Xbox One – What about Gaming?

Well, THAT didn’t take long! In fewer than a dozen hours the XBOX One reveal went from being exciting … to a disappointment. Over at GameIndustry.biz they are already calling the reveal of the XBOX One an ‘awful start’, and discussing how Microsoft needs to redeem itself at E3. Of course, leave it to Ctrl-Alt-Del to joke about how Sony hasn’t even figured out how to assemble their new console yet!

Rather than pontificate on that sort of stuff, I wanted to address 5 areas of concern to me as a PC gamer: continue reading

The Land of And

As noted pretty much everywhere last week, Google introduced new stuff at Google I/O. They also had a keynote by Larry Page, and one of the things he said that was picked up widely was:

Every story I read about Google is “us versus some other company” or some stupid thing, and I just don’t find that very interesting. We should be building great things that don’t exist. Being negative isn’t how we make progress. Most important things are not zero sum, there is a lot of opportunity out there.

Many sites took this as a statement showing how Google doesn’t want to ‘go thermonuclear’ a la Apple. But others, such as DaringFireball’s John Gruber, called BS on that and instead noted that, “They want everything; their ambition is boundless.”

And more importantly, he notes that THIS IS A GOOD THING! Huge ambitions lead to huge innovations – or paranoia and monopolistic encroachment, as anyone who messed with Microsoft in the 90s can attest. Google is a company uniquely positioned to help push some amazing new horizons by seeing the world in which it has the responsibility to deliver the best solutions in a way that makes everything else seem outdated.

But it has been a long time since THAT has happened. I will not jump on any sort of ‘Google doesn’t innovate’ bandwagon, but I will say that the majority of their efforts in recent years have either been half-baked or me-too products, half of which have been killed off or are languishing on life support.

To see why Google works best in ‘The Land of OR’, look to its history:

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Google Games Center

At Google I/O last week we got to see a number of new things, including the music service we already reported on as well as the ‘-1′ to Google’s myriad chat options with ‘Hangouts’ combining chat and talk. But as a gamer who has enjoyed more and more games coming to Google Play in a reasonable time, I was interested in Google Play Game Services, the awkwardly named game center for Android games. After playing around with a couple of games that utilize the service, I was underwhelmed with what is essentially a mashup of Open Feint and Game Center that seems to offer much more to Google than to gamers — with one key exception.

Since I am certain to get some ‘Apple fanboy’ emails, let me step back. All roads in gaming lead back more than 30 years to either the PC or arcade. Early consoles were an unsatisfying attempt to bring the arcade into the home, and for many, many years pretty much any non-arcade effort on a console needed the caveat ‘for a console’ attached. GoldenEye was a pretty good shooter … for a console. XBOX Live was a decent service … for a console. And so on. They needed those caveats, because each was barely on par with what was available on the PC for several years.

So when Apple introduced Game Center, there were few who would have called the service ‘innovative’ in any way – it simply brought matchmaking and achievements and friends lists, all staples of PC and console multiplayer, to the iOS universe. It wasn’t even the first; Open Feint had already done a decent job of bringing some of these to the platform, but required the developer to code the interface to the platform into their game.

So now Google has Google Play Game Services. YAWN.

What is it? Basically, it’s an Open Feint clone that also includes several ideas from Game Center and also provides yet another non-optional way for Google to stuff their abysmal Google+ ‘social’ service down our throats.

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Apple: Maybe they do listen to customer suggestions!

So a few weeks ago, my daughter Maggie got all hot and heavy into Dr. Who.  (I think for her it boils down to “David Tennant is hot!”, but for a nerd Dad, any excuse to get into something like Dr. Who is a good one!)  Because not all the old episodes are available on NetFlix streaming, Maggie asked if she could purchase a season or two from iTunes.  So in lieu of an allowance that week, yes, she got to purchase a season of Dr. Who.

The problem, though, was that as soon as I purchased them, I had to download every friggin’ episode.  Which was silly in a couple of different ways.  First, because she was going to want them on her laptop, not mine; she just needed me to purchase them for her so they would be available on the cloud.  And second, who wants to download 20-25 GB of videos that you know you don’t want right away?  But despite some searching in the support area of Apple’s site, and a nice chat with a support guy on the phone, I found that:  Sorry man; you need to download stuff when you buy it.  After that, you can download at will from the cloud, but in the interim, you have to do that initial download.

I wouldn’t say that I complained to the Apple guy; I just expressed my frustration that one is forced to download everything immediately, like it or not.  (And from the Apple message boards, I’m not the only one who has found that to be irritating.)  He agreed to forward the suggestion.  And frankly, I expected absolutely nothing to come of it. You can read about it in my post, here.

And then the other day I logged on, bought something, and was greeted with an Apple dialog button in iTunes asking me if I wanted to download my purchase now, or did I want to wait?

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Angelina Jolie announced that she’s  had a double mastectomy to preempt her “faulty gene”.
photo courtesy of Reuters Facebook page

I am 46, and I have been getting a yearly mammogram every year since I turned 40; six mammograms, and so far each one has been normal. Breast cancer doesn’t run in my family, but that doesn’t stop me from feeling apprehensive every time I have to step up to the machine, and it doesn’t keep me from worrying during the “manual examination” when I go in for a yearly checkup with my gynecologist. Cancer is scary; cancer that attacks your lady parts seems even more so. I can’t imagine what it would be like to watch my mother suffer through a losing breast cancer battle, but it happens, and for far too many women, it is their reality.

Academy Award winning actress and director Angelina Jolie watched her mother, Marcheline Bertrand, fight breast ovarian cancer for ten years before she finally died at 56. Ms. Jolie (37) said that her doctors estimated that she had “an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer, although the risk is different in the case of each woman.” While “only a fraction of breast cancers result from an inherited gene mutation. Those with a defect in BRCA1 have a 65 percent risk of getting it, on average.”

Armed with that information, Ms. Jolie and her doctors decided the best course of action would be for her to undergo a double mastectomy; she completed the last of the associated medical procedures on April 27. She began a series of surgical procedures with a “nipple delay”, which increased her chances of being able to save her nipples; in the next surgery, her breast tissue was removed and replaced with temporary fillers. Now the last of her surgeries has been completed, and she has implants in each of her reconstructed breasts.

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Samsung Galaxy S4 vs Galaxy S3

Samsung recently started delivering their new flagship, the Galaxy S4. The GS4 is the follow-up to the Galaxy S3, which is the best-selling Android phone ever made, and one of big reasons Samsung is now the largest smartphone maker in the world. The GS3 was itself the sequel to the earlier best-selling Galaxy phones – but with the GS3 Samsung went from being a ‘leader’ to becoming the de facto Android flagship and market leader. Early critical and user reviews for the new S4 have been generally solid but not exactly glowing – and with more and more issues cropping up as users get their hands on the device, I wonder if this ‘lackluster’ view of the GS4 will hurt Samsung going forward?

If you look at the image at the top, you will see the GS3 and GS4 next to each other. The two devices look very similar, with nearly identical dimensions and a very similar look & feel. This is clearly an incremental upgrade, with the screen size moving from 4.85″ to 5″, new processor options (1.9GHz quad core or 1.6GHz octa-core depending on region), 13MP main camera, and so on. In other words – this is a monster device.

But like any device made in the real world, the GS4 is not a perfect device. As noted, the reviews for the device are less than enthusiastic – none are negative, but neither are there any of the ‘BEST PHONE EVAR’ type of gushing reviews we saw for the GS3. Worse yet, there are some specific problems that many, many users are complaining about – some that seem like they can be solved with patches, others appear to be hardware related and might never go away.

What are the issues?

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When Mailbox, the app designed to tame, manage and control your inbox, arrived, I was thrilled. I was the first person on the Gear Diary team to gain access, and for the first few weeks I was doing nothing but singing its praises. Judie, Dan and Mike all joined over the next several weeks, but not all of us are still using it. Who is? Who isn’t? And for those who quit — why did the shine wear off? Read on for our thoughts.

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There were some amazing discussions at Telenav’s Waypoint conference a few weeks ago about GPS, mobile navigation, and how we approach our smartphones and integration location services into our lives. One offshoot of that discussion, though, was whether GPS navigation would matter in the future, since car ownership is apparently on the decline.

I was surprised how many people in the discussion knew teenagers who didn’t drive much, since my experience living in the suburbs was that you needed a car if you wanted to get anywhere beyond your housing development. I did some googling, and apparently it is a very real trend; as more people move to cities and urban environments, they opt for public transit and Zipcar/similar services over owning their own vehicle. People still need and use apps like Scout, since they can provide maps, points of interest, even pedestrian walking directions. But the car is no longer a major purchase.

It made me curious, though, outside of very urban areas, is this still the case? Obviously if you live in an area with well-developed public transit you can very easily live car free. My brother is a good example. He lives in Manhattan, and takes the subway everywhere he needs to go, work, shopping, gym, the bar, etc. When he wants to come home, he takes New Jersey Transit. Once he’s off the train, though, he needs a car, or someone with a car. The only way back to our parents house from the nearest train station involves about 5 miles and two major highways…so he’s not taking a stroll on foot. And despite the train station being in a town with a college, there’s no Zipcar or similar service he can use. Instead, he’s either arranging for a ride or borrowing one of my parent’s cars. Being in the suburbs simply requires a car.

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Saucony #BostonStrong Medallion

Much has been written about all of the amazing people who stepped up after the Boston Marathon bombings, as well as companies in the area that opened their doors for stranded runners and other impacted individuals. We have since seen both good and bad examples of those who claim to want to help. The obvious bad example was the fake Twitter account looking for retweets claiming a donation would be made for each one, and the many fake charities looking to funnel off some of the generosity that has sprung up.

One of the best things that happened was the immediate formation of an official charity; you should definitely check that out.

In the nearly two weeks since the tragic events, I have been glad to see the intense fundraising continue to help the families of those whose lives were lost and the survivors whose lives have been forever altered. As a runner who subscribes to dozens of blogs and has accounts on pretty much every running-related site or app, I continue to see loads of email and blog traffic about this. Amongst these there are mostly good ideas with a few bad ones mixed in. Let’s take a quick look:

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Epicurious’ Boston Tweet

Some have called Twitter the ‘new police scanner’, an analogy which makes sense for those of us who had relatives with police scanners and CB radios back in the 70s when they were all the rage. This was very true during the attacks at the finish line of the Boston Marathon: I found myself with four tabs open on my laptop – three were local Boston stations WCVB, WHDH and Boston.com, and the other was Twitter. It did an amazing job of pulling in information because from a wide array of sources shared and retweeted by all of the folks I followed.

I also saw calls for support, notes about how Google set up specific sites to locate people, numbers from the Boston police and FBI, ways to help, and on and on. As they were on the ground in Boston, there were many people on Twitter doing everything they could to help out. There were plenty of brands and companies rushing to help out however they could; you can see a great round up of them, here.

But sprinkled in with all of these informative tweets were the usual stream of promoted tweets, and those from ‘mommy bloggers’ which were largely about coupons, contests and giveaways on their sites. (As for why I follow them, I met a bunch at the Hyundai events). But I noticed two things that were very troubling to me, to the point that I issued my own scathing tweet:

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MP3 File Lockdown

Calling everything about digital rights management a land-mine or clusterf**k seems to be overstating things, but some of the rules that apply to digital goods compared to the rules for the same goods on physical media just seem out of touch with reality. For example, let’s look at the latest ruling regarding ‘used MP3 seller’ ReDigi as noted at HypeBot:

“Courts have consistently held that the unauthorized duplication of digital music files over the Internet infringes a copyright owner’s exclusive right to reproduce,” Judge Sullivan wrote. “However, courts have not previously addressed whether the unauthorized transfer of a digital music file over the Internet – where only one file exists before and after the transfer – constitutes reproduction within the meaning of the Copyright Act. The court holds that it does.”

Now before stating my thoughts, it is worth noting the further statement from the judge on why this is problematic with respect to ReDigi’s business model:

“ReDigi facilitates and profits from the sale of copyrighted commercial recordings, transferred in their entirety, with a likely detrimental impact on the primary market for these goods. It is beside the point that the original phonorecord no longer exists. It matters only that a new phonorecord has been created.”

So there are two issues here:
- ReDigi is involved with transferring digital files over the internet without approval of rights holders, which the court held in violation of the Copyright act.
- ReDigi’s system involves issuing a new copy of the file to the ‘buyer’ and deleting the file of the ‘seller’. This constitutes unlawful reproduction according the the reading of the Copyright act by the court.

Let’s look at them in reverse order.

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5 Ways to Honor the Boston Marathon Tragedy Victims

As someone who was born and spent more than forty years in the Boston area, my heart is heavy today. Although I am glad that the numbers didn’t continue climbing through the night in terms of those hurt, I am still having trouble wrapping my head around the horrific events that occurred at yesterday’s Boston Marathon. As I went for my run this morning, my mind was constantly thinking about the situation, and I posted that on my Facebook page. Since then, I have also been thinking about how we can best deal with the feeling of loss that every runner and Bostonian I have talked to describes.

