REVUNURD

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[revunurd-blog]

Apple iOS 7 Upgrade on iPhone 4S and iPad Mini

Well, hello there, iPhone peeps! I've been using iOS 7 on two devices for the last two days and thought I'd drop in to give my impressions. I'm mostly pleased, and a little disappointed, but I'll get into the details shortly.

This review is organized as follows: I start with the upgrade process, then discuss some of the changes, followed by my thoughts and feelings about various aspects of the new iOS, and sum it all up with a detailed rundown of all changes (or lack thereof) to the apps and settings. 

Read on, kind visitor!

The Upgrading

The process was not without issue. I was forced to repeatedly initiate the install process until it finally started. I performed the installations directly on the devices instead of through iTunes, sparing me having to consume more space on my hard drive. The upgrade process also took a long time. Though I did not time it, I would estimate that it took about 45 minutes on both devices. 

Once installed and restarted, iOS 7 has you perform a couple of configuration tasks like any other upgrade, though you are oddly asked if you want to activate Location Services again. Once done, you are taken to the Springboard and get your first look at the new design. In a nutshell, it's impressive. Everything is crisp, clean, and neatly symmetrical. There is no wasted space like in Windows Phone 8, but there is enough separation space so that it doesn't feel claustrophobic. 

From The Lock Screen Onward

The Lock Screen has been completely redesigned, and is FINALLY useful. Swipe down from the top of the screen and you get the Notification Center. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen and you get the Control Center. You can still open the Camera app from the bottom right corner, but it take a little too much sliding to get it open. The single most useful change, however, is that you can now unlock the phone swiping left to right from anywhere on the screen. It's a lot faster and you don't have to home in on the unlock slider. 

Once in the Springboard, everything looks familiar and yet is all new. All icons are now flat and clean with no fake, shiny 3D effects. Of course, the flat look has only been applied to apps that have been updated with new icons. It stands to reason that 3rd party apps wouldn't get around to updating their icons and look, but I was surprised to find that not all Apple apps get the iOS 7 treatment. Notably, Pages, Numbers, and iBooks look exactly the same, even inside the apps. It's clear that it will take time for developers to utilize the new user interface assets. 

A nice surprise is that folders have been updated. Folders now have multiple pages allowing you to better organize your apps. The search feature has also been revamped. You no longer swipe left of the first Home screen, you swipe down on the icons in any Home screen, making it faster to access. Finally, the Task Manager, always hideous since it was first introduced, has been replaced with the card-style manager Apple acquired when it bought Palm OS patents earlier this year. Simply double tap the home button to open the Task Manager and swipe cards up to quit apps.

Some Words of Kindness and Criticism

There is no way to sum up what I feel in a sentence or two. It's more involved than that. There are a number of things I really like about the update. I like the new flat look and how it's universal. I'm quite fond of the new edge-to-edge arrangement where it looks like someone considered that it would be useful to actually use space for things. The old UI style just had too much white space and the controls were artificially three dimensional. 

I'm also taken by the additional features and functionality. It's like Apple has really started listening to it's customers while paying attention to what Google and Microsoft are doing. The Control Center is brilliant, but the Today View in the Notification Center is a little bare. The additional camera features are very nice, but the UI feels over designed. 

In fact, that's what I think the problem is with iOS 7, if there is one. It feels over designed, by a graphic designer. A designer like Jony Ive. I'll be honest. I've never like Jony Ive. He's too much of a SOHO designer hippie who sees himself as a visionary, and I bet he's an insufferable ass in a passive aggressive manner. 

While I think that he's been amazing as the lead for industrial design, I was really thrown for a loop when he described the new iPhone 5C in one of his silly, pandering videos.

“We believe the iPhone is an experience. And experience is defined by hardware and software working harmoniously together. We continue to refine that experience by blurring the boundaries between the two.”

How does that even happen? Software and hardware can't work together. The hardware itself is only the visual medium of the product and a few controls to make the software so some things. If I press the Volume Up button, it increases the volume. How is this harmonious? He said that the iPhone 5C is: 

“beautifully, unapologetically plastic.”

What? It's PLASTIC!! It may be very well built and solid, but it's still plastic. If Apple had decided to make all iPhones out of plastic I doubt anyone would have cared. In fact, had Ive not been bent on making the iPhone 4 into a pocket version of the unibody MacBook Pro, there likely would never have been AntennaGate. 

Part of me wants to think that Apple and Jony Ive have been trying too hard to justify the higher cost of being an Apple consumer by making their products needlessly over-engineered. On the other hand, in my decades-long relationship with Apple, I know that they do make a superior product that has made some stumbles along the way. 

For me, I would buy the iPhone 5C if it came in black and had the biometrics of the 5S, but Apple has decided to move the 5S up in the range, so I'll have to buy the 5S instead. Not that I'm disappointed, much. iOS 7, in my opinion, is a significant advancement over iOS 6 and has a lot of great tweaks and new features. 

My only concern for Apple is that we are now starting to see what Apple will be like without Steve Jobs at the helm. At first I thought that Tim Cook and Jony Ive could be a sort of Jobs proxy in the form of two people, but now I think I was wrong. iOS 7 with Jony Ive at the design helm is the Jony Ive show and I don't see any of the legendary Tim Cook conservativeness here. 

