A confession: I don't like signing emails. I find it stupid. You know the message is from me, after all your email client tells you that before you open it. What's the point of salutation and signing? What does, Sincerely, Cinserely tell you that you didn't already know?
Turns out there was a good reason for the signing. That's from the days of snail mail and before there was such a thing as a typewriter: the presence of a signature was the only certain way to know who wrote you a letter. I remember the days when you'd get one, and you'd turn it over to read who sent it. If I had known I would feel old just for admitting I had ever read a hand-written letter, I would have believed everything science fiction told me.
But now I write emails, and I got used to doing a lot of things that you couldn't really do with paper. For instance, I reply inline - breaking up long messages and replying to a question right beneath it. Or I make creative use of the Subject: header. Of BCC: myself to have a record of sending the message.
More often than not, I won't sign an email. It's not that I forget, and it's not that I am too lazy. It's that I find that a truly pointless activity. I will typically close my message with a friendly greeting to the family or coworkers, or a wish for something fun, but rarely sign. It's a tradition we keep on, just because we don't think about it.
2010-07-16
2010-07-14
Is USB the New Outlet?
I just got a refurbished Garmin Edge 705 (review to follow) along with a bunch of craptastic free sample gadget from China. The thing they had in common? Instead of having dedicated chargers, they all came with an AC/DC converter to USB.
It used to be that you were flooded with dozens of different chargers. After a while, you'd forget which charger belonged to which gadget and you had to label them. Every time you'd move, then, you'd have this monstrous mess of chargers that you couldn't get rid of, because you had long forgotten what gadgets they belonged to.
There were craptastic adaptable chargers with dip switches for current and voltage and different tips. You constantly risked destroying your gadget by choosing the wrong voltage, so they were really just an item of last resort. It was a nightmare.
It used to be that you were flooded with dozens of different chargers. After a while, you'd forget which charger belonged to which gadget and you had to label them. Every time you'd move, then, you'd have this monstrous mess of chargers that you couldn't get rid of, because you had long forgotten what gadgets they belonged to.
There were craptastic adaptable chargers with dip switches for current and voltage and different tips. You constantly risked destroying your gadget by choosing the wrong voltage, so they were really just an item of last resort. It was a nightmare.
2010-07-09
YHIHF: Do Internet Shopping Companies Ship by Access?
It's been a few months now that I noticed something odd going on. Whenever I buy something on certain online shopping sites, nothing happens for a while. Then, when I log on to check what's happening with my order, mysteriously it ships on the same day.
It all started with this deal site. I ordered a refurbished computer, and while the site stated they were shipping within two days, after four I had no email confirmation, no tracking number, nothing. When I went to the site, it said it was undergoing construction, and that sent me into Scam Prevention Mode. I sent them an email demanding an update and alerted my credit card company.
Next morning, UPS faithfully delivered my computer. Overnight shipping. At that point, I thought they had just somehow messed up and wanted to make up for it.
Then I started noticing it with other sites. At first, it was an argument with a big online vendor: I checked their Super-Saver Shipping box for my new Acer laptop, and they sat on the order for a week. When I told them their policy was that free shipping allows them to perform a slow shipping, not a slow fulfillment process, they gave me drone talk for a while, but then made it happen. (Coincidentally, the laptop ended up arriving the day before I unexpectedly had to fly to Germany for a funeral.)
It all started with this deal site. I ordered a refurbished computer, and while the site stated they were shipping within two days, after four I had no email confirmation, no tracking number, nothing. When I went to the site, it said it was undergoing construction, and that sent me into Scam Prevention Mode. I sent them an email demanding an update and alerted my credit card company.
Next morning, UPS faithfully delivered my computer. Overnight shipping. At that point, I thought they had just somehow messed up and wanted to make up for it.
Then I started noticing it with other sites. At first, it was an argument with a big online vendor: I checked their Super-Saver Shipping box for my new Acer laptop, and they sat on the order for a week. When I told them their policy was that free shipping allows them to perform a slow shipping, not a slow fulfillment process, they gave me drone talk for a while, but then made it happen. (Coincidentally, the laptop ended up arriving the day before I unexpectedly had to fly to Germany for a funeral.)
