So yeah, posts haven't been happening. I've been busy with school and work and stuff like that, but there has also been a lot going on that I want to write about, and when that happens, I tend to just put off writing until I feel like I have more time. Alas I never get back to it.
One biggy in mind right now. I used to be a Moderator at AquaXP.com. It was a site devoted to modding the Windows GUI to look like the aqua interface from OSX. Seems kinda wierd to have a whole community around, but it was something I became very interested in, and for a period of time it was a fairly major community. There was even an article in Wired.com about the site. But things got old after a while, most of us who were major players became disinterested and things sorta dissolved. The entire time we were sorta in the shadow of Aqua-soft.org, which aquaxp was almost a spin off of.
But recently I've started to miss the community part of it. One of the main reasons I really got out of the community was I quit using Windows, and then two of the guys there and I started Stylix.org, which dealt with themeing Linux, but never really took off the way we hoped it would. I then started running OSX as my main system and basically left the whole scene totally.
Well I don't really have any real intrest in skinning any more, I only do it to a minor degree, but I'd like to have some people to talk to again. I talked to Shak last night, the guy that ran AXP, and he is thinking basically the same thing. He wants to see it up again, but with a broader tech focus. So hopefully that will be happening soon. If you are interested in learning more, check in the #aquaxp channel on freenode, we are trying to get that chatroom back up, for a long time it was a really lively hang out area.
As I kinda said before, I've had a bunch of things that I wanted to post on before, but can't remember much of any of them now, so I'll bail at this point, but hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things soon.
2005/03/24
2005/03/05
The Shredder
I just saw this one over at Engadget. It's an industrial shredder. The gears in it work just like a $15 paper shredder from OfficeMax. Make sure to watch the refrigerator and the washing machine. You even get to hear someone say "shred it!" for the washing machcine.
The Shredder
Theres also this little number. When your doctor wants to know just what's going on inside your digestive tract and wants to know right now damnit, she can have you take this pill, wear a harddrive on your belt, and a few hours later shes got her own little tunnel of love pictures.
I'll let you guess which one of these I really want for my birthday.
The Shredder
Theres also this little number. When your doctor wants to know just what's going on inside your digestive tract and wants to know right now damnit, she can have you take this pill, wear a harddrive on your belt, and a few hours later shes got her own little tunnel of love pictures.
I'll let you guess which one of these I really want for my birthday.
2005/02/17
out to lunch?
No, there just hasn't been anything good to post on lately. Nothing particuarly exciting in tech or world news, or my life. I did join the church that I have been going to. It's a great place that doesn't have so many of the hangups I see in most mainstream or fringe Christian churches.
And I got a Kinko's clock! Even though the buyout of Kinko's officially happened in May of 2004, it was January of 2005 before they finally sent us new clocks. Kinko's is big on clocks and there are about 5 up in our fairly small store, so seeing the old logo that much certainly doesn't help with brand recognition. At any rate, I got to take one home.
Of course, the front door and marquee still just say "Kinko's" but I guess thats how these things work. Along with all of our shirts......
Ah yes, I do have one link:
the phone glove
I saw this on Engadget, and of course they made some references to Maxwell Smart. This is great stuff. Thumb in the ear and pinky for a mic. Priceless!
And I got a Kinko's clock! Even though the buyout of Kinko's officially happened in May of 2004, it was January of 2005 before they finally sent us new clocks. Kinko's is big on clocks and there are about 5 up in our fairly small store, so seeing the old logo that much certainly doesn't help with brand recognition. At any rate, I got to take one home.
Of course, the front door and marquee still just say "Kinko's" but I guess thats how these things work. Along with all of our shirts......
Ah yes, I do have one link:
the phone glove
I saw this on Engadget, and of course they made some references to Maxwell Smart. This is great stuff. Thumb in the ear and pinky for a mic. Priceless!
2005/02/02
Mac Mini: The Emperor's New Computer
Oh this is great. It just brightened up my night a little just make sure you actually read it.
I miss music
So after much back and forth with Kinkos and Intrex and all that good stuff, I'm getting pretty settled into being at Kinko's for a long haul like I did at OfficeMax, which is good.
but there's something I just can't shake.
I started Intrex in February of 2003, and that was when my band broke up. I remember that becuase it was going to be a scheduling issue, then never was. Then I started Kinko's in May of 2004. Seems like I haven't been there that long, but this has been a pretty crazy few months, mainly because of my little brother and best friend. At any rate, I know that was when our band get back together came up and then split up. Because again I saw scheduling at Kinko's as being a possible issue, then it wasn't. My band in it's first form was Of,go listen to our music. It was my best friend and a couple of other guys, and we had a lot of fun, and made some decent music. I love it. I love playing music. I don't really care what instrument I am playing. I even love it so much that I love to see a band play live, even if I can't play with them. I used to go to friends band practices, basically because it's almost like a drug to me. I love how things just fall into place in a group, and the way things sound. I really loved the companionship of hanging out with those three guys. We tore each other to pieces for different stuff, both seriously and jokingly, but it was so much fun.
