Thought I'd finally give an update about that kitty from a while back.
She was adopted! Yeah!
I checked the ARL site for a couple days after we dropped her off and I saw a photo that I'm almost positive was the same kitty. They had her listed as "Powder".
Then about 2 days later she wasn't on the site anymore, indicating that she was adopted. Kittens tend to go pretty fast -- especially those as nice as she was. I hope her and her new family are doing well.
The new Zunes from Microsoft are out (as of yesterday). They're a little cleaner and shinier than the first generation ones. They have a bunch of new features and there's a new version of the Zune marketplace and software, too.
I recently ordered a 1st gen. zune and according to the FedEx site, it's at my house right now, so I'll be playing with it tonight. It's one of the infamous brown ones. I ordered it because apparently the brown ones didn't sell very well and I bought it for about $90 (for the 30 GB model). The other ones were still closer to $200. You can get the new 80 GB ones for $250 (but they don't have brown ones anymore). However, as I write this, Amazon is currently out of stock.
Probably the coolest part of the new hardware is the new touchpad. You can use it as a regular touch pad and press the different parts to navigate. But it's also touch-sensitive and you can flick your finger across it to scroll through your songs (or whatever media you're browsing at the time).
The Zune marketplace (the equivalent of the iTunes store for iPods) has been completely re-written. The zune software was originally based on Windows Media Player. The new version doesn't seem as mature. There are a lot of things that you should be able to customize, but can't (at least not yet -- I'm sure Microsoft will be making a ton of updates to this over the next several months). The software now has built in support for podcasts, too. What's Up with Tech isn't listed yet, but should be soon. The user interface of the zune site (zune.net) and of the zune software/marketplace/whatever isn't as intuitive as it could be. One of my main complaints is that they break some primary rules of usability. They try to be cute with their naming conventions instead of naming the links what they actually are so that people can figure out where they should click. They should read Steve Krug's "Don't Make Me Think". Another complaint is that I can't edit all the values of the ID3 tags for my MP3's. For example, you can't specify the mood for the song. I use that a lot when choosing songs for a party, etc. I'll still probably keep using MusicMatch for that reason. Also, instead of having 10 or even 5 gradations for "preference" for you songs, all you can do is say that you like it or not (yes or no), represented by a full heart icon or a broken heart shaped icon (the previous version of the zune software let you specify the number of stars (1-5)).
I had some flaky performance on my computer with the new zune software, too. Every once in a while, like when switching between certain programs (I had Photoshop running) the zune software would all of a sudden pop to the front and/or it would flicker a lot. I'm sure most of these issues will get worked out by Microsoft very quickly (especially the bugs as opposed to the missing features).
One cool part of the new software is the now playing screen (the image below). However, I still wish there were more features. For example, whenever I see the now playing screen, I want to click on the album art to get more information (you can't). Or I wish I could see the album art bigger (throughout the app), but not possible. By looking at the image you get a feel for the music in my collection.
Another good thing about the new software-based features is that they're supposed to be backward portable to the 1st gen devices (which is a big part of why I bought one of the old ones, knowing that the new ones were coming out). I'll let you know how it goes.
Last night I looked out my front door and saw a little kitten looking back up at me. My wife and I, who have three cats of our own, were of course concerned and decided to check it out. As soon as I went back outside the kitty, which had gone back down the sidewalk toward our driveway, meowed and took several steps back toward me. She didn’t seem injured at all, but was a little scared and maybe hungry. The kitty didn’t have a collar on and the fur around her neck didn’t show any evidence that the kitty normally wore a collar. My guess is that the kitty was about 10 weeks old. That’s about the age our other cats were when we got them.
My wife and I told each other right away that we weren’t going to keep the kitten, but we wanted to do what we could for her to make sure she found a good home. She didn’t seem to be anybody’s, but we couldn’t be sure. We decided to bring her to the Animal Rescue League (ARL) so in case someone reported her missing to the ARL, she could be returned to her owners. And if she didn’t belong to anyone, hopefully they should be able to find her a good home.
We brought out a saucer with some Fancy Feast canned cat food and some Cat Sip (milk with added lactase so it’s safe for cats to drink). The kitten slurped it up.
We decided it would be best to keep the kitten in our garage for the night and then call the (ARL) in the morning. Our garage was pretty clean (we recently cleaned it out for a Halloween party) and our cars weren’t parked in there. Also, this would keep the kitten protected from our other cats and would prevent our cats from catching any illness the kitten might have.
We brought a kitty carrier outside and tried to coax the kitten inside with some more food, but she was nervous about going completely inside. She’d grab a chunk of food and quickly back out and eat it. We were acting very calm and doing the usual things to help make a cat at ease – not looking directly in the eyes, not showing teeth, slow movements, sighing, slow eyelid movements, etc. As she got used to us, she would meow and wander around enough for my wife to touch her. She was still quite cautious. Eventually my wife was able to grab her scuff and place her in the carrier.
