/dev/null/kevin

Is there any real value in flickr collections?  Please tell me what I'm missing.

A flickr set is a group of pictures.  I can view a set together, make a slide show, and edit the set together.  It's a very useful feature.

A flickr collection is a group of sets and it provides some organizational structure for sets that are related.  I can add or remove sets from a collection, as well as add a description.  The collection also gets a special mosaic badge made up of images from the various sets. 

However, other than those very basic features (which I admit, have some value), it seems that collections should allow me to  do so much more:

• No collection tools - With a set I can perform multiple actions on the whole set, but there are no actions for a collection.
• I can't view the whole collection as a slide show.
• I can't edit the whole collection.
• I can't add tags to a collection.
• I can't view the whole collection as a stream.
• I can't load a collection into the flickr organizer.
• Collection mosaic icon is useless.
• The mosaic's URL changes if I edit the mosaic (select different images) - This means I can't use the mosaic for anything like a thumbnail for a link to the collection's page.  If something exists, but I can't use it, does it have any value?
  
• The mosaic icon doesn't even appear on the collection's own page!

Sometimes less is more.  It's a cliche, but an accurate one.  Such is twirl, an AIR-based twitter client.  Twhirl (a really hard word to type, btw) has lots of features, most of which I don't need.  Its also missing some basic features that I need.

The irony is that, like twitter, a product with few features that still dominates, twitterific is still a better client than twirl.  i.e.

twitter : pownce :: twitterific : twhirl

Twitter, with its small feature set is still better, and more popular, than pownce or jaiku (two technologies that have more features, but are still inferior and much less popular).  Twitterific, with its elegant feel, is still better than feature-packed twhirl.

Twhirl Pros

1. Multiple twitter accounts - I tweet as myself, but also as my daughter.  I put cute things she says in there, mainly just for myself and wife.  It's a bit of a pain to switch back and forth, so it's nice to have multiple twhirl windows open for each account.  I also know a certain someone who occasionally tweets as his wife by mistake.
2. Lots of display options - You can customize the color pallet and font easily.  You can apply filters, and you can select from several different view panels such as timeline, replies, friends, followers, direct messages, and archive.
3. Search - twhirl leverages existing services TweetScan and Terraminds for searches.
4. Retweeting - If you're into forwarding tweets, it's easy with twhirl.  Just one click.

Other than Pro #1, I don't use or need those extra features.  #2 is nice, but I just selected the one that looked like twitterific.    Search would be nice, but those two services don't work that well.  Terraminds was not even up as of this writing.

Twhirl Cons

1. Unread vs read messages not easy to distinguish - A tiny white dot in the corner is the only way to detect an unread tweet in twhirl, while the whole message is bold in twitterific.  It's much easier to visually scan with twitterific.
2. No real keyboard shortcuts - Yes, it has *some* keyboard shortcuts, but for things that don't need shortcuts.  The shortcuts that I miss are "Reply" and "Mark all as read."  If I used retweet, I'd probably want that, too.  Also, while I can scroll up and down using the arrow keys, that action doesn't cause the tweets to be marked as read.  I either have to click on them or click on the mark as read button.  In general, there is just too much clicking required.
   
3. Cluttered display - This might just be personal preference, but twitterific will display either the twitter id or the "real" name of a person in the header.  twhirl's display is more like the web display.  It puts the twitter id in with the tweet and appends the date stamp along with the "real" name.  See the attached image.
4. AIR is clunky - Maybe it's AIR and maybe it's twhirl, but the application has a slow and unsteady feel to it.  It's not horrible, but it's not as crisp as twitterific.
5. Breaks MacOS click behavior - In Mac OS X, if you click on a window that doesn't have focus, that click is not passed to the application.  The idea is that you don't accidentally click on something that you didn't intend to when you switch focus to another window.  This differers from Windows behavior which does pass the click to the application.  I expect that this behavior is a by-product of using AIR, since AIR also runs on Windows.  Still, it's annoying to have an application behave differently that every other Mac app.  Also, this problem is magnified when you consider that your clicks might lead to the next problem...
   
