Unplugged

I read a tweet that vastly changed my perspective on being connected to the social media world. I tried it for a bit, but most addicts who quit cold-turkey will tell you how hard it was to stay sober. What does it mean to be unplugged and is there a happy medium to be found?

http://twitter.com/lexlimitless/status/24688208911

Abacus

Technology has given us more availability than ever before. It may be hard to believe but years ago people used to put pen to paper and write letters. They would mail these letters and trust the postal system to deliver them safely and accurately. I used to have a penpal at Westwood High School and that is how we did it. I wouldn’t hear from her for months on end as we sent letters back and forth. When my best friend moved to South Africa (to live) that is how we kept in touch. Until one of us stopped writing, but that is tangential.

If I want to talk to someone today I have a few options:

1. Sure, if it wasn’t particularly urgent I could email.
2. I could also send them an IM (googletalk, msn or yahoo) or FB message.
3. If I want to be an attention junkie I could post to their wall or on their Twitter.
4. Maybe I could mark up their blog with a comment.

In essence, they are availabile to me, and I am led to believe that I can access them whenever I want to. Being the decent citizen that I am I rarely take advantage of that power but it does have implications for how I live. Imagine if all these methods of immediate contact were in pocket form and was literally at my fingertips. Enter Blackberry 9700 and just about every smartphone on the planet.

Addicted to Our Availability

I think it is time for us to disconnect from the grid. The power in our palm (RIP Palm OS) is driving us crazy.

I am going to ask you a series of questions, please answer them honestly:

1. Do you comprehensively understand short-code speech (OMG, LOL, GL, GJ, GM)
2. Do you check your phone often?
3. Do you have your social networks on your handheld? (Example: FB, BBM, Twitter, 4Square)
4. Your phone just vibrated in your purse, pocket or holster. Do you pick it up to check within 30 seconds?
5. Does it take less than five minutes for you to respond to a message directed to you?

If you answered yes to two or more of the above, you have a problem and you need help.

Silence Therapy

I saw a BBC special -Click- on some students taking the decision to unplug for a day (couldn’t find the clip, sorry. Try searching for Unplug and Click online or on BBC and you see the difficulty I had.) The task was to stay away from technology for one day, no television or computers or phones. They had to return to pen and paper. I mean, I use pen and paper but if I had the right type of tablet I’d abandon that archaic method of data capture.

To add insult to injury some of us are tied to a specific device. I wanted to get an Android. I was even courting the Sony Ericsson X10 Mini. Then my manager sent me a BB message about an idea she wants me to think through. Then I thought, if I get a droid I will lose that close interface to my manager. Resistance is futile. I even tried to quit cold Turkey. I was about to celebrate two months since I removed Twitter and Facebook from my BB but last night I reinstalled Twitter (and like it!)

Technology has allowed us to say more without having a human interaction. I have 236 Facebook friends, a few twitter followers and several persons on my blackberry messenger list. I can confidently say that less than 10% of each list contains people that I actually want to spend time with. What does that say for the tool that invalidated my Penpal relationship? Doesn’t that make you feel a little annoyed to think that you are opening yourself up to all these people who will never accept you or care about you?

Conclusion

This is one of those times when I don’t have a solution for you. I know- lame. I have too many friends who have ‘quit’ blackberry or facebook or twitter and they come right back. Heck, I have quit them all at some point. If you don’t want to appear to be a total hermit then you have to seem connected. These networks are sometimes relevant to your social mobility and status. (Who nuh have BB a bait?) There needs to be some system or device that can save us from the obsessive check-ins and tweets and ‘availability.’

They say the Windows Phone will save us. I say we all go back to flashlight phones and using our social networks on our computers. Lol, I’m kidding. People like me thrive on you being addicted to communication. Please, help me stay employed.

