The Brooks Review

Year: 2012

  • ‘Without Keyboards’

    Interesting thoughts from Craig Grannell on a TechCrunch post about the future of writing in a keyboard-less world. One thing that grabbed me was this sentence from Grannell:

    >Like with every other creative medium, it’s the edit that’s so often important with the written (or spoken) word.

    Like most people, I talk differently that I write. To be specific: when I talk I formulate my thoughts on the fly, but when I type I am forced to think about what I ultimately want to say and how to get there. So the idea of dictating to my Mac was never something that I wanted, it certainly is something nice to have, but I never use it.

    However, on my iPhone, I seek out the dictation. It is simply much easier to dictate on my iPhone than it is to tap things out with my thumbs. Because of that, I tend to steer clear of my iPhone for anything long form.

    Which brings me to software keyboards and my odd love and fascination with them. Specifically the iPad software keyboard. Because of the, shall we say, clunkiness of typing on the iPad’s software keyboard I have found that you must type a bit slower to be more accurate (editing is a pain). And because of the slower rate of typing, I find that I transcribe my thoughts a bit more clearly.

    This, I think, is why I like using the iPad so much — having nothing to do with the one-app-at-a-time viewports — instead more accurately getting my thoughts out of my head. Ideally, then, I would love to have a writing device that is the iPad, but with width to accommodate a full-sized software keyboard — I may be the only one who wants such a device though.

  • ‘Google’s Motorola Shows Pirated Katy Perry Video to Prove Value of Its H.264 Patents’

  • ‘How to Extract Voice and Text Messages From an iPhone’

  • Quote of the Day: Jonathan Poritsky

    “‘Exclusive’ is a way to dupe readers into taking you seriously, into believing that yours is the only page upon which they can devour the freshest and the latest. But that’s a lie. It always has been.”

  • CDMA versus GSM Call Quality

    In the thoughts I wrote up about the iPhone 5, I had mentioned that the call quality seemed worse to me on Verizon. [I said](https://brooksreview.net/2012/09/iphone-5-2/):

    >Call audio quality seems worse when you are in an area with low reception, worse than with the previous iPhone. What I suspect is that this is a difference between AT&T and Verizon and not a difference in the iPhone itself, but I cannot be sure.

    I received a long and detailed email from a reader, who wished not to be named or the email shared, that pointed me in the direction of looking at CDMA versus GSM technologies. The hint that I was given was the CDMA doesn’t limit the users a cell tower can receive, instead CDMA drops the bandwidth to each person to accommodate the traffic, whereas GSM limits the users and fixes the bandwidth each user can have. That made a ton of sense, so I did some digging to see what in the world is actually happening. I started with LTE and found this note on the [LTE Wikipedia page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTE_(telecommunication)) under voice calling:

    >While the industry has seemingly standardized on VoLTE for the future, the demand for voice calls today has led LTE carriers to introduce CSFB as a stopgap measure. When placing or receiving a voice call, LTE handsets will fall back to old 2G or 3G networks for the duration of the call.

    So from everything I could gather, in a lot of cases, Verizon calls are dumping back to the CDMA networks. Ok, so what can we unearth about CDMA. [Again, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cdma#Advantages_of_asynchronous_CDMA_over_other_techniques):

    >There is no strict limit to the number of users that can be supported in an asynchronous CDMA system, only a practical limit governed by the desired bit error probability, since the SIR (Signal to Interference Ratio) varies inversely with the number of users. In a bursty traffic environment like mobile telephony, the advantage afforded by asynchronous CDMA is that the performance (bit error rate) is allowed to fluctuate randomly, with an average value determined by the number of users times the percentage of utilization. […]
    >In other words, asynchronous CDMA is ideally suited to a mobile network where large numbers of transmitters each generate a relatively small amount of traffic at irregular intervals. CDM (synchronous CDMA), TDMA, and FDMA systems cannot recover the underutilized resources inherent to bursty traffic due to the fixed number of orthogonal codes, time slots or frequency channels that can be assigned to individual transmitters.

