At the Corner of Central and Prime

Let us make you a meal..Pic courtesy of Central Market

Today

Today is a bright, 50 degree Sunday afternoon -- brisk and beautiful. Have already had my invigorating walk at White Rock. I had a cool blog topic about a Netflix movie, but a month went by and I’ve lost the impetus not to mention the relevant details on that. So today will be a combo of recent TV, streaming entertainment deals, and dining out. Probably enough to constitute a blog.

Golden Globes

I was annoyed by the Golden Globes last week.. Ricky Gervais was a bit of an ungracious arse in his insults toward Mel Gibson and Ben Affleck among others. I don’t see the point of creating antagonism where there was none before. You can be abrasive and fun without being a total snark.

Golden Globes also annoyed me by giving awards almost pointedly to new, unheard-of shows (Mozart in the Jungle, Wolf Hall, The Affair etc). I decided to watch some of these unknowns to see how well they deserved their Globes. It just happens that Showtime is offering a freebie special on Hulu-- first episode of several hit series for free. I took the bait and watched episode 1 of The Affair. I must say -- the Globes probably nailed it on this one.

The Affair

I watched episode 1 of The Affair this morning -- it’s about two married people cheating on their respective spouses. I figured it would be a one-dimensional soap, but it quickly unfolded into a neo-noir mystery. The story is in flashback form .. the man and woman are at a police station, separately giving their versions of something that happened. Their stories differ noticeably and the viewer is all agape -- what brought them to a police station? What happened? I’m on edge now to find out. It seems clear from their stories that they are no longer lovers or even friends to each other.

Amazon Prime

I have to say, we are in an age of entertainment overload. We have Time Warner, iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, Crackle, Vudu, etc, etc ad infintum. Now we can add Amazon Prime to that mix .. they have several exclusive offerings like Transparent and Mozart in the Jungle. This week they’re offering a year of Prime for only $76 (normally $99). A full season of a hit show can run $24 on Apple or non-prime Amazon. One movie rental is $5.99.. I figured it wouldn’t take much to run it up to $76. I’m now on Amazon Prime, God help my television addicted soul. I better watch my $76 worth.

Neighborhood Walmart and Central Market

About a year ago I praised the Neighborhood Walmart on Lower Greenville Avenue in Dallas. I thought it was a great remodel and a good alternative to pricier groceries in the area. Alas, I spoke too soon.. the store is being closed in 2 weeks. Apparently it underperformed. Am sorry to see that -- I liked their $4.99 deli chicken among other things. Some Greenville area snobs are glad to see Walmart go -- that attitude is also unfortunate. Now we lose tax base, local employment and we get a boarded up vacant building for weeks to come. Sounds like a lose-lose to me.

I decided to try out Central Market and see if they could address the void created by Walmart. My trial items were Starbucks Frappuccino 4-packs and 4-Way Nasal spray. Central Market carries mostly homeopathic type meds -- no 4-Way. They had only store-ground coffee and fancy specialty brands -- no Folgers or Starbucks. I was bummed that they couldn’t help on that, but decided to try their gourmet kitchen and cafe for lunch as a consolation for the failed scavenger hunt.

They offer weekly lunch specials in the 7-10 dollar range -- all prepared while you watch. They have a variety of items -- shrimp salad, ciabatta sandwiches and grilled pork. I had the ciabatta salami sandwich and fries -- while seated in their bright, modern sunlit cafe. I see why Central Market has been such a mainstay for these 15 years.. the experience was very enjoyable. I’ll be back.

Conclusion

I’ve stumbled upon some new things this past week, and am sorry to be losing Walmart. On the whole, it’s a week of positive discoveries. I have a show to binge watch, a cafe to frequent and $76 worth of benefits to squeeze from Amazon Prime. It could be better -- it could be a lot worse.

© 2016 Snillor Productions

Church of the Latter Day Steves

What's playing in the App Store?.. Picture courtesy of Apple

TODAY
We had a horrible, rainy Thanksgiving week. This weekend has been a pleasant repudiation of that. Its 55 degrees, under a bright blue sky. I’m a fool to be sitting in a coffee shop when I could be out frolicking in the sun. But this important blog awaits.. Today’s topic is one for Apple fans and foes alike.

APPLE TV 4

Last month, I gave myself the 4G Apple TV for a birthday present. It is a wonderful device – the first Apple TV upgrade that I’d describe as a “quantum” change. The remote control is beautiful just to look at. It incorporates a smooth new touch interface that you have to experience – you glide through the options without any loss of selection control. Siri can be summoned to tell you what’s on (although I prefer doing a text search). Best of all, Apple TV 4G offers an App store which has already expanded the channel offerings from @ 40 to over a thousand. And – we’re only in the 1st month since it came on the market. What might the Apple geniuses be coming out with next?

SINCE STEVE…

This brings me to the topic du jour – what would Steve Jobs think of 2015 Apple? ..Is he rolling in his grave, or is he giving a thumbs up? Steve Jobs was an uncontrollable perfectionist. He was said to have obsessed over the color of beige plastic on the Apple II computer. He likewise sweated the details over the marble texture in an Apple Store. He personally approved the boxes and packaging his expensive toys came in. He also weighed in heavily on Apple commercial content. The Land of Steve was a land of slavishly specific details. Overall, I think Steve would like the fact that Apple is riding high money-wise. The financial proof is in the pudding – he would have trouble arguing with “most valued company”. But he would surely have nits to pick and here they are a few, IMHO..

1) Matter of Size – Jobs derided “phablets” and giant phones. iPhone 5 was the perfect dimension for an adult hand, he speculated. Any wider would invite cramping and joint issues. He also touted the iPad 1 as a perfect magazine size. The Mini and Pro sizes would probably elicit his disdain. But – in our Goldilocks world it turns out that different folks glom to different sizes of things after all.

2) Stlyus and pens – Steve positively hated the stylus. Any prototype featuring a stylus would get hurled out the window. He laughed at Microsoft’s 2001 tablet precisely because it relied on a stylus. Alas, the stylus has crept its way back into Appledom. Steve is not smiling from wherever he sits.

3) Think Different – During the Reign of Steve, Apple was well outside of the box. Many items were game changers and we must just as well say out of the blue. Since 2011, everything saving the watch has been an iteration of what already is. Size, color and shape have all shifted but basics have not. Steve would probably be masterminding another 21st century sea change by now.

Could Steve possibly be wrong about anything? Well yes – he could. His board of directors had to tie him down and sedate him at the idea of iTunes for Windows. That turned out to be the main marketing ploy that turned the whole US onto iPods and iTunes. Steve wanted to file a major lawsuit against Google Android for stealing the iPhone interface. His team wisely talked him down from this – he would have lost and looked silly in the process.

Apple has had a few duds along the way – G4 Cube, .Mac, ROKR.. Even a wizard can occasionally cast the wrong spell. Steve was brilliant overall at matching genius people (Steve Wozniak, Jonathan Ive) to innovative projects. His wins were quite a few more than his losses and they changed our world at that.

Steve would probably exhort his team of “Latter Day Steves” to recast the 21st century ..how about 3D, holograph, floating displays or tactile conversation? We do have the talk of an Apple Car. Maybe the Latter Day Steves are on their assignment after all.

© 2015 Snillor Productions

Computer Envy

A new PC in town .. Poster courtesy of HP

TODAY

We are having a beautiful Indian Summer.. October temperatures are 10 degrees above average but I can deal with the 90 degrees. I’m back at the Lakewood Arboretum Starbucks -- I like its bright window exposures and high ceilings. Also it gets an interesting mix of people. It has more SMU students than you might think for being this remote.

AMERICAN HORROR STORY

Last night I watched the first episode of American Horror Story – Hotel (Season 5). This season we’ve switched out Jessica Lange for Lady Gaga; Lange is doing a Broadway show. Ryan Murphy’s direction continues to give us the surreal, disturbed, black comedy that we had in the first 4 seasons. It is a pastiche of sex, murder and occult that would not be to everyone’s taste. I’m disturbed enough to look forward to 11 or so more installments.

