Life of Andrew

Tsunami

September 30, 2009 – 10:36 pm

It is not everyday that I awaken to the radio telling me that Civil Defense has been activated due to the imminent arrival of a Tsunami.

Luckily the effects of the Tsunami on New Zealand were slight to non-existent, but not totally unnoticed. The following chart is from the excellent GeoNet web site. GeoNet (amongst other things) maintains a system of tsunami gauges around the country for just this sort of event.

The graph on the GeoNet site is a moving window so I have copied a static version here. I took graph snapshot at about 11pm, you can clearly see the waves hit different parts of the country in succession start from about 9:30am at Raoul Island (I didn’t know where it was either). Luckily for us there was nothing over a metre.

Samoa was not so fortunate as we were in NZ, with many fatalities in low lying areas despite a very speedy evacuation.

Posted in Links | No Comments »

An Ad in The Economist

September 24, 2009 – 10:51 pm

Being an Important Publication, The Economist has Important Ads for Important Job Openings or Important Services used by Important People.

“Hello, D&D Lawyers. How may we help you today?”
“My 3rd level fighter was dissolved by a Gelatinous Cube because the cleric wouldn’t use his last healing potion on me. My damages include 1 blue gem, a +1 dagger and monetary losses of over 3 plat. How soon can we bring this to trial?”

Posted in Culture, Games | 2 Comments »

Public Health Does Not Suck

August 18, 2009 – 11:57 pm

As the song goes, we don’t know how lucky we are in this country and one of the things we take for granted is our public health system. It may not be the most well-oiled machine, but if something needs doing then it gets done in a timely manner and nobody ends up bankrupt. New Zealand (along with most of the rest of the Western world) has decided that individual health is a public problem, so the public will support the individual if they get ill. It works out much cheaper for everyone, but that is just a nice bonus.

I have been watching the recent furore in the US where President Obama is busy trying to introduce something similar there. This being the USA (a strange place), half the public seems to be convinced that public health is some sort of evil plot to destroy capitalism, enslave the population, and end the American way of life™. These people are, of course, idiots but they are not wrong about the effects of public health being far-reaching.

In New Zealand, we have a mixture of public and private hospitals. Going public usually means joining a waiting list but is much (much!) cheaper, and urgent stuff gets done straight away. Private hospitals are more expensive but are usually much nicer to stay in and you don’t have to wait so long. The actual quality of care is comparable; it is common for medical professionals to work in both public and private hospitals so in many cases the same person will be performing the operation in either case. Health insurance is considered a bit of a nice-to-have.

Compare and contrast with the US: hospital care there is ridiculously expensive, much more so than the average private hospital in NZ. The reason for this is that everyone (everyone who counts, at least) has insurance. It doesn’t bother the insurance companies that the rates are so high because they arrange bulk discounts with the hospitals, a very cosy arrangement that benefits both parties but not the public. By law hospitals cannot refuse urgent treatment even if someone comes in without insurance, but the hospital charges the inflated amount anyway because they know that the few people who do manage to pay off the full amount will make up for some of the deadbeats.

But isn’t health insurance a great thing that everybody should have? Well, health insurance is a funny business even by funny insurance standards. If you insure a car and it breaks, the insurance pays out unless the car broke due to a known defect, in which case the manufacturer’s warranty will cover it. But with health insurance, a defect is called a pre-existing condition which no insurer will touch with a barge pole – and the manufacturer is conspicuous by His silence. Anyone unlucky enough to have a chronic long-term illness is an anathema to insurance companies – they don’t want to know. Someone who continually crashes their car will pay higher and higher premiums until they are forced to learn to drive or give up car ownership, but an ill person does not have that option.

One effect of high health-care costs that I haven’t seen mentioned elsewhere is the inflation of lawsuits. We have all heard the stories about people getting injured in car crashes (for example) suing the manufacturers of the car (or the city) for millions of dollars, even if they seem to be at fault. These lawsuits are not all about greed (although that may be a factor as well) but are a consequence of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in health costs. Often the insurance company or hospital will encourage the lawsuit just to get their money. It is a vicious circle.

I do not envy Obama. If he succeeds in his goal he will be remembered as a hero, but he seems besieged by loons, many of whom seem to be protesting against their own interests. If they react so badly to an NZ-style public health system, I shudder to think what would happen if they ever found out about ACC!

Anyway, my friend James is a (sane) American is trying to get a pro public heath website off the ground – National Health Care Does Not Suck. There is not much there at the moment, but hopefully it will turn into a nice repository of positive experiences with public health. On the other side of the coin, try this series of testimonials about bad experiences with US-style hospitals.

