To The Cloud
Lets talk about how awesome and sucky the world of technology is today in 2012. I'm going to use an example.
I was in a coffee shop today (Chhaya, awesome) and I heard a piece of music that I thought was pretty cool. I whipped out my phone and fired up Shazam. Shazam took a minute to sample the song and determined the songs name and artist. Then it offered me a click to buy through amazon. I clicked the link and that took me to the amazon mp3 store on my phone (I had the app but if I didn't it would have offered to install for me). The album came up and it was $5. I clicked "Buy" and the album was placed in my amazon cloud drive. This means that wherever I was (at home, on my phone, in Tibet at a net cafe, etc) I would have the music available to me. I could also of course download from my cloud drive to keep local copies of the music (nice amazon). So then I get into my car and my stereo locks in to my phone via bluetooth (automatic, seamless). I decide I want to hear the song so I fire up my amazon cloud player app on my phone and presto, I'm hearing the song in my car.
Just take a second to marvel at how amazing this is. I am a tech nerd and I still am blow away at how far, how fast we've come with technology. It was only in 2001 when apple introduced iTunes and the ability to actually buy real music. In that time we now have non-DRM music available from multiple vendors and we can stream most of it for free (see Spotify for example). But with having the net on phones we can now utilize services like Shazam to find out what we're listening to instantly. That's simply amazing. Oh, also the 'smart phone' concept dates back to Apple in 2007 with the iPhone.
It's here that I should note to you that while I hate Apple in many ways I have to give them lots of props by being bold and actually making technology that is transformative. Yes, other companies could have put out smart phones or made deals with music companies to sell mp3's but they didn't. They didn't have the balls that Steve Jobs had. I'll give the bastard that much.
But here's where Apple sucks (and I apologize for the divergence here)... Apple made a decision a long time ago to keep their world closed. The apple ecosystem is the most locked down platform in the world of consumer technology. It is literally impossible to interact with Apple technology from outside. You either buy into the Apple way or you don't. There's no middle ground.
I know why they do it and it makes a lot of sense. Partially they do it because a monopoly makes money and as a hard core market capitalist I can respect that. But the other reason is that by controlling everything, they can keep the user experience clean and simple. Look at android. There are dozens of flavors of android right now. My Nexus S is a totally different phone from the UI perspective than the HTC Thunderbolt or the Motorola tablet. Is this a good thing? I don't know. I suspect not.
But back to the point of this post. (I will come back to this Closed/Open problem in a minute). As amazing as my experience was, we should be a whole lot farther along than that right now and the reason is that we are living in an open world. Let me explain by expanding my example into the negative.
So I'm home now and in a few days I will be in the shower and it probably would be amazing for me to hear that song again at that moment but even if I wanted to I couldn't do it easily. Why? Well the reason is that my shower stereo is connected to a Logitech Squeezebox Touch player and it doesn't have access to the Amazon cloud drive built in. The touch by default has Internet radio and the ability to hook into my local mp3 collection (stored on a NAS in my basement) and I listen to Internet radio mostly cause setting up the mp3 library and keeping it up to date is a painful experience (software is ok, but could be a lot better). There is the ability to add plug-ins and I'll bet there is one for the amazon cloud drive but I'm not going to bother with that either since it's complicated for me to install. I could also download the music from my cloud drive into my local collection and use the touch mp3 player (as noted above).
Also there is the fact that I have music purchased at amazon, itunes, google and the actual songs are all over the place. Some are on cloud services (amazon and google), some are on my work computer (where I use iTunes) and most are from my ripped CDs on my NAS drive. There is currently no way to unify all of this music in one place other than downloading them all into my local NAS. The flip side is that if I want to access my music somewhere other than home I can't do that either since only some things are on cloud drives.
Another problem is that I have all this music but I totally forget it exists. I bought a Bowie record a month ago and listened to it for one day. Never since. Why? Because I forgot about it. There is currently no software that will scan my music library and recommend stuff to me: "oh, you got this music the other day, you haven't listened to it in a while.. want to hear it again now?", "this tune would go well with what you are listening to", etc. Yes the apple Genius and other things are getting close to solving this but nothing is there yet.
