On the iPad

So I had five minutes to play with an iPad on the day of release, and another ten minutes to play today. It’s an interesting piece of work, and will doubtless continue to have a throttlehold on the news over the next week or so. You’re not sure if this thing is worth the money and effort.

That’s a good question.

Now, my electrogeekness can tell you the same things that you can read online. It’s a pound and a half, sleek, fast, and in a fairly short period of time will have apps out the wazoo. (Technically it does already, as it will run all the apps that my iPod does, and that an iPhone does if you wait for the 3g model.)

That’s not what you want to know.

I can tell you that it doesn’t run Flash (and if you don’t know what that does, that’s okay), it does have a productivity suite, and watching movies will be fun, along with all those books you said you wanted to read. The iPad is designed to be a media center. Books, music, games, a little letter writing or note taking, and checking your e-mail is what this is designed for.

You knew that already, I suspect.

I should tell you about prices, add-ons, and a hundred other things--all designed to protect and enhance your using experience.

I won’t, because you can look that up yourself.

No, the real question you want an answer to is “Do you think I should get one?” The simple answer to that is that there isn’t a simple answer. If you have a laptop...maybe not. You with laptops will want to pause and think about it.

But if you have a desktop computer, such as an HP or iMac, the answer is yes, you want one. If you’re thinking about a netbook, get this instead as I think you’ll be much happier with it. If you’re under 30, a tech person or Apple fanboy (or fangirl), and need to be on the leading edge, yes, and you may already have yours in hand. (If so, congratulations.)

If you’re over 65 and travel a bit, you might like it as well. Plane flights are long boring things anymore, and this will be a fun thing to have to play solitaire, read a book, watch a movie, and compose a letter to Aunt May. (Wi-fi is limited on many flights, even now, so you may not be able to surf the web or check e-mail from 15.25 KM, or 50,000 feet-whichever comes first.) The iPad is easy to use, lightweight, easy to maintain, and will serve you in good stead.

For those of us between 30-65, however, it might be a different story. Many of us have laptops we like. Money is a bit tight, especially for those of us with families to deal with. (Although you might want one for the slightly older child to use while on a long road trip.) I won’t be getting one, at least for now. Part of it is cost; the one I want is nearly $900. It has 64 GB memory and 3G capability. (Anything less then 32 GB of memory is a joke to me.) Here’s the other part.

I have a MacBook that I have updated to Snow Leopard, the most recent iWork and iLife suites, and dropped 2GB more RAM into it, for a total of 4GB RAM. (It is indeed like having a new MacBook.) It goes many places I do, because I work online. If I were able to go to Director’s College this year I would want my MacBook, as I can use my iPod to record the lectures and classes-and then simply transfer those to the MacBook at day’s end. However...an iPad would have been nice to have in Hawai’i last summer, as opposed to the MacBook, as it weighs less and eats less room in a carry-on. I was on vacation and thus only checking work e-mail once daily. (It was during an enrollment period for a program I help oversee.) Plus, since weight is at a premium on any flight, not having the MacBook allows me to pack stuff in my carryon I might actually need to bring.

That’s my take on the iPad. Right now I can see all kinds of potential. Several years down the road I can see a number of students getting one, downloading their books for courses, taking notes in lectures, and even writing papers with it. In three to six months from now as more apps are made specifically for the iPad, it becomes a better piece of gear. If you can wait until, say, summer--or better yet, Christmas--you will have a nifty tablet that you’ll be able to customize and really make worth the purchase.

Enough for now.

On Visiting the Mothership

On a recent trip home to Concord, I had the opportunity to go to Cupertino, where the Apple campus is located.

Well, okay. In all fairness, I had to talk my beautiful and charming bride into stopping as we went to visit her aunt in Half Moon Bay. But as I was going with her to work on a few items on her aunt’s Mac, I figured this was as good a chance as any. And after being left on my own for better than five hours there with what seemed like little to do at the time, she bought me dinner as well as my lunch expense. Not bad for a day’s semi-work.

Now it’s no secret that I am working on becoming Apple Certified in a number of things. I have already been certified in iLife, and am working on both iWork and Mac OS X support. While I will never write a lot of code or build new hardware, it will be a good backup in case the economy tanks again or further. But it isn’t something I can pursue in earnest; quite frankly it isn’t cheap and it takes time and I am short of both of those kinds of resources. On the other hand, I can earn much of it back in a few repair and update jobs, if and when that time comes.

