One of the cooler things about the Amazon Kindle is the ‘free’ wireless access courtesy of Sprint’s EVDO cell service.  This services is what allows the purchase of the Amazon content directly from the device.  You can do this anywhere where there is Sprint EVDO service, so anywhere in US, basically, except for Alaska, parts of Montana (I think) and my Mother in law’s house (which is about two miles from a Sprint tower, go figure.)  So, what else is this wireless good for? How about some web surfing?

Yes, web browsing is a feature of the Kindle.  The experience is, shall we say, less than stellar.  In fact, it is pretty much like surfing on a cell phone, only with a bigger screen.  The browser is considered ‘experimental’ by Amazon and it lives up to that moniker.  Now, before you say ‘well, what good is it, then?’  I’ll not only tell you, but show you how to make the best of the experience.

Before I go on, let’s go over what does not work.  First, it is not a full blown browser and gets interpreted as a WAP browser (cell phone browser) by many sites.  Second, it supports NO PLUGINS.  No flash, shockwave or anything else. The screen is simply way too slow to refresh to support these.  Even though the device supports audio, the browser cannot do audio.  It does support JavaScript, but only in the ‘advanced’ mode. 

There are two ‘modes’ for the browser, basic and advanced.  Basic is just like your average smart or dumb cell phone browser: you have a very basic-and limited-experience.  Advanced, however, actually tries to interpret HTML correctly.  It sort of works and seems like Netscape 2.0.  You’ll get an ok rendering on some sites, good on others and not so much on the rest. Trial and error is the order of the day. I use advanced. It takes longer to display, but seems worth the trade off in speed.

USING THE BROWSER

To access the browser, make sure your Kindle is on the home screen by pressing the home key.   Once the home screen is displayed, scroll to the MENU and click it.  You’ll see the Kindle main menu.  Scroll down to the ‘Experimental’ option and click it.  When the Experimental screen displays, scroll to the Basic Web option and click the wheel.  The next screen to display is the ‘My Links’ page.  From here, you can select a link OR enter a URL.  Kindle comes with a dozen or so preprogrammed links.  You can add your own.  Some of the links include: Amazon, Wikipedia, MSNBC, a couple of Yahoo! sites and others.  Once you’ve selected a site, it could take a few seconds to a minute or more, depending on the complexity of the site.  Most will load in a few seconds. I’ve had one or two sites actually lock up the browser and I’ve had to reset the device. 

Navigating around a site is tricky.  Most pages will be longer than what can be displayed on the screen, so they get broken up in to multiple pages.  You use the hardware Next and Previous buttons to navigate them.  To navigate links on a page, scroll up or down to the line on the page containing the link you want to click and click the wheel.  A popup will display and contain the clickable elements or input fields. Select the one you want and click the wheel.  Your link should activate or, if you selected an input box,  another popup will display with the field.  Use the keyboard to enter your data and click submit.  This is basically how you interact with the browser.  The menu at the bottom of the screen contains most of the things you’d expect it to contain, like ‘add to favorites’ and also things like ‘go to home page’, etc.  The really difficult thing to overcome is the whole pointer mechanism.  I call the ‘pointer’ an ‘elevator’ because that makes more sense (it goes up, it goes down.) 

Don’t expect the browser to give you a terrific experience, it’s not an iPhone but it is a step better than an average cell phone.  It is great if you are away from your computer and want to check something on the web, check out the weather, etc.  It is terrific for that ‘gotta look up something quick’ experience or, if you are on the beach, in a restaurant, etc.  As long as you don’t expect a whole, you won’t be disappointed.  The browser works and does what it is supposed to do well enough.

Kindle- Amazon's Wireless Reading Device

Yep, the VHS stand alone VCR is now dead.  They still manufacture combo players with DVD and VHS decks in one box, but the stand alone deck is dead.  I can’t say that I’m overly upset about this, but it is kind of sad, from a nostalgic point of view. 

I still have my very first VHS deck, a Fisher branded device.  It still records and plays back, but the tuner died years ago.  I have no idea as the where about of it’s remote, which only contained controls to play, record, pause, stop, rewind and fast forward.  You had to actually get up to change channels or control the power.  Oh, it only plays and records in the two hour speed now. LP no longer works correctly.

Sales of the machines went from around six million units (in Japan) in 2000 to just under 300,000 in 2007.  I imagine the difference is comparable for US sales as well.  DVD’s killed the format.  Ironic, given the fact the way back in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, play back only formats were generally looked down on and Joe Public (not the plumber) said he/she wanted to RECORD.  Fast forward to today and most people just want to PLAYBACK, hence the success of DVD.

What’s really interesting is that while JVC is the inventor of VHS, they were never really the best selling brand.  RCA is actually the company that brought VHS into the American home and are also responsible for the four hour speed.  Panasonic, Goldstar (now LG) and Samsung all outsold JVC. 

