Ahlschwede Blog

New Job New Home

If I'm going to spend November writing a novel, I really need to catch up on my blogging backlog asap. To that end, I should note that I moved up to Rochester, MN for a new job at the beginning of September. Look at the photo below for an un-Googlable identification of my employer.

15 lbs of Adobe

 

A big box of user manuals for Adobe's Creative Suite 3 was waiting for me when I got home today. I can't speak for their quality yet, but on a cost/pound basis I feel like I got a good deal.

 

iPhone probably doesn't run Flash

Ars Technica has posted that the iPhone definitly doesn't use an Intel CPU. Contrary to a lot of speculation that ensued from Jobs saying that the iPhone "runs OS X", this probably means the iPhone's browser won't run Flash. Flash is known to have a good number of hand coded assembly optimizations.

In a lot of ways it makes sense to leave Flash off,  Flash video (via YouTube and on the television network websites) compete directly with iTunes. However, they don't want to advertise this, because the fact that it isn't compatible with YouTube and MySpace really kills the device for the younger market.

Watching the keynote I was looking for any sign that it did run Flash. Having read the transcript, I knew there was one place I would get an answer - on the Amazon homepage where they currently have Flash on the right side of the page. What happened when Jobs went to Amazon? He  zoomed in on the left side of the page immediatly (away from the Flash element on the right) and navigated to the next page before the homepage was done loading. Why would he do that if he wasn't trying to avoid showing us that Flash didn't work?

This isn't to say that Flash won't ultimatly ship on the device; it's still a number of months before the iPhone ships, but it's probably not working on it as of right now.

Update: David Pogue confirms that the iPhone doesn't run Flash.

James Makes Games

6:40 AM, and I just got done posting the first game for my new project - James Makes Games. I'm making Flash games for the Wii (accessible via the Opera Browser), and my first one that's complete enough to post is Daily Sudoku - which I've posted at the catchy URL: Wiidoku.com. I still have a bunch more I want to do with that title, but it's nice to get it out there. (If you're viewing this on a PC the interface and size might seem a little weird - I need to make a version better suited for a PC later, right now I think it looks good on the Wii.)

The kanji on the icon is what I've been lead to believe is the kanji for "kanji" --- if I've been lead astray, please speak up!

Vox Blog

So, TypePad just sent me an invite to Vox their new blog software with extra social software aspect and a more Ajaxy feel, and I signed up. Check it out, but I'm not necessarily planning on updating it any more or less than here, just testing the waters.

http://jamesahlschwede.vox.com/

Apple Plasma TVs: Best. Rumor. Ever.

If you follow these things, you know that next week is the MacWorld Expo,  a conference famous for Apple product announcments.  For the last few months there  has been  a running rumor that  the first Apple/Intel  computers would be
anounced early at this upcoming MacWorld. Up until now, the rumor had been that we would see Intel based iBooks or PowerBooks.

The new rumor? The best rumor? Rumor has it that the Apple/Intel product we'll see at MacWorld are Plasma televisions using the Intel Viiv processor and running OS X featuring Front Row. This is exactly the right product at the right time; I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Link- Exclusive: Apple Plasma Displays to Rock MWSF

Super Secret New Job

Danged Typepad! My blogging software  just deleted my post about my new job. If only it had automatic draft saving like Gmail! Heck if I'm going to type all that in again, I'm just posting a photo of the building where I work - you'll have to use your imaginations to conjure up the details.

Google Base: taking on eBay, Craigslist, and... MySQL?

Screenshots of the briefly online Google Base pages are beginning to circulate. It definitly looks like the service will go head-to-head with the likes of eBay and Craigslist. Here's a list of the built in datatypes that you'll be able to post to Google Base:

• Course Schedules
• Events and Activities
• Housing
• Jobs
• News and Articles
• People Profiles
• Products
• Reference Articles
• Reviews
• Services
• Travel
• Vehicles
• Wanted Ads

Even more interesting is the idea that you'll be able to post custom datatypes. What would these be used for? Is Google going to let you access information you put into Google Base via webservices? In the future will all the database dependent websites be running on Google Base? If so, they'll make a major leap over other search engines, in terms of being able to index the most pages in real time, beacuse they won't have to spider for this data - it'll already be on their servers!

Time will tell where this is going - no word yet on when more information will be forthcoming.

Link: Google Base Screenshots

All Your Base Rhapsody

Good lord. It's the words of All Your Base set to the music  of Bohemian Rhapsody in: Zero Wing Rhapsody. Make your time!

Reading Rainbow Contest 2004 Stories

As I was about to lay down and go to sleep, I suddenly remembered what I had to blog - we posted the final stories for The Reading Rainbow Young Writer's and Illustrator's 10th Annual Contest (gosh it's a long name) today! Check em out.