Poll: Which standard Sherlock 'Channel' do you use most?

[MacRumors]

Vote: Poll: Which standard Sherlock 'Channel' do you use most? (http://www.macpolls.com/?poll_id=246&ref=forums.macrumors.com)

[tazo]

i dont use it...

[rainman::|:|]

Sherlock?

what's the point?

It takes longer to start than Safari, and loads things slower too... Plus it doesn't have a good interface, they used the standard icon toolbar which i don't like in this case (even after customizing)... and the information i can get is less diverse than what i can find on the web...

i have a feeling Sherlock won't be around for too much longer.

pnw

[Centris 650]

Originally posted by paulwhannel
Sherlock?

what's the point?

It takes longer to start than Safari, and loads things slower too... Plus it doesn't have a good interface, they used the standard icon toolbar which i don't like in this case (even after customizing)... and the information i can get is less diverse than what i can find on the web...

i have a feeling Sherlock won't be around for too much longer.

pnw


Well put and ditto.

[mac15]

I use translation most, it don't work to good but it does the job

[shadowfax]

i find that the movie thing is by far the best one. it's anemically slow, which tends to annoy me, but i don't know of any site that can put all the theaters in any given area down right in one place that simply. sherlock needs work, not abandonment.

[Nermal]

I've only ever used the translation function.

A lot of people have voted for Movies. I just decided to take a look, and I don't have Movies on mine. It's version 3.5.2. What does the movie function do? Find streaming previews or something?

Edit: OK I just read Shadowfax's post and see what Movies does. Are some channels disabled if you're not in the USA? Again, so much for "World Wide Web".

[skymaXimus]

Originally posted by Shadowfax
i find that the movie thing is by far the best one. it's anemically slow, which tends to annoy me, but i don't know of any site that can put all the theaters in any given area down right in one place that simply. sherlock needs work, not abandonment.
I use yahoo! for all my movie showtimes and what not.
http://movies.yahoo.com/showtimes/showtimes.html

[tazo]

Originally posted by skymaXimus
I use yahoo! for all my movie showtimes and what not.
http://movies.yahoo.com/showtimes/showtimes.html

Fandango.com......;) Its great AND you can buy tickets.

[Bunzi2k4]

i use the dictonary and the movies

[BeigeUser]

I want to use Sherlock but a lot of the channels are U.S.-only and even the ones that can be used in Japan tend to be U.S. biased. For example, if I wanted to translate some Japanese to French, I will need to translate the Japanese to English first then translate the English to French (not recommended because of the poor quality of translating twice).

We don't have ITMS and we still can't order albums through iphoto. Apple Japan needs to work harder to bring Japanese software up to U.S. standards.

[Nermal]

Originally posted by BeigeUser
We don't have ITMS and we still can't order albums through iphoto. Apple Japan needs to work harder to bring Japanese software up to U.S. standards.

Consider yourself lucky, there actually is an Apple Japan. There's no Apple New Zealand. AppleCare is a (free) call to Australia, there's no online store, www.apple.co.nz takes you to a distributor. Fortunately we've been promised iTMS, but it's still 6 months away. I've got no idea about the photo albums - I don't have a digital camera.

[DreaminDirector]

I have to also agree that it's way too slow. It's faster to open Safari, click a bookmark, then input the movie query.

Then again, I guess I shouldn't complain.

[iJon]

i find myself using watson more than sherlock, and there i use the tv guide one. i pick out my favorite shows, click the add to ical button, then i tell ical to remind me 5 minues before it comes and and i tell it to repeat itself every day or week for a very long time. then i sync it with my t68i, so if im not at my computer i still know when my favorite show is coming on. i love watson. oh yeah i almost forgot, the new sherlock in panther is much much faster, makes it easier than the web.

iJon

[DreaminDirector]

Watson can sync your favorite shows to iCal? Dude, that's sweet! I'm off to download it.

Thanks iJon for the pseudo review on Watson. How is the speed on Watson?