So what's the solution? What is the actual problem? The problem is that there is no unified platform here. This brings us to Apple. They recently are starting to move to the cloud and if I buy into Apple and get an iPhone, an Apple Tv and a standalone music player device for my stereo(they don't have one but I'm sure they will soon), maybe an apple cloud account, iTunes on all my computers, etc. and whatever else they have I could have a unified experience. Does Shazam link into that experience? No. Does the next company to come up with a useful music app connect in? Nope. While Apple can build a cool, seamless user experience I have to do it the Apple way 100%. I have to depend on them to build me an iTunes that does what I want. The chances of them doing what I want are slim. I am not the average consumer. I am not satisfied with what Apple gives me. I want to make my own choices. I like being able to code my own music software, or buy someone else's and plug it in to my ecosystem. But it sucks for me because its so complex to manage. This is where the closed/open thing becomes something that I can't really decide the merits of.
But I have a solution for the current problem and someone needs to do it. Here we go...
A third party needs to build a music cloud service that is open to everyone. Simple right? Imagine this scenario :
I hear a tune I like. I fire up Shazam. Shazam links me to amazon (or someone else) to buy. I buy. Amazon delivers the music to my previously linked up 3rd party music cloud. The cloud is hooked up to my music player on my phone, my iTunes at work, my Squeezebox touch in my bathroom, my preferred web listening client, etc. All of my owned music in in that music cloud and all of my apps talk to it. When I buy a song from iTunes or Google or whoever, it all goes there.
Would I pay for this service? You bet I would. To have all my music and media there? Safe, backed up, accessible everywhere? Most definitely. Then companies can build services on either side of that cloud. They can market and sell me music, they can build services that analyze my collection and build playlists, they can build music players that rock, etc.
The fact that all of these competing systems exist is what disappoints me the most. The fact that so many people lock to Apple is not 100% because they make the best products, it's mostly about the seamless user experience (even though in many ways it's kind of lacking). I believe if someone would build a cloud storage solution that is so open that companies like apple, google and amazon will allow it as a delivery/consumption option it would be transformative. We need it now!
Next Phase in my relay project
I built another prototype component of my Relay Computer. It's a 4 input multiplexor and it will be used to determine what function our ALU will complete (AND, OR, XOR, Adder). Made a video in 2 parts for you to enjoy. Next part is a software project where I will try to write some code to determine the optimum placement of the relays in the final build.
part 1
part 2
Apple, China and You
A few months ago I saw a one man monologue in New York by a guy named Mike Daisy. It was called "The Agony and The Ecstasy of Steve Jobs". The show was amazing. Over a number of fast moving hours Daisy intercut the story of Apple and the story of where and how Apple (and other electronic) products are manufactured. Robots you say? No. Too expensive. Everything is made by hand. It's an incredible story and it changed my perspective.
The show closed and I was really bummed since I wanted to tell people to see it. Interestingly enough it seems that he's bringing it back. I highly recommend it.
Luckily for you Ira Glass, the host of "This American Life" saw the show as well and was equally moved. He had Daisy perform an abridged version of the show focusing mostly on the China aspect and then did an analysis of its claims (all validated). I urge you to give the show a listen. It really is a great story.
The show is number 454 and can be found here.
Kindle ideas
I've had a kindle for a while now (I love it, if you were wondering) and I have a few ideas for Amazon. They have this email address for feedback : kindle-feedback@amazon.com , but I'm not sure they read it since I never get a reply when I send them ideas. I'll post them here as well.
1) The kindle owners page is kindle.amazon.com. On that page you should add the feedback email address. I had some ideas once but couldn't remember (or find) this email address so I could send them to you. Publicize it!
2) When I sync, you should add more wallpapers from time to time. I'm pretty sick of seeing the same 10 or so authors popping up. It would be cool to be surprised at who I see next. Also, you should allow me to customize these wallpapers.
