Microsoft can be cool too

I had been impressed by the multitouch interface presented by Jeff Hahn at TED. Some of it can be found in the iPhone. Although this time Apple had been upstaged in adopting cool technology by Microsoft when they announced the Microsoft Surface. Was the Microsoft copy-machine doing overtime?

Although big dollar amounts are sunk into Microsoft R&D, they are not know for cool new technology. Microsoft is not revolutionary. Until I saw the following presentation at TED by Blaise Aguera y Arcas about PhotoSynth. Wow! WOW!





Similar to the purchase of Keyhole by Google, Microsoft Mergers and Acquisitions deserves part of the applause. In 2006, "Microsoft Live Labs recently acquired Seattle-based Seadragon Inc."

Seadragon has 10 employees and was founded in Princeton, N.J., in 2003 by Blaise Agüera y Arcas, then a graduate student at Princeton University. He moved the company to Seattle's Ballard neighborhood in January 2004 after his wife, a computational neuroscientist, received a faculty appointment at the University of Washington.

Unfortunately some of the marketing slant for PhotoSynth is "cool new tourism app". Oh nooo, don't call it that. Just think about the possibilities of a Flickr + Google Earth + Photosynth webapp. Droooool. Where's DARPA when you need it to sponsor something like that.

Microsoft Live Labs - PhotoSynth

Oh - Oprah!

I thought I had found the perfect gift for my wife's birthday: a purse organizer, $19.99 at the Container Store. Almost every day, my wife switches purses. Not that she has many purses, but as every man learns eventually, a purse needs to match the shoes. And every time, migrating the birds and other items in the magic purse, is a big thing. Hence, a purse organizer to the rescue.

However, the container store was sold out! "No more Oprah-thingies" was the answer. What? Indeed, the purse organizer had been featured on Oprah and in the O-magazine.

If you're constantly searching inside your purse for keys, credit cards or your favorite lipstick, Kip and Garrett have a solution for you. The Container Store's Purse Organizer fits inside large bags and features multiple pockets for your necessities.

"I wish I'd seen this in the store the other day," Oprah says. "I would have gotten it because you know our pocketbooks have gotten so big. I love a big pocketbook … but sometimes what happens is all your stuff, I mean, it has its own life down in there!"

What Slashdot is to geeky websites, or TechCrunch to startups, Oprah is to gadgets. If the purse organizer is any indication of the Oprah-effect, Obama will be the next Democratic president. Viva Oprah!

Waterzooi with Geuze

La Trappe is a new Belgian restaurant in San Francisco, on the corner of Greenwich and Columbus. The food menu includes rabbit stew with prunes, mussels and fries and chicken waterzooi. It is however the beer list which is the most impressive. Thirteen trappist beers (although West-Vleteren is not on the list), Lambic beers (geuze - my favorite-, framboise, kriek, peach), abbey beers, probably close to 80 beers.

My dad pointed out that the name of the of the "Belgian" restaurant was rather peculiar. La Trappe is the name of a trappist monestary in France, although its beer is the only trappist beer brewed in Holland. So I had to find out and went for a tasting tonight. The food and beer were excellent. And indeed, as I suspected, although the menu was Belgian, the owner was not. Michael Azzalini is Italian, who apparently lived in Belgium for a while.

Another "Belgian" eatery in San Francisco, FrjtzFries, is owned by a Colombian, who used to live in Antwerp. And Monk's Kettle in the Mission is owned by two Americans. (Three Belgian bars in the San Francisco Bay Area)

Belgians might have good cooks, brewers or monks, but it lacks more international restaurateurs.

I am sick!

Finally, after weeks of waiting, the latest documentary of Michael Moore arrived from Netflix: SiCKO!

I had to stop watching yesterday, out of disgust. The movie made me angry. Tonight, I picked up where I left of and finished the movie.

Sure it is Michael Moore and some parts are dramatized. However, you can not ignore the injustice of the US health care system.

The most important part of the movie was not about how great it is in France, England or Norway. It is the section of the British former member of parliament on democracy. Health care is great in countries where the government is afraid of the plebs. I wonder how many of the people mentioned in the movie actually voted. That's what it boils down to. If you want a better health care system, vote! (Oh, here is a guide: 2008 presidential candidates on health care issues)

(Just in case you wonder. I do not vote in the US. I can not vote in the US.)

There's something in the air.

"There's something in the air" is the new banner for this year's MacWorld, starting next week at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. I just hope MacWorld is going to be boring.

Do launch a video downloads. Or a new TV center. I do not care much for video. My television is an old analog TV, connected to bunny ears. I watch movies using Netflix (and starting tomorrow will also be able to watch unlimited Netflix streaming.)

Do update the iPhone to a faster 3G data network. But I put that in the boring category. And it will not make me an iPhone owner yet.

