January 19, 2010
Short Updates
Good morning! I don't have to take the kids to school today, but I do have to head down to Concord, MA again. Hopefully the roads are better today cause sections of my drive were pretty rumbly yesterday with packed unplowed snow. 'Twas like driving on a dirt road in spots.
I just discovered one important difference between the Mac Safari & Mac Chrome web browsers. Chrome does NOT support the "look up in dictionary" keyboard shortcut (Cmd-Ctrl-D) that I use so often.
Giving up on "Cryptonomicon". Downloading "Wuthering Heights" to my phone for today's commute. Claire is reading it now for school and I figure we can discuss it so she doesn't feel like she's going it alone.
Smooth drive down but man was it gloomy. I found "Wuthering Heights" hard to follow while driving. I'll have to find the Cliff Notes to fill in the gaps. Forgot my nice Bluetooth headset but remembered I have my old Motorola one, so charged it up along the drive.
Had a Thai lunch with my team at Siam Village in Maynard. (related link) Since I had the snow tires, I got the honor of driving. ☺ Wondering if this sloppy weather will affect Massachusetts voting.
Attending a meeting discussing even more aggressive power management techniques on our future cell phone chips while debugging yet another simulation.
Finally back home. It was a slow drive home in the dark with snow falling. About an hr & 20 minutes. Glad it's over & time for some dinner.
Since I was having trouble staying focused on Wuthering Heights on my commute in, I re-listened to the same chapters on the way home. It helped a lot. I also pointed Claire to the online Cliff Notes for the book. (related link)
Now following @BillGates on Twitter. Yes, it's real. Will Steve Jobs follow?
Watching season one, episode three of "Chuck" [Chuck vs. the Tango] on DVD with Michelle and the girls. I'm also trying to make a bootable USB drive with a portable Linux distribution (Ubuntu 9.10).
Martha Coakley has called to concede the Massachusetts senate race to Scott Brown.
Geekitude: I'm posting from my work laptop which I booted with Ubuntu/Linux directly from a USB flash drive. It's neat that with modern multi-gigabyte flash drives, you can hold an operating system and its apps on tiny USB drive like that. Take your environment with you in your pocket and boot it on any modern PC. Don't worry about what malware might already exist on the hard drive leftover from other users.
I've had a decent night of geeking and watching Scott Brown's acceptance speech. Now we just need to see how long it takes to get him seated as the senator. But for now... good night all!
Bookmarks I made today:
Qualcomm talks up the dual-core, 1080p-capable future of Snapdragon
Comment: I keep reminding myself that these beasts are just intended for *cell phones* and small netbooks. Dual-core apps processors... in your phone. 1080p HiDef video... in your phone. Yes, but can it hold a signal throughout my phone call?
Excerpt: We'll have the 45nm 8X50A at 1.3GHz and then the dual-core which will be available in the second half of this year, in products for 2011, at 1.5GHz, the 8X72." The latter chip will have full 1080p capabilities.
Flirting With Socialism
Comment: An interesting blog post about an American's brief tour working for a U.K. company and how their people reacted when a local emergency occurred. Instead of an outpouring of corporate and personal support to get through the crisis, everyone just presumed that was the government's job. Worth a read! [Hat tip: Fr.Christopher Decker]
Excerpt: I don’t know which came first in London, the government being in charge of “charity” or the churches closing, but I sensed there was a connection. The government implemented “technical” solutions to problems that require people — and faith.
Set Up Your Loved Ones with the Best Tech Tools for Keeping in Touch
Comment: The only problem I have with most of these is that broadband is not easily available near my folks' new house. Still I want to review these in more detail since our family is scattered: IL, MI, IN, FL, NH, and CA
Excerpt: If you've got friends or family members who aren't so good about online communication, these apps and tips make video chat, simplified email, and photo sharing easier to do on a regular basis.
Snapshots I took today:
