Prologue
Like many folks who began using Java around ten years ago, I found it very useful with two exceptions: it forced you to use objects for everything, and it was slow.
Since then, nothing much has changed about the object-oriented nature of Java, although some of the more annoying limitations of the early days have been more or less dealt with.
While computers have changed a lot in the last 20 years, we still use clock speed (MHZ or GHZ) as the primary metric for describing speed. Unfortunately, the manufacturers don’t make it easy. First AMD and then Intel switched away from labeling their processors by clock. Thus if you purchase a new machine today, the processor is likely to be a ‘Core i3 2100’ or a ‘Phenom X4 2200’. The numbers that they use after the processor type aren’t the clock speed, rather, they’re some sort of internally-designated model number.
Serious photographers are careful planners. Photography is basically about light, so timing and positioning can be key. I’m just an amateur though, and most of my photographs are taken in the pursuit of other activities. Consequently, I don’t always plan things right.
Consider the shot below. It was taken on a hiking trip to Telescope Peak, almost two years ago. The purpose of the trip was to reach the peak, so I didn’t have time to carefully compose the photo or wait for the sun to move to a better position. I’d call it a nice scene, but not a particularly striking photograph.
This is precisely the sort of situation where post processing, using a tool like Lightroom, can make a huge difference.
No, not winter yet. But if your feet are itching for skates, there’s at least one place in NYC you can go out for a spin.
I’ve had my Nexus S phone for only about 3 weeks, but at this point its main purpose is decorating a drawer in my desk. That wasn’t exactly my plan, but it looks like it will soon be back on eBay, from whence it came. There are two real problems I have with it.
1) It’s not a good phone.
I’ve dropped goodness knows how many calls in the past week. It got so bad that for long conversations, I just started using Skype and paying by the minute. I have one call that got interrupted 4 times in 15 minutes. Granted, the reception isn’t great in my room, but the little Samsung dumb phone I borrowed before getting the Nexus had no such problems. Other annoyances include limited battery life and the fact that the phone gets noticeably warm during long calls.
2) Application quality is mediocre.
This is a slightly unfair generalization, but of the basic apps I use, every single one is clunkier than on the iPhone, starting with the Browser and Mail apps. It is frankly a little surprising given how slick Chrome is on the desktop, but there it is.
I guess the moral of the story is that mobile platforms are difficult, and even large successful companies like Google are still figuring things out. I hope they figure out fast though. I’d hate for Android to wind up being the Windows 95 of the 2010s.
The leaves are about to ‘peak’ here in southern New York state. I made a short detour to Rockefeller State Park this morning (Westchester, near Briarcliff Manor). It was a scenic but crunchy walk.
Two days before Halloween in New York City, and there’s 3 inches of snow on the ground. I’m sure there’s a good explanation for this. In the mean time, I’m glad I have winter hiking gear.
I’ve been curious about Google’s Android for some time. Technically, it’s an interesting design – a curious amalgam of Linux, free software packages, and a custom Java runtime. Moreover, unlike Apple’s iOS, Android isn’t a closed system. You can more or less run whatever you want on the phone. In fact last winter I installed an x86 port of Android in VMWare as part of a class project.
Meanwhile, my iPhone has remained essentially unusable at my apartment (thanks AT&T).
So when I found I could get a Nexus S with a prepaid phone plan that was both cheaper than my current plan and offered coverage at home, it seemed like a good idea.
Fall is arriving in New York. Sadly so are midterm exams, term projects and an ample number of problem sets, but it’s nice to see a little color on the occasions that I manage to escape the city for a bit.
One of the disadvantages of working from places like the library and the train is that the wireless network connections aren’t exactly secure. For casual browsing, that’s not terribly important, but even for stuff like Facebook and GMail it would be nice to have a way of ensuring the connection is secure. Unfortunately, it’s not always possible or practical to use HTTPS connections for such things.
The obvious solution is a secure point-to-point connection to another machine on a wired network – in other words a VPN. The secured machine will act as an IP routing gateway, so that any insecure traffic that is intercepted will appear to be coming from that machine.
While I was at the library yesterday I created just such a setup using OpenVPN. As usual, it was more complicated to configure than I’d anticipated.