 

One versus Many

I am the proud owner of a Blackberry 9700. Until RIM makes the Torch 2 this is still going to be (for me) the best Blackberry that has ever been made. This phone does everything- takes pictures, sends emails, browse the web, listen to music and even installs third-party apps expanding the list beyond my ability to count. Does a phone like this (or an Android or IPhone) signal the end of the specialist devices that exist to fulfill just one or two of the functions? I am going to tackle one feature at a time and discuss whether they have replaced the device that used to do it.

 

 

Making and Receiving Calls

Can you believe some phones can’t make or receive calls properly? (Iphone 4 *cough* Apple-fail *wheeze*) A phone is designed to do this core function- this was supposed to be the specialty.

Document and Email Creation

I have owned a blackberry for a few years- from before blackberry messenger was invented. From the days when the blackberry was fat in your hand and was only used by business persons, not teenagers and social media enthusiasts. I always thought the device was good for replying to emails quickly (why else have email on the go?) or for composing short messages. I do not think it replaces my newly installed MS Outlook 2010 on my laptop. I prefer using that when I want to add some html to my signature or write a long email with careful attention to grammar and spelling.

Additionally, while “Documents To Go” can help me read documents on a plane or bus I think it is unrealistic to expect me to create a detailed business report with just my thumbs. What if I wanted to add graphs and indexes? Is the screen even 4-inches yet? A smartphone cannot replace a laptop or desktop.

Divergence 1, Convergence 0

Media Player

This one is a bone of contention for me. Sometimes the media player on my Bold 2 is perfect- other times it is downright annoying. Sometimes it pauses or skips just because I receive a message or there is the beep of bbm- other times it doesn’t. I keep thinking that if they gave it an FM radio then it would be even closer to perfect. That said, I can’t hold it against all smartphones that RIM hasn’t finished designing the media player.

Reviews suggest that the IPhone and Android have excellent media players. With the media space these devices can afford you probably won’t have an mp3 player in your pocket alongside your smartphone. Matter of fact, if you get the armband case then you are all set.

Divergence 1, Convergence 1

GPS

If you live in Jamaica, and more specifically, Kingston- you know that Googlemaps on your Blackberry is an amazing piece of software. When I went to Atlanta recently I saw it in action on the IPhone and I was pleased with the results. But then they put up the specialist GPS device with audible turn-by-turn navigation. That kicked in the IPhone GPS’s teeth. I imagine the blackberry would receive a similar “shilacking”.  Specialist GPS device for the win.

Divergence 2, Convergence 1

Ebook Reader

Amazon.com has made a specialist device called the Kindle that is perhaps the ultimate eBook reader. They also made software clients that work with Blackberry, other smartphones, laptops and tablets. They have to feel pretty sure about their product to put it on the blackberry and then sell a separate piece of hardware. I’m going to give the point to the specialist device because reading a book on a 3.5inch screen is lame.

Divergence 3, Convergence 1

Gaming

Lol. PS3 or PC rules. LMAO. I can’t even believe I put this category- am I clutchting at straws here?

Divergence 4, Convergence 1

Camera

I’ve seen smartphones with decent cameras. I have also seen true Camera-phones. Both are great. However, I do not think they compete well against today’s digital camera. Image Stabilization, optical zoom- not a lot of phones can host all these alongside the more standard phone features. It is good to be able to whip out your camera-phone and take a quick pic of that person in the club or that person who shouldn’t be with that other person- but when you want quality you will want a dedicated piece of equipment. Match-point Digital Camera.

Divergence 5, Convergence 1

Conclusion

It is a nice idea to have a phone that does everything but it doesn’t make sense to me as a functional concept. Apart from making calls or playing music you are still going to need a ‘real device’ to handle larger volumes or better quality of the activity that your smartphone can only ‘fill-in’ for. The smartphone feels like a placeholder until you get home, to your desk or car- when you transfer your energy to something more robust and resilient. “Many” wins, in my humble option. I will probably always have a smartphone, but I will have a few other devices as well.