What drags this up.... well on a more mundane level someone loaned me a Creed Greatest Hits and DVD to go with it. I'm not a big Creed fan. I didn't get into their first CD until the second came out, at which point I decided it was about the only good thing they did. There were a couple more decent songs out of them, but after "Arms Wide Open" I couldn't stand them anymore. Not that the song was that terrible the first 6,546,983 times, but after that it got more than a bit tireing. And Scott Stapp is just worthless. He's a bad example of a Christian, which he doesn't seem to really be, but somehow became a bit of a symbol for a period of time. In the end hes just a narcissistic drunkard. I don't care for the guy much at all. And for the most part their music goes into the suck category. But there is one truely saving grace for that band: Mark Tremonti. He is one of the only mainstream shred guys we have had since Slash. He's also one of those not-lead-singer-but-lead-guitarist band leaders that I like so much, like Jimmy Page or Pete Townsend. In fact it appears in the Creed without Stapp band Alter Bridge that he is the main songwriter, and does a good bit of the vocal harmonies and whatnot. I love that stuff. And he always has the quiet cool to him.
So thats tonight and a more tangible bit. But the whole music thing is somethign that nags at me daily. I think about my grandmother that passed away almost two years ago every day. I think about being in debt every day. Its that kind of thing. I love music. I love people, then music, then everything else (including computers, by the way).
I still sorta keep up with the bass player, Ashwin. He's one of those people like Michelle Levo who I always felt could be a really close friend, but never was more than a buddy. I love to play guitar with him. Anytime he and I talk we say we need to "get together soon and play" but it never happens. I need to make it happen.
But the problem is theres not really a creative force there, which is needed in a band. Maybe if I got some guys together to do some covers it would work. But I don't know. Ashwin has done a couple of songs, but not many, and not much complete. I can crap out a song, but that's exactly what it is, crap.
Maybe now that I've whined I can go to sleep. But it's all about the guitar track in "What If." That's the stuff I love to play. I can sit here and listen to it, or I can get my guitar, wipe the dust off of it, get the tab, and play it.
P.S. After publishing a post, I reguarly go through and test the links. Well, the only link here was to Of's old website at Tripod. I hit the link and Tripod says it's not there. The main page is still up at google cache from Jan 29 2005, and at archive.org for Feb 04. This is sad.
but there's something I just can't shake.
I started Intrex in February of 2003, and that was when my band broke up. I remember that becuase it was going to be a scheduling issue, then never was. Then I started Kinko's in May of 2004. Seems like I haven't been there that long, but this has been a pretty crazy few months, mainly because of my little brother and best friend. At any rate, I know that was when our band get back together came up and then split up. Because again I saw scheduling at Kinko's as being a possible issue, then it wasn't. My band in it's first form was Of,go listen to our music. It was my best friend and a couple of other guys, and we had a lot of fun, and made some decent music. I love it. I love playing music. I don't really care what instrument I am playing. I even love it so much that I love to see a band play live, even if I can't play with them. I used to go to friends band practices, basically because it's almost like a drug to me. I love how things just fall into place in a group, and the way things sound. I really loved the companionship of hanging out with those three guys. We tore each other to pieces for different stuff, both seriously and jokingly, but it was so much fun.
What drags this up.... well on a more mundane level someone loaned me a Creed Greatest Hits and DVD to go with it. I'm not a big Creed fan. I didn't get into their first CD until the second came out, at which point I decided it was about the only good thing they did. There were a couple more decent songs out of them, but after "Arms Wide Open" I couldn't stand them anymore. Not that the song was that terrible the first 6,546,983 times, but after that it got more than a bit tireing. And Scott Stapp is just worthless. He's a bad example of a Christian, which he doesn't seem to really be, but somehow became a bit of a symbol for a period of time. In the end hes just a narcissistic drunkard. I don't care for the guy much at all. And for the most part their music goes into the suck category. But there is one truely saving grace for that band: Mark Tremonti. He is one of the only mainstream shred guys we have had since Slash. He's also one of those not-lead-singer-but-lead-guitarist band leaders that I like so much, like Jimmy Page or Pete Townsend. In fact it appears in the Creed without Stapp band Alter Bridge that he is the main songwriter, and does a good bit of the vocal harmonies and whatnot. I love that stuff. And he always has the quiet cool to him.
So thats tonight and a more tangible bit. But the whole music thing is somethign that nags at me daily. I think about my grandmother that passed away almost two years ago every day. I think about being in debt every day. Its that kind of thing. I love music. I love people, then music, then everything else (including computers, by the way).
I still sorta keep up with the bass player, Ashwin. He's one of those people like Michelle Levo who I always felt could be a really close friend, but never was more than a buddy. I love to play guitar with him. Anytime he and I talk we say we need to "get together soon and play" but it never happens. I need to make it happen.
But the problem is theres not really a creative force there, which is needed in a band. Maybe if I got some guys together to do some covers it would work. But I don't know. Ashwin has done a couple of songs, but not many, and not much complete. I can crap out a song, but that's exactly what it is, crap.