[iJon]

Originally posted by DreaminDirector
Watson can sync your favorite shows to iCal? Dude, that's sweet! I'm off to download it.

Thanks iJon for the pseudo review on Watson. How is the speed on Watson?
watson is lightning fast, just like apps should be. it is everything sherlock should be too. you can also tell it to record your favorite shows if you have eye tv. it also has much more features.

iJon

[DreaminDirector]

Thanks iJon. I just downloaded Watson and it's much faster than Sherlock. I'm still exploring all of the features on Watson so I have no other comments as of now. Anyone hating Sherlock because of the speed should try Watson.

[MrMacMan]

Translation mostly, its sluggish.

[Stella]

LOL, this poll is funny. Sherlock must represent the worst of Apple - no localization for movies, tv etc.


Well - some one had to say it!

:D

[edenwaith]

Death to Sherlock! Watson forever!

Actually...I don't use Watson, either. I just still use the web and customize Omniweb to quickly get where I want, whether it be using the dictionary or google. I don't use other things like movies or ebay searches.

[Centris 650]

Originally posted by iJon
i find myself using watson more than sherlock, and there i use the tv guide one. i pick out my favorite shows, click the add to ical button, then i tell ical to remind me 5 minues before it comes and and i tell it to repeat itself every day or week for a very long time. then i sync it with my t68i, so if im not at my computer i still know when my favorite show is coming on. i love watson. oh yeah i almost forgot, the new sherlock in panther is much much faster, makes it easier than the web.

iJon

Wow, you take your TV veiwing seriously! :D ;)

[mmmbop]

I upgraded to Jagwire partly because of the film/cinema listings which in the glossy marketing blurb looked very cool (and useful, even).

Whoops! Was there a UK version? Of course not! Will there ever be? Probably not. I would love it though.

I guess that's when it all began for me, the slow realisation that Apple doesn't love all its customers equally...

MARK

[gopher]

While you can get additional channels from:

http://www.sherlockers.com/

The older version of Sherlock was easier to add and remove channels from. Watson should be licensed to Apple at a fee per sale of its OS. That would allow us all to enjoy a better services.

[scem0]

Don't have sherlock
...
Yet.

;)

scem0

[iEric]

it just sucks that you dont get the channels that the people in the states have.
damn myself living in canada :(

[MarksEvilTwin]

Removed

[Mudbug]

I use the stock channel, but not to keep track of my stocks (although the comparison between multiple stocks at a glance is nice). I use it for press releases from multiple companies in the same place - not exactly what it was intended for, but it works for me.

[scottlee]

It has replaced the phone book for me and I also use the dictionary all the time. If you get into the habit of using it, you'll really apprectiate it.

[mactastic]

I use the yellow pages alot, it's much faster than trying to figure out where the heck i put the physical ones last. I like the dictionary too, but it could be better. Safari integration would be cool, but the whole Sherlock experience needs to be improved.

[wdlove]

Sherlock is installed with the icon on my desktop! Never use it though!

[BaghdadBob]

I'm surprised hardly anyone uses the yellow pages. To me (other than the movies) this is the best feature. It's way faster than Mapquest IMO, and the interface is easier to work with. My only beef with it is that it doesn't work for overalldistance when you're looking outside of your city, even though it gives you the directions. The fact that I don't have to enter my own address every time I want directions is pretty cool. I also have found directions on it that I couldn't find on Mapquest.

Oh yeah, and the phone number feature is fairly good too.

Hopefully with Apple's new webcore stuff it'll be faster. Watson looks like it has nice features, maybe Apple will absorb it like they did Extensions Manager.

[iJon]

the new sherlock in panther also has the white pages built in, a feature i was waiting for. but watson has had it too and much more.

iJon

[Sublime]

well, I think I used it once or twice. I can't remember why though.

What does it do again?

