Archive for December 2009
Silly liberals
Re events in China this morning involving the death penalty, it is interesting to note that certain liberal publications (and the BBC) are claiming that people are outraged at what occured. However, if you read the forums (IE, what the man in the street has to say), there is little outrage, but plenty of sympathy for China. Why do liberals always come to the defence of crims who cost society so much? Furthermore, why do they keep on making excuses for the behavior of said crims? As the Chinese say, it is a deterrent. And deterrents work. Perhaps Reprieve and other organisations would like to focus on threats to the decent hard working law abiding people of this country and the world (of call creeds and cultures) who appear to be increasingly ignored? The point here is not this specific case, it is the fact these publications, organisations and individuals are wasting time on the wrong issue.
Fight back club: Try to avoid doing anything that profits the liberal media.
Slate & Modular Computing
Mobile devices aside, I have always believed that computers designed for content production and business should be based on touch screens that lay on the desk at the same angle as a draftsman’s drawing board. Ergonomically, there is no better position. Operated by a combination of stylus and fingers, the intuitive nature of such devices would increase productivity and reduce RSI significantly.
Based on this story from Apple Insider, if Apple are about to announce what many of us believe and hope, then everything is about to change for the better, and 50 years of straight seat back computing is about to be rendered obsolete. If not, then someone is going to do it sooner or later and usher in a whole new era in how we interact with digital media. This will ensure more people are able to be creative and productive with a far shorter learning curve. Just imagine operating Photoshop®, Final Cut Pro™ or a spreadsheet using a stylus and Multitouch.
Maximum productivity, minimum fatigue
(Photo of AB by JB, 198x)
The word slate has several compelling connotations. Beyond implying ultra-thin, one can imagine sketching and making notes on a rigid light weight pad – or if a teacher, then enthusiastically illustrating on the (slate backed) blackboard at the front of class. A pen shaped drawing implement and tablet is a naturally intuitive medium that has yet to be perfected in an electronic form – except by Microsoft’s (currently) conceptual but well thought out Courier device and some of the Psion PDAs that should have never gone out of production.
However, if Apple want to do something really really wonderful, they need to create a pocketable or under arm iDevice that can be docked with a larger desktop monitor – almost rendering the laptop (and MacBook!) obsolete. You carry your computer in your pocket and dock it with your big screen and keyboard at the desk or home. This may well explain why the 27″ iMac has a video INPUT. IBM launched a modular brick like portable computer a decade or so ago, but it was ahead of it’s time, however, today’s low cost large screen displays and increasingly powerful mobile CPUs are making the idea viable finally.
So…
WHAT IF THE NEXT iPHONE/iPOD/iSLATE/iTABLET/iPAD/MACPAD IS YOUR DESKTOP COMPUTER?
Fight back club: Start saving and hold off from buying a netbook until we see what transpires at the end of January 2010. Update: Check out the rumoured Motorola ‘Shadow‘ that includes an HDMI port. Hmm, interesting!
(Apologies for the disjointed nature of this posting. Fairly busy, but have waited a LONG time for this moment in the industrial revolution to arrive. It is going to be very liberating for so many reasons!)
Just a reminder re climate change
For those who may be convinced that the current cold weather* across Europe and the USA discredits global warming ‘theory’, note that for a while now scientists and astronomers have stated that the low sunspot activity means the Earth will in fact experience temporary cooling. This has zilch to do with the actual mean global temperature that has been rising for a while now. Once things hot up on sol, there will be a return to warmal down here too. So, watch this space – and your thermometer.
Fight back club: Research mean temperatures over the last few hundred years – and log your own outside so you can keep track over the coming years and spot any trends yourself. “OMG honey! We’re all going to fry!”
This blog posting sponsored by Oregon Scientific, although I have not actually asked them to. Is it fair to profit from doom?
*It’s winter.
Yet another voice of reason
This man says it like it is about the unacceptable rights given to criminals.
Fight back and stop these thugs club: Support him.
Unbelievable but believable
What this guy doesn’t realise is that there are no vulnerable people, at least, the people he refers to as vulnerable are not the sort who would EVER resort to theft. They have principles and dignity. He is referring to the lazy, the drug addicts and others who socialists love to support. The actual way to help people earn an honest pound is for the government to invest in businesses who hire people and deal with law breakers with extreme discipline, because hundreds if not thousands of years of human (and animal) history have proven that it works.
I say believable because Britain as a nation has collapsed so far into the ground that even people in positions of ‘power’ are encouraging law breaking, treating criminals leniently (while locking up or dishing out fixed penalty notices to do gooders) and/or taking us all for a ride – as per the expenses scandal. Not to mention the fact that just a few inches of snow and temperatures that are several degrees HIGHER than a decade or two ago for winter have bought the nation to a standstill – despite all the advance weather warnings.
There are fundemental reasons for all this and they are related to most of the dystopia tagged subjects covered in this blog. The nation has become dumb, weak, useless and therefore bankrupt, in all senses of the word.
Fight back club: No idea what to suggest, but those of us who understand what is going on are focusing on being industrious as that is the way to create jobs and help avoid a return to medieval times.
