The Future: Compromised Browsing

In Adobe's words, per the product description in the Android Market:

Bring the FULL web to your device with Flash Player- videos, games, apps & more

Flash Player enables a complete web browsing experience by enabling access to your favorite interactive content. Flash Player on your device gives you:
• The freedom to access the same rich web content you experience on a desktop PC from your mobile device - anywhere, anytime;
• Uncompromised browsing without ‘empty boxes’ on web pages.

To view some examples of how Flash Player enables you to see your favorite interactive content on your device, please visit m.flash.com on your device browser.

So much for that.

On Public Transport

9th on the list of "best cities to live car free" is beautiful Los Angeles. I quote: "Due to its extensive public transit system the area has avoided a complete automobile-based culture."

Suppose, for a moment, that you want to take a MetroLink train from Los Angeles to Irvine. Essentially, there is one train an hour. This is important, because trains are routinely 30+ minutes late. If you're departing in the morning, you better not miss the 8:00am train because the next one isn't until 12:45pm. If you're departing in the evening, you better not miss the 6:30pm train because the next one isn't until... The following morning. And once you get off the train, good luck getting to wherever it is that you actually need to go, because everything is miles apart.

As an example, let's say you lived in Fountain Valley, and were in downtown Los Angeles for the day. Things didn't go as scheduled, and it's 9:15pm. You search on Google Maps to see what you can take to get home. If you drove in your own car, it would take 45 minutes. Instead, this is what Google tells you: 6 hours, 32 minutes. You can't take a taxi, because that comes out to $130.

Your options at this point are as follows:
A. Go for the trek. You'd have to be very brave to wander around public transit for 7 hours at night in Los Angeles.
B. Stay at a hotel for the night, and go home in the morning.
C. Take public transport to LAX, and then hop on an airport shuttle. This isn't cheap either, and it takes close to 2 hours to get from downtown Los Angeles to the airport on public transport. Google Maps suggests that if you drive, it will only take 23 minutes. You can't take a taxi because that's $67 and if you combine that with the airport shuttle fare, you might as well take the taxi all the way home.
D. Hitchhike.

Orange County has many people living in it, and Fountain Valley is not a small city. Neither is it far from a major interstate. The driving distance is about 38 miles, which is not unreasonable. It's about the same distance as Seattle to Tacoma or Dallas to Fort Worth. Public transport just isn't a realistically feasible option in Los Angeles.

Sounding Off

Stuff like this is why I dislike Apple. As if their litigious spree on Android handset manufacturers wasn't enough ("Your device is rectangular? We invented the rectangle so you'll have to pay up."), now they're going after a family-run café.

I'm surprised I haven't been served a court injunction for looking like a human, a design Apple trademarked with their "Steve Jobs" product line.

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Okay, next up is this idiocy about supposedly "racist" Halloween costumes. The idea is, if you're a white person, you're not allowed to dress up as a black basketball player. Better not dress up as a mummy either, because that's probably going to be considered insensitive to the Egyptians. 

The very notion that these people are implying that dressing up as someone or something from outside one's own ethnicity is insulting in itself. It suggests that dressing up as a ninja is somehow different from dressing up as a cowboy. Ever hear of anyone putting up a fuss because an Asian person dressing up as a cowboy is promoting a culturally insensitive stereotype?

As a Japanese person, I don't care if some non-Japanese person decides to dress up as a geisha, ninja, sumo wrestler, or anime character. 

Think about it. If you say, "I bet Italians would find your Super Mario costume offensive" when in fact Italians don't feel that way at all, doesn't that imply that you're the one that is holding some sort of prejudiced view?

Well, at least we got a new meme out of this mess.

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Next: PETA filing a frivolous lawsuit against Sea World as a publicity stunt. This is time, energy, and money that could be doing something productive, but instead we have to deal with this inane nonsense. They could spend their money feeding the hungry in Africa, but instead they have chosen to do this. Members of the judicial system will spend many hours of their time on the case when surely they have better things to do.

Imagine if PETA got its way here. You can say goodbye to your pet dog and cat, that's for sure. Everyone would have to let them free, and they'd all have nowhere to go and nothing to eat. How's that for ethical treatment of animals?

