Finally, A New Mobile Phone

I really beat up my mobile phone when I went backpacking back in July. I made sure to get a new one when I got back to civilization after spending only slightly less than a year in a state of indecision. There were a number of features I was using as criteria for the new phone:

1. Waterproof/Dustproof - There are a number of manufacturers making phones that are waterproof. Seeing as I spend a fair amount of time in snowstorms, having a waterproof phone was kind of important to me.
2. 4G LTE - It didn't make sense to have an unlimited smartphone data plan only to not have the fastest speed possible. Ideally, I would also like to have it usable as a mobile hotspot, but not having it was not a deal-breaker.
3. Size - While most people are looking for the largest screen possible, I wasn't. I prefer something that doesn't look like an aircraft carrier stuck to the side of my face.
4. Cost - Nobody wants to pay full price for anything, especially me. I wanted a deal and wasn't going to spend North of $400 for a piece of electronics that could easily fall into the toilet.
5. Android or IOS - In case you haven't figured it out over the past couple of posts, I really hate Windows and refused to buy a Windows phone. There is a huge ecosystem of applications available for both IOS and Android, most of which are not available on Windows phones.
6. Ease of Upgrade - Moving the data from by antique iPhone couldn't be a lengthy process.

Unfortunately I could not find a phone that had all of the features I wanted, as some of them (like waterproof and ease of upgrade) were mutually exclusive. In the end, I had to pick a phone that was a compromise of features. I decided on the iPhone5 after getting one for my wife when her old iPhone died. So far I am happy with my decision. Sure I had to lock myself into my current service provider for the next couple of years to get the price I wanted, but the ease of upgrade made up for that. The size was what I was used to and felt natural.

I'm sure I will find something to complain about in the near future. Until then, I am happy to have a somewhat newer phone that does everything I need it to. I was even able to load some new applications that wouldn't work on my other phone because it was so old.

A Laptop is Not a Tablet

My son was able to solve a number of his problems with Windows 8 today. It turns out that the designers at Microsoft want their users to have the same experience on laptops, tablets, and phones. What a stupid idea. Hopefully Apple never stoops to such a moronic idea.

I thought touchscreens were really cool when they first came out. That lasted about 10 minutes. After that, my screen became so covered with fingerprints and body oils that I came to my senses and realized a mouse or touch pad is a much better interface. Sony figured that out with their PlayStation Vita. In addition to having a touchscreen, the back of the Vita works as a touch pad. Why? They realized that if your finger is on the screen, you might be missing something taking place in the game. Not having your fat finger obscuring your vision very important in first-person shooters.

About as near as I can figure, the guys who came up with the idea that we would all want to treat our laptops the same as our tablets, spent a little too much time sniffing model airplane glue as kids. A touch screen is a compromise in a tablet so you don't have to carry around a mouse. I only hope that the public doesn't try to embrace laptops masquerading as tablet computers. Sure there is a place for tablets, just don't try to make my laptop or desktop computer behave as one.

Windows 8: What Were They Thinking?

My son started playing with his new computer today and loves the hardware. It is not all roses though as this evening he is setting up Windows 8 and I am learning to swear in multiple languages. After living in Romania for 2 years, my son knows how to swear in Romanian, Russian, and Moldovan. Setting up Windows 8 is helping my learning process as there are plenty of opportunities to use such language.

Earlier in my career I worked on Larry Ellison's Network Computer. We basically took NetBSD and wrapped a user friendly interface around it. In the process I worked with our graphics designer and went through countless hours of usability testing. We would sit behind a one-way mirror and watch as users played with our software to do a number of simple computer tasks. We learned a lot in the process and created an award winning user interface. I only wish Microsoft had taken the time to do the same thing with Windows 8.

I don't know how Microsoft let Windows 8 get through any sort of usability testing. As near as I can figure, they wired electrodes to their users and had a plate of cookies on the table. When the users complained about the interface, they received an electric shock. When they appreciated the non-intuitive features of a horribly designed computer interface, they got a cookie. There is no way that anyone would prefer Windows 8 over an abacus.

