Digital Wasteland

Not too many things happening. At least not that merit comment here. Apple released OS 3.0 for IPhone. Whoop. Not owning one, I am reluctant to even care about this. Dell announced a new laptop line, the Adamo, which looks pretty nice, if significantly overpriced. Even positioned as a MacBook Air competitor, this thing is too much money. Cisco bought Flip (the pocket camcorder people) and no one really knows why. Sounds like a lousy way to spend almost $600M dollars.

From the obscure materials dept.: Carbon nanotubes are the wave of the future, despite the fact they've been around for almost 2000 years. Wired has a great article on what they're being used for, and if you don't want to read through that, in summary the nanotubes will replace or enhance just about every iron and steel product made in the next century. You heard it here first.

Is anyone else disappointed with the future? I mean, when I was a wee lad of 10 or 12 years of age, the future was painted as this utopia of flying cars, robots, and supercomputers that would do everything for us. What happened? 20 years later, the future is still "20-30 years away". Instead of a utopia with no disease, no environmental problems, and everyone is happy, we ended up with the current dystopia we're living in: economic collapse, irrevocable climate change, and the onset of violence and disease that was unheard of two decades ago. I want my city in the clouds, dammit! (no Bespin reference, please)

Briefly. Given that the stock market continues to decline, and that market indices are losing value faster than a Barry Bonds rookie card, what happens when the Dow hits zero? It's already lost almost half of its value in the past 18 months, so wheres the bottom? And if it does hit zero, what does that mean, practically speaking, for "average" citizens like you and me? Part of me really wants to see this happen, if for no other reason than to be witness to the end times. 

Alright, get to class.

Mr. B.

What is this bullcrap?!

Apple's new Shuffle. Have you seen this turd? There's only 1 button on it, all the other controls are accessed via the proprietary in-line headphone controller. This just smacks of a money-making scheme on Apple's part. I can't believe they need the money, so clearly this is an ego trip on the part of Jobs and Co. I think the price is too high ($80!) and it only comes in a 4 GB capacity. They even had the gall to go with the old crappy IPod earbuds instead of the newer IPhone headphones. I feel sorry for anyone who buys this because they are clearly misguided when it comes to small mp3 players.

A clarification about the first posting. When I said that we should be teaching smarter surfing, I was referring to not using programs like Limewire for downloading as most of the stuff on that network is laden with viruses and crapware. I don't know how many computers I've had to recover because the user was getting songs and movies (illegally!) off the Gnutella network. Also, the same concept I've used in writing research papers (start with a broad topic and narrow it down to something specific) can be applied to using the internet for searching. Rather than plugging "computers" in to Google and getting multimillions of results, look for a certain model or manufacturer to narrow and refine your results.  

String theory. Think of the smallest thing you can. Got it? Strings are even smaller. Unless you were thinking of strings in the first place. In which case you get a gold star. If you're into science and math, click here. If you're more of an art person who didn't make it past Math 99 at the community college, click here.

Until next time, may your life be less dramatic than a telenovela (Mexican soap opera).

Mr. B.

Spray and Pray

What the hell is this about? Struggling for a topic tonight, so this will probably be full of little tangents and mini-rants. 

I realized that I completely omitted any reference to Star Wars or Star Trek when I was talking about sci-fi the other day. Not intentional, just an oversight on my part. I should mention that I like both equally and am looking forward to the new JJ Abrams version of Trek. I enjoyed Alias...and I guess Lost is good. Having young children means that I don't get to watch as much network tv as I would like. So I've never actually seen the show.  But based on the trailers, Trek should be some great eye candy.

Apologies for not doing the podcast on Friday like I had promised. Stuff kept getting in the way and I never had 40 minutes to sit down and talk. Hopefully next week will be less hectic. I'm currently trying to cut together some kind of theme music, so that should be good too. If you'd like to be a guest on the podcast, email me and we'll talk about it.

Who's into video games? I'm getting BACK into them after not playing really anything for years. Still can't afford any of the new systems but the old Xbox I've got still works so that'll have to do. And this old laptop can still hold its own on games that are a few years old. Think Civ3 and Diablo 2. Nothing too graphically intensive. I think it would just shrivel up and die if I tried to load Crysis. 

I started shooting photos on film again. It's a very different way of doing things versus shooting digitally. I find myself actively thinking about each shot and making sure it counts. Don't get me wrong, I like digital and I know that thats where the art is headed, but theres just something about the look of film prints as opposed to those that came off a memory card. 

