Posted by Shady
Sun, 23 Mar 2008 13:50:00 GMT
This comic has never been more true. I'm staring at the DHL tracking page, and my refurb iPhone is in the DHL warehouse, in Buffalo. It's lonely. But it won't be here until monday. Oh well.
In the meantime I can amuse myself by reading up on the jailbreaking process, downloading the official SDK from apple (2041 MB? Xcode isn't even that big!), and seeing if anyone has ported my favorite command line tools to the platform.
Posted in Hardware, iPhone
Posted by Shady
Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:49:00 GMT
This is, without a doubt, the best map I have ever seen. I'm actually jealous that I didn't think of it first.
You can find a larger version of it
here.
Posted in GIS, Mapping, Cartography | Tags areacodes, cartography, hos, ludacris, maps, rap
Posted by Shady
Tue, 11 Mar 2008 18:41:43 GMT
This has to be the best streaming video I've ever seen. The sound quality and video quality put Youtube to shame.
It's the full recording of the New York Philharmonics recent performance in Pyongyang, North Korea.
I 100% support cultural exchanges like this, especially with "rogue" states like North Korea.
On a technical level, I wonder just how they are getting this kind of quailty. This webcast and Stage6 (sadly soon to be defunt) prove that high quality streaming video on the web can be done today. I wonder when you tube will catch on.
Posted by Shady
Thu, 25 Oct 2007 23:19:00 GMT
And I am not a happy camper. Sure the eye candy is nice, and not everything I have set up broke but….
After doing an upgrade (in hindsight, not the best idea), my system bordered on unusable:
1.Journaling had to be turned off on the main hard drive, because mds and mdworker processes were using up to 90% of my CPU at any given time.
2.ATSServer was briefly using upwards of 50% of my CPU, but a reboot seemed to fix that.
3.My external firewire drive is not being recognized or mounted.
4.Launching the Intel Optimized version of BonEcho froze and crashed on numerous occasions.
5.ventrilo is broken
Even the unix side of things is a mixed bag:
1.postgresql is working
2.sml-nj seems to work
3.my custom compiled version of ruby seems to also work
4.apache/php is broken beyond repair
5.mysql is broken
6.nmap seems to work, as does MSF
All In all, this is pretty much the WORST upgrade experience I have ever had with any OS. It seems like I have no choice but to backup (good fucking luck since my firewire external isn’t being mounted) and do a format and reinstall.
I usually only associate that with windows. The more things change…
Posted in OSX, Rants
Posted by Shady
Sat, 13 Oct 2007 17:37:00 GMT
Office 2007 has been out for a while now, and while it's not out for the mac (yet) I still have had a few occasions to play with it while doing some work on the windows side. A few quick observations:
The new "ribbon" UI sucks. Big time. It's basically impossible for me to find anything at all. I much prefer the mac style formatting palettes.
Powerpoint presentations are much improved by the ribbon UI. It's not a total waste. The new UI made it substantially easier for me to get into presenter mode (something that in my opinion was much difficult to do in previous versions) and select the different screens/projectors for giving presentations.
Excel no longer saves in DBF format. This is pretty much a deal breaker for me. To my knowledge, ArcMAP can only import data tables in DBF format. Since I pretty much always use excel to tabulate the data I'm working on, and then export to DBF for importing into ArcMAP, this makes Excel 2007 useless for me.
Posted in Rants | Tags microsoft, office
Posted by Shady
Thu, 06 Sep 2007 19:40:00 GMT
So I decided to pick up a new toy with the start of the semester. After spending several hundred dollars on books (strategies and websites that you can use to save some coin on books will be in an upcoming article. Really.), I decided to pick up a nice new video iPod. Since my music collection is around 15GB, I picked out a nice new shiny black iPod video 30GB. And yea, I was happy with my purchase.
Well, as I'm sure many of you probably know, yesterday apple announced some brand new iPods. Now, after looking at the iPod touch I decided that I was still happy with my purchase. The touch, while looking pretty awesome, comes in a maximum size of only 16GB. Since my music library is already 15, that would leave me little to no room for extra songs or, god forbid, actual video. So far, still happy with the purchase. The big change that affected me was the increase in maximum iPod size (my iPod model is not the "iPod Classic") to 160GB. Impressive. But what that means to me is that I could have, for the same price, gotten an 80GB iPod. All in all I'm still happy with the purchase I made, and even with video I'm only at about half capacity for the new iPod. It's just rather irksome to know that, had I waited 2 weeks, I would be able to have a larger one for the same price. Still, I don't feel as bas as all those iSuckers who shelled out 600 USD for the iPhone, only two have the price drop by 200 USD two months later. <Nelson>Ha Ha!</Nelson>
So, now that I have an iPod, I feel it is my solemn duty to review a few iPod accessories that will make the overall iPod ownership experience that much better. Up first: headphones.
