Jeremy Zawodny's blog

Glimpse the Future?

I can't see as far into the future as I'd like. So I'd like ask the readers of my blog for some help. In reading recent news and just paying attention to tech in general, I've noticed a lot of interesting technology announcements and trends. I'm sure they're news to no one, but I just happened to think of them together for the first time, today. And it's clear that they're painting a clearer and clearer picture of the future. Or at least they're trying to.

• McDonald's will be offering WiFi when you drop in for your 99 cent heart attack. Starbucks was first. One can only assume that others will follow suit. Who next? Bookstores? Gas stations? The waiting room of the doctor's office?
• Intel and AMD have recently announced new CPUs. The big news? Low power--meaning longer batter life in laptops and smaller mobile devices. (I'm glad they've realized that speed isn't everything.)
• Fuel cells are available for some laptops. Again, longer battery life.
• Intel is pushing 802.11x in a big way, following Apple's lead.
• Mobile phones are getting more sophisticated. Color. Cameras. Better data rates.
• Sales of 802.11x equipment are still brisk.
• Slowly but surely, Bluetooth is catching on too. (Thanks largely to Apple, again.)

I'm able to surmise that we'll soon (whenever that is) have devices that have Internet access more often than not. Our mobile devices will be on for much longer periods of time. This is all very good news.

But here's where it starts to get fuzzy.

What will we do with our newfound connectedness and battery life?

I don't know. Maybe we'll blog more. Maybe we'll be on IM systems even more than we already are. If only these new systems also had basic GPS capabilities, we'd have not only presence but location too. Imagine having a preference in your favorite messenger client that you could enable: Share my location with my friends. I think that'd be neat.

Does anyone make a little USB GPS dongle? Or maybe a bluetooth phone will be able to get my approximate location and share it with my computer?

Clearly there will be more applications. New ones. Stuff we're not doing today. What is it?

I'd like to know what people are thinking. What will our mobile, connected, applications of the not-too-distant future be? Is anyone building them now?

Twilight Zone at Work

I just had one of those Twilight Zone meetings earlier today. I walked into the meeting with some vague expectations about the content and outcome. But when I left the meeting an hour and a half later, I realized that the outcome was almost the opposite of what I expected. And I wasn't the only one who felt this way (to a degree).

Heh. The best part is that the outcome was much better than I expected.

WTF is Apple Smoking?

The software update manager appeared last night to tell me it wanted to install Java 1.4.1. Great. but then I noticed the little note at the bottom of the window.

Status: Not installed, restart will be required.

(Emphasis mine.)

What the fuck?!

I have to reboot my machine afater upgrading Java? What is this, Windows?! It's JAVA for god's sake!

I'm really sick of having to reboot every time Apple throws some new software my way. It sure makes Linux shine. I have a Linux box with an update of over 420 days. I use it daily. I upgrade stuff all the time (thanks to apt-get). But the only time I'd have any need to reboot is if I have to physically move the mahine or upgrade the kernel.

Now let's think about my TiBook. I can move it all I want without a reboot because it has a built-in battery. So.... what? Is the kernel written in Java now?

Can someone please explain the necessity of the reboot? I honestly don't understand.

See also: Crash Different. Mabye I should make a video too.