google-reader-imported

Steep.it Times Your Tea Brewing for Perfect Flavor [Tea]

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010 | google-reader-imported | No Comments


Click here to read Steep.it Times Your Tea Brewing for Perfect Flavor

Steep.it is a great looking web-based timer for timing tea brew time—though it could easily be used for French press coffee or any other steeped drink. More »




Tea - Food - Beverages - Shopping - Drink

Five Ways to Make Productive Use of Foursquare (and Not Be Annoying) [Location]

Friday, April 30th, 2010 | google-reader-imported | No Comments


Click here to read Five Ways to Make Productive Use of Foursquare (and Not Be Annoying)

It’s fashionable to bash on Foursquare, the location-based, social, game-like service that clutters social networks and seems like pure self-indulgence. It’s a lot more useful than most give it credit for, if you dig in and make smart use of it. More »


The Beginner’s 10-Minute Guide to Setting Up Ubuntu [Setup]

Friday, April 30th, 2010 | google-reader-imported | No Comments


Click here to read The Beginner's 10-Minute Guide to Setting Up Ubuntu

Over at ITWorld, I wrote up a 10-minute Ubuntu setup guide that walks through three key areas: installing all the proprietary tools you’re used to having, including MP3, AVI, Flash, and Microsoft-standard fonts; enabling DVD reading and playback; and setting up Ubuntu Tweak, which gives Linux newcomers an easy solution to installing third-party apps and tweaking their setup to be just perfect. There’s a lot more to discover in Ubuntu, and hopefully those basics give you more time to find it all. [ITWorld] More »


UnknownDevices Recognizes Your Hardware When Device Manager Can’t [Downloads]

Friday, April 30th, 2010 | google-reader-imported | No Comments


Click here to read UnknownDevices Recognizes Your Hardware When Device Manager Can't

Windows: When Windows’ Device Manager just can’t seem to give you information about a piece of hardware, free, open-source utility UnknownDevices will point you in the right direction, allowing you to find the necessary drivers to get it up and running. More »


I'm Definitely Not Dead

Friday, April 23rd, 2010 | google-reader-imported | No Comments

I woke up really early on Wednesday morning for no reason.  In retrospect, I can see it was probably my body's way of telling me that I might die later that day, so I better get the hell up and start enjoying the shit out of life.

My life that morning was not particularly enjoyable.  I felt like my internal organs had been punched by someone who is really enthusiastic about punching and therefore punches a lot.  In fact, they love punching so much that when they finished punching my internal organs, they moved on to punching my skin and all my muscles and also my eyes.

I don’t own an accurate thermometer, but I once calibrated the thermometer I own using an accurate thermometer.

The thermometer read 102.3, so by my calculations, I was running a fever of about 103.5.  I took a couple aspirin and tried to get some work done.  That's when I wrote/illustrated this post.  I may have also responded to a few emails.  If you got an email from me last Wednesday that didn't make a lot of sense, I apologize.  I wasn't drunk.  I was just very ill.  
I eventually gave up on trying to be responsible and just sat on the couch staring off into space really intensely. 
That evening, my friend called to ask me if I'd like to meet her and another friend for drinks.  I didn't feel much like drinking, but I was feeling a little better and I'm almost tragically impulsive, so I was like "heck yeah I'll meet you guys for drinks!" Then I staggered into the bathroom to try and clean myself up enough to go out in public.  
At the bar, I ordered tea because I was really, really cold and even though I'm impulsive and irresponsible, I know enough not to complicate illnesses with alcohol.  The bartender looked at me like I was the first person ever to order raspberry tea in a bar.  

I was able to enjoy my tea for approximately five minutes before I started to feel emergency-nauseous and had to run to the bathroom. The next little bit is kind of a blur for me. I know that I passed out in the bathroom. I don’t know how long I was out, but my first thought upon waking was “OH MY GOD I HAVE A BRAIN TUMOR!!!!!! I KNEW IT!!!”

