So one of my colleagues bought the new Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station for work but the Network Security Guru wasn't going into the office until after the weekend, so he lent the APE router to test to see if it's the right device for me.
I'll skip the beautiful aesthetics of the unit and cut straight to the features and functionality. At first glance, the setup was easy...it was slightly more technical than your average Apple setup wizard, but given the highly-technical nature of this type of device, that can be forgiven. At first, I noticed that many of the router options were not present. It wasn't until after awhile that I discovered that I was playing in the "simple" mode and not the advanced "manual" mode where all the advanced security settings were hiding.
After I got that figured out I started playing with the security settings. I should first mention that anyone who has used a typical router admin screen from Linksys or D-Link, using the Airport Utility is completely different since the admin requires a software application and the router cannot be configured via a web admin. Since it's an application, it looks completely different than your average web admin, so it may be confusing if you've configured other routers.
That being said, I actually found it a bit more difficult to find some of the settings I'd normally be able to find pretty quickly, such as MAC address filtering, shutting off SSID broadcasting, dialing down signal strength, etc.
One HUGE absolutely annoying issue I was running into was that any setting that I made and updated the router required a reset of the router, which meant it rebooted...and rebooting the device was not a fast process.
In addition, I had to reset the router 3 times to its default factory settings before I got my settings to work properly and finally stick.
Okay, so since I don't have a working printer, but I do have a USB hard drive, I gave the Airport Disk a try. At first I plugged in the drive into the USB port of the router, and something didn't happen right. I'm not quite sure but the USB drive did not show up in the Airport Utility admin. I had to reset the router...again, and then it finally showed up.
Setting up the security for the Airport Disk was easy and worked flawlessly with my MacBook Pro. I was able to see the disk, and was restricted to my assigned share. Data transfer was BLAZINGLY FAST, even in mixed mode (b/g/n compatible). I transferred a 12 GB VMWare image that was on the USB drive and it took about 11 minutes. I then transferred about 70 image files that were about 700 kb each to the USB drive and it performed that transfer in under a minute. The speed of data transfer was better than what I had hoped.
One other strange kept occuring...I had set up the router as it's own wireless network. When I went to switch wireless to and from my main wi-fi network, it wouldn't show the Airport Disk when I browsed my network until I performed a reset of the router. It was able to connect to the router fine, but I had to nudge it to get the disk to show up.
Okay, after figuring out that I should be using WPA/WPA2 Personal as my WPA setting, I finally got my 2 Windows PCs to connect to the network. It was excruciatingly difficult for my older eMachine laptop to connect mainly because of the older WPA setting would only work with its wireless network adapter. By big beef is with the inability for my Windows machines to see the Airport Disk on the network. I wasn't able to browse to it through a Windows Explorer through the "browse entire network" option, but I was able to connect to it by its UNC path. It worked but it wasn't very fast trying to connect to it. When I finally connected to the drive, I browsed to those image files that I had placed on the USB drive and tried to browse through them through the Filmstrip view in Explorer. It took several seconds for each preview to be generated on-the-fly so it was faster than my existing Buffalo NAS device, but it's not as fast as I had hoped.
I was conclude that as far as Airport Disk functionality was concerned, file transfer was good, and definitely as expected, if not better. Using it as a file server, it may not be as good as a real file server.
Of course, your mileage may vary.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Why Customer Service Sucks...
Do you ever wonder why we, the consumers, get such crappy customer service? Why we're kept on hold, in a call queue, for minutes on end...and then encountered by a customer service rep that doesn't seem to care?
It's because companies want it that way.
Customer service levels are kept at a minimum satisfactory level because it's actual cheaper to provide lower levels of customer service. The bean counters actually have the numbers to back it up. If you spend less time on a call with a customer, you get through more calls. If a call rep spends more time on the phone going above and beyond to help customers, it actually costs more to provide that higher level of customer service.
Okay, so shouldn't a customer service manager be concerned about low customer service levels? Shouldn't it be their mandate to provide better levels of customer service? Doesn't common sense tell you that better customer service will make people happier? Happier customers = customers who purchase more? Don't customers pass on customer service experiences, both good and bad? One would think that if a customer had poor customer service experiences, that they would go to the competition. Apparently lowering your level of customer service will save you enough money to cover any losses due to customers defecting.