I love animals just as much as the next person, but the world would unquestionably be a better place without PETA.

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Occupy [place]. I don't even know where to start with this one, so I'm just going to post this.

Oh, and this too.

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In conclusion... I've had a rough couple of days. I can't say things are going terribly well at the moment.

On Cell Phone Service

The first result is from my home in southern Orange County, CA. Orange County has a population of just over 3 million.
The second result is from somewhere around here in Inyo County, CA. Inyo County has a population of 18,546. If Inyo County were a city in Orange County, it would be ranked fifth from the bottom in terms of population. Inyo County is pretty huge: it is the second largest county in California and the tenth largest in the US. This makes the population density especially low, at 1.8 people/square mile.

Now, I'm not saying it's a bad thing that I get good data reception even in the remotest of places. My issue is with the fact that I get almost no reception at home, in a fairly populated area. It's not just data, the problem is with voice as well. Get with it, Verizon.

Heap Of Rust

Redefining the phrase "rust bucket" is this 1967 Jaguar E-Type.

The whole car appears to be held together by some straps. It doesn't even have a floor, which means it's worse than a rust bucket. I mean, a bottomless bucket is pretty useless. 

And they want $18,950 for this? Run. Run like hell.

Appalling

Uh, not acceptable. Seriously?

This kind of shit is exactly why some Japanese people hold a bit of resentment toward Koreans. I don't meant to generalize an entire nation based on the action of a few, but you can bet if a Japanese person similarly insulted Koreans, there would be massive protests in front of the embassy in Seoul.

State Propaganda

Russia

North Korea

Looking Blue

 Oh hello.

You look a bit different than before.

Facebook Being Facebook

 

How to tell your development team has fucked up again. I'm not going to risk updating given all the recent 1-star reviews saying the app basically does nothing other than display a blank white screen.

Google Plus is so much more capable and is full of possibilities but has been let down by Google's reluctance to actually market it. A shame, since it has the potential to turn Facebook into the next MySpace.

Who Hires These People?

And now, from Business Insider, an example of statistics abuse. There are so many things wrong with this that I don't even know where to start.

Sample size: 216, all from Minneapolis
Sample does not reflect market: 36 Android users (17%)? A 17% share is about 1/3 of what Android actually has in the market. 61 Blackberry users (28%) is just laughable.
The number of Androids actually holds constant in the question "which phone will you buy next?" which seems to imply that apart from the 47% (17 users) that stick with Android, the other 19 will be almost entirely replaced by Blackberry users. Because you know, that makes a whole lot of sense.

In fact I don't even know why they're trolling Android in the first place. If we ignore for a moment that the statistics are completely useless and try to gain some sort of meaningful conclusion from this, it should be "Blackberry owners ready to ditch their phones." It makes no sense that they should be focusing on Android here if it only constitutes 17% of the market. The "analyst" is well aware that this is not the case, and that's why he is focusing on the Android users. If he felt Android was not any more relevant than the 17% would suggest, he wouldn't have mentioned it at all, like Windows.

I can draw a conclusion just as meaningful from the comments on the article: based on a survey of 100 commenters on that article, 100% of the world thinks the writer and "analyst" are completely inane.

Look carefully and you will find similar examples in the media in just about any field.

Two Years (ish) On

Almost two years ago, I started this blog because I was bored at work and had nothing to do. These days, I have zero time at work.

This used to be a place for memos and complaints. I suppose two years down the line and with no readers to speak of, I suppose it still is. I don't post as much and I don't complain as much, but I'm not entirely sure if that's because I don't have anything to complain about, or if it's because I'm complaining elsewhere. I suspect it's the latter.

Around the same time I started this blog, I bought a 1978 Datsun 280Z for pennies. I expected to spend three or four months and maybe $2,000 on it and get it up to driving condition. 23 months and like $6,000 later, all the mechanical issues (for now) are sorted out--well, to be honest a few remain but I can't be bothered--and all that awaits is registration and new paint. That'll be another $1,000.

Here is what I learned:
-How a car actually works. Everyone should try mending a mostly mechanical car; it's very interesting stuff. The electronic niggles are aggravating as hell.
-Don't bother with restoration. For $6,000 I could have bought one in good condition, taken a class on automotive engineering, and not inhaled as much gasoline fumes.

