So last night, all these things converged in my head into a wacky dream. I dreamt that my Forester had finally given up the ghost, and it needed to be replaced. So I replaced it with an electric car. But this car didn’t simply store electricity: it stored words. The plug that recharged the batter, also was a conduit for digital text. And not only that, but the paint itself covered up words. So in fact you could engage “paint removal mode” to read the text underneath. In my dream, while standing at a recharge station, I had the car automatically start removing paint so that I could read Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities as I waited for the car to juice up.

I don’t expect to see an automobile like this any time soon on the showroom floor, but it did make me smile when I woke up. A truly literary vehicle!

When words, dreams, and automobiles collide… A Writer's Ramblings: Orren Merton's Blog

Also, I linked in yesterday’s post to some of MacWorld’s coverage. As I’m sure it’s not a surprise to hear, they have a ton of coverage of the new Mac operating system, both walk-through fact-based articles, and opinion pieces. One such opinion piece that has been getting attention around the Interwebs is one bemoaning the lack of Facebook support built-in to iOS and OS X Mountain Lion, the way that Tweeting is baked into the OS. Nearly every opining poster, tweeter, and blogger I’ve run across seems to agree with the author’s sentiment. They all have Facebook accounts, and would love to see that sort of low-level integration. I have a Facebook account too, but I disagree.

Yes, I understand that there are hundreds of millions more users on Facebook than Twitter. If the numbers were all that mattered, than this alone would be enough to make a difference. Some writers (even the MacWorld writer mentions this argument) imply that their was a personal vendetta against Zuckerberg by Jobs, and that this personality squabble is the heart of the reason that Facebook isn’t integrated into Apple’s OSes. I can’t imagine that’s the only reason—Jobs DNA may still be in Apple’s corporate genes, but personal vendettas tend not to go on forever, or trump profit, especially in a company as savvy as Apple.

Twitter’s timeline seems very much like a “ticker-tape”—little snippets of information, from the trivial to the vital, go by in short, 140-character chunks. You don’t necessarily need to interface with the ticker in order to add information to it, and when a bit of information aimed at you comes by (a “mention”) it pings your email (or mobile device). Because of this paradigm, it seems that Twitter is tailor made for OS-level integration. You can quickly send something off with no further need for interaction.

Facebook, on the other hand, seems more like a destination. Yes, it’s possible to share articles and photos and never log into your Facebook app or environment. But it seems like the entire paradigm of Facebook discourages this kind of “casual” Facebook use. Facebook wants you to “live” in Facebook, to open the app or your browser and interact with other Facebookers, to use it for your messages and to share internally what you find others sharing.

Because of this, I don’t think as many users would necessarily take advantage of Facebook “baked into” the OS. There are some Apple apps with direct Facebook integration, such as iMovie and iPhoto and QuickTime, where it’s appropriate, but for general apps such as Mobile Safari I think most users would want to be logged into Facebook and either share internal Facebook posts or immediately start a conversation based on an article they have read. So I do think Twitter, which is not as focused on conversation but simple ticker-tape sharing, is the more natural choice for OS-level support.

Some suggest that rather than Apple selecting “anointed” social networks at all, Apple should simply have a general setting for users to enter their own social networks, whichever they may be, and those networks will be supported. This way, iOS and OS X would just have “social network” slots in the Share menus, and whichever particular networks a given user supports could be directly supported. I think that there is a lot of merit to that idea (and that’s more or less what Android offers). But it also requires more tech-savy from users, and “the Apple Way” is to make things as simple and obvious as possible. It may not be difficult to go to a settings app called “Social Networks,” click to add a network, select Twitter, and then enter your username and password; but it’s even simpler to just find the settings app called “Twitter” and type in your username and password. And whenever it can, Apple opts for simpler over more functional.

I think it’s clear that Facebook isn’t going away, and that it’s not going to lose its dominance any time soon. I also don’t think that Apple believes that they are somehow hurting Facebook by not building support for it directly into their OSes as they have with Twitter, YouTube, and other services. But I do think that Apple has decided that including Twitter in every Share menu makes more sense both for the way Apple perceives it’s Share button functionality and the way Twitter’s timeline works. And I agree.

Apple, OSes, and Facebooks A Writer's Ramblings: Orren Merton's Blog

Today Apple unveiled a sneak peak of it’s forthcoming update to Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, named OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. The micro-site includes a promo video that offers an introduction to all the new Mac OS X apps derived from iOS apps, and a few additional features. The Verge also offers a very nice review of the developer’s preview (released to developers today) and a walk-through video that’s worth checking out. You can find out all the details from the links above, so I’m going to focus on giving you my thoughts on a few of them.