Now you need to understand that from Concord, Cupertino is a good hour plus away and wasn’t exactly on our way. But we had plenty of time, and Deena really was a good sport about this. When we got there, we drove around a bit the campus, which is huge. We walked in the front entry, looked around, and walked out as we would need an ID badge to go any further. (You can see some pictures here. I can't say I took them, however.) The only thing that we could determine that was open to the public was the Company Store. There, along with all the usual suspects of Macdom that I could just as easily get at my local Mac Store, were the t-shirts, hats, water bottles, pens, keyrings, etc. all with the Apple logo on them that one simply can’t get anywhere else. Of course I bought stuff; don’t be silly. (I even got the t-shirt that says “I visited the Mothership,” from which I took the name for this post.) But that isn’t really the point.

The point is, I guess, that I actually got to see some of the place where things like Macs, iPods, Safari, and most of the stuff I use day to day got brainstormed. And while it really won’t change my life all that much (if any), it was neat to simply go and look. I can say “I’ve been there. I’ve seen the Apple campus.” (To which many of you will yawn and say “who cares.”)

But beyond that, there actually was a deeper meaning. It’s called a working vacation. Another poorly kept secret is that we both are in real need of a true vacation (which won’t happen until August), and that we both needed to do things. I work online and really couldn’t take much time off right now. Stuff is backed up rather nastily. Deena had school stuff that had to be done. We both were ragged, dog-tired, and in need of a break from the same-old. Mom needed some help with a few things down south, and so off we went to help her out.

This qualified as a day off from a busy schedule of helping mom out. My regular work sat mostly undoable (no wi-fi connection, which in hindsight was a blessing). This allowed a logjam of pent-up mental stuff to drain-along with some fatigue, some frustration, and a few other buggered emotions. While I was waiting for Deena and her aunt to return, I took a few phone calls, logged some long overdue paperwork, and caught up on some reading. (I also did the few things to her aunt’s Mac that needed doing.) This downtime-which started off by visiting 1 Infinite Loop-was what this doctor needed to do a little brainstorming of his own to help rectify a nasty set of issues. Realistic, workable plans got made and have already been implemented. This has lowered my stress level, and thus will make me more productive.

The only thing that really got changed was perspective. Issues and problems I faced when I left are still there, but now I have some personal resources to deal with them. I’m not totally drained, and if I take care of myself and follow my planning, things should lighten up in roughly two to three weeks.

That change started by taking some down time and visiting “the Mothership.”

Enough for now.

On Shortwave Radio

Shortwave radio listening (or DX’ing) is another hobby, somewhat like stamp collecting, that seems to have fallen on hard times. You can sort of blame this on the internet, I suppose; with stamps, e-mail is the method of choice for sending letters all over. Many nations have figured this out and either reduced their shortwave radio broadcasts, or cut them outright.

As a hobby, it’s not like baseball or football cards in that you can collect a set of them relatively easily as there is a card shop or two in every city, it seems like. The same can be said of comic books; and with both not only is condition a factor, but then, you have to put them somewhere. You try storing ten years of comic books; if you take ten titles a month, that’s 120 issues a year...and that doesn't count back issues!

Nor is is like collecting coins in which you really need to quit looking at your change and start with things like proof sets in order to have a collection worth something. Trust me on this one. You might have a complete set of old wheat ear pennies, but if they look like they went through the mill, they won’t be worth more than about 14 cents each, if that. Better you should collect proof sets.

For openers, to listen to DX programming...you need to have a shortwave radio. They are not cheap; in fact, a really good one will set you back over a hundred and fifty bucks or more. I actually have two: A DAK model DMR-3000 (which is small and digital) and an older Realistic DX-150A (which is a large boxy thing and analog). Both are in really good shape.

You will also need a good antenna; the best one I ever had was about 100 feet of copper wire that ran the length on my folks attic, and out to a tree in the backyard. Currently, I use a small powered antenna with a core made from all that old wire. Not as good, but serviceable.

