Clear Night Sky explores themes of digital communications and culture from a variety of sources and points of view and is brought to you by Clear Ink.
Technology
The Consequence of Ignorance: the Julie Amero Case
Submitted by Steve Nelson on Mon, 2008-07-14 09:02. ignorance | Julie Amero | law | New Jersey | TechnologyThe case of Julie Amero in New Jersey is a cautionary tale of the consequence of ignorance, technological and otherwise.
(via Taran Rampersad's Facebook link post)
If Blu-Ray is the winner, I'd hate to see the loser
Submitted by Steve Nelson on Fri, 2008-03-21 11:49. blu-ray | consumer experience | TechnologyIt’s been a while since I’ve been as disappointed in a consumer electronics product as I am with my new Sony BDP-S300 Blu-Ray Disc Player.
The setup was smooth, and the picture is great – really great.
However: I have certain usability expectations in upgrading from an older standard DVD player, especially given that this is a second generation BluRay player. I should have known from the “Powered by Java” on the box and the 4 page GNU license in the manual, but this is a computer in a DVD player enclosure and doesn’t do a whole lot to hide that fact.
It takes about 3 minutes to boot this particular computer when I hit the power-on, and then another minute or so before I can watch a movie. It also seems to power itself off after being in pause for a bit – helping to keep us green I guess. But it doesn’t remember where I was in the movie, so coming back in the room after a phone call, it takes another 4 minutes to reboot the “computer” and use chapter search (once I’m allowed to do that) to get to approximately where I left off.
Maybe I need to RTFM, but unfortunately, it really is a FM. It looks like it was written circa 1988, and it’s one of those manuals where you wonder why they left 2/3 of the relevant info out of the manual, and then 2/3 of what’s left can’t be found in the index. At least it’s replete with notes that say essentially, “This may not work”.
My guess is that the format wars caused everyone to be a bit too hasty in product development and rollout because it shows.
The setup was smooth, and the picture is great – really great.
However: I have certain usability expectations in upgrading from an older standard DVD player, especially given that this is a second generation BluRay player. I should have known from the “Powered by Java” on the box and the 4 page GNU license in the manual, but this is a computer in a DVD player enclosure and doesn’t do a whole lot to hide that fact.
It takes about 3 minutes to boot this particular computer when I hit the power-on, and then another minute or so before I can watch a movie. It also seems to power itself off after being in pause for a bit – helping to keep us green I guess. But it doesn’t remember where I was in the movie, so coming back in the room after a phone call, it takes another 4 minutes to reboot the “computer” and use chapter search (once I’m allowed to do that) to get to approximately where I left off.
Maybe I need to RTFM, but unfortunately, it really is a FM. It looks like it was written circa 1988, and it’s one of those manuals where you wonder why they left 2/3 of the relevant info out of the manual, and then 2/3 of what’s left can’t be found in the index. At least it’s replete with notes that say essentially, “This may not work”.
My guess is that the format wars caused everyone to be a bit too hasty in product development and rollout because it shows.
Drupal 6
Submitted by Leon Atkinson on Wed, 2008-02-13 14:00. Open Source | Technology
Drupal 6.0 was released today. It has many new, appealing features. We use Drupal frequently for our own sites (such as Clear Night Sky itself) and work for our clients, such as Range Fuels. Obviously, many other big brands use Drupal, too.
This is one example of open source software firing on all cylinders. For certain uses, Drupal is the only serious choice.
Crayon Physics and Drawing as Design
Submitted by Steve Nelson on Tue, 2008-01-08 11:07. art | Design | Mad Magazine | physics | Second Life | TechnologyIt won’t be long before you can do things like draw the telephone of your dreams and have it work, and I was schooled on the concept of going from hand drawn design to working model with a minimum of cleanup (and apparently it’s still going on).
It’s one thing to hang out in 3D and play with toy physics, but the 2D Crayon Physics Deluxe is the coolest thing I’ve seen all week.
(I’m sure this one has already been dugg, but I just saw it thanks to David Sibbet.)
Update: Mobile Phones & Traffic Jams, plus Knots Explained
Submitted by Steve Nelson on Thu, 2008-01-03 14:19. Culture | knots | science | Technology | telephony 
+ 
I love it when my anecdotal observations get a dose of validation. In April of 2006 I blogged about how cell-phone-driving-safety studies dealt only with the distraction they cause drivers, and not the effects of drivers slowing down the whole flow of traffic while on the phone.
A University of Utah study released this week confirms just that:
"At the end of the day, the average person's commute is longer because of that person who is on the cell phone right in front of them," says University of Utah psychology Professor Dave Strayer, leader of the research team. "That SOB on the cell phone is slowing you down and making you late."
As a bonus, my observation that every cable in my house ultimately gets tangled beyond recognition with every other cable has been validated by researchers at the University of California at San Diego who have proposed a simplified model for knot formation. I don't think I could tangle my cables so badly if I deliberately tried to; fortunately I don't have to.
