I've been trying to do more long form reading online, and it kind of sucks. Anything more than a page, and it get annoying. I've tried online books, PDFs, technical specs, long form comics, and its just not comfortable.
Short stuff is fine - though even long magazine articles are taxing...
I don't think its a tech issue, per se (resolution, rendering, or the like) - I think its a device form factor thing. One of the things I always really like about the swivel/arm generation of iMac was that it entered your plane... it wasn't distant in the way most monitor configurations are.
Its also very possible that its simply an age/comfort thing - enough effort and I'll get used it. Nevertheless, I think it contributes to the cycle of ever shortening attention spans.
On the flipside, it encouraged me to get a wireless printer, which I love and use regularly to read anything more than a few pages. I think somebody will get this right at some point - PDAs/phones are too small, and computers (even laptops) are too far and too ... not right.
I got a few questions and comments about my comment that WPFE "botched" the sampling rules for bitmaps/images. I tried to explain in the comments, but its clear I wasn't clear.
So, I'll post a clearer text/mathematical explanation shortly but here's the issue, by visual example.
First a simple "linework" image:
Next, the same image if I apply a 400% scale to the canvas, as rendered by WPFE (I cropped the result to the upper left corner):
And now, the same image, with a 400% scale as produced by my (new) rasterizer - this is also the same image that Flash 8+ and OpenGL will produce:
See the problem?
I'll explain why this isn't a black and white issue, but why I think MS landed on the wrong side of it shortly, in a follow-up. The problem is covered well in the seminal computer graphics memo from Alvy Ray Smith, "A Pixel is NOT a little square..."
Alvy Ray, of course (being Alvy Ray), is not wrong in his final conclusion, but that doesn't make his point right for all applications either, and therein lies the rub... most UI designers, I'll posit, think of images as exactly little bags of rectangles...
Monday was the official US holiday in remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his contributions to the Civil Rights movement.
So in honour of that, I'd thought I'd share three quotes from, let's say, karmically connected sources - I'm not going to provide attribution. Its easy enough to find out on any search engine, but before you look it up - think about who you THINK said it; you might be surprised (OK, *I* was surprised - you might not be...)
Quote 1: "Hate the sin, not the sinner"
Why this was interesting: I've heard this forever and always, and had always assumed that it was a theologically derived philosopohy. Not so much - turns out it has a very secular origin, and the source provided much of MLK's inspiration. And I really should have known this one.
Quote 2: "Good fences make good neighbors"
Why this was interesting: Like "chuffed" or "droll" (or "absence makes the heart grow fonder..."), this phrase is often used in support of the thing that was intended as its antithesis. By that I mean, the originator meant that fences make boundaries, not neighbors, but its taken literally quite often, which is quite ironic. I think Dr. King would have agreed with the original sentiment - being a "together" guy and all.
Quote 3: "If we don't stand for something, we may fall for anything."
Why this was interesting: Its kinda of a "philosophical" gimme.... you know, like you said something important, but you didn't really say anything at all. Still makes you feel good saying it!
As I mentioned, the CES show floor was mostly uninteresting (especially with Apple stealing a lot of the thunder), but it was great to connect with everyone.
There was one thing I saw that I thought was pretty startlingly amazing, and deserved of another mention: Powercast. Its essentially (odd as this sounds) wireless power. They're expecting it to show up in consumer devices by end of calendar year, and I can only imagine how this technology evolves in the future.
The company appropriately won an "Emerging Tech" Best-in-show award from CNET- the only award I thought that didn't seem like a triumph of volume over substance.
Everything is software - the rest is just wiring.
I've mentioned the idea of the specific trumping the general for UI, and the value of general purpose computing environments for providing more specialization of application and eliminating distribution barriers (and mentioned Jeff Han's multi-touch work before).
And Apple's built something real - much sooner than I expected. Lots and lots of details to follow I'm sure, but the key innovations are:
- Ubiquituous connectivity,
- Portable form factor, and
- "Hardware as software" (most importantly multi-touch)
I think this is disruptive for reasons we don't even know yet. I'm sure many will predict failure, but they're wrong because the killer app won't be your cel phone replacement - though that'll be the excuse to buy it.
Read about Steve's Keynote here (and the iPhone here).
There's plenty of Jobs-ian hyperbole ("the first fully usable browser on a cellphone?" the Opera guys, or the Nokia S60 browser team, or the mobile Internet Explorer team might disagree - for very good reason) but its a doozy of an event and signals a significant transformation: Apple wants to become the last mile (the UI) for everything you do. Let everyone fight over the increasing commoditization of infrastructure and networks; Apple just wants the users.
That doesn't mean they're going to get them, but I do think this is a real effort... its no iWork (like that's a real replacement for Microsoft Office) or (*cough*) Zune... in fact...
...this is what the Origami should have been...
Update 1: I've been informed (by my wife) that, um, shoving a whole chicken in the garbage disposal is NOT a good idea. Go figure.
Update 2: Bwa-ha-ha - my diabolical plan (humour-by- association) appears to be working (You're welcome Carl!). We now return you to your (ir)regularly scheduled post.
What the heck do they make garbage disposals from? Those things are nigh indestructible. I shoved pretty much a whole (leftover) chicken down my sink last night, along with various other food-ish substances, and that thing just kept chugging along.
And that was just last night. I wonder if that's what all the people who used to make samurai swords are doing now...
And speaking of funny (see what I did just there?), if you're not reading Scott Adams' blog, you should. Much has been made of Bill Gates' prognistications in SciAm last month, about robots and home automation, but I thoroughly enjoyed Scott's take. He puts pretty much the same concepts into more, um, relatable territory: the bathroom.
Scott Adams, of course, is the author of Dilbert, but his blog (and especially his book, the Religion War) are to Dilbert as Office Space is to Beavis and Butthead - all they share is the author (Mike Judge in the latter case) and a skewed world view. I enjoy all four, but in very different ways.
Plus, I'm just hoping you'll think *I'm* funnier when you read Scott's blog; humour-by-association, or something.
And (ironically for this post), Scott Adams is also a (serious) proponent of the Bill-Gates-for-President movement. Its a strangely compelling argument: "For my president I want a mixture of Mother Teresa, Carl Sagan, Warren Buffet, and Darth Vader."
Indeed.
Just keep him away from my toilet...
