Occasional Observations

In the world of Google auto-complete, F is for Facebook but T is not for Twitter.

The top-ranked sites, alphabetically, in Google.com’s auto-complete options deliver a few surprises. Hit S and Google suggests South West Airlines, while J is for the airline Jet Blue and W is for Wal-Mart. Despite the 2010 soccer World Cup finals being played in South Africa, “world cup” doesn’t even feature in the top 10 for typing w.

The leading social networking and online sites are largely dominating their categories: As you’d expect, F points to Facebook.com, G suggests Gmail, M is for MySpace, Y is YouTube and E is for eBay – but typing T points to Target, the US retailer, above Twitter. The much-maligned social networking site Bebo comes in a lowly eighth place behind Bank of America, BestBuy and the BBC iPlayer.

Overall, it is the online and brick-and-mortar retailers that dominate the A-Z, including Amazon, Craigslist, Kohls, Lowes, Netflix, Orbitz, the US Postal Service and Verizon Wireless.

Take a look at top matches for the numbers 0-9 and the results are a little more surprising … for users entering the digit 3, Google suggests that the top hit is the comedy TV show 30 Rock, while in Google-land, anyone typing the number 4 is most-likely to be hunting for 4chan, “the largest English imageboard on the web”. The top 10 has a few more surprises too: 8 = US retailer 84 lumber, “the nation's leading privately held building materials supplier”, while 7 is for 7zip, the computer file archiving utility.

The lists change all the time, which will explain why your mileage may vary when trying this for yourself. For the record, here are today’s alphabetical class leaders on google.com:

A – Amazon
B – Bank of America
C – Craigslist
D – dictionary
E – eBay
F – Facebook
G – Gmail
H – Hotmail
I – iTunes
J – Jet Blue
K – Kohls
L – Lowes
M – MySpace
N – Netflix
O – Orbitz
P – Pandora
Q – Quotes, as in stuff people said
R – realtor.com
S – SouthWest Airlines
T – Target
U – USPS
V – Verizon Wireless
W –Walmart
X – XMradio
Y – YouTube
Z – Zillow – real estate information


1 – 1800Flowers
2 – 2010 calendar
3 – 30 rock – comedy TV show
4 – 4chan – “the largest English imageboard on the web”
5 – 500 days of summer – a 2009 movie
6 – 60 minutes – CBS news show
7 – 7zip – a file archiver
8 – 84lumber – “the (US) nation's leading privately held building materials supplier”
9 – 90210 – the Hollywood zip code
0 – 0 balance transfer

Labels: nerd, search, stats

Microsoft's VM licensing is broken. It doesn't work.

It must have been the lawyers. Who else would come up with such a cuckoo-crazy and totally unworkable model? Here's an insight into how it's broken and why this must be bad for Microsoft's business.

Two weeks ago I installed a brand new Windows VM on Snow Leopard, using Parallels. Despite having more than enough genuine and valid license keys for Vista and XP, I wanted Windows 7 - and I was prepared to pay for the license. A bit extravagant perhaps for a VM, but also a pretty nice OS (I'd even venture that it's even more stable than XP with all the patches - which is saying something).

My mistake was being too generous with the virtual hard drive allocations when configuring the machine - it has two partitions on the same virtual HDD, totalling 250GB (well, this was supposed to take care of Windows bloat up to around the spring of 2014).

Of course this is way too much virtual real estate (by way of comparison, my out-of-the-box Ubuntu installation is currently using around 6.5GB of disk space).

And I thought that the easiest and most pain-free way to perform the shrinkage would be simply to cut a new Windows VM - using only the C drive HDD partition. This would immediately halve the disk requirements, I could delete the old VM and live happily ever after.

Everything worked fine - it's incredibly simple to set up a new VM with Parallels and an existing .hdd file - and the "lean" VM was running in five minutes or less. It's the same installation - the same wallpaper, the same files, the same profiles, the same everything ... except that it's NOT.

Oh no. Not according to Microsoft. I need to enter a valid Windows 7 license key.

This is just wrong - and not only that, it's also misguided and frustrating. You may say otherwise; I say the licensing model is broken. With the current rules in place, there's no way that MS software can be used with server-based computing - because each time a profile is loaded on to a host machine, it's going to ask for a new key. And that's cuckoo-crazy.

Labels: OSX, Parallels, rant, virtualization, Windows7

One month in and I'm seriously wondering if I'm too square for FourSquare. This is despite making fantastic progress. I'm the Mayor of 20 places (of that, more later), folks including "Lutz S" (a total stranger but looks like a nice boy) wanna be my friend, and I'm collecting badges like it's 1983.

But ... I'm bored. Short of checking into (more) places I pass during my daily routine, and adding places that are off the beaten tech track, there's precious little to keep me loyal. I've finished in the top 10 charts for my region for several weeks on the trot - but have no desire to top 'em, now THAT is nerd-dom at its finest.

