The Second Coming of the Tablet PC

Ever since Apple announced the iPad, its been "Tablet this, tablet that", and people have been jumping up and down saying that this is the best thing since sliced bread, and totally new and innovative to boot. (I suspect that these are the same people who, when Microsoft kick-started the whole TabletPC initiative about a decade or so ago, insisted that Apple had invented it back then too, and it was called the Newton. Revisionist fan-boi history much? I think so).

What amazes me this time though is that On The Media, a radio show which comes out of WNYC (also home to the rather awesome science show RadioLab) were going gaga about this being the first instance of the "Fifth Screen" that tech geeks have been salivating over for centuries.

The screens go like this:

1. Movie screens
2. Television screens
3. PC screens
4. Cellphone screens
5. Some kind of intermediate not-quite-a-screen which, like the One Ring, will in the darkness bind them.

(The similarities to the One Ring don't stop quite there... I'm willing to bet that most of the first people to buy the iPad will indeed look a lot like Gollum, only wearing Armani suits).

What amazes me is that this is totally revisionist history. The TabletPC came in several versions, including convertibles which had keyboards and a screen on a pivot that you could fold back over to sketch on. Like, for example, the rather splendid Toshiba Portege M200 which I once had. Unfortunately, Toshiba haven't seen fit to release one with as high a screen resolution as that wonderful little machine, or as good a GPU since - which means that no matter what kind of Tablets they're selling now, I won't be buying one... goddamn Intel Integrated Graphics... grrr.

The other versions are in what is known as Slate format - like Fujitsu's Stylistic ST6012 Tablet PC.

Woah. Wait a minute. This looks like an iPad.

And yes, it does look like an iPad. Except it has an active pen input (using RF sensors, basically) so that you can sketch high fidelity sketches on it. Or write by hand and enter all of your stuff into OneNote, where text recognition will kick in automatically and let you search your handwritten notes.

The iPad, as it happens, does not support handwriting. This should not be a surprise, as its multi-touch display really isn't designed with high enough fidelity for it. Sure, you might be able to get away with using your own nylon stylus on it (maybe steal one from a DS), but it's not going to be a high end user experience.

So yes, the iPad is not the first attempt at being the "5th screen" (heck, not even the Mira was that). Slate form-factor TabletPCs existed a LONG time ago. And they're much much more useful. If Toshiba would deign to release something akin to the M200 again, with dual core CPUs and a nice fast GPU, I'd happily consider buying one.

That's why half of my notes in OneNote from a few years ago are all handwritten. Because Tablet PCs are awesome in meetings.

End rant. Apple didn't invent this. And what they've got doesn't even measure up to what was out there a decade ago. More marketing flim-flap and frip-frappery. But hey, at least it's stylish.

How to fix the US News Media Circus

I'm sick of the media - such as Rush Limbaugh - hiding under 1st Amendment protections by claiming that their political punditry is "for entertainment only".

The news media is not an entertainment force. That is not the "press". While parody and satire serve an essential function (the Court Jester principle), and could be considered entertainment, it's only a side-function. The purpose of it is to skewer the government, and keep it on track. To provide accurate information that the populace might not otherwise get.

Today's media has completely stepped outside the bounds of its role. Part of the social contract here is that the media MUST be truthful. It cannot dance across the line of fact vs. fiction.

Why is this distinction important?

Because when people such as Hannity, or Rush Limbaugh side-step slander & libel laws by claiming that their shows are for entertainment purposes only (which I've never actually heard them say on their shows), they are deliberately playing with a loophole we set up via the constitutional right to freedom of speech. Because these people are NOT citizens as far as the constitution is concerned - they are the PRESS. They have more power than individuals, and as such, as in a separate category - even in that original document.

With today's media reaching millions of people instantaneously, they have more power than ever.

I say we should stop this. And we can do it without risking affecting the 1st amendment.

The FCC already mandates that stations report their ident several times an hour, on both television and radio. The FCC should also mandate, that to receive protection from libel & slander lawsuits, media should CLEARLY label whether their shows are true News, or are using the loophole and running under the auspices of Entertainment.

How this should work is simple:
At the start of the show, the host must clearly state that this is for entertainment purposes only, and is not intended to be news or provide any factual content. (We can shorten this over time, once people get the idea - but at some point during the show, we should get a full statement of intent if the content is not intended to be factual. If it's intended to be factual, no warning is necessary).

Throughout the show, along with the station ident, a brief disclaimer should be played. We can do this every advert break.

Pretty quickly, people would get the point. No need to strengthen our libel & slander laws and go down that slippery slope - and it entirely gets around the fairness doctrine argument.

If they want to lie to us over the public airwaves, they need to play by OUR rules. So let's change the rules.

Comcast: Some of Our Channels Are Missing!

Darci and I were really looking forward to seeing Breaking Bad on AMCHD tonight (channel 697).

Breaking Bad,as we expected to see it

Unfortunately, for some reason, all we were getting is a blank screen. A huge block of channels from 679-695 and 697 and higher are all gone. Missing. No idea what has happened.

Artist's rendition of Breaking Bad,as we actually saw it

We rebooted the Tivo. The Comcast support tech we called did some magic trickery on his end, and he has no idea what happened with the channels either.

So I did a quick check on the website. The channels are missing from the lineup there too!

Apparently, several areas are experiencing missing channels; the Comcast support tech we talked to said that the channels are not appearing in the line up, and are completely missing. They have no idea what’s happening. No idea at all.

They’re going to check into it. They think it could be hardware changeovers, or any other number of weird things, but it is weird. They’re gone, baby, gone.

Goodbye Eartha... You were fantastic

 
from SeaTurtle's photostream on Flickr.com

Eartha Kitt died on Christmas Day, 2008.

I've seen Earth Kitt perform twice, both times at Jazz Alley in Seattle, in 2006 and 2007. My friends Bach, Aydin, Anna, Pepe and my fiancee Darci have all seen her perform on stage.

Aydin and I both agreed a long time ago... She could have had us in a heartbeat. All of our friends who saw her felt the same way.

No, seriously. We both had the hots for this 79 year old (and at the next performance, 80 year old) woman. She was that sexy. She was the consummate embodiment of hot blooded womanliness.

She was an amazing singer, an amazing person with an amazingly varied life. Well traveled, incredibly well educated, intelligent, fiery, funny and with a sense of class missing from most of today's life.

Today, I'm incredibly glad that I got the chance to see her in person. I'd never have known her incredible charm or magnetism if I hadn't.

Which just goes to show - see live performances. They're worth their weight in gold. You may never have the chance again. (I'm just glad that at least once in my life I've seen David Bowie perform in person - another person so charming, wonderful and down to earth, that he's someone I'd love to just sit down with for an hour or two and talk with in front of a roaring fire over drinks).

Eartha, I'll miss you. I'm sure you're out there, somewhere, drinking a martini and singing your lungs out.

A disturbance in the Force...

A shift... I can feel it... big things are afoot... No, I don't mean bigfoot... or that there's something wrong with my feet. Something is... different.

It's almost as if the date July 11th will have some kind of crazy significance to my life... the end of an era, maybe? A conjunction of all the major planets, and a few of the more eccentric asteroids for good measure, leading to apocalyptic earthquakes the likes of which the Pacific Northwest have never seen? Will the sun set and fail to rise? Or perhaps a plague of locusts will blot it out...

And then... some kind of strange crackling energy rippling through the dark corners of the cosmos. A new frontier awaits, sitting in the shadows, waiting... breathing.

Of course, that new frontier's going to open up on July 15th, and then spring like a viper on a ... er ... tree-mounted spring.

A new chapter of my life.

Should be fun :)

Congratulations RealTime Worlds (and my mate Colin)

Congratulations to all the crew at RealTime Worlds (especially my mate Colin MacDonald) for their BAFTA awards for all their hard work on Crackdown!

Just warms the cockles of my heart, it really does.