6. Web links open new windows, not tabs - Even though Firefox is set to open new links in a new tab, URLs launched through twhirl open a whole new Firefox window.  Not only is this not what I want, but it's also slower.  Is this another AIR-ism?
   
7. Does not pop down - Twitterific will pop up when there are new tweets but then pop back down if you don't click on the window.  Twhirl just stays up until you manually make it go away.  Anyone who actually gets work done knows that sometimes you just have to ignore twitter.  Not only does the window not go away, but all of the twhirl windows open up for all of the accounts you have open.  So even if my daughter's account doesn't receive a tweet, it still opens up when my account does.
8. Does not pop up - Depending on how you minimize twhirl it may never pop up.  If you close it with Command-H (Hide) then it will pop up with new tweets.  However, if you use Command-M (minimize), or the _ icon on the bar, then it won't pop up.  Twitterific disables minimize, I believe.
   
9. No spellcheck - Twitterific leverages the auto-spellcheck feature that applications using text windows get.  Perhaps it's an AIR limitation, but twhirl doesn't do this.  I need this feature.  I suck at spelling and typing (count the errors in this blog!) so I really need a spell checker.

Speaking of poor writing, read this part of the twhirl documentation.  Scroll down to the "connection settings" section.

So, the verdict is that twhirl is not for me.  Yes, they could fix some of these problems, but the one's linked to AIR might take longer to resolve as Adobe works to get AIR more widely adopted.  For now, it's back to twitterific for me.

Here's the screen shot comparing the two twitter clients.  Note that there are two twhirl windows for my two twitter accounts.  The top window has the message area hidden.

Warning: Spoiler for the movie Stargate: The Ark of Truth ahead.

I watched the movie Stargate: The Ark of Truth and there is a scene where the Replicators (evil, self-replicating robots) are being reprogrammed to self-destruct.  A screen shot shows that the language used is Javascript.

Stay tuned for the sequel, when another ancient programming language is used, Stargate: The Awk of Truth.

People love to tell secrets.  It's part of human nature.  It's fun to gossip or reveal something special.  But some secrets need to stay secret.  I'm not talking about scandalous secrets, either, but rather the secret "tips" that people like to give.

Examples:

• Time saving tips for places like Disneyland
• Short cuts to bypass traffic
• Nice, intimate places to eat
• Loopholes to exploit

These limited resource tips can be ruined if the secret becomes too well known.  So you really have to ask yourself, will I destroy this tip by revealing it?

Conversely, you should always be skeptical of people willing to share their secrets with you, for a price.  Learn the secrets of getting rich working from home!  The odds are that if there really is a secret (and their probably isn't) said secret is ruined by telling everyone about it.  The real secret to getting rich by Doing Something is by selling the secret to getting rich by Doing Something.

In my continuing effort to become a writer for cracked.com, I present my list of The 7 Most Annoying Kids in Science Fiction.  These are the kids thrown into an otherwise good TV show or movie just so it can appeal to a younger audience and Hasbro can sell more action figures.  Most of the kids are bad actors to begin with, but the writers usually make them out to be extra cute or precocious.  Then they are either too smart or too stupid to be realistic (sometimes both).

I'm going to eliminate all shows specifically aimed at kids.  Otherwise, the list would be endless.

Some common things that sci-fi kids do to be annoying:

• Save the day by being too smart.
• Save the day by being little.
• Save the day by being innocent.
• Save the day by pure luck.
• Save the day by reminding everyone the true meaning of Christmas.
• Be a plot point by not doing what they're told.
• Be a plot point by getting lost.
• Be a plot point by needing to be rescued.
• Be a plot point running off to save their pet.
• Yelling their pet's name a lot.
• Having their own named yelled a lot.
• Introducing teen/tween angst into the mix.
• Telling a stupid joke at the end of the show.

