< Content&Services > - Part 3

Oh, why don't you look at that, it's another aviationally written post, in the words of Henry Dyer, written, as usual, on the way to London on a cramped, full to the brim airbus A320. And lookie here, why yes, it's yet another title longing for a good old rant. I have written two similarly titled posts before, part 1 and part 2. Compared to what I shall discuss [yes, we all know my definition of discuss] in this post, those were merely trivial and mundane topics.

Have I peaked your interest yet? No? How about if I told you that the Internet as we know it could possibly come to an end depending on the decisions of a few people, bent on helping industries and not consumers? No? Really? Well, then you are stubborn person [coming from me, that's rich], enjoy your little encapsulated bubble that us your life.

You've Got a Friend In Me

Image from TechCrunch

Before I begin, I would like to tell all those reading on RSS feeds or receiving this post by email that this post will be very media rich, and so I would recommend that all the aforementioned people read this on the actual blog site (thecompblog.com,  for all those who don't know) to see all the embedded videos, links and photos. To add to that, this is not a post to be read in haste just before bed, or while half conscious at school or work. Take time with this post, watch the videos and read the linked articles to fully enjoy it! Make sure you CTRL + click (PC) or CMD + click (mac) to open the links in new tabs.

I had previously written a post detailing my deepest sympathy for Steve Jobs. I kept it simple, not listing everything that was going through my head as, firstly, I did not know how to place them in and secondly, because I knew that is not what Steve would have liked, I imagine.

But this is a post on everything else. Over the past 2 weeks, I have been inundated with articles about Steve Jobs. This was not a bad thing, to be clear! It was very interesting to see the outpour of strong feelings for this man, and as I have said before, it is still hard for me to fathom the loss. This is a curation of articles, photos and videos that I have found recently, which state exactly what kind of man I believe Steve was.

I would like to start with Steve's 30th birthday present from Apple: a video containing a multitude of things, from apple adverts to clips of Steve's keynotes, played with Bob Dylan's "My Back Pages". It starts off with the quote:

To Steven Jobs on his thirtieth birthday.

For the first thirty years of your life, you make your habits.

For the last thirty years, your habits make you. 

Tragically, Steve never lived to see out the next thirty years. He had died at 56.

Yes. Technically, it will.

Oh look, what do we have here? Yes, it's another airplane post with yet another ambiguous title providing no help whatsoever on the content and/or meaning of this post, but as I like to say, all in good spirit. So let's get crack'n!

Before I continue, let me update you on the happenings of me. iOS 5. Great, but there is a much more interesting story. You know about MobileMe, right? The failed syncing service from Apple that I actually kinda liked... But anyway, Apple totally screwed up the transition to iCloud. What I wanted was one Apple ID for everything, iCloud, iTunes, AppStore, everything, but Apple, being stubborn, made me either use my useless MobileMe ID or work something out on my own (as Apple do not allow the merging of multiple IDs, which the world desperately needs!). So, I was up until about 12pm sorting out this catastrophe! To add to the stress, my iPhone and iPad were refusing to update, as Apple’s servers rejected the verification! Very "it just works", Apple, it was one of the easiest transitions ever!

Now onto the bulk of this post. Back in the day, year 7 to be precise, I had a great history teacher. I could never understand her instructions, but that was because I hardly listened as history was not an interesting subject for me, but regardless, she was one of the best teachers I ever had. During one lesson, we were studying the industrial revolution, where the advancement in technology was unprecedented; she said something that really stuck with me:

"we are also living in a revolution, the technological revolution, but you don't realize it, just like the people during the industrial revolution. You don't wake up and think 'oh, another day in the technological revolution' right?".

Highs of Lows and Lows of Highs.

Waking up at 6:40 in the morning before one of the worst Thursdays at school in the year is never a nice experience. As usual, I always check my Twitter feed on my iPhone for the most recent updates around the world until the snooze forces me to wake up to the same routine we all complete every day, but this time, this time was different. Besides being a special Thursday at school, the one we all resent, something on my Twitter feed took me by surprise.

TechCrunch TechCrunch 

Steve Jobs Has Passed Away tcrn.ch/pc2zGK by @parislemon

At first, I immediately thought what the date was. October 6th. Ok, so there are no joking traditions on October 6th, right? Then I thought that this was some sick twisted joke some hackers managed to post on TechCrunch, until I realized that it was even on the apple website.

Follow the Crazy Ones

Yes, it's finally time again for a 1000 word post on a topic where the title, being without a doubt ambiguous, can give you no help on the actual content. All shall be explained later, but for now, let's update you on my doings and happenings.