Perhaps I feel more comfortable sharing my daily movements with total strangers than with casual or close acquaintances, Facebook "friends" and people in meatspace with whom I actually interact. Because adding real friends, acquaintances, Facebook friends (ok you get the message) is probably going to keep me on the straight and narrow. I'm less likely to check into places for the sheer hell of it, and of course in the hope of accumulating those precious points, if people I really know are watching my every move. That's exactly why I declined Google Latitude a couple of years back.

So here's the plan. I'm going to random-up my FourSquare profile. I'll be switching my profile picture for something a bit edgy. I'll be checking into odd locations at strange hours ... and collecting Mayor badges like there's no tomorrow. Maybe I'll use rival service Gowalla for my real-life stuff.

The anonymization of my FourSquare profile will also dig me out of the embarrassing stuff. This week, I checked in for the third time at a client's offices - and became Mayor. This stuff can be misinterpreted, so I actually "resigned my Mayorship". At least I haven't spammed my Twitter and Facebook accounts with FourSquare checkins.

I'm using FourSquare for Blackberry, and it plays quite nicely with the GPS - but sometimes it's also wildly wrong. Near the central station in Munich, someone on FourSquare created a new version (or an homage?) to the fabulous Heathrow T5. Maybe their phone took a long time to find a signal after a quick hop across Europe? I would have checked in, but Icelandic volcanoes have put paid to all air traffic round these parts for the last week, and this is the most wildly-inaccurate location I've seen so far. That said, I've encountered plenty of misses by a kilometer or three. FourSquare seems to be pushing software updates (can anyone confirm?) or at least improving the accuracy of their positioning, but if you find me checking in again at "some cell tower in the middle of nowhere" (not the Mayor of that one, yet) then you'll know that it's off the mark again.

Meanwhile, if I check in anywhere in mid-state Michigan, I'm probably lying. My 2nd-gen iPod Touch evidently took a liking to the delights of Lansing since it insists that I'm still there on the iPod version of FourSquare - which I installed several months after leaving Lansing. I'm actually not sure if the iPod contains GPS - but on this device, Google Maps also thinks I'm there still ... I tried checking in at the legendary Frank's Press Box in Okemos - and was simultaneously congratulated and disqualified by FourSquare for moving at light-speed for that check-in. The iPhone version wins, except for the very-important local leaderboard, which is Better on Blackberry (TM).

Labels: foursquare, tech

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Although I don't tend to live at the bleeding edge of top new tech, there's an upside to not being the world's earliest adopter. By the time I'm finally ready to get on board with something new-fangled, it's probably time to buy stock in the companies providing it ... because it's going mainstream.


After that caveat, here's my top 10 tech tips for '10.

1. Making friends with Mac. We've been living with a 13" MacBook Pro for the last couple of weeks. Getting it set-up was a snap, even installing Parallels to provide access to an already-licensed copy of Microsoft Office. Having used an iPhone and iPod Touch, the Mac OS is already familiar - a master move by AAPL. Little niggles remain, for example the hard edge of the aluminum casing can dig into my palms, and the lack of a right click button on the mouse (holding down the Control key is the answer), but overall, it's very useable and nicely packaged. Installing software is really simple, although I've yet to master Garage Band. Of course there is a high retail price to pay for the packaging.

2. The mobile internet. Over the last 12 months I've moved increasing towards surfing the web on a mobile device - to start with, my BlackBerry Bold - although the screen really is not surfing-friendly, and since the fall, my iPod Touch. Given a choice I'll always reach for the Touch for any web browsing. And let's face it, BlackBerry Apps really don't cut it ... yet.

3. The iPhone. On the subject of the mobile web, the iPhone delivers the most complete package today - although I expect fierce competition through '10 from Android. At first, I hated the response-free touch-screen (but the BlackBerry Storm's very responsive screen is very horrible indeed) and decided in favor of the Bold, mainly for the keyboard. However, in '10 I'm hoping to spend less time pumping out info and more time absorbing it - which means I need a better mobile device for browsing, and I'm not carrying two devices on the road.

4. A return to Internet Explorer. I'd been a Firefox fan since it was in a zero point something beta as Firebird, and it's still a really great browser, but I've made a concerted effort to use IE8 and it's not at all bad. I'd never managed to fully escape the MS browser lock-in, as some web apps demand IE - and even with the excellent IETab in Firefox, it has still been faster to have only one browser running. As for Chrome and Opera - well, I've tried them but didn't feel the "wow" factor.

5. Widespread Windows 7. It's here to stay, and although I was sceptical a year ago, it's so great to be in a Vista-free zone. I can't really see any performancer improvements over XP although there's greater functionality.

