Slog - Comments on 3 Weeks in Geek

Comment by nootch

nootch — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 13:38:34 -0800

Duuuuude.

But seriously, no mention of the iPhone?

Comment by luddite

luddite — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 13:41:58 -0800

I do have a guilty pleasure for big ass tables.

Comment by Fnarf

Fnarf — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 13:49:47 -0800

Explain to me again why I should buy a gizmo that does what other gizmos have done for five years now, but costs twice as much? Because it's pretty?

I love that they pulled their ads and replaced it with new ones featuring a model with much larger hands. Perspective! http://l-rs.org/archief/003192.html via Boing Boing. Oh, and they're so full of DRM it's oozing out the portholes.

Comment by elswinger

elswinger — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 13:52:05 -0800

I would expect that the monthly bill will exceed $100 based on my experience of owning a Blackberry. Using it just as a phone cost $50 a month and adding data capability (email, net) was another $50 a month.

Comment by Bellevue Ave

Bellevue Ave — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 13:54:24 -0800

the i phone is overrated and wont do anythign my ppc6700 does already.

Comment by Will in Seattle

Will in Seattle — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 13:57:26 -0800

I am looking forward to owning an iPhone.

Mind you, I'll be buying it for $100 at the same time that I get a new 50 inch HDTV for $300 in 2009, unlike the other suckers ... and using the optional cheaper new service for cell calls that will exist then.

Comment by Just Me

Just Me — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 14:13:21 -0800

Ahhh, you know that pic is not the iPhone from Apple right?

Comment by Angela

Angela — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 14:19:08 -0800

Personally, I'll be waiting for this: http://www.openmoko.com

Comment by Mr. Poe

Mr. Poe — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 14:23:32 -0800

jhmn77878978r6ftgv56tfgtg
$#%^&*(uumsdnf
jsdmfn78ui%78wtrg

Comment by jamier

jamier — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 14:32:39 -0800

Bellevue Ave: Except not be lame. :(

Comment by Anthony Hecht

Anthony Hecht — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 14:32:56 -0800

Come on Fnarf. There are many issues with the iPhone - it's certainly the most over-hyped product in recent memory - but you can't seriously argue that there's nothing new about it. The basic features exist in some form on other devices, sure, but the interface is completely new, it has a real web browser (mobile IE is not a real browser. Nor, for that matter is non-mobile IE), visual voicemail, it's got that whole turny-flippy thing, etc. It's not that it does anything that hasn't been done before, it's that it does all of them better, or at least that's the promise/hope/propaganda.

And yeah, it's awfully damn pretty. Since when is that not a desirable feature? Design is important.

So yeah, you can do these things in some form on some other phones (how many can do all of them, though?), and you can mount plenty of (generally speculative) criticisms about the iPhone, but "it's nothing new" ain't one of them.

Comment by COMTE

COMTE — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 14:36:51 -0800

So, when will PC Geeks get their own Slog column?

Comment by investigatory journalist

investigatory journalist — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 14:41:43 -0800

i am so tired of all this iphone hysteria

Comment by Anthony Hecht

Anthony Hecht — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 14:41:56 -0800

Hey, I linked to that Surface thing.. Isn't that enough?

Comment by Mr. Poe

Mr. Poe — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 14:44:30 -0800

The iPhone will fucking rule. I will take great care of it for a week. Then I will drop it once. Then it goes downhill. Whatevs. Itz ma phone, makin ma calls .

Comment by Tiffany

Tiffany — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 14:49:46 -0800

$600 for 2 year old technology and a 2 year contract is a pretty bad deal, IMO.

Comment by Bellevue Ave

Bellevue Ave — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 14:53:40 -0800

10: the ppc6700 isnt lame because for people who buy a pda for utilitarian purposes it fulfills all you could need. I suspect the iphone is pda-lite for kids and hipsters who buy things to impress one another.

Comment by Fnarf

Fnarf — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 14:56:13 -0800

Well, a "turny flippy thing", that's worth $600 right there. But wouldn't you be just as satisfied with ten cents worth of sparkly plastic jewels?

Did you miss the Google Maps announcement that they're available on PPCs and one model of Blackberry now, with full GPS? Does the iPhone have GPS? I mean, sure, that's not as cool as a turny flippy thing, but still.

I'm not sure what "not a real browser" is supposed to mean; I'm a Firefox bigot myself, but I use IE all the time as well, for applications that require it. It's not my fave, but it, you know, works.

I'm just not seeing it. Now piss off with your tech talk and let me get back to my 78s and my windup Victrola!

Comment by Anthony Hecht

Anthony Hecht — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:07:06 -0800

Sure sure, I'm not saying it's worth $600, or even $200, I'm just saying it does sport some new ideas and features.

Not a real browser means that IE is a nightmare. It "works" in the sense that it can display some web pages, but it displays many of them incorrectly, and probably has cost me something like a bazillion of the most irritating hours of development to work around it's innumerable bugs and it's insistence on ignoring perfectly reasonable standards. That browser has held back progress in web development by years. Fuck IE. It's the George Bush of software.

Comment by CodyBolt

CodyBolt — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:09:42 -0800

As a true geek apple shit just piss's me off.

Comment by Bellevue Ave

Bellevue Ave — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:13:53 -0800

safari is a true browser? oh rly!