We don’t know how lucky we are in this country.
We don’t know how lucky we are.

Posted in Culture | 5 Comments »

Seals at Red Rocks

August 17, 2009 – 12:04 am

In my continuing quest to explore as much of my new home city as possible, yesterday I went for a walk around the south Wellington coast with a couple of friends. Starting from Owhino Bay there is a beach-side path that leads around the coast. Actually it is not a path. It is a 4 wheel drive track, so you constantly have to move to let big cars and off-road motorcycles passed. I don’t really mind 4WDing as a hobby and gladly got out of the way of the impressively muddy machines with knobbly tires, but many of the vehicles coming back the other way looked suspiciously clean. I resent sharing a track with tryhards.

Anyway, walking along the beach eventually gets you to a place called Red Rocks. There are some rocks there and they are indeed quite red, but the real reason for the trek was see the seals.

click for a larger view

The seals were well camouflaged and did not photograph well, but I can assure you that the above photo contains over a dozen of them. Honest, you can see them if you look hard enough!

Posted in Places | No Comments »

How to change the dictionary in MacOSX

August 3, 2009 – 8:21 pm

I love MacOSX, and one of the best features is the almost ubiquitous built-in dictionary. So it is surprising that I after 3 years I have only just now discovered how to switch the dictionary from the default American English to British spellings. For some reason this is not part of the normal System Preferences pane, nor does setting your region or system language have any effect on spelling. I knew there had to be a way, but could never find the trick until today.

In case anyone else is having the same problem, here is what you have to do:

1. Open an application that supports the in-built dictionary (pretty much anything except for Firefox). If in doubt use TextEdit.
2. Right click on a text input area and select Spelling and Grammar -> Show Spelling and Grammar from the menu. Alternatively, the same menu option is available from the Edit menu.
3. Select the dictionary you want from panel that pops up. Although the panel looks like part of the application you are using changes to the settings here apply across the entire OS.
4. Enjoy the sensation of spelling words with lots of silent letters just like Queen Elizabeth II and God.

Posted in Computer | No Comments »

I’m voting Yes

August 2, 2009 – 5:42 pm

“Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?”

Almost everyone I talk to about the 2009 Citizens Initiated Referendum agrees that the question is completely stupid to the point of being dishonest. The main problem is with the word Good, by including a judgement call in the question the “correct” answer is presupposed. A lot of advertising uses similarly constructed language, but nobody expects ads to present a balanced opinion.

So what are we supposed to do when faced with such a question? Both John Key and Phil Goff have indicated they will probably abstain, somewhat cowardly in my view. Both National and Labour supported the (minor) revision to the existing law that started this whole mess, the least their leaders could do is support the new law in public. It is also odd to see the Prime Minister seeming to advocate not voting in a democratic process, I would hope that he would be encouraging more democracy not undermining it.

I am voting yes. I think the changes to the law were sensible and necessary, and it seems that the only ones who disagree have a very odd outlook on families. Certainly the examples that were publicised of how unfair the new law was evaporated very quickly when the true facts of the cases became known.

Even if I was indifferent to the law (and maybe I am, I have no children) I would still be voting yes. I bitterly resent the fact the public money has been spent on a referendum that even its supporters acknowledge is useless. The people who forced it though with such ridiculous wording deserve as much scorn as we can muster and my feeling is that the humiliation of losing their own referendum would be richly deserved.

Every YES vote is another tablespoon of poo frosting on the huge poo cake the instigators of the referendum will be eating if there is a large YES turnout. And that is reason enough for me.

Posted in Culture | 8 Comments »

Space Ace

July 30, 2009 – 11:19 pm

Remember Space Ace? The massive machine at the back of the greasy arcade you used to frequent? The one that played a cartoon that you had to react to? The one that cost twice as much as any other game? Of course you do. Well now it is back, and it’s just as bad as it was back then.

Space Ace (like its older brother, Dragon’s Lair) was/is on the very edge of the graphics/gameplay scale. The graphics were amazing, consisting of several minutes of action packed hand-drawn animation. But all it was really doing was playing video clips straight from a laser disk which meant that interaction was limited. Every few seconds something on the screen would flash, which was your cue to move the joystick in that direction. React too late and the hero would die in some amusing way. There was nothing quite like it.