Here are some examples of why I think only a fool would use Windows 8:

1. If you leave a CD in the drive too long, it won't eject. You have to restart the computer to get the disk out.

2. You have to get updated drivers for your laptop's touch pad in order to use multi-finger scrolling. It doesn't matter which hardware manufacturer you buy the laptop from, they all require the update. Sony, Toshiba, and Lenovo have their drivers posted in their technical support forums on their websites.

3. You have to use the task manager to kill Windows 8 native programs. Who writes a program and doesn't put a quit option in one of the menus? Isn't that part of user interface 101?

The longer I sit here typing my blog, the more examples of Microsoft stupidity are exposed. Unfortunately my son is almost in tears and wants to ditch Windows 8 in favor of Linux. We will probably spend the next couple of nights figuring out a way to run Linux as the primary operating system and Windows 8 in a VM. . . but only as a last resort.

Finally Fedora Core 18 Is Usable

A few months ago I decided to update the Linux version on the desktop computer in my home office. I used it as a chance to decide if I wanted to stick with Fedora or move to Ubuntu. We are moving from CentOS to Ubuntu at work and so I wanted to start with Fedora just to be able to compare and contrast multiple flavors of Linux.

Unfortunately the upgrade from Fedora Core 10 to Fedora Core 18 was not painless. There was the problem with importing my old e-mail that I was able to figure out. The worst problem appeared about a week after the upgrade. For some reason, my Firefox browser kept crashing. I thought I could just download Google's Chrome, but that didn't even load. Previously I had been running the 32-bit version of Linux and upgraded to the 64-bit version. I figured there was some library mismatch in the 64-bit versions of the software and that by constantly sending crash reports to the developers, it would eventually get fixed. In the mean time, I just used the browser on my laptop.

I work in the Bay area during the week and fly back to Utah on weekends. Every Saturday, I would patiently update my system only to discover the bug with my browser hadn't been fixed. One perk I have with my job is that I get to work from home one week per month and this was that week. On Monday, I gave the old update a shot and cranked up the browser. I let it sit there and several minutes later the browser was still running. Next I cranked up Pandora and filled my office with music. It has been running all week with no crashes. I have yet to give Chrome a try, but I don't like Chrome and avoid it if I can.

Running the latest versions of software can be a little dangerous sometimes, as I was reminded. However you can send in the bug and crash reports. Eventually things will get fixed and the updated software becomes the stable version. Just be sure you have a second computer to use in case things don't work.

A New College Computer Recommendation

One of my first postings when I created this blog back in 2009 was my recommendation for a laptop to take to college. I have pretty much stood by that original decision until this year. Both of my daughters took Apple laptops to school. Now it is time to buy my oldest son his. As he is a computer science major, I am breaking away from Apple and suggesting a different computer.

What is the reason for this change? Well there are actually a few reasons. When Steve Jobs was at the helm of Apple, they put out a better product than they do now. At first the slip in quality was hardly noticeable. Now it is becoming more pronounced and so you can find an equally well-built laptop from a number of other vendors. Furthermore Apple continues to charge a premium for their hardware and so you can now get higher-performing laptops for the same price. When I first made my comparison, there wasn't much of a difference, if any.

So what did I decide for my son? I actually let my son pick out his own computer. There are a number of manufacturers that give college discounts and Sony is one of them (look for the Education Store link at the bottom of the page). I then told him he had $1000 to spend, as that is what the least expensive Mac would cost with Apple's education discount. He opted for their S-line of computers as he felt that represented the best deal and performance. That $1000 gave him 8 GB of RAM instead of only 4 and a 750 GB hard disk instead of 500.

I am still a fan of Mac OS X and despise any operating system made by Microsoft. My son's new computer comes with Windows 8 but he has a plan to fix that. He will keep Windows and install an Ubuntu virtual machine (VM). This is how he has his work computer set up right now, only with Windows 7 instead of 8. It has worked out very well and will be much more flexible as he works on his programming assignments in school. While this setup may not be as polished as OS X, I think it will better for him as Linux seems to be ubiquitous at universities these days.

It took a few years for other computer manufacturers to catch up with Apple, but now that they seemed to have stopped innovating, it is a good time to look at other vendors. Your dollar will go farther.