Does this sound far-fetched? Maybe...but the VP at the company I work for has told its customer service department managers that their customer service levels are TOO HIGH. Yes, TOO HIGH!!! I've heard that statement from more than one person and on more than one occasion.
I don't think this VP is an evil person, I think he has a mandate, and an agenda, but it's hard to argue with real numbers that fly in the face of common sense and doing what's good for people. So does that mean he's a bad person for not doing what's right for the customer? I'd like to think that operating costs shouldn't be cut and customer service levels shouldn't be cut...but maybe companies should provide better quality, better service, things that will drive customers to their products.
It's because companies want it that way.
Customer service levels are kept at a minimum satisfactory level because it's actual cheaper to provide lower levels of customer service. The bean counters actually have the numbers to back it up. If you spend less time on a call with a customer, you get through more calls. If a call rep spends more time on the phone going above and beyond to help customers, it actually costs more to provide that higher level of customer service.
Okay, so shouldn't a customer service manager be concerned about low customer service levels? Shouldn't it be their mandate to provide better levels of customer service? Doesn't common sense tell you that better customer service will make people happier? Happier customers = customers who purchase more? Don't customers pass on customer service experiences, both good and bad? One would think that if a customer had poor customer service experiences, that they would go to the competition. Apparently lowering your level of customer service will save you enough money to cover any losses due to customers defecting.
Does this sound far-fetched? Maybe...but the VP at the company I work for has told its customer service department managers that their customer service levels are TOO HIGH. Yes, TOO HIGH!!! I've heard that statement from more than one person and on more than one occasion.
I don't think this VP is an evil person, I think he has a mandate, and an agenda, but it's hard to argue with real numbers that fly in the face of common sense and doing what's good for people. So does that mean he's a bad person for not doing what's right for the customer? I'd like to think that operating costs shouldn't be cut and customer service levels shouldn't be cut...but maybe companies should provide better quality, better service, things that will drive customers to their products.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Let's talk about DRM baby, let's talk about you and me....
As you've probably seen, Steve Jobs posted a manifesto on the iPod, iTunes, DRM, and the evil record companies.
My co-workers and I had a healthy discussion about the posting. I won't go into detail about what Jobs posted, but he played the victim of being bound to the big 4 record companies' demands (Sony, EMI, Universal and Warner) that all their songs that are for sale on the iTunes Store must have DRM, and that despite the European Union's whining about the iPod being tied to iTunes Store, it's not Apple's doing. If that's the case, why aren't they nagging Microsoft about their Zune device being tied to the Zune Marketplace?
Anyway, my co-workers and I were talking about Jobs insistence that the world would be a better place without DRM. If you, the consumer, had the choice between downloading music wrapped in DRM, or music that was DRM free, which would you choose? If you had to pay a premium for the DRM-free music, like say 20-25%, would you still buy it? What if you had to buy the album to get DRM-free music, whereas singles were wrapped in DRM?
What would it take to get the record companies to give up DRM, since, according to Jobs, DRM doesn't work? My co-workers and I bandied about suggestions that either the artists, the consumer, or the record companies are the impetus for change.
Let's discuss...
The consumer as the impetus for change? Doubtful since the record companies don't really care about the consumers since they have no qualms about suing them.
The record companies aren't going to change their tune unless they're given reason to, which is money. If they're given reason to believe that DRM-free music will produce more sales, then they'd go for it. But given that there's no evidence to support that hypothesis, that's probably not going to happen soon.
The artists as impetus for change? Possibly. The artists are the record company's golden goose. Without artists, the record company can only sell back catalog. If there were enough artists, and I mean major artists of the calibre of U2, Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, artists with a large and lucrative back catalog, left their labels and went independent, and sold their music online DRM-free, do you think the labels would pay attention?
There are some artists who have gone independent and formed their own label, including one of my favorite bands, the Barenaked Ladies. In fact, you can download their performances of their current tour and previous tours from Nettwerk in DRM-free, MP3 format. If you want the iTS flavor, you can get the same performances from the iTunes Store but wrapped in DRM. If the price for each of the albums were the same, which would you choose?