The fall of VHS was a dramatic one, yet most people hardly noticed.  I doubt most people notice this news either. 

Unbelievable.  This guy at PCWorld decided that he did not like Windows 7 (I’m guessing he dislikes Vista as well, based on his comments in this article) so he tried out the PRE-BETA ‘M3’ release.  He judged the product based on the failure of a few applications that either did not work correctly or not at all.  Products that most people will never use on a PRE-BETA release of the FUTURE version of Windows broke.  So….Windows 7 is crap.  Got it.  Let the dog poo pile build.

Read the article here.

Yeah, today my Kindle arrived.  An early Christmas present, my Kindle arrived via the United States Postal Service in a sturdy cardboard box and sheathed in a cardboard cradle.  Amazon did a good job with the packing.  We’re off to a promising start. Did I mention that I got it because of Oprah? Yep.  She featured it on her show a week or so ago (October 24, 08) and Amazon offered a fifty dollar discount (use code OPRAHWINFREY, good until November 1, 08) on the device.  I took advantage of the free shipping, not realizing that it was via the US Postal Service.  Admittedly, USPS got the device here more quickly than they said and unharmed.

Once I unboxed the device (sorry, no photos of the unboxing) I quickly realized that Amazon had packaged the device nicely and it ‘felt’ sturdy-the promising start is still rolling along.  The first thing I did was read through the included PAPER manual.  It was thin enough and only covered the basics: how to charge, connect to the computer, turn on, insert a memory card and quick run through of the menus.  After removing the various films, paper, stickers and packing materials, I realized that Amazon probably wasted more paper than I’m going to save by using the eReader called Kindle. 

The device comes with a nice but nearly useless cover, USB cable and AC charger.  My device came with about a 50% charge, good enough to play with for a bit before charging fully.

The first thing I did, of course, was navigate to HalfByte using the ‘experimental’ web browser.  This browser is something between the second generation Netscape browser and a typical smartphone browser. It ALMOST works well.  It can run JavaScript code, but there are no plug ins.  Flash is out of the question as the epaper screen just is not fast enough.  No problem, for short browsing and quickie lookups on various sites, it works just fine.  It works great on sites optimized for portable browsing.

I subscribed to a couple of blogs as well as US News and World Report and Technology Review magazine.  I’ve sampled several books, but have not yet purchased any.  The Amazon Kindle store is well done, but sparse on the newspapers and magazines. 

If you do not want to pay for content, there are several places where you can get your own for free.  The first place to go is Mobipocket.  Mobipocket sells DRM’d content, but also have free open content and free software that allows you to create your own e-reader friendly content. Grab the conversion software here.  Please note that even though Mobipocket is an Amazon company, it’s DRM’d content will not work on the Kindle. Only the free or open content will work.

Project Gutenberg has thousands of free ebooks for you to download.  Most will need to be converted to a Kindle friendly format (TXT, HTML, Mobi formats (prc) or Kindle (AZW)) before you can use them on your Kindle.

Kindle can handle Audible audio books and play MP3’s as well.  You can load up with soothing music and play it in the background while reading.  The device has speakers and a headphone jack.  I suggest using the headphone jack.

I’ll post a more in-depth article about the device once I’ve put it through it’s paces.  Aside from some ergonomic issues-which I’ll cover in that article-the device feels good in your hand, is easy on the eyes and not overly complicated.  So far, we are still on a very promising start.

Today, Microsoft gave developers-and, in turn, the world-a sneak peek at the upcoming Windows 7 release.  Visually, the new version is not all that different from Vista.  It maintains and enhances the Aero Glass theme while adding some subtle and not so subtle enhancements.  Perhaps the most notable – and visual – change is the task bar.  The taskbar more resembles the OS X dock than the previous incarnations of the Windows task bar.  You will be able to rearrange the icons without the need for a third party add on.  Also, the task bar previews introduced in Vista are enhanced and can now display the contents of stacked icons or groups of icons.  The task tray is also changed and allows more control by the user.  Just about every nook and cranny of Vista has been updated, from the network control panel to the start menu, graphical and usability enhancements are everywhere.  One really interesting additions is the idea of virtual directories.  Vista has a crude form of this, but 7 takes it up a notch.  Called Libraries, they can group file types, like your videos and music files, into one virtual directory or library, as they call it.  You can include directories from other drives or even computers across your network and they will all appear in one common place, as if you had put them into one directory.

