Comments for wnstn.com

Comment on The Lost Finale: A Ramble by James E. Fredrickson

James E. Fredrickson — Wed, 26 May 2010 11:55:28 +0000

Very good analysis of this series. Particularly insightful with regard to meaningfulness and failure to establish a definition of “right” and “wrong”, “good” and “evil”. Without these things, the whole story collapses into just an exercise in “feel good”.

Comment on How Progress Works by Ryan Dunlap

Ryan Dunlap — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:06:54 +0000

Good thoughts. I’ve been mulling over the placement of music in my life, and also came to the conclusion that passing by the gatekeeper of the plastic wrap and white seals to overcome to enjoy the album artwork (granted, talking CD and not vinyl here) is something that I feel is ultimately lost with current technology.

I’m guilty of being an iTunes junkie. I pick and choose songs based off of what I hear and Shazam on my iPhone. It’s instant gratification, and I’m essentially making my own mix tape.

But, I had an interesting intersection between music and movies semi-recently. I had bought the soundtrack to Once before I saw the movie. I enjoyed 80% of the tracks, and would skip over the rest. But, when I finally saw the film, I had the sudden complication of wanting to skip the scene that had the songs I didn’t care for over them. But I’d never dream to skip around in a narrative film like the way I do with an album.

Not sure what to draw from that other than looking at different mediums and how we treat them.

-R

Comment on How Progress Works by Mom

Mom — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:00:37 +0000

I am glad you appreciate the emphasis we had on grammar. I know you said it is helping you, but my “grammar nazi” eye saw SEVERAL mistakes, but I enjoyed the post, none-the-less !!!! I was reading it out loud to dad and we do both wonder at the record player !!!!
I do agree with your points, but just because something new comes along, I don’t think the assumption can be made that the old is dead. I do, however, hope the 8-track tapes stay in the grave.

Comment on On the Future of Computer by Andrew Duthie

Andrew Duthie — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:42:11 +0000

So as I was saying, it’s not true that you can’t kill applications running on an Android device. The capability to stop them is built-in, but clunky, so a few apps have been written to make it easier. I use Advanced Task Killer, when the phone feels too sluggish — happens maybe once a week. (My iPhone was getting that way about once a day after 10 months. Rebooting would usually resolve it, but that takes a while.)

There’s a good article on why task killers are unnecessary on Android:
http://geekfor.me/faq/you-shouldnt-be-using-a-task-killer-with-android/
The gist is that Android handles all this crap automatically, so let it do its thing.

That said, there are apps that run in the background, such as Twitter clients, that every once in a while I want to shut off, to preserve battery power. I could open them and tell them to stop checking for new tweets, but just killing the app is a lot faster, and it preserves my settings for the next time I open the Twitter client.

On non-Android matters:

The thing I really love about e-Ink-based book readers is the elegance of the display technology. Right, you can’t read them in the dark, just a book. And just like a book, if you’re just looking at it, no power is consumed by the display. The iPad claims 10 hours of battery life, which is perhaps long enough that it doesn’t matter how much power it consumes while you’re just looking at the page.

I do agree that with the Kindle DX costing the same as a bottom-end iPad, the DX price looks pretty bad. I suspect it will come down in response.

Comment on Google Wave by Nate Baker

Nate Baker — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:47:32 +0000

Great thoughts Winston. I’ve been thinking about this lately after listening to a talk by Neil Postman. The first question he says we should pose when a new technology arrives is: “What is the problem the new technology solves?”

I wonder how much my enthusiasm for exploring a new technology is blinding me to how much I’m warping its ideal scope.

I’ve been pretty fascinated by it and have likely contributed to the buzz:
http://natene.ws/post/246834583/localizing-google-wave-to-nashville

How much is it improving my life? I haven’t answered the first question from Postman, so I’m scared to the answer to this one.

I would encourage folks like Christian to continue to push its limits, especially since Christian has a content focus on technology and collaboration.

Here’s the hour video from Postman if you’re interested: http://bit.ly/52hfsd

Comment on This Man Stands Resolved by Brad Blackman

Brad Blackman — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:34:03 +0000

Wow, this sounds awesome, Winston. I hope you and Freya have a blast. (I know you will.) Have you checked out Chris Guillebeau’s Art of Nonconformity site? He talks a lot about travel and living a “non-conformist” life. (I’m still in the middle of reading his “Art & Money” ebook.)

You’ll be glad you did this while still under 30. I know i’m only 7 years older than you, but it’s a lot harder to do this kind of thing once you have a kid.

Comment on On Magic by Christian

Christian — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:41:00 +0000

Very nice insight.

Comment on On Magic by Brad Blackman

Brad Blackman — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 04:45:08 +0000

Have you ever read Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie? In it, the main character, Saleem, spends a bit of time with magicians, contortionists, conjurers, snake-charmers, and other people living in a ghetto on the fringe of society. He explains that the magicians have a firmer grip and understanding of reality than anyone else, so they’re able to *bend* reality and amaze people.

Comment on Google Wave by rgreen

rgreen — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:27:58 +0000

I agree that it is for collaboration and there are broad horizons for that, but why was it pushed by so many media outlets as the “wave” of the future? Mixed signals from media sources people already trust mixed with the invite-only mystique really clouded the waters. I think people understand what it is for but are more surprised that it isn’t the miracle cure-all end-all that it was touted to be by many in the blogosphere / twittosphere.

Comment on Google Wave by Drew

Drew — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:43:11 +0000

“It is a waste of time to create a need so you can use a tool � a waste of time that could be used in other productive means.”

You have absolutely no future in upper-level management.