Ulysses Gets Censored Again; This Time by Apple

Apple’s strategy of censoring apps that contains content unsuitable for children is certainly defensible, but sometimes the results are ludicrous. A comic adaptation of James Joyce’s Ulysses was denied approval until the developer and artist made some changes, notably reframing the image below:

Come on, Apple, even the famous court decision overturning its censorship in the US made things pretty clear:

[W]hilst in many places the effect of Ulysses on the reader undoubtedly is somewhat emetic, nowhere does it tend to be an aphrodisiac.

This is really sad; Apple censoring a comic of one of the English language’s greatest novels, while still, fortunately, allowing that novel to be sold in ebook format via its iBookstore. Apple has set standards that are very difficult to enforce, and should really rethink the kind of stupidity they are leading to. Keep out porn, sure, but provide a parental control system so things such as this comic – and its subsequent episodes – can be distributed. The future of a lot of creative content is at stake here; Apple shouldn’t be the one arbitrarily deciding that a comic of a great novel is obscene just because there’s a penis in it.

In any case, the entire work – including all of the supporting information, which will be of help to any reader of Ulysses, is available on the web. And, by the way, the iPad app is free, so grab that too!

My Latest Appearance on the Tech Night Owl Live

“On this week’s all-star episode, author and commentator Kirk McElhearn rants about cable clutter and possible solutions to the “rats nest” behind your computer and below your desk. He’ll also examine the various comments Steve Jobs made in his recent interview at the All Things Digital conference.

Macworld Editorial Director Jason Snell will be on hand to explain why he feels that Apple must seriously consider opening the iPhone platform. He’ll also present his reactions to that Steve Jobs interview and deliver his fearless reactions to the last TV season in the U.S. along with his expectations for summer and fall.”

NOW PLAYING! June 3, 2010 — Kirk McElhearn and Jason Snell

Apple and App Store Censorship

What’s the deal with this censorship, Apple? Ok, you banned jiggly boob apps, and even all apps that have babes in bikinis. One can argue for this in some ways, but you still sell an app from Playboy.

So now you censor a Pulitzer prize winning cartoonist for satire. This is an app with political cartoons; it’s satire, dudes. Seriously…

But at the same time, you sell and or rent Gas Pump Girls, a tit-illating movie if there ever was one. And you sell (or provide for free) many books that contain, well, sex, such as James Joyce’s Ulysses, or any number of serial-killer novels with graphic violence.

What’s the deal, Apple? Is the word “hypocrisy” not in your dictionary? You really need to establish some sort of clear, public guidelines, and stop refusing apps arbitrarily, while selling and renting stuff which is far more obscene than the kinds of apps you’ve turned down.

And please, don’t even think of censoring books…

Update: Apple has changed its mind. Which underscores how arbitrary this whole procedure is.

Hear Me Discuss the iPad on the Tech Night Owl Live

On this week’s all-star episode, the iPad remains front and center, as Apple reports selling 500,000 units the very first week. What this means is that the international rollout is delayed until May.

But that didn’t stop columnist Kirk McElhearn from having one sent by a friend in the U.S. to his home in France, and so he gives you his hands-on experiences, including a direct comparison with the Amazon Kindle and his evaluation of the forthcoming iPhone 4.0 update.

Cutting-edge commentator Daniel Eran Dilger, of Roughly Drafted Magazine, is on hand to address those rumors that Adobe is poised to sue Apple over such problems as the lack of support for Flash on Apple’s mobile platform, and the controversial change in the developer’s license. This revised agreement evidently blocks using cross-platform tools or Flash to build iPhone apps.

NOW PLAYING! April 15, 2010 — Kirk McElhearn and Daniel Eran Dilger

Witch: A Great Window Switcher for Mac

I got a copy of Many Tricks’ $19 Witch today. It’s a window switcher for Mac OS X. Now this might need a bit of explanation. You probably know that you can press Command-Tab to switch applications, but you can’t choose which window – if an application has multiple windows – you’ll go to. Witch solves that problem, displaying a list of applications and their windows. You can set it to work with the Command-Tab shortcut (which is new in this version), or you can save Command-Tab for application switching and use a different shortcut for Witch.

If you look at the example above, that’s what Witch shows on my screen right now. You can see that there are two Finder windows open, and several other applications, each with a single window. By pressing Command-Tab, then pressing Tab several times, I can cycle through all those windows, and choose the one I want to bring to the front. I can also press H to hide a window, Q to quit an application, M to minimize a window, and more.

Witch is a great program that could be a bit better. There are a lot of options; a bit too many for my taste. It’s a bit daunting to set it up, if you want more than basic functionality. But you can customize the appearance, choosing font size, width of its bezel window, colors and more.

There are some quirks with Spaces. If you have several spaces set up, Witch can see the applications in those that are not visible, but not windows. So, in the above example, you see arrows next to some windows; that’s the symbol to show windows that are hidden, which also show up when windows are in other spaces. The developer told me that handling windows in spaces is complex, but that they hope to solve the issue soon.

If you work with a lot of applications, and switch a lot, Witch is for you. The ability to switch to a specific window saves a lot of time, and the control you get, from the keyboard, of applications, their windows, and their visibility is great. It make take a while to get used to the change from Command-Tab switching among applications to that of windows, but I’m already finding it a wonderful tool to streamline my work.

Some Classical Music Tips for Working with iTunes and the iPod

In my latest Macworld article, I present a few tips that can help classical music fans who use iTunes and the iPod. Learn about working with FLAC files, getting better CD rips, and a neat tagging trick that can help save time.

Latest iPad SDK Has Dvorak Keyboard Layout

But, it’s not a “software” keyboard. TUAW reports that the latest SDK allows users to choose the Dvorak layout for a hardware keyboard, that is one connected via a dock or Bluetooth.

I wrote, a few months ago, an article for Macworld asking for a Dvorak layout for those of us who use that type of keyboard. I’m glad Apple has at least half-listened. Now, please, Mr. Jobs, can you give us full Dvorak support?

Listen to Me on This Week’s Tech Night Owl Live

Meet the Night Owl himself, the incomparable Gene Steinberg, best-selling Mac author and columnist. Get to know Gene, and discover his unique, thought-provoking viewpoints about the technology universe, from the always-fascinating happenings at Apple Inc. to consumer electronics, innovative products and overall trends in the tech industry.

On this week’s all-star episode, commentator Kirk McElhearn sounds off on what he feels are those questionable preliminary sales reports on the iPad, and his hopes and dreams for Apple’s latest and greatest.

Next up, Gene spars with tech writer Joe Wilcox in a spirited discussion about the forthcoming Microsoft Internet Explorer 9, the implications of the Apple versus HTC lawsuit, and how Google and Microsoft are impacted.

Security guru Rich Mogull is on hand to explain how to protect yourself against the online predators who want to take your money, and then analyzes the present-day security situation for Windows 7 and Apple’s Snow Leopard.

Listen now: March 18, 2010 — Kirk McElhearn, Joe Wilcox and Rich Mogull