The excitement that pundits seem to feel at the prospect of an Android Netbook is baffling.
It's an OS specifically designed for mobile hardware with less processing power than a full sized machine. It's as if the fact that it sort of but not quite fits on both points means it's a good idea. The power the Atom etc can provide is probably more than Android needs - it can run better featured platforms - and the type of mobile features that should be going into Android are the type that expect a small phone that can be constantly used, not a machine that sits in a man purse or purse being ignored much of the time.
Netbooks often run XP. Many can run fuller flavours of Linux than Android. I can't help thinking that Android powered Netbooks will lack purpose. If, as is widely touted, the tiny sub-laptops are purely for web use, i'm quite certain Ubuntu (actually, Kbuntu) would fit better. In fact I pretty much confirm it. My legacy desktop holds an Athlon roughly equivalent to an Atom in power, and it does a great job running Kubuntu and Firefox. It also does fine with XP and Firefox.
Although I've now given up on Android and plan to get an iPhone some time in the summer, the missteps are still irritating. The supposed main rival to Apple in this arena has managed one crappy handset after well over a year. The second handset which is clearly going to flop isn't even available yet, and the next job is to put the OS on small laptops. Lack of focus, lack of purpose, lack lack lack. Okay i'll take the QUICK marker off this it wasn't quick enough.
Bottom line, which I should put at the top, but I won't, is that nobody's steering this thing, and consequently it has no idea where it's going. Automobile analogies are popular in tech. It's our way of making out this is man stuff and not geek stuff. This is clearly geek stuff. Pointless post. Waaaah.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Chemical Inbalance
It's got to be something like that. The low feeling I have tonight can't just be a result of the events of my day which was largely fine. It's the same feeling i've had on other occasions on which i've written long diatribes about how my life is going nowhere and so forth. A day or two later i'm completely back to normal and I will be this time too, but hey, in the moment be in the moment I suppose.
What's changed? Technically nothing. I seem to have developed a new stupid crutch (I call it that cos using a similar sounding word which better describes it seems so teenage and ridiculous) which is consuming my mind more than makes sense. These things are less fun than they used to be. There was an element of magic to them at a younger age because it was possible to suspend disbelief and think they actually meant something. At this age it's all too apparant that they're more likely manifestations of my own frustration - more about me than the.. crutch.
Problem is I'm lying. I actually do still suspend disbelief. I don't even do it apologetically. I desparately want to believe that there's something to it. Some kind of magnetism. Something more than nothing. Something that many would ascribe to religuous but that I would rather call spiritual. Some meaningful version of "at first sight" but in this case not in any way at first sight. I have to look at it like that because I simply don't know this.. crutch, even quite at the acquaintence level.
And so I sit here listening to Jimmy Eat World songs, very much because they usually sum up my frustration. It's not quite mainstream emo but at the same time it's not far off. Am I suddenly consumed by loneliness? Maybe. I have a lot more space than I used to in this new place and it's not going unnoticed. Do I consider perpetual loneliness? Yes. Do I consider it a problem? Yes. Does it make me want to reach out and grab whatever I can get? Not even a tiny little bit. Do I have too high standards, and therefore high expectations? Probably. Is there any chance i'll get lucky and stumble into something I actually want? Whatever the odds of it I certainly don't do myself any favours in encouraging it lately.
A few hours ago I spoke to a friend on the phone and I mentioned I went for a walk in a particular park. His first question was "who with?". This puts me on the immediate defensive and I felt like screaming. It was as if i'd suddenly through no fault of my own been trapped into admitting that yes, i'm still walking alone.
How to turn this around so it's not just another low end diatribe? Back to the point. The short and sweet points which make so much sense to me when i'm relaxed and calm ellude me when under pressure. In particular, the simple fact that i'm talking about a person here, not some superhuman being. I relate perfectly well to plenty of other people (albeit somewhat awkwardly - i'm under no illusion) so there's no reason I shouldn't be able to do the same here. It's more than a little likely it could melt away in that case, leading me to consider whether I perhaps don't want it to? It's been some time since I was all that excited by anyone new. If i'm clinging to that, I need a better return on the investment cos today it's not working for me.
