Musings

I was going through a spec for a media center machine for home and got to the point where I spec’d the hard-drives. It seemed silly to put in a 2TB drive given I already have masses of storage space. Then I thought about it and looked at the cost and realised it would be silly not to put in that much. The price has just dropped so much faster that we have found ways to use it (although we are getting better with HD videos and alike).

This got me thinking about how much space I actually have and what it would have cost at a time when we simply didn’t have this insane amount of space.

First I counted up all the digital storage I had to hand:

Then I looked into what that amount of storage (done in price per GB, not like for like) would have cost over the previous decade. Unfortunately I could only find prices in dollars so I looked up conversation rates at the time of the price which gave me the following data:

For real fun I then looked up the cost for 1981 using Apple hardware (with a cost of $700 per megabyte). I had to assume the exchange rate of 0.6 as I could not find the numbers. All of that came to £6,152,509,440. So by 1981 prices I have over 6000 million pounds worth of storage sat taking up photos and films…

By today’s prices all this comes to £436. Now that is progress.

References: Prices 1, Prices 2 and Currency conversion

According to Code.org this is the year everyone should learn to code. If this isn’t your year then it should be the next one or the next one, but most importantly, you should learn to code. Why you might ask? Well the video claims you will be tomorrows rock stars, you will change the world, solve problems, get all the millions of jobs being created especially for you and perhaps most importantly, receive free lunches at work.

They have the backing of some pretty big players in the tech world, from Microsoft and Facebook to Twitter and Valve. They claim that as companies they are crying out for more coders and that may well be very true, not like they have a vested interest or anything….

I have a big problem with this (and yes as a coder technically I too have a vested interest going on here). The problem is I don’t think coders are the solutions to the problems they talk about and to the problems we face in the future, I think people who can think are.

I will let you into the big secret that this video seems to avoid…. there are both good coders and bad coders. The fact that a bad coder can still code is evidence enough that code is not the final answer or even really, half the solution.

We live in an ever more complex world where problems and solutions are becoming so complex that implementing the solution has become the simplest bit. The hard part is understanding what the problem is and figuring old how to solve it. Now I get that learning to code can teach these things. It teaches you to break problems down, to focus on the system while at the same time drilling down into the specifics etc but it is not the only way to teach this, nor does it feel like the way that will reach the most people.

The reality is trying to encourage people to learn to code is the same as trying to get everyone to learn mathematics in the past. Yeah it is some way towards your goal of problem solving, but you won’t appeal to the people that need this most. The people this appeals to will already be coding anyway. Why not simply give people problems that need solving and then let them get on an actually try? Point them in a direction and see what happens. Let them find their own way into learning and then they can take some joy in it instead of being force fed whatever solution works for a few.

I once did a subject called maths. I hated it and found it complicated. Then a few years later I did a subject called reasoned programming. That on the other hand was great. The difference? The name.

You would have thought these days ordering a few things over the internet and getting them delivered would be simple enough… Well, turns out not quite…

Last Sunday I finally bit the bullet and ordered a good number of new computer components for my much delayed machine rebuild. At the same time I also ordered some harddrives for the NAS. When pricing it all up it turns out I could save (even taking into account shipping) about £90 by ordering from 3 different suppliers. So on Sunday I put the order together.

All the orders were told to deliver to work (which work doesn’t like but my manager said it was OK).

Monday morning first item arrived. It was the motherboard from ebuyer. As I opened it up something didn’t look right. I studied it a little further and then sat at my machine and looked a couple of things up. I realised I had ordered the one down from the one I wanted. I thought about it for a bit, considered keeping it and in the end after weighing up the pros and cons, decided to return it for a refund an order the one I did want. I booked a TNT pickup which arrived a few hours later and took it away. At lunchtime I put together a new order for the one I did want and added an extra couple of things I had forgotten (including a DVD drive for Demelza’s machine).

Tuesday morning the DVD drive arrived (all on its own). The impressive thing about this was it was the item ebuyer said would take the longest and it arrived 2 days before it was meant to.

Tuesday afternoon the two harddrives from scan arrived when they said they should. The other item that was also being delivered was the main order from overclockers. I could see from the tracking information that it should be at work by lunchtime. Then I noticed something on the tracking details. It was being sent to home. Home where no one would be in. I phoned up overclockers who explained they had to send it there because of the way it was being paid for… would have been nice of them to tell me that and not take a delivery address. By this time I could see the order failed to deliver at home.