Then I went and turned on the lights in the garage and opened the garage door. We brought her inside and closed the door again. We let her out and she started investigating and meowing. I got her a dish of water – with a flat bottom, so it was less likely to be tipped over accidentally. I also gave her a dish of dry cat food. We didn’t have any kitten food, so she got the prescription W/D food that we get for our cats. It’s quality stuff, though and our cats have very healthy coats because of it.
We left the carrier for her and left it open, so she could go inside and nap if she wanted. My wife also made a little nest of a blanket we had handy in the garage.
I got a litter pan for her and placed it where she could see it, but away from the bedding and food and in a little more private location.
My wife felt for a tracer chip, but didn’t feel one. Some pets have a chip about the size of a grain of rice implanted under the skin between the shoulder blades. The local ARL implants them in their kittens and puppies. Then if the animal gets lost and returned to the ARL, they can scan it with a special wand and get the pet’s “serial number” which can be matched to the owners, who can then be contacted.
I checked on the kitty several times last night. She’s a very sweet kitten. Sometimes she was lying on the blanket. She came over to me and wanted me to pet her. Eventually, she didn’t want me to leave her along. She wanted company and wanted to play. She even let me pick her up (I picked her up and placed her in the litter pan to show it to her). She was very affectionate and cute. We played like kittens and she was very gentle with her claws and teeth.
I checked on her this morning and she was doing fine. She used the litter during the night.
This morning my wife took her into the local ARL office. We wanted to make sure that she wasn’t euthanized. We’re sure she would make a great pet for a loving family. As policy, though, the ARL makes you sign away your rights to the animals you bring in. The kitten may have ear mites, which could easily be taken care of by a vet. We told them we would foster the cat until it found a home if necessary and donated some money to help make sure the kitten got the veterinary care she might need so she could be adoptable.
We’ll be checking the ARL website for her to make sure she finds a good home.
On the show, What's Up With Tech, I've been a little critical of the Apple iPhone. The last show (episode 3) was recorded quite a while ago -- before I had ever even seen an iPhone in person.
I had a chance to play with an iPhone in an Apple store a few weeks ago and was very impressed.
To my surprise, the interface was every bit as responsive as they make out on the TV commercials. As I predicted, the user interface was beautiful and very intuitive. I've heard the thing doesn't even come with a manual.
One of the remaining complaints that I've heard from actual iPhone users is the fact that you're stuck with AT&T. Their service has been less than ideal. Now there are ways to "hack" your iPhone to be able to use it with other service providers, but that voids the warranty and can cause problems when Apple pushes out updates to the phones. Many people with hacked iPhones have ended up with very expensive bricks after an update. Like with everything else, Apple doesn't want you to do anything with the iPhone that they didn't originally intend you to do.
Another complaint I've heard is that the sound quality of calls could be better. I've heard other users say that it's fine, though.
One remaining user interface problem with the iPhone is that there is only a touchscreen keyboard. Also, the iPhone tries to "correct" your typing, so often times a person's name that you type is changed to other English words and you have to go back and correct them. The soft keyboard is pretty cool in that when you "press" a key, a bubble shows up above the key to indicate which key you're pressing. Then if that's not correct, you can slide your finger over until the correct key is shown and then only when you remove your finger from the screen's surface is when the keystroke is made.
I recently purchased the Mogul (formerly called the PPC-6800) from Sprint. I already had a relationship with Sprint, so it seemed the logical decision. I'm quite pleased with it.
The Mogul runs Windows Mobile 6 and has all the related Windows functionality. Its interface isn't as "cool" as the iPhone's, but if you're used to using Windows PC's, the interface of the Mogul should be pretty straightforward.
As far as capabilities, it can do about everything the iPhone can do and more. In addition to the touch screen, it has a slide-out physical keyboard that's great if you need to type something and for text messaging. That's especially nice since I started using Twitter (see my previous post). The sprint data service is also faster than AT&T's (for connecting to the internet).
Another benefit that the Mogul has over the iPhone is the ability to install 3rd party applications. In fact, I bet that if I wanted to, I could install an application that would make my Mogul look and behave just like an iPhone.
So, to sum up, the Mogul is cool and can do more than the iPhone, but the iPhone is still a bit cooler. But if you don't want to be an Apple lemming, you have options.
I first heard about Twitter from Leo Laporte probably close to a year ago now. I just never signed up. Leo tries everything and I figured I'd give it time and see if it caught on some more. Boy did it ever. I just started using it about a week ago finally and I'm hooked.
Twitter is a web-based application that basically links your mobile device (phone) with SMS to a mini blog. You send an SMS message (a "tweet") to Twitter and it posts it to your blog. It also sends that message to the Twitter users that "follow" you. Often, people just post an update about what they're currently doing (like your Facebook status).
