The iPad has Landed

Ignore the nattering nabobs... -- Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
Today’s blog is timely “fluff” until I finish some research on another article I’m working on. But of course it’s worth reading like all of my great blog entries. ;-)

After much hype and rumors galore, Steve Jobs finally introduced the iPad to an anxious, Apple-worshipping public. The device is much as trade papers had described -- a magazine-sized flat-panel device that runs Apple software and lets you read “print” media from the comfort of a couch. No need for a level desk surface, or even a steady seat.

The device has been greeted with ferocious criticism from the technoratti and here are just a few of the things found lacking in iPad:

Camera
Flash compatibility
GPS
USB Port
HDMI
Multitasking
Etc (the list goes on).

As if that’s not enough, some feminists are upset by the name “iPad” because they think it calls to mind feminine hygiene products. Give me a break on that – Stridex Pads have been around forever and have nothing to do with women’s monthly matters.

As to the technical complaints, I think a lot of people were expecting a tablet-style MacBook with all the bells and whistles of a Mac. I disagree with a lot of that anti-iPad negativity and here are three major features to recommend iPad:

1) Instant-On – Since it’s using the iPhone OS, I’m figuring it will be instant-on. Every time you turn it on, this should give you back two minutes of your life that would normally be spent watching a white apple emblem on a gray backdrop. I use my iPod touch to do quick checks on mail, weather and even crossword clues. It beats waiting on a computer to boot any day of the week.

2) $499 – Does everybody remember the MacBook Air from two years ago? The price was something like $2K. Early adaptors and tinkerers were immediately discouraged by the grandiose price. iPad (the 16GB wi-fi only version) is priced competitively with netbooks. $499 is pretty doable.

3) 9.7” bright screen display – I’m an Apple fan to be sure; I have a first generation iPhone and also an iTouch. I love them both – I like the Accelerometer and the Multi-touch feature. BUT I have middle aged eyes (see my previous blu-ray blog entry). Even using all the cool stretch and magnify features it can be very annoying to read a USA today article -- even with reading glasses. I’ll welcome a quick easy device where I don’t have to stretch the text – the text is already the right size.

I do have a couple of predictions about iPad – one good and one that will probably make Apple stand watch…

• iPod Touch sales will be cannibalized – I’ll probably ditch the iPod Touch since iPad does everything as well, only bigger and splashier. My iPod Touch never leaves the house – portability isn’t that big a deal. The iPad costs a little bit more and has more accessory options (as well as AT&T 3GS licensing fees later on) so maybe Apple doesn’t mind a little bit of cannibalism there.

• American business can probably make ample use of an iPad form factor – There are myriad tablet-style applications right now that use small monochrome displays w/ limited I/O capacity. (Think Palm handheld). I can pretty easily see iPads being adapted to dental offices and other places where fast boot-up and compact display matter a lot.

In sum – iPad has a lot of potential. Technoratti snobs and N.O.W. will also come around to it once they give it a try. After all, no good deed goes unpunished or unaccompanied by negative reviews.

© 2010 blogSpotter

Samsung Blu-ray Blues

Do you really want to know?? -- Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
Before launching into blu-ray, I’d like to mention my visit to Borders music the other night. When the store opened in 1996, it was a “happening place”. It featured a café with live music, free massages, reading stations and best of all -- a store overflowing with books, music and magazines. As I looked it over recently, I could see large areas of empty space. Other areas were occupied with greeting cards, toys and iPod accessories. It’s probably a sign of the times -- “dead tree media” (see my previous blog entry) is losing a lot of its panache. I hope that Borders holds on -- I like my fun, alternative reading space. I wonder if people realize what we lose if we close all the libraries and book stores.

On a not-unrelated topic, I’ve noticed that the hit count for my own blog is woefully small these days. When I began this enterprise in 2005, I had high hopes for a big readership, and I felt like I lots to say. I find myself running on a quarter tank now -- low on ideas and inspiration. I’m hoping that something pulls it out of the fire, but otherwise I may go on a long hiatus. I noticed that my facebook page which I barely maintain or modify gets quite a few more hits than my blog. That’s funny in a way, but also another sign of the times. OK -- enough with morose musings, today’s topic is blu-ray.

BLU-RAY

Blu-ray is an optical disc technology which provides 10 times the data storage of a standard definition DVD. A shorter wavelength blue-violet laser is what gives the technology its name. I finally gave in to my curiosity and purchased a Samsung blu-ray device this weekend. I was also drawn to the fact that it offers wireless connectivity to Blockbuster, Netflix, Pandora and YouTube. My experience was pretty terrible, let me count the ways….

