journals

The AOL CDs that time forgot!

By Nick, March 12, 2007

This article is dedicated to the memory of all those CDs that gave their life in the valiant struggle to bring the computer users of the world free hours of AOL service. May all those fallen CD souls rest in peace.

Here’s a quickie…

For the past nine years or so, I have built a collection of various online service signup CDs. It’s not a huge collection, but it’s amusing to take a stroll down memory lane. I will share with all of you a few of my favorite online service signup CDs (AOL is by far the most common).

Anyway, on with this freak show!

A rare specimen

I would like to start by sharing this beautiful rare specimen: a CompuServe 4.0 signup CD, complete with the amazingly clever tagline, “For those serious about internet online.” As opposed to...what? Usenet online?

Fresh lemon scent!

This is one of many AOL 3.0 CDs circa 1998 I have laying around. I like this one because it evokes the visual style of a box of laundry detergent. “Faster web browsing action! Cleans deep stains without fading colors!”

The Gold Collection

What do you do when you want to make some of your…
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WTF? Printer Lies

By SogniX, March 2, 2007

After replacing the “Empty” ink cartridges from my printer, I decided to take one apart to see just how much ink was really left after my printer said it was out and forced me to replace it.
What I found was enough to really piss me off!

It seems the electronics in the ink cartridge has nothing to do with how much ink is really in the cartridge - other than how many times it has printed, being wasteful of the valuable ink inside by deciding when to change the ink. Maybe the chip is really a communications device from the printer/ink manufacturer, to force you to buy new ink when they are running low on money. :p

Why has the decision of when to replace the ink been taken out of our hands?
If I want funky colors on my map & driving directions - so be it, it’s only lines and text! I really don’t need it to be in perfect life-like color!

How about replacing the forced “Ink out, replace ink now” message with a “Ink may be running low, if you continue to print your printouts might be faded. To prevent fading, replace the ink ASAP” and allow me to forge on and print with whatever is left?

Considering the cost of ink, seeing how much is actually left is very infuriating!

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iTunes: What I Want Changed For Vista

By Liam, February 24, 2007

Where to begin? Even Apple admits that iTunes needs some changes for Vista, but they only admitted to wanting to fix the issues with iTunes Store purchases. Despite saying it would be ready a few weeks after the announcement, there is no fix in sight. Now that I’m using Windows Vista final (haven’t you heard?), I want to compile a list of everything I think needs to be added or changed so iTunes is a better Vista application.

Fix the lack of responsiveness. Right now, iTunes on Vista is about as responsive as what Mac OS X used to be (and may still be, depending on the hardware). The responsiveness is truly pitiful, especially considering that every other application on this PC is instantly responsive unless the system is swamped with processing something.
Support the Desktop Window Manger in full. This means that all iTunes windows should animate when opened, closed, minimized, and restored, and that all iTunes windows should have a drop shadows just like any other window in the system. (That screenshot is just inactive iTunes over this Word document resized to be the same size.)
Integrate with built in applications. iTunes should be able to use Window…
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My latest fixation: Frenzic

By Nick, February 22, 2007

Frenzic's tagline is "Addiction never felt so right." Typically I take marketing with a grain of salt, but in this case, they may be onto something.

After the last few articles, I think I’m ready to discuss something, well, fun. Enough serious crap, it’s time for dessert! This isn’t really a review, but a brief overview of my latest Mac addiction.

Two days ago I downloaded Frenzic, a puzzle game recently released by The Icon Factory and ARTIS software. I burned through the one hour of play time demo period in no time. I’m not a big first-person-shooter or role-player-game person; most of the games I play tend to be of the strategy variety, from various simulation games (Sim City 4 on Macintels, please!) to puzzle games, so it’s no wonder I would be interested in Frenzic.

Frenzic’s tagline is “Addiction never felt so right.” Typically I take marketing with a grain of salt, but in this case, they may be onto something.

So how does one play Frenzic? As counterintuitive as it may sound, it’s hard to explain because Frenzic is so simple and straightforward. The game board has seven circles: six on the outside and one in the center. Each circle holds six wedge-shaped pieces. One by one, a wedge will appear in the center circle, with a timer. Your goal is to place…
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The ethics of criticism [UPDATED x2]

By Nick, February 22, 2007

You can't take criticism too personally. You can take it to heart, you can apply it to your work and improve. But you can't take it too personally.

As some of you may know, in addition to my work here on Deep Thought, I also contribute to TheMacMind. Even though I am officially editor-in-chief there too, I am a good deal more involved in the operations of Deep Thought than TheMacMind, so much so that I am probably more of a contributions writer there than a full fledged editor (just look at the number of articles I’ve written for DT compared to TMM).

TheMacMind received some rather harsh criticism over a review that Anthony Cole wrote recently. The meat of the criticism is that Anthony’s review was little more than an attempt to scam software developers in order to get free software.

Anthony took over TheMacMind late last year after it had sat idle, proclaiming, “A new look coming soon” for over a year. Anthony is 16 years old. When I was 16, I certainly wasn’t running a web site. (Now that I think of it, when I was 16, it was last century. Yikes!) Anthony is still very green at this; TheMacMind relaunched just under three months ago. It represents his first real attempt at journalistic work. He is very much learning on the job.

As I…
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