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RSS FeedOctober 28th, 2012
Not so happy with Audible
Audio books are a real boon. Especially for people like me, who have decent traffic commute as well as some occasional travel. In the past I have usually gotten the audio books on CD from my local library. About 3 months ago I signed up for Audible, and have been patiently listening to some audio books since then.
However, their entire user experience is based on DRM. I cannot play those audio books on just any MP3 player, because these files are in Audible’s proprietary format.
Not good.
October 7th, 2012
Google Drive and Dropbox – Subtle Difference in Offline Handling
One significant but subtle difference between Google Drive and Dropbox is that when the computer goes offline, and say you modify a file (or rename it). In that case, Google Drive happily shows that with a green check icon. Obviously, the file has not synchronized yet. Dropbox correctly shows this with the modified icon, which stays in place until you go online and Dropbox has synchronized the file.
Dropbox Offline – Files show as modified.
Google Drive Offline – Files show as up to date.
This becomes a gzillion times more important when Google Drive just dies, and its only indication is that the icon on the dock has changed color slightly.
Perhaps a fix is around the corner?
September 25th, 2012
Mac OS vs Windows – Subjectivity Galore
I migrated to a Mac a few months ago, just to try out the “other side”, although I have had an iPod and an iPad prior, and a Mac many many many years ago.
Well, the first thing that you have to do within a few hours of getting your Mac is to install Mac Office, so your Microsoft distance usually lasts only a few hours anyway. And then comes the next slight “annoyance” – Mac Office by default opens recent document every time you open your Mac Office application. So, you go to a client site 1, open slide deck 1, close the document, close Microsoft PowerPoint. Then you go to client site 2, and open Microsoft PowerPoint to launch slide deck 2, and oops, it opens slide deck 1. 
Why? Well, in Mac Office, that is the default. Applications open recently closed documents when being relaunched. This isn’t just a Mac Office default, but default for many applications on the Mac! Of course, you can turn this thing off for Mac Office.
As Eric Dasque over at frenchguys.com teaches us, we can simply open a terminal, and type in the following commands, and that should take care of it.
defaults write com.microsoft.Powerpoint NSQuitAlwaysKeepsWindows -bool false
defaults write com.microsoft.Word NSQuitAlwaysKeepsWindows -bool false
defaults write com.microsoft.Excel NSQuitAlwaysKeepsWindows -bool false
defaults write com.microsoft.Word NSQuitAlwaysKeepsWindows -bool false
defaults write com.microsoft.Excel NSQuitAlwaysKeepsWindows -bool false
This kind of “terminal manipulation” isn’t for everyone, but is a workaround if you need one. (There is also a system preference to make this take affect at the entire system level, but users report that that does not fix this specific problem, event though it really should in theory.) Die hard Mac fans will point out why the default behavior is the way it is. Die hard PC fans may simply snicker. But the underlying issue is that no default serves everyone. So, then, the question becomes if the user can configure the defaults easily. If they have to navigate some complicated menu, or copy paste and do things in a “terminal”, when the only terminal they knew until then was the one with Tom Hanks, then they are not going to be so happy.
September 3rd, 2012
Houston, we have a Netflix Problem
While I love the Netflix’s cutesy subject lines when they send out emails, there is one thing that I don’t.
Netflix recently sent out an email to me “Houston, we have a problem” whey they were unable to charge my credit card. Promptly thereafter they discontinued my service, even though I have been with Netflix since Reed Hastings was still in his nappies.
Then, I updated my credit card, and they sent out an email again “Problem Solved”
Great, but I am offended that they discontinued the service without giving the customer much of a chance to resolve the situation. My kids depend upon Dora. 
August 12th, 2012
Job scheduling mechanisms in Clouds
As more and more organizations have started to use the cloud for their computing needs (I have been using Amazon Web Services, commonly known as the EC2 cloud for more than two years now), a relatively new set of challenges has arisen. The cloud providers provide computing resources, while the organizations care about their analytical and computing jobs being completed, irrespective of the computing resources they require. The organizations would like to place a value on the job, instead of the resource, and there is currently a missing link between the two.
As a regular reviewer for Computing Reviews, I have just finished a formal review for Near-optimal Scheduling Mechanisms for Deadline-Sensitive jobs in Large Computing Clusters, and that work specifically tries to address these new kinds of challenges that we are all observing as the movement to cloud computing gathers further steam.