Zune-ness of Zune 2.0

is there a single more ugly device on the planet today than the zune?

pray tell, how did microsoft do this? sure, version one, first one out the door, the OEM manufacturing could only do this box like plastic thing that looks like its from a second rate taiwanese manufacturer. but...they liked it so much THEY DID IT AGAIN!! its an ugly hunk of crap that no user could get past. maybe its actually an experiment to find some interesting lower bound in aesthetic but maximum leverage of the brand to get high ROI.

get the folks that designed the xbox360 controller to design a zune. hint: think smooth edges, SMOOOTH.

iPhone Safari Browser Web Links not working...

came across this post in the apple web support discussion forums and it worked:

Re: Safari - links not opening when clicked
Posted: Oct 2, 2007 8:09 AM in response to: Ashley Gwozdz Reply Email


A friend of mine bought a new iPhone yesterday and came to me with this issue a little while ago. I've never experienced this myself, but I suggested that he reset the application by holding the home button for six seconds. For him, this reset of Safari solved his problem.

Portland Condo Market continues to sour quietly...

While there have been one or two articles on the market of condos in Portland, nobody in the press is discussing the death of the Pearl. On a run yesterday by the waterfront I went by a building where the normal 10+ units for sale with all the signs posted FINALLY had some lower prices after a year of holding onto irrational valuations. There are holes in the ground with no construction workers. Its quiet, like remnants of a bombing in a city the world has forgotten. The beautiful Wyatt has moved from condo to apartment, the civic up the street on burnside isn't selling.

The sooner these folks wake up and get the prices back down to reality the sooner we can get on with it. They are holding on and telling how 'things are just going back to normal', but that isn't how markets work and there is no normal, only a bouncing back and forth around a theoretcially 'normal' line of 6 month inventory.

While not really suprised by the lack of coverage, I am disappointed. Not that I ever had any faith in mainstream journalism, but the lack of any quantitative profiling of the cave in is interesting. Makes me think about some of the conflicts around the world going. Seems if the press isn't there, it isn't happening.

One reasonable article from last week is here. They say Portland is immune from the downturn that's infected other big cities. Job growth remains strong, and people continue to move to the area, providing demand for urban living. "It's steady as she goes here," Scanlan said. "There's no reason to panic."

Adam and Stacey Engaged!

After 3+ amazing years Stacey and I have decided to get married. We've had a great time, travelled around the world, and even lasted a two person kayak trip. I think I surprised her when i handed her a brown paper bag stapled shut, the look on her face was: "why do you think i would want a croissant at 9pm at night?" There was an engagement ring inside. She always said she wanted it to be a suprise.

Over the years Stacey has continued to demonstrate a superhuman sense of compassion, understanding, patience, and fruit consumption. I marry her not because of what I want for me, it is what I want to be for her. Through her happiness I receive a feeling of completeness and happiness far greater than I can through any achievement of my own. I look forward to the challenges we may face together.

Book Review: Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan

This was a fantastic book, very educational. Think of this as the thinking man's version of fast food nation. If you want a deeper dive into where your food comes from, gain a better understanding of our vastly distorted agricultural free market, this is your book. 4.5/5, just don't waste time with the last 1/3 of the book, by then you have gotten the main point. As a reader, you have a right to not waste time on the 'drivel' portion the writer is forced to write to attain a certain page length. The first 2/3 of the book is filled with real data, real experiences, references to other literature to give a picture both of what things are like now and what they could be like.

I especially liked the education I was given on the grass farmers in Virginia and New Zealand and the distortions to the corn and meat economies. This book has moved me to look deeper into the origins of my food supply. Also digs into the marketing hype of the 'organic' food movement. Unocvers some of the inconsistencies in what you might think is going on vs. what is really going on when you purchase organic food. Stay raw, stay close to the source, know your farmer....perhaps unrealistic, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't aspire to a higher plane of existence.

Recommended as part of your educated consumer arsenal, 4.5 out of 5.