I do not doubt that iOS 7 and the new iPhones will be a success, but I do believe that if Apple is going to survive, Tim Cook is going to need to rein in Jony Ive. If he doesn't, then Apple is going to become more of an art gallery than a computer company and when was the last time you performed a useful task with a collection of art pieces? 

The New Apps

Apple has updated all of its core apps. Of note, all of the apps now use the new user interface design and have the same general operation and layout as the previous versions. There are some minor behavioral changes in the apps, though, so here's a rundown of each:

Phone - The only thing new is more prominent inclusion of FaceTime. 

Mail - Mostly the same, but some minor adjustments have been made. First, to get Delete/Archive you now need to swipe right to left only, but you will get more actions you can perform on the message in the More menu. Second, and I cannot for the life of me recall if this was in iOS 6, but you can now modify which objects will be shown on the Mail homescreen. I, for one, hid the individual mailboxes because I always use the All Mailboxes, and enabled All Drafts, All Sent, Attachments, and All Unread folders. 

App Store - No significant changes, but the Purchased list loads a LOT faster now. 

Camera - The iPhone 4S doesn't get all the new features, but this app is revamped. The HDR toggle is now at the top of the screen, and you can now choose between video, photo, square, and pano by swiping left or right across the shutter button. There are also new live filters, though they aren't particularly interesting. 

Safari - Apple completely revamped Safari, but mostly the internals. There is a new tab arrangement that allows you to close tabs by swiping the page to the left (not right), an odd choice considering the new Task Manager. 

Calendar - Apple got rid of the display mode picker and replaced it with a hierarchical behavior that is not immediately obvious. You start in Day mode and can back out to Month and Year modes.

Reminders - Now has a tabbed style interface. 

Compass - A leveling bubble mode has been added. 

Maps - No change, though I hope that it actually works now. 

Game Center - This app got a complete revamp and has now integrated notifications for supported games that have turns waiting. 

Passbook - Seems to now have fewer features! I have a number of Passbook apps installed, but only Starbucks appears in the app itself. Weird. 

Weather - Nice dynamic background images have been added. 

Photos - Apple completely revamped this app, now with much better automatic organization and a hierarchical navigation arrangement very similar to the new Calendar app. 

Calculator - No change. 

Newsstand - Blessed are the Lords of UX for now this app can be stuck in a folder so you never have to look at it again.

Apps With No Changes - Contacts, Notes, Voice Memos, iTunes Store, Clock, Calculator, Messages, and FaceTime.

Now, if I missed an app I'd be surprised, but let me know anyway. Now, other than all that, all existing apps still behave the way the did. Some apps have already been updated, as you may have seen in the last week or so. 

The New Innards

I will not go into detail here since much of what already was now is again. In other words, Apple has only added features. In this section I will detail all of the changes affecting the base iOS 7 system. Here we go:

Airplane Mode - No change.

Wi-Fi - No change.

Bluetooth - No change.

Cellular - You can now select which apps can use mobile data, though it seems to be limited to a few apps. My guess is that support must be added if apps want to appear in this list, and it bothers me that a developer could choose not to let you choose. 

Notification Center - Mostly unchanged, but Apple has added more functionality in the form of a Today View function. You can choose which data sets appear here. 

Control Center - You don't get to choose what appears in the CC other than the existing options, but you can choose where you can access it from. 

Do Not Disturb - No change.

The General settings are large, so I'll cover those in a separate list:

About - There is something called a Trust Store at the bottom, but it offers no options. 

Software Update - No change.

Siri - There is now an option to select the default female voice or a new male voice. 

Spotlight Search - No change.

Text Size - This is all new and controls the Dynamic Type service that works throughout the entire system. 3rd party apps will need to add support for this feature, though. 

Accessibility - Mostly unchanged, but Apple has added controls for modifying the appearance and behavior of the new OS. The Larger Type option offers a greater range to select from on the Text Size slider, but the Bold Text option will require a restart. 

Usage - No change.

Background App Refresh - This all new settings feature allows you to select if an app will refresh itself in the background. I suggest that you turn off those apps that you want to refresh when you open then. Weather is a good candidate. 

Auto-Lock - No change.

Passcode Lock - No change.

Restrictions - No change.

Date & Time - No change.

Keyboard - No change, but if you want the Emoji you'll need to add it here. 

International - No change.

iTunes Wi-Fi Sync - No change.

VPN - No change.

Reset - No change.

Now we continue with the rest of the settings options: 

Sounds - There are no changes to the functionality, but Apple has added a slew of new Alerts and Ringtones. All of the old sounds are still available, but are relegated to a Classic sub-menu. 

Wallpaper & Brightness - Again, no real functionality changes, except to Wallpaper selection. You now have a choice between the in-built Dynamic and Stills wallpaper, but can still select from your Photos app. The Dynamic wallpapers are nice, but they are very simple and all variations on floating bubbles. 

Privacy - No change.

iCloud - No change.

Mail, Contacts, Calendars - No change, with one tiny exception. You can now select a flag style for Mail. You can pick the classic Flag or a dot. 

Notes - No change.

Reminders - No change.

Phone - No change.

Messages - No change.

FaceTime - The Use Cellular Data option has been removed since it is now always available. 

