Mezmerize me.

Analog vs. digital profile switching

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 21:07:02 -0800

I was using Android long enough to get used to some of it’s handy features that I now miss a lot on iPhone. One of these features is the way you switch your profiles (usually normal to silent and vice versa). iPhone has a different way to do it.

When I saw iPhone for the first time, I was excited about the handy profile switch it had near the volume buttons. It’s great when you can set ‘Silent’ without turning on the screen and attracting attention, say, on a meeting. You can do it not looking, even!

But in a few days, my initial excitement turned to disappointment. On Android (and even on a Symbian phone Nokia E51 I had before it), you could download an application that would look into your calendar and set/unset silent mode automatically, based on the events you have. That was great, I remember. I never had to worry about forgetting my sound on or off for a long time. If I chose the silent mode manually, it would stay until the end of my next calendar event and then went back to normal, again, automatically.

For iPhone, everything’s different. You have this fancy switch, but that’s it. No indication whether your phone is in ‘Silent’ mode, or not, except when you look at the switch. Nothing on the screen. No way to change profiles from within the system; no apps for auto change as well.

Usually I do not forget to switch my phone to ‘Silent’. Auto-switching was handy, but still, having no auto-switch doesn’t make a big deal. If I forget, I always can set it later, when something reminds me about it. The outside switch could be handy when I need to do this fast, but — let’s be honest — how often do you need to do it so fast?

And now we are at the point where auto switch matters. When you need to turn the sounds back on. And when you (most likely) will forget about this again and again. When you needed to mute all sounds, it was important — you had a meeting or any other event requiring silence. Now it’s not important anymore, so your brain will most likely skip and forget about sound switch. Digital profile setting works best in this case. Analog one… no, don’t tell me about it.

As I said, you could install a handy app for a profile switch for Android or Symbian phone. The only sort of apps for iPhone I saw on iTunes market are those that show you a pop-up reminder telling you to put the ‘Silent’ switch off. And, I must say, this is ridiculous! Getting an app for this sort of reminder, because your phone can’t do it automatically — you’re basically signing up for spam that your brain will most likely skip as well.

The only thing Apple did right with this silent mode is, actually, two things: your morning alarm, that will be loud no matter what, even if everything else is muted, and the ‘Find My Phone’ sound message, that will do the same. Latter even saved me a half an hour of search, when my phone sinked into the sofa with silent mode on. This is how it should be.

So, let’s wrap up. Digital profile switch? It may take longer time, but it allows extra features such as auto profile change based on calendar events or a pre-set time. This is actually very handy and helps to back up your mind when you’re most likely to forget your phone on ‘Mute’. Analog profile switch? This is handy for fast sounds mute, but no indicator icon and no auto-set-back makes this feature pretty useless.

I don’t blame Apple for this no-digital-switch thing. Analog thing can be useful, too. And if you think on having best of both worlds, you get another problem: the way it is designed on iPhone, how can you automatically set your analog switch back?

Here is my answer: if you re-design the switch and make it a button, like volume buttons on iPhone, then it would work. Or, even better, get rid of this button and keep this function up to the industry standards: long press on ‘Power’ gets you the profile menu.

Unfortunately, Apple isn’t used to follow industry standards. They set them. Usually it’s good, but sometimes it just doesn’t work.

OLPC Summit T-Shirt

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 21:54:22 -0700

Summit is now over, and I’ve been asked so many times about the t-shirts.
They are not just randomly designed, they actually have an idea behind them.

OLPC is for kids, right? I remember, when I was a child, I loved the stories of Arthur Conan Doyle, especially his ‘The Adventure of the Dancing Men’. That’s where the font of the t-shirt message comes from.

Can you guess what the message is about? Well, it’s not that hard when you know that XO icon is not a letter, just a decorative element. Don’t worry, I won’t keep you guessing for long.

There is a phrase that greets you every time when you enter Terminal Activity, ‘Hello, Children Of The World!’. I took the word ‘Children’ and wrote it in the Dancing Men Script. I know it could be just the word ‘Children’, no matter where it from, but I like to think I took it specifically from the phrase you see in Terminal.

This is basically it. If you were at the Summit in San Francisco this year, and got the t-shirt, I hope you liked it.

Why I didn't buy the 'touch' or 'fire' Kindle version

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 11:09:00 -0700

Yesterday Amazon announced a bunch of new devices in Kindle series. I looked [online] at all of them, and bought the new basic kindle, the version for $109, the one without special offers.

Why didn’t I go with Touch or Fire? Well, to my taste, the Touch version is a way too far from a real book, although it may sound strange.

I had the Sony Reader Touch Edition for a while, buying it as a gift to my parents. Touch is OK overall, but it crudely interrupts reading for me. Touch feature means that your screen won’t be nicely clean and unscratched anymore, just as with your favorite smartphone from Google.

