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ResurrectionSong
Thursday, May 01, 2008Or Is it Just Me?Was anyone else surprised by the Fed’s quarter point rate cut yesterday? I haven’t been following the financial sites lately, and apparently I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was. It seemed like a good time to sit back and do not too damned much. Does anyone else think that it’s sort of cool that the Chinese government now has a super secret underground lair? Well, maybe not so super secret since everyone seems to know about it, but it does fit the bad guy image they’ve been cultivating of late, doesn’t it? And, no, I’m not particularly worried about the thing; I’m pretty sure James Bond managed to single-handedly destroy more impressive super secret underground lairs a few times in his career. Once call to our friends in the UK and that thing is toast. Does anyone else think that Josef Fritzl is going straight to hell when he dies--and that his is a clear case where his government should give him a helpful push down the path? There are reasons that we keep the words “monster” and “evil” in our non-ironic lexicon. He serves as a reminder that evil is very real, that there are monsters in the world, and that we need to remain vigilant if we plan to keep citizens safe from the worst of us. Is anyone else terrified of the fact that we’re having a worldwide spike in food prices and availability because, largely, of destructive government policies? Let me continue that thought for a moment: most modern food shortages occur because of natural events. Floods, droughts, disease--acts of God if you will. The food shortages now (because we are tying our food policy to our energy policy, because trade barriers are being erected, because the cost to bring food to market are growing wildly) are manmade. I’m sure that, as we always do, we’ll absorb the painful losses, change our policies somewhat, and adjust to new realities and costs. We always do. What scares me, though, is that if our policies aren’t changes wisely, what happens to energy costs, food costs, and food availability when God visits us will a really good flood, drought, or plant disease that severely limits the supply of some staple grain? Because what has happened over the last year or so has happened without dips in actual production. I might be missing something that makes it all okay, but this has me worried. Does anyone else think that the whole Lesbos/Lesbian thing is absolutely hilarious? I’ve got nothing to add to that. It’s just funny, I tell you. Does anyone else think that the Open Source Boob Project kerfuffle sort of goes to prove all the worst stereotypes about a certain subset of geekdom? To the point, that this class of geek imagine themselves to be extra-special-evolved in cultural terms while the rest of us just recognize the reality of their sexually immature, juvenile social ineptitude. To try to somehow demystify breasts by making such a big deal about an ongoing gropefest seems a good way to miss the actual point of their point. That’s only compounded by the native geek tendency to suck the spontaneous fun out of a thing by codifying it, over-explaining it, and extending it like overeager schoolboys into places where it doesn’t belong. All the while they see it as a way to make a social statement of some indistinct kind. Hi, I’m socially evolved and don’t buy into the cultural taboos about boobs. Can I fondle you now? I promise it will be totally non-sexual. Proving with impressive emphasis that some of the worlds smartest people can still buy into stupid like nobody’s business. Especially when breasts are the topic. I originally saw this on Scalzi’s site. He’s nicer than I am. For the record: any deals you make to grope or be groped by another consenting adult aren’t any of my business, I know. But pretending to some heightened sexual enlightenment because of something like the oddly named “Open Source Boob Project” just looks dumb. In the face of high royalty payments owed by online radio stations, does anyone else think that we’d all be better off when the record companies had to pay for their stuff to get played?
Instead of working toward the destruction of Internet radio, we would see a boom in the number of stations, the variety of music, and the financial health of the businesses that, for all intents and purposes, are advertisers for the record companies. By comparison to this superhighway robbery, was payola really such a bad thing? Hell, I think it was more honest.
Saturday, April 19, 2008Just a Little Random12 is the Magic Number.
Great series. I hope the next one is just as exciting (and blessed with the same happy ending for Avs fans).
Congratulations to Danica.
MacUpdate Promo looks pretty good.
Oprah is a pusher.
