happylife

Buddy for the iPhone

More than two months have past since the release of the iPhone3G. Despite some malfunctions and lack of functions which are mostly related to Apple's self restriction and carrier's radio wave capacity, I am almost satisfied with it. Sure, its hardware specs are inferior to so called "The Galapagos evolutionary cell phones" in Japan, but its software potentiality looks infinitive. Actually, one of the biggest problems which was related to Japanese input was solved after the 2.1 firmware up version. Most of other problems will be gradually solved and the hoped new functions including copy&paste will be added in the near future, I hope. Different from software functions, its hardware functions cannot be improved by any firmware up version. For example, the iPhone3G's built-in camera is in the same level as 5-year-old Japanese cellphones and it cannot be improved until we buy the next iPhone. Especially I'm dissatisfied with the lack of close-up photography function. Without both the AF and macro switching, it can't take a picture of nearby objects such as lunch menu or printed small characters. In order to compensate for this disability, I bought this small magnifying glass in a one-coin shop the other day. Though it's not such a smart way, it works well. You can see the fur of this toy dog!

A gallery in my pocket

I'm not an artistic man and my daily life is often far from beautiful. That's why I adore beautiful things almost unexpectedly. It was a few days ago when I found a software for the iPhone named "Art Envi." I purchased it without thinking seriously because it was 115 yen and I'm now thinking it was a really good shopping. The software has a very simple feature in which we can enjoy thousands of great art works with our iPhone. All we have to do is choose our favorite artist's name. That's all and a slide show begins automatically. As the art data is on the Internet server, the number of the available artworks is literally numerous. Sure I know that we can google and enjoy art works for free using our PC, but it's important that we can do it only with this tiny, pocketable device. As far as the 3G wave reaches or WiFi is in effect, I can enjoy the great works of Gogh, Picaso and Dali. Imagine that you can enjoy it with your favorite music whenever and wherever you are! I'm worrying someone blames of this software as a desecration of art because of its price.

Am I lucky?

After watching a TV news report about the long lines of people seeking for the iPhone3G, I called a local cell phone shop in Kushiro on trial. "Can I make a reservation for the iPhone3G?" The sales person answered on the line, "Sure, which color do you like? You can get it as soon as the second shipment arrives. It might take several days. I will call you again when you can get it." And today, one day after it was put on sale, I received his call at noon and I got it. It was so easy and I didn't have to make or even see a long line in front of the shop. I must have been lucky. Anyway, I've been playing with this ultramodern gadget for more than ten hours without having meals and taking a bath. I have a tendency that I can't help trying every function of my new gadget. This iPhone has so many cutting-edge functions that I can't sleep tonight. I think this is the real mobile machine which can connect to the Internet. The day may come soon when most general people except for programmers and designers do not need to carry and use their present massive PCs.

How to cancel the Sony timer

The morning before last, when I got up, I switched on my main note PC, Sony Vaio as usual and got upset because nothing came out on its diplay. As I had a perfect data back up and I was just on the way to change my main computing environment from XP on this note PC to so-called a virtual machine on Mac, my up set was limited; I had no problem both in my business and private life except that I couldn't use my computer outside my room. I tried to recover the stopped PC somehow by following the trouble shooting instructions on the Sony's support site but in vain. I cursed the accuracy of the so-called "Sony timer" -- as you might know, Sony's products have a timer which stop their functions just after the warranty expired. For all my effort, it didn't recover and I almost gave up. As the repair fee offered by Sony was impossible, I almost decided to dispose the PC which I had used for three years. What I did as my last trial was to give it a physical shock by dropping it from 30 cm above the floor, and incredibly it worked! Yes, my note PC began to work again. If you suffered from the Sony time problem, I think you should try this way before giving up.

Connectivity

This white box, which is shorter and lighter than a pen, is a new USB modem. It can be used only in major cities in Japan, but its speed is faster than the so-called high-speed Internet in Vancouver and we can use it as much as we like for less than 5,000 yen per month. 7.2Mbps is the claimed best speed, which is fast enough for most purposes including movie downloads or video chatting. The number of home telephones in Japan is decreasing year by year owing to the development of cellphones. I think just the same thing would possibly happen in terms of the home Internet connections; the number of high-speed Internet connections at home would decrease because they can be replaced with this tiny mobile gadget. Which do you like better, to connect the Internet only from the designated place such as your room or to connect from anywhere you like including cafes, trains, friend's house and your home? I think the day when we can connect to anyone in the world from anywhere in the world will come soon.