Book Review: Bait and Switch, Barbara Ehrenreich

This book is awful. I thought it was going to be about her perspective on landing a 'suit and tie' job at some big Fortune 500 company. Instead, the ENTIRE book was just a long winded essay on the 'job hunt'. Fortunately, its only about a 3-4 hour read but i was really disappointed. She goes from job hunt session to job hunt session. I did think she is the first one i've heard publically point out the religious tie-ins to the capitalistic regime in America, I think that issue could use some more discussion. She also provides a good set of references to get more details. However, it felt like a tour of an underbelly of our society that exploits a market of perpetually unemployed white collar employees. I feel sorry for the people who are being exploited, but this book is not nearly as insightful as a more expensive exploit may have been, one that actually required her to get a job in white collar america and address the challenges of employment in this sector. Generously, I give it a 1 out of 5 stars, I'm glad I waited to find it in the 80% off bin.

iBrickr

David P. pointed me to this app for your iPhone. I'm gonna try it out, hopefully tonight!

Use at your own risk – worked fine for me, but who knows if Apple/AT&T go psycho and nuke your phone for it eventually…

http://iphone.fiveforty.net/wiki/index.php/IBrickr

iBrickr is the app to let you upload free ringtones, install custom apps, etc. The wiki I linked is one of the central iphone hacker resources for stuff like custom apps and other stuff for the iphone.

-David

Good article on housing market

Oregonian does what it should have done a few months ago. Finally started to report on the changing dynamics of the real estate market in pdx. Good article by Robert Bruss on buying rental houses located in the Homes and Rental section of the Oregonian. I'd link to it but it takes freakin' forever for anything from the oregonian to come up, and they do this annoying thing when you want to see an article where you have to type in your zip code and age, and its just ignoramous so I'm going to not wait any longer. However, the author has his own website, which came right up and has much better information anyway, so i'm going to link to it here to reference for myself in the future.

Pearl District Condo Slowdown...

Matt Fife pointed me to this link:

Most of the media is paranoid to report on the virtual halt of condo sales in the pearl. Finally the Wyatt has thrown in the towel. This beautiful building is going to go to apartments, with only 25% of the units sold.

Condo sales drop in Pearl

The Wyatt reports sales of just 25 percent of its units.
By Alan Scaia
Friday, September 21, 2007
Developers in the Pearl report a drop in condominium sales. The owners of The Wyatt say they have sold just 25 percent of their condos, so they have decided to rent the units as apartments.

Free WiFi in Portland! or not....

I've meant to post about this for some time. Free wifi is supposed to be pwning portland. Problem is, this technology was never meant to 'blanket' an area. The
802.11a/b/g specificaion was very specifically built for small scale deployments. Wimax was the sister technology, better suited to wide scale deployment. Attempting to use 802.11 a/b/g for anything else is not wise, and the flawed efforts to blanket this town and others with 'free' technology is going to prove a failure. I remember thinking to myself 'who are they kidding, somebody will eventually do a story and break this open and talk about how stupid of an idea this is'. Eventually, some sane IT person will point out the specifications purpose and its lack of ability to do the magic the politicians envision. Why, so late in the specifications lifecycle, would one even try this? To me, its totally irrational behavior. When an architect builds a specification, it is designed for a specific purpose. Deviate from the intended purpose, and you are walking in dangerous grounds. We necessarily restrict our usage model to increase reliability, simplicity, security, cost, etc. Sometimes specifications and architectures can be extended in some rational capacity, layering another one or two generations on top of it. However, you don't drive the 3 member family across the country for Christmas in a scooter and this is exactly what is being proposed and will fail miserably attempting to use 802.11 a/b/g wireless across an entire city. I recommend using the public resources in a reasonable fashion and including some pragmatic, rational engineers with significant RF credentials the next time. Maybe it won't be such a screw up.

My understanding is up to this point no taxpayer money has been spent on the project. My voice will become louder if this changes.