Greg In The Desert

Apple has released a Safari 4 beta for Mac and Windows. Although I am forced to use Internet Explorer 6 at work for internal sites, I almost use Safari exclusively for non-internal sites.

The biggest change is the user interface. Apple has abandoned the Mac OS like metal look on the Windows version. Hallelujah! I have no problem with a Mac applicaltion looking like a Mac application on the Mac, it’s just out of place on Windows.

The menu bar is missing and is replaced with two icons. One icon looks like a document and the other looks like a gear. Tabs are now on top. There is no progress indicator in the URL text field.

I don’t have the Flash plugin installed on my Windows version of Safari and Safari 4 no longer pesters me about it ever time I go to a page that needs Flash.

I have the absolutely slowest T42 on the planet and I used to most applications loading slowly. Safari has always loaded faster than Internet Explorer, but that’s not saying much. Safari 4 does seem to be considerably faster.

So far I am happy with what I am seeing but the UI changes are going to take some time to get used to using them.

• Justin.tv Is Redirecting Porn Queries Into Cash (Update: Not Any More) – In the down economy, startups are trying everything they can think of to keep a steady flow of revenue coming in. For popular live-streaming video site Justin.tv, it looks like one of these measures is to try to capitalize on its users’ frequent searches for porn: if you run queries for terms like “xxx” or “sex”, the site will automatically redirect you to a third-party pornography page.

  Before users are redirected, they’re presented with a message for five seconds indicating that while Justin.tv has banned adult content, the site is sending them to “a site where you can find what you’re looking for”. The new “feature” may be flying under the banner of convenience, but the site is clearly looking for a new source of income. Justin.tv may well be having trouble coping in the current economy, and a porn affiliate pays far more than a blank search results page.

• Analyst: iPhone Refresh Pressuring Flash Memory Plants | Cult of Mac – Apple’s planned refresh of iPhones is putting increased pressure on flash memory manufacturers managing dwindling inventory, according to one analyst Tuesday.
  “Our checks indicate that Apple has started ordering for its iPhone refresh (iPhone and iPhone Nano), stifling the supply chain,” ThinkEquity analyst Vijay Rakesh told clients in a note.

  In the case of memory maker Samsung, Apple has allocated its inventory until April, according to Rakesh.

• T-Mobile’s Retention Pricing Goes Live – San Francisco first, other markets in March? – The new T-Mobile plans for loyal customers (customers who've been with the carrier for 22 months) we mentioned last week have gone live in San Francisco. Qualifying customers will be able to pay $49.99 monthly for unlimited nationwide minutes, or pay $84.99 for an "unlimited" (T-Mobile has a 10GB monthly 3G cap) voice/SMS/data plan. Rumors have the plan going nationwide in March, something that T-Mobile has yet to confirm.
• CreditMattersBlog.com: American Express Wants To Help You ‘Simplify Your Finances’ — Will Pay You $300 If You’ll Close Your Account – You may be wondering why American Express doesn't just close the accounts of these customers, which would save American Express $300. Here's why: the $300 prepaid card is acting as an incentive for the customer to pay down the balance in an expeditious manner. The customer has exactly two months to get that balance paid off; if he or she does, the $300 card is theirs. Not a bad strategy by American Express.
• News : Richardson announces high tech jobs on the way – Rio Rancho Observer – Gov. Bill Richardson said the first commercial partnerships with the New Mexico Computing Applications Center and its supercomputer, Encanto, will initially create roughly 100 high-tech jobs.

  DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. is teaming up with New Mexico’s Cerelink Digital Media Group to use the New Mexico Computing Applications Center’s resources to advance the studio’s digital media capability, while Insigniam Innovation Discovery Center will use the state’s supercomputer to develop solutions to improve health care quality and value.

• News : Local Civil War history? Ask Don Alberts – Rio Rancho Observer – Don Alberts of Rio Rancho probably wouldn’t know more about the Confederate invasion of New Mexico 127 years ago if he had been there.

  The 74-year-old former historian at Kirtland Air Force Base laughingly refers to himself as another Howard Cosell at his speaking engagements, and that’s appropriate: Alberts often provides play-by-play descriptions of Civil War battles.

  That’s what he’ll be doing next Saturday when the Battle of Valverde is re-enacted near Socorro.

• The Associated Press: US Airways reverses soda stance: won’t charge – US Airways is acknowledging as much, planning to announce Monday that free beverage service will resume on March 1 on board its planes.

  "With US Airways being the only large network carrier to charge for drinks, we are at a disadvantage," Parker said. "More importantly, this difference in our service has become a focal point that detracts from all of the outstanding improvements in on-time performance and baggage handling that all of us have worked so hard to achieve over the past year."

• Dumping Phelps Over Bong Rip Damages Kellogg’s Brand Reputation – Out of the 5,600 company reputations Vanno monitors, Kellogg ranked ninth before it booted Phelps. Now it's ranked 83. Not even an industry-wide peanut scare inflicted as much damage on the food company's reputation. A Vanno representative put together this chart:
• Build a Recession-Proof Body – Since most people are familiar with traditional push-ups, here are five variations to the exercise that you may want to try — all of which cost zero dollars but make good fitness sense (sorry for the pun. I couldn't resist). Oh, and by the way, click on each of the exercises if you'd like to see a video demonstration.
• Cerelink(R) Digital Media Group Clarifying Information Regarding Partnership With DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. – MarketWatch – This information seeks to clarify and outline details regarding the partnership between Cerelink Digital Media Group, the New Mexico Computing Applications Center (NMCAC) and DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. Earlier this week Gov. Bill Richardson announced that Cerelink DMG entered into an agreement with the Glendale, California-based company.
  While Cerelink Digital Media Group will be using NMCAC's resources to explore the delivery of on-demand and scalable computing resources as a cloud service, DreamWorks Animation will not be using the NMCAC supercomputer, Encanto, as part of this partnership. While we believe the state's supercomputer has the potential to be used by digital media companies in the future, Cerelink Digital Media Group will instead be building out compute capacity for this effort using DreamWorks' standard rendering platform, Intel based c-class HP blades.

• Macintosh 25th Anniversary Reunion: Where Did Time Go?
  By Guy Kawasaki
  (tags: mac apple macintosh history video)
• Why does Miss America still exist? | The Movable Buffet | Los Angeles Times
  Regardless, each year now the Miss America contestants descend on Vegas with their chaperons and rules out of another era. Prospective Miss America contestants don't party, the winner this year thinks President Obama needs to quit smoking at once, and certainly the contestants don't drink or gamble, and generally their handlers speak rather condescendingly of all the major pastimes that keep the lights on in Vegas. So we promote Vegas with a contest that wants to project an image that has nothing to do with the business of Las Vegas?

YouTube video of the Mac sound effects song. Only a Mac user can appreciate.

This guy is camping out at the Apple Store in Santa Monica 24 hours before it opens. If they put one in my town, I might be tempted to do the same.

Speaking of which. I recently read that the Apple Stores bring so much foot traffic into the malls that mall developers are starting to offer things to Apple to bring them to their malls.I am also concerned that they are not doing what they are suppose to, that is increase Apples sales and convert PC users. Doesn’t seem that Apples market share is increasing.