HP ENVY

I noticed that my 6 year old HP Pavilion was starting to get creaky on me. 6 years is an eternity for a computer whose life must be measured like dog years. It is a testament to HP quality that this one has had such staying power. I decided that the time was right for an upgrade.. using bonus dollars from my employer for good attendance. I purchased an HP ENVY m6 convertible touch screen laptop. It has a slim profile (a la MacBook), metallic veneer and beautiful style. Here are the many features and improvements:

8GB memory
1 Terabyte hard drive
Hi-Res 1080p touch screen, 15.6”
I5 6200 chip (new model chip)
2 USB 3.0 ports
Keyboard with backlighting
Keyboard folds back 360 degrees to create a large tablet
Windows 10 OS
Bang and Olufsen sound system
Microsoft Office 2013 (via MS HUP program)

There are probably some other features I’m overlooking. I was expecting it to be 1000 times faster than the old unit, but the gains are not quite so extreme. Old, inefficient software will still run slowly. Slow, connected servers will make web surfing only as fast as the slowest remote site. And software not designed for Hi-Res may give you a fuzzy display. All that being said, I’m really liking the new computer. Every 6 years (42 dog years) you should avail yourself of a new PC.

The old one will be factory reset and given to my bro, who loans them out for Bible studies. (Just need to see how permanent file deletion works – don’t want a Hillary-type email situation confronting me).

CONCLUSION

If you have FXNOW on Roku, check out American Horror Story. FX also brings us Season Two of Fargo starting next week – that should be an extra enticement. If you have a geriatric PC, check out the new offerings at Walmart or Best Buy. You can get a very capable device for well under a grand, assuming you stay in Windows World.

© 2015 Snillor Productions

Taking on Windows 10

The Zen of Windows 10 .. Poster courtesy of Wikipedia

by Trebor Snillor
THIS WEEKEND

This has been my weekend of household mishaps. My Mr. Coffee got clogged and overflowed frothy dark coffee all over my new kitchen. In a separate event, I spilled bleach on my expensive green bath rug, ruining it. I now have a new, “true white” rug which has accumulated two big size 11 footprints in the 1st two hours of use.

My front yard has 3 large dead spots despite the new sprinkler system. The harsh August sun has scorched it mercilessly. I doubled down on the water but probably too late.

WINDOWS 10

Enough of my home travails. Let’s talk about the new Windows 10 which debuted on July 29th. I went ahead and converted my devices to 10 – couldn’t resist the appeal of something new and free. As one of the relatively few people who used and liked Windows 8.1, I’m not as awestruck by Windows 10 as some reviewers. It basically restores the desktop mode as a default interface and corrals all the tiles over to the windows menu key. If you truly want all tiles all the time (i.e. Mobile interface) you can specify that in a special setting.

It does a few other things you may or may not love. It replaces Internet Explorer with Edge. All I can make of Edge is that it seems like a simplified, dumbed-down Explorer. It’s less configurable and it does annoying things when I right-click a page or try to print my bank statement. Explorer is still available on your C drive as a fallback and you’ll probably be falling back.

I’m at Starbucks (of course) and clicking on the Wi-Fi symbol failed to display any networks, even my iPhone hotspot. This is probably a training issue – Bill Gates could set me on the right path in 3 seconds if he were looking over my shoulder.

Windows Update has been removed as an option. Windows 10 handles your updates quietly in the background. That’s fine for a computer that is in sleep mode or continuously connected. Am wondering how it will function on my devices that are shut down for days or weeks at a time. There are some things you’ll like almost for certain. It has clean, simple icons that reminds me a bit of iOS8 on the iPhone. It’s pulled movies and TV shows into the Windows Store – giving an iTunes-like experience without the confusion of iTunes. It has Xbox as an app and gives you nearly an Xbox experience for the price of a tablet.

Overall my impression is favorable – I figure I’ll navigate the issues I’ve described. I skipped the training video being the impatient creature that I am.

DEEP THOUGHTS

I’m on the other side of a thin divider from two young men having a heart-to-heart talk. The thin wood slats are not a sound barrier. I’m getting an ear load about Christian divorce counseling and revenge credit card spending. I’m going to terminate this blog entry so that I can give these gents back their privacy. If you have the option of a Windows 10 upgrade – my advice is … Go for it! 

© 2015 Snillor Productions

Keeping Time with Apple

Apple watch - Pic courtesy of Wikipedia

by Trebor Snillor
TODAY

After 6 weeks of rain, snow and darkness the weather gods have graced us with beautiful weather. Not a cloud in the sky and the temp is up near 80. Praise be! My kitchen is about 85% complete – it lacks counter top and appliances. No one has worked on it in 5 business days – am having to exhibit the patience of Job waiting for workmen to come back. I think it will be beautiful – really too nice for a little East Dallas house.

CAFFEINE

I am probably the world’s biggest caffeine addict. I’ve been drinking coffee since I was 15, and mass quantities of it in adulthood. I like Starbucks Pike Place brand, and I also have a large selection of Keurig brews. In the last couple of weeks I’ve developed nearly a distaste for any of it – it tastes bitter after a few sips and gives me an upset stomach. I have no other known issues or illness, just a body that seems to be staging a caffeine rebellion. Seems very odd to me – maybe I’ll save money on lattes and I’ll visit the restroom less. For now I’m phasing off caffeine with root beer and mild tea.

APPLE’S LATEST GIZMO’S

Tim Cook recently announced Apple’s latest slate of new watches, skinny MacBooks and HBO Now. I’m enough of an Apple lemming that I am drawn like a moth to an over-priced flame. I will say that over the years I’ve said “No” to various things:

• G4 Cube – looked like a Kleenex Box, overpriced for what it was
• Apple Cinema Display – A high quality monitor roughly twice what ViewSonic would charge
• MacBook Pro – Cannot see spending $3K when HP gives same function for $1200.
• iPad Mini – Cute occupant of no man’s land between iPhone 6 and iPad
• Airport – Cool looking device with 1000 worthy, less pricey competitors

As you can see there are limits to my lemming-ness. I look for value in my purchases and I also still like some Windows products. I tend to use Windows laptops and Apple handheld gizmos, a very comfortable split. Each company has sweetened things with crossover offerings (iTunes for Windows, Office for iPhone).

Take off the blinders and you can enjoy the best of both worlds. I probably won’t be enjoying the Apple watch right away because I really only need time and date. The cheapest Apple watch is $350, too much for a gee-whiz technology thrill. The $10K version of the watch would go against everything I stand for (although I’d wear one if you gave it to me.) The new paper-thin, gold-colored MacBook is a beauty but annoys me on a couple levels. It’s too expensive, and it obsoletes all existing connectors with USB-C – a new USB standard. An existing Mac owner probably doesn’t relish buying all new adaptors and switching everything out.

HBO Now is very intriguing. It’s a stand-alone streaming service offered exclusively on Apple TV (starting this April). There are only a couple of HBO shows that interest me (maybe Game of Thrones) so I don’t know if I can justify my love. But – this is a step in the right direction for cable cutters everywhere.

So there you have it – my house is without a kitchen, my diet is with way less caffeine, and my wrist will only be sporting a Fossil watch for the time being. I may or may not get HBO Now – guess we’ll see.

© 2015 Snillor Productions

Boutique Technology

New Store in Town - Pic courtesy of Wikipedia

by Trebor Snillor

ZONED OUT

I’m in about the 6th week of my “allergy from Hell”. My nose runs like a faucet and there is little I can do. I’ve tried every OTC medicine as well as prescription Flonase. The meds knock me out somewhat, so today’s entry may be lacking in quality.

SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL

I like having TV’s in my kitchen and bathroom. I actually do enjoy watching there – both rooms call for a small TV. In the previous age of CRT TV’s I had no problem getting a 9” or 13” TV to suit my needs. Those sets have expired and I’m back looking for replacements. Flat screens inexplicably start at 19” – only Fry’s offers a smaller one from an off-brand. Maybe there’s a technical reason for it.. I may join the ranks of on-line Amazon shoppers in my quest for flat and small. We don’t need a curved, 3-D 70” Samsung Home Theater for every environment.

UNDER THE INFLUENCE

Cold meds have affected my mind such that I can’t really do the story I wanted to do. I was going to examine “Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Clause” from a metaphysical standpoint. In my zonked state, I think I would do a disservice to Virginia, Santa and the Baltimore Sun if I tried that. I will proceed to a “fluff” commercial piece instead. I won’t have to spell metaphysical..

