Watching the US VP debates?

I don't understand why some of my fellow Canadians chose to watch the US Vice Presidential debate on Thursday night. Not that the US election is not important for Canadians, although we have no real means to influence the result, it is.

The problem is, though, that this debate took place at the same time as something much more important for Canadians - the first and only English language debate for our federal election.

iPhone mania

Let me first say that I am not one of the black turtleneck and blue jeans wearing Apple fanatics that has drank the Apple Kool-Aid. But I am seriously considering getting an iPhone, at least.. if my (potentially too good to be true) understanding of the new data plan is correct.

If my interpretation is correct, the data plan that Rogers introduced after the (completely justified) ripoff rates they originally announced is actually quite worthwhile. It gives you 6GB of data for $30.. and that can be added on to any voice plan.

My current plan is as follows:
$18 - voice (200 minutes, billed by second after 1 minute, unlimited weekends, voice mail, call display)
$6.95 - BS "system access fee"
$0.50 - 911 fee (why do we pay tax on this? Is this not a government collected fee?)

which with the $30 data plan would come to $62.66 / month... which I think would be reasonable...

Now, why would I want one of these devices? Web browsing on the go. I carry my laptop with me most of the time.. but unless I happen to be in range of an open wifi access point (more often than not.. I'm not.), I have no internet connectivity. Not good when I want to look up movie times, or the hockey score.. etc. Now, my understanding (unfortunately.. this may be from the Kool-aid drinking, turtleneck wearing Apple zealots..) provides the best mobile internet experience. So, really that feature alone is worth the price of admission.

The GPS functionality also seems neat.. but has not been properly (by my definition - with turn by turn instructions as with a dedicated unit) implemented yet.

The biggest downside, IMO, is the iPod functionality. To my understanding (probably not from the zealots), you cannot simply copy music to your iPhone using Windows explorer (you *must* go through iTunes to do that).. nor can you copy music *off of* your iPhone.. at all. Greatly disappointing. Further, I can't begin to understand why the iPhone would not support bluetooth headphones (using the A2DP bluetooth profile). I dislike unnecessary cords.. so this (glaringly obvious!) missing feature is unappealing.

That said, however, I think it's worthwhile. Especially if the $30 plan comes with unlimited access to Rogers wifi access points.. and *Especially* if I could use said WAPs with my laptop (that one's probably really too good to be true..).

Guess I'll need to make a trip to the Apple store (to try it out - I'd expect they'd have better trained employees. Wait.. do they even *have* demo units at Apple stores up here?), and a Rogers store to check if their plan really does contain what I hope it does..

Some people deserve to die..

And this guy's one of them.
Ref: Puppy put down after beating


I think he needs to be "trained" (by his own methods, no less) that he is a disgusting, vile, sorry excuse for a human being.. and what he did is not, in any way, ever justified.

Our laws are notoriously weak when dealing with animal abuse, but I hope this monster gets the maximum sentence, and then is promptly deported.

Time to try Linux again?

In just over a week, a new version of Ubuntu Linux will be released.. and this seems to be as good a time as any to try to dabble once again with Linux on my desktop computer (the other attempts - some more half-assed than others - I've made.. didn't really turn out so well).

I've been hearing good things about Ubuntu - from not taking a zealotical stance on the use of proprietary drivers (I frankly don't care if something is open source.. if I have no need, desire, or inclination to modify the source code.. ever. I just want my shit to work!)

The fact that it can (apparently) read and write from NTFS drives is a much needed feature (what good is a computer that can't access data?) that was notably absent when I used Linux in the past..

Anyway, I doubt Linux will (ever?) replace Windows for me.. despite some reservations of Windows Vista (I don't hate it like some do - but it definitely has its flaws..), it does pretty much everything I could want it to do - and since I already have licenses for XP and Vista (unfortunately, only Home Premium.. sigh.. lousy crippleware!) one of the biggest advantages to Linux (the cost) really doesn't apply.

If I had a dime for every time..

Why does it seem like each and EVERY DAY I board the Steeles East express bus from Finch station, the same thing happens:
1) The driver calls out "This is an express bus. The first stop will be Bayview and Steeles"
2) (bus leaves)
3) Somewhere along Yonge street.. Someone presses the "request stop" button.
4) (Half the time) the driver makes an inpromptu stop to let the person off the bus

Aaarg. Is this such a difficult concept? Are people really that stupid? What part of "there will be NO STOPS ON YONGE STREET" do people not understand? Geez.. if I had a dime for every time that happened...
...
It'd pay for the outrageous fare hike David "I'm taking my ball and going home" Miller and his cronies are imposing on us next month.

Well.. for those who are still confused, I've drawn a diagram for you:

I'm back

Well, not that I really left. But I just haven't been blogging in.. well, it's been over a year now. Geez. Time flies.

Nothing particularily interesting to write about this time around.. but you can be sure my next blog entry will come much sooner. Of course, that's not saying much..

Vista beta time

Since Microsoft has been so kind as to open their beta of Windows Vista up to the general public, I figured I'd give it a spin (head over to www.windowsvista.com if you're interested). Figured I'd give a few comments as a first impression..