    This is why at sporting events your AT&T service goes tits up while Verizon users can still actually use their devices — albeit damned slowly. Basically, the anonymous emailer was correct, CDMA is one big shared pipe with a finite amount of resources and no cap on the users.

    Now, I tried to verify the claim the GSM does not act this way, but couldn’t find any kind of resource. I did however [come across this page, titled](http://www.nordicgroup.us/ssub/voicequal.htm): “Voice Quality CDMA versus GSM”. The page seems to confirm that CDMA quality will degrade with the more simultaneous users on it, but that overall call quality is in parity between the two networks. ((Full LTE voice calling should be way better sounding.))

    So what I have learned is: “call quality” is a dodgy bugger. All things being equal the two standards should have relatively equal “call quality”. However, if CDMA gets congested, the call quality will drop. Whereas if GSM gets congested, you just won’t be able to make a call — roughly speaking.

    There’s obvious advantages to both. If you know more, please share.

  • One Device

    John Moltz:
    >My point is that I have yet to see anyone prove that you can get one device to do it all by either scaling up from a mobile operating system or down from a desktop operating system.

    Fantastic point. Moreover I think this explains why I am not one of those people that can use an iPad exclusively. Wait, I mean, I *could* use only an iPad, but I *chose* not to. And I have been wondering why lately, especially given how much I actually love my iPad and *like* the idea of using it more and more.

    That’s the thing though, because the iPad is fantastic at somethings and I *will* go out of my way to use it for those things. However, I don’t like going out of my way to use it for things that I already own gadgets that do that thing better. I’m not wanting to make calls on my iPad, or edit photos on it — but I always want to use Instapaper on it.

    I am guessing the solution is what I am only just not getting a taste of with iCloud. That behind-the-scenes-sync that just puts the data where I need it, when I need it. Moving from iA’s Writer across my devices truly is seamless for me — to me that’s far better and more productive that just having one device that does it all.

  • ‘The 5 Most Common Ways Laptops Are Stolen’

    The Prey blog lists out 5 spots your laptop is likely to be stolen from — you should feel safer if you have Prey installed, you have it installed right? Two things that caught my eye:

    1. They note that your office is a likely target. I’ve thought a lot about this and often our office is pretty open and I leave for hours with my laptop sitting where anyone could grab it and dash out. In the past I put locks on my laptops, but for a while now I haven’t had a laptop with a spot to lock it, this seems like a flaw with Apple products to me. Prey and Find my Mac are great, but they are reactive measures not proactive measures. Honestly now that I think about it, I think I will just take my laptop with me.
    2. I like the note that a fancy case attracts people to the device. It’s interesting, because as Mac geeks we like to enclose our expensive computers in expensive/nice cases. I know I won’t stop doing it, but I certainly will think twice about feeling safe leaving it in plain sight in my car, or elsewhere.

    All-in-all, good reminders.

  • ‘You Should Buy a Bidet’

    Lex Friedman making the most compelling argument for a Bidet I have every read:
    >Let’s start with a thought experiment. Suppose you’re calmly walking down the street, minding your own business as you do, when a crazed attacker smears his feces all over your forehead.

    The bottom line is what are you going to rely on to clean your face: toilet paper or water?

    Yeah, water. I don’t mean to say I am going out and getting a bidet, but I am certainly thinking about it now. Especially one of those Japanese ones with the seat warmer — nothing nicer on a cold morning.

  • Zynga’s Stock Fail Was Sadly Predictable, and the Company Is Left With Few Prospects for the Future

  • The B&B Podcast #79: You Never Need It, Until You Need It

    >Shawn and Ben talk about Ben’s reluctance to use his iPad as a work device even though he says he wants to, our impressions of the Kickstarted Hidden Radio Bluetooth speaker, Shawn’s initial impressions of the new Kindle Paperwhite, and more.

  • ‘An App, or Not’

    Roger Black in a long and excellent post about The New York Times and their media strategy, makes this compelling observation:

    >Frequency and currency trump perspective and background on the web. It’s more a matter of “this just in” than “you gotta read this article.”