Maps - Label Size has been removed since that is now handled by dynamic text and a preferred directions option has been added letting you pick between Driving and Walking. 

Compass - This is a new item and it only offers the option to enable using True North. Never quite understood this. 

Safari - No real changes, but the options have been arranged in a more logical manner.

Now for the additional apps section:

iTunes & App Store - Some changes here. You can now control which categories of purchases are automatically downloaded. The one I like the most is app updates. You can also now choose to not show iTunes Match and other media you have not downloaded in the Music and Video libraries. 

Music - No real changes, though there is now a redundant option to Show All Music. 

Videos - Same as Music, there is now a Show All Videos option here, and the Closed Captioning control has been removed since it is now available directly in the video playback controls. 

Photos & Camera - There have been some minor changes here. You can choose to disable the image summary option, though I'm not sure why anyone would. It's one of the best new features in Photos. You can also turn the grid on or off. 

iBooks - This is all new and gives you centralized control over how books are rendered on your device. 

Game Center - This is also all new and has some options for managing the new social features in the new Game Center. 

Newsstand - This item was removed. 

And finally, the social apps integration section: 

Twitter - No change.

Facebook - No change.

Flickr - This one is all new and, like the other social apps, offers to download it if you haven't already and integrates the login to your account. Adding your account also gives you access to sharing and saving features integrated into the system. 

Vimeo - This is also all new and is the same as Flickr. 

[revunurd-blog]

Did you know that Nekomonogatari is a prequel to an anime called Bakemonogatari?

I had seen something about that, but my reviews are based on the qualities of the singular work, and not how they relate to other projects. Thanks for the note! I'll check out the other show :) 

[revunurd-blog]

Nekomonogatari

This is a very interesting series. It's not full of action, there are very few characters, it lacks the ingredients of many anime, and its loaded down with a ton of dialog. However, it is beautiful to watch. In fact, that may be its only quality. 

The series, of which there are currently five episodes, is about a girl who loves a guy, but is too shy to tell him. That doesn't matter, though, because he's never around. In fact, there are almost no people anywhere. The only characters that are not the protagonist are the one or two people the protagonist is talking to. 

Sort of like that old BBC program, The Avengers. 

Visually, the show is luscious, but the cutaways are fast and frequent, and there are a lot of interstitials. It's strange, but I'm still watching it. In a way, it's something like Flower of Evil, but I'd only been able to watch four episodes before stopping. I may finish it just to see what happens, but it was hard to watch. Nekomonogatari is easier to watch, even though it remains difficult to follow. 

[revunurd-blog]

Top Gear America - Season 4

Well. Hmmmm. I think the above image says it all, really. The bearded guy is driving that Lamborghini. I can't be bothered to remember their names. The first episode premiered on the Discovery Channel clone, the History Channel, which really isn't about history any more. Much. It was about as exciting to watch as Amish carriage races. 

The episode was taken up by a so-called race across America, starting in New York and ending in Venice Beach. Whoop. There were a few "challenges" that were clearly set-up in advance, and Dolph Lundgren made a brief cameo at the end of the show. He was uninteresting.

While it's a good thing that TGA has abandoned trying to copy Top Gear UK's formula, the episode-long stunts lack panache and lunacy. The dialog between the hosts is not funny and only serves to illustrate the yawning gulf devoid of all camaraderie. Even the cars themselves aren't enough to make watching this show worthwhile. 

I hope the show gets cancelled or, at the very least, they replace all of the hosts and get new writers. Feh.

[revunurd-blog]

Vaping for Newbies v. 0.1

Hey there! I know what you're looking for, and I know just how you feel. You have decided to quit smoking, are tired of being a smoker, tired of people not liking you because you're a smoker, tired of reeking like an ashtray (yes, you do), and sick of being addicted to something that WILL kill you, but love to smoke. What a pain, right?

I was a smoker of 31 years. Yes. 31. I regularly smoked anywhere from 2 cigarettes to 2 packs a day, but mostly averaged around a pack. I never really tried to quit because I really enjoy smoking. I have long known the risks and actively ignored them just to smoke. I then started to become aware of electronic cigarettes, and even tried a few from friends. 

That planted a seed, but I didn't know anything about it. After a few months I came across an ad for NJOY, a maker of e-cigs. When I went to their site, I found an offer to try one disposable NJOY King for the mere cost of shipping. I paid my $4 and received it a week later. I started using it and found that I no longer needed to go outside to chain smoke every few hours. It ran out in about two days. 

Vaping for Newbies v. 0.1 by Rev. Ulysses Nurd

This guide is designed to give the newcomer to the idea of replacing smoking cigarettes with vaping helpful information about a very different ecosystem than you are accustomed to. This guide is subject to frequent change and updating. 

Common Terms

There are a number of common terms used to describe the various elements of vaping. Unlike smoking, there are lots of different ways to vape and vaping devices have lots of different parts. 

Analog: The term used to refer to cigarettes that burn tobacco.

Battery: This can come in many different forms and sizes. Most batteries are long and cylindrical, come in manual and automatic versions, and are used to power the vaporizer. 

Battery, Manual: A manual battery is activated by pressing a button on the side of the unit. 