The default iPod headphones suck. There, I said it. Aside from the fact that they don't match the black iPods they're also uncomfortable, and refuse to stay put. Plus, I was never a real fan of the ubiquitous white headphone drone look anyway. After shopping around a bit looking at headphones, I decided on a nice pair of Smokin Buds from the fine folks at Skull Candy Cool Name, sweet skull logo. But how do they stack up? Well, they are orders of magnitude more comfortable then the original iPod headphones. A nice silicone cushion acts to mold them to your ear, and filter out the outside sounds. They come in a variety of colors (I chose black), and to my non-audiophile ears, sound very nice. On top of all that goodness, they have a nice little skull on them. Can't go wrong with skulls.
The Smokin Buds model is an in ear variety. Skull Candy also makes a few other models, including a DJ style cover-the-ear model and a I'm quite please with my purchase so far, and would recommend the Skull Candy headphones to anyone else.
Now, although the iPod comes with its own little pseudo-suede case, this really isn't enough to protect it. In the past, when I owned a PSP I was a big fan of the martin fields screen protector. For the iPod, however, I was looking for a little more then just a screen protector. I wanted a case, to cover the entire iPod AND the screen. I also wanted something that didn't make the iPod look like it was coated in some kind of bulky-ass marshmallow type coating. The iPod itself looks very nice, and I would much rather show it off then cover it up. My search led me to the InvisibleSHIELD company. These guys offer both screen protectors, and entire cases, made out of a urethane material that they claim is used to protect the leading edge of military helicopter blades. They have a video on their site where they basically key the hell out of an iPod with nary a scratch left. Similar videos came up after a quick google search. So I ordered one. A bit price (about 25 bucks) for what is essentially a >1mm thick piece of plastic but the promise of protecting the iPod AND being able to show it off was enticing.
First the good things about InivisibleSHIELD: It really is as good as advertised. Seems to be pretty much indestructable. Scratches and pokes jsut seal right up up, and I don't even think it's possible to puncture it without some serious effort. A knife or pin would be required, and you would still need to apply some pretty good force in order for this to break.
It's also very thin. It adds no discernable weight or bulk to the iPod. If you apply it correctly (more on this in a minute) it's nigh invisible. It really is the perfect cover for an iPod.
Now, the downside. The installation procedure is a total bitch. A massive, gigantic pain in the ass. Now to be fair, I do suck at this kind of thing in general. I have the dexterity of an ogre with parkinsons. No lie. I had to have a friend install my psp shiled protector. I'm just not very good at lining everything up simultaneously before a single edge stick and the whole ^$#(%^& thing ends up of center. But I digress. The installation process for this really sucks. They provide you with some kind of solution that you can apply to your fingertips and the back of the screen itself to help with the installation process. It's a tiny ass bottle. I used almost the entire thing before I even had the back piece on. Each of the four pieces gets applied seperatley (one for the center button, one for the click wheel itself, one for the rest of the front, and one for the back) and getting it all to line up nicely took multiple attempts.
In addition to the mysterious bottle of solution, they also give you a very nice rubber scraper/squeegee type thing to aid in smoothing everything out and getting rid of the bubbles.
Sadly, in my case, after i had wiped the whole iPod down and actually installed the whole thing so it looked semi-decent I turned on the iPod again to see: a goddamn piece of lint. Stuck right on the screen. Underneath the shield. In order to reapply you need to have some of the solution left over. So after I peeled back the part of the shield, I found the tiny piece of thread to be pretty much glued on. Without any solution my only real option was to use the tip of a mechanical pencil to not-so-gently scrape off the thread. Sans solution, I was left with a big ugly smudge right where the thread used to be.
I've since ordered more solution. 5 bottles of it actually. In the meantime I guess i can live with the smudge since the iPod itself is nice and protected. The invisibleSHIELD really is an excellent product. I just wish installing it was easier.
In closing, I highly recommend both the Skull Candy headphones, and the invisible shield. Make sure you dont' completely suck at applying these kinds of things, however.
Posted in Rants, Hardware | Tags Apple, iPod
Posted by Shady
Wed, 06 Jun 2007 16:43:21 GMT
Arrived in New York City last night. I'm officially back in the USA. It's good, and bad to be back. I still have a bunch of articles t post about Thailand, so look forward to those.
Posted in Travel | no comments
Posted by Shady
Tue, 05 Jun 2007 19:03:00 GMT
Taxis in thailand are pretty much like Taxis anywhere else in the world.
Flag 'em down, hop in, go where you want, pay what it says on the meter. Par for the course.
That said, there are a few difference to be aware of.
The first, and most noticeable, difference is the color: there isn't just one standard color for a thai taxi.
No, thai taxis can come in any of the following colors: Yellow (yawn), Bright Green, Royal Blue,
Neon Pink, Royal Purple (usually with some kind of yellow or pink stripe on the side - these appear to be advertisements
for thai airways), a Lighter Purple, Metallic Bronze, Candy Apple Red, and a two toned Red/Blue or Yellow/Green.
The two toned taxis bring us to the next difference: All taxis except the Yellow/Green variety are members of the
taxi drivers union. Yellow/Green taxis are actually independently owned and operated by private citizens. Despite the
private ownership, the taxis charge exactly the same rate as the union members. They appear to exist solely as a way
for private citizens to make some extra cash. They are, however, regulated. Owners of private taxis (you can have more then one)
must be licensed by the communications(?) department.