FINALLY, THE MICROSOFT STORE

I went to North Park Mall last week to replace a watch battery. First item of note – the crowd was ridiculous. People were parking in the church parking across the street. People, Black Friday is a ways off – chill out for a week! But one cool thing I noticed was the new Microsoft Store not far from the Apple Store. Apple began opening its own stores @ 15 years ago. They have become iconic, super-slick centers of hipness where creative people of means will drop a cool $2K on a MacBook Pro. Just the people-watching is fun. Steve Jobs is said to have obsessed over the marble and wood used in his stores – as much as he did on the Mac OS interface. Steve’s attention to detail paid off.. the young hipsters in blue Apple tee shirts now preside over a surreal space where people fight to spend top dollar on the latest gizmos.

Microsoft has awakened to the situation.. Technology is no longer just for ham radio operators and dweebs. Technology has become universal, accessible and essential. It has also grown into a dimension hated by engineers but loved by marketers – that of fashion trendiness. A device should be functional but it really needs to be beautiful and stylin’ at the same time. Ignore this dictum and you will be making the AMC Pacer of tablets – or the Studebaker of cell phones. I like Microsoft, I like Apple too. I don’t look upon it as a religion and I enjoy products from both companies. I’m typing this article on an ASUS Windows 8, but checking my emails on an iPhone 5C. Hey people, it’s called balance!  The Microsoft Store doesn’t much try to forge a new style – they read Apple’s playbook. The store is bright, white, modern and minimalist. The sales clerks tend towards young and attractive 20-somethings – and they wear matching red tees.

The tables are piled with excellent loss-leader deals (unlocked Windows phone for $99, HP mini tablet for $99). They also have a giant Xbox area where you can play games on a 10 foot screen. Let me reach into my box of aphorisms: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and it’s better late than never. I can’t predict how the market will go, but I think Microsoft might’ve caught the right wave. If Kate Spade and Ralph Lauren aren’t designing cases for your gizmos – you’re at risk of dying from technical virtuosity and nerdiness.

CONCLUSION

I’m hyped up from my skinny peppermint mocha with 3 shots of espresso. I probably need to walk it off and contemplate these deep thoughts. Happy Thanksgiving to my regular two readers -- let’s hope that my allergy has lifted in time for my next blog entry.

© 2014 Snillor Productions

The Golden iPad

The Tablet with the Golden Case - Pic courtesy of Apple

by Trebor Snillor

Bored Housewives of Dallas

I just strolled through Crate &Barrel as well as Pottery Barn on the way to my coffee hangout. Both stores are tricked out with Christmas merchandise – no surprise there. What did spark my interest are entire dish sets and bedroom outfits with a Christmas theme… I’m wondering who has enough money, storage and time to redesign their house around a holiday theme. It would probably be a stay-at-home Highland Park wife with giant closets, maid service and money out the wazoo. Nice work if you can get it!

iPads and More

The technology world is changing so fast now, it’s hard to keep up. Microsoft has announced an upcoming Windows 10, as well as free Office for iPads and Androids. Apple just released its 6th generation iPad, the iPad Air 2. So many toys, so little time.. This weekend I got the iPad Air 2 to replace my 1st-gen iPad from 2010. iPad Air 2 is not really that revolutionary, but gives me some good improvements by virtue of waiting so long to get it:

Fast new A8X processor
Retina Display
Slender profile
Light weight
iOS8
Thumb sensor security
New gold color

I’ve had it for two days and it’s like falling in love again. The retina display has deep intensity as well as finer detail. The new device is slightly narrower than the original but has a bigger display. There are several apps that dump you by the wayside if you don’t have the latest OS.. iOS8 should give me a bit more longevity there. I bought a tasteful dark blue Belkin case for it – a new iPad requires accessories.

For whatever reason, I have never been moved to replace my 2008 MacBook. Apple froze it in time with OS X Mountain Lion as the last permitted OS update. My windows PC’s (including this Windows 8 ASUS) give me a world of good performance at a good price. I observed in a previous article that Android/Apple have the consumer market while Microsoft continues to have a lock on the Office arena. That dynamic doesn’t appear to be changing any time right away. The old iPad will probably follow me to work – still find myself liking it. I can pretend to take meeting notes while achieving new levels in Bejeweled.

TODAY

We have beautiful weather although a nasty cold spell is predicted in two days. I’ve been having the “allergies from Hell” for the last couple of weeks. No combination of Anafrin, Vap-O-Rub, cold pills or nasal strips has freed me from the torment. I am currently enjoying having open nostrils the last 90 minutes. I may have to visit the allergist if it gets worse … maybe a nifty, new iPad Air 2 could locate one for me.

© 2014 Snillor Productions

Stale Apples

The Thrill is Gone - Pic courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter

Let me preface today’s blog by saying that I’m an Apple fan – I’m offering some constructive criticism as a person who many would describe as a rabid Mac Head. You might ask what problem I have; there are a couple of areas of concern..

STALENESS

If you walk through the Apple Store today, you’ll be impressed by the clean, modern, minimalist store. You’ll like the birch wood display tables tempting you with all the newest offerings. If you haven’t hovered for too long around Planet Apple you might be downright excited by what you see. All the retina displays, the bright visuals and smooth lines will be mesmerizing to a newcomer. As a veteran Apple follower for decades, the spell is lost on me. I have to say that I find myself …rather bored. Yes, I think it’s a yawn-fest.

Let’s take a stroll down Apple Lane and maybe you’ll see what I mean ..

Mac OS X – This UNIX-based operating system was revolutionary when it came out in Spring 2001. It was remarkable at the time and highly imitated. There have been several iterations to improve on it, but the basic experience is the same as 2001. New and improved are not synonyms so I’m not suggesting meaningless changes. But the excitement wanes, as competitors offer things like a highly configurable Windows 8.1 display or a highly extendable Chrome/Android interface.

MacBook – Esthetically speaking, the 2006 MacBook was really an extension of the 2001 PowerBook G4. The metallic square offering of 2014 is virtually the same look as the 2001 PowerBook. If we came back in 10 years, I’m thinking we’d be greeted with another square, aluminum box. Of course, the insides are different across 13 years. But the look stays the same.

iMac -- This device has gone through several nice iterations but reached its current clean “all-in-one” style in 2007. In 7 years since, it’s barely changed at all – you’d be challenged to say what year model you were looking at. The insides have been modernized, the outside is 2007. Computers don’t have to visually fly like a car, and yet the thrill is gone if the same outside greets you all the time.

Is MacBook a 1963 Porsche 911?

The Porsche 911 has barely changed its look since 1963 – the car’s maker considers it perfection reached 50 years ago. Is MacBook a Porsche 911? To some enthusiasts the answer would be an emphatic yes. Why tamper with perfection? Porsche is a small, luxury niche in the car market – Ford, GM and Toyota would probably not want to swap places with the tiny footprint of Porsche. I think Apple may start to get the snobby crowd and little else. It’ll be the Porsche of computers. If you dare go downscale and venture to Best Buy, you’ll see the enticements of a $199 Chromebook or a Windows convertible tablet. Surprise! The computer isn’t finished either on the inside or the outside… Apple’s competitors have not (and never will) just twiddle their thumbs in boredom or acquiescence. There are new things to see.

RECENT MISSTEPS

iOS7 - As a middle aged man with poor eyesight, iOS7 is a challenge. It has a faint, small font and even the desktop icons are drawn with faint lines. There are some (inadequate) accessibility options that might mitigate some of this but – iOS7 is best used by a young person with 20/20 eyesight. Why would a whole OS be designed around such an exclusionary esthetic? I don’t know, but it was.

2013 Mac Pro – This newest device is purely bizarre. It looks like a bedroom humidifier and nothing at all like a computer. If you were going to make it look like an appliance, wouldn’t you choose something more attractive? Maybe a Michael Graves vacuum cleaner? I realize my earlier comment is that they haven’t changed enough and here I complain because they stuck their necks out and did something new. New and improved are not synonyms but they can (and should) be simultaneously in effect.

CONCLUSION

In a recent press announcement, Tim Cook announced some “amazing new products” coming down the Apple pike. I’m looking forward to whatever they have to offer. Let me visit the Apple Store and not feel like I’m in an Ambien-induced technology haze. Let’s be invigorating and shake things up a little bit.

© 2014 blogSpotter

Transforming Tablets

Fun with 8.1 - Pic courtesy of ASUS

by blogSpotter

Today’s blog entry will be for gadget nuts and technophiles. I just purchased an ASUS T100TA Transformer tablet running Windows 8.1. My overall impression is very favorable, I haven’t put it down since Friday. I have lots of comments I will share. I know that I dissed Windows 8 in my October 2012 blog … will see if I can reconcile that as well.

