Hand Coding

I found this article written for JoongAng Daily (a Korean newspaper, I’m guessing) with a list of “You know you’ve been in the United States too long when…”. I found it amusing but in some ways unusual at the same time. I expected some of the items:

• You wear sneakers and carry a backpack when dressed in a business suit.
• You look forward to Monday Night Football.
• You order a supersized Big Mac with a Diet Coke.
• […]

But some of them left me scratching my head. For instance, “Sheer blue eyes no longer frighten you” — are blue eyes so rare in Korea as to be frightening? I mean, I wouldn’t mind meeting someone with purple eyes (though orange eyes might creep me out a bit).

And then there’s “You feel no guilt over trying on a dozen pairs of pants and not buying any of them.” Whenever I’m buying clothes, I make sure to try them on first; and, if they don’t fit, I put them back on the rack. Is it the dozen-pairs-of-pants part that Koreans find most odd or the putting-them-all-back that they’re not used to?

Ever since reading about heat insulators for laptops, I’ve been thinking about buying one. I did have some concerns about heat potentially being reflected back into the laptop (after all, the heat has to go somewhere). Well, Julie (who wrote the original review at The Gadgeteer) later took some temperature readings and she’s updated her LapPad review.

And, the results were mostly what I expected. In the control setup — without a LapPad — Julie’s PowerBook reached 131° after two hours. And, when testing with LapLogic’s Taku pad (their beefiest model), the laptop reached 138° after two hours. Yeah, it is a few degrees higher, but I could live with that.

I’m set on buying a heat insulator/dissipater of some type, but I didn’t want to rule out other brands either. Here's what I’ve found, including some new models mentioned in the comments from last time:

• Coolpad — it’s handily available at major stores such as Staples and CompUSA but I have some doubts about the cooling efficiency of a plastic product. I mean, it may be fine, but other products look more promising.

• KoolSink — this one caught my eye with its elegant simplicity (it’s just aluminum bent into a wedge). The aluminum would seem to be a good conductor and the laptop can even be tucked into the underside of the wedge for traveling. But then I read their FAQ where they concede that using a KoolSink on your lap “would not be very comfortable”.

• The Lapinator — though it’s obviously a small company, I couldn’t discount the Lapinator (silly name aside). In the end, though, I wasn’t sure that it’d work so well for traveling. Sure, they state that the foam “feet” are compressible when stored in a laptop bag, but my laptop bag is “slot loading” and I’m just not sure if those feet would get snagged on the way in.

• Antec Notebook Cooler — this is another cooler, but with active cooling (fans). And, while it may be suitable for other people, it doesn’t look very portable — and that’s one of my primary requirements for a laptop cooler.

• LapPads — so, the LapPads remain. They’re effective at deflecting heat and they’re portable — that’s about all I can ask for. So, I next had to decide on which model to get. LapLogic has a handy comparison table of their models which helped to narrow it down. I wanted a portable one, which eliminated three. And, of the three remaining, the Norte (the middle one) looks like a good compromise. It has more heat protection than the lowest model but it’s only about 1/3 heavier, whereas the top portable model is over twice has heavy as the low end one.

Now I just have to choose which color I’d like ;). Of course, all the cool metallic colors are only available on the high-end models, but I don’t think that’s enough of a reason for me to settle for a heavier pad. So, I’ll probably order one in a week or two.

I was reading over the WordPress Development Blog and discovered that there’s a WordPress Meetup on Saturday (at 4:00). Of course, I use Movable Type on this blog, but ever since Six Apart changed their licensing terms for Movable Type 3.0, I’ve started looking into alternatives. Granted, even under the new licensing terms, Movable Type would still be free for me. But, who’s to say that Six Apart might not change their licensing terms again?

And, in any case, WordPress has some intriguing features that aren’t available in Movable Type. There're a couple niche features like blogging-over-email (which I’m not sure I’d use), but the big one for me is that WordPress is entirely database-driven. So, pages are generated on-the-fly without any “rebuilding” (as opposed to MovableType which creates static pages that have to be written with each update).

In the entry on the WordPress Dev blog, Matt also links to his personal entry on the WordPress Meetup. And, I learned that there’re several active WordPress developers here in Texas. So, if enough people sign up for the Dallas WordPress Meetup, I'm hoping that I may be able to chat with Ryan Boren, one of the WordPress developers here in Dallas.

I was chatting with Leah, Josh and Troy at Leia’s birthday party on Saturday and we got to talking about Myers-Briggs personality tests (they’re the ones which result in a set of four letters indicating a personality type). At the time I thought I might be INTJ, but I wasn’t sure. Well, as it turns out, I’m ISTJ. I took the Word Choice Test at similarminds.com and the test at Humanmetrics.com and both confirmed that I’m ISTJ.

