Tablets

I have been giving a lot of thought to tablets lately. The iPad has put tablets on the map and a number of manufacturers seem to be scrambling to get something on the market.

Tablets generally come in two varieties. The iPad is the flagship for the limited type of tablet, which runs on an ARM processor and runs an OS similar (or identical) to a smartphone. The second type generally runs a low power, low heat version of a desktop processor and a desktop OS, like Windows. Without meaning to demean either type, you could think of these as being netbooks without keyboards and large screen smartphones. I am careful about my insult warning because I don’t want to offend iPad buyers. I can certainly talk at length about the deficiencies of the iPad, but that isn’t my point now.

While many feel that the iPad has the tablet market to itself, that is only because they never looked for a tablet until the iPad came along. In addition, it looks like the market will soon be flooded with competitors. Many of those competitors will be equipped with ARM processors and will run Android, which will place them as direct competitors of the iPad in the first segment mentioned above. Android is a smartphone OS.

To truly understand the tablet market you must understand the limitations and advantages of these two types of tablets. A new nomenclature has been suggested for this market. Slate would refer to the more limited giant smartphone device, while tablet would be reserved for devices running a desktop OS. I like it, so I’ll be using it.

Slate (Giant Smartphone)

Since the iPad is the best known tablet I will use it as the example.

I have disparagingly referred to the iPad as a glorified iPod Touch. This is correct for the simple reason that the iPad does nothing more than an iPod Touch. They run the same OS and the same apps. Anything and iPad can do, an iPod Touch can do. This is true for any tablet that runs Android, except of course you must compare it to an Android phone.

Now, that doesn’t mean that this type of tablet is worthless. If you have used a smartphone for any length of time you know that one of its biggest limitations is the tiny screen. The tablet relieves that problem. Whether watching videos, reading or surfing the web, the experience is better because of that larger screen.

Tablet (Keyboardless Netbook)

Now, on to the second type of tablet.

So far, most of the more powerful tablets run Windows. They aren’t really any bigger than the lesser tablets, though they may be a bit thicker because of the extra heat from the more powerful processor. Many netbooks run Linux and you should be able to run any variety of Linux on Tablet devices.

Tablets offer many advantages over Slates, though some of these advantages may be shared by Android Slates, which will have their own advantages over the iPad.

As I used the iPad above, I am going to use a Windows Tablet as my example here. It is no accident that I am going to use a Samsung Q1U as my example, I am writing this on my Samsung Q1U right now.

My Tablet has a full version of Microsoft Office on it, not the Mobile Version that you find on Windows Phone, but the full version, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, even Access. Now, you may think that a boast, but actually it is just an example. With A Windows Tablet you can run any application that will run on Windows.

My Samsung also has two USB ports, a network jack, a VGA port and an SD card slot. You won’t find any of those on an iPad, though you may find SD card slots on Android Tablets. And yes, my Samsung has WiFi and Bluetooth.

Now, my old Samsung is a bit of a dinosaur in the Tablet World, but you can see that a true Tablet will have capabilities that no Slate can match.

The price for choosing A Tablet over a Slate are cost and weight. The fan on my Samsung is running right now.

I am not offering any judgments today. I am not here to declare one better than the other, only to define the market.

The Great Austin Burger Hunt

Chili’s Oldtimer

Chili’s
12901 N IH 35
Austin, TX 78753-1018
512-251-2442

“I want my baby back, baby back, baby back…..”

Okay, not really. Purely by accident, Chili’s is second on my Great Austin Burger Hunt. Accident, because I went out with my wife and my mother-in-law and that is where we ended up. Now, what I really love at Chili’s is the Skillet Queso, but when it comes to dinner, you can do a lot worse than the Oldtimer. I picked the Oldtimer, because I wanted to try the burger, somewhat plain-ish, if you will. I didn’t want a burger buried in BBQ sauce, or bacon, or what have you. I wanted a burger, plain and simple.

Funny thing, well actually 2 funny things, when I ordered it the waitress didn’t ask how I wanted it. I expect that in a sit-down restaurant, and I seem to remember it from past trips to Chili’s. I told her medium well anyway, and asked for some mustard and mayo. I asked her to leave off the red onions, but forgot to mention the tomato, and pickles, which I didn’t want either, my bad.