Then there’s trying to get a signal here. As alluded to before, many nations have cut their DX signals to North America, making it a little harder than before to get a signal worth listening to. With the DMR-3000, I can punch in the frequency and hopefully get something. With the DX-150A, it’s fiddling with the dials and hope it pulls in a signal.

Once you have a signal, you log in your log book the frequency, the time, what you heard, the broadcaster, and several other bits of info. Then you send off to the broadcaster for verification, using your own cash to do so (unless they have an e-submission form). They often will require you, if you want a response, to enclose some sort of remuneration. (It used to be a International Postal Money Order. Today, it may well be PayPal.)

What do you get once you’ve actually logged something and sent off a reception report? If you’re lucky, something called a QSL card. And if you’re really lucky, a few other goodies such as pennants, pins, buttons, patches, etc. (You can click here to see a number of my QSL cards.) Oh, yes--you’ll also be added to the their mailing list for a year or two. Or three.

It sounds easy, but it’s not. Sunspots, weather conditions, time of day, antenna length, signal strength, the number of trees in your way, power lines, and a host of other factors can keep you from getting anything fit to log in.

So, why bother at all?

Well, it can also be fun and somewhat educational. Granted, with the internet you can just go to a country and and see if they have a podcast in English, but that does not teach you things like patience. Fiddling with the knobs on the radio, waiting on the mail, and waiting sometimes for the station ID (especially if you just missed it) teaches one patience. It does not teach you several other things. (True enough, however, listening to a podcast does teach you some about the host nation.)

It also teaches you perseverance. Because every year or so, these QSL cards change designs, many of them. So for some of your favorites, you have to go back and mail a new report, to get a new QSL card. (Of course, some never change. I have several from a DX station that essentially hadn’t changed in ten plus years.)

Every once in awhile, I’ll pull out the DX radio and see what I can catch. Even Canada-which is only 360 miles or so from where I live-isn’t really easy anymore, but I figured I’d start there and see where I could go to after that.

Hmm-makes me wonder where I can get some stamps for an old album I have....

Enough for now.

On Canada and the Winter Olympics

The spectacle that is the Winter Olympics is currently going on in our neighbor’s back yard. (Vancouver is a tad far to be considered our back yard.) Canada so far has been a great host; the US is way ahead in the overall medal count. Though the Canadians haven’t fared too poorly, either. They finally won a gold medal at home, enshrining Alexandre Bilodeau’s name securely in their sporting history forever.

The Olympics are an interesting spectacle. We place all our hopes and dreams on people who represent our country, celebrating their triumphs and mourning their losses as if we were there. We call them our medals, but really...they belong to those who actively participated. We just get to share in their fun, without sacrificing anything except a little money. Well, okay. That and two weeks of our lives where suddenly, we absolutely must win medals in sports we almost never see here outside the Olympics and normally could care less about.

Be honest...when was the last time you saw a Bobsleigh race on the tube here? Or curling? When was the last time you saw anything on ice other than a hockey game or a drink of some extraction?

I didn’t think so.

Time to fess up--I know you don’t follow Ice Dancing at any other time outside of once every four years, and only then if we have a shot at a medal.

Speaking of medals...the US has, in the first week, taken advantage of our neighbors in The Great White North. This comes as a bit of a surprise to me, certainly, as normally we don’t do as well in winter sports. Canada had a program in place to own the podium, and it appears that we beat them to the property so far.

Understand-I am cheering for both countries. I am not ashamed to admit this. I am a bit sick and tired of the Europeans thinking they can just walk in and own the place. (And, as a Cold War Vet, don’t even start me on Russia. Or Korea, for all that.) I’d like to see many more medals coming here, and if not here, to Canada. They deserve any and all medals they get, and more. Bring them home to North America, kids.

About my relationship to the host country: While I do have a sister that was born in Newfoundland, she is and I am American citizens. Make no mistake about that. However...if I had to move to any other country in the world, I think Canada is where I’d want to go. I have friends there (and a shout out to my friends and readers in the Ontario District of the BHS; you know who you are and I thank you for your friendship-especially at Director’s College). I know that every time I have been to Canada, I have been treated well-except for one meal at La Cage Aux Sport at Centre Bell in Montreal.