Reading over commentary on ISTJ, it seems mostly right, though I’m definitely not the “We’ve always done it this way” type (as one site put it). Typelogic’s ISTJ Profile is fairly colloquial and it includes examples of famous ISTJs. And PersonalityPage’s Portrait of an ISTJ is also good.

In any case, perhaps my friends would be a better judge of whether these assessments are an accurate portrayal of me. It can be hard to analyze myself and it may be easier for someone with an outside perspective. If you think some of the characteristics in the write-ups are right (or wrong) about me, leave a comment (and you may as well include your letters if you know them).

Out of seemingly nowhere, a severe storm swept through around 2pm yesterday. It only lasted maybe 20 minutes, but there were heavy rains and strong winds. I was typing an e-mail reply at the time and I was concerned that I might lose power. As it turns out, the power did go out, but my computer is on a UPS and I was able to save the e-mail to disk and safely shut down my computer.

I had planned to set aside the day for work — I had some freelance work that I wanted to get a head-start on before next week. But, without power, there wasn’t much I could do there. I waited around a few minutes in case the power came right back on, but it didn’t. So, what next?

• Plan B: The gym. I’ve had a lot of work over the past few days and I hadn’t been to the gym recently. So, I figured that would be a healthy option. I packed up my gym bag and headed off to Bally’s. As I drove into the parking lot, I noticed that the gym didn't have power either (bummer). So much for that idea.

• Plan C: Groceries. Since Super Target is on the way home from the gym, I thought that I could at least get some grocery shopping done. I drove up to Target and, sure enough, I could see the lights on inside (so far, so good). But, I then realized that it wouldn’t make much sense to buy groceries (eggs, cheese, et al) since I didn’t have a running refrigerator at home in which to put them. Foiled again!

• Plan D: Movies. Well, without any productive things left on my list, I reasoned that I may as well make an enjoyable afternoon out of it. Still in the Target parking lot, I accessed MovieFone via WAP on my mobile to check for movies playing nearby. I had wanted to see Super Size Me for some time and, sure enough, it was still in theaters. But, there weren’t any showtimes until around 5:00, which wouldn’t have allowed me to get back in time for Leia’s birthday celebration at The Elbow Room later that evening.

• Plan E: Ice Cream. Isn’t Plan E always “ice cream”? ;) With no further options, I decided that ice cream would work well. I hadn’t been to Braum’s in a while, so I headed off in that direction. I was a bit concerned that their power might be out as well, but they did have power. I walked in and ordered one of my favorite sundaes, their Peanut Butter Hot Fudge Sundae. And, in an attempt to counteract the full-sugar hot-fudge & peanut butter sauces, I ordered the sundae with low carb ice cream (yeah, Braum’s has low carb ice cream these days).

When the power first went out, I was a bit cheesed off since it prevented me from getting any work done; but, I became less annoyed as my adventure progressed. And, really, who can be mad while eating ice cream? So, yesterday turned out to be all right after all.

I was reading over a food-review of General Mills’s new cereal variety, Total Protein, when I came across something far more interesting later in the review: Jell-O Pudding Pops have returned! But first, a note on Total Protein — which I was tempted to try, actually — it's apparently “horrid” and the reviewer “would have thought they were stale had [she] not opened the bag seconds before”. So much for that idea.

But, back to the Pudding Pops. They last existed about ten years ago and haven’t been seen since — until now :). Considering that the confectionery even spawned online petitions, I’m surprised that it took this long. As it turns out, it’s not even Jell-O Co this time around; they licensed the Pudding Pop brand to Good Humor-Breyers who’s making the pops these days:

This is good news for Pudding Pop fans and for anyone who is looking for portable ice cream sans chocolate coating or cone. These actually taste richer and better than nonpremium chocolate-coated ice cream. In fact, this is one of the few products that I intended only to taste and ended up actually eating. […]

I last had pudding pops in the 80s. I was around ten at the time and I remember eating them with my brother on our patio outside our house back when we lived in Chadds Ford PA. Those were some fond memories — Pudding Pops made for a pleasant denouement to a hot July afternoon. And at $3.19 per 12-pack (per the review), I look forward to trying these again.

This was mentioned earlier in the week on Slashdot, but I thought it was interesting enough to mention here as well. A company called LapLogic has come up with some heat insulators for laptops which they call the LapPad. The idea is that they reduce heat transfer from your laptop to your lap (as much as 57 degrees, apparently).

The Gadgeteer has a review and it confirms that the LapPads actually work, though the reviewer didn’t check CPU temperatures in the test laptop. Some of the armchair quarterbacks on Slashdot expressed concerns along those lines, saying that the heat would just be reflected back into the laptop; I’ll wait for actual measurements before I make up my mind about that.