#7: Will Robinson - Lost in Space (original)

To be fair, I kind of liked Will, but mainly because I was a kid when I watched this show.  Also, we wouldn't have a phrase "Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!" without him.  So, Will is the least annoying, and thus listed first.

Will was a little too smart for his own good, but the show was also super cheesy to begin with, so perhaps he made the show better.  The TV show quickly became all about Will, Robot, and Dr. Smith, which I'm sure annoyed the rest of the adult cast.  At least Bill Mumy grew up into pretty cool guy and did some good work on Babylon 5 (which banned kids from the cast).

I don't even remember the Will Robinson from the Lost in Space movie remake from 1998, so I guess he sucked.  Best to remember this blooper clip from the original show's 30th anniversary:

#6: All the kids from the original Star Trek

While there were no kids as part of the regular cast (thank goodness), a few episodes featured children.  All of them suffered for it.

First there was Charlie X, about an annoying boy with supernatural powers.  Then came Miri, the story about kids living all by themselves.  Finally, when the writing well went dry, there was And The Children Shall Lead, the story about children living all by themselves with supernatural powers.  They were also dressed in the best of 60s table cloths.

If kids weren't annoying enough with their talk of gr'ups, or controlling your mind with fist pumps, they were making creepy unwanted sexual advances towards you.  Who needs that?  At least Charlie was able to shut up Uhura's singing.  Bonus points for that.

#5: Ulysses and True - Earth 2

Here's a show you've probably never heard of.  It was a pretty good show on NBC in 1994, but it only lasted one season.  Colonists trying to colonize a new Earth-like planet crash land far short of their expected landing site.  They must deal with low supplies, the planet's indigenous inhabitants, kind of like Survivor.  They must also deal with the shadowy and corrupt government of old Earth, who doesn't want them leaving -- again, just like Survivor.  The show had good potential but NBC was too dumb to know what to do with it.

Being colonists, there were also kids.  Two of them, which meant double the annoyance.  Naturally, they belonged to the group's leader and to her potential love interest/antagonist.  The boy, Ulysses - aka Uly ("Yoo-lee"), was also sick and wore a full-body Forrest Gump brace.  Lots of drama around his being sick, natch.  He'd usually get lost, or kidnapped, or something.  His mom would cry "YOOOO-LEEEE!" far too often.  He also had some magical connection to the planet and the dirt people who lived there.  Yes, he saved the day a few times by being pure of heart or some such nonsense.

The girl's name was True and she was mainly annoying because she was named True.  She'd also get lost or captured and her dad would cry "TROOOOOO!" All the while Uly's mom was still crying "YOOOO-LEEE!"  Good times.  At least she didn't have any magical powers.  Oh wait, here she is saving the day:

Yes, I know having two kids here means I should call this the "8 Most Annoying Kids" but that would involve finding the BACKSPACE key, and I've got things to do.

#4: Walt - Lost

When Walt was on the show he spent most of his time chasing his dog and making mysterious things happen just using his mind.  Need a polar bear?  Just ask Walt.  Yes, just like Uly on Earth 2, Walt has some special connection to the island.  Also like Uly, his father, Michael, spent quite a bit of time yelling "WAAALT!!" and talking about "my boy!"  That is, when he's not too busy killing everyone else just to save "my son!!!"

Both Walt and Michael left the show, but recently Walt was seen in a flashback and Michael just returned.  I expect to hear cries of "I'm doing this to save my son!" very soon.  I also expect Walt to be 7 feet tall.

#3: Wesley Crusher - Star Trek: The Next Generation

Wesley Crusher, more so than any character, solidified the notion that kids and sci-fi don't mix, much like tuna fish and jelly.  He would probably be #1 on most people's list.  Wesley was Star Trek creator Gene Wesley Roddenberry's alter-ego on the show.  Wesley "saved the day" seven times, according to Wikipedia, and was often smarter than the highly trained crew of the Enterprise.  Fans grew to hate him quickly.  This video of Wesley being killed in an alternate reality became a fan favorite.  Alternate.  Why must is always be an alternate reality?

