R.I.P. Steve Jobs

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” - Steve Jobs

Is text messaging peaking:

"....For the top two carriers in the U.S., Verizon and AT&T, things are even more disconcerting. According to Journal, the average Verizon customer sent out 2,068 text messages in the fourth quarter of 2010. During the third quarter of last year, that figure was at 2,110. Citing a report from analysts at UBS, the Journal pointed out that text messaging was down 21 percent in the first quarter for AT&T, compared to the same period a year prior. "The importance of text messaging on a carrier's bottom line cannot be underestimated. Referencing the UBS report once again, the Journal said that the average carrier makes an 80-cent profit on every single dollar it generates in text-messaging revenue...."

I don't know what's more surprising, that the average Verizon customer texts over 2,000 time a year (it's more like 20 for me) or that the carrier has an 80% profit margin on texting.

Seriously, folks. The TSA's newest airport screening procedures are not an attempt to make our lives more any more miserable. There's no foreign terrorist conspiracy to make our lives slightly less convenient. The new methods (full-body scan and optional pat-down) are the best ones we currently have available to detect explosives that are now so refined that the most recent security procedures would have missed them.

If just one or two of these explosives successfully brought down airliners over the US, the entire air travel industry would be thrown into chaos. Besides the loss of lives, the economy would likely take a nosedive, and people would be scared shitless to board another commercial plane.

The distain so many people are showing these days about the new security is insane. The government is actually trying to insure, the best way they can on a large scale, the safety of everyone. This is one of the prime objectives of all democratic governments. If there was a better and less intrusive way of doing this, it would be happening now. The spoiled, selfish nature of many Americans is quite evident with this latest uproar.

I haven't been this excited about receiving a new toy in ages. Fedex is due to deliver it tomorrow:

I wonder if you can use this on toddlers too:

My previous posts about the iPad tablet gave both the pros and cons of the first model. Tablets in general, however, will quickly become a new part of most of our lives, iPad or not:

Why You'll Use a Tablet. Yes YOU! By Mike Elgan February 3, 2010 I know, I know. You've checked out the Apple iPad, and you're not impressed. You think it's a limited, pointless, overpriced unpocketable iPod for gullible trend whores drunk on Cupertino Kool-Aid. You despise its closed, proprietary platform, lack of built-in keyboard, missing camera, unremovable battery, no Flash support and monthly fee for AT&T 3G access. Besides, the sudden tablet craze is just an overhyped fad, right? It's easy to predict that tablets will be huge sellers. After all, even skeptics can believe that other people will get caught up in a marketing-driven trend. But I'm going to make an even bolder prediction. I'm going to predict that you, personally, will be using a tablet within 18 months. That's bold because if you're reading this Web site, you're probably far more technical and sophisticated than the average user. And you're probably a professional evaluator of computer equipment. Chances are, you're skeptical about hyped new fads, and have far better memory about the Next Big Things that never happened. But I think that if you're anti-tablet now, you'll change your tune once you see what's really on offer. Here are my 10 reasons why I believe that you'll be using a tablet within 18 months: 1. Tablets will become hobbyist dream gadgets. Love to tinker? Tablets will be ideal for that. The home automation crowd will go nuts with these things. And the tablet craze will be accompanied by powerful, simplified development tools. People will build tablet cradles into their car dashboards, and will use tablets for GPS map display, audio control, engine diagnostics and more. Tablets will serve as robot controllers, model airplane controllers and will function as the brains and interface for homemade smart appliances and devices. Why wouldn't you want to build your own Microsoft Surface-like smart coffee table? 2. They will be optimized for specific tasks. If you do those tasks, you'll want the optimized tablet. For example, aviation companies will use the new touch tablets for their "electronic flight bag" devices, because they can hold all the documentation, charts, tools and so on that pilots need, both private and professional. Education? Forget about it. Touch tablets are tailor made for K-12, as well as university education. Tablets with cameras will be useful as magnifiers, security-cam, nanny-cam and crib-cam monitors. Solutions providers will take the open systems and build proprietary, optimized applications that take advantage of the touch interfaces. 3. You will be compelled by apps we can't now predict. When personal computers first arrived, nobody thought we'd use them to do social networking. When graphical user interfaces first took over, few predicted we'd use them heavily for surfing a very graphical Web (since the Web didn't even exist then). When cell phones started becoming popular, we never imagined people would use them for capturing data with applications like Evernote. The same thing will happen with tablets. Nobody knows what the "killer apps" will be. It's very likely that something will be invented, designed or developed that will thrill you, and make you change your mind. 4. Tablets will have uses that don't involve replacing something you're already doing. Tablets are viewed now as hobbled netbooks or giant cell phones. In fact, they'll be used for totally unpredictable purposes that currently nobody now does with computers. For example, imagine if a tablet computer could function as a remote control. And image it had "presets" on it for, say, 12 of your favorite channels. Now imagine that instead of buttons with numbers on them, 12 "buttons" show live video of what was currently playing on each of those channels. 5. Tablets will be open. Touch tablets will come out optimized for operating systems ranging from closed (iPhone OS) to open (Linux) and everything in between. There will be a gazillion Android tablets. We'll see Windows and Windows Mobile tablets, and more. Take your pick. 6. Your company may buy one for you. While you're busy not buying a tablet for your home, your company will become increasingly likely to purchase them for your use at work. I believe companies like HP, IBM and others, as well as VARs, will add Linux- and Windows-based touch tablets to their lineups of IT equipment, and as part of larger solutions packages. They reason is... 7. Tablets will become ideal for IT pros. Data center staff use clipboards and documentation. Help desk staff need remote desktop capability and remote access to network tools. IT executives attend meeting after meeting. Everybody uses laptops. Tablets will do all this in a single package. Management tools will be optimized for touch user interfaces. And anyone who wants to use a physical keyboard and/or a mouse will be able to do so with the tablets. If you work anywhere in IT, you will be surrounded by tablet users. 8. Tablets will be better netbooks than netbooks. Tablets will soon be able to do 90% of what netbooks can do, but netbooks will be able to do only 50% of what tablets can do. I'm making these numbers up, but my point is that for most users, tablets will be able to replace netbooks, but netbooks won't be able to replace tablets. A universe of special purpose tablet apps will be created, while very few netbook-specific apps have been or will ever be built. A rational buying decision means that if you have to pick between buying a tablet or buying a netbook, you'll buy the tablet. 9. Tablets will get huge. Ten inches today, 13, 15, 21, 27 and more inches tomorrow. They'll be HD TVs you can bring anywhere. You'll use them for board games, arcade games, first-person shooter games. 10. Tablets will be cheap! It's a foregone conclusion that the tablets of tomorrow will be cheaper than the netbooks of today. It's the Law! (Moore's Law, to be specific.) You'd have to be pretty aggressively anti-tablet to not pay $200 for a gadget that will do so much. Skepticism is great. You have good reasons for dissing the Apple iPad. But the future is unpredictable, and the touch tablet concept is going to prove absolutely compelling. That's why I believe you'll be using one within 18 months. Who knows? Maybe you'll even use an iPad.