Maybe now that I've whined I can go to sleep. But it's all about the guitar track in "What If." That's the stuff I love to play. I can sit here and listen to it, or I can get my guitar, wipe the dust off of it, get the tab, and play it.
P.S. After publishing a post, I reguarly go through and test the links. Well, the only link here was to Of's old website at Tripod. I hit the link and Tripod says it's not there. The main page is still up at google cache from Jan 29 2005, and at archive.org for Feb 04. This is sad.
2005/01/29
I, Hamilton
I love reading Robert Cringley. This is the second one he has done recently dealing mainly with Apple products. The article is primarily about the Gillette give away the razor and make money on the blade business model and comparing it to the iPod/iTunes deal. But he talks for a minute about the Mac Mini as a server.
"Imagine a Mac Minicluster running Apple's xGrid software. Start with a 16-port fast Ethernet switch and stack 16 Mac Minis on top. That's a 720 gigaflop micro-supercomputer that costs less than $9,000, can fit on a bookshelf, and can be up and running in as little time as it takes to connect the network cables. High schools will be sequencing genes."
Check out the rest of the article here.
"Imagine a Mac Minicluster running Apple's xGrid software. Start with a 16-port fast Ethernet switch and stack 16 Mac Minis on top. That's a 720 gigaflop micro-supercomputer that costs less than $9,000, can fit on a bookshelf, and can be up and running in as little time as it takes to connect the network cables. High schools will be sequencing genes."
Check out the rest of the article here.
Intrex
A coworker sorta prepared me for it, but I was offered a full-time job at intrex.net this past week. It was good enough money wise to match and slightly better what I make at Kinko's, but it would have been mainly tech support. I'm very tired of tech support, as is seen in a recent post. I did a lot of debating, but when my boss called and said it would be 80-90% tech support, I knew it wasn't going to be the thing for me.
I promised him an answer today, and one of my coworkers last day was today, so I actually went in the office and had a brownie and told Camil in person that I wasn't going to accept his offer. Despite the fact that a couple of weeks ago he told me he was interested in me staying on staff to work a couple of mornings a week and even yesterday told me the same thing, today he said he didn't really have a need for that, and he would keep me on staff for when people need time off, but the HR person might have a problem with that.
It's a bit tough that my two biggest jobs have been fade aways instead of burn-outs. I watched many many people leave OfficeMax with balloons and cake, but I was basically kicked out because of conflict of intrest. I started hearing rumors that the district manager didn't like me working both there and Kinko's, and when I went back in a few days later, they told me that I was gonna be dropped, so I didn't wait and left that day. I was at a differnt store, that I had only been at for a few weeks, and knew some people there, but especially with such a short notice, I was just gone.
Intrex is looking the same way. In some sort of Jason being sappy and symbolic sort of way, I had two of Aaron's leaving brownies. One for him, and one for me. There really is a chance that I will stay on payroll for a long time, and maybe at some point down the road, work there more again, but I would imagine that this is probably when my path there just kinda fades away, instead of ending. What an interesting day for a hard drive to bite the dust.
I promised him an answer today, and one of my coworkers last day was today, so I actually went in the office and had a brownie and told Camil in person that I wasn't going to accept his offer. Despite the fact that a couple of weeks ago he told me he was interested in me staying on staff to work a couple of mornings a week and even yesterday told me the same thing, today he said he didn't really have a need for that, and he would keep me on staff for when people need time off, but the HR person might have a problem with that.
It's a bit tough that my two biggest jobs have been fade aways instead of burn-outs. I watched many many people leave OfficeMax with balloons and cake, but I was basically kicked out because of conflict of intrest. I started hearing rumors that the district manager didn't like me working both there and Kinko's, and when I went back in a few days later, they told me that I was gonna be dropped, so I didn't wait and left that day. I was at a differnt store, that I had only been at for a few weeks, and knew some people there, but especially with such a short notice, I was just gone.
Intrex is looking the same way. In some sort of Jason being sappy and symbolic sort of way, I had two of Aaron's leaving brownies. One for him, and one for me. There really is a chance that I will stay on payroll for a long time, and maybe at some point down the road, work there more again, but I would imagine that this is probably when my path there just kinda fades away, instead of ending. What an interesting day for a hard drive to bite the dust.
companies on Jason's bad list
People who know me and know my experience with my Old's Cutty Supreme would probably expect GM to top this list, but the jury is still out on that one. My first car (the spotted avenger) was a Buick LeSabre that should have been laid to rest LONG before I ever had the chance to enjoy its duct-taped goodness, but for some reason continued to run despite me showing my friends that I could spin brand new tires. I have seen other GM cars hold up fairly well.
But there was one pretty serious computer company, and a second one just hit the list. The first motherboard I ever bought new in box was from MSI. It was right when MSI started to become a major player like abit, asus, tyan, etc. I bought the board, which had a disappointing chipset on it (that was VIA's fault, not MSI) and ended up RMAing it after a few months. Then the same thing happened again. Then again. Then my year was up. No product should break 3 times in a year. And bear in mind, this wasn't the same board, it was a replacement each time. There was obviously something wrong, and MSI didn't fix it. The guy at the shop I bought it from told me they had trouble with that board. That was the only motherboard that I have ever had just die when it was still well within its lifetime. (This is gussing a 3-5 year lifetime on computer hardware. Most stuff I have encountered has even done a good deal better than that, but most stuff isn't really considered modern after about a 3-5 year period.)