Battery, Automatic: The Automatic battery is activated by drawing on the tip in a manner similar to smoking an analog. 

Cartomizer: the removable tip that connects to a battery and contains the atomizer and some form of fiber fill that holds the juice. 

Clearomizer: A tank-style juice container that uses a coil head with a wick to deliver juice to the Atomizer.

Coil Head: An atomizer format that is inserted into a Clearomizer tank-style system that has a wick that carries juice to the atomizer.

E-juice (ALSO E-liquid or Juice): The liquid that is atomized into vapor and is generally comprised of Propylene Glycol, Vegetable Glycerin, and may or may not contain an infusion of nicotine. Nicotine levels are expressed as milligrams per milliliter. Common levels for people who stop smoking are 12mg, 18mg, and 24mg. 

Passthrough: A USB powered version of a battery. These come in Manual and Automatic versions and do not require recharging.

Throat Hit: The term used to describe the feeling in the throat that a juice and/or vaping system will create for the user. 

Vaporizer (ALSO Atomizer): The element that heats the juice and produces vapor.

Wick: A poly fiber, typically made of a silica thread, that transports the juice from the tank to the Atomizer.

How These Things Go Together

In general, you connect a power source to an atomizer, add juice, and vape. Since there are dozens of different kinds of individual components to put together it can get complicated, but there are some standard forms. 

The Analog Look-alike: This form is apparently the most common for people who quit smoking since they look like and operate like their analog cousins. The Battery is the longest part and generally has a LED at the tip that lights up when activated. Most are Automatic, but some can be Manual. These systems use Cartomizers that screw onto the battery. The Cartomizer is the part that you suck vapor through. 

The Generic Big Boy: This form is the type that most vapers tend to switch to after acclimatizing to vaping. The battery is thicker and longer, more like a cigar, and is almost always manual. The LED is moved to the activation button and lights when activated. These batteries generally do not use Cartomizers, but instead use coil head tanks or wickless tanks. The mouthpiece looks like it was taken directly from a Hookah pipe. 

The Customizers Dream: This is not a form as much as a collection of various different types of gear added together to make a custom vaping system. This is frequently the choice of long-time vapers who prefer to make their vaping gear unique or perform in a certain way. These are often the most expensive types of systems and are not for the faint of heart or the newbie. 

Generally speaking, if you are just starting to vape you will select one of the first two types. The Analog Look-alike, also known as Minis, have smaller batteries and, as such, do not hold a charge as long as the larger systems. The larger batteries can last for a day or two and the more advanced one that are larger still can even last for a week on a single charge. There are, however, a number of options to get around many of these limitations. 

My Personal Experience With Systems

As I indicated in my preamble, my first selection for a system was a mistake, or so I thought. I chose an Analog style system and quickly discovered that it was a lot of work to refill these with juice. The reason for this was simple; the cap on the Cartomizer was not designed to be removed.

In general, a Cartomizer is a pre-filled unit that you simply attach to the battery and start vaping. Some e-cig retailers choose to order blank Cartomizers so their customers can use whatever juice they choose, but since the Cartomizer is not designed to be opened and refilled, you must pry open the end with a screwdriver. 

This is clearly not optimal. I returned the system to my retailer and was gracefully given credit to select another system. I took the retailers suggestion as a system and left the store only have to pay an additional $6. I got a large battery, a USB charger unit, a Clearomizer with a wick-based coil head, and a 30mL bottle of Halo Tribeca juice.

What I Learned

You may have noted that I thought my first choice for a vaping system was a mistake. I later learned that it may not have been. There is a very simple and clean method of refilling your Cartomizers using the cap, colloquially called a Condom, that is used to seal Cartomizers. Watch this video on YouTube to see how it's done. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe8A_O9Atn0 

You may find that this method makes using the Minis a lot easier and more desirable. However, if you find that you prefer to use the larger battery systems, you will need to know a few things. 

For one, the most common form of vaporizer you will find is the plastic Clearomizer. This is a tank-style system that is clear so you can see how much juice remains in your tank. Inside the tank is a column that a Coil Head is screwed onto. This column connects the battery to the atomizer and allows air to flow through. The Atomizer has a metal coil into which a wick is threaded. The wick hangs down into the tank, wicking juice from the tank to the coil. 

The wick is the problem. Because of the materials used, these wicks only have a short life span. They become useless when they start to burn. Not only does this taste bad, but I'm not keep on switching from smoking carcinogens and chemicals in cigarettes to inhaling chemicals produced by burning silica. The point, after all, is to stop smoking and yet still get the nicotine my body craves. 

More About Wicks

When I got my first (second?) system with a coil head system, the wick that was pre-installed was a long one that reached down to the bottom of the tank. At first, I thought that this was an excellent way to keep the atomizer saturated with juice. That first one lasted me 11 days before it started to taste sour. 

When I returned to the store to buy more coil heads, I was surprised to find that the wicks were significantly shorter. I asked about this and was told that the manufacturer was being difficult. The owner of the retailer told me that she orders longer wicks, but that the maker tries to send only shorter ones, and that it was difficult to get them to make the longer ones. 

At that time I opted to purchase another tank since it had the longer wick. While on a work trip to the Bay Area I visited another retailer and found that they had a variant of the wick type that was loaded from the bottom. Instead of putting the Atomizer at the top, it is placed at the bottom of the shaft inside of a slot that holds a small amount of wick. 

