Google is doing evil

October 03, 2004 // Link

Lots of tech companies do evil and crappy things all the time, but the difference is that Google’s motto is “Don’t be evil.”

But they’re being evil right now. Actually, they’re being henchmen to evil, but it amounts to the same thing.

China is evil. It’s a country that disregards human rights and does really crappy things internally and internationally. One of the evil things it does is censor news in an attempt to stop its population from knowing things that reflect poorly (by “poorly” I mean “accurately”) on the country’s craptacular government.

As recently reported in an article in New Scientist magazine, Google is omitting some search results when the search is made from within China. Let’s repeat that with less flowery prose: Google is censoring material on behalf of the Chinese government.

Don’t be evil, huh?

Google’s excuse for this is that the censoring technology infrastructure is already in place, and all Google is doing is omitting search results that link to pages already made inaccessible inside China. Clicking such links to censored sites would result in blank pages (and a reminder and example of the censorship going on, let’s not forget), and Google claims that it’s just trying to make its search more useful.

“I didn’t do nothin’ wrong, officer,” cried little Jimmy Google. “It was Chen who stoled all them purses—all I did was distract da old ladies so they didn’t knowed they is being robbed. I didn’t do nothin’!”

Shame on you, Google.

I’ve come late to podcasting

October 06, 2004 // Link

I’ve come late to podcasting, but my immediate reaction to the concept was “ah...so this is the future of radio.”

Read about this new form of DIY radio over on Doc Searls’s blog or just Google for more if the term is new as to you as it was for me.

Huzzah for Cinematheque

October 11, 2004 // Link

As always, Cinematheque’s schedule of upcoming films fills me with anticipation and delight.

Sure, there’s lots of stuff I think is skipable (films by Maurice Pialat) if not downright pap (films by overrated humbug Jean-Luc Godard), and the usual series of short films by experimental filmmakers (more proof of the synonymity of “avant garde filmmaker” with “tosser”). And Cinematheque just doesn’t seem to grasp the fact that Dogme is bad.

Bad, Dogme! Bad!

But there are gems here, too. There are the Manly He-Man films of Samuel Fuller, for instance (and a chance to test my theory that all his films are really about the hero as sociopath).

There are also four showings of a Danish film called The Five Obstructions that I’ve really wanted to see since I first heard about it late last year. Let’s hear it for Cinematheque and it’s ability to read my mind.

Speaking of which, they’re also re-showing La Jetee, which I missed last time around. Huzzah again.

[aside]

In case you haven’t heard about this one, it sounds like a pip. It takes place after the Third World War. German scientists trap a man in the catacombs below Paris and subject him to experiments to force him to confront the moment of his death on a “pier” at Orly Airport. It was later remade (after a fashion) by Terry Gilliam as 12 Monkeys.

[end of aside]

They’re even showing G. W. Pabst’s Pandora’s Box, because there is no way to make any sense of the phrase “too much Louise Brooks.”

For those playing the Carrington Home Game, here are the correct answers to Question 17b:

(We would have also accepted “The good ones” for half marks.)

Sometimes something just works

October 15, 2004 // Link

Sometimes something just works, and it’s a joy to own. I bought something like that recently: a Roadtrip FM transmitter for my iPod. I don’t have a cassette deck in my car, so to play music and audiobooks on the road I’ve had to burn (and burn, and burn...) CDs.

[aside]

It’s actually called the “RoadTrip!” but I just can’t bring myself to type those silly InTerCapiTal letters. I reluctantly drop the case of Apple’s i prefix for the iPod, but I’m drawing the line there. And as for that presumptive exclamation point—I’ll shout when I wish to, thanks.

[end of aside]

I’d thought about getting an FM transmitter for a while, but the reviews of most of them have been mixed, and they seemed pretty expensive for what you get. I’d also looked into a direct hookup to my radio’s antenna, but that’s even more costly and getting it done would have been a pain. I’m all about immediate gratification, and I shop accordingly.

I was finally goaded into a purchase by the Roadtrip. It was partly because I was impressed by this recording [5.8MB MP3] of a shootout between the Roadrip and a couple of other transmitters that showed the Roadtrip could easily overpower static on its frequency—an important consideration since here in Toronto every point on the dial is either a loud station or loud static.

But mostly it was because, at $19.95, the Roadtrip is cheap.