I suppose that's about all for now, there's learning to be had children. Scoot!

Mr. B.

Warp speed? Not so much.

Sci-fi today. Those of you that know me know that I'm a big nerd. Those of you that know me well love me for it. In any case, I thought that today I'd write about some of the books and authors that I like as well as a theme or two that I think is interesting or mentally very difficult. Continue at your own peril.

Within the realm of Science Fiction there are several sub-genres and its offshoot cousin, Fantasy. Fantasy will be discussed in a later post; it requires more room than I care to devote right now. Hard (read: strict) sci-fi is to me the most interesting as its the most grounded in science. Most of this seems to take place in the near future, or involves alternate timelines that are entirely plausible. Stephen Baxter and Arthur C. Clarke are two fine examples of masters of this sub-genre. Far into the future writing is also an area that interests me, as it shows what humanity MIGHT be capable of if we can get past our petty differences and squabbles.  

The actual science behind the writing is also fascinating to me. Subjects like string theory are amazing. Google the phrase and prepare to be knocked on your ass, and a gold star to the first person who can produce a 3 dimensional Mobius strip. 

Overall, favorite authors: Baxter, Clarke, Neal Stephenson, Orson Scott Card, Dan Simmons, Kevin J. Anderson, Greg Bear

Going to try and do a podcast on Friday, so look for a link to that in this space. Until then, don't let the sun catch you cryin'.

Mr. B. 

It's Not This, It's That

Well, second post in as many days. I think this is some kind of record for me. Going to talk about photography for a brief bit, although I think this could apply to many different aspects of you're life, technology and otherwise. 

Manufacturers and their marketing ilk have been pushing megapixel resolution down the throats of consumers for well on 10 years now. "The more, the better!" seems to be the catch phrase in the office. But its not what you shoot, its how you shoot it. In other words, it is better to have a nicer lens on your camera (if you're using a point and shoot camera, you may as well skim this; the rest doesn't apply) and lower resolution than a crappy lens and higher resolution. That said, the mid point seems to be about 8 MP. If you have that you are probably using a camera that has some nice features, does well in low light, and you haven't shelled out the big bucks for features you WON'T use. 

Other tech stuff: There's some interesting netbooks coming out soon or are already out. Asus has one thats all touch screen. Very nice, if they can keep the price reasonable. Another company, Always Innovating, has one with an optional keyboard and a back thats magnetic. Cool!

Anyone use Netflix? Ok, so thats all of you. How many use the streaming? Does yours work? Because I did the upgrade (read:I was forced to upgrade the media player) and now I can't stream anything through my account. I'm hoping they get this fixed soon and I know its not my computer because everything else works just fine. 

As a side note, check out Adam Carolla's podcast. Or don't. I just think he's funny and insightful, although I know some people don't like the sound of his voice (you know who you are!). Warning: the podcast may be NSFW. You've been warned.

That's it for now, kids. Don't be late for your next class.

Mr. B.

Introductions and a minor rant.

So. This is the first of what will hopefully be many posts about not only technology, but also music, photography, sci-fi books and writing, and whatever else may strike my fancy. You'll also be able to find links to other blogs and podcasts that I like and enjoy. Speaking of, in the future, I may start doing a weekly podcast, nothing huge or long, but it'll be fun.

First on the agenda, technology and education. From where I sit, it seems like this is one of the areas where we should really be focusing a lot of our money and energies. I agree that arts and music need more money too, but looking at it pragmatically, shouldn't we be providing our children with the tools that they'll need to succeed in the new 21st century economy? After they've had that success then they can put more money back in to arts. And wouldn't well trained, highly capable students be more likely to keep more jobs in America, thus bolstering the economy? The OLPC people have it right, now they just need to do this in the states. 

If you look at most (not all) public schools, the technology that they have is either not being used or is not being used to its full extent. I'm not talking about rendering 3D animation, rather students aren't even being instructed on how to manage a website or learn about good web surfing habits. In that vein, how many of our spyware and malware problems could be resolved almost instantly if we taught smart web use at a young age, say 5th or 6th grade?

Do you agree? Disagree? Let me know. Hopefully this space can also be used for civilzed discussion and if there is demand enough I'll post on a more regular basis. Cheers.

Mr. B.