Finding Mu

Thought all of you still living in the homeland might like this. ;)

Posted by at 7:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There was a recent entry on the blog Creating Passionate Users by Kathy Sierra about innovation, and how users/customers can't be held responsible for driving it. I can't agree more.

It reminds me of my electric toothbrush... maybe a few years ago I'd laugh at the idea- I mean, come on, how lazy can you possibly be? But if you've tried a good electric toothbrush (mine's the "sonic" kind), you know that feeling like you just went to the dentist and had your teeth cleaned... and trust me, you can't go back. There's something that hardly anybody would "ask for", especially when it's 7 a.m. and you're still half asleep!

I'd go even farther than Kathy. Not only can't users define innovation, but the vast majority of users/customers will often resist innovation for some period of time. Sometimes it takes time to realize that something is good for you. :) Think of the innovations that went through (or are going through) periods of ridicule or rejection before wide acceptance... cell phones ("why would I want two phone numbers?"), hybrid cars ("who wants to drive a golf cart down the road?"), botted water ("um, the tap's right there."), and of course, electric toothbrushes.

It takes vision, determination, and some faith... to not only bring innovation to users, but stick with innovation as users slowly adopt to new and better ways of living, working, and playing.

Posted by at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

More fun with Ubuntu Linux!

I'm still in the process of setting up my system, and just got the multimedia all set up. The choice was Amarok for playing mp3's and transferring music to my iPod, and Kaffeine for video files and DVDs. So far everything works flawlessly. Performance and quality are great.

Amarok is simply the best music player I've ever used. Better than Windows Media Player, better than iTunes. Why? It does everything you want it to, it doesn't have all sorts of extra stuff you don't need (like ads), it looks great (see screenshot), and the functionality is awesome. Did I mention it's open source, and free?

It has a great "Random Playlist" mode that shows the upcoming 10 songs and last 5 songs- I love it. And when each song is playing, you get "context" information showing the album cover, lyrics, and links to more of the artist's music in your collection. When each song comes up, there's a popup on your screen showing the track, so you can keep doing your work without feeling the urge to go check it.

On top of it all, I even got my Microsoft multimedia keyboard working with Amarok. Here's how it works:

Step 1. Set up a .Xmodmap in your home directory. This converts the MS keyboard codes into a format recognizable by X windows:

keycode 162 = XF86AudioPlay
keycode 164 = XF86AudioStop
keycode 160 = XF86AudioMute
keycode 144 = XF86AudioPrev
keycode 153 = XF86AudioNext
keycode 176 = XF86AudioRaiseVolume
keycode 174 = XF86AudioLowerVolume

Step 2. Set up .xbindkeysrc to attach the keys to amixer (for volume control) and Amarok (for controlling your music).

#Volume Up
"amixer sset PCM 1+ unmute"
    XF86AudioRaiseVolume 

#Volume Down

"amixer sset PCM 1- unmute"

    XF86AudioLowerVolume 

#Volume Mute

"amixer sset PCM toggle"

    XF86AudioMute 

#Next Track

"amarok --next"

    XF86AudioNext

#Prev Track

"amarok --previous"

    XF86AudioPrev

#Play

"amarok --play"

    XF86AudioPlay

#Stop

"amarok --stop"

    XF86AudioStop

And that's it! Not as easy as it should be for the typical computer user, but maybe the Ubuntu people will make these things easier in future releases... For now the Ubuntu Guide is a great resource for getting you up and running with multimedia in Ubuntu.

Now off to lose myself in music and movies. ;)

Posted by at 6:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

(...how I don't miss you...)

Macleans ran an article titled "Failing at the game" about University of Waterloo students playing board games in the "Comfy Lounge", a hang-out in the UW Math building where only the hardest core "mathies" enter. The article mentions several students who are granted lesser degrees (or none at all) because of their obsession with board games.

I think reading that article triggered memories of the famous Comfy Lounge stench. Nasty. I used to go there to use the vending machine during late nights at the lab, or to use the free microwave (the smell of cooking food just added to the fine combination of odors). What memories...

Posted by at 6:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)