Day-to-Day Nonsense

iphone, 3G and The HP Pavillion

At today’s game we had the following phenomenon.

First period, plenty of 3G.

Second period, Sharks down 2-0, only EDGE.

Third period, most fans having left the building, lot’s of 3G.

Back in the day before the iPhone, there was 3G during the entire game.

Add comment September 30th, 2008

And the new smart phone champ is the Nokia E71

Oh my God.

I have been suffering with the my ATT Tilt, henceforth known as the, Piece-of-shit Cell Phone.

I had no idea how bad the experience was. Well maybe. My wife would sneer at my bumbling attempts to do anything with one hand, the absurdly short battery life, the large but mostly useless keyboard, but I faithful to the Microsoft cause stayed the course.

No more.

I am in love.

The E71 battery life is ungodly. No, I don’t do it justice. It’s Phelpsian.

The one-handed use of the phone is Boltian. Try to use an iphone or windows mobile with one hand. Go ahead, try it. Even better, try using an iphone with one hand while holding groceries at the farmer’s market. I defy you to try it.

Failed, didn’t we?

Still trying to figure out where the “slider to turn it on” is? Still trying to figure out where the number 5 is on the keypad, aren’t we?

And the keyboard. Oh that keyboard.  I have these huge fingers, these ridiculous, stubby fingers that my genes bequeathed to me. And yet this keyboard works. Reviewers who tell you that the keyboard is too small are weak-willed, sniveling, cover-your-ass types who can’t admit that the keyboard works for people with big-hands because they feel they’ll sounding like Nokia fan-boys. This keyboard works for me, and I have hands that are ~12 inches from thumb to pinky, and approximately ~10 inches from the base of my palm to the top of my index finger. And I am not known for my dexterity.

And it’s even stylish. Yes, the Finns have made a stylish phone. Unbelievable perhaps, but true.

And of course, since it’s a Nokia phone, the audio quality is surreal, the device will only break if you throw it under an on-rushing train and frankly it just makes you good holding such a well engineered device.

Okay it’s not a perfect phone. The darned software doesn’t match the glorious experience of the phone.

For the corporate world, you really need Goodlink to be happy and unless you are willing to endure some entertaining phone hacking you’ll have to wait for Goodlink version 5.0. You do need to buy a whole bunch of software including an IM client.

And the S60  need a fair bit of customization until the UI experience is usable.

And yes, the iphone user-experience with two hands is superior.

But oh-my-God, I am in love.

Add comment September 28th, 2008

I wish I knew what I was doing

I was in San Diego last week at a technical meeting. After the meeting I had some free time, so I went to the San Diego Zoo.

While I was walking in the Fern Canyon, I took this picture by accident

Basically I twisted my wrist at just the right speed to get this awesome effect.

I was trying to take this picture:

The first picture was so cool that it made the rest of my pictures sorta lame.

Add comment September 20th, 2008

Fuck no.

First I have to deal with Patrick Roy being honored for being a great goaltender …

Then I have to deal with Robert Lang being signed. Which means we have given up on Sundin

But nothing, fuck me, nothing can compare to the horror show which is Patrice Brisebois being *re-signed*.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Add comment September 12th, 2008

Entropy Gradient Reversals – The Rise of the Stupid Network

Cool little article about intelligent and stupid networks and the end-to-end principle.

Entropy Gradient Reversals – The Rise of the Stupid Network

Add comment September 10th, 2008

Bear River, near Medocino

My wife and I have been going to Mendocino for about three years now. Every time we go we stay at the Stanford Inn.

One of the highlights of the trip is to go and take a walk on the beach at the mouth of the Bear River. This year was no different.

As is always the case, my dog has the most of the fun.

This time, I wanted to take some pictures I had never taken. But I couldn’t resist a couple of classics of the bridge looking out

and the bridge looking in

and of course a view of the sea

.

But here are my five favorite photos.

The number eight.

A tree in sand.

Rusted bridge.

Sandy dunes near sea.

Dead trees.

Add comment September 10th, 2008

Eating with My Uncle at Canava Roussos

One of the coolest parts about going to Santorini is eating with my uncle Iannis Roussos at his Canava.

Iannis, not only is a great story teller, but is also a lover of great food and wine.

Like very few people on the island he is a traditionalist and a lover of what Santorini was as much as what Santorini should be.

Every time I visit the place, I am treated to excellent wine, food and conversation, and this year was no exception.

It all started innocently enough with some crackers,

moved to fruit and coffee

and then we had three kinds of cheeses with my uncle.

And of course there was the wine.

The greatest part of the experience, however, was when he opened one of his barrels to let us taste some of his 30 year old Visanto.

Here my uncle is pouring some wine into a glass held by his daughter Liouba.

1 comment September 8th, 2008

Where is Santorini?

One of my good friends saw my posts, and asked: So where is Santorini?

And of course, I was shocked and couldn’t respond, I mean who doesn’t know where it is…

But if you are from India, then the location of a small island in the Aegean that is part of Greece would be a mystery.

And if the island is popularly known as Santorini but legally known as Thira, it can be even more confusing.

So here we have a satellite image of Santorini…

Add comment September 8th, 2008

Pretty Movie of Santorini

My wife has bought a mac, and coupled with her excellent photography she has discovered movie making.

This movie includes pictures from Oia, and my family’s winery, Canava Roussos.

The movie is set to Dimitris Mitropanos’ Fili Fili.

Add comment September 8th, 2008

Taverna Katina in Amoudi, Oia

One of the most picturesque villages in Santorini is Oia.

And one of the most picturesque places  in Oia is the port area also known as Amoudi.

And the best place to eat in Amoudi is Taverna Katina (Katina is shown sitting under her store sign).

While you sit waiting to be served you can enjoy the view.

Like all good Greek fish taverns, first you select your fish from the set of available fresh fish. Then eat some appetizers…

Followed by some fantastic fresh fish, in particular I recommend barbounia, the red-mullet.

Otherwise, anything fresh will do

Top to it all off we had a fantastic dessert

1 comment September 8th, 2008