Anyway, where my admiration stops is right at the edge of her social and political commentary--commentary that leans less on thinking and more on feeling. That is doubly so when she’s pushing a self-help title of the nature of The Secret. Her new business venture with Eckhart Tolle, though, makes her seem more like a huckster than a reputable businessperson. Disappointing isn’t a big enough word. Monday, March 24, 2008Sokwanele’s Creative Use of Internet TechnologyCheck out what Sokwanele, one of Zimbabwe’s most powerful voices in support of non-violent, democratic change, is using Google Maps in a unique and powerful way. By mapping election irregularities Sokwanele is showing us just how “fair” the upcoming elections are going to be. For instance, I can see in Bulawayo, where I lived for a time when I was a boy, that there have been cases of political cleansing, violence, and disruptions of the right to freedom of association. Clicking on one of the icons on the map brings up a synopsis of the story and a link to the incident in their database. The offenses can be filtered by incident type, too. It may not change the results, but dictators like Mugabe don’t often do well with bright light shining on their transgressions. I hate that Sokwanele’s creative use of the technology is so necessary, but glad that technology is serving a good cause. Wednesday, March 19, 2008Al Gore Lauds Corporate Advances in the Fight Against Global Warming. Then Totally Misses the Point.Al Gore recognizes, in a virtual panel discussion on business technology and the environment, that corporations are ahead of governments when it comes to tackling emissions issues.
Then he totally misses the point and continues to embrace economically destructive mandates and the clumsy hand of government over-regulation instead of realizing that the solution is coming to us (although, admittedly, without all the fun political grandstanding that comes with saving the planet from our evil, corporate overlords). The market--consumers and producers--are already addressing emissions issues through a combination of economic and ecological interest. On the economic side, consumers want energy efficiency because the cost of energy has risen sharply over the last few years and those costs are shaping the way that they shop and build. Producers, on the other hand, have seen their own costs rise for the same reasons--and it’s not just direct energy costs and commodities, the cost increases have crept into things like shipping and printing costs. Working for a publisher, I can tell you that we’re facing a year where we know that our paper, ink, and mailing costs are going to bump significantly--which means that we either pass the increases onto our advertisers, we see our margins shrink, or we find ways to increase efficiency to lower our costs.
To cut those expensive bumps in costs, especially since we’re unlikely to be seeing a barrel of oil at $60 or less any time soon, companies are looking to find new ways to do the same jobs with significantly more efficiency--which means less emissions without the economic pain that an artificial government mandate might leave us. An interesting story on CNet today talks about a new use for a very old technology that could yield significant gains for shipping companies.
The point is that businesses and consumers want to solve the same problems that Gore does, although not always for the same reason. But consumers and producers operate from environmental concern, too, even though the professional protesters would never imagine that it’s so. Al Gore’s troops believe that they have to fight against the corporations and consumers to achieve their positive goal--which is why their focus remains on government action instead of funneling their energy into technology and solutions on the corporate side. The truth is that, in many ways, corporations and consumers have joined the fight voluntarily because they believe either that global warming is as scary as Gore portrays it to be or because they believe the world will be cleaner and better if we reduce our energy use and waste. I’m in that second camp. Through my thirty-seven years of life, I’ve heard lots of scary warnings from communities of scientists, and those warnings are almost always proven to be overstated hugely. Forgive me for being cynical when they tell me that the world is about to end. I do believe, though, that inefficiency bleeds growth out of the economy, any metro area would be a more pleasant place with lower emissions, it will be easier to deal with energy demands if we find more clean ways to feed energy into the grid, and it’s awfully hard to want a car that gets poor gas mileage when the price of Regular keeps sucking money out of my wallet like the big, scary NAFTA monster in Ross Perot’s nightmares. Like most people, my desire to cut emissions comes from a combination of beliefs and desires driven by my own personal values (economic and ethical). My desire to save the world may not be as pure as theirs, but it’s just as useful and results-oriented. If politicians and scare-mongers like Gore would just stay out of the way, the market will continue to tackle the problems that government can’t. Tuesday, March 11, 2008Indigenous Solutions to Higher CAFE StandardsIn Palenque, Mexico, the saviors of humanity are converging to lend their knowledge of the sciences to the fight against global warming be teaching us about “reviving Indian notions about ownership, use, compensation and respect.” Which doesn’t sound like it will go far in finding ways to increase fuel efficiency in cars, cheap ways to sequester emissions from coal burning plants, or even a practical way to get