Digital Roadkill on the Information Superhighway

Well, that didn’t last long. Three days and it’s over.

The initial symptom was a dying screen, with all the signs of a loose connection. Then the screen went blank but you could still hear that the tablet was operating due the beeps and other noises it was making. After a short while, nothing.

The battery still charges but nothing else happens. Dead.

I contacted the supplier and they have indicated that I can exchange. I have to ship it back and as soon as I get a tracking number they will ship out another – no waiting for mine to get back before sending the new one to me. Given it takes 3 weeks to ship that’s a relief.

Or I can ship the whole kit back and they will refund the purchase price, once again with no waiting. As the original shipping was free it’s a fair deal.

I think I will probably exchange it. This time. If the next one dies I’ll go for a refund.

I’m going to miss having an e-reader. I really like reading.

I’ve now joined the tablet generation! Sounds like an age group that takes pills? Not really.

I’ve just purchased a 10.2″ Android tablet. Only a cheapie, not one of the brand name units that cost more than I can afford now or in the near future. The idea is to see if it is useful without breaking the bank. I bought it, a Chinese “Android Tab10″ a.k.a. “Flytouch III” running Android 2.3, from an eBay supplier shipping out of Hong Kong.

The initial impression is that it is cheap. A nasty plastic back that is going to scratch really easily – it already has in fact and it has only been out of the packing for 12 hours. A screen that moves every so slightly along one part of the top edge; that might be trouble later. Resistive, so single touch and requiring a firm finger or reversion to using the (provided) stylus. Purchasing more screen protectors is going to be a must. And a slip case…

The speakers work at an extremely low volume and the supplied ear-buds sound bloody awful; on the up-side my headphones sound okay. I’m not to sure that the microphone works at all; at least, I couldn’t talk to Skype when I gave it a go last night but that may just need some tweeking. The camera is strictly web-cam grade, good for Skype and not much else. Then again, if you want to take good pictures, buy a real camera, yeah?

The inbuilt AppMarket application works without a hitch, but it doesn’t link appear to the official Android app market so some of the newer apps are not available. When I accessed the official market the device type wasn’t recognised and I couldn’t download anything.

The inbuilt GPS (external antenna) works quite well, holding the satellite signals as I went from outdoors to indoors, something that my Garmin won’t do. The app placed me right where it should of on Google Maps.

The 2GB of internal storage – I think it is literally a micro-SD card – is handy and having an external micro-SD slot will be good. Two USB ports give more storage options too.

The wireless works well and the full-size RJ45 ethernet port means no lost adapters causing headaches. Not having inbuilt 3G is no great loss in Australia as the carriers charge an arm and a leg for data access. There are plenty of free Wi-Fi spots around the place and if I ever get the urge I can always buy a 3G USB unit.

Some apps, I suspect, are not going to work terribly well. I installed a Mahjong app without a problem but it hangs, or at least I think it does, as I run it up; it takes a power cycle to regain access.

Video playback covers the formats I want (AVI, MP4, FLV) with only a slightly noticible jerkiness, though it is possible that it is an artifact of the original conversion; time will tell. I haven’t had a chance to check out the inbuilt HDMI interface yet.

The provided e-reader has a serious flaw – you can’t set a bookmark, which means that if you power cycle the unit you have to find your place again; a laborious process when you can’t jump to a page but have to “leaf” through them. There are plenty of other e-reader apps out there though.

[Edit: Yes, it does have bookmarks and a scroll process; it just took me a while to find them...]

So far it gives me what I want – to read books and watch movies. At 1/3 to 1/10th the price of a name-brand unit that will do for now. Once I get the hang of it and find some useful apps it might just be worthwhile. I hope so.

From Reuters, September 21, 2011 (Kate Kelland)

… French scientist Alain Aspect, American John Clauser and Austrian Anton Zeilinger may be in with a chance of the (Nobel) Physics prize for their work on quantum entanglement, a notion that an exasperated Albert Einstein once described as “spooky action at a distance.”

Quantum entanglement involves the theory that particles can be connected in such a way that changing the state of one instantly affects the other, even when they are miles apart.

Entanglement plays an important role in the development of super-fast quantum computers, which scientists believe could outperform conventional computers by being able to test many possible solutions to a problem at once.

Aspect, Clauser and Zeilinger confirmed the entanglement phenomenon in a series of sophisticated experiments during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and in 2010 won the Wolf Prize in Physics for their work.

“While a full description of the kind that Einstein wanted is still not in anybody’s pocket, these experiments have been fundamental in physics in the 20th century,” said Pendlebury.

“They have confirmed spookiness at a distance. And I think Einstein would continue to be annoyed that there is not a better explanation for how this occurs.”

Seems to me, in my simple minded way, that they are describing any of a bunch of phenomena knows as “psychic”. Telepathy, where the brain of one person affects the brain of another, causing auditory or visual effects; Telekinesis, where the brain affects physical matter (with all of the sub-categories such as controlling light, creating “stuff” from thin air, etc); Pryokinesis, where a brain affects the vibration of atoms in an object so that its internal temperature reaches the point where it combusts.

They are the basic examples. One of the contentions for telepathy has been that it is “instantaneous”; the research into Quantum Entanglement would seem to support that.

So they reckon they can create a computer that utilises Quantum Entanglement theory for high-speed multi-path processing? Sounds like a brain. Wonder if the interface to us lowly humans will be something that bears a remarkable resemblance to long-dreamt-of telepathy?

Yeah, I know. This is an incredibly simplistic view of quantum physics; but wouldn’t it be fun? And spooky?

