Rubenerd

Neal over at iPhone User News is reporting that some coffee shop owners have started cutting down on people taking up space and using precious electricity that could be better spent heating up milk for someone’s Iced Frappa Munga Cappacinolatte.

Coffee shop owners are reportedly cutting down on people taking up space and using precious electricity that could be better spent heating up milk for someone’s Iced Frappa Munga Cappacinolatte.

I just said that.

More and more branches of Starbucks and other coffee chains are banning laptop use at certain times of day, preventing use of power outlets, and generally becoming less amicable to Internet users.

I'm all for limiting the time people can sit there taking up space with their laptops, but banning them outright is akin to telling your best customers they're no longer welcome. I'm doing computer science and economics at university not business, but I'm pretty sure alienating your customers is not the smartest thing to do. The RIAA in the US hasn't learned that 101 lesson either it seems.

I can just imagine people frantically waiting for tablet computers to come out so they can use them instead of laptops at coffee shops to game the system! And with EVDO cards and tethered iPhones making it possible to use wireless internet without the need for a WiFi connection, it seems to me instigators of such bans would be fighting an uphill battle. I can just imagine nerds sitting in comfy chairs with their lattes hiding their tablet computers under their coats!

For the record, the owner of the Boatdeck Cafe here in Mawson Lakes has no trouble with me sitting at his shop for a couple of hours with my laptop. Why? Because I'm a good customer, and he's a nice guy!

My obituary post for the Last.fm Free is Free group turns out to have been premature. Less than a few days after writing up said post I've been informed by the group leader that they're back in business by popular demand.

[FREE IS FREE] We Will Continue To Our Strike

If you want to continue strike, we will continue…
But we must accept that we must increase our striking level.

And if we want to reach the result, we must study more…

Group will not be closed and our strike will be continue…

We will take back our free’dom with our power…

NEW STRIKE WILL BE ANNOUNCED 04.08.2009 AT 21.00, FOLLOW US…

P.S: Thanks for all positive/negative comments for continuing strike. Our group won’t be closed, decision is cancelled…

Free Is Free Founder
Oguz Kaan Cagatay Kilinc

I wish them the best of luck in their efforts, but to be honest I'm doubtful their efforts will make any impact. Last.fm has made clear their intentions to stand beside the RIAA and to charge customers outside areas of the world they perceive as being worth their trouble, and I doubt anything but a complete exodus of users would change that.

I encourage those who want to scrobble and keep track of their played tunes online to move over to Libre.fm and import your Last.fm profiles.

Rafe Needleman over at CNET penned a provocative article claiming that nobody wants the latest generation of tablet computers.

Rumors have it Apple is a month away from announcing a tablet computer. Another tablet, the Crunchpad, is also due for imminent release. These and other fine keyboardless computers get great play on gadget blogs (including our own Crave), but in the real world, I believe this whole category is a nonstarter. Why we keep waiting for the killer tablet computer is beyond me. Few people really want one, especially at the prices that they will have to sell for.

Perhaps the claimed future demand for these devices is a bit on the optimistic side especially in this economic climate, but I am absolutely confident there is a market for these devices. I'll cite two examples (and a third silly one just for fun!) as well as a potential reason for why there are so many doomsday predictions surrounding these unreleased devices in the first place.

My dad has a demanding job as an industrial chemist, and much of what he needs to do is demonstrate how systems could work to synthesise materials to clients. He has a device that takes what he's drawing on its notepad and digitises it which works great in theory, but the accompanying software is dreadful and he'd love to be able to share diagrams with people in the same room as he's drawing them. It also means he has to carry his work laptop everywhere as well as the writing pad which adds weight and bother.

The second example is… me! Whenever I go to lectures I take my MacBook Pro with me so I can follow along with the slides being presented and overlay my own notes on them as the lecturer explains concepts. I've found more of what I'm doing is underlining and connecting ideas rather than typing large volumes of text.

And finally the third example is me (again!) and people like Steve Gibson. We both love doing work in coffee shops for extended hours but we hate flimsy laptop keyboards. If we had a lightweight tablet screen we could easily plug a good external keyboard into, we'd would be so ecstatically happy we could disrupt the space time continuum. I put this example last because I know people like us are a tiny minority, but we're a vocal one!

The problem is too many people associate tablet computers with Tablet PCs, those horrible Windows XP touchscreen laptops that failed to gain traction because of their subpar software, flimsy design, horrible battery life and unnecessary hardware bulk. My dad had such a device in 2008 but rapidly lost patience with it. I can compltely understand why people would be hesitant — scared even — of tablet computes if such devices constitute their only basis for comparison. I'd be scared and hesitant too!