Grasping the size of the universe

Shopping for a Hybrid car? Be sure to first check out the Hybrid Scorecard.

Terrific 99-cent sale of WinPatrol Plus - Friday, January 29 only. Regular price is $30. If you've used the free version then you know what a great deal this is on this high-quality computer security software.

Wow. For once the hype really does match the product.

Economist Roubini: Don't be fooled by current bull market:


[click image]

A snippet from his recent article:

"....The stock market's latest 'dead cat bounce' may last a while longer, but three factors will, in due course, lead it to turn south again. First, macroeconomic indicators will be worse than expected, with growth failing to recover as fast as the consensus expects. Second, the profits and earnings of corporations and financial institutions will not rebound as fast as the consensus predicts, as weak economic growth, deflationary pressures and surging defaults on corporate bonds will limit firms' pricing power and keep profit margins low. Third, financial shocks will be worse than expected. At some point, investors will realise that bank losses are massive, and that some banks are insolvent. Deleveraging by highly leveraged firms -- such as hedge funds -- will lead them to sell illiquid assets in illiquid markets. And some emerging market economies -- despite massive IMF support -- will experience a severe financial crisis with contagious effects on other economies. So, while this latest bear-market rally may continue for a bit longer, renewed downward pressure on stocks and other risky assets is inevitable...."

It does look like Obama's economic actions will at least keep us out of a depression.