2010-07-03
Comparing eBook Readers
The local Best Buy has a display with different eBook readers, so I got a chance to hold them all in hand and compare them. Nice way to entice customers, by the way!
Price wars are all the rage right now. The new Nook reader came out, and the price dropped to $149 (no 3G). Amazon followed suit and dropped the price of the Kindle to $189 (with 3G, compared with $199 for the nook 3G). Sony interestingly still sells ebook readers, and those were on display, too.
Admittedly, considering that the device is not the major buying factor for either Barnes & Noble or Amazon, the price of the device is still way too high. At the very least, the companies should offer discounts for buyers of the respective devices to cover their cost, since you are buying something that ties you to a particular vendor (still).
Of the devices on display, the Nook clearly had the upper hand. The Sony readers were quite nice, but the decision to put the touchscreen on top of the e-ink dims the latter considerably, giving the whole reading area a washed out, grey-ish look. The price is right, though, and Sony e-readers are not affected by the usual Sony price inflation.
Price wars are all the rage right now. The new Nook reader came out, and the price dropped to $149 (no 3G). Amazon followed suit and dropped the price of the Kindle to $189 (with 3G, compared with $199 for the nook 3G). Sony interestingly still sells ebook readers, and those were on display, too.
Admittedly, considering that the device is not the major buying factor for either Barnes & Noble or Amazon, the price of the device is still way too high. At the very least, the companies should offer discounts for buyers of the respective devices to cover their cost, since you are buying something that ties you to a particular vendor (still).
Of the devices on display, the Nook clearly had the upper hand. The Sony readers were quite nice, but the decision to put the touchscreen on top of the e-ink dims the latter considerably, giving the whole reading area a washed out, grey-ish look. The price is right, though, and Sony e-readers are not affected by the usual Sony price inflation.
2010-06-25
MeeGo to Become Default OS for Nokia Smartphones?
To my complete surprise, I found an article on Slashdot this morning, in which Reuters was quoted as saying that Nokia is going to ditch Symbian on the N series of phones. Instead of the trusted in-house OS, Nokia is moving their flagship product to MeeGo.
For those of you who don't know, MeeGo is the merger or Nokia's very on Maemo project and Intel's Moblin. All three projects have the same aim: to provide a full Linux distribution for mobile devices. Nokia's main aim is the smartphone market, while Intel started out thinking about MIDs and netbooks.
The move on Nokia's part is quite unexpected, since they just recently reiterated that Symbian would always be at the core of their smartphone offering. Symbian is great, don't get me wrong, but I wouldn't want to develop for it. It's getting old in the tooth and requires a lot of work to get used to.
Now, what does that mean in the mobile landscape? Why would Nokia move in this direction? What does that all mean in context?
For those of you who don't know, MeeGo is the merger or Nokia's very on Maemo project and Intel's Moblin. All three projects have the same aim: to provide a full Linux distribution for mobile devices. Nokia's main aim is the smartphone market, while Intel started out thinking about MIDs and netbooks.
The move on Nokia's part is quite unexpected, since they just recently reiterated that Symbian would always be at the core of their smartphone offering. Symbian is great, don't get me wrong, but I wouldn't want to develop for it. It's getting old in the tooth and requires a lot of work to get used to.
Now, what does that mean in the mobile landscape? Why would Nokia move in this direction? What does that all mean in context?
2010-06-24
Kindle and Calibre
I've been using Calibre on and off to get content to my Kindle, and I have to admit the software is gaining a lot in functionality as it matures. The version label (currently 0.6.42) doesn't do functionality, stability, and ease of use justice at all, and I highly recommend it to anyone with a Kindle, regardless of use.
What do I do with it? I mainly add all those files I couldn't otherwise read on Kindle. Calibre allows me to easily do the following:
To get a web page onto your Kindle, for instance, you just save the page as HTML and convert it by simply adding it as a new ebook to Calibre. You automatically get the best feature of Calibre: once you tell it what the target device is (Kindle, in this case), it will automatically convert to a format (.mobi) that works on that device, and it will format the ebook for he device properties.