Here is what I said earlier:
As I ran yesterday morning, Boston was on my mind – as it was for pretty much every runner. For me it was thinking that as my pace has improved, being a ‘Boston Qualifier’ has become a realistic goal, and how awesome it would be for all of us to take a day to go to our favorite city and have my wife and kids waiting for me crossing the finish line.

But as I got up to go out this morning for what was a great 8.5 miles, rather than thinking about the gorgeous 55 degree morning, the fact that I had been able to try to help my brother in some small way and that he continues to make a strong recovery, and so on … Boston was once again on my mind.

The senseless and needless tragedy, my ability to just go out for a run while over a hundred people are hurt by a cowardly bomber, innocents all, including a little kid. Those who will not be able to run again due to injury or lost limbs, and those for whom going for a run will never be the same. And how when the bombs went off most of the people running were those doing so for charity, people who raised millions for the good of others – and those cheering them on.

So as I ran this morning, I dedicated myself to the memory of all those forever changed by this tragedy, as well as to my brother — improving but still in the hospital — and my amazing family. I enjoyed hearing from so many folks yesterday and each safe voice lightened things a little, but the tragic events still weighs on all of us today.

Here are a few ways to honor those impacted by this tragedy:

• Give Blood – while Boston is all set according to the Red Cross, I am sure they need help in Providence, Nashua, Worcester, and pretty much everywhere else. We had a blood drive in my engineering building at Corning yesterday so I am set for a while … but the sad reality is there is always something happening that means people need blood transfusions.
• Help Financially If You Can, But Don’t Get Scammed – wherever there is tragedy you can count on two things: conspiracy theorists and scammers. I won’t discuss conspiracy nuts, but there are already people on eBay selling Marathon stuff ‘to raise money’, and Facebook sites set up, Twitter accounts, and so on. Right now the only trustworthy site is the Red Cross, according to this report.I have just learned that MeetingHouse Bank in Boston has set up a fund to help the family of Martin Richard, the 8-year year old boy who died, and whose sister lost her leg and mother has a grave brain injury. The site is here, but you should definitely call the bank directly.
• Don’t Stop Running – it might feel like a cliché to say ‘if we stop living due to fear, the terrorists win’, but it is true. For runners, the best thing to do is L.U.N.A.R. (lace up now and run)! It will help us all heal, and seeing people out running will help others remember that while there were a couple or at any rate fewer than a hundred people responsible for this attack, there are thousands of runners out each weekend in every city across the country, and hundreds even in small communities like mine. There will always be bad guys … but there are so many more good people.
• Continue Supporting Races – on the one hand there is an easy thought ‘why make yourself an easy target’? But then do we need to cancel all professional sports? All high school and intramural sports? All concerts and plays and musicals and theater and movies? Close all bars and restaurants? My point is that if someone wanted to set off a bomb that hurt more than 150 people and struck fear and disbelief it would be easy.For anyone who has run a race – or biked a race, or pretty much done anything of the sort — you know what it is like to round a corner and hear the cheers of the crowd. It is amazing — and many of these people don’t care who you are, they are there to cheer on everyone. This is not like the infamous parents at soccer games screaming at 12-year old refs for getting it wrong … running crowds are awesome.
• Do a ‘Memorial Run’ of your own – head to RunJunkies and print out a ‘virtual race bib’. ‘Sign Up’ for the event. Then … go for a run. Gather up a few friends. I have two groups in my area, both of which are having group runs over the next week. Does it actually accomplish anything? Yes – it helps us all heal, and helps to do something with this sense of loss and helplessness.

There is plenty of outrage, anger and sadness to go around, but we also need to be sure to show the cowards who perpetrate these kinds of attacks that we will not quit, we will not, stop, we will not cower. And they will not win.

Spring time in Texas is hot; we do not really have seasons, just hot and not so hot. We are deep into the spring turkey hunting season, and some days it is just unbearable. I hunt with a bow, so that is done in a pop up tent blind. Turkeys can see extremely well, so I wear a long sleeve black shirt and black ninja mask. Of course I always wear my snake boots and long pants. The blind is basically an oven. I recently heard about people turning ice chests into an air conditioner on the go and decided to make one. Here is how I made my version.

The ice chest I used is an Igloo 25qt Marine model. I chose this model because it was the most common used on the projects I found. It is available almost anywhere ice chests are sold and comes in around $30. What I will attempt to do, is cut holes in the lid to install a fan that blows across the ice and a vent to redistribute that cool air.

Other than the ice chest, to make your own you will need a fan, pipe for the vent and a 12v battery. I used an auto fan from Walmart that cost around $11, a piece of 2 inch PVC with an elbow, and a battery I used on my deer feeder. The entire project came out to around $50 since I had the battery.

To make the opening for the fan, I simply took the front protector off, traced it and then drew a line slightly inside so it will not fall through the hole. I used the square grids of the lid to line up the hole and make it even. I cut this opening with a utility knife. Not a fun experience, but it got the job done. Repeat this step for the PVC pipe, but do not make the hole smaller. It needs to go all the way through. For this hole I remembered I had a rotary cutting tool, so it only took seconds.

Once the holes are cut, I just made sure everything fit. I used duck tape to hold the pipe in place and  used it inside the lid under the fan because the lid is hollow and I wanted straight air flow. Currently, the fan is being held in place with the tape, but I plan on adding some c-clamps once the project gets out of beta testing.

The end of the fan is made to use a car cigarette lighter. I snipped the wire, stripped it, and attached it to the battery. The wire with the white strips goes to the positive connection. Since the fan has a switch and fuse,it is easy and safe to use. All that is needed now is ice and a warm day.

This project took less than an hour to build and the results are positive. I like how it is going, so I will clamp the fan down more permanently now. I also will build a box on the side to hold the battery and use a 12v solar panel to charge the battery while in the field. Since my only complaint on this model is the fan noise, I will build another using two large computer fans that are virtually silent. My only concern is moving enough air to make a temperature difference.

I hope you have enjoyed my DIY project and try your own version. Please share with us if you build one or have any improvements to this design.

PC Sales Plummet, But are Windows 8 or iPad to Blame?

There is one reality bolstered by two bits of speculation getting loads of attention today. The reality is that sales of personal computers are abysmal, in fact they just hit the lowest point since the IDC started tracking numbers nearly 20 years ago. As happens whenever numbers are released for anything, analysts swoop in to rationalize and spin, which has led to two major speculations about the origins of the decline. All we know is that PC sales plummet, but are Windows 8 or iPad to blame? Let’s look at those two, and a few more dynamics at play:

Windows 8 is to blame – to say that Windows 8 sales have been lackluster is simply stating the obvious. The PC industry is trying to modernize to smaller, thinner systems that integrate touch, but those depend on Windows 8 which consumers haven’t exactly flocked to buy. In fact, rather than providing a boost in hardware sales, it seems reluctance to deal with the changes associated with Windows 8 might be slowing the PC industry. But this doesn’t make much sense to me – most manufacturers are willing to sell you a Windows 7 laptop or desktop that is ‘Windows 8 Ready’.

iPad / Tablet sales are to blame – I love my iPad and have called it my ’90% computer’. In other words, I can accomplish 90% of the tasks I need to do on my iPad. But what about the rest – syncing my Garmin, updating GPS maps, certain financial web sites and so on? Those are all critical tasks, and cannot be done on any tablet running iOS, Android, WebOS or WinRT. In reality, most tablet users don’t approach even 75% of their tasks on tablets, meaning they need a computer to handle everything else.

It is easy to see how both the lackluster performance of Windows 8 and the tremendous success of tablets have combined to dampen PC sales, but alone they are not enough to explain the seeming acceleration of the demise of the PC. So what else is contributing:

We are at a computer hardware crossroads – Windows 8 *had* to happen, and had to happen now, simply for Microsoft to remain relevant. The juggernaut of the iPad taught everyone that touchscreens worked and were efficient at doing loads of tasks (in 2010 many completely dismissed this possibility). As a result when people are shopping for a new computer they are more confused than they have been since the late 90s debating getting a desktop or laptop. They want to get something that will serve them now and last a while down the road. However, today they can hesitate like never before, because …

Much of what we do doesn’t need a new PC – what are the biggest uses of computers? Web browsing, email, Facebook, YouTube, and basic productivity programs. We bought my wife a decent i5 powered Sony laptop when we moved to New York … FIVE YEARS AGO. And guess what? Aside from random quirky behavior that required me to do some basic program maintenance, it still runs great and meets her needs.

Virtualized Services Means Hardware Independence – I mentioned above, but it is worth emphasizing – in the past a big part of the upgrade cycle was keeping up with application system requirements. Does anyone remember Word 6 for the Mac? You’d need more RAM, more hard disk space, a faster CD-ROM and eventually a new computer every few years. Now I can plan a new AAA game quite happily on a ultra-portable laptop with specs that don’t even keep up with my wife’s 5-year old Sony!

The other part of that is that with Google Docs, iTunes Match, Amazon Drive, DropBox and others, our stuff is seldom hogging hard drive space, so while I have a massive iTunes collection of music and apps and so on, much of it isn’t on my disk. As a result I no longer worry about disk space.

Smartphones Serve More Needs Than Ever – If you look at how my wife managed her digital life just six months ago (she had a LG EnV3 feature phone), you would see that she used her laptop multiple times a day. After I got the iPad Mini she started using my old iPad more and more, and suddenly her laptop usage dropped below 50%. But it was really after Christmas when we got her and the kids iPhones that things changed – suddenly her camera, messaging, Facebook, email, music, and so on were all in one place. Now she does about 75% of her stuff on the iPhone. And – she has remarked that in terms of searching for things or checking directions it is faster to use the phone … and the iPhone is faster than her Sony laptop!

Conclusions
There has been a lot of hand-wringing and finger-pointing about the cliff-dive of PC sales in recent months. But as you can see there isn’t a single factor at play but rather the confluence of events – tepid response to Windows 8, flattening computing power needs, the rise of tablets, cloud computing, and amazing smartphones have all come together to make the job of selling a new computer harder than ever.

And it goes beyond the mainstream – in any other year I would be due for a new computer. My Mac and gaming PC are each going to be 2 years old this year, and I have replaced on roughly a two-year cycle since … well, since the early 90s. But for this year my only decision is whether to get a iPad Mini or full iPad when the new versions arrive later this year.

What about you? How have your computer buying needs shifted in recent years, and to what do you attribute the drop in PC sales?

Who Has Your Digital Back in an Emergency

This past weekend my brother had a massive heart attack, and while he is now stable he has a long road ahead of him. Right after it happened he was treated – it was amazingly fortunate that it happened in a gym with a doctor next to him and a nurse on staff! It is a symptom of our far-flung society that aside from his ex-wife and high school daughter, I am the closest one in terms of distance – and I live nearly FOUR HOURS away! In situations like this it is worth asking who has your digital back in an emergency?

After I arrived that evening I met with the daughter and ex-wife, and later picked up his adult son from the train station, the focus was pretty clear – making sure his immediate survival needs were met, and communicating to everyone else in transit what was happening.

But we knew that the next morning we had some work to do – all of his belongings were left at the gym, and we had no idea exactly what was where. Then we needed to deal with notifying his work, getting his current insurance info, getting his doctor info to get all of his medical history (he’d had a small heart attack before), and so on.

But how do you even DO this stuff in the digital era?

When my father had a heart attack in the mid-80s it was very easy to consult our phone directory at home for numbers, pull out a physical folder with all of his doctor and medical info, and also consult our phone file for other friends and family who should be consulted.

Perhaps one GOOD thing is that in most households there are two obvious places people put this info: their smartphone and computer. He has two phones – a personal iPhone and a work Blackberry. We found the Blackberry at his apartment, which was GREAT! Oh wait, what is his passcode?! Fortunately his daughter knows the passwords to both phones. That allowed us to get into the phone, get the numbers of his boss and admin at work and call them – and since everyone has cell phones they were available to talk on the weekend and we got work resolved.

Next, since the divorce was fairly recent, his ex-wife had old records that were still stored at the house to grab the info from the earlier heart attack and also get messages to the offices of his doctors to send along the records. We found his current medical info in files at his apartment while looking for a spare car key, as the gym hadn’t immediately found everything.

We were also able to find his insurance card, which is something we could have done through his work but was out in the open as he had just gotten a new replacement card set. After heading back to the gym and getting his car, keys, wallet and iPhone we were all set – we had everything we needed.

And with his iPhone we also had his frequently texted contacts, email account, and even Facebook access – pretty much his entire digital identity. Sure we don’t have all of the passwords, but we had a starting point that allowed us to discuss a strategy if things had not gone well (fortunately they have!). This way, when he was waking up we had already contacted his closest friends so they could be ready to support him and visit as appropriate and allowed.

