Yak! Journal
TouchMe Notes
I haven't been posting for quite some time, since there has been changes in my life lately. Nothing drastic, but worth mentioning.
Yes, I've bit the bullet and switched over to the iPod touch. And consequently, I've started a new blog called TouchMe Notes. The new blog will record my journey on the sweet and bitterness of the transition.
Aside from the new blog, I've been busy with work and my family. Hence, I would no longer be able to regularly post on this blog.
On that note, I would like to thank you all for your support over these years.
Signing out.
W
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THOUGHT: CNET Misses The Original Palm Pilot
There's an article over at CNET entitled "Top 10 tech we miss". One of those technologies that they sorely miss is the original Palm Pilot (circa 1994). The reason?
"Introduced in 1994, the original Pilot was a model of simplicity. It was an excellent pocket calendar and address book, and it synchronized sufficiently well with a desktop computer to make it a solid PC companion. With so many new Palm Pilots shipping today, why do we miss the original? Because the 1.0 Pilot never crashed. Its simplicity was its blessing. You'd think that after 11 years, this is the one feature that we'd keep."
The current Palms doesn't hang as often as WM devices do. Still a good consolation, but I'm a bit nostalgic and want to try the old Pilot one more time (for old time sake).
In addition, they also miss the original commercial PDA - the Apple Newton.
"When Apple gets things right, it's spectacular (think iPod), but when the company messes up, it's a hoot. The first popular pen-based PDA, the Apple Newton, was big, expensive, and too smart for its britches. Early models tried to interpret handwriting with often amusing results, making words out of users' scrawls that often combined into surreal "Newton Poetry." We miss the Newton because what it thought we meant was often far more interesting than what we were really trying to say."
This I say I would really love to try using one! -.^
W
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THOUGHT: I Thought They Knew It!
I've foreseen the future of mobile computing in this thought piece (written more than a year ago). I've also written what the future of Palm will look like in this editorial. I was just fascinated reading what Brighthand Editor-In-Chief Ed Hardy have to say about Palm's future. I thought he knew it all along. Between him and me, supposedly he should be the expert on this (having years of experience running PalmInfocenter in the past).
Its not just him. I've read a variety of articles discussing this piece. It really is starting to bore me if somebody whom I respected in the past came out with such an outdated editorial. Oh well, as you tend to read a lot and develop some parts of your cerebral cortex, you tend to be harder to please.
W
P.S. Better not bore me Kirvin, you're the only one left. -.^
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BOOK: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Luddite Fool, J.K. Rowling is! Thanks to David Rothman, a Virginia-based e-book advocate and author who runs the TeleRead digital libraries project (quoted from a recent article from Wired). I firmly believe that she is. Why? Although, I've read Potter books before, I'm not going to buy and carry that humongous book. I collect books, but not hard bound nor paperback - I go for ebooks. Ebooks are more practical in terms of size and portability. Convenience for the consumer is a must on this technology driven times. Its safe to say that J.K. Rowling and party are just neglecting this side of the market. They're also relating the techno-savvy ebook lovers as supporters of piracy. I believe it would take a Steve Jobs to convince those ignorant and misinformed book publishers.
While reading directly from her site, I got humored by this statement:
"You should NEVER trust any Harry Potter e-books offered for download from the internet or on P2P/file-trading networks. Setting aside the fact that these books are illegal (there are no authorised HP e-books to date), they may infect your computer with viruses, leave you vulnerable to the dangers of hacking and/or credit card fraud and may also contain content that has nothing to do with Harry Potter, to say the least."
Yeah right! Who is she fooling in the first place? The MS Word part might contain malicious codes, but the other formats - well, never heard of. Not that I'm condoning nor promoting piracy but this is ridiculous! His lawyer (Neil Blair) was quoted saying "We want to prevent piracy for many reasons, financial being the very last one of those...". Who are you kidding people? You're always aiming for profits or else you'll be out of business!
