Post-PC, more evolution than revolution

    So, it's been awhile ... again.

    After almost a year away from this blog, I have decided to return. It has been a very exciting year. I moved twice, got back to "nature" and all things outdoors while at the same time learning some new trade skills. Welding is more fun than I thought it would be.

    When I last left off, I was attempting to go "Post-PC". At that time, the potential was there, but the capability was just too lacking. There just was not enough software in place to make the transition I was hoping to make. My goal was, and still is, to embrace the "Post-PC" ideals and become completely free of the PC. A goal not without many challenges.

    I suppose I should bring everyone up to speed on the "why". I have been involved in PC's since before the days of Commador V16's and TRS-80's (though the Amiga was truly astounding for its day). I have always been an early adopter of new technology, even in my childhood. Now in my forties, I still find the future a mysterious idea full of wonder and possibilities. While not all new ideas will take off, some will. Other ideas will change and merge with still more ideas, hopefully for the better. I have always felt that the future, wether dystopian or utopian, or whatever it turns out to be, will be very different than what is here today and I look forward to it all.

    So what is the difference between a "PC" and a "Device"? At the root of it, not much. In fact this question is still being asked. It used to be a device was single purpose. A printer, a fax machine, or even a cell phone, was a "device". Then the term "multi-function" came out and the lines started to blur. In fact, most "devices" today are actually low power computers. Some say the modern definition should be anything with a keyboard and mouse is a "PC". Some used to say it was the ability compile software directly on the Device made it a PC. You can now do that with Android, so that really isn't much of a benchmark anymore.

     So as the world becomes more mobile, raw horsepower isn't the goal it used to be. Instead users are looking for an experience that is smooth, coherent, cohesive and works across multiple devices, PC's and whatever else can be connected together. The goal is all of your data available, on demand, on any device or computer. As the world becomes more and more connected, the amount of data available is becoming staggering to us old farts who grew up learning to type on an actual typewriter. For the next generation, it's just the way the world works.

    Going "Post-PC" isn't exactly what I thought it was going to be, and yet it is. The ideas are still forming, the workflows still being worked out and the future is not yet written. I love the idea of getting away from the desktop, yet there are still things that a desktop will be better at. So then what does "Post-PC" actually mean then?

    In my mind, the Post-PC era isn't a revolution. It's more of an evolution. The "devices" don't need to be as powerful as a desktop, but merely good enough. They must have a smooth and natural UI, be able to connect to all of your data, and be able to get the most common tasks done relatively easily. Framed in such a way, I think the age of mobile is doing very well and will continue to do so. Most tablets, phones and other non-traditional PC's cost much less up front than a gaming computer, or one that is built for large scale 3D rendering or video editing. While much less "powerful", they are good enough for day-to-day use, and I think that's the point.

    To this end, my wife has purchased me a new iPad Pro, complete with a keyboard and an Apple Pencil. Using a touch screen can be seen as just a new way to use a mouse, especially if using a stylus or other such add-on. The iPad Pro is truly amazing for what it is and I can see why so many people have adopted it. Granted, this is also my first tablet, but for the first time I think I may be able to give up my MacBook Pro completely. Yes, it is that good (enough). Realistically, I don't write code these days, I no longer do custom ROM's for phones and there are a lot of things that I just don't do anymore with computers. Not because I can't, I have just enjoyed being being a user long enough that the stress of doing those things is no longer outweighed by the satisfaction of doing it.

     As my computing needs change I find that I really like just being a user. In the end, it has made all the difference. 

ByWord2

ByWord,

The iOS App ByWord claims to use Markdown, or Mark something-or-other, inorder to provide dynamic text that you would normally find in say, an RTF or Word Document. So far, it seems to be a strait forward application for saving plain text. You can use do a few things like:

• Create a list
• Add BOLD text
• Or even italics

This, of course, is part of the markdown *syntax that ByWord uses. Honestly it reminds of posting on Google+. Weather or not any of these marks acttualy translate into formatted text remains to be seen.

