2 I Thursday, July 8, 2010
The Dtm
Collegian
Elizabeth Murphy
Editor in Chief
Kelsey Thompson
Business Manager
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Festival not just drinking holiday
It’s early July, which
means Penn State stu
dents who are back in
their hometowns or living
elsewhere for internships
will once again be coming
back to State College in
hordes. For one weekend
in summer, Penn State’s
downtown area will look
like a football weekend,
and every student and
State College resident
knows why: Arts Fest.
While some may be
coming for the art part of
the annual Central Penn
sylvania Festival of the
Arts, the majority of Penn
State students return for
what has become a week
end to visit Mends and,
more important, consume
alcohol.
Arts Fest has become
synonymous with alcohol
consumption and less
about what it was original
ly meant to be a cele
bration of the wide-rang
i\ t« ! ' r
Apple, Jobs creating illegal
By Andrew Metcalf
I’ve never loved Apple as a
company, but I’ve never had
any huge beef with it. I actual
ly admired it during
its renaissance in
the early 2000 s with
the release of all
sorts of sexy hard
ware. But lately, co
founder Steve Jobs’
controlling and
paranoid tenden
cies have con
cerned me.
With the recent
release of the iPhone, I worry that
Apple has gone a bit too far.
Specifically, I’m referring to the
company’s decision to completely
block the Flash player on the
iPhone in favor of HTMLS, which
Jobs claims to be the future of the
internet
Fbr those of you who are less
technically inclined, HTML is the
most basic language used to make
websites. We’ve been on the current
version, HTML 4.01, since late 1999,
which is an eon ago in the comput
ing world. The reason for this
incredibly long gap is largely
ing arts inhabitating and
being cultivated in State
College.
There is no stopping the
massive amount of exces
sive drinking that will be
done this weekend, but
there is something to be
said of responsible drink
ing. This weekend is not
just another excuse for
students to come back to
State College and have a
good time and reconnect
with friends.
Arts Fest is supposed to
be about the countless
number of families, specif
ically young children, who
come to our little town to
enjoy the art, the music
and just the overall
atmosphere of Arts Fest.
Artists from all over the
country come to Central
Pennsylvania to showcase
their work.
When making the deci
sion to go out and have a
few drinks, keep in mind
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because of the difficulties the lead
ing browser manufacturers
Microsoft, Apple, Google, Mozilla,
etc. have in agreeing to a com
mon standard. Experts have pre
dicted it could take years before an
HTMLS specification is finalized. As
a result, other technologies, such as
Adobe’s Flash, have provided devel
opers with the ability to create rich,
dynamic, and cross-platform online
content.
Apple is apparently fed up with
both this long wait for an HTMLS
specification and with Adobe, so the
company has decided to harness its
virtual monopoly on the smart
phone market. It has prohibited
Flash from running on its iPhone in
any capacity, and are requiring
developers to use its version of
HTMLS to play audio, video, or dis
play highly interactive content.
As a web developer, this pisses
me off. Flash can be a memory hog
and certainly isn’t perfect, but I find
it pretty obnoxious that Jobs wants
to single-handedly decide the future
of the internet while ignoring its
evolution for the past 10 years.
I have nothing against HTMLS,
but I’m really frustrated that any
content I have made in Flash will
MY OPINION
the fact Arts Fest is and
always has been a fami
ly affair. Also, take the
time to go out and experi
ence all Arts Fest has to
offer.
And few art festivals
around the country have
as much to offer as State
College’s. Arts Fest is con
sidered to be one of the
best arts festivals in the
country, and it isn’t
because of its lively
nightlife; it’s because Arts
Fest creates an atmos
phere few festivals can
rival.
Before going out for the
night, take a walk down
Allen Street to see the
exhibits or walk over to
Central Parklet and watch
Brad Goll make sculp
tures from a 25 ton pile of
sand.
Whatever you decide to
do this weekend, take
time to enjoy Arts Fest for
what it ready is.
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monopoly with HTMLS
“As a web developer, this pisses me off. Flash can
be a memory hog and certainly isn’t perfect, but I
find it pretty obnoxious that Steve Jobs wants to
single handedly decide the future of the internet.”
simply show up as a blank box on
an iPhone or iPad.
HTMLS is still veiy much a draft,
and it could be years before an
actual standard is agreed upon.
