One of the first things that Steve Jobs decreed when he returned to the helm of Apple was that every mainstream computer – desktop, tower, all-in-one, laptop, whatever – needed to be easy for the owner to upgrade. Panels had to open without special tools, cases needed easy to find and open hatches and doors, and every hard drive and RAM module had to be easy to find, grab, and add to or replace by even the most ham-handed and fenderheaded dolt.
This is a very good thing – not only is it a boon for users, but it was one of those “little things” out of Apple that pushed the industry as a whole in a very good direction. Almost every manufacturer does this now (Sony’s nasty little laptops being a notable exception) but there was a time not very long ago where PC owners would flip-out you showed the easy access RAM bay on a Powerbook. I swear, I once thought a guy I was working with in St. Louis was going to cry.
However, there always seems to be one exception in these kinds of things, and this holds true to form. Some how, some way, the 12″ G4 iBook not only slipped past this particular proviso, but it managed to somehow become the Laptop Antichrist – a machine with a hard drive that was “difficult” to access in the same way that being hit with a 120mm mortar shell is “difficult” to survive.
This is too bad since this particular machine was built like a tank, had great components, and is now coming onto the used market in droves and at very reasonable prices. Makes a great second or third machine, or a machine for a kid, or an email machine for a hesitant older person, or whatever – if only you can upgrade that hard drive. At the time 30GB seemed insanely huge – storage overkill, really – but not it is laughably small. So what to do?
It was pointed out to me that the gang up in Waterloo may have gone out of their way to invite the comparisons between the Storm and the iPhone – comparisons that inevitably end up with the Storm on the wrong end of the stick. Fair enough. If nothing else, the nudge-nudge “secret” code name of the thing as the “Apple Killer” was more than enough to point out what they hoped to be getting at. However – that is neither here nor there. People whose job is to know better should still compare oranges to oranges. Or Blackberries to Blackberries.
A couple of other people took umbrage to my categorization of the UI on the Storm was a “showstopper”. Not that they disagreed – they were in fact of like mind – but they were miffed that I would be willing to overlook a supposed showstopper if another unrelated showstopper was fixed. The sentiment boiled down to “either it is a showstopper or it isn’t, there is no ’sorta’ here”.
Annoyingly, they are right. So I have modified my original wording thereof. Happy?
Oddly, people were more vocal about the fact that RIM didn’t take advantage of the “situation aware” capabilities of a virtual keyboard than were concerned about the UI. People are getting more sophisticated when it comes to mobile computing, I guess. This is a good thing.
So I am told by Reliable Sources that there is a new Muppet Christmas special tonight. Part of me wants to be all happy about that, but a larger part of me is less-than-enthused. Because the show will have the same Muppets, but – after the passing of Jim Henson – the Muppets aren’t the same. You might have to dwell on that for a while, but trust me, you will eventually get to the same point.
So yeah. Instead of doing a new Muppet special, why not get busy and free up the old Christmas Together special with John Denver and the Muppets of yore. I am of the understanding that the thing is tied up in the reams of litigation that still surround the Denver estate, but come on people – this is Christmas. Find a solution and get it done. Between that and the perfectly delightful Muppet Christmas Carol” you will have all the holiday Muppetry you need, without bastardizing the legacy in the pursuit of a few more bucks.
In the meantime, watch this. The sound quality sucks, and the video looks like it is ripped from a copy of a copy of a copy of a bad VHS, but it’s still … magic.
A couple of people pointed out that the “online Muppet building tool” is gone, having been replaced with a lame order form for a “kit” you use at home. Since the tool appears to be scheduled to come back in February, I will assume that this simply means they have as many orders as they can possibly process right now, and this is not a permanent change. Too bad, tho – they could have just left it up and running to play with, even if they weren’t accepting any more orders.
The much-anticipated Blackberry Storm hits Canadian stores next week, and with a month of so of official use under the belt south of the border it’s probably time to take a look at how the actual production devices are faring.
I was going to do a round up of the various reviews, but McCracken has saved me the time – you can get a pretty broad snapshot in one handy location right here. Note to Blackberry fans: Steel yourself before clicking on the link. While none of the reviews are quite as scathing as Pogue’s write-up over at the Times, the general consensus is not very flattering.
