Cogs can think.

Two big announcements on OSNews during the night. We rolled out OSNews v4.1, a completely new look built upon the already well-tested and stable v4.0. It looks awesome, I just want to hug it, and call it pet names. The work was done by mystery designer Brittney, and of course our own Adam. I’m really happy with it - it looks professional, 2008, and consistent, without being overly annoying or a visual overload.

The other thing is that we also officially launched the OSNews comic, Focus Shift. Adam integrated it into OSNews seamlessly, and again, it looks awesome. The comics will come out tri-weekly, doodled by me, and you can treat them as normal stories; comments, recommendations, moderation, everything.

I’m proud of everyone who helped v4.1 come to realisation - which basically comes down to Adam and the mystery designer. Good job, guys!

Got some cool new gear.

A brand new TV, LCD, 83cm, HD, superawesome, scaringly large. Review on OSNews soon.

A Nikon D70 digital SLR camera. It’s actually not mine; I get to loan it from Adam and his wife Beth (thanks!) while I’m at OSNews. I took my first few pictures with it just now, without having dived into the manuals or other photography jargon yet. They already look a whole lot slicker than any previous photos I made.

More to come.

• Last Thursday, I finally bought a new Mac, after months and months of pondering what to buy. I decided to buy a 2nd hand PowerBook G4 from an Apple retailer (so I get support and guarantee). It’s a 15″ PowerBook G4 1.25Ghz, 768Mb of RAM, Radeon 9600 with 64Mb of RAM, 60GB hard disk, and a combodrive. It runs Tiger, and I’m really, really happy with it - it’s in mint condition. I’ll up the RAM to 1.5GB next month.
• I’m launching a web comic on and about OSNews. It’s a definite gamble, but I like doing it, and the first responses were very positive. We have settled on a name, which will be revealed as soon as we get the website in order to publish comics.
• I’ll spend my New Year’s Eve in Amsterdam.

Update: Huilie huilie dikke boehoe. Buhbye now!

—

I may be a fine specimen of the human race (arrogant? I? What gave you that idea?), but even I can get a little… Upset every now and then. While it is a whole lot of fun ‘doing OSNews’, and being ‘the OSNews guy’, OSNews, or more specifically the people using it, can be a real bunch of idiots.

The problems all stem form the idea that some have in their heads that somehow, OSNews exists solely for them, and that we serve only them, and them alone.

That’s not exactly the case. OSNews is a hobby for me, I do it for fun, I don’t get paid, nor does anyone else on the team. In other words, demanding we publish something, or demanding we don’t publish something is a bit like telling a floor tile to flip. Not only is it futile, it also looks a bit silly for passers by.

Today we had a regular Apple fanboy crying foul over the fact I published the Think Secret story. His complaints were something along the lines of “why are you publishing this Apple story, and not the other ten articles in the submission queue” (which were all submitted hours after I published the TS story) - I had it up to here, and I snapped.

Snapping, however, is always a thin line to walk. It can go horribly bad, but it can also fall really well. This time, it was the latter. I wrote:

What’s keeping the other ten articles on the submission queue?”

MY LIFE?

In case you haven’t noticed, contrary to you, possibly, I have a LIFE to run, a job to go to, a social life to manage, a university study to complete, parents to help, a home to maintain and keep clean, an ass and a couch to sit on, tea to drink, a cat to pet, a car to maintain, a party at my place saturday eve to organise, …, ….

I don’t sit behind my computer all day long just to please YOU, I do it to PLEASE MYSELF.

I’m sorry for the snappage, other people, but I can’t help it. This morning, I emptied the submissions queue by removing those I don’t want to publish, and by publishing the remainder (two in this case). After clearing the queue, I did a quick round along my favourite few websites, including the Dutch Mac website I visit daily, where I encountered this story. I posted it because not only is it a follow up to an earlier story I wrote, but also because people are clearly interested in this stuff.

