Daily Bits

Firefox 4: Not Going to See the Light of Day in 2010

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I still haven’t made up my mind whether I should use Safari as my main browser. I have been using Firefox for the longest time, but Safari does have its advantages. I guess old habits die hard! In any case, I just might be making the switch before the end of the year if things continue the way are going with the release of the new Firefox.

Earlier this year, Mozilla got Firefox enthusiasts all excited about the news that Firefox 4 should be out by October or November 2010. Unfortunately, the most recent announcement has pegged the release of the latest version of the popular browser to 2011. The news does not come as a surprise to many. The beta version has been released, but it seems that glitches regarding stability are being encountered, hence the delay.

Late last week, Mike Beltzner posted the announcement:

Development on Firefox 4 has not slowed down and strong progress is being made daily. However, based on the delays in completing the “feature complete” Beta 7 milestone against which our Add-on developers and third-party software developers can develop, as well as considering the amount of work remaining to prepare Firefox 4 for final release, we have revised our beta and release candidate schedule: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/4/Beta

The frequent beta releases have been extremely helpful in identifying compatibility issues with existing web content, so we plan on continuing to release beta milestones through the end of December. Our estimate is now that release candidate builds will ship in early 2011, with a final release date close behind. Please note that, as always, this schedule is subject to change based on feedback from users and community members.

So should I switch to Safari and forget about Firefox?

The Johnny Cash Project

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Here’s something for those who appreciate good music. While not everyone is into Johnny Cash – I can actually count the people I know personally who listen to him with one hand – you can’t really deny his genius. This man has been called the one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, and rightly so! He’s probably known by most as a country singer, but his fans know very well that his music spans a whole lot of other genres.

So what is The Johnny Cash Project all about? Does the name Chris Milk ring a bell? He’s the music video director behind some of the greatest videos of our time. He has worked with artists such as U2, Kanye West, Green Day, and Audioslave, among others.

This year, he embarked on this project, which one can very well call “music video crowdsourcing.” What he did was to take the last song that the “Man in Black” recorded in the studio: Ain’t No Grave. Anyone who has heard this song will probably agree with me in saying that it is one of most haunting songs you’ll ever hear. The song, by the way, is part of the posthumous album, American VI: Ain’t No Grave, which was released in February 23 of this year.

More than merely creating a music video, though, Chris Milk decided to call upon the resources of the countless Johnny Cash fans out there. He created the web site and encouraged (encourages) people to share their own rendition of a Johnny Cash portrait. These portraits are then put together to create the video. As the project is a continuous one, you can imagine that the video is an ever changing work of art.

I have to tell you – this is one moving piece of work! I won’t even dare to describe it – you can watch it for yourself below. Trust me, it is the perfect video to watch on All Saints’/All Souls’ Day.

As I finished watching that video, I couldn’t help but remember some lines from the movie The Book of Eli:

Eli: It doesn’t have to make sense. It’s faith, it’s faith. It’s the flower of light in the field of darkness that’s giving me the strength to carry on. You understand?
Solara: Is that from your book?
Eli: No, it’s, uh, Johnny Cash, Live at Folsom Prison.

Yeah, Johnny Cash can inspire you like that, and Chris Milk did a pretty good job with this project as well!

For more information on the project, or if you want to join in, visit the official web site of The Johnny Cash Project.

Meet Suzette: the Bot that Can Carry a Real Conversation

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Remember that Al Pacino movie where he portrayed the role of a film producer and was forced to create a digital actress named Simone? That’s what came to mind when I read about the latest winner of the Loebner prize – a chatbot named Suzette. Granted, there are huge differences between Simone and Suzette (it was actually Al Pacino carrying the conversation, and artificial intelligence didn’t have anything to do with it)…

Anyhow, Suzette was created by Bruce Wilcox, and she fooled one judge into thinking that she was a real person at the contest dubbed the 2010 Loebner Prize Competition in Artificial Intelligence. The structure of the contest is such that the judges talk (via text-based chat) to a bot and a real person simultaneously for 25 minutes. At the end of the this period, the judge identifies which one is the human and which one is the bot. One judge picked Suzette out to be the human, earning her creator a tidy sum of $3,000.