This has three unpleasant effects. One, the wick life span is dramatically shortened since the area that the atomizer touches the wick is a lot smaller. For me, it lasted only a few days. Two, refilling the tank often results in getting juice in the air tube. Attempts to blow it out result in blowing more juice into the air tube. Three, when the wick burns out, juice flows onto the battery connector. 

All in all, the wick format seems to be the least desirable type of vaporization. 

Knowing This, What Can You Do?

While I am still new to vaping, I believe that there is a simple solution. Sadly, I cannot yet speak from a position of experience, but I'm getting close. After exhaustive research I selected the Halo G6 Starter Kit in Jet Black (from Halo Cigs). The kit comes with two batteries, I chose one manual and one automatic, five pre-filled cartomizers (Tribeca 18mg), two chargers, and a carrying case. 

I also ordered two Mini Tanks, a 30mL bottle of Tribeca juice, and a USB passthrough. The reviews on all of these items are all mostly 5-stars, and the narratives of these reviewers is all very positive. With this kit I will be able to experience all forms of vaping to determine which is the best for me. Once I have done that, I will pass that information along in an update to this article. 

So, How Much Does All This Cost? 

Here is a rundown of the general costs for all the items I have purchased in my quest to being a non-smoker:

Mini cig system I returned that came with two batteries, five blank cartomizers, and a charger - $30

SCV Battery (black) - $20

SCV Coil Head Tank - $8

SCV 30mL bottle of Halo Tribeca 18mg juice - $21

SCV pack of five coil heads (short wicks) - $6

Bottom feed tank - $10

Pack of five bottom feed coil heads - $5

30mL bottle of Ritchy Classic Tobacco 18mg juice - $18

Halo G6 Starter Kit - $44

Halo Passthrough - $15

Halo Mini Tanks - $4

Halo 30mL bottle of Tribeca 18mg juice - $20

-----------

TOTAL: $210

That's about how much I've spent in six weeks of vaping. Had I been smoking cigarettes during this time, consuming a pack a day, I would have spent about the same considering price per pack of $5. That cost, however, is not representative of the actual cost. I have spent more because I've been experimenting. Here, then, are the costs I will incur for ongoing vaping: 

A five-pack of pre-filled Halo cartomizers which is the rough equivalent of a carton of analogs - $10

A five-pack of blank Halo cartomizers that can hold 1mL of juice. The five-packs of low resistance and XL (1.5mL) cartomizers cost the same - $9

A 30mL bottle of Halo juice - $20

Considering that once you select a system that you are happy with, you will only be repurchasing the consumables, the cost becomes a great deal lower. For me, I will first have to decide whether I like the cartomizers versus the mini tanks. Since the mini tanks do not have a wick, they can last a long, long time and all I would need to buy on a regular basis would be the juice.

If, however, I opt for the cartomizers, then I will need to replace those on occasion as well as juice. I don't yet know which one I will prefer, but I suspect that it will be the mini tanks. 

Conclusion, Thoughts, And Encouragement

It's clear from the length of this article that vaping is not a simple thing to get into. I hope that this article helps people who want to quit smoking figure out everything to successfully do so. I am not now an anti-smoking Nazi, though. I truly and deeply understand the plight of the smoker and wish in my heart of hearts that you can find the peace and pleasure I have with vaping. 

Switching to vaping has been very good for me. For one, I no longer smell like an ashtray. In fact, when my wife who still smokes comes back inside, the smell assaults me. I can also taste food and wine again, which is a nice thing. I have also found that I can vape in places where smoking is not allowed. While I don't do it in public places, I was able to vape in my cabin on my train trip to the Bay Area on a recent trip for work. 

My suggestion to you is to first get a disposable e-cig and see how easy it is for you to avoid smoking. If you are easily able to prevent yourself from stepping outside for an analog, it is likely that you will be able to easily switch to vaping and maybe just save your life. 

CLAIMER: I am NOT writing this article in support of a particular product and I do NOT have any sponsors. Normally, this would be called a DISclaimer, but in this case since I am merely expressing my own views and opinions and spending my own money in this endeavor, I am free from making a disclaimer. 

Vape On!

[revunurd-blog]

Yuyushiki (Crunchyroll/Sub-titles)

If you've ever thought to yourself, "Boy, I'd love an anime that seamlessly blended Japanese schoolgirls and Seinfeld into a single 13-episode series," then I've got something for you. Yuyushiki follows the pink haired, very random Yuzuko, the purple haired, ditzy Yukari, and the blonde but mostly centered Yui as they start High School. True to the Seinfeld ethic, this is truly a show about nothing. That's right. Nothing. If you are unfamiliar with this, I urge you to watch a few episodes of Seinfeld to see that it is possible. 

Since this is a show about nothing, there is no plot. They aren't magical. There are no giant robots. There are no demons to fear or fan service to wait for. There isn't even anything weird about the school. It's just a school. If anything, the only development point of the series is that the characters all join the Data Processing Club, making them the club's only members. This might make you wonder how it is possible that this show could entertain you. 