It is fine to buy protective screens for a smartphone: although they make the screen look less crisp, it is still acceptable. But for the device that’s main purpose is reading and only that… I don’t want any more layers here. Just the screen as it was designed originally, preferably without the scratches and fingerprints. Side buttons to turn pages is OK. Nothing more is needed.

A kind of the similar concern I have about Fire. It’s too far from the device I would call a book now. Even an electronic book.

Surely, having a colored screen is nice, and I was anticipating the color Kindle from Amazon, but… that’s just not it. I don’t want an overpowered under-tablet that lives on the battery less than 8 hours for reading. I would be happy with colored pictures, but not at the point when they make my battery last thirty times less. Between color and battery life for a so-called book, I always choose battery life.

Why no special offers? Well, there are a lot of people out there who just doesn’t notice the ads, and therefore usually prefer the cheaper version of software, hardware, and everything. I just can’t. Maybe it’s my former media experience (I was designing ads for a while in the past), maybe something else, but I always notice the ads and most of the time they irritate me. And I just don’t want any ‘special offers’ in my book. I know Amazon does everything to make my reading experience nice and smooth anyway, but ads are still ads. Even if they are placed only on the idle screen, I don’t want to have them there, and I choose not to. Really.

It is the era of multifunctional devices, indeed. But for the old-fashioned activity such as reading a book, I prefer a simple, single-functioned machine such as a basic Kindle. With no touch, no color, no 3g and no ads.

It is my choice. What’s yours?

OLPC XO experiment

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 23:58:00 -0700

I recently went on a two-week vacation to St. Petersburg, Florida. It was going to be a calm and even boring time: swimming in the ocean, getting tan, doing everyday yoga and gathering energy for the rest of the year.

In terms of making this vacation less boring, I decided to take OLPC XO instead of my regular MacBookPro with me. I planned an experiment: go and see if I, a geek and a technology lover, can really work and live on this small green machine. And if I can, then how it would look.

XO is a really exceptional piece of technology, but it’s definitely not your MacBookPro. It is much slower, interface is different, especially in Sugar [Learning Environment], and made for a completely different purpose. And on top of all that, it is Linux, not an all-polished Mac.

Most of the things I do day-to-day on my MacBook, especially when on vacation, don’t require a 2011-ish extremely powerful machine. I do write a lot, but it can be done using any text processor on any platform. I do read a lot, but there is Kindle, and for internet I can use any browser, even the no-tabbed one supplied with XO. I do take pictures a lot, and this is a kind of tricky. My perfect-shooting-machine Sony NEX-5 saves images to RAW-files, and I used to edit them in Aperture. And I do use Photoshop sometimes as well.

Well,—I decided, I can live without this for two weeks. I will take photos indeed, cannot live without it,—but I will take a large SD-card, and a spare one, and a spare another one, and edit everything when I am back home.

So, it was set. I packed my green small precious monster, and in a couple of days started my unboring experiment.

Stillness on Flickr.

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 20:53:52 -0700

Stillness on Flickr.

One Laptop Per Child

Sun, 06 Mar 2011 20:53:00 -0800

A few months ago I was surfing the web looking for the interesting stuff that happens in the IT-related area. This is how I learned about OLPC.

The odd thing is that I didn’t hear about them earlier. The great one is that I finally did it.

OLPC is a non-profit organization making the education accessible for all children. What they basically do is building and bringing laptops to schools in countries that wouldn’t be able to afford this otherwise.

The whole idea is fascinating and great. It’s not only about laptops. It’s about knowledge and education, and that is an important part of the whole OLPC philosophy.

Their existence triggers a lot of questions and even ‘holy wars’. Opinions are very polar on this matter. Many people think OLPC does a good thing, providing education for kids who couldn’t get it otherwise. Others don’t believe in this ‘greater good’ and try to find a catch in the whole idea.

One my friend said—”OK, maybe bringing laptops to kids in Nigeria is a good idea. But don’t these kids have bigger problems to worry about?”. I can say—certainly. In some places there is no electricity, somewhere else is a war ongoing. Not having enough water to live certainly is a much bigger problem than not having a laptop.

You can describe a lot of things that are much more important than having a nice electronic device to play with. But nothing is more important than a good tool to solve problems, and OLPC is one for sure.

Look at the bigger picture: these laptops give kids education and knowledge that is priceless; they help them learn to read and give access to the worldwide pool of information of how to solve almost any problem. It’s not just the information—it is patterns, rational thinking, faster learning. Our minds will never be so flexible, innovative and creative as in childhood, so it is a crime not to give kids a chance to learn.