• Apple doesn’t do anything by accident, and I’m sure the removal of the word “Mac” from OS X is no accident. Some may theorize that this is proof positive that Apple will at some point combine OS X and iOS but I don’t think so. If that were the case, why not come up with a completely new name that fits both? No, I’m going to guess this name change anticipates that OS X will be installed on non-Mac devices at some point. And my guess as to which device is the Apple TV. I could see an Apple TV box with a bit more connectivity replacing the Mac Mini as the “home entertainment computer.”

• It makes a ton of sense to add iOS apps to OS X, considering they’re already synched through iCloud. And iCloud itself looks like it’s far more embedded into OS X now, too. I can’t say that I’m particularly excited about Notes or Reminders or whatever on the desktop, but Notification Center and Messages looks good. And I’ve wished Apple would put notes out of Apple Mail since they were first put in, so that’s good.

• Gatekeeper looks pretty interesting. MacWorld has a good article explaining it’s ins and outs, but the short version is it’s a system-wide way to protect against malware by letting you set various default application types to run. You can choose to only let apps from the Mac App Store (which is curated against malware) run. You can choose to let Mac App Store and downloaded apps digitally signed by the developer run (Apple’s digital signature lets them turn off any app that proves to be malware). Or you can let any app run. This protection is extremely easy for the user to defeat, since it only checks applications on the first run, and you can right-click or use the “Open” command to open them anyway, even if your general preference is not to open that sort of app. Apple has said in press meetings that this is in no way intended to curate apps, only to offer users malware protection, and considering how easy it is for a user to disable or circumvent it, that sounds about right. Still, it sounds like a good theory, and I’m looking forward to trying it out in practice.

• Mountain Lion has “China-centric” features that Apple promotes both in it’s features page and video. Clearly, China is a huge potential market for Apple, and just like the “iOS-ification” of OS X, the China-centric features make a lot of sense too.

• In press meetings, Apple has said that they’re now committing to a yearly update schedule, like with iOS. I think that’s a sign that the OS X has now officially reached the point that what we get from here on out will be modest enhancements and tweaks, and the era of taking two years to do a major overhaul under the hood is over—at least for a while.

I’d have to say that this looks like a “smart” update in that it leverages Apple’s major strengths (the popularity of iOS and all the development going on there) without “fixing what ain’t broke.” I can’t say I’m excited about this OS update because it doesn’t really offer any features that I’ve been eagerly waiting for, but it looks like a nice and logical enhancement to Mac OS X 10.7 Lion which has been trouble-free and a joy to use. Traditionally, I’ve always sat out the initial release and updates to let the early bugs get squashed and drivers to be developed, but if this update is as similar to the current version as it looks, there might not be too many new bugs to be squashed. But just as I’m sure I’ll happily plunk down my $29 to upgrade when it’s released, I also don’t feel a need to trumpet it as some sort of great new revolution. But that’s fine—OS X is solid enough that at this point, I don’t think it needs revolution.

The iOS-ification of OS X continues A Writer's Ramblings: Orren Merton's Blog

I’ve not watched it in a few years, but I’m a fan of the Westminster Kennel Club dog show. It’s a great place to see purebred dogs you’d never see otherwise, and maybe even learn something depending on the segments and banter. And of course the dogs are gorgeous.

For years, Pedigree has sponsored the Westminster show. They use the opportunity to promote their dog food of course but they also promote dog rescue and shelter dogs, which is a great thing. Well, this year Westminster told Pedigree that they would no longer accept their sponsorship as they feel their shelter campaign doesnt fit with the Westminster show.

I consider this amazingly narrow minded. As an owner of a purebred dog who considered a rescue, and would absolutely get shelter dogs as well as purebreds, I don’t think Westminster is doing themselves any favors. Some cynical people will assume their attitude is a “money thing” and perhaps for the elite show dogs there’s serious money but the average breeder neither is a breeder of champions or a puppy mill; she is a retired individual who breeds a few dogs a year as a hobby and sells them for barely more (and sometimes less) than the care and medical costs they incur. I tend to think its not Westminster related profits that was behind this decision, but simple arrogance. My guess is they simply think of their well cared for dogs as superior to the discarded mutts that fill most shelters.

I personally believe the job of a Kennel Club should be to promote responsible ownership and care of dogs, whether that dog was purchased from the neighborhood purebred breeder or rescued. I think not wanting to associate with the “riff raff” does a disservice to shelters and rescue organizations as well as makes them look snobby and out of touch. And thats what rubs me wrong about this. I certainly don’t care if Westminster takes Pedigree’s money or not. But if they want to be the premiere Kennel Club in America, I believe they have a responsibility to shelter and rescue dogs as well as to dog fanciers. Hopefully, they will remember that responsibility in the future.