Installation:
I didn't want to hose my current setup, in case something goes wrong (gasp) with beta software.. so I pulled out an old 30GB 5400 RPM drive I had sitting around. Quick hack job to get it installed (it's not in the case securely by any means - I just unplugged the boot XP drive and plugged the cables into this drive.. ), and I was ready to go. Install took quite a while, but was smooth. Only odd thing was they asked me to select regional settings twice during the install (can't they remember?).

Requirements:
When Microsoft recommends a minimum of 15GB for a Vista install.. they're not kidding. The Windows folder alone weighs in at a whopping 11.1GB - and with all of the other files, we're almost up to 12GB from the get go. Significantly larger than Windows XP!

And 1GB of RAM is really the minimum - with only the web browser open, I'm using 982MB! That doesn't leave much room for open programs before you get into swapping - which I think I experienced earlier, leading to a very sluggish system (remember the 5400 RPM drive?)

GUI:
The new Aero Glass effects are quite nice - I especially like the windows-tab that shuffles through the open windows in a graphical way. And the mouseover previews on the task bar are a nice addition as well. Windows Explorer has been upgraded - and I find it easier to navigate through folders. The start menu gets a makeover, and looks a lot better as a result. No more chasing a menu opening over the entire screen.

In short, the GUI is the most noticable change to Windows. I like the new eye-candy.. but is Vista all flash and no substance? We'll see..

IE7:
Internet Explorer 7 (also available for Windows XP - although it didn't install correctly on my machine, and I didn't bother troubleshooting it) is a definite improvement over IE6 - but after playing with it for a while, I've switched back to Firefox. The reason? The same one that sold me on Firefox initally - image (and hence ad) blocking. Grab the adblock and the filterset.g extensions, and you're in for a nice, clean browsing experience. Microsoft does not supply this with IE7, and that's unfortunate.

However, the much ballyhooed complaint by Google over Microsoft's choice of MSN Search as default is overblown, and completely a non-issue. It takes four clicks, count 'em, four.. to switch to Google (or any other provider) - which is, incidentally, the same number of clicks it takes in Firefox to select MSN Search (not that I'd want to..). No problem from where I stand..

Media center:
Finally! I get a chance to play with Windows Media Center, without having to purchase a specially made PC (Windows: Media Center edition isn't sold seperately..).. right? Right? This is Vista Ultimate, isn't it? Well, unfortunately, it's not that easy. Vista doesn't recognize my All In Wonder card as being a TV tuner.. and ATI doesn't have AIW drivers for Vista yet (and the XP ones don't work at all). Boo. The jury's still out on this one..

XPS:
This is the new format that MS hopes will take over PDF. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work very well (I was *about* to say at all - but lo and behold - the document finally loaded for me!). First off, for some reason, the default "XPS viewer" application goes to Firefox, which doesn't know how to handle it. IE churned for a long time (to be fair, the Windows Vista Product Guide is a rather large document.. but at 299 pages, isn't that big), leading me to think it had hung, before working.

Nothing much to say on this front, it works.. but I don't see any advantage over PDF right now (at least, for viewing files.. )

Sidebar:
The new widgets are a neat addition. Haven't had the chance to play around with them much to see if they're anything more than a novelty (is there a way to show the sidebar without going to the desktop?)

User Account Control:
Microsoft is committed to security with Vista, and that's a good thing. But there's a fine line between warning users of potentially unsafe actions, and crying wolf. Vista crosses that line. There are far too many warning messages, most of which only really contain common sense information. What's worse, some of the prompts seem to interrupt video/audio playback. This area needs some work before the final version.

Problems:
A few other problems I've come across:
- Context menus don't always show up as they're supposed to. Sometimes, the context menu items are blank or grayed out, but they still have the desired effect, if you know where to click..
- Taskbar previews sometimes show blank windows instead of the contents.
- My microphone doesn't work.

and by far the most serious:
Installing Daemon tools screwed up a file on my system, requiring (maybe there was a better way?) me to use System recovery.. which wiped out all of the applications I had installed. Luckily, at that point it was only Office, Acrobat Reader, and Firefox, but still.. I wonder whether this is a Vista problem or a Daemon tools problem..

So that's my first impression. Is Vista going to be worth buying? It depends on how much Microsoft will charge. As it is, the only real improvement I've seen has been to the GUI, and that won't sell me on Vista alone..

Goodbye university, hello unemployment!

Well, it's been a long time since I've made a posting, perhaps leading some to believe that this blog had come under control of Stephen Harper's Conservatives. But, alas, there is a much simpler explanation that does not involve our new overlords of "message discipline" (aka. censorship, totalitarianism..) - I've been too busy.

Yes, over the past month or so I've been in a sort of self-imposed exile, emerging only to head down to U of T to write exams (and to go bowling on Thursday nights :->. But I studied while I was there. Honest.) . And now that I've finished writing my last exam, relieving and liberating as that may be, I must face the new reality. I am no longer a University student. And not being a student, and not having a job, I am unemployed. For the first time since high school (not that I wanted a job back then..) I am officially unemployed.

And so the job search begins..