[aside]

It comes with a money-back guarantee, but frankly that’s useless. The guarantee doesn’t cover shipping and duty, and those accounted for half the cost of getting it into my hands. It just wouldn’t be worth the time or cost of sending it back, and I’m sure the Roadtrip guarantoligists know that.

[end of aside]

Unlike most transmitters, which give you a range of selectable frequencies, the Roadtrip is locked to a single frequency. It comes in either a 87.7MHz or 107.7MHz version. I picked 87.7.

It arrived today, and I was happy to note that it doesn’t come with an instruction manual. The better the design the smaller the manual, and nothing says “this thing works well” like having no manual at all. Of course, nothing says “this cheap-ass piece of junk won’t last long enough for you to read the instructions” like no manual either, but I was hoping for the former. The Roadtrip doesn’t feel very solid, though: the wire is quite thin, and the 12v plug feels very insubstantial. I think I’d better be careful not to yank on it.

Using it couldn’t be simpler. One end plugs into the 12v cigarette lighter, and the other end into your iPod (or other MP3 player, or stereo, or I suppose anything with a headphone jack). Then you tune to your selected frequency and voila. Or “VoiLa!” if you work in technology marketing.

I like the fact that it’ll work with anything that has a headphone jack. Next time I pull into a rest stop on a road trip I’ll be able to watch a movie on my PowerBook with surround sound. Fun will abound, which is a good thing for fun to do.

The first time I used the Roadtrip was one of those very cool moments of neat gadgetry. I tuned the radio to 87.7, and I could hear the loud static of an adjacent station. But then I plugged in the Roadtrip and the static instantly went dead. I was overpowering the station! Very cool.

It was too quiet until I cranked the volume on the iPod, but then it sounded fine. I’m sure I’ll often get blasted by forgetting to turn it down before using headphones, and I wonder how much cranking it will affect how long it’ll play before requiring recharging.

In all, I love this new toy. It’s a real bargain at under twenty bucks, and there’s something very cool about driving around with your own mini radio station. If I added a mic I’d feel like Christian Slater in Pump Up The Volume. But, you know, without the later drug problems and the punching a cop problems and the picking terrible movie roles problems.

So if you find yourself in Toronto driving behind a black Cavalier with a strikingly handsome shaven-headed fellow at the wheel, tune in to 87.7 to catch my show. “On the air and on the road, listen to All Nude Radio on CARY-FM.”

I’m still working on the slogan.

With my net connection down

October 17, 2004 // Link

With my net connection down for the night I turned to my Apple IIe computer for a bit of 8-bit fun. I was surprised to note how satisfying the CLACK of the keyboard was. So now I must ask my PowerBook’s mushy keyboard to eat my words...

Clackety Clack, Don’t Type Back

October 17, 2004 // Link

With my net connection down for the night, as I recently blogged about, I turned to my Apple IIe computer for a bit of 8-bit fun.

Yes, this was Saturday night. Yes, I did turn down an invite to go out dancing with friends in favor of sitting home typing on a twenty year old computer. Yes, I understand how much of a nerd I am. Sigh.

Where was I? Oh right: the Apple IIe.

I don’t have much by way of software for the Apple IIe yet, so I did what we all used to do two decades ago when when faced with a lack of software: I wrote some. The IIe has a version of BASIC built-in so I used that to slap together a quick program that made a little man run along the bottom of the screen and get hit by a falling anvil.

Admittedly this isn’t the most useful program in the world, but it gave me a chance to bang away on the keyboard for a while. The keyboard is actually the point of this article, but I haven’t gotten to the point yet. I tend to ramble. You have probably noticed this. In fact by now you’ve probably skipped down to the italic bit that says “which finally brings me to the point of this article.” Well, I assume it’s in italics and says something like that, but I can’t be sure because I haven’t gotten to the point at which I’ll get to the point, if you see what I mean.

Where was I? Oh, right: programming.

What I really wanted to do was play something like an Infocom text adventure game. So I saved the code for Anvil Smoosh version 1.0, typed “new” (it took me forever to remember how to clear out the BASIC code, silly me), and started working on an interactive fiction game.