    That not only describes The Times, it describes almost every blog I visit. I don’t want that to *ever* describe this blog. From time to time it may, but I strive for “you gotta read this article”. When I stop to think about all the “old media” publications, there are only two that I think are currently publishing the type of “you gotta read this” content:

    – The New Yorker
    – Vanity Fair

    One of those two you would expect…

  • Quote of the Day: John Moltz

    “To expect them to do it again in the year since Jobs’ passing is unrealistic at best, self-indulgent claptrap at worst.”

  • ‘Twitter Breaks Its Own New Rules With TweetDeck’

    Kris Holt on how Twitter’s own Tweetdeck breaks the rules Twitter set forth on displaying tweets:
    >The rules put Twitter in a tough spot, it would seem. Either it keeps Facebook integration in TweetDeck, risking the ire of developers who might accuse it of not playing fair, or it removes the Facebook feature and faces possible blowback from TweetDeck users who find it useful.

    The choice Twitter makes here is going to be fascinating to see. The only “right” thing to do is to remove the Facebook integration — and they very well may do that — but I highly doubt they do that. Instead, Twitter will ignore this and just go about business as screwing-over-developers-normal.

  • Amazon Item of the Week: Griffin Technology PowerMate

    Not a new product by any means, I lost the first one I owned and ended up ordering another — simply because I wanted to test out a theory of triggering Keyboard Maestro macros with it (you can, it’s awesome).

    Anyway, now I have a panic button of sorts for my Mac. I hit the big pretty silver knob and my Mac does all sorts of stuff. Fun.

  • How to Keep Computer Screens From Destroying Your Eyes

  • The Gray

    I’ve been analyzing the response I get to opinions that I post on this site, and what’s interesting to me is that most opinions are polarized towards emphatic disagreement, or slow-clap-inducing agreement. I wondered why that was, so I started paying attention to my own writing a bit to see what correlation I could find. It’s probably obvious to most, but it wasn’t to me until a month ago: I state almost everything in a black or white manner. I either love the product, or think it’s a piece of shit.

    So with statements, reviews, and sentiments expressed in such a way, the readership naturally becomes polarized towards my thoughts. This makes for very interesting interactions on social networks and my email inbox, but I digress.

    Armed with this knowledge I started to think about why I lacked in one key area: the middle. In my writing there seems to be only black and white, so where’s *the gray*?

    The immediate fear that leaped into my head was that I am *Dan Lyons-ing* myself. That is, intentionally being a jackass to serve up more page views and controversy.

    So I’ve been trying to get to the bottom of my feelings on this, diving deep into thinking about why I write about things in such a black and white manner. I think I have it sorted now.

    The other night I was washing a sink full of baby bottles and other baby related items and I reached for a paper towel. I grabbed the paper towel, pulled out a sheet, and did the old one-handed jerking motion to try and free the paper towel from the roll. As always happens, the paper towel holder tipped a bit, the towel tore, and the paper towel stand wobbled about until it found a new spot on the counter.

    The thought that jumped into my head: I hate [this](http://www.target.com/p/euro-paper-towel-holder/-/A-13856426) fucking paper towel stand.

    Then it occurred to me. Here is something that I say I hate with a vengeance, yet my wife and I have had this paper towel stand for close to 4 years now. It’s not fancy, it’s rather cheap, we could replace it at anytime — yet we haven’t. Instead it just annoys me everyday. On the surface it certainly does its job well: the paper towels are held up off the counter enough to be free from sopping up any water, the rolls spin on it, and it looks nice enough. In fact the only thing this stand really sucks at is allowing me to tear a sheet from it one-handed. So in fact this paper towel stand sits in the middle as an average thing in my life if you take everything into account, however, I hate it. I wouldn’t recommend it to my enemy. And yet, truly the paper towel stand *is* in the gray.

    That’s when it dawned on me — when I finally figured out why I write in the black and white, the extremes — it’s not me being disingenuous about my feelings, it’s about discerning the most important part and analyzing that part. So while the paper towel stand truly is *average*, it also sucks at one primary function that effects me the most: allowing me to tear a single paper towel from it with one hand. For me, that’s *the* factor that matters most and *the* factor on which I will judge this item, only taking into consideration other factors if I am ambivalent on the things ability to perform *the* factor.