Decision made, the doors close us in the tomb,
Promising rebirth in another place and time.

Part of the crowd we travel alone,
Starting the day moving silently into darkness,
Abdicating our lives.

With the stillness of death we advance toward the day
In reclining towers of Babel that move in broken surges across our lives,
Simultaneously swallowing and vomiting motes of light with every pause.

Connecting, we disconnect.
Friends remembered through electronic noise
While pieces of our lives are plucked from steel trees,
The scraps thrown to uncaring strangers.

We pass by images ignored and worlds unseen,
Future hope and past experience just shadows on our clenched souls.

The worm glows, disgorging parasites in its tunnels.
Unseeing, uncaring, unknowing, it moves on
Leaving us to press our way out through those entering,
Exchanging lives with the brush of a shoulder,
Muttering apologies for guessed offenses.

Dancing the intricate pattern where nobody sees their partner,
Eyes sliding from face to face without recognition,
Escape grasped firmly in clenched fists.

A minute of sun,
Unseen from our place in the shadows
Ignoring the face of God.

Entering the new towers,
Thrusting skyward
We are propelled as seed,
To expend without release.

Goodness gracious, it has been a while, hasn’t it?

Well, I made it through the first three months. A lot of things to be remembered, some to be re-learned, and some new stuff. All-in-all, fun.

They like me and I like them so I can’t see me wandering off any time soon. Good times!

Yes indeedy; time for a quick update.

Working full time again, in IT and a not-for-profit to boot. Loving it.

Not as a it’s-all-your-fault manager, which would lead me down the path of madness again, but as the bloke who’s job it is to make sure others can do their job properly. Much more betterer.

Commuting for four hours each day, but that’s just a good excuse to read a book and has never worried me.

The real estate agent is happy with us, the power company has (for now) stopped threatening to cut us off, and all is good with the world. A regular salary, albeit not earth-shattering income, lets us budget and plan properly so that’s good too.

I feel… comfortable for the first time in a heck of a long time. Now to try and make sure that nothing else jumps up and surprises us.

Well, that was a fun couple of months. I managed to get work as a “Trades Assistant” (labourer) for a pre-cast concrete products factory. Very physical, noisy and dirty work involving lots of climbing on and off of 1/2 metre high platforms and using big hammers, oxy torches and arc welders. Fun actually, just bloody hard on my moderately aged and not terribly fit body. 10 hour days begin to wear you down.

Actually thought it was going to be my career until retirement, moving from one company to the next as the work became available. Vaguely depressing, but I was prepared to give it my best.

Then out of the blue a recruiter called me, one with whom I had left my resume some time ago. A job had been created in a Catholic Health Care organisation’s ICT department. I gave it a micro-second of thought and said “I’m in!”.

One meeting with the recruiter to discuss the job and one interview with the company National ICT Business Manager and the person most affected by the new role and half a working day later I have the job.

I’m back! Back in IT, back in a not-for-profit organisation, back where I want to be.

I have though about it (a lot) and have come to realise that it isn’t IT with which I am unhappy; it is corporate IT; the kind where everything is about the company’s profits and nothing to do with the people who need to use the technology or the people the company serves.

Not-for-profit companies have a different focus; sure the money is tighter but that just means careful management – not my problem as I am not a manager but I am well aware of the issue. A Catholic organisation (usually) has a definite mission that involves people first. The combination makes for a work environment in which I can be happy.

I start in mid May and damn I’m excited.

We went to the funeral of a young bloke today; I didn’t know him though my kids did. To me he was the young feller killed on his motor bike while doing something stupid; another statistic. It was made personal because of the details of the accident, which need not be gone into here. My wife and I attended to support others, mourning with them.

The young bloke was a tearaway; living life, as they say, to the full. He had already done a lot and was looking at a bright future. That has gone now but that’s not the point of this article. There are plenty of other people to talk about wasted youth, lives lost, potential destroyed, and stupidity.

I wanted to comment on his friends. The church, the largest in the neighbourhood, was overflowing. All seats were taken, including the choir and organ loft. There were some there who would have been, as we were, supporting others but the vast majority were the young bloke’s age group.

This age group are generally viewed as those who couldn’t give a damn, slovenly, undereducated and disrespectful. What I saw today gives the lie to that. With only a couple of exceptions they were very well dressed having clearly made an effort to see their mate off in style. While my generation and older might have cause to frown momentarily at the sheer amount of flesh on display, these days that is the norm; it helped that it was a stinking hot day.

In these days of the all pervading social media that is Facebook he had a page dedicated to his memory which quickly attracted over 500 people who shared their thoughts and memories. Some oldies don’t understand what this is all about but when you have grown up with the Internet always being there sharing in this way makes perfect sense and is natural.

Perhaps stupidly it pleased me to see the effort that everybody had made to say goodbye to a good friend. If the love and respect of friends lifts you on your way to Heaven, this young bloke had one heck of a good start.

To all you people selling software systems to organisations, take note:

A Plea to Software Vendors from Sysadmins – 10 Do’s and Don’ts – ACM Queue.

There are some very good pointers in there.

A change of service providers for our web and e-mail resulted in a mess of domain service screw-ups. So, pick another service provider, this time an Aussie one. After three days of mucking around and being mucked around with the 1st new provider, I got everything running in roughly an hour with the Aussie company.

Much simpler and without the crap.

And so the Gorrie domain has a new home, as do the Robertson-Gorrie and Grose Wold domains. Here’s hoping that we can settle here for a while.