Happy Birthday Linux – 15 years! Happy happy joy joy. The lovable penguin turns 15 today (actually the penguin was created two years after the kernal introduction). Linux also gave birth to some of the most popular flavors of open source : Ubuntu and Red Hat. And the lovable managed to battle the biggest company in the software industry, sometimes been called bad names, Microsoft. Here’s to you, Linux, sticking it to all those big bullies out there.
Apple unveiled a new iPod Shuffle this week. It is smaller, sleeker, smaller, buttonless, speaks to you, and comes with headphones. Wait, did you say the Shuffle has no buttons? Yes sir, it just has the hold button that serves as a hold/off/on. I have a feeling people are going to mistake these miniature mp3 music players for sticks of gum. I still do not who Apple is trying to market with their Shuffle; kids, toddlers, small pets? They already have a special sports one so no point in reinventing the wheel. Oh, and there is only one color to this ipod: silver.
Facebook revamps its homepage. Luckily it is only the front page that got a makeover. For me, it won’t do. It’s more confusing, more crowded, and more visually stupid looking. I love FB and have been using it for a few years now, but come’on, is this what the team thought as better? Whatever happened to usability and web design? Besides the fact that loading times are terrible and links don’t always work, Facebook has failed on the user interface. I hope next time they have a bigger test group telling them what makes sense.