Category: Tech

Anything technology related that isn’t covered by one of the sub categories.

ChromeBooks

So, my wonderful wife decided to get me something especially nice this Father’s Day. I had pointed out to her the Chromebooks that they have down at the local Future Shop, so she took me out Friday night and we went and got one. This one, to be exact: At $250, it’s clear that compromises … Continue reading “ChromeBooks”

So, my wonderful wife decided to get me something especially nice this Father’s Day. I had pointed out to her the Chromebooks that they have down at the local Future Shop, so she took me out Friday night and we went and got one. This one, to be exact:

From the Samsung website

At $250, it’s clear that compromises were made, but it works surprisingly well given it’s specs — 2Gig RAM, 16Gig SSD, 1.7 GHz “Samsung Exynos 5” processor (ARM Cortex-A15). The benchmarks show it as faster than a base Atom machine, but only 30..50% of an i3. Anyway, plenty fast enough.

To give you some idea what it’s capable of, as I type this, I’ve got a mouse and keyboard plugged into it, along with an external (HDMI) monitor. I have about 10 Chrome windows open (because, really that’s all you can do <g>) with one of them pointing at Rdio (and playing the latest Punch Brothers album over the HDMI speakers), one showing a remote desktop on my home server, one SSH’ed into my Raspberry Pi, a couple being used to write this blog post, and one connected to JazzHub where I’m keeping notes.

It also has a builtin microphone and camera and will happily participate in a Google Hangout video chat. It will cold boot in about 10 seconds and wakes from sleep in about a second.

As to the apps for it, in addition to the above, I managed to find solutions to almost all the things I normally need to do:

  • Files — DropBox, GoogleDrive, iCloud
  • Mail — iCloud Mail and GMail for home email; iNotes for work
  • Chat — Hangouts; no solution for Sametime yet
  • Twitter — Tweetdeck
  • RSS — Feedly
  • Reddit — Reditr
  • eBooks — Kindle Cloud Reader, Kobo Instant Reader, Google Play Books
  • Office — Google Docs, Sheets, Slides (and iWork once it comes out of beta)
  • image editing — Pixlr

I even managed to get access to my password safe, albeit without the full browser integration.

Of course, the reason I wanted one of these was to use it for testing the experience of working with Orion. I’m going to try to use it for my day to day development and testing for at least the next few weeks. So far, the experience has been good, but I’ll let you know if I discover anything particularly limiting.

So what don’t I like about it?

  • Regardless of the offline support some apps provide, this really is a one trick pony: It’s for being on the internet, and if you don’t have a connection, you might as well save your battery life.
  • The external hardware support works, but just: I wasn’t able to get the acceleration rate high enough on the mouse I use; the max resolution on the HDMI port was lower than the native resolution on the monitor I use; I hung the entire machine twice while getting the display hooked up; etc.
  • The keyboard layout is pretty wonky — massive ctrl and alt keys, with a tiny shift key and hard to hit return key, and somebody must *really* like the backslash character since there is a key to enter it on both sides of the keyboard (in exactly the right places to have you accidentally hit them while going for the shift and return keys).
  • It really does have an incredibly small SSD drive, plus limited ability to expand that using the built in SD card slot since the memory card sticks out so far you have to remove it when you aren’t using it. *sigh*. The former I might understand given the low price, but it makes the latter unforgivable.

Anyway, it’s not a replacement for the MacBook Pro, but it works pretty well. I could see taking just this device (and a USB HD to download pictures) if I was travelling. I believe the pricepoint is interesting too. It’s a nicer experience to work on than an iPad (even with a keyboard) at a significantly lower price. Now all they have to do is get the app ecosystem a bit bigger and it might start to make sense for the wider community.

All I need is a Portal

No, not that kind of Portal. In this case, I’m talking about any device that can connect to the internet: desktops, laptops, tablets, phones, e-readers, smart TVs, and I’m sure many more that I have missed. I’m probably late to this party, but I have finally clued into that fact that I no longer do … Continue reading “All I need is a Portal”

No, not that kind of Portal.