In conclusion, it was probably good that I tried this, but I'm not doing it again. I suppose the same could be said about blogs in general as well. This one will stay as a memo, but it's not like anyone is interested in reading this drivel.

Talbot Logan Chardonnay

Talbot Logan Chardonnay, 2008, Santa Lucia Highlands, CA

Apple, honey aromas. Crisp and very refreshing.

8/10

Vigilance Petit Sirah

Vigilance Petit Sirah, 2009, Red Hills, Lake County, CA

Spciy, earthy, very dark color. Dry but not overly harsh.
Softens nicely as it aerates. Should age well.

7/10

Conn Creek Cabernet Sauvignon

Conn Creek Cabernet Sauvignon, 2006, Napa Valley, CA

Pretty strong cocoa on the nose. Light acidic bite on the way down but otherwise without many defining characteristics.

4/10

Gloria Ferrer Pinot Noir

Gloria Ferrer Pinot Noir, 2006, Carneros, CA

Rusty burgundy in color (appropriately so, it's a Pinot Noir after all) but color is not very deep. Cherry and oak on the nose, light mouthfeel, lingering sweetness after the initial bite of the acidity. Not much along the lines of tannins. A lighter overall than I like. Good, but not great.

6/10

Bold Statements

Online dating is stupid. You should try online dating instead.

Sterling Cabernet Sauvignon

Sterling Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon, 2007, Napa Valley, CA

 Rich berry flavor but without being too sweet, and a hint of forestry. Soft mouthfeel, and went along very well with the intense flavors of the meat at a Brazilian steakhouse.

8/10

The Forefront of Innovation

iOS 5 is going to have pull-down notifications and OTA upgrades? Looks like Apple is finally catching up to Android 1.0. Welcome to 2008!

Furthermore, they've invented this amazing thing called iMessage which allows people to... Talk to each other over the internet. Naturally, the whole world is fanatically excited over this groundbreaking technology. I think it should be known as "instant messaging."

What, no Flash?

Bridlewood Viognier

Bridlewood Reserve Viognier, 2008, Central Coast, CA

Smooth, floral, hint of melon? Light acidity on the finish. Very easy to drink. Viognier is one of my favorite grapes.

8/10

Imagine If You Had Three Waists And A Fourth One Below Your Knees

I'm sorry, but who is responsible for this mess?

Eberle VS Cabernet Sauvignon

Eberle Vineyard Selection Cabernet Sauvignon, 2008, Paso Robles, CA

Complex, dry, rich in berries. Moderate tannins and a slightly acidic kick on the finish, followed by a dissipating sweetness. Quite excellent.

9/10

I Didn't Want To Subscribe To MacWorld

Never in the history of mankind have we witnessed such extraordinary levels of cock-sucking as seen here from Fortune Tech Apple. Except maybe Fox News.

Don't believe me? See for yourself: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/

Guigal

E. Guigal, 2007, Côtes du Rhône (red), France

Soft tannins, fairly light in acidity. Aftertaste doesn't linger around much. Doesn't pack a whole lot of punch but is very smooth and easy to drink. Also a great value at around $12 a bottle.
50% Syrah, 40% Grenache, 10% Mourvedre.

8/10

Would Rather

I would rather trade all my Canon gear for Nikon gear than own another Apple product. I hate my iPod Touch so much.

Rosenblum Zinfandel

Rosenblum Zinfandel, 2007, Paso Robles, CA.

Dark, juicy, fruity. Typical big, bold Zinfandel. I don't eat many berries so I can't say for sure, but blackberries and raspberries?
A bit of tannin on the finish but not a whole lot. Very little acidity and sort of sweet. I prefer a little more dryness.

6/10

Hoarder

Not Cool.

Firefox 4 is somewhat better than 3.6, but they still haven't fixed how it completely fails to release memory.

Big Kahuna

Fresh and Easy Big Kahuna Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz, no vintage, "Southeast" Australia.

Purchased at local Fresh and Easy for $1.99... For the price I prefer Trader Joe's Charles Shaw Cabernet. The Big Kahuna is rather fruity, too fruity actually. More like strawberry/grape juice than wine, to be honest. Not to my tastes.

