Welcome to 2009. Here's hoping health, prosperity and happiness in the New Years for you and yours. After a long 2008, its great to welcome a new year and open up to new opportunities. Best wishes for the new year!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Why mobile phone manufacturers need to copy the iPhone!
An interesting experiment tonight drove home the point that Steve Jobs made with the introduction of the iPhone which was that the existing manufacturers of mobile phones need to wake up and improve their products.
I decided that I wanted to transfer a couple of files off my Blackberry Curve 8310 to my MacbookPro. Unfortunately, Macs and Blackberry's have never played terribly well together if you looks at the discussion forums at Crackberry.com you'll see numerous posts to this effect. To RIM's credit they have struck a deal with PocketMac to enable users to get a free copy of their software for synching Blackberry's with Mac's. Unfortunately this leaves Mac users behind in the software upgrade cycle since RIM's own desktop applications only run on Windows machines (obviously now with Bootcamp, Parrallels and VMWare we at least have the option of running the app. on an Intel Mac with a Windows install). However, personally I prefer to stick to OSX and would like to see RIM stepup to the plate and more aggressively support the Mac platform.
Regardless I opted to utilize the Bluetooth connectivity on my Curve to transfer files from my Mac. I was able to get the devices to pair and recognize each other. However the one thing that wasn't intuitively clear was how the Blackberry was to receive the file once I initiated the transfer on my Mac. To Steve Jobs' point most of the mobile handset operating systems out in the wild today aren't particularly user friendly or intuitive. Eventually, I was successful and must say that the file transfer was easy once you knew that you have to set the Curve to receive or send via Bluetooth. Maybe there was another option to enable it to automatically accept connections and files from my Mac but it wasn't exactly evident.
In comparing my use of the iPod Touch things operate very much the way you'd expect on a Mac and a user with a little exploring can easily maximize their use of the device. The iPhone has ushered in a new era along with the Touch not only in terms of a touch driven interface but in terms of a highly usable operating system. As we saw by the scrambling this year at the mobile industry tradeshow 3GSM the mobile handset vendors are in catch-up mode. It's interesting that in a 1.0 device Apple has been able to put all of these vendors on the defensive and forced them to face up to the fact that most of the user experiences on mobile devices pre-iPhone were plain awful. Let's hope that this intensified competition will kick-start vendors into actually spending on getting improved user experience for mobile users.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
"The Jugger" by Richard Stark (aka Donald Westlake)
Yet another in the Parker series of novels written by Donald Westlake under the pseudonym Richard Stark. The Jugger follows the story of former safe cracker ("a jugger") Joe Scheer is retired and living in a small mid-west town and remains the main conduit through which to reach Parker to setup a job. When Parker arrives he finds his friend Joe already deceased and Parker needs to dig into a mystery in order to save his cover life as Charles Wills. If you've read some of my previous posts on other Parker novels (see here, here and here) then you'll know that I find this series one of the more inventive concepts for a mystery series with an intriguing and unlikely hero in career criminal Parker. As the novel develops, Parker's concerns move from finding Joe's killer to finding out how much about his cover has leaked out and trying to perform damage control.
Bottom line - like other novels in the Parker series at 175 pages this is a short easy to read novel that provides a couple of interesting twists that will keep you on your toes as Parker hunts for the killer and to save himself.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
What to make of a Yahoo! combination with Microsoft
After being out sick for a few days I wanted to get back in the swing of things by putting a few thoughts out there on Microsoft's proposal to acquire Yahoo!
While lots is being written about the financial implications for shareholders and the remaining Yahoos! what isn't being widely discussed is what Microsoft is likely to do with the assets that it garners from this acquisition. At this point despite the protests from Yahoo's management and board it simply seems like posturing to get a better price at which to close the transaction.
If you're like me I rarely use Yahoo's dated search engine (if I use it for 1 out of 10 searches - which arguably is 1 more than I ever use MSN) the loss of this part of the web really won't be any loss at all.
For my own use the biggest asset that Yahoo! has is the strength of the firm's Yahoo Finance brand. It's always boggled my mind that Yahoo never attempted to move to a more powerful subscription tool for this part of the service given the growth in equity investing among small investors. Frequently Yahoo Finance actually beats major firms with dedicated wire services to tracking and releasing company specific news. In fact, Google Finance sources a number of its articles from Yahoo Finance and typically lags Yahoo in terms of updating the news wire feed to its site. While the firm did leverage traditional click-through ads as a means of monetizing the traffic to Yahoo Finance myself along with others would have gladly shelled out for an annual subscription with the promise of a few extra features.