In this case, I’m talking about any device that can connect to the internet: desktops, laptops, tablets, phones, e-readers, smart TVs, and I’m sure many more that I have missed. I’m probably late to this party, but I have finally clued into that fact that I no longer do anything that doesn’t require a connection to the internet. “But wait!”, you say, “what about…”

… Professional Life?

I’m guessing most people get this already but, of course, there’s email. And then there’s the myriad of web forms that I process. And the scheduling that lives on a central server. And the 7 (!) instant messaging systems that I’m always connected to…

Like most people in the high tech industry, the entire context for the work I do lives entirely on the internet (or at least the intranet). Heck, my team is split across half the world, so I couldn’t even communicate with them without Sametime (*sigh*) and IP phones.

But then what about the actual software development tasks that I’m supposed to be doing? Well, you know desktop Eclipse is still my bread and butter, and aside from downloading it (and updating it) via eclipse.org, it really will run without an internet connection on your favorite desktop. But then all of the content that I work with actually lives on the eclipse.org servers, so I do need a connection to pull/push my work, even if I can get by without one in between.

And that’s the important detail, actually. I now think of working locally as “working from the cached” data; it’s certainly useful to have a way to work without an internet connection, but I absolutely must have one when I’m doing something real. That progression is what’s at the heart of the Orion work.

Orion actually seems like the most natural thing in the world to me now: I could run an Orion server on my local machine, which (together with a browser) gives you a story conceptually equivalent to Eclipse desktop: Local tools, running against a cached version of something that really lives on the internet. But why would I want that? If I need the internet to get the “real” data, why not serve the tools from there too? Obviously, they would need to still perform well and be fit for purpose, but beyond that there really isn’t anything special about having them local.

Case in point: While waiting for a laptop upgrade at work I was stuck for a few days running on a 1Ghz netbook with 2Gig of RAM. (Long story, better left untold.) During that time, I used the netbook as just a portable web browser — think “Chromebook” [Aside: why are all the current Chromebooks slow?]. On it, I kept web pages open on Lotus iNotes (for work mail/calendar), iCloud (for home mail/calendar/address book), and GMail (to hold my bugzilla spam 😉 ). I also spent the time doing useful Orion work, again with multiple windows open. All in all, this worked perfectly well. It wasn’t speedy, but it wasn’t holding me back. On that machine, at least, there would have been no hope of getting Lotus Notes and Desktop Eclipse both running reasonably. No way.

I can even get to all of those sites, and work with them, on my iPad. With an external keyboard, it’s actually almost good enough as a full time “portal”. Even without one, the first time you realize you can now do work anywhere there’s a cell signal is quite an eye opener.

Regardless of the tool to get there, I really can’t do my work without access to the internet. Maybe I could have at one time, but now if the network goes down, it makes more sense to go home, or anywhere else that you can get a network connection. (I actually shared my phone hotspot with others the last time that happened, so they could keep working.)

Ok, so what about…

“… gaming?”

Well, let’s see, what games do I currently play? Truthfully, all the games I play are PC based. It’s been years since I played a board game or card game, and I only occasionally play games on handhelds or consoles. For me, it’s all about PC gaming (and really that’s only reason why I still have a PC 😉 ).

So, what am I playing? There are the MMOs, of course, which are internet only by definition:

(and those are just the ones I’m currently playing).

Then there are the blockbuster single-player titles that I still make time for — things like Diablo, Deus Ex, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and hopefully Watch Dogs (I’m expecting good things).

The thing is, I never go to a brick and mortar store to buy PC games any more. I almost always download the games from one of the online providers like Steam or (if there is no other choice) Origin. When you use one of these services to buy your games, the systems requires you to check in with them (via an internet connection) when you go to play the game. Not ideal, but I’ve gotten used to it, and (at least in Steam’s case) they also provide the side-benefit of uploading your game saves, so you can just delete the entire game off your system, and if you ever decide to play again, pick up where you left off at the cost of a (free) re-download.