So, why isn't Wesley #1 on my list?  Two reasons.  First, the producers/writers realized that they had a problem and made some changes.  Wes eventually left the Enterprise to annoy people at Starfleet Academy, so he was absent for weeks at a time from the show.  When he did come back he was more human, making mistakes (big ones) and took a different path than the Wunderkind track he was on.  Plus, after seven years, he was just plain older and less kid-like.  He also stopped wearing the ugly rainbow tunic.  But for some people it was already too late.  They hated him no matter what, but I will cut him a little slack.

The second reason Wesley isn't #1 is that actor Wil Wheaton grew up to be a pretty cool guy.  Wil is now a big sci-fi fan himself and is fairly active in the community.  He has an insider's insight, but doesn't flaunt it.  He blogs and twitters and is fairly interesting.  I also like this story about him from IMDb: 

Still, we can't forget all of the annoying things he did to make this list and inspire the phase "Shut up, Wesley!"

#2: Anakin Skywalker - Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace

Can a single kid ruin a whole movie?  With the help of Jar Jar Binks, Jake Lloyd's Anakin Skywalker (he who would become Darth Vader) ruined the movie for quite a few people.  To be fair to Episode One, it had some good things going for it (e.g. music, SFX, cool light sabre fight), but almost all of the bad things centered around Jar Jar and young Anakin.

Where to start?  Anakin hit almost all of the annoying kids bullet points.  Sure he's Darth Vader and has mad skillz with da force, but must he do everything with such a "golly, gee-wiz" attitude?  The Silver Spoons hair cut didn't do him any favors, either.  Yet there he was, saving the day, winning pod races, dodging lasers, all without trying, and all while spewing cutesy lines.  Lloyd's acting didn't help matters any, but when George Lucas gave him lines like "Are you an angel?" my stomach felt such nausea that it longed to be sliced open with a light sabre and have stuffed Luke inside.  Ok, that came out a little weirder than I intended.

Keep in mind that boy Anakin flew into space, was not shot down, landed on a hostile base, destroyed the Death Star Droid Control Ship, and re-entered the atmosphere without burning up.   All on his first try.

And what ever happened to that cute little kid?  Here he is, still as cute as ever.  And by cute I mean a scruffy mess. (from Wikipedia).

Here's a great video showing how Episode One should have ended:

#1: Boxey - Battlestar Galactica (Original)

The original Battlestar Galactica from 1978 was a campy space show riding the popularity wave created by Star Wars.  In it, main character, Apollo, adopted Boxey when Boxey's mom (and Apollo's girlfriend) was killed.  Boxey's dog, er, daggit, named Muffit was also killed.  To make Boxey feel better, he was given a robotic daggit, creatively named Muffit.  No word if he was also given a robotic mom.  If he was, Apollo kept her secret.

Muffit was played by a monkey in a costume.  He was supposed to be cute, but I just found him to be creepy, as I find all monkey-related things.  Given that Battlestar Galactica was already ripping off Star Wars, I guess the producers also wanted to rip of BJ and the Bear as well.  And why not?  They were both written by the same guy, Glen Larson.  People love monkeys!  We need a space monkey!

What makes Boxey the #1 most annoying sci-fi kid?  While #3 Wesley Crusher eventually grew into something better, and #2 Anakin Skywalker's character was necessary to the Star Wars prequels, Boxey was neither.  He was nothing more than a gimmick added to the show to appear to younger a younger audience.  All of his scenes were filler.  Even as a kid I didn't like Boxey or Muffit.  He was constantly getting lost, looking for Muffit or just having a really schmaltzy conversation with his dad, grandpa or aunt.  He and Muffit even saved the day once.  It only required sacrificing the dignity of several senior officers as they were forced to say the word mushies.