2/10

Bila-Haut

Michel Chapoutier Domaine de Bila-Haut, 2008, Côtes de Roussillon Villages, France

Lots of tannin, matches well with spicy foods (tried this with tortilla chips and hot salsa).

7/10

Oops

I obviously did NOT mean to play REPLETE without crossing over a DW square.

However, it turns out my opponent is not so bright either:

In related news, how do I know the Words for Friend app for Android is terrible? It's easier to play by tethering my iPod to my Droid.

Cars That Will Make You Look Uncool

This article is so terrible it hurts.

Cars that some woman at Forbes thinks will make you look cool, but in reality will not.

What they should have said is "cars that are flashy and expensive that will make you look like you're trying way too hard" or "cars that will make you look cool in the eyes of an 8-year-old boy."

Maps? On My Computer??

Never heard of Google Maps, MapQuest, or even Bing Maps? Don't worry! Microsoft can help.

Lazy Porting

Zynga recently introduced Words with Friends for the Android platform.

In summary, it is terrible.

First off, the notifications don't work. Not that they work particularly well on the iPhone, but at least they show up from time to time, even if they are seven hours late. On Android they simply do not show up, regardless of how you set the interval (on iOS there is no setting for notification interval because it's supposed to be a "push" notification. It isn't).

Also, it randomly "loses" games. One of my games shows as a red circle with a diagonal line through it and it says I lost. I continued playing the game on my iPod after this happened, and ended up winning, but it still shows up in Android as a lost game.

Third, the screen is mostly unresponsive. Wait, that's true on iOS too.

The game is pretty much a mirror port from iOS. All the interface design elements are a carbon copy, and I hate when developers do that. The chat interface, for instance, looks exactly like the iOS SMS interface, with green and grey speech bubbles.

This leads me to the screenshot above. The ad has crashed and I'm unable to play, but if you look closely at the URL you will see evidence of just how lazy they've been in porting this game to Android.

Pathetic.

Android has pretty much surpassed iOS in terms of new activations at this point, and the gap is only going to continue to get wider. I eagerly await the day when developers finally realize it makes more sense to develop for Android first, and then give iPhone users the lazy port.

Rebel

Boldly going where no man has gone before.

Language Detection

Does your site pretend to be user-friendly by detecting the language setting in the operating system and automatically displaying the site in whatever language the user is running?

If so: STOP IT.

It's annoying and I hate having to search around to switch to English. Also, the Japanese is always slightly awkward.

I'm looking at you, Google and Foursquare.

Does your site pretend to be user-friendly by detecting the language setting in the operating system and automatically running the entire content through Google Translate?

If so: get off the internet. It's completely pointless.

Twatter

Twitter just suspended the client I use (Twidroyd) and sent me a notification suggesting I go download the official Twitter client and use that instead. I guess that's one fewer reason to use Twitter.

I used to think Twitter was pretty pointless, but having used it for a few months, I think I am more qualified to offer a question based on experience.

Twitter is pretty pointless.

At least, it is for the individual user. I can see how it would be useful for corporations or famous people that actually have some sort of following. In short, any entity that needs to worry about public relations. The unilateral "follow" system on Twitter is useful for these people/groups because they don't have to follow back when someone follows them. The Facebook "Pages" system works on the same principle but just doesn't work quite as well.

The idea of <140 characters seems like one is much more likely to get a response to an inquiry or comment on Twitter than it is through Facebook pages, and especially so if it's a complaint. To the user, it's also much easier to fire off a quick complaint tweet instead of a structured e-mail. It also helps that the interaction becomes public, as corporations feel more pressure to rectify the situation and maintain a positive image.

But for the average individual? Having a regular Facebook account makes more sense. If you don't want to connect with someone, you don't have to accept them as a "friend." The only thing you can do on Twitter is make all your tweets private. It's much easier to manage comments to something you've posted; the threaded view allows easy interaction between more than two people, instead of the back-and-forth conversation that crowds up the Twitter feed when two of your friends engage in a heated discussion. Should your Twitter feed become engulfed in a conversation between @PersonA and @PersonB, you really need to tweet "@PersonA @PersonB THIS IS NOT THE APPROPRIATE WAY TO USE TWITTER"

And then there are the people that link Twitter and Facebook to pots the same thing on both. They are hopeless.

