Author: karan

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Four More Years for Obama

In 2008, I think I was far more nervous and yet also more confident of Obama’s election – surely, the US would see after the disaster of the Bush presidency that something different was needed, and they delivered. The elation, the sheer relief of Bush being over and done with was as big a factor in the aftermath as the historic election of a ‘Black’ President. Obama would have that label no matter what, now that he was elected – and the Hope & Change message was a powerful one.

In 2012, the farcical path the Republican party took to get to the final nominee, the unbelievable audacity of the untruths told in the process, probably made me far more complacent about the prospects for Obama’s re-election – surely his achievements were sufficient! – but at the same time I was almost expecting that the American people wouldn’t see it, and they’d be blindly railroaded into rolling over to Romney – and all for want of a decent debate performance? It was the strangely believable result which I could see the Americans delivering. Never trust the nice guy is going to finish on top.

So when the election wrapped up pretty much as Nate Silver and the team at FiveThirtyEight predicted, it was a moment of relief more than anything that cynical lies hadn’t won the day. Obama deserved an equal chance to prove his changes meant something as Bush, Clinton or Reagan got – a presidential legacy to be sealed. Now it is up to him to deliver on the promise, without the constraints that the hunt for re-election places.

It saddens me that the term limits are a factor in the US like this – Obama doesn’t get a shot at a third term, no matter what. Bill Clinton doesn’t get a shot to use his intelligence and capabilities that remain so strong and so present. Obama will retire in effect at 55, having done all he could have done in politics. Short of a nomination to the Supreme Court by a successor, the man may have another 30 years in which he cannot directly apply his intelligence to the public good. Fair’s fair – this could have applied in both directions, and Reagan could have been President until his dementia kicked in, but it is something that becomes an interesting question with longer lives and younger candidates.

Another note of interest I picked up yesterday was the following map from the NY Times election coverage – it shows the shift in the votes for each county:

The red arrows show a shift to a higher Republican vote/margin, the blues to a better result for Obama. The length of the arrows shows the magnitude of the shift.

For all the talk of the Deep South being Republican heartland and this election being driven by that factor more than anything else, you can see very, very clearly that this hasn’t been the case in the south. Obama managed to win despite the move against him in nearly every state – the states which show clear pockets of blue are Ohio, northern NY, and then the southern “traditionally red” states. That he managed to win despite the big red arrows against him in the Mid-West is awesome indeed.

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Google Nexus 7

“Wait… you have an iPad, a desktop, a Kindle, an iPhone… what the hell do you need a Nexus 7 for?”

It’s the first question I get asked with this thing. The answer I’m tempted to give is sheer technolust: who can resist getting another toy that seems to play a role, well, at least somewhere in the pantheon of devices available. The iPad allowed me to get rid of the laptop – so what would a 7 inch tablet do for me?

On the Multiplicity of Screens

I’m not going to try to do a walk through of what this device looks like – it’s been comprehensively reviewed elsewhere. The whole attraction to me of the Nexus 7 was the “middle role” – it is roughly the size of a Kindle, at least on the face, but yet offers much more functionality. For years I’ve mocked Android as being a piece of hacked together software, barely holding a complete face, but secretly I’ve also wanted to have a play with an Android device. It wasn’t until the Nexus came along though that I thought there was something affordable and also on the leading edge that I could sate my curiosity with, though.

In having the same dimensions as a Kindle, the Nexus allows you to hold it easily in one hand for nearly all tasks you’ll do with it – and there’s the key reason why I wanted it. Whereas when I wrote my response to the iPad’s introduction, that 10 inches was too small and hardly worthwhile, now it seems the iPad is massive. It’s weighty enough and large enough that you’ll use 2 hands to manipulate it most of the time, barring the occasions when you’ve got a stand available. When I use the Kindle – so light, so slim – I hardly notice the time spent with it. That’s the niche the Nexus fills – pocketable, at least in man-pockets and jackets, but still large enough to be meaningful. (though by no means is the Nexus slim or light like a Kindle – there’s some trade-off for the screen and usability…)

It is somewhat difficult to justify carrying around multiple devices that perform similar services – I think, for me, the Nexus fills a particular niche while commuting; while travelling, a Kindle would be my main device for reading while the iPad would be for more general web stuff. The 16:10 or so ratio of the Nexus provides a better view for watching movies etc, but it is awkward for widescreen browsing, vertical space a definite premium when the device is horizontal, and vice versa when vertical.

It would also appear I’m far too spoilt by retina class screens – between the latest iPad and iPhone, the relatively lower pixel density is obvious. It’s not so much of a problem with video, but with text it is extremely dependent on software rendering (Firefox is better than Chrome at text rendering, for instance).