the nuclear power industry jump-started in the US. Which is a shame since, according to US EPA regional administrator Elin Miller, “The planet-wide stress on the environment today means that collaborative efforts ... are not just good things. They may well be essential for our survival.” If that means we die unless collaboration with these folks brings useful solutions, we are well and truly screwed. Seriously, though, looking to cultural guides for wisdom in how to live our lives from a practical and moral standpoint isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But only a fool could expect a solution to providing the amenities and necessities of civilized society (health care, longer lives, abundant food, clean water, the new CD from the Gutter Twins) with clean energy sources that aren’t so disruptive to economies that they see us fall into a global depression. This native wisdom isn’t going to solve those problems, and, with all due respect, I want better health care, a longer life, better nutrition, and better insulation than the average Native American saw before the Damned, Evil white devils showed up. Ultimately, all religions do what they can to remain relevant to their times, but religion and cultural wisdom don’t engineer anything other than the shape of society, and then only within certain boundaries. Those lessons--generally some variations on things like respect and responsibility to the planet and to future generations and the expectations of our behavior placed by a God (or whatever deity or deities you prefer) who gave us a special role in His creation--are important and useful guides to the way we should approach living our lives. Those ancient wisdoms did little to teach us how to combat infections with antibiotics, treat cancer with radiation, or revive lagging libidos with little blue pills. If we need salvation on a global scale from anthropogenic global warming, then it won’t be at the whim of religious dictate, it will be because of scientific breakthroughs and smart energy policies. Of course, if we follow the indigenous path, we might all get some hella nifty Flinstone-mobiles to ride to work. Not sure how I’ll get the drive to be downhill both ways, though… Monday, January 07, 2008iTase Me, Bro: Stun Me With Your Bad TasteTake a Taser, make it fabulous, and give it a gig of memory with which to store the musical screams of the Tased, and what do you have? That’s right: a really bad idea.
It’s electric. Boogie woogie woogie. Monday, December 10, 2007Nokia Takes Apple (and Google) SeriouslyTo put the exclamation point on the idea that Apple is shaking up the cell phone industry, check out this story about Nokia’s response to the disruptive influences of Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android.
No matter how you feel about Apple’s product, the fact that it is encouraging a new level of competition in the industry is good for consumers. And it will be an aggressive competition: the companies already entrenched in the industry have a lot of territory to defend and the money to make it interesting. Competition is good. Sunday, December 09, 2007myPhone: The Really, Really Big ReviewThe iPhone is a success. For everyone who thought that it would limp out of the gate and have little to no effect on the cell phone industry, it would be a good time to look for a little crow. Regardless of the final number sold, the iPhone has done a number of things that truly define success and truly define innovation. First, the iPhone has changed consumer expectations of how a cell phone should work, how it should appeal to the senses, and how beautifully the interface works. It also showed that a good chunk of the public was willing to pay for their phones if only those phones were actually good. It isn’t just the well-to-do or people who need the constant contact of a smart phone that went crazy for the iPhone; it was people who liked the idea of an easy-to-use almost smart phone that integrated useful features in a stylish package. Which isn’t to say that the iPhone is perfect or even that its features are for everyone. It’s just to say that this imperfect (I would still suggest that Apple released a stable beta on a willing public and that is just now getting close to a fully functional release) phone from Apple has not only sold well, but it has changed the industry. That Apple accomplished this with their first shot at the industry has to have the bigger players feeling a little nervous. Apple didn’t achieve the feat without engineering a beautiful piece of technology. The first and most important thing to the iPhone’s success is the interface. The touchscreen, which lets users interact with the phone in an simple way, is only part of the story. The organization and simplicity of the thing make it quick to learn, but the hidden features (like double tapping on a browser window to zoom in and then zoom out on a section of the screen) make it an absolute joy to use. It works well not just because most of the bits are so well designed, but because it encourages discovery. Yes, that makes it sound a little like a toy, but that isn’t the right way to view the achievement. It is an incredibly useful phone with powerful network capabilities that opened my eyes to the possibilities of a cell phone. My last cell phone--a Motorola SLVR--had some of the same features as my iPhone. At least, it listed those features in the ads. Thursday, December 06, 2007Changes Coming to the iPhone?I was planning on writing my two month review of the iPhone this weekend and, if the rumors are correct, before I’ve written the piece, one my biggest complaints will be answered by an update to the iPhone’s software.
