iPhone 2.0

MacRumors and other sites just posted about an early release of the iPhone 2.0 software here. While I can’t say I recommend being an early adopter, I’ve just downloaded and installed it. The new iPhone is about to be released (tomorrow). No, I don’t know when I can get them. I’m at least as anxious […]

MacRumors and other sites just posted about an early release of the iPhone 2.0 software here.

While I can’t say I recommend being an early adopter, I’ve just downloaded and installed it.

The new iPhone is about to be released (tomorrow). No, I don’t know when I can get them. I’m at least as anxious as you are, I’ve got my credit card in my hand, ready to order one as soon as they turn up for sale.

(taps foot)

UPDATE: the AppleInsider is advising against updating at this time; with the new iPhone out today, users who update are having trouble getting the updated phones working. I suspect that’ll be resolved shortly, but hold off and check for updates here.

internet jones

What makes me know exactly how important the internet has become in my life is how nervous it makes me to not have it. This morning, while waking up over a cup of peet’s, I was was ripping CDs, looking up details about a particular jazz sax player I’ve been into lately, paying a couple […]

What makes me know exactly how important the internet has become in my life is how nervous it makes me to not have it.

This morning, while waking up over a cup of peet’s, I was was ripping CDs, looking up details about a particular jazz sax player I’ve been into lately, paying a couple of bills, and checking weather for the day to see if it was going to be warm enough to ride to work.

In the middle of all this, comcast suffered an epic fail, and completely crashed my entire city (as they later told me on the phone, though without using those exact words).

The thing is, that entire list above was just what I was doing as I sipped my coffee; all at the same time. For people like me with short attention spans, multi-tasking is a natural sate. Real life doesn’t support multi-tasking very well; I can’t scramble an egg while I read a book, or change my oil while I drive to the store. But I can check a bank balance at the same time I pay a bill, or read about a sax player at the same time that I read his discography and look up details about the kind of horn he liked to play.

So when I lost my connection, and it began to be obvious it wasn’t just a temporary fall-out, I began to get very, very twitchy.

Particularly when I’m still sleepy, I need something to do with my hands. In the old days I used to read newspapers; typically while standing in the kitchen. I don’t want to sit down when I first wake up; I need to move, get blood flowing. I need to get my brain awake with some sort of simple, tactile activity. Information, with only minimal interaction. Don’t talk to me in the morning, I tell people; you’ll get at best grunts and growls, and maybe worse if you start asking question.

When I began to switch from newspapers to the internet for my morning information dose, it was a dove-tail fit; all the info I wanted, something to do with my hands, and the ability to interact only as my brain woke up. The ability to do five things at a time, with no idle waiting.

This morning I find myself increasingly agitated. I hate waiting

When does something go from being a toy, a novelty, to being a ubiquitous part of life? When does it go from being a convenience or a source of entertainment to being something upon which we depend for most basic needs?

My kids have no memory of a time before the internet; indeed, when I do the math, many of today’s college students don’t remember a time when they could not email or web browse. While my co-workers all remember a time when ‘internet connection’ meant a dumb terminal and a 2400 baud modem, if you happened to have such a thing at home, and when email was something you used at work. But remembering the time when only über-geeks knew what internet meant does not help me today; I am as dependent on connectivity as any twelve-year-old WoW player.

(I lose sooo many geek points, as Jeff Hoooooover points out; it’s WoW, not W-O-W. I doth hang my head in shame. Ok, fixed, but still…)

Brave New World in Gray

I know. I know. It’s scary in here. Different. It’s ok. Really. It’s the same old moronosphere with a new skin. Change is good, they say, and if it isn’t, change is still change. The real story is that I’ve just upgraded to Movable Type 4.1, and because the folks at six-apart feel the need […]

I know. I know. It’s scary in here. Different.

It’s ok. Really.

It’s the same old moronosphere with a new skin. Change is good, they say, and if it isn’t, change is still change.

The real story is that I’ve just upgraded to Movable Type 4.1, and because the folks at six-apart feel the need to change things completely, whle feeling no need at all to maintain backwards compatability, everything in my blog design had to be abandoned in order to convert.

It took me a really long time to feel ok with that. But I think I’m there. And I gotta say, this took a hell of a lot less time than trying to convert everything, even if the result is somewhat grim. I=n fact I managed to do this in between tasks today while waiting for builds to finish

Don’t worry, my logo, at least, will come back. I’m attached to it. I just have to figure out how these fucking widgets work.

Sad Songs of Server Troubles

You may have noticed we’re having some server instability around here; comments disabled for various moronosphere-hosted blogs, server not responding, etc. For those of you I host, you’ll have seen it as well when you try to post. We’re working on it. We have several small problems that are adding up to a systemic pain-in-the-ass, […]

You may have noticed we’re having some server instability around here; comments disabled for various moronosphere-hosted blogs, server not responding, etc.

