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In case you were hiding under a rock, here’s some news: Apple has announced their new iteration of the iPhone, now featuring 3G and GPS. There’s not much to say about this that others haven’t already, so this will be a short one. As is usually the case, I agree with John Gruber’s analysis, and have the same gripes about the camera that Elliot Jay Stocks outlines here. In addition, I have to add that I’m slightly disappointed in the fact that there’s still no copy/paste functionality (unless Jobs just didin’t go into it in his keynote). On the other hand, I think that Apple’s alternative to background application processes, in the form of push notification services, seems like an elegant solution to the problem. It takes advantage of Apple’s already considerable IT infrastructure, and extends their array of IP services.

Oh and yes, I’ll be buying one. But I won’t stand in line for one again. That was a one-time thing.

Apple also unveiled their much anticipated update to the .Mac service, re-branded as MobileMe. This looks very interesting, and as a long-time .Mac subscriber, I can’t wait to see how it shapes up.

The big news, though, which has been somewhat glossed over in favor of iPhone hype, is the next iteration of Mac OS X, code-named Snow Leopard. According to Apple’s OS X website, Snow Leopard

builds on Leopard’s enormous innovations by delivering a new generation of core software technologies that will streamline Mac OS X, enhance its performance, and set new standards for quality. Snow Leopard dramatically reduces the footprint of Mac OS X, making it even more efficient for users, and giving them back valuable hard drive space for their music and photos.

Smart move, I think. Leveraging their considerable lead in features and stability over Vista, Apple has decided to take some time to refine their product (and squeeze a bit more life out of an ever-dwindling pool of ‘big cat names’ for their OS line). Additionally, one of the key phrases in the above quote is ‘delivering a new generation of core software technologies.’ Core multitouch, anyone?

I used to be a big, big fan of Metallica when I was in high school. I still enjoy their music on occasion. But then two things happened, and they happened more or less at the same time: they started to suck —anything after the Black Album is trash, and the Black Album itself is already a departure from classic Metallica, really— and Lars Ulrich produced his now-infamous list of file sharers who were ‘ripping him off’ by illegally downloading Metallica tracks on the original Napster.

The fact that four middle-aged, rock millionaires going through mid-life crises were essentially shaking down Shawn Fanning and co., crying about their ‘lost profits’ like some stupid corporate lapdogs was just too much. Ulrich’s ridiculous stance on file-sharing was even more absurd, considering that anyone even vaguely familiar with the band’s early days knows that Metallica first made their name by word of mouth. Back in the ’80s, when they were poor and metal, they actually encouraged people to make and distribute bootleg tapes of their material. Now that they were rich and washed-out, well, I guess they must look after their profits, no? Cliff Burton must be rolling over in his grave, dammit.

So, done and done. I destroyed my Metallica CDs, downloaded their discography illegally, and forgot about the whole thing.

Cut to a few months ago. Wired posts an article about how ‘Metallica Repents, Sort Of’. It turns out that the Metalli-windbags, after having had less-than-stellar studio outings since the ’90s, and after seeing the likes of Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails pursue successful online distribution strategies, have decided to follow suit, and release their new studio album online. Sort of. They set up a website called ‘Mission Metallica’ (no link love for these jerks), where they have been posting ancilliary material such as in-studio and live performance videos, photos, etc. However, what they won’t be doing is posting their album. On top of that, you have to sign up on the site to be part of their so-called community. Meh.

Upon reading this, I was slightly intrigued, but upon reflection, and upon remembering that Metallica has sucked musically for the last decade or so, I said to myself “Too little, too late,” and moved on.

Now this. It seems that Metallica has had early reviews of their new album pulled from internet sites, even though the reviews stem from a listening party that they themselves set up in London, at which no one was asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement. The kicker? The reviews were apparently (and surprisingly, at least to me) good, and heralded the album as a ‘return to form’.

Idiots. Call me when the abum drops, so that I can go download it illegally and then immediately delete it from my drive, unplayed.