But all of this going well is a reminder of how easily it could have NOT gone well. If the relationship with his daughter was not good after the divorce then likely no one would have had his phone passwords. If the real estate market was such that they had already sold their house, who knows where his physical records would have been?

As an example, no one could remember his WiFi password at his apartment – we all had basic ideas and could probably have worked it out eventually, but imagine if that was one of his phones or something else critical?

Over at LifeHacker they have a great article about preparing your records for easy access in case something happens. It is really worth reading, and they even have a template. But here are the basics:
- Gather the absolutely essential hardcopy items such as Social Security Number, birth certificate, passport, etc. Scan those.
- Gather non-paper essentials such as account numbers, work and other critical contacts, passwords, and so on
- Export passwords – while many folks maintain a password file, LifeHacker recommens using an encrypted export from a password utility to keep it more secure.
- Share your file! You don’t want to broadcast it, but be sure that the few key people you need to trust in case something happens to you have access to this information. It would help if they were tech-savvy, but if not at least establish rules for keeping your information secure.
- Update regularly – put a reminder for every quarter in your calendar, and give your info a check.

By following these rules you can be assured that in case of an emergency, all of your information will be instantly accessible by those who you choose to handle your affairs in an emergency.

And as I was finishing this up Google announced that they were offering you the ability to ‘plan your digital afterlife’. What this entails is setting up a plan that will tell Google when to consider your account inactive and what to do with your information at that point. You can set a threshold of 3, 6, 9 or 12 months, and then have everything deleted. Or, you can designate a trusted person to get your information at that point, including: +1s; Blogger; Contacts and Circles; Drive; Gmail; Google+ Profiles, Pages and Streams; Picasa Web Albums; Google Voice and YouTube. Of course that is not something that would help you in an emergency, but helps your information get resolved when you are gone.

The bottom line is that as we move increasingly to non-physical methods of storing critical personal information we need to determine how to ensure that information is accessible to your loved ones in the case of an emergency. It seems that in 2013 I have already heard of people I know in terrible accidents at early ages, and the nurses were constantly noting how young my brother was for the floor … point being it is never too early to think about this stuff. Also, if you are an adult it is never too soon to create a Will.

How are YOU securing your information so that someone can ‘have your back’ in case of an emergency?

Google Sees Android OS Distribution Shift as it Changes Accounting Methods

Every month Google releases a report that details the distribution of the various Android operating system versions. These reports have long been used to see how slowly or quickly various versions are adopted and fade away. For as long as I could remember the accounting method used was simply having a device touched by Google Play, such as for an update or other communication that showed it was an active device. Starting this month that has changed and unsurprisingly Google sees Android OS distribution shift as it changes accounting methods.

If you ask ‘what is the purpose’ of these monthly reports, you will get a different answer from pretty much everyone. Not because of the intended reason, but rather because of HOW the data has been used over time. The intent was to help developers understand the target audience distribution as they develop apps. However, it has been used and misused as a metric for wide-spread fragmentation of the Android ecosystem.

However, unsurprisingly some sites have immediately jumped on the data as showing a HUGE upswing in the adoption of Android Jelly Bean. The newest versions (4.1x-4.2x) jumped from 16% to 25%, while Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0x) remained flat and Gingerbread (2.3) dropped several percentage points. While the general movement is expected, the magnitude would not be anticipated.

Now I am not accusing Google of trying to hide this information, in fact they were very up front about it, listing it before the graphs and tables:

“Note: Beginning in April, 2013, these charts are now built using data collected from each device when the user visits the Google Play Store. Previously, the data was collected when the device simply checked-in to Google servers. We believe the new data more accurately reflects those users who are most engaged in the Android and Google Play ecosystem.”

Not only that, I think that Google is ABSOLUTELY CORRECT in making this change. Why? Think about it – if you are an app developer and you walk into a room of 100 people, all of whom have Android smartphones, what you really care about is the 60% of them who will actively visit the Google Play store looking for apps, rather than the 40% who perhaps grabbed a couple of apps like Pandora when they got their phone a year or so and have never returned. That’s right – you care about the demographics for the people who will actually be grabbing your app!

So while I had an immediately cynical reaction upon hearing this accounting change, upon taking a few seconds to reflect I found myself in total agreement with the move and the reasoning behind it … and also reminded myself that these fan sites need to stop using every bit of data as a hammer to assert their favored brand over the competition.

The era of the sixty-dollar shooter desperately needs an end. Modern game distribution exists in a broken system. As a recent Gamasutra article has detailed, recent NPD data shows a noticeable decline in both hardware and software sales. The Wii U, the first next-gen console to hit the market, has shown us a dreadful, if not silent, first three months. Developers continue to pump out online passes and DLC, while piracy has become as commonplace a habit as wearing skinny jeans. In the long term, Microsoft and Sony could be poised to turn the tables by restricting the use of used games on their forthcoming consoles. It’s a dire situation we’re in, but not one that can’t be fixed.

A graph showing industry-wide hardware sales decline. That little blue line on the bottom represents Wii U sales.

Let’s talk about indie developers. Apt to create meaningful content while maintaining financial viability, many studios are rethinking sales and distribution. Independent devs have always been some of the most resourceful in the industry, and that’s not something that’s likely to change. From the early successes of the Humble Bundle to the latest Anodyne ads on The Pirate Bay, these small-time teams are always looking to keep games affordable, accessible, and innovative. Yet, even with all the corner-cutting and creative marketing in the world, these games are still undersold. Even with sub-ten dollar price tags, they’re still the victims of piracy.

The truth is, all current game studios are working in an overcrowded ecosystem. We distribute games in a way that rewards pirates with variety, and punishes buyers with cumbersome DLC passes and superfluous add-ons. The simplest solution seems to be the Radiohead approach, the ‘pay-what-you-want’ mantra that wrings out the guilty for the most cash. It’s an improvement over blatant burglary, but one that warps the value of human effort and artistic integrity. Even worse, it tempts some legitimate buyers into paying nothing, and guilts others into overpaying.

Back In 2007, it was considered a huge gamble to give away music for free. This Free-to-Pay practice has become increasingly commonplace over time.

So how to we fix the system? How can we stop a twelve-hour game like Uncharted from costing the price of a three-month Gamefly subscription? Stepping backwards in time, some may remember the arcade mentalities of our past. Retro titles, like Pac-Man and Super Mario Bros., kept us crunching quarters by raising the intensity of player investment. By employing threadbare narrative techniques, social scoring, and structured levels of increasing difficulty, these titles motivated us to keep playing, while constantly snacking on the contents of our wallets. This brings us to an element of interactive entertainment that I call ‘physicality of consequence.’ Even with a wager as paltry as a quarter or arcade token, a player’s sense of risk and reward is critically heightened. Pushing forward becomes the result of a melting-pot mixture of discovery, competition, and gambling—with each component adding to a player’s sense of excitement, investment, and ultimately, consequence.

If we can both acknowledge contemporary distribution practices like ‘pay-what-you-want,’ and look back to our arcade past, a solution to our broken system begins to emerge. With developers and critics alike heralding ‘Free-to-Pay’ as the industry’s saving grace, it seems a synthesis of these tactics could serve as the most dynamic solution. Imagine crafting a linear, story-driven game like Gears of War or Infamous, but on the basis that the game could be downloaded and played for free. The idea is to get the player invested in the game, give them a few lives, and then offer more at a price. This would be enough to propel the user into the game’s story and mechanics, but not enough to allow for a proper play-through—the digital equivalent of adding another quarter. In many ways, this type of system would eliminate the need for game demos, while also encouraging studios to craft longer, more immersive games.

A handful of quarters may not seem like a large investment, but the cost adds up quickly.

‘Micro-transaction’ isn’t a popular word to throw around, but given the successes of the casual-gaming generation, it seems appropriate to rethink the way games are purchased and consumed. With this proposal—having ‘lives’ (chances to continue) sold individually or in bulk, the cost of a single play-through could easily reach back up to current MSRPs. However, in this case, the cost would be somewhat more proportionate to the length and difficulty of the game. Additionally, it would make the industry seem more affordable, regardless of whether or not it actually is. As far as distribution is concerned, this would also get a larger, more varied number of games into the digital ‘hands’ of consumers.

Looking to the future, the infrastructure for this type of payment reform is already in place. Services like Xbox Live and Nintendo’s Virtual Console require users to convert their dollars into a valueless, point-based, digital currency. It’s the neo-arcade token, and it works surprisingly well. Even without the conversion factor, Steam, the PlayStation Network, Apple’s App Store, and Google Play provide some of the same services, and could easily be adapted to this new structure.

In the end, one of the largest roadblocks to the institution of this type of system is a consumer backlash. Everyone seems to whine at the mention of any new Facebook redesign or optional downloadable content, which simply reinforces the objective truth that human beings just don’t like change. Unfortunately, in most tech-based industries, change is the undisputed standard. It’s the only constant, forcing companies and consumers alike to adapt to new circumstances. If recent statistics are any indication, it’s time for our industry to rethink how games are funded and distributed. In other words, it’s time for the era of the sixty-dollar shooter to come to an end, not to mention the all-embracing piracy that threatens our medium.

As Cliff Bleszinski recently stated: “If you don’t like the games, or the sales techniques, don’t spend your money on them. You vote with your dollars.” Here’s a chance to make that statement more truthful and relevant than it’s ever been. What are we waiting for?

Another Way iPhone Beats Android – Battery Life in the Dungeon!

We all know that it is an Apple & Samsung world – and pretty much everywhere I go I carry both my Apple iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S3. They are both excellent phones, and I highly recommend both of them to anyone looking for a phone – each has strengths and weaknesses, just like any other device. Don’t believe the hype whenever someone tells you one is ‘far superior’ to the other: it simply meets their personal needs better. Recently my work has required me to be at a remote manufacturing facility where there is no cell phone signal but there is WiFi. I set up both phones to use WiFi and by the end of the day I found another way iPhone beats Android – battery life in the dungeon!

Most older tech lovers remember before businesses had repeaters and amplifiers to deal with the massive signal degradation caused by concrete and steel – I remember having to shut off phones before entering our wafer fab building otherwise the phone would be hot and dead in a few hours. That same ‘signal hunting’ goes on now even with smartphones, and if you are in a no-signal zone for too long your phone will end up running through the battery. That is simply because phones REALLY want a signal lock and will desperately expend power trying to find and lock on a signal.

But more recently smartphones have allowed users to link up to WiFi networks. This allows for faster data transfer (in some cases), and it doesn’t use up your precious data allocation. Most smartphone users spend upwards of 90% of their time ion WiFi coverage, and smartphone makers have increasingly allowed functionality over WiFi that was previously reserved for cell data – in particular messaging.

But the question it – how should a smartphone manage power in an area of abundant WiFi but no cell coverage?

Turns out that iOS and Android have different answers! During my very first trip I discovered that while the iPhone battery lasts all day long, the Galaxy S3 will generally be totally dead by lunch – and these phones would normally have more or less equal battery life! My iPhone is my primary device, meaning I am using it all day long; the Galaxy S3 will sometimes sit in my bag most of the day.

To test it further I set up an experiment: since I have the same email accounts, Twitter, Facebook and so on installed on both devices, it was easy to partition what I looked at and where. What I did was only let myself check my phone every 30 minutes (unless a text came in), and alternated email and social media and RSS between the phones. I did this every day for a week (5 days).

The results?
- By lunch time (I had been at the plant ~4-5 hours) each day the iPhone still have >80% battery, whereas the Galaxy S3 had <10%.
- By the end of the day (we are doing ~12-13 hour days) the iPhone had >50% and the Galaxy S3 was long since dead.
- The last two days I plugged the Galaxy S3 into the PowerStick+ just after lunch to keep it on life support … and on both days by the time I left the PowerStick+ was nearly drained and the Galaxy S3 had ~20-25% battery remaining.

So there it is – Apple has figured out a way to keep your battery alive when you are totally out of cell signal range … and Samsung just keeps draining the battery in hopes that cell signal will come along and save it. This is not a normal use case, far from it – most people are around at least decent cell signal a lot of the time. But if you know you will be in a dead zone, this is one more bit of data to help you decide what phone is right for you.

Image courtesy Guardian UK

The fine folks at Forbes raised an interesting question this week: are eBooks really books? Their take is that eBooks are more like software, due to their digital nature. And yes, they are looking specifically at the education markets. But this touches on a larger debate, one that comes up quite often. Opponents of eBooks argue that they are not really books, because the book experience is not the same. Now, I rarely get to dust off my philosophy degree, but this seems like the sort of debate that lends itself quite well to a simple analysis of the identity of a book. Does moving from the physical to the digital alter the nature of the item? Is an eBook a book? Or is it something else?

First, we need to establish the nature of a book. Is it a pile of papers bound together? Does the act of publishing make it a book? Or is it a broader concept, one that can be defined by content and not physicality? Let’s start with content. Roughly speaking, a book is a narrative of fiction or non-fiction, typically with a defined theme and a beginning, middle, and conclusion. We cannot use word count as an accurate measurement, since most would consider a book aimed at children to be a book, yet this would come in well below the word count of a book written for an adult audience. So loose narrative structure of the written word is probably the simplest way to define the content aspect.