So, I finished my Skillet Queso, with a little help from my Mother-in-Law (my wife does not eat meat) and waiting for my burger. It wasn’t long in coming and that is when I noticed the second funny thing. The burger was considerably smaller than I remember. They are called Big Mouth Burgers, and it wasn’t exactly tiny, but it was not the same enormous burger that you used to get at Chili’s.

It was good though. Once again, not spectacular, but it was good nonetheless. They put plenty of mayo on it, but I did have to ask for some mustard. Now, that does not really detract from the burger, so much as from the overall dining experience, but it is something to note. The meat was juicy and tender and cooked perfectly. I ordered Swiss Cheese, which was nicely melted. There wasn’t nearly enough lettuce, especially after I removed the tomato and pickles (again, my fault).

Chili’s Fries are very good and these did not disappoint. They may not travel well, but they don’t need to and they remained crisp and tasty until I finished them, and never turned greasy or soggy. I am not a big fan of pepper on fries, but it works for Chili’s.

So, for a conclusion…the burger itself was good, but not great, and the fries were very good.

If I had to compare them to Five Guys (do I? why yes, I suppose I do) I would probably put them about even. Neither excelled into the burger stratosphere, but both left me willing to come back for more, and isn’t that what a restaurant is really looking for, repeat customers?

The Creative Process

Something my wife said started me thinking about creativity. I was thinking about the process of creativity and about why people can be very creative in one area and yet not another. For example, I think that my writing and my armoring (Red Dragon Armoury) show that I have creativity but yet I cannot seem to express that creativity in visual arts, like drawing and painting.

Back in college, my second try at college (it took three tries to get a degree), I was a commercial art major. It started off as a sleeping stone to architecture, which is what I had decided on in High School. I was very excited by what I saw produced by illustrators and that is what I wanted to be able to do, book covers, movie posters and especially album covers. This is lack in the days when vinyl was still king and I especially loved the glorious album cowers of Roger Dean.

Unfortunately, I just wasn’t very good at it. I couldn’t translate what I saw or what I imagined onto the canvas. And more than just being unable, I was extremely frustrated by my lack of ability and therefore by the whole process of creating my art. Eventually, I gave it up.

My point about creativity is that it is a process, and a love of the finished product is not enough. You must love the process that leads to that product or you will never truly be successful in that creative endeavor.

I never really enjoyed the process of producing a painting or drawing enough to power through my lack of skill. I enjoy the process that ends in a finished piece of armor. I never really enjoyed the process that produced a piece of flat art. I never tried sculpture when I was at school and what I do now is partially metal sculpture.

Finally, I come to another of my creative endeavors, an endeavor that has been causing me some frustration of late, my writing. I enjoy writing but for a long time I struggled with trying to become a professional writer. When I look back at those days, more than 30 years ago, I think that I wanted to be a writer more than I wanted to write. I wanted the product more than process.

The only writing that I have done with any consistency is the journal that I have kept for more 35 years. It has been a constant companion and yet it has sat unused for long periods.

I don’t know if I will ever sell anything, but I have finally learned to love the process of writing…as long as I don’t push too hard. When I try to force myself to write I generally find that things go badly.

Writing About Boredom

Fundamentally, I am bored.

Now, this is not much in the way of a revelation, at least to me, but once again I was struck by the fact that this may be the base motivation for much of what I do.

I play Mass Effect 2 for the third and a half time because I’m bored.

I watch videos because I’m bored.

I don’t want to mow the yard, or wash dishes, or clean my room, or do any of a hundred other necessary things because they are boring and I am already fundamentally bored.

I don’t write because I’m bored.

This is the one that is bothering me at the moment. I enjoy writing and I think that I have a certain amount of skill at it, but lately I have found it hard to get myself to sit down and just write. Then, to top it all off, the last time I tried to force myself to sit and write was a disaster. I may have squeezed out a few paragraphs I but they were pretty awful.

