Asymptomatic

There must be intelligent life down here

The Thing With Jing
May 04, 2010

Jing is a pretty neat tool. I use it quite a bit. It’s a free program for Mac or PC that takes still image screenshots or movies of your screen and uploads them to various sites for sharing with others. I signed up for a Pro account a while ago, and it’s been useful all along. There are, however, a few things that Jing should do that it does not.

First, the graying out of uncaptured areas needs to go. I’m not sure what Jing is doing during that time, but I have 5 monitors, and it takes forever for it to start up a new capture. The only time I use Jing instead of SnagIt these days is when I need video or am willing to wait for the delay, which isn’t often.

Paramore
May 02, 2010

A month or two ago, I bought a few concert tickets. First, tickets for the MMRBQ, then for Paramore at the Trump Taj Mahal. Stone Temple Pilots waits until the end of May, but the Paramore concert was this past Friday night.

We made what seem like convoluted arrangements for the kids to be picked up by my mom, so that they could stay over Friday night while we were out at the concert. I left the house early to pick up Berta at her office for the ride to Atlantic City, which would take about an hour and a half, giving us just enough time with a dinner stop to get there before the concert started. Yeah, that didn’t quite work out as expected.

The Morning Playlist
April 27, 2010

On days when Riley needs to get up for school, I have a playlist of music that I play to get the kids moving in the morning. The kids say they hate it, because it wakes them up, but I secretly suspect that they enjoy the music that I play at 100% volume out of the sterero connected to my computer.

The selection of music varies. I added music that is good for an energetic morning, but there are all different artists and flavors, as well as different ages of music. There’s one Miley Sirus song (Party in the USA), which they enjoy, and I have also included some Perfect Circle (Weak and Powerless), which I like even if they don’t.

Problems with the iPad
April 26, 2010

I expect that the common consumer dodders along, taking what they’re given, and doesn’t see many mistakes with the products that they use day-to-day. Some products are pretty easy to get right the first time, since they’re simple and elegant. Others, particularly those involving technology, are harder to get right, and usually require some revision to get as good as they could be.

My personal gripe with cell phones over the years to make them into the devices they should be is a great example of how technology exists to make a device really good, but for one reason or another, it just never gets there. Another great example is the iPad.

We Spectators of the Robot Uprising
March 29, 2010

I recently bought a Wowwee Rovio robot from Woot at a significant discount. Woot is notorious for selling “too good to be true” gadgets, and although this robot seemed to be an exception, recent events may indicate otherwise. (If you’ve heard me talk about the Rovio, you’ll still want to read this – it gets more interesting.)

I’ve bought many things from Woot over the years. Many things are interesting trinkets. A good majority of items are junk. The portable TV-in-a-pair-of-glasses? Junk. The Tom Tom GPS? DOA. So I was expecting similar from the Rovio.