The physical book is also difficult to define clearly. Do you define it as a bound grouping of papers? Again, variations mean we cannot narrow it down to type of paper, or even the type of binding used. Is the act of printing the book enough to define it as a book? Printing translates the written word to the physical world, but a book can be handwritten as well. Further, unless you are working with a manual printing press like Gutenberg, the printed word is stored electronically before ink meets paper. Given that the mere act of printing is simply transferring the electronic file to a physical form, and since the act of printing itself has moved on quite dramatically from the early days of movable typesets, it seems unlikely that this alone defines a book.

There are those who say that any printed form, bound and held together as a continuous work, is a book, while keeping it stuck behind a screen makes it “other”. They argue that a book is defined by the sum of its parts, that everything from the printed pages to turning the pages and cover art all help define “book” quite clearly. But the book does not solely exist in print or electronic form. No one objects to prefacing “book” with “audio” to form a spoken word version of a book. Yet this is even farther from the book than the purely electronic version. Listening is a different act than reading, and audiobooks by their nature exert extra editorial control that the written word does not; the inflection and tone in a narration can alter how it can be perceived and interpreted by the reader/listener. Yet the people who object vociferously to the electronic book do not bring up the audiobook. Is this because audiobooks occupy a niche so far outside the norm of a book that they pose no threat to the paper book? Or is it that by allowing for an instance where a book can, in fact, break free from the confines of printed and bound paper, a precedent is set for the electronic version to still be a book?

In fact, there is one clear way an eBook and paper book demonstrate how much closer they are to each other than an audiobook is to either of them. A paper book can be scanned into a computer and the resulting file can be converted into a readable eBook. Likewise, an eBook can be converted to a printable format, and with enough patience, printed and bound like a book. These can be done very easily with any personal computer. The act of converting an audiobook to a printed book and vice versa is far more specialized. When an ebook can convert to a paper book, and paper books to ebooks, the insistence on a strong distinction between the two gets even more silly.

So far we have seen a few ways that the basic objections to an ebook not meeting the standards of a book are flawed. The most damning and difficult of the objections, though, is with respect to ownership. At this time, due to corporate policies and concerns about copyright, many commercially sold ebooks contain digital rights management, or DRM. Because the consumer does not control the authorization or maintenance of the DRM, there is the risk, however unlikely, that a book purchased from a bookstore may become unusable in the future. This is a limitation paper books purchased from a store do not have. In addition, and as a related concern, an electronic book can be altered easily, while mistakes or changes in paper books cannot be altered but must be reprinted.

Let’s start by unpacking the concerns about DRM and whether this makes ownership an ephemeral concept. Any ebook can be downloaded and stored in an offline fashion via a hard drive or solid state storage, thus giving the purchaser some physical control over his or her copy of the book. Further, there are many solutions, some more simple than others, that allow a user to remove the DRM from an ebook entirely. Other ebooks can be purchased without any DRM encumbering them, so the DRM is not a defining characteristic of an ebook as a whole, just something specific to certain ebooks. So ownership and control can be established in an ebook regardless of DRM. While this requires some effort on the part of the consumer, this is not so different from locking ones door to keep thieves from removing physical books from your home. Establishing ownership requires insuring the items are in your possession and if there is concern that the digital nature of an ebook removes a layer of ownership protection there are ways to address that.

In addition, ownership is not a requirement to being considered a book. If it were, library books would need to go by a new name, as libraries own books and merely loan them to patrons. The patron must abide by the library’s rules regarding the handling and care of the book, and no one doubts the library owns the book, not the reader. So while ownership may be important to a reader, it is not a defining characteristic of a book and cannot be used to remove the “book” from “ebook”.

The library also gives us a way to address the most troubling objection to ebooks. A digital file is mutable, and so the written word can be adjusted or twisted even after it has been published, leading to concerns about censorship and rewrites. This is a danger with ebooks, and one that leads back to both saving offline copies as well as determining whether you have trust in the retailer selling the ebook. At the same time, school libraries have had their own clashes over censorship. A book is carried one day and banned the next, or removed and replaced with a different version. This is also an issue in countries where information is tightly controlled. So while the ebook is at risk for someone reaching in and changing it, content control and censorship is not unique to the ebook. Not to mention, a digital file is much harder to burn than a stack of paper.

In the end it is clear that the ebook is a fraternal twin to the paper book. They share enough characteristics in common that to say an ebook is not a book is to be unnecessarily narrow-minded. Denying the ebook, while allowing all manner of children’s picture books, photo-heavy books, hardcovers with premium paper, mass market paperbacks with poor quality paper, and other permutations of print to be “books” based solely on an arbitrary physical distinction is to ignore the true nature of a book: it is a vehicle to convey information and content using the written word. Printing is optional.

Cast of BBC4 radio play of Neil Gaiman’s “NeverWhere” (Image courtesy of RadioTimes)

I quite literally just took my headphones off after listening to a broadcast–and believe me, the word “broad” is appropriate here–of the first episode of a radio play of Neil Gaiman’s (absolutely wonderful–buy it immediately) book “Neverwhere”. I jumped right on WordPress and started typing up this post because first:  I thought you all should know about this truly wonderful radio play, before it’s all over (though it will be available as a podcast!).  But second, it got me wondering about the current age we live in, entertainment-wise, and how we may actually be experiencing one of them so-called “Golden Ages”.

As a kid who grew up in the deep heart of the TV age (“The Brady Bunch”! “The Sonny and Cher Show”!  ”The Love Boat”!  You get the picture.), I heard a lot from my grandparents–and certain Woody Allen movies–about “the Golden Age of Radio”.  As I got older, I read about more “Golden Ages”, from the Golden Age of Greece to the Bronze Age of comics.  They get defined a lot.  And in one book I read that “those that are in a golden age know not they’re in it.”  Being the contrarian jerk that I am, I felt that, hey, I’m going to keep an eye out for these things, dammit!

Which brings us to Neil Gaiman’s “Neverwhere” (a bit obliquely).  ”NeverWhere” was originally an urban fantasy TV show broadcast by the BBC in 1996 and written by Neil Gaiman right at the tail end of his award-winning run on the (also highly recommended) comic book “The Sandman”.  Unfortunately for Gaiman (and we fans), the budget kept getting cut, and the show didn’t achieve the standards Gaiman hoped for, or the ratings they wanted.  But Gaiman must have like the idea, because he turned it into the urban fantasy novel “NeverWhere”, a book about a man who accidentally discovers a parallel London Below, the London of people who have “fallen through the cracks”, and live in a magical version of London cheek-by-jowel with the London of the TV show “Sherlock” and the Queen and the London Tube and black taxis and such–ordinary London.  And not to put too fine a point on it:  I find “NeverWhere” to be absolutely wonderful.  One of my very favorite works by Gaiman, who is (in turn) one of my very favorite authors.  It’s funny, and spooky, and sometimes terrifying, and all too believable.  I’m amazed more people haven’t plumbed this particular world (and even more amazed Gaiman hasn’t penned a sequel).  The juxtaposition of Richard Mayhew’s quite-literal everyman character with all this bizarreness is riveting.  And now Gaiman has managed to get it produced as an excellent, top-notch radio programme.  (See what I did there?  Ha!)

And as I was listening to “NeverWhere”, streaming it on my iPhone via an app, listening to its great acting, the sound effects, and all the other trappings of a great radio show like “The Shadow” or some such, it occurred to me:  We might be in a Golden Age of audio right now.  With the plethora of podcasts available, everything from analysis of the works of Sherlock Holmes (“The Baker Street Babes”) to “Daily Show”-style fake news and analysis programs (“The Bugle”, with John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman) to fan-inspired personal projects about canceled shows as various as “Firefly” and “Farscape” and (of course) “Dr. Who”, to most anything you can imagine, really.  Polyamory; mediaeval culture; marijuana legalization; gun owners rights; anything.

Which is my point.  If this ain’t a golden age of audio listening, with hundreds of shows and quite literally tens of millions of listeners, then I don’t know what is.  But what do you think?  Podcasts and more portable listening devices and apps making this a sort-of golden age of audio listening?  Or is ol’ Doug just blowing smoke?  Share your thoughts below!

Neil Gaiman’s “NeverWhere” radio play is available for listening all this coming week on BBC4 Radio (if you’re in the UK), or via radio streaming utilities such as the iOS and Android app TuneIn Radio.  At the conclusion, it will be available as a podcast for download–see the “Download-Drama of the Week” section at the bottom of the main BBC Radio4 NeverWhere page for info.  (But it has Benedict Cumberbatch in it, and that’s probably enough for some folks, eh?)  Give it a listen!  (Or buy the novel.)

Image courtesy shopsavvy

Moving requires Sarah and me to be good little consumers and spend money. It’s inevitable that there are household items that need to be purchased or upgraded, and we have countless lists of “to buy”. We’re trying hard to watch our bottom line, and yes, we’ve definitely engaged in what has been called “showrooming”, or checking out items in a store and then purchasing them online for less money. But there have been a few times when we’ve been impressed enough with the customer service we encountered that price became less important than having a smooth, easy transaction. When retailers got it right, we walked away very happy and intent on shopping there again … when they got it wrong, though, they managed to get it very wrong.

The first positive experience came from Target, where we went to buy a television. The employee in the electronic’s department was polite and quickly located someone to get the TV from the back. When it took more than a moment, he updated us that the issue was the location of the TV (high up on a shelf), and it would just be another minute or so. Once we went to check out, we received the requisite REDcard pitch, and after I said no, he didn’t bring it up again. At the end of the transaction, he even had a flatbed hand truck handy to bring the television right out to our car. We were in and out in no time at all, and we didn’t even have to lug a very large item by ourselves through the store.

Then we went to buy a vacuum from Sears. You would think buying a $100 vacuum would be even easier than buying a relatively high ticket item like a TV; you’d be wrong. Apparently buying a vacuum from Sears means the employee puts you through 20 questions so you can sign up for their “Sears Rewardpoints” program, and they make it as difficult as possible. Plus the employee was very worried that I didn’t opt for the extended service plan (only $24,99! For a $100 vacuum…hmm…no.) I had to explain repeatedly that we weren’t interested. On top of that, we had a gift card we wanted to use for the bulk of the purchase, and the register had trouble with the card. It took several tries to get us rung up, and no one apologized or was remotely friendly about the delay. We only went into Sears because we had a gift card, and that experience was enough to turn us off from ever shopping there again. The Sears customer service was horrible; there’s nothing worse than being upsold repeatedly after saying no, except maybe standing there wasting time while someone tries to figure out how to scan a gift card. Honestly, I would pay more to buy something online just to avoid ever shopping in Sears again, which is probably not the experience the store was aiming for.

Rounding out our big box experience was Buy, Buy, Baby (owned by Bed, Bath, and Beyond). I was trying to track down a gift for someone, and I called the store with a question. At this point, I’m pretty well-trained to navigate the complex world of phone menus. “Press 1 for store hours. Press 2 for directions. Press 3 for our website. Press 4 to repeat these options. Press 39420030-2-1-1–1-1 if you’d like to speak to a customer service representative, or just wait on the line. The estimated wait time is 500 minutes.” Surprisingly, someone answered the phone on the first ring at Buy, Buy, Baby; I called twice, and both times someone answered at once. On top of that, the people I spoke to were helpful and knowledgeable. Again, the customer service and overall experience made it convenient and pleasant to deal with the store over the website, and that was what made me want to shop in-store, not pricing!

It’s easy to hold up price as the scapegoat for what’s killing retailers, but price is a narrow part of the equation. Being treated with respect, an acknowledgment that I don’t want to waste my time, and something as simple as answering the phone make a retailer a desirable place to shop. The reverse is also true: without friendly staff, or when aggressive sales tactics are used, I’d rather just skip the retail experience altogether. Cutting prices may help short-term, but hiring and training friendly employees is what will make the difference in the long run!

Do you base your shopping experience on customer service? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi)–my first foray into trade show/events in a while

I don’t go to many trade shows or other events.  Gear Diary’s editors, such as Judie, Dan, or CarlyZ, are usually the ones who take on that burden/honor.  It’s not that I don’t want to; I rarely have the opportunity.  But Chevy is running a promotional event about their hybrid Volt during South by Southwest Interactive (i.e., SXSW Interactive), and as Judie is on vacation and our go-to superlative car guy David Goodspeed couldn’t make it, your humble news guy was asked to step into the breech.  So for the next few days, you’ll see some event missives from an unusual source.

But as I really am a newbie at something like this–the last event I went to was the Seybold desktop publishing show back in 1992–I’m going to try to give you a bit of a newcomers approach to all this.  Herein is my Day 1 overall impressions of SXSW Interactive.  (I’ll do more details on the events I attended in other posts.)

