racoma.com.phJ. Angelo Racoma on technology, economics, writing, problogging, and getting things done

I’m not very fond of Nokias, but I’ve been posting about them like there was no tomorrow. My primary motivation: usability.

My most recent posts on ForeverGeek involve mobile phones and mobile technology (and how they also apply to design concepts outside of mobile telephony). I basically rave about how, no matter how high-tech my mobile goes, I would always go back to using it just as that—a mobile telephone—for calling, texting, and the occasional alarm clock needs.

First, on ForeverGeek, I find it funny how mobile phone junkies (like myself) always have this urge to buy the latest gadget, but end up using the phone’s basic features after the novelty wears off.

Of course, by “fags,” I mean cigarettes—you know, the Brit and Aussie slang, lest you accuse me of being homophobic or something (no comment!). Those who know me personally would know I don’t smoke (never tried). And I’m quite allergic to cigarette smoke, so I try to keep distance from smokers—at least, while they’re doing their thing, that is.

An experience yesterday (Philippine time, of course) led me to come up with this writeup on ForeverGeek. Went to Seattle’s Best to do some work, but I had no place to stay except the smoking area (I should’ve settled down first before buying coffee, as I usually do). Guess what? Most of the tables were occupied by WiFi junkies.

So what have I learned from all this? I guess this just affirms my theory that in some instances, you could indeed assume the worst from people (which was pointed out in a comment posted here)—at least in some instances. Of course, it’s probably unfair to put people at fault for enjoying the facilities. Hey, I’m also here to do the same. What I’m pointing out is that there’s probably a better alternative for establishments attracting business this way—things that could discourage abuse.

Pretty fun/light stuff.

Enjoy!

Admit it, you’ve violated your service provider’s (email, hosting, blogging, photo-hosting, etc.) terms of services one time or another.

Nude photos on Flickr. AdSense on mature websites. Obscene photos on wiki encyclopedias. Corporate blogs on personal blogging services. We’ve seen ‘em all. Sometimes we click that feedback link and report the offense to the appropriate authorities, but in most cases, we just turn a blind eye. In most cases, after all, one wouldn’t expect a favorable response timely enough for our taste. Or perhaps we do enjoy the websites or content themselves, and would rather have them online than not.

I’d say it’s a bit more complicated than just “good” vs. “bad,” or even “right vs. “wrong.”

... the difficulty with ToS compliance is that we live in a world where companies tend to be biased and users tend to abuse—slightly or unknowingly, at least. Unlike the Force, which has a dark side and a light side, it’s a bit more complicated with all the in-between grey areas.

Quite a lengthy post over at ForeverGeek. Enjoy!

Here’s another way by which Voice-over-Internet Protocol provider Skype is bridging the gap between countries and continents: Live Translation!

My thoughts posted over at ForeverGeek:

Simply put, not everyone else in the world can speak your language, nor is everyone always willing (nor readily able) to suddenly adapt overnight just to accommodate you. And I’d tend to think this is a mutual thing—you probably won’t think it’s convenient to learn Cantonese or Hmong at five minutes’ notice, would you? Nor would it be practical to start learning a foreign language just so you can converse with a friend for 30 minutes.

Skype probably realized that majority of its clients aren’t interested in chatting up the next-door neighbor or friends from the next city through its facilities—in most cases, local phone calls would be cheaper! VoIP users are likely those looking into savings from over-seas or long-distance calls.

It’s quite expensive, though, at $2.99 per minute. Hey, if you need any English-Tagalog translation, you might want to drop me a line. I’d probably be willing to do it for free, time permitting. Or for text translation, you can try Babelfish instead (Google Translate is cool, too, but it has a limited language set).

Greg writes on the perennial problem at the workplace named “interruptions.” According to our friendly usability expert, it is a programmer’s nemesis: one millisecond of interruption could disturb one’s “flow,” or nudge one out of his “zone.”

Here’s my response, which I posted on ForeverGeek. An excerpt:

I would think this same principle applies to other creative types, as well. And this includes writers, artists, and other people who rely on concentration and inspiration to work effectively and efficiently.

True, programmers need time to think up workflows and other logical stuff in their heads, and then finally put this into a coherent, cohesive code that would hopefully also mesh well with other programmers’ own sets of code. But the same goes with words, sentences, strokes of a brush or pencil, and even photo compositions, and other such multimedia.

I had drafted the entry here, and was supposed to hit the publish button already, when I thought I’d post it over at FG instead, so I could have a wider reach, and since I thought it’s FG material.