Will Haptics Make Me Happy?
Posted on | May 15, 2008 at 7:39 pm | 4 Comments
I found this news article interesting: iPhone-Blackberry Battle Will Be Fought Over Keyboards.
Quote: In spite of all the well-deserved hoopla about the iPhone, RIM still has an impregnable position in enterprise and corporate markets — its tactile QWERTY keyboard is way more accurate than Apple’s glass keyboard, and corporate types are less tolerant of e-mail errors than rank-and-file consumers.
I do find that the keyboard on the iPhone is the limiting factor on it for my use of PDA/smartphone functions (what few it has at this point). It’s cool, but I really can’t type very fast on it yet. Though I am getting better. The auto-correction works great, which helps a lot. Like the article says, one of the big drawbacks is the lack of tactile feedback. I think that would help me a lot, though I’m not sure why. Before this article, I had never heard of haptic technology, which simulates tactile feedback via motion or vibrations. I had been experiencing it for years in video game controllers even though I didn’t know there was a name for it. According to this article, Apple is actively licensing haptic technology for use in the iPhone, so hopefully it’s coming soon.
Now if they could only enable cut/copy/paste functions (according to the first article above, that’s coming soon too).
Okay, then I want DateBk6 and InfoSafe Plus on my iPhone. Get going, third party developers!
Latre.
The XVI-Files: I Want To Believe
Posted on | May 14, 2008 at 7:17 am | 2 Comments
Wow, the Catholic Church is getting more and more enlightened all the time: Vatican: It’s OK to believe in aliens. Of course, this is coming from a Jesuit, and everyone knows they’re not real Catholics. They’re like the Star Trek “fans” who go to conventions but don’t dress up like Klingons or Vulcans. (I kid, but one of my oldest and best friends is a Jesuit and he’s certainly not your father’s Father. Or your father’s Brother. Whatever.)
Quote: The Bible “is not a science book,” Funes said, adding that he believes the Big Bang theory is the most “reasonable” explanation for the creation of the universe. The theory says the universe began billions of years ago in the explosion of a single, super-dense point that contained all matter.
Hmmm… next thing you know they’re going to be teaching evolution, supporting gay marriage, and acknowledging a woman’s right to choose. You can have your faith and eat it too. Take that, Golden Compass. This is a new Catholic Church, and not just because of the guitar playing during the services (which has been going on for… err…. 30 years or so). So, sign up now! Or come back, all you lapsed types. The coffee’s better than Starbucks and the wafers are low-fat.
Latre.
Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “mexican donkey show”.
Never Get Comfortable
Posted on | May 13, 2008 at 8:05 am | 3 Comments
I usually don’t write about work-related matters here in this blog, since that’s asking for trouble. However, today is such a momentous day on two fronts, that I have to say something. I’m not sure if these two things have anything to do with each other, but the timing is certainly strange.
First, today we’re having my 10th Anniversary Lunch. (My actual 10 year anniversary with the company was back in Feb, but there were scheduling problems.) This is the longest I’ve ever worked for one company, by far. I’m starting to get comfortable here and am actually, in my advanced age, thinking about sticking around until retirement, if possible, instead of jumping ship for greener pastures like I’ve done in the past.
Second, the Very Large Company I work for just announced today that it is being acquired by Even Larger Company. This came as something of a shock to my co-workers and I yesterday when news about the merger talks leaked out in the press. It was an especially big shock to those co-workers who have been with the company longer than I. (Many of them have been with the company their entire working lives.) Although in retrospect, the signs were on the wall.
Traditionally, many employees at acquired companies don’t fare very well after a merger, and I’m sure this will be no exception. I’ve been down this route before, on a smaller scale. However, the reason my company is being bought by the other company is because we do what they don’t (or what they only do a little of), so I’m hoping they’re buying us for the knowledge and the people. Certainly, a great many employees would have to be retained to service existing and new contracts. I just hope I’m one of them!
I think I know what the main topic at lunch is going to be today.
Latre.
No Country Like The Old Country
Posted on | May 12, 2008 at 11:15 pm | 6 Comments
It won Best Picture this year. The critics loved it. Javier Bardem rightfully won Best Supporting Actor. The acting is great. The cinematography is wonderful. But No Country For Old Men just didn’t do it for me. N and I watched it the other night (on Blu-Ray!) and it definitely held our interest, but ultimately it was a hollow experience. It wasn’t the violence – that didn’t bother me much, although N had some problems with it.