The car that may save Chevrolet [click image]:

That I live in a country that even considers using such evil technology is one thing that keeps me up at night:

Air Force touts laser weapon’s “who, us?” feature by John Murrell I know I’m just a crazy, naive idealist, but dammit, it still bothers me to see the U.S. military promoting a new weapon technology on the basis that it makes it easier for the government to lie. In PowerPoint presentations to technical audiences about the aircraft-mounted Advanced Tactical Laser (affectionately known as the “long-range blowtorch”), Air Force representatives like to include a slide listing the many advantages it has over conventional weapons. A briefing given to the 2007 Air Armament Symposium by the head of the Air Force’s Capabilities Integration Directorate lists the following benefits of the laser weapon: “Ultra-precision target engagement; speed of light engagement; reduced collateral damage; scalable effects; covert — plausible deniability; improved ISR supporting BMC4I; encompasses entire kill chain.” Back up a little to “plausible deniability.” The same advantage shows up on slide in a June briefing given to the New Mexico Optics Industry Association by Cynthia Kaiser, chief engineer of the US Air Force Research Laboratory’s Directed Energy Directorate. Plausible deniability is, of course, the slightly more polite way of saying we could use this thing, lie about it, and nobody could prove otherwise. As John Pike, analyst with defense think-tank Global Security, puts it, “The target would never know what hit them. Further, there would be no munition fragments that could be used to identify the source of the strike.” The less advantageous flip side of this, of course, is that if anything in the world ever gets blown up by a mysterious and intense heat source, we will be blamed and all denials will be deemed implausible. The precision, scalability and reduction of collateral damage claimed for this technology are impressive. Shame they didn’t include a moral compass in the specs.

Highest resolution image ever of a virus:


Story here.

I found this helpful article (subscr. req.) today on dealing with something we all experience, bad customer service:

10 things you can do to get better customer service By Calvin Sun Be clear about your expectations - The clearer you are to the service provider about what you are expecting, the smaller the chance that you'll be unpleasantly surprised. When explaining your expectations, try to be as specific as possible. Frederick Brooks, in his classic The Mythical Man-Month, said that project milestones should be "defined with knife edge sharpness." Think about the Ws: What do you want, when do you want it, where..., etc. Make your expectations quantifiable if you can. That way, there's less question about whether the service provider fulfilled the job. Separate the person from the problem - Did you ever feel like yelling at the front-line person who tells you that your flight is sold out, the hotel is booked solid for the night, or that he/she can't find your trouble ticket? Go ahead and yell, but it probably won't do any good. It will only alienate the other person, making it even more difficult for you to get what you want. Chances are, he or she had nothing to do with the problem but are only the unfortunate ones listening to you. I know it may be hard, but try to separate that person from the problem. If you have to complain about the company, use the third person. Instead of, "You guys are all messed up" or "You messed up my reservation," try, "It's frustrating how messed up they are" or "They messed up my reservation." When expressing your aggravation, say, "I'm frustrated by this problem." Even better, try the good cop/bad cop approach. Say to the front-line person, "They really messed this up, but I'm hoping you can help me by straightening it out." Speaking this way helps get the other person on your side. Find a decision maker - Despite all the recent talk about empowerment, chances are that front-line person lacks authority to make decisions. If so, ask who can make the decisions you need to be made. When confronted by the dreaded statement, "I don't have the authority...," ask in response, "Who does have the authority?" When the person says, "We can't; that's a violation of policy," ask in response "Who can change the policy?" Make sure they're listening to you - If the service provider misheard you, chances are he or she will make an error and you're going to be unhappy as a result. Therefore, if you're explaining something, ask that service provider questions to see if he or she understands. Consider asking that person to paraphrase what you said, as a test. Ask about alternatives - I mentioned earlier about asking, "Who does have authority?" or "Who can change the policy?" Always think and ask about alternative solutions. In fact, simply ask that very question: "What alternatives do I have?" The other person may not even be thinking of alternatives, but if you have ideas, one or more of them might work out. For example, the restaurant you want to visit right now has a long line. When you ask about alternatives and more details, you learn that the nonsmoking section has a two-hour wait, but the window seats in the smoking section have only a 45-minute wait, and the nonwindow seats in the smoking section are available right now. Depending on your priorities, you may wait for the nonsmoking section, sit in either of the smoking sections, go to another restaurant, or just come back to this one another day. Distinguish between means (methods) and ends (objectives) - When asking for a service or product, distinguish between the result you want and the way that result is achieved. Be careful, in particular, about trying to dictate the latter. In doing so, you may unconsciously sway the service provider into a less than optimal solution. Suppose you're on a business trip to a remote office and are trying to print a document from a shared folder you need for a meeting. Of course, the remote print capability isn't working. Before demanding that the IT department resolve that capability, ask yourself if you really need remote print or if you really need only the document. If it's the latter, can you get it some other way? For example, could someone print it for you, then fax it to you? It's not elegant, but it gets the job done. In this example, rather than say, "I need to be able to print remotely," try saying, "I need a copy of document X for a meeting." Develop self sufficiency - Sometimes, rather than relying on others, it's quicker and easier if you can do something yourself. After a problem is resolved, whether it's with your car, computer, or sink, ask the person two questions: "Could I have fixed this myself?" and "How can I keep this problem from happening again?" Know their procedures - Face it: Sometimes the people who work for the service provider don't know all they're supposed to. In that case, if you know their procedures, you can help them give you the service you're seeking. A few years ago, I went into a suburban branch of my bank to change foreign currency into U.S. currency. I had done such an exchange before, but at a downtown branch, and I remembered some of the details. So when I was at the suburban branch, I volunteered to them the name of a form to use and the particular department they were supposed to call. My supplying that information saved me (and them) time. Keep track of names and ticket numbers - Keep a record of everyone you talk to and a record of every ticket number you receive. I know that a good help desk/trouble ticket system should be able to look up a ticket by name, not just by number. However, those alternate searches might take longer. The more information you keep, the easier it will be to get your problem resolved. Recognize good service - If a support person helps you, let that person (and his or her supervisor) know. It's the right thing to do, and in the future, it could help you if you get that same person.

