Rubenerd

This report didn't take be by surprise at all, but is still interesting. According to Reader's Digest Australia, Barack Obama completely tramples John McCain:

Though Americans are the only voters who matter in next month’s US presidential election, the rest of the world definitely has an opinion. A new Reader’s Digest poll shows an overwhelming majority of Australians want Barack Obama as the next president of the United States.

Over 75% of Australians said they would vote for Obama if they could, while only 10% say they would vote for Republican candidate John McCain.

The poll, which surveyed residents in over 15 countries including Brazil, Canada, Finland, Germany and Mexico, found the majority of respondents want Obama as president. He is most popular in the Netherlands, where 90% of those surveyed want the Illinois senator as president.

A whopping 85% of Australians say they are paying attention to the US election, while nearly 25% say they have a high level of interest.

But they won’t be moving any time soon; 71% of Australians say they don’t want to live in the United States.

This despite these… stupid comments by our former Prime Minister who supported George W. Bush:

CANBERRA, Australia (CNN) — Australia’s conservative Prime Minister John Howard said Sunday that victory for Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and his party in next year’s presidential election would be a boon for terrorists.

“If I were running al Qaeda in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008, and pray, as many times as possible, for a victory not only for Obama, but also for the Democrats,” Howard said, speaking on “Sunday,” a TV show on Australia’s Nine Network.

Obama supporters in Sydney on 2008.10.08 by Carolynpom

Good afternoon everyone, thank you for your time. I would like to address this post to a select few of my friends on my (sadly neglected) Facebook profile.

Ladies and gentleman, you can check under the Info tab on my profile page that I am currently in Adelaide. This is of course bound to change, but you can rest assured that for well over half the year now this is where I am.

I would ask those of you who choose to include me in bulk sent Facebook mail messages for crigeworthy performers such as the Pussycat Dolls in Singapore to please refrain for two principal reasons. One, I hate bands like that, and if you knew me for even five minutes you'd know this. Secondly, I am not in Singapore, so telling me about musicical events (and performers such as the Pussycat Dolls really are pushing the term) that are taking place there is an absolute waste of time.

I trust you will ignore this message.

Yours sincerely,
Ruben Michael Schade the First

Now would be a great time visit Alaska, because Sarah Palin isn't there!

Well look at that, it appears among the young voters the stunt was supposed to enthrall and energise in the first place, John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate has appeared to have backfired.

According to an article on the Adelaide Now website (the online version of our local newspaper), a Harvard University survey of 2400 people aged 18 to 24 found that while 25% claimed the decision would make them more likely to vote for John McCain, a whopping 40% claimed the decision made them less likely. That's right, for every person who was swayed to vote by the decision, it backfired on two.

By comparison, Barack Obama's selection of Joe Biden marginally increased support for his ticket.

My generation has been getting a bum rap for a long time now for our disorderly conduct, self centred nature and lack of respect for our elders… you know, all the charges the generation before last labelled our parents with too. It's good to see that in the sea of silliness that is politics there are some people within my generation's ranks at least who posses a certain degree of inaccurately-named common sense.

I hate to admit it, but this story gave me a genuine case of schadenfreude! John McCain isn't exactly a great choice, but Sarah Palin is a joke, plain and simple. And before you say that I'm a joke for saying it, I admit I'm shamelessly copying Salman Rushdie's description.

So I was typing up a post on the MacBook FireWire Debacle when I noticed with the aide of a dotted red line that I misspelled the word "obsolescence". Upon control-clicking the word to see suggested alternative spellings, I was told I should try the option above. Say what?!

Now as a dreadfully shy computer nerd who tends to sit in coffee shops with his laptop when he's not at work or studying, it's very hard for me to ask this because I have no experience with receiving such things, and it is really late at night… but is my MacBook Pro hitting on me?

Much to delight of most of the people who read this blog I'm sure, we've come to the end of my coverage of the MacBook FireWire Debacle. I've learned so much over the last few days about the FireWire 400 standard, especially with regards to it's uses in audio and video production that I knew very little about. The removal of this port from MacBooks is a real shame, though it's probably time to face the facts and admit that the MacBook won't ever have FireWire again; it's future in the Mac Mini and iMac are probably also shady.

At least I can tell people they can still buy svelte new Japanese laptops and load them up with FreeBSD if they need a current and inexpensive FireWire solution.

As I said I could easily post dozens more posts on this subject, but I think I've already said enough. If you're still interested though, there's still some extremely active discussion (more active than I've ever seen before after an Apple product launch) going on across web forums, blogs and news sites which I've linked to below.

Don't forgot, if you want FireWire in the MacBooks again, you can send feedback directly to Apple. Steve Jobs has already responded to at least two comments sent, so let's raise some more hell!