I now of course realise that the way i've written this calls my sexuality into question, and so I will point out that this is a female crush.. nooo. crutch.
Don't you fucking hate it when people write something, pretend it was a mistake, then next write what they allegedly meant to write as if they couldn't have edited the original? Me too. Things that annoy the crap out of me about other people's writing, tweets and status updates I notice myself doing. Here though I did it to throw a bone to anyone not clever enough to understand what I was talking about, or to view it another way, to ensure that if it wasn't clever enough to be clear it would eventually make sense.
Hey - this helped i'm feeling a bit better. Thanks vast network of people not reading my blog for storing something i'll enjoy reading myself again in a few months.
I started a non anonymous blog a few weeks ago and haven't posted anything on it yet. It's not as easy to be honest when accountable I guess.
What's changed? Technically nothing. I seem to have developed a new stupid crutch (I call it that cos using a similar sounding word which better describes it seems so teenage and ridiculous) which is consuming my mind more than makes sense. These things are less fun than they used to be. There was an element of magic to them at a younger age because it was possible to suspend disbelief and think they actually meant something. At this age it's all too apparant that they're more likely manifestations of my own frustration - more about me than the.. crutch.
Problem is I'm lying. I actually do still suspend disbelief. I don't even do it apologetically. I desparately want to believe that there's something to it. Some kind of magnetism. Something more than nothing. Something that many would ascribe to religuous but that I would rather call spiritual. Some meaningful version of "at first sight" but in this case not in any way at first sight. I have to look at it like that because I simply don't know this.. crutch, even quite at the acquaintence level.
And so I sit here listening to Jimmy Eat World songs, very much because they usually sum up my frustration. It's not quite mainstream emo but at the same time it's not far off. Am I suddenly consumed by loneliness? Maybe. I have a lot more space than I used to in this new place and it's not going unnoticed. Do I consider perpetual loneliness? Yes. Do I consider it a problem? Yes. Does it make me want to reach out and grab whatever I can get? Not even a tiny little bit. Do I have too high standards, and therefore high expectations? Probably. Is there any chance i'll get lucky and stumble into something I actually want? Whatever the odds of it I certainly don't do myself any favours in encouraging it lately.
A few hours ago I spoke to a friend on the phone and I mentioned I went for a walk in a particular park. His first question was "who with?". This puts me on the immediate defensive and I felt like screaming. It was as if i'd suddenly through no fault of my own been trapped into admitting that yes, i'm still walking alone.
How to turn this around so it's not just another low end diatribe? Back to the point. The short and sweet points which make so much sense to me when i'm relaxed and calm ellude me when under pressure. In particular, the simple fact that i'm talking about a person here, not some superhuman being. I relate perfectly well to plenty of other people (albeit somewhat awkwardly - i'm under no illusion) so there's no reason I shouldn't be able to do the same here. It's more than a little likely it could melt away in that case, leading me to consider whether I perhaps don't want it to? It's been some time since I was all that excited by anyone new. If i'm clinging to that, I need a better return on the investment cos today it's not working for me.
I now of course realise that the way i've written this calls my sexuality into question, and so I will point out that this is a female crush.. nooo. crutch.
Don't you fucking hate it when people write something, pretend it was a mistake, then next write what they allegedly meant to write as if they couldn't have edited the original? Me too. Things that annoy the crap out of me about other people's writing, tweets and status updates I notice myself doing. Here though I did it to throw a bone to anyone not clever enough to understand what I was talking about, or to view it another way, to ensure that if it wasn't clever enough to be clear it would eventually make sense.
Hey - this helped i'm feeling a bit better. Thanks vast network of people not reading my blog for storing something i'll enjoy reading myself again in a few months.