Reading over of The Gadgeteer’s forum thread on the topic, a couple other products came up. One was the CoolPad, which seems interesting at first — especially since it can swivel — but the “stackable risers” seem like one more thing to lose (the tilt can be adjusted by stacking multiple rubber widgets).

Another interesting product is the KoolSink which is really just a piece of Aluminum bent into a wedge (it cools passively through convection). The wedge is even wide enough so that the laptop can be nested inside the KoolSink for traveling (there’re pictures of this in the “bonus” section at the bottom of their details page).

With the heat that my PowerBook gives off, I can rarely make it past 45 minutes on my lap; so, I’ll be buying one of these. The LapPads look tempting, especially since they’re foldable for traveling. And, the original reviewer mentioned in the forums that she’s found a CPU temperature app and she’ll be updating the review once she completes her measurements. That may be the deciding factor in what laptop-cooling device I’ll buy.

Reuters is carrying a story on decision by several metal bands to soften their own sound in an attempt to get more radio play. I just can’t understand why someone would sacrifice her or her craft for monetary gain alone. I guess some people will do anything for a buck.

Hard rockers Flaw from Louisville, who blend sensitive melodies with aggressive guitars and anguished screams, are hoping to break through on radio with “Recognize,” a song featuring clean guitars and vocal harmonies from their second album, “Endangered Species.”

“We thought that if we came out with one of our heavier songs first it might not be grabbed onto by daytime radio,” said singer Chris Voltz of the band's new strategy. “This time the first song that we gave to radio was one of the softer, more daytime-acceptable songs.” […]

If I were in the same position, I’d just make the best music I could and make my money from CD sales and concerts. And, if that didn't work out, I may try to improve the band’s sound, but I wouldn’t want to dumb it down. Oh, and do I even need to mention that Metallica is also featured in the article?

Cadbury Schweppes is introducing a new beverage, 7-Up Plus. The big selling point to me is that it’s just like regular 7-Up, but with Splenda! As a bonus, it also has all kinds of vitamins in there as well:

Dr Pepper/Seven Up said the product, dubbed 7 UP PLUS, would be “a carbonated beverage fortified with calcium, vitamin C, real fruit juice and sweetened with Splenda.” […]

This new 7-Up Plus isn’t completely “full of nothing” as it has 10 calories and 3g carbs. But I can live with that — it’s close enough to nothing for me. In any case, it's one more Splenda-based soda on the market. And other than a few obscure store brands, I believe all of the Splenda-based sodas out there are from RC / Diet Rite (also a subsidiary of Cadbury Schweppes).

For what it’s worth there&Rsquo;re apparently seven flavors of Diet Rite, but I’ve only seen three of them at my local Super Target: Diet Rite Cola, Diet Rite Raspberry and Diet Rite White Grape (of which I have fridge-packs of all three in my fridge at the moment). So, while 7-Up Plus isn’t without calories, it would be the closest thing to a Splenda-based lemon/lime soda and I’m looking forward to it.

(Via CarbWire)

As I search for a portable audio player with Ogg support, I’ve long relied upon the VorbisHardware page in the Xiph wiki. And, though it’s updated regularly, it often lacks depth in its snippets. But, I’ve recently discovered DAPReview.com (Digital-Audio-Player Review), which redirects to AustinV.com (the DAPReview author’s primary domain).

I’m a bit surprised that I hadn’t come across it before (and, thinking about it for a moment, I'm not quite sure how I found it in the first place). In any case, it’s a bit like “Slashdot for mp3 players” — Austin links to articles such as player reviews and news of a new players.

Recently, he linked to this Gizmodo interview with Rio audio engineer Hugo Fiennes. Most interestingly, they discussed the chips in the iPod. And, according to Hugo, though the regular iPods simply don’t have the horsepower to play Oggs, the iPod minis have a newer processor and could conceivably be programmed for Ogg support:

The Rio Karma (developed here, in Cambridge UK) uses a PP5003 CPU. It plays OGG (and FLAC and MP3 and WMA). […]

The 5020 is based on the 5003, and so has the cache bug fixed. It’s capable of playing OGG with 25% or less hit on power (depending how much optimisation is done). I would suspect the 5020 will find its way into the next iPod [it's already in the iPod Mini], as it’s cheaper and integrates both the firewire MAC and the USB2 mac/phy blocks which are separate chips on the gen3. […]

An iPod with Ogg support would probably be the best of both worlds — patent-unencumbered Ogg support along with Apple’s UI expertise. But, I don't really see Apple going through the effort; after all, iPods already play MP3s and Apple wouldn’t want to shift focus from its proprietary AAC format.

Update 06/05: Monty from Xiph.org posted a comment on Slashdot about this where he asserts that iPods really do have the horsepower to play Oggs after all. Still, I don't think I’m going to hold my breath for Ogg support on iPods :-/.