I was making it up as I went, entering bits of code stream of consciousness style and not worrying about the specifics of either the map or the objects in the game. It was a very fun way to spend a Saturday night—I mentioned I knew the nerdliness of that, right? Just checking. I’m going to finish up the game, but probably switch to developing it in one of the dedicated interactive fiction development languages like Inform or Tads so I stop reinventing the wheel. Actually, a more appropriate metaphor would be “so I stop having to figure out how many wheels I need and where to put them, and I can get on with describing the road trip” but that’s not as catchy.

Where was I? Oh right: the keyboard.

And that finally brings me to the point of this article. No italics, so there—ha ha, too bad for you, skimmers! No help for you!...Sorry, just a bit of an in-joke for those who have been with me on this long rambling journey to the point at which I can point out the point. For those who jumped ahead, you could always scroll up and see what you missed, but don’t expect us to wait for you. It’s a little late to be asking us for favors, don’t you think, Mr. or Ms. I’m Too Busy To Read The Whole Article?

Where was I? Oh right: the point.

The point of this article (oh, pooh) is that I couldn’t believe how fast I could type on that keyboard. Every year, computer makers strive to make quieter and quieter keyboards. The days of CLACK CLACK CLACK are long gone. I can only assume the sound of all that loud typing was distracting mangers in the next room from concentrating on their games of computer solitaire. Alternatively, perhaps the lack of the clacks had been cluing managers into the fact that the people in the next room were just playing solitaire, too. I’m not sure. All I do know is, for whatever motivation, keyboards keep getting quieter.

And how are they getting quieter? By becoming mushier. Sure, they’re silent. They’re all kinds of silent. I’m thwacking away on my PowerBook’s keyboard right now and the only noise it makes when I strike a key is a muffled thump. (Note to self: add “muffled thump” when anvil strikes little man in version 1.1.)

But the tactile feeling of keyboards has been reduced year upon year. I notice this each time I get a new computer. But it’s easy to become acclimatized to a new keyboard, so after a day or two of using a new keyboard I’m off and typing without complaint. Except I suppose this whole article is a complaint. Okay, I’m off and typing with rarely a complaint outside of the occasional huffy complaint I post online.

Where was I? Oh, right: tactile feeling.

A couple decade’s worth of small moves toward mushiness has resulted in one big bowl of mush. I really noticed the difference when I jumped back twenty years in one night to type on that Apple IIe.

Sure, the Apple IIe is an ergonomic nightmare. The keyboard is raised about 4 inches high so my wrists were at a terrific angle. Sitting at my kitchen table, it was quickly apparent this would not be a setup I could use for many hours on end without strain. But it was just as quickly apparent I was typing as fast and then faster than I had in many years.

I think part of it was the fact that the keys are more spread out on that keyboard. They’re spaced about the same as my fingers are when I let my hand hang loose. My PowerBook’s so-called “full sized keyboard” forces my fingers closer together. I thought a smaller keyboard would result in faster typing since my fingers travel a shorter distance, but the reality is wider key spacing results in larger “targets” and thus faster typing.

I actually did a quick typing test, grabbing a nearby novel and selecting a chapter at random to transcribe on both computers. The novel was Triplanetary by E. E. “Doc” Smith. It’s the first in the classic Lensman books, and it’s a pip. If you’re into sci-fi (or speculative fiction, or sf, or whatever the hell the more hip nerds are calling it these days) you really should read the entire Lensman series as it’s arguably the greatest space opera ever told. All six books in the series are must-reads for fans of, um...scientificition.

Where was I? Oh, right: the typing test.

I transcribed the passage notably faster on the Apple II than on my PowerBook. I was just typing text: no formatting menus to select nor any strange muscle-memory key combination chords to play. I typed two chapters. Each computer got it’s chance to go second in case familiarity with the text sped things up. In both cases, I was measurably faster on the Apple IIe’s keyboard. By “measurably” I mean “I quickly glanced at a distant clock before and after typing.” This was all very scientific.

So I have very scientifically proven that I type faster on one Apple computer that was 172 times cheaper and supposedly runs 1,250 times slower than another Apple computer. That must be what Apple means by “the megahertz myth.”

You can hear a snippet of each test yourself: the sound of typing on a PowerBook [25K WAV] versus the sound of typing on an Apple IIe [25K WAV].

Now, I’m not about to return to a world devoid of multiple gigabyte hard drives, sub-5-pound notebooks, bright color screens, wireless high speed internet access, and all the porn—I mean music—I mean news I can download. I’m nostalgic, not stupid. But I am going to investigate my mechanical switch keyboard options, with an eye out for ones which shunt that useless caps lock key to a remote corner where it belongs.