There are lots of stories about Windows 7 along with videos and screen shots.  You can go to the following sites for more:

• Paul Thurrot's WinSuperSite: Windows 7 Milestone 3 screenshot gallery
• Paul Thurrot's WinSuperSite: Windows 7 Activity Center
• C|Net's PDC Coverage: Ray Ozzie Keynote
• I Started Something: PDC Coverage (check out the cool ‘color track’ video)

I’ve really been on Apple lately.  It’s not that I dislike them.  They have nice products.  The ‘culture’ though, really ticks me off.  Tonight, another shining example of Apple honesty aired on CBS TV.  It was another of those oh-so-old “I’m a PC, I ’m a Mac" adverts, this time featuring PC having a bake sale.  Mac asks what he’s doing. PC replies that he is trying to raise money to FIX VISTA.  Please.  Fix Vista? Right.  I did some quick searching using LIVE SEARCH and quickly found the Mac Fixit website.  There, they feature problems and, presumably, how to fix them.  Yep, MAC OS X PROBLEMS.  Imagine that.  The most advanced operating system ‘on the planet’ has problems. Problems such as rendering certain fonts, constant reboots after system updates, security updates that: slow down browsing, break webkit, kill volume control and cause display issues. Other issues noted on the site include: new mail notifications when there is no new mail,iTunes 8 crashes and cause the user to power off and back on and others.  Oh, and the best thing about this site: It’s from C|Net.  I don’t recall seeing many, if any, of these issues being reported on C|Net.  I’ll bet if a Vista update caused spontaneous reboots or if Windows Media Player forced you to shut the computer off, it would be on the front page of News.com.

Remember all the crap that was spread about when Vista came out ?  Specifically, that it was not compatible with many applications and hardware?  Guess what…this site is maintaining a list of applications that are either not compatible or have problems with Leopard.  Among the more notable applications are Photoshop Elements 4, Lightroom and Premiere Pro. Others include Apple’s own Final Cut Pro 4 and iPhoto 2.  Some Epson printers and scanners will not work with Leopard and Quicken 6 or earlier.  To be fair, many of the applications listed have had updates made (mostly new version you’d have to buy) available and the Epson printers and scanners are probably older models.  But, these same criticisms are STILL bandied about when it comes to Vista.  One prominent blogger and former Tech TV personality even switched from Vista to Mac OS because his printer did not work—a printer that was old.  Rather then replace the printer, he replaced the whole platform. Really?

So, based on the very little info that I’ve actually taken the time to read, I’m going to form this fact about Mac OS X Leopard:

Mac OS X Leopard is an unstable operating system that breaks when it is updated, does not support every piece of hardware known to me, cannot render all of my fonts correctly, has to have the computer turned off when applications crash and is generally not compatible with older software. It is a disaster and Apple really needs to spend it’s hard earned money on fixing Leopard.

…but only to a point.  I’m a huge fan of Nintendo’s cool little console.  I am also not blind nor stupid.  I keep reading articles by both fans and non-fans of the little white box that both attack or defend the graphics, or lack thereof.  Once and for all, YES, it is weak in the graphics arena and that can make a difference.  On paper, Wii’s graphics are better than the original XBOX and PS2, but no where near the quality of Sony’s overpriced console or Microsoft’s buggy 360.  The major problem with Wii games, though, is that the developer’s have not fully taken advantage of what graphical power the console has.  This has lead to a great deal of discussion about the graphical prowess of the console and whether or not ‘its the games, stupid.’ 

As I said, I am a huge fan of the console, so this really pains me to say:  to all of the Wii fans out there, it IS the game play BUT it is also the quality of the visuals.  Even the PS3’s powerhouse processors don’t help if the quality of the visuals are bad.  And that’s been the problem with most of the Wii titles:  bad visuals.  It seems that the developers just want product out for the hottest console and don’t care about quality.  Game play is most important, but if the visual quality is poor, it WILL detract from the overall experience.  So, Wii fans, stop with the ‘graphics don’t matter’ crap.  They do, just not as much as your average Sony fankid would want you to think.

One of the lingering complaints most people have with Vista is the UAC.  Honestly, it bugged the crap out of me for about the first two or three months I used the operating system.  I learned, though, to live with it.  In fact, I’ve learned to embrace it’s intrusion.  I find it somewhat comforting to know that the operating system will warn me if something tries to install code that I did not initiate.  And even for the stuff that I do myself, I like to know when things are going into directories that I had not expected.  For all it’s usefulness, though, it is still a bit annoying at times.  There are some things, like driver installs, that I don’t need to approve.  There’s got to be a better way, and there is.

Enter Norton Labs UAC replacement.  Norton UAC is an interface to Vista UAC that ‘learns’ what should and should not be allowed.  You are in control of the learning process and the tool is a bit less annoying.  You will still get the pop ups and dark screen, but, over time, it will learn and make the whole process better. 

Currently, the tool is a free download.  I don’t really care much for Norton products, but this one is a keeper.  It has not noticeably slowed my system-something most Norton products do-and is doing what they said it should do.  Pretty good stuff, indeed.