I have undertaken several trips to Canada, but my last trip to British Columbia was in 1983 on a marching band tour. (I didn’t make it to Vancouver then; I hope to finally rectify that this summer.) The band went to Victoria, located on Vancouver Island. Victoria is every bit as nice as Vancouver (from what I’ve seen of Vancouver on the TV), and maybe just a bit nicer. We were there for the Victoria Day parade, and the Harbour Days festival. I’ve never forgotten that trip.

(Side note: if any of my readers know of anyone who marched in 1980 with Pacific Blue from Surrey, BC please drop me a line. I was virtually adopted into their corps, and have wondered from time to time how people are doing. Not that many would remember my name, and honestly, I don’t remember many of theirs. But I digress.)

Back to the Olympics-I am so mad at NBC. It's bad enough, Boris, that they are keeping America up till all hours (and don’t lecture me about things like DVR’s and TiVo, buster, or you’re staying after class and clapping the erasers). This means I can’t get live Olympic feeds from CTV (who, as part of a consortium, won the rights to the Olympics in Canada) online, because NBC has exclusive rights here in the US. In turn, this also means that, until the games are over, I can’t get a live straight news feed from Canada on either CTV or the CBC online. That is called censorship, and is a topic I’ll blog on later. I hope somebody else gets the contract for the next games; or at least NBC starts them an hour earlier next time. It reeks that I’m in the same time zone as Vancouver, and there’s what-a two to three hour time delay? What’s up with that? It’s just wrong.

Meantime, I’m trying to keep up with the fun sports, like bobsleigh, skeleton, luge, speed skating-and yes, curling-and it’s been made...difficult, shall we say...because most Americans either don’t understand some of these sports, or don’t care to learn. If there's little interest, there's no ratings. No ratings means that they'll show something like Ice Dancing that does draw ratings.

Enough for now.

On the Haitian Earthquake

Wow.

Let me say this again. Wow.

I am so totally stunned by the devastation, by the amount of damage this earthquake laid out on Haiti. This is a chunk of property that runs over 10,000 square miles.

The damage is incredible.

I saw some satellite pictures this morning of the before and after. Things before looked decent in Port-Au-Prince.

And now…gone. It looks like a globebuster bomb hit it.

Just like that. Eradicated. Blessedly little's standing there right now.

Kids, I grew up in earthquake country. I know what it's like to have the earth move under you like that. I remember being in Chicago during the Loma Prieta and Northridge quakes. I know how hard it can be to reach family and friends. I remember seeing the pictures of San Francisco...the chunk of the Bay Bridge down, the Cypress Structure pancaked, the Marina District on fire. Buildings collapsing and rubble all over, from Oakland to Santa Cruz.

That doesn't even cover the Northridge quake.

This is worse, actually, because of the years of kleptocratic government that dates back to when I was in high school. Here in the States, we have gross incompetence and mismanagement in government, but not outright theft.

I don't always ask folks to help-money's tight all over, I understand that. We are all recovering from 2009's stinkin' economy, yours truly included. But find a way to give money, or to do what you can.

Because this goes past bad.

Check out the Red Cross website for donations. Here's the link: www.redcross.org.

If you are a person of prayer, pray for the survivors.

Enough for now.

On Christmas 2009

So it’s Christmas week. The Christmas performances are done, the last of the gifts are (thankfully) purchased, wrapped, and ready for their big day, the cards are all mailed, and I finally have a moment to sit and reflect on Christmas.

I could go through all the commercialization gyrations that I’ve written in many places in years past. But I’m not going there this year.

I could also write about how tired I am of 24/7 Christmas music, and Santa being everywhere I go. Somebody buy that kid’s shoes, get that girl a hippo, and fix that other kid’s front dental work. Sorry, Bing--I don’t want a white Christmas, either. (I’d have to shovel all that snow.) Nope...not writing that up, either.

I could write up the argument about how it’s Merry Christmas, not Happy Holidays. While I have issue with how far both sides go with this argument, I’m saving that for next year, maybe. (For the record, there are six major holidays in December, some of which overlap. Seven if you count my birthday. Hence I don’t have as big a deal with “Happy Holidays” as others do.)

I could definitely write about family, and how important that is. It is important, especially to me. But...I’m not writing about that right now. Maybe later.