6. The emergence of the eBook. I didn't like the Kindle 2 at first, which is a good sign actually. It's quite convenient for carrying a big pile of reading material, and a bigger screen than the iPod Touch helps, but I'm not lugging it everywhere ... yet. I've got a niggle with the battery life, which seems to show almost full charge for ages, then suddenly plummets into the red - maybe the next software update will fix that.

7. The death of CDs. I've got hundreds in the basement and haven't touched a single one all year. Most of my listening is done via Spotify or Last.fm anyway. Not sure what my feelings here are; my sensible side suggests selling them before CDs go the way of LPs and you can pick up a box-full for pennies.

8. The analog satellite switch-off. I say so with certainty since the service is due to go end-of-life at the end of 2010 ... it's just a race to see if the rust-worms can conquer our old dish before then. DVB-T TV here we come - in 2011.

9. Office online. Why use an installed word processor when an online version is lighter, and takes care of saving and backups, too? I'm trying MS Office 2010 and it seems to offer new functionality, but what's the price premium I'll pay versus Google docs? And don't give me the old argument that "all your data belongs to GOOG" because I've also got Google Desktop installed.

10. No more local storage. A 1TB external hard drive for €90 is tempting - except that I've already got that much storage. It's been years since I've been in danger of running out of capacity, thanks to drives with hundreds of GB, and why should I bother backing up manually to an external USB drive, when I can do it all online? So far I've only got around 65GB of data online, the great bulk of that is JPG images from our cameras. I've stopped worrying about backup because my online service is working optimally, period.

So what's planned for 2010? Further adoption of these 1o points, and keeping an open mind to new stuff, such as the new Firefox mobile browser (maybe it will make Bold browsing a less-frustrating experience?), and perhaps getting around to even thinking about how I might sell some CDs.

Labels: predictions, tech

Here we are on Day 7 with Windows 7 - time for a GBU* update.

The good: Stability and functionality. The "keep the lights on" cost has fallen to well below 1GB of RAM. The gains are boosted by disabling most of the unnecessary services (take a bow, Windows Time sync), deleted others (farewell, Apple Mobile Device Sync, I don't have an iPhone so I don't need you) and switched a bunch more to manual. I've also switched back to the Windows Basic look - who needs Aero? No visible performance gain but a slightly blockier appearance, in fact I'm reminded of the Windows 2000 Pro look. As a result of lower system resource usage, the fan isn't blowing so hard any more ... going back to a near-silent notebook is a bonus. Another real boon has been that BlackBerry software finally works with Bluetooth sync ...

The bad: My anti-virus solution of choice didn't install across the network despite it claiming to be Windows 7-ready. I'm investigating. Meanwhile using A.N.Other anti-virus solution and the trusty ol' Windows Firewall. And Outlook 2007 SP2 is playing games - I'm getting occasional system freezes for up to a couple of minutes, but this could also be something to do with a plug-in that I'm watching with Eagle eyes.

The ugly: TrueType on my notebook panel. Just fuzzy. On my desktop monitor it looks OK ... and there's no way I'm tuning it every time I make the switch. I'll probably turn it off. Also - my favorite button on the entire desktop has moved house: I'm talking about the Minimize Desktop button that used to sit bottom left in my tray. Bottom right isn't intuitive just yet.

Despite lower internal fan use, battery life still seems to be down, although I'm using the vanilla settings right now instead of the more tuned drivers for my notebook ... this has just been a case of getting A Round Tuit. I've got a second battery in the notebook DVD drive in any case. It could also be that the excellent Battery Bar is still fine-tuning its power lifetime calculations.

So what's on my machine now I've had the luxury of a clean install? Here's my list:

* Anti-virus (like, doh)
* CCleaner
* Roboform
* GoodSync
* Office 2007 SP2
* Google Desktop
* Adobe Acrobat Reader
* Adobe AIR
* Revo Uninstaller
* Skype
* ICQ
* Firefox and various plug-ins, numero uno being Delicious.com as ever
* Freemind
* Mozy
* BlackBerry Desktop Manager
* Picasa
* Spotify
* iTunes - but NOT Bonjour. I said "au revior" to that as soon as iTunes had installed
* Various admin tools

And that's it except to say that I'm also testing O&O's Clever Cache, as a replacement for an SD card that I used to use with Vista for ReadyBoost. Although it worked with Vista, Windows 7 said "nein danke" and after I actually resourted to RTFM (definition here if you don't know what this means) I dumped the hardware and am testing a software solution.

It claims to be saving around 130MB of memory that would otherwise be used by File Cache. However, I'd tried Clever Cache with Vista and couldn't tell the difference. I think it's one of those subtle pieces of software that you never really know you need until it's gone ... but I won't know that for another 21 days.

