JAY Goes from KUL to CMB

Day 110 - This morning the tablet alarm rang at 5:15 AM. By 5:55, I requested a Grab car via the app and Jay was off!

He's not been to Sri Lanka since 2013. And for the last four or so trips, I have accompanied him. In fact, the last time he went to Sri Lanka alone, was before immigrating to Canada in 1996. So much has changed during the last five years for his family! Since our last time there, his family aunt, father, and brother-in-law have died. He's going to visit with his two sisters, who are younger.

I got the Grab payment notification that he'd arrived on the airport in less than 40 minutes. The traffic must be light in the mornings. I periodically watched his flight to Colombo as it progressed across the Indian Ocean. He left a few minutes early but got there a good half-hour early. The flight is supposed to take three and a half hours, but the time zone difference makes up for two and a half of those.

So, I wanted to wait until the evening to give a call. At 9:30 PM here, it was 7:00 there. He said everything was fine and he saw lots of changes on the 20-minute trip from the airport to his house in Minuwangoda. The luggage with gift items made it safely too. Even though up early, he mentioned that they'd skipped naps and the siblings talked all afternoon.

Jay is a true traveller and after a few days, in the middle of next week, he'll take his sisters to Jaffna as they have never been to the far north. I'm sure they'll have a good time on the trip and for the whole stay. He'll return here to Kuala Lumpur on March 15th.

Personal Quote #32

"All the good ideas have already been thunk up."

Phew, if I put quotes around that statement and paste it into Google or Bing it comes back as unique! Being unique is tough work nowadays and it is, honestly, getting harder and harder in today's world. With such an exponential increase in the chattering online masses, it's becoming ever more difficult to be original. I was expressly thinking of ideas which I could use for a quote today and hit upon something like this:

"Humans, way down deep, have an inate desire to be told what to like. That's why religion and Apple Inc. have been so successful."

Dennis Sylvester Hurd (1959- )

Unfortunately, I cannot let that stand as a one-of-a-kind, personal gem of wisdom. I know this now after typing religion and Apple Inc. into a search engine. A gazillion pundits of all shapes and sizes have expressed an opinion like that over the years. Gosh dang, it's too darned hard to be unique anymore.



I guess I've mulled over Apple before though.

How Square, Man!

I expect that a lot of the future images here might be equal on all sides. That sort of goes against the wide-screen grain everywhere else in my life. I was just starting to think that photos cropped to 16x9 looked normal.

Here's a window display at the downtown New Westminster Army and Navy Department store. I especially like the placement of the kitchen strainers. They sort of look like, how should I delicately state this, a Xena-Princess Warrior bra?



Why the shift to square? It's all for the love of Instagram, the photo sharing phenomenon which has been denied to Android devotees for years. Just this week, it was released. The Android app still lacks Flickr integration which was almost a killer for me. Yet, as it's been promised, I will live with a temporary workaround in order to get my pictures uploaded. My life is on Flickr and I'm certainly not going to stop contributing to the ultimate, electronic holding-pen for my images.

That said, the social networking prowess of Instagram has made me an Instaconvert. Of course there's really nothing there that cannot be found in competing Android apps. But, I am basking in the glow of being in the in-crowd.

Ah, ha! (Picture an incandescent bulb lighting up.) So this is why the Apple slaves have always paid more for dumbed down, proprietary products "that just work". This rush must come from doing something which may make others consider me cool.

My Newest Screen

I felt as though I hadn't had a technical challenge for a while. I love figuring out new gadgets. So, I went to Futureshop in Metrotown and picked up a 16G Toshiba Thrive.



This 10.1" Android tablet is known for its exceptional bulk. Yet, it has all the things that make life easier for someone like me. I am not looking to consume media via iTunes and I don't own any items from the Apple ecosphere. The fact this device has a standard USB port, an HDMI-out, and even a full-sized SD slot makes it a better fit as a device for me to use in a classroom. I think these things are more important than marketing hype and the crazy folks who wait in lines with thousands of others to be ubber-unique and cool.

It weighs in at exactly 750 grams. I guess I'm man enough to be able to handle the extra 149 grams my device weighs over the iPad 2. The big problem is that, after playing with it for the day, my Nexus One now feels tiny and practically unusable. Ironically though, my phone is what will provide 3G Internet access via it's built-in wifi hotspot when I'm out and about.

Chrome: Old Bumpers and New Netbooks

I'm ready for a change as Windows is looking pretty long in the tooth. Oh, I have nothing against Version 7. It's stable, quick, and practically maintenance free. I am especially fond of how well it sets up for a home network in its latest incarnation. That type of OS, though, is losing its importance as we get closer to cloud computing.