Alphabetized Deserts

I’ve had a curiousity for Android from day 1, but somehow it had yet to attract me sufficiently to bring me to actually get an Android device. The phones were first bulky, then limited in capability, then limited in battery life – it’s only recently that a top of the line Android phone feels as well put together as an iPhone.

As for tablets, Android’s origin as a phone OS was clear up until very recently – the original Samsung Galaxy tab, similar in size to the Nexus, never quite jelled because the system tried to be driven as a large screen phone. With Jelly Bean, they’ve come some way to addressing these limitations, and now it feels like the OS at least understands that there’s more room to work with.

That said, it’s not as though the fundamental use language is any different – and in fact one of the most infuriating parts of the Nexus 7 is the fact that the home screen doesn’t turn sideways by default. You have to enable system-wide orientation detection – anyone familiar with tablets (read: iPads) will be very annoyed on first use that the system doesn’t orient itself horizontally. It’s not a good sign when the second thing I do after turning on a device is look up some basic functionality.

On the other hand, exploring the settings opens up a whole new world as far as iOS users are concerned – functionality like battery monitoring, memory & process management dev unlocking, native mounting… I can still claim something of a tinkerer/hacker mindset, and this instantly made me think of everything I’ve missed out on. A dedicated soft-button to switch apps? The tedious double-tap-home-to-switch mechanic on iOS now looks too complicated.

But then we get the other limitation: soft keys need the software to anticipate what you’re wanting to do. If I’m in the middle of a video or a game, I need to tap on the screen to get it to show me the soft button, and then it takes up formerly usable space. To unlock the screen, I specifically need to look for the power button – on the side ’round the back. I miss a home button: something on the front of the screen that tells me which way is up and something I can push any time to get a response.

The app experience also are somewhat… varied. The Play store does not make the distinction between the app types that the App Store does, or at least not to my knowledge; other than a couple of apps that seem to keep a distinction in mind, the design feels awfully like a one-size-fits-all principle has been followed. I don’t know whether there’s a switchable mode available to developers in the way it is available for iPad vs iPhone/iPod Touch, but that bundling of ‘HD’ and ‘standard’ mode apps is ingenious and something sorely missed here.

Twitter apps don’t make use of the extra space, browsers (other than Chrome) hide the tabs away to leave more room for content… little things that make the experience feel somewhat lacking. Where my first reaction to the iPad was “It’s just a large iPhone”, and I was proven soundly wrong, the Nexus 7 and its app experience doesn’t seem to be able to shake that impression.

A Challenger Appears

All this makes me sounds rather down on the device, perhaps – my overall impression though is that this a solid device, and one that establishes a standard for things to be judged from here on. I’m not a fan of ‘phablets’ – monstrosities that don’t quite know whether they’re trying to be a phone or tablet and fail at both. Battery life is solid, the display is very nice, and the design overall leaves me with the impression that this is a well built device. It’s not about to replace an iPad for me, not by a long shot, but as a middle device to use on a daily commute is far easier to pick up a Nexus 7 and play.

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Lean Pursuit

Hey, just a little cross-promotion, my dad’s new site for his consulting firm is up at Lean Pursuit – they specialize in implementation of Lean principles for process improvement in a variety of companies, such as the manufacturing industry. If you haven’t heard of Lean techniques, you might know of Six Sigma – similar concept, all about reducing defects and smoothing the process of production.

Anyway, I’m helping out with the site, so fingers crossed it gets up and running soon enough.

 

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Pushing a different sky

Spectacular view from the new Mars rover Curiosity:

Jupiter, Venus and Earth in the sky from Mars

Jupiter, Venus and Earth in the sky. Amazing to think where science is these days, and the sheer achievement of landing that rover in the first place is a testament to technology and its advancements. How long until we land humans on Mars?

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Count la Rochefoucauld, Spy Extraordinaire

Fantastic obituary to make anyone think their life is pretty boring – Count Robert de La Rochefocauld, former Resistance fighter in WWII:

Cycling to Bordeaux to meet a contact who was to arrange his return to England, however, he ran into a roadblock, taken prisoner, and imprisoned at the 16th-century Fort du Hâ. His explanations that he had been out after dark on a romantic assignation were not believed and, in his cell, La Rochefoucauld considered swallowing the cyanide pill concealed in the heel of his shoe.

Instead he faked an epileptic fit and, when the guard opened the door to his cell, hit him over the head with a table leg before breaking his neck. After putting on the German’s uniform, La Rochefoucauld walked into the guardroom and shot the two other German jailers. He then simply walked out of the fort, through the deserted town, and to the address of an underground contact.

Once there, however, he found that joining the rest of his escape line was impossible, as checks and patrols had been stepped up. Then the man harbouring him, whose sister was a nun, suggested that La Rochefoucauld slip into her habit. Thus dressed, he slowly walked through the city, eventually knocking on the door of Roger Landes, code-named Aristide, a bilingual Briton whom he hoped would take care of his return to England.