Diablo 3, of course, is even more tied to the internet. It is effectively running an MMO backend, under the covers, even when you are playing in single-player mode. Your character can’t do anything without a connection. Wow! A couple of years ago, that idea would have been laughed at, but clearly that’s changed.

In any case, for me, computer gaming really does need an internet connection.

Ok, so what about…

“… everything else?”

You get the picture and this post is getting too long.

I make music; it uses samples from (and gets saved back to) SoundCloud. I watch movies; they come from iTunes. My car dealer, dentist and family doctor all remind me of upcoming appointments via email, and almost all of my bills now come in the same way. I buy things from Amazon and pay by PayPal. When I travel my GPS app gets current traffic info from the web. When I buy coffee, I pay for it with my phone. I’m an avid reader of ebooks, but haven’t read a paper book in years…

It would take 10 more articles this long to capture all the ways I depend on the internet.

So, like I said, my entire life needs an internet connection. I’m actually ok with that. I’ve come to grips with the fact that we’ve crossed a boundary we can’t uncross. What about you?

Mini-review: iPad 2012

Yesterday morning, when I woke up, I fully intended to not buy the new iPad. Based on what I had gleaned from the tech news community, it was heavier and thicker than the iPad 2 (which I already owned) and, despite more powerful graphics, was effectively the same speed when it came to my most … Continue reading “Mini-review: iPad 2012”

Yesterday morning, when I woke up, I fully intended to not buy the new iPad. Based on what I had gleaned from the tech news community, it was heavier and thicker than the iPad 2 (which I already owned) and, despite more powerful graphics, was effectively the same speed when it came to my most common use: browsing the web.

But… as I was standing in the lineup at Timmy’s to get my morning coffee — reading RSS feeds on my phone, as usual — I saw a post that said “most stores will be open at 8am for potential iPad buyers”, and I thought, “Gee (or something like that), it’s 8:20 and there’s a Future Shop between here and my work! I might as well go look at them at least.”

As you have probably surmised, I went, I saw, I purchased. I’ll warn you now, if you are vacillating over buying the new one, don’t look. Seriously, don’t look!

For me, tablets are defined by exactly two things: their responsiveness and the quality of their screens. In the iPad’s case, the responsiveness is as good as ever (and I still believe that the compromises that the Apple team made to get there were the right answer), but the screen is something else entirely. I can honestly say that this is the highest quality display I have ever seen. The iPhone 4 may have higher pixel density, but the small form factor doesn’t do it justice. Looking at the iPad screen you get the same sense that you are looking at a printed page that you get from e-ink screens, but with beautiful, vibrant color. [Yes, I know it has more glare and isn’t outdoor readable — everything has trade-offs]. Text is absolutely gorgeous and reading is a joy. Scanning through photos leaves you thinking you’re looking through a 10″ window.

As to the rest, I can’t say I’ve seen a significant performance improvement overall (either from the improved graphics processor or increased system memory). It may stutter a little less, but not so I’ve noticed.

I will say the “back” camera is much improved. I’d include a picture here, but I’d have to reduce it in size, which would defeat the purpose. The front-facing camera is just as crappy as it was in the previous generation; I actually find it to be so bad that I’m not even happy using it for FaceTime. Oh well.

We’re now a 3 iPad family. Deb has my old one; the 3G will come in handy for her business travel. Her first gen one is now in the hands of Dennis. I’ll let you know the result of that toughness “road test”. 😉

Maker wannabee

I did do a couple of actual, for reals, hardware things while I was on vacation, which for anyone who knows me has got to be pretty surprising :-). The first was to put together a little Arduino (actually Freeduino) board: I have vague plans to take this plus a DAC and produce a midi … Continue reading “Maker wannabee”

I did do a couple of actual, for reals, hardware things while I was on vacation, which for anyone who knows me has got to be pretty surprising :-). The first was to put together a little Arduino (actually Freeduino) board:

I have vague plans to take this plus a DAC and produce a midi to CV converter, something like this.

The other project was more prosaic, but probably more useful: I replaced the lawn light outside GCW. Really, this was just removing the old bits, repainting the post, then putting in a new light sensor and headpiece. The result actually looks pretty good:


(click the link to see a closeup)

Anyway, nothing earthshaking there, but there’s nothing like a couple of successes to refuel your interest in making things again. Anybody want to help build an analog synthesizer?

