Sticking with the Old or Trying New Things
|

Sticking with the Old or Trying New Things

Byrichard

Yesterday I went for a half hour drive to do a favour, but in arriving where I had to do the favour I found that people were deeply focused and did not want to be interrupted so I went for a walk. I didn’t swap to the hiking shoes that were waiting patiently in the car. I wore my “recycled” shoes instead. I eventually regretted this because the ground that was frosty, also had deep puddles of water and I had to walk through them. Two or three times my feet got wet. While getting my feet wet I was also listening to a Linux Podcast, episode 56 of Linux After Dark and they were discussing whether people like to adopt a system and stick with it, or whether they like to experiment and try new things constantly.


I feel that way about watches at the moment. For plenty of people watches are like televisions. “I haven’t owned either for decades, my laptop and ipad are enough.” For years I was without a watch, and without a TV. As a student I never felt the need. It’s only because people had spare televisions that I ended up with one. I never bought one for myself.


Since I bought myself one or more raspberry pies I have been experimenting with various instances, to see how to set them up quickly, and experiment with implementation and more. In the process I am learning skills that I had not experimented with in years. One of these is to flash a USB key with a version of Linux and rebooting a PC from the USB key to run linux. It worked so well that now I am fighting the desire to install Linux over Windows and have the windows machine become a Linux machine.


Watches


Suunto, Casio, Apple and Garmin make watches, and each one tries to quantify the wearer, so it feels as though the wearer must wear all three or four brands to get complete data for all four platforms. but to do this makes us eccentric. The simplest workaround is to track with one device, and manually update all the others.


Whether you wear a Casio, Garmin, Apple Watch or Suunto is also about something else. User Interface. The Garmin Instinct and Casio g-shock watches look tough/solid, while the Apple Watch and Suunto Peak 5 look more fragile, more elegant. The other difference is that the Garmin watch is solar powered and can last for weeks in summer, whereas the Apple Watch and Suunto Peak five can last for a day, or several. The Garmin watches can last for years, by default, because they use mobile phones to do the hard work. They just count steps and time.


Personal Technical Debt


I like the idea of Personal Technical Debt. The concept exists for IT and programming. Writing code is one thing, but updating it later on is a challenge. To give a simple example, if you write a static website by hand then every page that navigates to other pages, needs to updated every time a new page is added. If you use Hugo or another static website generator you see this with every build. My blog is both on wordpress, and as a static site. As a wordpress blog it’s slow and clunky to update because of all the bloat wordpress has added over the two and a half decades that it has been around.


In contrast with Hugo you write you page in markdown, add the categories and tags, run “hugo” and fifteen seconds later the site is ready to publish via GIT FTP. I spent months updating my static site to PHP before being sidetracked by Hugo and blogging.


The New Machine Routine


A while ago if you started to use a new machine you would need to log into all your sites, across several browsers. When I did this once or twice a year it felt slow and uncomfortable. Now that I slide between web browsers fluidly the time it takes to be up and running in Chrome, Firefox or other, is a few minutes. This is because my personal technical debt is low, and because it has become routine to slide between browsers, whether different versions of Chrome, Firefox or other.


With the Raspberry Pi Imager app you can instantiate a new server on an SD card within minutes, and it will be ready for you to log in via SSH whilst connecting to wifi with no user intervention. This is great because you can setup a headless system in a location with no monitor or keyboard.


Devops


When I started following courses on JavaScript, Ruby, Ruby On Rails and more I would get instructions on how to setup an environment and I wasn’t familiar with the process so I had to follow the instructions attentively. By trial and error, as well as repetition the process became relaxed.


I find that, as I become more comfortable with doing things from the command line, I find docker walk throughs more frustrating than helpful. This is because I want to get instructions on how to setup the environment fully, without the overhead of docker running in the background. On a 2016 mac book pro docker slows down the computer.


And Finally


When we do something two or three times we need to follow the instructions when we get stuck. If we set the time on a casio watch several times then it becomes habit. If we implement Linux instances on SD cards and experiment until we break things, then we know how to do things, without breaking them, in a production environment. If we change web browser once every few months or years it can take a while. If we do it several times a month it becomes second nature. That’s what experimenting is about.

Switzerland and Renewable Energy

Switzerland and Renewable Energy

Byrichard

Yesterday while driving the radio was on. Usually I would turn it off because people usually speak about unimportant things. Yesterday was different. Yesterday someone was speaking about solar power and Switzerland. He said that at the moment just 6 percent of houses have solar panels, when it should be closer to 20-30 percent. He also said that instead of destroying pristine nature we should add solar panels to train stations and other buildings.

