As you may have noticed, I've added another component to my RSS feed and sideblog. It's a voice blog I'm calling "Notes to Self (http://www.evernote.com/pub/sumocat/notes)". I've played with voice blogging a couple (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2006/06/race-to-zero.html)of times (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2006/06/audio-cheesecake-factory.html), but neither attempt stuck. This time I've got the right tools for the job: my always-connected iPhone 3G and, more importantly, voice recording via Evernote (http://www.evernote.com/).
Using a public notebook in Evernote, I can publish voice recordings from my iPhone. It has an RSS feed, which I splice into my main blog feed using Yahoo! Pipes (http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=dEBP0tpR3RG0bZCoJZhxuA) and weave into the sidebar using Feedburner (http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/home). Tap on an item, and it will take you to the notebook to listen to the voice note. Yeah, it takes two taps to listen to an entry, but it prevents the entries from dragging down the page load.
The inspiration for the voice blog is Norm MacDonald (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norm_Macdonald_(comedian)), star of the movie Dirty Work (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_Work_(movie)). In the movie, Norm would record notes to himself on a tape recorder. I tried that with my old Pocket PC, but organizing was a hassle. With Evernote, organizing is mostly automatic and, thanks to their recognition engine, the notes are searchable. That makes a world of difference. And they're location-aware too.
As for the format, I intend to keep the notes brief and whimsical, similar to the style of Rambles. I'll try to catch some of the funny and/or smart ass comments I say that won't fully translate to ink. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
I had been considering a Mac for the home. Maybe a Macbook for the missus or a Mac Mini for for the entertainment system. Tanya played with iPhoto (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhoto) at the Apple Store and really liked it. But now it has a feature I could really use: feline facial recognition. Or at least Mac Life (http://www.maclife.com/article/news/iphotos_faces_recognizes_cats) is reporting it works even though Apple is only claiming human facial recognition. I can think of about three reasons how this might be useful for us. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Responding to yesterday's report (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2009/01/sweetened-with-mercury.html) that high fructose corn syrup (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_fructose_corn_syrup) is often tainted with mercury, The Corn Refiners Association issued a statement that includes this fierce retort.
That makes me feel better. Except they left out the word "only" or "exclusively" or something to indicate they don't also use mercury-grade re-agents. I've been using a Tablet PC for years. That doesn't mean I don't use a desktop at work. See, the reports claimed mercury was found in many samples of food and HFCS, not all samples, so claiming to use mercury-free re-agents doesn't refute the finding.
More troubling is their claim they've been using mercury-free reagents "for several years." So what was going on before the past several years? Was all HFCS processed using mercury-grade re-agents before then? HFCS has been on the market for 25 years and you've been using mercury-free re-agents for only the past several years? How is that good news?
Other parties have commented, including ConAgra which points out:
Wow, 100 pounds each day? For how long? Ten years? One year? One day? Where's the other half of that refutal? Getting some sloppy and clumsy responses from Big Corn on this. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
For the past three years (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/search?q=HFCS), I've been highly suspicious of that wretched liquid sweetener known as high fructose corn syrup (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_fructose_corn_syrup). It's in too many food products, yet not available for purchase by itself. It's made from a grain, yet loaded with fructose -- fruit sugar. It's a cheap, subsidized alterative to tariff-inflated sugar. It's artificially synthesized from a natural product. And now, we know it's often contaminated with mercury.
A report published in Environmental Health (http://www.ehjournal.net/content/8/1/2), corroborated by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (http://www.healthobservatory.org/library.cfm?refid=105026) (undoubtedly driven by an IATP member who is an author on the report), claims measurable amounts of mercury have been found in samples of HFCS, which the IATP has gone on to discover in off the shelf food products. The source? Mercury-grade caustic acid used to create HFCS.
It's an avoidable situation. Caustic acid doesn't have to be tainted with mercury, so it's not an inherent problem of HFCS. However, this problem has existed for years, so it would not surprise me if it has always been the case. This does not necessarily confirm my suspicion that HFCS manufacturers have been hiding something, but it certainly appears they had something to hide. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Wifi and I are not getting along this week. Couldn't get a router and modem to work together on Sunday (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2009/01/mis-adventures-in-wireless-networking.html). Can't get a new wifi card to work in my tablet today.
Had to pluck out every last screw in my tablet to swap in an Intel 4965agn card. Quite an educational journey but unrewarding. Hardware is recognized. Tried different Intel drivers. But the message I get is "device cannot start".