If somebody has problems with water you can go and fix it for sure, if you have all necessary tools. But this somebody will then be dependant on you, on your knowledge and authority. If you give that person right tools and resources, and show how to get more resources, create more tools and use them—you will help creating a free individual that can do nearly everything by himself. It is giving a fishing rod and helping him learn to use it instead of just throwing in a basket of fish.

Knowledge is power and knowledge is everything. You can’t just restrict certain countries and people from being educated, free, powerful—it’s one of the natural rights people have and should know about.

That’s why I think OLPC does a great thing. This small green laptop gives hope to many kids around the world. And this open community gives everybody a chance to help, in many ways. I am just happy I can contribute to this project now.

P.S. OLPC Mission Statement on YouTube: Part 1 and Part 2

XO Keyboard - fixed!

Sat, 04 Dec 2010 04:18:00 -0800

I finally did it!
The keyboard behaved strangely from the very beginning. First, I didn’t know if it’s a problem, or a normal behavior. Then I began to realize I had some kind of a hardware problem, since it couldn’t be normal.

So I took a deep breath, got a screwdriver and a manual and opened my tiny green laptop.

And-you won’t believe this-I fixed it finally.

There was a small thing like a breadcrumb or a tiny piece of wire stuck in the keyboard. It was the reason of all glitches I had. Now it is gone, and the cursor keys work just fine.
Also, just in case, I made sure I didn’t break anything else.

I am so happy I fixed it!

Btw, a big post about OLPC is on the way.

Kindle blogging

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 11:07:30 -0800

I was wondering if I can write blog posts with my Kindle.
It seems I can, using Tumblr’s web interface.
Good to know.

#olpcsf summit map - where are you from?

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 18:53:00 -0700

#olpcsf summit map - where are you from?

Creativity at #olpcsf summit

Sat, 23 Oct 2010 15:31:00 -0700

Creativity at #olpcsf summit

so... Tell me about Kindle

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:22:00 -0700

Early morning on Monday, 30th September I got a Kindle. I was somehow familiar with digital readers before—bought a Sony Reader (the touch one) to my mother, cause she literally had no place for the new books at her home.

In my childhood I was a swift reader: I had plenty of time, and read a new book almost every day. And surely, there was no day without a book. I read tons of books — starting from some kids literature, then classics, then physics textbooks and computer manuals. Everything I could reach.

When I finished reading our home library I went to the public one. Many books there, and then… University, work, university again. No time for literature—just textbooks, manuals, etc. Then I stopped reading everything except blogs and some internet manuals for a while.

Since that time I remember the only one non-technical or non-business book I read. It’s painful to read such amounts of text from the display, you know, so I ended up reading something just when I really needed that.

Now, with Kindle, the things have already changed. I can easily read not only manuals, but also a lot of classics. Almost all classics is free at Kindle Store.

Nothing is wrong with the paper books, I still love them and keep them on my shelves. But I am a tech girl and need something modern and tech to accompany me in reading.
Now I got that.

Kindle

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:39:00 -0700

Kindle

Translation difficulties :)

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 15:03:44 -0700

Translation difficulties :)

For a start.. again?

Sun, 28 Mar 2010 13:33:00 -0700

I started many blogs, but it seems I have too many now and too little information for each of these.

So I decided to switch to just one, maybe two (in different languages, so people who know En will read me here and those who know Ru will follow my LiveJournal).

So this blog won’t have any particular topic to discuss — I don’t give myself any particular boundaries and will write about anything.
But one thing I promise — I’ll try to write about interesting things here.

So thanks for watching and let’s start.

5 Most Useful Plugins and Addons for Apple Safari

Sun, 28 Mar 2010 13:33:00 -0700

Who said Safari doesn’t support plugins? Well, it was my main concern when three years ago I switched from Linux to Mac, and thus from Firefox to Safari. At first I was going to stay with Firefox, but it was sooo slow and literally ugly for Mac. Safari, then. Oh, I missed these extensions so much, although I used just a few of them. But then the night passed and the day came, and I realized there ARE extensions for Safari. Well, a very few, but a very useful though. So, here’s the list I use:

Tidy plugin Helps you to validate the webpages you browse for /x/html compliance. Very useful, especially if you’re a web designer of so.
AdBlock Well, the name says it all. It’s a handy tool for everyone who is tired of all these ads around the web.
ClickToFlash A Flash-blocking plugin. You can add trusted sites and block all the rest, and load flash contents with a doubleclick. Helps to prevent unexpected auto-playing videos on pages, and in general is very handy.
SafariSource, can be found here Colorizes page sources, just like you always saw in Firefox. Sometimes Web Inspector, which is built-in to Safari, is just not enough, and you need to see the whole page source, copy it, etc. The process is much more easier if the tags you see are colorized, and you can customize all the colors.
DeliciousSafari Integration of del.icio.us with Safari. You get an additional menu for all your bookmarks, and also a handy toolbar button to add new ones. Just what you’ve been dreaming about for all these years since you first switched to this nice browser.

