Disqus - Latest Comments for Abie

Re: Scripting News: Are you part of this community?

Abie — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 21:55:38 -0000

Re: Human Experience

Abie — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 12:06:21 -0000

As humans we have interacted with tools for millennia. Software is not, from that perspective, fundamentally different from a plow or a pickaxe. In that light is it not desirable for the tool maker to design the tool to accommodate our humanness as best she can?

Re: Scripting News: Inception is to The Matrix as...

Abie — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 11:59:27 -0000

True, but I don't think that applies in this case. People who don't like Inception don't seem to HATE Inception, they're just disappointed in its failure to live up to expectations, which were set extremely high.

Re: Scripting News: Inception is to The Matrix as...

Abie — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 11:53:04 -0000

I've had a soft spot for Nolan since Memento, so I went in to Inception giving him the benefit of the doubt, but I also found it incredibly disappointing. It felt like he never decided what kind of movie he wanted to make (psychological thriller, heist, love story), so it ended up a soupy, uncommitted mess. The EW article sheds some light on it for me. It's a script he's been working on for over 10 years, and he identifies with the Cobb character, so I suspect he was too close to the material to have a critical perspective, and given his track record with the Batman movies, he had access to all the resources in the world and didn't have to make hard choices.

Re: iPad is to iPhone as…

Abie — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 23:04:51 -0000

Interesting question. The iPad is *just* large enough to give me the feeling of looking at a laptop screen. Something sized in between the iPad and the iPhone would, I suspect, feel like a jumbo phone rather than a laptop. For the ideal in portability, what I really want is something iPad-sized that I could fold in half or in quarters. Not holding my breath for that this year.

Re: Verdict after one day. (Scripting News)

Abie — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 21:45:16 -0000

You're absolutely right about the iTunes issue. I found it jarring to turn the iPad on and see the "no love until you connect me to iTunes" screen. As far as inexpert users go, I'm not sure it won't work for them. If you figure that multi-tasking for non-Apple apps *will* eventually happen, whether it's in the next OS version or a later one, I suspect this may in fact be enough computer for a big chunk of users. Don't underestimate the degree to which we geeks are attached to the way things are (which, for us, isn't a bad thing) and the degree to which this is a fundamentally different model of computing.

Re: Google’s Super Bowl Ad: Hell Freezes Over

Abie — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 13:18:34 -0000

Google's Parisian Love ad is indeed cute, but it feels very different from the Google with which I'm familiar. Could be the beginning of an attempt to redefine or could just be another step towards an increasingly muddled brand.

Re: iPads, Tinkerers, and Visigoths, Oh My

Abie — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 19:38:41 -0000

Go Steven Frank. Eloquent. Perfect. Exactly right.

Re: What's obvious about netbooks (Scripting News)

Abie — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:14:31 -0000

Netbooks are the 'network appliance' that never materialized in the 90s. If it was a good idea then, it's an even better idea now. Curiously though, the netbook enthusiast community doesn't overlap with the network appliance community as much as I thought it would.

Re: Digital iPhone cheapskates

Abie — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 20:31:37 -0000

Well said, Scoble. That this is even controversial reflects poorly on us as "educated consumers" (as Sy Syms used to say).

Re: The iPhone is the New Cigarette

Abie — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:32:18 -0000

It's crazy, but it just might work!

Re: The iPhone is the New Cigarette

Abie — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:07:46 -0000

Surely there's an app for that.

Re: The iPhone is the New Cigarette

Abie — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:59:17 -0000

More importantly, does that mean the rumored Apple tablet is the new meerschaum pipe?

Re: Sad Bunny

Abie — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 01:29:55 -0000

I hadn't thought about it that way, but you're absolutely right!

Re: On Twitter, Cyborgs, Mark Growden, and Tentacles

Abie — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 20:32:08 -0000

First of all, is it really an increase or are we just measuring differently? That said, supposing it really is an increase, one little (relatively speaking, at least until Twitter buys CBS) network isn't going to counteract the pace, values, and attitudes of an entire culture all by itself. We need innumerable tiny connections happening in innumerable tiny ways and places.

Re: What I learned about being rich (Scripting News)

Abie — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 13:01:11 -0000

We *are* building a network for you (Scoble), which, as it happens, also gives you the tools to build it yourself. Ask us how.

Re: NewEgg is hard to get on the phone (Scripting News)

Abie — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 23:40:03 -0000

So true. I've had to tell myself the same thing many times. Something about waiting for a new toy brings it out. When delays loom I can instantly get caught up in a flush of irrational, self-righteous, consumer outrage at the carrier, the shipper, all of them. I want my toy now! Damn you all for not bringing it to me right NOW!

Anyway, glad to hear you're not disappointed. This is one toy that doesn't lose its luster. I've had mine for about a year and still love it as much as the day it arrived.

Re: NewEgg is hard to get on the phone (Scripting News)

Abie — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 19:04:33 -0000

And in the long run, tomorrow is as good as today.