Even though Battlestar Galactica only lasted one season, we do know that Boxey did not grow up into a cool guy.  In the revival series Galactica 80 (I shudder just typing the name) Boxey turned into Captain Troy, super dork.  Apparently, he spent the 20 years between series sitting in a box (get it?) getting dumber and becoming a stiffer actor.  Yes, it could be argued that Galactica 80s own Dr. Zee could make this list, but I can't think too much about that show without getting hives.

And what of Noah Hathaway, who portrayed Boxey?  He took the anti-geek route, getting into motorcycles, welding and tattoos.  Here is a picture of a grown up Noah and his MySpace page, which features said tattoos.  At least he's not a total tool like Captain Troy.

BTW, the new Boxey from the new Battlestar Galactica did not fare too well.  After being introduced in the pilot miniseries, he was essentially cut out and eliminated.  And there was much rejoicing.

I tried to find a good video clip of Boxey in action, but he had to be annoying to the last.  Almost every clip of the original Battlestar has been purged from YouTube.  So, the best I can do is direct you to the new AOL / Hulu pages for entire episodes.  The service is free and does NOT require any registration, but you might have to sit through a commercial or two.  I also don't know how long the episodes will remain up, as I hear Hulu's content might rotate.

Gun on Ice Planet Zero - Skip to 29:45 (about 3/5th of the way) to see Boxey screw things up just by being there.  The adults have crash landed on Ice Planet Zero, only to find that Boxey (and Muffit) have stowed away on board.  Naturally, Muffit runs away into the snow and hilarity ensues.

 
For the sake of completeness, here are two more kids I considered, but rejected, because they were both realistic, necessary and added value.

Not annoying kids:

• Jake Sisco - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
• John Connor - Terminator 2

There was a time when I tried to track where my junk mail was coming from.  Whenever I filled out my address, especially online, I would put a TAG into the second address field that identifies who I gave this address to.  Example:

Kevin Chu
Street Address
Attn: Paypal
City, State  ZIP

It never worked.

Not once have I ever received any kind of mail, junk or otherwise, that had my TAG in it.  Even when I receive regular mail from places I know have tagged the TAG isn't there.  Perhaps the computers filter it out; I really don't know.

Then today, I received an order I had placed online and had paid with Paypal.  The merchant used my Paypal address for shipping.  Lo and behold, there it was:

It was hand-written!

After hundreds of automated systems had ignored or filtered that tag, some diligent human copied it by hand.

Technology!  Its catching on!

A while ago I posted a review of the Harmony 880 universal remote.  It's been over two years so time for a follow-up.  In that time, both the physical product and the software have changed slightly.

Summary: The Harmony 880 is a little better now!

In those two years the remote held up very well.  The buttons remained clicky and responsive, and the screen remained unscratched.  The lithium-ion battery did show some signs of wear as the multiple rechargings have taken their toll.  Battery life dropped from about a week to about 2 days.

However, after two years, the IR emitters eventually died.  My universal remote was universally controlling nothing.

I used the night vision on my camcorder to verify that the IR emitters were not emitting any IR signal (actually, an extremely weak one).  A quick web search found that this has happened to other people as well.  Some brave souls replaced their emitters with new ones they bought at Radio Shack.  Others said that Logitech/Harmony fixed theirs (some for a fee).

I opted to call Harmony support and after the usual "install the latest software/firmware" dance they agreed that the emitters were probably bad.  Send the remote to Canada (!) for repair.  They gave me instructions and an RMI number.

It was around this time that my daughter broke her arm (she's fine) so I got distracted and didn't send the remote right away.  Five calendar days passed (120 hours) and I received an automated email telling me that my incident had been closed.  Oh noes!

Fortunately, just replying to that email with "please don't close yet" was all it took to get them to reopen the ticket.  This actually happened several times as my package to Harmony in Canada took over a week for them to receive it.  I guess those Canadian customs officers are very thorough.  It cost me US$15 to ship it, BTW.