I started a non anonymous blog a few weeks ago and haven't posted anything on it yet. It's not as easy to be honest when accountable I guess.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Red Dwarf: Back to Earth - Part Three
The first half of part three was very much like part 2, and looked to be going in the direction I believed it would yesterday. I thoroughly expected to see Doug Naylor staring down the camera after the break.
If Twitter is anything to go on I don't appear to be the only person who thinks they guessed the end game yesterday, but still quite impressed with myself:
Bang on.
The last 15 minutes were a lot better than the first 75. The reveal allowed the integrity of the original storyline to remain reasonably untouched, other than of course the (thus far) fictitious ninth and tenth runs. I quite like the idea that they could eventually be made to fill the gap between RD8 and this short run, although let's face it, it's not likely.
Was it amazing? No. I'd have preferred far less of the meta stuff in exchange for some expansion on how they came to be where they were at the outset. Had the final 15 minutes been more of the same I'd probably be slating the whole project here, but they really saved it. The die hard purists will continue to slate it, but if anyone asks me, I'll tell them I enjoyed it overall.
Goodbye again Red Dwarf. Hope to see you again some day.
If Twitter is anything to go on I don't appear to be the only person who thinks they guessed the end game yesterday, but still quite impressed with myself:
Based on the first two parts if I had to write the rest I'd link it to the Back to Reality storyline. It could be a suicide inducing group hallucination brought on by the squid from last night.
Bang on.
The last 15 minutes were a lot better than the first 75. The reveal allowed the integrity of the original storyline to remain reasonably untouched, other than of course the (thus far) fictitious ninth and tenth runs. I quite like the idea that they could eventually be made to fill the gap between RD8 and this short run, although let's face it, it's not likely.
Was it amazing? No. I'd have preferred far less of the meta stuff in exchange for some expansion on how they came to be where they were at the outset. Had the final 15 minutes been more of the same I'd probably be slating the whole project here, but they really saved it. The die hard purists will continue to slate it, but if anyone asks me, I'll tell them I enjoyed it overall.
Goodbye again Red Dwarf. Hope to see you again some day.
Facebook Exploitation
It's pure exploitation. It's encouraged, to an extent, and supported, to a similar extent, but nonetheless, Facebook's application platform is all about exploitation.
It keeps circling around. At first it was a good communication platform, then apps arrived and it became cluttered with crap. Soon they tightened up things to the point where it was difficult for applications an individual user hadn't approved to appear in that user's feed.
Then they redesigned. For a few weeks it was fine. The news feed had essentially turned into the status updates page. A few weeks later, suddenly my news feed is full of bullshit I don't want to see.
What's the difference? Simple. The users themselves are now being exploited into posting application updates. The App makers achieve the same level of disruption that they were first able to around a year ago. They must think it's Christmas, or at least early 2008.
Flavour of the week - inane quizzes and top five lists.
What control does Facebook give us? We can either hide the user, or hide the application. This is somewhat useful, but these very similar looking posts are coming from many different applications. Once again i'm crap cleaning rather than just taking in the information, and given that spam has shot up ridiculously in the last few months I have enough of that to do when checking email to ensure something genuine or important isn't buried in there. Same applies.
Next problem - if one of these updates originates from one of the few applications I actually want to remain installed against my name? Two in particular being iLike (now just called Music) and Movies. If I hide them i'm hiding them forever I suppose, just because I don't like the one time disturbance.
The problem distilled - exploit the user, asking them to agree to post an update in their name from their application. The blame is clearly shared, but I have to pick either the user or the app to react against. I can't really blame the users as they are being conned. It's the "invite everyone" thing all over again. They don't know they're annoying their friends, they just click the big button.
Blame the app, but blame Facebook too for not implicitly assuming that app makers will continually exploit every user they can draw the eyeballs of in an attempt at viral growth for, as per usual, eyeballs on ads.
No doubt in two to three weeks this will be sorted out, but why let it happen in the first place and ruin the user experience. Facebook - you're not invincible. Can't you feel a shift coming?