3) Oftentimes I'm reading something on my kindle and I think : "Barbara would love this book". Since I know she has a Kindle I should have the ability while reading to simply send her a sample of the book or maybe to be able to 'one click' it right to her.
4) You need to start focusing on ways to connect kindle owners through their devices. Kind of like facebook looks at my contact list to determine potential 'friends' you could do the same to show me who of my friends also has a kindle and then link us together somehow. How cool would it be to be able to know : "Tony is reading this book too : share some notes with him"...
a useful thought about travel
First off, let me get this out of the way early : About 4 years ago I came up with the idea of rentable clothing. It got a lot of ridicule from friends but I was totally serious. Now with airlines charging a fortune to ship your luggage along with your body (how ridiculous for us to assume that would be free) I'm starting to think that this idea has even more merit. We're not talking underwear or anything, just simple vacation clothes. Imagine flying to Florida for the week and having nothing but your carry on.
Anyway, a new idea I had while on my recent trip was related to another old idea I had (can't find it now) where you would get a HUD type thing for your plane window that would highlight interesting sights out your window : (eg. "The city of xxx", "yyy river"). That will be expensive and complicated, but this idea is simple and can be done pretty easily and sold to airlines.
On my last fight (via Delta, the best airline right now) after I did my online check in there was an option to print out additional things like a page with the 5 day forcast, some sudoku puzzles, a history of my destination, etc. I think one of those checkboxes should be "interesting sights along the way". This would be a printout that would tell you what you would be seeing out your window as you fly. It would need to consider the side of the plane you are on and your route but from there it could simply list (with photos) things you will see.
For example :
0:00 : Take off : You are leaving Philadelphia International Airport in route to Altanta. Keep an eye out because in 2-3 minutes you will see Delaware Bay. This bay is the largest...
0:02 : Delaware Bay
0:15 : You should be passing the famous farmland of Jones County North Carolina where tobacco plantations started.
etc..
Once you had all the common routes and itineraries done you would only have to update them if the airlines changed their routes. This would be a great service for the airlines to offer and it would be a great moneymaker for the person who does it. Get to work!
a Thought on a plane
What if what we see out all airplane windows is fake? Projected? Simulated? What if we never actually 'fly' but just wait while we are beamed to our next location? Or the next location is loaded into our brains (a la, The Matrix) and the plane is just a holding mechanism? Can you be sure you are traveling? How?
Can you see out one window into another? You can't. You have no way of knowing what reality is. You simply 'trust' it.
Art Day
So I went up to NYC last weekend for the express purpose to see art. Saturday was the last day the Tom Sachs "Work" show was up and I needed to see that. In addition I wanted to see the Carsten Holler "Experience" show at the New Museum. And I had learned a few weeks ago about the Maurizio Cattelan: All retrospective at the Guggenheim and had to see that since it could be the last time to see his incredible work.
Saturday was the official Art Day and by the end, by body was hurting like crazy from all the standing and walking (see previous complaints about back) but it was so worth it (mostly). Here's a bit of a rehash for you...
I came up Friday night right after work and rolled in to Penn Station around 7:30 or so and as soon as I made it up to 8th Ave. I was super happy. It's amazing the jolt of energy and joy that I get when I set foot in the Big Apple. I really feel overjoyed when I'm there. It's just such a wonderfully magic place and it's truly the best city I've ever been to. I was so happy I shot this goofy video on the street when I arrived.
My friend Sara lives about 2 blocks from the station so I walked down along 8th to her building and soon was up in her awesome pad unwinding. Soon after we made our way to a place I'd been wanting to try for a while now called Mark Forgione. I will do a yelp review at some point but I'll just sum up by saying that it was an excellent experience except for the Foie Gras (which I'd never tasted in my life and never have to again) which may have been awesome but I had no frame of reference. Meeting the chef was pretty cool too. He was hot. I had kind of a crush on him instantly.
