Author Archives: Steve Mays

Scott Adams: Technology Caves

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“In the past, the square footage of a home was probably the single biggest factor in determining its level of comfort and livability. Today, technology and a growing trend toward informality make the size of the home less important. You can get to the same level of livability at lower cost by putting your money into room design, sound proofing, and technology. My best guess is that a technology cave could achieve the same level of livability as a McMansion, at a quarter of the price.

I predict that someday you’ll see a technology company such as Apple or Google get into the residential technology cave business. The traditional residential construction industry will never embrace smaller homes with better technology. The change will have to come from another industry.”

Why I love Gmail #326

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The screenshot above is from a reply to an email earlier today. Note the “Consider including” option. The first two suggestions are on the money (not so “Bill Scott”). Gmail has had this feature for a while but I just haven’t been noticing it. It just gets smarter and smarter. I also like the option of editing the subject line but perhaps most email clients do this.

Rejecting evolution

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Jonathan Dudley is the author of Broken Words: The Abuse of Science and Faith in American Politics

“…creationism has failed to provide an alternative explanation for the vast majority of evidence explained by evolution.

It has failed to explain why birds still carry genes to make teeth, whales to make legs, and humans to make tails.

It has failed to explain why the fossil record proposed by modern scientists can be used to make precise and accurate predictions about the location of transition fossils.

It has failed to explain why the fossil record demonstrates a precise order, with simple organisms in the deepest rocks and more complex ones toward the surface.

It has failed to explain why today’s animals live in the same geographical area as fossils of similar species.

It has failed to explain why, if carnivorous dinosaurs lived at the same time as modern animals, we don’t find the fossils of modern animals in the stomachs of fossilized dinosaurs.

It has failed to explain the broken genes that litter the DNA of humans and apes but are functional in lower vertebrates.

It has failed to explain how the genetic diversity we observe among humans could have arisen in a few thousand years from two biological ancestors.

“…the belief that scientists can discover truth, and that, once sufficiently debated, challenged and modified, it should be accepted even if it creates tensions for familiar belief systems, has an obvious impact on decisions that are made everyday. And it is that belief Christians reject when they reject evolution.

In doing so, they’ve not only led America astray on questions ranging from the value of stem cell research to the etiology of homosexuality to the causes of global warming. They’ve also abandoned a central commitment of orthodox Christianity.”

 

Instagram

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Every time I peek at Instagram, I find remarkable new images. This one by someone calling themselves purposofenvy. You can see more of his/her photos here.
Not sure why I find instagram so appealing. I think it’s that the photo is the extent of the communication. You can intuit (?) a lot about someone without a bunch of words. The photo is the story.

Apple to disable iPhone camera at live events?

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From the Economic Times: Apple is developing a software that will restrict iPhone users from recording a live concert or sporting event. The software will ensure that an iPhone, while trying to record an event, triggers the infra-red sensors installed at the venue. These sensors would then automatically instruct the iPhone to shut down its camera function, preventing any footage from being recorded, reports the Daily Mail. However, while only the phone’s camera would be temporarily disabled, other features, such as texting and making calls, would still work. 

Is this to protect the rights of the concert promoters, artists and media companies… or just a way to deal with the morons holding up their cameras for 2 hours? 

“Bottom-Up Revolution”

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From an opinion piece on Al-Jazeera, by Paul Rosenberg 

Obama, however, is just one political figure, reflecting the more general state of US politics – particularly elite opinion and major economic interests. His ambivalence is, in this sense, an expression of America’s fading power. Obama’s belated attempts to play catch-up with the Arab Spring are but one facet of a more general loss of previous dominance.

And this from Wadah Khanfar, on the obsolecense aging Arab regimes:

This outstanding change, this historic moment, was totally lost on ageing governments that thought they were dealing with a bunch of kids who only needed to vent and then go home to their aimless lives. But they were wrong: because their ideas were old, their opinions were old, their minds were old, and their spirit was old. Ignorance can sometimes be a tool of destiny.

I’m finding Al-Jazeera a very credible and refreshing source for world news.

And then there’s this from a recent NYT story:

The Obama administration is leading a global effort to deploy “shadow” Internet and mobile phone systems that dissidents can use to undermine repressive governments that seek to silence them by censoring or shutting down telecommunications networks.

The effort includes secretive projects to create independent cellphone networks inside foreign countries, as well as one operation out of a spy novel in a fifth-floor shop on L Street in Washington, where a group of young entrepreneurs who look as if they could be in a garage band are fitting deceptively innocent-looking hardware into a prototype “Internet in a suitcase.”

Reminds me of all those Stinger missles we gave the Taliban fighters to use against the Russkies.

“If I can just hang on for another couple of years”

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“This idea of “hanging on for another few years” isn’t just dangerous; it’s suicidal. I know this comes off as harsh, but media companies should be asking themselves this question (actually, they should have been already): Is our topmost leadership capable of looking past their personal needs to do what’s right for the company in the long run? In the answer to that question lies the future of all media.”

— Terry Heaton

Chrome Notebook

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I was certain I had posted something about Google sending me a Chrome Notebook to try out but I can’t seem to find it [will update later]. After playing with it for a week I handed it off to George Kopp who kept it for a week and then last Saturday, Tom Piper took it. His excellent comments below.

