Reed Hastings seems like a bright guy. He handily trounced the incumbent DVD rental giants (e.g., Blockbuster, Hollywood Video), and currently has a commanding lead in the movie streaming market. So why on earth is he destroying what he’s built? What’s happening to Netflix? Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, recently wrote a blog post to customers about some upcoming changes to the Netflix we know today: It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming, and the price changes.

I recently sold my MacBook Pro “Core Duo” to my mom for $900 (valued at $900–$1100). My dad just about blew milk through his nose when my mom told him about the price. “I could get two computers for that!”, he exclaimed. No, dad. Not two computers like this. An Explanation Marco Arment, writing about customer culture: This culture of compromise has been cultivated by Apple’s relentless pace of forcing progress and killing legacy support. Apple’s implicit message is simple: “We know what’s best.

If updating your web browser is something that you typically put off, now is the time to break that habit. A recently-discovered attack by an Iranian hacker has thwarted the industry-standard approach to online security, causing browser makers and security firms to scramble to restore balance. What is a web browser? Not sure what a web browser is? Check out WhatBrowser.org, watch the video, then come back here. Ready? Good. Let me tell you a story… Let’s say you’re visit a new place, and you have this really cool cab driver driving you around so that you can go site-seeing.

Wayne Gretzky is often credited as being the single greatest hockey player of all time. It is said that his father, Walter Gretzky, taught him the most important thing to learn in hockey: “Skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” This quote in particular is one that Steve Jobs has brought up on numerous occasions, and is far more revealing about Apple’s internal culture than I think most of us realize. It is certainly the most salient explanation for Apple’s intense focus at the intersection of technology and liberal arts.

One of the best pieces on Steve Jobs’ retirement I’ve read so far. “At the 25th hour, Jobs returned. He quickly re-installed his vision. And this time, the timing was exactly right. His vision seemed perfectly in line with the world at large. The result was a 14-year run that took Apple from near-death to the most valuable company on the planet. It wasn’t just hit after hit after hit. It was homerun after homerun after home run.” One More Thing… by M.

I currently own and love my iPad 2, but with HP slashing the prices on the new TouchPads this weekend, I decided to pick one up after calling around and finding some at my local Best Buy. Preface I feel that I should start by saying that I’m an Apple guy; or more specifically that I’ve always been an Apple guy. I was converted to the Mac platform back in the early 90’s when my Junior High school’s library got a new shipment of Apple Macintosh LC IIs.

Over my career, my job title has typically fallen into one of two baskets: Front-End Web Developer or Software Engineer. I’ve done a lot of interviewing over the past several years to try and find the right people to join the teams I’ve worked on, and I thought it might be helpful to share part of my process. NOTE: I want to start by stating that what is written here are my own thoughts, and not representative of any past or current employer.

The Comcast/Xfinity installer adds crap to your Mac, including forcibly setting an Xfinity portal as the homepage. It’s a really douchey thing to do. The Problem I set up my new Comcast Xfinity internet service today using the self-install kit. After walking through the necessary questions, it then forced me to download and install their crap-ware onto my Mac before it would register the flow as “completed”. Being given no choice, I begrudgingly ran the installer. Afterwards, I ended up with extra Comcast/Xfinity bookmarks in multiple browsers (Firefox & Safari), and the homepages for both browsers were set to an Xfinity portal page.

Neither I nor anybody I know cares all that much for 3D movies. The picture is muddy, colors are messed up, and the movies made with it are far too gimmicky for my tastes. The technology is still too new for the movie industry to have learned how to make compelling films with it yet. However, the 3D snake oil salesmen from Hollywood want you to believe that Apple is going to build this low-quality tech into their next iPad. Sylvie Barak, writing for RCRWireless, reporting about a rumored “glasses-free 3D” iPad 3:

Weird Al’s reaction to not being able to put a Lady Gaga parody on his upcoming album: My parodies have always fallen under what the courts call “fair use,” and this one was no different, legally allowing me to record and release it without permission. But it has always been my personal policy to get the consent of the original artist before including my parodies on any album, so of course I will respect Gaga’s wishes. However, given the circumstances, I have no problem with allowing people to hear it online, because I also have a personal policy not to completely waste my stinking time.