I was lucky enough to pick up my badge on the first day (Friday) of SXSW Interactive at a “satellite” location (the Palmer Events Center), and thus quite literally didn’t have to wait in any lines.  I overheard any number of stories from other attendees, though, to realize that this was most definitely not a common occurrence.  The moral:  Get your badges/passes/tickets as early as possible.  Of course, given that I actually live in Austin, this is a lot easier for me to accomplish than someone who came from (judging by the languages I heard) eastern Europe, or Japan, or South America.

Which brings me to another thing I noticed:  It’s packed.  And for a nerd, this is reassuring.  I’ve been to conventions–Star Trek conventions and such.  But when you grow up as a geek and a computer nerd, you feel pretty isolated.  Being a nerd in the 70s and early 80s was most assuredly not cool or hip in any way.  It’s incredibly comforting to see so many nerds, of so many different types–goth nerds, punkish nerds, your classic overweight nerd-with-pocket-protector-and-glasses type, Anime nerds, comics nerds, gaming nerds at SXSW Interactive.  Makes you feel not so alone.  When a physicist is the big draw (Elon Musk!), you know you’re with a different kind of crowd.  As Hardison from the late, lamented TV show “Leverage” often pointed out, “It’s the age of the geek, baby!”

I was interested to see how people take notes while at SXSW Interactive, and I was kind of surprised to see that a lot of folks . . . don’t.  Yes, some people have laptops, even more have iPads (or other tablets)– I didn’t see very many iPad minis, though–but the number of people simply sitting and listening was by far the largest percentage.  This was the case, at least, at the events I attended.  (And as far as I could tell, I was the only person nutty enough to be banging away on a Bluetooth keyboard while using Evernote with an iPhone.  Even at a nerd conference, I’m outside the norm!)

One last note from my first day before the “real” posts start rolling out:  At an event like this, it’s almost impossible to figure out the best events to put on your own personal calendar.  There are literally dozens of things going on simultaneously, and choosing between them can be difficult.  The big ticket items–I’m not going to miss Rachel Maddow, dammit!”–are easy.  The rest of your schedule?  Not so much.

And I’m not a young’un any more; six hours of running from one event to another, wandering around giant exhibition halls, chatting with people, asking questions at panel discussions, is a lot for me.  I have no idea how Judie or Dan or Francis or Carly or anyone else, for that matter, does it for eight or twelve or however long they manage it at events like CES.  Me ‘at’s off to ye!

More coming, so watch this space!

Unlocking Cellphones is now illegal, but a White House petition may change that.
(Image courtesy of Leaksource)

It used to be that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) had an exception which allowed unlocking cellphones (i.e., unlocking the phone from carrier exclusivity through the use of an unlock code — purchased from a third-party or obtained directly from the carrier).  However, in October of 2012, the Librarian of Congress decided that this exception was no longer valid, and so unlocking cellphones would now be illegal and subject to prosecution, fines, and all the other fun stuff that illegality brings.

Not too long thereafter, Sina Khanifar decided that this was unfair, unreasonable, and shouldn’t be the case, so Sinfa started a petition on the White House petition site to get this change rescinded.  (Take a look at Sina’s post on the topic from February 3, 2013.)  And believe it or not, today the White House issued an official response, wherein they agreed that you should be able to unlock your phone without risk of criminal penalties or prosecution.  So score one for the voice of the people!

While at first blush this may seem like an easy call, during a discussion about this a couple of weeks back, some folks on Gear Diary had pointed out that when you get a phone through a carrier (via a pretty large discount in the price by agreeing to a two-year contract), it’s not unreasonable for those carriers to expect to lock you in for that period; after all, you’ve signed a contract!

On the flip side, of course, are issues like:  What if the two-year contract has expired?  What if you give your old iPhone to your kid as a gift, and it no longer even has a phone number associated with it (making it just an iPod Touch in essence)?  How would this be enforceable; by the government tracking all the phones in the country and getting a notification if one were unlocked?  (Ugh!)  And of course there is the issue of:  I paid for this thing, how come it isn’t mine?  (And after the contract is up, I believe it should be.  You paid your dues, as it were.)

But in any event, the White House has now weighed in, and hopefully this will soon be a closed issue.  Thank you, Voice of the People!  And thanks too to the White House, both for responding, and for their thoughtful response.  (Clearly there are some tech savvy people in the White House.)

So what’s your opinion?  Think it’s reasonable for phone companies and manufacturers to prevent you from unlocking your phone?  Or do you think it’s their prerogative?  Share your thoughts with us below!

Electric Cars: Is 99 miles per charge enough?

One of the things I have been thinking about since the eruption of the Tesla/New York Times feud, is whether electric cars are truly practical yet for the average family. I’m not talking about a $100,000 Tesla S, or taking a road trip up the Mid-Atlantic coast in the middle of a harsh winter; I’m talking about for local driving, commutes around town, etc. Can electric cars fit into a real life scenario well, or are there just too many drawbacks?

For me, the biggest issue is the range. Even if it’s just tooling around town, the miles can add up quickly. Last weekend Sarah and I ran a handful of errands. It started out with a trip to a quick morning appointment and breakfast, which turned out to be 20 miles round trip. We were home for an hour, then headed back out from my parents house to our future house (20 miles), from the new house to a furniture store (another 7 miles), to the movies, and then on the back to my parents again (20 more miles). Altogether, that’s almost 70 miles of driving in one day. It’s a bit unusual, as we usually don’t do quite that much driving in one weekend, but some of it included spontaneous detours for furniture shopping and the movies.

What would worry me if we’d used an electric vehicle with a 100 mile range (like a Nissan Leaf), is that we would be down to a very narrow range before running out of juice. 100 miles sounds like a lot of miles, but we blew through close to that in one day without even noticing. If I hadn’t added it up for this thought experiment, I would never have guessed that we had covered that much. It makes me wonder whether an all-electric vehicle is truly practical for a spread out, suburban existence.

This isn’t an entirely hypothetical conversation. Sarah’s car lease is up in about a year and we are slowly discussing what her next vehicle should be. I drive a Prius, and we take it everywhere; I can’t even begin to quantify the savings over the last few years, but it has been a great investment. We debated electric cars, but our lives are just a touch too spread out; we both drive 15-20 miles each way to work, and having a car that would require being recharged or swapped out at the slightest detour or deviation from routine would not fit for us, as much as we would love to try.

Do you drive an electric car? Have you had any experiences with range issues? Let us know in the comments!

First Apple dumped Samsung. Now is Nokia dumping Samsung for copying their technology?

I have been critical or at least suspicious of Samsung for many years for simple reasons: I find that they employ an ‘end justifies the means’ mentality, paired with a ‘fast follower’ technical approach, that allows them to overtake competitors with solid products that too-closely resemble the competition. Micron was the leading memory company in the world until they fell victim of Samsung, Apple is parting ways with Samsung after a few years of bitter lawsuits over technology copying, and now AppleInsider poses the question “Is Nokia dumping Samsung for copying their technology?” in their post Nokia rumored to join Apple in dumping Samsung as a supplier.

Why does this matter? Because for Samsung, mobile devices provide a much-needed new revenue stream – but being a massive semiconductor supplier is their ‘bread & butter’. This presents a challenge – they are simultaneously making components designed by others in one division while making devices that compete with those very components in another division. The potential for conflict of interest is huge, which is why Samsung has always said they have a ‘strict internal firewall’.

But ‘sources’ have told AppleInsider that the internal firewall is as “about as sturdy as a pile of kimchi.” (and as kimchi is a fermented vegetable dish, that isn’t very sturdy). They are claiming that Samsung has been stealing the technology developments of others such as Nokia and releasing them in Samsung products.

Do we know if any of this is true? Absolutely not – we will never know all the inner workings of the memory market of the late 80s, we will probably never know the truth about Apple vs. Samsung, we will not know if Samsung really did steal even of LGs OLED design patents … and we won’t ever truly know if Samsung has been stealing technology from Nokia.

And I want to make a clear distinction between stealing technology and making good products. The Galaxy SIII and Galaxy Note II are excellent devices; they contain many unique features, and they are well worth your time and money. However, that has nothing to do with whether any of the technology inside was actually designed by others.

But I tell you this much: if I was looking for a foundry to build chips for my cool new Consumer Electronics product, I would talk to TSMC, or SMIC, or UMC or Tower … but I would NOT talk to Samsung.

Utilizing Smartphones in School

When I began teaching, no students and few teachers had cell phones. Most of the classrooms did not even have internet and everything was accomplished with books, pen and paper. Of course, as of late, every student has a phone. In fact, in my current classes, every student but one has either an iPhone or an Android phone. As phones began to become more prevalent, it was a constant battle making sure they were turned off and never in sight; this was a cat and mouse game that drove teachers and administrators to their wit’s end, although as long as the kids were not using them, I never go too worked up over seeing them.

A couple of years ago, I was reviewing a class for state standardizing testing and had just reviewed Ace Flashcards. I decided to let my class download any app they could find and begin making their flashcards on their phones. Permission had to be granted from the principal, and I had to monitor them closely as they worked. Before long, the students were using those apps for all of their courses, and they were raving about how convenient it was. This practice has continued in my class, and it has become the standard for all of my students.

This school year, I have found a lot of great lessons that require group participation and research; while this is fantastic, both computer labs are occupied during my classes. I decided last week to have the kids get their phones out so they could do their group research over Russia and the republics. In just a few minutes, the room was full of quietly working students … and then I heard the distinctive beep of Siri. The student said, “What is the birth rate of Romania?” Siri said she would find that and the group gave a collective, “yesss!” A few minutes later, the entire room was beeping with kids talking into their phones. The room became a frenzy of work. After the lesson, one of the students told me how awesome that was and they learned so much about their assigned country.

I now have a new way of incorporating what used to require a trip to the computer lab into any of my daily lessons. Hopefully we are able to move our classrooms from a battle zone against mobile computing to a place that embraces and uses the opportunity before us. Why avoid enriching activities due to computer availability constraints, when almost all of the students have the technology in their pocket?

For those wondering, when I let them use their phones for class, I have never encountered a problem with usage. Granted, we have great kids, but maybe giving them a little trust and responsibility also helps to bring great results. In the future I plan on allowing students with tablets and laptops to use WiFi to stay connected during class.

We are utilizing smartphones in school, and the future of education is exciting! What about you? Are you a teacher using smartphones in the classroom? Or are you a student that is using them? Or are smartphones still verboten at your school?

My Windows 8 Upgrade Odyssey

I have to give you a disclaimer right up front:  So far, BOTH computers I have that run Windows 8 have required a complete re-installation of Windows 8.  I do not find the OS to be inherently stable, and if you are buying a new computer or tablet that runs Windows 8, I would encourage you to BACK UP FREQUENTLY.  If I had the option to choose between Windows 7 or Windows 8 on my computer, I would choose Windows 7 every time.  However, for a tablet running Windows 8 that was designed to do so, it is less of an issue.  But I would still back up frequently, particularly any documents or photos that you want to make sure you’ll be able to access.  Take advantage of free cloud storage from Dropbox, SkyDrive, Box or SugarSync, so that if you have a problem with your computer, you will still be able to access your important files!

Now, knowing that I feel there are problems with Windows 8, why would I still want to run it?  Well, at the end of the day it suits ME better (on my tablet anyway) better than an iPad or Android tablet.  Being able to run full versions of my software (MS Office, Snag-It and a few others) just makes my life easier, and I’m used to it.  No one (including me) expects Windows to run without issue — although the fact that errors and problems are so readily accepted by Windows users is a whole ‘nother discussion!

So, what caused me to have to do a complete re-installation on my tablet?  For a reason that no one understands, my Samsung ATIV 500T would often not be wakeable from a sleep or hibernation state.  The Samsung splash screen would flash for a moment, and then you were left at a grey or black screen and nothing would get it past that state except a hard reboot.  Any Windows user knows that constantly doing hard reboots winds up causing progressively more problems each time, especially if you had open programs or files when you did the reboot.  So, in addition to not waking, I had lost access to all of my Library files, which include Documents, Music, Photos & Videos.  THAT was a problem too big to try to find a work-around.

So, I did what most Windows users would, and attempted a System Restore to an earlier time when I was not having those problems.  Unfortunately, after running the system restore, the tablet would not fully boot, and it would only take me to the recovery & repair options screen.  I attempted a repair, but had no luck.  So then I chose what Windows 8 calls a “Refresh” which is supposed to leave your files, but set everything else back to the factory settings, while leaving your apps in place.  I misunderstood their term “app” however, thinking that it encompassed software I had installed as well, but it did not.  It didn’t even keep most of my app store purchases actually.  It uninstalled everything, including my printer drivers and MS Office!  It also erased all of my personal data and settings.  I might have been okay with the “refresh” if it were not for the fact that I STILL could not access my library folders, and which forced me into doing a complete factory restore.

