Jonathan Rogers

Skipping to the End

February 1, 2010 · Leave a Comment

I have figured out that I tend to want to skip to the end of most events in life. I’d say it is my most immature characteristic.

I suppose I could just be a product of the right now generation, who wants life’s rewards without putting in the work. But it not so much the spoils of life that I am after. I just relish in the mundane.

I had a weird daydream today where I thought about how much I will enjoy being in my late 40s and having petty arguments about what pants to wear to dinner with out friends. Mind you, I am not fantasizing about dating or marriage or anything romantic. Its the daily boring tasks that I was pondering.

I think it comes down to my comfort with patterns and the known. There are no more surprises in life at that point. Without the tumultuous daily turn of events, you can really concentrate on what matters- the small details that make you happen.

Maybe thats what I appreciate – the details.

→ Leave a CommentCategories: Personal

Pondering the iPad

January 30, 2010 · Leave a Comment

By now you must have heard about the iPad. (if not see here)

Missing Features

The most common reaction, warranted or not, is “Oh, its a big iPod touch.” And honestly, yeah it pretty much is. It runs the iPhone/iPod touch Operating System. Along with that comes all the normal restrictions, including no multitasking, and weird notifications.

But, I predict this will change. The OS version is 3.2 according to reviews. The iPhone has had this OS since June. It is getting a bit old. Apple last year announced the 3.0 version of the OS on March 17th 2009.

The iPad is not going to be on sale until 60 days from the announcement date of January 27th. Right at the end of March. See the connection?

I predict that Apple will announce the 4.0 software in March, right before the iPad goes on sale. It might not be available at launch, but you will know it is coming. It will probably come later in June when the next iPhone comes around. Again, because the upgraded iPhone will probably have many of the same specs as the iPad (1Ghz processor, better screen resolution).

The 4.0 OS will have multitasking and better notifications. It just has to. How else would you be working on the new word processor app on the iPad and then paste in a spreadsheet from the spreadsheet app?

Who is going to use this?

Again, people are wondering – who is going to use this? Its clunkier than a phone. It has less functionality than a full computer. My prediction? Older people.

Hear me out- people like my Dad. He doesnt want to deal with drivers. He doesn’t want to mess with complex configurations and installations. All he wants to do is go online, maybe send an email, post to a college football message board, check scores and news. And this would be super simple for him to use.

The only missing feature? Printer functionality. This will prevent him from making the leap to using this as his sole computer. If printer functionality is added, this would be perfect for the “I’m not a computer person” in your life.

→ Leave a CommentCategories: Computers · Technology

Primetime had it coming

January 19, 2010 · Leave a Comment


leno

Originally uploaded by jonarogers

This insert was in my 30 Rock Season 3 DVD. It was a promo for his new show, but it has a more ominous foreshadowing to it now that NBC is forcing Conan out to put Jay Leno back on the Tonight Show and has messed up evening programming for NBC to ridiculous levels.

→ Leave a CommentCategories: Entertainment · Humor · Television

Primetime had it coming

January 19, 2010 · Leave a Comment




leno

Originally uploaded by jonarogers

This insert was in my 30 Rock Season 3 DVD. It was a promo for his new show, but it has a more ominous foreshadowing to it now that NBC is forcing Conan out to put Jay Leno back on the Tonight Show and has messed up evening programming for NBC to ridiculous levels.

→ Leave a CommentCategories: Uncategorized

Changes for Virginia’s Alcohol Laws

January 16, 2010 · Leave a Comment

The government agency that regulates Virginia’s Alcohol rules is undergoing a few critical changes lately. A lot of credit for this is due to the bad economy. There are calls for privatization of the industry, and the agency is under pressure to perform more efficiently in reaction.

I think it is interesting that the agency only has the budget for about 80 inspection agents. They didn’t work on New Year’s Eve – probably one of the heavier drinking days of the year.

The Q&A points out that the ABC is failing to enforce even the most basic rules, like the ratio of food-to-drink sales that all bars in Virginia are supposed to adhere to. Some of the rules, instead of continuing to enforce is simply throwing away, like the (admittedly stupid) advertising restrictions on happy hours.