How fast is fast enough?

Friday after work I picked up a new laptop. It’s one of the just released MacBook Pros with the “real” i7 processors (i.e. 4 cores, multi-threaded). In addition to an 8Gig memory upgrade, I had them replace the DVD drive with a 128Gig SSD to hold the core OS and applications. For the few times … Continue reading “How fast is fast enough?”

Friday after work I picked up a new laptop. It’s one of the just released MacBook Pros with the “real” i7 processors (i.e. 4 cores, multi-threaded). In addition to an 8Gig memory upgrade, I had them replace the DVD drive with a 128Gig SSD to hold the core OS and applications. For the few times when I might still need a DVD burner, the old drive was placed in an external USB enclosure. I must say, being able to easily get these kinds of aftermarket mods done is one of the reasons why I shop at Carbon Computing rather than the Apple Store.

After playing with the new machine for a weekend, I can categorically state that it is everything I had hoped for. It boots from power on to desktop in < 20 seconds; apps start before the dock icon can complete its first bounce; WoW was above 80fps most of the time [low: 55fps; high: >150]; It’s awesome.

I actually had a spare copy of Windows 7 lying around that I never got time to install under Parallels on the old laptop. When I installed it on this one I could give it 2 dedicated processors and 3 Gig of RAM without even noticing any performance impact. Seriously, the machine appears to run as well with Parallels running as without.

But here’s the thing… The apps themselves don’t actually seem much faster. Even on my old laptop, for anything other than a hardcore developer task (like doing a full build of a product plus running the test suites), as often as not the rendering/processing power of the machine wasn’t the limiting factor. In this connected world we live in, if I’m waiting for something it’s usually a remote server, either on the internet or some network shared device, not my local machine.

In general, I believe we’re well past the point where machines needed to run at 100% to simply render the UI fast enough, with the one exception perhaps being gaming. Even there it seems that we’re reaching a point of diminishing returns: Is that extra bit of motion blur and depth of field processing really making the game more fun?

For the average person’s use case — reading mail, browsing the internet, editing files, and playing Farmville — an iPad 2 (with a BT keyboard) will be every bit as useful as my laptop. Heck, even a $300 netbook will do the job.

So is that it? Do we need machines to be faster? Not until we discover how to put the performance to some use more interesting than making the windows jiggle when you move them [yes, Linux I’m looking at you]. I’ve tried to think of possibilities here, but to me the most interesting directions appear to be data driven, again making the speed of your internet connection more interesting than your CPU. I guess we’ll see.

Good Service Alert

When Deb and I were in Halifax last Summer, I purchased a Kodak Playsport Zx3 video camera. It proved to be a perfectly capable little outdoor camera, with 1080p recording capability, image stabilization and a waterproof shell, all for $130. Not bad. Since then, I have also pressed it into service to record numerous family … Continue reading “Good Service Alert”

When Deb and I were in Halifax last Summer, I purchased a Kodak Playsport Zx3 video camera. It proved to be a perfectly capable little outdoor camera, with 1080p recording capability, image stabilization and a waterproof shell, all for $130. Not bad. Since then, I have also pressed it into service to record numerous family events, and except for a bit too much color noise in low light situations, it has worked well.

Unfortunately, about a week ago, it developed a dark spot in the image sensor as you can see from this still frame from a test movie I shot:

A spot on the frame

The weird thing about this is, if I pointed the camera at a bright light source and then back where it was originally, the spot would disappear and would stay gone even if I waited until the light level stabilized again. However, a minute or so after that point, the dark area would reappear.

Given that I only paid $130 for the camera, I figured it probably wouldn’t make sense to try to get it repaired — most camera places won’t even assess a camera repair for less than $75, let alone do the work — but just as I was about to toss it on my “junk tech toy” pile I remembered that I had actually spent the extra $20 for an extended warrantee for it. So, instead of junking it, I hunted around for the original receipt and then headed off to the local Staples.