The general consensus is also extremely unfair. What pretty much all of these reviewers have done – either overtly or in a roundabout kind of way – is compare the Storm to the iPhone. What they should be doing is comparing it to other Blackberries. It’s as if General Motors took a huge leap of faith, adopted some new technologies that were long overdue, made what was far and away the best General Motors car ever … and then the reviewers to a man (or woman) did nothing but side-by-side comparisons to the new BMW M3. It wouldn’t be pretty. And it wouldn’t be fair.
Same thing here. This is by far the best Blackberry ever. Period. And as an attempt to shake off a lot of layers of moribund ideas and technology, it is a very very good first step. Hopefully the first of many. And for the people who didn’t like the touchscreen keypad – get a grip. It is beyond excellent.
That said, there are a few things that I take umbrage with – two of them quibbles, and two of them showstoppers:
Quibble: Using the SureType keyboard in portrait mode. Things like SureType have a purpose – they are a necessary compromise when you have to cram a keyboard into a very small physical space. Fine. But the space here isn’t small, and there is absolutely no reason not to have a full QWERTY keypad on the touchscreen in both orientations. This is pretty obviously a case of “someone at RIM is so in love with SureType that they feel they have to cram it into every possible product, regardless of the actual utility”. Luckily, the easy workaround is to never ever type in portrait mode. Flip the thing on its side and … problem solved. I would have liked to see a way to turn this off, though.
Quibble: A complete lack of situational and dynamic keys on the touchscreen keypad. The whole idea of using a touchscreen keypad is twofold: One, you get more real estate on the screen. And two, you have the ability to get around the limitations of hardwired keys. For reasons unknown, the Storm pretty much completely eschews number two. There are no URL-based keys when you are in the web browser, no easy way to get accented characters, no easy way to use non-standard braces and quotes. I just don’t get it – it’s like they got this shiny new hardware and nobody realized that they could update the firmware to match.
Showstopper: The UI. Anyone who has used a Blackberry for any period of time (and who doesn’t actually work for RIM) will tell you that it is the best mobile email device in the entire world … and that using any other application or function on the thing pretty much sucks. There is just no coherence, pattern, or basic rhyme and reason to the UI. It’s like the people who do the various pieces sit in sealed boxes and never ever talk to each other – and some of them never even use their own applictions. There is no excuse at all for the “rest of the Blackberry” not being as good as the email app. None. Someone at RIM who is in a position high enough to do something about it needs to (1) look up the acronym “HIG”, and (2) spend the appropriate amount of time getting one in place.
Showstopper: No WiFi. Really. You might think I am joking, but I am not. There are no WiFi capabilities at all, which is both completely unacceptable and totally flabbergasting. I am going to take the high road and assume that RIM was bullied into this by their “partners” in the wireless industry (and I use the term “partners” very lightly, since the wireless providers in North America are conscienceless pirates who fuck the hardware makers over every bit as badly as they fuck over their paying subscribers). The wireless industry hates and fears WiFi, and would do just about anything to make sure it never saw the light of day in any mainstream device. That said, I don’t understand why RIM would cave in on this. They are not some bit player here … they still are the number one name in the game. If Apple had the leverage to tell both AT&T and Rogers where to get off on this one, then RIM should have been able to do it too. What gives?
So yeah. I wouldn’t buy one yet – but I like it enough that I would put my money on the counter if they get their heads around a usable UI and correct the WiFi issue. It’s that good. Ready for prime time? No, not yet. But bad press aside, you owe it to yourself to at least take a look.
There was a time when the “Nazi spy novel” was a staple of english-language fiction. For a generation, the Nazis were the ultimate bad guys – remorseless thugs who would do anything to achieve their nefarious ends, capable of any sort of evil. An author could have them do literally anything in his pages and no matter how vile or unbelievably sick the act, the reader would buy into it.
Villains like that make for some really great plots.
Alas, the genre has mostly been swept away, replaced by the Russians and then the Chinese and shadowy corporate cartels. So when someone has a go at resurrecting this particular breed of book, I usually give it a peek. I missed Double Cross Blind when it first hit the racks, but I was lucky enough to stumble onto it as a bit of a Johann-come-lately this month. It is absolutely delicious – it’s nicely paced, atmospheric and engaging, and has the three things that are absolutely vital to any Nazi spy tale:
1 – good guys that you just can’t bring yourself to like
2 – good guys that you do like and who are torn from you in nasty ways
3 – bad guys that you can’t help but really like
Check, check, and check. Good stuff all around, and a quality first effort. Perfect for winter evenings and a great cup of tea. And just try and get through the thing without falling for the mysterious and oh-so-naughty “Duckblind”.
