Category Archives: Technogeeky

Festivus — for the rest of us

Or, the GooglePad for Verizon slaves. Behold:

Pretty dandy, yes? At least the mock-up conversations appear somewhat promising. Or is this not the droid I am looking for? Personally, I was just glad to see a tablet not tied to AT&T. I mean, I’m not pushing for a “killer” anything; just maybe a tablet device that will allow me to stay where I am contract-wise (not that that’s anything fantastic).

Still, it sure is pretty to look at. It appears I need to start a “Stuff I Want III” post.

I cannot believe it is not Friday. Blarg.

So, tell me.

Why do I need an Apple iPad?

If I have a big handbag (which I do), it could fit nicely in there. I could conceivably have WiFi and not get all honked about hotels charging me for it.

But…

  1. I’d have to forswear Verizon for AT & T — and I am account holder for four other phones.
  2. Is this a flash in the pan? Just a bigger version of the iTouch? What will be its staying power vs. a laptop?
  3. Check out the specs (pdf). How much better a deal is it than a laptop?
  4. Will HTML5 be a sufficient replacement for Apple’s lack of Flash?

Crucial things to think about this day, a day that could shape up to be more stressful than it needs to be. Know’m sayin? Mondays: me no likey.

FO

Photo credit: Reuters

Cracked

This could be dangerous. I am spending entirely too much time at CrackBerry this morning. Yikes.

I love gadgets for my Storm. Heh. I would rather play with fun toys this day than choose music for my v-jazz camp that starts Sunday. Or clean the Finkhouse. Or wonder if Lars got my text message yesterday.

:P

As much as I hate to, I must fly. Have to get started. Another good day for hating things, I see. I am starting to love hate. I like that.

Hating everything and everyone (except you, of course),

FinkBerry

18,163

That’s how many days old I am as of this morning. Yark.

Did I sit and figure this out on paper or with a calculator? Are ya mental? No way. I used Wolfram Alpha, the cool new math engine that can compute anything on almost any topic. Here’s what I got when I entered my birthdate last night:

I typed in the word “Cyprus,” and got just about all the statistical information on the island that anyone could possibly want. Now how dandy is that, I ask you. It won’t surprise you to know that I spent far too much of my precious free time on that site, after having outlined 70 pages on quantitative research methodologies.

Once again: my life is one big party.

Off to meet Kay at Starbucks. Yummy.

Free Trojan Association

No, I’m not giving away warriors or infectious computer programs or, um…those other things. :-)

And no, I’m not writing a post about the Association of Free Trojans — if there actually is an Association of Free Trojans. Rather, I’ve deliberately misplaced the modifier to confuse you. Kidding again. I just have stuff to say about the word “trojan.”

Last night, while reading/researching, I ran into the word no fewer than three times. This, I surmised, was a sign: time to free-associate about trojans. [OK, I’m not *really* free-associating, but…you know.]

You hear the word “trojan” a lot; many times in connection with computer issues. There are three definitions one must keep separate in the virus/trojan/worm game, however (squeaky-clean, freshly-manicured Mac users, you can skip this section, although the Mighty Blue Apple has been known to get the occasional worm):

  • Virus: something your computer catches from an infected source, like media (CDs, portable drives, files).
  • Worm: a kind of virus spread mostly via networks.
  • Trojan: a bad piece of programming masquerading as something else

There are lots of schools that feature a Trojan warrior as their mascot. My school does. But I wonder how many people, when they think of a Trojan, first think about how the citizens of Troy got their collective butts kicked via the ultimate humiliation of the Trojan horse joke.

I would imagine a person’s first thought upon learning of the ruse dreamed up by Odysseus would be, What a buncha wankers. Well, if the knee-high strappy sandal fits…

They really bought it, lock and stock. Amazing. Different culture then, though. And really, how do we know Virgil didn’t make it all up? But still, I have to wonder when I see athletic teams called “Trojans” — why did they choose that mascot? I’m sure there were brave and powerful Trojan soldiers. But that’s not really their claim to fame.

Thus ends my Trojan association, but not my fondness for all things old. Take today, for instance. Tis a special day indeed. Behold the email I received from my fiend PK:

Hail, Mistress well met! I would remind thee that Thursday bringeth Talk Like Shakespeare day withal, to honor his birthday revels. Mayhaps it behooveth thee to visit yon web site:
~
Well, mayhap I will.
~
Finkus outus.