So there is a new one. I'll probably upload the sound file soon. I bought a SATA hard drive from Intrex in August of 2003. I actually sold an older WD 80gig to nick at that time (which is still running) and bought a Seagate 80gig 8mb buffer SATA drive. Recently I have been having some very strange issues, that I was pretty sure were drive related. No real lost data, just issues. I run iTunes a lot, and I would wake up in the middle of the night and a song was stuck in a 1 second loop. I have wierd freezes for short periods of time, and the real tell-tell sign was when the computer would reboot, and on rare occation, not find a device to boot off of. Then last night the problems got real bad. I was running Fedora and I was getting 5 minute freezes. That was when I started hearing not-so-good noises. I opened up the side of the case to hear better and sure enough it was a squeek followed by a thump, and coming from my hard drive. Shortly after, that, I couldn't even boot the machine. Because I had things to do before going to work, I left without trying to replace it and reload the machine. I stopped in at Intrex to see if they still had the reciept, which they did, and is how I know I got it in August of 03. The good news is that I had recently backed up everything. The only thing on the drive was a totally fresh install of Fedora.
So tonight, after moving some stuff around and getting a drive into the machine, I went to seagates site to check out my old drive, and see if it was one of the 3 year warrenties, or a 1 year. Seagate's site says
Out of Warranty
This drive is out of warranty with Seagate. Repair service for out of warranty products is available only to contracted customers.
Which means 1 year. And I'm not a contracted customer.
The end result is a very expensive paperweight.
But there was one pretty serious computer company, and a second one just hit the list. The first motherboard I ever bought new in box was from MSI. It was right when MSI started to become a major player like abit, asus, tyan, etc. I bought the board, which had a disappointing chipset on it (that was VIA's fault, not MSI) and ended up RMAing it after a few months. Then the same thing happened again. Then again. Then my year was up. No product should break 3 times in a year. And bear in mind, this wasn't the same board, it was a replacement each time. There was obviously something wrong, and MSI didn't fix it. The guy at the shop I bought it from told me they had trouble with that board. That was the only motherboard that I have ever had just die when it was still well within its lifetime. (This is gussing a 3-5 year lifetime on computer hardware. Most stuff I have encountered has even done a good deal better than that, but most stuff isn't really considered modern after about a 3-5 year period.)
So there is a new one. I'll probably upload the sound file soon. I bought a SATA hard drive from Intrex in August of 2003. I actually sold an older WD 80gig to nick at that time (which is still running) and bought a Seagate 80gig 8mb buffer SATA drive. Recently I have been having some very strange issues, that I was pretty sure were drive related. No real lost data, just issues. I run iTunes a lot, and I would wake up in the middle of the night and a song was stuck in a 1 second loop. I have wierd freezes for short periods of time, and the real tell-tell sign was when the computer would reboot, and on rare occation, not find a device to boot off of. Then last night the problems got real bad. I was running Fedora and I was getting 5 minute freezes. That was when I started hearing not-so-good noises. I opened up the side of the case to hear better and sure enough it was a squeek followed by a thump, and coming from my hard drive. Shortly after, that, I couldn't even boot the machine. Because I had things to do before going to work, I left without trying to replace it and reload the machine. I stopped in at Intrex to see if they still had the reciept, which they did, and is how I know I got it in August of 03. The good news is that I had recently backed up everything. The only thing on the drive was a totally fresh install of Fedora.
So tonight, after moving some stuff around and getting a drive into the machine, I went to seagates site to check out my old drive, and see if it was one of the 3 year warrenties, or a 1 year. Seagate's site says
Out of Warranty
This drive is out of warranty with Seagate. Repair service for out of warranty products is available only to contracted customers.
Which means 1 year. And I'm not a contracted customer.
The end result is a very expensive paperweight.
2005/01/23
necco, target, and things that go bump in the night
I love Target stores. I don't really know why, but I do. When I was a kid it was K-Mart becuase Target didn't exist (at least not in North Carolina) and there weren't any Wal-Mart's around. The K-Mart in rich north Raleigh was actually pretty nice anyway, and always had a good supply of TMNT action figures in the back, and ICEEs in the front. When I was in VA they opened a Target there and I remember going some. But it really sank in when I moved to Garner and started driving and working at OfficeMax. OfficeMax and Target are in the same shopping center that is walking distance from my house. They have good stuff, decent prices, its always clean, and easier to find what you need. My favorite store manager at Omax would always want to do stuff the way Target did it, because Target was retail done right.
So to dig somewhat deeper in this.. I'm very much a creature of habit, and have a bit of an obsessive compulsive nature. I like things to be right and to be the same way. I also LOVE Necco Sweetheart candies. The conversation hearts, but the original ones that taste like 15 year old chalk. Especially the orange ones. One of the best gifts I ever recieved was when my truly caring fiancee (then girlfriend) gave me a container full of JUST THE ORANGE ONES!
