Writing feels clunky this morning.
Not flowing, not free.
Words free, yet lack resonance.
Dreams unanswered.
Blog
Monday
Tomorrow is neigh,
Monday lurks beyond the dark,
At dawn it shall pounce.
Ok, enough on tech. Time to return to some poetry for awhile.
May your next week be glorious and satisfying.
Some additional thoughts on tablets…what about Microsoft?
This week’s news about the Kindle updates has me wondering about MSFT. Something not talked about much, but strikes me as critical: Amazon’s line-up and array of price-points. Allow people of “lesser means” get into this ecosystem. People will iterate up.
Google Android and Kindle understand this. Get us in, get us great content (which we happily (?) buy), let folks iteratively (I guess that is a word) upgrade; long-term, sustainable growth. Looking back at Microsoft, I worry they won’t get this. They didn’t with the Zune. Every Zune came with premium pricing. Perhaps now with tablets?
Plenty of MSFT devices are coming down the pike (here’s a big run-down of different MSFT Windows 8 tablets & the Surface) and that gives me some hope. Right now, though, there are several Android-eque tablets out there for < $100…(really) and even more for < $200. Without something in this price range, I worry that MSFT will not even be close to relevant.
Well, reckoning time comes soon. Apple’s announcement next week might well add to this. Answers arrive soon, ready or not.
The Kindle Fire, Tablets and Reading’s Future
Watched the Amazon press conference today. Well, more apt, I watched the CNet life coverage. The CNet crew are awfully fun. Most importantly, I came away longing for a new Kindle Fire. I don’t need or really want the HD features, and $150 is a comfortable price point for me.
But them I wonder: is the main attraction price point? Trying to cheap-out has always backfired on me. Well, perhaps price is what makes the Kindle attractive. I still like the Nexus. And, really, the iPad. If I was rolling in dough, I’d have one of each! I guess cash is a significant consideration.
So i should really start by considering my wants & needs. Primarily comes Google integration. Mostly email & calendar, but I’m pretty invested in Google stuff; so the more the better. But I’m also an Apple guy. Thus I have music, some video, and several apps from iTunes/iOS. However, not too much. Much of that came free, and/or with Android versions. I also need a solid web browser and Evernote. With those tools in place, I’m able to work with a device. Would I have all that with a Kindle Fire? The only piece I’m not sure about is the web browser. Would I be able to access key sites I use for work? I think I can check out Kindles at Staples, etc. Easy enough question to answer.
Beyond all that, I have a major concern with the whole ereader thing: my corner bookshop. Ereaders have their various ecosystems, and many are available on multiple platforms. However, there’s no place in that world for the local bookseller. Is this shop doomed? Or is there someplace for the printed page? And does resisting ereaders help prevent, or even slow this coming change?
So, I’m sure to make the tablet leap soon. Exactly which device isn’t exactly clear. Several good choices now, a few more coming (iPad mini next week? I’m disappointed there’s no low-cost Windows tablet right now). I guess I will see shortly.
Fund A Triathalete
Hey gang,
A good friend of mine, Daniel Flahiff, has qualified for the World Triathlon Grand Final Auckland this October. As you can imagine, raising the ~$4,000 for travel is out of reach. However, through the power of the internet, all of us have the opportunity to lend a hand. Via his Go Fund Me site, we all have the chance to share in funding this dream.
Besides have the vested interest in seeing a chum do something great and once-in-a-lifetime, I’m also pleased that the internet offers up ways to crowdsource solutions like this. Perhaps, pre-internet, a bunch of us would hold a car-wash, maybe engage a local tv or radio station, and have a small scale crowdsource through a local bank.
So, yay to www.gofundme.com for offering up such tools, the internet (Twitter, Facebook, et al) to broadcast this sort of thing out, and, of course, the generosity of strangers…which is, ultimately, what makes these sorts of things work.
Here’s a video about the event:
Dream’s Soundtrack
Woke to an unfamiliar song playing in my mind. Such events make me wonder. So, was this piece created by my mind, or is this some random thing, absorbed into my memory bank?
Consider all the songs I’ve been exposed: radio, movies, tv, myriad languages, styles and types. Music presented overtly & covertly, hidden in the current moment’s background. I hold that my brain absorbed all of this, deep with in some analog archive.
Dreams often come laden with meaning. Some dreams, though, come laden with absurdity. Perhaps that means something. Perhaps my Mind’s haunted by Lewis Carroll. Perhaps.
Foursquare Thoughts
I finally dove in and tried Foursquare. For a few months I tried remembering to check in everywhere I went. Once or twice, a coupon came through and I saves a few bucks. Ultimately, it was about maintaining connection with friends. However, few friends where active and fewer still significantly engaged. Additionally, becoming “friends” with a true stranger was quite uncomfortable; even for me (who is quite comfortable being public facing). The graph of Foursquare activity is quite intimate.
Summing up: keeping up with check-ins always felt tedious. There were a few fun exchanges with friends, but mostly nothing. For me, the experience was really devoid of value. I pretty much have abandoned the platform.
I’d love to heat what you think. Live the thing, hate it, think I was crazy to even try it? Drop a comment and let me know.
Cheers, all!
Musical Zeitgeist
Listen for music’s zeitgeist. Harmonics: voices intersecting, creating sounds not uttered, rather vibrations overlapping, the whole greater than the sum of the parts.
Music offers us so very much, should we choose to listen. We may learn the value of each voice, whether frantically busy or quietly adding structure, all critical to the audio portrait of a piece. Each pitch and tone crucial to the landscape. Silencing one changes the whole.
We must learn to value voices equally. This summarizes the commandment to love.
Namaste!
Too Much Life, Not Enough Time
Life,
Laden with excitement
Delights brim from myriad sources.
Work,
So much needed
Too much pain, no sitting idle.
Time,
Human limits, faced by needed rest
Demands of family.
Limitations,
All I want to do
So much to care, to love.
Focus,
Unable to complete all I see.
Trim the lesser… and Live!
Before Dawn’s Touch
Night embraces me
Lingering this early morn.
Sunlight rises soon.