Believe me when I say it can, and does it very well. ANN describes the humor as subtle, but I'm not sure that's good enough. It's not as much subtle as it is surprisingly off kilter. It's made even more insanely fun by the mid-series addition of another trio who have a very similar dynamic as our protagonists. This just makes things even more random, but never takes away from the show. The series art and style of above average for broadcast anime. The primary production team, Kinema Citrus, does a fine job of producing the series which is helmed by Kaori. 

This is yet another show I will highly recommend. Watch it. Seriously. 

[revunurd-blog]

Tsuritama (Crunchyroll/Sub-titled)

At some point you are going to see that this is a fishing anime. You need to ignore that. Sure, it's about fishing and there is nerdy fishing information, but ultimately this short series is about friendship. Fortunately, it's not sappy. Well, maybe a little. The story follows Yuki who is painfully bad at interacting with other people and Haru, an alien. Haru wants Yuki tot catch a fish for him, which leads the unlikely pair to engage Natsuki, a fellow student who is also an amazing fisherman, to teach them how to fish. 

Meanwhile, a strange fellow with a turban and a duck named Akira is tracking Haru's movements. As the series progresses we find out more about why Haru wants Yuki to fish, why Akira is following them, why Natsuki is so angry, and what D.U.C.K. is.

The series is only twelve episodes, but it fits nicely with the content. It's not too long nor is it too short. There are a few things which could have been handled a little better, but they are very minor and I'll let you decide how well the production team did. The animation is excellent, if not quite feature quality. The character design is typical, though nicely done, but the backgrounds are stunning and look more like paintings in the style of impressionism. Sadly, A-1 Pictures, the primary production house, did not seek to apply this luscious palette across all backgrounds, instead falling back on traditional clean work for interiors and other environments where there is significant character interaction. It looks fine, but it breaks up the feel of the series. 

Tsuritama is an excellent short series and I highly recommend it. 

[revunurd-blog]

How To CORRECTLY Configure Pidgin For Google Apps Accounts

Typically the RevuNurd just reviews things, but today I found it frustrating enough to setup Pidgin that I felt the need to provide a helpful write-up. You see, there isn't one. At least nothing obvious, which is a real pain. So, as a service to my readers and anyone who really needs this, here you go. 

Open Pidgin. This should open your Buddy List. 

Click the Accounts menu and select the Account Manager option.

Click the Add button.

Select Google Talk from the Protocol menu.

Enter your username in the Username field. For example, if your email address is [email protected], just enter username.

Enter your domain name in the Domain field. Similar to the above example, just enter the part AFTER the @ sign, like so: domainname.com.

For the Resource field, enter this: home

Enter your password and set the other options as you like. 

For some reason, do NOT enter a local alias. Don't ask me. 

Click the Advanced tab.

Select the Use Old-Style SSL option from the Connection Security menu.

For Connect Port use 443. 

For Connect Server use talk.google.com.

Click Save.

That should be it. As for the File Transfer Proxies, you can try using the same used for the Connect Server, but I've not tried it yet. Have fun!!

[revunurd-blog]

Inky For Windows

Despite the great many years that it has been in use, email remains a prickly subject. Myself, I use Google Apps for Business with a custom domain, but that just gives me one account. I have many more, and like to dea with all of my mail in one place. Since I use GMail, I have the ability to access my email from any compatible application. I've used a lot of apps for manage my email, but if I had to pick a favorite it would be Mail.app, Apple's application that comes with Mac OS X and iOS, and I do so for one reason: Unified Inbox. Being able to look in one place for all mail is super, super helpful. Believe it or not, but this feature is extraordinarily rare. In fact, other than in Mail.app, I haven't seen it in any other email application and certainly not on Windows. 

There was something called Inbox2 for a while, but that's disappeared. There's a new service on the way called Unified Inbox, but it's in closed beta and has been in development for four years. Until then, you only have one choice, and it's new on the software scene. It's called Inky and it has, if you hadn't yet guessed, a unified inbox. As soon as you add more than one account, the app creates a unified inbox that shows you everything in all account inboxes. You can even control what shows up in the unified inbox. Inky covers all standard features of a mail client, so I'm not going to bore you with all that IMAP vs. POP3 stuff. Inky is an interesting application, so I'm just going to focus on the few things that make it unique. 

First, it's free. At least it is for now. Considering the fact that the company is hiring, I have a feeling that this is not going to last forever. Inky is available not only for Windows, but also for the Mac. If there's one thing I'd complain about its that neither the Windows nor Mac version are native applications. The application appears to be entirely developed on Python, meaning that the application itself runs on the Python runtime, which is something like Java. For Inky to behave like an application and not a website it calls on a range of open source technologies, but none of these make it emulate a real desktop application. It mostly behaves well, but it's far slower to sync. 

One of the more frustrating aspects of setting up a new mail client is having to collect and enter all of the different configurations to access your various mail accounts. Inky effectively eliminates this issue. Inky is able to figure out just about any mail server settings you can throw at it, and believe me when I say that I've tried. I was able to configure a range of different accounts without having to enter any server details. Just enter the email address and Inky figures out what servers provide services for that account. If there are more than one server, Inky gives you a list that you can select from. I set up custom domain with 1&1 and Inky returned servers in the US and Germany as well as servers for POP3, IMAP, SMTP, and even Exchange. 