On my desktop computer, I ran into errors in the store, and it would not let me download the apps I had already purchased on my tablet.  It kept popping up with an error no matter what app I tried to download.  After a bit of research, I discovered that it may have to do with the fact that I didn’t set up the desktop originally to allow location-based information.  I just didn’t think that it was necessary for a stationary desktop.  But, it’s possible that something in the store thinks that I have to have it.

In the process of trying to track down that error, that I realized that I hadn’t used my upgrade code for the Windows Media Center pack, and went to enter that code.  After I entered the code and the computer restarted, the failed to boot, 3 times in a row!  After the third failed attempt to boot, I was automatically taken to a recovery center.  This used to be only on a repair disc that you had to keep with Windows, so it was nice to see it built-in, but not nice to wind up in!  Nothing that I could do there helped me, and the next restart got me a Critical Process Died error.  Research online told me that there was NO way to recover from that kind of error, and that even people with brand new computers were sometimes getting that error and wound up having to send their computers in to have the hard drives replaced on them.  Not good news!

So now, I have 2 computers running Windows 8 and BOTH have needed complete rebuilding & restoration of the hard drive and all files and software.  This is NOT a fun game!

When the poop hit the fan!

On the desktop, it really wasn’t that big of a deal, because I had been backing myself up along the way.  I did a full disc check, and long format of the hard drive and then restored my clean Windows 7 installation and then reinstalled Windows 8.  The second time around, I allowed the location services during the setup.  The first place I went was into the store, and now, there was no problem being able to download my apps.

The tablet was another story!  When you refresh your computer, it kindly gives you a list of the software it decides to uninstall during the refresh, and it was horrifying!  It not only took off the software & apps that I installed, it took off most of the OEM software including the Wacom and Bluetooth drivers!  I was in WORSE shape after the “refresh” than I was before it!

Once I did that, I was a little more knowledgeable and familiar with Windows 8 by this point and I had a better idea of what programs and apps were going to be helpful for me, so I didn’t need to install and uninstall as many things as I did at the beginning.  I still had to go through and install a bunch of updates from Samsung, but it could have been worse.  And this time, once I get it set up, I will create an actual backup file after I install and activate my personal software.   I would have preferred to have been able to do that this time, but I hadn’t actually made one before I started having serious problems.

In summary, If you are going to purchase a new Ultrabook, Tablet or Laptop that has Windows 8 preinstalled, you are going to want to make sure that you are backing yourself up on a regular basis.  And contrary to my normal position on Windows Update, you may want to check at the Microsoft site for stability enhancements.  I still do not personally advocate allowing Windows to install any update it feels like, but I do think there are probably going to be some stability enhancements coming down the pike (or already here) that should be installed.  I prefer to do that manually however.  If you are making a new purchase, please, make sure that you are getting a touch screen device.  Windows 8 was just not made to be useful to the mouse and keyboard crowd, which included essentially every business user out there.

If you are contemplating installing Windows 8 on your existing system as your primary OS, I would caution you against doing so, especially if you do not have a touch screen device.  If you are looking for a stable OS choose Windows 7.  If you are thinking about dual booting, I also DO NOT recommend creating a partition to run Windows 8 from.  If you wind up with serious disc errors, you run the risk of not being able to boot into your Windows 7 partition, or having to format your entire drive, rather than only the Windows 8 partition.  If you want to dual-boot, use a completely separate hard drive.  It’s simple enough to swap out hard drives on a laptop, or even a desktop, but there is no way I would put Windows 8 onto a disc that I actually NEEDED to work on a system that didn’t come with Windows 8 preinstalled.

Microsoft Surface and Windows RT

A Little History…

A while back I took the plunge and made the shift from an iPhone to a Windows phone, first with a Nokia 900 and later with a 920.  It was an interesting exercise.  I learned a lot, discovered some new ways of working, and learned to make some compromises.  I even learned that some things I thought were “critical” to my daily functioning really weren’t so critical, after all.  True, I am heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem for apps and movies, but music is pretty much DRM free these days.  Books are still problematic no matter whether you use iBooks or Kindle (Amazon) or Nook (Barnes and Noble).  eBook publishers need to learn to adopt standards and get rid of DRM like the music publishers did, but that’s a discussion for another day.  I short, I’ve learned to rely less on DRM or non-portable content and invest more in DRM free material.  Platform dependence reduced, and overall satisfaction increased!

Needless to say, I still have my Macintosh (dual-booting between OS X and Windows) as my primary computer, and I still have an iPad to fall back on for apps that I “just can’t live without”.  Life is good, and I find myself using the iPhone less and less.

A little time elapses, and things have changed a little more.  My daily driver, phone-wise, is a Nokia Lumia 920, running Windows Phone 8.  I love the device, and even though I still miss some apps and a few features that I had on my iPhone, I’m finding that to be less and less of a problem with each passing day.  I’ve upgraded the Windows side of my Macintosh to now run Windows 8 Pro (with Media Center).  It runs pretty well, although the way what we used to call the “Metro” interface integrates into the old-style desktop is a little awkward, but more on that later.  Overall it’s been pretty good.

So I was thinking.  What if I try to use the “third” part of the suite and work with Microsoft Surface and Windows RT?  It should be pretty smooth and pretty interesting, right?  After all, I would have the trifecta – Windows 8, a Windows Phone, and a Windows RT tablet.  Sweet! 

Well sort of…

The Show Begins…

I purchased the Microsoft Surface 64GB.  It comes with the Touch Cover – not my favorite – but the 64GB Surface isn’t available unbundled (yet).  As a result, I have the Touch Cover and the Type Cover.  The Surface comes in very nice, aesthetic clean packaging, much like Apple has been doing for years and others have been emulating recently.  The Microsoft Surface is nicely packaged, but easy to remove and unwrap.

Once unpacked and plugged in, you simply push the power button and follow the onscreen instructions.  The on-screen instructions ask you to pick your display language (which can be changed later), and accept the license agreement.  You are asked to fill in a couple more details, like the primary color theme to use, the wireless network the device should connect to, and a couple of other basic settings.  Then you are asked to sign into your PC.  It’s probably useful to mention at this point, that Microsoft views the RT device consistently as a PC, not a tablet.  This concept seems to drive a lot of the design decisions that were made in creating the device and the operating system.  This will come up as a recurring theme as we explore the device.

So if you already have a Microsoft ID, something very cool happens.  The device, over the course of the next few minutes, populates itself with items and setting choices based on information that the Microsoft knows about you.  If you have a Windows Phone and you’ve set up messaging, then messaging on the Microsoft Surface is set up for you.  If you had contacts they are populated.  Your Internet Explorer Favorites are copied over.  It even attempts to start setting up some of your basic email info for you.  If you have Microsoft SkyDrive (a free cloud service) your files from that will populate as well.

It really surprised me how far it went based on what it learned from my Windows Phone set ups and synchronization.  It made set up a LOT easier (and a little scary!)  It does a lot of this in the background so as I used the Microsoft Surface, trying out various apps, I kept coming across stuff it already knew about me.  For example, when I opened the Weather app, it had already populated my favorite locations into the app.  And when I installed the Microsoft Solitaire app, it automatically signed me into Xbox Live and populated my avatar and account info.  Things like that kept happening and pleasantly surprising me.

So once the basic setup is done, there are a few more things to do.  You need to launch the Store app, which will also use your ID if you have an existing account.  You should download updates for the apps already on your system.  You can also take some time to see what apps are available for purchase and/or download, but the offerings are still pretty slim (especially games).  I’ll talk more about that later, too.

The Start Page with the Charms Bar open.

The Settings Page (from the Start Page).

The PC Settings Page.

Next you need to go check for and download any system updates.  This is important since there have been some significant updates released including the “real” non-preview versions of the Office apps on your new device.  Windows 8 and Windows RT introduce a number of swiping gestures, which I’ll talk more about shortly.  For now we will focus on the one needed to get to the system updates.  You get there by swiping your finger from the right-hand bezel of the display toward the left.  This will drag out the “Charm” bar.  Bars can come off of all four edges of the device and they each have different functions; drag out the Charms bar and press the Settings icon near the bottom.  From the page that pops up, choose Change PC Settings, again near the bottom, and then choose Windows Update on the left hand side of the screen.  You might also need to press the Check for Updates Now button on the right as well.  Let Windows RT get all of the updates it needs.  A lot of these will clear up small bugs the device had upon release.

The Start Page.

Ready to Go; Let’s Get a Handle on What We Have Here…

OK.  So now all of the updates are in place and you are ready to use the device.  If you are a Windows 8 desktop user, then much of what you see is already familiar.  It is vaguely similar to Windows Phone, but closer to the desktop flavor of Windows 8 than the Windows Phone variant. Remember, Microsoft views the Surface devices as PCs, not tablets (in the iPad or Nexus 7 sense).

The Open Apps Tray.

So, I mentioned that there are new gestures.  We talked about swiping in from the right bezel to bring up the Charms bar.  Well, you actually swipe inward from all 4 of the bezels to activate different things.  And, of course, this is also pretty much how Windows 8 desktop does it (with minor variation when using a mouse instead of a touch screen).  In both Windows 8 and Windows RT, swiping in from the right (or clicking in the upper right hand corner) drags out the Charms bar.  Swiping in from the left bezel brings up a tray of open apps on Windows 8, but drags in the last app used back into service on Windows RT (but this behavior can be changed to act just like the Windows 8 desktop version).  Dragging up from the bottom usually brings up more application options or the All Apps button on the Start screen.  In the “modern” Internet Explorer, dragging up from the bottom brings up the address/search bar.

The “modern” Internet Explorer

The “classic” Internet Explorer.

This brings up another item – there are actually kind of 2 versions of Internet Explorer.  The one you find on the Start page, sometimes called the “modern” version or the modern interface).  Then there is the older, more “traditional” version hiding back in the Desktop Mode (which you get to by clicking on the Desktop icon on the Start bar.).  It’s a little strange and I strongly suggest you stick more to the “modern” one on the Start page if you can.

Microsoft Surface Desktop Mode

One thing that became clear to me in using the full desktop version of Windows 8 is that the reason there is a Start Page with what we were calling the “Metro” interface and also the desktop mode is to allow for the existence and operation of legacy apps.  You get the sense, though, that the newer interface is really where they want to take things.  It’s a little clumsy having both, but I get it. But I don’t understand why both are in Windows RT, which does not really support traditional Win32 or Win64 apps.  It really feels awkward and out-of-place on the tablet.

It gets weirder, because some of the apps that you launch from the Start page first open the desktop and THEN open the app.  It feels like you are playing in some kind of emulator or virtualization rather than in a complete, solid OS.  Of course, this is because you really ARE running a few legacy apps – those provided by Microsoft itself, but you can’t run any beyond that. So I really wish they had done a little more to hide or blend the experience away from the traditional desktop in Windows RT.  Seeing it pop up, or having to go there to complete some tasks leaves you with a sense that you should be able to run apps from it, but because you can’t (short of hacking the device) it kind of feels like you are missing out on something.

And then there is the mess surrounding the system settings.  The settings are split and appear in several places.  There is the setting option you get to from the Start page, and from there is the extended setting you get to by pressing the Change PC Settings option on that page.   Then most of the other system settings are still in the Control panel in the desktop mode.  Yes – way down in the depths.  It can be very confusing when you want to find some specific setting.

For me, though, it was important to figure these things out quickly, because there were a few things I needed to change and correct right away to make my experience better.  First, I needed to turn off the automatic brightness controls.  I had to do this in the Windows 8 desktop too.  Starting from the Start page, those are found by opening the Charms Bar, pressing Settings, pressing Change PC Settings, and in the General Settings, scroll down to where it says “Screen”.  You can turn on/off the automatic brightness control there.  In that same area (the General settings) you can also change the other thing I wanted changed.  Scroll to the area that says “App Switching” and you will find an option to change the swipe in from the left side to toggle between whether it brings in your most recent app or it shows you the list of recent apps.  I prefer the list (like in the desktop Windows 8) so I changed that setting too.

Now that we’ve played around with a few settings, there were some more gestures and actions that I find important.  In case it wasn’t clear, just like on most modern smartphones, you press the Home key (or the Windows key, in this case) and it takes you back to the home page or, in our case, the Start page.

Closing apps can be a little tricky too.  Male sure the app is active on the screen, then drag from the top bezel all the way to the bottom.  The app should follow you then disappear.  Not what I expected, but it works well.

Another gesture that needs to be learned is how to select objects.  I initially struggled with this.  It seemed hit or miss until I figured out what gesture was really being used to select objects. Let’s say you want to select a few apps to move them to a different group on the Start page.  You select the objects by pushing down on them as if you were going to launch them, but then flick your finger downward before you let up.  You should see a check mark appear and up from the bottom should appear options for that icon (or icons if you need to choose more than one).  A similar technique is used to select multiple messages in email except the motion is holding and swiping right to left in that app.  To me, these techniques were not immediately obvious or intuitive, but once I figured it out they made sense and worked well.  I’ve seen this selection technique used in a few other apps as well, so it’s another good thing to know!

OK.  I’ve Got the Basic Idea, Now.  Do I Like It?

