Do you know the expression “once in a blue moon” is all about the low frequency of the event and not the color (Google it)?
Shot looked a little different through the eye piece – I could see features of the moon, but I still like the result. Photography is like that.
The decision of the jury in the Apple/Samsung patent dispute was pretty clear. The jury determined that Samsung violated multiple Apple patents and deserved approximately 1 billion in compensation. In addition, Apple is now attempting to block the sale of devices with attributes covered by these patents.
I want to be clear that I support sanctions against those who steal the creative products generated by others. I have no experience with patents, but I understand copyright as it applies to intellectual property I have created. What I do not understand is what qualifies for a patent. I own both Apple and Samsung products and I understand they appear to work in the same way. The shape is similar. There are buttons that launch apps. It is not clear to me what practical options would be available. I suppose we could go back to the days of the Apple II and the pre Windows days and use the command line. In general the UI now depends on object based methods.
I have a concern that is shared by many and was part of the argument advanced by Samsung. I am concerned that a lack of competition will influence the cost of devices and whether or not new advances make it to market when possible. Was there no smaller iPad or was there no reason to release one until the Nexus 7 was released and attracted considerable attention (one of the devices in my image is my Nexus).
I have been searching for a summary of the patents that were the target of this suit and warranted a billion dollar penalty. Here are some sources that offer information.
Business Insider (second article)
Wall Street Journal (the count by count insert indicates the patents in question)
My motivation to search for the specific patents involved was to satisfy my own motivation to understand just what can be patented and reach a personal conclusion regarding how significant such developments actually are. My reaction, with the exception of the “bounce back feature’ and “multitouch” is that features in question are trivial. Rounded square icons as a problem? Really!
I think a lot about expertise. This is an important topic in education and hence an interest of most educational psychologists. There are many types of expertise. These thoughts concern the form of expertise involved in helping others accomplish their goals. This can be somewhat different than what most educators do – we help others understand what we want them to understand.
My wife has supported teachers and professors most of her career. She helps others help their students do meaningful things with technology. She has this very interesting capacity to accept a request regarding a specific curriculum goal and then offer options involving various combinations of activity and software/hardware. It is the variety I find impressive. Not a one trick pony way of viewing the world or a dependence on abstract suggestions that leave the details to the educators. Options with the capacity to demonstrate each idea.
Expertise is different than knowledge and most have heard of the 10,000 hour principle. It takes a lot of time and a lot of examples to acquire expertise. I have watched this happen over the last 15 years or so. It is hard to explain just what this takes. Here are a couple of attempts.
Cindy has two iPads. This is not because she always needs the newest and greatest. It is because her first iPad was full of apps and she needed a second one to expand her collection. There is this constant process of exploring – download and experiment. Night after night.
A few weeks ago my daughter asked Cindy to help her prepare some “crafts” that could be sold to support a collaboration with a cancer treatment center for young people in a South American (I can’t recall the country so you can see how well I follow these “projects’). Anyway, the “hummingbird” is the symbol used by this organization and so the idea was to collect crafts focused on a hummingbird theme. These situations are an opportunity for Cindy to explore. Our daughter made some cards with a hummingbird picture (I did contribute by taking the pics). One design – one option. That is what she had time to do. Cindy purchased a new printer, a laminator, 4 cartridges for our color laser (these are not cheap) and began making things. When things do not work like she expects, there is the chance to figure things out. Sometimes you can print to the edge of a document and sometimes not (this is called bleed – as in full bleed). Half a day trying to get a nonresponsive app to generate a full bleed product.
Now she has some new ideas for projects. Now she understands more about the processes involved in generating and printing in unusual formats. This is what it takes.
We had a bit of a wind event here last night and when we went down to the lake this morning we found that someone had lost their paddleboat and it had drifted up on our beach. Trying to do the right thing, I decide that I should move this boat to the end of the dock so that the owner might see and reclaim it.
The rope that secured the boat before the storm had evidently broken and I was having difficulty moving the water filled boat. I decided the logical thing to do would be to leap into the boat from the dock and paddle it. I remember telling my wife – be decisive. You transfer your weight quickly when boarding an unsecured boat or it will move away from you before you are aboard and you end up in the water. I moved without hesitation and the boat immediately began to sink. Evidently, the plug was gone and the hollow boat was already filled with water. Not enough buoyancy for my weight. The boat began to flip so I had to jump to prevent the boat from landing on top of me.
Now when I went down to the shore I did not intend to go in the water. I had my phone and the other things I normally carry in my pockets. I hope the Galaxy Nexus survives – I really like that phone. It took me a few seconds to rescue it from my pocket and it is now sunning on the deck.
Oh – come and get your boat. Once I was soaked, I decided to drag it to shore.
You know those guys who add those high end sound systems to their cars. Those cars that kind of thump when they pull up beside you. Whomp, whomp, whomp … Sad.
I am thinking the guys who think this sounds cool need some help. I am here to help. The curmudgeon is just the right guy in this case ‘cuz the old curmudgeon has long been a fan of the bass line.
I was a tuba player in high school. This was not because I was a virtuoso – it was because I was willing and the band director thought I had a tin ear. If you play notes that are consistently flat and you play the tuba, no one can really tell.
Anyway, this may have been the beginning of my special interest in bass instruments and those who play them well, I am a fan of the bass line. This is a serious matter. No whomp, whomp, whomp for me.
First, to develop an appreciation for a good bass line, you need to listen to some tunes with some quality bass. The one note bass line simply sucks.
Here are a couple of suggestions:
I notice that these are both covers. However, far better bass than the originals.
