This kind of **** is no better than spam

19 December 2011 by Leave a Comment

iPad 3 Definitely coming in the Spring – Applerepo.com.

I spotted this headline while browsing Zite, which has become one of my main newsreaders. As an iPad fan, I naturally clicked the link to read the entire article, which turns out to be BS and got me sufficiently aggravated to write this post.

Is the any shadow of doubt in the headline? Any whisper of of uncertainty? A hint of scepticism? The merest trace of disbelief? No, there frickin’ well isn’t!

So what do you get when you read this prognostication?

  • “The iPad 3 is still an unconfirmed device…”

  • “…very little is known about it”

  • “…sources indicate…”

  • “The so-called inside source has not been identified…”

  • “…the reports indicate that it is a trustworthy source.”

  • “No word when Apple will actually announce anything…”

And finishes will the earth-shattering “it [an announcement] will likely be after the holiday season”.  Useless drivel all the way!

Filed Under: apple Tagged With: , ,

iTunes Match: the shade of Steve Jobs will be steaming

18 December 2011 by Leave a Comment

The introduction of iTunes Match seems like an even bigger cock-up than the introduction of MobileMe – in the UK, at least, which is all I can talk about.

I’ve been an iTunes user for a long time – probably since near the beginning of iTunes on Windows. I was seduced by the iPod and further motivated by running out of storage space for my collection of CDs, which must have been around 1,000-strong by that time. Not a huge collection by some standards, but taking up too much square footage on my office wall. So I ripped ’em and became a slave to the instant gratification of the Buy button.

Match seemed like a no brainer: all music available everywhere, 256 Kbps DRM-free versions and an effective back-up in the cloud. And to be fair, all these things may prove to be true. But three days in, I’m still trying to get my iTunes library matched and sync’d.

After two or three betas, the nightmare of getting everything set up seems incredible. I would have expected Apple to have resolved most of the shit by now. Signing up was bad; it took several attempts to complete the process. Having done that, signing on to iTunes was screwed for, maybe, 15 or 18 hours, because valid user IDs and passwords were rejected. The popular theory was that the Apple’s servers were blitzed. This was a cause of major panic until I realised it wasn’t just me.

Having got past the first hurdle, there are three further steps for iTunes Match: collect information about the library, match tracks against the iTunes catalogue, upload any tracks that couldn’t be matched. The fun really begins here: I have lost count of how many times iTunes has hung during the first two steps. And it is not just iTunes, but the entire machine that locks, requiring a power off-on cycle. This is more of a pain than usual because it’s necessary to watch the restart and catch iTunes to either stop the current step or force-quit the application; otherwise the current Match step would continue and almost immediately the app would hang again.

Of course, every restart of Match begins again at the beginning. And with over 18,000 items to process, this takes a while. Checking on the Apple user forums, I discover that Match tags some tracks with “error” as the iCloud status. It is these errors that cause the hangs. The workaround is to delete and trash the tracks from the catalogue. The deleted tracks can be recovered from trash; so in theory, nothing is lost – but I have yet to confirm that these tracks can be safely reintroduced.

This is major pain, made even worse because not all errors are identified on the first pass. Multiple iterations of steps 1-2-hang-restart-interrupt-delete tracks-recover from trash-start Match are needed. Eventually, I get to the point where Step 3 starts to upload unmatched tracks. But this doesn’t mean an end to the grief because the upload process – some 5,000 tracks to go – hangs as well before more than a few percent have been processed. I’ve now got the stage of of stopping the upload after 200ish tracks, so I can quit iTunes correctly to “bank” the work. I’m still going through this loop with 2,300 tracks remaining.

It’s reported that Steve Jobs was incandescent with rage after the initial embarrassment of MobileMe. Frankly, this seems an even bigger fiasco. I hope it’s not indicative of complacency from Apple.

If you haven’t yet signed up for iTunes Match, my advice is to wait: first, to let the immediate rush pass and secondly, hopefully Apple will make some improvements. In the meantime, here are three links that I have found helpful in addition to the Apple user forums.

