Αυτή την περασμένη εβδομάδα αρχίσανε τα μαθήματα ξανά. Αυτό είναι το προτελευταίο μου τρίμηνο ως φοιτητής σε πρόγραμμα Μάστερ. Τον Μαι τελειώνω το τρίτο μου Μάστερ, και τον Δεκέμβρη τελειώνω το τέταρτο (και τελευταίο) μου Μάστερ. Για να καταφέρω ένα τέτοιο κατόρθωμα έχω τρία μαθήματα - δύο πρόσωπο με πρόσωπο και ένα διαδικτυακά, και μαζί με όλα αυτά έχω να τελειώσω και την διατριβή μου (με τίτλο «Ελληνικά για Ταξιδιώτες»), και κανονική δουλειά (δηλαδή έχουμε και το σαραντάωρο την εβδομάδα στο γραφείο).

Η αλήθεια είναι πως αν και φαίνεται αδύνατον αυτό το κατόρθωμα, είναι δυνατόν να γίνει - και να δουλεύεις, και να κάνεις μαθήματα. Πριν αρχίσει το τρίμηνο είχα βρει όλους τους καθηγητές μου και τουρ ζήτησα να μου δώσουν πληροφορίες για τα βιβλία και την ύλη που θα έχουμε αυτό το τρίμηνο. Οπότε το διάλειμμα που είχα μεταξύ 15 Δεκέμβρη και 22 Γενάρη το έριξα στα βιβλία για να βγάλω την ύλη. Το περασμένο καλοκαίρι άρχισα να γράφω την διατριβή μου, και την τελείωσα πριν μια εβδομάδα. Η αλήθεια είναι πως πρέπει να την διαβάσω αναλυτικά να δω αν υπάρχουν λάθει, αλλά σε γενικές γραμμές τα δύσκολα είναι τελειωμένα.

Το μόνο κακό είναι τα δύο μαθήματα που είναι πρόσωπο με πρόσωπο είναι και τα δύο τις Τρίτες οπότε οι μέρες μου είναι αρκετά μεγάλες - και λόγο αυτού την περασμένη Τετάρτη ήμουν σαν κοτόπουλο. Άντε! 1 εβδομάδα τέλος, 14 ακόμα μέχρι την αποφοίτηση! Τα Σαββατοκύριακα πρέπει να διαβάζω παραπάνω από ότι έχω συνηθίσει, αλλά δεν πειράζει το να ζορίστουμε και λίγο ;-) Τουλάχιστον δεν χρειάζεται να ξανακάνω corporate finance όπως κάνει τώρα (για πρώτη φορά) ο @javapapo :-)

The name iPad is a bit of a failure on more level than one!





Sure, if you are talking about a Pad you are thinking of a Pad of Paper and a pen to go with it, right? No stylus (as I've harped on and on again over the last 3 blog post) means that this metaphor is slightly out. As the internet reminds us, MadTV has made a parody apple product called the iPad (in Greek it would be the ιΣερβιέττα LOL). It seems like apple didn't care much about the previous naming of the product in a parody ;-)










Personally I would have preferred to see the iPADD - like in star trek (maybe that's what they were going for)

Looking at the iPad announcement I can't help but wonder where the heck is Mobile OS X 4.0 (aka iPhoneOS, iPodTouch OS, iPad OS). I can't help but to also compare it to the Knowledge Navigator concept video that was produced by Apple in the late 80s (or was it early 90s?)

Looking at the iPad screen, I can see a large screen that can do wonders with handwriting, like the Newton or a piece of paper (I am not talking about handwriting recognition, just digital ink). As I wrote yesterday the stylus is missing in action.

Looking at the iPad lock screen, I can see potential for status indicators like incoming mail, upcoming appointments, facebook and twitter notifications and so on.

As I stated yesterday the iPad (with 3G) could also do voice, SMS and MMS. Just add a bluetooth headset (or wired headphones) and you could communicate. It is the best solution? Well, no, but the functionality is there, like in the knowledge navigator video.

Another thing that I really wanted to see is an improved podcast client. I can hunt and peck at podcasts on my iPhone at the moment by going to iTunes, but the darned device does not sync my subscriptions over to the device from iTunes so I have to remember all the podcasts that I subscribe to, check each one individually to see if there is something new, and then download it. Pain! Need a better podcatcher!