One of the things I have noticed, and it kind of made me … erked … was the ability to publish directly with ByWord was an add $4.99 in-app purchase. This, after the original $5.99 app price puts the total app at $10.98. A little expensive in my opinion, and to be fair, the publisher did list the in-app purchase in the description. I guess that’ll teach me to read everything before committing.

Another pet-peeve that I found was spellcheck was disabled by default. Why would you do that? The navigation is also more than little lacking. I can only assume it meant to be spartan. However, if you have never used the app before, it is a little less than intuitive.

Over all though, I really like it. I like that can save documents to dropbox, I can open iCloud documents and basically it gives me a lot of flexibility. Something that is all to often missing in iOS and the apps available for it. For this reason, and a few others that more personal preferance, I think I will come to like this app very much.

This largest hurdle to overcome has been the markdown itself. As I am not used to using markdown, as such, it has been a case of trial end error.

The above image is one I posted on Instagram a long time ago, and is only being used to test image support in ByWord and to see how well it shows up in Blogger.

The one thing I wish Byword did offer, was a way to publish as a draft to Blogger. Although, I probably would be doing that now instead of learning to get the Markdown correct before publishing. Still, it would be a nice feature.

I have also discovered that by using the “eject key” on my keyboard (a standard Apple Bluetooth) I can bring up a menu at the top, and there is an option to preview the Markdown before publishing. A great addition. So, as I said before, the interface has a learning curve, but it is meant to be spartan.

All in all though, the clean interface allows me to concentrate more on writing and less on formatting, which I like a lot.

A retraction ... of sorts ...

    Yes, it's true. Back in August of this year I posted my disdain for the Linux Desktop environment. In my post titled "Did Linux miss the boat? or did it take the train instead?"I hammered the Linux community for not living up to its potential, for being the ugly kid at the back of the classroom. You know the type, the loner, the kid who plays games in his mom's basement until he's in his mid-thirties. "Those guys".

DropBox ... FAIL!

    For the last few weeks I have been in a battle, with DropBox.com. The problem started after the latest upgrade, and I have yet to be able to find a way to correct it. After three e-mails to their customer support, I have yet to hear from them. The thing is, it seems to be a more complex problem than it should, or needs to be.

iOS 5.1.1 JailBreak for A5 devices ... almost here

    Its not often I wait for software to be released with any real amount of anticipation. And then there's the forthcoming Absinthe 2.0 that is scheduled to be released in just over ten hours from the time this post was made.

Cutting the cable ... revisited

    Yes, I know. It's been a long time since I have made a blog post, and for that I apologize. No, I have not given up on this blog, and yes I still plan to update regularly. If I could make a living running a blog, I would. Still bills need to paid, and with a son in collage those bills add up fast. Work comes first, and unfortunately for the blog, it has paid a heavy price for my absence. After more than a month, i'm back!

Lilyhammer ... Sopranos in winter

    Lilyhammer is a new series created by Netflix. I was less than three minutes into the first episode when my wife asked me if I was watching The Sopranos, and she wasn't far off. 



The official descriptions is:
    "After he testifies against a Mafia boss, ex-gangster Frank Tagliano enters the witness protection program and asks to be sent to Norway. Despite the peaceful surroundings, it's not long before Frank strays from the straight and narrow."

 The role of "Frank Tagliano" is played by veteran actor Steven Van Zandt. This show is very well produced and has a solid cast of characters. All I really say is wow! I am defiantly hooked.

    Netflix decided to release the show without any fanfare what-so-ever. It didn't even show up in the list as a new TV show; I had to search for it after hearing about it at work. It makes me wonder if this was an intentional marketing move, or simply a test of "word-of-mouth" advertising? Whatever the case, I am now a bigger fan of Netflix than ever was. If they can keep producing top quality original programming on this level, I will be customer for life.

    The entire first season now available on Netflix for streaming, and if you ever watched any "mobster" types shows or movies, you have to see Lilyhammer.

Upgrade MacBook Pro Hard Drive

    Yesterday I finished upgrading the Hard Drive in my mid-2010 MacBook Pro. The hard drive I chose was the Western Digital 1TB Scorpio Blue. Trust me when I say that a full Terabyte huge, and coming from a mere 320 gigs, its like moving from an apartment into a new house.

