The Flippant Bit

David Simon and Bill Moyers

2011-08-21T21:04:00.001-07:00

A candid, insightful and articulate assessment of the United States of America, post World War Two.

Watch the full episode. See more Bill Moyers.

Wisconsin Welfare Dad Complains About Government Check

2011-03-30T16:31:00.001-07:00

Baby-making factory Sean Duffy, a Wisconsinite living off of public funds, complained earlier this year that his $174k salary was too little to support a family of eight.

The scariest thing about this entire affair is that this individual has procreated six times. How has this man concluded that his genes are worth passing on to the future...six times over? I guess the depraved mind of a former MTV star really doesn't ask questions like that.

Maybe its time to bring back forced sterilization? Certainly the right-wing can get behind something like that.

Launchpad fails to realize the promise of OpenID

2011-01-17T13:47:00.001-07:00

As an Ubuntu user, I sometimes would like to file an issue using the web-based interface to Ubuntu's bug-tracking system. This interface uses Launchpad.

Visiting Launchpad, it appears that they use OpenID. So intially, I'm relieved: I won't have to go through the tedious process of account creation just to file a bug. Launchpad uses "OpenID technology" so that I can login to other websites using my Launchpad account.

Wha? Wait. My Launchpad account? But you're using OpenID...why can't I use my OpenID?

In a remarkable combination of gall and solipsism, Launchpad trumpets their use of a technology that is designed to decrease user pain resulting from account creation, by...having you create an account.

By choosing to be an OpenID provider, and not a consumer, Launchpad is essentially creating its own petty fiefdom. And in doing so, it promotes a tragedy-of-the-commons scenario whereby each egoistic site (or group of sites) becomes a provider that does not recognize other OpenID providers.

Like OpenID itself.

Motorola Just Misses on Droid's Design

2009-11-15T19:36:00.002-07:00

I spent the weekend (most of it) with a newly purchased Motorola A855 Droid. It was a heated, two-day hookup, that ultimately, left me unsatisfied.

Until this last Friday, my only experience with a smart phone had been with the original iPhone. I use the iPhone (unlocked/jailbroken), an LG Voyager, a Verizon voice plan, and Google Voice in a bizarre four-way juggling act of mobile telephony that is 15 times more complicated than having a single device with a data plan. I was hoping that the Droid would be the one device to unite them all; with Verizon as a carrier, the Droid as a smart phone with data and voice, all behind a Google Voice number.

But the minute I received the Droid, packaged with its keyboard extended, I realized that someone at Motorola had conceived of design, and especially construction, as afterthoughts. Here are my main observations:

The keyboard is pathetic. Not only is it unusable, but it's nothing more than a flimsy, scored-plastic sheet that looks and feels as if it's been glued onto a capacitive membrane. Coming from the Voyager, with its individually articulated keys and solid feel, I was disappointed. Retail for this device is over $500, without a contract, and they couldn't go the extra mile and design something that a discerning adult can enjoy handling?
The camera itself is great. The button that controls it feels like it's going to fall off when you finger it. Cheap, gold plastic that's better suited to Mardi Gras baubles. Again, pathetic construction on a device that feels, by its heft, as if it should be bomb-proof.
The second point applies to the volume control switch.

Everything else (wifi, 3G, display, telephony) was fantastic. The OS seemed slow only once, right after I disconnected the device from USB in debugging mode and I was placing a phone call. Other than that, there were no hitches in drawing the screen or performance.

As an aside, the fact that Motorla has not made unlocked devices available to developers, but have instead opted for remote/virtual device emulation (DeviceAnywhere VDL) is telling. It's indicative of a mindset that does not understand the importance of human factors within the hardware and software design process. There are certain key elements of usability that cannot be replicated remotely--too bad some executives at Motorola do not seem to grasp this.

Linode

2009-11-01T23:58:00.001-07:00

After much research (too much), I opted for Linode as a VPS host. Slicehost, Rackspace, Vivical and ServerAxis were in the running as well. Here's a brief evaluation of each:

Slicehost is an attractive option, especially given their 24/7 chat suppor, but backups were an extra $5 per month and there was no documented way of getting a Xen image off their servers
Rackspace's pricing is unrivaled at $10.95/month with free backups, but anecdotal evidence regarding poor support and the apparent inability to export images turned me away
Server Axis had offerings in my price range, but there was not enough information on their website and no apparent community around their services, with a limited number of support options
Vivical responded quickly to the questions I posed their sales staff, but they use OpenVZ for their images and provide too little storage with their cheapest offering.

So far I'm pleased with the responsiveness of Linode. I went to the linode irc channel with a couple of questions and was quickly pointed in the right direction.