LESSONS FROM STEVE JOBS

The new ASUS is sized about like an ultrabook – very portable. It was packaged very nicely with carefully placed plastic sheathing on all the components. Was almost expecting to see “made in Cupertino by Apple”. When I plugged it in and turned it on, it stepped me though a very colorful, friendly welcome sequence where it asked for my wi-fi info and language of choice. It also requested a Live mail ID – this gives you the keys to the Microsoft kingdom. It gives access to Live email, SkyDrive and other functions as well.

The first exposure to the product created a great impression – Steve Jobs got that right at Apple. Apple’s competitors (like ASUS) have learned from the master. Jobs put as much effort into packaging and presentation as he did in the product itself.

THE VIRTUAL ZOO OF TABLETS AND PHABLETS

There are now so many products running around that they cross over everywhere and sometimes defy a proper category. This device is 3 parts laptop PC, 5 parts Chromebook and 2 parts tablet. It has a Rich Little impersonation capacity in that it can feign any of those three things as you desire. This particular unit has a nice, completely detachable keyboard thus the name “Transformer”. It has full-blown Windows 8.1, not Windows RT which previous reviewers have described as a glass half empty.

WINDOWS 8 – NOT SO BAD

The color tile screen is really just a new implementation of the Start button. I have to say that it is engaging and nice to look at. The tiles accommodate mobile interface – our fat fingers are not challenged by the large, bold rectangles. This brings me to Desktop mode..

DESKTOP CHALLENGE

You need only press “Desktop” to get a Windows-7 looking desktop. It functions as we’d expect, but the screen resolution is way too high for touch interface. Your clumsy finger will not do you any favors here. Attach a mouse, keyboard and grab your reading glasses!

SPEED

The unit is lightning fast on most things but slows to a crawl on others (iTunes, some multimedia web sites). Not sure what to make of that.

SPARSITY OF APPS

The topic of apps brings us to definitional issues. Windows 8 on a mobile device is running head-to-head against Android and IOS7. Some apps (MapQuest, various social media apps) are completely missing from the Windows 8 App Store. Other apps (IMDB movies, Dropbox) are hobbled and essentially not useable unless you download the desktop version from a web site.

DESKTOP ROOTS

There are some little gotchas which betray the fact that your Windows 8 tablet has a desktop past. The on-screen keyboard doesn’t necessarily pop up on a text box as it does with iPad. You might have to invoke it from the task bar. There doesn’t appear to be an active accelerometer -- you have to use a Control Key to switch from landscape to portrait display.

MANY THINGS TO LIKE

The list price for this unit is only $349 – ASUS is probably aiming at the Chromebook market. It comes with Microsoft Office Student Edition pre-installed. It has instant on-off and boots quickly from shutdown status. The Start screen interface is very fast, engaging and pretty – it works great for the apps that have been fully implemented as mobile apps (and not just shortcuts to a desktop app). I think this and similar Windows 8 cross-overs have tremendous potential -- am very impressed. Will it replace your Android phone or iPad right away? No – the apps are too sparse. It may take a bite out of Chromebook but not the Android/IOS7 phones and tablets. The other conundrum is that Windows 8 may never penetrate the 9-to-5 office arena. Like IOS7 and Android, it may very well stay in the satellite world of gizmos and gadgets. What’s good for the smartphone isn’t necessarily good for the Enterprise – at least not yet. The ASUS Transformer is nonetheless a fun gizmo that I’d recommend just for its range, flexibility and potential.

© 2014 blogSpotter

Jane's Addiction

A new phone in town - Pic by blogSpotter

by blogSpotter

THE ADDICTIVE PERSONALITY

Jane is an Apple addict with more money than sense -- that is if Jane were a 55 year old male software engineer living in Dallas. I have @ 5 iPods, an iPad, a mac mini, an iBook and an iPhone. Despite my previous blog where I dissed the iPhone 5C, I must confess that I checked it out at the Apple Store and fell in love with it. I got the bright green one, unlocked. Then I fitted it out with a black jacket -- the Green Hornet color combo. Next I went over to the AT&T store where they gave me a nano sim; they also transferred the phone number and contents from my tired old 3GS to the new 5C. What’s not to love on the 5C -- it gets LTE speed, or 4G at the slowest. It has the bright, large retina display. And it has the new iOS7. Once I restored my apps and contacts from the iCloud I was back in business. The 5C’s width is ergonomically perfect for an adult hand, unlike the Samsung Galaxy “phablets” which will give their owners a lifetime of hand cramps.

The 5C was all of my good news. Now let's turn our attention to the shut-down and healthcare.gov ...

THE SHUT-DOWN

Words cannot explain the ire I have for House Republicans who dwell in a sad land of denial. They are trying to use the budget process to circumvent not just Obamacare, but every other project they dislike. They are not behaving like adults, and the shut-down is their doing. I have no idea how this will resolve itself -- we have another debate about the debt ceiling coming right on the heels of this. It would help Obama’s case if the healthcare rollout were smooth; this brings us to the next topic..

THE HEALTHCARE.GOV FIASCO

Obama, what happened? The much-touted health care exchanges came on-line October 1, 2013. Prospective shoppers were asked to create an account even before browsing the offerings. With the crush of 5 million hits, the site was overwhelmed. The most dogged customers could never get past a screen that said in essence “Please come back later”. By day 5 (that is TODAY) it still was not fixed. The “Please Come Back” screen advised customers to call a toll free number for faster turn around. In Dallas, the only instance of people being registered was via paper forms at local hospitals.

This is completely unacceptable. The administration had 3 years to prepare this application -- wouldn’t they have hired system experts? Wouldn’t they have known that millions of people would be trying to access it? Giant-scale operations are not an impossibility by the way; Expedia and Google have had such large-scale throughput for years.

Already this is such a fiasco that IT schools will use it as a negative example of scalability. Business and policy schools will use it as a negative example on product roll-outs. There should be a thorough post-mortem of what went wrong. Who hired these consultants and what kind of oversight was there? I may become more temperate about this down the line, but blogSpotter has these recommendations:

o The consulting company that designed this system should be FIRED. They’re lucky they aren’t tarred and feathered.
o Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, should tender her resignation if it appears she oversaw this train wreck -- and it appears that she oversaw this train wreck.
o The Admin should quickly and forthwith get the ablest, best consultancy for large computer infrastructures to come repair this horrid system.

Given the snarling nostrils of Obamacare enemies, it was crucial that the roll-out be smooth and relatively painless. This utter failure we’ve had reinforces every negative stereotype of government programs. Not every government program is so fraught with incompetence -- the military can tie its shoes and chew gum at the same time. Government can do right when it has the right resources. Obama -- we’re looking at you. Make healthcare.gov a well-oiled machine. To borrow from Shakespeare, “All’s well that ends well” and maybe there could be a redemption of sorts if we come away with lessons learned and a computer system that finally works.

© 2013 blogSpotter

Second Acts

She comes in colors - Pic courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
Today’s blog entry will be a pastiche of things -- also maybe just some catching up. Yesterday, sun-baked Dallas had a merciful light rain and the temperature dropped down to 83 degrees. We’ve been having a furnace-hot September, the hottest on record. My lawn has dead patches and my new landscape is sweltering .. I may have to spring for a new sprinkler system in the next year. The whole city was alive with bustling sidewalk cafes and action-packed parks -- cool weather brings Dallasites outdoors.

I walked with my friend Joe along the Katie Trail into downtown Dallas. We walked through Kyle Warren Park and I must say I was impressed. It offered live jazz music, food trucks, dancing water fountains and a children’s park to the hundreds of people there. We walked further into Dallas’ downtown which is greatly improved since my last visit (probably 10 years ago). Downtown Dallas still lacks the entertainment element -- friendly bars and sidewalk cafes, which humanize Fort Worth and Austin. We may get there; Kyle Warren Park is certainly a first step.

Alas, on our way back I was trusting Joe’s sense of direction. We ended up dodging cars on Harry Hines Boulevard! We took a wrong turn near AA Center which caused us to do a tour of Uptown on foot. We finally asked for directions and got our bearings. Two guys in their 50’s don’t need to be playing Frogger cross a 6-lane expressway.