    As with all things digital, especially computers, there is always those few pieces of information that never seem to make it in to the "how-to"'s of the internet. This certainly was no different. I did however get it done, after a few failed attempts that is.

    Before we go any further, I should mention that there are two ways to accomplish a Hard Drive upgrade. The first is easy, but takes forever. Its just a matter of swapping the drives and re-installing everything from scratch. Put any backed-up documents or photo's back in and your done. But what about your setting? All of the pages that your browser auto logs you into? Your desktop background? Screen Saver and music? Yes, you can backup and restore all of those things, but it takes a lot of time. There is, however, a better way.

Watching Cable Online

    Around August of 2011 I dropped cable T.V. and switched to Internet streaming services exclusively, and I couldn't be happier.

Apple ... I want to like them ...

     Apple released iBooks 2 and iBooks Author the other day, and after my initial "wow" effect wore off, I am left feeling rather disappointed. Not in the capabilities of the software, or even the idea. Far from it. In fact I applaud Apple for trying to skull drag our broken public education system out of a nearly centuries old system that is not only broken but continues to fail most American children every day.

Let there be pictures ...

    It has recently come to my attention that my blog lacks, well, a certain appeal. After re-reading all of my previous posts, I discovered that blog had become somewhat dry and rather boring. Little or no humor, and no pictures at all. Well, I have decided that this blog is not just a sounding board, or a place for "factual" information (it still is that as well). Instead, I have decided to be a bit more light hearted about my writing. I am not saying I won't be factual, but there is definitely room for improvement. Who wants to read one long win on paragraph? I don't. It gets a bit tedious and well ...

Camera+

    Camera+ is a $0.99 app in the Apple App-Store, and so far, its great. Combined with the free app, instagram, and you have can convert your iPhone into a powerful way to share quality photo's. Using them both feels kind of like twitter for pictures, and for me at least, it works.

USB Video, Fact or Fiction?

    In my last post I wrote about ordering myself a USB Video Display Adapter. Well, as it happens, it has arrived and I have taken the plunge and opened the box. In the next few paragraphs I will attempt to go over both the pro's and the con's of such a device.

Lessons learned

    This is not a typical blog post. Well, maybe for me it is. Then again, this isn't a typical blog. When I first started this particular blog I had some fairly high hopes for it. It is fair to say that I have let this blog down a bit. So, this post is all about the lessons I learned from trying to blog.

    Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction. This blog has been very deficient in purpose and direction. No matter how motivated or driven I was to write something, it never really felt like any one post was the "defining post" or that one post should naturally follow the previous post. Most blogs have a "theme" or at the very least a rather broad topic. This blog, lacking any real purpose or direction has become more or less a dumping ground for things I occasionally found interesting or happened to be bored enough to write about. Not something that will keep people coming back to read your latest post.

    Being personable without being personal. This is a balancing act that most people who write for public reading often wrestle with. While in a "blog" it is quite normal to write about your personal opinion on a given subject, it should never be made personal. Recently in the news a blogger was sued for some $250 million dollars. She used her 100+ blogs to slander a man and accuse him of everything from tax fraud to embezzlement. Try as she might, she was unable to use the protections that are afforded to members of the press. Bloggers are, generally speaking, not journalists. The judge decided that since she (the blogger in question) had no journalism training, had shown no means of fact checking, had often posted the same story re-written across multiple blogs and under different pseudo names that she was in fact liable for damages, and thus not protected as a journalist. I think this is an important distinction that many bloggers just don't or refuse to accept. If you are going call yourself an independent journalist, you need to hold yourself to the same standards as a "real" journalist. If you want to find out more about the case mentioned, Google is your friend.