Like pretty much everything else in Thailand, taxis are really really cheap. From Victory Monument to where I am staying
on Don Muang road (approximate distance 12 miles) was less then 5 bucks. Can't really go wrong.
Check out the pictures of every conceivable color of thai taxi in the gallery.
Posted in Thailand | no comments
Posted by Shady
Mon, 04 Jun 2007 08:06:00 GMT
Thailand has, like any other country, a large variety of restaurants. You have the huge trans-national
conglomerates like KFC, McDonalds, and Burger King of course, but you also have some local chains, or country wide chains
that you won't find anywhere else. We'll cover the interesting changes the trans-nationals have made at a later date.
We're going to start with my second favorite of the local chains I've tried so far. I've been to this place 3 times since I
came here. It's called MK Restaurant. It's Jibs favorite restaurant, and was my favorite until I discovered the
restaurant I'm going to talk about below. MK restaurant is essentially chinese style hot pot. If you're not familiar with hot pot, it works like this:
you have a hot plate at each table, on top of which is a pot filled with water. When you sit down, you can order from a huge variety of
raw items, that you get to put into the hot water to cook. Of course you have sliced beef, pork and chicken, but you also get
to choose from such delicious items as shrimp, fish tofu, squid, seasoned fish balls, pork balls, liver, and tripe. You also get
some tasty vegetables to add to the mix. Nothing special here (lettuce, etc) with the exception of Morning Glory, which the Thais
apparently consider to be a normal vegetable and eat all the time. I was skeptical at first, but it's actually really good.
But I digress. So you put all your raw ingredients into the pot and wait for them to cook. You also get a brown sauce that is
similar to hoisin sauce. You also get a small bowl of chopped chili and garlic that you can add to the sauce to adjust the taste to your liking.
When everything is done cooking, you fish it out, put it into your
bowl with some of the water that everything has been cooking in, as as much of the sauce as you want for flavor, and enjoy.
It's tasty, healthy and surprisingly filling.
Although the focus of the MK Restaurant experience is the Hot Pot, they also have a nice selection of dim sum, and pre-cooked
appetizers that you can munch on while waiting for your soup to finish. These appetizers come with signature green noodles. They're
just regular old rice noodles, that have been turned green via food coloring. It's a strange gimmick and unnerving when you first
try them, but they taste like plain old noodles.
Another interesting gimmick is the receipt you get from MK contains a list of the nutrients your meal contained, and the
percentage of your RDA that those nutrients made up.
Next up on the Thai chain restaurant list is my personal favorite: Bar B Q Plaza. Originally, MK was my favorite. I was only lured into trying BBQ plaza by
on of their advertisments on TV. I like to think of myself as not the type who is swayed by advertising (don't we all), but this particular ad was just too good for me to not want to try the place out.
The concept is similar to MK (communal cooking) the execution is different. Instead of a hot pot type cooking method (i.e. boiling)
BBQ Plaza uses a thai style grill on top of the hot plate. For the details about thai barbecuing and the style of their grill,
check out the pictures in the gallery here. You can also see a short video here.
Essentially you have a hot metal cooking surface at the top, and around the sides you pour in water to catch the drippings and flavor of whatever you're grilling.
You eat this soup along with the grilled items and fried or white rice.
Although you can order individual a la carté items such as ham, bacon, and squid, like at MK, the main focus is combination dishes.
You pick a selection of dishes with names like beef economy pack and ultimate family pack, each of which contains slices of either a single
type of meat (beef family pack) or a selection of multiple different kinds of meat (ultimate family pack). The ultimate family pack, for example, comes with
beef, ham, bacon, sliced pork, chicken, squid, shrimp, narutomaki (japanese style spiral fish cakes), udon noodles, cabbage, baby corn and carrots.
You dump the veggies in the water at the sides of the grill, slap the various meats at the top to cook, and wait. The end result is simlar to MK restaurant
but you get the added flavor that comes from grilling the meat. After the first or second round of grilling, you have a nice brown crust on the top of the grill,
that you can deglaze with the water to add incredible flavor to the soup at the sides.
Yum Saap (no website, sadly) is a restaurant that I think could only ever be created in south east Asia. That's not to say that it couldn't do well
in, say, Hawaii or California, but the overall taste and menu items are geared specifically towards this geographic region. The focus of Yum Saap is
the Thai style papaya salad, and its ilk: beef salad, pork salad, etc. The salads
served at Yam Saap are quite spicy, in the tradition of a lot of Thai food. It's very good, if you're used to that sort of thing, but even the Thai people I
ate with commented on how the papaya salad was "ped mak mak" (really spicy). Of course, simple papaya and other type of salads are not the only items available at Yum Saap.
They have the usual variety of a al carté items available, but even these are geared more towards veggies and present a seemingly healthier option for consumers of fast food.
Posted in Travel, Thailand | Tags food | no comments
Posted by Shady
Mon, 28 May 2007 03:33:00 GMT
We have been royally gypped when it comes to chip flavors.
Read more...
Posted in Travel, Thailand | Tags chips, crisps, food, thailand | no comments
