SwimFinsSF

Captcha

Ever wonder what the deal is with these things are called or whats behind them. Had a friend of mine ping me asking how to get information on them. I know what they’re for – they allow computers to detect whether input is from a human or a computer – humans can read these but computers generally can’t. They deter spammers and other software based attacks from doing things like automatically posting blog comments or applying for email accounts. But I didn’t know what they were called or where they came from and, being the curious fuck that I am, I had to find out… So after some clever dissection of a site that used them (in this case, blogger) I found a term that looked odd to me in the right spot.. A quick google search of that term landed me right where I wanted to be…

So here are the fruits of my labor. From Wikipedia:

Captcha

A captcha (an acronym for “completely automated public Turing test to tell computers and humans apart”) is a type of challenge-response test used in computing to determine whether or not the user is human

And from the Captcha site:

Telling Humans and Computers Apart

(Automatically)

A CAPTCHATM is a program that can generate and grade tests that most humans can pass, but current computer programs can’t pass. For example, humans can read distorted text as the one shown below, but current computer programs can’t:

So there it is.. more than you ever wanted to know… 😉

A few for a monday morning

Here are a few fun things to start off your week…

First a funny:

Tonight Show Photo Booth

And then an interesting news story:

“Intelligent design” not science: Vatican paper

Anyway… Both made me giggle for different reason so I had to share… Have a great week! 🙂

Golden Globes

In case you missed it the Golden Globes last night were fantastic and I’m SO HAPPY with the results…

• Best Motion Picture – Drama: Brokeback Mountain
• Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama: Felicity Huffman – Transamerica
• Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama: Philip Seymour Hoffman – Capote
• Best Director – Motion Picture: Ang Lee – Brokeback Mountain
• Best Screenplay – Motion Picture: Brokeback Mountain – Written by Larry McMurtry, Diana Ossana
• Best Original Song – Motion Picture: “A Love That Will Never Grow Old” – Brokeback Mountain
• Best Television Series – Drama: Lost
• Best Television Series – Musical Or Comedy: Desperate Housewives

There were lots of other winners that were fantastic but these were my favorites… For a full list of results check out this page (or check out the Hollywood Foreign Press Association web site – other good stuff there).. I have to say I was disappointed Heath Ledger didn’t get best actor for Brokeback Mountain cuz we was REALLY DAMN GOOD in that movie – but I can’t honestly say he was robbed given Philip Seymour Hoffman did an amazing job in Capote too (if ya haven’t seen that one go see it – really good movie though not exactly a happy cheery one).. But if Felicity Huffman didn’t get it she would have been robbed – she did a fantastic job (and her acceptance speech was really damn sweet to boot)..

Anyway.. ‘Twas a good night in hollywood..

Another Dreary Weekend

Uggg… Its raining AGAIN… I actually kinda like the rain but even I’m getting a little tired of it… We’ve got this awful down spout outside of our bedroom window that is broken and the only time we remember about it is when the roof is slippery and its overflowing and pouring right on our window sill… Makes me absolutely daffy…

Anyway.. Not quite sure what`s going to be going on this weekend. Have a bunch of bugs I need to fix (now that I’m a manager I don’t get much time during the week to do that but I actually kinda enjoy it so weekends are the time).. Went to dinner with Matt last night at Macarthur Park which was fun.. Today I gotta get my hairs cut and get some work done.. Haven’t decided what to do with my evening yet – Kevin and Brian are going to the Kabuki for massages so I guess I’m on my own – might see bout conning someone to go with me to one of the movies at the Berlin and Beyond film festival…

Hows that for a boring weekend… have to see how it all turns out. 🙂

A giggle from my sister

This has been around a zillion times but I just got it from my little sis and I had to share! 🙂

Happy Friday! 🙂

Who Reads What Newspaper

1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.

2. The Washington Post is read by people who think they run the country.

3. The New York Times is read by people who think they should run the country and who are very good at crossword puzzles.

4. USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country but don’t really understand The New York Times. They do, however, like their statistics shown in pie charts.

5. The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn’t mind running the country — if they could find the time — and if they didn’t have to leave Southern California to do it.

6. The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country and did a far superior job of it, thank you very much.

7. The New York Daily News is read by people who aren’t too sure who’s running the country and don’t really care as long as they can get a seat on the train.

8. The New York Post is read by people who don’t care who is running the country as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated.

9. The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country but need the baseball scores.

10. The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren’t sure there is a country or that anyone is running it; but if so, they oppose all that the governors stand for.

11. The National Enquirer is read by people trapped in line at the grocery store.

12. None of the above is read by the guy who is supposed to be running the country.

On Confidentialiity

I’ve got a buddy of mine who I met years ago and is a HUGE Apple fan. Big Mac guy and seems to buy at least one of nearly everything we do (I’m exaggerating but only kinda). As long as I’ve known him he’s been DYING to get the secret scoop on whats the next big thing and I have never told him anything that wasn’t already public information – and it FUCKIN KILLS HIM. Its almost sport at this point cuz every time I just shrug to one of his questions he looks like wants to smack me. Its kinda funny..

So anyway. We’re out for drinks last night with his business partner and he asks another one of his questions and I do my usual shrug to which he has his usual response and then the conversation moves on. Later, while he’s off doin whatever, his business partner asks what that was all about. I explained our little rapport and the history behind it – then explain that there is more to it than that. And here’s the scoop.

I actually believe personally in the need for Apple to keep shit confidential until launch – and its for two important reasons. First is the obvious financial reasons. The fact of the matter is we make money by selling products. We make enough product to cover demand. When new products get leaked before we’re ready to sell them people stop buying the existing products, inventory builds up, and it has a real impact on the company’s bottom line. The thing that I always tell friends is that worrying about what’s coming next is like worrying about whether the sun will rise. It always will rise and we’ll always come out with new products. Make your buying decisions based on your needs now and just deal with the fact that at some point your machine won’t be the newest and thats OK – it does what you want it to do… The only people that conceptually get hurt by buying a machine the day before a new one are the size queens who want the latest toy – and frankly, they should be buying when the previous product is announced rather than late in the cycle…

The other reason, which is actually more important to me than the financial reason, is personal. We BUST OUR BALLS trying to make great products and part of the satisfaction of doing that is the ‘Wow factor’ when the product is finally launched. It is SUCH a great feeling to work one of these shows and have people just giddy to get the product that you’ve ruined your life to deliver. When the launch is truly a surprise and has accurate information it is more gratifying than you can believe to see and read user’s responses to the product – it really makes the pain worth while. However when the fuckers at Think Secret and other rumor sites pre announce this stuff it blows a lot of that surprise. And, what is worse, is their information is 9 times out of 10 is WRONG, either completely or partially. The result is the reaction is more along the lines “Oh.. Well thats cool.. but I thought it was gonna do X.. When will it do that?”. People frequently over look all the cool things it does that the rumor sites don’t even notice and fixate on the thing that it was ‘supposed’ to do. Its really frustrating. This last MacWorld was no exception – the rumor sites spent a lot of energy hyping bad information and, as a result, many people didn’t really get how cool what we DID launch was. New Intel Macs that scream, a bunch of great new software, great financials, and others. Thats COOL – its not our fault the rumor sites fucked up.

The Engineers on my team and around Apple BUST THEIR BALLS to get great products out on the market, often sacrificing sleep, a personal life, and their health. These folks deserve their day in spotlight without it being tainted by misconceptions by rumor mongers. So just sit tight – we’ll continue to announce cool stuff.

(sorry – that was more soap-box-ey than I intended… I just feel strongly about it after 14 some years at apple.)

Happy Friday