    Editing counts. I cannot tell you how many blogs I follow.  I really don't know. However, what surprises me the most is the misuse of words. Incorrect spelling is on the decline, but I do think people should actually read what they have written. Auto correct can kill it for me. One blog in particular has finally driven me away. While it was a good source of tech news, the sheer number of misused words made each "article" not only annoying to read, but forced me to focus what the author was trying to say rather than just read the article and be done with it. The biggest is offenders are"to, too and two;" with "by, bye and buy" coming in a close second. Personally, this really drives me nuts. If you are going to write for public reading, at least have more than a tenuous grasp on your chosen profession.

    Style is nothing without substance. There is no way to count the number of blogs that have a good or bad style. It really is rather subjective. However, there is such a thing as too much. Bright neon pink should never border lime green. I am sure you have seen them. It's not just blogs that are guilty of this, many "legitimate" sites do this as well. I myself played around with the templates here on blogger.com. In the end, I settled on the current "template" because it was easy to look at allowed me to focus on the content. Granted, the content is more of a mashup of random ideas that would and could easily be seen as a feng-shui nightmare, but it is what it has become.

    With all of these lessons learned I now have to make a choice; reshape my current work or start fresh and try again. Blogging requires commitment, focus, direction and skill. Well, to do it correctly it does. I have many demands on my time, and many more that I should put ahead of a "hobby." Then again, everyone needs a hobby. That's their one escape to forget about the rest of the world, at least for a little while.

    This then, is the end.

Self publishing

    You know, our world just keeps getting better. Today I discovered something that, while not exactly new, seems relatively unknown. Perhaps its because it is a niche market thing. I don't know. Let me explain.
   
    You see, for a while now I have been an avid fan of a piece of software called Scrivener. It was originally a Mac only product, but has recently been moved to Windows and Linux as well. If you do any kind of writing, this thing is awesome. I am not sure what I can compare it too, but take my word for it. This thing is great. And, it just got better. Well for me anyway.

    Amazon sells books. Well they sell a lot of things, but books are a major part of that. In fact, any Amazon customer can (and probably already has) sign up for Kindle Direct Publishing. This is a free service that allows (would-be and other-wise) authors to self publish their work for free and Amazon will sell their work in the Amazon book store.

    The catch? Well, none really. Amazon will give you 70% of total sales of whatever you publish. They list it on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and a couple of other countries. You can receive your payments via old fashioned cheque, or by Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). You can even specify the currency to be paid in. It really seems like a fairly sweet deal. After asking a few questions in some writing forums online I found more than one author who uses this services exclusively and they make a fair amount of scratch for their work.

    So how does Amazon selling your stuff for you involve software? Scrivener now has a feature to "Publish" your latest creation directly to Kindle format. (Free software plugin download from Amazon required) You can choose your cover art, build a table of contents (or let Scrivener do it for you), and more. Basically, with a few tweaks you can have your novel or whatever ready for primetime in no time.

    Once you're happy with the way it looks, you just upload, set your price and wait. No more agents, no more publishing houses. Now, you go strait to your target audience with your creation. A few simple clicks and you are a published author. Of course, you still need to write something first. In any case, it is option for new aspiring writers that can't seem to find a home with an established publishing house.

   So, if you have tried to pitch your novel and have more rejection letters than you shake a stick at, give it a try. What do you have to lose?

Google+ and Blogger

    No one who uses Google+ and Blogger.com can argue that better integration would be a good thing. Currently Google owns both of the services and they are both great at what they do and serve their respective target audiences well. Many users of both Google+ and Blogger.com have been Google fans for years. Even if you don't consider yourself a fan, per-say, you have to admit that most people use Google products in someway on a regular basis. 

    Since its launch, Google+ has faced an uphill battle for acceptance. Early adopters tended to be more "tech" minded and not afraid to try something new. It is the users who make up the culture of any service, not the service itself. Those early adopters (myself included) have gone a long way towards developing that culture. For better or worse, Google+ is what it is today because of those who are not afraid of change. 

    

    Blogger.com users are also a niche group. Not everyone will start a blog, or even read one. For those of us who do decide to start a blog, only around ten percent will stay with it or try to make anything out of it. The ones that remain however, tend to be snappy and witty while trying to appeal to their particular target audience. 

