don’t panic

I don’t get excited about computing too often anymore.  I mean, over the years I’ve just sort of accepted that storage media will double every six months, with CPU speed following about six months behind that, etc., etc…  But these kind of technological miracles (“same price, just more of it,” kind of miracles) are the norm now.  Consumers not only expect that they will happen, they almost count on it.

Then there are the other kind of geek advances, the kind that you don’t quite know how to get your head around at the time, but you’re impressed none the less.  The iPod was like that.  Yes, yes, I know that the Pod changed everything and all that, but at the time it gingerly came out, Apple was taking a huge risk.  Sure they had the vision enough to see what consumers wanted, but consumers didn’t. We all sort of scratched our heads and said, “Yeah, I guess it would be cool to carry my entire music collection around with me everywhere…  I’ll bite.”  I think the iMac was like that too.  Not revolutionary like the iPod, but impressive, and frankly, downright sexy as far as computers go.

Lastly, there are those innovations that you look at and say, “Wow.  That’s amazing.”  These are technologies that you never even saw coming.  Not only are they creative and useful, but you weren’t even aware that we, as geek-kind, were capable of implementing yet.

The iPhone is like that.

Sure, it’s just a phone… and a full internet browser…  and a camera… and an iPod… a video player… GPS device with maps, and on and on…  But what’s really of interest to me is two key innovations.  One they implemented, and one they promise, but only tease us with.

The first is the interface.  Multi-touch will be great, I’m sure.  Apple is known for getting it’s input systems right, so I don’t doubt that we’ll all love it.  But cell phones in general have needed a major interface overhaul for a decade or more, and nobody will do a better job of it than Apple because they build from the user out, not the technology in.  Their stuff is intuitive and (mostly) bulletproof.  You don’t have to memorize menus, or decipher lame icons because it just makes sense.

Put that in a phone, and it’s already worth the price of admission.  Big time.

The second innovation that Apple introduced was the idea that the iPhone is running OS X.  And I’m sure it is running a form of the operating system.  But from what I’ve read, Apple still hasn’t opened it up to allow users, or more specifically, third party developers, to add functionality beyond what Apple will include with the phone at the time of purchase.  Why the big deal with this?  Simple - 

People like to be able to “grow” their portable appliances to better suit their individual needs and habits. 

We put shortcuts (or aliases) to our favorite programs, folders, and documents on our Desktop.  The whole idea behind Apple’s “dock” is customization.  Same with widgets.  We love the idea that you could buy something as a phone, but use it on a hike to call up a satellite map with your current position marked by GPS.  We love to be able to add specialized ring tones, animations and camera filters.  Sure, we love iChat, but wouldn’t it be great if you could call up a terminal and log-in to your server via SSH to run a few maintenance scripts?  I’m sure that Cingular is grinning from ear to ear with their iPhone lock-in, but what if I’d like to use some VOIP?  The phone is fully capable technically, but you can bet there’s a clause in Apple’s contract that says basically, “no voice over IP is allowed on the phone” because it would cut into Cingular’s market share.  It’s like Verizon crippling the bluetooth on their phones so you had to use their own services (as well as your airtime) to get pictures, music and video on or off the device.

Greed holding back technology.

So we’ll see.  Maybe Apple will unlock the iPhone and create a real revolution in the cell industry.  It’s a great product, but unless it can grow, it’s ultimately just an easier, upgraded version of what already exists.  Same price (or maybe a bit more), just more of it.

Here’s hoping for a revolution.

Didn’t he get enough of a tongue lashing the last time he opened his mouth to the general public?  Guess not.  His latest rant- the prediction that a terrorist attack on the United States would cause a “mass killing” late in 2007.

Oh boy.  Like we need the creator of the universe to see that one coming.  That’s almost as good as his May prediction that there would be storms and possibly a tsunami in 2006.

So really, Pat.  Why would God choose to give you this information, hmm?  Not you specifically, anyone.  How does it serve Him?  How is He glorified by you making a fool of yourself and giving Christians worldwide a bad name?  Not that we need a good name to do His work, I just don’t see how this plays into anything at all scripturally.