Bugs & Fixes: Three essential iTunes Match troubleshooting tips

iTunes Match: What You Need To Know

How to upgrade tracks to iTunes Match, fast

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Filed Under: apple Tagged With:

Snapseed Before And After Comparison

13 December 2011 by Leave a Comment

Snapseed from Nik Software has been named No. 1 iPad app for Photo and Video. Here are a few before and after comparisons. If you click on an image, a larger version will open in a new window — makes it easier to see the differences. These are JPGs straight from my camera (an Olympus E5) that I copied over to the iPad. I edited each image in Snapseed, saved the updated version to the Camera Roll. Both before and after images where uploaded to WordPress using Blogsy.

Filed Under: Photography Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Starting Another Blog

11 December 2011 by Leave a Comment
The Name

Welcome to my blog, oddrops. I decided to choose a name to reflect what I anticipate will be erratic and eclectic postings. Judging by the number of WordPress blogs that I checked for an available name, there are quite a few people with the same idea:

  • nothings “blogging, eh? might as well try it out” – for four entries in May 2006 until blogger’s block struck?
  • reflections with a single entry that ends “…something to help me remember when I begin to forget”. Clearly, ending with forgetting to post again.
  • shards “new manga by young artists” who must have got too old as the last entry is in June 2009?
  • reflets – a French blog with a strap line that translates as “dreams and jam” with a single entry announcing the birth of, I assume, his own bébé – which may explain the lack of subsequent entries.
  • bitsandpieces – a poet.
  • serendipity written by Sarah who was born on Valentine’s Day.

Then there were names that were deleted (oddsandends, oddbits) and more or with nothing but, the automatically generated, “Hello World” post. Eventually I decided on “odd drops”, but, of course, you’re not allowed spaces or reserved characters in WordPress. “odddrops” looked a little strange; so oddrops.wordpress.com is born.

Does the world need another blog?

Of course, it doesn’t! There’s a enormous amount of bullshit out there already; my little extra dollop won’t make much difference.

Why am I starting a new blog? For several reasons, but mainly to extend the range of tasks for which I use my iPad.

I have owned an iPad since v1 went on sale in the UK. In the few months since the launch announcement, I had read many pundits proclaiming that the iPad was going to be brilliant for content consumption, but crap for content creation. I soon decided that view was blinkered; there are many, very clever, very useful apps for getting stuff done.

I couldn’t find an app that is compatible with my current blogging platform, Blogware. I could have used the browser interface, but I don’t like it much; so I decided to change. I did an unscientific survey of what’s available and decided to go with WordPress and Blogsy, which I’m currently using to compose this post.
And because I can…



Filed Under: Life, The Universe… Tagged With:

Musing on Terry Pratchett

18 April 2010 by Leave a Comment

I am in Amsterdam — trapped, like many thousands are, by the eruption of Eyjafjallajoekull. I’m lucky: I have a hotel room and there are definitely worse places to be forced to spend time than the Dutch capital.

I spent the morning shopping for extra supplies — partly caused by the hotel returning two pairs of knickers that weren’t mine. I don’t mind too much wearing someone else’s (clean) socks, but underwear… urrggh!

I’m now in the Koepelcafé, which is attached to my hotel. I’m reading Terry Pratchett’s Unseen Academicals. I’ve been a big fan of Pratchett for a long time; the Discworld series has been a repeated source of delight — let’s hope that TP can find the motivation and determination to produce more books before Parkinson’s Disease finally stops him.

The stories and plot lines are clever and inventive and filled with all kinds subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) references to add extra layers of enjoyment, but one of the great strengths of the books is the richness and diversity of the characters: Granny Weatherwax (one of my personal favourites), Rincewind, Mustrum Ridcully, Sam Vimes, Captain Carrot, Lord Vetinari, Lu-Tze, Susan Sto Helit… the list goes on and on. It is Terry’s attention to detail that brings characters to life. I was struck by this very small example in Unseen Academicals: Lord Vetinari is talking to Glenda Sugarbean (head of the Night Kitchen in UU). Vetinari has referred to Glenda’s taking left-over food, which she says is “a perk” and anyway it is (as Vetinari well knows) for the elderly and poor. LV responds:

“Oh, but of course. Every job has its little perks. Why, I don’t expect Drumknott here has bought a paperclip in his life, eh, Drumknott?”