The Market

The Android platform is gradually maturing and mounting a serious challenge on Apple's iOS. One recent change is the browser-based Market interface, which makes it a bit easier to express some gripes about mobile application developers search for and manage applications.

I currently have 11 apps which have updates available that I am not updating for various reasons.

Some are on hold because the developer was being a twit and decided to "update" the app by adding ads to an application that previously did not have any. Maybe I'll update when you've included a useful new feature as well.

Others are on hold because the comments section is littered with people complaining that the app no longer works properly. Granted, unhappy people are more likely to post comments, but when almost every comment is suggesting the app took a turn for the worse, I'm going to wait and see.

An example:

 

I'm also wary of applications that make preposterous permission requests. What Android needs is a mechanism for enabling and disabling permissions for each application. I'm not one of those paranoid people that are like, "You don't need access to my contacts, you stalker!" But really, does a dictionary really need my fine GPS location? At the very least they ought to explain why each permission is necessary. The GPS is most likely for advertising, but even then it should be okay with coarse location. If anything it's an unnecessary drain on my battery.

 

UB

 

Union Bank of California and the University of Bedfordshire have remarkably similar logos. Incidentally, they're both "UB" although I'm fairly certain neither is referred to as such.

No, I Actually Meant To Do That

Seriously?

Out and About

I went to San Francisco AND New York last week. Both were excellent, and this only made me realize how awful Los Angeles is.

Apart from the In-N-Out by the airport.

Country of Residence

Dear Department of Homeland Security,

I think you're allowed to put the USA at the top of your pull-down menu.

On Airports

The airports I've been through in the past 14 months or so, in the order from best to worst:

Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP): Beautiful and clean, with great food. I could live here if I needed to. Also, despite all the TSA bickering that has been going on, I made it through security in under a minute as I was lucky and there was no one in line. I'm not telling you which security checkpoint I used.

Denver (DIA): Also clean and very big; surprisingly comfortable as long as you're in the gate area. However, when I was stranded here overnight due to a delayed flight, I got on the tram to go to the 24-hour Burger King (the only 24-hour venue as far as I'm aware), I was deposited outside the security area in a cold, desolate place with no seat cushions and loud announcements every 15 minutes saying the DHS alert level is orange. There was no going back because it was late and the security check was closed. Also, the food here is terrible, which comes as a bit of a surprise from the city that has given us Chipotle and Quizno's.

John Wayne (SNA): Nothing to write home about; fairly small but clean and better than any of the other airports in the LA-OC area. Also the closest to my house, but expensive to fly out from here. And apparently pilots hate it because they have to do a really steep takeoff due to rich people in Newport Beach that complain about noise.

Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX): Huge, gate area looks dated, power outlets only seem to be available on the floor in the middle of paths. I was here on a US Airways layover (this is one of their major hubs) and I had to run from one wing to another to catch a connection. Consolidate your flights plz.

Rapid City (RAP): Tiny municipal airport. No one in line at security, because there is no one in South Dakota. Clearly they are not too concerned about terrorism, as a detailed floor plan can be found on their website (including the direction in which the doors in the building open). Rudimentary cafe is pretty much the only food option. Nothing to complain about because nothing was expected.

Salt Lake City (SLC): Surprisingly tiny, but the loop that encompasses the parking lots is enormous. Inside, it's just some airport. No distinguishing features, really.

Los Angeles (LAX): Straight out of the 1970s. I hate this place.

Dulles (IAD): Out in the boondocks. I should not have to take a bus and then connect to a train to get to downtown Washington, DC. Narita Airport in Japan is similarly in a remote location, but at least they have fast, comfortable trains to take me to the city. Hotels in the DC area only have shuttles to Reagan National, but flying in and out of Reagan is expensive.

Ontario (ONT): I walked across the entire gate area and was only able to find one power outlet. Comfort level is similar to LAX but at least LAX has outlets.

On a side note, people, please don't bring foods on board if they're going to emit a strong smell, and please board the plane when your boarding number is called, so the rest of us in the later zones can board quickly...