Rabbit’s hole

Podcasting

I listened today to my first podcast (actually a mp3 reading of a story I liked) - and it stinks. Not the message itself, because I already liked the story, but as a way to get information. So I’ll still not change my opinion - podcasts will not take off in great numbers. Even if it sound like the well known “640kb should be enough for anybody”, I think it is right. Why ? Because of human nature.

Listening to a podcast is getting information - you’re not discussing something, there is not interaction. Think, if you will, of a website - text only - that contains some information. And now imagine the creator designed it however he wants - 8 point or 36 points fonts, long or short spaces, whatever. A podcast is worse - the reader not anly imposes his / her style, but also his rithm and attitude.

There will however be people with great podcasts - but these are the people that could get a job at a radio station. These are the ones you see with a crowd around them in the park, naturally leading the conversation. These are the natural speakers.

For the rest, I think we’re safer with websites - at least somebody can scan the text and pass on if they’re in a hurry. There’s a reason why narrators for movies and voices for cartoon characters are carefully chosen : not everyone can express the right emotion.

Escher like pictures

A collection of wonderful pictures - but the blog’s owner doesn’t indicate the source, the owner or if they can be bought as wider format / printed pictures.

Merita … nu merita …

Ma tot gandesc de ceva timp la un startup - motivele sunt evidente si frumos romantate - sa muncesti pentru tine pe ceea ce iti place, realizarea unui lucru bun, un return mare pe investitie (nu vorbesc de timp), posibilitatea de a realiza ceva. Destui au incercat sau incearca (bafta multa, Alex!) si mult mai multi stau pe margine si dau cu banul.
Initial ma gandeam la o comparatie DA / NU pentru un startup. Dupa ceva scris am inteles ca practic faceam o comparatie DA - in strainatate / DA - in Romania. NU-ul este usor de inteles pentru noi toti - risc limitat, return sigur (desi nu neaparat foarte mare) si trai relaxat.

Practic tot Romania este candidatul nr 1 - tara mea, cunoscuti, prieteni, colegi, eventual relatii. Ceva mai ieftin traiul, legislatia nu e chiar atat de rea (cel putin in momentul asta nu e foarte respectata, ceea ce mi se pare echivalent), exista unele masuri de ajutor din partea guvernului - parca lipsa de impozite, daca imi amintesc eu bine.
Iar la avantaje mana de lucru suficient de calificata si mai ales invatata cu munca serioasa pentru rezultate - din nefericire, ma refer mai ales la studentii de la specializarile de calculatoare pe care ii cunosc, nu la intreaga populatie. Legat de restul populatiei si de tara in sine apar si problemele.

Continue reading Merita … nu merita ……

Dangerous Saturday ahead

I can confirm it now - using Firefox may save your life. Not in the usual “the boss entered while an incriminating nude photo was on” type of situation, but by issuing what may very well be the first tornado warning for Paris. The forecast left me searching the web to confirm that T-storms really refer to “tornada type of storms” (it’s true, btw).

This weekend I watched “The day after tomorrow” so my newest oath is still in action: the moment I see animals going wild and thousands of birds flying away, I’m out of here !

Before I go to bed …

here’s a little photo I got a few days ago, on the European Union’s birthday (or at least that’s what I think it was).

PS - I didn’t change the colors in Photoshop - it really was blue !

“Some things - not many ! - were better there!”

Wow ! That’s the best word to describe this flick. Usually I’m not very enthusiastic after a movie, but the 2+ hours of uninterrupted action and twists really were worth it.

Great acting from Walker, Cameron and Vera (main characters) with a simple and very direct script. I stood up when Teresa Gazelle called 911 “I heard shots from the 303 appartement …” - for me it really made the movie “Pulp fiction” kind of real.

What can I say ? Go watch it ! It has a few quirks - a little convoluted sometimes, deceiving start and ending - but it has the makings of a block buster !

Are Pocket PCs worth it ?

After almost 2 years of being a pocket (and handheld) pc enthusiast, I have decided to take my business elsewhere.

My first PPC was a Jornada 565 from hp that served me very well over the years. I upgraded it to a Jornada 710 (the business class) an year ago and played a little on the side with a Nec MobilePro 770. Just for the heck of it, I also acquired a Jornada 360 (a pattern seems to emerge, doesn’t it ?), a 320, an old Compaq and a few others.

Last months I have been contemplating getting a new one (it was either a hp 4700 or a dell x51v). I’ve read reviews, played around with them in stores, looked at photos and so on. And yet, each time I had almost decided, the same faults annoyed me - faults created by the device class itself, not by a company.

The limited screen size was one of the first ones - from the start it limits the usability. Movies are annoying to watch, reading books makes you squint (or read about 8 words per page) while touch input is laughable.

Weird interaction was another problem : even with the 710 Jornada and it’s keyboard I couldn’t really touch type, while the stylus for a clamshell fells strange. A PPC works a lot better with the stylus but is almost always a data consumer type of device.

Battery life (a point many have complained about) was also a sour spot for me (sometimes I ended up using a 2 AA batteries 40 Mhz processor powered Ericsson MC16 because of it’s 5 days life). I would sacrifice some stamina for power, but modern PPC still do not cover everything a road user might need.

These are the points everybody knows (and hates) but here a few more personal ones : different set of instructions for processors means binaries have to be recompiled in order to function properly - and PPC’s aren’t really developper oriented. You cannot for example write the code, execute and debug it on the same device - you’ll have to write it on a desktop, link it, copy it and then use it (or try to debug it in a simulator). Desktop full compatibility has gotten very important to me (none of that synchronizing crap warms my heart anymore). After all, I’d like to become proficient with a few tools and exapand from there, not learn a different set for each device.

The software is many times not properly tested or has annoying glitches - for example I’ve spent almost half a day installing the PPC RSS Reader egress and still it functioned like hell - images were not opened correctly, after a few syncs it lost the entire list of feeds and from time to time I had to reset it. Unfortunetly, it was one the the best I found out there, so I gave up on the idea after a lost Saturday.

Space is another problem - even if memory cards are getting cheaper and bigger by the minute, they still cost a hell of a lot more than a 200 gigs harddrive (4 GB CF anyone ?). So no way to cram in your favorite music collection, a few movies and some pdf books.

To sum it up, I finally realised a PPC is not exactly what I have been looking for. The size atracted me, but this factor imposed a lot of the limitations I described.

What is my minimal perfect product ? A convertible tablet pc that weighs less than 1.5 kg, with a 14″ or 15″ screen, 5 - 6 hours battery life and enough power to run Winamp and Photoshop at the same time. Why not the new UMPC or Origami ? Because the input still sucks, size is still too small (I’d rather carry half a kilo more and gain 2 hours of battery life and 5 - 6 inches) and the operating system does not guarantee you’ll be using the same software on and off your desktop.

Maybe Santa will hear ?

Winter everywhere

Sand castles

Just dropped by to post a link I enjoyed this morning : Harrison Lake Sand Castles. I can only say they’re amazing !

PS - Stay tuned, I’ll post a few photos from current and old trips , after I clean them up a bit.