Touch Typing

I often think that touch typing is one of the most important skills in this age. It is definitely a great help for us when operating a PC and it would be a terrible experience to face towards a PC without this skill. I wonder why it is not taught in elementary school or at least in junior high school. Sure I can do touch typing, but I was only able to type A to Z by touch; I needed to use my eyes when I type numbers and most symbols such as bracket and the four operational symbols. A few weeks ago, I found that it was the major reason why I got easily tired in front of a PC and I decided to master perfect touch typing. I'm now using this black keyboard which has very faint print on each key-top. It was a bit of stress for me to use it because I often had to look close at the key-top to check what it was, but now I can type in any keys without looking. It is nice and relaxing. If you can't type numbers by touch typing, you had better practice it.

More about the Segway

The Segway experience was so interesting and exciting for me that I can't yet forget the control feeling. What makes this lawn mower like vehicle innovative is that it is mainly controlled by a computer and all the riders have to do is leaning to their heading. Sure, there are lots of computer assisted vehicles such as airplanes, trains, cars and so on, but they are all controlled mainly by human and primitive physical law and computers only work as assistants; the so called hi-tech airplanes actually can be flown without pilots, but they are indispensable as a back-up and the person in charge, and some ways are always left in which they can fly them without computers. As far as I know, all the vehicles can be controlled by human at least at the last moment in case of emergency. Only the exception is state-of-the-art jet fighters which have swing wings and cannot fly without computer controls. As I mentioned before, I hope someday Segway can run on the public roads in Japan, but I think it's natural that Japan's government is prudent to permit it because no one can assure that it is always safe. Computers and software are not so reliable that we can't commit ourselves to this vehicle.

An innovative speaker system

It was when I was a junior high-school student that I experienced the Walkman sound for the first time. It was such an impressive experience that I still remember how I felt at that time. My young sense of values or common sense was betrayed in the good meaning and I was only astonished with a question "Why such a great sound comes out of this tiny box?" This BOSE M3 compact speaker system gave me the same feeling after almost thirty years since my first experience. It is made of only two small palm-sized speaker boxes without any woofer boxes. It looks like general compact speakers used with PC, but its sound is totally different from them. It sounds just like normal-sized high grade audio speaker systems. The sound is absolutely natural and clear; most people who listened to it would look for big speaker boxes in vain. The price is much higher than usual compact speakers, but it is not more expensive than general high grade audio speakers. As it has a built-in digital amplifier system in it, we can enjoy great sound only with the small boxes and a music source such as a CD player or PC. I'm enjoying with the combination of iTunes on Mac Mini. The only problem is that the sound is so great that I can't enjoy it as a background music; my brain and hands are soon interrupted and I find myself concentrating on the music.

Hot days

It's not that I was injured or had a fever, but that it's just too hot. Of course it is cooler here in Obihiro than in Tokyo, but the maximum temperature sometimes comes to more than 30 degrees in the afternoon. As I'm easily affected by heat, this weather is a little bit tough for me. Furthermore, as I have no air conditioner in my room, I feel even hotter. It's too hot that I'm seriously thinking about purchasing a cooler for my room though I know these hot days do not last long. I'm now barely avoiding wasting money in such a way and I'm taking a water shower a couple of times a day instead. It works to some degrees. This head pad is what I found at a drug store today. There is a sheet of gel inside of the pad so that the heated head is cooled down. It seemed to be a good idea, but it doesn't work well; the pad becomes warm in a few minutes!

My work place as a hideaway

I have set up my three old computers in the new room in Obihiro. The prepared Internet connection had a few problems and it took a few days for me to solve all of them. Now I can do anything I like in this hideaway. It reminds me of my dream in my childhood; I was fascinated in the secret base in sci-fi movies in which white hat people facing towards radar screens were fighting with the enemy. Anyway, my computers consist of VAIO, DELL and Mac mini which are all connected with each other by wireless and wired LAN. VAIO has two displays and is running Windows XP, DELL is running Fedora6 distribution of LINUX and Mac mini is running OS-X Tiger. You might think why I need so many computers. The reason is that VAIO is the main computer, DELL is working as a local server and Mac mini is necessary to check whether my programs work on Mac. It is also used as an iTunes music server. After coming to Obihiro, I have installed a great free software called "Synergy" into my three computers and I can now control three of them with only one keyboard and mouse; when I move the mouse cursor from left to right or right to left, it moves through the four displays seamlessly and I can type into the computer on which the mouse cursor is staying. It's very pleasant!