Leo doesn't use it much anymore because of possible intellectual property confusion with his TWiT brand. He talks about using Jaiku instead (pronounced like Haiku with a "J" (JI - koo), even though I think the creators are something like Danish, not Japanese). Jaiku looks more mature and seems to have more features, but Twitter has the crowds. So for this type of social application, it looks like Twitter's still on top (for now).
One cool thing about Twitter is that since the messages have to be short (140 characters or less), it's not that intimidating to create an entry. Since I'm "twittering" multiple times a day, it's not that much of a stretch to create a regular blog entry (here on Vox, for example) a bit more often.
A feature they just added is the ability to track any given key phrase. Then any time somebody made a tweet with that phrase, it would be sent to you. Then you could find more about that person and perhaps follow them and become twitter pals. I'll probably start tracking "Des Moines", etc. and see if I can meet some fellow Twitter users in the local area.
If you want to find me at Twitter, my username is just jakekerber.
I was just considering making a post and my vox page shows that I joined on Oct. 3, 2006. Today being Oct. 3, I decided I should post... something.
In the last year learned a ton more about audio and video production. That was mostly with the help of the people of This Week in Tech and the Pixel Corps. They put together a crash course for would-be podcasters this Spring in San Francisco called Gear Media Tech. The Pixel Corps people have a podcast of the same name here. It was very cool getting to talk to Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsay, Scott Bourne, John Foster, Craig Syverson, and everyone else -- especially since I was already listening to them on their podcasts (specifically: This Week in Tech (TWiT) and This Week in Media (TWiM)).
That event gave me a ton of inspiration and a bit of technical know-how to start podcasting. I now have a show with my friend and co-host, Tim Fisher, called "What's Up With Tech?". We cover technology trends for the non-technical audience.
I have aspirations to create many more shows (audio and video). Eventually, Tim and I plan to add the shows to what we're currently calling the Grab Bag Network. We have plans for some how-to shows, a show about beer, and others.
This past weekend I went out to the Podcast and New Media Expo in Ontario, CA (near Los Angeles). I'd say about 90% of the key people in the podcasting industry were there. And I was able to personally talk to a ton of them. Leo wasn't there, but a bunch of Pixel Corps members were. Steve Gibson of GRC.com and the host of "Security Now!" (one of Leo's shows on twit.tv) was there. Actually, Security Now is the first podcast I listened to. Steve won an award for best tech podcast and I was able to congratulate him in person. He's a great guy and I highly recommend his show -- I still listen to every episode.
I don't want to ramble much more, but I had a great time at the Expo and PodCamp SoCal, which was the day before the Expo. The parties were great, too. I met and/or hung out with the people from Podango, LibSyn, Steve of PodRunner, the guys of ExtremePods, various Pixel Corps people, John Foster of Beer School (and TWiM), Tim Street of French Maid TV, the guys from Ask a Ninja, Alex Albrecht from DiggNation, Shooby (everyone's favorite high school Junior), iJustine, Ewan Spence of The Podcast Network, and many, many others.
Thanks everybody from the expo. I learned a lot, did some great networking and had a ton of fun!
Damn, this post is chock full o' links!
I'm at PodCamp SoCal. Networking with a bunch of fellow podcasters. There have been some great discussions. I may give a more full rundown of what happened in a future post or perhaps on the What's up with Tech podcast.
I recently saw Stardust (IMDB link) in the theaters. I thought it was really good -- an interesting fairy tale type movie. There were some pretty funny parts too.
I saw Children of Men and was a little disappointed. Maybe I was expecting something more, but there didn't seem to be much point to the movie. Then it ended pretty weak, too.
I saw Hot Fuzz (IMDB link) and I Loved it! It's a great movie from the people who did Shaun of the Dead. Hot Fuzz is about a hot shot London cop who gets reassigned to a small town in the country because he's showing up the whole force in London. He starts seeing law breaking going on everywhere and... I won't spoil it for you. The comedy -- especially between the cop and his partner is great.
Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora, will be in Des Moines for a user's meeting on the evening of Thursday, September 27, 2007. If you like music, and if you're not familiar with Pandora or the Music Genome project, you should definitely check out:
Pandora.
It's a great way to hear new music that you're almost sure to love. You just tell it a song or artist you know you like and it will find other music that's similar. But it's much more complex than just picking other songs from the same genre. The people of the Music Genome project have analyzed thousands of songs to identify tons of features that can be used to compare them to other songs, so they aren't using anything as subjective as "genre". Then as it plays songs for you, you can give the song a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" and your preferences for that "station" will be further tuned. Just go try it out (it's free) and you'll get the idea.
They've had a tough year due to a bunch of stupid legislation regarding royalty fees for internet radio.
You should go meet Tim if you can. I'll post more when I learn where it will be (they're still deciding that).
Tim Fisher and I will also probably discuss this in an upcoming episode of our podcast, What's Up with Tech?.
In an effort to be more consistent with my blogging, I plan to keep my blog posts a little shorter (like this one).
