The world according to Chris

what i don t get is why the media keeps on comparing PC notebooks to the new MAC notebook … no real “Apple-ist” would ever considering buying a PC, even it would be cheaper and faster (we had that) and better looking (to be proven)

The year 2008 marks the 10th Anniversary of the iMac, the computer that changed everything at Apple, hailing a new design era spearheaded by design genius Jonathan Ive. What most people don’t know is that there’s another man whose products are at the heart of Ive’s design philosophy, an influence that permeates every single product at Apple, from hardware to user-interface design. That man is Dieter Rams, and his old designs for Braun during the ’50s and ’60s hold all the clues not only for past and present Apple products, but their future as well:

Dieter Rams’ 10 principles for good design:

• Good design is innovative.
• Good design makes a product useful.
• Good design is aesthetic.
• Good design helps us to understand a product.
• Good design is unobtrusive.
• Good design is honest.
• Good design is durable.
• Good design is consequent to the last detail.
• Good design is concerned with the environment.
• Good design is as little design as possible.

needless to say that good design is timeless … anyways, feel honored that at least design-wise german electronics were superior to US electronics ;P ; but wait where is the mp3 codec from ;PP

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The Washington Post digs into the imperfect science of happiness and finds a few common “rules” that govern how we find and value it, many of them related to decisions and uncertainty. For instance, a number of experiments have shown that people tend to overestimate the consequences of events and decisions, to their detriment:

Torn between life choices? The experimental results suggest the worst option is usually indecision—no matter what choice people make, they are more likely to be okay with the consequences than if they stay on the fence.

A study noted in the article also found that those who had to definitely choose a free item to take home with them ended up happier with their picks than those who were given the option of returning them later. Makes me think twice about some of my electronics purchasing habits.

This is so true for me. Live life simply, come to a decision and go with it. We spend so much time with the what-ifs in life ;) … but at the same time I would say the following: “I don t regret the things I did, I regret those that I didn t do.”

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This chart depicts the public acceptance of evolution theory in 34 countries in 2005. Adults were asked to respond to the statement:

“Human beings, as we know them, developed from earlier species of animals.”

The percentage of respondents who believed this to be true is marked in blue; those who believed it to be false, in red; and those who were not sure, in yellow.

A study of several such surveys taken since 1985 has found that the United States ranks next to last in acceptance of evolution theory among nations polled. Researchers point out that the number of Americans who are uncertain about the theory’s validity has increased over the past 20 years.

This is unbelievably true and a good explanation for a load of things …

Chart courtesy Jon Miller, et al./Science

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in fact, I can t complain but i am not using the firewall that comes with xp anyways.

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Security expert Bruce Schneier discusses why he runs an open wireless network, stressing that he sees no good reason not to let others leech his wireless access point. For example, in reference to the common argument that you may be sued by the RIAA for copyright infringement by others using your Wi-Fi, Shneier explains:

“The RIAA has conducted about 26,000 lawsuits, and there are more than 15 million music downloaders. Mark Mulligan of Jupiter Research said it best: “If you’re a file sharer, you know that the likelihood of you being caught is very similar to that of being hit by an asteroid.”

The most convincing argument to me is his following statement:

“I’m also unmoved by those who say I’m putting my own data at risk, because hackers might park in front of my house, log on to my open network and eavesdrop on my internet traffic or break into my computers. This is true, but my computers are much more at risk when I use them on wireless networks in airports, coffee shops and other public places. If I configure my computer to be secure regardless of the network it’s on, then it simply doesn’t matter. And if my computer isn’t secure on a public network, securing my own network isn’t going to reduce my risk very much.”

It is interesting that in a recent poll, 85% of users admitted to happily using open Wi-Fi networks, but only 15% of you actually run an open network for the purpose of allowing such behavior. In the end, the only party that profit from secured networks is your ISP as everybody needs to pay.

In essence we should try to be a lil bit more altruisitic anyways :)

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Read the full article at: source

click thumbnail !

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