Now let's talk about DRM (short for Digital Rights Management) and piracy. You use DRM to combat piracy (there are plenty of mention-worthy DRM for ebooks that are consumer friendly). If you say that ebooks are prone to piracy, well who can stop one buying a tree book and lending it out to his/her friends for free? Isn't that plain same?
I'm here to promote ebooks and the technology behind it. It gives the necessary portability and convenience to the consumer (that an ordinary tree book could not). This is not to mention that you'll save trees and doing the environment a favor. And lastly, I've got one word for Ms. Rowling - eReader!
For the full interesting article, you can read it here.
W
P.S. Oh while you're at it, you might want to consider giving J.K. Rowling a copy of these. Open your eyes woman!
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THOUGHT: G8 doubles aid! (Your ONE victory for Africa)
Look at what I've just received in my mailbox:
Dear Friend:
This is a big thank you to all 1.5 million of you who joined together as
ONE to do something extraordinary.
From the 500,000 letters you sent to President Bush to Live 8 in
Philadelphia to the G8 Summit in Gleneagles, you called on eight men to do
more to fight global AIDS and extreme poverty, and they heard your call. In
Scotland this past Friday, overcoming the shadow of a tragic day in London,
President Bush joined G8 leaders in an unprecedented deal to cancel debts
and double aid to Africa.
For African nations fighting poverty and corruption, this means a $25
billion increase in aid and wiping out 100% of their debts. With this
funding, Africa can halve deaths from malaria, put millions of children
into school, and 10 million people across the world will have access to
lifesaving AIDS drugs. Behind each of these numbers is one person, one life
that will be changed forever.
For the first time ever, everyday Americans like you joined together to
take a seat at the negotiating table, asking the world's most powerful
leaders to do more to help the world's poorest people. Because you signed
the ONE Declaration, wore the white band and forwarded emails to friends
about ONE, you made a huge step toward making poverty history. We've come
so far and still have far to go.
Keep the momentum going, email 3 friends about ONE today.
This agreement is a real victory for Africa - but promises made of words
will only become promises for a generation if we keep watching, asking and
acting. Much more needs to be done in Washington DC to turn these
commitments into lifesaving programs, and the world must take new steps to
make trade fair. More meetings will take place this year in New York and
Hong Kong where a comprehensive debt-aid-trade deal can be reached and end
global AIDS and extreme poverty in our time.
We can be that great generation. As ONE, let's keep up the positive
pressure and make 2005 the year we joined together to make history.
Thank you,
The ONE Team
This is better than receiving a Philippine government with an ousted
president, isn't it? If only Filipinos would rather think of moving
forward rather than pulling themselves down, this country would go
somewhere. Think selfless for a moment people (and less of personal agenda
for politicians who are opportunist). People in this country cheat, who
are you bluffing at?! If we are nicer, G8 might consider similar options
for the Philippines (hopefully). If that happens, I'll be the first one to
sign up!
W
**Written and sent wirelessly using a palmOne Tungsten|C**
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THOUGHT: London Bombing
This feels like 9-11 all over again. I was away from the online community for a couple of days, coz I have a speaking engagement to attend to in Davao. Just yesterday, I was shocked to find out about this news (its all over the place). Its a very sad news indeed (which coincided with the G8 meeting in Scotland). In this regard, my condolences and prayers goes out to the families of the victims during this disastrous bombing in London.
W
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THOUGHT: Gossip Filtering
In ancient Greece (469 - 399 BC), Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom. One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance who ran up to him excitedly and said,
"Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students?"
"Wait a moment," Socrates replied. "Before you tell me I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."
"Triple filter?"
"That's right," Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my student let's take a moment to filter what you're going to say. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"
"No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and..."
"All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?"
"No, on the contrary..."
"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him, even though you're not certain it's true?"
The man shrugged, a little embarrassed.
Socrates continued. "You may still pass the test though, because there is a third filter - the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?"
"No, not really..."
"Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me at all?"
The man was defeated and ashamed.
This is the reason Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem. And it's also the reason why Socrates never found out that Plato was banging his wife.
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