Peeve Farm

g r o t t o 1 1

Peeve Farm
Breeding peeves for show, not just to keep as pets

Brian Tiemann
Silicon Valley-based purveyor of a confusing mixture of Apple punditry and political bile.

btman at grotto11 dot com

Read These Too:

InstaPundit
USS Clueless
James Lileks
Little Green Footballs
As the Apple Turns
Entropicana
Cold Fury
Capitalist Lion
Red Letter Day
Eric S. Raymond
Tal G in Jerusalem
Secular Islam
Aziz Poonawalla
Corsair the Rational Pirate
.clue
Ravishing Light
Rosenblog

« ? Blogging Brians # »

Book Plugs:

Buy 'em and I get
money. I think.
BSD Mall

6/28/2004 -  6/28/2004
6/21/2004 -  6/27/2004
6/14/2004 -  6/20/2004
  6/7/2004 -  6/13/2004
5/31/2004 -   6/6/2004
5/24/2004 -  5/30/2004
5/17/2004 -  5/23/2004
5/10/2004 -  5/16/2004
  5/3/2004 -   5/9/2004
4/26/2004 -   5/2/2004
4/19/2004 -  4/25/2004
4/12/2004 -  4/18/2004
  4/5/2004 -  4/11/2004
3/29/2004 -   4/4/2004
3/22/2004 -  3/28/2004
3/15/2004 -  3/21/2004
  3/8/2004 -  3/14/2004
  3/1/2004 -   3/7/2004
2/23/2004 -  2/29/2004
2/16/2004 -  2/22/2004
  2/9/2004 -  2/15/2004
  2/2/2004 -   2/8/2004
1/26/2004 -   2/1/2004
1/19/2004 -  1/25/2004
1/12/2004 -  1/18/2004
  1/5/2004 -  1/11/2004
12/29/2003 -   1/4/2004
12/22/2003 - 12/28/2003
12/15/2003 - 12/21/2003
12/8/2003 - 12/14/2003
12/1/2003 -  12/7/2003
11/24/2003 - 11/30/2003
11/17/2003 - 11/23/2003
11/10/2003 - 11/16/2003
11/3/2003 -  11/9/2003
10/27/2003 -  11/2/2003
10/20/2003 - 10/26/2003
10/13/2003 - 10/19/2003
10/6/2003 - 10/12/2003
9/29/2003 -  10/5/2003
9/22/2003 -  9/28/2003
9/15/2003 -  9/21/2003
  9/8/2003 -  9/14/2003
  9/1/2003 -   9/7/2003
8/25/2003 -  8/31/2003
8/18/2003 -  8/24/2003
8/11/2003 -  8/17/2003
  8/4/2003 -  8/10/2003
7/28/2003 -   8/3/2003
7/21/2003 -  7/27/2003
7/14/2003 -  7/20/2003
  7/7/2003 -  7/13/2003
6/30/2003 -   7/6/2003
6/23/2003 -  6/29/2003
6/16/2003 -  6/22/2003
  6/9/2003 -  6/15/2003
  6/2/2003 -   6/8/2003
5/26/2003 -   6/1/2003
5/19/2003 -  5/25/2003
5/12/2003 -  5/18/2003
  5/5/2003 -  5/11/2003
4/28/2003 -   5/4/2003
4/21/2003 -  4/27/2003
4/14/2003 -  4/20/2003
  4/7/2003 -  4/13/2003
3/31/2003 -   4/6/2003
3/24/2003 -  3/30/2003
3/17/2003 -  3/23/2003
3/10/2003 -  3/16/2003
  3/3/2003 -   3/9/2003
2/24/2003 -   3/2/2003
2/17/2003 -  2/23/2003
2/10/2003 -  2/16/2003
  2/3/2003 -   2/9/2003
1/27/2003 -   2/2/2003
1/20/2003 -  1/26/2003
1/13/2003 -  1/19/2003
  1/6/2003 -  1/12/2003
12/30/2002 -   1/5/2003
12/23/2002 - 12/29/2002
12/16/2002 - 12/22/2002
12/9/2002 - 12/15/2002
12/2/2002 -  12/8/2002
11/25/2002 -  12/1/2002
11/18/2002 - 11/24/2002
11/11/2002 - 11/17/2002
11/4/2002 - 11/10/2002
10/28/2002 -  11/3/2002
10/21/2002 - 10/27/2002
10/14/2002 - 10/20/2002
10/7/2002 - 10/13/2002
9/30/2002 -  10/6/2002
9/23/2002 -  9/29/2002
9/16/2002 -  9/22/2002
  9/9/2002 -  9/15/2002
  9/2/2002 -   9/8/2002
8/26/2002 -   9/1/2002
8/19/2002 -  8/25/2002
8/12/2002 -  8/18/2002
  8/5/2002 -  8/11/2002
7/29/2002 -   8/4/2002
7/22/2002 -  7/28/2002
7/15/2002 -  7/21/2002
  7/8/2002 -  7/14/2002
  7/1/2002 -   7/7/2002
6/24/2002 -  6/30/2002
6/17/2002 -  6/23/2002
6/10/2002 -  6/16/2002
  6/3/2002 -   6/9/2002
5/27/2002 -   6/2/2002
5/20/2002 -  5/26/2002
5/13/2002 -  5/19/2002
  5/6/2002 -  5/12/2002
4/29/2002 -   5/5/2002
4/22/2002 -  4/28/2002
4/15/2002 -  4/21/2002
  4/8/2002 -  4/14/2002
  4/1/2002 -   4/7/2002
3/25/2002 -  3/31/2002
3/18/2002 -  3/24/2002
3/11/2002 -  3/17/2002
  3/4/2002 -  3/10/2002
2/25/2002 -   3/3/2002
2/18/2002 -  2/24/2002
2/11/2002 -  2/17/2002
  2/4/2002 -  2/10/2002
1/28/2002 -   2/3/2002
1/21/2002 -  1/27/2002
1/14/2002 -  1/20/2002
  1/7/2002 -  1/13/2002
12/31/2001 -   1/6/2002
12/24/2001 - 12/30/2001
12/17/2001 - 12/23/2001