I also don't want you to think I am anti-Microsoft in any way. I was a die hard supporter of that company and what it was able to do as far as helping to make personal computers mainstream devices. And lest you think I'm too new to comment, I first used Windows on a hot new Intel 286 back in the 1980's.


I can soon picture not requiring a standard operating system such as MS Windows. Google's Chrome browser will basically be the entire OS on some netbooks next year.

It's just that things have changed. I anticipate using fewer copies of Windows in the future. A version of Windows will probably still run on my media server and maybe a laptop or two. Yet I just don't see Microsoft involved in as many of the new, smaller devices of my future. For example, I have already purchased a smartphone that runs Android. I can also completely foresee my subsequent netbook running on next year's release of Chrome OS by Google. I will still want a netbook for travel and work.

Probably 2011 will bring me sort of pad to primarily sit on the living room coffee table. I no longer have a desire for one that runs Windows. There is one thing, however, of which you can rest assured: No new slate device I own will start with a small letter i and be produced by Apple. I just don't swing that way.

Nerd Cred

Some phones are designed for stupid people. Apple, for example, aims for a standard user experience at the expense of customization. On the other hand, the new Win 7 phones are being advertised towards those who want to "get in and get out". It is as if Microsoft thinks customers who actually like using their phones are some kind of freaks.

I fit comfortably in with the vastly growing Android crowd. To borrow a phrase from ancient PC advertising history, Google's Android OS has helped to create smartphones for the rest of us. The image below shows exactly what apps are loaded on my Nexus One at the present time.

DennisSylvesterHurd's Android apps on AppBrain

My phone is not the same as it was last week. I like it that way. I appreciate the fact I can change the look and feel of my phone so easily. I just loaded a large clock and animated weather widget. It looks a lot like the HTC Sense front-end. I changed virus checkers. I removed some apps which I never use. Having an Android phone means I can have my phone my own way. It doesn't have to conform to set standards in either appearance or functionality.

Android, Of Course!

I see the media is still happy to show lineups in front of Apple stores when one of their new products comes out. Slick marketing that is. So many customers apparently have less intelligence than a flock of sheep, I might add. Sheep are smart enough to get in a queue only if they are prodded. I am aware that Apple's products appear slick and cool and I suppose shiny little trinkets are attractive. Yet, it's the worship of anything with an Apple logo I find horribly wrong. The marketing is persuasive enough to make people think that their products work simply, without fuss. Of course the world can seem less messy when under the thumb of a dictatorship I cannot pay allegiance to this type of expensive, antiseptic environment no matter how slickly it's portrayed by gullible media and raging fan-boys.

I like my beer cold, my vacations long, and my electronic gadgets on a complex and freer platform.

DSH is Waiting for DHL

The Google phone was released in January 2010. At the time it was sort of a proof of concept of their Android operating system. At the beginning of the year the specs were quite impressive. I was immediately interested. I was feeling as though I was completely ignoring the smartphone revolution. Little screens are due to take on an increasingly important role in our lives.

By the middle of March I was carefully weighing my options. I rather desperately wanted a Nexus One. Of course Android was gaining importance and other phones such as the Motorola Droid were taking center stage.

Now it's June, nearly a half year after Google's initial offering. The company has even said they will soon quit selling phones online and move into retail distribution chains. I still favour the idea of buying a phone outright. People who balk at the idea of coming up with the money upfront are penny wise and pound foolish. Regular phone companies subsidize phones but lock one into a longterm contract. That's not for me.

I just ordered an AWS Nexus One online although it's certainly no longer top dog. I will use it initially with a new provider in the Vancouver cellphone market. WIND Mobile launched here today. I'm not much of a talker, really. I just want to learn about Android and its apps. I rejoice in having the stamina to have waited long enough to safely avoid the clutches of evil Apple Inc. and the walled-garden of their iPhone. Open standards universally make for a messier but more liberating experience.

I Don't Worship Steve Jobs as a God

I'm a little rough on glasses and I always have been. I wonder how much my parents spent on my eye-wear between 5th grade and college. Hum? It would run into the thousands, even in 1970's dollars. Even though they now sport progressive lenses, I haven't changed. I regularly have to go in to get a current pair fixed or adjusted.


Today, I took the pair that had lost both of the little plastic pieces that cushion one's nose. Somehow or another both screws had fallen out at nearly the same time. My optician is Pavan Optical uptown. On the way back from work, I stopped in and got two shiny new ones. When asked how I could be helped, I must have fallen into Apple Corp's pervasive marketing hype. For the life of me I couldn't think of what they were actually called.

I ordered two eye-pads. I found the plural noun rather surprising as it left my lips. It sounded shocking especially since I've so successfully avoided buying Apple products for so many years!