I think both my dad and I represent potentially large numbers of users in these examples. Given it's cost and singular purpose I can't justify buying an eBook reader such as a Kindle, but if I could buy a CrunchPad or an iTablet that was lightweight, had WiFi and decent battery life it would be (to pardon the French) bloody brilliant!

Many of us already use our smartphones in situations where we would have used our laptops even just a few years ago; I reckon a next generation tablet computer is the next logical step.

Allegedly Windows 7 would like to search me. I hope they keep it above the belt!

While we're on the subject, go the needlessly confusing interface. Granted I'm using the Windows Classic theme because I have too much self respect to use the tacky Aero and Aero Glass themes and I enabled the menu bar because I didn't want to deal with confusing little toolbar menus, but this has got to be one of the worst application interfaces Microsoft has ever released.

It's as if they had a list of elements written up on a whiteboard they needed to shoehorn into Windows Explorer and they just threw them in wherever they could fit. [Windows] Internet Explorer 7 and 8 are both in a similar disastrous mess. I'm not much of a fan of the ribbon interface, and I know separate units of Microsoft tend to act like separate companies, but the Windows team should employ the help of either the Xbox or Office team to fix this up.

The frustrating thing is earlier versions of the Windows Explorer interface weren't this needlessly complicated and busy. At the very least it shows they're capable. Or (gulp) they used to be.

"Mildly surprised"

Just like a person who scoffs down several coloured plates then feels too full to have any of the red ones, it has come to my attention that if I posted reviews of Bakemonogatari every day in a row I would exhaust my supply far too quickly. This is also the first time I've reviewed an anime series as it's airing instead of using DVD releases, so I'm having to think of ways to occupy myself while waiting for the next episode.

From my review of the third episode:

Speaking of eyes (wait, what?), I think it would have made far more sense for the “password” for this episode to be eyes or hitagi-eyes. It was almost as if they adapted the story for this episode to maximise the number of random close up shots the animators could do so they could draw Hitagi’s eyes. I lost count after 14 times.

Drumroll please: in this brilliantly composed post of literary genius I present a guide to get to know the moods of Senjougahara Hitagi. This is strictly for entertainment purposes only, I absolve myself of any responsibility if you find a staplers in your mouth.

And yes to reiterate, these are all from the same episode. And this isn't even a quarter of them. For your sanity and for my bandwidth I have limited myself to these so far. Arigato.

"Wary [of wind blowing hair into her eyes]"

"Intrigued"

"Stunned"

"Normal!"

Here's another Rubenerd Fun Fact for all you rabid Official Rubenerd Fun Fact fans. I know you're out there, I can hear you breathing. Oh wait, that's me.

I have proudly never typed the word ostentatious. Oh crap.

Thank you.

When I was in primary school in Singapore I entered into a Skippy Peanut Butter writing contest and won 800 bucks. Especially for a 12 year old kid this amount was gigantic, so the first thing I did (without my parents telling me to I might add!) was open a bank account to put it in. At the time most Singaporean banks required a minimum deposit of $1000 so I went with a POSB student account.

Now I'm 23 and I still have that account, but am thinking of moving to something else. DBS has long since owned POSB (but curiously kept the brand alive) which was convenient given my dad had a few DBS accounts, but every time I go back to Singapore I'm reminded of why I dislike them.

1. They closed their Liat Towers branch (the building next to Wheelock Place) meaning if I need to fulfil banking needs or however you’re supposed to phrase that my closest branch is Plaza Singapura which is several MRT stops away and is always packed.

2. They might be too popular, whenever there’s a series of ATMs there’s almost never anyone queuing for the UOB or OCBC ATMs but the DBS and POSB ones often have as many as 10-15 people, especially in student hotspots along Orchard like Far East Plaza and Plaza Singapura.

3. On a related note to 2, why is DBS/POSB not part of the Atm5 network which lets you use your card in a different bank’s ATM?

4. Finally, DBS on occasion supports creepy ultra conservative organisations like Focus On The Family which spread misinformation, fear and prejudice against women and the LGBT community, as I wrote about last year and followed up on here.

So now I'm left wondering which Singapore bank I'll create an account with. I've heard ANZ is buying out RBS in Singapore, perhaps I'll be able to keep my local ANZ account and use that in Singapore too. Nah probably not, there are probably charges for accessing funds in foreign currencies all the time.

