Technology

Wishlist for iPhone5

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So, there were some pretty obvious features that made the iPhone4 a must for me – HD video recording, retina display, video calling, camera flash and a faster processor (the 3GS was creaking with iOS4).

But with the iPhone5 announcement expected at WWDC, are there things that would make me upgrade a year later?

Well, other than bugs in the software (which I’ve blogged about before), which should filter down to iPhone4 too, there’s less that I obviously need. Here’s a collection of rumours on which I’ve based my list so far…

Things I’d like but probably won’t pay for so far

1) Better flash/camera
2) A5 processor (multitasking poorly executed to date on iPhone)
3) Improved phone reception (not that I’ve had substantive problems here)

Things I don’t care about just yet

1) LTE support. No live networks here yet, maybe by iPhone6 time…
2) 3D photography. Not that I think Apple will go there.
3) Weight / colour – I can live with the iPhone the size it is
4) 1080p video output
5) NFC payments
6) Photo projection or other gimmickry

Things I’m not sure about:

1) Form factor. Do I need a 4" screen? I definitely don’t need an iPhone Nano.
2) Any Apple surprises.

All in all, it’s looking more like the iPhone5 will be more like the iPhone4S than a full-on device upgrade, so I may skip it…

Have I missed anything good? I’m not sure what else I need in a phone at this stage…

Television

Glee season 2 – episode 11… a return to form?

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So, erm, yeah, I like musical stuff and Glee, too.

Last night’s episode was a bit of a return to form for the series. Where most of this season has seen a series of randomly interconnected songs with minor bits of more or less completely tedious exposition, there was actually a plotline in this episode. Zany, as ever, but more or less contiguous and coherent. Cannon, much?

Hasn’t been a better ep this season since Gwyneth did Cee-lo, IMHO.

Does it get better? Or worse…?

Trailer for ep here:

Science

Diabetes and fruit sugar

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I’ve been indulging my polymath interests by researching and blogging about a number of different things over the course of this sabbatical and one of the things I wanted to write about was the relationship between eating fruits and type 2 diabetes – the contention has been made that you can eat as much fruit as you like, as its fruit sugar  (fructose), not sucrose (which is what diabetics struggle to break down with their diminished supply of pancreatic insulin). [[A Level biology flashback – Islets of Langerhantastic ]]

I have a hunch that – in moderation – there’s no issue for diabetics in eating fruit but people who persuade themselves that they can eat as much fruit as they like are deluding themselves as you’ll end up with carb overload eventually. In finding a definitive answer to this question, however, the Internet is failing me as there is so much conflicting opinion out there. Whilst no-one says you can eat as much fruit as you like, some say that fruit sugar is actively harmful, and some maintain all things are good in moderation.

So I don’t have an answer here. I have a feeling that fruit juices in particular have the easy potential to be bad things for type 2 diabetics (especially those with weight/diet issues) as most have added sugar and, irrespective of that, too much fruit sugar can overwhelm your body’s ability to process it (hence the High Fructose Corn Syrup controversy in the US). Again, when taken beyond moderation…

Can anyone point me to any useful, reliable resources?

Dadblogging

On relationships with parents

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Being a parent your perspective shifts on any number of fronts. One I was giving idle thought to  the other day is commonality with parents. As a kid, you’re totally dependent on them and look to them to supply entertainment and interest. The things you are both interested in and talked about overlap enormously.

At some stage, usually around the teenage years (maybe sooner now thanks to the Internets), kids have the temerity to start to be passionate about things their parents have no hope of keeping up with – for me it was rock music, Transforming robots and technology – and your interests move apart. I distinctly remember a conversation where I tried to engage my parents in a discussion about what some Weezer lyrics meant and was surprised at the time at their inability to engage with me on this front… in retrospect, what was I thinking??

Then at some stage a bit beyond that – you have kids yourself and suddenly the common interests you have with your parents ramp up again. You’re both interested in child development, nursery rhymes, infant healthcare, and crucially – the kids in question.

