Aiya Iluvatar

Is anyone really surprised?

Mac or PC? Score: 100% (10 out of 10)

XKCD - Eternal Life, UNIX style

via xkcd.com

So, Will I get an iPad?

 A question I've been asked several times in the last few days.  I'm very impressed with the tech, and the design is breathtaking (no doubt why Jonathan Ive did most of the talking).  Many people seem confused, decrying missing features they expect on a phone (i.e. Camera) or on a laptop (i.e. DVD Drive.)  As Apple has explained, this is a NEW category of device that doesn't fit in with either existing paradigm.  I think the iPhone OS is the right choice, assuming it's beefed up some (which it appears to be.)  The addition of iWork is genius.  I have no use for Numbers, but Pages and Keynote are part of my everyday work.  The idea of being able to run presentations from the iPad instead of lugging around a laptop is VERY appealing.  (See Nick Knisely's post)  The keyboard dock looks amazing.  Several questions remain for me:

1. Flash Flash Flash.   Apple is touting this as the ultimate web-browsing device, but without Flash, A LOT of the internet is unavailable.  While I love Safari on my iPhone, the lack of flash has me running to my laptop all the time.  What's the point of a web browser if I can't watch Hulu or Homestar Runner?  And many sites, including the NYT which Apple demoed the other day, rely on Flash animation to deliver part of their content.  An "ultimate web device" that can't deliver one of the primary formats of the web is not ultimate, and could be a deal breaker for me.
2. I have a lot of Kindle books.  I assume the iPhone Kindle reader will work on the iPad, but will Amazon add the code to make it a native iPad app at full resolution?  It would seem to make sense since Amazon's revenue stream is mainly from books.  Also, the Kindle is really not in the same category, being half the price and using Digital Ink technology rather than LCD.
3. World of Warcraft.  OK That WOULD be cool, but a more general question - how much more powerful will native iPad apps be?  How much capability does the new A4 processor have and how big an application can an iPad run?  Where will the breaking point be between what can be done on the iPad and what still needs to be done on a computer?
4. iPad?  Really?  As a blog post from Bust magazine notes, did they have any women involved in this process?  If they had, I'm guessing iPad would have been off the table as a name immediately.

So the question is still up in the air for me.  I drank the Apple kool-aid a long time ago, so most likely, I will be trying to acquire one.  But the lack of Flash is a very serious drawback in what otherwise looks like a very useful and interesting product.

David+

Finally! "Nu-Clee-Er!"

 I watched the State of the Union address last night, as I have every state of the union since I was sixteen.  I see it as a patriotic responsibility.  I'm not sure whether President Obama can deliver on what he promises, especially considering that the congress seems unable to move despite the overwhelming Democratic majority, but it was refreshing to hear him speak.  For the first time in nine years, the SOTU did not contain a mispronunciation of the word "Nuclear," sounded like an oration rather than a junior-high composition project, and was not delivered in a condescending, sarcastic tone when referring to those in the opposition (although he did use appropriate humor to rib them.)  Whether or not Obama will be a great president remains to be seen, but it is good to have someone in the White House who can communicate clearly with both his own nation and others.

The Frakkin Toasters are Back!

 So I finally got around to watching the pilot of Caprica last night.  Those of you in the geek circles will say, "About time!" while others will say "Capri-what?"  Caprica is the second series in what appears to be the new Battlestar Galactica (BSG) franchise on SyFy on Friday nights.  Whereas the remake of BSG had to deal at least passingly with the legacy of the original 70s space opera, Caprica is largely free of any burden, other than occasional references. (The first Cylon still says, "By your command!")  One of the strengths of the BSG revival has been its great character development and exploration of current societal issues, which is a hallmark of really good Science Fiction (Think Heinlein, Asimov, parts of the Star Trek franchise, and Babylon 5.)  Caprica moves almost completely away from BSG's Space Opera background, using technology as a storytelling tool rather than just for the "WOW" factor.  

The most pressing issue addressed in the pilot is the ongoing question of what is the essence of being human, especially in a time of increasing artificial intelligence.  This was the point of the famous Turing Test developed by Alan Turing in the 1950s.  If a machine becomes indistinguishable from a human being to another human, is it human?  Do we have souls and if so, what do they consist of?  Star Trek TNG used this as a recurring theme around the character of Lt. Data and this was a constant meme in Cyberpunk literature in the 1980s.  The BSG remake addressed this question and Caprica appears to be on track to deliver much more philosophical exploration of the subject.  Other issues raised in the pilot include concerns about virtual reality, the link between religion and violence, terrorism, racism, and organized crime.

I was very impressed.  For those who don't generally like Science Fiction, I would encourage giving this series a try, as it breaks many of the conventions of SciFi and delivers really gritty, thoughtful reflections on many of the facets of our society.

Corporations are people?

I've been mulling over the Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission decision last week.  The part that I find most worrisome of this whole question is not the issue about campaign advertising, which hopefully can be dealt with by legislation, but the idea that a corporation is a "person."  This is nothing new - this appears to have started in 1886.  The problem, is that as I see it, this really stretches the definition of person in American constitutional law.  Going back to the Declaration of Independence, rights are inalienable - granted by God - to those whom God has created.  (You can equally substitute Nature here if you are atheist.)  A corporation, by definition, is "unnatural," that is, something that does not exist in the natural world, but is a construct of secondary human law.  It is very hard for me to imagine the founders thinking of corporations as persons.  They certainly had those, but did not go out of their way to grant them rights, nor did they to any other organization created by human law, such as marriages or fraternal brotherhoods.  Corporations might (and should) be granted certain rights by legislative process.  But to insist that their rights exist by default, that they are in effect as inalienable as those granted to human beings, seems to me to be a devaluation of the entire achievement of the Enlightenment vis a vis human rights.

All I need to Know About Life I Learned from D&D

All I Need To Know About Life I learned From Dungeons and Dragons. An IgniteOKC Talk. from Chad Henderson on Vimeo.

Very funny, especially the guy in the clerical collar early on.  Thanks to Nick Knisely for pointing this out.