So what happens to your Google data (email, etc.) once you are no longer able to access it due to going to the Giant 404 Page in the Sky? Well, now you can set things up so that another trusted user will have access even if you haven't provided them with your Google password.
This is a good thing, and should be part of anyone's estate planning.
(Note — since it's actually depending on lack of activity, it would also start up in case of your becoming disabled for a prolonged period.)
I'm not a console gamer, anyway, but this would guarantee I'd not be buying a new Xbox.
It's the same answer I give when Comcast writes / calls / visits my doorstep, suggesting that since we use their video and Internet services, don't we want to use their VoIP for our phone service? And I tell them that once their Internet is as stable and reliable as my Qwest land-line, I'll certainly be happy to give it a try.
I mean, even if you get beyond the people who thought it was Hugo Chavez, was Cesar Chavez really a less Christian "Eastery" (never mind it was his birthday) a choice than, say, Bing showing Easter Eggs? If not then why were folks having a conniption?
A bit of socialism, a bit of cybernetics, and a bit of CIA revolution-fomenting. Ah, the 70s.
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Nineteen Seventy Three
On 12 November 1971, in the presidential palace in the Republic of Chile, President Salvador Allende and a British theorist named Stafford Beer engaged in a highly improbable conversation. Beer was a world-renowned cybernetician and Allende was the newly elected leader of the impoverished republic.
Beer, a towering middle-aged man with a long beard, sat face to face with the horn-rimmed, mustachioed, grandfatherly president and spoke at great len…
Fascinating story: Children in two remote Ethiopian villages are given tablets in English, with no instruction, and teach themselves how to use them.
Earlier this year, OLPC workers dropped off closed boxes containing the tablets, taped shut, with no instruction. “I thought the kids would play with the boxes. Within four minutes, one kid not only opened the box, found the on-off switch … powered it up. Within five days, they were using 47 apps per child, per day. Within two weeks, they were singing ABC songs in the village, and within five months, they had hacked Android,” Negroponte said. “Some idiot in our organization or in the Media Lab had disabled the camera, and they figured out the camera, and had hacked Android.” #olpc#africa#technology
The use of design elements that were once necessary in the original product, but now are purely ornamental. Examples include (as in the picture) "spokes" on a hub cap, or the little camera shutter sound played on digital cameras.
(h/t +Chris Ruhs, for applying the word to the clock widget I use on my smartphone, which looks like the flipping-numbers clocks of my childhood).
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Skeuomorph – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Historically, high-status items, such as metal tableware, were often recreated for the mass market using ceramics, which were a cheaper material. In certain cases, efforts were made to recreate the ri…
One of the "zingers" from last night's debate was apparently Romney complaining that under Obama "our Navy is smaller now than any time since 1917." Leading to Obama's retort that "we also have fewer horses and bayonets because the nature of our military's changed."
Since that point is self-evident, all the Right Wing punditry can do is distort Obama's statement to make it sound like he claimed we have no horses or bayonets in the US military, and that, so, neener-neener, Obama was wrong! He was lying! Romney wins!
Except, of course, that's not what Obama actually said. Nor does it actually address the point he was making, nor advance the debate about the nature and use and needs of the US Navy in 2012, nor even further discussion of the "sequestration" mess that Congress came up with.
But, hey, it's not like "quotations" or "facts" make a lot of difference in some quarters.
Conservative Cavalry Bayonets A Straw Man
Right-wing media figures are trying to change the focus from Mitt Romney's deceptive debate comments on the size of the U.S. Navy by distorting President Obama's statements on the changing nature of t…
People are going to buy Windows 8 for one of two reasons:
1. One or more features that provide an anticipated advantage to one's computing experience.
2. It comes pre-installed on the new PC one buys.
But Windows is not MacOS. It's not going to be some sort of Messaianic Experience, an Existential Validation of One's Intrinsic Merit. People are not going to invest in a version of Windows because it's cool.
No matter what Microsoft thinks in this commercial.
To my mind, it very much depends on the circumstance.