And the CLACK! Oh, I like the CLACK. The CLACK is very satisfying. There’s nothing that says “Hey look at you! You’re getting stuff done!” like that CLACK. My PowerBook’s spongy keyboard doesn’t say anything so encouraging. Thump thump thump, it mumbles, which I take to mean “one must assume you are going to edit this article later, musn’t one?” The snobbish little dear. My Apple IIe is much more encouraging. “Go, Carrington, go!” it says with its CLACKs. “I’m with you all the way. You’re doing great. Keep it up. Thanks for not letting me end up in the garbage.”

My PowerBook clearly doesn’t have enough fear of my passing fancies. Perhaps I should bring up a chart showing the rapidity of computer obsolescence and maybe set my desktop image to a photo of a computer landfill to see if I can get its attention.

Ah, is that a little clack I hear?

Rhino Records

October 18, 2004 // Link

Rhino Records has released what is, imho, the best 80s music compilation ever: Left Of The Dial: Dispatches From The ’80s Underground.

It’s the kind of collection that picks “Going Underground” by The Jam instead of “That’s Entertainment,” and represents Wall Of Voodoo with “Back In Flesh” instead of “Mexican Radio.” I’m not generally big on compilations, but this one looks like a buy.

I embraced my inner nerd

October 25, 2004 // Link

I embraced my inner nerd (and, let’s face it, my outer one too) this past weekend when I drove down to Mentor, Ohio, to attend a vintage computer and video game show.

I went in search of Infocom games for my Apple IIe, but instead I came home with an armload of Atari 2600 cartridges and memories of Vintage Video Games, Bipolar Milkshakes, and Potato Donuts.

I have a penchant for protesting

October 26, 2004 // Link

I have a penchant for protesting. I don’t mean that I grab a placard and join the chants of “Hey Hey! Ho Ho! [Something I dislike] has got to go!” or “What do we want? [Thing that we want]! When do we want it? [Reasonably soon timeframe, bordering on immediate]!”

No, I’m rarely that energetic. Instead, I’m a boycotter. I vote with my dollars.

[aside]

I was surprised to note that my spellchecker claims “boycotter” is a real word. I thought I was making it up. If I gave titles to my blogs, this one would be called Welcome Back, Boycotter because I am funny.

[end of aside]

I’ve been boycotting Canadian bookmonger Chapters-Indigo for quite some time because the owner bans books. She has a near monopoly in Canadian retail book sales, and she refuses to permit the ordering of certain books which are legally obtainable within Canada. I don’t have an issue with how she divides up the shelving in her stores: display space is a limited quantity, and obviously she should give shelf room to the books that sell most or which are the most profitable. But that’s a far cry from banning special orders of individual books she finds disagreeable.

She censors literature, so I won’t give her my money. It doesn’t matter that these aren’t books I want to read.

I was thinking today that there should be an online service where people could “buddy up” to make their personal petitions and boycotts more powerful. I might sign up to say I’m boycotting Chapters, and others could agree to join in my boycott if I joined them in theirs. A guy who is upset with a local business could agree to stop shopping at Chapters if I agreed to stop shopping at the business that shafted him.

It would be ever so nice to be able to send a letter to Chapters to let them know that their policy of censorship has caused me to withhold my patronage from them...and, oh by the way, I’ve rounded up scores of others who are going to forego shopping at Chapters in solidarity to my cause.

It would also be interesting to see lists of businesses people boycott and their reasons for doing so.

I suppose we could give it an innocuous name like Boycott Buddies, but personally I’d prefer something with an edge because I’d like to hear a stuffy announcer on CBC radio having to discuss “recent developments at Stick It To The Man Then Ram It Home And Give It A Twist dot com.”

Of course, it’d only be a matter of time before some business owner was upset enough at the site to urge people to not visit it. But then again, who cares about one little boycotter?

The quest for CPU power

October 26, 2004 // Link

“The quest for CPU power has been largely defeated by bloated software in applications and operating systems. Some programs I wrote in BASIC on an Apple II ran faster than when written in a modern language on a G4 Dual-processor Mac with hardware 1,000 times faster.”

—Jef Raskin, from an interview in the Guardian