Now, remember the Staples where I originally bought the camera was in Halifax, so I wasn’t confident that they were going to be able to do anything for me in any case, but as soon as I walked into the one in Barrhaven I was met by someone who listened to my explanation of the problem, took a quick look at my bill, and then simply handed me a new camera. They didn’t even make me hang around while they did the associated paperwork, but simply initialed my bill to indicate that an exchange had been made and then sent me on my way.

I must say first that the $20 was apparently money well spent, but more than that, I can honestly say that I have never had a better customer service experience. If only all stores dealt with customers this well! GJ, Staples. Thanks.

iPad 2 Wish List

Here’s what I’d like to see for the next iPad, along with any related, current rumours… Higher resolution display — the rumours say everything from “no change” (== 1024×768) to “retina display” (== 2048×1536). Retina display seems unlikely, but I would like something higher than we have now, at least when I’m reading books. Can … Continue reading “iPad 2 Wish List”

Here’s what I’d like to see for the next iPad, along with any related, current rumours…

  1. Higher resolution display — the rumours say everything from “no change” (== 1024×768) to “retina display” (== 2048×1536). Retina display seems unlikely, but I would like something higher than we have now, at least when I’m reading books. Can we do 1280×1024 maybe?
  2. Cameras front and back — this is widely believed to be part of the story, but the current rumours are that the cameras will be low resolution (0.3Mp front; 1.0Mp rear). Honestly, if they put in something less than what’s in the iPhone, they’re idiots.
  3. Lighter — using the current iPad to read is equivalent to strength training. There are rumours of the next iPad having a carbon fibre back to reduce the weight. I’ll believe it when I see it.
  4. Faster — this would be both as a result of a faster processor, and because it would have more RAM. A big part of the experience for this device is browsing the web, but the iPad is not the best tablet for doing this any more; let’s fix that.

SlingPlayer for iPad — don’t buy it.

I have to say, when I finally got a chance to get the SlingPlayer Mobile app for my iPhone, I was quite upset to find that they were charging $30 for it — more than 5x the price of any other app I have purchased for that platform. On top of that, after using it … Continue reading “SlingPlayer for iPad — don’t buy it.”

I have to say, when I finally got a chance to get the SlingPlayer Mobile app for my iPhone, I was quite upset to find that they were charging $30 for it — more than 5x the price of any other app I have purchased for that platform.

On top of that, after using it for a while, I can honestly say that it was not worth the price. The control scheme is unwieldy (to say the last); the actual interactions with the PVR are unresponsive to the point of being nearly useless; and the picture quality is poor (even with the latest 2.0 version).

Essentially, it’s a tech demo: I have never used it for anything other than explaining to people what is possible on the iPhone.

I’m an optimist though, so when the iPad version of SlingPlayer came out, I thought maybe they will have made use of the improved screen real estate and horsepower to provide a better experience, so I’ll just go to the App Store and… WHAT?!?!?! Another 30 dollars!!!!

Um… In a word, no.

Even for an iPad app, that price is off by (at least) a factor of two, and they simply haven’t demonstrated that they can deliver an experience that justifies that cost. Hey, SlingMedia, take a look at StreamToMe it’s one tenth the price and offers a streaming media experience (albeit a simpler one) that is significantly better than SlingPlayer.

“Back to the Mac”

Apparently, Apple has called a press conference for next week to discuss something Mac OS related. Apple: Back to the Mac? October 20 It’s a mark of where we are that most of the buzz around this is: Will it be called “Lion”? Will it include FaceTime integration? *sigh*. My take: “Back to the Mac” … Continue reading ““Back to the Mac””

Apparently, Apple has called a press conference for next week to discuss something Mac OS related.

Apple: Back to the Mac? October 20

It’s a mark of where we are that most of the buzz around this is:

  1. Will it be called “Lion”?
  2. Will it include FaceTime integration?

*sigh*.

My take: “Back to the Mac” sounds too much like “Back to my Mac” for it not to be cloud focused — particularly since they are just finishing up their massive new data center in NC. 😉