Sitting there amongst friends and incessantly texting and tweeting and etc.? Uncool. Responding to an important message? Maybe okay, if you're not ignoring your dinner partner to do it. Tweeting a bon mot from your dinner partner? If it's okay with them, then do it.
I guess to me the issue is how you are engaging with (or disengaging from) the people you are at table with.
I remain irked that Margie's employer still requires company phones to be BlackBerries. But this article is more than a bit silly.
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Quick, Hide the BlackBerry, It’s Too Uncool
The phone once coveted by the elite and the powerful is becoming an object of ridicule as Androids and iPhones corner the smartphone market.
I thought I had written about this, but, apparently, not.
Part 1: The Cunning Plan: Wherein I solve all of my going-abroad-to-India problems by renting a MiFi from XCom Global (just like IdidforItaly), for $80 for unlimited data, to go along with my smartphone and tablet. Huzzah.
Part 3: In Which Dave Sends a Chiding Missive: In returning Miffy to XCom, here’s the letter I included:
Dear XCOM support / billing department –
Because of the non-functioning of this MiFi unit, I expect no charges to be placed on my credit card.
I received my MiFi from you on schedule, Friday, 14 September, and flew to India the next day. I arrived in India the night of Sunday, 16 September (local time), and found that while my WiFi devices could connect to the MiFi, the MiFi was not connecting to the local data network, showing alternating blue and green lights. Working through the control panel, I could get a “Connect” button, but when I clicked it, it would highlight briefly and then go back to normal, not connecting (it never changed to “Disconnect”).
I contacted XCOM support from India, and left messages over the course of Monday. The condition continued throughout that day, India time, both at the Hyatt Regency at the Mumbai airport and at my company’s office in Mumbai. On return to the hotel Monday night, I tried again, and went through all the diagnostic steps in the booklet included in the MiFi package, including a reset and reconfiguration per the instructions. I also set up the MiFi on the window sill, in case that was an issue. Nothing helped.
I realized, as I got to Monday night, that XCOM support coverage didn’t begin until 9 a.m. PDT. And, appropriately enough, some time after 10 p.m. IST I received a call-back from Dean from XCOM (I also, while I was on the line with him, got a call-back from Karen from XCOM).
With Dean we walked through various diagnostic steps. He confirmed that the alternating blue and green lights meant it wasn’t connecting to the local network. Finally, he was unable to confirm any problem, and said he’d have to contact the Indian telco to make sure that the phone number the unit was using (see subject line) was activated.
Because of time zone differences (despite weekday XCOM service supposedly being 24-hour), he said it could take 24-48 hours to confirm this. I told Dean that I would be flying home in 48 hours (Wednesday night, local time). He suggested I include a letter such as this to the billing department when I returned the unit, so they were aware of the problem.
I never heard anything further back from Dean or XCOM, though you had my mobile phone number.
I am very disappointed in this experience. We rented a MiFi from you for an Italian vacation a year ago, and I and my friends found it so handy that it seemed an obvious way to make business trip much more effective. Because the MiFi was non-functional while there, though, my data access was restricted to borrowing a PC while in the office, which was less than satisfactory.
In addition to the charges for this unit (which I assume will be reversed or not made), I am out [omitted table including $32 for my roaming phone call with Dean, and another $7 in roaming text messages with Margie instead of using Google Talk like I’d planned]. Please let me know how I will be made whole for this additional cost due to the non-functioning of the MiFi unit.
I am certainly interested in your service, and would like to consider it next time I am traveling on business or pleasure, but after this experience I am concerned how reliable I can consider it to be.
Part 4: In Which Dave Receives a Reply and Reponds: So today I got an email back from Yuko at XCom Global:
Upon receiving your device return, we have performed several tests to identify the cause of the problem happened during your trip.
The result is that the device works fine and the SIM also seems has no issue. We assume that this carrier did not have a good coverage at the location to get strong enough signal for usage. We understand the unstable signal environment in India and we are sorry for the inconvenience it has caused you. Moreover, we sincerely apologize for us to fail follow-up with your problem.
