Gio's blog

"It’s time to pick up a whiteboard marker and think fresh. There are other problems/opportunities in..."

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 09:41:13 +0200

“It’s time to pick up a whiteboard marker and think fresh. There are other problems/opportunities in the world that need attention, and there are other individuals I’d love to get the opportunity to work with and learn from”

- Evan Williams, on his blog.

Encrypted backups with Time Machine

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 18:45:20 +0200

Encrypted backups with Time Machine:

If you wish to keep an offsite Time Machine backup in a place which you don’t consider safe (for me it’s my office: although I’m the only one working there, my collegues could in principle get it when I’m out), then this link is for you. It will drive you through the whole process, from creating the encrypted disk image (to an external USB HD, or someplace else), to the Time Machine preference pane configuration.

Developing an addiction to coffee…

Thu, 24 Mar 2011 13:37:00 +0100

Developing an addiction to coffee…:

Also, now added to the places I like to visit, two for joy, in Amsterdam.

New Samsung tablets

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 17:33:00 +0100

New Samsung tablets:

Hey, look who’s here.

And to not illude anyone: coming soon, but not yet, with price to be announced.

Just Sunday, on the way back from “I am number...

Tue, 22 Mar 2011 16:59:27 +0100

Just Sunday, on the way back from “I am number four”, I saw a bunch of Indian kids covered with powder. Didn’t know it was an Hindu festival.

Using Dictionary.app when refining my paper makes me feel like a...

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 15:03:58 +0100

Using Dictionary.app when refining my paper makes me feel like a real writer. Loads of interesting stuff there.

Marco.org: Why the Quick Bar ("dickbar") is still so offensive

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 10:34:46 +0100

Marco.org: Why the Quick Bar ("dickbar") is still so offensive:

marco:

Twitter’s official iPhone app, formerly Loren Brichter’s Tweetie and an otherwise awesome client, got a lot of negative reactions from the recent addition of the Quick Bar, a mandatory trending-topics banner on top of the tweet list. A lot of people really hate it, calling it the “dickbar” and…

I guess that Loren now sees some similarities between atebits acquisition by Twitter and Faust’s deal with the devil.

Just made my best “spaghetti ai frutti di mare” ever. Del.icio.us

Sun, 20 Mar 2011 20:43:07 +0100

Just made my best “spaghetti ai frutti di mare” ever.

Del.icio.us

I love the new Chrome icon. It made me (re)starting using...

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 11:53:29 +0100

I love the new Chrome icon.

It made me (re)starting using Google’s browser.

PowerPoint::Mac = buggy.

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 13:46:08 +0100

PowerPoint::Mac = buggy.

"I hate computers. It’s ironic, because I spend most of my time with them."

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 01:14:11 +0100

““I hate computers. It’s ironic, because I spend most of my time with them.””

- Thomas Troppenz

Papers and the Mac App store

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 11:11:37 +0100

This is kind of a prediction, since at the time I’m writing this, Papers 2.0 is not out yet. But I think it all boils down to the 30% cut they would have to give to Apple.

The advantages of the Mac Apple Store are basically two: visibility and simplicity (to install, pay and upgrade). The disadvantages are that every upgrade has to be review and accepted, and that you lose 30% (well, probably slightly less, since every payment system will cost you something).

But Papers.app does not need visibility: it’s already well-known in academia, an environment where collaboration and information sharing (including the software used to get things done) is broadly practiced.

And Papers users are usually geek enough to not notice the easiness of the Mac App Store anyway. At least I know I am :)

Sofia (Taken with instagram)

Sun, 13 Feb 2011 12:29:09 +0100

Sofia (Taken with instagram)

"It’s cold outside… so where’s the global warming?"

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 16:59:11 +0100

“It’s cold outside… so where’s the global warming?”

- Donald J. Trump. I can’t, really, I can’t actually believe he said that.

"Twitterrific is Multi-Platform Twitterrific is also available for your iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch...."

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 08:33:00 +0100

“Twitterrific is Multi-Platform Twitterrific is also available for your iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Visit twitterrific.com for more info on the platform of your choice:”

- http://iconfactory.com/software/twitterrific/ I would say multiplatform has a new meaning right now.

"See, I started in this business because this is what I wanted to do. I knew I wasn’t going to..."

