Over the last 18 months I’ve sampled a variety of different Linux distributions on my netbook’s 2 GB internal USB flash drive. Everything I tried either wouldn’t fit comfortably under 2 GB or was lacking in features and support. On average, I was switching distributions about once every two months.
Since the announcement, Chrome OS has intrigued me. As much as I like my offline applications, “web apps” work really well for slow machines.
Interested in experimenting, I tried the much publicized pre-built version of Chromium OS, Hexxeh’s Flow. I understand “Hexxeh” is a teenager, but his latest release is too old. Chrome OS has advanced leaps and bounds since Februrary. His build does not support connecting to a hidden SSID and is as slow as IE 6. It just reeks of alpha.
Out of frustration I stumbled across Stratus0s. Just like Hexxeh they bundle a few newer drivers so it works on my Broadcom wireless card, and since the build is from June, it has the auto-updater build in. So I can ride my Chrome OS install all the way to 1.0. Awesome.
Now that I have actually been able to use Chrome OS, I will say it is nice. Once logged in with your Google Account, everything syncs with Chrome on the desktop. In fact, it’s nearly identical to Chrome, which is the point I suppose. Things should get really interesting when Google launches their Chrome Web Store, because the world needs another place to get applications.
Is Independence Day really a “patriotic” movie for Independence Day? I really don’t think so. In fact, if anything, the movie is about how America is not special. It’s not even about the freedom and liberties of the world’s citizens, but rather simple survival. I just can’t find anything that makes it a good movie for Independence Day besides the matching title. I don’t know. Maybe I’m wrong.
So I had been eying an iPad since the much publicized launch. Really, I just wanted a device to browse the web on the couch while watching TV and hanging out with my friends. I have an Xbox for games and a real television for media so that's really all I'd use an iPad for.
Well it turned out that $500 was too much for an impulse buy for an iProduct, but $200 for a nook was not. Sunday afternoon I went down to the local Barnes & Noble and purchased one. The retail price, as of Sunday, was $259, but for Father's Day weekend they offered a $50 gift card. It's $50 I would have spent anyway so for me it was practically $200. As my luck would have it they officially dropped the price today to $200 and offer a Wi-Fi only version for $150. I'm not terribly upset, but I would have liked to have made an informed impulsive decision.
The nook is for reading and damn does it do reading. The screen is the same exact one on the Kindle 2, but the color touch screen makes the device much more navigable then the Kindle. The lower screen allows you to actually use the device (with color) without waiting for the agonizingly slow refresh rate of the primary screen. Although, I will be the first the say that the user-interface is one of the least intuitive around, amplified by the affect of using one screen to control another. It just throws you off and takes a while to get comfortable.
When I popped it out of the box, my friends continually asked me if it was an alternative to the iPad. I told them it wasn't and at the time I believed it. However, now that I've played around with the web browser, for me, it truly is. The nook is runs Android underneath so I guess they used a simplified version of the mobile browser, but I was really impressed. Thanks to instapaper.com and a little work bookmarking the mobile/iPhone versions of websites, I get to do exactly what I would have with an iPad. During the day I save interesting articles with Instapaper, which I read on the couch while watching TV with my friends. I can check and write email. I browse my favorite blogs. And of course, I get to read books, an activity that feels much less forced than it used to. The screen doesn't put nearly as much stress on my computer-strained eyes. Oh, yeah, and the battery life is measured in days. It's hard to beat. So, at it's new price point, I seriously see the nook as a respectable iPad alternative.
I recently moved. While moving is a lot
of work, it's new, exciting, and refreshing. Setting up the utilities
in a new place is not.
Working as a computer scientist, a
quality Internet connection is a necessity. Previously I was
fortunate enough to have access to Verizon
FiOS, which I cannot recommend enough. However, I'm not writing
about the greatness of Verizon,
but rather my grievances with Comcast.
I didn't have to get Comcast, actually;
I could have opted for (non-Verizon) DSL.
If I had the opportunity I would get DSL, but I needed access as soon
as possible for myself and my roommates, so once I started with
Comcast it was too late to switch.
Shopping around, I compared prices on
the web and found that Comcast was $10 cheaper and twice (more on
that later) as fast as DSL. I was aware of their reputation, but I
was compelled to take the deal.
I called 1-800-Comcast ready to
subscribe. After about 10 minutes of various holds I finally reached
a representative who politely greeted me. I told him I was interested
in subscribing to Comcast Internet services.
To which he responded, “What
kind?”
Confused, I said, “Cable...”
“Oh, okay, so you want the fast
kind! I'll go ahead and sign you up for the 20 Mb/s.” By his
tone I could tell he thought I was clueless and so he immediately
signed me up for the fastest and most expensive speed they offered. I
stopped him right there and told him what I actually wanted: the 12
Mb/s down and 2 Mb/s up for $42.95. Well, as he informed me, it's
only $42.95 for current Comcast customers and actually $55 for new
subscribers. Also it's $100 for the required installation and $5 a
month for a rental modem. He apologized for the site being
“confusing,” indicating this misinformation is common. No
where on the Comcast website do they list any other price for any
Internet subscription besides that for current Comcast customers. And
it only indicates the restriction in regular-sized non-emphasized
text at the bottom of the description. My initial observation that
Comcast would save me money, was based on a purposely misleading web
page.
As a
side note, I later found out the necessary $100 installation he
signed me up for was a complete lie. So much so, representatives I
talked to afterward literally didn't believe he told me there was no
way I could pick up a “starter box” like I had done with
a pre-FiOS cable company. I also ended up using my own modem to save
five more dollars. For those keeping score, Verizon gave me free
installation and plenty of extra HDMI cables to hook up my home
theater back when they were $25 a piece. Furthermore, Verizon didn't
charge monthly for the modem.