He wasn’t just done in WWII, either:

La Rochefoucauld was demobilised in 1946 in the rank of captain but immediately recruited into the French secret services. After training near Orleans, he volunteered for a tour of duty in Indo-China, leading commando raids against the Viet Minh. But his methods, which included launching ambushes dressed as a Viet, were frowned upon by senior officers, and after five months he returned to France. Life there bored him, and he travelled: first to Cameroon, for three years, then to Venezuela for two. He returned to rejoin French special forces in time for Suez

These are the kinds of exploits that make Bond seem tame.

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Chinese Censorship goes through the looking glass

I’m sure this is going to get this little website banned in China, but yesterday the censorship of the internet there went through the looking glass:

In an unlikely coincidence certainly unwelcome to China’s communist rulers, the stock benchmark fell 64.89 points on Monday, matching the numbers of the June 4, 1989 crackdown in the heart of Beijing.

On the popular Sina microblog site, searches using ‘June 4’, ‘64.89’, ‘stock market’, and ‘benchmark Shanghai Composite Index’ were all blocked.

Such searches draw the response: “According to law such words cannot be shown.”

Methinks the Chinese censors doth protest too much.

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Failbook

Bronte Capital on the ‘Failbook’ IPO:

The Wall Street Journal… derides Michael Grimes (the Morgan Stanley Banker) for not standing up to David Ebersman (Facebook’s CFO) and allowing Facebook to sell too many shares at too high a price. This is tits-up-backward. David Ebersman in this context is the client. He paid the fees. Michael Grimes had a duty to act in Ebersman’s interest. Ebersman wanted to sell more shares at a higher price. Michael Grimes and Morgan Stanley obliged even at the cost to their own franchise.

And for that he is being pilloried in the press.

What we have here is an investment banker acting ethically. And the whole financial press is a twitter about it.

And the SEC is investigating.

The financial world is slowly sinking into a circle-jerk of farce. (via)

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Aaron Sorkin on Relationships

Aaron Sorkin delivered a commencement speech at Syracuse University last week, ranging over a wide field of topics as is usual for Sorkin. Two things I found were incredibly poignant and to the point on relationships:

There’s a story about a man and a woman who have been married for 40 years.  One evening at dinner the woman turns to her husband and says, “You know, 40 years ago on our wedding day you told me that you loved me and you haven’t said those words since.” They sit in silence for a long moment before the husband says “If I change my mind, I’ll let you know.”

I don’t know the full story, but this is now stored in my head as my favourite anecdote about the male way of thinking. The next was part of a wish for success:

For the class of 2012, I wish you joy. I wish you health and happiness and success, I wish you a roof, four walls, a floor and someone in your life that you care about more than you care about yourself. Someone who makes you start saying “we” where before you used to say “I” and “us” where you used to say “me.”

Perfect sentiment.

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The Value of Interface Design

If you can recall, a couple of years ago Air France flight 447 crashed in the Atlantic off the coast of South America. The follow-up investigation is returning a report finally, and the conclusion is a bit grim:

It seems surprising that Airbus has conceived a system preventing one pilot from easily assessing the actions of the colleague beside him. And yet that is how their latest generations of aircraft are designed. The reason is that, for the vast majority of the time, side sticks are superb. “People are aware that they don’t know what is being done on the other side stick, but most of the time the crews fly in full automation; they are not even touching the stick,” says Captain King. “We hand-fly the aeroplane ever less now because automation is reliable and efficient, and because fatigue is an issue. [The side stick] is not an issue that comes up – very rarely does the other pilot’s input cause you concern.”

Boeing has always begged to differ, persisting with conventional controls on its fly-by-wire aircraft, including the new 787 Dreamliner, introduced into service this year. Boeing’s cluttering and old-fashioned levers still have to be pushed and turned like the old mechanical ones, even though they only send electronic impulses to computers. They need to be held in place for a climb or a turn to be accomplished, which some pilots think is archaic and distracting.

The American manufacturer was concerned about side sticks’ lack of visual and physical feedback. Indeed, it is hard to believe AF447 would have fallen from the sky if it had been a Boeing. Had a traditional yoke been installed on Flight AF447, Robert would surely have realised that his junior colleague had the lever pulled back and mostly kept it there. When Dubois returned to the cockpit he would have seen that Bonin was pulling up the nose.

Somewhat scary to think something so seemingly simple could cascade so catastrophically. That’s not to say the entire blame lies with Airbus, but it certainly highlights the message that making things obvious in a complex interface, even if feedback from users contradicts the decision, can pay off in situations not commonly envisaged.

(via df)