Space Ace has just appeared in the iTunes store, and I felt oddly compelled to shell out the $6.50 asking price and suffer through the 280Mb(!) download. The animation is just as I remember it, unfortunately so is the gameplay. It is basically Guitar Hero, but “controlling” the beats of action on screen rather than beats in a musical score. This is not in itself a terrible idea, but there is only so much video you can fit on a laser disk circa 1982 so the plot is very short and once you have learnt the patterns the game is very easy. The onscreen joystick works OK, but is quite picky so you have to be exact with your fingers.

Despite these limitations, Space Ace is in its heart an imaginative and silly game. I find myself enjoying revisiting it even though I will probably finish it in the next few days.

View Space Ace attract sequence on Youtube.

Posted in Computer, Games | 3 Comments »

WordPress Upgrade Time

July 30, 2009 – 1:01 am

I have just upgraded to the latest version of WordPress. Usually this is a simple procedure, but this time something went wrong – attempting to view the blog threw up a blank page!

Luckily I could still get to the admin pages, so I knew my database was still OK (of course I hadn’t bothered with a backup, so I was worried for a minute.) A couple of other people had the same problem on the WordPress forums, but no solution was forthcoming there.

It turns out that part of the upgrade process had overwritten my index.php file with an almost empty file that contained only comments. Whatever caused this problem (db upgrade? Who knows?), it went away when I copied the file afresh. I am starting to see why most people use a dedicated blog hosting service…

I think everything is working now – let me know if you see anything weird.

Posted in Computer | 2 Comments »

Film Review : Paper Solder (Bumazhnyy Soldat)

July 27, 2009 – 8:37 pm

The New Zealand Film Festival is on at the moment, giving us all the chance to see exciting, stimulating cinema from around the world; and also this film.

Paper Solder is a Russian production set in the weeks before the launch of Yuri Gagarin’s famous day trip. The story focuses on Daniel, the medical officer in charge of monitoring the cosmonauts as they prepare for the launch. The stress of the job (and a complicated personal life) is getting to him and he grows erratic as the big day approaches.

The big problem with Paper Solder is that it has no defined plot. Events occur, but there is no sequence to them. In fact for the first half hour I thought that the film was setting up the story with a series of lengthy non-linear flashbacks before I realized I was mistaken. I found myself wondering if the English translation was a rush job. A lot of the conversations (Paper Solder is a talky film) seem kind of pointless, but that may just be me. It doesn’t help that the English subtitles are often unreadable against the wintery Russian landscapes.

I think the film is actually about the state of Russia during the 60s (which to be fair probably did suck), and a lot of the plot is metaphoric. But that doesn’t make it any more interesting to watch. The one good thing about Paper Solder is the photography and direction – the film looks amazing. Its just a shame that the clever camera isn’t pointing at anything interesting.

Not really recommended except for dedicated followers of Russian history.

Posted in Culture | No Comments »

Book Review : Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion

July 8, 2009 – 11:19 pm

Hyperion

by Dan Simmons

After years of hearing “Hyperion is the bestest book evar!”, I finally managed to read it. And frankly, it is pretty good.

Set in the far future where humanity has created The Hegemony of Man, a culture that spans many planets thanks to portals (”farcasters”) that have openings many light-years apart. But there are some (the “Ousters”) who live in fleets of deep space vessels around the edges of the Hegemony. As the story opens, the Ousters have launched an attack on the planet Hyperion, not part of the Hegemony proper but under its control and a vital part of many hidden plans. Against this backdrop 7 pilgrims are thrown together on a religious quest to the Time Tombs, mysterious structures on a remote part of Hyperion haunted by an even more mysterious (and murderous) creature – the Shrike.

Trying to summarize all of Hyperion’s tortured plot-lines would be fruitless – there is a lot going on. But the frame story mainly concerns the difficult pilgrimage across the planet. The pilgrims initially do not know each other and the bulk of the book is made up of each pilgrim telling their own story to the others in their own words as they travel. It turns out that far from being totally random each pilgrim has a reason for wanting to go to the Time Tombs and some even wish to meet the Shrike. But are they all telling the truth?

Hyperion is basically review-bait – filled with pretentious literary allusions, most of which probably went over my head. Its structure borrows from Chaucer, but it is also clearly influenced in a big way by the poetry of Keats, but to say more would be to spoil things. If nothing else it forced me to spend an hour or two on Wikipedia trying to educate myself. The stories are all told in different styles, and information is cleverly conveyed so that by the end of the book the reader thinks they have a good understanding on the way in which the universe works.