Monday, June 28, 2004
15:18 - Toys http://www.apple.com/macosx/tiger/	(top)
It won't be ready until April. That's a nice long time from now. (Which is good, because I'm going to have to rewrite pretty much everything.) The biggest new thing in Tiger, aside from some subtle cosmetic tweaks (like the shiny blue menu hotspots in the corners of the menu bar), appears to be Spotlight. This is the new search infrastructure, whose aim appears to be "Do what Longhorn is doing, but do it right." To wit, whereas Longhorn professes to move the entire filesystem�including file data�into an SQL database, Spotlight is built on top of a database that only contains the new extended metadata that allows instant searching through all files' contents and attendant properties. The files themselves remain in the HFS+ filesystem, which preserves compatibility with the UNIX layer. Meanwhile, you now can type any search text in the global search bar, and you get matched results progressively with each letter you type, categorized by the kinds of items where the results are found: documents (of all kinds of types, including PDFs, Word files, Photoshop files, even applications), Address Book contacts, Mail messages, iCal appointments, and probably lots more. Beyond that, the soft-focus highlighting in the System Preferences is for real; and the spotlight effect gets brighter on items that match your search with more confidence. Now that's neat. And for everything else, such as Mail, Address Book, and the Finder, there are more fine-tuned, modal kinds of search views�plus implementations of what can only be described as "Smart Playlists" for all the rest of your data. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how this integrates with Mail; you can set up folders such as "Unread", "Viewed Today", and so on�the kind of views I'm accustomed to in iTunes. I spent much of the weekend going through my "Never Listened" Smart Playlist and listening to the various (some unlistenable) songs through force of will, getting the play count of everything up above zero; then doing the same with my "Unrated" SP�so every song in the database can be categorized by its star rating and play count/last-played date.As I watched the playlist slowly deplete itself, I honestly did think to myself, "Wouldn't it be cool if I could do this in e-mail too?" In other words, I think Apple is trying to turn Mail.app into Gmail. This is exactly the kind of search/discovery technology Microsoft has been talking about in Longhorn; Steve today said that Apple has got searching all figured out in iTunes, and the big hurdle has been in figuring out how to extend that to the rest of the system, rather than just abstracting all kinds of data into a big amorphous mass the way Longhorn seems to want to do it. So now, just as he did by announcing .Mac right in the middle of Microsoft's blue-sky imaginings of .NET and Passport, Steve seems to have stolen Longhorn's thunder by actually putting it into practice, quicker and better. (Or so we will determine.) Then there's iChat AV, which has now officially made the leap to "insane". My God. Look at the reflections in the "table". My brain 'urts. And this is all made prettier by H.264/AVC, which the QuickTime group says increases the efficiency of video throughput fourfold. That's a pretty bold claim, but those images sure look nice. "Windows Media? Bring it," he said during the keynote. Fightin' words... Then there's Dashboard, which no doubt has the Konfabulator guys e-mailing each other messages that look like: #$@!%$#^!^%@)_)@!!!(%&!!!!! (Paraphrased.) In practice it's pretty much exactly what Konfabulator is (they even seem to have gone with the "Widgets" term, instead of "Gadgets" as they were evidently playing with); but the thing that Dashboard has over Konfabulator is the way you summon it, Expos�-style. Press a function key, and the widgets all zoom in from behind you; press it again to dismiss them, and they whoosh away in the direction they came from. That is one slick-ass effect. Konfabulator, on the other hand, makes you place all your widgets either on the top of all other windows, below all other windows, embedded into the Desktop (foregoing all controls), or using standard window layering. This means that as cool as the various widgets all are, after I've spent the initial minute or two playing with them, I always find them getting in the way of what I'm doing; and none of the Z-ordering options seem to be ideal. What I really* want, I guess, is the ability to whoosh all the widgets into view, and then dismiss them again just as quickly�which is precisely what Dashboard does. This could be just as much a masterstroke as Expos� was; and it might be what finally gets the concept of "widgets" to take off, as much as they've floundered at the edge of public favor, bobbing up here and there as "Dock Extras" or "Docklings" or "floaters" or "System Menus" or third-party doodads. Finally they may have found a home. And since there will be an open SDK, Konfabulator widgets can probably be ported in pretty easily. Safari now has RSS feed functionality. Take that, Longhorn Sidebar. Then there's this thing�Automator. This is going to weird people out... but if it's as much fun to play with as it looks, people are going to pick it up right away. You get to define workflows using applications' scriptable actions, or tools like the newly built-in Core Image/Video libraries�essentially, OS-level implementations of all the popular image filters that make up the feature set of Photoshop, now available in scriptable form outside any particular app. (I wonder if Photoshop would be significantly faster if it were recoded to use these routines instead of its own...) I also wonder how you go about running your saved workflows after you've defined them. Do you pick them from a menu? Add them like AppleScript droplets to your toolbar? I hope you don't have to launch Automator to run any given workflow, because the whole point of this appears to be to eliminate app launches from your daily grind. I'm sure they've thought this one through. And these are only a few of the 150 features they claim to be in Tiger. I imagine the rest are largely sort of uninteresting and esoteric; but just these few are head-turners indeed. We've got a whole year now to get accustomed to these things and cynically find them unimpressive when they're finally released. A Steve's work is never done... UPDATE: Oh yeah: Is that beautiful or what?