Moreover, I am not really convinced
that HTMLS’s new features will
truly be able to do everything that
Flash can do today.
Jobs occasionally blames the
technical requirements of Flash,
claiming it wouldn’t run well on a
phone.
However, Adobe recently
released Flash on the Android plat
form which powers many smart
phones, including the Droid series,
and early reports claim that it runs
pretty damn well, so I’m fairly cer
tain that’s not the issue.
Instead, I believe that Apple
wants to have control over the
developing HTMLS specifications,
and by forcing developers to code
for Apple’s version, Apple gives
The Daily Collegian
Webster’s Bookstore Cafe
more than just a bookstore
As a Delta Program alum, I cannot
stress my complete and utter disappoint
ment at the closing of Webster’s Bookstore
and Cafe. It was much more than another
shop downtown. In actuality, it had become
the central hub of State College for many
others and myself. It was forever the
answer to the question, “Where should we
meet?” and would serve as somewhere to
go when you had a couple of minutes with
nothing to do. It was a study spot, a tasty
food venue and friendly. It was something
special and original downtown, and it’s
something that simply cannot be replaced,
especially by another chain or bank.
Nathaniel Peters
sophomore-interdisciplinary digital studio
Snap, Crackle, Pop
Liz Phair, an alt-rock indie goddess
turned pop sellout to some, the voice
behind the deliciously generic 2003 sin
gle “Why Can’t I?” to me. (Cut me some
slack. I was in eighth grade and it was on
the radio constantly.) The flaxen-haired
songstress scored rave reviews with the
release of her angry, seminal, 10-fi mas
terpiece “Exile in Guyville”,in 1993. So,
naturally, when she released a self-titled
fourth album filled with sugary pop non
sense 10 years later, the indie communi
ty exploded with hatred, anger and grief.
Read more from the arts blog Snap, Crackle,
Pop and the rest of The Daily Collegian’s blogs
at psucolleglan.com/blogs.
Footblog
A week ago, the Penn State football
team had one commitment for the 2011
season prompting debate among Nittany
Lion fans as to whether Joe Patemo’s
health was impacting recruiting. But in
the last six days, the Lions have received
two commitments, the most recent com
ing from Fairview High School defensive
end Jordan Kerner, according to
FightOnState.com. Kerner is the 16th
ranked defensive end recruit in the
state.
As far as rivalries go, there’s no telling
what the future holds for Penn State and
Nebraska. We’ll have a better idea once
divisions are aligned and 2011 schedules
are set, but until then, former Penn State
tight end Mike McCloskey wants to clear
up a few myths surrounding his catch
during the 1982 matchup, which helped
Penn State to its first national title. The
question he’s been asked numerous
times about whether he caught the ball
inbounds is something he doesn’t know
the answer to. Though he was ruled to
have caught the bail that set up the
Nittany Lions’ decisive touchdown, he
still wishes he knew whether or not he
was inbounds.
Read more from the football blog Footblog and
the rest of The Daily Collegian’s blogs at psucol
legian.com/blogs.
Small World
Confession: I can’t make a decision to
save my life. I know what you’re thinking.
I can’t be that bad. But after 18 years of
stammering through everything from
choosing an entree to lining up weekend
plans, it’s become laughably (if not
painfully) obvious: I can be that bad. My
propensity to draw out even the most
mundane decisions seems to make its
way into everything I do, but nowhere
was this tendency to be exasperatingly
indecisive more apparent than when I
was wrestling over where to go to col
lege.
Read more from the study abroad blog Small
World and the rest of The Daily Collegian’s
blogs at psucollegian.com/blogs.
itself leverage for pushing the com
pany’s own agenda.
What’s funny to me is that this
sort of anti-competitive behavior is
exactly what Microsoft was sued for
in 1998. Back then, Microsoft was
accused of maintaining an unfair
monopoly in the browser market by
packaging Internet Explorer with
Windows. The prosecution alleged
that Microsoft could require devel
opers to code specifically for its
browser by supporting non-stan
dard code, and therefore control the
development of web standards.
Sound familiar? Whether that
lawsuit was fair, legal or necessaiy
is up for debate, but judged by that
same standard, Apple is equally
guilty.
Andrew Metcalf Is a senior majoring in
computer science and is the Collegian's
Thursday columnist. His e-mail address is
mjn2l7@psu.edu. >