Why must dealing with banks be so messy and confusing? Why can't they pink, fuzzy and squishy?

I will remain calm! I will remain calm! I will remain calm! I will remain calm! Grilled cheese sandwiches! I will remain calm!

Those of us Twitter refugees that also use FriendFeed accounts with it have made our way over there and are using the #TwitterFail hashtag, come join us if you want to witness the end of the world as we know it!

Laugh as much as you want, but it's got to the stage where Twitter has become such an integrated and instant part of my life that using the regular internet feels like going back to newspapers in information delivery speed. Once you get the taste for instant information from close friends, people you're interested in and news sources from around the entire planet, you're hooked.

Open services (based on Laconi.ca or anything else) really need to take off, it's got to the stage where this infrastructure is simply too important for one company to control… and mess up.

I tell you what though, it does make this post I created about Twitter only a few hours earlier look quaint doesn't it?

After going through the two part Crab God saga of Bakemonogatari, this episode was far more "subdued" and whatnot — it also didn’t stray from the one park/playground scene for the entire duration of the show. I haven’t read other people’s reviews yet, but I’m sure there were probably more than a few who bashed it for it’s… sleepyness.

Subdued, sleepyness, whatnot, these are technical visual arts terms. I know what I'm talking about.

I liked this episode; then again I really liked the episode where Kyon has to go get the room heater for some reason too, so maybe I'm just strange. Perhaps there's a part of me that's just pleased when people don't automatically think they have to cram as much as they can into their allotted timeslot.

Yes, this entire episode took place in an abandoned playground/park thing which is abandoned because it's a specific day of the year with much backstory behind it. Koyomi made his way to said park himself but by sheer brilliant dumbfounded luck Hitagi just happened to walk past too. Genius! Or maybe she's a stalker. Hadn't thought of that.

Apparently Hitagi isn't impressed with Koyomi's suggestive hair shenanigans.

Inevitably much of the dialogue surrounded what Hitagi thinks she owes Koyomi for helping her fight the Crab God and the curse she had been cursed with. Cursed with a curse, I like that. There's a sweet moment (aww ^_^) and at one point she suggests such things as only wearing an apron to fix him breakfast, but instead he ends up preferring to talk about his family problems. Aww.

Speaking of eyes (wait, what?), I think it would have made far more sense for the "password" for this episode to be eyes or hitagi-eyes. It was almost as if they adapted the story for this episode to maximise the number of random close up shots the animators could do so they could draw Hitagi's eyes. I lost count after 14 times. As far as fanservice goes though, for me eyes are okay ^_^.

Almost as an afterthought we're also introduced to Mayoi who was lost, I think. Suffice to say if most people Koyomi's age did to Mayoi what he did, he'd be in a LOT of trouble! But did you see her eyes? There's something going on there…

As with the other episodes the setup appeared relatively normal but was ever so slightly surreal, it’s another thing I just can’t put my finger on but you’d understand if you watched it. I don’t know what kind of playground they were at but it was huge. Not as huge as the washing machine was shiny and red in the second episode but big nonetheless.

Wait, that didn't make any sense. I feel the urge to ride a girder bicycle, or whatever that thing was.

Despite being released during the last ice age, Internet Explorer 6 is still choking innovation and standards on the web, perhaps just as Microsoft intended. We need to get Internet Explorer 6 users off the net and onto newer browsers such as Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Safari or if they're okay with companies calling home then Chrome might also be feasible. Heck even Internet Explorer 8 or Windows Internet Explorer 8 or Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer Home Premium Online Edition 2009 would be a start.

Fortunately there is a way to encourage users on corporate computers who aren't allowed to install or modify the software on their machine and inexperienced users who don't know how to install or modify software in the first place to move over to a different browser, and it's so breathtakingly obvious I'm kicking my left shin with my left foot for not coming up with it myself.

By going to Twibbon you can add an Internet Explorer 6 must die badge on your Twitter profile and let the entire world see it! I suspect once such a movement reaches critical mass even the companies still on Windows 2000 will start to take notice and upgrade.

Okay I admit it, I was being sarcastic (no, really?) but the truth is we do need to get Internet Explorer 6 off the net. Even if only one person changes their browser in response to seeing my Toblerone nose that happens to have an indecipherable graphic that I assume is a tiny Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer Home Premium Online Edition 2009 icon with a strike through it, then I know it was worth it.