RSS feeds are solved differently (and justly so) in that they are scheduled in a separate module. You can add your own RSS feeds, and there are some pre-defined ones. The adding process is not as straightforward as it could be, mostly because RSS feeds are so different - some come with full articles, others with a brief preview, others still with just a link. Once you choose the feeds your are interested in, you decide how often you want them updated, and Calibre will download, convert, and push as often as you'd like.
For PDF and ePub files, the process is the same as for web pages. The main difference here is that some PDF and ePub files are protected. Calibre doesn't know how to deal with that (which is quite to be expected). Otherwise, it does a pretty good job, handling only headers and footers poorly.
Gutenberg is finally smarting up to Kindle and is starting to publish some of its ebooks in .mobi format. That means you can download them straight to your computer and either add them using Calibre of simply adding them to your Kindle documents folder. Really dead simple.
I would be perfectly happy with Calibre if it added just two features:
What do I do with it? I mainly add all those files I couldn't otherwise read on Kindle. Calibre allows me to easily do the following:
- Display web pages
- Get RSS feeds
- Convert text-based PDF files
- Show ePub files
- Access Project Gutenberg ebooks
To get a web page onto your Kindle, for instance, you just save the page as HTML and convert it by simply adding it as a new ebook to Calibre. You automatically get the best feature of Calibre: once you tell it what the target device is (Kindle, in this case), it will automatically convert to a format (.mobi) that works on that device, and it will format the ebook for he device properties.
RSS feeds are solved differently (and justly so) in that they are scheduled in a separate module. You can add your own RSS feeds, and there are some pre-defined ones. The adding process is not as straightforward as it could be, mostly because RSS feeds are so different - some come with full articles, others with a brief preview, others still with just a link. Once you choose the feeds your are interested in, you decide how often you want them updated, and Calibre will download, convert, and push as often as you'd like.
For PDF and ePub files, the process is the same as for web pages. The main difference here is that some PDF and ePub files are protected. Calibre doesn't know how to deal with that (which is quite to be expected). Otherwise, it does a pretty good job, handling only headers and footers poorly.
Gutenberg is finally smarting up to Kindle and is starting to publish some of its ebooks in .mobi format. That means you can download them straight to your computer and either add them using Calibre of simply adding them to your Kindle documents folder. Really dead simple.
I would be perfectly happy with Calibre if it added just two features:
- Sharing of "recipes." Things like RSS feeds and header/footer detection need advanced settings that are recipes of some form (XPath for header/footer, for instance). It makes very little sense to write a recipe if you are the only one that uses it, and there is no easy way to share them. I know it's a pain to set up a repository for automatic sharing, but it would make like so much easier. The current recipe for PDF header/footer, for instance, detects the headers and footers that web browsers put on printed pages. Admittedly a good default - but what am I going to do with the PDF of a book, with the standard chapter heading and page number as h/f?
- Direct download of URLs. It annoys me that I have to download a file from the web - be it HTML or .mobi - to add it to my list of books. I guess direct integration with ebook providers (for free or for pay) would be really welcome, as would an option to add a book from URL.
2010-06-18
Quick Greasemonkey Script for Kelley Blue Book
One of the most frustrating user interfaces on the planet is that of Kelley Blue Book. It just seems to be designed around the idea of making you click as many times as possible to get to the information you need, instead of around the notion of quick access. Is that because KBB wants to maximize ad impressions?
Well, it really doesn't matter. There is only a certain amount of clicks I will endure until I start typing URLs manually into a browser, and KBB got me there. In frustration.
How does the navigation work? Well, it's essentially tree navigation. You choose first whether you want trade-in or retail values. Then you select the model year, then the manufacturer, and finally the model (and later on, options). That's great if you want to look up the values for a particular car, as for instance if you intend to sell yours.