    So the paper towel holder, is shit — even though if you listed out the “specs” for it, it would look fairly average.

    Likewise, I recently traded in my BMW to get a Dodge Journey to fit our family better. It is, by all accounts, an average car. If you asked me if I would recommend it, I’d say no. Flat out, no. It’s not a *good* car. However, it is a very good car for my family — just not for me.

    I judge a car on how it drives, the Journey drives like shit compared to the BMWs I am used to owning. How a car drives is *the* most important thing to me in a car, however in life *the* most important thing to me is my family — so I bought the car that best worked for our family, but I still think it sucks. ((For the record it actually is a nice family car, but I get zero joy from driving it.))

    ## The Future

    I’ve thought long and hard about how and if I should change my writing based on this insight. I don’t think I will, because that wouldn’t be me being honest and to me that is *the* factor for my writing here on this site.

    What I do think needs to change, the thing that I’ve failed to be clear about, is which factor of any given *thing* is most important to me and therefore the factor that *I* will be weighting my judgement on something. I hope to be more clear about this than I have been in the past.

    If you’ll excuse me, I need a new paper towel holder.

    **Update:** Don’t read this as me changing the way I write. I just want to be more clear going forward.

  • Software Architecture Cheat Sheet

  • ‘HiddenRadio Speaker Is Clever but Disappointing’

    Lex Friedman, for Macworld on the HiddenRadio:
    >But even if sound quality wasn’t an issue, the HiddenRadio’s frustrating ports and volume-dial mechanism keep me from endorsing it over its rivals.

    I received mine yesterday and I was pumped — no really, I was. I opened it and was met with a beautiful packaging, and a solid feeling product. Then came the problems:

    1. I had to charge the device for 4-5 hours before using it if I didn’t want to damage the long-term life of the battery. Or so said the card that came with the speaker.
    2. I then struggled to get the USB plugged into the speaker, as Friedman notes, it’s a huge pain in the ass.
    3. Then I waited 6 hours for it to fully charge.
    4. Now at home I quickly paired the speaker with my iPhone and started playing some Al Green (my daughters current favorite artist).
    5. The speaker turned off before the song finished.
    6. I restarted the speaker and kept going.
    7. I complained on App.net
    8. I restarted and re-paired everything.
    9. I came to the conclusion that the speaker shuts off between 1:30-2:50minutes of playing audio. From responses I have gotten, I am not alone.

    So as a speaker the HiddenRadio is a huge piece of shit (I emailed support, no response yet, but I emailed late at like 6pm) for me right now. If mine worked, it sounds like I’d still hate it. But hey, it makes a fantastic paperweight.

    Side note: Friedman notes that it is hard to turn with one hand, I found that to be the case only if you didn’t also apply downward pressure, as you would if you were using a screwdriver on a screw. When you apply downward pressure it turns just fine one-handed.

  • Reachability

    Dustin Curtis analyzing the design decisions behind changing the iPhone 5’s screen size:
    >It’s easy to see Apple’s thinking here – the benefits of having half an inch more of display area far outweigh the downsides in reachability. Every area of the screen *is* reachable, after all (unlike many Android phones with 4-inch+ screens), it’s just slightly uncomfortable.

    You really need to read this entire post, or at the very least the bulleted list of reasons why the iPhone 5’s other design elements makes the 4-inch screen more reachable than it otherwise would be. Things like a thinner phone allowing your hand to wrap around more easily is something obvious, but also something I hadn’t even realized was going on.

    Personally I don’t like the extra difficulty at doing rare tasks, and I don’t like the extra height of the phone when in my pocket. However, I love all the extra screen real estate when viewing lists, reading things, and typing — which accounts for about 90% of what I do on the phone. So on the one hand it is a slight inconvenience, but on the other it improves the more routine things I do on the phone so much, that I find it hard to complain about the former.

    Overall, the screen size increase is a huge win for users of any hand size.

  • Apple’s Next (Full-Size) iPad Is Going to Be an Incredible Tool for Photographers