I knew I should probably go to the hospital, but I'm still too poor for insurance, so I tried to convince myself that I was okay and I should just crawl home and sleep it off.  I tried to stand up, but I ended up head-butting the wall and crumpling to the floor again.  I lay there on the ground staring at some graffiti that just said "poop poop poop poop poop."  I started wondering whether that would be the last thing I ever saw.  It was a depressing thought for a few reasons.  
After several more unsuccessful attempts at getting to my feet, I finally made it.  I used this as an excuse to not go to the hospital.  "Hey, look at me!" I thought.  "I'm doing great!  
I staggered out of the bathroom and toward my friends.  I remember my limbs making all sorts of spastic movements as I tried to glide along and look like nothing was wrong.  I ran into the wall and ricocheted off into the other wall.   It felt like I was competing against my need to go to the hospital:  if I could stay upright, it meant I was fine and goddamn it, I was not about to lose that game and give up the entirety my newfound income just to make sure I wasn't dying.  
I finally made it back to the bar and collapsed onto it.  That's when I lost the game and decided to go to the hospital because I was legitimately scared of dying.  That's also where things get hazy again.  I remember the next 20 minutes in little clips.  There's me lying face down in a puddle on the bar, blowing little bubbles in it while trying to breathe.  Then I'm being carried out of the bar.  Then I'm being driven to the hospital.  I was breathing really fast; I remember that because once we got to the hospital, the intake nurse kept yelling at me to slow down my breathing and I couldn't.  My entire body was shaking convulsively and I felt more cold than I have ever felt in my life.  My blood pressure was 70/35.  When I caught a glimpse of those little numbers on the screen, I immediately regretted ever knowing anything about medicine because my knowledge only contributed to making me feel positive that I was going to die.  "Well," I thought, "this is it.  My last words are going to be 'fuck you, I can't breathe any slower!'"  It was all very dramatic.  
 
As is often the case with medical emergencies, it was not immediately apparent what was wrong with me, so the doctor called for tests. Lots and lots of tests.  
Blood samples are easy because they are passive.  You just lie there and let the nurses stick needles in you until they are done.  But urine tests require your active participation.  When you are in the throes of death like I was, providing a urine specimen is a veritable quest.  I could have rewritten The Iliad about my experience peeing into a cup.  
I was still having a lot of trouble maintaining consciousness, so the doctor had to supervise me in the restroom.   

I knew I had reached a pretty low point in my life.  There I was, halfway unconscious on a toilet; trying my hardest to pee into a tiny plastic cup and not on my own hand or the floor.  It sounds like a very simple goal to accomplish, but it isn't. I was crying quietly and drooling on myself.  I didn't even care that a stranger was standing there watching the whole pathetic situation. In that moment, I had no dignity.

Despite my herculean efforts, the urine test didn't tell them anything.  The blood test showed a slightly high white blood cell count, but other than that, it was normal.  The only thing that even hinted at what could be wrong with me was my heart.  After looking at my EKG, the doctor was like "Your heart is being weird." And I was like "Why is it doing that?"  And the doctor was all "I don't know."  
Four hours later, I wasn't dead and the doctors still couldn't figure out what was going on, so they sent me home.    
As I'm sure is the case with many of you, I walk that thin line between hypochondriac and a normal level of concern about my health.  So when I go through a terrifying medical saga only to come out the other side with a tentative diagnosis of "weird heart," I panic a little.  
The past week has basically just been a string of moments in which I feel almost positive that I'm going to die.  

I still don't know what is wrong with me, but I'm definitely not dead and I'm feeling a lot better, so that's good.  

6 Fake Advertisements Based on Real Products

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010 | google-reader-imported | No Comments


Cake Versus Pie: A Scientific Approach

Saturday, March 27th, 2010 | google-reader-imported | No Comments

I love cake.  Cake is wonderful.  But it is too easy to get caught up in the idea of cake.  When you compare the data, it is clear that pie is a better choice.  
1.  Ability of enjoyment to be sustained over time

The first few mouthfuls of cake are almost magical, but as eating continues, enjoyment drops off precipitously.  The enjoyment curve for pie appears to be much more stable over time.  
2.  Unequal frosting distribution is a problem
Pie exhibits much greater homogeneity than cake.  In cake, the highest concentration of awesomeness is found in the frosting.  The act of decorating a cake can polarize it and cause a dangerously uneven distribution of frosting, leading to discord and animosity during serving time.   
3.  Pie appears to contain a greater relative volume of enjoyable substances.  
4.  Pie is more scientifically versatile:
5.  Pie is relevant in a greater variety of situations:

Cake is appropriate in a very limited number of situations, whereas almost any day is a great day to have pie.  

6. Cake has much more severe, longer lasting consequences than pie:

UPDATE:  It's too early to tell whether this hybridization is the best idea ever or just dangerous and foolish:
Most likely it will either solve all the problems in the world or end humanity in a hyperglycemic blaze of glory. 

Be a great Android developer, get a free Android phone

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 | google-reader-imported | No Comments

Word cycling around the Internets is that Google is giving away Droid and Nexus One smartphones for free to Android developers who have at least one app that’s scored 3.5 stars or better and more than 5,000 unique downloads. And for once, everyone seems on the same page as to why this is good.