So after the amazing meal we went back and passed out. I was tired as hell after a long week. Saturday, got up, took a shower and 'hit the bricks'. Our first stop was a place called Murray's Bagels in Chelsea. (yelp). Simple place and spectacular bagles and spreads, etc. So far we were 2 for 2 in the food department.
Then it was down to the B train to head up the Guggenheim. We came up at 86th Street and walked across central park to get to the east side. I love the park. I'm always amazed at how filled it is with people. There's that New York energy again! Anyway.. we made it to Gugg and I was psyched to finally get to see some of Cattelan's work in person. I was not let down in any way.
This show is a retrospective of all of his past works and shows. His work is just insane and amazing. Some examples are here. But he says he's retiring and after 5 years of back and forth he agreed to do a retrospective of sorts at the Guggenheim and this is it. It's the most amazing mobile/collage I have ever seen. It takes up the entire hall of the Guggenheim and contains work from all of his famous shows (including all of the images from that link I posted above).
The show is amazing. As you walk up the Guggenheim ramp you see more and more things. It takes up about 100 vertical feet and there are so many surprises along the way that it takes you forever to get to the top. But you don't care since it's so visually exciting. You don't have to believe me.. Check out the review in the Times which isn't overly positive but points out how huge and deep the show is.
I loved this show and what makes it so interesting to me is that before now I didn't know the history of all the pieces. They stood up fine on their own. But now, looking things up in their real context makes them even more powerful. It's fun learning the history after having seen the pieces. I literally wanted to spend a week there in the gallery. You should go to this now (its up for another month) because it is history and this guy is amazing and you may never see his work again.
We then headed downtown to see the Holler show. By the time we got down to Chinatown we were starved and walking around looking for something to eat. I had this craving for noodles but we were having no luck finding anything that looked good. So of course I went to google and typed 'noodles' into my map. Up came this place called Cocoron (yelp) since it was about 3 blocks from where we were. It looked good to me and I declared that as our destination. We almost didn't find it and once there we were told that there was a 20 minute wait outside in the cold before we could sit down inside but I had a good feeling so we waited. It was cold and my hair was looking awesome so I refused to wear a hat lest I would mess it up and I would get less looks and smiles from women. Remember, it's better to look good then to feel good.
Ok, that really makes me sound shallow and douchy. But if you know me you know it's a joke. Mostly. I mean, I never get looks on the street in Philly but in New York I do from time to time and for me that's huge and makes me all fuzzy inside so I tend to dress better here and again, it's part of my NY experience and I love it so no fucking hat! Damn the cold!
It turns out that being cold was a plus since this was going to be the kind of meal that is twice as good when you are chilled since it does such a wonderful job warming you up inside. This place. Oh man, this place was the most perfect lunch for the moment. It helped that the food was simply amazing : Best noodles I've ever had. Again, I plan to yelp this at some point so you can look there. But if you are ever downtown in NYC and you want a good noodle joint. This is it. In fact, even if you don't like noodles, this is still the place. It's scrumptious.
Three amazing meals and a great show under our belt. Next up was the Holler show which I've been wanting to see for a couple of months now. I was more than psyched. I mean how can a show that has a 2 floor slide in it be anything less than fun? Do you want to know? Well for one thing, having a huge line to get in to sign a waiver form and then another line to slide the slide and then having the slide let you out in a room filled with blinking lights that made me feel more violent then I have in ages. And then in that room heading into an 'experience hallway' that felt like a rip off at some circus sideshow that really had little or no actually interesting experiences.
Well, there was one. There is this cool looking salt water tank that you get naked and lay in. I saw a cute girls ass as she was getting ready for her shower. That made me somewhat happy. But overall this show was painful in many ways. It really kind of sucked and I was really let down a whole lot. The NYT reviewer had some similar experiences (particularly to the flashing light room) but seemed to like it. Oh and there was a 1 hour wait for the goggles. Skip this crap.