Just an idle thought… one that will hopefully give me perspective when Emily starts to talk to me about things I don’t understand at all in a few years time…

Technology

A week with a MacBook Air

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Ok, those of you who read my recent post on the matter (and Tom’s more detailed review) will know that, at long last, I succumbed to Mac envy. And when my parents were at a loss as to what to get me as a gift on my recent visit to Malaysia, and I spotted the Air cost 30% less than it does in the UK, I made the suggestion… and yes, I know that even as a grown man I continue to be spoiled by my parents…

So far, there’s a lot to love and a few things I’m still getting used to. I haven’t used a Mac in any substantive way since I had a late model Powerbook G3 gifted to me by a prospective employer back in 2000, so its taking a bit of getting used to…

Love…

  1. Multi-touch touchpad. Makes a laptop useful without an external mouse. Pinch and zoom, two finger scrolling, three finger, view desktop, back/forward, application switching… all amazingly natural and a big step towards where I think human/computer interaction is trending.
  2. Boot time (short), hibernation/resume time (instantaneous), performance (good), battery life (impressive)
  3. Design (fantastic), weight (negigible), screen (crisp)
  4. AppStore (needs more integration with other apps, but otherwise…) SPARROW for email is AMAZING, as I’ve also blogged before
  5. Application integration into OSX is less intrusive (thanks to growl and the more icon-driven menu bar) and therefore it feels less clunky than even the very good Windows 7
  6. Most of the apps I use regularly have been ported or have superior versions on the Mac including Skype, Evernote, Tweetdeck, iTunes (obv), Chrome, VLC and Teamviewer. And obv MS Office, although I intend to avoid that one…
  7. I like the launcher… much more intuitive than the Start Menu although a bit fiddly to configure with Stacks in the way that I’d like…
  8. Keyboard! The data card is coming out of the iPad and a USB data card is going to be stuck into the iPad to allow blogging and writing on commutes etc.

Dislike/getting used to…

  1. Learning the subtly different way of doing things (command/alt+shift+arrow for word select instead of CTRL-shift – why?)
  2. No CLI that I can find (how do I run a ping and do that random hackery I’m used to?) Terminal App in utilities folder! Thanks Jimjam!
  3. Finding new shortcuts – I love F2 for rename (enter to rename – too simple! Thanks Jimbo) and CTRL-K to add a hyperlink and trying to figure out how to do these things (amongst others) in OSX.
  4. Search doesn’t feel as well-integrated as it is in iPhone/iPad/Windows7. Need a left swish into Finder. Oh, there it is. Top right. D’oh.
  5. Touchpad gestures a bit temperamental
  6. I can’t find a decent blogging client – Qumana is OK but Marsedit is too expensive and Microsoft haven’t ported Live Writer to Mac.
  7. Flash seems less reliable than on Windows – presumably thanks to the ongoing spat between Apple and Adobe
  8. Software updating is fiddly outside the Mac store and System Update
  9. It shipped with two Apple stickers for me to proclaim my smugness to the world. They’re going in the bin…
  10. As GeowGeow observed, no sim card slot. Therefore, imperfect…

I’ll add to this list as more occurs. Any more tips on things I should do differently on a Mac, please let me know as I’m a long way from mastering this bad boy.

I’m not a complete convert – this is a mixed platform house and we continue to use PCs as well as Macs all over the place. It is telling how central the Internet is to our existence that Amanda used the Macbook for Facebook / eMail and didn’t really notice any significant difference to her normal Windows machines… the era of the OS is dead, the web is the new OS… long live GoogBook ad Facegle!

Television

How to protest the Outcasts cancellation

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Some insight from readers, some my own digging in response to the upset around Outcasts non-renewal/cancellation (is there a difference?)… I’m really not sure that doing any of this will make any difference, but it’ll give you an opportunity to vent. Thanks to everyone for their suggestions in the comments.

1. Use the complaints form from the BBC – found here. Not sure this’ll get you anywhere as they now apparently have a stock response:

Thanks for contacting us regarding ‘Outcasts’ on BBC One.

I understand you’re unhappy with the cancellation of the series.

We regularly have to make difficult decisions and unfortunately sometimes they will prove to be unpopular with some viewers. In spite of a great cast and production team, ‘Outcasts’ did not find its audience in the way that we had hoped. We remain proud of it but it will not be returning for another series. We can only apologise for any disappointment caused by our decision.

2. Join the Facebook protest. I don’t know if this is being monitored or actively campaigned with but there’s 1,500 people on there at the moment so at the least you’ll find like-minded people.