Also misleading, Comcast only
advertises their PowerBoost
speeds. For the uniformed, PowerBoost is a “technology”
that gives you the advertised 12 Mb/s for the first 10 megabytes or
the first 30 seconds of a download before restricting you to your
actual speed. In my case, the actual connection speed is 6 Mb/s, half
of what they advertize and equal to that of the DSL competitor.
Personally I guessed the non-PowerBoosted speed to be 8 Mb/s, so I
was quite unhappy. Especially considering that with Verizon I payed
$55 a month for real 30 Mb/s down and 5 Mb/s up. Not cool.
Imagining my future with America's
Worst Company, I asked if the 250
GB bandwidth caps were true. He explained to me they were, but
he plays on his Wii online all the time
without a problem! So it's basically unlimited! Or so he believed. I
didn't even bother to explain to him how little bandwidth his toy
uses playing Mario
Kart but rather tried to illustrate examples of how easy it was
to reach that cap.
Downloading
games from Steam uses
roughly 10 gigabytes a pop. Transferring virtual
machines for my work is 15 gigabytes and above. Using a remote
backup solution will be impossible considering my HDD has 300 GB
of files. Plus I live with three others. His response: “Actually,
Comcast is the best about bandwidth caps.”
Oh no
he didn't. I began to mention Verizon, but he cuts me off: “Well,
sir, yes Verizon doesn't have bandwidth caps, but you can't get
Verizon in your area.”
And
that line perfectly summarizes my experience with Comcast. I pay them
on their terms. They quite simply have no respect for their
customers. I understand it's a large corporation, but out of a dozen
people I talked to over the last two weeks, only one representative
respected me as a customer. That one was outstanding, but by and
large the others treated me as an adversary.
Comcast,
you have lied to me, you have mislead me, and you have taken
advantage of me. From the rotten and unjust policies to the poor
customer service, you have disrespected me. Yet, as much as it pains
me, I am still giving you money.
Premium movie channels such as Starz
and HBO have about 10 “hit”
movies showcased any given week. They show each 3-4 times a day. So,
inevitably, if it's a movie you moderately enjoy, you'll see it a
dozen times. Showtime
is playing Quantum of
Solace, a movie which I moderately enjoy.
Following Casino
Royale, I was pumped for a sequel. The Bond reboot seemed like a
good warm-up for a truly great bond movie, much in the way Batman
Begins gave us The
Dark Knight. Good stuff.
However, that was not the case. Quantum of Solace is flawed in
more ways than one. The biggest of which Maddox
explains succinctly:
In
1999, Bechtel corporation signed a contract with the president of
Bolivia to privatize the water supply in the 3rd-largest city, and
shortly thereafter tripled the water rates (source
- new
window).
Yeah, that's right, they tripled the rates in real life... so when
the bad guy in James Bond threatens to double the rates, it's like
the producers are challenging you to give less of a shit. They took a
non-interesting real-life story and somehow made it less interesting
than real life.
Beyond the ludicrously dull “evil plan” the villains are
boring and unimaginative. Basically they are crooked businessmen
lacking any resemblance of a personality. The result is a emotionally
detached viewing experience.
The movie is very beautiful. The wide
landscapes and exotic locales are a Bond staple and quite interesting
to behold. The action is enjoyable, but there's just too much of it.
And really, that's the problem with Quantum of Solace. There's too
much. Bond is awesome. We just want to watch Bond be Bond. Casino
Royale knew that and so a huge part of the film was Daniel Criag
playing a card game. A card game! Quantum of Solace, on the other
hand, just doesn't sit still. Most scenes last less than two or three
minutes and no more than ten minutes pass between the numerous brawls
and gunfights. I argue that a good Bond movie isn't an action
blockbuster, but a Bond movie, emphasis on the Bond. Take the style
of Casino Royale, the cinematography of Quantum of Solace, and give
that movie
a worthy villain.
+endemDan: i need to find a new job, where customers are not so retarded
@Gusterbuster: Someone call you and say 'Can you hear me now?'
+endemDan: no i have had that happen before, but this is even worse
+endemDan: a customer calls in support from their cell and says she cant find the function she wants to take a pic with
+endemDan: so i get her phone model blah blah blah, then ask what exactly shes trying to do
+endemDan: she says 'i see pictures of people where they are holding their phone and are in the picture themselves, how do i take a picture of myself and my phone if the camera does not come off the phone'
+endemDan: she continues with 'also how are they getting a picture of themselves from the front if i can see the flash?, like the camera is facing away from them during the picture. how do i do that?'
+endemDan: i couldnt even respond or laugh, i was just in complete awe that someone was actually serious about this question
+endemDan: then i asked her if she has ever looked at herself in the mirror, and freaks out thinking i just called her ugly or some shit and demands to speak to my manager
+endemDan: so i put her on hold, get him over and tell him the story and he doesnt believe me and gets on the phone and has her repeat everything she said and then asks her about the complaint against me
+endemDan: he asks her the same exact thing (it has been about 10 minutes since the call started) and then, then she finally gets it and understands that taking a picture in a mirror is how the people do it
+endemDan: i dont understand how people like that function in life
@Gusterbuster: Yea. However you get to sit on your ass all day and answer a phone
This not only applies to video game characters, but also all the thousands of henchmen that have died for being inconveniently between Bond and the girl.
So I had been eying an 
