pipe dreams

if I had a proper Internet connection I would:

- be able to stay online for more than 20 minutes
- do all sorts of productive things, like updating my facebook picture and watching basketball games
- blog about fascinating stuff, such as that time I did homemade soup (chunky but yummy), or when I bought my first tuxedo (scratchy)
- start planning for my trip next summer. Looking at opodo.co.uk at work is so cliche

And did I mention I don't have a TV at my place? It's starting to feel like casa de Ludd over here. So do I miss having a normal Internet connection? Nah, not really

this year's model

out with the old:


in with the new:

Released in the UK to the usual Apple hullabaloo last Friday, the iPhone is that rarest of convergence devices: one that actually delivers multiple functions without overwhelming its user with unnecessary bells and whistles, while still looking good. Which is all I'll say about it for now. I'm still getting used to it, though I'm already at a point where I wonder how I could have functioned so long without it. As in, before this thing, what did I do when I was preparing dinner? Certainly not listen to Ryan Adams while reading a LA Times article, that's for sure. Which isn't the most necessary of things, granted, but as far as entertainment goes, it's pretty nifty.
Full(er) review to come.

from now on

for "all" those interested, I am changing switching the RSS feed of this blog to Feedburner, so anyone keen to keep up with the various going-ons of my existence should update their subscription to the following address:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/fakeexpat

Do it and you can expect many more posts with as much intellectual substances as those three lines you just read. Don't do it and I won't know anyway. Everybody wins!

throw away your television

it is an inescapable fact that television is now THE main source in entertainment in any household. Sure, people still go out to plays, read books and sometimes might even play some Hungry Hungry Hippos, but in most houses TV is just turned on all the time now. Not having one currently, probably for the first time in my life, I have realized that not only do I not mind, I don't really miss it. Despite never having been a huge TV watcher, I've done my fair share of it over the years. But the truth is that nowadays I have a perfectly acceptable substitute in my computer. Sure it's only got a 13-inch screen, so I'll never be able to plop down on a couch eight feet away and enjoy a movie, but in my room, it's great. Pretty much all of my video-watching needs are covered, and it should only get better in the years ahead:

Movies:
with online DVD-rental services, movie lovers have thousands of titles at their disposal, generally much more than at their local rental spots. Personnally I use lovefilm, with a service plan that allows me unlimited rentals, with 2 DVDs out at any given time. I've thus been able to watch a mix of never-seen classics and new releases. The monthly price of £12.99 seems even more worth it when you consider that that's what a weekend seat at a Leicester Square movie theater costs. I'm not joking, I went to see 300 this Saturday and the seat was £13.
But the real future of this area is in the offering of movies through online stores. Lovefilm offers the service, with the possibility to rent for £2.99 (meaning a download which allows you to view the movie for a 24-48 hr period) or buy for £9.99 (you keep the download forever). Other sites have different formulas, but the common problem with these services is the DRM which prevents some users, say those with a Mac OS, from using them. For my part I'm waiting for iTunes to offer movies on its store, as it does in the US, although there it's only buy-to-own for now.

TV shows:
As a huge fan of certain shows (Lost, The Office...) and having lived in the US, I have never liked the long delays that it takes for these shows to be shown abroad, if they are at all. In France it was ever worse as many times they were dubbed. And we all know dubbing is one of the deadly sins. So for this I had to use the Internet to "acquire" my favorite dramas and comedies in a timely fashion. That way I can watch them when I want, even where I want since I do so on my laptop.
Again, TV shows can be bought in the US iTunes store, but not abroad, seemingly for rights issues. When they will, I would love to get a season pass for my favorites, and keep watching them on my computer.

News:
This is a recent discovery of mine: major news organizations now provide video podcasts which enable anyone with Internet access and a podcast application, like iTunes, to receive some of their programs. Right now I've got daily podcasts from a variety of sources, both French and foreign (iTele, LCI, NBC News, BBC morning edition, M6) which give me a pretty comprehensive roundup of the day's news. Now if only more broadcasters, like Arte with their fantastic Arte News, would offer their programs this way.

a new era

yesterday was the annual Keynote presentation at the Macworld trade expo, done as always by Apple's iconic CEO, Steve Jobs. There had been rumors swirling around for a while now, as this Keynote is usually the event where the company introduces its new products. Last year it was the Intel iMac and the Macbook Pro, this year the expectations were once again sky-high, with a very clear focus (as seen on the main rumor sites) during the past months on the supposed Apple phone, pre-dubbed the iPhone.

Well for once everyone was right on at least one rumor: the iPhone is now a reality, and it will be released in the US in june, in Europe in Q4 06 and in Asia in 2008. The thing sounds amazing, combining a widescreen iPod (with video capabilities) with traditional phone and Internet features. All this with a multi-touch navigation system, meaning you won't need a small keyboard or stylus. For people like me who've been waiting for a phone that would be a suitable replacement for their MP3 player, this is it. Of course it's not cheap, with the 4 GB model selling for $499 and the 8GB for $599, but considering how jam-packed the thing is, that price doesn't sound too outrageous, especially considering nothing like it exists on the market.