Disclaimer: The first most difficult task is to set aside 32 years of self-contained computer experience (since my first Apple ][ 48K computer), and to stop using hand gestures on the trackpad to make things happen. That being said, I approached the Chromebook as a “new user” with a zest for trying out everything I saw.

Step 1: First impressions of this laptop are very positive. With a screen a little over 12″ diagonal, weighing in at just over 3 lbs, and a petite size of less than 1″ x 9″ x 12″, it feels like a solid package. The rubberized texture of the surface gives it a sense of stability which is easy to handle and carry around. The keys and trackpad are laid out well, and simple to understand.

Step 2: Hit the power button upper-left of keyboard, wait less than 10 second watching the colorful Chrome logo, and I am presented with an opportunity to select my local Wi-Fi network, and setup my Google-based login account, complete with a self-portrait . . . thereafter, I just select my picture, enter my password, hit Return, and I am instantly on the desktop. I am confronted with eight icons to choose from, which is very straight-forward.

Step 3: I start by double-clicking the YouTube icon. which takes me to the YouTube website in about 5 seconds. I select something under Most Viewed, and almost immediately am watching live action. Click on the left-arrow at upper-left, and I’m back to the YouTube menu where I select another . . . very quick response, but the sound on the unit isn’t very good. It’s time to move on, so I click an “x” in the upper tab, and return to the main screen.

Step 4: A double-click on Google Calendar brought up a week-at-a-glance view showing 7am-to-7pm time slots, and pre-posted holidays, plus a full-month minature at the upper-left corner. Buttons at the upper-right easily take me to one day, a week, a month, 4 days or agenda for all posted activities for the year . . . again, very fast. Edits a powerful with times, reminders, colors, guests, descriptions and more.

Step 5: Next, I tried GoogleDocs, which let me access and modify files I had previously posted. Simple and easy to do, little thought needed. I added the Scratchpad by clicking on the “+” next to the top top . . . neat little tool to capture and save thoughts while using another application. Gmail brought up a familiar screen showing email that I usually receive here . . . no surprises. GoogleTalk is my next tab opened, which appears that it will let me chat with another Google account holder, maybe even with video since I see a little green videocam silhouette (did not use this feature).

Step 6: Chrome Web Store is my next open tab showing lots of opportunities to get more programs, divided into descriptive categories. Popular Science (a hardcopy magazine I already get) was my first selection, which immediately appeared on screen and installed as a new main screen icon. Within 5 seconds of double-clicking, I’m in the animated magazine complete with movies and sound (adding earbuds improved the sound quality) . . . very fast access! I couldn’t resist installing Angry Birds (free) which played incredibly well. WeatherBug was my next installation (very fast installment) which worked great, giving excellent and quick information.

Step 7: Entanglement was my next tab to engage . . . cool music, with nice tutorial, but a little confusing, and very unusual game. I’m not much of a gamer, since this program, though intriguing, didn’t hold my interest.

Conclusion: The more I do, the more fun and engaging the experience with the Chromebook becomes. Overall, I found the response to be very good, the detail to be satisfyiing, the opportunities to be alluring, and the future to be full of possibilities (in spite of a trackpad that kept moving the cursor when I was trying to click on something). With a current market price of $430-$500 (Samsung at BestBuy), this device seems overpriced, but perhaps retail buying will get better with competition. In a fixed environment like an office, or at home (but not traveling), I could see real value in this unit.

Tom describes the battery life as “very impressive.”

UPDATE (6/26/11): Andy Small test-drove the Chrome for a week and shares his impressions.

New website theme

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It’s been a few years since I messed with the look of smays.com so I decided to give the old blog a little make-over. For those who care about such things, I switched from the Thesis theme to one by StudioPress, running on the Genesis framework.

I’ve been slowly, but steadily, migrating most of our company sites in this direction because the Genesis platform is just so flexible and easy to work with. So, I’ll be rearranging the furniture for a bit. You comments are welcome but will most likely be ignored.

Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives

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I’m reading a wonderful little book by David Eagleman called Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives. But it’s really “an examination of what it means to live.” At first I marveled at the strangeness of some of the stories but realized none are stranger than the stories most of us grew up with (Bearded white man sitting on golden throne surrounded by harp playing angels). This is a book I’ll keep close and read again and again.

UPDATE (6/18/11):  I’m trying to savor these stories and make them last but I’m getting near the end and everyone is better than the one before. One of my favorites so far is Death Switch:

“So an afterlife does not exist for us per se, but instead an afterlife occurs for that which exists between us. When and alien civilization eventually bumps into Earth, they will immediately be able to understand what humans were about, because what will remain is the network of relationships: who loved whom, who competed, who cheated,who laughed together over road trips and holiday dinners. Each person’s ties to bosses, brothers ad lovers are etched into the electronic communiques. The death switches simulate the society so completely that the entire social network is reconstructable. The planet’s memories survive in zeros and ones.”

Author and broadcaster Stephen Fry reads from Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlife, neuroscientist David Eagleman’s first work of fiction.