Well it’s official boy and girls — Apple’s Mac App Store is live as of this morning, and available to use and abuse via a Snow Leopard update (version 10.6.6 to be exact). The OS X application market takes the company’s wildly successful iOS App Store to its logical conclusion, bringing an orderly, structured app buying experience to desktops and laptops across the globe. The Store will launch with over 1,000 titles, including Apple standards like the iLife suite broken out into separate parts (iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand) selling for $14.99 each, Pages, Keynote, and Numbers for $19.99 apiece, and the bank-breaking Aperture for $79.99. Of course there’ll also be third-party apps present at launch, including Autodesk Sketchbook Pro, Pixelmator, Cheetah 3D, and Flight Control HD (yes, a port of the iPad version). The software itself will be a separate application that functions much like the App Store, providing update notifications and a universal installation process. That process, mind you, will be part of the requirements for getting your application into the store, along with Apple’s famous content policies — so we’re sure we’ll see some irate devs with painful rejection stories. Or maybe not. We know that the company is planning on getting lots of familiar developers into the Store, but we also know that some of what Apple is looking for may not gel with, say… Adobe’s installation procedures (or worse). Regardless, right now the number of apps available is small, but you can expect it to grow fast now that it’s open for everyone. We’re going to be doing a much deeper dive on the experience and report back — until then, if you’re using it, let us know what you think in comments. Apple’s Mac App Store goes live originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Jan 2011 08:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …It's sad enough the New York Times' editors believe it “a theatrical production of unusual pomposity” that the incoming Republican Congress require “that every bill cite its basis in the Constitution.” It may be only me, but I'd be willing to bet those same Times editors would be running down the hallways, arms a-flailin' and citing a pure constructionist position on the First Amendment, if the new Congress required government oversight as to the content of their sorry excuse for a newspaper. But of course, the New York Times didn't stop there. Showing the originality of a rap artist skimming through the Rhino music catalog, in search of a 70's hit of which to lift an eight-bar hook, the New York Times reached into the liberal playbook and rather clumsily interjected the race card into the discussion. In any case, it is a presumptuous and self-righteous act, suggesting that they alone understand the true meaning of a text that the founders wisely left open to generations of reinterpretation. Certainly the Republican leadership is not trying to suggest that African-Americans still be counted as three-fifths of a person. Just because Republicans want to make sure any legislation they pass meets Constitutional muster doesn't mean they believe blacks be counted as three-fifths of a person, but maybe by using this example as part of their rebuttal the New York Times believes three-fifths of their readership are functionally ignorant of history. Or maybe three-fifths of the New York Times editors are as well? read more
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Device no larger than matchbox will bring soldiers to coordinates they seek by counting steps
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Photo credit: Wikipedia and United States Department of Agriculture Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration has announced that, following the success of some trials in 2009, it is looking to have pig breeders ‘toilet train’ their porkers, in a measure to reduce the volume of waste water generated by that country’s six million swine…. Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Open and Closed shots of the Homeostatic Facade System from inside a building. Photo credit Decker Yeadon A property developer who was building a 9 Star energy efficient house once confided in me, that much of that efficiency would be squandered if the house was inhabited by a 1 Star resident. And that’s one of the conundrums with passive solar design. It works best when people interact with the building’s non-mechanical heating and cooling systems. But Decker Yeadon, architectural material technologists, envisage … Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Washington Post columnist David Ignatius asked a bizarre question on the badly-named 'PostPartisan” blog: “Is Darrell Issa the new Joe McCarthy?” Clearly, the Post knows that when a liberal blurs you with McCarthy, they mean you are a life-wrecking, fact-mangling monster fueled by demons like ambition and alcohol. The headline is designed for web traffic, since the normally calm Ignatius concluded: “Issa doesn't come across as a McCarthyite.” But Issa calling Team Obama “corrupt” was deeply upsetting to the Posties. Wrote Ignatius: It was scary, frankly, to hear Issa describe the executive branch under President Obama as “one of the most corrupt administrations.” What on earth was he talking about? This is an administration that has often tied itself in knots with petty ethical rules. Issa's comment bordered on demagogy. When you see the righteous gleam in Issa's eye, recall other zealous congressional investigators who claimed to be doing the public's business but ended up pursuing vendettas. I think of Robert F. Kennedy's ruthless pursuit of labor “racketeering” when he was chief counsel of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. And, more chilling, I think of Sen. Joseph McCarthy's use of that subcommittee to probe what he imagined was Communist Party subversion in America. read more
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Rendering courtesy of Remistudio . Remember Biosphere 2 ? Well, fast forward to the Ark, designer Alexander Remizov’s floating (or not) eco-friendly, energy-generating bubble hotel. Remizov came up with the Ark’s plans as part of a program on architecture and disaster relief through the International Union of Architects (UIA). According to the Remizov’s Remistudio web site, the Ark is designed as: “an integrated energy system with an uninterruptible power supply using alternative ener… Read the full story on TreeHugger
Continue reading …People’s Choice Awards 2011: List of Winners – The People’s Choice award was at the Los Angeles Nokia Theater on January 5. Kristen Stewart beats actresses like Julia Roberts, Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie in winning the Favorite Movie Actress at the People’s Choice Awards. Twilight Saga: Eclipse, which is the latest installment in the People’s Choice Awards 2011: List of Winners is a post from: Daily World Buzz
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Angry witches in Romania are using cat excrement and dead dogs to cast spells on the president and government who are forcing them to pay taxes. (Jan. 6)
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In a ceremony on his 80th birthday, outside Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Robert Duvall sinks his hands and feet in concrete to honor nearly half a century in films. (Jan. 6)
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