Westminster is going to the dogs A Writer's Ramblings: Orren Merton's Blog

So I think the trick is for Valentine’s Day to just be an evening you enjoy. And by that I mean, if “enjoy” means going out to a nice dinner, do it. If it means staying in and watching horror movies, do that. And if you’re alone, either because your significant other isn’t near you or you don’t have one at the moment, so what? Have a nice evening doing whatever you enjoy. It’s just another day.

Michelle and I are going to grab some Chinese takeout after work, and watch a  romantic comedy of her choice. We’ll share a brownie. And I’ll tell her that I love her, like I do every day. Because I do, every day.

Happy Valentines Day, everyone.

What Valentine’s Day means to me A Writer's Ramblings: Orren Merton's Blog

Nina Kraus from the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University studies how music affects the brain, and her latest study, as reported by this ABC news article, shows that musicians suffer less from aging-related memory and hearing losses than non-musicians.

I’m very glad to hear that I might keep my memory longer! And the other thing…was there another thing? I forget.

Oh yeah, hearing. Of course, musicians who play the sort of explosively loud rock that I do usually suffer from sound pressure level impact hearing damage…but it’s nice to know that I might not have as much normal aging hearing loss. It all balances out, right?

Music on the brain can keep it working longer and better A Writer's Ramblings: Orren Merton's Blog

At the 2012 ComicsPRO meeting of comics retailers in Dallas, TX, iVerse Media and Diamond Comics Distributors announced a “Digital Comics Reader” app for iOS and Android devices. As stated in their press release, this is part of the “Diamond Digital Initiative” to help create a digital ecosystem for comic book retailers. While details are vague, it seems like with DCR retailers will be able to directly sell codes, or even use a custom API to create their own digital stores that sell Diamond Digital content.

So what does this mean? Well, for iVerse, it clearly means a new lease on life. It had been losing the race to draw in comic producers, with ComiXology attracting all the big names, and one of the few “iVerse powered” branded apps, the IDW app, to be switching to ComiXology. But now the iVerse store becomes the Diamond Digital store:

“By adding the ‘Digital Comics Reader’ App into the Diamond Digital program, we’re completely removing our own digital store.” said iVerse CEO Michael Murphey. “This is a much cleaner solution for retailers and will give them the same kinds of tools companies like Amazon and Barnes & Noble are using to sell digital content on these devices. We’re in the final stages of testing, and we can’t wait to launch this thing.”

So clearly, this is good for iVerse. Is it good for Diamond? Probably—I’m sure they need some way to get a jump into the digital world, and this partnership with iVerse is one way to do that. Is it good for retailers? Maybe; I don’t know how many people would actually use a private store’s digital portal rather than the main portal. My guess is that it won’t hurt retailers, and it might help a little, but ultimately it won’t help them too much.

But what about readers? To some degree, that depends on how much content the new Digital Comics Reader will have access to. I have no idea how much content the Diamond Digital store has. I’m guessing that they don’t have as much content as ComiXology. But I’m also guessing that since Diamond Comics Distributors are the only option for national print comics distribution (that I know of, at least), producers will have to listen to them. If Diamond Comics Distributors were to say, for example, that they’ll only distribute print comics for titles which they also have the right to distribute digitally, I imagine every company will have no choice but to cave.

Competition, in general, can be good for pricing, but only when the stores have the same products. So for example, Amazon MP3 and iTunes an compete by having sales on products that they both sell, but if a product is exclusive, the competition doesn’t drive prices down, it simply tries to drag readers to one store or another.

And with comics, that really sucks. With iTunes or Amazon digital music, you can buy in one store and then play in the music player of your choice. But with comics, you won’t be able to read your ComiXology comics in the Diamond DCR, and vis versa. Imagine how annoying it would be if every time you bought a Warner Brothers album, you had to listen to the music in the Warner Brothers player, or every time you bought a Sony Music album, you had to listen to it in the Sony player. Yup…you’d stop buying music pretty quickly.

This is the wild west frontier of digital comics; it’s still less than 10% of total comics sold, even though it’s growing. So there’s a lot of time for things to shake out and change and turn into something better. I hope that this ends up being good for retailers and readers alike. We’ll see how it shakes out—and I’m guessing it will be a while before it all shakes out.

A new player in the digital comics space A Writer's Ramblings: Orren Merton's Blog

This is, of course, as it should be. Marriage between two consenting adults is a civil right, plain and simple. The arguments that allowing gays to marry will ruin it’s sanctity is countered by heterosexuals like Britney Spears and Newt Gingrich who have done far more to ruin the sanctity of marriage than any loving gay couple could. The United States of America is definitely behind other Western nations when it comes to human rights, and it’s nice to see my state slowly joining the list of states that are catching up.

