jeremywc

The problem with the Zune wasn't the hardware specs, it was the software and content eco system built up around it. The market generally only allows for one walled garden to succeed at any given time. And Zune was just another walled garden. If you're going to be locked in, you want to be locked into the option that is the most popular because there will at least be an ecosystem built up around it. Apple had the more mature (and popular) walled garden. All access streaming plans really aren't that compelling if you generally spend less than $15 a month on music. That's why Rhapsody, Napster, etc never took off.

On the surface (see what I did there? ha!) it looks like Microsoft is getting its act together, but then you closer and see that they are still up to the same old Microsoft pitfalls they have every time they launch a product. I think the decision to use two completely different sets of hardware and versions of the OS creates a "crappy tablet" and "tablet you really wanted but couldn't justify buying" scenario. They can't just make a product and put it out there, they always have to do pro and home editions for everything. And then you kind of have to ask yourself, "If it's a touchscreen tablet, why do I need a keyboard, trackpad, and stylus?" Basically, they're still trying to be all things to all people instead of just designing a product and letting it stand on its own. The only time they deviated from that strategy they created the Xbox and it has been a great success for them. I thought the keyboard covers were nice and the built in kickstand, but those just feel like evolutionary add ons. I'm sure it will do well, because even the Zune moved a good amount of units, but I just feel meh about it. Nothing blew me away.

Every Heinlein book I've read is that way. He weaves his politics into his stories and there is usually some sort of Mary Sue type character (Dubois, Jubal Harshaw, The Professor) who is basically Heinlein himself preaching to everyone in the book. IMO, Roddenberry was guilty of this too in Star Trek, but Star Trek manages to not brow beat you with its politics quite as much, so it's more digestible. And it probably doesn't hurt that I tend to agree with Roddenberry's politics more than Heinlein's.

No, sorry, that was worded badly. Just 6 feeds in Tweetdeck, one for each list.

I just spent the last few days doing some heavy cleaning on my Twitter account and I'm much happier with it. I was up to following almost 400 accounts and it got to a point where I wasn't getting anything out of it unless I stayed glued to Twitter all day. The first thing I did was unfollow most of the news, corporate, and political Twitter accounts. Those types of accounts tend to be filled with links and hashtags that I find too distracting. Then I went about aggressively unfollowing people who posted stuff that I just didn't find interesting. Example: At one point I had a lot of athletes from the various Houston sports teams. Those guys post a lot, but very little of it was anything I cared to be kept up to date on. Mostly it's just trash talking with other athletes and responding to fans. After that, I organized everyone so they were only in one list each and cut my lists down from around ~20 to 6. The best part of doing that was it forced me to think about what kind of information I wanted to get out of Twitter and prune any accounts I felt didn't meet those requirements. Once I had everyone organized into lists, I switched from using the main twitter.com UI to TweetDeck in my browser. Instead of viewing one big feed, I have 6 feeds for each list I created. I ordered the lists left to right from most frequently updated to least. This works great and I'm back to where I can jump on Twitter a few times a day and feel caught up.

I think most level headed people would agree that sexism in the video gaming community is still a big issue, though. And as long as it is, it's not unreasonable to expect that a lot of people (especially women) are going to continue to want to add their voices to the issue. I've read studies that show that teenage boys no longer make up the largest demographic in the community, I'm not sure if it's accurate or not. What I do know is that they are especially vocal! The more counter arguments we get, the better, IMO.

Howdy, I too am one of those dirty new Kickstarter backer type people. Registering and joining the discussion seemed like a good idea, so here I am.