There is no conspiracy here, you annoying little Apple fanboy, just what I always do: clear the queue, post whatever’s worthy, and then do a round to see what other stuff you readers missed/did not submit. I’ve had it up to HERE with your nonsense, meianeriogn, just go get a goddamn life instead of annoying me with your pointless little “oh-my-god-Thom-is-anti-apple-and-eats-babies” nancying around. Conspiracy idiot. Go spot black helicopters or get abducted by aliens or something.

Glad I got that off my chest. Sorry to everybody else.

Babies do taste nice, though.

Eugenia and I discussing getting a new TV for me for review (via IM). My current one is a 17″ widescreen LCD, which supposedly is small.

“I’m happy with the current size, but when even Renate complains it’s too small (she has never complained about ANY materialistic thing ever since I’ve known her), it really must be small.”

“…and god be darned if someone takes THAT line out of context.”

There’s a geek soap opera going on over at Planet GNOME, with the center of attention being Jeff Waugh and his (non?) work for GNOME. Since I really don’t give a rat’s ass about the people behind the software I use (really, I don’t. I care about the product or art, not the programmer or artist), and I only had one run-in with Waugh, I really cannot comment on this stuff. That run-in was perfectly resolved, and he didn’t come across me in a way that resembles whatever Cumming is claiming.

In the end, this is all useless political blabber. GNOME is falling apart. As I have said many times before on this blog as well as on OSNews, GNOME is dead. Dead, dead, dead. If you, as a major software project in a fast-changing world, do not have a well thought-out plan for the future, then you are dead. Cold, harsh, but reality. People have flamed Eugenia and I for saying it, but if a strong leader does not step up soon, a leader that dares to make the hard decisions needed to set a viable plan for the future, than GNOME is doomed to insignificance. It won’t be able to adapt. And we all know what happens to things that do not adapt.

KDE had the guts to make the tough decisions, and despite delays and setbacks, they are slowly but surely seeing the fruit of their labour. I may not like everything coming out of KDE 4, but at least they are trying. And I commend them for it.

I do want KDE 4.0 to be released after December 31st, 2007, though. I want to win my bet with Aaron.

There are a few things about being the OSNews guy that really rock. Apart from having the superpower to be pro and anti everything at the same time, I also got the superpower that lets me get free stuff from companies.

Apple has loaned me a brand new MacBook (2.2Ghz Core 2 Duo/1GB of RAM/Intel GMA x3100/120GB HDD/SuperDrive) with Leopard on it so I can review it for OSNews. Obviously, the device has to go back to Apple when I’m done, and we’ve set a four week window; this gives me enough time to properly review the thing. Right before the Apple MacBook goes back, I will buy my own so I can transfer settings and such - or maybe they will let me buy the one they sent me, who knows. I want the OSNews review to be done in about three weeks. December 1st is my birthday (I’m turning 23), and somewhere soon after that, I will buy my own MacBook.

So far, I like the MacBook. One thing though, Apple: would it kill you to include the mini-dvi-to-vga adapter by default?

Thank you.

I would like to congratulate Adam and his wife with the birth of their first baby, Jillian!

Moge geluk en voorspoed Jillian en haar ouders ten dele vallen :). Babelfish that.

I have a Dell Inspiron 6000. It’s a gift from OSNews’ owner, David Adams. It’s 18 months old now.

And it’s a complete and utter disaster, from a quality point of view. The screen hinges are broken. The paint is chipping off everywhere, even though the laptop never leaves my apartment. Keys on the keyboard are coming off. The battery started losing its strength within a few months, and since about 8 months, it’s been dead completely. And now, the power adapter is broken. Dead. Useless.

Conclusion: I have a dead laptop, and buying a new battery and adapter is all I can do - a total of 180 EUR. I don’t think I’ll be spending such an amount of money on this laptop.

OSNews is down, and our ‘down’ page links to the staff blogs, including mine.

Hi.

This seems like as good a time as ever to state that I will remain working for OSNews for at least the coming two years. Barring any unforseen events, you know, like, Fiona Apple asking me to marry her and run off to a far away place to live happily ever after (hint, hint), I will continue my work as the Primary Newsbot of Newsmatrix 01 for at least two years.

So there. You’re kinda stuck with me.