He went even further. He spoke about the need for architects to think about renewable energies by default, with the addition of solar panels on new buildings and more.

This podcast is so important that I listened to it as it was broadcast, but I also re-listened to it when I got home. There is a walk I have done three or more times in the Jura that goes along the Trans-Jurassienne train lines. Back in the day it generated part of its own energy by using hydroelectric power. You can still see the building where that power was generated.

At one point there was an interview from the 70s or so where the TPG were spoken of as adding solar panels on their buildings to generate their own power. “Why do you do this, do you save money?” “No, but we’re investing in the future, for our children, so that they will have energy.”

They also spoke of a solar powered community near Zurich, where a collaboration between property owners saw them find a way to generate solar power for their own community. This was 50 years ago. Even then people were living in the future, compared to today.

And Finally

Onr of the other points that was covered was the idea that there needs to be a discussion around how to sell and buy energy from a de-centralised energy system where someone on one floor can send energy to a neigbhour on another floor. The issue is that at the moment the grid is still centered around power stations. and with solar, hydro and wind power there could be a shift towards a de-centralised energy system.

It’s actually something I said a few years ago. If every village creates and shares its own power then high tension powerl ines could become a thing of the past, as power would be within smaller nodes.

13 Minutes to the Moon

Byrichard

13 Minutes to the Moon is an interesting podcast dedicated to the Lunar Landings. This podcast, along with audiobooks, is interesting because they allow us not just to read the dialogues that took place but to hear what the controllers and astronauts heard.


At one point in Episode two, you hear two communications loops at once. It’s a shame that they didn’t balance the audio so that loop 1 was in one ear and loop 2 in the other. If they had done this then we could have heard the audio as mission controllers had heard.


The podcast is also interesting because it’s divided into twelve 50 minute podcasts so each topic is explored in depth. There is some overlap with the books I have read. For enthusiasts, this overlap is interesting as it allows them to fill in gaps in their knowledge.


Podcasts on the Android

Byrichard

For three days now I have been listening to podcasts on the Nexus one using Listen. It is a podcast app that allows you to subscribe to and download podcasts from the comfort of the mobile device.

What I like about this app is the ease with which you can select which podcasts to listen to. If you want to listen to This week in tech for example just type the name of the podcast and it will find those feeds, allow you to subscribe or manually select which podcasts to listen to.

Another aspect of the search feature which I like is the search for keywords function. It displays a number of podcasts according to the keyword.

As an example I typed hike to see which podcasts would be suggested. I found some trailcast podcasts and so downloaded a podcast. It works well. If you enjoy the podcast then you can subscribe to and download the podcasts.

The settings tab has an interesting set of options. You can tell it to download new apps when possible, select whether you want the downloads to occur when you are using wifi or over the air using the data plan. You can set how many podcasts you want to store on the device at any one time.

One of the best features for me is that when you have a few hours to listen to podcasts rather than work by podcast subscription this software allows you to listen to podcasts in queue order. What this means is that I may be listening to This week in tech, then this week in google before moving on to the BBC history podcast and finishing with a trail cast podcast. With this system you do not need to interrupt what you are doing to get to the next podcast.

The benefit of a podcast client that is within the phone is that you can select what to listen to whilst on the move. As a benefit of this you are less likely to download hundreds of podcasts you end up never listening to.

The last feature is that it is synched with Google Reader. This means that you can see those subscriptions from any google reader application. It is stored in the cloud so should work across multiple devices.

This is the future of podcasting, and media consumption. It takes advantage of the power that modern devices can sync from anywherwe at anytime, that your habits and tastes may change and that you actualise it from any machine, computer, or mobile.

| |

Excitement for live streaming from mobile phones

Byrichard

Live video streaming from the mobile phone is normal for me. Yesterday for example I was streaming from the boat as the Croisière de l’espoir came back into port.

Jose Castillo and Tim Siglin talk about highlights from Streaming Media East in New York, including AT&T’s re-emergence as a CDN, a jaw-dropping mobile video webcasting demo by Steve Garfield, and interviews with show attendees.

mp3
source

Interesting to listen to other people discuss this topic.

| | | |

Bill Palmer of Iprong 3c, twittermail3k twittter 3k+

Byrichard

Today’s news is as follows. Having seen that Bill Palmer of the Iprong podcast and website would add the 300th friend on Facebook I decided I would take this opportunity to add him. His podcast is “for the ipod generation so take the time to listen to it. It’s mainly about iphones and ipods but mixes in quite a few artists in the process.