The interface itself uses a mostly standard layout. There is an account bar on the left, a message list, and the message pane. Different from other clients, however, Inky only puts the primary accounts in the account bar and relegates folders and sub-folders to a menu above the message list. This arrangement can make it a little more time consuming to locate a folder if you filter your email instead of managing it in the inbox. The account bar also gives you quick access to settings and your address books as well as a selection of pre-configured filters for personal, social, shopping, maps, notes, and mailing lists. It's unclear if these work well, though, and they cannot be tweaked to better match your needs. So far I can tell that it categorizes anything I send to myself as a note and anything sent from LinkedIn as a social message. 

There are some issues. I've already mentioned the sluggish synching, which is odd but may be due to the fact that the app is based on Python. The app also lacks traditional application menus, even though it has a menu bar. The menu bar is vestigial, though, since the File and Help menus don't contain anything useful, so it just takes up room. In the main interface, some of the controls are not clearly marked nor are there options to change this. One example of this would be the use of the common Gear icon, which is used for both application settings and an additional set of view settings that appear above the message viewer. Also, the account bar design takes up far too much room and provides very little information. You can see two views of the account bar that is inexplicably toggled by clicking the Inky logo in the top left corner. 

Overall, it feels as if the app has been designed for touchscreen devices, but since it's not a mobile app for Windows 8 Metro of iOS devices, it's not clear which devices might offer benefits from this arrangement. A lot of elements of the app use space reasonably well, but other parts just treat space as if it were infinite and free. 

I would say that this version of Inky is an excellent step in the right direction. It offers unified inbox and offers the best account setup automation I've ever seen, but it needs some work. I have no doubt that the Inky team will be working on it. I say this because my evaluation of an earlier version illustrates that they have made some welcome improvement. 

[revunurd-blog]

Marvel Heroes MMORPG

I'm a sucker for a good game. I'm not that good of a player, mind you, but I like a well balanced and fun game. Multiplayer online games are also plentyful these days, and a lot of the popular ones are freemium or free-to-play, depending on which term you prefer to use. You can likely guess that I'm also going to mention how popular comic book heroes are these days, and you'd be right. Just look at the blockbuster box office takes for last year's The Avengers and the recently released Iron Man 3, which has already earned nearly $700M worldwide! It certainly seems like a great mix to combine popular comic book heroes with a freemium MMO. 

In certain cases, it is. In this one, however, it is not. Marvel Heroes MMO, the game that was developed after Marvel pulled the plug on Marvel Universe Online, is about 10 years too late. Just compare DC Universe Online with Marvel Heroes and it's like comparing Bard's Tale to World of Warcraft. To me, this just seems insane. Why would you take an innately dynamic and active world and intentionally cram it down into a format that doesn't play well with that dynamism. What format, then, did Gazillion choose and Marvel approve when building out Marvel Heroes? The beloved and aged classic format of countless 90's RPGs, the 3/4 isometric view. 

Yes, hate me. I played and loved many games of this sort using this very game format. I own almost every title in Bioware's impressive lineup of RPGs and adore Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights. I've played through many of the Ultimata games, and still love VII. One of my favorites of all time, however, has to be Planescape: Torment, an extraordinary game with a fantastic story. There is a place for such platforms, and I'm not onboard with the concept that Marvel Heroes is right for this platform. 

I downloaded it this weekend, weighing in at nearly 10GBs on Steam, and eagerly fired it up to be greeted by the familiar Unreal Engine logo. I had played DC Universe Online for several months and had enjoyed the combat and universe interaction (there's a lot to hate, though, so I won't go into that) and was looking forward to a similar experience. That's not what I got. I selected Iron Man and was instructed to go to a prison to quell an uprising. I didn't finish. There are so many enemies coming at you and the combat controls are so weak that it drained out the fun. 

I quit the game and have no interest in trying it again. I'm far happier playing Team Fortress 2. What shocked me the most, however, are the premium packs you can purchase. You can get the Avengers or X-Force for a mere $60, the former giving you Cappy, Iron Man, Hulk, and Ms. Marvel and the latter giving you Cable, Wolvy, Deadpool, and Colossus. If you want to be really stupid, you can drop $200 to get all heroes and a permanent cheat that lets you gain more XP and find more items than anyone else who is smart enough to save their money. 

I don't think there's any question that a lot of people will play this game, but I'm just not sure it's going to be as big as Marvel expects. They really should have aimed higher to develop a game that really draws people into the comic universe they love. I collected Uncanny X-Men comics during the legendary Chris Claremont Era and would really enjoy a real action game features the characters and storylines I love. I'm just not getting that out of this offering.

[revunurd-blog]

Qool for Windows 8 Metro

There are apps and there are apps. Some apps are really good and do lots of things. Other apps don't do much at all or are just silly. There is, however, a category of apps in between that looks like it will do a lot, but actually doesn't do much. Qool for Windows 8 Metro falls into this tweener category, a fact made even more interesting by the fact that their slogan is "Enabling Things".

Qool if a freeform organization tool. You generate entries in the form of small colored notes that are a lot like sticky notes, and arrange them on a board. When you start the app, you can select from a handful of pre-defined board types and start adding notes to blocks like Ideas, To Do, Notes, or Read Later. Aside from just notes, you can also take picture, video, and audio notes and even "upload" files. 