News and articles

• FireWire’s MacBook absence a fatal flaw?
• PC World: Apple Users Rage Over Missing FireWire
• TidBITS – On the Way Out: FireWire and Matte Screens?
• Missing Firewire Angers MacBook Customers – Headline Watch
• BLOG: Why musicians shouldn’t buy Apple’s new MacBook | musicradar.com
• “Put FireWire back in the MacBook”, demands petition | musicradar.com
• Obituary: FireWire – Nillabyte

Web forums

• Macbook Pro now uses agere firewire chipset – MacRumors Forums
• Steve Jobs on Lack of Firewire in MacBooks – MacRumors Forums
• Apple Announces New Aluminum MacBooks – MacRumours Forums
• Apple Discussions – No Firewire; many possible problems (18,000+ views!)
• Apple Discussions – No Firewire ports!
• Apple Discussions – MacBook = no iMovie for most camcorders?
• Apple Discussions – How do I connect my stuff on a new MacBook?
• Apple Discussions – Couple of Perspectives on Lost Firewire
• Apple Discussions – Firewire on the new Aluminum MacBooks?!
• Jobs responds to outrage over missing FireWire – AppleInsider Forums

MacBook FireWire Debacle posts

• Addressing some MacBook FireWire arguments (2008.10.22)
• Apple still claims the MacBook includes FireWire (2008.10.21)
• Obituary for FireWire 1999-2008 (2008.10.21)
• Apple’s tragic FireWire MacBook mistake (2008.10.20)

ASIDE: I had not intended my critique of Apple’s disastrous decision not to include FireWire on their MacBooks to become a multiple post saga, but the more I learn about this decision and the more I read up upon it, the more I think this really is a mistake.

We love Apple’s products and we want them to succeed, so we think this really is a terrible decision. We know Apple will probably ignore us, but it’s worth a shot generating some noise right?

In today's investigation of the MacBook FireWire Debacle, I'll be looking into some of the arguments that seem to appear time and time again in every 600 page MacBook FireWire removal forum thread across the intertubes.

Removing FireWire it is the same as removing the floppy drive on the iMac.

This question went first, because I can tell rebuttals of my responses below would probably discuss obsolescence and the idea you can still buy older versions.

That there is a substantial difference between getting rid of a floppy drive or other legacy devices, and getting rid of FireWire. In the case of the floppy drive, CD burners and the “super floppies” (LZ120, Zip) were clearly superior replacements, and you could buy inexpensive USB floppy drives. With these MacBooks, USB 2.0 is the only possible replacement, and it’s not superior.

Most people I know have never heard of FireWire

Most people I know have. And if they haven’t, tech savvy friends or family have bought them FireWire drives for use with Time Machine, camcorders for iMovie etc. Would the removal of a port to save a few dollars make up for the money they would lose from customers holding off purchases?

You can just buy a USB 2.0 to FireWire cable

Even if we assumed such devices for Mac exist (and I’m not sure they do), they would not address the underlying problem. Serial and ADB to USB adaptors worked because USB is an improvement.

Grilled cheese sandwiches taste great with maple syrup and hot fudge

I’ll have to take your word on that.

If you can afford expensive FireWire cameras, you can afford to buy the MacBook Pro which has FireWire.

Many professional users use powerful desktop computers, and a more lightweight laptop for when they need to go. For many, the MacBook Pro is simply too big and heavy.

The statement is a tad arrogant. Given people who buy MacBooks are buying them because they’re cheaper, doesn’t it make sense that said customers would also be less able to buy new audio and video equipment too that might be older and only have FireWire ports? The primary school right here in my suburb use MacBooks and MiniDV video cameras. MiniDV cameras can only use FireWire. What about them?

It also amounts to false advertising: Apple bundles their machines with iLife which include two consumer-grade video editing applications. Their prosumer Final Cut Express is also targeted at a similar market. What about the thousands of consumer video cameras that use FireWire?

This really isn’t a big deal. The financial crisis, world hunger, hello?

True. But as a person who knows about, endorses and uses this standard I feel as though I’m in the position of letting people know. And by that definition, really nothing else matters right now!

Apple still sells the older MacBook with FireWire

The older, heavier hardware version with the 5x slower graphics performance and slower front-side bus? For how long will they be available? And isn’t it ironic and counter intuitive that someone would tell you to buy an older version of a product because it has faster ports than the newer one?

Complaining on your blog or on forums isn’t going to make Apple change.

This is probably the only argument that makes some sense. It’s true Apple probably doesn’t care. This is why it’s important to have as many people as possible talking about it, and more importantly sending feedback to Apple. Even gigantic corporations such as Apple aren’t completely immune from the demands of their customers.

I'm planning on doing a more comprehensive review of the KDE 4.1 desktop for Unix-like systems at some point in the next few weeks, but I thought I'd pass on a helpful hint to those trying to compile it from the FreeBSD ports system. If you see the following within the lines of errors it halts with:

gmake: *** [libgiofam.la] Error 1*** Error code 2
Stop in /usr/ports/devel/gio-fam-backend.

… it's probably a good indication you're running with an older version of glib installed; if you're running a system with the base ports system, this is quite normal. As far as I know, gio-fam-backend needs glib 1.6 or higher to build properly.