What about giving away DRM-free singles to sell the albums? While iTunes has a free download every week, it's still wrapped in FairPlay DRM which means you can only share the music with 5 computers. The giveaway is to a.) discover new music; b.) get you to buy the album; and c.) get you to explore the iTunes Store. While the download is free, you're still bound by the iTS terms and conditions.
I think we're all in agreement as consumers, that the current landscape of music sucks, both in quality and legal bounds, so who's going to make the ground-breaking moves to make ripples of change in the music industry?
My co-workers and I had a healthy discussion about the posting. I won't go into detail about what Jobs posted, but he played the victim of being bound to the big 4 record companies' demands (Sony, EMI, Universal and Warner) that all their songs that are for sale on the iTunes Store must have DRM, and that despite the European Union's whining about the iPod being tied to iTunes Store, it's not Apple's doing. If that's the case, why aren't they nagging Microsoft about their Zune device being tied to the Zune Marketplace?
Anyway, my co-workers and I were talking about Jobs insistence that the world would be a better place without DRM. If you, the consumer, had the choice between downloading music wrapped in DRM, or music that was DRM free, which would you choose? If you had to pay a premium for the DRM-free music, like say 20-25%, would you still buy it? What if you had to buy the album to get DRM-free music, whereas singles were wrapped in DRM?
What would it take to get the record companies to give up DRM, since, according to Jobs, DRM doesn't work? My co-workers and I bandied about suggestions that either the artists, the consumer, or the record companies are the impetus for change.
Let's discuss...
The consumer as the impetus for change? Doubtful since the record companies don't really care about the consumers since they have no qualms about suing them.
The record companies aren't going to change their tune unless they're given reason to, which is money. If they're given reason to believe that DRM-free music will produce more sales, then they'd go for it. But given that there's no evidence to support that hypothesis, that's probably not going to happen soon.
The artists as impetus for change? Possibly. The artists are the record company's golden goose. Without artists, the record company can only sell back catalog. If there were enough artists, and I mean major artists of the calibre of U2, Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, artists with a large and lucrative back catalog, left their labels and went independent, and sold their music online DRM-free, do you think the labels would pay attention?
There are some artists who have gone independent and formed their own label, including one of my favorite bands, the Barenaked Ladies. In fact, you can download their performances of their current tour and previous tours from Nettwerk in DRM-free, MP3 format. If you want the iTS flavor, you can get the same performances from the iTunes Store but wrapped in DRM. If the price for each of the albums were the same, which would you choose?
What about giving away DRM-free singles to sell the albums? While iTunes has a free download every week, it's still wrapped in FairPlay DRM which means you can only share the music with 5 computers. The giveaway is to a.) discover new music; b.) get you to buy the album; and c.) get you to explore the iTunes Store. While the download is free, you're still bound by the iTS terms and conditions.
I think we're all in agreement as consumers, that the current landscape of music sucks, both in quality and legal bounds, so who's going to make the ground-breaking moves to make ripples of change in the music industry?
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Everything old is new again...this old Newt
So for nostalgia sake, I dug up my Newton 2000 and got it to sync with my MacBook Pro. It used to sync with my Powerbook without issues via a USB-serial adapter.
For some reason my MBP wouldn't recognize the adapter...I couldn't remember if it needed a special driver. I dug out the mini CD (why do they distribute software like this) and had to stick it in an old skool CD drive because the slot-loading SuperDrives don't do the mini CDs. Of course the drivers were not Universal Binaries. Luckily I found the USB-serial adapter manufacturer website and they had an updated Universal Binary driver. I downloaded it, installed it, rebooted and all was good.
I've no idea why I have these periodic moments of nostalgia, especially with my Newton. I can think of many reasons not to even waste the effort on using it, nevermind getting it to sync with my Mac, getting it access the internet, or getting it hooked up with Wi-Fi. But then, does Apple have a tablet (ModBook excepted), a PDA (wait, that would be the Newton), or any other portable, pen-based device? It's probably a reason why I'm pretty excited about the iPhone...mainly because I know that in a couple of hours, I'll put the Newton back in the drawer and won't see it for another 8 weeks again.
In a previous post I mentioned that my Palm had been resurrected from the dead and is now undead. But it's still not what I'm looking for, mainly due to the limitations Graffiti.
