A Bit Eclectic

The iTunes music folder has long been a black hole of files. Everything imported or purchased in iTunes was pushed into that folder. With iTunes 9, the music folder is revamped and reorganized.

There is one catch, it isn’t changed by default. Go to File > Library > Organize Library in the menu bar. Select “Upgrade library to iTunes Media organization” and you are good to go. The iTunes Media folder will now sort your music, movies, apps, etc. into a tidy hierarchy.

Just a warning, Time Machine will back up your entire library as if it were brand new.

Zach Holman (via Daring Fireball)

Digsby Joins the Dark Side, Uses Your PC to Make Money – Lifehacker:

The popular Digsby instant messenger client not only bundles half a dozen “optional” crapware applications, it’s also using your computer to crawl the web, do stock market research, and more. It’s time to uninstall.

This is such a shame. Digsby looked very promising and brought a ton of great features to the IM world. What they are doing is insulting and just evil. It is one thing to make money and another to deceive customers. I suggest reading the entire article to see the various things they do to make money off their users.

While there’s no way to tell exactly how much money Digsby is making from the sneaky use of your computer and abusing the less knowledgeable with loads of crapware, there is one disturbing fact that you should consider: They are paying up to $1 for every new user that you refer to them through their affiliate program. If they can pay that much money for every new user, they aren’t just paying the bills anymore.

This part presents the solid proof that they are making significant money off their users. A seemingly free program would have no way of paying up to a dollar a user unless it had significant cash flowing in. The strangest part is that the affiliate payment is related to the users geographic location.

I love this app. The interface is amazing and it puts a new twist on an old service. The intro video is one of the best I’ve seen.

Here is a quick tip for all my Mac wielding friends.  The eject key does more than just spit out disks.  Using the modifier keys (command, control, option, shift), the eject key will give you more control over your Mac.

• Put screen to sleep:  Ctrl – Shift – Eject
• Put computer to sleep: Option – Command – Eject
• Restart computer: Control – Command – Eject
• Shutdown computer: Control – Option – Command – Eject

[via Tekzilla Daily]

On this weeks episode of gdgt weekly (iTunes), Peter Rojas and Ryan Block discussed the new Android based phone.  For those of you who aren’t familiar, Android is Google’s new cellphone OS.  It is hailed as an open platform with very little restriction on developers and users.  I haven’t used the phone so I can’t provide any input on usability or comparability to other phones.

On gdgt they claimed that Android is better than Windows Mobile.  They brought up the fact that Windows Mobile has been around for awhile (currently on ver. 6.1) and this is Android’s first release.  They seemed pretty shocked/impressed that a the newcomer can outdo the old timer.  Personally, I don’t find this all that shocking.  If anything, I think it makes some sense that the first version software can be better than the seasoned veteran.

Google’s advantage comes from the sunk costs in a project.  The sunk costs are what you have put into a project that should be irrelevant when making future decisions.  Since they are already in the project and can’t be recovered there is no reason to consider them in future decisions.  The problem is that sunk costs often lead to commitment bias.  This bias causes a someone to stick with something because they have already put in time and money.  An example is putting a lot of money in a stock that then starts to lose value.  If you fall victim to the commitment bias then you will feel the need to stick with the stock because you have already “come this far”.

A commitment bias isn’t always caused by money.  It can develop because of the amount of time invested or even from irrational feelings.  This can manifest in software and OS development.  A team will spend a lot of time and money developing a UI.  Over time, the original idea may not be the best approach.  To fix it up, the team decides to do little fixes and enhancements.  The idea is they have already put in so much energy that minor fixes is all it needs.  Sometimes a better idea would be to scrap the design and start over.  The longer they stick with it, the harder it is to just start over.  This will eventually put the software at a competitive disadvantage as the competition implements a better UI.

Those developing a ver. 1.0 has less of a commitment bias because there will be less sunk costs.  They can test out different ideas with less guilt if they change directions.  They can also evaluate the competition more effectively.  If they see something wrong in the competition’s UI, they can leave it out early on instead of having to make drastic changes later.

It isn’t that shocking that a version 1.0 software can beat out a 6.0 or 7.0.  In fact, we have seen it at least twice over the past two years with both Google’s Android and Apple’s iPhone.  The question now is whether Microsoft will pull away from previous biases and sunk costs to create something that will push the platform forward.

The move to develop a web browser tells a lot about the direction in which Google is moving with its future products.

Google Chrome was set in motion primarily to enhance their web business. They are developing a browser hoping that it will push others to adopt new technology and innovate. They want to spark others to build more advanced web browsers so they can push out better web apps.

Google is currently limited by a bottleneck imposed by the current web browsers. To an extent they are at the mercy of Microsoft/Mozilla/Apple when it comes to how powerful, and useable, their web apps can be. They are making a strategic move to give direction to web browser development in order to further their core businesses.

If you don’t believe that, then look at the revenue source. They have far more to gain from attracting users to new web services than gaining browser market share.

This leaves me wondering what new product Google has that drove them to try and change all web browsers just to release it.

Google is launching their own web browser named Google Chrome.  There has been a rumored Google OS, and I would say this is it.

I suggest taking a look at the comic that introduces Google Chrome.

Official Google Blog: A fresh take on the browser.