. . . . that the Pirate Bay was raided, in a headline-grabbing move carried out by Swedish police, but orchestrated by the MAFIAA. Since then, the ‘Bay has only grown stronger, and the file sharing movement has grown with it. Like a Hydra, baby. Like a Hydra.

Ars Technica has a nice write-up here.

My cover for The Good Fairies of New York was turned into a wallpaper, and is being given away for free (as in beer) on tor.com. Get over there and snag it, along with Eric Fortune’s beautiful cover art (one of my favourites, actually) for The Red Magician. Also, if you haven’t done so, sign up for tordotcom—still in the works, but so worth it once we go live in June (I think).

EDIT: According to PNH: tor.com‘s actual launch date is July 20. Lunar Landing Day. 

Zak Snyder has announced a contest for people to submit fake ads and other, Veidt Enterprises-related promotional material, here. The winning entries will be used as in-story content in the upcoming Watchmen movie. I’m split three ways about this:

The fanboy in me is incredibly excited to see this film. Snyder outdid himself on 300. Watchmen, from what I’ve seen so far, looks to be of the same caliber and fidelity to the original comic. 

The web-denizen in me is very interested to see a motion picture from a major studio integrate crowdsourcing into its production. 

However, the creative professional in me balks at the idea that this is, in effect, a muti-national conglomerate (and member of the MPAA, no less) soliciting spec work from the masses, to be used in a profit-generating film. I have absolutely no doubt that some of the entries will be of professional caliber, and the thought of some hapless fanboy giving away his hard work for mere geek-cred just rubs me the wrong way. While, upon reading the fine print, one does find that there are cash prizes to be won,the legalese seems a bit sketchy to me. I’m inclined to speculate, but I am not a lawyer, and I have trouble parsing legalese, so I’ll keep my mouth shut. Anyone else have any thoughts?

The folks over at Instructables have started an rss feed with instructables based on the contents of Cory Doctorow’s forthcoming new book, Little Brother. According to Cory, on his Craphound blog:

….[the instructables crew] were really inspired by all the ingenuity demonstrated by the book’s heroes, so they’ve made a series of HOWTOs in the voice of M1k3y, the techno-guerrilla who tells the story in Little Brother.

Little Brother goes on sale in something like ten days. It has been generating a lot of buzz, particularly at Comic Con this past weekend. It is one of those wonderfully subversive books that inspires, educates, and informs, all while geared towards a YA audience. I read an advance copy a few months ago, enjoyed the hell out of it, and recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone who even halfway asks, especially to kids. 

I’ll be following this feed closely. The first entry is, appropriately enough for me, the photo-emulsion screen printing process! Print geeks, unite!

This morning on DailyKos, I ran across this short article about a woman whose $100 campaign contribution was returned by the Obama campaign because she’s a registered lobbyist. Here’s a snippet, typoes and all:

It’s not often you get told that you are persona non grata and end up praising the person who exiled you. But that [sic] what I am doing. Obama actions are living up to his words. Through the actions of his campaign he is demonstrating that his values are real and his commitment is certain.

Another aspect that is quite impressive to me is that the Obama campaign has a mechnism [sic] set up to check each donation, even one as small as mine, against the lobbyist database, and then return it.

What I find most telling in this story isn’t that Obama is true to his word (this much I’m -surprisingly- already convinced of), it’s that he’s truly leveraging technology in order to make his operation more efficient and transparent, as can be seen by the fact that even a contribution as small as $100 doesn’t get past the screeners he’s had set in place. This lends real weight to his platform proposals for more transparency in government via the judicious and efficient use of technology, particularly the internet.

The always-engaging John Gruber over on Daring Fireball has written up a great breakdown pitting the just released versions of the two most popular web browsers for the Mac: Firefox and Safari.

I have to say, as much as I love the idea of open source, and generally love Firefox and its myriad extensions, I agree with Gruber: I’m sticking with Safari, for many of the reasons he enumerates.

Because there are few things that piss me off more than frivolrous copyright-baiting by large corporations. Go Engadget, go.Image courtesy of Ryan Block, via Veronica Belmont.