Comment by Lloyd Clydesdale

Lloyd Clydesdale — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:20:09 -0800

I already spend a hundred bucks a month so that I can watch The Sopranos (oops - I guess I'll have to start staying awake through Big Love with the gf), I can learn about the planets and lazy-ass pandas on Discovery, and I get to watch B-52's drop the same bombs on the same places over and over again - hello? Do a show on this, for cripes sake: http://www.vectorsite.net/avcmast_1.jpg Those leather bi-plane helmets from WWI: Dapper. I once saw the dieting people on the cruise on the reality tv show on FitTV get a surprise basketball game sprung on them as a challenge. Gold! Jumping in the air a little every single time they bounced the ball. Not necessarily skillful, but synchronization of any sort is meritorious. I'm off topic, but it's kinda like I'm calling you up and telling you. That's my 100 bucks worth.

I got a phone, man. Just doesn't send pictures. Or receive them. The plan. Not the phone. Phone's nice.

Comment by CodyBolt

CodyBolt — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:20:30 -0800

Lets just agree to use Lynix

AMIRITE?!!11

Comment by Tiffany

Tiffany — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:28:03 -0800

Lynx, CodyBolt, not Lynix.

Comment by Fnarf

Fnarf — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:30:13 -0800

Oh is that what you're calling it -- "development to work around its innumberable bugs". C'mon, we all know you're just looking at porn. "Something about the way it's displaying this embedded video isn't quite right -- more research!"

Yeah, IE is a pain in the ass. All software is a pain in the ass. Microsoft does some things really, really well, and some things it deliberately puts huge amounts of effort into making as stupid and fucked-up as possible. So does Apple. So does Adobe (nobody, NOBODY is as bad as Adobe). So does everybody. You get used to it. It's just a computer. I can read the Slog in anything, and that's all that matters, right?

Comment by Carollani

Carollani — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:34:30 -0800

I'm not a huge fan of this touchy-touchy trend in technology. I don't like smudges all over my stuff. If you touch my apple monitor I will cut off your hand. And the iPhone doesn't look all that crazy-cool. I don't understand the hype.

Comment by Fnarf

Fnarf — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:35:30 -0800

Lynx? Jesus. Bring back Gopher while you're at it. Archie? Veronica? Anyone with me? Pre-web? Hot stuff. Dunno why it never caught on.

Comment by Bellevue Ave

Bellevue Ave — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:47:24 -0800

after going to the apple site to see it's tour

1. I cant watch the tour because of apples quicktime crap.

2. going to another site I see that the iphone has no text entry method beyond the touch pad itself. i can't wait to try that out...hahahaha

Comment by Anthony Hecht

Anthony Hecht — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:50:02 -0800

I'm with you Fnarf. Loved me some Gopher.

Yeah, all (most) software sucks in some way, but IE sucks BALLS in nearly every way, and it's practically deliberate. I heard they actually disbanded the IE development team for a couple of years, because, you know, they ruled the market and there were no advancements to be made in browser technology. IE 7 is far better than 6, but still sorely lacking.

Microsoft does do some things well - Xbox.

Comment by COMTE

COMTE — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:53:30 -0800

Sorry fnarf, I'm too busy trying to dial-up a bbs on my 1600 bps external modem to comment.

A N N SSS I
A A NN N S S I
A A N N N S I
AAAAAAA N N N SSSS I
A A N N N S I
A A N N N S S I
A AN NN SSSS I

RRRRRR U U L ZZZZZZ !
R R U U L Z !
RRRRRR U U L Z !
R R U U L Z !
R R U U L Z !
R R UUUUUUUU LLLLLL ZZZZZZ .

Comment by COMTE

COMTE — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:55:44 -0800

That was supposed to say "ANSI RULZ!" in well - ANSI, but I guess these new-fangled Intertubes don't do that anymore...

Comment by Tiffany

Tiffany — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:05:15 -0800

Hey gopher is still being used, ya know.

gopher://gopher.quux.org/1/

Comment by carlos

carlos — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:11:50 -0800

It's true. Back in 2003-2004 MSN had to make their own toolbar to add features to IE, because the IE team was just four guys doing security fixes. That's what monopoly gets you. Thank God for Firefox.

Comment by Lloyd Clydesdale

Lloyd Clydesdale — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:30:10 -0800

I'm pre-Griffey Sr. (I was busy watching Julio Franco playing shortstop at Memorial Stadium), but I hand it to Griffey the Younger for turning my trasnplantdom into Mariners fandom. '95 sealed the deal for a lot of us, I'm sure. Seattle fucking over New York City?

The guy was (and still is - as we're all the same number of years older now, ya crusters) a natural and fluid combination of muscle, instincts, skill, desire and mental make-up. Having played sports as a younger man and continuing now as the ever-so-classy weekend warrior, I'm envious of his stamina, tenacity and desire to play, amazed that Griffey still has that effortless stroke, and that a guy of his age still scares the shit out of kids of the age he once was. Props to him.

And Gomez, I agree about FSN's vulturing of the whole shitbang. They're fucking vultures; but because they're goddamned starving vultures. They wouldn't be so nostalgic about all these old-timers if they were filling the seats with This Year's Model.

Comment by Lloyd Clydesdale

Lloyd Clydesdale — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:34:50 -0800

Ignore. Or, enjoy.

Comment by donte

donte — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:39:38 -0800

in the world of annoying software, no one tops realplayer. why is keeping notifications turned off so hard? fuck them. if so many sites weren't locked in it would have no place on my hd.

Comment by Will in Seattle

Will in Seattle — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 16:44:28 -0800

The best part will be when it gets scratched.

Or dunked in a tall glass of hard cider ...

Comment by oxvlg gxoqlpak

oxvlg gxoqlpak — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 15:16:05 -0800

emqgiafty kxgv wgmyjns nrbs pyrsbc hsnqxb rhutbwxn

Comment by oxvlg gxoqlpak

oxvlg gxoqlpak — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 15:18:37 -0800

emqgiafty kxgv wgmyjns nrbs pyrsbc hsnqxb rhutbwxn