Most of the computers in our house feature multi-core processors.  Most of the time, Vista appears to manage them just fine.  Sometimes, though, an application can get very, very greedy and demand all of the computer’s resources.  This happens to me generally when syncing videos to my Zune.  Since I have the older Zune 30, it, apparently, only handles one codec natively so any others will require transcoding.  This just eats up all of the processing power in the computer.  So, when I want to do other things while the transcoding is taking place, I tell Vista to use a specific core.  How do you do this?  It’s really easy.

Start the task manager (CTRL-ALT-DEL or right click the task bar and select task manager) and locate your application in the list.  Right click and select AFFINITY. In the dialog box that follows, deselect the core(s)  that you want to free up and click OK.  Dismiss the task manager.  Now, if you have one of the various cpu meters in your sidebar, you’ll see the difference right away.  Vista should be a lot more responsive as well.  So, now your application will continue and you can do other things with your computer. Pretty cool, eh?

So, the company I work for has made the decision to switch from Lotus Notes to the Microsoft equivalent(s).  Now, before I go on, I’ll briefly explain what we use Lotus Notes for:

• email
• calendaring
• online collaboration using forum like applications
• browser based applications for internal and external use
• internal Notes client based applications

Notice those last two bullets:  APPLICATIONS.  Lotus Notes is a fairly powerful application server.  While most people’s exposure to Notes is it’s less than stellar email client, it is also a very powerful application development platform.  You can develop applications for both the Notes client and the lowliest of clients: the internet browser.  I have developed, along with many co-workers, countless applications for both clients.  Done right, a browser based application will work and look like any number of decently developed web apps done in other technologies.  ‘Ajax’ type web apps are a breeze, much easier than using other technologies.  My company has utilized Notes and Domino (the http server) for well over a decade and is used for several somewhat critical company applications.  It has become very engrained in our company.

Now, professionally, I am ready to move on to other things, including the aforementioned Microsoft technologies.  I’ve done a smattering of VB and .net stuff over the years, but I don’t consider myself an expert in those techs, although VB and Notes’ Lotusscript language are very, very similar.

The company’s decision to switch technologies is a fair one, though a bit misguided.  I say that because the general feeling is that the Microsoft technology, specifically SharePoint, will magically replace our dependency on Notes.  Well, it might, but…not JUST SharePoint.  See, out of the box, Notes is: an email server, application server, web server, email client, application development platform, database server and instant messaging.  The server stuff is all in one box and the client stuff is all in one box.  So, two products, max (server, client.)  The Microsoft answer requires:

• SharePoint
• the server side office stuff (MOSS)
• Exchange
• Outlook
• Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
• the SharePoint services
• Visual Studio (for development)
• InfoPath, if you are going to replicate many of Notes’ form based solutions
• SharePoint designer
• IIS

I’m sure I probably missed something, but you get the gist.  Notes’ out of box abilities require about ten different products.  To be fair, some come with various OTHER Microsoft products.  Like Windows Server includes the SharePoint services and Outlook is part of Office Professional.  However, my point is that you do not get the same functionality, out of the box, that you’d get in Notes.  Development wise, they are close.  They both can require web development and Visual Basic knowledge, though you can also code in Java in Notes and C# in the Microsoft environments.

So now my company has to decide things like how long to leave applications in the Notes environment, which ones to convert (using some rather unsophisticated third party products that will require nearly as much work post conversion as it would have to simply re-write the application), which ones to retire and which ones to re-develop in .net or some other technology.  It’s going to take years for all of this to pan out.  I don’t even want to think about cost.  On top of that, we have to upgrade from Office 2003 to Office 2007 and we JUST converted to Office 2003 from OFFICE 97(!) just a couple of years ago.

Now, I realize technology moves on and that companies need to keep pace or be left behind.  I don’t have a problem with moving away from Notes.  I’ve been working with it for about 14 years now and am more than ready to move on. However, to just completely move from one nicely packaged technology that does what we need-and will do so for quite some time-to another hodgepodge of disconnected technologies just seems…well, I'll let you figure that out.

Here’s some things that caught my eye recently, in no particular order.

