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EU vs Microsoft, Why?

By on 09/02/2009 in EU, Microsoft, Technology

I don’t really understand this case. Opera complains to the European Commission about Microsoft bundling Internet Explorer with the operating system. The Commission takes it on and is now waiting for Microsoft’s response to the accusations.

As much as I hate IE (especially 6 and 7, hating 5.5 would be like hating a dead dictator) I can’t see this making any sense. Microsoft makes the OS and therefor has the freedom to choose the browser they want. Period. The fact that it’s not the best browser you can get and is not in the interest of their customers, doesn’t make it any different. Should they bundle different makes of Solitaire as well? And Mine Sweeper? Paint?

Why isn’t Opera complaining about Apple? If this case goes through, wouldn’t it mean that Mac OS X should be pre-loaded with Firefox, Opera, Camino, Flock, OmniWeb, iCab, Shiira etc. Who draws the line and where do you draw it?

Perhaps there’s more to this. Maybe there’s is something I don’t know about Windows that makes it hard for people to download and use different browsers but right now I feel like this is a case that’s taking advantage of EU’s long term grudge against Microsoft. If EU really wanted to hurt Microsoft, they should just move their systems to run on Linux. Couple of million workstations across Europe running Ubuntu would certainly send the messages to Redmond.

Firefox is a proof that it’s possible to get large amounts of people interested in a browser other than IE. I think Opera should concentrate their efforts on telling people how good their product is rather than on drumming how badly their big cousin behaves.

PS. Let’s all give it a try, especially if you’re running IE, click one of the links below to get another browser for your system:
Opera
Firefox

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If Any More Prove Was Needed…

By on 18/01/2009 in Advertising, Microsoft

… That Microsoft doesn’t excel at making adverts for their products, watch this ad.

Something to notice is that Songsmith – the product it advertices – doesn’t run on a Mac.

They also haven’t realized that when other companies use real people as actors they’re actually ‘real’ people – actors. Maybe MS should send their engineers and product managers back behind their desk to do their real jobs.

–kristian

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300 – Challenge Done

By on 18/11/2008 in Fitness And Running, Personal

Just last week, 32 days early, I completed the 300 km running challenge I set myself 3 months ago. There were two things I wanted to accomplish with this:

1) Get into shape for our up-coming trip to New Zealand this christmas

and

2) Feel better

It was something that had been nagging me for quite a while; the thought of being 27-years-old and in the worst physical shape I’ve ever been. Weight kept creeping up at the pace of about a kilo per year and my 11-year-old brother can now challenge me in doing chin ups. I used to run before moving to the UK but was never really able to keep up the routine here. And routine is, I think, one of the most important things when it comes to exercise.

By setting that goal, it was easy to motivate myself to go outside and run. Another even greater source of motivation has been that my friends Ville, Johanna and Heikki joined me on the challenge. Ville ‘virtually’, as he lives in Finland. It’s been so good to have company along the way.

Another challenge Ville and I set ourselves about 7 years ago was to run a marathon by the time we’re 27. I don’t think we’ll quite make it (after all we are both 27 already) but to try and live up to that promise, I’m signing up for the Edinburgh Marathon that takes place in May next year. I haven’t set a target time yet, we’ll first have to see how training goes.

A Little Bit About Equipment

Good shoes are the most essential thing you can invest on if thinking of taking up running. After all, on a 10 km run your feet will hit the asphalt some 11’000 times, they need something nice in between. Mine are Asics Gel’s that my dad kindly passed on. He’s been using the same make, model and size for years now but the ones he bought earlier this autumn didn’t fit properly. Apparently Asics had changed the recipe. They fit me perfectly so that’s good.

First running gear item I bought after starting was shorts. Problem I had was that my thighs were rubbing against each other and causing a rash. Instead of trying out the Dr. Michael Hfuhruhurr method of walking/running without knees touching, I decided to get NikeFit shorts. They have a little pocket in the back that’s good for keys and perfect size for the iPhone. Surprisingly, can’t even feel it’s there.

RunKeeper Review


Talking about the iPhone, I tried out RunKeeper for some ten of the last runs. It’s a general exercise app that I was really excited with what it promises; distance, pace, speed, path on a map etc. Just what you’d expect from a well equipped running watch. It took me five or six tries before I got a solid good result from it. One thing or another always seemed to go wrong. Some of the problems are inherit to how the iPhone work i.e. you can’t have apps running in the background – which means you can’t properly lock the screen while running – and GPS drains the battery really fast. Biggest problem, however was the unreliability of the app, things like the screen showing that one minute I’m running at a steady 9 km/h and next I’m sprinting at 20 km/h (once it even said I’m running at almost 200 km/h). Also system wide warnings like low battery and incoming text messages paused the training, which meant that either you stopped to pay attention to your run and fixed your tracking or – more likely – just kept going and had a big gap in your route. Although it has a build in screen lock, I found on few occasions that it had released and paused or stopped the trip. Very annoying.