* The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly - abbreviation as used by CAR magazine since time immemorial

Labels: tech, w7, Windows7

The mass-market beta test worked ... I handed over cash this morning for a full version of Windows 7. Although I'd planned to get the 32-bit Pro edition, the store was out except for Ultimate - which is quite nice as it's got the language pack built-in.

We are officially in the honeymoon period - the install was painless, everything works, and a few things that never worked now do... for example Bluetooth sync on BlackBerry. This should never have been an issue, but it was one of the many things wrong with Vista.

Maybe in 30 years someone will work out the true cost to MS of Vista. For now, I'll be generous and say I am very relieved to be in a Vista-free zone personally, that I pledge to get my friends and family out of that space asap, and I hope the honeymoon lasts for years.

Labels: w7, Windows7

My notebook is jittering with excitement - it's getting a Windows 7 makeover this weekend.
It's a production machine but I'm not going in blind: it passes the minimum spec (ie it can run Vista) and I'm counting the cycles til I can rid my life of V***a.

Since we don't quite live in an Orwellian world I've not gone back and rewritten my original posts on how exciting it was to get Vista in the first place ... but this time around I am wiser and ready.

Watch this space for updates, but no promises on how fast - and no update does not necessarily mean it was a disastrous fail and I'm off da grid. Just busy.

Labels: w7, Windows7

Thinking of upgrading to Windows 7? Then take a look at Amazon.de's crazy Windows 7 pricing.

The idea of upgrading from XP or the wretched Vista certainly has my stamp of approval - but if you're thinking about going to Amazon's website to choose your upgrade package, choose carefully, or you'll end up spending a lot more than necessary.

According to amazon.de this morning, they're offering all 16 of the standard packages.

First come the lowly Home Premium editions - choose from a 32/64-bit combi, a 32/64 upgrade, or individual 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

Next come the more useful Pro editions - and the same choice of versions.

After that, the Ultimate editions ...

And finally, the version upgrades, from Starter to Home Premium, from HP to Pro, and from Pro to Ultimate.

Now look at Amazon.de's pricing and you'll see that they will probably have a hard time shifting those version upgrades. Who in their right mind would pay EUR167.99 to upgrade from HP to Pro when they could buy a stand-alone Pro license for EUR50 less?

The combined 32- and 64-bit versions are also much more expensive. Who the heck would lay out EUR298.95 for the Windows 7 Pro 32 and 64-bit version when they could buy individual licenses for both a 32-bit version AND a 64-bit version and still save EUR66? It just doesn't add up!

The most ludicrous deal of all has to be the upgrade paths. Anyone who is unfortunate enough to buy a new Windows 7-enabled PC or notebook that comes with the Starter edition, and wants to upgrade, is probably better off either choosing a different model in the first place, or wiping the pre-installed software and doing a clean install. Why? Because anyone who pays EUR72.99 for the Starter to HP upgrade, then lays out a further EUR167.99 for the HP to Pro uplift, just has to be cuckoo crazy.

If you do choose Amazon.de as your provider of the shiny new Windows7 software, select your version carefully.

Labels: amazon, rant, Windows7

2009 is truly shaping up as the Year of the Cloud. For me it's been the year when I've reached the inflection point where putting and accessing my data on someone else's infrastructure has become my primary, rather than a secondary usage scenario.

Although I'd dabbled, like millions of others, with Cloud-based services even before they were called cloud (hello, del.icio.us bookmarks, before the Yahoo! acquisition and more boring renaming as delicious.com; hi Skype, hey Flickr), it's only in 2009 that I've really started depending on these.

Two examples. Firstly, Mozy. After a couple of months of on-off 24x7 operation I've almost finished transferring around 55GB of JPEGs to Mozy Home. Why so long? The slow uplink from our domestic DSL. I've looked for upgrades but there's nothing affordable ... At this upload speed, it's not practical to try uploading the hundreds of GBs of lovingly-ripped and tagged music files, but it's a start in protecting my valuable documents and photos. I'm not planning to access my uploaded data on a regular basis, but knowing it's still there is reassuring.

Secondly, replacing Exchange with hosted email - by Google. This has given me first-hand exposure to how Google is moving into the enterprise as a serious software company. Although the migration has not been totally trouble-free, it's pretty impressive and most of all, the service is fast. My work mail is now powered by Gmail ... although the interface to Google Apps Premier Edition lacks many of the cool experimental Gmail features, I've got all the tools I need.

What next? Well, Roboform offers to sync all my website logins ... not sure this is a good thing. My mobile phone address book was synced via ZYB until Vodafone bought it and took the service offline (boo hiss). I've just checked and it seems to be back ... hey, wouldn't it have been a great idea to actually NOTIFY existing users? However, looking around, they don't support BlackBerry. Oh, forget it. ZYB was a bad example. There are probably a few wannabe copycat services by now, and I'm off to investigate.

Labels: cloud, tech