Must be tough to come up with something ominously spectacular enough, yet so incredibly vague as to be a certainty.  But hey, God works in mysterious ways… and His ways aren’t our ways, etc etc…

Sorry, my God is bigger and better informed that yours I guess.

In reference to your 2005 predictions about Bush and the president’s Social Security initiative you said, “I have a relatively good track record.  Sometimes I miss.” … Maybe you should check the bible for insight into what they used to do to prophets who “sometimes missed.”

They stoned them.

Now there’s a really good idea!

I was getting incensed over Bush’s latest destruction of my personal liberties when I read a very interesting statistic.  CNN said this:

Bush has issued at least 750 signing statements during his presidency, more than all other presidents combined, according to the American Bar Association.

Wow.  Conspiracy theorists unite!  I really want to try and be fair and open-minded about why this is so, but I just can’t think of any reason why this president should need to have that many signing statements.  There’s nothing going on in his presidency that hasn’t happened before in history.  There have been terrorists, wars (two world wars), even some pretty screwed up policies regarding internal espionage.  But still, Bush has managed to use more signing statements than all other presidents combined.

Dang.

More so, CNN went on to say:

Typically, presidents have used signing statements for such purposes as instructing executive agencies how to carry out new laws.

Bush’s statements often reserve the right to revise, interpret or disregard laws on national security and constitutional grounds.

So these aren’t just to clarify some ambiguity in the law, these are to circumvent it.  I think I feel a little cheated as an American citizen.  I mean, we have this huge governmental system designed to keep everything in line and within the constitution, but Bush can basically thumb his nose at us and do whatever he wants anyway.  And he can do it after everyone else, so that most of us wouldn’t even be aware that he has pulled a bait and switch unless some group like the ACLU happens to request a copy of the actual signed law to see what crap he might have added when we weren’t looking.

Nice.

Now where did I put that tinfoil hat?

So my daughter has taken up the game The Sims. She loves it. She can create a “family” and completely rule their lives… Just like real life. She’ll “play” her game for hours, tormenting the members of her clan with sleep depravation, boredom… okay, this is just scary.

Anyway, she’s really not interested in how well she or her little world does. For her, it’s all about how loudly she can get them to complain, or burp… Which is a good thing because her primary pieces of furniture are toilets and showers. She’ll create whole villages of nothing but toilets. Dozens of them.

So I was a little shocked this morning when I checked on her, to see that her family (they always have eight members) had somehow accumulated over twenty thousand in the bank. She had been playing a while and I knew that she had been purchasing things, so baring a random lotto winning (she didn’t have a phone) how had she done it? After a bit of scrolling, the answer was obvious.

My special-needs daughter, who can’t even read the dialog boxes, had found a way to beat the game.

How? By not living within the same confines of reality that you and I do.

First of all, she never assumed that her sims needed to live in an actual house. You and I would start a game by first creating a floor and walls, maybe purchasing a few essentials to give our virtual personas a chance to be happy. But my daughter doesn’t understand how you build a house, nor does she care. She just started buying furniture and slapping it down on the lawn.

Next, we would probably have our sims get a job. I mean, that’s really the whole point of the game. Get a great job, make lots of money, keep your sims happy. That last point is really just a means however, since being happy and making money seem to conflict most on the time.

My daughter, on the other hand, realized this contradiction at once… and so she never attempted to make her sims happy. They were more interesting when they were yelling and screaming anyway. But she still needed money to buy things (usually more toilets). Somewhere along the line, she discovered that you can buy an easel, have your sim paint a picture, and then SELL that painting for money. Normally, it’s probably not enough money to support your family for very long. But if you don’t have many expenses (trivial items like food or beds) then that $135 goes a long way.

And so she multiplied that idea by an order of magnitude. Simply put, she bought a dozen or so easels and created her own little art sweat-shop. Her sims would busily paint their hearts out until they passed out on the front lawn, with her selling the paintings as fast as she could. With all eight members of her family chipping in (jobs, who needs jobs?) she was quickly making over a thousand dollars a day! Now she could easily afford a really classy toilet for every member of the family (and maybe even a bed).

Talk about thinking outside of the box.