The Colin Walls Blog
What is my phone for?
I do not like talking on the telephone very much. To me, it feels like a very artificial, inefficient means of communication. Talking face to face is a much richer experience and any inefficiency is offset by the benefits of the non-verbal communication and its subtle nuances. Written communication can be much clearer [even though it often is not] and more efficient. Each of these media has its place and the phone comes in the middle as a compromise.
However, I am very happy to have a mobile phone and use it extensively, but very little of my use is talking, and I wonder how common my experience is nowadays. I have always been a somewhat early adopter of technology - I usually wait for version 1.1, but not hang on for 2.0. My phone usage can be understood by looking at my personal history … Read the rest of this entry »
Indefinite
I have a boundless interest in language and communication and have written on the topic before [here and here, for example]. I always feel lucky and privileged to have English as my native tongue, as the language has such enormous flexibility. Apart from having such wide usage, there are always lots of ways to say things and more vocabulary available than with any other language.
But there is one thing lacking - a facility which I feel we should nurture and revive: indefinite pronouns … Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: off-topic
Vacation for the PC repair man
I have used PCs for many years. The first one, way back in 1986 was a “genuine” IBM PC XT [10M hard drive and 640K memory - it did the job]. Since then, I have used and owned machines from a number of manufacturers, but there is one that has become my firm favorite. It is also the preferred supplier to Mentor Graphics. I am not going to name them here [they are rich enough to pay for their advertising] - all I will say is that they were the first large PC vendor who built their business on direct sales to end users.
I have written on previous occasions [here for example] about being impressed by exemplary customer service. A while ago I heard a story that gave me a clue as to why this PC vendor is so successful … Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: off-topic
Time’s arrow
I have always enjoyed science fiction on TV, movies and books. One facet of the genre that I find particularly intriguing is time travel. I am thinking of shows like Dr Who, Star Trek, Time Tunnel and Quantum Leap. I also recently read [and very much enjoyed] The Time Traveler’s Wife. In all these cases, we are asked to accept the possibility that travel, both forwards and backwards in time, is a possibility. Interestingly, in all these cases, time travel does seem a bit haphazard, with some challenges about hitting a specific date. But they all manage to make the journey.
For the most part, when reading any kind of fiction, I expect a lot from the author. I want to be entertained, but I also want to learn something. So, I anticipate a high level of integrity and knowledge to be displayed. If I find numerous technical flaws or “continuity” errors, I get frustrated [and do not get me started on "The Da Vinci Code"!]. With older science fiction, I have to suspend belief, as science may have overturned the knowledge and assumptions of the time; this is hard, but worth it for a good story. Somehow, I am always happy to accept the idea of time travel, even though it is counter-intuitive and at variance with a lot of scientific research … Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: off-topic
aMAZEd
In the UK, the Christmas and New Year holiday is quite a long stretch. We have 3 public holidays [4 in Scotland, I believe] - 25/26 Dec and 1 Jan. Many people take 3 days annual leave between to make a long break. This year, the calendar permitted the bridging of 2 weekends, so we could easily have a 10 day break.
Personally, I am not a big fan of Christmas, as it seems to have become a time of excess: too much food, too much drink and, for many, too much debt. However, I do rather like the concept of New Year being a new start - a clean sheet to write on and other such clichés. Once this is over, there is often a feeling of anticlimax, but I have the benefit that Libby, my Other Half, has her birthday on 2 Jan. This year we celebrated in an interesting way … Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: off-topic
A Google mobile lab, anyone?
As I am off for the Christmas and New Year holiday, I decided to ask Scott Salzwedel, who did a fine stand in for me some weeks ago, to write another post. He has returned to a topic he clearly finds fascinating. -Colin
As if Motorola’s launch of the Droid isn’t enough, now there’s word of Google launching its own Android phone, the “Nexus One.” Alas, the Google phone is here. But is it really a phone? More on that later.
Getting to this point seems rather circuitous for Google. After all, for the past two years the Android platform was based on a partner-oriented model where the likes of a Motorola or HTC built the device and carriers provided the service. Now, just like Apple (and Palm), Google wants to control the hardware, software, and even distribution… Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Android, mobile phones, off-topic
Crystal ball
Writing my last blog of 2009, I am in reflective mood. I read about some recent research that showed that time really does seem to go faster when you are enjoying yourself and, to me, it does seem like only yesterday that we were heralding the new century/millennium. Now, as we approach the end of its first decade [which is actually next year, but I am going to adopt the common misperception for the moment], it is interesting to think about what is characteristic of 21st Century life… Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: off-topic
There, their
For me, language is interesting. It is all about communication and that is what I enjoy doing and it is the cornerstone of what I do professionally. As I have discussed on a previous occasion, I do not really speak any foreign languages [but I have signed up for Italian classes in 2010!], so my focus is on using English as well as possible. It may be assumed that I mean that I should use English correctly, but, in reality, my priority is to use it as an effective communication tool, which is not necessarily the same thing… Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: off-topic
Innovation as an Asset
I do not really understand the stock market. I do not own any shares. Well at least not directly - I have pension funds, but they seem rather remote. I have some friends who own ARM shares. They are not technical, so they asked me what ARM did and I said that they made chips like those used in mobile phones [I know that is not strictly true]. They could not understand how a billion handsets a year get produced and yet ARM’s shares remain in the doldrums. And frankly, neither can I.
A few years ago, however, I did gain some insight into how companies are run and this gave me a few ideas … Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: off-topic
Keeping the lights on
I am interested in environmental matters and I am keen to adopt practices, products and technologies that make me more “green”. So I try to recycle more, drive less and save energy when I can. Much of this is voluntary, but some is becoming compulsory. Recently, a European directive resulted in the phasing out of standard 100w tungsten [incandescent] bulbs. Now we have to use these infernal low energy bulbs and I do not like them at all … Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: off-topic
About The Colin Walls Blog
This blog is a discussion of embedded software matters - news, comment, technical issues and ideas, along with other passing thoughts about anything that happens to be on my mind.
Latest Posts
- Thanks for the memory
- What is my phone for?
- Overloading or obfuscation?
- Indefinite
- Product quality: belief or proof?
- Vacation for the PC repair man