OK, so part three of this stupid journy into my sick mind. This morning was my first trip into my Garner Target since the Christmas stuff came out and the Valentines Day stuff went up. I was running in to grab some stuff before my day at intrex (more on that later) and decided to grab some conversation hearts, which I have been buying at that same Target for about 5-6 years now, and I eat a lot of these suckers. But, they only had Brach's. There was the mini-packet bag, with a bunch of individually wrapped packs, but they are usually really dry (the best Necco Conversation hearts are when they are nice and damp), and when there are a bunch of little packets, it's much more difficult to eat all the colors except orange first and then leave all the orange for last. Not to mention about 1/3 of the candy as the normal bag at the same price.
This is a major strike against Target. No person, or entity for that matter, is perfect, but this is certainly hersey in my book.
So I go to work, a bit miffed. Things are somewhat slow for the first hour or so. I put in some good time playing Super Mario 64 DS (stupid name) on my DS. Its the Super Mario 64 game from the N64 redone for the DS. I think they could have called it something different, but I guess Nintento isn't exactly winning too many wars nowadays. Then the calls begin. There weren't that many (except one at the end) that actually made me angry, but they were almost all really frustrating. It was a very stereotypical tech support day, and my only solace was from reading some BOFH and sharing my experiences with some of my Kinko's coworkers. As much as Rey complains about Kinko's (he's certainly not the only one, just the most drastic one), he even admitted that he wouldn't do tech support the way that I do.
It was just one of those days where nobody believed me, nobody wanted to actually go to their computer for me to walk them through something, and the best part was at least 3 calls I had today had the approach of "my email isn't working, why can't I receive email?!" I'm sure the neanderthal on the other end is envisioning me with my finger on a button that says "NO EMAIL FOR YOU!" with an evil grin on my face. All the while I envision someone... damnit I'm not a writer.... but inserts some witty term for some really stupid person here. The Email Nazi line was about as good as I get.
So, anyway, the way these people approach these things would be like calling a mechanic who has never met you before, never seen your car, nor knows what it is, and simply calling him and saying "my car won't start, tell me how to fix it over the phone." Then when you ask them to click with the left mouse button on the start menu and hover the little arrow over "All Programs" they tell you not to be so technical because they are illiterate, (no, they don't say computer illiterate, they really do just say illiterate) which is a whole funny, paradoxical statement unto itself.
from dictionary.com
Grrr. I think I am a very patient person. And I am totally comfortable with dealing with someone who is truly ignorent of computers, as long as they are somewhat intelligent in general, and willing to work with me. In fact, I would much rather the person on the other end needs explicit instructions instead of jumping ahead of me.
The good news is this is not really the norm. Most days there are a handful of decent people, 1 or maybe 2 bad ones, and a decent amount of free time to surf the web. But days like this are certainly detrimental to my ability to deal with people.
I think to close I will give a link that I had to show someone yesterday. Alex is a friend of mine at work (and my fiancee's brother) and when someone we like to give a hard time asked him how to send a single fax to a number of people (broadcast faxing) he said that she could do it with the RTFM feature. It's a phrase I hold near and dear to my heart, but have never seen a really appropriate usage of it, and Alex's execution was superb.
Cheers.
So to dig somewhat deeper in this.. I'm very much a creature of habit, and have a bit of an obsessive compulsive nature. I like things to be right and to be the same way. I also LOVE Necco Sweetheart candies. The conversation hearts, but the original ones that taste like 15 year old chalk. Especially the orange ones. One of the best gifts I ever recieved was when my truly caring fiancee (then girlfriend) gave me a container full of JUST THE ORANGE ONES!
OK, so part three of this stupid journy into my sick mind. This morning was my first trip into my Garner Target since the Christmas stuff came out and the Valentines Day stuff went up. I was running in to grab some stuff before my day at intrex (more on that later) and decided to grab some conversation hearts, which I have been buying at that same Target for about 5-6 years now, and I eat a lot of these suckers. But, they only had Brach's. There was the mini-packet bag, with a bunch of individually wrapped packs, but they are usually really dry (the best Necco Conversation hearts are when they are nice and damp), and when there are a bunch of little packets, it's much more difficult to eat all the colors except orange first and then leave all the orange for last. Not to mention about 1/3 of the candy as the normal bag at the same price.
This is a major strike against Target. No person, or entity for that matter, is perfect, but this is certainly hersey in my book.
So I go to work, a bit miffed. Things are somewhat slow for the first hour or so. I put in some good time playing Super Mario 64 DS (stupid name) on my DS. Its the Super Mario 64 game from the N64 redone for the DS. I think they could have called it something different, but I guess Nintento isn't exactly winning too many wars nowadays. Then the calls begin. There weren't that many (except one at the end) that actually made me angry, but they were almost all really frustrating. It was a very stereotypical tech support day, and my only solace was from reading some BOFH and sharing my experiences with some of my Kinko's coworkers. As much as Rey complains about Kinko's (he's certainly not the only one, just the most drastic one), he even admitted that he wouldn't do tech support the way that I do.
