A Case Against "New and Improved"

My email provider has recently switched their webmail interface from a straight HTML version to an Adobe Flash based version. I don't really use this version a lot since I use Thunderbird as an email client, but it has some nice new features that I guess are helpful if you use the web interface a lot.

I was recently on vacation bouncing between four different hotels without a laptop. I came to appreciate the straight HTML interface more as I moved from place to place. All of the hotels I visited had "business centers" or public computers that you could access (some free, some not). I ran into two major problems with these computers; you can't install an updated version of Flash on a computer where you are only a guest, and Flash operates really slow over satellite connections.

I felt a bit of deja vu as I remembered the transition from Client/Server based programs to three-tier architectures in the earlier part of the decade. Here we are again with a thick version specific client. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Virus'

I've been battling the "Vundo" virus on a machine I was asked to work on for a family member. Somewhere between the 13th and 14th time scanning with Trend Micro's Internet Security, my mind began to wander.

Exactly what type of person writes a virus intent on inflicting aggravation on countless people? Are virus programmers the same people that cut you off in traffic? Are they the type of people that beat puppies?

I bet there are plenty of virus writers who think it's funny when a bus blows up.

I finally came to the conclusion that these people are lower than dog shit. I hope they can carry on a conversation with Saddam Hussein when they meet him.

Film is dead, long live film

Have you ever witnessed a piece of technology so grand that you knew it would change the world eventually? When digital cameras hit the mass market, I knew your traditional 35mm camera was dead. Sure, the quality of film photography was better in the beginning, and I still think film takes better pictures. But for everyday snapshots, you just can't beat that little digital camera.

During Christmas, my Mother-in-Law mentioned that she couldn't find 35mm film at the grocery store anymore. I thought nah, people buy film for the Holidays, they're just out. So on our shopping adventures yesterday, I stopped in the photography section of my local Wal-Mart to pick her up some film. They had a couple rolls of Advantix film and a four pack of 800 speed 35mm and that was it. Lots of throw-away cameras, but no film. Three do-it-yourself kiosks for downloading your pictures, but no film.

Huh, maybe the mega-grocery store would have some. Nope, same deal. Lots of disposable cameras, a couple rolls of Advantix, and a few four-packs of 800 speed 35mm. Not even an empty peg where the normal speed film would go.

Now we were on a mission to find either 200 or 400 speed film. Our next stop took us to our local mega-drug store and sure enough they had film. Not a wide selection, mind you, but they had enough to choose.

So what's the significance? Certainly film's not going away. But in the very near future, I'm expecting that the only place you'll be able to pickup film is at a camera shop. I think everything film related becomes a botique item and may actually revive many camera shops that have been wondering about how to survive in a digital world. In the mean time, I wonder if there is a market for Cannon AE-1's on ebay....

My DST Nightmare

I had to be somewhere this morning at 9:00. It would take a little over an an hour to get there, so I figured I better leave by 7:30 just to be safe. That meant setting the alarm clock to 6:45.

6:45 came and the alarm went off as expected. I jumped into the shower, got dressed, and as I was heading out the door my wife says "Where are you going so early?" I told her and she rolled back over and went back to sleep.

Then I jumped into a car I usually don't drive. "Hmm, the clock says 6:32", I thought to myself, "must be I haven't driven this car for three weeks."

I reset the clock to the correct time and was off.

I got to my destination at 8:50 and there were only a couple people there. I was expecting about 60 or 70!

I approached the guy in charge and said "I must have read they flyer wrong..."

"Oh, that's today, but starts at 9:00" he says.

I looked at my phone and it said 7:50. 7:50, WTF?

Ah, yes, Daylight Savings Time. Not the "new" Daylight Savings Time, but the "old" Daylight Savings Time.

I have one of those "fancy" clocks that automatically adjusts for Daylight Savings Time. Except, I got it a couple years ago and it still thinks that the first Sunday in April is the right time to "spring forward".

Sure enough, I got home and my clock was an hour ahead of everything else. I promptly went back down to the car and reset the clock. Interestingly enough, my W2K box that was supposed to be patched with all the latest updates was also an hour ahead.