The ABC Board recently voted to allow restaurants to put up one sign outside an establishment for happy hour. It was completely prohibited. You couldn’t even say the words “happy hour” outside the door. In the restaurant community, this is big news. And it’s a significant step from an agency that has been timid or hesitant to do anything the least bit controversial.

I do question whether knee-jerk reactionary privatization is the best answer. Virginia privatized its IT systems and there have been recent complaints about its productivity. It is not a tough analogy to see the same potential problems with privatizing the alcohol industry.

→ Leave a CommentCategories: Business · News · Politics and Government

Google’s Relationship Advice

January 10, 2010 · 2 Comments

The author of Freakonomics noticed some funny differences in Google’s suggestions for searches starting for “How can I get my boyfriend/girlfriend to….”

Note the differences and similarities. As the author points out, these are ranked by the most common inquiry. So, the suggestions at the top are the most searched. I think it is funny how “to love me” is at the top of boyfriend list, but the bottom of girlfriend list.

→ 2 CommentsCategories: Humor · Relationships and Sex

iPhone 2010 predictions

January 6, 2010 · 1 Comment

By now you’ve heard about the new phone from Google, the Nexus One.

So, now that Google has finally thrown a good punch, what will Apple do to respond? Their current flagship phone, the 3Gs, is looking a bit dated now. Here are my predictions for the traditional June announcement.

  • Higher Screen Resolution

Android now supports resolutions of 800 x 480 as seen in the Motorola Droid and the Nexus One. The iPhone in comparison is sporting a meager 480 x 320. When you look at the phones next to each other the iphone pales in comparison. This one is a sure bet upgrade, especially considering Apple’s focus on movies and television downloads.

  • Memory Upgrade to 64GB

Another obvious prediction. Tech blogs have leaked that companies are making the 64 GB version of the flash chips Apple uses in the iPhone. Expect the 8GB to be put out to pasture and the two size options to be 32GB and 64GB.

  • Some new maps differentiation

Google has put Apple in an awkward situation. By including their navigation feature for free on Android, Apple is pressured to include free turn by turn directions on their iPhone. However, Apple also has to be concerned with the companies that sell GPS software in their App Store (like Navigon and Tom Tom). I think Apple will try to differentiate their maps in a different way and leave the GPS programs to be bought. How? I forsee a Foursquare/Gowalla/Latitude functionality brought to major importance. You will see your friends with iPhones on your map around you. Further, a stronger emphasis on Augmented Reality. Hold up your phone and let the camera see things around you and the phone will overlay information. Search maps for “tacos” then hold up your camera and flags will pop up showing you the closest Mexican restaurants with links to reviews.

  • Camera improvement

To go with the better screen, Apple will allow for HD video recording and at least a 5MP camera to stay in competition with Google’s latest crop of phones.

  • A new carrier

Apple is dying under AT&T’s network. However,  a CDMA phone is just too much trouble, especially with LTE upgrades so close. Also, with Verizon’s attacks on Apple concerning the iPhone’s shortcomings and Apple’s responses, I can’t see a good relationship between them. Look for them to open up (slightly!) to the other GSM network, T-mobile.

  • Multi-tasking

Android has proven it can be done well without completely sacrificing the battery. Do that many people actually use it? No. But like the MMS debacle, where actually use might not be high, it is simply ridiculous that Apple hasn’t implemented this as a feature.

What won’t happen?

Lots of predictions going around about this phone. What is not likely to happen? Keep reading →

→ 1 CommentCategories: Cell Phones

Pepsi Throwback

January 4, 2010 · Leave a Comment




pepsi throwback

Originally uploaded by jonarogers

Pepsi releases this once in a while. Pepsi throwback is Pepsi made with sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup.

I think they are making it because of the attention given to healthier options and how much backlash there is against corn syrup lately.

It still have 67gr of sugar in this one bottle however, so unless you think there is something inherently wrong with using chemical to sweeten this isn’t much healthier.

However, it does taste a bit different. It seems a bit less crisp and less syrupy in its sweetness.

I really like the throwback label that reminds me of Pepsi back when I was younger.

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The North Pole Is Moving

December 30, 2009 · 1 Comment

Santa might need to find a new home.

