A bold new Vista?

Sorry - this is a bit of techy geekiness.

I’d been running Windows Vista for about the last year and to be honest, I quite liked it. Nothing major or life changing… it did what it said on the tin (CD). Now that I no longer have a shinny work laptop I’m back to XP. Here’s what I’ve realised - XP is a LOT faster and in reality the only things I missed are the flashiness and the ease of the interface in Vista (which IS important) and the application/document search facilities (on the start menu) … BUT I down loaded Windows Desktop Search for XP which does pretty much the same.

Given that I’m not the kinda person who sticks with what I know, and slags-off the new tech for not doing things in the same way the old tech did, and I’m used to… I’m not sure it’s a good sign for Vista that people like me aren’t inclined to re-install it.

 

I’m a football club owner - update

A website called http://myfootballclub.co.uk/ has sprung up over the last few months with an aim to raise enough money to buy a controlling share in an English football club. The idea is that it will be completly democratic, the team will be picked via the website, as will the actual club that they buy.

It’s £35 to have a share - Question Monkey has joined the movement. Join him. JOINNNNN HIM.

Update: We’ve just bought Ebbsfleet United     See Here

Just numbers and rows

An interesting tale (in the loosest sense) is that of Mr James Goodfellow of Paisley Scotland. In the 1960s he developed the design for the numeric keypad. The patent for the idea is owned by the company he worked for, so he is relatively poor, which is amazing given the enormity of the invention. Mr Goodfellow was an engineer in his 20s, working for Glasgow company Kelvin Hughes, when he was tasked with finding a way for customers to withdraw money from the bank after the end of Saturday opening.

Setting aside the ubiquitous ATM machines, he was the first person to layout the numbers in rows of 3 with zero at the middle bottom. Not all that obvious if you think about it. How must it feel to be sitting in a modest house in Scotland and use a mobile phone everyday knowing it was you who decided that layout. People probably don’t belive him, it’s a bit like Dr Evil’s father claiming he invented the question mark (a little reference for for regular viewers).

The nature of knowledge in the 21st century and beyond

OK, I thought of the title before I thought what it was going to be about. The idea I have in my head is the old put-down to thicko mate that goes something like hey! don’t learn anything new, there’s no room in your head and something important like how to walk might pop out the other end

It’s that … and it’s the fact that 8 year old kid can apparently instinctively pick up a Playststation remote and start playing in the 3D conceptual worlds that mystify adults or can text their chums on the mobile phone without a second thought to how the menu structure fits together.

My point (I think) that I’m driving at is … people today aren’t smarter than 10-50-1000 years ago, it’s just that we have a different kind of knowledge and about different things.

Maybe my point is that in the past knowledge about the things we use day-to-day was more fully understood by the masses. When you travel to work in a horse drawn carriage you were pretty much on top of the science that makes it happen, or when you played with a jack-in-box again even as a kid it’s not hard to fathom the mechanics, one period of physics the next day in school would suffice.

Today it would be impossible to be anywhere near on top of the technology and physics which we encounter on a daily basis, even the greatest scientists of our time won’t grasp all the physics, chemistry and micro-technology they come across by the time they get to work. This is a phenomenon which will only accelerate.

What does it mean for us? Does it actually make us more gullible to bad-science? Is this why L’Oreal tell us that their shampoo can alter the nature of our hair DNA? Do we now just accept things on anecdotal evidence (homeopathy worked for my mate, so there must be something in it)? It’s partly why I see no end to religion and superstition - if someone says they’ve had a vision from Jesus or the virgin mary appeared to them, the reaction is usually one of ‘ who am I to say it didn’t happen’.

It might just look like it to me, but are we the first generation who doesn’t really care how things work? Men of about 60 (my dad’s age) are all about taking things apart to see how they work, they assume they can self-mend things when they break. For my generation and younger the idea of trying to fix a Playstation or even a car when it breaks down seems ludicrous.

What are the implications?

You’ll gather it’s not an idea I’ve fully thought out, im just sending it out there to see if I can find any traction.

Will Facebook become the prime source of email?

