Mozilla drops the ball with Firefox 3 launch

Today, Firefox planned to take a stab at getting into the Guinness Book of World Records for most downloads, with its launch of Firefox 3.0. I was one of over a million people who pledged to download it, largely to evaluate its Mac performance, since Google's apps are notoriously awful in the Apple browser Safari (as competitor Zoho has managed to squeeze much more sophisticated interaction out of JavaScript on all four major browsers, this problem is almost certainly on Google's end [insert snide comment about Google's recruiting habits]).

But disaster struck within 30 minutes: the Firefox download site went down.

Dear Mozilla: Take a lesson from the Bay's startups and forward thinkers, and jump on board with Amazon S3 next time.

Regarding the Supreme Court ruling about Habeas Corpus

Just found this unpublished entry from June 16, 2008, and thought I'd publish it:

Before I found today's article by Glenn Greenwald in the course of my research, I was going to write precisely this. I felt a combination of disappointment that I would not be writing this article and vindication that someone more versed in this area shares my exact opinion. Read it.

Apple has www.me.com !!

holy crap, apple has www.me.com -- i wonder how much this prime piece of real estate set them back

here's a copy of the email from apple:

Dear .Mac member:

Today Apple announced a new Internet service called MobileMe - taking the best of .Mac and adding a host of new features. As a current .Mac member, your account will be automatically upgraded to MobileMe in July. For a closer look, watch the MobileMe Guided Tour and read below for an overview of your new service.

Mac integration you know and love. With MobileMe, you'll continue to enjoy features that take advantage of seamless integration with Mac OS X and iLife - Back to My Mac; access to your iDisk in the Finder; Mac-to-Mac syncing of Dock items, preferences, and more; iWeb site publishing; and photo and movie sharing directly from iPhoto '08 and iMovie '08.

New web applications for when you're away from your Mac. MobileMe features a suite of web applications at www.me.com that have the familiar look and feel of the applications on your Mac. Because these web applications stay in sync with your Mac and other devices, you'll have the same information wherever you go. Here's what you'll find at me.com:

Mail, the anchor of the new suite, is even better with a refined interface.

Contacts has a new three-pane interface, contact groups, maps integration, search, and photo support.

Calendar is a brand-new web application that feels just like iCal, featuring multiple calendars, click-and-drag event creation, and more.


Gallery lets you manage your collection of shared photos and movies from anywhere. You can now upload photos, rearrange their order, and set sharing preferences, all from a browser.

iDisk now has the familiar look of the Mac OS X Finder. It features drag-and-drop filing and an easy new way to share large documents, by sending an email with a link for downloading the file.

Account lets you manage settings such as storage allocation.

To use the new web applications, make sure you have one of these browsers: Safari 3, Internet Explorer 7, or Firefox 2 or later.

Push email. Push contacts. Push calendar. In addition to Mac-to-Mac syncing, MobileMe now keeps your iPhone, your iPod touch, and even a PC in sync. MobileMe pushes new contacts, calendar items, and bookmarks to your Mac or PC, and over the air to your iPhone or iPod touch. For example, if you add a calendar event on the web, the change will automatically be pushed to your Mac and iPhone. New email will be pushed to your iPhone in seconds, eliminating the need to check for messages manually.

As a MobileMe subscriber, you can continue to use your mac.com address for email. You will also be issued a me.com address with the same user name that you can use if you prefer. The choice is yours.

Double the online storage. To give you plenty of space for your email, photos, and other files, MobileMe doubles your storage from 10GB to 20GB for an individual subscription.

We'll be sure to update you when the new service goes live. In the meantime, if you have any questions about the upcoming transition from .Mac to MobileMe, please visit the MobileMe FAQ.

Sincerely,

The MobileMe Team