First, rewarding developers for great apps is worthwhile enough. I’d called for similar (though greater) measures from Microsoft for Tablet PC developers, and really, any company trying to grow an emerging market, like Android, needs to do things like this. Apple set the bar at a new level with their App Store model, attaching it to a popular distribution channel, providing a great SDK, and lining up an investment fund. Google and others cannot settle for trying to do the same; they simply can’t match the sheer popularity of the iTunes Store. Thus, they need to walk much further to attract developers, and rewarding good apps with good phones is a step in that direction.

Second, Android is only on version 2.1 and the fragmentation issue is already taking hold. The plan to upgrade all Android phones (in the U.S.) to 2.1 is one step to addressing the problem. Making sure the top developers have access to an Android phone with the full power of 2.1 is one more. The freebies are invite-only. Chosen developers in the U.S. may get either a Droid or Nexus One, chosen randomly. The outside the U.S. (in restricted areas) get a Nexus One.

Clearly, Android 2.1 is being groomed as the big relaunch of the system after a year of testing the waters, and Google is pushing hard to bring everyone together under the same umbrella. Well, almost everyone. There’s no indication the various tablets and other non-phones out there running Android will necessarily get the 2.1 treatment, and I don’t think they should bother trying. The form factors are too different, so better to let them run free. I wonder though if that’s where Chrome OS is meant to come in.

The whole giveaway reminds me of the early hints of the Nexus One, back when it was called the “Google Phone”. Santa dropped them in the hands of Google’s developers. Speculation ran rampant that Google would subsidize the phones and give them away for free. Well, looks like those rumors weren’t entirely wrong, just limited to folks who earn them. Anyone here on the free phone list? How about anyone excited about trying to get on it?

Microsoft Shows Off Some of that 3 Screens Strategy with Gaming

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 | google-reader-imported | No Comments

At TechEd Middle East, Microsoft Eric Rudder showed off a little bit of that “3 screens and the cloud” strategy Microsoft has been crowing about. The example was all about gaming. Rudder shows off an Indiana Jones game that he plays on an Xbox, a computer, and a Windows Phone 7 Series phone. The game’s state is saved in the cloud so you pick up where you leave off when you switch devices.

Via Engadget

iPad’s first TV ad puts all other tablet ads to shame

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 | google-reader-imported | No Comments

Yeah, I know that headline isn’t saying a lot. Last TV commercial I saw for a tablet was for Lenovo’s ThinkPad X41T and it never even showed the thing in action. Hence, when I saw Apple’s iPad commercial last night during the Academy Awards, I felt at once both excited and mournful.

The excitement comes with seeing a well-executed tablet commercial during a widely watched program. Until last night, pretty much the only tablets people saw on TV were used to investigate crime scenes or determine the course of enemy fighters at sub-light speeds. As usual, Apple dazzled us by flashing through the various things a person can do on the iPad. The key phrase there being “things a person can do” as opposed to what the iPad can do. It seems a small differentiation, but it’s what makes their advertising so effective.

At the same time, I felt a twinge as my first thought was, “no wonder people don’t know tablets already exist.” While I admonish mass media types who display no knowledge of tablets as they report on the iPad, I grudgingly admit that not enough was done to generate tablet awareness outside the niche market. Most people just don’t know and those that do weren’t shown anything worth remembering. Well, with one slick commercial, Apple solved that problem.

So was the ad effective? I think so. Didn’t affect my opinion, but I think many people (again, folks who don’t know tablets) would get starry-eyed to the point of wanting to try it at their local Apple Store. Whether that hooks them into buying one is a separate story, but actually being in stores to handle is one big advantage the iPad has over just about every other tablet. Going to be very hard for other tablets to take advantage of the iPad hype until they get in store displays. And then there was my wife who, while surrounded by Tablet PCs, asked, “When are we going to get one?”

So what do you think? iPad ad: big winner at the Oscars or another victim of The Hurt Locker? Great for tablets in general, only for the iPad, or none of the above? By all means, let loose in the comments. Copy of commercial below from Engadget in case you missed it.


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About Joe

My name is Joe Brock. I'm 24 years old and live in Edinburgh, Scotland. I'm a recent MSc Software Engineering graduate of Heriot-Watt University and currently work as a software developer in the field of GIS. As a fanboy of Microsoft technologies, I'm quite partial to a bit of .NET, C# and WPF tomfoolery!

I've written a lot of random software, some finished, mostly unfinished. You might even be able to find some of it here amongst the random mumbling.

If you want to throw some words back at me, send me an email. (joe&joebrock,co,uk)