technology
#GPD is about to roll out their new Pocket 4 micro laptop and it’s gotten a significant upgrade. It now features an #AMD #Ryzen AI 9 HX370 CPU with a #Radeon 890M iGPU and an 8.8" 2560x1600 144Hz display. It has 40Gbps Thunderbolt 4 and a swappable port module on the back, as well. It’s more for admins than for gaming but it’s rather versatile and can even run #linux. Very slick little devices! #tech youtu.be/FWo4xElfK…
Well, I kind of expect dumb from Redmond’s very own Factory of Dull, #Microsoft, but this is on another level. I still have no idea why anyone tolerates #Windows11, what with all the shady crap being slotted into the successor to the “Last Windows”, #Windows10. They’ve paused 24H2 because some of Ubisoft’s #VideoGames crash after the update is applied. Wow. Just run Windows 10, peeps. #tech www.theverge.com/2024/11/2…
Dave’s Garage on #YouTube does a nice breakdown of performance benchmarks comparing the new M4 Pro Mini to the M2 Ultra Mac Pro and, for shits & giggles, a Threadripper 7995WX. My takeaway: If you’re an everyday, average user, get the M4 Mini base model and an external Samsung T7 2TB SSD. #tech #apple #M4MacMini #benchmarking www.youtube.com/watch
CORRECTION: I originally stated the comparison included the M2 Ultra Mini, a system that does not exist, and have corrected it to M4 Ultra Mac Pro.
Tyler Fisher (no relation) has announced Sill, an open source web-based Nuzzle-like tool that aggregates popular links from your social media sources, currently Mastodon and Bluesky. I can’t say I know anything about Nuzzle, though I recall hearing it was popular at some point :) It seems to have some neat features. #4nerds #socialmedia #internet #utilities sixcolors.com/link/2024…
Satechi dropped some details on their upcoming new hub stand for the redesigned M4 Mac Mini, sans a price, though the model designed for the older models sold for $100. From what we can tell, it has three USB-A ports and an SD card slot on the front and it can take up to a 2280 4TB NVMe SSD drive, but is limited to 10Gb/s speeds, so it’s probably best for wireless peripherals and TimeMachine backups. #tech #Apple #hardware satechi.net/landing/n…
I would have loved having one of these back in my D&D, GURPS, Aftermath #TTRPG days, but it won’t come cheap. Starting at $100 for the plastic model and going up from there, the Timestop D-20 will roll up to 12 D4 through D20 and has graphics for crits, and can even roll up to a D100. Oh yeah, it even tells time! #gaming #nerdculture #gadgets #tech #lofi #watches gizmodo.com/this-d-20…
Oh my! I am soooooo in love with this at first look!! Japanese #PC case maker #SilverStone is rolling out a new 80’s-inspired desktop case design that was supposed to be an April Fool’s joke earlier this year. Apparently enough people demanded the NEC PC-9800 clone be made real they actually followed through!! It will be going on sale in Japan next year for $130 (US), but nowhere else… for now. #tech arstechnica.com/gadgets/2…
When it comes to #tech press, one thing bothers me above all else; high-end reportage that ignores the bulk of users. The vast majority of people getting a #Mac probably don’t even know what a virtual machine is, much less need one. Despite this, nerd journos almost exclusively focus on the much smaller professional slice of the market. #Apple #Journalism www.macworld.com/article/2…
In short, if you want to buy a new computer and use it like an average person, go ahead and get an M4 Mac Mini base model. Grab yourself a Samsung T7 external SSD in 1 or 2TB capacity, and rest easy that your $700+ will last you for years to come. The M4 is a little terror that sips power. Your email, messaging, social media, and streaming sessions will be just fine.
Miffed by the power button of the new #Apple #M4 #MacMini? You’re likely a disgruntled PC user who is accustomed to having to reboot your machine frequently and are being enticed by the micro machine’s diminutive allure. Primarily, anyone who’s used a Mac for any time knows they almost never need to touch the damned thing. Sleep mode consumes an almost non-existent 1.6W of power. I reboot mine about once every 3-4 weeks. #tech #ButtonGate boingboing.net/2024/11/1…
#Apple has an issue with positioning itself for decades in the premium market, and while they do make excellent systems, they’re starting to pay the price. It shows in the fact that Apple has apparently loosened strictures on aggressive sale pricing from retailers (e.g., #Walmart’s $650 M1 MacBook Air, #Amazon’s regular steep price drops). Now they’ve stopped making new Vision Pro VR devices but are not exiting the space. #Technology glassalmanac.com/tim-cook-…
Can we please end the stupid "Natural" vs. "Reverse" scrolling debacle?
I am quite well versed in the extensive history of the operating system wars. Apple effectively created the home computer industry, and Microsoft has been doggedly chasing after ever since. This is not a new story in the slightest.
Historical documents tell us that Steve Jobs managed to arrange a tour at Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center, frequently called Xerox PARC, which had been tasked by their parent company with developing a wide range of modern computing technologies for the future. The PARC teams were responsible for laster printers, Ethernet, the desktop paradigm for graphical user interfaces, e-paper, Very Large-Scale Integration or VLSI, the process which made all of the computer chips we use today even possible, and the Alto, among other things.