So now we have the basics and a few tricks for getting around the Microsoft Surface tablet.  But is it any good?  Is it better than an iPad or a Galaxy Tab?  The short answer is – it depends.

When I first played with the Microsoft Surface I thought, “What a mess!”  But as I spent more time with and got to learn more about how it operated, I got to like it a more and more. There are things you can do well on it that you can’t do well on any other tablet, but then, as I’ve mentioned already, it also suffers some because some things are awkward or overly complex.  Sometimes it is trying too hard to be both a PC and a tablet and not completely succeeding at either.

Let me give you an example:  Among the tasks I wanted to accomplish was to move some of my music and movies to the RT.  This is something I normally want my tablet for since it’s a great traveling device.  Because of Microsoft’s PC-centric view of the device there is no good tool for doing this.  No iTunes – no Windows Phone connector.   The good news, is that you can use standard Windows file management tricks, like USB thumb drives and connections across the network to get the job done, but none of that automatically puts the files into the correct directories and having to jump into the Windows desktop mode with all its archaic behaviors seems clumsy.  I really wanted a file manager on the Start page or a tool like the Windows Phone Connector to make the job easier.  That said, I was able to move what I needed and use the device for media consumption, just like my iPad.  I can even run those items from a storage card (although you can’t automatically have the media libraries scan external drives for content, sadly). Now if only I could find a way to also use my DRM protected movies and books on the Microsoft Surface!

The  Microsoft Surface Touch Keyboard

Some of the Windows 8 Specialty Keys. Volume mute/down/up, play/pause, search, sync, devices, and settings.

So let’s talk more about the things that I liked and didn’t like about the Microsoft Surface RT.  Let me start by saying that I like the Surface RT – quite a bit.  It has flaws, but I think it has been a little unfairly maligned in the press, and I think that has led to the public not really understanding what it is (and isn’t) rather than simply appreciating it for what it is, which is a very good, albeit not perfect, tablet.

So, let me talk first about the things about the Microsoft Surface RT that I like, because some of them I like a lot:

The back case showing the magnesium alloy.

• The Microsoft Surface has excellent build quality.  I really like the Magnesium casing and the feel of the unit.  The balance is a little odd (more about that in the dislikes), but overall the unit feels nice to hold and work with.
• The setup automation is amazing.  As I mentioned earlier, the amount of data that was automatically set up and copied into the device with minimal prompting was amazing and nice.  Of course, the fact that they easily accessed that much info was a little scary, but more amazing than scary is my analysis in the end!
• The touch keyboard was not as bad as I expected.  I know this is a bit of a left-handed compliment, but I really did expect it to be horrible.  It took a little getting used to, but it wasn’t horrible. It was functional enough to do in a pinch.  I like the type keyboard better, but the touch keyboard is not bad at all once you get used to it.  The wider nature of the Microsoft Surface makes the typing experience easier on both the touch and the type keyboards.
• I like the specialty keys in both the touch and the type keyboards.  I expected the keyboards to have a Windows key that would take you back to the Start page.  I didn’t expect keys for the settings charm (works in most of the newer apps), and for the devices charm and the search charms.  All of these make the keyboard even more functional.
• Search is localized to what you are doing.  If you are in the store app and you hit the search charm, you search the store.  If you are in a desktop app, then the desktop is searched.  If and apps take advantage of it, like the “modern” Internet Explorer, then hitting search button does a Bing search.  It’s all very nice, very functional.
• The music player is great.  Although it doesn’t have the nice cataloging/library functions of iTunes, there is a lot to like in the Music Player app.  I like that it pulls images of the artist that is currently playing (if it can find some).  It’s visually very appealing.

MS Word

• MS Office is great.  It’s wonderful having a properly functioning version of MS Office.  There are a few compromises, but so far my docs have moved back and forth between my Mac, my PC at work, and my Microsoft Surface flawlessly.
• SkyDrive is well implemented.  I have had an excellent experience using SkyDrive on my Mac, my Lumia 920, and Microsoft Surface RT, but I wish they allowed files larger than 2GB because that limitation sometimes makes it hard to move movies.  Despite that my pictures from my Lumia popped up on my RT device with minimal work on my part.  That makes for a nice working experience.  Yes, Apple has iCloud, and there are plenty of 3^rd party solutions that do similar things, but I really like how simple and clean and automatic SkyDrive is to use. It’s much less intrusive and better integrated to the OS than many other apps.  Even on my Mac it is well-integrated.
• The standard USB port is great.  I have been able to hook up a standard mouse and a USB thumb drive with absolutely no problem at all.  It’s easier and cleaner than I have seen in any other tablet.
• The Bluetooth works well. I was able to pair the Microsoft Surface with my Apple Bluetooth keyboard.  No problem.  Worked flawlessly.
• Connection to my Windows Phone was really well done.  I was able to connect the phone and select and move data to/from the phone with no problems whatsoever.  And the application to do it was modern looking and aesthetically pleasing.

Very easy to work with a second screen

• Connection to an external monitor was clean and well implemented.  Using the Microsoft Surface Digital AV Adapter, I connected the Surface, via HDMI to an external monitor.  At first I thought it didn’t work, but as soon as I swiped the Charm bar (to reach the settings) it connected to the monitor.  It appears in the devices charm and you can choose almost any combination of display extension/duplication without too much grief.  The only oddity I noticed is that the font’s become a little blocky looking on the Microsoft  Surface when duplicating the display to an external display.  Don’t know why this is, but it isn’t unusable and I was able to overlook it in light of the simplicity of hooking up and configuring the second monitor.
• Setting up my HP Envy as printer was nearly painless.  Much easier than it used to be in earlier flavors of Windows and almost as easy as it was to set up on my iPad.

As you can see, I like a lot of things about the Microsoft Surface and about Windows RT, but things were not all perfect.  There were issues and oddities.  Some things I didn’t like were:

• No file management from the Start page.  I didn’t like that I needed to go into the old desktop mode – that seemed clumsy.  I kept wanting a simple file browser app so I could stay within the Start page.  There are 3rd party apps that tackle media management – somewhat – but fail to address the rest of your files and documents.  I want a decent file browsing/management app for the Start page.
• Settings are a confusing mess.  As I mentioned before, the settings are really poorly done.  They are in too many different places accessed by too many different methods.  I’d like to see them more consolidated under the Charms bar than they are today.  I don’t like having to jump into the desktop mode to make certain kinds of changes.
• Microsoft views the Surface as a PC.  This is kind of a double-edged sword.  Without the proper support of older Windows apps, people will have a hard time thinking of this as PC.  But, unlike Windows Phone, there is no app to allow Microsoft Surface to connect to a PC or Mac as an other tablets do, more as an accessory.  This actually makes moving data to/from a full desktop PC a bit harder because now you have to use standard file management tools and thumb drives/memory cards or the SkyDrive (within its file size limit) or otherwise across the network, and it doesn’t have the benefit of automatically putting music and videos where they belong like happens on an iPad or even on the Windows Phone.  I’d really like to see them extend the Windows Phone app and make a connector cable (yes it’s basically just a USB cable) so that you can sync this like you do an iPad or a Windows Phone so syncing between a PC and Microsoft Surface RT would be easier.   In my case, I often found myself using my Windows Phone as a conduit between the two – passable,  but it should be easier to manage media than it is.  Additionally, there isn’t really a tool that I found for changing the tagging on the content – tagging a video as a movie, or TV show for example.
• Many of the available apps feel like incomplete ports or poorer versions of the app than appear on iOS or Android.  The Kindle app, for example, on Windows RT (and Windows Phone, for that matter) is crippled like Android versions.  It lacks support for enhanced books that work on the iPad and the iPhone.  I also miss the page turn animation in those versions of the app.  In general, the app doesn’t feel complete yet. And the 3rd-party Facebook Mobile is rated as better than most, but is, unfortunately, still inferior to the Facebook-produced version that appears on iOS.
• App selection is terrible.  Even Windows Phone has better app selection.
• Game selection is also terrible.  Again, there are better options even on Windows Phone.
• Occasional there is typical old-school windows weirdness.  At one point my wireless dropped off and Windows gave me an old desktop dialog stating that there was a driver problem.  I restarted the Microsoft Surface and the wireless was fine again.  I’m used to seeing those kinds of issues on a desktop or laptop PC (good or bad), but I should never see that kind of weirdness on a tablet.  It makes the system feel incomplete and clumsy sometimes.
• Programs don’t quit as easily as I’d like.  When you are in an app, it can be difficult to figure out how to quit.  As mentioned, you swipe from the top bezel and drag the window all the way to the bottom bezel to close it.  Not as obvious as I’d like sometimes.
• When using the touch or type keyboards the cursor sometimes jumps to other lines.  Not sure if this is a glitch in the keyboards or me hitting something, but either way it’s a little awkward at times.  Also of note, the keyboard sometimes become frozen.  Disconnecting and reattaching usually fixes this but sometimes you have to restart the Microsoft Surface to regain functionality.

The Microsoft Surface power connector; I found it a bit awkward to connect.

• The power connector is a pain.  I really dislike the design of the power connector.  I often have to fumble with it to get it attached.  Not a great design.

The Microsoft Surface with the kickstand out. The kickstand collapses a little too easily in my opinion.

• The kickstand doesn’t always stay open and it isn’t adjustable.  I know that Microsoft based a lot of their advertising around this cool feature.  I can’t imagine why.  It works, but it is easy to accidentally close (just by scooting the Microsoft Surface back it can catch and close the kickstand, for example).  It also isn’t adjustable meaning that you rarely have it at the optimal viewing angle.  I wish they had done just a little better job thinking the idea through.  It’s useful, but not as useful as it should be.
• The device doesn’t work well in portrait mode.  It’s too easy to hit the Windows key when you are simply trying to hold onto the device.
• I ran into a quirk where some of the music I imported is being attributed to the wrong artist even though the artist information shows up correctly on other devices (like my Windows Phone and all my Apple devices).  Not sure why this is happening and I haven’t found a good way to edit what it doing yet.  Again, if they improved the media management and included a way to edit the meta data associated with the media this wouldn’t be such a problem.

So What’s the Verdict?

Well, as I kind of mentioned before, the verdict is that I like the Microsoft Surface RT despite the flaws.  I’m also encouraged in the whole ownership experience by the fact that there have been numerous updates since the device came out in October and I expect that, with Microsoft’s public statements about commitment to the platform, we will continue to see improvements as time goes on.

A screen showing all the Start Page apps installed. You get there by swiping up from the bottom bezel and pressing the All Apps button.

There are a few things I’d like to see Microsoft focus on going forward.   First, I’d like to see the traditional desktop go away or at least disappear more into the background.  Especially on the Microsoft Surface RT which doesn’t really run desktop apps except those that Microsoft provides itself.  This also means that services like file management, and setting need to be better incorporated into the front of the OS – the Start page.  Along these lines, Microsoft has to do a better job educating people what the differences are between the RT and the Pro and show people why they WANT to use the newer style apps as opposed to legacy apps.

Second, I want to see better tools for connecting this device to a full-blown PC and transferring and managing purchased content.  I think content consumption is important for tablets and Microsoft Surface doesn’t lend itself well to that right now.  I’d also like to see library support extended to external data cards and USB Mass Storage devices (thumb drives).

Third, and most critical, there needs to be a focus on getting apps to the platform.  I don’t know if Microsoft needs to pay developers or simply develop them themselves, but however it happens, the platform can’t gain any traction until more apps in more categories become available, especially in the area of games.  Why games?  Because games, especially casual games, make travelling easier – I love to play simple games when I’m travelling and right now my phone has more games than are available on this platform.  Again, I believe that getting apps on this platform, and helping people understand why apps are a good thing is probably more important than anything else.

But will I like the Microsoft Surface?

That’s a good question and I’m going to cop-out a little by saying that it depends on your expectations and your needs.  But let me try to go a little further by describing some different perspectives and how they might impact how you feel about the Microsoft Surface.

If you are living in a completely Microsoft-centric world and you live and breathe Windows 8, then the Surface and Windows RT is probably a pretty good choice for you unless you need a lot of legacy Windows apps in which case you might have a better time with the Microsoft Surface Pro (although it costs more and battery life isn’t very good).   That said, despite what some bloggers and pundits have said, Windows RT does a good job as a Windows computer.  It runs Windows Store apps well, and it runs MS Office pretty well, with a few limitations.  I think that apps, not the legacy desktop, is where Microsoft is trying to go, they just have to sell people on that notion.  I think that if you are an average user who uses MS Office and browses the Internet using Internet Explorer, then you are probably going to be pretty happy with the Microsoft Surface RT as a tablet option, because   it will likely meet all your basics needs and you can read eBooks and watch video and listen to music.

If you are an Apple-centric user and not really tied to MS Office, you might be happier with an iPad or maybe an iPad mini.  The lack of apps is probably going to disappoint you and the Microsoft Surface is more complex to use than an iPad, because it really is behaving more like a PC.  This goes against the model set by the iPad and the iPhone and be more work than you want to put into it, even though you would gain MS Office in the process.  Additionally, your iTunes videos and iBooks aren’t going to travel well to the platform (although non-DRM materials move just fine).

