prod & ponder

My friend Dave and I have been playing out the Ravens/Redskins game ad nauseum for the past several weeks, ever since Madden ‘08 was released. As the guy who’s always playing as the Ravens in this match-up, let me offer these two bits of advice that were (painfully) borne out in tonight’s game.

1. Run the ball up the center a few times before you start with the play actions. For goodness sake, bait the hook before you toss it in the water. Even then, don’t try the play action often. Accept that McNair needs to get rid of the ball quickly (I’ve nicknamed the Raven’s offensive line “Easy Pass”) and that there just isn’t going to be time for tricky theatrics.

2. Never put Boller in a position where he needs to scramble, think, take a hit, or do anything marginally critical or complicated with the football.

1. Cut & Paste between applications.
2. Attach photos to SMS messages (MMS).
3. Revoke the DC Taxi Commission. (*)
4. Factor for infrastructure deficiencies when plotting driving directions. (*)
5. Offer one-click vivisection of spam email senders.
6. Be the one iPhone to rule them all.
7. Stop reminding me of things to do and actually, you know, just get the stuff done itself.

Today is my birthday. I’ve just turned 36. I am not particularly happy about it. It’s the first time I’ve had misgivings about my age.

Before anyone mistakes my last post about the iPhone as evidence that I drank the Apple kool-aide without reservation, here’s some deserved scorn for the company.

“There really are times when I wish I had chosen to develop for Windows. Surely Microsoft cannot treat developers as poorly as Apple does? Apple is not your friend. They make lovely machines and a great OS, but they care very little for users or developers, it seems” (*).

That comes from the developer of Scrivener, one of my absolute favorite writing applications, and an example of the sort of fantastic, Mac-only, indie-developed software that differentiates Mac from the Windows platform.

Yes, I prefer the Mac’s operating system to Windows, and Apple has designed some great hardware lately, but ultimately it’s the quality and affordability of software that matters to me. I doubt I’m alone there. So, Apple: start doing a better job of supporting the people who add value to your product.