This is a great example of why I love free software – with the latest version of GNOME out the door, Evolution now helpfully warns you if you try to send an e-mail containing the word “attached” or similar but neglect to actually attach a file to the message.
Is that not the kind of simple, yet brilliant feature that when you hear about it makes you wonder why nobody’s thought of it before? Amazing.
The irony that when you have lots of blog-worthy things to write about you never seem to find time to do just that has been commented on many times before in conversations with friends. More worrying though is when you don’t even seem to be able to find the time to read other peoples’ musings anymore. And I guess I’ve kinda got out of the habit of doing both of those lately.
So yesterday I invested some of my remaining time off in setting up a whole bunch of subscriptions on my Google account. Their Reader has a few too many bevels and waaay too much baby blue for my liking, but at least I can access it from any of the three computer accounts I regularly use and should I get that fed up of it I figure I can always export the feed list list to something else – so long as it can read an OPML file.
I haven’t even added half the feeds I want to yet (since the process is a little cubersome in Firefox), but I’ve already managed to get back into quite a few blogs that I haven’t read regularly in a little while.
It’s nice to catch up. So today I’ve discovered (via John Dale) that Warwick’s new VC seems much more down-to-earth that the last guy, and that Amazon’s MP3 download service is apparently open for business – with pricing particularly attractive to those of us lucky enough to be living in a country that’s not headed straight for a recession ;-).
Who knows – at this rate I might even have Planet Afterlife working again soon. But don’t hold your breath.
I read this evening that Apple have once again resorted to blocking third party software from accessing the song databases build into every iPod.
Last time it was over Real cracking their DRM and I didn’t care so much given that I can’t use most of their proprietary-ware anyway, but now Apple have completely broken the main Linux-based library used by the fabulous Rhythmbox and Banshee, amongst others.
What I find most sad is the fact that the changes they’ve made – involving some kind of checksumming built into the latest iPod firmware – serve no useful purpose whatsoever other than to limit the ways in which consumers can use their own players.
That Apple would spend engineering dollars in order to make iPods less useful – arguably completely useless to anyone using Linux – is appalling. But not surprising to anyone who’s followed their moves in recent years.
I was seriously considering buying an iPod up until yesterday. I’m certainly not any more.
We’re looking for a person to manage Community Relations within Alfresco as well as a Web Manager/Developer to join our growing team. These are two amazingly important roles within the company – and an excellent chance to make your mark on our web presence or the user community that it supports.
More details are in the Jobs section of the web site – drop us a line at careers at alfresco.com if you’re interested.