At this point I'm busy hunting for an alternative but must admit few good options exist that enable a personal investor to get a comprehensive wire service coverage across a portfolio of stocks. While we still have some time since the deal is not yet done you can clearly see the headlights of the approaching Microsoft train heading toward Yahoo!
Send in any alternatives you have and I'll update this post.
Posted by Thoughtful Wheaten at 2:16 PM
Labels: Technology
Saturday, February 2, 2008
"God Save The Mark" By Donald Westlake
After reading a number of novels by Donald Westlake written under the pen-name of Richard Stark I opted to pick up another of his works. This time I chose "God Save the Mark" a mystery published in the late 1960s featuring the challenges a born "mark" named Fred Fitch faces. The interesting twist is that Fred Fitch inherits $300,000 from his long-lost Uncle Matt a former con-man. The mystery begins with the murder of Uncle Matt and a number of mysterious happenings taking place around Fred Fitch. Westlake takes this original premise and builds a strong plot with a solid pace of action and suspense as Fitch sets out to find his Uncle's killer and get to the bottom of the unexpected winfall in the form of the inheritance.
Overall, I would say the "God Save The Mark" is an enjoyable read but is not without its faults. The premise behind the novel is a little odd to say the least in terms of the character of Fred Fitch being the ultimate mark for con-men. I was skeptical about 20 pages in as to whether this novel was going anywhere but Westlake quickly turned up the heat as he begins to layer a strong plot-line around the mysterious inheritance and the death of Uncle Matt. If you're looking for an easy read and need a book to take with you to cottage to relax its worth adding "God Save The Mark" to your reading list.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
A great web tie-in for LOST! fans
An interesting web tie-in for fans of T.V. show LOST! ahead of the launch of Season 4 the creators of the show have convinced ABC to create a specialized website: Find815.com.
Posted by Thoughtful Wheaten at 9:15 PM
Labels: Technology
"The Seventh" by Richard Stark
Another in the series of Parker novels takes a different twist over previous books. While you still get the background on the heist that Parker pulls off in this case the robbery of the gate proceeds from a football game at a stadium while the game is still in progress. However the interesting twist that Stark (aka Westlake) adds into this novel is that the focus is on a double cross. When Parker returns to find the woman he was holed up with dead, the money gone and the police closing in on him the action really heats up. I'd say that like the other Parker books this is a fast and easy read and while a 155 page novel isn't a short story it in many ways reads as quickly. What I found interesting about "The Seventh" is the interesting series of switches that the reader is setup for as we follow Parker on his hunt to find the killer and recover the money.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
MacHeads the Movie - A story about a community
Just got a heads up on "MacHeads the Movie" a documentary about the Mac community which is due to be released shortly. The movie promises to cover a history of the Mac and features interviews with a number of well known MacHeads including:
Raines Cohen, Co-Founder of the first Macintosh user group BMUG,Having read a range of books on Apple and the development of the Mac this documentary looks like it could offer an interesting twist on the topic of what makes Apple and Mac such icons. Simply put it seems like the team at Chimp 65 Productions is onto the answer which is the community of Mac users. Having been a Mac user since the beginning and having been involved in Macintosh User Groups and bulletin boards in the mid-80s the reality is the thing that has always made Macs different are the devotion of the users. I'll write a post once the movie gets released and I have a chance to watch it - in the meantime check-out their site.
Guy Kawasaki, former Apple Evangelist and savior,
Bruce Damer and Galen Brandt, owners of Digibarn Computer Museum,
Shawn King, host of Your Mac Life,
Adam Engst, publisher of the first Apple newsletter,
Leander Kaheny author of Cult of Mac,
Andy Ihnatko Chicago Sun-Times' technology columnist,
Daniel Kottke Mac engineer and the first official employee of Apple Inc,
Monday, January 21, 2008
A better rechargeable battery?
If you're like me and have grown weary of swapping out other rechargeable batteries or worse still using disposable regular AA or AAA batteries in your gear this will hopefully offer a solution. Sanyo's Eneloop rechargeable batteries are one solution that I'm currently testing as a way out of my current battery woes. I found that a number of different big name brand rechargeables don't seem to hold a charge terribly well and for a short period I was stuck using Duracell disposables. When they finally gave up I purchased a package of Eneloop's after reading some commentary on the web regarding their performance. Basically Sanyo has developed a brand of rechargeable battery that offers the following claims:
- Longer life with slower drain
- No memory effect meaning that you don't end up with rechargeables that need to be thrown away in less than a year
- Ability to use any quality NimH charger to recharge the batteries.
Friday, January 18, 2008
OLPC Arrives - Unboxing & Initial Thoughts
My XO laptop from the One Laptop Per Child initiative finally arrived this week below are some pictures of the official unboxing along with some initial thoughts.