It could be a problem with the story I was working on, but I think it might have to do with how I write fiction. I find that I have to see the scene in my head before I can write it. One story I wrote for an online game forum seemed to take forever, because some of the scenes wouldn’t quite come to me.

But, I think the real problem is that I am so fundamentally bored that I find it hard to let my mind wander in the way that helps me imagine the stories.

I am so fundamentally bored that I work at distracting myself and I end up distracting myself from writing as well as almost anything else useful.

Unless of course you consider it useful to catch up on the unwatched videos that you have been meaning to watch.

The Great Austin Burger Hunt

Five Guys Burgers and Fries
3208 B Guadalupe St
Austin, TX 78703
Tel: 512-452-4300

Cheese Burger

Good, but not spectacular. Meat was well cooked and the lettuce was crispy. The bun was above average, better than the standard balloon bread bun you get at most places.

Bacon Dog

I was disappointed, but it’s not what you think. I was expecting a hot dog, but what I got was more of a brat, or a polish. Now, I love both of those, and this one was good, but it was not what I was expecting. The bacon was perfect, but on a brat, it was a bit much. Next time I will try it without the bacon, and there will be a next time.

Large Fries

Five Guys delivers their fries in a cup…well, sort of. All Five Guys orders come in a bag. They don’t ask if it is to go, they just deliver it in a bag. After putting your burger in the bag, they fill a cup with fries and put that in the bag, but then they also fill a small metal bowl with fries and toss that into the top of the bag. It was a very large order of fries.

And, they were hot, almost too hot. Even after walking out to my car, they were extremely hot. They were well salted too. Now, that is a big deal to me. Fries without salt are bland…well, let’s be honest, potatoes without salt are bland, no matter how you prepare them. So many places have gone to minimal salting that I almost always ask for salt when I order fries. I think it is some health conscious lunacy that causes it.

If I were health conscious I wouldn’t be eating fries.

Now, don’t get me wrong, they weren’t over salted, something which I am somewhat prone to doing. They were well salted, and that is a good thing. I grabbed some salt on my way out, but I did not use it. So, back to being very hot. They were tasty, large cut fries with the skins on. Now, I am not a huge fan of skin on fries, but I don’t mind it, except for the occasional fry cut from the edge of the potato.

I also judge fries on how well they travel. Almost all fries are good when they are hot and fresh, but some remain tasty for a few minutes. McDonald’s fries are among the best, but they do not travel well. 5 minutes later, they are bland, soggy, strings of potatoe. On the other hand, Wendy’s fries are not quite as good when fresh, but they travel well. 5 minutes later they are still pretty good.

Five Guys fall somewhere in between. Well, when fresh. The fries were good, but again, like the burger, not spectacular. Unfortunately, they did not travel well. 5 minutes later they were greasy, soggy, and barely recognizable as edible potatoes. I won’t be ordering the large fries again. A small cup will be more than enough.

My conclusion? Good, but not spectacular. I will go back, but not all that often, because they don’t have a drive thru…at least not on Guadalupe.

What I did at work today...

a photo essay.

So, we are deploying new computers at work...lots of new computers.

Yes, that is them all in their pretty boxes. Please, no comments about them being from HP, that wasn't my decision. I am just the lowly peon who deploys them...well, one of the peons.

As you might imagine, we aren't going to let those poor unsuspecting users open up the Christmas boxes and gaze at all the goodness inside, no, we are going to keep that fun for ourselves. I got to unbox a few earlier in the week, but someone else is handling most of that. So, then they look like this.

Obviously, there is more in the boxes than this. There's foam.........but that's not my department, so this is the next stage in what I did today. Now, the real work begins.

This is the Assembly line...well, not exactly, but this is the staging area. Four at a time...you'll see why later. Next, they need to become part of the Inventory, and that means tagging. Yes, I've blurred out all the juicy bits. This is the form that brings them onto the Inventory, and the little white tags are the White Tags of the document title. Neat how that works, huh?

In case you cannot guess, there isn't an ounce of originality or creativity in the entire building, but oh well.

Next, the tags go on to the systems and numbers get written down.