There is this phenomenon that has actually been on my radar for some time since I first heard about it while watching Discovery back in High School. Scientists have found that the magnetic poles actually shift over time. They move around a bit, but randomly (every 300,000 years or so) they completely shift.

Meanwhile, regular scientists have evidence that the Earth’s magnetic field flips every 300,000 years. The problem here is that 780,000 years have passed since the last polarity change, which means that a new shift could be imminent. There’s proof that the field’s strength is falling down at a very fast rate over the last two hundred years, a fact that has lead some experts to believe it could disappear completely over the next 1,000 years before it flips. Other boffins believe that this is just a fluctuation in the field.

The reason this concerns me is that if the magnetic poles reverse – we can’t be exactly sure what that will do to our electronics. GPS, Cellular Signals, Radio, TV, almost all of our communications might go haywire. This might sound a bit Y2K bug-ish and paranoid – but it hits me hard because I’m a technology dependent geek who has societal breakdown issues.

There are more concerns too:

If the first theory finally happens, the whole process will have catastrophic consequences to human civilization and nature. Without a magnetic field, nothing will protect us against space radiation. The weather will go completely gaga, and the Sun will fry all our communications and navigation services, not to talk about all of us. At the same time, countless migrational species will get lost, affecting food chains and causing mayhem through the entire planet.

So, if you wake up one day and your cell phone, tv, radio and computer don’t work – DO NOT GO OUTSIDE.

→ 1 CommentCategories: Environment · Society · Technology

Aliens Are Green

December 30, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Found a great article discussing a new theory about why aliens have not contacted us.

According to the article the idea that if there is intelligent alien life out there, it should have contacted us already is called the “Fermi Paradox“:

It’s an old conundrum (which may have started with physicist Enrico Fermi) that asks “If space-traveling ETs exist, why aren’t they with us already?”The idea is simple. Start with a civilization that colonizes one world. Then that world colonizes two more planets. Those worlds go on and do their own colonization. Follow this logic and you end up with a very, very rapid expansion of even a single star-faring civilization. Even one ET with space travel can, in a pretty short time, lead to a galaxy teeming with intelligent life.

Little green friends should already, have overrun us.

So, why aren’t we running around with E.T., Klingons, and Na’vi? The two normal theories are that they do, and secretly live among us, or there isn’t life out there. But there is a new theory that is gaining popularity in light of our own concerns about energy consumption.

It’s called THE SUSTAINABILITY SOLUTION TO THE FERMI PARADOX. Its authors, J. Haqq-Misra & S. Baum, have been quite creative in merging SETI with our new environmental concerns.Their answer to the Fermi Dilemma is simple. Civilizations, even extraterrestrial ones, can’t grow without limits. Instead of using the question the Fermi Paradox raises to infer that we are the only intelligent species in the galaxy, Haqq-Misra & Baum use it to infer that these civilizations have learned a lesson which we are just starting to grasp. You have to pace yourself. You have to live within your means. Exponential growth is not likely to be sustainable.

This theory comes from a scientific journal article linked above. The abstract of that paper:

No present observations suggest a technologically advanced extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) has spread through the galaxy. However, under commonplace assumptions about galactic civilization formation and expansion, this absence of observation is highly unlikely. This improbability is the heart of the Fermi Paradox. The Fermi Paradox leads some to conclude that humans have the only advanced civilization in this galaxy, either because civilization formation is very rare or because intelligent civilizations inevitably destroy themselves. In this paper, we argue that this conclusion is premature by introducing the “Sustainability Solution” to the Fermi Paradox, which questions the Paradox’s assumption of faster (e.g. exponential) civilization growth. Drawing on insights from the sustainability of human civilization on Earth, we propose that faster-growth may not be sustainable on the galactic scale. If this is the case, then there may exist ETI that have not expanded throughout the galaxy or have done so but collapsed. These possibilities have implications for both searches for ETI and for human civilization management

So, maybe these civilizations are out there and very advanced. They have simply already had their Al Gore powerpoint presentations and peak oil crisis and have figured out that sustainability is the pinnacle of society.

→ Leave a CommentCategories: Environment · Society