If you are an Android fan, then you are likely going to find the Microsoft Surface to be a mixed bag.  Android tablets don’t have very many tablet specific applications, so you won’t miss those.  Since the device is a PC, there are lots of options for tweaking, hacking, and customization.  That is one of the things that makes a lot of Android users happy and, unlike the locked-down Windows Phone, Windows RT is pretty much like the desktop with many of the same options.   Of course, if you aren’t a fan of Windows then all of this will just disappoint, but for many it might be enough to spark and hold your interest.

The right-hand side of the Microsoft Surface showing the power connector, the USB port, and the mini DVI port.

Of course, these observations are just general thoughts, your personal mileage will likely vary.  Even as a long time Apple user, I have found myself surprised by how much I like the Microsoft Surface, despite its rough edges.  Maybe that is because I kind of accepted the “loss” of some of my media content when I made the jump to Windows Phone last year, but whatever the reason, the more I work with RT and the Surface, the more I appreciate the things that it does well and the more I learn to tune out the things that it doesn’t do well.

On a bit of a side trip, I’ve seen a lot of references to the fact that the Microsoft Surface makes a better work tablet than the other offerings out there.  I would generally agree, especially since it has MS Office, so it should be a good workhorse, but there are still a few things missing.  It doesn’t have a decent non-MS VPN client yet, making it a bit more difficult to connect to Cisco VPN networks.  For me, I could also use a decent USB to Serial driver so I could use my USB to serial cable, but that isn’t going to be a common need for most people.

The VPN issue has real legs, however, because I CAN use my iPad running Cisco Anywhere and use it to VPN and access my clients and manage their services via my web browser.  Today, I can’t do that if my clients have a Cisco VPN infrastructure (and many do).  That is a big limitation right now, but one that is resolvable if Cisco and Microsoft get their act together.  So far that hasn’t happened and it could really be a show stopper for many potential business customers.  There are some ways to connect to Cisco networks using the existing VPN client if certain accommodations are made, but generally, Cisco VPN connectivity just isn’t there.  The current state of things is that Cisco says Microsoft hasn’t provided the necessary APIs to do what’s needed and Microsoft has stated in online forums that they are aware of the problem and working on a solution.  No timeframe is given, however.

I’ve been hearing and reading about concerns over the amount of storage space taken up by the OS.  This hasn’t been a problem for me and I think it is somewhat less of a problem due to the fact that the device can take a micro SD card to improve available storage.  Still, I think I would recommend the 64GB version of the Microsoft Surface over the 32GB version, and if you were going for the Pro I’d opt for the 128GB version because it needs more and because you must also install Office separately if you want it.  Keep in mind, however, that you can gain some space on the Pro by moving the recovery partition to a USB drive, so the 128GB Microsoft Surface Pro ends up with about as much space as a 128GB Macbook Air.

The left-hand side of the Microsoft Surface showing the headphone jack and the volume control.

One last point of conversation… 

A few people have asked me if I would prefer the Microsoft Surface Pro to the Surface RT.  The answer leans towards “no”.  The Surface Pro is a bit faster with better memory/storage options.  It has better screen resolution, comes with a digital pen, and it runs legacy Windows apps.  All excellent points.  On the negative, though, it has terrible battery life, is heavier/thicker than the Microsoft Surface RT (which is, itself, pretty large and heavy), and the Pro does NOT come with built-in MS Office (but it comes with a one-month trial of Office 365, which is a subscription-based service costing $99/year for the Home version).  You must purchase Office in some form or another if you want it.  The Microsoft Surface Pro, which is already more expensive than the RT, becomes even more expensive when you add the Office purchase and/or subscription into the mix.  True, it can use full Office, and true, many enterprises will already have/offer Office to their employees under their enterprise licensing, but for the average consumer like me it becomes a difficult value proposition.  The Microsoft Surface RT, for all its limitations, still seems like the better value proposition to me, if you don’t need to run legacy Windows apps, especially if you already own a good Windows desktop/laptop and this device isn’t trying to serve as a total replacement, but rather an enhancement.

So for my situation, the answer is no, I wouldn’t prefer the Pro.  I really like the value of the RT.  And I just read in the past few days that a recent job posting at Microsoft makes it clear that Microsoft’s intent is now to make RT and Windows Phone apps operate across both platforms.  This is a big win and will dramatically increase the apps available to Windows RT users.  I hope they are able to accomplish it sooner, rather than later!

The top of the Microsoft Surface showing the power button.

Now let’s bring it all home…

I’ve already said it, but it bears repeating –  I like the Microsoft Surface RT.  Microsoft did a bold thing in creating Windows RT and the Surface.  It’s not always perfect.  In fact, it’s often flawed, but I feel that it’s moving in a good direction.  There’s more good here than bad.  I really like the Start interface and the new gestures that are in the Windows 8 family OS for touch-based devices.  Once learned, they are really useable and practical.  If Microsoft can keep moving away from the traditional desktop, clean up some of the messes, and improve the availability of apps (especially via their Windows Phone cross-compatibility project), I think the Microsoft Surface – yes the RT version – could eventually catch on.  Microsoft has stated publicly to at least a few years of commitment to the device – and that’s very good sign.  I feel good about the future because I have seen significant improvements in the Windows Phone platform since its release and I have seen significant improvements in the few months since the Microsoft Surface RT was released into the world.

The bottom of the Microsoft Surface showing the keyboard connector.

Windows Phone sales grew dramatically since the release of Windows Phone 8 late last year, and I just saw today that the new Microsoft Surface Pro devices (just released) are already sold out.  Not certain if that is due to high demand or short supplies (or both), but it certainly is a good sign.  I expect that, as apps become available, and people start to see for themselves what it can do, the Microsoft Surface RT will likely find more of an audience as well.I  have every reason to expect to continue to see improvements and I plan to continue to use the Surface RT for some time to come.

The press has been a little harsh on the device, focusing on its limitations as a PC rather than on its abilities as a tablet.  And, to be fair, I’m not sure it’s for everybody – not yet.  But I think it might well get there, and if you’re even a little bit adventuresome, you could do worse than spend a little time with the Micorsoft Surface RT.  I learned that it might seem a little awkward at first, but you need to give it a little time, because it has a funny way of growing on you.  Don’t some of the best relationships start that way?

A blizzard of ’78 picture at my house evokes memories; would one of an endless stream of Smartphone Camera pictures do the same?

This week marked the 35th anniversary of the Blizzard of ’78, and as a result we have seen some of the iconic images from that storm on web sites and social media. I have a few pictures that I’ll share here. The other day it was snowing – pretty snow floating to the ground and coating everything. I snapped a picture with my smartphone camera that went to our photo stream, and my wife saw it and remarked that it was a pretty shot … and that is likely the only attention it will ever get. And as snow started falling from Winter Storm Nemo, I saw more smartphone camera pictures from friends on Facebook before noon than I have EVER seen from the Blizzard of ’78. But will any of them be remembered past this weekend?

It made me think that as pictures have become easier to take and storage and sharing effortless, they have become transient, losing their permanence and value.

At least that is how it seems. Looking at the image at the top, that is my family home during the Blizzard of 1978 in Massachusetts. It was taken from the street a couple of days after the storm; several years ago I digitized all of my parents’ slides from the early 60s to the early 80s, and I made a DVD for everyone in the family with all of the pictures and a slideshow.

For anyone who lived in New England, the Blizzard of ’78 was an event on the scale of the San Francisco earthquake, the Chicago fire, or other major disasters. Over at WickedLocal they have reprinted an original article on the storm, and here are a few things I collected up when I did a recollection on a personal blog on the 25th anniversary:

• More than 4 feet of snow.
• 100 MPH winds.
• High tides cresting 40 foot waves.
• Dozens of homes and businesses wiped out instantly, hundreds badly damaged.
• 100 people dead due to every imaginable weather related cause.

I was 12 when that storm hit. I was old enough to shovel snow for several people in the neighborhood to help out, and I was old enough to be terrified watching the news showing the parking lot route 128 had become and waiting for my dad to make it home.

But I was young enough to enjoy the fact that we had a week off from school and that the roads were shut down. I was young enough not to worry about being without power or phones for a while; I was young enough that the recently totaled ’64 Impala kept on the side of our garage became our snow fort that day and for the rest of the winter.

There are only a few pictures we have from the blizzard, and as you can see they were taken when the sun was out and the roof was almost clear – in other words a day or two later. The one at the top shows our house from the street. Since it was already more than 24 hours later, the snow has compacted, but everything was completely closed and snowed in. In order there is my Dad, my older brother (would have been ~14.5) and me (almost 12). The covered car was a ’74 Chevy Impala …

In this one you can see a bit up the street, showing that even by the 8th, two days after the storm, roads weren’t plowed. The ‘highway’ down the street opened that day, and the convenience store (Bob’s) opened up as well. We would take a sled down the street to get stuff, and run errands for people who couldn’t get out of their houses yet.

OK, this isn’t the Blizzard, but me after Christmas just before … note the M16-look alike (had forgotten that!) and my fave gift from that year – VertiBird! It was a helicopter that flew in circles … I remember that the first one I got didn’t work, and my dad called all around (hot gift that year), and that Child World in Framingham said they had one and would hold it for him. We got there, and of course they didn’t have any … my Dad was *furious*! Upon yelling at the manager, they ‘found’ one held for someone else and I got it! The VertiBird sat in my parents house for years after I had moved out, and I reclaimed it before they moved south several years ago. Unfortunately, while I kept it, my attempts to rewire and get it working for my kids were to no avail … it was just dead. But I digress.

For ‘Winter Storm Nemo’, the forecasting technology has advanced tremendously to the point that the Weather Channel now has a ‘storm-con’ that talks about the confidence of a major storm hitting. It worked very well for Hurricane Sandy, and while the totals haven’t exactly matched forecasts, the general forecast of conditions made sure everyone was able to see what was coming … so that the only people getting trapped on highways were those foolish enough to go driving when there was a driving ban in effect.

But as I said, there have been countless smartphone camera images and videos showing the snow. Some are fun and cute pictures of kids playing outside in the snow, others are of the roads or trees or some other indication of what is going on. Like I said, the hundreds of images I have seen are largely instantly forgettable … and then there are videos like this 8 minute wonder of a person in Western Massachusetts walking to the local 7-11. Enjoy!

Do you feel that with the ease of taking and posting smartphone camera pictures everywhere, that the images themselves lose permanence and meaning? Do you think people miss out on actually experiencing things by being so busy documenting stuff?

USPS Saturday service cut; Are you okay with that?

For as long as anyone alive can remember, the mail has come on Saturday. Since 1863 the mail service has offered delivery six days a week, through rain, snow, sleet or hail! Well, that last bit has softened, and we have already missed one day this winter since our local carrier couldn’t get into our neighborhood safely. But in the same way the post office itself is open on Saturday to get out letters or mail back those Netflix DVDs, delivery came on the weekend which gave you a chance to grab a movie from Netflix or a game from Goozex.

But like everything else, things change. Last year USPS lost $16 billion, and the Saturday delivery was only maintained through a mandate from congress. The estimate is that the USPS will save at least $2 billion a year by doing away with Saturday delivery … which sounds great until you realize that the USPS lost $16 billion last year alone! Those crippling numbers are partly due to a number of bizarre measures from Congress through the years, including one that requires the USPS to prepay 75 years worth of retirees health benefits, in effect paying on benefits for employees who haven’t been born yet!

The other problem is that the cost of mailing a letter is a tremendous bargain. That you can mail a letter anywhere for a nominal fee, or that I can send a complete XBOX360 game anywhere in the country with tracking for about $2 is just amazing – especially when you think about what has happened with fuel costs over the past 5 years or so. So in reality, the USPS has no possible way to break even unless they started charging $1.50 or so per letter!

Many other countries have long since dropped Saturday delivery, and there hasn’t been a problem. When you think about what comes through the mail these days, the justification seems even weaker. Even listening to reasons given by those opposed to dropping the service seems to amount to they are opposed to service stopping because ‘that’s the way it has always been’.

Even the big reasons I was a weekly post office visitor before – Netflix for DVDs and Goozex for games – has dried up. We use the Roku for Amazon, Netflix and Hulu streaming exclusively at this point. Game companies have more or less killed off second-hand game trading for the PC, and since my mobile gaming has moved to iOS and Android, I no longer get any DS or PSP games. Even for my kids there isn’t a ton of use – I probably got ~6 XBOX360 games for my older son last year, and my younger son has pretty much switched to iOS and PC for his occasional gaming.

What do you think? Should the USPS cut Saturday service? Or should those losses just get sucked up by the government (i.e. us)? Do you even care about the mail anymore?

You can read the official press release here.

And since I raised the subject with my title … here is some Gil Scott Heron …