Save SAAB
With more and more people appreciating the importance of good design and sound ergonomics, the one company that excels in this direction is under threat. Visit the SAAB website and check out the new 95, in particular the dashboard – as shown below. While all modern SAABs feature excellent dashboard design, this one has a heads up speedometer too to keep your eyes and vehicle on the road.
(Sadly, like most automotive websites, SAAB use Flash, so I cannot provide a bookmark direct to the ‘page’. Roll on html5 with XML!)
Lovely ergonomics thanks to finger friendly knobs and buttons
The mind boggles how GM could ever have become associated with SAAB! Just how many quality European auto manufacturers have ever done well from a deal with Detroit?
Fight back club: Other than ordering one if you like them, let’s hope that Spyker buy SAAB. Their own cars look stunning and they obviously also appreciate attention to detail and robust engineering.
Always had my eyes on a 95 convertible with that huge aircraft like dash!
Re Copenhagen ‘agreement’
During my high school education we were repeatedly informed by our science teachers that just a 1 degree rise in the average global temperature would be catastrophic. So what’s the meaning of this? One is left to assume that the delegates have concluded – perhaps behind closed doors – that there’s nothing we can do. So while we may have to put up with climate change, we should definately reduce pollution by mass producing alternative methods of generating energy. A few cities to visit to experience almost permanent pollution first hand: Hong Kong, Cairo and one I drove past several times in Northern California during the 1990s, whose name escapes me for now. (An eye opening experience that was an unexpected introduction to environmental ‘racism’ if that’s the correct term. That is, fairly poor people – mainly immigrants – living right next to a factory or refinery that dumps filthy and harmful substances into the air or rivers nearby. Very common in China of course. Life expectancy in such areas is way below average.)
Fight back club: No matter what the politicians do at these conferences, reduce your use of oil and follow developments in solar energy. Look up – not down!
Yes, ironically, pollution (volcanic and man made) can actually cool the atmosphere, but eventually green house gases are trapped, raising the temperature. Whatever, pollution is not good for life on Earth, so no harm done in reducing it. Hmm?
Who needs the telcos?
In 1992, from Palo Alto, I wrote a letter to everyone I know expressing my efforts to create or at least ensure that one day, communications, like air and (tap) water, would be free. Based on P2P wireless technology and advertising sponsored communications I had ideas on how to achieve this. While no evidence exists, it is possible that the forthcoming NEXUS 1 from Google is the first step in this revolutionary, paradigm shifting consumer liberating how it should have been in the first place process. (All said, the iPod Touch – equipped with a microphone, could conceptually also become a P2P wireless device – as could many other wireless gadgets equipped with suitable firmware.)
Fight back club: If it’s the real Mcoy, buy a NEXUS and bring the dasterdly networks to their knees, so humankind can progress at full throttle. Way to Go-ogle!
Actual 1992 letter to follow when I have a mo’ to locate and convert the original Altsys Freehand or Quark file.
Fascist nation we have become
Says it all. I do recall family members telling me how when visiting dictatorships (such as Romania) in the 70s and 80s they would be approached and threatened by police or soldiers while taking photos. As per the Towards Dystopia section of this blog, it is unbelievable to think this is happening here today. As in WW2 Germany and KGB Russia, it was the young (such as these British PCOs and police) who were so indoctrinated and full of a sense of power that they did not comprehend the nature of or see fault in their behavior. I hope this Italian will show her disgust and not only refuse to pay the contribution to our bankrupt nation in the form of the ‘fixed penalty’, but depart forthwith and tell all her friends never to return and spend their money here. I am so embarassed to be British!
Ironic that the government are allowed to monitor us with the increasing number of CCTV cameras. And no doubt, these new reduced speed limits are designed as an excuse to install yet more cameras and entrap good sensible middle class drivers who have been used to a specific speed limit for decades – providing the government a nice little earner. It should be noted that the horrific accidents that occur once in a while where several young people are killed when losing control of their vehicle are caused because the driver is either drunk or distracted while talking to his or her friends in the back seat. Only a police speed trap will stop that, not cameras!
Fight back club: Leave.
Why does the government keep focusing on matters that are not really pertinent on the grand scale of things? (In their defence, the swine flu crisis was handled well.) They have not insisted or encouraged the bailed out banks to invest in businesses who in turn will train and employ the increasing numbers of unemployed youth who once employed would pay taxes, reducing the need for the government to obtain it’s revenue from all these fixed penalty notices that are in turn imposing stress and inconvenience on many good people.
Vindication, again again
A few posts ago, it was suggested that the UK government invested in businesses and encouraged apprenticeships for all the economic, social and other benefits this offers. (And/or encouraged the banks to invest in businesses with all that bailout money.) However, neither did the right thing. Instead, they ignored a form of greed that discredits capitalism, allowing the banks to continue their dubious ways.
So, in the US, the economy is slowly recovering, while here, manufacturing industry is laying off workers and we are not benefiting from this. However, we should be, because Britain can excel at design and engineering when it wants to – it is part of our heritage. It appears that the PM’s obsession with the City has ignored our other assets. First the gold, now our manufacturing industry. Oh dear.
Fight back club: Invest in entities that increase in or create value.