I then looked at my redelivery options online. I could have it sent to another address, great I thought until realising I could only change it to within the same postcode (so same road). Not as helpful. I wouldn’t have had the chance to check this was ok with a neighbour. I then looked up where their collection location was. Turns out it was about 35mins by car out of my way so that wasn’t really an option. Then I spotted they had an option to deliver to a safe place so I ticked that and gave detailed instructions that there would be a plastic box behind the side gate with a padlock in it so they could lock it shut when done. I also explained it would be chained to the house (not that I was that worried, nothing ever seems to get pinched round out way, but they said it had to be a safe place).

Tuesday evening myself and Demelza spent about an hour sourcing all the chains, boxes and locks needed to create this secure location for them. As part of the delivery companys system I had to take the card they popped through the door and leave it in the safe place signed so they could pick that up at the same time.

Wednesday morning the right motherboard and assorted extras arrived 9am on the dot at work. The main order that was to be left in the safe place was due in late afternoon. So not much to see there. When I got home after work I discovered that they had indeed found the safe place as I had described. They had also taken the signed card out of the box. What they had not done however was leave the parcel in there. Nope, they left that with our neighbour instead and left a note through our door saying which one. While you would think this was helpful unfortunately said neighbour was then out by the time Demelza got home and didn’t come home all last night.

I can see how they were trying to be helpful leaving it with next door instead of outside, however I had provided a secure waterproof location and it wasn’t raining. There was no reason not to do as instructed. Because of this last night I could not install the new drives in the NAS and start building the array. A process which I fully expect to take 24hours and is something I cannot speed up. Now thanks to them not doing as instructed I have lost at least 24 hours assuming next door are back today. Taking into account I need to NAS upgraded before I can do backup’s of my machine and then I have to run the backups before I can rebuild my machine this may well have ruined my plans for a machine rebuild this weekend. I don’t have the time to do it in the week and the weekend after that is my birthday. I have yet to complain however I very certainly am going to.

As an aside I also have to complain to royal mail today because they also left a parcel at home yesterday. This is the new router for the great internet connection upgrade of 2012. Their note through the door said they left it in our “agreed safe place” which it turns out was right in front of our house in view of everyone going by. No Royal Mail, I had not agreed a safe place with you ever, however if I had it would not have been here, it would have been round the back of our house, not in plain sight! So if they think they have an agreed safe place it needs updating.

So all in all I am quite angry about all of this. If all the companies had done as they said they would and done as they were instructed to I would be well on my way to upgrading my machine this weekend. As it stands that may not be possible.

This is a subject I am always ranting and raving about, and this week is no different. I present two cartoon/workflows which make my point rather well me thinks.

I live in hope that one day the entertainment industry will come to the conclusion that to get people to pay they have to offer more, not irritating paying customers into not staying paying any more.

Originally from: http://lifehacker.com/5475113/remains-of-the-day-why-piracy-works-edition

Originally from: http://www.bradcolbow.com/archive.php/?p=205

As many people know, I know a thing or two about computers. If anyone asks my industry or my field I normally say computing. I say that for simplicities sake, because otherwise it leads to too many questions. However, of late I have come to realise that is akin to calling a shelf stacker at a supermarket part of the food industry.

While technically correct, it avoids the detail that makes the difference.

As soon as someone hears that I do web development and “build websites” as I put it, they want to know if I can help them with their computer. While as it happens I often can, in reality the computer is just a tool to me in my industry the same as it is to a secretary in an office. While you would expect them to be able to use the machine, you would not expect them to fix it when it went wrong.

People seem to think that everything to do with computers is all the same and that if you can do one thing in computing you can do them all. If only it was as simple as this.

To illustrate my point I’m going to explain something I was asked to explain the other day. I was asked how websites work. Remember to keep in mind as I explain what a tiny tiny fraction of computing this is.

Most websites begin with a database where all the data in the system is stored. This is accessed through SQL (1 language) which I then connect to with in my case PHP (2 languages) which then does all the processing of that data. In my environment I use CodeIgniter (1 framework) to do the main calls, process and validate the data and then pass it to Smarty (1 mark-up) to be displayed.

From there the Smarty template contains the HTML (2 mark-ups) which describes all the components of the page and what order they are in. That HTML is sent to the browser along with the CSS (3 mark-ups) which describes to the browser how all that HTML should look. The page might also contain graphics which need to be made in a graphics package of my choice (Photoshop for me). Once on the page there is then one final layer which is the Javascript (3 languages) which sits on top of the data, the HTML and the CSS and allows direct manipulation of that data including sending things back and forth to the server. As an added twist I write all my Javascript using jQuery (2 frameworks).