So why the iPhone, especially since it's not pen-based, is more of an entertainment device than a proper office tool? Probably because Microsoft products remind me of work, and having a personal device with Windows just reminds me more of work.
For some reason my MBP wouldn't recognize the adapter...I couldn't remember if it needed a special driver. I dug out the mini CD (why do they distribute software like this) and had to stick it in an old skool CD drive because the slot-loading SuperDrives don't do the mini CDs. Of course the drivers were not Universal Binaries. Luckily I found the USB-serial adapter manufacturer website and they had an updated Universal Binary driver. I downloaded it, installed it, rebooted and all was good.
I've no idea why I have these periodic moments of nostalgia, especially with my Newton. I can think of many reasons not to even waste the effort on using it, nevermind getting it to sync with my Mac, getting it access the internet, or getting it hooked up with Wi-Fi. But then, does Apple have a tablet (ModBook excepted), a PDA (wait, that would be the Newton), or any other portable, pen-based device? It's probably a reason why I'm pretty excited about the iPhone...mainly because I know that in a couple of hours, I'll put the Newton back in the drawer and won't see it for another 8 weeks again.
In a previous post I mentioned that my Palm had been resurrected from the dead and is now undead. But it's still not what I'm looking for, mainly due to the limitations Graffiti.
So why the iPhone, especially since it's not pen-based, is more of an entertainment device than a proper office tool? Probably because Microsoft products remind me of work, and having a personal device with Windows just reminds me more of work.
Monday, January 29, 2007
The Palm is Dead, Long Live the Palm!
My Palm Tungsten T3 died a mysterious death about 8 months ago. It froze...it wouldn't sync....it wouldn't reset....no amount of documented rescusciation brought it back to life. So it sat on my desk in the computer room, collecting layer after layer of dust.
Every so often, I'd walk by and turn it on to see, if by some strange miracle, it would spontaneously wake up. I was tempted to disassemble it just for fun, but I was aware that it had a built-in battery and probably a powerful capacitor. So I just let it be. It sat next to the retired Sony Clie that my wife used to use.
8 months later, after purchasing a used Sony UX-50, and then having that die a sticky death (it got covered in some syrupy, sticky mess that made it completely unusable), I was stll left without a PDA.
That is until yesterday.
I performed my montly ritual of vacuuming and noticed the corpse of the T3 lying off of its cradle where I had left it. I dropped it back into its cradle and the green LED popped on, and the Palm start up screen blinked on. What???? Yep, after 8 months of hibernation my T3 awoke. It looked like it had gone through a hard reset or the battery drained completely, flushing it of its RAM contents.
I cautiously synchronized it with my MacBook Pro which I maintained a copy of the Palm Desktop contents and the non-Universal Binary HotSync and it was back to its old self.
Since I'm doing the household finances now, I even bought a copy of Pocket Quicken to help me keep track of purchases. Kind of a small token of my appreciation for waking up after 8 months of slumber.
I'm still cautiously optimistic...I've no idea what caused it to go nite-nite for 8 months and the 4 tiny screws on each side of the PDA are still missing, so it could be a short-lived life...who knows.
On a slight tangent, this is the only Palm I've ever truly liked. There are no other newer or current Palm PDAs that have the compact form factor where I can have the 160 x 160 square screen and expand it by sliding the unit open to make it more rectangular. I enjoy the fact that I can use Graffiti anywhere on the screen and love the small compactness of it and allows me to use it one-handed. It's sad to think that if this dies again, I won't be able to find any PDA that fits my needs.
For the time being though, it's good to have my good friend back.
Every so often, I'd walk by and turn it on to see, if by some strange miracle, it would spontaneously wake up. I was tempted to disassemble it just for fun, but I was aware that it had a built-in battery and probably a powerful capacitor. So I just let it be. It sat next to the retired Sony Clie that my wife used to use.
8 months later, after purchasing a used Sony UX-50, and then having that die a sticky death (it got covered in some syrupy, sticky mess that made it completely unusable), I was stll left without a PDA.
That is until yesterday.