This pokes yet another hole in my plan to take advantage of my new router (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2008/12/i-got-gigabit-router.html). The first problem was discovering my ethernet was not Gigabit as advertised. Could be purely a driver issue, bat my system resists all attempts to change it. Regardless, I'll now have to rely on a PC card or USB solution. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
John Hancock's birthday is upon us again, that magical day designated as National Handwriting Day (http://www.wima.org/consumer/index.htm) by WIMA. And once again, I have no special means of celebrating it. What am I going to do? Handwrite a blog entry about it? Post something handwritten? That's the most mundane thing I could do. Yet here I am doing it. As I do with every ink blog entry. Merry NHD! [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
After yesterday's criticism (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2009/01/ballmer-wimps-out-in-first-challenge.html) of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Ballmer), I must admit I do hold him to a very high standard. That standard being his predecessor, Bill Gates (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates). While I can't say I agreed with everything Gates did nor do I regard him as some epic figure, I do put the man on "genius" status. Thus, it might be unfair to measure Ballmer against that.
Perhaps I should compare him to someone else who is following in the footsteps of an iconic CEO, like Tim Cook (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_D._Cook), Apple's COO who is currently filling in for Steve Jobs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs). Sounds fair, except Cook hasn't had to lead his company yet. Cook also said Apple would "invest [their] way through this downturn" (http://tech.yahoo.com/news/afp/20090122/tc_afp/usitinternetcompanyearningsapple). Granted, he's just holding steady to a previous strategy, so probably not fair to compare that against Ballmer's "Feed them to the Sharkticons" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092106/quotes) strategy. Oh well. I'm sure I'll come up with a suitable metric eventually. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
With that in mind, I am rather disgusted that Microsoft aims to lay off 5,000 workers (http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20090122/ap_on_hi_te/earns_microsoft), their first major layoff ever, to keep their profits from dropping below $4B per quarter. Yes, a company that reported a $4B profit last quarter is laying off 5,000 workers.
Now, for all I know, these guys are being paid a million a year, so losing their salaries would really help the bottom line and they could afford to be unemployed, but I kind of don't think that's the case. If it were, these would be retirements, not layoffs.
To put this in perspective, if we scale down the company by a factor of 1,000, we'd be looking at 5 employees being let go from a total of 94. Doesn't sound so bad, except the company made $4M last quarter. Again, I must wonder now much those few are being paid that their salaries have any effect on that bottom line.
The argument for layoffs, as analysts have made, is that Microsoft needs to protect their stockholders. That's fine, except the company is in no danger of losing money. It is not "industrially endangered". If anything, the biggest threat to Microsoft is an inability to predict and keep pace with the market. That's not a problem you can solve with layoffs.
No, the problem is not stockholder safety, but the CEO's unwillingness to stand up and say, "Four billion dollars is still a huge quarterly profit." Congratulations Ballmer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Ballmer). Your first big test and you came up with the blue screen of death (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Screen_of_Death). [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
The presidency of Barack Obama has officially begun ushering in what he hopes will be a new era of responsibility. I share that hope.
Looking back on the presidencies in my lifetime, responsibility is not a word I'd associate with any of them, save possibly for Carter's though I am too young to properly judge. As Obama has transitioned to power, he has demonstrated unprecedented transparency. He has called upon service to the nation and each other. He has asked others to share their ideas and hold him accountable for his. We shall see how effectively that will happen, but he's off to a strong start. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
Soon-to be President Barack Obama has filled stadiums with hopefuls eager to hear him speak. But to step out of the U.S. Capitol and see the entire National Mall, practically the entire District of Columbia, filled for his inauguration, well, that must be a feeling no one can imagine. Truly fantastic. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
While the camera in my iPhone isn't great, it offers something my full camera doesn't: automatic geo-tagging via GPS. This means photos from my iPhone have location data included in the image file, allowing Picasa to lay them out on a map (http://picasaweb.google.com/sumocat666/SumocatSRambles/photo#map) for me.
This is a map of photos I've posted on Rambles (http://sumocats.blogspot.com/). You can see the majority are in the Northern VA DC Metro area. Ironically, screenshots of map locations are not tagged and therefore not shown on the map. The map is set up online in Picasa Web Albums using Google Maps. Offline, Picasa lays out my photos in Google Earth. Between map locations and time stamps, it makes obsolete the practice of marking photos with time and place.
Rather than upgrading to a whole new camera, I'm tempted to get the Eye-fi Explore (http://tinyurl.com/63t8x5) wifi SD card. Eye-fi SD cards add wifi connectivity to digital cameras, automatically uploading photos at wifi hotspots. The "Explore" model also adds geotagging via hotspot triangulation. It's not as accurate as GPS and wouldn't work in isolated locations. But I'd imagine it's quite effective in urban areas. A bit pricey though at $130, so it wouldn't really be worth it, but geo-tagging is definitely worth the upgrade to GPS. [+/-] Hide/Show Text [+/-] Hide/Show Text