So for me, the question of what browser to use on a Mac doesn’t exist. I don’t like Chrome — it’s too rough, I don’t like Mozilla — it’s too slow, I don’t use WebKit — it updates too often and I don’t want to try all these other less popular browsers, cause there are too many of them. If you, like me, love Safari, but lack for some plugins and functionality — this post is for you.

A Fish

Sun, 28 Mar 2010 13:33:00 -0700

A Fish

Mars Edit: Syncing Local Drafts on two or more computers

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 04:01:00 -0700

Since I have two computers — one for work and one for home, I was wandering whether it is possible to share all the Local Drafts across all the computers I have. It seemed there was no solution. Till now. I suddenly realized the best way to do it. Dropbox! Or any other folder sync software. So let’s see the way you do the sync in case of Dropbox: Close Mars Edit. Open Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app) and type the following:

cd
mv Library/Application\ Support/MarsEdit/LocalDrafts Dropbox
cd Dropbox
ln -s LocalDrafts Library/Application\ Support/MarsEdit/LocalDrafts

Now you can open MarsEdit and see all the Local Drafts you have on their places. You will need to follow almost the same steps on the other computer and create other symlink to Dropbox Drafts:

cd
rm -R Library/Application\ Support/MarsEdit/LocalDrafts
cd Dropbox
ln -s LocalDrafts Library/Application\ Support/MarsEdit/LocalDrafts

You may wish to copy some local drafts from your second computer to your Dropbox folder before deleting it. Well, it’s even more simple: just copy the files to a new location:

cd
cp Library/Application\ Support/MarsEdit/LocalDrafts/* Dropbox/LocalDrafts

That’s it!

Music

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 15:32:47 -0700

Long ago I was writing songs — and even made some recordings.
These are all oldies: 2003-2004. Probably I will add something new later. Right now I just don’t have anything.

All songs are in Russian.

Человек, который говорил правду (The Man Who Was Telling Only The Truth)
Маленький Принц / Улыбнись (Little Prince)
Послушайте / Тишина (Silence)
Прощальная I (Parting Words I)
Прощальная II (Parting Words II)
Прощальная III (Parting Words III)
Куклы (Puppets)
Вокально-инструментальный шахматный турнир (A Musical Chess Tournament)
Белое и черное (Black And White)
Книга (A Book)

Ten simple ideas to feel yourself free and comfortable

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 12:20:00 -0700

There are always some social situations you feel yourself bad, but can do nothing with this. Can’t you really do anything? Yes, you can! There is a way to feel yourself much better — to understand the personal, psychological rights you have from birth (but manipulators don’t want you to know and understand them).

Each ‘right’ will have a ‘manipulation’ item after it. Manipulation is a social attitude others (or even you) can use to prevent you from revealing and understanding your social rights.

I think these ten ideas are suitable mostly for Russian people and Russian mentality, but who knows — may be they will work on others as well.

So, let’s begin.

1. You have the right to appraise your behaviour, emotions and thoughts, and take all the responsibility for everything you do and all the consequences.
Manipulation: You are weak, you can’t appraise yourself, so you have to be under control.

2. You have the right not to make excuses for what you do.
Manipulation: If anybody thinks you have to apologize, you indeed have to apologize.

3. You have the right to choose whether to take the responsibility for the others’ problems.
Manipulation: You always have to solve others’ problems and take the responsibility for this.

4. You have the right to change your mind whenever you wish.
Manipulation: If you change your mind, you’re an irresponsible person, and as you can make a mistake, you can’t choose for yourself.

5. You have the right to make mistakes and be responsible for them.
Manipulation: If you make a mistake, everybody will blame you for this. Good person can’t make mistakes.

6. You have the right to say ‘I don’t know’.
Manipulation: You have to have answers to any questions, otherwise you are irresponsible and need to be under control.

7. You have the right to say ‘I don’t undestand’.
Manipulation: You have to understand ‘obvious’ things, which nobody has described you before.

8. You have the right to say ‘I don’t care’ or ‘I’m not interested’.
Manipulation: You have to be interested in everything, otherwise you’re a boring or an impolite person.

9. You have the right to be independent from all that other people think about you.
Manipulation: You always have to take opinions of other people into an account.

10. You have the right to be illogical when you take a decision.
Manipulation: You always have to be consistent.

My first solved Rubik's cube

Fri, 22 May 2009 12:05:00 -0700

My first solved Rubik's cube:

My first solved Rubik’s cube. Originally uploaded by Nina Stawski
Back from Moscow, with a new hobby =)