All this said, I think if they can fix the problems they have, it’ll be very useful. Cool thing that it does is it sends data of your run to their website and you can view it there along with a map of the run. It does it very quickly; if I press ‘Save Trip’ downstairs after the run, it’s ready to view by the time I’m in the flat. It’s also free, so barrier of entry is very low, all you have to do is to bear with it’s short comings.

Over all, good thing about running is that it’s not about equipment or skill or even time, all you need is the will to get started.

–Kristian

PS. Some Numbers Gathered Along the Way

83 days to reach the goal

Goal was reached 86.67 km a head schedule

Daily average was 3.63 km

Shortest single run: 2.94 km

And the longest: 17.33 km

20349 calories burned while running

weight: -4 kg

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Running on the Streets of London

By on 01/11/2008 in Fitness And Running

What a lovely piece of film making. It gives an image of London that seems so distant as soon as I step out and take the 55, 48 or 26 outside my flat. It’s been years since I travelled on a Routemaster* and I really understand why it’s missed by so many people. I think it’s the feeling of community. Not just because they were smaller but an actual person checking you ticket and welcoming you on board.

I happened to find this video when doing a bit of research on a running competition idea I had few weeks ago. We’ve all heard of Man Versus Horse Marathon (haven’t we?) that takes place in Wales every year. It’d be called ‘Man versus the London Machine’. Or something like that. Perhaps taking on a bus on route 1 – for the simple reason that it’s THE number one route – which leaves from Canada Water and goes to Tottenham Court Road. I think it would have to be quite early in the morning as during rush hour the bus journey takes about two days. I’ll have to go and measure the distance and figure out if it’s doable. Will keep you posted.

kristian

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Wassup 2008

By on 30/10/2008 in Politics

Classic Budweiser ad turned into an Obama ad. good stuff. Watch the original here.

kristian

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All you need to know

By on 10/10/2008 in Politics

George W. Bush addresses the American public. This is the sort of stuff we’ll be missing when Bush leaves the office in January next year. It’s not a bushism – and I’m sure we’ve had enough of those to last a lifetime – but I’m personally going to miss these unintentional laughs he can deliver without a hint of irony or sarcasm.

(Thanks to BBC News at Six for the video)

kristian

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Running Update – Day 35

By on 24/09/2008 in Fitness And Running

First month or so has gone really quickly and surprisingly painlessly. Only after about a week of running it started to feel easy and I found myself waiting for – rather that fretting – the next run. I started of with really shorts runs, only about 3 kilometers, and have steadily increased them so that today I ran 13.8 kilometers – longest distance so far. That’s more than I did during the whole of first week of running. It felt really good. Total distance: 112 km.

On top of the goal of reaching 300 km total by 15th Dec, I’ve decided to signup for the Brighton half marathon which is in the end of February. Thanks to Mike and Colin for persuading me to join them. Both goals are well doable, what makes the difference is the time I want to do them in. I’ll set the goal for Brighton closer to it so I wont set it too low as I did with the 300 km run. Then again, it doesn’t really matter, main thing is to have fun and feel fitter and healthier.

Ok, that’s it for the first update (I know, it was a bit more than 10 days…), next one coming at 200 km mark.

kristian

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iPhone Planets 1.2

By on 19/08/2008 in Apple, iPhone

Are you sick of looking at Earth on your iPhone wallpaper? Would you rather see Africa than the US side of Earth? Or do you just want more options? To scratch your itch I’ve created iPhone Planets 1.2.

New features in 1.2

  • Legacy planet, Pluto, added
  • the Moon
  • Asteroid Itakawa
  • Death Star
  • iPod Touch now supported

Other features:

  • Mercury
  • Venus
  • Earth (alternative view)
  • Mars
  • Jupiter
  • Saturn
  • Uranus
  • Neptune

Installing is easy:

  • Download above .zip file
  • Use iPhoto/Aperture and iTunes to transfer images to your iPhone
  • Navigate to the planets on your iPhone
  • Enjoy and share with others!

Compatible with iPhone and iPhone 3G. All images courtesy of NASA. Thank you.

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New Page – The Reading List

By on 15/06/2008 in Books

About a year ago, I started reading books. Or not really reading as I listen to them, which is why I started. I can’t concentrate on reading a book. If I have the luxury to sit still for more than a minute there are more important things to do than read.

I mostly choose factual books over fictional. Is there anything better than driving/cleaning/cooking/sleeping and learning something at the same time? Don’t try, there isn’t. To share what I’m ‘reading’ I decided to open up a new page: The Reading List. Books are not in any particular order and I’m not putting up every book I go through, just the ones I really like. Links are to Amazon UK, mostly for the reason that you can find more info and reviews there.

–kristian

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Mobile Millennium Edition

By on 10/06/2008 in Apple

I’m glad to say I wasn’t the only one getting things wrong. Apple joined me in the quest for humbling experiences. Not only does the name ‘Mobile Me’ will take time to get used to, but it also reminds us all of the beginning of this century or I really should say millennium. Windows ME was the most hated Windows OS until Vista took it’s throne. What was Apple thinking, are they insane? Who was in charge of branding? I think it’s embarrassing:


-kristian

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