A sub-compact notebook could be interesting. But I fear it will not be cheap. I suspect it will also introduce a number of new technological wonders. Conventional wisdom advises not to buy first generation new technology. So I would have to wait.

My specifications for a new laptop are light, small (12 or 13 inch) screen, wireless and cellular data communication and with a huge battery life. The DVD player can be external in a base station. A Lenovo X61 does fit these requirements and has been a consideration. Running Linux that is. But it would be second choice to a MacBook or a new small Mac sub-compact notebook. So make my life easy, just update the MacBook with a faster processor. Do not make me wait for the second generation of a cool sub-compact notebook.

Just be a little boring this time. Or bring me the best birthday present.

Update: the keynote in sixty seconds

Mavericks

(Photo: Hunter Block)

Hawaii is often the first name that comes to mind when thinking about surfing. Californians will disagree. The long California coastline hosts many fantastic surfing spots. This even led to a small brawl about the name Surf City USA between Santa Cruz in Northern California or Huntington Beach in Southern California.

One thing many surfers will agree on: there is no place for big wave surfing as Mavericks (wikipedia), located approximately one-half mile (0.8 km) from shore in Pillar Point Harbor, just north of Half Moon Bay at the village of Princeton-By-The-Sea. Big wave surfing requires waves of at least 20 feet (6.2 m) high. It is a specialty requiring specific surfboards, and often requires riders to be towed in by jet-skis, as the wave travels faster than any human can peddle. Of the big wave surfing spots Mavericks is considered by most experts in the surfing world to be the most dangerous big wave breaks wave on the planet.

Every year, with 24 hours notice, 24 surfers get the call to participate in the Mavericks "Men who ride Mountains" surf contest. Last Saturday, January 12th 2008, the contest was held during a sunny winter day. Although we've been at Pillar point watching Mavericks before, we didn't drive over the mountain this year to watch the contest. Greg Long won the contest this year.


(Video of the 2006 Mavericks Surf Contest)

• Mavericks Surf website
• Mavericks Video
• Mavericks 2008 pictures on Flickr
• SF Chronicle coverage of Mavericks 2008 contest (photos and video)

Hackers in the sky

In my job, I learn a lot about how data communication is used on-board airplanes and ships. In a weekly AIAA newsletter, I picked up the story about the network on-board the Boeing 787.

In continuing coverage from yesterday's briefing, the AP (1/10, Gillespie) reports that Boeing "will have to prove that offering Internet access in the cabin" of its 787 Dreamliner "won't leave the flight controls vulnerable to hackers and hijackers." This stems from a "special condition" made by the FAA "requiring Boeing to show" that the Dreamliner's "new technology won't pose a safety threat." A BT Counterpane security services officer says that "[t]he odds of" Boeing's security measures "being perfect are zero," as no one has ever designed a completely secure Internet connection. Also, rival Airbus has argued that Boeing should "physically separate the passenger information and entertainment systems from all other systems on the plane." But the FAA "has been working closely with Boeing and is pleased so far," and Boeing also points out that the Dreamliner's "aviation electronics 'are not connected in any way to the Internet.'" The AP notes that "[s]pecial conditions are a normal part of the regulatory process" for aircraft certification."

This was also covered in an article in Wired magazine 'FAA: Boeing's New 787 May Be Vulnerable to Hacker Attack '. It smells like a bad idea to have passenger and entertainment networks connected with other networks on-board and have them only separated by a firewall. Firewalls are not what dragons used to be at the entrance of a castle. Sure, ARINC 664 specification defines a networking standard for the aviation industry. I am far more suspicious of the implementation of such standard.

Will we soon have to leave our laptops with our pocket knives? What's the point of adding internet in the sky then?

Alternative Workplace Settings

The first four years of my professional life I spent in a cubicle: four gray walls, while overhearing colleague's love life or even job search phone conversations. At Sun, I moved into a private office and on occasion the corner flexible office, overlooking the the courtyard and palm trees. Since RTI was subleasing from Sun, it felt as if I never had left Sun: the office furniture, the sliding door, even the conference room name tags were identical.

Several months ago, when we received the news that our company had signed a new lease for our new headquarters, I prepared a small presentation about different workplace settings. It turned out the new building was an empty shell which we needed to furnish.

Thanks to the new embeddable presentations feature of Google Docs, here is an abbreviated presentation.

Moving Day

On June 13, 2006, I moved into my office at Freedom Circle in Santa Clara. From the 6th floor, I had a great view of the Bay Area (see: new window of opportunity). In spring, my office became my green house. I have grown seedlings of tomatoes, basil, chard, sage, poppies and zinnia, which I later on transplanted to our garden.

As I left my office tonight, everything was boxed up. All my books, notebooks and clutter fitted nicely in four moving boxes. A monitor, computer peripherals, a fan, two chairs, a mobile file cabinet, and the trash can are all labeled. Tomorrow is moving day.