It was just one of those days where nobody believed me, nobody wanted to actually go to their computer for me to walk them through something, and the best part was at least 3 calls I had today had the approach of "my email isn't working, why can't I receive email?!" I'm sure the neanderthal on the other end is envisioning me with my finger on a button that says "NO EMAIL FOR YOU!" with an evil grin on my face. All the while I envision someone... damnit I'm not a writer.... but inserts some witty term for some really stupid person here. The Email Nazi line was about as good as I get.
So, anyway, the way these people approach these things would be like calling a mechanic who has never met you before, never seen your car, nor knows what it is, and simply calling him and saying "my car won't start, tell me how to fix it over the phone." Then when you ask them to click with the left mouse button on the start menu and hover the little arrow over "All Programs" they tell you not to be so technical because they are illiterate, (no, they don't say computer illiterate, they really do just say illiterate) which is a whole funny, paradoxical statement unto itself.
from dictionary.com
il·lit·er·ate adj.
I.
1. Unable to read and write.
2. Having little or no formal education.
II.
1. Marked by inferiority to an expected standard of familiarity with language and literature.
2. Violating prescribed standards of speech or writing.
Grrr. I think I am a very patient person. And I am totally comfortable with dealing with someone who is truly ignorent of computers, as long as they are somewhat intelligent in general, and willing to work with me. In fact, I would much rather the person on the other end needs explicit instructions instead of jumping ahead of me.
The good news is this is not really the norm. Most days there are a handful of decent people, 1 or maybe 2 bad ones, and a decent amount of free time to surf the web. But days like this are certainly detrimental to my ability to deal with people.
I think to close I will give a link that I had to show someone yesterday. Alex is a friend of mine at work (and my fiancee's brother) and when someone we like to give a hard time asked him how to send a single fax to a number of people (broadcast faxing) he said that she could do it with the RTFM feature. It's a phrase I hold near and dear to my heart, but have never seen a really appropriate usage of it, and Alex's execution was superb.
Cheers.
2005/01/15
linky time
So I have a few today. The best one is here. The site is in Russian, but the pics are all you need. These are fish that the tsunami drug up. I don't know if these are things we already knew about and just rarely saw, or if these are all totally new species. They sure are strange looking.
I have a couple more, probably less serious ones.
A really portable computer
The perfect vehicle for droid harvesting on a desert planet with 2 suns
Now that's a mutha fukkin toaster!
I have a couple more, probably less serious ones.
A really portable computer
The perfect vehicle for droid harvesting on a desert planet with 2 suns
Now that's a mutha fukkin toaster!
2005/01/13
they just don't seem to get it
So I posted a couple of days ago on the new Mac Mini, and the possibilities it has. This won't be a suprise, but over the past 48 hours I've seen two different external PVR setups for Macs.
But I have also heard both in person and now in a CNET article the backlash. Anytime Apple puts out a new product, there is backlash. At least since the revolution that started with the original iMac. Steve Jobs really has his hand on the pulse of the market and knows what people want, but up until these two new products, he has stayed in the higher end. But after every release the media says the new stuff is crap, then a bunch sell. One of the biggest exceptions was the G4 cube, which probably had a decent amount of good media. It flopped. The reason was he marketed the Mac Mini to the high end crowd, and it didn't work. People who want to pay $2k for a computer system want the cheese-grater G5, not something small and hidden.
Anyway, here's the article:
linky
Basically they say that you can get a PC for cheaper when you consider that you have to buy a keyboard and mouse and monitor. They compare it to deals that already come with a monitor, and also the fact that almost any computer you buy at least comes with keyboard and mouse.
Thats the point though. I sold computers for a few years. At this point in the game, most people have a home PC. Said home PC has a monitor, and in many cases a USB keyboard and mouse, (the USB part WILL be an issue with this machine, I'm glad I dont' have to sell them for that reason). This person has also heard about the iPod, and may even own an iPod or a Mini (going forward the iPod Shuffle) and notices the quality involved in Apple products. They are elegant and work the way they should.
So this same person goes to Best Buy to get a new machine. They could spend a lot and get a new monitor with it, but all they really need is the computer (which they may refer to as the "modem," "CPU," "drive," "CD-Rom," or something worse.) They will see that if you buy a monitor and computer seperate it will cost $1000 and if they buy them together it will be $700-$800. So the package seems like a better deal.
Now with that in mind, they see an ad for the Mac Mini (they have to see the ad first, which is another place the Mini might fail). It's that cool Apple brand, and its $500. And its tiny. Nothing else is that cool when it comes to size. There will be copy-cat's very soon, but because Apple managed to keep the size of this sucker under wraps until it was released, they have a chance to take the market before the copy-cats come out. They won't have the headway they had with the first iMac because everyone is watching now, but it should be enough.
The article says that people looking for a package don't want to pay so much. The machine isn't a good deal for that situation. but for those people looking for a full package, there is the eMac. Its all in one for $800. The author of this article is obviously not aware of that machine.