NO, NO, NO NET -- My internet experience hit an immediate brick wall. I have high-speed DSL and a wireless router that works with countless other devices in my house. Samsung requires a special Samsung wireless adaptor to connect via USB. That part was omitted from the blurb on the carton. I have a special Ethernet adaptor (called MacSense) which lets you adapt a wireless signal to your Ethernet port. This kept getting ’gateway ping’ error on the network test.

THE EYES DO NOT HAVE IT -- My middle-aged eyes can’t tell any difference between blu-ray and standard definition; they look the same to me. What’s all the hype about?

THOSE DAMN BLACK BANDS -- I *still* get letterbox format with black bands at the bottom and top of my HDTV screen. I hoped at the very least that blu-ray would eliminate that.

HDMI SWITCH -- I purchased a new HDMI switch for hooking multiple HDMI devices to a single TV. It’s extremely flaky and seems to confuse both the Apple TV and the blu-ray box. My only current workaround is restarting or rebooting devices -- hardly a push-button convenience.

MACSENSE-LESS -- Using my MacSense Ethernet adaptor (mentioned above) with the Samsung appears to have messed up the settings on the MacSense --now it doesn’t work with anything else. It took me 2 days to figure out how to program it 1 year ago.

PRICE NOT NICE -- I spent $169 on this box, on Saturday. 12 hours later , Best Buy had a Sunday flyer with the price dropped down to $149. I ran to the store to recover @ $21 -- at least they offer a price protection plan for people vigilant enough to read the Sunday fliers.

In sum -- I went out of my way to spend too much money to get something that didn’t work as I thought, and additionally sabotaged another device that had been working well. It knocked me out of action for most of a weekend day, and as of this writing still doesn’t do much.

There you have it -- a weekend of failing blogs, flailing book stores and Samsung blu-ray that gave me the blues. It’s enough to make me glad that tomorrow’s a work day.


© 2010 blogSpotter

"Dead Tree Media" Has Staying Power

Why magazines should rule -- Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
Much has been said lately about the upcoming demise of the “dead tree media” -- magazines and newspapers. I remember circa 1995 when we were still bandying terms like Prodigy, Lynx, AOL and Mosaic. The Hotwired-reading prophets of the time predicted that magazines would be over and done with by 1996. They were wrong about that to be sure, but in 2010 I’d be remiss not to mention that lots of “dead trees” have really died. I need only look at my local Dallas Morning News which has had to nearly double its subscription rate to $33/year. Yes, some periodicals have ended their periodicity -- but I have hope that some survivors will persist.

Here is why. When I pick up a new copy of GQ or Rollins Stone magazine, I get more than the article content. I get beautiful, printed color lithography -- a tactile experience of paper and a veritable time capsule of ads and articles that speak to the current day. I get a thematically assembled-and-bound album of ideas and art that I might not think to put together myself -- suitable for a keepsake if I so desire. Imagine printing this week’s Newsweek content on your local inkjet and assembling it in any way as portable or pleasing as a printed magazine. OK, I hear the reader saying, “I don’t need assembled keepsakes, all I need is two articles”. You force me to bring up the “positive negatives” of dead tree media:

THE BUS -- If somebody mugs me at the bus stop, all they get is Newsweek. They don’t get an $800 Dell Inspiron with all my financial documents, software and photo memories.

THE BUTTER FINGERS -- If I accidentally throw my Men’s Health into the fireplace, all I’ve lost is $4.50 -- maybe not even that much if I already read it. If I drop my HP Pavilion, I must hope it’s still under warranty. ** See above addendum about photo memories.

THE BEACH -- If I take my Mini notebook to the beach, I risk gunking it up with sand, salt and suntan oil. I might get smears on a magazine but somehow it’s not as traumatic. Magazines were plainly made for the beach

THE BURGER KING -- Burger King will have generous stacks of Green Sheet, Dallas Observer and other freebies at the store entrance. These periodicals are free for the taking and paid for by local advertisers. I have yet to see the store that provides a stack of PC’s for customers who want impromptu browsing material.

THE BATTERY -- Utne Reader has an instant boot and shutdown time. I can read it for endless hours and no battery has been depleted. Don’t need to search for wifi or electrical outlets.

THE BIG GRAPHICS -- Some people will say that Smart phones are so small and simple that they eliminate some of the concerns of dropping or smearing with suntan oil. To that I have to say, this is where technology is limited by human physiology. A hand-held device should not be much smaller than a deck of playing cards -- lest it get easily lost or baffle it’s user with tiny controls. No less is true of a portable reader (be it an iPhone, a netbook or a SONY ebook reader). I have an iPhone and strain to read it even with reading glasses. Vogue on the other hand is bigger-than-life and splashy. A middle-aged person can read much of it without glasses.