An Over-Cautious Click Coward

I've done my due diligence. I really should buy it. (Of course, I mean the Google phone as I consider Apple Inc. the most evil of tech. empires.) Somehow, I cannot seem to get up the courage to hit the Get your phone button though. Should I wait? There are still pros and cons for ordering either of the incompatible models. This is due to differences in Canadian mobile networks. Should I let 'em ship me one? I could interact over wifi even without subscribing to a current data plan.


A Guy's Review of the Nexus One on YouTube

Where's My WinPad?

Apple geeks were all agog over today's announcement of the new iPad. If you've followed this blog for any length of time, you probably realize I am not one of those people. I have been adamantly anti-Apple over the years. The company that entered public consciousness by rallying against Big Brother, ended up being just about as proprietary as an electronics company can. Furthermore, most of what is lauded as stylistic to me just seems like fashion snobbishness.

Still, today's announcement is being seen as niche. I don't think it is. I love the idea of small tablet devices. Of course, I'd never buy an Apple iPad as I wouldn't want to wrestle with its iTunes albatross. Still, I find myself constantly keeping my Acer netbook near me. It sits on the coffee table for instant searches that come from TV, conversation, or life. It's small but not perfect. I need proximity to a flat, simple, networked device. Would it be keyboard-less and thin, so much the better. Come on developers from Asia, give me a tablet that runs Win 7, is light and sturdy, and sets me back about $250 bucks.

Sucking Up and Disseminating Information

I've set up Chrome to search using Bing. I like Microsoft's interface and I've always had a love/hate relationship with Google. I still find myself in the first emotion with them often though.

Their unrelenting quest to gather and disseminate information never seems to lose steam. For example, they've set up a clean way to search movies. You may click the little image to see what is playing around my town or New Westminster, BC. It's set up to easily display on a mobile device. I've been swooning over Google Street View of late too.

It is applications such as these, and their underlying embrace of free-flowing information which are prompting me to wait for some good smartphones based on Google's phone OS, called Android. They 'get' that apps live online and that one's informational needs should all be accessible from where ever one is. I'm sorry, but although an iPhone looks enticing, Apple is far too concerned with keeping an iron grip on its proprietary hardware. When Android starts running on some inexpensive, but robust phone platforms, watch out ...

Today, I'm Literally Wired

It may not sound like fun for some folks, but I got a chance to go though my collection of wires and obsolescent parts. I have the day off and the weather's rather crappy, so I don't mind getting hanging about. I really can't think of an activity more fun than playing with video equipment and making copies of a few Sinhala DVD discs we have.

We were going to buy a DVD player to bring to Jay's house when we go to Sri Lanka next month. Then I remembered, we have a couple of spares hanging around the house. The cheap, Chinese one we got for free when we bought the widescreen TV can up-convert. It worked okay with the HDMI output but its remote would affect the TV set which became too much of a hassle very quickly. That isn't what makes it the better of the two for a gift. It's the fact it'll play PAL natively and has a 110-220 power supply. Those are the characteristics that make it the one of choice. I am not exactly sure if the TV in the Minuwangoda house has an s-video connector, so I'd better bring a spare as well as the standard old RCA types. Also, if the TV doesn't have stereo inputs then I'll need a Y-splitter. Luckily, this was one of the only times I can recall when I don't need to run to an electronics shop to pick up some part or another. I have a box about three times the size of a shoebox that holds all sorts of connectors, adapters, and wires; unfortunately, although overflowing, it seldom has exactly what I need.

I love plugging things in and figuring out the necessary connections. In the perfect world manufacturers would be able to create components which are smart enough to set themselves up. Although I generally detest Apple for how proprietary their products are, I do feel jealousness when I look at the umpteen dozen wires all collecting dust behind my PC desk and under my TV. Really, is this the best engineers can do?

Do You Hear What I Hear?

The title doesn't have anything to do with the Christmas song you may have heard last week. Rather, I'm just including a convenient way for you to see the type of podcasts I listen to. Click the image below to load my personal site for recently 'shared' episodes.


LINK EXPIRED
I refuse to purchase an Apple iPod primarily because that company is so proprietary. I have vowed never to load iTunes on any piece of equipment I touch. I am not sure if people have pointed to the incongruity to the ideals espoused back in 1984. Whereas the company may have tried to look like a champion of freedom, they've always been the antithesis of it.


Luckily, most podcasters provide nearly universal RSS delivery. I've recently decided to use Google Reader to manage subscriptions. It is quite a brilliant online app. Of course it's a breeze to listen to my own selection from any computer. This is a clear improvement over separately-loaded aggregator software. Now, if there were some way to auto-download those which I want to carry around in my mp3 player ...