School.

And there we have it: an update on my doings and happenings. No, that's just a very large proportion of them. I actually got hooked on this Shrine of Apple website, listing every single apple product ever made. During my time browsing their limited, but ever expanding, catalogue, I thought about how much this stuff actually costs. I went onto eBay, and before I knew it, I had bought an Apple II, a Macintosh plus and a Newton MessagePad 110! They are really, really, really awesome! I know, I know, only a huge geek would get excited about legacy gear, but there is something about them that I enjoy. It is possibly because I am fascinated about how I cannot even fit a small JPEG onto a floppy disk, the fact that I am astounded how far technology has come, or just maybe because I am flabbergasted what people thought was the best thing ever made.

To Fly. To Serve.

A few days ago, I came across a UK television advertising premier, namely, the new British Airways "To Fly. To Serve." campaign. Now, BA used to be a great airline, no question, but may I direct you to the use of the word "was".

Just in case you missed it: WAS

Nowadays, BA is, in my very strong opinion, one of the most incompetent, inefficient, incapable airlines flying. The whole thing started with Terminal 5 at Heathrow, with lost baggage and crappy computer systems that was unable to track my baggage for a week! After that incident, the whole thing went downhill: have you recently flown on BA? I few it to Geneva and let me tell you, a Boeing 737, while an old model, does not have crumbling seats with less than a few centimeters (or inches, for those still stuck on the imperial system) of leg room.

Negatives aside, BA sure do know how to spend thousands on an advertisement,, granted a very good one, that will do very little to the quality of the airline and planes. Spend the money on actually paying your staff!

The Following Fortnight: Still Nothing

Yes, yes. I know you all want a new post filled with many unbelievably strong opinions, as custom with TheCompBlog, but it becomes very hard to write a 1000 word post when you have brand new teachers who give you an unholy amount of homework! Imagine sitting down from 5:30 to 8:30 (with dinner) doing homework due in the next day, non stop. Homework, homework, and guess what? MORE DAMN HOMEWORK! 

Every. Single. Day.

So, I ask of my readers to, as I always ask of them, to check out some of the older posts. Look at the patent disputes, Microsoft rants, Sony rants and all other posts with the label "opinions" (that guarantees a typical rant post).

Now, to all those in the education industry out there. What the hell is wrong with you? Are you trying to destroy my childhood? I have school until 4:15pm, then I get set two and a half hours of homework? (By the way, the new series of Two and a Half Men has started!) May I divert your attention to Austria, France, Germany and every single european country. When does school end for them? 2:30pm. 

Just to reiterate: 2:30pm, with 1 hour of homework max. 

How do I know this? Well, I have family in Austria and I know for a fact that my cousins are not sitting at a desk until 8:30pm (or 20:30 over there) doing homework. What happened to learning for the sake of learning and not the exam? Please, cut the amount of homework so we can at least have more than half an hour of free time, and you will see, productivity will go through the roof!

Moving on, I know I have a loyal user base worldwide, who avidly read and ponder, but, since I like seeing big numbers, can you spread the word a bit? My efforts have been fruitless! Also, to my loyal readers, give me a bit of feedback! Comment, tweet, email, whatever, just do not be afraid! Go ahed, start an argument, lets see who wins! doing a bit of sharing on top of that might be a good idea also.

One further matter. Since I am now doing a compulsory philosophy course instead of an actually useful ICT one, I am finding it slightly harder to gather ideas for then next post. Please, please, please give me any suggestions and ideas. I promise that every single one will be looked at and considered, I just need some ideas. Feel free to go crazy!

So, until next time.

Research in Rusty Motion

An edited version of this post, a joint effort of Henry Dyer and Nicolas Weninger, might hopefully make its way into my school student magazine.

Now, it is no unknown fact that many people, mostly students, in the UK have Blackberrys. This is possibly due to their “superior” email client, their “fantastic” Internet browser, their “wonderful” plastic keyboards with tiny keys, their “sturdy” design of plastic, or possibly, and we may be clutching at straws here, possibly, it is Blackberry Messenger. Alternatively we’ve gone mad (or in Henry’s case, madder...)

Before we go into a vaguely typical debunking (especially for Nic) of all the points above, plus a few more, lets diverge into more positives of RIM, Research in Motion, the makers of the Blackberry phone, as well as some other things. like thin air (check the product list of RIM. Yep. Blackberrys And crap (the Playbook. More about that later).

WHAT? A positive! Yes indeed, for the first time in Nic’s writing history, he is listing all the positives of a company he resents.