Elliott C. Back: Internet & Technology

Flow|state, a user interface design blog, recently ragged on the Windows Vista file copy dialog for obscuring important information about the files it’s copying. Specifically, Vista warns about files with the same name, and asks you what you want to do with them:

Can you see the disaster in progress? Most users can’t either.

This dialog has buried the lede. It focuses the user’s attention on the fact that there is another file with the same name in the destination folder. It fails to point out a much, much more interesting condition: The user is about to overwrite a newer file with an older file.

So he suggests the dialog read “There is a newer file with the same name in this location,” increasing the number of recognizable file attributes from one, the file name, to two. What other kind of file attributes are there? I can list a few:

• Path (implied)
• Name (explicit)
• Date created / modified / accessed (suggested)
• Size
• Type
• State
• Permissions
• Ownership
• File System
• Mount

I think these are all equally important attributes. By flow|state’s logic, the dialog should really read “There is a newer, substantially larger file with the same name in this location. The current file is a video, but your new file is music owned by a different user, your mom.” This is obviously ridiculous.

The best way to do this is what linux does–just move the file. If you want to get clever, use a command pattern to make it reversible.

I was getting a lot of errors like the following:

CAsyncWavDataCache: 297 .wavs total 0 bytes, 0.00 % of capacity
Your map [maps/gg_aerelon_kalel_2.bsp] differs from the server’s.
Host_Error: Disconnected

Or the infamous missing map error:

Missing map maps/gg_aim_ag_texture_jungle-l.bsp, disconnecting

The trick is type sv_downloadurl=”" into the console:

] sv_downloadurl
“sv_downloadurl” = “http://khuda.net/csfastdl2/” ( def. “” )
replicated
– Location from which clients can download missing files
] sv_downloadurl = “”
Connecting to 75.125.186.220:27015…
Connected to 75.125.186.220:27015

See, my HL2 or CSS / CS:S client remembered the wrong server url to download maps from. Once you clear that out, it can go ahead and do its thing, meaning no more missing maps or map download errors!

Update 1:

Some people have said that setting these variables may also help, depending on your installation:

cl_allowupload 1
cl_allowdownload 1
cl_downloadfilter all

Update 2:

Some others recommended deleting the files from the caches in:

C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\*your name*\counter-strike source\cstrike\cache
C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\*your name*\counter-strike source\cstrike\downloads

The iPodObserver is claiming that the new iPhone 3G will have a uniform, glossy back surface. As this proved to be true with iPods as they evolved and became sleeker, single-piece-construction units, there’s no reason why it is not also true for the iPhone 2.0:

If this photo is real, it wouldn’t be the first time a photo leaked of a new Apple product. We’ll wait for the lawyers to come knocking, at which point we will all know.

Update:

Wow, Engadget has some more photos of a white 3G iPhone; they’re blurry but in line with the black one I posted weeks ago: