Had a dream last night. My dreams are usually very cinematic, to the point of falling in clear genre categories. Last night was a spy thiller.
I was at some big event, and all the political brass were there. I met Bill Clinton, I remember that distinctly, because he was older, and fatter, and had a rosey nose and gin blossoms.
Later on, I was being chased, and I threw a guy down a long, steep stairway. He rolled all the way to the bottom, and got back up to get me. There was a wheel barrow at the top where I was, and I slid it down at him, wheel side up. Went just like a sled. That got'em. Ouch.
I once had a frank discussion with a woman I didn't like at all. She knew I didn't like her, and thought it would be better if we talked about it. She thought maybe I didn't like her because she was a woman. Nope, not that. Because she was older than me? Nope. Because she was a different race and nationality? Nuh-uh. No, Ma'am, it's simply that I don't like YOU. I can't remember, I may have just told her that.
I feel the same way about Hillary Clinton. I don't like her, and it has nothing to do with her being a woman, a democrat, or any other demographic segment. I simply don't like HER. It's personal.
Let me add the disclaimer: I've never met her, I don't actually know her personally, so it's pretty unfair of me to say I don't like her personally.
With that said, she is among the most public profiles in America. You can't be in the public eye without people passing judgement. For a politician, that's deliberate, you need the people to judge you worth voting into office. So, my (casual) judgement:
I find her abbrasive in her arrogance, deliberately divisive between parties, and sarcastic and dismissive toward the other side of the isle.
I'm watching the Democratic National Convention. She didn't rescind any of her previous criticism of Barack Obama. If she wants him to win, she should have. She named all sorts of social ills, suggesting that the Democratic party could SINGLE handedly fix them all.
I'll stop. I'm just fabricating specific criticisms because I don't like her. I just don't.
But I'm sure if we sat down and had dinner together we'd have a fine time.
I've been looking forward to the release of the Android phone for along time. My Sidekick is hanging on by a thread, and I'm ready for it's successor. So far, it looks like Andy Rubin won't disappoint. He founded Danger, maker of the Sidekick series, and now he's heading the next big thing.
Engadget keeps getting info leak in about the first device to host the platform, the G1, the Dream Phone, it's gotten a few monikers amongst the handset following crowd. It's made by HTC, whom I've mentioned before. I've wantedto invest in them before, and just found out that you can buy shares on the London Stock Exchange (four at a time). If I ever save any money, maybe I'll try.
Anyway, the phone looks sweet. It's an open platform, which is something I really value. It doesn't look now like it'll have bleeding edge hardware specs, but oh well, I've been using a three year old phone.
The features I've decided I value in a phone are:
Form factor - It makes a difference to me whether it's a flip-phone, a candybar, a slider, a swivel, or any other permutation on phone form. I tend to really gravitate toward the "quickdraw" phones, like the Samsung P735 I used to have, or the current Sidekick. Camera - I love taking pictures (and video) from my phone. Love it. I like being able to record whatever is happening around me. Maybe it's the broadcast journalist in me, but I'd chose to have a camera on me at all times, and the advent of cell-phone-cams make that perfectly feasable. The better the camera, the happier I'll be. Data Connectivity - I use my phone for mostly non-telephone things. I use text, email, chat, the Web, note taking, scheduling, you name it. Connection to the one machine is important. User Interface - This is part of where Android will make a big difference. Because it's open, the skin and controls can be customized, and because it's Google, it probably won't need much customization anyway. Expandable Memory - As the cost of memory declines (about %40 per year), I should be able to load in a new card and carry %40 more a year from now for the same price. Most smartphones today have some form of expandable memory, theres just no reason not to. Openness - An open platform is A) SO much more flexible than a closed platform B) Cheaper for the consumer (I don't have to go into the Apple store to get new software), and C)Inclined toward innovation, expanding the abilities of the end user.
So far, it's looking like this HTC phone will meet ALL of my requests. I really don't think you know how excited I am.
Watching the Olympic Mens' Marathon finals, I am simultaneously inspired and disuaded from ever running a marathon. Those guys are unbelievable. The sheer torture they put themselves through is admirable, and I don't think I ever want to do it.
I don't think it's a good idea to be so cozy with a nation we don't share fundamental common values with, even if they provide unbelievably cheap labor. It intertwines our futures in a way that we'll ultimately have to reconcile, maybe in a very ugly conflict. It's like a marriage. You wouldn't marry somebody for the tax breaks when you know the other would make a deplorable parent. Why should we tie our future to China if we don't see eye to eye on very basic issues concerning human rights, freedom of speech, and political freedom?
So, to combat the combined effect of packing and cloudy skies, I'm watching talks online.
This seems to be a new form of education/entertainment to rise with the web. I'll call them Short Courses on Big Ideas. A program like this would never survive network television, but thrives online. To give you an idea of what I mean, I'll link to a few of the talks from some of my favorite sources. PopTech!
Adrian Bowyer discusses a machine at the heart of a movement I find fascinating. The priciples at play have the potential to be a global economic game shifter.
TED.com Kevin Kelly is brilliant, and at gatherings like this, he is in good company.
They have lecturers come and speak here at MSFT. Today sci-fi author Greg Baer is here. He hasn't started speaking yet.
These talks have been a fitting compliment to some of my assignments at BYUTV. I got to interview Orson Scott Card when he came to speak to the Marion K. "Doc" Smith symposium of Sci-fi and Fantasy. Now I get to meet and hear Greg Bear. At BYUTV, I got to meet and listen to Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar. Then I came up here and Alvey Ray Smith, the other co-founder spoke.
Why am I not recording all of these and posting them here? Too late now. Tomorrow is my last day at work here.
I'm watching the opening ceremonies. The enormity of this whole thing, not just the opening ceremony, but ALL of it, is staggering. I wish we (the world) could coordinate on such a scale for a project aimed at actually improving lives in a lasting, meaningful way. I'll try to figure that out.
This is the fourth time since I started my internship that I've had to exit the building because of the ear-piercing fire alarm. It's getting a little old, but I suppose it's an insurance necessity sometimes, and a legitimate cause for alarm at others. The Fire Department came on this one, so I don't think this is a drill.
I've been a customer of yours for as long as I've had a cell-phone. That's three and a half years at this point. In that time, I've paid you a very significant sum of money. It may not be significant to you, but it's taken a terrible toll on my wallet. I continue to pay the monthly service, though, because I've become more or less dependent on having access to people and information wherever I go. I've been satisfied with the service (if not the price) with a couple exceptions:
When I purchased my first phone, I went all out. I bought a Samsung P735. It played Mp3s, it recorded video, it took great pictures (for it's day). It was too good to be true. So I took out an insurance policy on it's functional use. So when, a year and some months later, the inevitable happened, I was not concerned. I'd been paying a monthly fee, so that when the phone did break, it would be replaced. I called Asurion Insurance, and they politely informed me there would be a deductible. Turns out that means a deduction from my wallet. They charged me $100.00to take advantage of the policy I'd already been paying for. Oh, and replacing my phone? That model is no longer manufactured. We'll provide a comparable model. Comparable model? They sent a RAZR. And wouldn't let me trade for something else. Lets recap: I bought a nice, expensive phone, paid a monthly fee so I wouldn't have to worry about replacing it, and you charged me $100.00 so I could have an exceptionally crappy replacement (that broke a few weeks after buying it). You've just taken advantage of my business in a way that borders on criminal. And for the life of me, I can't figure out why I didn't switch to a different wireless provider then.
In my service plan, I was offered a free additional service. I chose the "WorldClass International Service". This is what I was shown.This sounded appealing. However, on my recent trip to a family reunion, I was charged a large amount of money for roaming. Apparently, I miss-read what service I was receiving. What I was getting for FREE wasn't International WorldClass Service, it was the chance to use my phone and pay more money. You gave me (for FREE) the chance to pay a lot of money for services. That's not exactly generous.
Today, the terms of my contract are long played out, and my service is on a month to month basis. Give me one single reason why I shouldn't try to find a more honest service provider. You've done nothing but "nickel and dime" me from day one. You've alienated me, your customer, by deceiving me whenever you thought it might profit you. I'm convinced your online services to check plans, coverage, billing, etc., are deliberately difficult to use, so the customer can't easily figure out what he's paying and what he's using. Your focus is on money, not your service.
In short, I'm extremely dissatisfied with the way you conduct business. It's dishonest and immoral. I would hope that will change, but I'm not sticking around to see that it does.
My thirty dollar purchase at Value Village is currently going for $109.65 with exactly four hours left in the auction to boot! That price will go up! Fun.
Jonathan Demme's documentary on former president Jimmy Carter is somewhat inexplicable. I can only assume it was of personal interest. The subject matter is relatively high profile, but, forgive me, not something that captures the imagination.
We follow Jimmy Carter as he tours, promoting his book "Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid". Controversy swirls into a cyclone of accusations, aimed at a man who, to hear him talk, is clearly a passionate, humble, pious servant of mankind. By almost all accounts, Jimmy Carter has only ever tried to help people, be that through brokering peace between Egypt and Israel, or promoting Habitat for Humanity.
But the particular wording of his treatise on Mideast peace was not universally received. "Apartheid" carries with it decades of baggage, it's loaded vocabulary. It caused much of Carter's audience to suppose he sided with Palestinians in the conflict, when Carter would proclaim his concern for all parties.
There is a scene where Carter, in front of a large audience, shows how deep the cutting remarks of his detractors go. In a quieted, halting moment, he says that it's the first time he'd been called a liar. For a man so deeply devoted to the Bible, to America, to family and humanity, for a man who only wants to help, I can't imagine much of anything worse to call him. That scene makes me think he'd agree.
The music is eclectic and often ill fitting, the motion graphics are stunning but distracting, and the focus unclear. It was enjoyable, educational, and I'm glad I saw it. I don't know if I'd recommend it to friends.
I've had the chance of seeing a few really great things while I've been here at MSNBC.com. Being so closely associated with the Giant that is Microsoft has it's benefits. I've gotten more swag than I know what to do with. I toured the Home of the Future, a little like if MSFT execs designed Epcot Center. I've been able to attend the MSFT Product Fair to see Steve Ballmer speak. I was here for the last dayBill Gates worked as a MSFT employee. And a few days ago I attended a Research and Design Expo.
The Design Expo had a few points of note. Much of what was being shown was, in my humble opinion, gimmicky and not worth much attention. But some of it was worth your attention. The demonstration of the spherical Surface prototype was primitive but promising, and an obvious extension of MSFT's aim to make every surface around us smart. They proved that with the Home of the Future tour. Apparently, in the future, you won't have a computer in your house. Your house will be a computer, with every wall, table, and cabinet a point of input and output, wired into the omnicient Web. Privacy watchdogs will love that one. Home of the Future tour. The wall has a display visible through the paint, thus, your wall is a display. They got mad at me for taking a picture. I figured it would be easier to get forgiveness than permission.
But I digress. The Sphere Surface was interesting, though not exactly a game-changer for the computing industry (yet).
It dawned on me after I left the Expo that I'd seen the car they used to get 360* shots of Seattle for the Sphere demo. Saw it driving to work one day.
Another interesting project was a student and professor demonstrating their use of an augmented reality system. They had rigged a SonyUMPC to automatically classify plants in the wilderness. The process may take weeks using conventional classification tools (i.e. take a sample back to the library). It was a readily understood use, but there are countless others. It's a subject I've given way too much thought to, and I'm convinced A.R. is a huge industry waiting to happen. Mark my words.
They tried to show some of the other capabilities of the system, how it could visualize information and display it immediatly over your normal field of vision, integrated with the scene. A woman watching asked, "Well...what do you use it for?"
I was flabbergasted. I shouldn't be, I know I'm an early adopter where most people aren't. But that she couldn't see the potential of something like this caught me off guard. I wanted to say,
"What good are computing machines? The slide rule has always proved a trusty companion. Heck, long as I've got my abacus handy, that'll do just fine! Sign my anti-progress parchment, and I'll mimeograph some duplicates and we'll Pony Express these babies far and wide!"
But I bit my tongue.
I chatted for a while with the researcher heading up the project. Through phrases like "In the early 90's when we started all this..." it was clear he'd been doing this for a long time. We were a couple A.R. evangelists lamenting the worlds' failure to accept the future. He said the only reason you don't see this technology everywhere is A) Nobody has set up a business plan for it, so B) Nobody invests in it. I told him I'd work on the business plan. He (understandably) laughed a little, but I wasn't kidding.
I searched around when I got back to my office and found that I'd been talking to Dr. Steven K. Feiner, who, so far as I can tell, is one of if not the leader in the field of augmented reality.
There were a number of other projects there, but my time is limited. Before I left, I got to see my friend Anthony present his project from a class at UW. His group did a great job, and won an award (best concept? I can't remember).
As an aside, I'm officially no longer satisfied with my phone's camera. It's past time to upgrade. Maybe I should start working on an A.R. headset to replace my phone, glasses, GPS, camera, and mobile web connection.
You can't tell very well in the picture, but the West skyscraper at Lincoln Tower today had six ropes hanging from the top edge, some thirty stories up, all the way to the ground. Abandoned window washers' equipment sat next to a pillar outside. First a security guard, then a grounds person for the building came to take care of them after about 20 minutes. Standing at the bottom, looking up on this windy day, it was surprisingly peaceful to watch them sway and twist and float in the updraft.
In preparation for SeaFair tomorrow, the Blue Angels are practicing maneuvers over Lake Washington. Everybody is out on their boats for the show. My team at work went to the Microsoft office at the top of Lincoln Tower in Bellevue. Great view.
But until my cameraphone has optical zoom, a picture would mean nothing.