• Wii Fit to outsell Grand Theft Auto IV this year.  The two games were released around the same time, about three weeks apart.  Wii Fit cost about thirty dollars (US) more than GTA 4.  GTA 4 has sold about 10 million copies (XBOX 360 and PS3 sales combined) while, to date, Wii Fit has sold just under nine million copies.  Of Course, Wii Fit has actually brought in more money (that price difference accounts for that) AND is STILL selling well.  In fact, it is in the top five in games sales. At the current rate, it will outsell GTA 4 by end of year.  The ‘hard core’ gamers are probably going into denial right about … now.
• The Intel/Apple love affair is on the rocks.  This HAD to happen, what with Apple eschewing Intel processors in the iPhone and it’s recent dumping of Intel integrated graphics in favor of nVidia in the newly refreshed line of Macbooks.  Apparently, in an effort to sell it’s own x86 chips for smartphones, Intel claims that the ARM based processors in most phones, including iPhone, just cannot deal with that nasty old internet.  No, the arm just is not capable.  And that Apple is making the internet experience a positive thing, Intel, no doubt, is smarting.  I wonder how Intel’s CEO feels now about wearing the silly ‘bunny’ suit on stage at MacWorld a few years back.
• India launches it’s first moon mission.  The Chandrayaan 1 spacecraft launched today from Satish Dhawan Space Center.  It is carrying a probe that will orbit the moon and is carrying instruments from India, Europe and the United States.  Congratulations to them on a successful launch.
• Office 2007 and Vista to get service packs next year.  Microsoft acknowledged what was  already known:  Vista gets an SP2 release before Windows 7 comes out.  They also say that Office 2007 will get another service pack, SP2, coincidentally.  Huh.  I totally forgot about SP1 for Office.  So, what’s going to be in SP2?  Open Document Format support.  Huh.  Big deal.
• Wal-Mart gets a conscience, a green one at that.  Wal-Mart was set to announce, in BEIJING, of all places, that it will require manufacturers that supply goods to the world’s largest retailer to adhere to stricter standards in environmental and ethical areas.  Ok, fine.  Those ‘low, low prices’…well, I doubt that they stay ‘low, low’ once these standards are in effect.

Alright, last Tuesday, Apple announces a refresh of it’s Mac notebook line.  I”m not going to rehash any of the features or relive the tortuous explanation-AND MOVIE-about how the bloody cases are made or it’s use of ‘greener’ materials.  Most normal people just don’t give a sh…er, just don’t care.  No, what I want to talk about is what they are leaving out, as much has been said about that.  All of the ‘new’ notebooks EXCEPT for the priciest one, is eschewing the Firewire port.  Apparently, Apple does not consider the technology, one THEY pushed on us, to be important now.  Never mind the plethora of products that use the connectivity format.  Never mind the multitude of external drives that still use Firewire.  Forget all of the digital camcorders that include the port.  Forget all that.  Steve Jobs says it’s all bunk and that ‘all new camcorders released in the last couple of years’ don’t include Firewire.  Really Steve? Really?  Ok, let us pretend that is true.  What about that Samsung camera purchased two and a half years ago? If I bought one of the new notebooks, save the costliest one, then I’d have to resort to using my WINDOWS PC, because my shiny new Macbook (and I do mean shiny, what with the ALL GLASS and very reflective display) would lack the Firewire port.  Really, Steve, you WANT me to use Windows?  Ok, I will and you can keep the shiny Macbook.

What’s even funnier about this is the reaction from the fankids (since there are as many girls as boys, I’m just gonna call them fankids, since that’s how they act) is that of surprise that real users are ticked off at something they use being removed.  Now, before I go on, I’m not lumping Mac USERS in with the fankids.  The fankids are the ones who, like most Star Wars fanatics, refuse to think or say anything negative about anything Apple.  The fankids were saying ‘well, technology moves on’ and ‘Steve is right, no one uses it now.’  What? Please, people.  These are the same fankids who refuse to criticize the shiny and reflective glass screens. ‘Well, you can always re-orient yourself’. Huh. 

I’m constantly amazed at the free pass this company gets.  Every time they introduce a new version of the same product, be it an iPod, iPhone, notebook or desktop, they remind you at how crappy the old one is and proceed to tell you that this new one is just great.  Gorgeous, even.  You’d be dumb, DUMB not to buy this new version.  Whether or not it actually works is a different matter, though.  But, it’s ok if the first one you get is defective or has two ‘M’s on the keyboard (hey, the right letter shows on the screen, right?)  It’s Apple, it’s pretty, it’s expensive so shut the hell up or buy a Dell. 

I’ll take the Dell.

…on the birth of his third child, Judson.

I’ve come across several articles today that just really bug me.  I’m not really sure why, but they just do.  Take the whole ‘Apple Tax’ crap.  I’m really tired of this.  Every bleeping time Apple introduces new hardware, we hear this.  I have probably been guilty of it myself.  The articles get tiresome but the Apple Defense Force is even worse.  I have no problem with sometime wanting to spend twice as much for hardware that will be relevant for half the time, it’s not my money so I don’t care.  But, please, STOP justifying it.  If you have a guilty conscience because you paid two grand for a laptop that will be sorely outdated in less time than it takes for Steve Jobs to introduce yet another iPod, be my guest.  Don’t tell me how dumb I am for buying a Windows based machine.  Oh, and that reminds me:  Mac OS X is JUST A FREAKING OPERATING SYSTEM.  A tool.  Vista is JUST AN OPERATING SYSTEM.  Both ‘just work’.  Period.