I performed my montly ritual of vacuuming and noticed the corpse of the T3 lying off of its cradle where I had left it. I dropped it back into its cradle and the green LED popped on, and the Palm start up screen blinked on. What???? Yep, after 8 months of hibernation my T3 awoke. It looked like it had gone through a hard reset or the battery drained completely, flushing it of its RAM contents.
I cautiously synchronized it with my MacBook Pro which I maintained a copy of the Palm Desktop contents and the non-Universal Binary HotSync and it was back to its old self.
Since I'm doing the household finances now, I even bought a copy of Pocket Quicken to help me keep track of purchases. Kind of a small token of my appreciation for waking up after 8 months of slumber.
I'm still cautiously optimistic...I've no idea what caused it to go nite-nite for 8 months and the 4 tiny screws on each side of the PDA are still missing, so it could be a short-lived life...who knows.
On a slight tangent, this is the only Palm I've ever truly liked. There are no other newer or current Palm PDAs that have the compact form factor where I can have the 160 x 160 square screen and expand it by sliding the unit open to make it more rectangular. I enjoy the fact that I can use Graffiti anywhere on the screen and love the small compactness of it and allows me to use it one-handed. It's sad to think that if this dies again, I won't be able to find any PDA that fits my needs.
For the time being though, it's good to have my good friend back.
Friday, January 26, 2007
Laptop Security
So I recently got a new MacBook Pro, and the thought of it getting stolen cross my mind after hearing stories about government laptops getting stolen (mind you I've nothing as important or confidential on my laptop like Social Security numbers or anything like that) so I decided to see what I could to: a.) mitigate that possibility of it getting stolen; b.) increase my chances of my laptop being recovered should it get stolen.
Well, let's talk about what I could do to prevent it from being stolen in the first place. Anything I could do would basically be physical in nature, such as Kensington laptop lock (though I've nothing to really chain it to), but those are not completely foolproof. So what else could I do?
First off, I don't have a typical laptop briefcase that screams, "I've got a laptop in here!!!". You know what I'm talking about...typically they have Targus or Dell written all over them. Granted I have a geek-looking knapsack but it doesn't look like your average laptop bag (at least I hope it doesn't). I'm thinking about getting a very low-key messenger bag that I saw on Amazon.com...and it's dirt cheap too!
So keep your laptop in disguise!
Let's say your laptop gets stolen...what do you do? Well, if you're like most people, you'd be SOL. Many of the products I've seen are recovery software programs that clandestinely alert a central operations centre that your laptop has been stolen once it connects to the internet (which most thieves do). They typically send the IP address of the laptop, and that normally can help the authorities locate the physical location of the laptop, and thus the thief.
The most well-known product is LoJack for Laptops (formerly Computrace). Their website indicates that they recover 3 out of 4 stolen laptops that have their software installed on it, which is a pretty good percentage. My only complaint (and it's not really a complaint so much as that I'm a cheapskate) is that they charge $39.99/year for the service, but one of the few software products that support Mac OS X.
The other piece of software that's gotten a lot of media attention is Undercover from Orbicule. The software sounds a lot like LoJack for Laptops, but there are a few differences:
Why take screenshots? Well, the thief might be stupid enough to use the e-mail software or chat software installed on the computer, and thus reveal some info about them. Check out this recovery story from Orbicule and you'll see why that additional info might be useful.
To me, the price is right, but given that the detection center is just a hosted server and, from what I can tell, it's a small operation, so the viability of the company might not be as stable as a well-known or more-established company.
Still, it's an ingenious piece of software that uses some other techniques to aid in the recovery of the laptop, like darkening the screen until it becomes completely black.
Note that neither piece of software will work unless the computer is connected to the internet, but given the proliferation of the internet, it's not going to take long for the software to be activated.
Well, let's talk about what I could do to prevent it from being stolen in the first place. Anything I could do would basically be physical in nature, such as Kensington laptop lock (though I've nothing to really chain it to), but those are not completely foolproof. So what else could I do?
First off, I don't have a typical laptop briefcase that screams, "I've got a laptop in here!!!". You know what I'm talking about...typically they have Targus or Dell written all over them. Granted I have a geek-looking knapsack but it doesn't look like your average laptop bag (at least I hope it doesn't). I'm thinking about getting a very low-key messenger bag that I saw on Amazon.com...and it's dirt cheap too!