Now, imagine you are looking to buy a particular type of car - say an AWD sedan. You settled on either an Audi A4 or A6, or a Subaru (any of many models). Your budget is constrained (yeah, well) but you are less interested in the car's age. I would think that's the more "normal" case.
So, now you are armed with a list of cars (from Craigslist, cars.com, etc.) and you need to look up their value. Say you found two Forresters, one from 2004, one from 2005. You found an A4 from 2008 and an A6 from 2003. You got an Outback from 2001. They are all nominally in your price range.
So, off you go to KBB. Logically, you'd want to focus on the two manufacturers or six models you are considering, but in KBB, you have to first hand in the year. After you chose the year, you can drill down to the car you are considering. When you are looking up the next Forrester, no help: you have to go all the way to the top (the year) and drill down.
Of course, if you look at the URL, you notice that it specifies year, then manufacturer, then model. If you just change the year in the URL, then you find what you want. Huh? You don't have to go all the way to the top?
Now, why are they navigating this way? It makes no sense from a user's perspective: when I say I want to look up the value of a 2006 Subaru Outback, the next logical thing to look up is a 2005 Subaru Outback, not a 2006 Lamborghini Countach. But the deal is that the navigation is organized around availability: the year constrains the possible manufacturers (not much), and then the models available.
That means that the programmer found out that each model is available only in certain years, and hence built the navigation around that fact.
The rest of the world thinks that's stupid.
Hence, the need for a very simple Greasemonkey script that adds the missing navigation. You get to the page you requested (e.g. for the 2006 Subaru Outback) , and links to the year, manufacturer, and model (and trim, where available) are augmented by drop down boxes that allow you to choose alternatives. You can click on the year drop down and select a different year for the model listed. Or you could click on the model and see an alternative - all other things equal.
Let me know if you are interested in the script. It's not packaged for public consumption, yet, but if you want it, you can gave it!
Well, it really doesn't matter. There is only a certain amount of clicks I will endure until I start typing URLs manually into a browser, and KBB got me there. In frustration.
How does the navigation work? Well, it's essentially tree navigation. You choose first whether you want trade-in or retail values. Then you select the model year, then the manufacturer, and finally the model (and later on, options). That's great if you want to look up the values for a particular car, as for instance if you intend to sell yours.
Now, imagine you are looking to buy a particular type of car - say an AWD sedan. You settled on either an Audi A4 or A6, or a Subaru (any of many models). Your budget is constrained (yeah, well) but you are less interested in the car's age. I would think that's the more "normal" case.
So, now you are armed with a list of cars (from Craigslist, cars.com, etc.) and you need to look up their value. Say you found two Forresters, one from 2004, one from 2005. You found an A4 from 2008 and an A6 from 2003. You got an Outback from 2001. They are all nominally in your price range.
So, off you go to KBB. Logically, you'd want to focus on the two manufacturers or six models you are considering, but in KBB, you have to first hand in the year. After you chose the year, you can drill down to the car you are considering. When you are looking up the next Forrester, no help: you have to go all the way to the top (the year) and drill down.
Of course, if you look at the URL, you notice that it specifies year, then manufacturer, then model. If you just change the year in the URL, then you find what you want. Huh? You don't have to go all the way to the top?
Now, why are they navigating this way? It makes no sense from a user's perspective: when I say I want to look up the value of a 2006 Subaru Outback, the next logical thing to look up is a 2005 Subaru Outback, not a 2006 Lamborghini Countach. But the deal is that the navigation is organized around availability: the year constrains the possible manufacturers (not much), and then the models available.
That means that the programmer found out that each model is available only in certain years, and hence built the navigation around that fact.
The rest of the world thinks that's stupid.
Hence, the need for a very simple Greasemonkey script that adds the missing navigation. You get to the page you requested (e.g. for the 2006 Subaru Outback) , and links to the year, manufacturer, and model (and trim, where available) are augmented by drop down boxes that allow you to choose alternatives. You can click on the year drop down and select a different year for the model listed. Or you could click on the model and see an alternative - all other things equal.
Let me know if you are interested in the script. It's not packaged for public consumption, yet, but if you want it, you can gave it!
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