I Still Don't Buy into Their Hype

In the space of five minutes, I just had to endure two of the 'PC vs. Apple guy' TV commercials. These annoy me no end. Who in the hell is the target audience for that ad campaign? It seems they're always pandering to idiots by insisting they're so simple to use. Perhaps there are fools being fooled though. I just did a web search and and found that Apple's market share has recently been soaring. After this amazing growth, it stood at just a bit more than 8% in the third quarter of this year.

Big deal, eh? If a mass-market consumer product has been around for decades and still cannot even manage 10% market share then it cannot be all that spectacular, can it?

I guess I could be confirmed as staunchly anti-Apple. I've even refused to buy an mp3 player that sports the iPod name just because they wear the little Apple logo. Most importantly, I don't think of their products as being cool, just well-hyped.

Defending Evil

Alternate title: Stop Whining and Compute Like a Grown Up!

Computers and I have been around for a long time. Sometimes looking back is a poignant reminder of how far we've come and how quickly we've arrived here. It's relatively easy to focus on the technical aspects over the years but there is a complete set of emotional aspects too. The hateful relationship that many have with the Microsoft Corporation has never been on the forefront of my concerns. Despite news of near constant litigation, bashing them is hardly on my radar screen. In fact, I have always loved Microsoft for their monopolistic tendencies, lack of groundbreaking innovation, and poor O.S. security.

MONOPOLISTIC TENDENCIES: People bitch and complain, but let's thank the Almighty for Microsoft's ability to create standards. One can hardly imagine how difficult it would be driving a car if there wasn't a continuity between models and brands. For example, I am extremely grateful that Ford Motor Company, the Koreans at Hyundai, and even high-gear, Ferrari engineers have all adopted the right foot as being the universal way to accelerate. (Where this leaves left-footed individuals, I've not a clue!) But software does not follow the rules of tired, old industries. Think what you will, but the main reason why software is cheaper and more productive than ever is because of the fact Redmond has the power to unite. If they don't have a technology in-house, they either make a gentlemen's agreement or gobble up those who do. Remember, it's not an obscene thing that they often have the power to stamp out competing standards!

LACK OF INNOVATION: Being a company which provides cutting edge trends has never been a Microsoft forte. Yet they do pull together various technologies and eventually plop them into Windows. One may not be too concerned that a Firewire connection to their PC is possible until they buy a new digital device that needs one. Then, it's an enormous relief for Mr. Average Joe to discover he need only plug in the cable. Microsoft almost never creates the idea, they just wait a while and then push in and make it universal. The realm of Microsoft's all-embracing, monopolistic arms means that areas (you've not yet discovered you need) are slowly and silently being added to your software's foundations.

POOR SOFTWARE SECURITY: The most recent complaints against the company involve a condemnation for a lack of PC security. I have a well-formed theory which defines most of those pundits as acting like chickens with their heads' cut off. They seem to quote each other and stir up fear and loathing but do not correctly blame the source of the trouble. Let me explain something by the way of an example: The fact that one can send an executable program file or script by attaching to an email is a feature. The fact that idiots write virus programs and that stupid people run them is not an inherent security issue. The fact that Outlook now must default to not allowing file attachments, says far more about protecting people from themselves than a grand concept of security. It's nice to plug a hole but we have to remember that we are in reality just removing some of the programs' connectivity. For God sakes man, buy a yearly subscription to McAfee! A few bad apples with evil on their minds can turn any connection between computers into a liability. So, security-de-jour boils down to an exercise in building ways to prevent connections and events from occurring. There's a great deal of perception involved; we could be a great deal more 'secure' if we gave up any access to the Internet. However, although that's ultimate security, it doesn't sound like a solution in which I'd like to participate ...

All this said, I should probably just cover my ears and wait for the Windows XP SP2 release in August.

It's Never Easy

Don't get me wrong, I actually ENJOY taking the cover off my computer case. I think it's fun mucking around with the innards. However, there are times when I can understand Apple's philosophy of designing everything themselves.

I have just installed a new Leadtek video capture card. The reason I bought the particular model is because it is stereo. Yet, upon installation, the software did not correctly provide the audio drivers. I scrounged on the CD and even at their website and have not even been able to find them. This is a company in Taiwan, but was the only reasonably-priced solution I could find.

There is a temporary workaround as I can use the auxiliary in on my regular audio card, but ..... grrrrr ..... why'd I pay the extra money for the hardware that's on the capture card! Here's an email I just sent off (probably to a black hole).

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I tried 'membership' as I thought there might be access to a message board. I just installed the WinFast TV2000 XP.
I bought it as it is a stereo board, yet the Multimedia Software Pack does not include the WinFast TV2000 WDM Audio Capture driver.
I thought 'a way around the problem' would be to unzip your newest driver set and install manually, but the audio driver doesn't appear there either. What can I do to make use of the hardware audio connections?

== Dennis

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