I'm using twitter for almost 2 months now. It's so addicting. It prevents me from writing in the blog. Writing here takes sometime to think whether there's anything to write. Whether it's good and whether I though well enough what I want to write. While in Twitter one just shoots random thoughts. It's addicting. There's always something small that one want's to share. Twitter is perfect. I think I'm overdoing it, but the two people following me haven't left me yet. Thank you.
Month: January 2011
How do you run windows when your primary OS is not Windows (need help)
My laptop is a Macbook. It runs Mac OS X. While the OS is awesome, it's not the most popular one. This would mean that there's software that is only made for Windows. And it's software that is custom, specific and generally cannot be changed for another software [running on OS X].
There is however one piece of software which even though it runs on OS X, I want on Windows. And that is Microsoft Office. MS Office for Mac OS X sucks. The ribbon interface is so ugly on Mac, the menus so different. And it deleted one of my presentations (while presenting it !!!). Don't even get me started on OpenOffice, iWork and all the copycats. When everyone around you is using MS Office, you have to use it too. Period.
So we agreed that I need Windows
The most common thing to do is get a virtual machine. I was using VMWare Fusion with one Windows XP and one Windows 7 installation for quite a while. The problem is the HDD. It just can't keep up with both machines (the host and the virtual). While stopping the swapping in the virtual machine can help, it doesn't fix the problem. And I have the fastest plate hdd available - 7200 rpm, a lot of cache. Also getting a lot of RAM also helps considerably - I have 4GB but the issue with the HDD remains.
I went to the competition
People said that VirtualBox and Parallels would do the job better. I tried VirtualBox for a day. Importing failed due to hardware inconsistencies and even while loading it just made the host os unresponsive. So I guess the competition doesn't do the thing better. What next?
What about remoting?
Using a dedicated machine that stays somewhere and logging on it only when needing windows could do the job. This means I have to buy an extra machine. Remoting would mean that I would need net constantly. And Remote Desktop for Mac is pretty bad. I could always switch to TeamViewer (also available for my phone), but it is not the best either. Also copying stuff while using my phone's 3G is not viable if the stuff is in the hundreds of megabytes scale.
What about SSD?
While the classic HDDs are good for working on serial pieces of data, SSDs shouldn't have the problem working in parallel with 2 streams of data. I have a friend who bought 50GB OCZ drive and he says his machine now went supersonic (a lot faster). The drive was like 130 euros. I can't work with 50GB. 128GB could maybe do the job but it's going to be tough. And buying a bigger one would be very expensive. Also I haven't asked how does this drive behave with a VM. It's important to do so.
And no I would NOT install Windows
...or get a Windows laptop. No way. No BootCamp either.
Conclusion: I need help
This problem would be relevant for everyone using any OS that is not Windows. So, people-not-using-windows, PLEASE HELP ME decide what to do.
The past 2010
The past year for me was marked by serious health issues that were pretty scary for me and the absolute lack of energy. There was some planet or constellation alignment, I don't know, but throughout all the year I lacked power. Maybe I need RedBull or some other drug. Coffee I think lost its power to revitalize me in the morning.
Due to the scary stuff I had to endure, I think I value life more and maybe I know a little better what I want out of the near future. I'm taking steps to live healthier and I understand that the human body is incredibly strong but also easy to be broken if not taken care of. I eat better. If I figure out this energy problem I think 2011 would be a lot better year. So this is what I wish to myself. Also to be more focused.
Review: TED
TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) is
a global set of conferences curated by the American private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading." (Wikipedia).
So actually TED are presentations in every field imaginable and most of them are really good. And some of them are inspiring. I use Miro player to download them and watch them when I have some free time.
Highly recommended.
Personal favourites:
- http://www.ted.com/talks/cameron_herold_let_s_raise_kids_to_be_entrepreneurs.html
- http://www.ted.com/talks/david_brooks_the_social_animal.html
- http://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html
- http://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_mcdougall_are_we_born_to_run.html
- http://www.ted.com/talks/rory_stewart_time_to_end_the_war_in_afghanistan.html
Review: Miro
Miro is an application I first heard for at thepiratebay.org. It's a torrent client, a video player and a desktop portal solution for all media. It's free and integrates well with the pirate bay's torrent tracker. Unfortunately it doesn't integrate with local torrent trackers for some reason. Anyway it's very good for following youtube channels and watching cnet shows and most of all watching TED presentations.
It has versions for both Mac and Windows, though I have only tried the Mac OS version, both look and behave the same. The GUI rocks, the player is light and runs nice.
The best thing is it downloads the youtube clips or ted presentations in HD and stores them locally. It's full of browsable free content.
One note: youtube channels have to be added with the URL in this format: http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/hdstarcraft/uploads?alt=rss with hdstarcraft being the user name. Otherwise it complains for some reason.
Verdict: highly recommended.
Update (24.08.2011): Version 4.x (especially for Mac) is bloated with pointless features. It's not that fast and slim. It runs slowly. It crashes. And the most stupid thing I've seen - right/left arrow now goes to the next/previous feature respectively. To forward/rewind with 30 secs the Shift+right/left arrow must be used. So stupid. Cannot be configured.
Малко за ориналните неща
Покрай празниците имах достъп до телевизор и гледах
новините по една от популярните български телевизии. На финалните
надписи пишеше нещо като "Гардероб" и отдолу имаше логото на една
марка за дрехи. Марката е българска. Спомням си как бях чел едно
интервю за тази марка и собственичката обясняваше как тази марка
има 200 годишна история започнала в Италия. Оказа се, че марката е
замислена преди не много години и името идва от галеното
наименование на нечий наследник близък до собствениците. Толкова за
автентичността.
Review: The daily show with Jon Stewart
I first watched The daily show while I was living abroad. I got only a few english speaking tv programmes and most of them were news related - CNN, NBC... The daily show was one of the three programs I liked - the other two were The tonight show with Jay Leno and The late night with Conan O'Brien.
The daily show is something I consider a time well spent. It can be watched for free on its site: http://www.thedailyshow.com/. It's paid in iTunes.
On the same site (Comedy Central) many other shows from the cable television may be watched for free. The most notable from them is South Park.