Oh, wouldn't it be splendid to live in a world where we could have the entire Internet in our pockets, as well as all the rollerskating dogs and seizure-inducing banner ads that come along with it? Adobe sure thinks so, as its Senior Director of Engineering, Paul Betlem, made another pass at practically begging Apple to come over to the dark side. At the Flash on the Beach 08 conference in Brighton, UK, Betlem took another public shot at sinking Adobe's claws further into Apple's mobile OS. "My team is working on Flash on the iPhone," Betlem reminded attendees. He also restated that "it's a closed platform." Thanks, Captain Obvious. Betlem told those listening that Apple makes all the decisions, but apparently didn't say much about whether any performance progress had been made since Steve Jobs slammed both Flash and Flash Lite at a shareholder's meeting in March. Jobs says Flash runs too slowly on the iPhone, and Flash Lite is simply "not capable of being used with the web." These comments haven't deterred Adobe from pushing the matter, however, as it claimed back in June that it has a version of Flash running in Apple's iPhone Simulator. Adobe hasn't commented on how well that version runs, but if Flash's persistently dreadful performance on Mac OS X is any indication, my personal money is on a performance rating of "Martha, get mah shotgun." But hey, at least Adobe is ready with a proprietary Internet technology for a (admittedly proprietary) device that focuses on web standards. The Flash on iPhone "thing" has been a constant thread since the original iPhone landed. At least, like, a hundred guys weren't able to use one to play that one awesome Flash gameAlbino Blacksheep. Talk picked up in recent months, however, after Microsoft announced that it licensed both Flash Lite and Reader LE for the Windows Mobile OS and all OEMs. Microsoft's Silverlight, it seems, remains to be the poor freshman who couldn't score a date for the prom. Joking aside, we are, of course, aware of the fact that far more than 100 guys want Flash on the iPhone, and for a bit more than silly games. However, there is ultimately the matter of the iPhone SDK rules to contend with. Apple has yet to show a sliver of mercy in its ban of application runtime environments from the iPhone OS. If Apple conceded to a company even as large as Adobe, the company would have to open a virtual Pandora's box to other platforms that would undoubtedly vie for the same opportunity. Call us crazy, but at the very least, we figure Apple has plenty of other problems to deal with right now.
 At the end of September, Nike will be releasing an exclusive style of the Air Jordan 1. Replacing the shoelaces with two velcro straps, this sneaker is inspired by the Chicago Bulls colorway. Although some people may have grown out of velcro in pre-school, the two straps bring something different to the sneaker world today. This is the first sneaker (White/Black-Varsity Red) JB will be releasing as part of its ‘velcro series’ with many more colorways releasing in the ensuing months. Officially, Air Jordan I Velcro Red will retail September 27th, 2008 for $100. Everybody will have a chance to stay strapped! Is JB wrong for going back in the past and pulling that good, old velcro out? Much thanks to Millenium for the photos. |
The U.S. men and women both dropped the baton in the Olympic 400-meter relays Thursday night and failed to advance out of the first round. First, men’s anchor Tyson Gay, part of the American team that won the relay at last year’s world championships, did not get the red metal stick from third-leg runner Darvis Patton. Then, about 25 minutes later, women’s anchor Lauryn Williams flubbed her exchange with Torri Edwards, their baton dropping to the ground, too.
Twitter's popularity has soared recently, and, of course, this has caused spammers to flock to the service like right wing radio hosts to a fiery black preacher. Twitter has plenty of problems of its own with out having to worry about spammy posters ruining the party for everyone else.
One of the most common techniques used by spammers to rack up a significant number of followers -- folks who track a particular person's tweats -- is to follow as many people as possible. The idea is that the folks a spammer follows will return the favor and follow the spammer eventually, too. Twitter is combating this practice by limiting the number of people any one user can follow, and therefore limiting the amount of people the spammer can connect to.
The limits are different for each account and based upon the number of followers and other undisclosed criteria, but generally the limit seems to be in the 2,000 range. Some may complain about the restriction, but it seems perfectly reasonable to us -- there is no way you could possibly keep up with following 2,000 people and get anything useful out of it.
Bolt is something of a sprinting experiment, defying assumptions that tall men can't run the 100. Silver medalist Richard Thompson said Bolt shattered the stereotypes of sprinters as "short, strong and stocky." At 6-foot-5, 193 pounds, with rapid turnover and the ability to explode from the blocks, Bolt is the "beginning of something else again," Thompson said.
Such talk inevitably leads to speculation about doping. And there is a perception that Bolt came out of nowhere this season. That's not entirely true, or fair.
For years, the track world has expected much from Bolt, but his records were supposed to come in the 200 meters. He won the world junior championship in the event at 15 and a 2007 world championship silver medal. If anything, those who saw Bolt as a teenager wondered what took so long.
"He's been running very well since he was very young," Thompson said. "It was just a matter of time before he was running these times."
Bolt's countryman Asafa Powell, the former world-record holder who was supposed to challenge the phenom, finished fifth, another in a long line of disappointments at major meets. That didn't stop him from praising his teammate. "Usain is spectacular," Powell said. "You just have to look out for what's coming next for him."
Indeed, everybody in the stadium spent the evening speculating on how fast Bolt can go. Everyone except Bolt. "I don't know," he said.
He kept insisting he was only there to win, not to set a record.
After all, Bolt already owned the 100 record, running 9.72 in May against Gay in New York. In response, Gay put up his American record at the Olympic trials before injuring his hamstring in a 200 heat.
Gay said after the loss in May, he knew he'd need to run 9.6 to beat Bolt, and that he'd prepared himself mentally to do it at the trials. So Gay's absence in the final disappointed everybody, including Bolt.
"I've been telling Tyson all season that I wanted him to get better," Bolt said. "Because if you want to be the best, you've got to beat the best."
Now, there's no question who is the best.
"Toscanini said Marian Anderson's contralto voice comes along once a century," said Dr. Herb Elliott, a physician for the Jamaican Olympic team. "A guy like Usain Bolt comes along once a century."
Maybe Bolt's bib number, 2163, was a hint at how far into the future it will be before we see his like again. In any case, Jamaicans won't think about tomorrow for awhile. They'll just enjoy what one of their own did in the present.
"In Kingston," Elliott said, "business stopped today."
When the latest edition of the football video game franchise is released Tuesday, it will still feature the quarterback in his Green Bay Packers uniform -- despite the fact Favre was traded to the New York Jets.But publisher Electronic Arts said it was releasing a downloadable update to make Favre a Jet in the game, as well as new cover art for anyone who wants it.
"We do not plan to reissue packaging but will offer a free downloadable cover in the coming days on easports.com featuring Brett Favre in a Jets uniform," EA Sports said in a statement released Thursday. "Fans can print this new cover out and insert it into the case of 'Madden NFL 09."'
EA Sports will release a free downloadable update to the game with the Favre character as a Jet -- and any other player who signs as a free agent or moves teams -- before the start of the regular season. But "Madden NFL 09" will be released Tuesday with the Favre character as a Packer on all-time greats team.
