Put away the gadgets

‘ve noticed that About Manchester published this quote ysterday: “Trees will play an increasingly important role in helping our cities adapt to a hotter climate. Having just experienced one of the hottest summers on record, we have all felt first-hand the importance of trees and their cooling effect and benefit to cities, plus they make places feel more beautiful. During Mayfield’s life over the past 300 years, a tree has never been planted in this part of town. It’s always been an incredibly busy, industrial part of the area. Mayfield is about transforming a part of Manchester that was once overlooked and largely inaccessible into a vibrant green place where people and nature can thrive alongside one another. Having seen for many years how much people love Mayfield Park, we’re delighted today to be extending it to be even bigger. Part of that growth is the rehoming and redesigning of The Intelligent Garden. It’s a natural fit for that vision, bringing together nature, technology and design to explore how our urban landscapes can respond to the challenges of climate change.”

But technology isn’t needed there. The article seems to be promoting gadgets, i.e. part of the core problem.

Nor improve mood

erman cars are notoriously expensive to repair, but they are seen as reliable and cars in general are perceived to be time savers that simplify life and increase mobility.

But that assumes everything works smoothly all the time and that “third parties” don’t damage you, your day, your car, or even your life (fatality)

I’ve only just returned home from a run and a car near us got ‘knocked’ quite badly. It’ll probably cost a grand to fully repair/undo the damage. When I left there was no incident in sight, so it must have happened in the past 15 minutes or so. I saw another such incident near the same place only months ago. They put speed bumps, but they’re too low and don’t seem to be effective.

Optics at best.

I suppose the owner of the car will be one of two owners impacted by this collision, whose fault is probably one of them, not both of them. Now come a series of long tasks for both of them and probably no car for a week.

How does that translate into peace of mind and time savings?

I wrote about Google PC about 2 years ago. It was speculative, but based on rumours. As you may have heard by now, Google began selling a software stack based on Linux (Enlightenment and Ubuntu, if I recall correctly).

Several thoughts come to mind. I’m not sure how I feel about this, but let’s think about this for a moment.

Google has recently introduced both gPhone and gPC. These are essentially like Google stacks. Can you see where it’s going? Google is becoming a software developer that integrates things with Web services. It’s contracting OEMs to use its stack, just like Microsoft, which does this with Windows and other applications that it bundles or sells separately.

The reason for concern here is the pushing aside of smaller businesses in the process. Along with Wal-mart, Verizon and HTC, Google will make an alliance of giants. The small players will struggle to compete.

On the very positive side, now we know that unsubstantiated patent FUD will have another willing member fighting it along with Oracle, IBM, Red Hat (not Novell). Google joined OIN a few months ago and it now sells Linux stacks for phones and PCs. Well done, Google. Just keep humble and “do not evil.”

Well, at least it runs Linux…

Correction (03/11/2007): gPC has nothing to do with Google (apart from the toolbar), do it’s not truly a Google PC.

At this point I’ll admit that I have begun concentrating on other blogs (you’ll find most of my new posts here). For those who still follow mine (RSS subscribers), here’s a nice video of a PSP project.

The CNN ran an article on some mind-boggling research. It addresses the obsession with capturing memories digitally. These things are, in my opinion, close to being pointless because too much information can/must be captured, e.g. sound, video, 3-D models, etc. The list is endless and the information cannot be conveyed and processed by one’s mind unless one lives in the past and reminisces in ‘slow motion’. I suppose it would be a nice way of remembering vacations, but for an indexable mind and knowledgebase, it’s just too big a task.

This particular research project is backed and run by Microsoft. If it ever becomes a reality, let us hope they will be careful with names. Zune is pronounced the same way as “a shag” in Hebrew (yes, the bad meaning; very vulgar) while Vista, at least in Malta, appears to mean “a whore” (or something along these lines, if I recall correctly).

Worth reading: an unrelated article with a Mac-slant, which discusses expansion through bundling of software.

Apparently, this is an early prototype which I saw before
the GP2X was released

HE GP2X is a Linux-based gaming console. It has fascinated me since the very first time I saw it. As a matter fact, I raved about it in my blog last year, well ahead of its release. Looking at that nostalgic perspective again, I believe one of the developers commented on that blog item. The unit was scarcely known at the time, so perhaps it effectively served a purpose.

I am pretty certain that information about this unit was originally brought to me by Slashdot, which I used to read more religiously than I do at the moment (typically in ‘feed mode’). Actually, I can vividly recall the day when I blogged about it. I picked up my work uniform, then returned to my office on a gloomy and depressing day. My future paths had me worried. Either way, I also happened to introduce and discuss the GP2X in some Linux newsgroups. And as the GP2X team made progress, there were more details to reveal and share.

A noble man called Mark Kent showed interest in the unit and pondered whether it would suit his children. He even raised a question that was directed at me, as well as the remainder of a newsgroup, about battery life and several other key factors. He was prepared to buy a unit. Several months went by and Mark has claimed a victorious stage appearance. With 15 minutes of fame in Linux.com, Mark’s review is now linked from hundreds of blogs and popular Web sites. Frankly, I share the satisfaction as it’s one giant step for GNU/Linux.

Picture from PlanetQuake

HECK out some of the strangest computer setups you have ever come across. I particularly like the one which demonstrates, side by side, the difference between a dual-head setting and a very large screen. It has recently begun being manufactured for Dell and Apple, but is rather pricey.