This makes sense to the reader; it’s a kind of universal truth: the pilfering of office supplies. We smile gently and, perhaps, imagine the discomforture of Drumknott, Vetinari’s secretary. TP, however, is not content with this. Several pages later, we’ve forgotten the incident: Glenda has left and Drumknott dismissed from the office, but before going begs leave to “add something, sir”.

“The floor is yours, Drumknott.”

“I would not like it thought that I do not buy my own paperclips, sir. I enjoy owning my own paperclips. It means that they are mine. I thought it helpful I should tell you that in a measured and nonconfrontational way.”

I laughed out loud when I read this: somehow this very small scene encapsulates the magic of Terry Pratchett.

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: ,

Is it good enough to put your name on?

14 April 2010 by Leave a Comment

Last weekend my chum Tony and I flew from Amsterdam to Bordeaux to visit my mother, Nina, and brother, Jeremy. They live in the Médoc region of France, near the small town of Vendays-Montalivet. Lesparre-Médoc is the “county town” and where we go to stock up for the weekend.

First stop is the Eléveurs Girondins where they sell the most wonderful beef from local cattle — Blonde d’Aquitaine, Limousin and Bazadais. The shop only opens a few hours every day and there is always a queue. There are certificates on the counter explaining what’s on offer this week — almost a résumé of the animal you are going to be eating. We bought some rump steak and entrecôte (well, actually, rather more than some).

Second stop was Carrefour, the local supermarket, where the cheapness (but goodness) of wine compared to the UK is galling, and the quality of available produce does give an indication why France is supposed to be the best place in the world to live.

As it happened, it was my birthday; so Tony (birthday exactly a week earlier) and Jeremy decided we needed a birthday cake. We went to La Crique, a promising-looking pâtisserie not far from Carrefour. I waited in the car while the other two went in to buy; they returned with a tarte aux fruits and the news that the chef was a fluent English speaker having recently returned to France after 23 years in the UK. He is William Hamelin. I’ve binged him and discovered that among other things he was Chef Pâtissier at the Connaught Hotel, professor of pâtisserie at Westminster Kingsway College and President of the Association Culinaire Française— this guy is the real deal.

The tarte aux fruits was sublime! None of us could remember ever having eaten better. That meant, gourmands that we are, we had to go back for more on Saturday. We all went into the shop hoping for another tarte aux fruits, but there were none. M. Hamelin explained some of the other delights, which included — surprise, surprise — a bread and butter pudding. I can’t recall the elegant French name, but he said that one of things he wanted to do was introduce the French to English puddings. Well, we’re English, but we bought some anyway and they were g-o-o-d!

Our other purchase was a tarte tatin, which, our pâtissier said was so good, he put his name on it! This he did with a tasteful little sticker on the box. This phrase resonated with me as a worthwhile addition to a personal manifesto. Next time you deliver a project, Seth Godin might ask “Is it art?” and William Hamelin might ask “Is it good enough to put your name on?”. Well, is it?

Filed Under: Work Smarter Tagged With:

These flop-flops took me up Tian Du Feng

3 October 2009 by Leave a Comment

Yes, they did! The Celestial Peak (the commonly-used translation for Tian du Feng) is one of the tallest peaks in Huangshan — the Yellow Mountain in China — reaching 1,810 metres above sea-level. We were there because we’d accepted an invitation to join a group organised by Patrick, who is one of the two brothers of my brother-in-law. I couldn’t find a convincing explanation of how that relationship should be described: brother-in-law-in-law? Brother-in-law once removed?