It keeps circling around. At first it was a good communication platform, then apps arrived and it became cluttered with crap. Soon they tightened up things to the point where it was difficult for applications an individual user hadn't approved to appear in that user's feed.
Then they redesigned. For a few weeks it was fine. The news feed had essentially turned into the status updates page. A few weeks later, suddenly my news feed is full of bullshit I don't want to see.
What's the difference? Simple. The users themselves are now being exploited into posting application updates. The App makers achieve the same level of disruption that they were first able to around a year ago. They must think it's Christmas, or at least early 2008.
Flavour of the week - inane quizzes and top five lists.
What control does Facebook give us? We can either hide the user, or hide the application. This is somewhat useful, but these very similar looking posts are coming from many different applications. Once again i'm crap cleaning rather than just taking in the information, and given that spam has shot up ridiculously in the last few months I have enough of that to do when checking email to ensure something genuine or important isn't buried in there. Same applies.
Next problem - if one of these updates originates from one of the few applications I actually want to remain installed against my name? Two in particular being iLike (now just called Music) and Movies. If I hide them i'm hiding them forever I suppose, just because I don't like the one time disturbance.
The problem distilled - exploit the user, asking them to agree to post an update in their name from their application. The blame is clearly shared, but I have to pick either the user or the app to react against. I can't really blame the users as they are being conned. It's the "invite everyone" thing all over again. They don't know they're annoying their friends, they just click the big button.
Blame the app, but blame Facebook too for not implicitly assuming that app makers will continually exploit every user they can draw the eyeballs of in an attempt at viral growth for, as per usual, eyeballs on ads.
No doubt in two to three weeks this will be sorted out, but why let it happen in the first place and ruin the user experience. Facebook - you're not invincible. Can't you feel a shift coming?
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Red Dwarf: Back to Earth - Part Two
Really glad I didn't try to watch this one drunk. Think my head would have exploded.
The gamble with attempting this type of storyline is alienating die hard fans. Doug Naylor could not possibly think that nobody would find fault in adverts for a DVD release and a TV channel in the middle of his script, as meta as the references were built to be. Make no mistake, he has every right to write Red Dwarf however he chooses - i'm not one of these nerd types who believes they own the show, but as somebody who's bought the show pretty much twice over (and of course I now learn eventually I have to buy it on video again) I think i'm entitled to an opinion.
Based on the first two parts if I had to write the rest I'd link it to the Back to Reality storyline. It could be a suicide inducing group hallucination brought on by the squid from last night. If they wanted to really screw up the storyline forever they could write off everything after RD5 claiming the whole thing wasn't real - think I recall that theory from past geekdom. Wouldn't like that though as RD6 was fine by me and two not so much episodes but events from RD7 (Lister's Time Loop and Rimmer becoming an Ace) were significant enough to want to hang on to. Would happily forget RD8 but I can't think of a possible ending that sorts that out. Hell they haven't really even explained anything so far so I dunno why I expect this to all wrap up and make perfect sense.
Pushing a hard light hologram under a moving vehicle - wasn't hard light practically indestructable? I doubt she's gone. If she is gone it was a big hole for a quick visual gag.
Overall I enjoyed this one a little more than the first. More happened and we got some idea of the direction. Doesn't sound like I enjoyed it I know but I'm genuinely looking forward to the last part.
Even so, this little experiment has been quoted as being a move by Dave to show more original programming. If that's all this is supposed to be then they've done it, but I think i'd have preferred something a bit more like the actual show.
I can't tell where this is headed. A lot of threads. Is Dave Lister going to be tracking down Craig Charles and Doug Naylor? For a moment it looked like he might be tracking down Chloe Annette but moments later he's being told her character is still alive as a result of whatever happened in fictional ninth and tenth seasons (yes they said seasons, in the show - that'll upset the Wikipedia guys who want it to say series everywhere).