I am, admittedly, a Mac fanboy. But not way out there, I'm actually more of an OSS fanboy, and I tend to view these market things from a more neutral point of view.
So, kinda repeating what I said before. There is a strong possibility for this thing to be major. Lots of blocks have to fall in place. I think Apple has the name, and the engineering, and the style needed on this thing. And so far the marketing is just right. But so far we have only had the release. Computers are like cars... unless you are paying attention to the industry, you only know what is out there when you are looking. If there is a big deal around the release, but little afterwards, when Aunt Tilley goes to upgrade her machine she won't remember that nifty looking tiny machine she saw in the paper back in January. Apple has been a niche product for a long time, and they didn't really need to market. When someone had an Apple, they replaced it with an Apple. The switchers campaign hardly worked, there wasn't a product like this to switch to. The iPod has had a wave of word of mouth marketing becuase of timing. Not becuase of the Apple marketing, but becuase of the "digital music revolution."
The Windows monopoly is at it's weakest right now. Apple and the OSS guys know this. They also know that the market for personal computers that sit in the office with a monitor and keyboard is about to crash. Somebody is going to make a few good guesses and come out on top, and I would be willing to say that all three sides have an even chance at this point.
It should be interesting. There will be a made for TV movie (like Pirates of Silicon Valley) one day about the second half of this decade.
But I have also heard both in person and now in a CNET article the backlash. Anytime Apple puts out a new product, there is backlash. At least since the revolution that started with the original iMac. Steve Jobs really has his hand on the pulse of the market and knows what people want, but up until these two new products, he has stayed in the higher end. But after every release the media says the new stuff is crap, then a bunch sell. One of the biggest exceptions was the G4 cube, which probably had a decent amount of good media. It flopped. The reason was he marketed the Mac Mini to the high end crowd, and it didn't work. People who want to pay $2k for a computer system want the cheese-grater G5, not something small and hidden.
Anyway, here's the article:
linky
Basically they say that you can get a PC for cheaper when you consider that you have to buy a keyboard and mouse and monitor. They compare it to deals that already come with a monitor, and also the fact that almost any computer you buy at least comes with keyboard and mouse.
Thats the point though. I sold computers for a few years. At this point in the game, most people have a home PC. Said home PC has a monitor, and in many cases a USB keyboard and mouse, (the USB part WILL be an issue with this machine, I'm glad I dont' have to sell them for that reason). This person has also heard about the iPod, and may even own an iPod or a Mini (going forward the iPod Shuffle) and notices the quality involved in Apple products. They are elegant and work the way they should.
So this same person goes to Best Buy to get a new machine. They could spend a lot and get a new monitor with it, but all they really need is the computer (which they may refer to as the "modem," "CPU," "drive," "CD-Rom," or something worse.) They will see that if you buy a monitor and computer seperate it will cost $1000 and if they buy them together it will be $700-$800. So the package seems like a better deal.
Now with that in mind, they see an ad for the Mac Mini (they have to see the ad first, which is another place the Mini might fail). It's that cool Apple brand, and its $500. And its tiny. Nothing else is that cool when it comes to size. There will be copy-cat's very soon, but because Apple managed to keep the size of this sucker under wraps until it was released, they have a chance to take the market before the copy-cats come out. They won't have the headway they had with the first iMac because everyone is watching now, but it should be enough.
The article says that people looking for a package don't want to pay so much. The machine isn't a good deal for that situation. but for those people looking for a full package, there is the eMac. Its all in one for $800. The author of this article is obviously not aware of that machine.
I am, admittedly, a Mac fanboy. But not way out there, I'm actually more of an OSS fanboy, and I tend to view these market things from a more neutral point of view.
So, kinda repeating what I said before. There is a strong possibility for this thing to be major. Lots of blocks have to fall in place. I think Apple has the name, and the engineering, and the style needed on this thing. And so far the marketing is just right. But so far we have only had the release. Computers are like cars... unless you are paying attention to the industry, you only know what is out there when you are looking. If there is a big deal around the release, but little afterwards, when Aunt Tilley goes to upgrade her machine she won't remember that nifty looking tiny machine she saw in the paper back in January. Apple has been a niche product for a long time, and they didn't really need to market. When someone had an Apple, they replaced it with an Apple. The switchers campaign hardly worked, there wasn't a product like this to switch to. The iPod has had a wave of word of mouth marketing becuase of timing. Not becuase of the Apple marketing, but becuase of the "digital music revolution."
The Windows monopoly is at it's weakest right now. Apple and the OSS guys know this. They also know that the market for personal computers that sit in the office with a monitor and keyboard is about to crash. Somebody is going to make a few good guesses and come out on top, and I would be willing to say that all three sides have an even chance at this point.
It should be interesting. There will be a made for TV movie (like Pirates of Silicon Valley) one day about the second half of this decade.
2005/01/11
Stevie's keynote
Well, Apple may have done something big. Like as big as the first iMac. We're yet to see. They have not only finally released the long called for headless consumer Mac, but at the same time the first consumer mini-computer. There are a few on the market right now but they are either by unknown brands, or aimed at gamers or some other niche. The iMac mini is 6.5"x6.5"x2." And a whopping $499. And its not the lowest machine in their line up. There are certainly faster models, but this is enough power to hold its own. And the Superdrive (DVD writer) is available.