So keep your laptop in disguise!
Let's say your laptop gets stolen...what do you do? Well, if you're like most people, you'd be SOL. Many of the products I've seen are recovery software programs that clandestinely alert a central operations centre that your laptop has been stolen once it connects to the internet (which most thieves do). They typically send the IP address of the laptop, and that normally can help the authorities locate the physical location of the laptop, and thus the thief.
The most well-known product is LoJack for Laptops (formerly Computrace). Their website indicates that they recover 3 out of 4 stolen laptops that have their software installed on it, which is a pretty good percentage. My only complaint (and it's not really a complaint so much as that I'm a cheapskate) is that they charge $39.99/year for the service, but one of the few software products that support Mac OS X.
The other piece of software that's gotten a lot of media attention is Undercover from Orbicule. The software sounds a lot like LoJack for Laptops, but there are a few differences:
- They only support Macs
- They charge a one-time fee of $39 instead of an annual service fee
- For Macs that have an iSight camera, external or built-in, the software when reported stolen and becomes activated, will snap photos of the thief and will send screenshots of the desktop
Why take screenshots? Well, the thief might be stupid enough to use the e-mail software or chat software installed on the computer, and thus reveal some info about them. Check out this recovery story from Orbicule and you'll see why that additional info might be useful.
To me, the price is right, but given that the detection center is just a hosted server and, from what I can tell, it's a small operation, so the viability of the company might not be as stable as a well-known or more-established company.
Still, it's an ingenious piece of software that uses some other techniques to aid in the recovery of the laptop, like darkening the screen until it becomes completely black.
Note that neither piece of software will work unless the computer is connected to the internet, but given the proliferation of the internet, it's not going to take long for the software to be activated.
Friday, January 12, 2007
Germany sells iPhones???
Say wha???
I found this on TUAW (The Unofficial Apple Weblog)...apparently the iPhone is available for sale on Amazon Germany...for a mere 899 Euros...or over a $1,000 USD!!!
Apparently you're just pre-ordering it and it's available through T-Mobile Germany so the exclusivity of the iPhone for Cingular is only in the U.S....but for how long? Sounds like the phone can be unlocked, but knowing Apple, doing so probably disables a whole bunch of features.
I found this on TUAW (The Unofficial Apple Weblog)...apparently the iPhone is available for sale on Amazon Germany...for a mere 899 Euros...or over a $1,000 USD!!!
Apparently you're just pre-ordering it and it's available through T-Mobile Germany so the exclusivity of the iPhone for Cingular is only in the U.S....but for how long? Sounds like the phone can be unlocked, but knowing Apple, doing so probably disables a whole bunch of features.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Stealing thunder from CES
I have to say that only the power, aura and sheer anticipation of a Steve Jobs keynote at Macworld Expo could upstage the renowned Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Of particular interest were the respective keynotes by Steve Jobs at Macworld Expo and Bill Gates at CES. Nick Carr talks about the differences between two of the most important people in personal computers.
Anyway, being a self-admitted Mac fanboy, there isn't the passion and excitement when you listen to Bill Gates talk in comparison to listening to Steve Jobs talk...it's like Gates is trying to sell you something that even he doesn't believe in. Given Jobs' reputation for perfection, it's not hard to actually believe him when he tells you his products are "the best ever".
Anyway, I'm totally smitten with the iPhone (or whatever it will be called when it's finally shipped, pending Cisco's lawsuit over the iPhone name). Despite it's shortcomings (my biggest beef is that you can't sync wirelessly with your Mac), it's going to set the cell phone industry on its head. There's no other device that even looks like this device, nevermind that it has an interface that Nokia, Motorola or Sony-Ericsson can only dream of.
Anyway, being a self-admitted Mac fanboy, there isn't the passion and excitement when you listen to Bill Gates talk in comparison to listening to Steve Jobs talk...it's like Gates is trying to sell you something that even he doesn't believe in. Given Jobs' reputation for perfection, it's not hard to actually believe him when he tells you his products are "the best ever".