Oh. I didn't mention that I was totally down for the flotation tank and we just made it in time to do before they cut off the line it but it was 5pm and it seemed like we'd end up missing the Tom Sachs show (that closed at 6pm) which was the reason I was in NYC to start with, so we skipped it and ran the 2 blocks to see Tom Sachs.
So lets talk about here and here) and Waffle Bike. But I learned about him late and didn't get to see any of his shows. All of my connection with him has been through books and photos and videos. Never in person. I knew this current show was just going to have some old stuff and just a taste at that but I didn't care. I needed to see Toms work in person.
I was super happy I did. The gallery was unpretentious and nice and quiet and empty. We were able to just wander around with no distraction and we took some photos of work and by the top floor I was able to play with a super cool work called the James Brown Listening Station. It's basically an all in one stereo with Klipsh speakers and a McIntosh Amp built in with a turn table a bunch of records. I stepped up and put on some Stevie Wonder and sat in one of the kevlar ikea chairs and just marveled at how awesome it is to be encouraged to actually touch real art. (well, I'm pretty sure we were allowed to touch it).
Anyway I'm looking forward to TS's big followup show to Space Program. That is going to be serious stuff and I can not wait for it.
All in all, this was a really great trip. Thanks to Sara for putting me up and being an awsome companion.
Mood
Wow. I really am in a strange place. Ever since my surgery I've really been in this odd depressed state. I'm not that bad with this cloud hanging over my head, but I'm not being who I want to be at all. I'm way less productive and I'm questioning everything all the time.
I started taking some SSRI's about a month ago and I'm not sure I'm happy with them at all. In general I hate taking any drugs because I really don't like side effects. So far these pills are mostly benign but I do know I'm on them. I can feel it. My muscles are a bit more tense and I have this need to stretch them out and jitter a bit. My sleep is way off, I'm lighter when asleep so I wake up at least once a night. I often feel a bit speedy but not enough to really have it make me crazy.. just enough to feel like I'm on something and it needs to turn off now... please.. And I'm fatigued often. I find myself closing my eyes and sighing and just wanting to go to sleep wherever I am.
But I'm sticking it out for now. Maybe another month. We'll see.
The problem lately is that I continually find myself doing absolutely nothing. I sit at work sometimes and find myself blowing 15-20 minutes at a time just clicking from tab to tab on my web browser or staring at my desk in space. Is this the drugs? Is this just me being bored and unhappy at work? Who knows anymore, but it's really depressing me because I like to be productive. I like to feel like I did more than just earning my pay.
UUUUGH. I need to get back to being the person I know I am. This is so fucking annoying.
Apple and Slavery
This weekend on philly.com there was a particularly good article about Apple and the production of their products. Ignoring the insane number of ads in the article, pay particular attention to the section about the Chinese manufacturing (starts about page 5). This is what I was talking about when I told you about the Mike Daisy show in NYC called "The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs". The working conditions in China are deplorable. Everything is made by hand and there are thousands of workers there. Apple knows about this and yet they still continue to allow the conditions to continue. This is something to think about next time you say how wonderful a company Apple is.
Workers at Longhua and other Foxconn plants in China work under grueling conditions - usually 10 to 12 hours a day, sometimes for seven days straight without overtime pay. They're not allowed to speak to one another on the job or to leave their workstations - not even to go to the bathroom - without permission from guards. Some of them perform repetitive tasks for up to 10 hours at a time without a break. Supervisors berate workers with foul language and warn that if they fall behind on production they will be replaced. Some have reportedly been beaten for mistakes they allegedly made on the assembly line. For all this they earn a little more than a dollar an hour at most.
Sorry Barack. I will not be voting for you in 2012
"I want to be very clear in calling upon the Egyptian authorities to refrain from any violence against peaceful protesters.
The people of Egypt have rights that are universal. That includes the right to peaceful assembly and association, the right to free speech, and the ability to determine their own destiny. These are human rights. And the United States will stand up for them everywhere."
The fact that he hasn't said something about what's going on in our own country : see UC Davis for the most recent example, is the last straw and why I will NOT vote for him in 2012. Sorry bud.