IN THE NEWS

I’m glad that we at least temporarily avoided a war in Syria. I don’t care about a “line in the sand” -- the American lives that would be lost in a needless war are far more important than diplomatic props. Here domestically, I’m dismayed that the House GOP, led by Ted Cruz, is threatening to shut down government funding over Obamacare. Note that Republicans are being visually branded with this -- they were gloating triumphantly on the front of today’s paper. None other than Karl Rove pointed out that this could turn independent voters against the GOP in 2014 and 2016.

IPHONE 5C AND 5S

I looked at the write-up of the new iPhones (5S and 5C) just released this week. I have to say, “that’s nice..” in a voice that trails off into narcoleptic boredom. The phones have some pretty new colors, a faster processor and a controversial thumb-scan security mechanism. None of this is game-changing or earth-shaking. Come on Jonathan Ive -- I want a floating TV image or something exciting. You can’t help but wonder if Jobs were alive, would we have had another Steve-quake by now. He turned the entire music, entertainment and publishing business on its head in half a decade so that’s probably a hard act to follow.

NON-CONCLUSION

I’ve run out of things to talk about. I watched an excellent indie movie today, Disconnect with Jason Bateman. It interweaved 3 plots that showed how actions that are variously cruel or thoughtless can create a terrible karma. It was “free” on Netflix and well worth the price of admission.

Starbucks has the a/c on full blast and I can see my breath in here. Must be 48 degrees.. Before I catch cold, I better pack it up here and leave.

© 2013 blogSpotter

Thoroughly Modern Technology

My new cellular security system - Pic courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
I like to think of myself as a gadget-freak early adaptor. I have iPods, iPhones and iPads out the wazoo. I’ve been a pioneer on various things (blogging, paypal, web 2.0) and yet there are ways in which I’m woefully behind. This woefulness can be attributed to several (primarily middle-aged) things ..
o Cheapness -- I abhor new monthly fees or paying for unused services
o Sales rep aversion -- Don’t want to deal with obnoxious people who try to upsell me on everything
o Laziness -- Don't want to deal with estimates or installations

So how far behind am I? Until today, I still had a landline security system. I still have a landline telephone from 1991. I still have basic, analog cable with low resolution. I have DSL for the Internet -- speedtest.com gives me a D+ for the speed grade. How did I get to this sad, low-tech state? I might as well be using a 386 computer with Windows 95. A blinking VCR would round it out.

Back in 2005, I was still using AOL dial-up and only a landline phone (no cellular). That year, I installed DSL and purchased a RAZR cell phone -- thought I’d moved onto a plane of technological superiority. I neglect to mention that by 2005, dial-up was down for the count -- I had to be among the last of the dial-up Mohicans. People I knew that were liberal arts mavens were blazing techie trails all around me. People who had no particular interest in gadgets were out-gadgeting me.

Now we fast-foward to 2013... DSL is passe -- probably on its last legs. Landline phones are expected to be phased completely out by 2030. Everything changes and we have to get with the program. Some things make a comeback like vinyl records and Danish Modern furniture, to be sure. But some things fall into the well of antiquity -- hi-fis, console TV’s, rotary phones, typewriters. To have it as anything but a retro-collector item makes you look like the world-weary, elderly uncle waiting for Godot.

In a final analysis I’m a technophile who has exhibited technophobic tendencies. Now that I upgraded my security system I’m free to upgrade the rest. I have every confidence that fiber optic, cable, satellite and cellular toys that we love today will succumb to staleness later on. I can see an incredulous young relative circa 2024... WHAT? You still have fiber optic?

At that point, I might not be such a slave to trends, and I just won't give a flip. …I can show my young relative my Apple II computer or my 1999 iBook that still boots. Welcome to my museum of arcane artifacts. By 2024, my old stuff will help to put new things in context.

But for now I’m young enough to be influenced by peer pressure, advertising and gadget envy. How dare the neighbor across the street ace me out with 300 hi-def channels, lightening fast internet and digital phone ?? The nerve! It's time for me to get with the program. :-)

© 2013 blogSpotter

Chromium Interlude

Almost there - Pic by blogSpotter

by blogSpotter

We’re deeply into Christmas season and I’m hearing the songs of Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams, Perry Como and everyone else associated with this mellow, chestnut-roasted season.   A version of Hell would be where you have to listen to these forever and always, all through the year.  I’ll put away my inner Scrooge to remark on the weather..Dallas has had a freaky warm spell with temps in the high 70’s for the first week of December -- odd but I’m OK with it.  

This week, I did a geek thing (imagine that!).   I was intrigued by the sleek $299 Samsung Chromebook I saw at Best Buy.  I decided to “try before I buy” and installed the Chromium OS on a 4GB USB stick.  If I were less lazy I’d look up the web link for the install process -- just Google it.  I have a 2009 Acer Aspire netbook which runs Windows 7.  It ran like a whiz when it was new, but I fear it’s developed the dreaded “Windows-sclerosis”.  That’s a condition where viruses, trojans, obsolete files, bloated software and other things bring your system to a crawl.  It happens to systems in the 3 to 5 year age bracket.  I'm sure that a more vigilant me could prevent this.

Anyhow, I decided Mr. Aspire would be the perfect candidate for Chromification. That is exactly what I did to it.  As a matter of fact, I’m preparing this blog on my Acer “Chrome Book”.  I have some impressions to share both PRO and CON...

PRO’s

1. It boots in 30 seconds... the only thing faster would be an “instant-on” iPad.
2. It has a clean, pretty, minimal interface.   As a Windows Vista critic once said, an OS should mainly get the hell out of the way...   Chromium does that admirably.
3. If you’re not doing intense photo editing or gaming (I’m not) -- Chromium comes with everything you need for web-surfing, blogging, shopping, emailing and Facebooking. I’m typing this blog with Office-compatible Google docs.
4. It does system updates without fuss or fanfare.  Chromium (for the most part, see CONs) doesn’t require the user to have a Masters in Computer Science.

CON’s

1. This Chrome Vanilla release has a fairly serious glitch -- it won’t play Adobe Flash videos. If you try, the provider (eg, Netflix) will tell you that you don’t have the latest Flash Player.  If you click to download it, Chromebook intervenes to tell you that you already have it.  
2. Chromium can’t disguise or escape its Linux roots.  It gives cryptic, weird messages on some things if you go off the “happy path”.  
3. I tried to download Firefox browser -- it happily downloaded a file whose type I didn’t recognize.  It now sits in my Download folder like a mysterious comp sci artifact.    Both Windows and Mac know that I’m lazy, in a hurry and don’t want to learn anything about unpacking a tar file.  When I say “install” that’s it -- I want it to automagically install.  

So where does that leave me?   For blogging and trivial stuff, I’m fine.  I can zap around to any site... This certainly won’t be an entertainment machine until Adobe flash gets figured out.  

The visuals are nice -- I have an undersea wallpaper and a tropical fish sign-on icon.  If Google can figure out some of the above-mentioned problems, this could be a big seller.  At $299, the Chromebook is at least $100 less than the next cheapest anything (tablet, phone, computer).  I never thought I’d see a flavor of Linux that breaks through the circle of Geek but Chromium almost does.   I’ll keep watching this to see what it might do next.     

© 2012 blogSpotter

Windows 8 Can Wait

Where are the settings?- Pic courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter

Today’s blog entry will serve up two things in need of a “Come to Jesus Meeting” – Microsoft Windows and the Republican Party.  I know, they’re very different and yet somehow similar as lame products appealing to white men in expensive suits.

GRAND OLD FART PARTY

After Obama won a 2^nd term last week, I sensed a lot of bitterness on the part of my GOP friends – believe it or not a couple of good friends vote Republican.    The GOP has strayed so far from its reasonable Eisenhower sensibilities that it’s hardly recognizable these days.   From my liberal vantage point, I find it hard to believe that anyone over 65 would support Romney but support him they did.  The Romney support skewed old and white.   I’ll offer 3 areas of critique which might help to bring the GOP around in 2016:

1. Quit talking about rape, abortion or lady parts.  Ex-Bush advisor  Karen Hughes was right – gag the man who says anything  about rape other than the fact that it’s a horrible crime.    The GOP arguably lost two Senate seats because of candidates speaking too candidly (and archaically),  talking about “legitimate rape” among other things.

2. Open your hearts and minds to the possibility that children of illegals might have a path  to citizenship.  Unless you’re a Native American, you’re likely  descended from an immigrant looking for the same breaks that Hispanics seek – good jobs, stable government and upward mobility.