To Dos are also missing - The iPad looks like a pretty good paper notebook replacement (if you had a stylus). Why is there no to-do app that syncs with your Mac's to-do list and on Mobile Me?

Maybe there will be another iPhoneOS event in April that is just for developers, or they'll pull a rabbit out of their hat in June ;-)

I have to say that I was thoroughly unimpressed by today's iPad event. Don't get me wrong I disliked iPod 1.0 (didn't buy one until the 3rd generation iPod), and I disliked the first iPhone (didn't buy one until the 3GS). If history is any indication I will probably like iPad 3.0 (either that or I won't care as much). So here's a rundown:


The Pros:
Nice iCal App - I gotta say, I am a sucker for design and the calendar app looks great!

Nice AddressBook App - ditto for the addresbook app. Reminds me of old school addressbooks.

iWork on the iPad - Now this IS awesome. With this you can edit any MS office documents that you receive, you can create new iWork documents, and conceivably you can attach an iPad to a data projector and run your lecture from it. COOL! (Keynote is my preferred presentation software)

It's unlocked! - You don't need to have cell service on it, but you can if you want - and it's GSM unlocked! Finally!

Price - $500 for a 16GB WiFi (or $629 for 16GB with 3G) isn't bad at all. It's actually looking like the price of a Netbook.


The So-So:
Keyboard Dock - It's a good start. I would have expected a bluetooth keyboard though.

iPhone Apps compatible - It's nice that this device already has a library that it works with. No need to wait for developers to make new apps for (yet another) platform. I would have been more excited if there weren't a ton of fart apps on the appstore ;-)


The Cons:
No Multitasking - This is a no-brainer

No Camera(s) - Missed opportunity. Especially for a front facing camera that you can use for conferencing.

No Stylus - The screen is BEAUTIFUL! Simply beautiful. It just BEGS to have a writing implement (read: stylus) be part of the package. Yes you can get a pogo-stick, but this means that the OS does not have built-in support for stili.

No Flash - Like it or not, there is a boatload of flash content on the web. Lots of it is video, and there is a great deal of it that is for web design and navigation elements. If I need a laptop to experience the full web, why would I buy an iPad?

No Tethering - While you can, if you want, throw in any SIM card you want in this device, I already have an iPhone, for which I pay $30/month and I am not using all my data (don't even come close to the 5GB). Why can't I tether my iPhone to the iPad?

No dialer, SMS, MMS - Since you can pop a SIM card into this, why is there no SMS/MMS apps and dialer so you can use a bluetooth headset for make and receive calls?

Crippled by AppStore - It's really nice that I can get apps from the AppStore for the iPad, but there are Mac apps that I would really love to see run on this device. Applications like Rapidweaver and Chrome (yes, an alternative browser) for example.

iBooks App - It brings nothing new to the table! It's just another eBook reader. Such a great big touchable display? Can't I take notes? write in the margins? Highlight text? Copy and Paste? (for research purposes or fair use commenting of course!). I think that textbooks are useless unless you can annotate, copy and paste info to and from them.

Lack of many New and Original Apps! - iChat was something that I was expecting. I was also expecting some sort of WOW factor. Nope.

OK! I will admit it! HD Television has spoiled me! Last night, those of you who follow me on twitter, would have seen my frustration as my cable provider (Comcast) and how none of the HD channels were working! No CBS, no NBC, no ABC and worst of all NO FOX! I was so prepped to watch 24 in widescreen HD glory (like I've done for the past season, or two) but when I switched inputs from computer to broadcast/cable on my television - nothing!

Well, not nothing exactly, the blue screen of television death that tells you that there is no signal (in the olden days this would have been the snowy screen). Argh! The Standard Definition of all these channels was coming in. 24 was technically available on Fox SD on a 4:3 aspect ratio - but it was grainy...and 4:3! HD has spoiled me :p I hope that comcast fixes this soon, otherwise it's back to just watching television on Hulu for me. The only reason I went back to broadcast was the (slightly) better quality of the image and the fact that I could see things on broadcast - no need to wait a day (or 7 in the case of some shows) to watch the content.

Comcast - FIX IT!!!!!