Although we cannot reimburse the cost for calling us, we will full refund your order.
The refund transaction will be made today, however please allow 5-7 business days before credit shows back on your card.
Again, we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience we have caused you.
To which I replied (which I assume is the end of it for now):
Thank you. While I’m disappointed about the service call costs, I appreciate the refund for the order.
For your notes, this unit failed to connect in Mumbai (both at the airport Hyatt Regency and several miles away) and in New Delhi (in the Nehru Park area). You might consider working with a different carrier, if such significant areas are not well supported. Unfortunately, since it sounds like it was the carrier you use, not the device, it makes it difficult for me to consider renting a device from XCom Global for India travel in the future.
Thanks again for your response.
Part 5: The Conclusion of the Tale: So, there’s the story. I didn’t really expect them to refund me for the service call, though I was hoping they would. They are making good on refunding for the MiFi rental, which is a positive thing, and the main point.
But it does leave me with a dilemma — next time I go to India, unless they’ve changed their carrier, I really can’t rely on this service. I’m not 100% convinced that was the problem, but taking them at their word it was. There are other providers, but they seem to be significantly more expensive. I could pony up for the hotel WiFi, but that’s godawfully pricy, too. (And, yes, it all goes on the expense report — but I manage the budget it comes out of.)
At any rate, noted here on the blog, for the record (and for the next time the subject comes up).
I am Curious (CPU) – What sort of computer hardware is driving the various Mars rovers?
Serious Stuff
It’s all about the boxes you lump things into – Sexuality and the classifications that people use to determine if something is “good” or “bad”. Those paradigms help explain why folks seem to have difficulty coming to agreement on things.
Spoilage – Yes, I am a drama queen over spoilers. No, you won’t convince me I’ll have more fun if I know what’s coming up in a movie (if so, then I’ll enjoy watching it a second time even more).
AVENGERS DIRECTOR, REASSEMBLE! – Joss Whedon to return as the writer/director for Avengers 2. Huzzah! (And, not incidentally, to develop at least one Marvel-based TV property … Alias / Jessica Jones, perhaps?)
Whedon’s vision of “Avengers 2” – Sounds good to me. Though I’m sure there will still be plenty of things blowing up real good.
Our unpatriotic Olympians! – Fox Sports commentator critiques US Olympians — especially the gymnasts, especially Gabby — for not wearing the stars and stripes, calling it “soft anti-Americanism.”
Fox Sports, racist? Perish the thought! – Oh, and another Fox Sports commentator sniffs at Serena Williams doing a little dance after her gold medal victory.
Seeking Sikh – Not a lot of folks know anything about the Sikh religion. It’s a shame that a tragedy like the temple shooting should be the first time people think about it, but better late than never.
Managing managed animal populations – When there are too many animals of a particular breed or breeding line, zookeepers in different countries vary on the best way to control the population.
Dumping Daredevil – If Marvel/Disney negotiates to let Fox keep Daredevil (or his film rights) longer, in return for some more Cosmic heroes, that would be a win-win.
Concerted Effort – Kay preparing for a band concert this weekend.
Phoiling Phelps? – As much as I loathe the Westboro Baptist gang, finding ways to hedge in their detestable speech makes it easier to to the same for others.
Not quite enough to break into their own grouping posts.
DADT repeal leads to attack on religious freedom! – The religious conservatives warned us about how military chaplains would be harassed if Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was repealed. What they didn’t tell us was that they were going to be doing the harassing.
Taped-up athletes – What’s up with the funky taping all over various athletes bodies at the Olympics? Here’s the answer.
Really hoping to get that post feed from Google Plus working again Real Soon Now.
Yeah, I’ll probably have to go see “Skyfall” – The new trailer for the new Bond film (which doesn’t appear to include the Queen, though it does include Dame Judy, which is even better).
Think about the poor, starving artists! – So who gets the money when record labels successfully sue pirates in order to protect poor, starving artists? (Hint: It’s not the poor, starving artists.)