3. Without conceding an ounce to the idea of supporting bums and derelicts, admit that there is such a thing as legitimate financial need:

• Enfeebled old people
• People with serious maladies and disabilities (that prevent work at a normal job)
• Injured veterans
• Disaster victims
• Crime victims
• Account holders in failed savings banks 

The list could probably be extended.  We as a society should not throw these people out in the cold, nor should we leave their livelihood to the mercy and unpredictability of private charities.   We should extend the compassion which we hope would be extended to us in the same situation. “There but for the grace of God go I”.    I’ll close the topic now, but in general the GOP would do better to realign itself with fiscal conservatism – not anti-gay, anti-Hispanic, anti-woman rhetoric.

WINDOWS 8 OS

What if they upgraded a PC operating system and nobody came?  Well, that sort of happened on October 26^th when Microsoft came out with Windows 8.  I’m speaking as someone who has enjoyed and supported Microsoft products – I’m typing this on a Windows 7 HP Pavilion laptop.   Previous iterations of Windows were widely spaced and gave us “momentous” features:  32-bit processing, long file names, a start menu, desktop gadgets, “Glass” interface resembling Mac OS X. 

Windows 8 offers not even one compelling feature that would make me want it (at least on a lap top or desktop computer).    Extending their tablet “Metro" scheme of bright-colored tiles to the PC is purely confounding and confusing.  It adds an extra layer of complexity to what otherwise looks like Windows 7.  Upgrading to a new PC introduces several hazards:

• File and setting migration
• Backward software compatibility (for old files being processed by new software)
• License issues for previously installed software
• Functionality problems with new/different web settings

Why would an individual risk all of this plus the cost of a new PC just to have pretty colored squares?  I once took training in User Interface design, and it was emphasized that logic and consistency were higher goals than being eye-popping or trendy.  Windows 8 fails that test by a mile;  the Windows chief  officer Steven Sinofsky just left Microsoft last week and one can only wonder if there is some connection -- who knows.   I’m hoping a Windows 9 puts things back where they belong.

So there we have it – a political party and an operating system that risk obsolescence by going off on trajectories or focusing too much in one area.   I’m fighting a cold and need a coffee refill, so will leave my contentiousness here and move on to other chores.       

© 2012 blogSpotter

The Digital Piggy Goes to Market

This little piggy had roast beef, this little piggy had none - Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter

PROLOGUE

 It’s a cloudy, cool Saturday night in mid-May.  I got up from a nap 30 minutes ago, and I truly hope that this large coffee at Starbucks will wake me up completely.  Today’s blog entry is along the less controversial lines of shopping habits and preferences.  My nap-addled brain can do no better. I had an idea about Star Wars prequels but that will probably need to wait.  

 A-SHOPPING WE WILL GO …

 I went to Central Market today – the HEB-owned enterprise at Greenville and Lovers Lane.  I hadn’t been in about 12 years, since it opened.   At the time @ year 2000, I thought it was a confusing, claustrophobic maze that forced you through a winding itinerary of snobby wine samples and bread boutiques.   Passing by today, I noticed the parking lot was jammed as always.  Maybe I misjudged … in a dozen years it could’ve changed its layout.  

 I parked ¼ mile from the door and ventured in.   Much to my surprise it was still a confusing maze, with people lining up 5 carts deep to order brisket or gourmet cheese.  I can’t even imagine someone having that much time – it would surely take 3 hours to complete your shopping list. Even if you have epicurean tastes, Whole Foods and Tom Thumb can surely get you to gastronomical bliss a lot sooner.  The Central Market layout reminded me of IKEA with arrows pointing “the way” and shortcuts offered to the impatient such as me.

 Any readers out there who love this store – tell me why.  Convince me of what I’m missing … keep in mind that I’m even a shopaholic foodie who likes free samples.

 THE ITUNES STORE

 Moving along, lets look at another form of retail – the iTunes Store.  The digital media giant opened its doors in 2003, and eventually became the biggest music retailer in the nation.  Along the way, it added movies, TV shows, audio books, podcasts, and lecture series as well cross-platform support for media-starved Windows users.  (Linux and Android users must as always “suck it” – no easy shopping portal for you).

 The iTunes Store is a wonderful idea and I for one have hardly purchased a movie, book or album anywhere else in 5 years.  I have to say though, that this shopper’s paradise has become so huge and unwieldy it couldn’t help but have some trouble.  Jason Snell, editor of Macworld, pointed out that in his house iTunes routinely gets confused by iCloud versus local synchronization.  It also gets confused by his iPad versus his kid’s iPod.   iTunes has tried to be too many things to too many people, juggling too many balls in the air.   I won’t pilfer from Snell, I’ll share my own iTunes woes …

•  My Music collection has mostly wrong artwork.  My iPod songs show art from albums I never owned.
• I purchased “Best of Ottmar Liebert” – 15 greatest hits.   iCloud has given me 22 songs from two other albums, including many of those hits.   But that’s not what I bought.
• Just loading iTunes on a (relatively new, powerful) Windows PC, causes my machine to go into a 5-minute lockup.  What the h*** is it loading – maybe it could wait until I make a demanding request.

 Snell thinks they should break it apart into separate apps like iSynch for synching only or iPlayer for playback only.  I have to agree in general even  if I’m not totally sold on specifics.  The iTunes Store needs a massive iTune-up.   Like a Wall Street brokerage, this behemoth is “too big to fail” and yet it’s faltering an awful lot.   Apple – fix your cash cow before it develops any further mad cow derangement.   I love it too much to leave it, but Google isn’t sitting idly by…. Other people less devoted to Apple may be drawn to the charms of a simpler interface.    

        

© 2012 blogSpotter

FutureVision

1939 World's Fair - Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
As a fifty-something baby boomer, I probably have had lofty expectations for what the future will bring -- expectations that need to be dialed back. When I was a child, every year brought astonishing changes; some were monumental like the moon landing or heart transplants. Still others were culturally explosive if not life-extending – color TV, stereophonic sound, heavy metal rock music and the sex revolution. It seemed each day was another blockbuster change. I was pretty sure in 1970 that 2010 would see us in Jetson-style space vehicles, traveling to lunar colonies. Cancer would be a thing of the past and all humankind would join hands in a circle of political harmony.

I was dramatically mistaken about the future, and I wonder why the world took such a detour. Let me skip across the last 4 decades to assess what has actually gotten better. We'll divide these up by category:

CONVENIENCE: Handheld calculators, microwave ovens, vcr’s, dvr’s, personal computers, walkmans, CD’s, DVD’s, cell phones, digital answering machines, satellite cable/radio, iPods/iPads/iPhones, the Internet

AUTO/SAFETY: air bags on cars, 5 mph bumpers, catalytic converters, lead free gasoline

ENVIRONMENT: solar energy, wind power, enviro-safe packaging, ozone-friendly AC, recycling

HEALTH: pacemakers, HIV protease “cocktail” drugs, SSRI antidepressants, Viagra

SOCIETY: Viet Nam war ended, marriage equality in 7 states, prescription drug Medicare coverage, woman’s right to choose, detente, fall of Berlin Wall, end of DADT in military

SPACE: Viking lander on Mars, Space Shuttle, Space Station

If you look at the preceding list of advancements, none of them are really Earth-shaking. In 1969, I could really make do with TV, movies and radio. Lack of 1000+ channels didn’t harm me. I can appreciate car safety from an objective standpoint and yet those advancements don’t excite me in any way. Same deal with the environment. Those advances will help us collectively and in the long run but will not particularly turn anything on its head right away. Some people might even complain that it’s gone too far and creates a stifling atmosphere for invention or experimentation.

What we have to add is that several things certainly got worse over 40 years. We had at least 3 more wars, plus the AIDS epidemic. The NASA program has been dismantled and the Post Office is falling apart. The 2008 financial meltdown made us keenly aware that New Deal safeguards don’t necessarily protect us from Wall Street wolves if the laws aren’t enforced. Culture Wars flared up during the Reagan years and the GOP was carried far to the right by evangelicals. Islamic fanatics attacked our financial district in 2001, exposing much vulnerability with regard to transportation security, visa enforcement, and Middle East diplomacy. Cancer and heart disease have barely been slowed – biotechnology is a big disappointment as is space exploration. The Space Shuttle is discontinued and the Space Station was largely financed and engineered by the Russians. Russia reverted to a market economy but replaced the politburo with oligarchs and the Russian mafia.