 

I like Facebook, i was an enthusiastic early(ish) adopter… as i am with a lot of things. Ive started to get a bit bored with it recently which was bound to happen, but one thing ive started doing more is using it for messaging friends - as a kind of email tool. There are many benefits, the chief one being the lack of spam - you only get messages from people you know. And there aren’t too many of them who advise me to looking into the possible of enlarging my member.

I think this could turn out to be the killer Facebook app, and im ALWAYS* right.

* for ‘always’, read  hardly ever.

Dippy egg cooker

A while ago i blogged about the egg cooker I’d seen on Dragons’ Den, which i thought was great. Well, it still hasn’t come to market yet even though they have a web site… and this egg cooker is available. Sorry Mr Dragon tamer, you’re too late.

Steal music? Moi?

My name is QMonkey, and I steal music. Even though my moral compass might not point in the same direction as Gordon Brown my Presbyterian conscience does tend to twinge when I feel like I’m doing something I shouldn’t. I’m here to tell you, there isn’t so much as an itch when I download the new Editors or that song offa the Cadburys advert, and maybe that says something.

I suspect I’m not alone in this, and more importantly, I’m not sure see music downloading stopping anytime soon. I think if you stopped Mr and Mrs Joe Teenager in the street and asked them when they thought illegal downloading was going to end, you better prepare for a very short conversation.

The music industry has tried everything, first off all, extreme denial, then threatening unrealistic legal action, then belatedly trying to sell us the same MP3s which we can get for free, for about as much as we can buy it in the shops. The best idea I can remember recently was Spiral Frog, where the music was downloaded for free as long as you watched a ten second advert - at last a bit of creativity - but even this seems to have been still born.

The latest attempt is by far the most interesting, to give as much as you think its worth. Radiohead’s latest offering can be downloaded from their web site, for whatever amount of money you choose to pay. So how much do I think its worth? The short answer is of course, if you can get it legally for free, then it’s worth exactly zero pounds, but I’ll be supporting the idea. I’ve decided that I’m willing to pay £1 per album! I’m not expecting a thank-you card from Thom Yorke, but as the nun said to the vicar, it’s better than nought.

The comfort and alure of the subculture

All I’ve got so far is a title…  I’m awaiting inspiration

Premise: Most times it seems people are more comfortable being in a majority, group experiments have shown (as in, I saw it on a documentary once!) that people will say they the most ridiculous things which they know to be untrue, just because everyone else in the group says it. Other times though people seem to strive to be considered ‘different’. I think its rare that people strive to be in a minority of one, but as far as music, culture and society go the smaller the subculture the better, and when a music group or cultural totam becomes too popular and ‘mainstream’ people abandon it for this very reason (although they rarely admit it). Why?

The pool playing fools

Something I feel a little guilty about, is recanted in the following chronicle, please feel free to assess my guilt in this mater.

I took the attitude to university life, that it was something with which to alleviate my parents concerns, while I spent my life socialising, trying to ‘pull’ and most importantly trying to ‘make it’ as a rock god. To that end, the mater of actually attending lectures and passing exams was very much secondary.

I had a mate called Jeff (name changed to protect the not quite so guilty), he, like me studied Computer Science, and he, like me had more important things to do with his time than passing exams and the like. So, most days, when we both deemed it appropriate to attend at all, we would bugger off and play pool in the Students Union and drink a couple of pints as soon as the bar opened.

When it came to our final year, we both, of course failed like billyo! The thing being, I failed by marginally less that he did, thus allowing me the dream ticket of having to re-sit the year (perfect for that one more chance to tour Europe with the band and keep living the dream). Jeff, who passed and failed as many exams as I did, was booted out on his ear.

I now work in a pretty good job in the computer industry, he works in a warehouse.

Wherein lies my responsibility?

In the geekworld, but not of the geekworld

These last few days I’ve been at a conference in London. I’d love to say it was something cool like Amnesty international or a foreign policy think tank or some other worthy cause. I have to admit though, it was a software development seminar. Never in my life have a seen such a concentrated mass of geeks, it was truly scary. Mr Average was in his mid 30s, overweight, wearing a Microsoft t-shirt (some even had their names on the back in a ‘boys on tour’ style), A worrying percentage constantly wore bluetooth earpieces, lest they would get that oh so important call, and couldn’t aford the 5 seconds to set down their laptop to answer it. I spent the first few hours shaking my head and scoffing at people until I realised, hang on, I’m here too!