 

Lightning – 0.0004% Chance of Striking You

Lightning is not your friend. It will not help you with your homework. It will not lend you money in your time of need and it will destroy your relationships and your life. Lightning, in addition to being unfriendly, is also unpredictable. You can tell that is is out there, after you see flashes or hear thunder, but you can never be sure where it is going to hit.

Pretty Tame Facts

If you live in the USA the following facts may mean something to you- if you are from Jamaica, then do some math. In the US you have a 0.0004% chance of being personally struck by lightning. The probability is far less in Jamaica because we have a small population and less reported personal lightning strikes per year. However, in the US your house has a 0.5% chance of being struck by lightning. This ought to be smaller for Jamaica too. What you can extrapolate from this is that your house is several times more likely to get hit by lightning than you are- so worry more about your electronics than whether you have on rubbers.

Many people would tell you that the first thing you need to do about your house is to make sure it is properly grounded. If your house isn’t grounded by now, then it may cost you a bit to get it properly done. I’ve read a bit on a device called a GFCI. It is inexpensive and acts as a circuit breaker in the event an electrocution is imminent (paraphrasing.) I have never used it, so I can’t vouch for it.

Another option is to put a lightning rod on top of your house and then channel that lightning to the ground, to complete the circuit. When I was in customer care I used to recommend this option to people living in Red Hills where lightning storms are a normal way of life. The lightning rod is the first line of defense because it ensures that if lightning is going to hit you, it will go for the highest point on your house and safely channel it out of harms way- assuming you constructed the lightning protection system properly.

A Bolt of Reality

You can also just do what I do. I don’t have a GFCI, though my home’s circuit breaker may have come with one automatically. I do not have a lightning rod, I mean, I don’t want lightning to come find me and I don’t live in Red Hills. Instead, I put the electronics in my room on a heavy duty surge protector that also has a voltage regulator. This has kept my devices safe for as long as I’ve owned it. However, there was just one oversight. I forgot that lightning could kill appliances through (dah dah daaaah!) the telephone line.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is how I lost my ADSL modem. I used to own an inferior surge protector in my younger years. I had a ‘No Line Sync’ problem (LIME customers represent!) that at the time I couldn’t figure out- even though I was in tech support. A technician named Peter Palmer (he is now a supervisor for an entire section) came to my house, unplugged the telephone line from my surge protector and plugged my modem straight to the wall and ta-dah service was working again. That experience made me feel like an ID10T and I swore that from that day I would never surge-protect my telephone line ever again.

Fast forward to four-five years later. I have a superior surge protector and after the loss of my modem (expensive Netgear ADSL modem) I am again plugging my phone line through the surge. The difference is that I have no connectivity issues, no loss of speed or any latency. Everything works perfectly with the added peace of mind that all electronics in my room are going to survive many storms.

 

My house has to have…

This isn’t about being a billionaire or having a house that can be on MTV Cribs. Having tons of rooms and furniture is nice but this list is more about those functional things that are useful for Jamaica’s reality. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about moving and getting my own things together. A ‘house’ would be best, but a townhouse can suffice. An apartment wouldn’t have the vertical or horizontal space to house some of my ‘must-haves’. Additionally, these are things you probably can’t put in a rented house, so it would have to be my house.

Solar Power

I want my roof to be filled with solar panels and then have a huge battery system to support it. JPS is just a set of thieves, and for the appliances/machines I intend to have then I will be looking at a bill of over J$10k, for just 2 people! That just doesn’t seem acceptable. Solar power that can sustain most of a house is expensive to implement. However, once implemented you can quickly realize the value. The NHT lends money for putting in solar panels. You could have a snap to grid system where you generate power and at nights use JPS, or you can come off the grid completely. I don’t plan to come off the grid but I only want to switch to it when my batteries are empty.

The equipment may be centrally housed in a cabinet or server room. I just gotta have one of those, or even a little closet to keep them.

Two HUGE Water Tanks

Remember the drought? Remember when water came three times a week, for a couple hours per day, at low pressure? I cannot live in a house without at least one water tank, and I would want 2. The best time to buy these is when there is an abundance of rain, but I would buy these pretty close to moving. I’d have to get a pump too, because low water pressure is almost as bad as no water.

