable version of news.google.com or a section in reader that brings items to the top based on your reading habits, your friend's reading habits, and shared items from people you follow.

Re: Scripting News: How to reboot RSS

Mike — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 14:13:21 -0000

I think you're 100% right when it comes to stuff like a NY Times news stream. But RSS feeds still serve a very valuable purpose when it comes to infrequently-updated blogs. One of the benefits of Twitter you appear to be espousing is that you don't have to worry about what you've missed, you can just pay attention to what's new. But say I haven't checked twitter in five days, and four days ago a blogger that I care about posted an interesting article? That article is lost to me unless I either manually check the blog's web site (precisely one of the problems RSS was meant to solve) or manually go back and look through my four days of history (which appears to be precisely what you're arguing against).

I agree with you on your vision of Twitter as a RSS replacement for news, but not for infrequent long-form content.

Re: Scripting News: My fifth time through The Wire

dave — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 13:48:51 -0000

You misread that. I paid for the series, once with my HBO subscription and
once to buy the DVDs from Amazon. I downloaded the subtitles, those were not
created by Simon. Be much more careful Liz about making accusations like
that.

Re: Scripting News: My fifth time through The Wire

Mr Moo — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 13:43:39 -0000

I've been kicking around re-watching the series again. Absolutely one of the finest boob-tube products ever. Gotta finish Dexter 3 first. My favs? Stringer and Omar are in the top 5, so is Bubbles. And Bunk. Loved Ziggy cuz he was a total screw-up.