Another thing that I saw today and really bugs me is this story on the Humanitarian Relief website.  Now, before I go on, I just want to say that it is truly appalling that, in this day and age, there are people all over our beautiful planet that starve to death.  It is a disgusting state of affairs.  If spending $850 billion US dollars would fix all of the planets woes, I would be the first to say do it and pay higher taxes or whatever to see that it happened.  Unfortunately, it will take more than just money.  The article linked to above lays out how that money could fix the problem.  It is a ‘heart in the right place’ piece, but it fails to mention the one thing that will prevent those problems from getting fixed:  corruption.  Contrary to what the piece insinuates, much of the effort that has been put forth to help eradicate hunger and disease is run by or doled out by corrupt governments or agencies.  In areas where there is cooperation, the pirates and thieves come into play.  I recall a story not too long ago that quoted (I wish I could find it) a UN report that said less than a quarter of the aid actually gets to where it needs to go.  What bugs me about the article is that it fails to mention any of this and, instead, tries to make the bank bailout seem childish and selfish.  If the banking system collapses, there will be far more consequences and far more people out of work and hungry.  It is disingenuous.

Digg.com bugs the crap out of me lately.  It has become one of the worst destinations on the web.  It used to be pretty decent, but it has become so political (the sheer number of anti-McCain headlines on the site, many of which are misleading or just not true to the actual story is amazing and indicative of the problem) or downright juvenile (witness just about all of the Microsoft related headlines.)  I’m not really sure why I continue to patronize the site.  No matter your political stance or OS preference, the amount of bunk should be obvious to any intelligent visitor to the site.  The site is so far leaning to one side of what ever the subject that any one  who puts an opposing viewpoint in a comment or story gets buried.  Even the sports world is not immune.  Sports like soccer, motorsports or any sport that San Francisco or New York deems unworthy gets horrid treatment.  Never mind that most of the planet simply LOVES soccer and that motorsports is nearly as big, these people just don’t get it.   Recently, Digg cofounder and beer lover Kevin Rose made the comment that he wanted Digg’s most popular posters to stay.  I think that’s a mistake.  DIgg could be good again, it just needs fresh talent.  Oh, and some intelligent users would help too. (Note: actually, Digg has been bugging me for awhile…I’ve posted about this before, and will probably do so again.  Sigh.  I just need to stop going there.)

I could go on, but now I just sound bitter.  I’m going to sleep.

So, Microsoft confirmed this week that Vista’s replacement will actually be called Windows 7.   Even though it is not going to be a substantially different version from Vista, Microsoft wants to steer clear of the whole Vista name and make people think this version is, in fact, different. Fine, whatever.  The thing that really strikes me about this new name is the sheer amount of press it has received, mostly by people trying to give some reason why Microsoft named it ‘seven’.  Most, however, want to point out that it is not really version seven, but something like 20 or whatever.  Who freaking cares? It’s a name, people!  It’s marketing, not logic.  I don’t care what anyone says, it is marketing.  Instead of Vis-ta-da! it’s SEVEN.  Not 6.1 or Windows 2010 or whatever.  Jeez.  Write about something important.  Like I just did.  So there.

No, you did not misread that title.  Hewlett-Packard has licensed parts of it’s inkjet technology to a company called Home Dialysis Plus.  The technology centers around HP’s fluid management used in it’s inkjet printers.  The technology measures ink and water mixtures that are then sent through the printer to paper.  In the dialysis machine, it will mix water with a concentrate of dialysis solution that is tailored to the patient.  The system also uses a loading system similar to what you would see in a printer.

Having had a family member endure this process three times a week, no matter how they felt and no matter the weather, I certainly hope that this company succeeds and I hope that HP licensed the technology affordably.  The home product is still a year and a half away, at least, so it is not something that can be bought today.  When it is available though, I think it will be a success.  I know that my late father in law would have loved to have had this device.  Having to plan one’s life around getting a dialysis treatment became a drag.  Going on vacation was chore since he had to make arrangements well in advance.  And then there were the days that he was sick, but still had to get up and go. Fortunately for him, there was a treatment center nearby. Like he wisely told me once, you do what you have to do.

This is one of the most exciting things I’ve seen in a long time.  Contrary to my last post (Where's the innovation?) this is truly innovative and I’m happy to have been proven wrong.

So, over the last couple of months, many large consumer electronics companies have introduced new variations on existing products.  They have made a big deal out of the announcements and even managed to scare up some press in the process.  Nintendo, Apple, HTC, Google, Sony, Microsoft and others have all made a huge deal over rather small evolutionary upgrades to existing products or introduced rather mediocre versions of existing products that’s new to that particular company.  Take Google.  They showed off Chrome.  A rather unexciting and unnecessary browser.  It garnered alot of press and some favorable reviews-though I’m not sure why.  It grabbed 3% of the browser ‘share’ right away.  Today, though, it’s down to under a percent. I guess people figured out it was shiny but it’s beauty was only skin deep.