Instead, I have chosen to quote from the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 2:

1 Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. 2 This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. 4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, 5 in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child. 6 While they were there the days were completed for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. (NASB)

That’s what Christmas is all about.

It’s the day we celebrate the birthday of Jesus of Nazareth. No decorated trees, no fat guy sliding down chimneys with a bag of holding, no flying reindeer (including the one with the 12-volt nose), not even a turkey. Just another night during tax season, with one exception: the figure that came to save us from our sins, the man who split time from BC to AD was born in humble estate and laid in a feeding trough. He was born to die for our sins, so that we, who are dead in sin, might be born into new life in Christ.

That hardly seems like a fair trade to me. But I’m not arguing it. I’ve accepted His gift of life, and believe He came here for the very reason stated above.

Contemplate this over the next few days: Why do you celebrate Christmas, if not for the birth of Jesus?

Grace and Peace to you and yours. Have a Merry Christmas, and a blessed New Year.

Enough for now.

On Facebook, Twitter, and Seppuku

It’s funny, in a bizarre sort of way. Given how much I like working with technology, one would think I keep up with all the latest trends.

Except that I don’t.

I don’t have (at the time I write this) a Facebook or MySpace page, mainly because I don’t feel I’m all that important or interesting. I see no reason to put a bunch of stuff that will bore people to tears out on the web. You don’t really want to know that the one thing I am consuming right now is a box of Sugar Frosted Flakes. I don’t want to tell you all about my friends; I want them to remain my friends. You certainly don’t want to know what I’m listening to on the radio because I don’t listen much to radio anymore. I use my iPod in place thereof...less commercials that way. I don’t need a bunch of “friends” I’ve never met but expect me to list as my friends so we can move up the food chain or however they rank these things. I certainly don’t want people writing all over my walls as I have enough stuff to clean, thank you.

If you’re looking for me on Twitter you might as well stop because I don’t tweet, either. If I want to reach out and touch someone, I can call or e-mail them. You don’t want a pithy message from me telling you I’ve eaten Corn Pops for breakfast, or that I’m standing in the deodorant aisle at Wal-Mart trying to decide what Fresh, Pure Sport, Game Day, Swagger or Smooth Blast smell like. (Those are all scents from Old Spice, by the way, lest you think I’m making them up.) You sure don’t want to know that I’m balancing my checkbook or going flat at quartet rehearsal.

Now, I know there’s folks out there that love and use these things, and I’m happy you do. As far as I’m concerned, however, once the corporations started asking me to “follow” them, or become their “friend”, I got the rather crazy idea that this was nothing more than an advertising gimmick anymore. I certainly do not want to be friends with corporations that have never met me, and I do not need ads being tweeted to me.

What prompted to me write about this was a mildly disturbing story of a new service that allows you to commit “virtual suicide.” Read part of Frank Carnevale’s article:

(MYFOX NATIONAL) - Feeling overwhelmed by your Facebook profile? Having trouble dealing with social anxiety? A new Web site will help you kill your virtual self.

Seppukoo.com offers to help you disconnect yourself from Facebook and "have a really cool, radical, chic experience."

The site is named after "Seppuku," the ritual suicide that samurai practiced. The site explains that rather than fall into the hands of their enemies, ancient Japanese samurai preferred to die with honor, voluntarily plunging a sword into the abdomen moving the sword left to right in a slicing motion.

Today the enemy, according to the site, is not another warrior but corporate media who use viral marketing to make huge profits by connecting people across the globe.

Is this what we have come to? Committing virtual suicide? The really dumb thing is that people can then write you virtual memorials!

But some life is everlasting. Even after committing seppuku, users can read all the comments left by your friends on the memorial page.

And your Facebook profile is not actually deleted - you can easily reactivate your account. Just log into your Facebook profile and your account is reactivated.

Whatever happened to simply deleting things? Granted, once on the web it’s always there...but this is ridiculous. Getting rid of your online profile by creating another online profile is just silly, and a waste of time and bandwidth.

So, don’t look for me using this stuff any too soon. I have better things to do with my time, like playing Nine on the iPod, organizing all my cereal prizes by company then cereal, or dusting the man-cat because he’s been sleeping all day in the same spot.

Enough for now.