So, finally for the first time in what seems like years two things I'm looking forward to watching are on TV at the same time tomorrow night. A most anticipated episode of Lost and what is surely the last Red Dwarf ever. Not a problem in this day and age - just gotta decide which one to watch first.
I liked my post on part one better.
The gamble with attempting this type of storyline is alienating die hard fans. Doug Naylor could not possibly think that nobody would find fault in adverts for a DVD release and a TV channel in the middle of his script, as meta as the references were built to be. Make no mistake, he has every right to write Red Dwarf however he chooses - i'm not one of these nerd types who believes they own the show, but as somebody who's bought the show pretty much twice over (and of course I now learn eventually I have to buy it on video again) I think i'm entitled to an opinion.
Based on the first two parts if I had to write the rest I'd link it to the Back to Reality storyline. It could be a suicide inducing group hallucination brought on by the squid from last night. If they wanted to really screw up the storyline forever they could write off everything after RD5 claiming the whole thing wasn't real - think I recall that theory from past geekdom. Wouldn't like that though as RD6 was fine by me and two not so much episodes but events from RD7 (Lister's Time Loop and Rimmer becoming an Ace) were significant enough to want to hang on to. Would happily forget RD8 but I can't think of a possible ending that sorts that out. Hell they haven't really even explained anything so far so I dunno why I expect this to all wrap up and make perfect sense.
Pushing a hard light hologram under a moving vehicle - wasn't hard light practically indestructable? I doubt she's gone. If she is gone it was a big hole for a quick visual gag.
Overall I enjoyed this one a little more than the first. More happened and we got some idea of the direction. Doesn't sound like I enjoyed it I know but I'm genuinely looking forward to the last part.
Even so, this little experiment has been quoted as being a move by Dave to show more original programming. If that's all this is supposed to be then they've done it, but I think i'd have preferred something a bit more like the actual show.
I can't tell where this is headed. A lot of threads. Is Dave Lister going to be tracking down Craig Charles and Doug Naylor? For a moment it looked like he might be tracking down Chloe Annette but moments later he's being told her character is still alive as a result of whatever happened in fictional ninth and tenth seasons (yes they said seasons, in the show - that'll upset the Wikipedia guys who want it to say series everywhere).
So, finally for the first time in what seems like years two things I'm looking forward to watching are on TV at the same time tomorrow night. A most anticipated episode of Lost and what is surely the last Red Dwarf ever. Not a problem in this day and age - just gotta decide which one to watch first.
I liked my post on part one better.
QUICK: Not Bad 4 - 1 Not Good
- eBay not totally useless yet! Got two mint condition Ikea chairs worth a total of £130 in store from a local seller for £30
- I read the Xenyx mixer manual and I think I come close to understanding what everything does!
- Remembered how good Udon tastes!
- Last but not least, it's the best bank holiday of the year! It's Saturday but feels like Sunday, and even Sunday wouldn't really be like a Sunday because there's still Monday. Happy Easter, fellow non religious types and religious types alike!
- No Sun.
- I read the Xenyx mixer manual and I think I come close to understanding what everything does!
- Remembered how good Udon tastes!
- Last but not least, it's the best bank holiday of the year! It's Saturday but feels like Sunday, and even Sunday wouldn't really be like a Sunday because there's still Monday. Happy Easter, fellow non religious types and religious types alike!
- No Sun.
Red Dwarf: Back to Earth - Part One
Probably a mistake to watch part one of the new Red Dwarf at the arse end of a night out drinking. I sleepily plodded through it not properly concentrating, weirded out by how I didn't seem to get what was going on, and the fact that Rimmer now actually looks like the waxwork version of himself in the famous Rimmer Experience from RD7.
Once i'd sobered up and slept, a second viewing revealed that it wasn't as bad as I thought. It suffers from a lack of audience in ways that other shows such as the Office (pick either version) don't. Dialogue that is typically Rimmeresque comes across more laboured when it doesn't provoke a reaction.