Harmony confirmed, again, that the emitters were bad.  The total repair cost would be US$50, $25 to fix, $15 to ship.  Hmmmm.  Decision time.  I'm already out $15.  Compare $65 vs cost of whole new remote ($200 - $250) (and I could get new Harmony One).

I opted to pay the cost of repair.  We'd been forced to live like cavemen, using multiple remote controls, for weeks now.  Harmony also sweetened the deal by saying they would ship a brand new replacement unit rather than repair my old one.  In addition to a new unit there would be a new battery (remember mine was dying) and a new base station.  I think this also saved them time/money by shipping the brand new unit from a center already in the US.

The new unit arrived within 48 hours of payment (done via phone for security).  I noted a few improvements right away.  In addition to the new remote smell, the whole remote had a more textured feel.  The old remote was a little slick if your hands were really dry.  The base station was also slightly improved.  One "con" that I didn't notice for my first review (and which I saw in other reviews) was that the remote didn't always sit well in the base station and wouldn't charge.  It also wouldn't be obvious that the remote wasn't seated properly.  The new base station is cut differently so the remote pops into place perfectly.

The other improvement (which I would have gotten anyway) is the software.  My setup has been stable for a while now so I missed the last few software updates.  The new software is no longer web based and is a little less clunky to use.  The old version had so many PC-only plug-ins that to call it web-based would be misleading.

The new software is cleaner, smoother and snappier.  It follows the same structure but doesn't take forever to redraw complicated button layout diagrams using HTML forms.  There is both a Mac and PC version for the software, but the Mac version isn't working on my MBP.  Technically, the Mac isn't even recognizing that the remote is connected via USB so I can't judge the Mac's version of the software.  That's a problem for another day.

Final Score: 4.5 / 5 stars

Male nerds, geeks and gamers have the stereotypical reputation of being absolutely clueless when it comes to women.  Conan O'Brien and his writers love to poke fun at nerds this way.  Of course, this isn't true, but it just might be true in the case of the geeks who wrote Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07.

We rented this game for our Wii.  My 4 year old daughter's favorite part of the Wii is the Mii editor.  She had lots of fun making herself and all of her friends.  So while she wasn't into playing Tiger Woods' gold game (that was for Daddy), she did want to use the game's character builder.

The in-game "Game Face" character builder is much more complicated than the Mii generator.  The characters are much more realistic than the Miis.  We built Daddy first, and it looked pretty close to me (a very athletic version of me).  We then tried to make my daughter.  The process first asks some quesions:

• Gender.  Female.  At least the have that option.
  
• Age.  She's almost 5, but 8 was the smallest value we could choose.  Fine, eight years old it is.
• Height.  The smallest value was 5' 0" (152 cm).  While that is short, I know some adults who are shorter than that.  Hmmm.
• Face.  No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get this girl to look younger than 20, let alone 8.  Did that parameter mean anything?
• Body.  Here's where it gets good.  I now needed to select how big to make this "8" year old's boobs.  Hello!

Like the other attributes that wouldn't scale to the 8 year old level (let alone 5), the choice for breast size ranged from a B cup to D cup.  I don't know what they were thinking, but my first reaction was "stupid horny engineers!"

Yes, this game probably isn't for little kids, but it could be.  Michelle Wie started playing golf at age 4 and turned pro at 15.  If you're going to make age a parameter, and let me select age 8, then you'd better actually support it.  Don't just make all of the female avatars be your virtual fantasy girl.

BTW, if anyone knows of any good Wii games that let the Mii characters play together, let me know.

Reddit is being populated with "cool" pictures of Barack Obama that keep getting cooler.

Cool:

Cooler:

Coolest:

Coolest-est:

Coolest-est-est:

One of the big local stories in Silicon Valley is the naming controversy of a Vietnamese area in San Jose.[1][2]  The two names battling it out are:

• Little Saigon (the old, unofficial name)
• Saigon Business District (the new name)

My wife has the obvious compromise name:

Little Saigon Business District

Duh?