Anyway, I'm totally smitten with the iPhone (or whatever it will be called when it's finally shipped, pending Cisco's lawsuit over the iPhone name). Despite it's shortcomings (my biggest beef is that you can't sync wirelessly with your Mac), it's going to set the cell phone industry on its head. There's no other device that even looks like this device, nevermind that it has an interface that Nokia, Motorola or Sony-Ericsson can only dream of.
Saturday, January 06, 2007
For the Ramen Connoisseur
I saw this on Gizmodo recently that every instant noodle connoisseur should have. It's a Ramen Noodle Cup Timer that looks like a cooker and even has a red LED under the "burner" to make it look like it's cooking.
Personally my favorite ramen has been Shin Ramyun and Tung-I Ramen Noodle, Chinese Beef Flavor.
It harkens me back to a time when I was poor and living off of ramen...like yesterday.
Personally my favorite ramen has been Shin Ramyun and Tung-I Ramen Noodle, Chinese Beef Flavor.
It harkens me back to a time when I was poor and living off of ramen...like yesterday.
Friday, January 05, 2007
CA-NA-DA! CA-NA-DA!
Yay...! Team Canada won the World Junior Hockey tournament by defeating the Russian team, 4-2. Okay, so nobody outside of Canada really cares about this tournament, but if you can imagine the fever of March Madness and just replace school spirit and allegiance with national pride, that's the World Jr. Hockey tournamnet.
If you want to know the secret to Canada's success in this tournament (Team Canada has won this tournament 13 out of 34 times since its inception in 1974. Only the Soviet Union/CIS/Russia have won it more times), it has to do with teamwork. It was very evident that teams that are very talented individually often fail to be a cohesive unit and cannot play as a team. It's not about who are the most talented, it's about which players can play within the team concept the best.
I think it has to do with the nature of Canadians and the culture of Canada. We're definitely less individualistic than our American neighbours, and it has a lot to do with mosaic vs. melting pot mentality of Canadians. In Canada, we form a mosaic - a patchwork of different nationalities that aren't ask to abandon their homeland cultures, but are asked to maintain them but also contribute to the rich fabric of Canadian culture. The American melting pot asks that you become an American and abandon all other values for its own. It's a singular culture that often doesn't play well with others.
In a sense, Canadians are more accepting of others, their values, and their beliefs. We respect other points of view and do not tread on them. Americans only believe in the American way, right or wrong. There's definitely nothing wrong with that, but if sometimes doing things the American way may not be the appropriate thing to do, they don't know how to do things any different.
Flame on!
If you want to know the secret to Canada's success in this tournament (Team Canada has won this tournament 13 out of 34 times since its inception in 1974. Only the Soviet Union/CIS/Russia have won it more times), it has to do with teamwork. It was very evident that teams that are very talented individually often fail to be a cohesive unit and cannot play as a team. It's not about who are the most talented, it's about which players can play within the team concept the best.
I think it has to do with the nature of Canadians and the culture of Canada. We're definitely less individualistic than our American neighbours, and it has a lot to do with mosaic vs. melting pot mentality of Canadians. In Canada, we form a mosaic - a patchwork of different nationalities that aren't ask to abandon their homeland cultures, but are asked to maintain them but also contribute to the rich fabric of Canadian culture. The American melting pot asks that you become an American and abandon all other values for its own. It's a singular culture that often doesn't play well with others.
In a sense, Canadians are more accepting of others, their values, and their beliefs. We respect other points of view and do not tread on them. Americans only believe in the American way, right or wrong. There's definitely nothing wrong with that, but if sometimes doing things the American way may not be the appropriate thing to do, they don't know how to do things any different.
Flame on!
Rediscovering old stuff
I'm in the process of unloading my Powerbook G4 since I've replaced it with a MacBook Pro. I thought about using eBay but I'm not fond of paying the fees to sell my wares. So I thought about using craigslist.
I haven't been to craigslist in awhile and I was brought back to thinking about how cool the web was way back when and how it was just a community. It's still a community but there's certainly a lot less hand-holding as we all dove into the new frontier. But the simplicity of craigslist reminded me that the web is still all about the content (stupid!).
Anyway, I found someone who would be willing to trade their Mac Mini Intel Core 2 Duo for a Powerbook. Yes way! I really couldn't pass that offer up, so I e-mailed the person to see if they'd be willing to accept a slightly dented Powerbook.