To do great things as a nation, we’ll need massive tax funding or private consortium funding. Capitalism isn’t a patient midwife – it wants instant gains. Can a purely capitalistic nation which is inherently short-range in its thinking compete with the “market socialism” of China? How big can our ideas ever be if they’re constrained by concerns centering on near term profit margins and share holder value? I may have only 20 years left in my lifespan… What great things can I expect by the day I breathe my last? Based on what I’ve just sorted through – not much. By 2032 we will have 20 more iterations of iPad, Windows and Mac OS. We’ll have toys and gadgets out the wazoo (don’t we already?). We’ll have mind-blowing virtual reality for entertainment purposes.

But on the biggest issues I don’t see the needle moving. The Middle East has been a tinderbox for 1000 years, what’s another 20? The economics of material glut pretty well indicates that Americans will continue to satisfy appetites for luxury to the exclusion of space or biotechnology. Culture Wars will continue to play out and I don’t see that reaching a pleasant resolution anytime soon. Am I the ultimate, nattering pessimist? Actually, I’m not. I have major optimism under my negative pessimism.

But we’re not looking at 20 years… we’re looking at 200, maybe 2000 years. My few remaining years might see some personal, mundane pleasantness -- new cars, a couple of vacations, graduations. I'm not betting on any New Enlightenment for the world at large... Let’s allow 2000 years for men to be reasonable and enlightened… Give it 2000 years for human kind to turn it all around. The world will improve at its own glacial pace -- and our future vision will have to be tempered with that reality.

© 2012 blogSpotter

Apple Without Steve

The misunderstood Newton - Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter

In Memoriam

As a consummate, wild-eyed Mac head you have to know that I’m very sad about Steve Jobs’ passing at age 56. Like Macalope Daily’s author said, I’m not a poet laureate nor am I good at eulogies –wish that I were. I’d like to convey how big a loss we have. I’ve blogged tirelessly about Apple products, have had Apple as a blog sponsor, and probably own no less than 15 Apple devices counting iPods, Apple TV’s, mac mini, etc. My actions and purchases can probably speak as well as anything. The irony was not lost on newscasters that many (most?) people heard of Jobs’ death viewing one of his devices. His pervasive influence easily equals Edison or Ford – we were blessed to have him in our presence.

Apple After Steve?

I actually approached this topic a couple of times previously. See “American Song” or “King of Cupertino”. I opined and still opine that Apple should survive albeit with some sense of melancholy. Let’s ask, “What if Steve Jobs suddenly left Apple?”. Well that actually did happen in 1985 when Jobs lost out in a corporate coup to John Scully. Post Jobs, Apple made some wrong steps to be sure, but also some right steps. Lets cover some of these …

Mac computers – Apple expanded on the Mac computer innovated by Jobs in 1984. Unfortunately in this transitional era, the IBM PC (with its function keys resembling 3270 terminals widely in use) captured the hearts of American business. The Mac was a high-concept graphics maestro in a world that wasn’t yet ready for it. In some ways, it was too beautiful to be. IBM computers (and similar Intel devices) served as a pragmatic bridge between clunky mainframes and the desktop. Apple rested on its lofty laurels long enough that it lost a big part of its graphics advantage when Windows 95 emerged some 10 years after Jobs left Apple. By the mid-90’s America finally “got” the graphic paradigm and in that huge passage of time, so did Microsoft. WinTel got American business; Apple got the arts and design crowd.

1991 Powerbook – Let us not forget that this was a WIN for Apple, squarely in the non-Jobs years. Prior to Powerbook, laptops were huge heavy clunkers like the Osborne. Pre-Powerbook portables were called luggables – they had the heft and bulk of a large bowling ball. They were impractical, ugly and slow. Powerbook innovated the track ball and the slim profile – it made portable computing both practical and esthetically pleasing. Intel makers (Dell, HP, Gateway) took a big page from Apple in making their next generation of laptops.

1993-1998 Newton – The Newton was a handheld device that was sophisticated and really ahead of its time. Yes, the hand-writing recognition was off – SNL and The Simpsons had riotous fun with that. But in fact the Newton was a trail-blazer for all future PDA’s and even really the smart phone of the 2000’s. The term PDA was originated by Apple and the concept of a smart, handheld unit that graphically streamlines your schedule? – that happened with the Newton. By the time it was killed off in 1998, it had solved a lot of its problems.

I guess that my overall point is this – Apple kept its eclectic hipness even during the period of Jobs’ exile from 1985 to 1997. It didn’t grind to a halt nor did it run out of ideas. To be sure, Jobs brought thunder and lightning to a shop that was stultified in its market for desktop and laptop computers. Mac OS X, introduced in 2001, gave a hugely needed overhaul to Mac’s stodgy System 9. By 2001, System 9 compared poorly next to Windows XP. Even with Mac OS X, Jobs was unable (even by 2011) to rescue the office environment from Microsoft or Linux. The earlier inroads made by NT and Win95 were too deep. A man can only work so many miracles. But Jobs gave us a new dichotomy – a Windows workplace and an Apple home life. Thus you pound away on a Dell at work. But you check your emails on an iPad; listen to music on an iPod, talk to your BFF on an iPhone.

And what is the future of Apple? Did Jobs leave a 20 year playbook for Tim Cook and other “Apple scions” to follow? Jobs’ pancreatic cancer played out over 7 years – maybe he left a roadmap when he saw that his hour was drawing to a close. I guess it all remains to be seen. A new generation of Apple fanatics waits with cautious hope – what’s next for the iPhone or Apple TV? Let’s hope that Jobs’ incredible spirit lives on in all our collective energies and imaginations. Nobody wants to go back to beige boxes.

© 2011 blogSpotter

Jabberwocky

Will it compile? - Courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
I’m a software engineer by day and a widely read blogger by night ;-). Being a little “long in the tooth”, I can recall simpler times for business data processing. Back in the early 80’s COBOL was the “lingua franca” for Fortune 500 companies – with a bit of Pascal, ALGOL, and PL/1 thrown into the mix. Some 4th Generation reporting tools like FOCUS and MARK IV rounded things out. Young people from schools as diverse as Harvard, UT or UCLA would be versed in nearly the same coding standards. A lad working at Chevron could pretty easily segue over to Frito Lay.

With the advent of UNIX platforms and client/server computing in the late 80’s, the options multiplied… The language choices were enriched with C, C++, perl, smalltalk, Visual Basic, Shell scripting (in different UNIX “flavors”) - - leaving off many things here. Each new entrant was hyped for various advantages – rapid development, reusable objects, fast execution, etc. The advent of the Internet in the mid 90’s created a dizzying multiplier effect. We added java, javascript, J2EE, HTML, XML to the list. Suddenly we were also picking “frameworks” like JBoss and Spring. As if these weren’t and aren’t enough, we also have proprietary choices such as SAP and CASE tools to compete for our corporate dollars.

Well, variety is the spice of life; whose life isn’t made richer by more choices? Without multiple options, we would never have the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Every enterprise is like Goldilocks, looking for a fit that is “just right”. I myself supported mainframe legacy (“sunset”) applications during the 90’s and supported an aging C++/PowerBuilder application during the 00’s. Like Rip Van Winkle (another fairy tale) I woke from my 17 year legacy-induced coma to an IT world overrun with java beans, dependency injectors and advisor methods. Computer science used to have mathematical precision and concise meaning in its charter; now it seemed more to resemble pop psychology with complex verbiage and obtuse data structures.

“I’ll get to Scotland before you”

When I look at the resulting databases and graphical interfaces from all these advancements, they don’t seem any more sophisticated than what could be done with something relatively simple – a scripting language or a simple HTML. I can’t help but wonder if the value added (which, undeniably there is some) isn’t countervailed by:

• Expensive contractor fees
• Threat of obsolescence for technologies out of the mainstream
• Forced option of replace, not repair for broken systems
• Forced option of “as written” for opaque, unchangeable systems

I just received an O’Reilly email ad -- O’Reilly is the premier retailer of computing texts. The languages and skills advertised were: GIT, R, Gamification, Arduino, MS Expressions and MS Prism. I have never heard of any of these, much less mastered or excelled in them. I know I’m an old dog, but I do wonder how much branching capacity a young software engineer will need to add GIT and R to his repertoire already weighted with J2EE and Hibernate. Maybe they are different animals (“a graphic arts engineer wouldn’t need to know Hibernate!”). I can’t help but remember what Mac, the 63 year old man nearing retirement told me at my first job… K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Stupid. (or Silly if you take offense at Stupid).