One of my bigger disappointments with the iPhone was that I couldn’t use it to shuttle files back and forth between the office--something that I do with my iPod Nano on an almost daily basis. Giving me this feature now would make me awfully happy. The voice recording feature wasn’t even something that I realize that I wanted--but I do. When I interviewed Ryan Frazier (for anyone who is interested, he did win his seat) a while back, I used an old, battery powered voice recorder with no easy way to get digital files off of the device. The transcription process was slow and painful especially as the fast forward and rewind functions were, essentially, non-existant. What I would have given to record the audio on my cell phone, transferred the file to my computer, and done the transcription directly in a format where it would have been easier to note times and go back and forth through the conversation. These are features that will make my iPhone far more useful for me, and Apple’s habit of offering regular updates means that I might be using an iPhone six months from now that has only a superficial resemblence to the iPhone that I’m using today. It could well be so feature rich--especially with the addition true of third party applications rumored to be coming early next year--that my little phone feels like a brand new thing entirely. That’s good news. Thursday, November 29, 2007Kids These Days are Losers. So There.Wheels offers up an antidote to the competitive text messaging post from yesterday--old guy supporters everywhere dance a little dance of victory. Thursday, November 15, 2007Texting Gives Kids the Courage to be CowardsThe technology revolution really has changed our world. I no longer have to buy my porn, I have 24 hour access to more music than I ever knew existed, I can order my pizza online, and many of life’s tougher moments can be handled through instant messages and emails.
It’s a better world that we’re creating.
I wonder how this reliance on IMs effects the ability to interact face to face--so much of human communication is non-verbal that it seems that IMs, with clipped dialogue and very little nuance, misses much of what it means to effectively communicate with someone. In fact, it even misses the subtleties captured in a phone conversation. Does over-reliance on text messaging stunt growth in mature and meaningful conversation? Frankly, asking a girl out is tremendously difficult. Every time a guy does it, he opens himself up to humiliation and ridicule--at least in his own mind. I fully understand the urge to keep the potential for embarrassment as far away as possible. But is it such a bad thing for a kid to learn how to muster up a little courage and do the deed face to face? Learning how to take risks, learning how to handle a little failure, is an important part of growing up. If kids only learn how to take the easy route on everything that they do, where are we going to find the business, technology, and political leaders who will be willing to put themselves on the line for the big things in life. Maybe I’m just an old guy and too out of touch with the advantages of texting; maybe I’m just missing the point. Entirely possible. But I’m not entirely fond of teaching kids to rely on a technology that makes it easier to be a coward. Friday, November 09, 2007Christmas Gift Suggestions, Part 1With Christmas not all that far off and all of you early shoppers wondering what to get me, I thought that it might make sense to put some suggestions out there. Useful suggestions for keeping the zomby in your life happy.
Gift Idea #1
That would be a great start. Tuesday, November 06, 2007Wired: Apple Fanboys Not as Crazy as PaulbearersToday, Wired details how Ron Paul enthusiasts out-crazy Apple fanatics by a mile. Which I find, personally, gratifying, although I also wonder just how much crossover there is between these two groups.
While their methodology isn’t what you might call strict and seems to have tongue canoodling happily with cheek, the article will probably draw them even more hate mail. Truthers (who aren’t the totality of Ron Paul’s supporters, but certainly make up a good chunk of the most vocal contingent) aren’t known for their keen sense of humor, and the Apple fanboys are notoriously thin-skinned. Good show, Wired! Friday, October 26, 2007The Zomby is GoneAdmit it: you’ll miss me while I’m gone. I’m off to a land where there is much beautiful stuff, beaches, warmth, and booze--and where I can hide from everyone and everything for a few days of overpriced overindulgence. While I’m gone--and before my two buddies, Don and Jerry, start imparting their wisdom--I thought I’d leave you with a handful of links. First, Macomber introduces me to Drowning Pool. I mean, I already knew of the band, but now I know a lot more about the band--and this one is for the soldiers. Good stuff. They should have kicked him in the balls a few times, too. Anthony Anderson is a sick, inhuman bastard. Ridiculously cool and creative artwork for graphics geeks. I mean, wildly inventive. No one wants to give me the power of invisibility. I like to think of myself as a reasonably ethical guy, but some temptations are just too hard to resist. Just sayin’. Some fights are worth losing. No, that isn’t the sound of creeping anti-Americanism, just the belief that even Americans get it wrong some time. If I have time, I’ll address this further when I get back. Okay, you are now cleared to start missing me. Don’t cry. I’ll probably be back. I mean, unless the plane falls down or something. Tuesday, October 23, 2007What Do You Think When I Say CompactFlash RAID?What I think (when I say “CompactFlash RAID") is why? At least, for now I think why?