After the number writing, other numbers get added to a spreadsheet, so that someone somewhere will know that each HP tracking number also has another tracking number.

Now all the number and tag stuff is done and I can get back to the computers. I can barely contain my excitement. The covers are removed, and then the hard drives are removed.

Now, we have a special software build where I work, we call it Bro 2.1. Don't ask me why, I didn't get a say in the naming. If I did, the build would be called Camaro, but oh well. So, to get the software we want onto the drives, we use a Kanguru. Yes, that is spelled correctly, check the picture. Now, this copies one drive onto four drives. See, I told you I would explain it.

Two source drives because we have two images. There will be a third later, but that is a story for another day.

Now, the duplication takes 2-4 minutes, then I put the drives back in the systems and the sides back on...sorry, no pictures. You can scroll back up if you really want to, but it's not that exciting.

Then, I carry them over to the pallets where they await their deployment next week.

The stack on the left is ones that I did....well, most of them....yesterday, and the stack on the right is the ones that I did today. There are 39 in that stack, and I did 36 of them.

So, now you have a glimpse into the utterly fascinating world of the IT professional.

Sorry, no autographs.

Password Foo

I seem to spend my life changing passwords. If it isn’t my own, then it is all those I deal with at work. I spend part of every day resetting passwords. The best part of it is the folks who ask why their password has been changed. That’s when I have to bite my tongue. People forget their passwords, but they can’t admit that they forgot. Actually, I think some of them honestly believe that they remember it correctly.

Passwords don’t change on their own.

Remember that the next time you think you remember a password correctly, but it doesn’t work. A computer is less likely to forget a password than a human. There is no secret army of password changers out there. The funniest part is that it is same people over and over again who claim that they remember their password it just doesn’t work.

No. You forgot it again.

But that is only part of my password annoyance. The problem is all the various password rules. We only use about a dozen different systems at work and quite a number of them have different rules for the passwords. Some want only 8 letters, no more, no less. Some want a capital letter, others a special character (# & - *), others want a number. It gets so confusing I want to scream.

It gets worse away from work. So many passwords on so many sites, and each one has what they think is the right way to make a secure password. Not only do they have the same rules that I mentioned above, but some don’t want you to use a special character. Six character minimums, eight character minimums…it’s enough to drive you nuts.

Someone needs to publish the Ultimate Password Rules, and since no one seems to want the job, here goes.

1. Passwords must be at least 8 characters long. All you six character password people must get with the program.
   
   
2. Passwords must have at least one of each of the following:
   
   
   • Uppercase letter
     
   • Lowercase letter
     
   • Number
     
   • Special character, ~!@#$%^&*()_+`-=[]\{}<>/
     
     
   Yes, I put in all the weird rules. If you cannot agree on which ones are best, then we will just have to include them all.
   
   
3. Passwords do not need to be changed more often than every 90 days.
   
   
4. Past passwords should only be remembered to the number of 6. It’s hard enough on people to come up with 6, 10 is just plain cruelty.
   
   
5. Passwords rules will not include idiotic rules about repeat characters, except for 3 repeated characters in a row, or more than two sets of repeated characters in one password.
   
   

Okay, I think that is enough for those who have to create password rules, now for a few rules for all of us about our passwords.

1. Don’t use the same password everywhere. It is stupid, and it can lead to someone being able to access virtually every account that you have.
   
   
2. It’s okay to sync all your passwords, if they all expire, or if you change them when one of them expires. Even if your passwords are weak, they get stronger when they change regularly.
   
   
3. Don’t add a 1 to change a password. I’ve been guilty of this one too, but it is pretty stupid.
   
   
4. Do change a letter to a number to change passwords. Tower can become T0wer or even 70w3r. If that doesn’t make sense, then ask your kids or grandkids, they can explain it.
   
   
5. Don’t make them easy to remember. That generally makes them easy to guess.
   
   
6. If you write them down, don’t leave them on your desk. If you must write them down, then put them into a small notebook, and carry it with you, and don’t brag about where you keep it.
   
   

Well, I’m tired and I need to go change some passwords. Go thou and do likewise.