The proof is always in the pudding. That’s true of economics, engineering and computer programming. If we have a difference of philosophy, you do it your way and I’ll do it my way. You take the high road and I’ll take the low road. If someone is full of grandstanding horse manure it will be established by the competitive results. I can’t help but think that KISS wins the race (and I don’t mean Gene Simmons!).

I’m going to close with a snippet from Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky which has as much clarity as the last advisor method I reviewed:

Twas bryllyg, and ye slythy toves
Did gyre and gymble in ye wabe:
All mimsy were ye borogroves;
And ye mome raths outgrabe

© 2011 blogSpotter

The Day of the Androids

The green creature is at large - Courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
Last weekend, I did a bold and daring thing, Apple fan that I am -- I bought an LG Optimus V Android phone at Target. The phone is a $200 "no contract" pay-as-you-go phone. People who are familiar with my Apple zealotry will think I've surely lost it. Let me explain in a little more detail...

I'm what is sometimes termed a "value shopper". Others might say "cheap bastard" but that's so unseemly. I use coupons, look at sale racks and always, always look for a good deal on whatever I buy. Along the same lines, I don't secure services that I don't need, eg: premium cable, ultra-fast fiber optic line, etc. I'm never uncomfortable and never without nice things but rest assured that I'm not paying a big surplus for what I don't need. When it comes to cell phones, I'm single and not extremely talkative. Where a lady might call and say (open-endedly), "Whatcha thinkin about?" my calls are more purpose-driven. I'll confirm appointments, check on movie times and make dates but I won't do rambling gab sessions that run for an hour or more. This mildly autistic character trait on my part indicates that I don't need a lot of "anytime" minutes. If you talk to me for longer than 15 minutes I might pretend there's somebody at the door. How does this relate to cell phones? Here’s how …

When I looked at the latest iPhone (iOS4) I was indeed smitten by its sturdy form and sleek interface. It's the "Cadillac" of phones in some (actually several) senses of the word. If you throw in basic services and smallest minute allotments, my monthly iPhone bill (with taxes and fees) would be about $90/month. This would be in tandem with a 24 month contract -- my worship of Apple would run me @ $2,160.00 plus the cost of the phone. I was surprised when Verizon's iPhone came out and they offered very much the same (possibly higher) monthly rates. For people like me who have high data usage and low talk time, there's not much to soften the financial impact.

My jail broken 2007 iPhone is T-Mobile pay-as-you-go but it's lagging in many ways now -- I can't update the OS without "bricking" it, can't buy new apps, can't do Outlook Exchange, etc. What's a technophile to do in this sad situation? This technophile found something that's previously not existed ...a smart, no-contract (VirginMobile) Android phone. The LG Optimus V is not as super-slick as an iPhone but it bears a strong resemblance to one and does almost everything an iPhone does. Have found very few apps that aren't available in both the Android Market and the Apple App store.

The Android VirginMobile “no contract” plan gives me:

• $25/month 300 anytime minutes
• Unlimited web surfing
• Unlimited messaging
• Unlimited email

This is all music to my ears (literally, when I listen to the Android DoubleTwist app on my Optimus). It would be a shame for Apple to ultimately lose its market lead based on the poor plan options offered by its telephone partners. Does Apple read my blog? Probably not but here are a couple of suggestions for the next iPhone hardware release anyway ….

The iPhone 3G will be two releases old by Summer of 2011 – a complete dinosaur as smart phones go… Why not keep this one available as a “Go” (No Contract) phone? Some people don’t need the latest bells & whistles. My second option is one I’ve read about on Apple sites but have no verification …. Come out with a smaller, less capable iPhone expressly to sell to people with a smaller budget. Of course, make it available as “No contract”.

There have been other battles of technical virtuosity that were decided on purely practical and monetary grounds … nothing to do with ivory tower engineering arguments. (Consider blu-ray versus HD DVD or Betamax versus VHS). For all I know Studebaker and Packard were good cars – I wasn’t old enough to witness the various marketing angles at the time they went extinct. All I know is that people operating under a budget in tough economic times will probably be more pragmatic and less idealistic. Android phones are practical in the extreme.

© 2011 blogSpotter

The Archos 28 Experience

Surprisingly fun & interesting -- Picture courtesy of Archos

by blogSpotter
As recently promised, I’m doing a review of Archos 28, an internet tablet (a la iPod Touch) sold by the French consumer electronics company, Archos. My larger purpose is to demystify the Android operating system for myself and compare it to other systems, primarily Apple IOS4. I actually like my Archos 28 -- it’s cute, albeit problematic. Below I have a long list of problems discovered followed by some redeeming qualities.

Let me preface this by saying that I got the extremely, cheap, small, entry-level, 4GB Archos 28 model for $98. I didn’t want to squander too much money for my experimental foray. Keep that in mind. Also on this bulleted list, some of these items are closely related so there may be a bit of overlap going on …

ARCHOS 28 -- the problems encountered
o The apps frequently freeze and I have to reboot.
o The unit can be slow, so that buttons (like Back/Return or Home) seem very unresponsive
o On several software installs I get a cryptic “App did not install” with an orange triangle. No further message box or tab to say what is wrong
o Internet connection comes and goes; constantly have to reconnect
o Klondike Solitaire took 15 hours to download, probably because of the above bullet. Other software downloaded promptly.
o Where Apple refactored its displays for each size of screen, Archos didn’t refactor the display for a tiny 2.8” screen. Therefore the program icons are miniscule and I need strong reading glasses to read it.
o Related to above bullet -- the pop-up keyboard is tiny. The unit is supposed to be touch screen (like iPhone) but I had to dig out my Pentopia stylus (purchased in 1998) to type on it.
o This is maddening -- the Touch screen confuses a swipe for a click and vice versa. I have to be careful not to touch any icons when I swipe, else it will open an app I don’t want.
o The Archos 28 is a little bit larger than a Zune and smaller than an iPod Touch. They sacrificed quite a bit of screen area for hardware controls. Sometimes for the vision-impaired or for workout mp3 players you want hardware buttons that can be felt with fingertips. The irony here is that the Archos buttons are flush with the front of the unit so that a blind person couldn’t feel them anyway. Apple’s iPod Touch has a beautiful, large “retina” display -- it uses software buttons that can vanish when needed.
o No reason found for this (yet) -- I downloaded an MP4 of a television episode (Mary Tyler Moore if you must know :-) ). The soundtrack is way ahead of the video image. It’s not just a little out of synch.
o Because Android OS has a one-size fits all approach, you have to be careful what you download. I downloaded some apps (eg YouTube, X-Construct) which were too big for my memory. They either didn’t load or they crashed my unit. Apple’s App Store doesn’t make apps available that don’t scale well to a particular device -- you don’t have this unpleasantness.
o Another unexplained piece of weirdness -- sometimes the “On” button doesn’t work. I have to press it for 2 minutes (and force a reboot) to get the unit to come on. Don’t know if I somehow gracelessly terminated a prior app or what I did.

Archos 28 -- the plus column (including some A+ Google apps)…
o Places -- This app will show you hotels, bars, hot spots etc close to your zip code. This is free, you have to pay good money for it elsewhere
o Navigator -- This is actually a GPS app that would run you $90 elsewhere.
o Flash Player -- this downloads and works like a champ. All those forbidden Flash sites can come to life.
o Android market is way cool. It actually does wireless “air purchase” because Android market remembers whatever handheld you last connected to the market with. You can install purchases from the PC app to your handheld wirelessly. Way cool, almost seems like science fiction.
o Archos 28 has a nice form factor in a beautiful dark magenta, metallic finish. If you only can get one color, that’s a helluva good color.
o Did I mention this one was only $98? $107 with tax?

CONCLUSION
In spite of my whiny laundry list of compaints, this little device is fun and I find myself fiddling with it a lot. I’ve downloaded games and apps (DoubleTwist, Traffic Jam) which fit comfortably in its small memory and work well. Probably the Samsung Galaxy tab would avoid many of the app freezes and download problems mentioned above.

Apple’s approach is admittedly more paternalistic -- they don’t want you getting app freezes and abends. The Android OS is more of a “wild west” approach for people who are willing to risk the difficulties involved for a more liberated environment. Can see the advantages of both sides, I have to admit. I still say, “Advantage Apple” because nearly every cool feature of the Androids (touch screen, accelerometer, app store) is a feature introduced by Apple, probably 2-3 years earlier.

© 2011 blogSpotter