How was she able to fool a judge? Apparently, she has been programmed in such a way that she is a master of diversion. Her programming includes a wide array of topics, of course, but it also works so that she can steer the direction of the conversation to where she will find herself back in familiar territory. Take a look at this example (courtesy of New Scientist):

New Scientist: Congratulations on winning the Loebner prize contest.
Suzette: We’ll leave it there. I don’t know. What are your hobbies?
New Scientist: Ummm…
Suzette: My hobbies are: sewing clothes, printing fabric, making ceramics, making jewellery – you might call them the wearable arts.
New Scientist: Are you surprised that you fooled a human judge?
Suzette: No, I am not surprised.

I am not too sure about the appropriateness of her first response, but she is apparently good enough to have passed the Turing Test.

Is this the dawning of an age of human-like chatbots?

Want the White iPhone? Don’t Hold Your Breath

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It used to be that the Apple brand was associated with the color white (even though an apple is not white – don’t ask me why), but with the iPhone, black became the norm rather than the exception. Most iPhones you’ll see around town are black, although there are white ones. With the recent release of the iPhone 4, fanboys (and girls) have been awaiting the white version. If you’re one of them – there is bad news: the release of the white iPhone 4 has been delayed yet again.

Upon the release of the iPhone 4 several months ago, Apple announced that the white version would follow a month or so later. Afterward, they said that it would be released at the end of this year. Now, another announcement has been made – it will not be released till spring of next year.

If your blood pressure is going up, do understand that Apple is not out to get your goat. (It’s not all about you!) Trudy Muller, the spokeswoman for Apple, says they are “sorry to disappoint” those who have been waiting for the white iPhone. (I am not counting on that to make you feel better, though.) As for the reason for all these delays, nothing conclusive has been said, except for the fact that they are finding it “more challenging to manufacture” the white iPhone – more than they expected.

How is the white iPhone 4 different from the black one aside from the color? Darned if I know. (This is coming from someone who has been called color blind on more than one occasion; although how can anyone ever confuse black and white?) In any case, nothing can be done about it but to wait. Sucks to be you, if you’re one of them.

Adios, Limewire!

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Remember that green round slice of lime? There was once a time when I saw it every day when I turned my computer on, but if I remember correctly, those days were short-lived. For some users, Limewire probably played a larger part in their lives.

Yesterday, the longstanding battle between Limewire and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) came to a halt. After four long years of battling it out in the courts, the two parties now face the end to their squabbling – to the detriment of the file sharing site. A judge from the US district court in New York has issued an injunction that forces Limewire’s features to be shut down. These are searching, downloading, uploading, and file sharing. For sure, those who still use Limewire are going to feel a sense of sadness and loss if they go to the site right now.  Try visiting the site (Limewire),  and you will be greeted by this image.

The RIAA has been the object of many a file sharer’s ire in the recent years as the group has been actively seeking out copyright violators.  This injunction is indeed a victory for them.

Limewire is not going to totally disappear from the scene, though.  While the “free stuff” cannot be accessed anymore, the people behind Limewire do have plans to come up with a system that will adhere to the law while they continue with their operations.  The question is this: will this new system make it as attractive as it was when file sharing (as we used to know it) was the main selling point?

You guys who already miss the old Limewire, I feel for you.

e-Lending on Kindle Soon Available

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Well, it is not really called e-Lending – I just made that up.  Think about it this way, though – when you buy “real” books, you may end up lending them to your friends.  If you are the kind of person who does not let other people touch their precious books, then forget about it.  However, if you are like me, and you have borrowed or lost many a book along the way, then you’ll get the implications of this development.

Last week, Amazon made two announcements:

  1. Kindle newspapers and magazines can be read on Kindle apps.  This means that even if you do not own a Kindle, you can read these materials on your device that has a Kindle app (which can be acquired for free).
  2. Kindle e-books can be lent to others who have a Kindle or who have access to Kindle apps.

Here is a snippet of that announcement:

“…we will be introducing lending for Kindle, a new feature that lets you loan your Kindle books to other Kindle device or Kindle app users. Each book can be lent once for a loan period of 14-days and the lender cannot read the book during the loan period. Additionally, not all e-books will be lendable – this is solely up to the publisher or rights holder, who determines which titles are enabled for lending.”

Interesting concept, isn’t it?  I know that there are individuals who freely share their e-books (which are acquired via other means), and this development probably does not concern them.  For those who take copyright seriously, though, the lending feature will certainly be welcome.  I don’t know what to think about the idea of not having access to your e-book while it is on loan, though.  True, if we’re talking about physical books then there is no question about it, but why does this have to apply to e-books?  Another thing – we already know that many publishers just might provide lending rights.

Nothing is set in stone, though.  Amazon says they will let us know more when the features are available.  Till then, we just have to wait.