:o

[chmorley]

Ditto on what iJon said. Watson is just far superior to Sherlock. If you are a football or baseball fan, check out those channels. I also sometimes use the movie and TV channels.

When I saw the features in Sherlock (with the previews of Jaguar), it made me put off paying for Watson, thinking it would be stupid to pay for something Apple was going to give away.

I finally bought Watson two weeks after upgrading to Jaguar, when it was just clear that it was far superior to Sherlock.

"It's a good thing." :D

Chris

p.s., Check out the football channel. Really.

Just noticed that the football channel doesn't say much, as they have replaced last year's with this year's. Try baseball, though.

[bennetsaysargh]

apple should buy watson and then bundle that with Mac OS X.

sherlock is a slow slow app. i use it for movies occasionally, but that's it.

[Snowy_River]

I use Sherlock for Movies. Back when it was Sherlock 1 I used it for internet searches, but I've stopped doing that. (Among other things, the Google space in the bar on Safari makes it quite easy.)

I usually can't stand Sherlock's dictionary and phone book features, for a couple reasons. First, most of the time that I want to look up a word, I'm not on the internet. I have an old copy of American Heritage Dictionary that I use for most of my dictionary needs (dating back to 1993 - very much a Classic application). I'd love to find a good OS X replacement for it, but, to date, haven't found anything that impresses me that much.

The phone book in Sherlock I tried using a few times, and it seemed to never be able to find the places that I was looking for. Then, if I simply went over to Qwestdex.com, I could get the info in no time. So, I've classified the phonebook as unreliable, at best.

That's left me with movies. The one irritating thing about movies in Sherlock is that it always tries to download the trailer. When I'm at home, on dialup, I don't want to bog down my connection with Sherlock trying to load the trailer (not to mention the fact that it slows Sherlock itself down when trying to switch from one movie to another to see what the movie times are).

I've now downloaded Watson, and I'm going to check it out. I'm already pleased to see that the 'preview' pane for the trailer is something that you can choose to have up or not.

With luck, Apple will see some of the things that they've done wrong and correct them in the next version of Serlock...


P.S. Does anyone else find it irritating when the forum size gets stretched out due to an overly large image being attached?
(Not that I'm complaining about the image, it was nice to see all of those channels. It's just annoying when I have to scroll the window over just to read ever message on the page.)

[j33pd0g]

I never really depended on Sherlock. I used it one time to look up movies and was impressed. The yellow pages map thing worked nice too. However, I wouldn't be sad if Apple did away with it. Maybe they could put another sidebar in Safari with the same functions as Sherlock.

BTW... I would really like to get every restaurant, deli in every town, city, and village to be online and have a food menu Sherlock channel. They could call it iEat.

We should be able to order a spaghetti and meatball, garlic bread meal and designate it as a delivery/pickup. Maybe make reservations. On second thought... no ditch Sherlock... and make this a separate application. The iEat Food Store (TIFS)

[SilvorX]

translation for me, has the best translation I've seen

[caveman_uk]

I don't use it. I don't live in the states so it's useless really :(

[wunderwood]

Give apple a brake. Remember Sherlock is FREE, and we all know that OS X 10.2 would be well worth it without sherlock. It also sounds like Apple is getting their act together slowly. It's not surprising to me that Apple dose not support all countries equally. They are a corporation, and they give most their attention to the people that buy most of their computers. Watson is great, but its not free. My favorite channel is the movie channel.

[scem0]

dont have sherlock, and when I did I didn't use it :).

scem0

[wdlove]

Originally posted by scem0
dont have sherlock, and when I did I didn't use it :).

scem0

For my part I use Google!

