Punderings

I was following a @monkchips link to IgnoreTheCode about smartphone touch keyboard design, and thought about a bigger issue.

Why do we still use QWERTY?

Sure, it’s embedded in tons of hardware – both plastic/metal and muscle for many of us – but isn’t it a good time to switch? The immensely fast pace of learning for younger people, plus the soon-to-be outpouring of new keyboard and input styles seems like we could actually start the switch now.

Not only would touch-screen keyboards be simple to switch, but form factors and tactile feedback are changing for more and more of our data entry. This would be a good time for existing QWERTY folks to start switching their muscles to think AOEUI instead, since we’re already having to adjust to how glass-screen typing feels anyway.

Hmmm, that’d be a great geeky replacement for ROT13 too.

First off, apologies to various people I haven’t gotten back to recently, in particular M.G., M.M., and various ASF folks. I actually took vacation around the holidays, and spent several days not reading email at all (gasp!). First time in a long time, and then of course coming back to work is always hectic. Um, and of course setting up that that 360 with MW2 after the holiday hasn’t helped my free time any either. I hope to be more present this week.

• Check out the new Community Development project at Apache – great stuff, and don’t worry, the Mentoring Programme will accept Americans as well as English speakers.
• A shout out to the staff at Peet’s in Lexington, my favorite coffee shop.
• A shout out to the cashier and bagger at Whole Foods in Medford, who were wicked nice last Friday afternoon.
• Question: did I really miss anything important on Twitter over the past 3 weeks?
• What am I forgetting to put into my Monoprice order? I’m stocking up on cheap HDMI cables and wall ports for when we upgrade to a wall-mounted medium size flatscreen tv.
• Interesting read of a website: Letters of Note (via Writing Or Typing) Copies of just plain interesting letters from a variety of historical situations.
• Big thank-you to D.R. and others for getting Facebook to sponsor Apache!
• What Facebook-reading app do you use? I have just enough friends inside Facebook that I want to follow the witty conversations, but I’m really tired of the website. There must be better clients to watch the stream of interestingness go by.

What? You thought this was a year in review for last year? Sorry – just a cheap way to get all the little bits stuck in my head of this year so far cleared out so I can start the new year fresh.

A few somewhat odd things happened in the world of shipping this week here in Shaneville. It’s mind-boggling to think how many goods travel around the world every second with modern shipping companies. Sometimes, it doesn’t seem to make common sense.

• Ordering new winter tires from TireRack this Tuesday, I proceeded to the shipping stage. I was offered three choices of shipping – UPS, FedEx, and FedEx guaranteed 2 day. Guess which had both the lowest cost and earliest delivery date of the three? UPS, buy one or two days!
• Those same winter tires are already here. Working at home I heard some large thumps outside and went to investigate, and those magic UPS elves had already dropped the tires on my doorstep – barely 24 hours after UPS actually got the tires. It’s almost as if I had my own personal UPS delivery truck. (In this case, TireRack appeared to have a local regional supplier – makes sense for the northeast).
• Likewise a small electronics purchase I made on Monday and assembled in (yes, I know!) China, is currently in a FedEx airplane somewhere over the middle of the US. It’s only one more short step before tracking numbers have a little “show live map” feature, kind of like flight trackers. You could watch your package overfly you to the nearest shipper’s airport hub!

The two put together are also quite amusing, given that the tires – quite bulky – arrived far faster, even accounting for proportional distance – than the electronics will. So much for common sense.

Tip: several reliable friends have confirmed that ordering cheap HDMI cables is fine – no need to spend more than a couple of bucks for the vast majority of HDMI applications. I’ll be needing some of those in the after-Christmas shopping season at home, methinks.

Dear #Lazyweb – it’s the holiday season, and there are a few simple electronics questions I have for you.