For those of you I host, you’ll have seen it as well when you try to post.

We’re working on it. We have several small problems that are adding up to a systemic pain-in-the-ass, and solving these issues has more to do with bandwidth (ours, ie, time to work on it) than with any seriousness of the problems.

Fixes should be in place soon, though we may have some downtime somewhere in the next week or two while we update things. I’ll post warnings before that happens.

Nerd Handbook

Rands In Repose has written a frighteningly, hysterically accurate piece called The Nerd Handbook. “Understand your nerd’s relation to the computer. It’s clichéd, but a nerd is defined by his computer, and you need to understand why. First, a majority of the folks on the planet either have no idea how a computer works or […]

Rands In Repose has written a frighteningly, hysterically accurate piece called The Nerd Handbook.

“Understand your nerd’s relation to the computer. It’s clichéd, but a nerd is defined by his computer, and you need to understand why.

First, a majority of the folks on the planet either have no idea how a computer works or they look at it and think “it’s magic”. Nerds know how a computer works. They intimately know how a computer works. When you ask a nerd, “When I click this, it takes awhile for the thing to show up. Do you know what’s wrong?” they know what’s wrong. A nerd has a mental model of the hardware and the software in his head. While the rest of the world sees magic, your nerd knows how the magic works, he knows the magic is a long series of ones and zeros moving across your screen with impressive speed, and he knows how to make those bits move faster.

The nerd has based his career, maybe his life, on the computer, and as we’ll see, this intimate relationship has altered his view of the world. He sees the world as a system which, given enough time and effort, is completely knowable. This is a fragile illusion that your nerd has adopted, but it’s a pleasant one that gets your nerd through the day.”

Read the whole thing. If you’re reading this blog, you almost certainly are that nerd, or live with that nerd, or have at least dated that nerd. You know exactly what Rand is talking about.

(Thanks to my dear, sweet Merrick for sending that to me!)

gadget porn

test post from new iPhone Yay! The above was posted from my iPhone, pictured below.

test post from new iPhone

Yay!


The above was posted from my iPhone, pictured below.

Myiphone-1

get thee thy jesusphone

Ok. It’s time. Go get your iPhone. I don’t get mine ’til late july (we get ours after you get yours – hell, I have the same philosophy in bed, so I can’t argue). And no, I can’t get you one, I can’t get me one, apart from the one-per-employee apple’s handing out as a […]

Ok. It’s time. Go get your iPhone.


Iphonehero20070629

I don’t get mine ’til late july (we get ours after you get yours – hell, I have the same philosophy in bed, so I can’t argue). And no, I can’t get you one, I can’t get me one, apart from the one-per-employee apple’s handing out as a thanks for the incredible amount of work we’ve all been doing on this project.

If you manage to score one, let me know what you think. I still ain’t actually seen one in person, for all the hours I’ve put into getting the chips and boards out.

new digs

Its one of those funny things when you get a new one and it’s just like the old one. Like those weird people who get a new car and get the exact same car they had before (yeah I’m talking to you, Lisa). If you’re readin’ this it means you’re now on a shiny, fast […]

Its one of those funny things when you get a new one and it’s just like the old one. Like those weird people who get a new car and get the exact same car they had before (yeah I’m talking to you, Lisa).

If you’re readin’ this it means you’re now on a shiny, fast and new server. Basically, if you see a difference, it means I broke something.

disruption is my way of life

Due to an unexpected schedule change, The Moronosphere and all it’s related blogs and domains will be moving to a new physical server this week. Not the best timing for me, personally but I live here by the good grace and generosity of my friend Brandon, and so I am grateful even if a bit […]

Due to an unexpected schedule change, The Moronosphere and all it’s related blogs and domains will be moving to a new physical server this week. Not the best timing for me, personally but I live here by the good grace and generosity of my friend Brandon, and so I am grateful even if a bit frazzled.

What all this means is that this site may unexpectedly vanish for a day or so while we change ip addresses; comments may cease to work while databases are moved.

If that happens, don’t worry; being a fly-by-night sort of operation, we’re flying-by-night (oh god stop me from quoting a rush song). Things should stabilize by next week, on bigger, better, faster hardware.

tatjana with her hammer

For some reason this video is oddly hot. I can’t quite identify why. (courtesy of Bikinirama) (Click the pic – I’m sorry i can’t embed that. I’ve yet to figure out a workable way to embed quicktime in MT posts. I’ve tried all sorts of voodooo and it never embeds correctly.

For some reason this video is oddly hot. I can’t quite identify why.

Bikinirama
(courtesy of Bikinirama)

(Click the pic – I’m sorry i can’t embed that. I’ve yet to figure out a workable way to embed quicktime in MT posts. I’ve tried all sorts of voodooo and it never embeds correctly.