The 6-night stay (in three different hotels) in Huangshan was to be the highlight of the trip. We’d stopped the night before in a very nice hotel (the Xiangming) in Huangshan City. We were obliged to leave suitcases behind and pack sufficient for the next week in rucksacks, which we would be expected to carry, plus one holdall that would be transported by porter — more on the porters another time. After lunch our coach dropped us off at the cable car, which took us part way up the mountain. The remaining half a km or so was on foot up some pretty steep steps. That should have been a clue about what was to come!

The following day came the trek to Tian Du Feng.

To be honest, I had no idea of what to expect before coming on the trip. I’d been too busy to do much investigation of my own and I figured “how hard could it could be?”. I knew that most of the others in the group (25 in all) would be older than me, some by a considerable margin; so I reckoned that actual rock-climbing would not be on the itinerary and the purchase of proper hiking boots an expensive over-kill. Flip-flops are light, don’t require socks and are easy to dry. I knew from past experience that they’re good at keeping my feet warm in the rain: once feet are wet it only takes few seconds for the water between the foot and the rubber to warm up. I’ve found this to be true even in heavy rain, whereas normal shoes or trainers can become soaked and result in very, very cold feet.

The weather at the start of the journey to Tian Du Feng was not promising, but not actually raining. The first part of the journey was mainly downhill from the top of Yuping Peak (where our hotel was) to a sort of half-way area: a combination viewing platform with a small kiosk and paths further down the mountain as well as being the start of the ascent to Tian Du Feng. We’d seen this as we were coming down the opposite peak:

By the time we reached the kiosk, which you can see in in the bottom-left corner of the picture, it was raining, but not very hard. Gia and I both had jackets (supposed to be waterproof) and we had plastic ponchos that we pinched from the Xiangming in our packs; so we decided to go on. Before too much longer the rain became harder and I decided to leave the camera (I’d taken the Olympus EP-1) in my rucksack so it didn’t get wet, hence, no pictures from the top. You can see a few more shots here — choose Gallery Two>China and you’ll find Climbing Tian Du Feng in the list of albums.

The walk turned into something out of Lord Of The Rings: the “straight stair” followed by the “winding stair”. What you can see in the picture is no more than half the route as the path winds to the left and out of view.

There were a few people coming down the peak; they kept encouraging us that it wasn’t much further. They lied!

I have no idea how long it took, but we eventually reached the top and ritually stood on the bit of rock that proclaimed itself to be 1810m high. The rain was coming down in sheets. But this was not sufficient to dampen the spirit of Chinese enterprise: two men were up there selling drinks (which we didn’t need) and commemorative medallions, which were engraved on the spot:

We were cheap and bought one medallion between two.

Rain continued to pour as we made our way down. Water streamed down the steps and we were as wet as drowned rats by the time we reached the halfway house, where I insisted on a beer to celebrate before commencing the climb back up Yuping Peak to our hotel.

Filed Under: Travel Tagged With: , , ,

Magic with glasses

26 July 2009 by 1 Comment

One of the characteristic things about cruises is the “sea days”. These are the days when the ship does not put into a port. Sometimes you are sailing near the coast and the scenery can attract attention, if not, looking at the sea quickly loses its attraction. So the ship’s entertainment staff provide a range of divertissements to keep the customers satisfied. Quizzes are popular: Charades, Pictionary, Tribond,Name That Tune and, probably favourite, the Trivia Quiz. For some cruisers, the quizzes are a big part of the appeal. This is certainly true for a certain Mr Wolf who is rumoured to spend 200+ days cruising — he was a passenger on our recent Baltic cruise: if Mr Wolf was in the game, there was only one winner.

One of my favourite activities was the wine tasting; there were several different events during the cruise, but the final one was the the most fascinating: The Reidel Wine Workshop. The Riedel family has been in the glass business for 300 years. Claus — 9th generation — realised that the shape of the glass influenced the drinker’s perception of the the drink. Since then the company has been making glasses to suit the wine, or brandy, or port, or grappa or… The Sommeliers range has 38 different glasses.