That said, Hyperion has one massive flaw. By the last chapter we have heard all the stories and now expect to see how they all turn out. But instead the book ends right as the pilgrims start their final walk down the valley to the Time Tombs. This is rather a slap in the face to the reader – I felt cheated and resolved not to buy the sequel just to spite the author.

The Fall of Hyperion

by Dan Simmons

Ok, obviously I failed in my resolve – but in my defense I found it at a secondhand book store so the author gets nothing from my purchase.

The Fall of Hyperion starts where the previous book so rudely left us but switches gear completely, focusing on what is happening back in the Hegemony as what they thought would be an easy defense of the far-flung planet turns into a fight for survival. The Hegemony is politically fractured, and different groups are scheming for mysterious ends. The CEO of the Hegemony has her own plan involving the pilgrims but she is not the only one.

The Fall of Hyperion sets itself a mammoth task of tying up all the loose ends of Hyperion while telling a fairly convoluted story itself. It is to Dan Simmons’ credit that it pretty much succeeds, although it does get somewhat incoherent at times. The huge audacity of the explanation for some of the strange goings on is almost worth the price of admission itself, most books that try something similar just spin out of control but The Fall of Hyperion comes as close as any to drawing everything together satisfactorily.

The writing in both books is good, and the story moves along at a good pace. The way that certain events and even assumptions about the Hegemony itself are portrayed different depending on the point of view of whichever character the book is following at the moment is particularly well done. There are a few unrealistic points – it seems that just about everyone in the far future has a working knowledge of Keats’ poetry, but they don’t mar an excellent series.

Highly recommended if you like this sort of thing but for goodness sake make sure you obtain both books and read them in order. Hyperion doesn’t have an ending, and The Fall of Hyperion makes no concessions to readers who haven’t read the first book.

Posted in Culture | 2 Comments »

Opening Lyrics Quiz

July 6, 2009 – 10:57 pm

Last months Opening Narration Quiz was a minor success, so here is the sequel, this time with the lyrics to opening (or closing) theme songs. Guesses in the comments, no cheating.

1. It’s like you’re always stuck in second gear,
   Well, it hasn’t been your day, your week, your month, or even your year.
2. All the world’s waiting for you, and the power you possess.
   In your satin tights, fighting for your rights
   And the old Red, White and Blue.
3. What a cocky, saucy (something) this one is. All the Gods were angry and they punished him.
4. It’s been a long road – getting from there to here.
   It’s been a long time, but my time is finally near
   And I will see my dream come alive at last. I will touch the sky.
   And they’re not gonna hold me down no more
   No, they’re not gonna change my mind
5. (someone) leads, (someone) does machines.
   (someone) is cool but crude, (someone) is a party dude.
6. We never thought we’d find a place where we belong.
   Don’t have to stand alone, we’ll never let you fall.
   Don’t need permission to decide what you believe.
   I said JUMP…
7. It’s time to put on makeup. It’s time to dress up right.
   It’s time to raise the curtain…
8. Love and Marriage, Love and Marriage,
   It’s an institute you can’t disparage,
   Ask the local gentry, and they will say is element’ry.
9. Believe it or not, I’m walking on air.
   I never thought I could feel so free.
   Flying away on a wing and a prayer.
   Who could it be?
10. Somebody save me. Let your warm hand break right through me
11. I want to lie, shipwrecked and comatose,
    Drinking fresh mango juice,
    Goldfish shoals, nibbling at my toes,
    Fun, fun, fun, in the sun, sun, sun.
12. Just a friendly wave each morning, helps to make a better day.
    (Some people) need to get to know each other, next day is only a footstep away.
13. It seems today that all you see;
    Is violence in movies and sex on TV.
    But where are those good old-fashioned values;
    On which we use to rely?
14. Dance your cares away, (clap clap) worry’s for another day.
    Let the music play, down at (some place).
15. Take me out to the black.
    Tell ‘em I ain’t comin’ back.
    Burn the land and boil the sea.
    You can’t take the sky from me.
16. I’m gonna live forever. I’m gonna learn how to fly (high!)
    I feel it coming together, People will see me and cry.
17. He’s the greatest! He’s fantastic!
    Wherever there is danger, he’ll be there!
    He’s the ace! He’s amazing!
    He’s the strongest, he’s the quickest, he’s the best!
18. Everybody’s got a special kind of story. Everybody finds a way to shine,
    It don’t matter that you got not alot. So what,
    They’ll have theirs, and you’ll have yours, and I’ll have mine.
    And together we’ll be fine…
19. Straightnin’ the curve,
    Flatnin’ the hills.
    Someday the mountain might get ‘em,
    But the law never will.
20. Is it you or is it me?
    Lately I’ve been lost it seems.
    I think a change is what I need.