Of course, speaking of the USA, this isn’t the end. Most certainly, California’s gay haters will take this to the Supreme Court. In the Supreme Court, all bets are off. The majority of the Court tends to vote conservative. On the other hand, they also tend to support states rights. So it could go either way.

But however the Supreme Court ultimately rules, California has made the right decision. And as a Californian, that fills me with pride.

I’m proud to be Californian today A Writer's Ramblings: Orren Merton's Blog

It’s all over the Interwebs now, but I wanted to weigh in. For those who haven’t heard yet, DC Comics announced “Before Watchmen” a series of prequel mini-series using the characters and world of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s classic  Watchmen. This has, predictably enough, created a lot of controversy, with Alan Moore himself telling the New York Times that the project is “completely shameless” and wishing it wouldn’t happen. Dave Gibbons is far more accommodating, saying wishing the new creative teams success (both artistic and financial).

The controversy is inevitable—Watchmen isn’t only excellent, but it is a truly complete saga. If ever there were a graphic novel “maxi-series” that doesn’t need any bookends, this one is it. To some fans (and to Alan Moore) the Watchmen universe is sacred, and no other writer should ever venture into it.

From a pragmatic point of view, the world and characters are the intellectual property of DC Entertainment, which they can do whatever they want with. But even from an artistic point of view, is that fair? Hasn’t the entire history of comics consisted of characters that are created by one writer and artist being reinterpreted by another? Indeed, even the Watchmen characters weren’t completely original creations, but Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ reinterpretations of the Charlton Comics characters that DC owned.

Indeed, as J. Michael Straczynski, one of the writers of two of the forthcoming Before Watchmen mini-series (Dr. Manhattan, Nite Owl) argued to Comic Book Resources:

A lot of folks feel that these characters shouldn’t be touched by anyone other than Alan, and while that’s absolutely understandable on an emotional level, it’s deeply flawed on a logical level. Based on durability and recognition, one could make the argument that Superman is the greatest comics character ever created. But neither Alan nor anyone else has ever suggested that no one other than Shuster and Siegel should ever be allowed to write Superman. Alan didn’t pass on being brought on to write Swamp Thing, a seminal comics character created by Len Wein, and he did a terrific job. He didn’t say “No, no, I can’t, that’s Len’s character.” Nor should he have.

And BTW, Len Wien, who was the editor of the original Watchmen series, is also writing two of the mini-series in Beyond Watchmen (Ozymandias, Curse of Crimson Corsair).

My feelings:

The Watchmen universe is certainly not one that I feel needs revisiting. I’ve never wanted to either read or write any stories in that environment, or with those characters. But that said, some of the writers and artists involved, such as JMS, Brian Azzarello, Darwyn Cooke, Adam Hughes, Amanda Conner, Andy Kubert, and others, are some of my very favorite creators. Seeing more work from them, whatever it is, interests me.

And as much as I feel Watchmen is Alan Moore’s opus, I don’t think that his interpretation is sacred. He is an expert craftsman in a long line of craftsmen who have taken comic book characters, shaped them, and then left them for others. Comics are a conversation, a medium of serial, collaborative graphic storytelling, that go back to before I was born and will continue long after I’m dead. Some interpretations are good, some are not, and until we actually have these mini-series in our hands, we won’t know which these are. But I’ll judge them by the same criteria I’d judge any other new interpretation of classic characters, not with a knee-jerk “this must suck because it’s not written by Alan More.”

I’ll give DC Entertainment and these creators the benefit of the doubt, but I’m not going to get enthusiastic yet, either. But I’ll read them. That I’ll do.

Who Watches the Watchmen? DC Entertainment, that’s who A Writer's Ramblings: Orren Merton's Blog

And I’m not upset about the fact that I have to work for my money, and he lives off investments.  I give him credit for having gotten a good education, worked hard for a lot of years to earn all that money, and now it’s working for him. That’s fine. I’m not begrudging him his success.  Bully for him.

But it’s unjust that he pays a lower percentage of his income that someone who earns less in a year than he earns in a bad week. If you have more, you can afford to pay more. And people in his income bracket have lots more. That they have a lower tax rate than we do is simply immoral. It is a sign of a society that values money more than people, and that is wrong, wrong, wrong.

And if you don’t agree, well, you’re wrong too. And that’s all there is to it.

A quick thought as I begin to organize my tax information A Writer's Ramblings: Orren Merton's Blog