Darwin's Theories

OpenMoko revisited

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 14:35:00 GMT

OpenMoko was an early open-source (hardware and software) cell phone project. It was designed to be flashed without having to root it or unlock a bootloader; the download tools were open source. It was great, except, it had an A5 CPU, no camera, no 3G and no prospect of it, and no real distribution strategy or scalable business model. So the company (openmoko.com) somewhat imploded.

However, since the hardware was open, another company has picked up the pieces. Golden Delicious Computer (nice name) makes a drop-in replacement motherboard with an A8 CPU, 3G (UMTS) and optional camera, that re-uses the case, LCD and some other components to upgrade your existing OM (or you can buy a complete new phone).

The only downside is the price, which is, ahem, competitive with commercial phone products of the same capacity. But at least it proves that openness can keep projects alive after the originators have moved on... See link to ordering page and current pricing.

Removing embarassments from Firefox's remembered username form field

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 17:57:00 GMT

Ever made the boo-boo of typing your password as part of your username, like, by missing the tab key? This shows you how to fix it so it doesn't keep popping up, blocking "shoulder surfers" from seeing your password.

Less taking is not Giving

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 14:20:00 GMT

I've heard this fallacy a number of times in political discourse this year. People accuse one or another politician of wanting to "take money from medical care and give it to the rich", meaning, to give "the rich" a tax cut. Now the last time I looked, taxation consisted of taking away money that belongs to a person or company, by threat of force ("you no pay, we take your house and/or put you in jail"). So: raising the tax rate means taking more money away from people in the targetted tax bracket. And lowering the rate does not mean "giving them money", it means letting them keep what they have!

The only scenario in which a tax cut would mean "giving money" to the tax-reduced bracket would be a country in which the country legally owned everything within it. The name for this system is communism. If you really want to write about politics from a communist (or Marxist) point of view, well, why not move to North Korea for a year and see how well it works for you?

If you really want to stop "giving to the rich", you need to stop subsidies, corporate handouts, enforced monopolies, and all the other forms of corruption that absolute power has absolutely corrupted our legislatures with. But we all know that won't happen, as these are the channels though which some of the rich get funded by the taxes paid by the poor and middle class. Let's be charitable and call these the less productive rich, the ones who subsist at the public trough. Also, part of this funding goes into the election coffers of both halves of what Sheldon Richman calls "the Uniparty" (Dems and GOP in the USA, by extension, Liberal and Conservative in Canada). Thus we know this stream of money from the poor and middle-class to the less-productive rich is unassailable. So it's far easier to rally votes by claiming to "soak the rich", and that's what is happening now.

Android Apps

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 22:32:00 GMT

A friend who just got an Android phone asked me what Apps I use. Here's an edited version of what I wrote back.

The phone comes with an adequate set of apps to start, but you'll want to download many more using the built-in Market app. Of the built in apps, unsurprisingly I use phone, contacts and text the most followed by Camera+Gallery. Oh, and the Alarm Clock (get to it from any sensible Clock app).; it wakes me up even when there's a power failure, which happens a few times a year out where I live.
The built-in Google Maps is your basic GPS. OSMAnd from the Market is the same idea but using Open StreetMap data. The built-in GMAIL app, or the slightly better K9 mailer, to read mail on the go.
Angry Birds is a high-end time sink, er, game. "Memory" is simpler time sink. Tons of other games, about 15 or 20 Sudoku variants.
All of the eBook readers have Android versions: Kobo for one has tons of books from Project Gutenberg for free download (something useful to do on those interminable subway rides).
Aloqa finds restaurants, coffee, shops, etc. near you, using the GPS or Phone Tower nav.
Androidify lets you make your own silly Android avatar.
Barcode Scanner (the one from zxing) lets you scan the QR codes that you see everywhere; they mostly contain URLs that open in the browser. It will also scan the barcode from eg., a can of soup and find that for you on the web.
Google Googles will take pictures of everyday things and (try to) identify them.
Everybody's got a News app these days; take your pick of CBC News, BBC News, CNN, Fox News, etc. news apps.
CamCard will scan somebody's business card and load it into your Contacts. You give them back the card and say "Thank you, I have it memorized". Get the $3 or $5 version, it's better than the free version.
CIA Fact Book has a quaint GUI but still useful. WikiDroid is a front end to WikiPedia (connected, doesn't pre-load the whole DB though it could be made to fit now that they support apps on the SDCard.
OI Safe keeps track of your passwords, encrypted. OI File Manager (and others) let you explore the device; works like a File Manager ("Explorer") on a desktop.
SL4A (Scripting Layer for Android) lets you write python, shell, and other scripts that deal with your phone (dial out, etc.).
WeatherEye for weather forecasts.
Xabber for SMPP chat, if you use that. There might be a version of Pidgin now, for all I know.
Connectbot is a decent SSH client.
There are literally tens of thousands of other apps; these are the main add-on ones that I have found time to look at and use. Language learning. Games. Spreadsheets. All this you find in the Market app; just hit the Search icon once in Market and type what you want. Have fun. Use lots of data.

Loving All Things Bright and Beautiful, All Creatures Great and Small

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 22:31:58 GMT

All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful,

The Lord God made them all.
-- from the eponymous hymn, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_things_bright_and_beautiful

I love all the creatures we share this world with. A few days ago, a red-headed woodpecker appeared at the feeder outside our kitchen window. I reached for my Android phone to take some pictures when suddenly the bird disappeared! I knew it hadn't flown off, so I looked down to see if it had gone to the ground after the birdseed that inevitably spills and falls down. Just then it dawned on me that I had heard a 'thump' about the same time. Sure enough the poor creature was then in the jaws of our mighty feline warrior. I rushed to the door, and the cat obligingly tried to bring his new treasure into the house to share with us. I grabbed kitty at the threshold, which startled him enough to let go and, thankfully, the redhead flew away (not into the house!). Whether birdie will survive, or succumb to toxemia in the next day or so, depends in part on whether the cat actually bit through his skin or merely held on to him during the 15 or 20 seconds of captivity. Nothing I can do about it. If he lives, he will learn to stay well above the ground at feeders, or to avoid them altogether. [A couple of days later, a family member reported a red-headed woodpecker at the feeder but acting wary and staying well above the ground, so I'm guessing it lived.]

Songbirds have evolved a myriad of attractive colors, primarily to attract mates, but it has the side effect of making people like them more.

The two main branches of the order carnivora have evolved over tens of thousands of thousands of years into efficient hunters, predators, possessors by strength and cunning of other creatures' flesh. Can you love that "Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright/In the forest of the night" knowing that it would kill and eat you given half a chance? Can you love a furry feline that will destroy a beautiful bird in the interest of a quick meal? Do you love the cat and the bird both? Equally? When a neighbour's dog or a wild carnivore eats your prized show poultry, where then is love?

Yet still I do love them all, for they are all creatures of our world.