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Showing posts from 2007

Eyeing the iPhone

I've always wanted a phone without a keyboard, and HandSpring actually delivered one back in 2001: http://palmaddict.typepad.com/palmaddicts/2005/08/treo_with_a_vir.html But it didn't sell as well as the version with the keyboard, and as a result, HandSpring never evolved its design for a keyboard-less phone. Instead, that path was taken by Apple and has led to the much coveted iPhone . I confess that I am among those who covet the device, but I have hesitated in buying one. It's not the price, as I feel the hardware and technology is worth it. It's the 2 year commitment to AT&T that gives me pause. Coverage for the areas I frequent is spotty and I would certainly lose coolness points as I run to just the right spot in the office and start speaking loudly to overcome a bad connection. Sadly for me, the iPhone on the AT&T network would be too much like driving a Lamborghini on a pot-hole ridden road.

Best compliment a software developer can hear...

"It's kinda' boring. We were hoping to see a little more action..." -- an operations manager at a major stock exchange A group of us recently completed a major rewrite of system that I like to describe as "greasing the wheels of capitalism". I can't go into details, but the point is that the system has been running uneventfully since its release. That's music to this software developer's ears. We -- software developers -- should all strive for such a compliment... unless you work at Apple, in which case the last thing you want to be is boring.

The Princeton Graphics VL1919

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I needed an inexpensive lcd for an aging PC. My next computer might have a built-in display (a notebook or an iMac) so price was a major consideration. For $220 at Costco (in-store purchase only), the Princeton VL1919 got my attention. Physically, it's a slim attractive monitor. It has both analog and digital ports, and includes cables for both. I have an analog graphics card and the picture quality is quite good for watching dvds, home photo editing, and playing games. The VL1919 is not, however, a display for graphics pros who understand white point and need to adjust their gammas. The viewing angle is too small for a 19" display and the shift in color would be unacceptable to them. As a software developer, I work mostly with text, and the VL1919's 0.294mm dot pitch made words appear a tad grainy. I could, however, compensate and "soften" the characters using the phase control on the OSD. The OSD itself was awkward to use. Contrary to the documenta