• Are Ethernet -> WiFi-G adapters really that expensive? I need a simple G wireless adapter for a DVD player that only has an Ethernet port. Isn’t there some option besides all the overpriced “wireless gaming adapters”? (And yes, if I am going to play FPS’s online, you can be sure I’m using a wire, just in case). Prefer Netgear, since that’s the router.
• Can anyone tell me what the exact ports on the back of a Sony XR-430 car radio are? I’d love to connect my iPod to my car stereo, and I know there are some RCA jacks on the back (from a fuzzy picture online), but I don’t want to actually pull the stereo out to plug in a 3.5mm plug -> RCA adapter to find out that they’re only outputs, not inputs. My CD changer is slowly dying, so I really need a better way to play iPod music in the car.
• Is there really that much difference in HDMI cables? I’m looking to upgrade to a medium size flatscreen – possibly a 37in at 1080 (that’s as big as will fit, I think), and I’m wondering if I really need one of the $50+ HDMI cables to stream videos, or if one of the cheaper ones (or one of the insanely cheap Amazon.com ones!) will work well enough.
• Home furnace electrical backup. We have a gas boiler for steam heat, and an older timed setback thermometer. When the power goes out, the gas stays on, as does the thermostat (and the water and water heater, nicely enough). But the boiler itself has a 120v circuit, so… no heat in the winter. Isn’t there some fairly simple way to hookup a battery backup for the boiler? It’s got a permanent pilot light, so what the heck does it need much power for other than sending the thermostat’s “yes” or “no” signal? If we could solve this, we could comfortably ride out any winter storm even without electricity. (Well, at least until all the laptop batteries die, that is!)

Thanks again #Lazyweb, and I hope you’re having a wonderful winter holiday season!

So what deals are you looking for tomorrow on Black Friday? And how many people are actually going out to the store, versus just shopping online, especially with the large number of retailers promising similar prices?

And for the non-US readers out there: does anyone else have similar sales tomorrow, or is it completely restricted to the US? Just wondering how if anyone elsewhere was going to try to order something on sale from the Amazon US store for shipping elsewhere, for example.

Hey, where did the black friday boycott stuff go? Wasn’t there a move a while back to go all non-consumer instead in the past?

Which we’ve been reading to Roxanne slowly as a bedtime story. One of the first things she said when Amy was done reading the last chapter was: “Can we start again tomorrow?” I was so proud.

The Hobbit is definitely one of those books that sounds better read aloud rather than just read to yourself. We’ve skipped a few parts, and massaged the reading of the story to gloss over a few of the violent or scary scenes that Roxanne didn’t like (especially at bedtime). But The Hobbit is far closer to being appropriate for kids than the rest of The Lord Of The Rings is – the adventure is just great, and Roxanne really seems to like Bilbo now.

Wow – I just noticed that among many many other editions of Tolkien-related works, Amazon also has The Hobbit: A 3-D Pop-Up Adventure. Too bad it only features 5 scenes, the reviews seem to point out that they’re beautifully done.

Any suggestions on other classics we should try reading at bedtime next? I tried reading some Fairy chapter books last night, which Roxanne likes sometimes – but it was really hard going back to the overly simple structure that most kids books use in their writing. We’re ready for some stories that are approachable for kids, but written for adults (and preferably, stories Amy and I would like!)

It was startling to be driving in to work this morning and noticing the frost all around, and even ice on the puddles. Ah, winter, are you truly here already? At least it makes for a beautiful sunrise over the fields by Soldier’s Field Road (albeit brief as you drive by).

It’s also startling to realize just how early Thanksgiving seems to be coming this year: in just one short week Americans will be getting ready for the big treks to (or from) family. I think part of it was all the activity around ApacheCon – along with doing my usual conference planner work, I was also pretty busy with some ASF organization work. (OK, pretty busy is quite an understatement.)

In any case, I’m glad that at least one store (Macy’s, I think) is explicitly holding off on the rest of the “holiday season” until after Thanksgiving. Reminder: there’s only a few more days to get on the “THANKSGIVING FIRST” bandwagon to decry the many establishments who put up Christmas decorations far too early in the season. I remember seeing some tree decorations displayed next to the Halloween candy recently… and also made the mistake a few weeks ago of walking into the Cambridgeside Galleria, which is all done up in it’s Christmas finery. I love the winter holiday season too, but I have the sense when I’m celebrating it early to do it privately.

A moment of silence for those who have lost their lives or loved ones in wars.

Thanks indeed to all who have honorably served in our armed forces, now and in the past.

And a very special thanks to my grandfather, CPT (Ret.) Edmond H. Curcuru, USMA Jun’43, for his service in combat during WWII.