To fix it, navigate to the latest version of the glib C libraries in /usr/ports/devel/glib20 and do the usual make install clean. Now you should be able to build KDE 4.1 without trouble.

This so called "new religion" is nothing but a pack of weird rituals and chants designed to take the money of fools!

Let us say the Lord’s prayer forty times, but let’s first pass the collection plate…

For what it's worth, I like his robes!

As I've prefaced most of my Apple posts, I love my MacBook Pro, I love Mac OS X, I love my iPods and my iPhone is the greatest portable device I've ever owned. This isn't to say I blindly approve of everything Apple does. For example I can't over emphasise what a bad idea ditching FireWire in their MacBook line is.

Despite their decision, they are still claiming on their Developer Connection website that not only is FireWire a fast and generally super duper standard, but that it's bundled with nearly all their computers including the MacBook:

FireWire is one of the fastest peripheral standards ever developed, which makes it great for use with multimedia peripherals such as digital video cameras and other high-speed devices like the latest hard disk drives and printers.

FireWire is integrated into Power Macs, iMacs, eMacs, MacBooks, MacBook Pros, and the iPod. FireWire ports were also integrated into many other computer products dating back to the Power Macintosh G3 “Blue & White” computers. All these machines include FireWire ports that operate at up to 400 megabits per second and the latest machines include FireWire ports that support 1394b and operate at up to 800 megabits per second.

Major manufacturers of multimedia devices have been adopting the FireWire technology, and for good reason. FireWire speeds up the movement of multimedia data and large files and enables easy connection of digital consumer products — including digital camcorders, digital video tapes, digital video disks, set-top boxes, and music systems — directly to a personal computer.

In fact, Apple’s FireWire technology was honored by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, receiving a 2001 Primetime Emmy Engineering Award for FireWire’s impact on the television industry.

It all is quite ironic to read now given Apple's current stance on FireWire ;-).

It's not often I simply republish a post I find on someone else's blog or website, but this particular piece was one of the most well written entries I've ever read, and particularly fitting given my own opinions of the MacBook FireWire debacle over the last few days.

Kyle Buckley on the The Nillabyte Perspective has a fantastic article on Apple's lost interest in the FireWire standard with the new MacBooks, and what we can assume other future products. It's appropriately titled The FireWire Obituary, and while I probably could have summarised it in only a few lines, I feel as though it's just too well written to chop up.

If you're interested in FireWire's history, what it has been used in, and it's now uncertain future in consumer devices, take a gander.

FireWire was born on January 7, 1999 in San Francisco when Steve Jobs introduced the break-through serial interface at Macworld.

At the time FireWire was born, the two most used serial connections were SCSI and USB 1. USB connections were simple, but both SCSI and USB were extremely slow when transferring data. The birth of FireWire brought transfer rates up to 400 Mbps.

The incredibly fast and sustained transfer data rate of FireWire was instrumental in the boom of digital cameras and digital camcorders. The speedy and reliable FireWire allowed for transfers of uncompressed digital content with no loss of quality. For this reason alone, the FireWire standard had been adopted by nearly every professional in the audio/video industry.

The talents of FireWire were not witnessed only by professionals–consumers were also deeply touched by FireWire’s capabilities. Consumers quickly fell in love with the protocol and soon more and more computers shipped with the precocious FireWire included. Not only did consumers use FireWire for home video and audio, they also used it for external storage devices since it offered a much faster transfer rate.

The popularity of FireWire was soon threatened when, in April of 2000, USB 2.0 was born. The new version of USB boasted transfer rates up to 480 Mbps, 80 Mbps faster than FireWire. This speed was quickly proven to be manqué and not founded in reality. USB 2.0 transfer speeds rarely surpass 250 Mbps due to USB 2.0 being riddled with ADD and needing constant parent supervision from the CPU. FireWire on the other hand is well disciplined and requires no supervision and can therefore be as fast as it is designed to be.

FireWire continued to have success for years. On October 12, 2005, however, FireWire received a severe blow when Apple dropped FireWire support from its 5th generation iPod. It is not known what FireWire ever did to Steve Jobs to deserve such a shun. Appearing as if Apple was disowning FireWire, more manufactures began to focus more on USB connectivity. Digital camcorders began using different protocol, which results in an inferior compressed video format that can be used with USB 2.0. Several USB enabled external hard drives began to saturate the market and finding FireWire among the USB infestation became the “Where’s Waldo” of peripheral connection types.

Yesterday, October 14th 2008, Steve Jobs introduced the new Apple MacBook with no FireWire capabilities. Apple had been the largest supporter of FireWire, and this abandonment was the final nail in the coffin, thus sealing FireWire’s fate. During his keynote, Mr. Jobs failed to mention the death.

The death of FireWire is mourned by many audio/video professionals as well as consumers who firmly believe that USB 2.0 is a bastardization of peripheral connection types.