The second event was becoming the 3000th person to use twittermail. I saw someone mention that they were up to three thousand and I decided to be the 3000th. Now that’s done it’s great. It’s twice as great since it helps to emphasise that I have reached over three thousand tweets since becoming a twitter member.

The last bit of news is that it’s blog action day tomorrow. The topic is going to be the environment so right anything with an environmental conscience for your blog and share it with the world.

That’s it for tonight.

| |

Apple phone show 22 is interesting and twitter tracking

Byrichard

Apple Phone Show no. 22 is a particularly good episode. Andy Ihnatko and Scott Bourne discuss how to use the iPhone in real-life situations. It’s a precursor of things to come in the near future.

I’ve decided to try Twitter tracking which works by you selecting which words you want to follow. The messages are then sent straight to your phone and you follow any conversations on the topic.

| |

David Pogue’s Style

Byrichard

Too many video podcasts are badly produced and that is why David Pogue’s most recent episode was enjoyable to watch. He has a distinctive style. Whilst most video podcasters are content simply using a fixed camera at a desk he takes the time to create entertaining demonstrations of how the tech he is discussing is interesting.


In one episode he talked about how phones for children were great for some things but let down by others. He demonstrated his frustration at having an iPhone yet not being able to talk about it because he was under embargo. In one episode he was testing noise-canceling headphones and wore all of them at once as he left through the front door of his house. Each of these little acts helped to make his podcast both entertaining and different from others.


In his most recent episode, he brought attention to this fact, claiming that he would do it the same way as other video podcasters. He did do some things in a similar manner but overall he demonstrated creativity. By using cutaway shots and gags he still avoided a static shot of someone talking and even makes his audience laugh. The way he did this was by demonstrating a mallet and a sensor and how you can smash your computer’s screen virtually.


It’s great to watch these podcasts because they are well shot and thought out.


There are a number of podcasts that I find are lacking in quality. They re shot in high definition but the person is in a studio. In other cases, they perform interviews but use no cut away shots to illustrate the person’s character and profession and as a result, the interview is very hard to watch.


We’ve got great technology at our fingerprints. Almost any computer can now be used for editing and almost every household has at least one video taking device. Everyone has watched hours of television yet people have not learned how to produce videos to the standard that is required to make it entertaining. There is one advantage to today’s media landscape.


Those who are good video producers and content creators will attract a wider audience and as a result, may be able to sustain what they are doing  and expand on their initial idea. Quite a few people have made their mark and are now living comfortably thanks to the ideas they have brought to fruition and shared.

|

An Interesting Podcast

Byrichard

I listen to a lot of current affairs programs but occasionaly I enjoy listening to more light hearted podcasts. Over the past two or three days I have been listening to John Foster’s Beerschool. This is a podcast aimed at those who want to learn to appreciate more than one type of beer. He also jokes that “the best part about beerschool is of course the homework” which consists in drinking beer.

It covers the San Francisco area speaking about a variety of beers and the breweries and bars where they are served. It’s a great resource for those who may drop by that part of the world and want to experience that aspect of the culture.

Aside from this point I was recently mentioned in their podcast for a comment I wrote about the “Rockstar” program. I was quite amused by this.

|

Ijustine and Laporte have demonstrated how to use twitter

Byrichard

Karina Stenquist of Mobuzz tv is confused by the notion of twitter as anything other than a means by which to distribute brainfarts, a term used by a few people.

Do you remember Swatch and Swatch time? The idea was to create a universal timekeeping format which would be the same around the world. If something would happen at 128 then this would be a universal time and everyone would turn up.

It’s a number of years later and now twitter is on the scene. As those who spend far too much time online, such as myself, have found it is the problem of knowing at what time something is going to happen. Let’s say that there’s a radio show at 9:30 pm GMT. Everyone not on GMT has to calculate at what time this would be for them. Through twitter, there’s no need. Just tell people “I’ll twitter you when I’m on” and that’s when you know to log on and follow the program. Leo Laporte and Ijustine have already been doing this.

There’s another element of interest. When you enjoy what someone is writing you have a tendency always to check their website, seeing whether anything has updated. Most of the time it hasn’t. With twitter, the person writing may send a tweet (Twitter message) and you’ll know that there’s a new piece of writing to be read and that’s great. It means that you’re not stuck at your desk waiting for new things to appear because you’re permanently kept informed.

Some news sites are using this service but it’s too much information to process therefore it may be better simply to check these when you’re at your computer rather than via text. It’s undercutting certain mobile operators extra features but that’s another story.