Posted in Culture | 6 Comments »

Fatso

July 6, 2009 – 9:55 pm

I just joined Fatso – it seems like an OK deal if you like to watch DVDs. Their library includes a lot of TV shows and old movies, and they have a great feature where they send the DVDs in a TV series in sequence so you never get stuck watching episodes out of order.

Their selection seems good but has some strange omissions, and the search function seems a little weird. I wanted to watch Rounders, a generally well received 1998 film staring Matt Damon and Edward Norton…

No Fatso, that is not quite what I asked for.

Posted in Culture | 1 Comment »

25 Random Songs

June 28, 2009 – 2:27 pm

I load up Facebook and what do I see?

“Once you’ve been tagged… (1) Turn on your MP3 player. (2) Go to SHUFFLE songs mode. (3) Write down the first 25 songs that come up–song title and artist–NO editing/cheating, please. (4) Choose 25 people to be tagged. It is generally considered to be in good taste to tag the person who tagged you.

If I tagged you, it’s because I’m betting that your musical selection is entertaining, or at least amusing.

(To do this, go to “NOTES” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, enter your 25 Shuffle Songs, Click ‘Preview’ below to tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click Publish, the little blue box at the bottom of your screen).”

Damn! I’ve been tagged with the 25 Random Songs meme-virus. Oh well, here goes:

Beauty Has Her Way by Mummy Calls (The Lost Boys Soundtrack)
I listened to The Lost Boys soundtrack religiously when I first got it, and while I still like it a lot there is no denying that it contains far too many sax solos. The whole CD could easily be the soundtrack to Saxophone:The Movie.

Who Put the Bomp (In The Bomp Ba Bomp Ba Bomp) by Barry Mann
I grew up in a small town with only one radio station. Looking back they did a pretty good job of trying to satisfy everyone, but means that I know more about 50s and 60s music than I do about, say New York punk. Anyway, they used to play this song – basically a piss-take on DoWop bands. I still find it hilarious.

E=mcHawking
I explode like a bomb. No one is spared;
My power is my mass times the speed of light squared.
I don’t know where Stephen Hawking finds the time to be both the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge and a hardcore gangster rapper simultaneously.

Pulp Culture by Thomas Dolby
I got this from a Thomas Dolby Best Of, pretty good stuff, although this is not one of the standout songs.

Como Sera by Edgar Joel
I bought an album of salsa music a while ago. It is pretty cheesy.

Merry as a Grig by Van Philips (Ren and Stimpy Production Music)
Ren and Stimpy made a point of plundering recording archives for old-old-timey orchestral music. Lots of muted trumpets and xylophones.
I have just realised I have no idea what a Grig is, nor why one should be merry.

Jango’s Escape by John Williams (Star Wars Episode 2 Soundtrack)
The music was the best part about Star Wars, and this is one of the better pieces.

Christmas is Interesting by Jonathan Coulton
From a CD I ordered online after I downloaded a couple of songs off his website after he was linked to the Wikipedia page on The Mandelbrot Set, of all things.

A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton

Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite #2, Op. 55 – 3. Peer Gynt’s Homecoming
I have a whole bunch of classic CDs in my library, mainly for when I am working and I need to concentrate. I was debating whether to exclude the classical stuff from this list, but it seemed like cheating.

Gummi Bears Theme
For a while I was collecting TV theme tunes. I cannot recall how I got started, but I still have them. This one always makes me smile when it comes up on shuffle – The Gummi Bears was a pretty good show.

The Sixth Sense Malcolm Is Dead – James Newton Howard (A History of Horror)
One fine day about 8 years ago I walked into Borders with too much money. I solved that problem by buying A History of Horror, a two CD set of horror movie themes going back to the 1920s. It has some great music on it, but also some tedious muck (this track lies somewhere in between.)
I recall that I was torn between buying this or BatBoy:The Musical original cast recording. I am still not sure if I made the right decision.

More Than A Feeling – Boston
Sometimes you just have to close your eyes and drift awaaaay… Ironically a song about reminiscing over an old song has turned into an old song that reminds me about my youth. God that makes me feel old, but I bet not as old as it makes the members of Boston feel.

Swear It’s True – The Mockers (25 Years of Kiwi Rock)
I liked The Mockers, but Forever Tuesday Morning is a better song.

Second Solution – The Living End
The Living End are still going, but rebellious punkesque bands really have a hard sell-by date (c.f. Green Day). This is them from their prime.

