Flying to the US will become productive again: laptop power and wireless for all classes of passengers. (source : APC)
Author: admin
Snippet on IronRuby: Aussie code inside
In ScottGu’s comments to his excellent post, he mentions that Microsoft licensed some of the QuT Ruby.NET work! w00t! Aussie code lives inside IronRuby. Well done, Dr Wayne Kelly and team.
New Microsoft hire (starting in September), Scott Hanselman, is also getting into the Ruby-way.
Also, Miguel de Icaza gives a big tick to the project.
Technorati Tags: ironruby
Some Monday Links
Alivetec (That’s the Gold Coast health gadget guys) go larger than The Geek Stories: ABC’s Good Morning America. MSR + Australian goodness goes really large! A phone that tells you when you are not breathing. W00t!
John Lam gives an update on IronRuby. The first drop is available now. LOLCODE, Ruby, Python. A difficult choice!
Want to step out with Silverlight in Brisbane? Pop me an email and I’ll connect you up.
AMD Dual Core (2007) vs. Mac Plus (1986). Interesting comments on “large software” — as I actually remember using Mac Plus’s for hard work (word processing, spreadsheets) and System6.0.8; I should write up what the Mac could not do in 1986. Meh. The Mac was only throwing around 22K of graphics (512 x 384 pixels / 8 bits as the Mac was only B&W) ; Word didn’t even repaginate in the background. This Mac could not have TCP/IP’d as there wasn’t enough memory on the logic board (1Mb hardwired, no upgrades) or speed in the SCC (serial controller for the RS423 on the Macs). An interesting read to see how far we’ve come.
Underdog Blog
Swollenpickles (swollenpickledonions?) rates this blog, and 24 others as “underdog blogs.” The article is positively titled “25 of the lowest ranked top 100 Australian blogs”
What’s more, I loved to watch Underdog on the TV. Now there is a lame-arse Disney movie coming in August. Another of my childhood icons destroyed!
Great way to link link backs and boost yourself above that fateful 75th position, I reckon.
Interestingly, this blog is categorised as “geek stuff”. KTHXBAI
frankarr detritus to give away
Each of these individual items need a good home.
- 0 x Foam head “Tablet PC” guys
- 0 x C# shot glasses (need washing)
- -1 x geek button-pins
ALL over at 12:33pm
Qualifications: First email to nhodge@microsoft.com. Nominiate your item. I will only send to AU or NZ. Non-Microsoft people only. One per person. I will pack the C# shot glasses as best I can but cannot guarantee they will arrive in one piece.
Lost in Microsoft
Up, to work. Parking easy as everyone is somewhere else. Frankarr on the internal TV system not doing LOLCATS. Speaking Shakespeare to promote TechEd. Even when Frankarr is not in the building, his Hamlet-ian ghost haunts us.
On way to desk, speak to Jeffa about his two way cool posts: Windows Server 2008 and the new cool roadshow demo hardware case.
I’m however, I am still Lost in Microsoft. Resolution: Need coffee. Need Neil Finn
Get a way cool email from my very own high school Ferris Bueller: Paul Dalby. Not only was he smart, he was funny. Everyone wanted to be Dalby. Paul sends me a link to Sam de Brito’s blog post: “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and the secret to life”
‘…life moves pretty fast… you don’t stop to look around once and while, you could miss it.’
Crowded House and Ferris Bueller, and we’re away.
This is not the darkside, the moss is just greener here.
New Revision of Popfly (19th July 2007)
… New revision of Popfly is up…
Just in time for me, as I return to business-as-usual.
Japan 2.0: Dear Japan…
Dear Japan
I think I really like you as a friend, but I am no longer in love.
It’s not you, it’s me. The love of the new, the unknown, the forbidden is gone.
It is not the great public transport, the very friendly and courteous people. The wall-to-wall shopping.
I am sure we can still be friends.
My third trip to Japan, even with the earthquake and typhoon, was pleasant enough. I think however that to know you better, I would have to move in with you and learn your language. At this stage in my life, it’s a commitment I cannot make. I am just too tired and grumpy for that.
My genes are calling me to follow my DNA back in time. Germany and Scotland call.
This begs the question of why I travelled to Japan in the first place. Good question. I think I should have had a holiday while I was not working.
You have shown me the future: it’s vertical and it’s mobile. Even the geek (otaku) side of Japan was interesting – but not engaging enough unless you like manga, gundam universe and other slices of culture I cannot explain.
Yours
Nick
Japan 2.0: Maps
Exits are numbered and are important in the Tokyo subway system. A1-10, B1-12, C1-16. Yes, there are that many exits.
Thankfully the organisers of Japan have nice maps virtually everywhere, and you should not get lost.
Ginza is the home to shopping in brand-name stores. Today we visited the Sony, Nissan, Canon and Apple stores.
After visiting Yodobashi, and the Sony store, I am of the belief that we get the crappiest stuff in Australia. The Toshiba and Sony laptops in Japan are beautiful. In Australia, everything is grey and horrible. The above is a small PC with wireless, bluetooth, TV and a whole bunch of things running in Vista. Do Want! Oh, that’s right. Not in Australia.
Buying food from pictures is one thing, but pharmaceutical items? It’s a hoot – you are likely to get almost anything.
Paul Macartney playing in the Starbucks, Ginza Matsuya-dori is putting everyone to sleep. (note: this Starbucks in now 10 years old!). Why Starbucks? You can taste the distance between the coffee in Japanese coffee. Starbucks is denser.
The new Canon store just a way down from the Starbucks has excellent photos, and displays of their devices. Above is a paper model of Pirates. Excellent way of selling more printers, inks and paper.
And yes, before heading back to the hotel, I visited teh Apple Store Ginza and refrained from purchasing anything. Might get one of them new MacBook Pros when I return to Australia if I can find a new owner for my old one. The store looks a little bare without the iPhone. Way more sales people than customers. Very non-Ginza.
Japan 2.0: Undercover
Picture: Yodobashi Camera, Shinjuku, Games Store. Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii. Maybe something Xbox360. If you look hard enough.
The normal PC “bits” store in in the lower level (B1) of the main store. Here is absolutely anything and everything you will ever need for PC stuff:
Picture: Image, on tree in Shinjuku
Picture: Quality merchandise from Japan
Picture: I jump on a busy JR Yamanote from Shinjuku to Tokyo Station. Goal: Imperial Palace Gardens
From note in the above picture: “Shelter for People Who Cannot Go Back Home” That is, homeless
Picture: Guard House (old, not new) at Imperial Palace. Note: the guards are not ninjas
Picture: This was taken at the Eastern entrance to the Imperial Palace. I loitered around this area as there were many security guys with ear pieces looking nervous. More nervous with a sweaty anglo-saxon guy standing around watching (ie: me). They waved me on, just in case I was a white terrorist intent on doing something evil. I was just interested! Eventually, a car rushed past on this road and everyone returned to normal.