Google hopes to make printing from anywhere and any application — including “web apps” — simple using Google Cloud Print. Printing from a browser typically includes many things that clutter the printout such as navigation bars and advertisements. In the case of web applications, parts of the document may also be missing if scrolling is required. Google Cloud Print promises to allow web applications such as Google Docs — or even conventional applications — to print “properly”. Furthermore, Google will keep the software for your printer up to date (although you’ll still need to make sure the printer is properly configured to use Google Cloud Print). Sounds like a good idea, doesn’t it? Maybe on the surface.
Dancing cheek to cheek
Over the past ten years of riding on the TTC, Toronto’s public transit system, I’ve noticed a steady increase in personal space in subways and buses. I don’t think it’s due to declining ridership; there are people left waiting for the next vehicle when the doors close. Continue reading “Dancing cheek to cheek”
Peddling an idea
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a charitable organization that has laudable goals including improving healthcare and reducing extreme poverty. One of its current fights recently suffered a setback when it was announced that a polio outbreak had struck Tajikistan, a place that had previously beaten back the disease. With an infusion over the last two years of more than half a billion dollars and a world-wide expense of nearly $10 billion USD, polio has yet to be beaten. Success in this campaign is far from guaranteed; so far, humanity has managed to use its skills to eradicate exactly one disease: smallpox. Regardless of whether we manage to vanquish polio, we will certainly face other diseases. Is there are more sure-fire way of saving lives? Perhaps even one that could also help reduce poverty at the same time?
You're obsolete!
Isn’t the pace of technological advancement remarkable? For less than the price of a month’s worth of kitty litter, one can buy an 8GB microSD memory card that is smaller and lighter than a penny. That’s enough to store the text of all English Wikipedia articles as of March 2010 with room to squeeze in a minimal install of Apple’s current desktop operating system ((2 GiB is sufficient for a bootable disk image of Mac OS X 10.6)). And that’s just one month’s worth of kitty litter.
Whither our weapons?
I sure hope the University of Toronto has a good supply of weapons, both melee and ranged. A university probably ranks rather highly on a list of attack target for zombies — at least if they have any braaains.
Obscene scene modes
I don’t know how many of you own a digital camera, but they sure seem to come with a lot of “scene modes” nowadays. You know the ones: portrait, dusk, backlit, night, sports, landscape, macro, indoor/party, fireworks, snow, beach… but what if I want a night photo of fireworks at dusk on a beach such as seen in the Beaches in Toronto on Canada Day (assuming nobody is holding a strike)? Okay, Mr. Smartypants, so the answer is you probably want “fireworks” mode, but while most people may find the decisions made by the fully automatic settings to be sufficient, sometimes additional human intelligence is required.
Digital distractions
iPad has been receiving a lot of press, lately. Much of it is positive, although it has its detractors. Much of the negative press seems unwarranted and looks like a FUD campaign. Indeed, many of the hits to my “iPad? How bad?” post are from searches for the terms “iPad” and “bad” — people looking for ammunition; these people should fuddle duddle. One thing that seems to be brought up consistently is the inability for iPad to run multiple applications at once at the behest of the user.
Green Backups
If, say, your entire office burns down due to an electrical fire from a photocopier next door, off-site backups are worth their weight in platinum. If you don’t believe me, just look up how much professional data recovery services cost and compare that to the weight of a hard drive or fifty. Some people use e-mail as a back-up system, but it isn’t really appealing as a long-term, scalable solution. Amazon’s S3 provides variable pricing and is scalable, but may be overly complicated for backing up small amounts of data. Some off-site back-up services such as Backblaze are great deals for people with large storage needs ((I am not affiliated with or endorsing Backblaze. I just find their blog posts interesting.)).
The Silver Lining
I think my research supervisor‘s optimism is contagious. Last Tuesday, I returned home to discover my laptop wouldn’t boot. After a couple of hours of trying to coax it back to life, at around 2 am on Wednesday, I realized that the problem was that the hard drive was dead.
At the Sustainability Unconference
On Thursday, I attended the Environmental Justice and Sustainability Unconference put on by the Office of Student Life at the University of Toronto. At this “unconference”, individuals could set up shop in various parts of the venue and lead a conversation about different topics. I participated in two discussions: Which are the most energy intensive buildings on campus and why? and on Conservation and consumerism. I thought I would share some highlights from these conversations.
Continue reading “At the Sustainability Unconference”