Crepe Suzette – Cyril Watters (Ren and Stimpy Production Music)
More Ren and Stimpy

Org Con in B flat, Op.4, No.2 – Halleluja
I once help win first place in a quiz by knowing that Handel’s Messuah was first performed in Dublin. I also know it makes for good background music.

I Get a Kick Out of You – Felix Slatkin Ultra-Lounge Volume 3 – Space Capades
The Ultra-Lounge series mines much the same vein as the Ren and Stimpy Music, just from a couple of decades later – lots of 40s and 50s cheese. This is from Space Capades, so there is lots of vibraphone.

Stravinsky: Pulcinella – Scherzino

Symphony No.1, Op.7 ‘Le Poème de la forêt’ in D minor. II. Renouveau

Leave A Tender Moment Alone – Billy Joel
Billy Joel is deeply, deeply uncool. I don’t care, I like it.

Best That You Can Do – Christopher Cross
There is going to be hell to pay when I find out who broke in and planted this in my iTunes library.

William, It Was Really Nothing – The Smiths
You know how I missed out on whole musical trends growing up? One of those trends was The Smiths, the only song I knew was How Soon is Now which I liked. A few years ago I bought a 2CD Best Of The Smiths collection to see what I had missed. And you know what? I hate The Smiths.
How Soon in Now is still pretty cool though.

I Could Be So Good For You – Dennis Waterman
Not sure where this comes from, maybe from my TV Theme collecting days.

Ode To My Family – Cranberries
Everyone of a certain age has either this or Wonderwall by Oasis in their collection.

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Opening Narration Quiz

June 22, 2009 – 9:59 pm

You know what is wrong with television today? Not enough opening narration, that’s what! Back in the day, you could count on the producers to slap a few words together to sum up the premise of the show you were about to see, little tone poems worming their way into the subconscious week after week.

Here is a selection of opening narrations that will surely trigger memories, or at least drive you mad attempting to recall. Post your answers in the comments, no googling!

Bonus movie narration:

Bonus Bonus Epilogue narration:

Posted in Culture | 12 Comments »

Safari 4 is Pretty Good

June 13, 2009 – 8:20 pm

Safari 4 has been out for a couple of days now, and I must say I am enjoying using it. On the Mac, Safari has always had a great overall browser experience but Firefox always managed to stay my weapon of choice for viewing the Internet. This may change, Safari 4 is a very nice piece of software.

Apple is clearly wanting to make Safari an integral part of the Mac experience – Safari is very well integrated into the Mac OS (you can use Spotlight to search your history, passwords are stored in the keychain, etc), and the UI has all the polish you would expect from Apple. I particularly like the graphical Top Sites view that Safari presents when you first start it.

One thing I have always liked about Safari is the way it renders text and graphics. It always seemed to be just that little bit more polished than other browsers – correctly anti-aliasing fonts and respecting the embedded colour profiles of images. In my opinion Safari is still the best looking browser.

Apple are making a big song-and-dance about how Safari 4 is much faster than other browsers. What they mean is that they have included a very good Javascript JIT compiler which speeds up script-heavy sites by a large margin. This is excellent news, but Safari is hardly alone in focusing on Javascript performance and very recent versions of other browsers have very similar performance.

On Windows, Safari is something of an oddity. It works just as well and still renders sites better than most other Windows browsers, but its awkward neither-Mac-fish-or-Windows-fowl UI doesn’t help. The Windows version also lacks the smooth GUI animation that makes the Mac version so pleasant to use. Apple are doing their best to push Safari onto iTunes users, but I can’t see it taking off except among web developers, Safari’s built in web development tools are very cool.

There are still a few problem areas. Safari doesn’t seem to enjoy displaying animated GIFs, which often stutter before they are fully loaded. It very occasionally beachballs for a second on some pages, not all the time but enough to be annoying.

Finally, another rant about the HTML video tag (since the last one got quite a bit of attention): Safari supports the video tag but farms out the video to Quicktime. I suppose this is better than nothing, but you can tell that it is not well integrated. Videos do not show up in the list of page assets and it is clear that Quicktime is downloading the video itself, bypassing the browser’s cache. On top of this, performance is quite poor when the Javascript controls are used. The video quality is top-notch, but the experience is disappointing.

It sounds like I am dumping on Safari, but really they are minor niggles in a sea of greatness. I still think Firefox has the edge (particular Firefox3.5, which is shaping up nicely) but you could do worse.

Posted in Computer | 1 Comment »