Monthly Archives: October 2007

Spot the non-Apple user in this picture

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Spot the non-Apple user
I knew Macs were becoming more popular especially among college students, I just didn’t know they were that popular.

The guy in the front row, second from the right and the gal in the fourth row, second from the left must feel so left out. I know I would be too :)

The only thing keeping me from getting a Mac is that they don’t do tablets. Not yet at least. Make an OSX tablet and I am totally sold. Notwithstanding a smaller ecosystem of software relative to Windows.

There are multiple speculations on the Apple tablet. Apple already patented the Tablet Mac, and there is even an after-market unofficial Mac-based tablet on the market, made by Axiotron.

Taking notes in class with a regular keyboard? Not for me. I’ve grown used to the more natural form of pen-input note taking in tablet mode, and I find that having a screen raised in front of me in class is distracting and probably makes the instructor wonder if you’re really taking notes or poking people on Facebook.

Speaking of tablets: Why aren’t we seeing any serious efforts in the open source world in the realm of tablet/pen applications? You can get a tablet pc with linux, and there are some apps for Linux-based tablets, but it won’t be anything as polished as what Vista offers in terms of that sort of functionality. I can’t see a reason why a tablet-focused Linux distro has not evolved yet.

The picture was taken in the Missouri School of Journalism. Picture source via via

Twitt

On Time and Waiting

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Don’t you just hate waiting?

It seems to me that a big chunk of our lifetime is spent in waiting. Waiting to board a plane, catch a train, at ticket counters, for the concerts to start, for your food, for your friends, coworker, boss, in traffic, etc. (The only thing that doesn’t make me wait is my dog. He’s always ready to go). Waiting is a an unavoidable evil, like dress shoes (which I hate; they’re slippery, uncomfortable and often very ugly). The thing about waiting is that it is something over which you often have no control, and we understandably get really riled up whenever there is anything that affects us that we can’t take command of.

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Twitt

On Travel Journals: Why and How to keep one

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Keeping a journal can be a great way to maintain a regular (or at least semi-regular) personal record of events, activities, actions, feelings, and whatever else kind of information you would like to have a form of simple chronological archive for. If you do any kind of travel with some regularity, keeping a travel journal is a great way to keep in touch with certain things that will probably be quickly lost in the maze of the mundane and excruciatingly unexciting pattern of daily life shortly after your trip ends. I know you probably think that you are going to remember the details of the conversation with that funny character in the seat next to you on the train, or that hairy situation you were into and thought you’re not getting out of alive, or maybe that awesome place off the beaten track that you accidentally found when roaming a new city on foot, or the feelings and first impressions you as you were visiting some place for the first time. But you won’t. What you will be able successfully recall when need be are just the general outlines of what happened, but almost never the details. No matter how good your memory is, whatever memories that remain of any given trip are faint traces of the exact happenings, interactions, conversations and experiences.

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Twitt

Open Media, Closed Minds

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Wikimania_Alexandria_2008-Banner

The Wikimedia Foundation has recently decided upon Alexandria, Egypt as a host city for its upcoming international conference in 2008. Alexandria was one of the finalists voted by Wikimedia’s jury. A friend directed my attention to this blogpost, where the author has lunched an all out attack against holding the conference in Alex. I posted a comment on the post and decided to also post it here for good measure.

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Twitt

How to: DIY realtime GPS mapping/navigation with Google Earth

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CIMG0128

Look Ma! Its me on Google Earth!

I previously posted on how simple GPS loggers could be a great tool for travelers, backpackers or just people who are on the move a lot and would like to keep a record/log of their travels, geotag photos or just gawk at cool looking paths in Google Earth. But wouldn’t it be even cooler if you could put together your own (relatively) low-cost navigation/mapping solution with tools that are either free or you probably already have?

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Twitt

Notes on gadgets: The Qstarz BT-Q1000 Bluetooth GPS logger/reciever

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One of the best little gadgets I have managed to blow my hard-earned cash on lately is the BT-Q1000 Bluetooth GPS “travel recorder”/data-logger from Qstarz. I’ve had the device for a few days now and been trying out its functionality, and I like what I’ve seen (so far).

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Twitt

On Traveling

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If you know anything about me, or have read a few things of what general gibberish I post on tis blog, you probably know that one of the things that I love and do with significant regularity is travel. This is not a post about why I love traveling, or even in praise of the general awesomeness of getting out there and ridding your brain of the rust that is a result of “that which you do not know”, I am not going to tell you how great it is to get to know another culture, experience different customs, interact with different people, learn a new language, etc..all of that stuff is wonderful but you know that already. Put shortly, you’ll never know unless you go, and if you don’t go or don’t want to go because you’re too cocooned in your own little comfort zone, well, I feel sorry for you. This post is, however, a sort of a mind dump about the different kinds of travel I had the good fortune of engaging in, and my experiences in each.

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Twitt