By the way, I still can't stop raving about the MBPs. Just the MagSafe adapter (which I've already tested by accidentally getting the adapter cord tangled around my foot and my foot cleanly kicking the adapter free. on my powerbook this would have caused further damage to my already bent power adapter tip). And you just can't not love the built-in iSight camera.
I'll stop gushing.
Oh yes, flat files are stupid. Just had to get that out of my system.
I haven't been to craigslist in awhile and I was brought back to thinking about how cool the web was way back when and how it was just a community. It's still a community but there's certainly a lot less hand-holding as we all dove into the new frontier. But the simplicity of craigslist reminded me that the web is still all about the content (stupid!).
Anyway, I found someone who would be willing to trade their Mac Mini Intel Core 2 Duo for a Powerbook. Yes way! I really couldn't pass that offer up, so I e-mailed the person to see if they'd be willing to accept a slightly dented Powerbook.
By the way, I still can't stop raving about the MBPs. Just the MagSafe adapter (which I've already tested by accidentally getting the adapter cord tangled around my foot and my foot cleanly kicking the adapter free. on my powerbook this would have caused further damage to my already bent power adapter tip). And you just can't not love the built-in iSight camera.
I'll stop gushing.
Oh yes, flat files are stupid. Just had to get that out of my system.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
The blog is back and there's going to be trouble...
So I'm finally back in the blogosphere after Blogger finally got back to me about resetting my account password. I think I requested it a few months ago and I totally forgot about it. I thought their e-mail to me was spam or some phishing attempt.
Anyway life is good. I got a 15" MacBook Pro....I *SO* wanted the built-in iSight camera...unfortunately, I've yet to find a buyer for my used Powerbook that's only less than 2 years old. It's in great work condition....it's got a dent and the battery and power adapter need to be replaced, but everything else is great! I was hoping to avoid eBay but alas, that might be the only place wher I can sell it. Yeah, so we have a surplus of 2 laptops. We had a surplus of 2 laptops even before I got the MBP, but I ended up donating one of our older laptops (it was 4 years old) so at least we can get a tax credit for it.
It's 11:24 pm and Sydney is still up.....argh.....she's like the Energizer Bunny, I swear.
So yeah, tomorrow is the Gold Medal game for the World Junior Hockey Championship (a.k.a., "The World Juniors" in Canada, and "The IIHF Under-20 Hockey Tournament" everyone else in the world). It's the equivalent of the NCAA Frozen Four or March Madness in college basketball except you're playing for your country. It gets incredible television ratings in Canada but everywhere else, nobody really cares about it. Even when the tournament was being held in the U.S., there were no national sports television networks airing the games. Anyway, Canada is in the Gold Medal game against Russia tomorrow morning. I have an all-day meeting (figures) tomorrow so I can't listen to the streaming radio broadcast of the game. Think they'll notice the headphones in the meeting?
Anyway life is good. I got a 15" MacBook Pro....I *SO* wanted the built-in iSight camera...unfortunately, I've yet to find a buyer for my used Powerbook that's only less than 2 years old. It's in great work condition....it's got a dent and the battery and power adapter need to be replaced, but everything else is great! I was hoping to avoid eBay but alas, that might be the only place wher I can sell it. Yeah, so we have a surplus of 2 laptops. We had a surplus of 2 laptops even before I got the MBP, but I ended up donating one of our older laptops (it was 4 years old) so at least we can get a tax credit for it.
It's 11:24 pm and Sydney is still up.....argh.....she's like the Energizer Bunny, I swear.
So yeah, tomorrow is the Gold Medal game for the World Junior Hockey Championship (a.k.a., "The World Juniors" in Canada, and "The IIHF Under-20 Hockey Tournament" everyone else in the world). It's the equivalent of the NCAA Frozen Four or March Madness in college basketball except you're playing for your country. It gets incredible television ratings in Canada but everywhere else, nobody really cares about it. Even when the tournament was being held in the U.S., there were no national sports television networks airing the games. Anyway, Canada is in the Gold Medal game against Russia tomorrow morning. I have an all-day meeting (figures) tomorrow so I can't listen to the streaming radio broadcast of the game. Think they'll notice the headphones in the meeting?
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