3. Write to the commissioning editors (all their assistants’ contact details are on the web) or Kudos. Not sure anyone at Kudos can do anything or if you’ll get a response. My brother knows the CEO of Kudos and received a brief email from him expressing some sadness at the cancellation, so not sure they’re in a position to do much (my bro flagged the comments here to Kudos, so they at least have read them if not the BBC folk…)

4. Set up an online petition, get loads of support, and then do (3) above.

5. Suggest that Sky take it up by submitting it as an idea. Not sure how complex the rights issues are.

6. Get in touch with Ben Richards and ask him to write a book to finish the story. He’s on Twitter, but not sure if that would work unless you also happen to be a publisher who wants to offer him a lucrative deal to do the job.

Me? Well, I’m going to finish watching the series (I know, how can I be taking so long? Well, being a dad is time-consuming!) and if I feel suitably inspired I’ll post my suggestions for how the series would resolve here to help assuage the frustration of being left high and dry with the season finale. After all, my dream is still to be a SFF author someday!

Right, normal blogging service will resume now. More on soup, gardening, dadhood, technology, and the like, less on Outcasts… Please keep discussing in the comments and I’ll chip in if I discover/find out anything!

Gardening

Things I’ve learnt about gardening

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Strawberries have their own pots. Who knew? And now we have one.

Raised beds are a good for growing veg, due to drainage, soil compaction etc. Also, edging is important.

A lot of different stuff about tree rootstocks. MM106, anyone?

A bit about dual purpose apples and apple tree pollination. Yum.

A bit about preparing veg for planting from seed, thanks to this book, a gift from Sensei Paul and Rach.

A bit about composters (the importance of turning), wheelbarrows (the importance of pneumatic tyres) and water butts (heh heh… butts).

The previous owners of our house had very… different… taste in plants.

Today we’ll probably learn some stuff about digging, dirt and hard, scratchy gardening work! We’ll be attempting to plant the following:

  1. Garlic
  2. Chilli (from Malaysia)
  3. Cucumbers (Balinese)
  4. Carrots (alicante)
  5. Strawberries
  6. Blueberries
  7. Victoria plums
  8. James Grieve apples
  9. Tomatoes
  10. New potatoes (sorry forgot about these! Got a new potato planter thingy)

Wish us luck!

Media & Marketing, Television

Why do ratings matter for the BBC?

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A lot of the protest around the Outcasts cancellation I’ve read in the comments has been around the ratings question. As a public service broadcaster, why do ratings matter?

Put simply, ratings are a way of the BBC verifying that it is spending the license fee in the viewers’ interests. If it is committing a large spend to a TV programme, it needs to be sure that it is proportionate to the interest in the show. Bearing in mind that an hour of even a simple soap opera can cost in excess of £100k, and these, rightly or wrongly, receive millions and millions of viewers, the higher cost of creating a Sci-Fi drama series presumably proportionate support (although obviously it’s not as simple as “as many viewers as Eastenders” or it’d never get made). In addition, although this is a secondary concern, a highly rated programme can be a source of revenue for the BBC via BBC Worldwide (which made £1bn last year, pittance against the operating costs of the BBC but not too shabby).

There’s more on this question on Quora for interested people.

However, I think the BBC has ignored the long tail a bit with Outcasts. If you look at my exchange with an independent TV producer on Quora here you’ll see that iPlayer ratings do indeed count – independent production companies are remunerated in part on performance there – but it looks like the decision to cancel Outcasts was taken before iPlayer data came into play. This is presumably because the viewer numbers were far too low for a mid-week prime-time programme, irrespective of iPlayer views, but without access to the iPlayer viewer numbers its difficult to know if they’ve been properly thoughtful about this.

Incidentally, I wrote to both the BBC and show producers Kudos TV to put some commenter questions to them. Sadly, the BBC has ignored me (presumably because I am not a journalist) and Kudos sent me an ironic individual reply saying they wouldn’t reply to emails individually.

Internet, Software, Technology

Windows Live Writer for Mac? Blogging clients for Macs

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I’m learning a few things about Macs these days, and one of them is that free blogging clients are not quite as easy to find as they are for Windows. Marsedit, one of the major options available through the App Store, costs the best part of 30 pounds!

Thanks to the WordPress Codex, though, I’ve found Qumana. Nowhere nearly as powerful as Windows Live Writer and I need to work out the keyboard shortcuts… but its a start, and free!

 

Armand David's personal weblog: dadhood, technology, running, media, food, stuff and nonsense.