The Wine Workshop is designed to demonstrate the effect of the glass on the wine. When we arrived in the ship’s dining room, where the workshop was being held, places were prepared with five glasses: four each contained a couple of fingers of wine, the other was empty. The glasses with wine were (I discovered later) from the Riedel Vinum collection; they were the tasting set, which contains one each of the Bordeaux, Montrachet, Burgundy and Sauvignon Blanc glasses. The fifth glass — the “joker” — was one of the water glasses we used at dinner. We weren’t told specifically what the wines were except that they were all Californian — a Sauvignon Blanc, a Chardonnay, a Pinot Noir and a Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot.

The glasses are gorgeous: 24% lead crystal with different bowl shapes and sizes and varying diameters across the mouth — the rim of which is laser-cut. It’s the interaction of these things that influence our experience of the wine: a larger bowl allows the right wine to “unpack” and develop; a taller glass, tapering slightly inward, contains the more delicate bouquet of certain wines; the size of the mouth (of the glass) directs the wine to different parts of the mouth (of the drinker) — the flow undisturbed by the laser-cut rim. The ping when you tap the glass is beautiful and lasts and lasts and lasts…

There was no food of any kind available during the workshop. We started with the Sauvignon Blanc and the usual wine-tasting performance: sniff the bouquet, swirl the glass, sniff again, then taste. I didn’t take any notes, so I don’t recall the details. It was a perfectly decent SB, more than acceptable. The sommelier leading the session then asked us to pour the remaining wine into the joker glass, and we repeated the tasting. Blecch! Not nice at all! By the time we had finished, we’d tasted all four wines from all five glasses. I was absolutely amazed at the variation. All the wines were fine when drunk from the appropriate glass and were all quite different when drunk from the “wrong” glass — the joker was not necessarily the worst. In one or two of the wine/glass combinations, the immediate impression of the wine was that it was awful.

I am convinced! The glass does make a difference. We were all “given” a set of the glasses after the workshop, which wasn’t free, but the cost represented a significant discount on the retail price; so everyone was happy. I wish now that I’d bought an extra set to be able to run a mini-workshop at home with a wine-loving friend or two. Since coming home, I have tried tasting the same wine in the four glasses and confirmed the effect: the glass does matter; it wasn’t just four carefully chosen wines at the workshop.

There are downsides, of course. The first is price: some of the hand-madeSommeliers range are listed at 90 quid for a single glass. The machine-madeVinum are more reasonable, but still run £15-25 each. Cleaning is another issue. The Vinum are supposed to be dishwasher-safe, but I certainly wouldn’t trust my dishwasher not to damage or stain them. That means (according to the Riedel site) hand-washing: warm water, no detergent, then drying with a linen cloth. For extra shine, steam over boiling water and polish with two linen tea towels — and don’t do it until you’re completely sober. 😊

Still I do plan to add to my small collection: everyone needs the Daiginjo glass.

Filed Under: Wine Tagged With: , ,

Touring China 1

6 October 2007 by Leave a Comment

My wife is called Giacinta, usually shortened to Gia. We recently visited China, where Gia was born, with some family and friends. It was an exhausting, whistle-stop trip of some of the top scenic destinations in China: five internal flights and a different hotel almost every night for 12 days. I was the only guai lo in the group, and since the tour was conducted entirely in Mandarin or Cantonese I’m still trying to make sense of exactly where we went – I’m not kidding.

I did, of course, take a camera: a Canon EOS 5D with three lenses – all zooms – the 17-40 L, the 24-70 L and the 70-200 LIS. I haven’t counted how many pictures I took (a great many) and there is still a lot of weeding and sorting and processing to be done. One of the first places we visited was the Chengdu Panda Breeding and Research Centre. Of course, much serious work goes on, but the main attraction is the opportunity to get a close look at the beautiful pandas. Here are a few of the pictures I took at the centre.

Filed Under: Travel Tagged With: , ,
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