Let me tell you about a free program I started using a week ago: KlipFolio. This is a time-saving program. Example: Normally I check several political blogs repeatedly throughout the day using a browser (e.g. Firefox, IE7, etc.). KlipFolio allows me to instantly check summaries of new posts at these blogs (via RSS feeds that take literally seconds to set up one time). Also, there are "klips" for current weather, live cams, news feeds, and countless other info sources. The format is very configurable, especially for a free program. I put my "Folio" on the right side of the screen and made it auto-hide, so it's always available and yet out of the way. Here's a review from Download.com:

Editor's review of KlipFolio If you want a quick and easy way to get RSS newsfeeds, weather, and stock information, Serence KlipFolio is a great place to start. The small interface lets you look at headlines from selected news sources called Klips. The program includes a few preloaded Klips, and you can download hundreds more from the publisher's Web site. The interface displays headlines in an attached window that you can mouse over for news summaries. If you're interested in a particular news item, just click the headline to open the story in a browser window. When you're done, you can either quit the program or minimize it to the taskbar for easy access. You can configure the colors and appearance of KlipFolio and create Klips for any newsfeed--something that in previous versions required a trip to the publisher's Web site. Some may find the interface too small, but Serence KlipFolio ought to satisfy most news hounds.

I highly recommend this rare, quality freeware.

"Shutting off the layers got rid of the dots, and then it was fun to zoom in on the Crab Nebula (especially if you recite ‘Space, the final frontier’ as you zoom). But there are definitely bugs the system. At a certain zoom level I get pushpins for the ‘Chicago River’, ‘Canadian Supreme Court’, ;’Manhatten Island’ and ‘Google Campus’ right in the middle of Perseus and Auriga. I’m not sure, but I don’t think that’s quite right…." - - - Comment left at Bad Astronomy, where Google's new toy, Google Sky, was discussed.

The wonders of science: Wireless power transfer. Charge your laptop/pda/cell phone/etc without plugging it in:

A team from MIT's [sic] has experimentally demonstrated an important step toward accomplishing the goal of wireless power transfer. This brings them closer to their goal: smartphones, laptops, MP3 players, and other portable electronics capable of charging themselves without ever being plugged in. This group was able to supply power to a 60W light bulb from a source seven feet away. There was no physical connection between the source and the appliance.

How, you ask, is this magic accomplished?

The MIT team refers to its concept as "WiTricity" (as in wireless electricity). WiTricity is based on using coupled resonant objects. Two objects of the same resonant frequency tend to exchange energy efficiently, while interacting weakly with extraneous off-resonant objects. Specifically, the MIT team focused on one particular type: magnetically coupled resonators. They explored a system of two electromagnetic resonators coupled mostly through their magnetic fields; they were able to identify the strongly coupled regime in this system, even when the distance between them was several times larger than the sizes of the resonant objects. This way, efficient power transfer was enabled. Magnetic coupling is particularly suitable for everyday applications because most common materials interact only very weakly with magnetic fields, so interactions with extraneous environmental objects are suppressed even further. "The fact that magnetic fields interact so weakly with biological organisms is also important for safety considerations," Andre Kurs, a graduate student in physics on the team, points out. The investigated design consists of two copper coils, each a self-resonant system. One of the coils, attached to the power source, is the sending unit. Instead of irradiating the environment with electromagnetic waves, it fills the space around it with a non-radiative magnetic field oscillating at MHz frequencies. The non-radiative field mediates the power exchange with the other coil (the receiving unit), which is specially designed to resonate with this field. The resonant nature of the process ensures the strong interaction between the sending unit and the receiving unit, while the interaction with the rest of the environment is weak.

Read the entire article here.