Why COULD this be as big of a deal as the original iMac, or even the original Macintosh. The biggest reason is that people are now really longing for a highly compact computer. PC's are becoming a commodity, and people are ready to buy a compact box that works for a few years, then throw it away. The mini-pc thing is really taking off at this time, and this is certainly one of the smallest. Also people have been begging for a more affordable mac for a long time. Lots of people have a keyboard and monitor, so they don't want to pay for new stuff. This lets the PC users that enjoy their iPod go out and drop less they would on a comperable wintel machine.
But there's a lurking killer app here, and ties to the whole PC's as a commodity thing. MS knows this already. The next big thing (TM) is the media center PC. If someone puts out the proper outboard tv-tuner/PVR software combo, this thing could take off. I think even without that it will help apple increase market share, and will push the entire industry to small form factor the way the iMac pushed the whole industry from boring beige boxes.
We'll see...
Why COULD this be as big of a deal as the original iMac, or even the original Macintosh. The biggest reason is that people are now really longing for a highly compact computer. PC's are becoming a commodity, and people are ready to buy a compact box that works for a few years, then throw it away. The mini-pc thing is really taking off at this time, and this is certainly one of the smallest. Also people have been begging for a more affordable mac for a long time. Lots of people have a keyboard and monitor, so they don't want to pay for new stuff. This lets the PC users that enjoy their iPod go out and drop less they would on a comperable wintel machine.
But there's a lurking killer app here, and ties to the whole PC's as a commodity thing. MS knows this already. The next big thing (TM) is the media center PC. If someone puts out the proper outboard tv-tuner/PVR software combo, this thing could take off. I think even without that it will help apple increase market share, and will push the entire industry to small form factor the way the iMac pushed the whole industry from boring beige boxes.
We'll see...
2005/01/10
stuff
well, its now 2005. quite scary for me to think that 1995, which seems like some sort of dividing line to me, was 10 years ago. if i went to college full time, i would have been the class of 2005. its all somewhat crazy. and, at this point katy and i have begun to plan to get married this year.
my brother kyle on the other hand, got married in 2004. since my last post as a matter of fact. he got married a couple of days after christmas. i don't even remember what day. i found out after the fact. and his (now) wife is with child. I should be an uncle sometime in August.
Macworld kicks off tomorrow. The current expectations for Stevie's keynote is an iPod flash (something about a radio is probably in the works) and a new iPod theme
(Life is Random.) There should be a sub-$500 headless Mac also.
CES was last week, there was nothing in particular of intrest, but engadget has plenty of coverage.
And I should be kicking off a diet on Wed, hopefully leading to better wedding pictures ;)
my brother kyle on the other hand, got married in 2004. since my last post as a matter of fact. he got married a couple of days after christmas. i don't even remember what day. i found out after the fact. and his (now) wife is with child. I should be an uncle sometime in August.
Macworld kicks off tomorrow. The current expectations for Stevie's keynote is an iPod flash (something about a radio is probably in the works) and a new iPod theme
(Life is Random.) There should be a sub-$500 headless Mac also.
CES was last week, there was nothing in particular of intrest, but engadget has plenty of coverage.
And I should be kicking off a diet on Wed, hopefully leading to better wedding pictures ;)
2004/12/23
link of the day
With all the happenings of Christmas and getting engaged and color calenders at Kinko's, I haven't been posting as much the past couple of days, but here is the link of the day. It's the real Santa, and he looks a bit more like a hit man from New York than a guy that spends his nights wearing a red suit (and drinking Coca-Cola) around the North Pole.
In addition, how much money was spent on this endevour, and who was willing to fund it, and why aren't they paying for me to go to college!
In addition, how much money was spent on this endevour, and who was willing to fund it, and why aren't they paying for me to go to college!
did she say yes?
So, when you excitedly tell someone "I gave my girlfriend a ring," or even better yet, "I got engaged," everybody asks "Did she say yes?" This is a here's your sign thing. It's funny in its own stupid sort of way. First off, I would say something along the line of I purposed, or offered a ring. If I gave it to her, she obviously accepted it, and even dumber is the response to I got engaged. Oh well.
The point is, I'm very excited about it, and I'm now engaged to a beautiful young lady who is an incredible human being to me and everyone else around her.
In addition, I didn't post it here CmdrTaco style, nor did I have it engraved on an iPod, nor did I even feed it to, or in any other way attach it to our dog. I gave it to her the old fashioned way, in private, on one knee, and with more sincerity than cuteness.
So there.
The point is, I'm very excited about it, and I'm now engaged to a beautiful young lady who is an incredible human being to me and everyone else around her.
In addition, I didn't post it here CmdrTaco style, nor did I have it engraved on an iPod, nor did I even feed it to, or in any other way attach it to our dog. I gave it to her the old fashioned way, in private, on one knee, and with more sincerity than cuteness.
So there.
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