part of why my colleagues are so awesome
it’s all about the love.
<joe> i was thinking more along the lines of
<joe> "selecting for things that nature has no interest in"
<kev> "see: joe"
<joe> otoh nature selects OH FUCK YOU KEV
Asleep at the Wheel 40 Miles Left to Go
it’s all about the love.
<joe> i was thinking more along the lines of
<joe> "selecting for things that nature has no interest in"
<kev> "see: joe"
<joe> otoh nature selects OH FUCK YOU KEV
from Bell’s site, for reals. I’m betting someone put it in as a joke, and it stayed in the final copy.
in Canada, mobile carriers (and other comm services companies) charge a "system access fee", which is generally $6.95 a month. it’s on top of any plan charges, and is purportedly to improve the network. it’s basically a cash grab that adds $80/yr in revenue per subscriber.
I have never seen it explained quite so nicely. “just one more reason to choose Bell” indeed.
"System Access Fees are charged by all wireless companies to help pay for the network and the ongoing software, technology and other upgrades to that network. Generally, the higher the fee, the greater the opportunity to invest in network quality to enhance your experience. Just one more reason to choose Bell."
ah, internet memes. they’re fun, actually, and the current one running its course on planet has reached pyramid-scheme proportions. I’ve been tagged by both robcee and shaver, and am happy to play the game. so, here goes.
The Rules
The Things
The Seven People I Am Tagging
I like toys, and this one surprised me. I got a Ford Escape Hybrid, which is the first Ford product I’ve ever had to drive that I didn’t loathe. I wouldn’t buy one, mind you, but it’s the first Ford I’ve driven that didn’t feel like a Ford, and had an interior that was even decent.
the part I do want is the stereo. specifically Microsoft’s Sync product. I plugged my iPod Touch into the USB port, which is hooked up to the stereo. Sync detected the iPod, indexed all the content (about 20GB worth), and "prepared the voice commands" (whatever that means; most likely indexing the metadata it indexed for vr) in about three minutes. that was it for setup, no displays required, and the voice prompts were more than enough to take me through the process.
the voice recognition was pretty much flawless, and the only time it didn’t interpret my voice command properly was when I stuttered or paused because I couldn’t remember the name of the track. it works whether you’re standing still (like here; safety first, kids!), or driving 85 on the 101 (I tested both). if I spoke the name of the artist, track, genre, whatever properly, it got it right every time.
you can use the metadata of the tracks to play by genre, artist, album, or track, as well as play similar music (not sure if it uses genius info or not, but it was cool). there’s also drill down capabilities and query refining, all done by voice command. there are also abbreviated prompts (double-tap the voice command button) so you don’t have to wait for it to finish talking before giving it a command.
it’s some pretty sweet tech. simple. useful. want.
p.s. – apologies for cricking your neck with the portrait video. I’ll get it right the next time.
kick 2009 in the balls.
Just a reminder that with the release today of Firefox 3.0.5, we’re no longer displaying a EULA on install, and the Mac DMG files will not display the EULA on mounting. (yay!) Instead, we’ll be displaying an infobar that makes people aware of the about:rights text, which outlines how Firefox is licensed, the first time Firefox 3.0.5 (and later) is run.
Please note that public distributions of Firefox are still governed by the Mozilla Trademark Policy, which is referenced in the about:rights text. If you’re looking to distribute customized versions of Firefox, you should contact us at partners@mozilla.com for more information.
If you’re currently repacking distributions, please ensure you do not incorporate the EULA with Firefox 3.0.5 (and greater) installers or DMG files moving forward.
Additional information on these changes can be found at the URLs below:
The original licensing proposal, as outlined by Harvey Anderson, following feedback from his postings on September 15th, and Mitchell’s postings on September 15th and 16th.
Bug 456439 for adding the about:rights text and a “Know Your Rights” infobar on firstrun
Bug 462254 for removing the EULA from the installer and DMG files
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me, and I’ll do my best to answer them.
updated: added links to additional posts from Harvey and Mitchell to provide more information
just what kind of conversations does that kev guy have all day, anyways? well, they’re usually about as sensible as this one. sadly, I’m not really embarrassed by them, because they make me laugh.
I probably should be, tho.
just a quick note to say that we’ve started offering updates to 3.0.4 to users who are currently running Firefox 2 distributions that have been customized for partners. there’s around 25 distributions with approximately 2M ADUs, and we’ll be staging the update offers for the various distributions over the next two weeks. the intent is to have all the update offers out by mid-december (before 2.0.0.19 is released). tomcat is lead on the QA effort, and Nick is the lead on Release Engineering. if there are any questions on the update process, please feel free to drop me a line via email, or on irc.mozilla.org (I’m “kev”, and can usually be found in #qa).
it’s been 2.5 months since I last posted?
it’s been 2.5 months since I was in Nevis?
it’s November?
ack.
effecting repairs, more sooner rather than later because, well, jeebus. (especially since right before I went to Nevis I said I’d post more. FAIL.)
having a wonderful time. can’t believe it’s saturday already.