Apple showed off new Macbooks this week.  Instead of announcing something revolutionary, they showed off something evolutionary.  In fact, the notebooks were so exciting that they had to show how the CASES were made.  Seriously.  They were proud of the aluminum extrusion and the fact they are just damn thin. Oh, there was that nVidia thing.  They left out the fact that they REMOVED things like the Firewire port on all but the most expensive model.  But, hey, those things are really thin.

Then there’s Nintendo.  Now, I’m a big fan of Nintendo, but, seriously, what the hell?  They announced the DSi, a new version of the DS Lite. The DS Lite is probably the best handheld console ever conceived.  It’s nice looking, does not look like a toy, does pretty much anything you want from playing games to Skype to playing back videos.  The DSi is a DS Lite with slightly bigger screens, slightly thinner case (what’s up with this thin thing anyway?) and not one, but two, cameras.  Yep, cameras.  Wow.  Talk about innovation.  The good things they did was give the device some internal memory, built in web browser and improved wifi.  They did away with the GBA port, though.  Innovative?  No.  The software, however, may prove differently.

Sony announces small incremental updates to PSP and still talks about ‘HOME’ for PS3 but’s that’s it. Microsoft revamps the user interface experience for XBOX 360 and talks alot about ‘cloud’ computing, but have yet to show anything truly innovative.  Then there’s HTC.  The G1 smartphone was shown off.  It’s rather unspectacular yet got alot of attention. Why? It’s operating system is 'Android’.  Android is a Google product-something they bought and are now giving away.  There’s nothing really unique about it.  It’s an operating system that’s been deployed in a rather vanilla phone.  IF the infrastructure that they are talking about actually comes to fruition, it MIGHT give Apple a run for the money.  Still, it’s a big yawn.

So far, this year’s tech releases and announcements have been rather unexciting.  For me, the most exciting thing to hit the market has been the Zune 3 software updates.  While good, it is not saying much overall.  I’m sure there are some out there would point to iPhone 3g.  Again, that was only an incremental update to an existing product.  Nothing innovative about it.  In fact, the only piece of hardware that I can honestly say that I would go buy is not even on the market.  What would that be?  Well, I want a Surface computer.  It’s the most innovative thing I’ve not seen.  Yes, one could argue that it’s nothing more than a collection of things that have already been out.  True enough.  What makes it unique and innovative is how it is all tied together.  The underlying software is the real magic.  It, more than anything else, could put the keyboard-mouse-menu system that we take for granted today in the dead technology graveyard.  It is the most serious threat to Windows yet.  And it’s from Microsoft.  Linux is not going to kill Windows and neither is Apple’s Mac OS.  Things like Surface will. 

So, have I missed something?  What product announcement was more than just an update to an existing product?  I can’t think of anything.  Is innovation dead? Where’s my briefcase car and Rosey the Robot? Those would be cool.  Those would be innovative.  I’m George Jetson and I approved this post.

A couple of months ago, I went to my doctor with what I thought was a sinus infection.  I had all of the symptoms that I had had in past.  During the visit, I told the doctor that I was having a difficult time sleeping-staying asleep, that is-and that I was feeling tired and run down.  After a few tests, he sent me to a sleep clinic for a sleep study.  I thought he was nuts, but he’s the doctor.

Now, before I go on, let me describe myself:  I am over 40 and not thin.  Let’s just say that I have not been 190 pounds for quite some time now, but I am well under 220 pounds.  However, I would be considered obese by most standards today.  It is something that I have been struggling to control for several years now.  It has caused many problems and I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes a couple of years ago.  It is controlled through medication.  During this time, I’ve never slept all that well but it was only recently that I was really feeling bad as a result.

I had the study done and they discovered that I stopped breathing, on average, once a minute.  That’s pretty serious stuff.  So, the sleep doc said I needed to use a C-PAP device.  GREAT, I thought. I’m gonna look and sound like Darth Vader.  “Chase…I am…your father!” suddenly came to mind. 

Well, I had to go back to the clinic for a follow up study, this time with the machine.  My results were better, of course, though they did not tell me the numerical difference and I never thought to ask.  Yeah, my wife chided me for that. “Always ask!”  I don’t know what I’d do with out her.  I went home that day with my new-and expensive-machine.  The very nice young lady who told me how to use it also told me that I needed to follow the instructions and use the device every day, not just to feel better, but also to remain in compliance so the insurance company would cover the device and supplies.  Damn! I can’t fake this.  Let me tell you, the C-PAP machine is a pain in the ass.  It is not comfortable and it feels like I am being suffocated.  I hate the bloody thing.  It is a device from the devil. BUT….

