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Quote: Wasn't Microsoft vilified for implementing UAC?
True. I think the difference is that UAC was clumsy, intrusive and baffling to most users. UAC prompts + seemingly constant updates is a pretty poor user experience.
In contrast, Apple's solution, at least from the average consumer's point of view, is simple and unobtrusive... with the App Store as a vetted source of software, maybe even a net improvement. I certainly appreciate being able to find, purchase and install apps easily and safely on all my Mac/iOS devices. I was skeptical, but it's turned out to be a good thing all around.
Whether ceding some control and revenue to Apple in return for turnkey access to their storefront and (potentially) promotion is worth the trouble remains to be seen. Microsoft and Google both seem to think it's a good idea for the future.
Director of Content Development, The Code Project
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As the publishing industry wobbles and Kindle sales jump, book romanticists cry themselves to sleep. But really, what are we shedding tears over? We’re losing the throwaway paperback. The airport paperback. The beachside paperback. We’re losing the dregs of the publishing world: disposable books. For too long, the act of printing something in and of itself has been placed on too high a pedestal.
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I came of age with Word. It’s the program I used to write my college papers, overcoming old-fashioned page counts with its magical font-switching technology. In those days, Word was an obedient and resourceful servant. Today, it's become an overbearing boss, one who specializes in make-work. Clippy says: don't show me this app again!
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The Kinectar Performance Platform is a toolkit that allows you to use your Microsoft Kinect sensor as a fully-fledged MIDI controller. Chris Vik explains a new work, Carpe Zythum, in which he uses a Microsoft Kinect to conduct a MIDI performance. Watch the video to see how it works. Toccata and fugue with hand-waving.
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I've noticed an unfair, ongoing trend: If Microsoft does something a little off, it gets bashed into the ground for it. But if Google, Facebook, or Apple (all three of which can be categorized, like Microsoft, as The Man in their own rights) missteps, it generally gets mild reprimands and even support from the media and those drinking the Kool-Aid. Is Microsoft unfairly criticized while Apple, Facebook, and Google get away unscathed?
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Overly sensitive, are we? Nobody criticizes Microsoft much. It's simply becoming more and more irrelevant - it screwed up in the browser area, web search, smart phones. The only thing it has so far going for it is xBox/Kinect. If anything people are NOT talking about it enough. And not, I'm not anti-Microsoft. I have 20+ years of development primarily using MS tools for MS platforms. It pains me to see how the company slowly follows the suit of IBM, AT&T, Xerox, ...
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Using the non-profit Calyx Institute, with for-profit subsidiaries, Nicholas Merrill plans a privacy-first ISP and eventually mobile wireless carrier. [ITworld]
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Audi is adding sound to its silent, electric car models with a synthetic solution called Audi e-sound. [ITworld]
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They should sounds like TIE fighters. 
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I hate it, it sounds like a car, which is horrible. Just what we want, uneccessary noise polution. Next we will make bicycle be noisy, but hopefully not sound like a noisy car.
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They spent 2 years of research on creating a sound that:
-is the least annoying for both the driver and pedestrians.
-can be clearly heard from correct distance and not further
-can be clearly heard from the most relevant angle in which the car is moving
-gives the driver a realistic sense of speed
-makes it easy to judge the speed from the pedestrian pov
-is still easily recognizable as a car
-reflect the marketing identity of the vehicle
And it ended up sounding like a video game from the late 90's... hilarious.
Giraffes are not real.
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Starting on April 22 2012, Verizon Wireless will have a new way of thanking you for being a loyal customer: charging you $30 for the privilege of buying a new phone from them. [ITworld]
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It has been a long time since cell companies have been nice to their customers. I think everybody now hates their cell company, just like they hate the cable companies.
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Our continuing series of Code Project interviews continues. Developer, teacher, and advocate for women learning to code.
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There’s one key benefit of writing this developer-focused documentation that I feel is often underplayed. Writing this documentation will help you find little bugs that would have otherwise been missed. Oh, that's how it's supposed to work!
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When developers first discover the wonders of test-driven development, it’s like gaining entrance to a new and better world with less stress and insecurity. It truly is a wonderful experience well worth celebrating. But internalizing the benefits of testing is only the first step to enlightenment. Knowing what not to test is the harder part of the lesson. Tests aren't free. What’s the cost to prevent a bug?
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Facebook serves an entirely different HTML document to each device. Unlike Google, whose simple-looking home page makes it more viable to present a uniform face across different devices, Facebook's Home page looks quite different in each case. Facebook adapts both the styling and the content to ensure a reasonable experience on each device. Here's how they do it. Facebook serves up very different pages for different devices. Here's how.
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It has been said that the Emacs learning curve is not so much steep as long. While the initial learning curve is indeed much steeper than other editors, that is a hump you’ll get over fairly soon. This guide does start from the basics, but its real aim is to help you reach the next level —programming the behavior of Emacs itself. All the graybeards are doing it.
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Hey - my day stubble isn't that grey.
cheers,
Chris Maunder
The Code Project | Co-founder
Microsoft C++ MVP
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Microsoft just released SQL Server 2012 in March, and now you can learn all about it in this free ebook. The print version, should you prefer, is available from O'Reilly or your local bookseller. Data point: did we mention it's free?
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The word “publishing” means a cadre of professionals who are taking on the incredible difficulty and complexity and expense of making something public. That’s not a job anymore. That’s a button. Publishing is not evolving. Publishing is going away.
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There are few things sadder than the software that ships with your car's in dash computer. It's 2012 and we have hybrids that can regenerate power from inertia but the car manufacturers haven't figured out that we just want the in-dash car screen to be powered by our smartphone. She's got a competition clutch with a 4 on the floor... but no Pandora.
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Walt Mossberg tries, who writes for a living, tries using voice dictation on his phones for a week to see how well it works. For those who find typing on glass clumsy, the microphone key on Android and the new iPhone is something you might want to add to your arsenal of ways to use your phone. Voice-controlled typing is ready for prime time.
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It’s becoming the great 21st century social media con: They make friends with you, then take as much as they can—only they’re not getting your money; they’re taking your privacy for their own gain. Privacy is fast becoming the de facto currency with which we transact online.
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When the printer portion of your all-in-one printer, copier, scanner decides to retire, why throw away a perfectly good scanner. Mikko Ristila did this and ended up with a slim scanner plus a few handy parts for tinkering. Here's how he did it. When you run out of ink, it's so tempting to just buy a new one.
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