[Warning: Spoilers follow.] I’m not a big believer in conventional Hollywood endings. And I’m willing to trust the Coen Brothers to bring the Interesting, although as I’ve stated before, I really like only about half their oeuvre. And I know that they were adapting a novel, fairly faithfully. But when you have a movie where the leading man dies 3/4 of the way through and the remainder of the movie meanders down a path/moral that was already outlined by the opening narration, you just don’t have proper closure. What bothered me the most is that the death happened off-screen, like it really didn’t even matter. The movie felt like it was really building up to something, and then… fizzle. I wanted something more. I wanted a final confrontation, cliché as that is. I wanted more of an explanation of just what the heck was going on, and who all the different factions were.
I know one has to learn to expect the unexpected from the Coens, but at least they’re usually decent storytellers. Maybe they just don’t know how to end a movie. I had similar problems with The Ladykillers. But I loved O Brother, Where Art Thou (which I finally saw after Ladykillers). I’ll still keep watching their movies and appreciating their idiosyncrasies, but I just don’t understand why this movie is so universally loved. Back to Film Class for me.
Latre.
Pet Peeve of the Day: Whatever happened to the Old Country restaurant? I used to love that place. I think.
Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: I can’t even bring myself to put it in here, it was so bad. There are some sick people out there. I feel really bad for the person doing the search though.
Happy Tower Day
Posted on | May 11, 2008 at 1:22 pm | 2 Comments
Well, after years and years of legal squabbling and other setbacks, the Lookout Mountain Digital TV Supertower finally went online today! Now we can get all our local digital HD channels from LM and I no longer have to rotate my antenna between LM and downtown depending on what channel I want. High-powered Over-The-Air digital television has finally, after all this time, come to the Denver Metro area.
In theory, at least. For some reason, I can’t get channel 7/KMGH, though I am receiving the other channels. I don’t know what’s going on, since people on the AVS Forums are reporting that they’re getting it today, or at least that it’s not that different in strength from the other channels. I can’t get it pointing to the old location downtown either, though I used to be able to. Maybe they’re still messing around with things. I hope it’s not one of those things where I’m right on the cusp of reception, though I don’t seem to be getting any signal at all for channel 7, even an unlockable one. And why would I be able to get some but not others if they were all coming from the same source? Oh well, guess I’ll keep trying and see what happens.
In the meantime, I’ll drink some champagne today, or at least beer, and make a victory toast for the forces of logic and science (and commerce) over those of fear and NIMBYism. Huzzah!
Latre.
Carded
Posted on | May 10, 2008 at 7:33 am | 4 Comments
Pet Peeve of the Day: The credit card company for the major credit card that I use for most of my transactions just, out-of-the-blue, sent me a new card with a new number yesterday and didn’t tell me they were going to do it. The old card doesn’t expire for another year. Of course they taut “new benefits!” and crap like that, but I’m sure there’s more behind it.
One reason I hate this so much is because I have several monthly transactions that automatically debit that card. So now I need to contact each vendor or provider and get the number changed, like I have to do when the old card expires and I have to specify the new expire date. Or when a card gets used fraudulently and I have to get a new one with a new number (which has never happened with this particular card, but it has happened to other cards I use). But the other reason I hate it is because I actually had the 16-digit number of the old card (as well as the CCV code) memorized. I had that number for a very long time and it was like a part of me. I liked that number! For online transactions and such, I didn’t even need to look at the card. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to memorize the new number.
Also, what if I was in the middle of an online order when I activate the new card? For example, I ordered a new external hard drive to replace the one that went kablooey, and I used my old card for that. However, it didn’t ship out right away and they don’t charge the card until it does. My girlfriend works in banking and says it would be okay because they probably pre-authorized the transaction, but I still don’t like worrying about it. (Luckily, the drive did get shipped out before I activated the new card.)
I think I could deal with this a little better if the company actually told me beforehand they were going to do this, but there was no indication until the card actually arrived in the mail. I wish they would’ve warned me and I wish they would’ve told me the real reason they’re doing it.
What a pain! Class action lawsuit!
I loved that old number.
Latre.
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