So all in all to create a simple website for me it requires knowing 2 Languages (PHP, SQL and Javascript), 2 Frameworks (CodeIgniter and jQuery) and 3 Mark-ups (HTML, Smarty and CSS) as well as one graphics programme on top of that.

Then for good measure I need to understand some Unix (operating system), some Apache (a web-server) and all the other techs that go with each of those. Oh, and having a good understanding of XML, JSON, IMAP, POP etc all help day to day too.

Now consider that each of these sections could be several years of learning and trial and error in their own right to truly master

So all this covers a small part of web development and all of this is evolving and changing on a quite literally daily basis and people wonder why sometimes I can’t be bothered to fix their computer.

I have been using on-line banking for not much less the time it has been around. It is more than just a useful tool, for many it is almost their only contact with their money

I understand people still have some security issues, but really, with a little common sense applied and the current tech that goes into banking like key generators you should be fine.

There is one thing however that I don’t understand. It feels like it is being held back for no good reason. For something that has been with us on the web for some time, it feels no different.

I admit my main experience of this is NationWide, however from what I have seen, others are no better.

For example:

• Why do we not have nice shiny interfaces?
• Why can I not tag payments by type and draw graphs of them?
• Why Can I not put in regular payments and forecast savings?
• Hell, why are the views so cryptic and the interface so clunky?

I know there are a number of these tools on-line which address most of my issues, however they require you to give them your sign-in details which not only breaks the TOS with the bank, it also just feels wrong and breaks my common sense rule.

Where is the Gmail of on-line banking?

Take a classic track such as Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain”. A priceless track which has never gets old.

You have it on CD which has a bitrate of 1411.2 kbit/s

This is a nice quality recording. OK, not the quality it was recorded at, but the best you will get.
Actually, to be fair this is the two channels for stereo, so really it is 705.6kbit/s.

But you can’t play a CD on your iPod or better MP3 player so you have to import it onto the computer first.
This gives you maybe a 128 kbit/s or 192 kbit/s file in something like MP3, AAC or WMA. These apps can be set higher, but they are default settings, it is always best to go with those… right?

Then you add it to your iPod or better MP3 player through something like a USB cable (no fear, data can’t leak out of the cable).

You could play it at this point, but if you want to hear it you are going to have to connect it to some speakers or earphones.

Are you still using the earphones that came with your player? Were they nice and white and did they look pretty and stylish? Did you ever think about the audio quality on them? No, you were just too busy standing out from the crowd with the same earphones as everyone else.

Maybe you want to listen to your music at home too. These speakers with iPod docks seem to be everywhere and don’t cost too much, I mean, they are a little steep, but they look good right?

Of course you never notice that the cones on this stylish player are about 10cm’s across and have about the same output range as a dead rat.

So, what have you paid for the privilege of listening to sub standard music?Next time you want to listen to some music, do yourself a favour, consider a cheap CD player, cheap AMP and a couple of bookshelf speakers, if only for the sake of the music!

(Blog inspired by: some video on the BBC site that I now can’t find…)

Today in a description for a Bluetooth headset I read the following line:

“Intuitive, single-button control”

To me this reads as something of an oxymoron. How can something with multiple functions and only a single button to achieve them with ever be called intuitive?

Intuitive is a word that gets thrown around rather a lot in IT. Normally it is used to describe something people can just pick up and use with no training or instruction. Apple likes to use the word a lot in in relation to its devices and software. But tell me this, on the iPod, does the idea of moving your thumb round and round a dial ever equate to an up and down motion? Does three diagonal lines in the bottom corner of a window on any OS suggest to you that this is where you click to change its size? Does a circle with a line breaking it in the vertical suggest on and off or power?

The simple answer and conclusion from this is that there is no such thing as an intuitive interface or control mechanism. An easy to use interface is simply one that builds upon knowledge you already have.

To return to my Bluetooth headset, the one I was looking at was a few models up from the one I have now. It has the same one button structure as my current headset. Although I would not describe this interface as intuitive, if I ever was to use this new device I would assume double tapping that single button will call the last dialled number, pushing and holding for 6 seconds will change to pair mode.

These are not intuitive interactions, but they do come from knowledge I already have.