Leave It Behind > Brian Bailey

Opinion and Conviction

Dave Winer has some very interesting comments on Michael Moore. One thing I have always appreciated about Dave is he is remains fiercely independent whether the subject is politics, software, or anything else. He commits to an issue or opinion and defends it with passion. In this he reminds me somewhat of John McCain.

Of course, I disagree with Dave a fair amount, as in his recent post regarding Bush's campaign commercial featuring Hitler images from a since-rejected MoveOn.org ad, which we had a cordial email debate about.

When I view the list of Sunday talk show appearances by politicians and assorted talking heads, I try to avoid anyone whose answers are so completely obvious and predictable as to be worthless. I prefer people who look at each question with fresh eyes and attempt to apply their own, core principles to the issue in front of them.

What's New Under the Sun?

John Gruber on the always interesting site Daring Fireball has posted a terrific, well-written response to critics who claim that Apple has unfairly stomped on the Konfabulator product with the new Dashboard software.

John's essays are thorough and a pleasure to read. In this case, I find myself thoroughly agreeing with him. Apple saw an idea that had been implemented in various ways throughout the last 20 years, most recently by Konfabulator, and came up with a new, original, and better implementation of it.

For more of Apple's perspective on this, read the perspective of one of the Safari developers.

Tiger Overview

The always reliable Adam Engst summarizes Apple's new Tiger operating system, due next year. If you're not currently reading Tidbits on a regular basis and have any interest in Apple, be sure to start.

Here's a link if you'd like to view the WWDC keynote.

Tiger Tales

Well, the Tiger tales are in. So far, I'd have to say that we did a much better job than the professionals!

New Mac OS Shows Its Stripes (InternetNews.com)
Apple lets young Tiger roar (CNET.com)
Jobs Unveils Tiger for 2004 (eWeek.com)
Developer calls Apple's Tiger a copycat (CNET.com)

Update:Apple's Tiger Knows How to Hunt (Business Week)

I'm sure more will be posted tomorrow. Keep watching MacSurfer for the latest.

Rush Hour

The fine people at MacSurfer were kind enought to link to my site today after I shared my recent post with their weekend editors. First, I wanted to say thanks to the MacSurfer team!

Second, I wanted to say that MacSurfer gets an amazing amount of traffic! I myself have been a loyal reader for years, and I certainly hear it mentioned in other circles fairly often, but I had no idea just how successful they've become. Since the link was posted early this afternoon, my site has received over 1,100 hits entirely from MacSurfer, over 100 every single hour. I shouldn't be suprised to discover that thousands of mac users are scanning headlines on Sunday afternoons just as I tend to do, but I am certainly impressed.

I can only imagine how much traffic they receive after each keynote, but we're about to find out!

Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright

Tomorrow, Apple launches this year's World Wide Developers Conference with a much-anticipated keynote by Steve Jobs (Apple does an excellent job of making every keynote much-anticipated). During the keynote and conference, Apple will unveil the next version of OS X, named Tiger. Though I'm as thoroughly stoked as the typical macintosh groupie, my real concern lies with the hundreds of editors who will have to provide pithy, cliche-ridden titles featuring the word Tiger only moments after the keynote ends. So, I thought I'd offer a little help.

Top 10 Tiger List

1. Apple's Tiger Roars
2. Will this Tiger Bite?
3. Apple Set to Release New Tiger into the Wild
4. Apple's Tiger Looks Good, Lacks Bite
5. Is Tiger Just Panther with a Shiny New Coat?
6. Apple Lets Tiger Out of the Bag
7. For a Tiger, Apple's New OS Purrs Like a Kitten
8. Jobs Announces Apple's Latest Cat
9. Can Apple Tame This Tiger?
10. Tiger Escapes from the WWDC Zoo

and, of course, a bonus

11. This Tiger Burns Brightly

All of these are hereby released into the public domain! On Monday, I'll post some of the actual headlines.

Hacking Church

Here is an interesting post by Lutheran pastor Eric Evers, Hacking Culture, Modding Tradition, Looking Beneath Skins. He does a very creative job of applying a technology insight to the church world. I found myself thinking a lot about Fellowship Church as I read, but I'm still processing his ideas. Eric has a lot of interesting things to say on his site, xphiles. Recommended!

More from Bernstein

Eastgate's Mark Bernstein offers more advice on weblog best practices. I greatly appreciate his appeal for civility and patience in online writing. There is a difference between weblogs, discussion groups and instant messenger, and those differences should remain.

Texas Baseball

I can't resist mentioning the fact that the Texas Rangers somehow find themselves in first place nearly half-way into the baseball season, with the third-best record in baseball, after a very impressive 3-1 victory over the Houston Astros tonight. This is the same Texas Rangers who finished in last place the previous four years in a row.

No one here believes it will last, but for now, it sure is nice to have quality baseball to watch on a Friday night with Ben! The Rangers are a young team that is hard-working, fundamentally sound, and fun to watch. Hopefully that will still be true if and when the magic wears off.

iPod Accessories

The Wall Street Journal's Walter Mossberg reviews some of the many available iPod accessories.