First up was the keynote speeches, which at 8.30 in the morning was a bit keen I felt, anyhoo I was actually looking forward to it, as one of the guys is a brilliant developer (oh no, I AM one of them). About 300 of us were in the main hall, and as each speaker was introduced the PA played some loud inappropriate rock music, to try and hype it up bit. Highly comical to see a 38 year old nerd in a suit shuffling to the podium to the sound of the ‘uupah oohah’ from Living on a prayer.

My favourite part though was a conversation I overheard at lunch time. One of the organisers came up to a guy near me and asked him if he was interested in entering ‘speaker idol’, the premise being that knowledgeable geeks would give ten minute talks about things like Windows Presentation Foundation and Silverlight (yes) and the judges would rate them. The guy said, in effect, piss off, that sounds awful. The organiser then came back with… ‘you should see the girls who are organising it, they’re stunning!’ the man retorted with ‘yes, and I’ll be there looking like a twat in front of them’

With than undeniable truth ringing in his ears, the man left

The idea that got away

As I said in an earlier post, I’m a frustrated inventor, I’ve had some poor ideas like ‘The Snorkel Float’ (don’t ask) but one good  idea I did come up with, in 2000 was DigitalDevelop.com. I even registered the web address and had a prototype web site. Digital cameras were becoming more and more used, I figured that it was inevitable that film cameras would die out as digital cameras came down in price and up in quality, but that people still wanted hardcopy prints (hardly rocket science).

My mate, SO, and I looked into what it would cost to get a pro quality printer, and to set it up so people emailed or sent CDs of their photos to us and we quickly posted the prints back to them.

The price was prohibitive, but if Dragon’s Den had been around we could have got, say, £25,000 and given away 30% equity … given the amount of companies making a good living from doing this nowadays, well… I coulda been a contender!!!!!

This is the logo and bumf we mocked up!  

My thoughts Eggxactly

I love BBC’s Dragon’s Den , im a frustrated inventor myself… not that I’ve ever invented anything … but i always have ‘ideas’ that i believe, for a day or two are going to make my fortune. By the law of averages im bound to hit a home run soon.

I think the my favorite invention on DD was the non-water egg cooker, Eggxactly, call me a lazy git, but i like eggs, but i can’t be assed with the process - just like if there wasn’t such a thing as a toaster i probably wouldn’t bother to make toast under the grill.

On the program, his invention didn’t work at all, it was comically cringy - but he ended up getting investment anyway, because all the dragons, and everyone at home wanted it to work. Low and behold, I’ve just found his web site - so if anyone wants to buy me a birthday present…..

I’m driving to France, JUST so i can use SatNav!

A few months ago, i convinced myself i needed Satellite Navigation for my car, it should be noted that i get the bus to work, i have my food-shop delivered, and it’s very rare i drive anywhere i haven’t been 20 times before!

 I’m sure you’ll agree that it was a wise purchase. I do, though, love it    i use it to find my way

to the local newsagents or to sus out the 100% optimal route to the pub - i don’t quite know how i ever got anywhere without that nice lady telling me    in 60 yards, turn right at the traffic lights, then    you have reached your destination.

A wonderful thing is about to happen though, in a few weeks time im going to France for a holiday and taking the car! I’m refusing all attempts to get me to look up the destination on a map, i cover my ears and say    shhhhh  its ok, sat nav will find it for us!!! For the first time ever im actually going to use it to go somewhere i’ve never been. In the last year, ive got married, become a dad, constructed decking in my back garden…  but i suspect this  might be my proudest moment. 

NB. i may need some therapy

New Gadget - to give or to keep?

I’ve bought a new gadget… well actually for my dad. He’s impressively into new things and decided he wanted an MP3 player for his birthday (even though he doesn’t listen to music much). He is going to Australia next month, so will maybe get some use out of it listening to audio books or some Van the man and Sinatra.

Thing is… I don’t want to give it to him I want to keep it. It’s a Samsung YP-K5. very slinky, nice interface and with its own little slide out speaker. The whole thing is no bigger than a mobile phone – and as I say – I want it.