A side note (another musical pun) – I also appreciate great lyrics. Dylan is a genius. What a word man.
All I got is a red guitar, three chords, and the truth.
I would love to be able to offer such profound thoughts.
Now, good tunes are not enough. You do need to invest in some quality equipment.
Here is my latest favorite bass line toy (Outcast from Soundcast).
This thing weighs nearly 40 points. A good bass line requires some weight – large magnet in the woofer. It is about the exact size of a cream can, but that description is a throw back to my Iowa farm boy roots and of little value to even those who still live in Iowa.
What I like about this toy is that if you like your bass line loud, this device seems to have no top end (or bottom end in this case). Imagine placing this in the middle of a parking lot and pushing the volume up button to your heart’s content. I have not found the limit. I am certain there is one, but I always back off for fear of having the neighbors call the authorities.
I am a fan of the theory that loud bass does less damage to your hearing than an amplified middle or high range. I suppose at my age I should be concerned that the shock wave offers some danger to my heart.
So be it – the heart is where you need to appreciate music.
Crank it up.
I grew up on a farm, but was never suited to being a farmer. My parents understood this and while my assistance was expected from time to time, the most important thing was that I worked somewhere. I worked at a golf course.
Cindy and I are driving from Grand Forks to San Diego for a technology conference (ISTE – the International Society for Technology in Education). The road trip sounded like a great adventure and so far this has been the case. We were somewhere in very rural Nebraska (I say this as only someone from North Dakota can) and we came across a sight that took me back. It was men’s night at the Augusta Wind Public golf course – Stapleton, NE.
Augusta Wind – get it?
My job at the Pierson golf course was to oil and rake the sand greens. Sand “greens” – not sand traps. The oil (recycled from the local gas station) creates a better texture than dry sand for putting. What caught my attention with Augusta Winds was the fairways. The greens were very green. I could not figure out where the fairways were. It all looked like rough.
We stopped to take a few photos and struck up a conversation. Perhaps they thought we were potential members. There were fairways – they had just been hayed. Really. The guy I talked with admitted the rough was rough.
We exchanged a few stories based on our golf backgrounds – the commitment to the game, not our skills.
Cindy says most of us are spoiled and forget about those guys who value something so much they build and maintain their own golf course in the middle of a field in the middle of somewhere in Nebraska.
It is fathers’ day 2012. I spent the day at the lake with my kids and grandkids. My youngest daughter gave me and the other fathers in our family a special gift – a basketball hoop. She was the best athlete in the family and I used to shoot with her on the small court we built in our backyard.
I stopped playing in 1997. Mostly because I gained too much weight after the flood and the game was starting to be hard on my joints. I am 63 now. Sixty year olds don’t play ball.
Still, it was fun to shoot in the driveway. I still like the way a jump shot feels leaving my hand. Not much elevation now. I guess there was not much elevation then either. Still feels good though – nothing but net.
There should be some truth in advertising requirement applied to political slogans. For example, what is “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs” supposed to mean? At face value it might seem that the slogan is about promoting a higher rate of employment. On closer examination, it seems the slogan is more about private sector employment and less public sector employment. If one happens to be employed in the public sector (I guess this apples to me), one might take offense at the probable misrepresentation. Evidently, one way to boost the general economy is to cut jobs in certain sectors. One of these sectors is public education.
It turns out that the mantra is more about employers than employees. Perhaps the politicians should chant “Profits, Profits, Profits” – this request might better reflect a position that generates the campaign contributions.
This may seem more like a Labor Day than a Memorial Day post, but read through to the end.
Ever thought about the expression “I have to go to work.” What I mean is whether you understand this expression in a positive or negative way.
This morning, my wife and I cut up and stacked the wood from a fallen tree. It is Memorial Day and somehow the task reminded me of my dad. I had to help with this kind of work when I was a kid. My brothers and I would go into the grove with dad to “clean things up”. I regarded the task as work – not the kind that is fun. Mostly we had to haul the branches and chunks of wood dad cut to a central location. The only fun part I remember involved those situations in which we got to throw some fuel oil on the pile and light it.
Cutting the tree up this morning was fun. I got to run the saw and the tree fell on my land. When it dries, I may even get to burn the wood. Same task, very different experience. Perhaps it is the element of control or making the decision to perform a task that differentiates one type of work from the other.
There is a connection between the two tree cutting experiences. The land I own that allows me to cut up wood was bought with money from the land on which dad and the kids used to cut wood. I remember the connection.
The NY Times is running a series on college debt. I read one article and it depressed me (a related blog post). I hope I am not contributing to the problem.
It is true that tuition costs are increasing and states are paying less and less of the costs of public education. It is true that related costs such as book are increasing. It is true that our government cannot decide how to keep the interest on student loans low – roll back health care reform or tax the rich.
It appears that online education may be part of the solution. I am not certain that instruction is less expensive, but online experiences eliminate the costs of moving to a college to obtain an education.
I still wonder about online learning. Actually, it is not the learning part that concerns me. I think some of the value in an education is the social component. A social connection is one of the better predictors of whether students stay in college or drop out. The social component is a priority for many students according to the authors of Academically Adrift (not a good thing according to these authors). The social connections are part of what you pay for long term – connections with bright, well placed people. I think they call it networking in the world of business.
It was graduation time at UND this past weekend. Some of the Instructional Design and Technology graduate students made the trip to Grand Forks. Our online courses include fairly sophisticated capabilities, but we mostly hear the students. It is an interesting experience to meet students you have interacted with in several courses. I wonder about their long term connections with the program and with our institution. I know there are practical limitations, but perhaps some combination of FTF and online would be better.