Here is what awaits you inside the compact package - similar to Apple very little wasted space and minimal packaging to dispose of. The package contains:
- 1 XO Laptop
- 1 AC Power adapter
Posted by Thoughtful Wheaten at 10:01 PM
Labels: Life, Technology Ideas
Monday, January 7, 2008
Review of "The Mourner" by Richard Stark
"The Mourner" is another in the Parker series of novels by Richard Stark (one of the pseudonyms of Donald Westlake). Parker is once again faced with the task of pulling off a difficult heist. In this case he has even more incentive to succeed in liberating a valuable statue as he's being blackmailed with evidence of a previous crime.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Leopard - Useful new feature Webclips
One useful feature that is included as a native part of Leopard is the ability to build a custom widget that is displayed in Dashboard. In Safari v3.0 a new icon appears in the toolbar
(a pair of scissors with a dotted box) that once clicked on allows you to select an area of the current web page to be monitored. Once you've selected the area you click the ADD button which puts a new Widget on your Dashboard. There are limited formatting options at this point in terms of the type of box that the web clip is displayed in. One thing that would be useful would be the ability to label the Widgets.
Overall, a small feature that previously you needed to use third party software and a couple of hacks to have this functionality. At this point I'm still experimenting with web clips having setup two 1) to monitor the current inventory of refurbished Macs on Apple's online store and 2) to monitor the ongoing auctions of vintage Macs on eBay.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
"Secrets of Mental Math" by Arthur Benjamin & Michael Shermer
After watching an interesting presentation from Professor Arthur Benjamin on the TED.com website who claims to be a mathemagician I was prompted to get a hold of a copy of "Secrets of Mental Math". The book is interesting in that it has forewords by "The Amazing Randi" (aka James Randi) and "The Science Guy" (aka Bill Nye).
I've spent the past month working my way through the parts of this book that intrigued me and must say that the tips and tricks really do work. I'm not the a math nut by nature but something about the video struck me and indicated that I should pickup a copy of Secrets of Mental Math. The good news is that Benjamin and Sherher approach the topic with a light hearted easy to follow style that makes it easy to understand how to perform these calculations in your head. My goal in starting this book was to sharpen my math skills so that I spent less time calculating and more time thinking about what the result of the calculation meant to the situation I was considering.
The only thing that I wish the book focused more on was the ability to retain and remember the products of the calculations you're working on. Typically, the techniques involve simplifying the problem at hand into a series of smaller problems - the only hitch with this is that you can end up getting thrown off course its often hard to remember the interim by-products meaning you need to start all over.
Bottom-line I HIGHLY recommend this book for anyone that wants to be sharper on their feet and handle calculations without being reliant on having a pencil & paper or a calculator at hand.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
A great experience shopping at Heathrow
An interesting experience based on a purchase at London Heathrow Airport. When I got home with a purchase I discovered that I actually wanted to return my purchase. The interesting aspect when I investigated returns on the BAA website is that they offer a worldwide returns/exchange program. Basically, you ship the item back to BAA's return centre including a receipt for the cost of postage and they process return. I received a separate cheque back in the currency of my choice for the postage and repayment for the goods returned. Overall great customer service on the shopping experience more than I can say about the flying experience out of LHR at times.
Get the best deal on a new fridge and don't leave your house!
I wanted to pass along this tip after purchasing a new fridge but you could use this strategy on any appliance. Here's how I did it:
- Once you've narrowed it down to the model you want and if you know all the exact specifications I'd recommend shopping via phone.
- My script went something like this "Hello salesperson X, I'm Y and I'm looking to purchase a refrigerator before the end of the day I was wondering if you were interesting in the opportunity to earn my business.
- Then I'd detail exactly what I was looking to purchase: Brand, Model #, the colour/metal, size in cubic feet, right-hand or left-hand hinge for the door.
- I'd get the salesperson to provide a quote for the Fridge, Delivery and then I'd go over the taxes on each and have them agree with my final "all-in" price. Next check to see whether they have it in stock and when you'd get delivery.
Posted by Thoughtful Wheaten at 7:12 PM
Labels: Life, Life Hacks
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
US says bye bye to analog TV and hello to digital
Those owners of older TVs without a digital tuner and lacking cable are about to be cut off on February 18, 2009 when the U.S. changes the rules regarding over the air broadcast TV signal from analog to digital. As part of the change over the U.S. government is handing out $40 coupons for the purchase of a set-top box that will enable older analog TV's to continue to receive a signal via an antenna.
- The official government site with details and the form to apply for a rebate coupon.
- Here is a CNN article on the switch over.
- A number of countries are still in the process of trying to switch off analog TV signals see this report to the Canadian CRTC