    While the types and topics of Blogs are as varied as their users, most try to stick with a single focus in the hope of regular visitors for each new post. Sadly I am still trying to figure out what exactly this particular blog is suppose to be about. It seems that the randomness of the topics is the only constant. I digress, I am losing focus. Something I seem to be good at. 

    So here are my top five ideas for better integration of Google+ and Blogger: 

1. Have a setting that can be turned on or off by the user that will auto post the title and first paragraph of the newly published blog post on your Google+ page. (Link to the blog of course)
2. Allow people to "theme" their Google+ page to match their blog for a more seamless user experience. 
3. Have a page or tab on blogger that also shows your Google+ posts. 
4. Include a circle for your blog (see item#3) on Google+
5. View other blogs on Google+ (like item #1) by adding it to a circle.  

    This of course is assuming that we don't get "total" integration. That is, all of the Blogger.com functionality right inside of Google+. That would be good, except for those (again such as myself) that try to monazite their blogs by including advertisements. If you could park a domain on your Google+ page while keeping your source of revenue that would be just about perfect. It would give you all of the benefits of Google+ while keeping the personalization of Blogger.com 

    

    Of course, I don't see this happening anytime soon, but it would be nice. A user could have one portal that would allow them to follow all of the social feeds they want, allow others to follow you, and still monazite your site. Almost sounds to good to be true, which is why it probably won't happen. 

    

    Still, the way we use the internet is always changing and will continue to change for a long time to come.

Zombie Defense ...

    Halloween is fast approaching and I feel its time to discuss zombies. Not everything about them, that would take (and has taken) an entire book. Indeed the horror movie sub-genre of "zombie movies" has a wonderful following around the world. This post will not go more in depth to "zombie lore". What this post will cover is some basic survival information should the Zombie Apocalypse ever occur.
    Specifically, I want to talk about weapon choices and planning. The army has a saying, "Always remember your five P's". Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance. There are others like, "Luck favors the prepared" or even, "Blades don't need reloading". All very good pieces of advice.
    Bladed or even blunt, bludgeoning weapons are an important part of your Zombie defense arsenal. I am not denying that at all. Just don't go looking for a sword if you have never handled on before. Instead look for a "peasant weapon". These are anything you can get your hands on. Axes, machetes, knives and even picks or baseball bats. Anything that you can swing repeatedly. Remember, zombies don't get tired but you will.
    That's why I am concerned with ranged weapons. I don't want them getting close enough to use a lead pipe. Bows and crossbows are always a good choice for two major reasons. First they make little to no noise that can attract other zombies to your location. Second the arrows (or "bolt" for crossbows) can be recovered later and reused. The downside is of course the strings can, and do wear out so finding replacements can prove problematic. If you do decide on one of these as your primary weapon make sure you have extra strings and other parts and that you are familiar with their use and maintenance. This is of course true with any weapon or tool.
    My personal choice is High Point Firearms 9mm Carbine. I don't personally own this weapon, yet. Getting a 9mm carbine past my wife and into the budget takes some work. I won't go into detail about that here, but rest assured I do plan on getting one. I digress.
    This weapon is a good choice for a few reasons. First, it uses standard 9mm ammunition that can be obtained from just about anywhere. Most military, law enforcement, and security people use the standard 9mm ammunition that this weapon uses. Now I know what your thinking, what good is a pistol bullet going to do? Plenty. With the longer barrel length accuracy ranges should be nearly tripled over a hand gun. Besides, the popular MP5 submachine gun uses the same ammo but costs around $4,000.
    Using the same ammunition as your side arm means keeping track of fewer items. 9mm ammunition is very small and you can carry a lot of it in a fairly small space. I do recommend having a 9mm pistol as a side arm for when things get really close, say less than 20 feet.
    It also has a wide array of attachments that can be added. While the laser may not be that useful in most situations, the flashlight most certainly would be. Given the right "tactical" light and you can have an on/off switch moved to the forearm or forward grip of the weapon. This lets you control the light without letting go of the weapon.
    Of course it would be better if the High Point Carbine would also accept a standard magazine, such as those made by Glock or even Beretta. This would give you the added advantage of reusing magazines in multiple weapons. But, it doesn't. Still, using the same ammo and saves you a lot of worry about accidentally trying to load the wrong type into your weapon.
    9mm rounds can also be made mostly silent by means that I won't cover here. This would make it as useful as a crossbow or other such weapons in not attracting other zombies to your location. It is much lighter than most "assault rifles" and is easy to operate, even by a novice.
    That is my pick for my "Primary Zombie Defense Weapon". The High Point Firearms 9mm Carbine wins out on more than enough features to push it to the top. While not a perfect choice, a starting price of only $274 makes it very compelling. The money I save now I can use later for other items, such as a better first aid kit, which is a good idea to have anyway, or even more ammunition.
    Until next time remember your five "P's.

