A better delivered post of something I've been telling people for years -- that execution is way, WAY more important than ideas. Yes, the ideas still need to be reasonable, but beyond that, it's how you do what you do that counts.

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After seeing a slashdot post about people running OS X on the Nokia n900, I read some more info about the n900. It seemed like great hardware, and was debian-linux based, so it seemed like a good platform to play with. Enticed, I found it on Nokia's site, complete with a 14 day return policy.

I should mention, I have/use an iPhone 3GS. Apple ends up pissing me off to no end, but I really end up liking the 3GS. It's a great phone/browser/apprunner/notetaker/calendar/ipod/etc. If it wasn't locked down so tight, I would like it even more. So really I end up disliking the idea of the iPhone, but liking it in reality.

The n900 is pretty much the opposite -- the idea is great. Having a phone I can ssh into and install g++ and make on and build stuff and run on, is great. On paper, everything's there. This is what I found:

• Screen: the screen looks good. It's high resolution, but the touch sensitivity of it isn't great, it ends up feeling clunky.
• Storage: on paper it has 32GB of flash. This is great. What's stupid is that the root fs is only 256mb of NAND memory, and while you can install extra packages via apt-get etc, if those packages aren't carefully designed, it ends up filling your root filesystem. Even the obvious things like making /var/cache/apt point to the big disk, they could do, but haven't. So basically you have to do one of many hacks if you wish to install much. The biggest thing I found was moving various /usr/[share|lib|bin]/xxx directories -- all stuff nonessential to booting -- to the bigger disk and symlinking them. Anyway, it's dumb that you should have to do this. Complete pain in the ass. I eventually got everything I wanted installed, but if the point is to have an open extensible phone, you gotta make it do that out of the box.
• WiFi: support seems solid. When the phone is sleeping, you can still ssh to the phone (if you installed OpenSSH, which is easy). RAD.
• SSH: awesome. Fast, the thing really feels quick. It is 600mhz, and for command line linux that is super fast. I remember my P133 being quick, too.
• Web: the browser is pretty solid, and flash support kinda works (wasn't really fast enough for YouTube, but there seems to be an app for this).
• Keyboard is usable. Better than the iphone's, for me, but not fantastic either.
• No AT&T 3G support. I don't care whose fault it is, but come on?!.
• Camera: quality was decent. The video recording was pretty good, sound seemed better than the iPhone 3GS's. Here's a youtube video we did as a test (apologies for the content).
• General UI: Some things are super fancy (nice blurs, transitions), but other things are not even half baked. There's a nice standard for "close window" or "go back" button locations, but 90% of the time the buttons for those are not visible, yet if you click them they are there. Silly stuff.
• Multitasking. Mmmm. so good. I like. Hear that, Apple? It's not even a pad...

Thanks to a user on the REAPER forums: 1000s of ways to die: Greateful Bed.

Doesn't seem like a show I'd watch, but amusing to see REAPER on it, at any rate. Now if only it ended up on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Then we would have made it.

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Some people picked through them for a bit... Then poof, they all disappeared. Nobody took the sign, though.

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CRTs, MHz, megabytes, and Linux. Making usable boxes from junk, to donate.

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(after spending much of the day banging my head against the wall)

#include <stdio.h>
struct test1 {  double b; };
struct test2 { int a; test1 b; };
test2 foo;
int main() 
{
  printf("%d\n",(int)&foo.b.b - (int)&foo);
  return 0;
}

Recordings:

freeform jam with brennewtnoj

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Woohoo! Recommended listening/viewing (apologies for so much Jason Lytle fanaticism).

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On 28th street and 6th, fall 2009

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I wish I could provide as good a present to the world this Christmas as this:

Jason Lytle's "Merry Xmas 2009" :)

I'm listening now, very happily.

Edit: updated the URL. mmm I cant wait for his next album too.

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My previously mentioned new program, SnapEase, is now available with source!

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england, earlier this year

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I took this in 2000, on slide film.. but here it is, processed and uploaded with snapease heh (testing it)

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I spent the better part of this week working on a new program called "SnapEase" (credit to Al for the name).

I've found myself having a bunch of digital photos and wanting to post them online. SnapEase lets you import your photos (or folders), then nondestructively (and very quickly) crop, rotate, desaturate, rename, and/or remove the images from the list. Once you have your list the way you like it, you can have it automatically resize and save the images to disk or upload to the web. In this initial version the upload is just a generic HTTP POST thingy (with example script), but I'm intending to add support for Flickr and F***B***.

Updated: Released w/ source, link is www.cockos.com/snapease!

P.S. thanks to WhiteTie for the artwork and logo!

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Dungen!!!

Video was taken using an iPhone 3GS, and the audio using a Zoom H2, then I stuck em together, mmm. There's another video on the YT from the same show, too...

Speaking of other people I love and would likely stalk if I wasn't lazy/busy/shy:

Jason Lytle

I saw you at The Independent last month, and while I was disappointed that you were opening (rather than the main), I was completely enchanted with your set. Even without the full band you had previously at Cafe du Nord. As my friend Dave and I were leaving to walk home while the main act was playing, we saw you outside, and I resisted the urge to give you a hug and all of the money I had in my pocket. ***** redacted for my own good***** ok I've made enough of a fool out of myself.

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