A Xerox Alto II on display… somewhere. Unfortunately, the contributor didn’t note where they had taken the picture, so it’s anyone’s guess, though likely a computer museum… again, somewhere.The Alto II was an amalgam of all of the technologies developed at PARC and was effectively a “desktop” computer. The idea might seem insane when you look at the literal behemoth above, but this where we were back then. The Alto II was never released as a product for the general public and only 2,000 were built, mostly deployed inside PARC with some distributed to universities. Many believe that the Mac team’s exposure to the work on the GUI at PARC helped them break through some of their final stumbling blocks before the release of the Macintosh in 1984. I’m pretty sure we’ve all seen the Super Bowl commercial…
or are there many "truths"? One of the foundation myths of Apple was that Steve Jobs and a team of developers working…latimesblogs.latimes.com
There was, however, one more piece of radically new hardware that had been invented a decade earlier by a bloke named Douglas Englebart at the Stanford Research Center which brought it all together, a device that would become known worldwide as…
…The Computer Mouse.
The inventor of the computer mouse, Douglas Englebart, never profited from his invention. During an interview, he said “SRI patented the mouse, but they really had no idea of its value. Some years later it was learned that they had licensed it to Apple Computer for something like $40,000.” Not a great deal, peeps…Avoiding the rabbit hole…
So as to avoid a long(er) narrative about the history of the mouse, let’s leave it there and move to this piece’s raison d’être; the mind bogglingly silly problem of computer mouse scroll wheel scrolling directions.
You try to use fewer words to describe it whilst insuring all readers know what you’re talking about! I’m open to suggestions.
I’m quite sure most casual users who have always used a Mac or a Windows machine likely haven’t given a single thought to which direction the document in the display scrolls when you roll the scroll wheel up or down or drag two fingers across a trackpad. It’s kind of a thing that most people get. Kids learn all this stuff before they can string words together, for crying out loud!
But for users like myself who use both macOS and Windows operating systems, it’s a pain. (For the record, I’m also a Linux power user. Mint, Pop, and Fedora, in that order.) Here’s why:
Take a look at Kunal Rathore’s excellent article on the Mac’s natural scrolling versus Windows’ established reverse scrolling implementation, including a lovely animated illustration to, uh… illustrate the difference for those who have withstood the awesome attraction of “the other side”.As you can plainly see, they just do the opposite. It’s not like you can iterate on a linear motion control. It goes up. It goes down. There’s not a lot of room for creativity. If you take a look at the Mouse settings in macOS and Windows you’ll start to see where the problem lies. Let’s look at macOS 12.4 “Monterey” and how it handles scrolling options:
WHAT? The Mac makes this an OPTION???!!! I sense the Windows user inside me starting to get nervous…Well, how does Windows handle this, then? Let’s take a look at my HP EliteBook running Windows 10 and it’s scroll wheel options:
I like Dark Mode. Sue me.As you can see, the only options for controlling the scroll wheel in Windows are to tweak how quickly and how far it scrolls when you twiddle the control, but not direction.
Grrr.
Yes. All this is the fault of Microsoft…
So, I think we can all agree that this is rather silly, has no place as an issue on computers made since 2010 (so, we’re 12 years late), and is just dirt easy to fix. And no, I don’t want any registry hacks or 3rd party utilities. It’s built into everything else, so yeah. Clearly, everyone else seems to have cracked the code, as it were.
I’m not a coder on any level, but if programmers can make mistake that lose people hundreds of millions of dollars and fix that epic screwup, I’m quite sure Microsoft can add a scrolling direction option toggle to a Windows update coming sometime this year, and that’s being generous.
I’d be willing to wager a farthing and a nice six-pack of gluten-free beer that a couple of their superstar hackers could whip up a fix in an afternoon. Tell “Up” and “Down” to do the opposite.
Ooooooooooo! Rocket Science!!!
I’d be interested in hearing how or why this would not be a feasible endeavor. Both pragmatic and loony answers are welcome. I only have two rules; have fun. be nice.
The Conclusion…
It’s time. Get it done, Microsoft.
PS: The violence in America is intensifying. There are reports of mass shootings coming in daily now. The Laguna Woods shooting was just a few miles from our home. There are very clear signs that America is heading towards some kind of event or series of events that will likely change life in this country forever. I’d much rather it be a march on the Capitol for a protest of epic proportions than another mass shooting.
PPS: One way we can look at this is via representation, one of the core tenets of the foundations of American society. Most Americans are represented, at least the ones who aren’t homeless, an illegal immigrant, or Black. Those should be easy red flags. Then divide them into Democratic, Independent, and Republican silos. There’s more red flags. They’re everywhere you look. We keep divvying ourselves up into little groups of people who should get more than everyone else. And we know very well that the big group with the most rabid desire is the white supremacy movement. Another is the National Rifle Association. I get it. It’s easy to get them mixed up.
PPPS: When reflecting on the tragedy of these terrible times when some of our “representatives” choose to dissemble in the face of the slaughter of nineteen 9–11 year olds in the name of their god, the gun, remember that the NRA membership is less than 2 million… in a country of 330 million.
PPPPS: How’s that for representation!