This all sounds great, but it doesn't do much. Creating notes is simple, but there are no options. The notes are just pure text entries. The other entry types are the same. You can create a photo note and then mark it done. You cannot annotate the image. You cannot add meta data to indicate when and where it was taken, what it's related to, and if there's a due date. It goes without saying that you can't assign it to anyone. 

The only feature it seems to support is syncing, but I am unable to test it since we don't currently have another Windows 8 or Windows RT device to run another copy. Regardless, it's unclear how that would benefit the user since services like SpringPad and Evernote are free and far superior. It's also unclear if people find themselves empowered using freeform tools.

In it's current form, we cannot recommend Qool for much of anything. It just feels more like a tool in search of a personality type, but that may change. People generally find that structure and detail is what foster structure and detail in anything, be it business or personal organization. 

[revunurd-blog]

HP Quick Start

I just ran some updates on my long-term HP ProBook 4540s since the BIOS needed an update to fix the BSOD events I've been getting for the past few weeks. Included in the update was a new piece of software from HP, presumably for Windows 8 users. There's really not much to review since you can see everything about it in the image above. That's really all it is. The list you see to the left with the search field below and a group of icons on the right.

The list is oddly incomplete, so the search field comes in handy. For example, in order to add the VirtualBox icon, I had to search for it. Single clicking items launches them and the box disappears, but there is no keyboard shortcut that I can find that shows or hides the box. In fact, there are no preferences so it you have to add a shortcut to Startup, something Microsoft has complicated for less than technical people. You cannot resize or reposition the window, either. 

While it is an improvement over nothing at all, it just barely registers on the utility scale. The one notable annoyance is that when it starts up and scans for applications, it actually slows down the system. Typical, HP. Typical.

[revunurd-blog]

Editor’s Rating:

User Rating: Good: The HP Slate 7 is a durable 7-inch tablet, includes an expandable storage option, and good gaming performance. Beats Audio effectively enhances bass-heavy music through headphones or earbuds. Bad: The screen’s resolution is eye-squintingly low, large apps take a long time to load, and its cameras produce washed-out, dull-looking shots. Also, there’s no GPS, and Android 4.1.1 can feel a bit archaic compared to newer versions of the OS. Bottom Line: The HP Slate 7 strips out way too much to make its low price, and what’s left can’t compare to the Nexus 7’s offerings. [Read more]

via CNET Reviews - Most Recent Reviews

[revunurd-blog]

Editor’s Rating:

User Rating: Good: Crackle gives you a simple interface to browse and watch free movies and TV shows. Bad: You can’t view movies in HD. There is no search function. Ads can be very annoying. Bottom Line: Crackle offers a good selection of free movies and TV shows, but you’ll have to suffer through annoying ads and a lack of search tools. [Read more]

  via CNET Reviews - Most Recent Reviews

[revunurd-blog]

Editor’s Rating:

User Rating: Good: Kindle for Android offers a number of visual customization options, Shelfari integration, a built-in dictionary, and other extras. You can use the Send to Kindle feature as an Instapaper-like tool for saving items from around the Web. Bad: Credit card is required even for free downloads. Doesn’t let you name bookmarks. Bottom Line: With convenient features like Send to Kindle and Shelfari integration, Kindle for Android is a a rock-solid e-reader app, especially for anyone already invested in the Amazon ecosystem. [Read more]

via CNET Reviews - Most Recent Reviews

[revunurd-blog]

Plenty of specialized companies out there sell PCs with Linux, but Dell is one of the very few mainstream contenders to have done so over the years. After some spotty initial offerings, it’s taken a different approach with its latest Linux PC. Rather than try to sell Linux hardware to the masses, which the company has said typically requires support, it’s focusing instead on developers, a savvy group that tends to need less help.

That’s the plan behind the $1,549 Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition, an ultrabook that was born via the company’s “Project Sputnik” skunkworks initiative last year combining Ubuntu Linux 12.04 Long Term Support Precise Pangolin and the company’s existing XPS 13 laptop.

What started out as a pilot project turned into a real commercial product last fall, and earlier this year it got a nice upgrade. We got our hands on one recently and put this latest model through its paces.

A thing of beauty

Visually, the Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition is a thing of beauty. It’s thin, sleek, and lightweight, weighing in at just under 3 pounds. With a top cover precision-cut from a single block of aluminum, the silver-toned machine features a carbon-fiber composite base surrounded with a ring of matching anodized aluminum. A comfortable magnesium palm rest features soft-touch paint.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

via PCWorld

[revunurd-blog]

Editor’s Rating:

User Rating: Good: The Grace Digital Ecoxgear Ecoxbt is a compact, outdoor-oriented wireless Bluetooth speaker that has a waterproof design, is easy to carry around, and plays loud for its size. It also has speakerphone capabilities and delivers 10 hours of battery life from its built-in rechargeable battery. Bad: Sounds a little thin. Bottom Line: The Grace Digital Ecoxgear Ecoxbt’s waterproof design and affordable price make it the go-to wireless speaker for pool parties, bathrooms, and other wet environments. [Read more]

via CNET Reviews - Most Recent Reviews