Magazines give you fold-outs and cologne samples. When will computers offer fragrances? Magazines are light-weight and made for abuse. You can roll them up and cram them into tiny places (OK, mind out of the gutter). blogSpotter (I, the author) is admittedly old and out of the mainstream. But I truly think that our dead tree experience is something that has staying power. Maybe the next decade will prove me wrong. I wonder if there are any magazines that cover this issue?


© 2010 blogSpotter

The Three Earths

It started with three... -- Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
Today’s topic is admittedly weird and out there; I haven’t done a topic like this in a while. Jackson Browne sings of the place “where the road and the sky collide”. I’ll be talking about a place where science and religion collide, and maybe that’s what Jackson was getting at (although probably not -- the lyrics almost sound apropos).

I’ve spoken in previous blogs about my speculations that there is a God who is both fallible and finite. If you go back and look at some of my previous blogs, you’ll see the overall bent. See these blog entries of mine: God Talk, Amazing Blue Marble, Delusional About God or Apostate Scientist. In accordance with Christian tradition (and to save space) I use the masculine, singular pronoun “he” in referring to God. I could just as sensibly and easily say “she” or “they”. I occupy an almost solitary niche -- most people are either academic atheists or believers in an Abrahamic “mono-” God who is all-knowing and all-powerful. I think both extremes are poor models -- they don’t correlate to the world that actually is.

My God concept is that of a Finite, Intelligent Force (FIF). This FIF is infinitely more interesting than the empty vessel that is random mutations (atheism) or the self-contradictions of an all-powerful God who makes phenomenal mistakes and has to share power with a presumed devil.

FIF is …
Fallible
Finite in his physical dimensions
Striving toward good though sometimes falling short of the mark (like us)
Co-located with his creations

Now, why did I have to lay so much theological foundation to a planetary topic? Because my readers, no science topic is stand-alone. Astronomy ties to physics which bleeds into chemistry which seeps into biology which absolutely is imbued with philosophy and yes -- theology. It’s all a brew that works together. My thesis is that our solar system itself was intelligently created by FIF (See FIF definition above).

At the inception of our solar system, FIF, being both fallible and pragmatic, created 3 potential Earths -- Venus, Earth and Mars. FIF had a measure of deterministic control over the path each would take, but (like fallible humans) wished to hedge its bets with three trials. Anyone of these planets could’ve been made to spawn life but FIF chose a path of less time and work (obviously that being Earth). Let’s look briefly at our two sister planets, the runners-up.

VENUS

Venus takes an entire year to rotate on its axis -- it has no moon. The planet is furnace-hot with incredible air pressure and toxic gases. Any life-harboring planet would have to be part of a binary planet system with a moon that creates tidal forces and diurnal life cycles. My speculation is that Mercury was an intended moon for Venus; unfortunately Mercury fell into the direct orbit of the Sun. FIF could’ve modified the spin and size of Mercury to keep it as a Venusian moon but that effort probably would’ve added billions of years to the advent of life. If there were no Earth or Mars, Venus would be the blue marble, but we might now just be entering the age where oceans are formed.

MARS

Mars actually has two moons -- Phobos and Deimos. It also resembles Earth with ice caps and even has a 24-hour diurnal cycle similar to the Earth. Mars is significantly smaller than Earth and would need a thicker atmosphere (actually more of the Venus greenhouse effect) to maintain anything like deep oceans and breathable air. Again, these are things that FIF could’ve handily brought to Mars but it would’ve added millions of years to the planetary evolution. If there had been no Earth or Venus, Mars would be the blue marble but we would just now be entering something like the Devonian era (vertebrate fish).

In point of fact FIF could probably create life anywhere -- even Jupiter, Pluto or empty space. But FIF is more like us than we want to admit. FIF is probably bound by time and resource considerations. FIF might even be characterized by impatience (not unlike us). Where could all the needed life ingredients be brought together, to create life in the most efficient, least laborious way? Planet Earth was the chosen locale, with it’s substantial mass and reliable moon. Now, a fruitful omnipotent God might have given life to every planet there is-- that didn’t happen. A colliding-molecules atheist universe wouldn’t have even spawned proteins or prions much less humans. FIF serves as a better explanation for both life’s origins and life as we see it today.

In a few million years humans will probably overrun the solar system with life on every surface even remotely subject to colonization. FIF will finish its work with its own FIF-like creations -- that being the human race.


© 2010 blogSpotter