The point of studio audiences and canned laughter are hard to fathom for some, but can undeniably can make a positive difference. It works far better when genuine and live, as RD's always was barring RD7 which was a recorded reaction, and weaker for it. Timing is affected. Last night it felt a little like the cast were leaving in reaction pauses for a non-existent audience.
This is not only the second time they've done a three part story, but the second time they had intended to do a two part story that was later extended to three parts. The first time many fans suggested the story would have been more enjoyable condensed to two episodes - I wonder if this will be the case here too.
Very little happened in part one. The most asked question seems to be where the other Hologram came from, asked as if it's an oversight. Surely her shooting down Rimmers question about two holograms being sustained indicates this will be answered before the end of part three? I think so.
One last thing... It's been stated before by those involved with the show that in the RD universe everything originated from earth. This dimension jumping squid (aka not so quick plot device) seems a little out of whack with that idea. Lifeforms have tended to utilise technology to jump around time and space in the show. Suddenly we're looking at a squid that somehow has this ability in it's DNA.
That's the end of geek corner. You can forgive one such post like this after ten years I hope.
Once i'd sobered up and slept, a second viewing revealed that it wasn't as bad as I thought. It suffers from a lack of audience in ways that other shows such as the Office (pick either version) don't. Dialogue that is typically Rimmeresque comes across more laboured when it doesn't provoke a reaction.
The point of studio audiences and canned laughter are hard to fathom for some, but can undeniably can make a positive difference. It works far better when genuine and live, as RD's always was barring RD7 which was a recorded reaction, and weaker for it. Timing is affected. Last night it felt a little like the cast were leaving in reaction pauses for a non-existent audience.
This is not only the second time they've done a three part story, but the second time they had intended to do a two part story that was later extended to three parts. The first time many fans suggested the story would have been more enjoyable condensed to two episodes - I wonder if this will be the case here too.
Very little happened in part one. The most asked question seems to be where the other Hologram came from, asked as if it's an oversight. Surely her shooting down Rimmers question about two holograms being sustained indicates this will be answered before the end of part three? I think so.
One last thing... It's been stated before by those involved with the show that in the RD universe everything originated from earth. This dimension jumping squid (aka not so quick plot device) seems a little out of whack with that idea. Lifeforms have tended to utilise technology to jump around time and space in the show. Suddenly we're looking at a squid that somehow has this ability in it's DNA.
That's the end of geek corner. You can forgive one such post like this after ten years I hope.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
QUICK: Android - Compete!
...and one day later as if to punctuate my point, Android handset no. 2 which has been discussed for several months now is going to miss it's planned launch. Sad thing is this so called Magic isn't going to be an important handset for Android in any case.
There are two important handsets in this story. One is this Magic but better looking, and the other is like the original G1, better looking with a better battery. In both Android needs to be swifter. One is for the style brigade that think the iPhone is too expensive - the other is for the gadget geeks. This really shouldn't be rocket science. Where's the problem?
There are two important handsets in this story. One is this Magic but better looking, and the other is like the original G1, better looking with a better battery. In both Android needs to be swifter. One is for the style brigade that think the iPhone is too expensive - the other is for the gadget geeks. This really shouldn't be rocket science. Where's the problem?
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
QUICK: Android - Second Time Lucky?
Every time I see a video created to show off Android it's the same thing. Over excited demonstrator attempts something and the device lags. Before the lag ends he assumes he didn't press hard enough etc and tries again, just in time for the lag to end.
It gives the impression that nothing works first time, when it's more likely the hardware isn't up to the firmware, or the firmware is too bloated for the hardware.
I swear if this ridiculous circus that is Android doesn't take a smart turn soon I'm going to have to buy a fucking iPhone. The speed at which this serious competitor is slugging along at is painful to watch.
It gives the impression that nothing works first time, when it's more likely the hardware isn't up to the firmware, or the firmware is too bloated for the hardware.
I swear if this ridiculous circus that is Android doesn't take a smart turn soon I'm going to have to buy a fucking iPhone. The speed at which this serious competitor is slugging along at is painful to watch.
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