JohnA lifeBlog

So, Apple released Safari 3.2 the other day. Running the ACID3 test through it, here are the results:

Compare to the results that come from the nightly builds of Webkit, the open-source foundation from which Safari is built.

Please note that Webkit has been 100/100 ACID3 compliant for almost 5 months. Which begs the question… how long does it take Apple’s QA department to test code? I mean, honestly, I’ve worked with teams that could have QA’ed something as small as WebKit in about 2 weeks.

Get on the ball, Apple!

So, I sent an e-mail to the address shown in Microsoft’s new commercials… sean@windows.com. I asked a question, and received this in response.

Hello! I’m a PC – and I can’t answer your email right now. I’d like to say that I’m out climbing Mt. Rainier or biking across Europe with the Swedish Beach Volleyball Team, but in fact I’m probably just chained to a desk somewhere in the depths of Redmond pounding out product specifications.

Now that I have been in a commercial, Microsoft has given me access to super-secret “BillyG” level of executive resources. That’s right – I have my own email auto-responder!

This, as you have probably surmised, is my pre-prepared auto-response (All natural, no filler. No animals were harmed in the making of this response. Except for a ferret.) I really would like to have answered you myself, but if I did, (a) I’d probably get no work done, and (b) then I’d get fired, and (c) then I’d have no chance of doing any more of those really awesome commercials.

So let me try to prognosticate a few of your questions and answer a few of them.

Why did they put you on TV?
I think it’s my devastating good-looks and animal magnetism. No, really – there’s a ferret stuck to my leg right now.

But really – you aren’t even an actor!
No I’m not. But I play one on TV. I really am a Microsoft Program Manager. I work on IPv6, and other things that you haven’t heard of.

How did you get selected?
I auditioned along with a couple of hundred others. I guess I looked very Engineery. And the ferret probably helped.

Are you interested in more acting?
Oh no, I think that Engineering is MUCH more fun.

What’s with Windows Vista?
You’ve been watching those commercials again, haven’t you? Windows Vista rocks. Listen to real users, not actors.

-The Real PC, Sean Siler

Um, so the fact is that the bullshit-o-meter is off the charts. Microsoft & their ad agency obviously had no plans in place to deal with the fact that people might actually send an e-mail to a HUGE FU**ING E-MAIL ADDRESS they show in their ads.

I wish I were that good of a Hold ‘Em player, but the truth is that the iPod app’s AI has some serious issues that are too easy to capitalize on. Here are a few of the ones that bother me most.

• Too much pre-flop activity. The AI players bet far too much and far too often pre-flop. This means that if I’m holding pocket aces, I can pretty much slow raise the pot to several thousand dollars before the flop.
• Pushing all in too frequently. Actually, this is a problem in real life tournaments also… but the AI pushing all in pre-flop with 9-10 off suit? Give me a break.
• Poor heads-up performance. The AI is too liberal in their heads up bets. It’s easy to slow play the AI heads up because they push in several thousand dollar pre-flop bets.

Aside from those AI issues, I also hate the way it deals with multi-table tournaments… it is basically “Win a 10 person tournament, then go to another 10 person tournament” instead of the constantly balancing tables in a real tournament.

There are other issues as well, but it’s still a nice, uh, “restroom break” game.

Hello blogosphere friends. I’m in the market for a non-3G iPhone 8GB. Since I live in the sticks, we do not have AT&T 3G coverage, which would kind of make the whole 3G data plan not that useful.

If you have one you want to sell, please let me know!