Gigabit-LAN, Wireless-N (5 bars) WLAN

This one I can do myself, or get my closer friends some Henny or Heinekin to help with. I want my network to be able to facilitate the intense video streaming that I would be putting it through. Cat 5e, with a 2-port surface mount wherever there is a power socket. Because of this set-up I would need a server room to host the gigabit switch and the router and broadband.

I would also want to have wireless repeaters in rooms that get 3-bars and less. I should be able to take a netbook to any room and get excellent service. Then when my friends come over to play Star Wars: The Old Republic they won’t worry about things like lag.

RFID Tags and Scanners

I lose things often. If I tagged all my furniture, appliances, books and items that are movable but do not regularly get immersed in water then I would know immediately when things are missing. This may be helpful if I do not trust the new house-helper or if I just can’t find my car keys. A quick room scan would tell me if I should look elsewhere. RFID is becoming a ubiquitous system and I am hopeful that the price will be reduced. Some tags are water proof and easy to paste on, and are still just as effective. My bookcasewould be so easily organized!

High Definition PVR

While I stream a lot of media from the internet I would want to be able record and archive tv for myself. I would want to build a PVR and media server than can store HD content and save it safely. Not much to say on this, because I think every guys wants this.

Air-Conditioning

Maybe this should have topped the list, but it is quite expensive without cheap power. Summers are only getting hotter with each passing year. I need both AC and a smart network of fans to circulate cool air consistently. This is such a big need because there is only so much you can remove before you are naked- and if you are still burning at that point it is torturous.

 

Linux MCE vs Windows MCE

Linux plays a dangerous game by producing such an interesting Media Centre. See this link but be warned- time wasted can never be regained:

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/03/21/linux-mce-looks-hot/

I think it is a little dishonest to do that type of comparison and be so smug about it. One product is open ended and the other is not. One is made to be the standard and the other is made to surpass it. My humble Opinion. If everything was as easy as they say Linux is everyone would have switched- but you see, Microsoft makes it simpler.

 

Panasonic Lumix LZ5

I wanted a good camera for my vacation to Portland. I am tired of my 3mp camera which gives me mainly grainy pictures and has no optical zoom.  I am not a professional photographer and try as I might my hand normally shakes when I am about to press the shutter.

Thankfully there is a product just for me- the Panasonic Lumix LZ25. When you are shopping for camera there is a lot of necessary research to go through before you can find your ‘soul cam’. Initially I searched for cameras on Crutchfield.com. This site has an interesting feature where you they tell you that you can pay a little more and get a higher version of whatever product you are looking for. This Lumix happened to be at the top of its food chain with 6MP and audio/video recording.

The main sell for the Lumix camera is a feature called Mega O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer). This means that at the point when you are about to press the shutter and you slightly shake the camera while pressing the camera calculates and compensates for the shake to give you a great picture. IT WORKS!! I don’t work for Panasonic so this isn’t that at all. The thing works.

Another sell is the multiplicity of scene modes. It has a scene for almost every occasion. When you select the appropriate scene mode the camera adjusts the white balance and all that drama as necessary (shutter speed, aperture opening size) to take the best picture for those conditions. I no longer have to take a crappy picture of the starry sky because it has a mode called Starry Sky (how did they know I was going on vacation). There is also a mode called Scenery, Party, Portrait, Soft Skin, Baby 1 and 2. The Baby Scene mode even allows you to put the Baby’s age and name in the picture if you want.

The camera uses both MMC and SD (though videos only work on SD they claim) and it uses various forms of 2AA batteries. It has a power optimization mode that allows you to select the type of battery you are using so that it can compensate accordingly. I truly believe that is how a camera is supposed to be.

My problem is that I haven’t quite got used to the camera so I make some strange pictures. I have work by trial and error to figure out what is a good picture and what isn’t. I like this camera though- a new hobby awaits.