Not as flexible. Tremendously more expensive even with far lesser capabilities. Not hot swappable. When the price of those little cards comes down enough, this will make far more sense--at least, assuming that there isn’t a similar reduction in the cost of spinning platters or that some other technology doesn’t supplant both of the above. Maybe I’m not thinking creatively enough--maybe there is a person out there thinking, “CompactFlash RAID. I need that.” I’m betting it’s more of an object of minor geek lust right now, though. I really don’t see a situation where the need isn’t served better by cheaper spinning platters. Now, somebody set me straight. Sunday, October 14, 2007Late Night Threesome
Tuesday, October 09, 2007Wow. I Thought You Were Dead. (The Niche Geek Edition)Monday, October 08, 2007Creative TechnologyI’m all for catching bad guys, and this story from Foxnews.com could well lead to the capture of a child abuser. Which is nice. But, I have to admit, it’s the thought of what technique they are using to help identify the guy that is really intriguing to me. See, as a designer, when I’m working on photos, I use layers, adjustment layers, and a variety of other techniques to avoid “destroying” pixels. That is, original images are made up of pixels; when a designer makes changes to those pixels, he or she can destroy the original image. That could be a problem if the changes end up being unacceptable, if the client wants to step back to a more natural look, or for a raft of other reasons. When I first start working on a picture, I’ll make a safety copy of the original and, opening the file in Photoshop, I’ll start working on a copy of the original layer just so that I ensure the integrity of some untainted copy of that first file.
Doing things like blurs and twirls are destructive--they change the pixels so much that the original mapping is gone. Which is still true, but maybe a little less true than I though.
Visiting the link, you’ll see a before and after set of pictures--one where the suspect’s face had been twirled, and one where the image specialists had reconstructed the original. While there are still significant artifacts from the image manipulation, the reconstructed image is relatively clear and, I would imagine, could quickly lead to identifying the criminal. When the original file is twirled, the section of pixels that is changed streaks, bleeds, and bends until all that is left are stretched lines of the original colors. Un-twirling isn’t as simple as just sending the pixels back in the other direction--all that will do is cause new streaks, bleeds, and bends in the opposite direction. It won’t even come close to undoing the damage that the first manipulation caused. Again, or so I thought. Assumptions can really kick your ass, can’t they?
Below is a set of images. The first image is the original. The second image has had a twirl of 449º applied in Photoshop. The third image has had a twirl of -449º applied to the second image.
As you can see, the image is still distorted--there are streaks and artifacts and detail has been lost--but has become recognizable again. It wouldn’t save me from a needing to step back from a mistake, but it is a much easier process than I had thought. Criminals beware. You learn something new every day. Read the rest. And, if you think know the guy, contact the authorities and help put him in jail. Saturday, September 29, 2007Things I Like. Mostly.
Thursday, September 27, 2007AmazonMP3: That’s NiceThis isn’t a full on review of AmazonMP3, really. Just a series of thoughts about the new service--and why, for now, it’s still not for me.
I think the only reason AmazonMP3 is getting press is that it is the first competitor to iTunes Music Store that makes sense and competes head-to-head. eMusic is a different model (a subscription model that lets you own your music as opposed to the many shots at “renting” libraries of music for a subscription), and I included it simply because it is where so much of my stuff comes from these days. But Amazon goes the iTunes route, has a solid interface, and integrates with iTunes quite well. It’s a second music store done right--far better, as far as I’m concerned, than the attempts by Microsoft, Wal Mart, Real, and the many other pretenders. Add good quality and, generally, better prices, and I can’t imagine that Amazon won’t be successful with their downloadable music store. Good for them, but it doesn’t really make much difference to me. eMusic is still my favorite music store (although I wish that the selection of contemporary popular stuff) and iTunes is still my favorite downloadable entertainment store (although I wish there were more obscure, older, odd stuff) and lower prices to get in step with Amazon wouldn’t hurt my feelings either. The DRM issue simply isn’t an issue to me--I can’t play the songs on my work computer, the two laptops we have at home, and the two desktops that we have at home, burn CDs, and play the songs on our iPods; I understand why iTunes DRM is an issue for others but it’s not to me. Maybe when AmazonMP3’s library of music bulks up, I’ll be changing my tune (har har har--sorry about that) and that will become my music store of choice. For now, for me, it’s just another option--but that’s no bad thing. |
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