I am using it.  I am following directions and have kept it on all night-something that seemed to surprise the people at the healthcare company.  See, that company spies on me.  The device has a smartcard that I have to take to the company where they proceed to interrogate both me and the smartcard.  Oh, they are very polite and supportive. My representative has been most helpful. But, they are still big brother.

I’ve been using the device for a couple of weeks now.  As I said before, I hate the device.  I loathe it.  I would drop it from the 20th floor of the building I work in if I did not have to pay for it and did not need it. 

Truth is, it is working.  I’m not waking up tired.  I feel more refreshed in the morning than I ever remember feeling.  Earth is still spinning on it’s axis and I’ve not had nearly as many dizzy spells as before. It is amazing what oxygen to the brain can do.  In fact, today I went to big brother and had that smartcard read.  I’ve gone from an apnea of 60 (stop breathing about once a minute) to about 6 times an hour-a HUGE improvement.

All of the doctor’s I’ve seen have told me the same thing:  this will help or cure many of the problems I’ve been experiencing for far too long.  Among them are:  dizziness, tiredness, not sleeping through the night, weight, diabetes, headaches, grouchiness and other things.  The simple lack of a good nights rest-and oxygen-can cause all kinds of problems, most of which are intertwined.  The grouchiness goes away because you’ve rested.  You rested better because you got oxygen, which helps the memory and dizziness.  Feeling rested gives you the desire to exercise and lose weight, which, in turns, helps the diabetes.  It is a vicious cycle.  Sleep is a truly devious and insidious thing.  Lack of oxygen is worse. 

That bloody C-PAP machine is awful and a real pain in the butt.  I’m glad I have it.

So, today Apple had it’s laptop announcement non-event.  They, rather, Steve Jobs, announced several new odd looking Macbook Pro and Macbook laptops.  I’m not going into any details about the machinery, others have covered that.  No, what really caught my eye during the video stream was his annoyance with the audience at one point and his seemingly displeasure that the audience didn’t go nuts as they normally do. He looked rather irked by the time the even was over.

While he was showing off the interesting manufacturing process of the aluminum cases, he had his minions pass out the keyboard half of the case. Most people took a glancing view of the piece and passed it on to the next person.  Some, though, took time to actually look at and feel the part.  This, apparently, annoyed Mr. Jobs.  In fact, he finally said ‘Ok, that’s it, times up.  You’ll have time to look at them later.  Then he said ‘Lights down’ and it took a few moments for the lights to actually dim again.  It was apparent that he thought it took too long.

Through out the presentation, which was REALLY boring at a few points, the audience was really subdued and only offered applause just a few times.  There were the obvious “wow, this is awesome” looks, but mostly, the audience seemed at ‘ho hum.’  

I almost get the feeling that Mr. Jobs had gotten his followers so used to be blown away that the evolutionary updates are underwhelming to them.  Well, to that, I say, “Hi, I’m a PC and welcome to the real world.”

I have a digital photo frame and the TV Picture Viewer, both from Digital Decor and both purchased from Target.  Both products will play video, but only video using MJPEG-a more obscure codec that used quite a bit in the late nineties and early double-oh’s.  It is light on requirements, which is why, I suppose, it was popular.  Indeed, it was the codec of choice for a couple of dvr like software packages for PC’s.  I used one called Showshifter that utilitzed MJPEG and allowed weakling capture cards like ATI’s entire line of ‘TV Wonder’ and ‘All in Wonder’ tuner cards to be able to do things like pause live video and go back and forth in the live buffer.  That’s all and fine, but this is 2008, folks, and almost no one uses this.  No, most devices use mpeg, wmv or quicktime.  One would think that Digital Decor would use something that most people still use instead of some obscure codec like MJPEG.  I don’t care much about playing video on the photo frame, but I would like to do so on the TV Picture Viewer.  So, I go online and look for some kind of transcoding application that would handle this oddball format.  Well, sadly, I have had little luck.  Divx comes close, but it seems to cause the viewer to freeze…not ideal.  MJPEG does not appear to be a freely available codec either.  It costs thirty or more dollars (US) to purchase and then there’s additional cost for something to actually encode your video. I’d be willing to pay for the codec if I could find software that will handle it.  Maybe I”m looking in the wrong places, but I”ve not found any.

Given the inexpensive nature (read CHEAP) of the Digital Decor product line, I am kind of surprised that they went with a codec that was half the cost of the product.  Unless they got it dirt cheap.  I suspect that this is the case.  At any rate, it’s like trying to make a Betamax tape work in a VHS machine.  (Those are antiquated means of video recording and playback for those of you who do not remember the great format war of the 1980’s.)

I will post a how to on converting video to this format, if I figure it out and if I can find a cheap or free solution.  And if the moon is full, on a Wednesday, before dawn.

EDIT:  Go here to read more on encoding video for this device.