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 22:22:54 +0100

“See, I started in this business because this is what I wanted to do. I knew I wasn’t going to write the great American novel, but I also knew there was more to life than buying something for a dollar and selling it for two. I’d hoped to create something, something which could be held to the highest standards. And what I realized was I wanted to give the news to the world, and I wanted to give it unvarnished. The more we all know about each other, the greater the chance we will survive. Sure, I want to make a profit. You can’t exist without one. But John Bontecou is all profit. Now if we give him license to absorb Parrish Communications, and he has his eye on a few others after us, in order to reach the world you will have to go through John Bontecou. And not only will you have to pay him to do this, far more important, you’ll have to agree with him. Reporting the news is a privilege and a responsibility, and it is not exploitable. Parrish Communications has earned this privilege. John Bontecou wants to buy it. As your Chairman, I urge you to agree this company is not for sale”

- William Parish, Meet Joe Black. I guess they didn’t watch the movie at the Huffington Post

Flash

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 07:55:00 +0100

I don’t know if people are supposed to do that, but I calibrate the battery of my laptop every now and then. It’s a simple process that should ensure longer battery life and more accurate percentage indicator.

The battery had 7% left, and the Mac has to sleep automatically for the calibration to work. It was late, I didn’t want to surf the web for 20 minutes or to photoshop something.

So I asked my wife if she wanted to watch something on the web, in Flash. Three minutes later the computer was sleeping.

I wonder how Toshiba feels about it¹, but I’m happy to have Flash only within Google Chrome, following daringfireball advice.

See what John Gruber has to say about that ↩

On the iPad 2.

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 07:22:00 +0100

Everybody these days is chatting about the forthcoming iPad 2. In particular, people are wondering whether it will have a new higher resolution display. There seems to be three classes of people.

The ones who say no.
The ones who say yes, it will have a 2048x1536 screen (four times as many pixels, doubling the pixels in both dimensions)
And finally the ones who say yes, it will have a higher resolution, but the number of pixels will not be doubled.

The guys from the second group were initially supported (tenuously, perhaps) by Engadget. The tech blog heard from a trusted source that the next iPad will indeed have a higher resolution. Since the only way to prevent anti-aliasing¹ is to double the resolution, the rumors of a “Retina” display started. This way the iPad would inherit the gorgeous screen from the iPhone 4, making the individual pixels invisible from the distance at which we use our devices.

But then people from the third group announced “Hey, that’s not gonna happen, because RAM and GPU needed to support such a display are too pricey.” Therefore, since Engadget source didn’t say retina, the guys from the third group started with “It will have a higher resolution, like 25 or 50% more”. At this point, Apple prophet John Gruber also said no retina.²

But he also said that it will be either the same, or nothing. He bet on the same resolution. I tend to believe him, but I’ll come back to that later.

The saga doesn’t finish here though. Someone found 2048x1536 px images in the iBooks bundle in the iOS 4.3 beta. The retina display crowd (our second group) was, of course, very happy. John the prophet at that point, having heard enough of these rumors about the tablet, clearly said that was an oversight by a designer who knew who eventually the iPad will go Retina.

So who’s right? As I said, I tend to believe John, but for different reasons — I don’t think is a matter of RAM, or GPU, or battery consumption or display price. After all with the iPhone processor, Apple already showed the world amazing things. Also the battery is not a great issue. I think people would give up a bit of battery for such a good display. And they would probably pay some more for it (like they do with the current Macbook Pro HD display).

So, why on earth is Apple not introducing retina in the next generation iPad?

I think it has to do with competition: no one is good enough yet. Why have higher prices slow down the growth of the product, when there’s no one capable of doing anything similar? The others tablet maker will need a year, if not more, to be competitive with the iPad in terms of price and appeal (if they ever get there). Because if competitors could only come up with the pricey Samsung Galaxy Tablet, then Apple can wait, most likely another full year.

Probably when Google will present the Nexus T(ablet) with the revolutionary resolution of 1920x1080 px, produced by HTC with 2 cameras, Android 3.1415, 4G connectivity, because you cannot ever get enough, 5 hours of battery life and six speakers, because you know you’ll need them, all starting only at 799$…

And then Apple will announce that the iPad 3, with retina display, longer battery life³, iOS 6 and starting at 499$ (with, thank God, only one GPS and two speakers).

As Tim Cook already said

I think some enormous percentage of people are going to select an iPad there.

I know I would.

See this article for an explanation ↩
See Cold Water on the iPad 2 Retina Display Hype, an article more thoughtful than mine. ↩
I’m cheating here: didn’t I say the battery would last less? Well, maybe, but more than the Nexus T. ↩

Bye dear MacBook (Taken with instagram)

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 12:32:59 +0100

Bye dear MacBook (Taken with instagram)

My first Starbucks (Taken with instagram)

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 12:28:00 +0100

My first Starbucks (Taken with instagram)