A new contributer to this blog has joined, by the name of Gordon Manley. He will help contribute to this blog, give new and creative ideas, write new blog posts, and generally be supportive and helpful of the future of Tech Smartly. Things will get sorted out, and new blog posts will be arriving shortly from both me (Joe Boomer), and Gordon!
It seems like I’m noticing more and more sources of low intellectuality, which is pretty much a waste of time and gives me very little entertainment or usefulness of any sort. Let’s take digg for example. The very first item is:
Calvin and Hobbes on the Financial Crisis
Nothing wrong with it, except I saw it earlier in the day before I managed to read this (This came out 5 minutes ago). This is a relatively new story, so there aren’t many comments at the time of the writing. Nothing inherently wrong, but this is only the first news article. However, there isn’t anything interesting for another 8 news articles, until you get to:
Top 10 Things to make Good Games Better!
Also, there’s no point in reading the comments because the whole commenting system is infested with people with bad grammar and spelling who can not articulate an idea further than a sentence. In fact, I counted about 5 comments that actually try to articulate and express an idea properly. I’m not expecting an essay, but reading the comments is kind of like crack. It’s very quick, and gives you very little entertainment. I admit, there are some good comments. There are fleeting moments of discussion. However, nothing ever really gets discussed more than 4 comments deep. It’s always very superficial and of no real benefit other than a way of killing time. I gained nothing through reading the comments, and I pretty much just block everyone who can’t even use proper English, because I don’t want to deal with it. Just because this is the internet doesn’t mean that you can forgo everything you learned about English. Sure, everyone makes mistakes and we sometimes mistype, but I’m talking about deliberately missing punctuation and not caring at all about spelling. If you want to type like a child, I’m not willing to read it.
You might see this as elitist, that I’m expecting too much from everybody. This is not true. I’m expecting enough, and people supply too little. Digg is no longer part of my life, I will not use it every again. You’re welcome to submit my stories, but I won’t know until I check where the massive influx of traffic came from in my logs. Now, compare Digg to a website like Slashdot. There is no comparison, Slashdot blows Digg right out of the water. The reason is simple. Digg is too popular. What this means is that it is now flooded with the “average” person. There is no niche, you have everything from sports to entertainment to science. It’s a website for everybody, a place where someone can say whatever they want to say, whether it’s right or wrong. Slashdot, on the other hand, targets a demographic that is smart. More specifically, nerds. The first article is about touchscreen netbooks in CES 2009. Touchscreens are cool, that’s something interesting. But more importantly, what about the discussion in slashdot going on about it? The first comment is from a troll, but it is likewise voted by the members as a troll and hidden from view unless specified to be seen. Digg’s system is very easily abused people people who disagree with you. I’ve seen many comments that are worthwhile and raise a valid point that have been voted down on digg. Not a problem on Slashdot.
More importantly, however, is the fact that the discussion is meaningful to the topic at hand. It is both useful and entertaining, and allows me to understand the subject at hand better. It’s not just a matter of something having to be useful. It can be entertaining as well. The next article is about Microsoft billing 1$ an hour for leasing Microsoft Office. The very first comment is a joke. A proper joke, written properly so that I don’t have to reread it just to understand it. Nothing kills a joke worse than having to first interpret what the person is trying to say. Here on Slashdot, I don’t have to deal with the same amount of trash that exists on digg.
Yes, people say useful things on Digg. But why search through a pile of trash when I have slashdot? This is an important point, because in every pile of trash you might find something useful. If you go to digg, you’re spending your time looking through trash. On slashdot, there is no trash. You’re looking at a fridge stocked to the brim full of food. You’re not wading your way through junk to find a half rotten but edible banana. There is no comparison. Digg is the equivilant of channel flipping on TV, trying to find a show that interests you in someway. This is the internet, you shouldn’t have to subject yourself to this. You can schedule your life around the TV, finding shows that you like and think are interesting on different channels. On the internet, it’s even better. Find some blogs that are relevant to your interests. Find a news aggregation website that is relevant to your interests. I use Slashdot as an example, because it’s a website that posts articles that I find interesting, as well as having a smart and intelligent community. Find your own hub. Choose a niche that is relevant to you, and minimize time spent on trash.
Update: I wrote this with one goal in mind and ended up with a different final product. I ussualy try not to let hate get the better of me, but this is what I ended up with.
For me, this was a very easy question. No.
The device is pretty neat, there’s no denying that. It’s unfortunate that apple has decided to completely lock down the iPhone into AT&T. In fact, this is what kept me from getting the first iPhone. That, and the fact that it’s usually better to wait for the second generation of new hardware. Apparently, Apple has wizened up, and you are now forced to sign the contract in the store. This makes things a bit more complicated then. With the first iPhone, you were allowed the possibility of enabling it through iTunes. Or, you could not activate it at all, and instead you could unlock it. Yet there is always the problem of being left with an iBrick. With the 3g iPhone, Apple has agreed to a wide array of different contract prices with countries in Europe. For example, in Belgium you get a completely unlocked iPhone, with which you can use with whatever carrier you like. The price is rather steep considering the exchange rates (it costs almost $1000 for the 16gb version!), so if you’re desperate and looking for an unlocked iPhone now, Europe is the way to go. However, there are plans of selling unlocked iPhones by the end of the year in America. The price will be much higher without a contract, at $599/$699 depending on the model. It will be pay as you go, but I do not know if that means it will work with every carrier. I’ve been unable to find more information about pay as you go iPhones being sold in America, maybe my google fu isn’t up to scratch. Unfortunately for apple, I’m not buying their iPhone just yet, and most likely neither should you (although this could depend on the circumstances).
Python is a language that has risen in popularity these last few years. I have heard about it before, and just recently I decided I wanted to learn it. First of all, I know no other language other than visual basic. However, I don’t want to be forced to use a language that is locked into windows, although I know there are ways to get visual basic working using Mono. However it is not the disadvantages of visual basic that compel me to learn python, rather the advantages of python. I honestly don’t know enough about visual basic to say why it sucks, but the fact that it’s from Microsoft was reason enough for me look and see what better cross-platform alternatives there are. Python is also easy to use. It has an easy to read syntax, meaning that it is easy to maintain it. If you write something in python, you can come back to your code in six months and easily figure out what you’re trying to do. However, if you use a language like C++, it can be difficult to understand your own code at first. Of course, having a clean syntax also helps as you’re coding. It helps make everything clear, and instead of focusing on the language, you focus on the logic. Most important for me is that I can learn it without it being too complicated. It’s going to be a little side project of mine. I don’t want to waste a lot of time learning things in c/c++ that I could already be doing in python. Perhaps at a later point, I will learn c++. At this point in time, I would rather learn more about programming theory, such as objects and whatnot. Python makes it easy to learn all of this. If you also wish to learn about programming, I would imagine python to be a great starting point for everyone. There is a book about python that will be released on the 25 of September, called Beginning Python: from Novice to Professional, Second edition. I have read some of the author’s articles online, as well as the first chapter in his first book. It does not over complicate things with unnecessary terminology meant for professionals, but instead focuses on being clear to understand without overloading on complicated matters. I have read some of the his articles online and it it seems clear without taking things too fast. Thus, I will try to get my hands on a copy of the book when it releases. I will begin learning python in approximately a month and a half (no, not because I’m lazy).