In today's interesting-find-pile we have a Nokia N900 (A maemo device) dual booting into Android. It's just a stock android ROM, no extrast like Sense UI or Moto BLUR, but I am sure the ROM cooking community will have all those available for download and installation.

I am wondering if Symbian S60 were ported to the N900, would you want to do a triboot? Depending on the day you could have Symbian, Android or Maemo at your fingertips ;-)

Με το που είπα στο καλό στο foursquare είδα πως όχι μόνο υπήρχαν και άλλες εφαρμογές του τύπου αυτού αλλά είδα πως και εφαρμογές που δεν είχαν αυτή την δυνατότητα αρχικά (την δυνατότητα check in) άρχησαν να την προσθέτουν. Μια τέτοια εφαρμογή ήταν το yelp!

Κοίταξα λοιπόν να αρχίσω φρέσκος με μια νέα εφαρμογή και να δοκιμάσω το gowalla. Γιατί το Gowalla και όχι μια άλλη εφαρμογή; Γιατί μου άρεσαν τα γραφικά καλύτερα λολ

Τα δεδομένα δεν έχουν αλλάξει και πολύ. Δεν έχω φίλους στην συγκεκριμένη υπηρεσία, και δεν με ενδιαφέρει να είμαι δήμαρχος κάποιου μέρους, όπως ήταν στο foursquare . Αποφάσισα όμως να χρησιμοποιήσω την εφαρμογή διαφορετικά. Αντί να βρίσκω φίλους με την υπηρεσία. Αποφάσισα να καταγραφή που πήγα (όσον αφορά μουσεία, εστιατόρια και αλλά τουριστικά μέροι) και να καταγράψω τις απόψεις μου. Έτσι έχω ένα «διαβατήριο» που μου δείχνει χρονολογικά που πήγα, τι μου άρεσε και τι δεν μου άρεσε.


Για να δούμε πότε θα το βαρεθώ χαχαχα



-- Post From My iPhone

Location:Arlington St,Chelsea,Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες της Αμερικής

...then it's probably not all Greek to you ;-)

Well, here's a funny story about someone trying a little too hard (I guess). At St. John's College (New Mexico, US) proud of its emphasis on the classics, they printed a T-shirt last year that in Attic Greek that said: "If you can read this, you're overeducated." Well, that was the intent! They actually made mistakes on the accent and breathing marks. I think meaning was retained, but people complained anyway ;-) If you are going to do it, do it right!

Now I am not up to speed with Greek Linguistics. Personally I want to find out more about the historical progression of classical to modern Greek in all linguistic areas (phonology, morphology, syntax and so on). I was under the impression that accents were a later invention (not necessarily part of the original Attic Greek) and I've always had problems with Erasmus Pronunciation. I guess this is on my to do list. The article is pretty funny - have a read :-)

I was reading this blog post recently on Enhanced eBooks on idealog. Part of the blog post was familiar, having lived through the technology-days of the early 90s, and part was brand spanking new to me. For example I did not know of Expanded Books. I was surprised that these expanded books worked on HyperCard because as a Mac owner (in 1994...or was it 1995?) I had not seen any of these expanded books. I guess the fad must have passed me by by the time I got my own computer.

The blog post was an interesting read. I guess my objection to eBooks stems both from a usability point of view (how we use them when we have them, compared to real physical books), and from a posterity point of view. Formats change, computers get upgraded, backward compatibility is shed, and of course there is always the issue of DRM. I can still go to an archive and see a book from 100, 200, or 300+ years ago. Handwritten, printed, etched and colored, those books are available. Yes they've been preserved in some fashion (they weren't just left out in the sun or in humid environments), but the point is that they exist. Knowledge is not lost or locked up in a format that no one can access. I guess we'll see how this eBook thing pans out in 2010 :-)

I guess this is a jab at some horrendous video game adaptations of movies (looking at you ET!, and others). I found this via Boing Boing today - a retro look at what a (crappy) rendition of Avatar would look like, in video game form, for the 2600. It's easier to make fun of bad games for the NES and pre-NES era, that still amuses us. Bad games for the playstation and beyond era don't even muster a pity laugh ;-) (I wonder if that will change as younger generations have little concept of "classic" gaming)