Some interesting stats ...

    I was just looking at my statistics for my blog and I got some interesting numbers. Keep in mind that most of the time I never look at these things as I really don't have any idea how to effectively use such information. I am not an analyst. Yet the information is available so I looked anyway. Blogger.com keeps track of all these numbers automatically so I haven't really had to "do" anything to get them, besides look at the page they are on.

    For "Web browsers" that visit my blog, Safari ranks number one with 58% of all visitors using it. Firefox came in second with 26% and Microsoft Internet Explorer came in last at 14%.

    For Operating system Apple Macs won out again by a lot at 54%, while windows was only at 22%. Linux came in third at 17% leaving Blackberry and the Apple iPad to get 2% each.

    Well that's all great, but what does it mean? Not much really. Even though I myself use a mac, none of these "page views" are from me. There is a setting in blogger.com that prevents it from counting a view if I am logged in, which is always. So none of these are from me. I don't have any iOS devices so those are out as well. I don't even know anyone who uses a Blackberry.

    For one thing, I noticed that it separates iPad and Mac, but I am sure that iPhone uses safari as well, and it doesn't show me those. Also, I am not sure if Googles Android OS would show up separately or as Linux.

    I think it is because I talk so much about Mac's and Cocoa programming and generally a lot about Apple that just more people with Mac's tend to find my blog. Not that I really care how or why a person gets on the internet, but it is nice to see that people do actually read this stuff from time to time.

    Still, it is a good reminder that companies do track this sort of information. I suppose I could read into this that my "target audience" should be Mac users running "Safari". I don't think I will.

    For whatever it's worth, these are my bog stats for that last month. I won't post actual page visits or any "real" numbers, there really is no need, and I really don't care enough about actual numbers to put it all down. Still, these numbers are fairly interesting and I often wonder who are all these people that actually visits my blog. I guess anonymity is worth something. Until next time ...

Some changes

    I am still in the process of learning how to use all of the tools available to me on this blog, and this time I have made some changes to the Template. I will be making more changes as the week progresses, but for now I feel it is important to start building towards the "look & feel" that I am after. I would like the time readers spend on here actually reading my blog to enjoy themselves.

    This is actually fairly involved, more so than I have time for tonight. It includes everything from color to font selection. The myriad of choices is a bit daunting, however I am working my way through them and hope to have a well planned and laid out blog by the end of the week.

    I also began my day job this week. Yup, back to work, vacation is over. Phooey. Oh well, at least it pays the bills.

Blogging takes times

    Blogging, I have discovered takes a bit of time. It's not just taking the time to actually sit down and write a post, and hope it is at least mildly entertaining. It also includes taking the time to publish, publicize, design, set layouts, choose fonts and so much more. While this is not my first blog, it is the first one I have actually tried to keep going for more than five posts.

     Today I hit 100 views on this blog. Not really a high number considering it has been going for more than a month. Still, the blog is new, and I am new to it.

    I think I am starting to work out what this blog will be about. Recently I started to "tag" my posts to make them easier to search, and find things. Really, the only tag I have used more than once so far is "Android". I have used that one 3 times. Does than mean that I am going to make this yet another "Android" blog? No. Not at all. What I mean is, I think I am starting to get a feel for what it means to blog regularly. It takes time.