WE HAVE MOVED – NOMCOM.INFO

Hi Everyone

 

Inorder to increase the amount that can be done with the site I have shifted over to a private server and a new url, please update your bookmarks as there is no way to make wordpress redirect you automatically

 

the new url is

 

http://www.nomcom.info

What it means: iCloud v Mobile Me

With the announcement of the axing of mobile me and the introduction of the new platform iCloud theres going to be some issues that crop up, I look into that a little here.

First Thoughts: E3 and Apple Announcements

Apple Wallpaper by davidgsteadman - Some rights reserved

Ok i apologise in advanced, this post isn’t going through the usual routine checks that i make because I want to get this down while I still have it all in my head, im going to start with Apples Announcements and then going to cover E3 (well the bits im interested in anyhow)

Apple Made A Liar Out Of Me

Yes that really is the opening line I want to lead with, Apple is not my favorite company but they are from the company I Dislike the most. But im afraid they may have just made me a convert. The announcement of the Ios features coming to the phone were great and things that we all kinda knew were coming we just wanted to see how, The new notification center, improvements to the spell checking, the email, the web browser, i think they effectively rewrote most of their propriety Apps and made them better from what I can see.

Music Industry Copyright Solved

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Ok before I start on this topic I want to put a disclaimer out there:

1. I do not in any way shape or form condone piracy, its robs artists of their well earned commission and is no better then stealing a piece of artwork from the Louvre.
2. I do not condone intrusive DRM however I appreciate that DRM has its place if it is implemented properly.

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Introduction

Photo by: Simon Todd - © All Rights Reserved

One of the big problems that face major entertainment based companies these days is piracy, now I have heard of many many ways of the industry combating this problem, some good, some really really bad (invasion of privacy sort of bad). While I don’t know much about the industry as a consumer looking at the problem from the outside my solution would be something like the system I’m about to outline

Before going further its key to point out that the principles of this system relies on cloud computing/storage and Digital Rights Management Software (DRM). For those who don’t know much about these I’ll give you the quickest break down here after the jump but if you want to know more Google will be useful.

Apple is failing it’s disabled customers

So here comes part 2 of my apple rant

how apple fails it’s disabled customers

Now I LOVE iMacs infact when it comes to the interface of the os it’s a thing of beauty that, while emulated quite well in windows 7, it’s still got the front of the pack (if only slightly)

However there are a couple of major flaws with the iMacs operating system that actually made me return the one I bought last year. Firstly something that should be incredibly easy to fix as a user accesability feature but yet isn’t.

font size

This is a major gripe of mine, while the iMacs are strong contenders (or more to the point the os is) it’s biggest flaw is the inability to set something as simple as font size, now, if I were using a notebook, a 8pt font can be understood, when I’m using a 24 inch display, its migraine inducing.

Seems like more of a general annoyance right? Well consider this, I myself have very shot sight, if it’s more the a foot away I loose definition of edges, this makes reading text impossible. Now, by comparison, my eyesight is actually reasonable, for someone with a worse visual impairment then mine, reading the text on the screen is nigh on impossible, and while corrective lenses go far, because of the eyestrain involved with them for reading, the pain is just not worth it.

Yes apple, your product is physically painful to use, and not in the whips and chains way that we like.

Glossy Screens

Now not so much an apple issue as a general marketplace trend but apples way of handling it is the issue here.

Glossy screens are no use to someone who has a highly sensitive retina such as myself. I have a condition called ocular cutainous albinism type 2 (some of you may know it as simply albinism or albino however there are several variations). What that means is that I suffer from a lack of pigment in my skin, hair and eyes, and no I do not have pink eyes.

What this also means is that my retinas are also highly sensitive to light causing them to burn and damage easier then the “normal” persons eyesight.

Now in order to get a decent colour balance, which as a photographer is extremely important, on the glossy screen you have to have the bright n on at full, suffering from my condition being sat at a screen where this is the case is not recommended as the results is pain and discomfort and in the log run deterioration in sight.

When asked if it was possible to swap my system for a mat screen I was told that I either pay an extra sum for the matt finish (about £150 I think) or by a clip over for the screen.

Why should I, the disabled customer, be penalised for apples lack of foresight for disabled users? I am pretty sure that this is actually a matter that is covered by the disability discrimination act here in the uk and f I wasn’t already busy enough would be something that I would consider bring against them.

Anyway, rant over, any thoughts?

iPad 2

It’s new, it’s shiny, it’s a revolution, and it’s apple.

BUT I DON’T WANT IT!!

Anyone who knows me well knows I have a love of apple devices, but under that love is also a pissed off realist.

When it comes to gimmicks apple pulled a nice one here. The media cannot stop flapping of how this will (and already is in America) revolutionise tablet computing and application.

NO, just NO

The IPad 2 will not revolutionise it all again, now I admit, the iPad 1 did a bang up job of bringing tablet computing into the mainstream, and featuring it’s iOS (the same operating system on the iPhone) it’s applicational uses are fantastic, from doctors offices to home offices what the iPad 1 allowed people to do was great.

The iPad 2 however, not so much, and here’s the reason, it’s not different enough. (~_~;)

What’s new in iPad 2?

– Gyroscope
– Dual core processor
– White Colour
– Improve 3G speeds/signal

Ok so let’s see, the gyroscope, useful for mapping apps and games and…. Oh, yeah, that’s it. I can count on one hand how many games I use on my iPhone that use the gyroscope, why would I want to do that on a much larger mire cumbersome device?

The only purpose I use my gyroscope for on my iPhone is the location aware apps for navigation (sat nav and street map) using a tablet for navigation is a no go since the size of it just rules it out practically.

As for the dual core processor, well there isn’t enough reason for me to want that in the first place since I am happy enough with the speed of my phone and my phone is far more compact, besides, most of the apps that will be using the iPads dual cores probably won’t interest me that much since my phone is far more portable and probably has the same functions.

White colour, wow, just what I (never) wanted, now it can match NON of my outfits!

Improved 3G, well, since I won’t have 3G version since I have my phone with a personal wifi hotspot which is cheaper then iPad 3G plans AND since I’m always around a wifi point when I would be stationary enough to use it anyhow there’s little point.

Now there any many other problems with the iPad 2 but this is already quite a long post so I’ll leave that one for now and also can my ‘apple are failing disabled customers’ rant for a little while as well.