And the best news out of all this ? My Apple stock shot up like a rocket, gaining more than 8% on the day, to $92.57. Although I'm going to sell pretty soon, in preparation for my move abroad, this is great news.

that's hot (c) Paris

because we can't always talk about politics, I give you....(LOUD MOVIE TRAILER GUY VOICE) a website about dogs dressed as bumblebees.
The internet just keeps getting awesomer every day. Matter of fact, if I have a son, I may have to name him that. And if it's a girl, Internette.

awesome find of the day

yesterday I discovered this website, Runstoppable, that allows you to map your running routes through the use of Google maps. It serves as a jogging log, so whenever you go for a run, you just enter the date and the name of your -previously configured- route, and your run is recorded in your account.

Since I tend to run the same route every time, this site will make it pretty easy for me to quickly establish a running log for the coming months. One of the cool things about the mapping function is that it also gives you the elevation for your route, so you can see if you're running on flat terrain or not. Mine is definitely not flat, which is one reason I really like it.

This service is free, and is available in 23 countries, and really is the best online running tool I've seen for runners like me who don't want to invest in a fancy stopwatch and are pretty regular in their running itineraries. I've talked before of my interest in the Nike+ kit, but to be honest, it seems like a hassle since you need to have your ipod and sensor with you at all times. And now that i've got used to running without music, I'm not even sure I'll go back to running with my iPod on a regular basis. So I guess that means I'm not even sure I'll be buying the iPod Shuffle after all. Me changing my mind, what a novel concept !

from weefee to deeveedee

Although I consider myself to be fairly knowledgeable in the computer field, the extent of my know-how is limited to problems I've encountered and have had to solve over the years. Therefore when I'm faced with a new issue, I'm generally at a loss as to what the correct solution might be. But if there's one thing I've learned it's that a lot of computer problems can be solutionned with a small screwdriver and some patience.

For instance, yesterday evening, just as I was preparing to go running, I decided to reinstall Mac OS X to see if it would get rid of the Wifi woes I'd been having on my mac mini for a few days. I thus inserted an installation DVD that came with my Macbook and promptly confirmed that I wanted to start the installation process, which initiated a restart. That's when I got a kinda scary looking error message telling me I was having a kernel panic (or something) and that I should manually restart the computer. Unfortunately two such occurences happened again before I understood that using that particular installation DVD was a BIG mistake. I was now stuck with a DVD that I couldn't eject, yet which caused a fatal error preventing me from even getting past the startup stage. My pseudo-DYI instincts kicked in: I was gonna have to go in the belly of the beast and retrieve the dang DVD myself. After much exertion I managed to open up the mini, unset a few screws and somehow recover the disk, but not without a hint of possible damage to the optical drive (or worse).

Thankfully when I turned on the thing, it started up fine (although still no Internet). I then did what any semi-logical person would've in the first place and inserted the installation DVD that came with the computer. By then it was 10pm and going running was, frustratingly, out of the equation. Still the install process seemed to go fine, and after 40+ minutes, I had the computer back to the state I'd bought it in. Well, save for a few scratches on the top from my screwdriver artistry.

The moral of the story ? Well, I'm still having Wifi issues (could it be any other way ?), but at least I know what to do if some CD or DVD decides to spend some quality time in my DVD drive. That Macguyver fella was right: you can do a whole lot with a screwdriver, and most of them are awesome.

tuning a run

One of the more surprising aspects of my newfound jogging (or yogging. it might be a soft j, I don't know) habit is that I don't mind running without any music. Spending 1h of my personal time without any tunes is pretty rare for me, outside of work. But when I run I don't really think about it as a hassle to "just" have to think about stuff.
However, when the new ipod shuffle is released (supposedly sometime in October), I will acquire it faster than a Cobra snake trained in the ancient ways of the ninja. The incorporated clip, the small size and the (relatively) affordable price make this one a can't miss for my next buy.
Materialistic fool ? Yes, hopelessly. But I'm also an Apple shareholder. So in a way all I'm doing is supporting my stock price. Right ?

dub-dub-dub

when computers work, they're the best thing ever invented, but when they're acting up, you feel as though you'd rather be back in the stone age. Right now my Apple laptop has been suffering from the stupendous Random Shutdown Syndrome. And by random, I mean really random. Sometimes it'll work fine for a couple of days, then start shutting down for no reason. Since it's not an issue that's going to go away magically, as it stems from hardware and not software, I've finally managed to back up my precious data (okay, mostly 50 GB of music) to an external HD, and this weekend I'll be dropping it off for repairs.

In the meantime I've set up my other computer, a Mac Mini, in my room so I could listen to my music and surf the Web. But for some reason its wifi connection is spotty. Unless I can fix that, I won't have access to the Internet (not to sound like a geek, but: oh nooooo) once the laptop is in the shop.

Apple computers are still the best thing I've ever tried in the area, compared to PCs I've tried, when it comes to reliability. But when something like this happens, it almost makes one pine for the good old days of pre-Internet. Or not.