[caveman_uk]

Originally posted by wunderwood
It's not surprising to me that Apple dose not support all countries equally. They are a corporation, and they give most their attention to the people that buy most of their computers.
...and ignore the rest of the world that buys the other 50% of their computers...yeah that makes sense:rolleyes:
And in the case of windows iTMS even the US windows users get better treatment than us:mad:

[mmmbop]

Originally posted by caveman_uk
...and ignore the rest of the world that buys the other 50% of their computers...yeah that makes sense:rolleyes:
And in the case of windows iTMS even the US windows users get better treatment than us:mad:

Hi caveman_uk

I agree completely with what you're saying (but I'm also using your post to get my message on the board as I can't add new posts without quoting someone on my home computer - so thanks).

I've mentioned in this thread before about Apple's lack of Sherlock channels for non-US users, in particular, the Film/Cinema channel. But it's no surprise to see why there isn't a UK version when you look at how crap the Odeon online offering is - pointless splash screen, (not very) Flash-based interface which is particularly buggy on the mac - and a lengthy nightmare to navigate to what you're looking for. No wonder Apple weren't able to partner the UK's largest cinema chain if Odeon can't be arsed to get their own site in order.

I now use the accessible version of the Odeon's site some clever man has devised, but I would dearly love to see a UK version of the Movie/Theater channels those jammy US users have.

It was a bit of a cheek to advertise the movie and map channels on the box packaging of OS X 10.2, while Apple across Europe have failed to deliver those features. No wonder that woman in Quicktime looks so smug; she has the bloomin' channels but we don't!

[Edited for naming wrong app - whoops.]

[Vector]

Whats Sherlock?



thanks, thanks, i'll be here all week

[noel4r]

the Movies Channel, I use it about once every 2 weeks. they should really update that program, maybe a map program, it has so much potential.

[dho]

Translation has been the most usefull for me

a birdie told me that sherlock is much faster in panther:)

[Awimoway]

In this order:

Dictionary

Movies

Translation

Mapquest


But for some reason, in Panther it's slower than just going to shortcuts for these in Safari. So I've taken it off my dock.

[deejemon]

Originally posted by mac15
I use translation most, it don't work to good but it does the job

I love the translation function - it's a better game than that Chess one.

What you do is type in a sentence, or copy a normal sort of sentence from a web page. Then you see what happens when you round-trip the text by successively translating it again and again and again.

There are a couple of versions of this:
You can convert from the original language to another language and then back again, and even repeat it again, either choosing a different target language or the same one you used originally.
Or (and I think this is more fun), you translate from one language to another to another to another and then eventually back to the original one.

It's like an internet version of that Whispers game.

[Vector]

Originally posted by deejemon

It's like an internet version of that Whispers game.

my friends And i always called it telephone, but i assume they are tthe same game.

[bennetsaysargh]

Originally posted by deejemon
I love the translation function - it's a better game than that Chess one.

What you do is type in a sentence, or copy a normal sort of sentence from a web page. Then you see what happens when you round-trip the text by successively translating it again and again and again.

There are a couple of versions of this:
You can convert from the original language to another language and then back again, and even repeat it again, either choosing a different target language or the same one you used originally.
Or (and I think this is more fun), you translate from one language to another to another to another and then eventually back to the original one.

It's like an internet version of that Whispers game.

well, not all languages translate well together. it's just one of those things. sherlock isn't the best, but it shouldn't have all the blame.

[wowser]

sorry to bring this back up again, but why didn't apple create a channel where you would search for more channels? maybe it's just me. I was just looking for UK cinema listings

[mmmbop]

Originally posted by wowser
I was just looking for UK cinema listings

I thought the same thing this morning. I can't remember the last time I used Sherlock. But I would definitely use cinema listings as long as it searched all cinemas in a given area.

I'm not sure why Apple UK haven't got this channel sorted. It wouldn't be a money-spinner but it would definitely help push more people into switching.

[TheMacOS.com]

sherlock channel? what is that?

I dont use sherlock..... can you say google? ;)

[wowser]

sherlock channel? what is that?

I dont use sherlock..... can you say google? ;)

yeah, but wading through google results for stuff like guitar tabs is frustrating at times. i don't really use sherlock, but i can sorta see how there is some use for it. like the cinema listings