Tellme Instead of POPCORN

“At the tone the time will be…”

Only today did I learn that POP-CORN had been discontinued. OK maybe I don’t use it that often anymore.

I’m happy to see in Wikipedia that it’s still possible to find out the time by telephone: “The time as provided by TellMe voice portal is available by dialing toll-free 1-800-555-TELL (1-800-555-8355, say time when prompted).”

Still I’d love to find a recording of the old operator voice for posterity, if you know of one!

Cool Feeling: Rolling Dice on a Mobile Phone

Tonight I experienced “haptics” on a cell phone, thanks to Immersion’s VibeTonz technology which draws on the sense of touch. Immersion has been known for its haptics in PC and video console gaming applications and peripherals.

Imagine holding a cell phone with 2 3-D dice shown on the screen. You shake the phone and not only do you hear the dice knocking together, you feel them knocking around. That’s haptics. It was amazing.

The phones need to be VibeTonz-capable. I’m not sure how available they are in the US but if you’re a serious early adopter, consider moving to Korea or various other countries to enjoy this technology. Their visual toolkit to create the tactile and sound effects looked amazingly easy to use.

“For a summary of independent research describing many of the advantages that tactile feedback offers the mobile user experience, see Immersion’s whitepaper, Haptics: Improving the Mobile User Experience through Touch (pdf).”

My mind is already reeling with possibilities…your phone feels like a car crash if you’re text messaging while your GPS location is detected to change at >25 mph.

I’m a little “unclear on the concept” of this ad but…

How Technology is Making Folklore Obsolete

As a lifelong fan of folklore, having studied under the legendary Alan Dundes, I’m always interested in seeing changes over time and especially traditions becoming obsolete.

There are many definitions of folklore but I like this one by Jan Brunvand:

“Folklore is the traditional, unofficial, non-institutional part of culture. It encompasses all knowledge, understandings, values, attitudes, assumptions, feelings, and beliefs transmitted in traditional forms by word of mouth or by customary examples.”

I’m going to update this blog post with a running list as I hear them:

1) The Family Whistle

Last week I asked a friend if she has a family whistle, after she couldn’t find her son in a large store.

“Ya, it’s called a cell phone.” she replied.

The family whistle is an aspect of folklore that is oddly under discussed on the Internet. It definitely falls under the definition of folklore, having variations among different people, places and time. If you think I’m whistling Dixie, we also discussed it in Dr. Dundes’ class and in fact I had the honor of him dissing our whistle for being so basic. But hey, in folklore and finding your parents in a big store as a kid, whatever works.

2) Bad Photos

Yesterday I heard there are cameras with “Smile Capture and Blink Detection,” such as this Pentax. So long “Say cheese!” Not to mention re-taking photos, a somewhat time honored pain.

I’m sure there are tons more examples but these spoke to me in particular. Do any stick out in your mind?

Download Firefox 3 at 10am PST

Be part of an effort to set a Guinness Book world record for the most software downloaded in a day while treating yourself to the best web browser in the world – Firefox 3.

See what’s so great in this version and download Firefox 3 starting at 10 am PST today:

http://www.spreadfirefox.com/en-US/worldrecord/

 

Who Me Raving About Technical Documentation ?

For the second time in my life I’ve had to install, setup and re-learn Tortoise SVN, the interface to the Subversion version control system for code. Have you ever met an end user who RAVES about a Help file? Well now you have, sort of anyway.

If you write technical documentation for software that is complex but needs to be accessible by the common end user, I highly recommend downloading Tortoise and looking at the Help file.

Here are their manuals too.

I love how extensive their local help is. Much software now seems to annoyingly depend on online help, assuming we’re online all the time.

Kudos to the Tortoise open source contributors. I’m sure my developers thank you as well for your  guidance and my not having to bug them so much.

MP3 Downloads – Amazon vs. iTunes

Nary had I decided NOT to write about my first time experience using Amazon MP3 downloads that I decided I couldn’t resist. Why? Because Amazon seems so vastly simpler than iTunes, at least in my case where I am buying songs one by one.

And I’m in an anti-iTunes mood because:

1. I think my latest version of iTunes has a memory leak or bug that causes my XP computer to slow down.

2. Because Apple’s brand promise is that “it just works.” But it’s not just working.

I use iTunes infrequently enough that I forgot the ID to purchase is your full email address. Today I had 2 iTunes errors, one that my account has a problem. The problem? I needed to enter a full email address (simple, just detect an @ is missing right?).

And then this time there was an “unknown error” once I was logged in so I couldn’t complete the purchase.

So in my desperation at wanting this one particular song, I “discovered” Amazon MP3 downloads in a search. It just worked:

1. Clicked to purchase

2. Installed the Amazon app. (which acts as a utility).

3. Purchase using my Amazon card on file.

4. The music file automatically installs in your iTunes directory.

Most importantly – I don’t have to open a desktop application to do this.

One shortcoming of iTunes (which I admit I’m not sure if Apple has fixed) is that to buy iTunes gift certificates you need the iTunes client. That means mom will never be buying me a gift certificate.

In short, this rant means: I’m more prone to buying Amazon stock than Apple at this point even though I know MP3 downloads do not a business make. They do contribute a lot though.