I wonder how he feels about the Huffington Post

‘I Don’t Take a Piss Without Getting Paid for It’
[Via Daring Fireball]

Harlan Ellison, on getting paid. (Via Coudal.)

[More]

Harlan Ellison does the best rants.

Apple doing a simple thing that is simply cool

Apple’s cloud streaming could rely on small, locally stored song segments
[Via AppleInsider]

Apple’s anticipated cloud-based music streaming service could could offer faster playback of Internet-stored content by syncing just small snippets of songs via iTunes.

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One of the big things about using the cloud has been the need to stream the music to the iphone or whatever. This takes time and is dependent on how well the network is running. And if you change the tune in mid song, there can be a delay as your request makes it way up to the servers and back.

What Apple has a new patent for is a system where you keep some of your music on the iOS device that can be played immediately whie the device waits for the rest of the song to come in from the Internet.

No delay and to the end user it really seems like the music is just there. Say Apple keeps a minute of music for each song on the iOS device. That is more than enough time to buffer in the whole rest of the song.

The song could be randomly changed and it could start playing immediately.

So local storage needed on the device could be reduced 3-4 fold while making the experience seamless for the user.

Very nice idea.

Stealing computers from customers – did this ever happen with PCs?

Armed Robbers Follow Houston Apple Store Buyers Home
[Via Cult of Mac]

According to a report on local television station KHOU Channel 11 you just might get more than you bargained for after your next trip to a local Apple Store in Houston, Texas. According to authorities in Houston there have been at least six Apple customers in Houston who have been followed home and robbed at gunpoint.

It is part of a growing trend in Houston and elsewhere. Armed robbers are looking to steal the Apple computers customers just brought from the local Apple Store.

[More]

Man that is just wrong. Following someone how just to steal the computer. No purse. No money. Just the Mac.

I wonder when we will see counterfeit Macs or iPads for sale?