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A Charlie Brown Christmas, Unemployment, Laptop, & Microsoft

noreply@blogger.com (ジョシュ) — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 07:03:00 +0000

In December, my mom usually plays the same Christmas albums from years past, including:

A collection of holiday songs from Johnny Mathis, Burl Ives, and Mariah Carey.
The album Soulful Sounds of Christmas featuring various soul musicians.
The soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas.

They’re all my favorite, and during the holidays, I still listen to the albums at home, work, and on my Zune HD when I’m out and about. But the one that stands out the most is the soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas, because it reminds me of Christmas in 2001.

In December 2001, I was just wrapping up my first quarter at Bellevue Community College (now Bellevue College). My parents were both unemployed—through no fault of their own—and staying afloat with strategic use of unemployment checks and, I presume, credit cards. I didn’t have much insight into the whole situation, because I was rarely at home; my college classes extended into the late evening and I worked on weekends.

In Christmas of that year, my sister and I woke up pretty late. It must’ve been at least 10:00 AM because I remember seeing daylight coming through the living room. We opened up our presents, which I’m positive included some kind of underwear from the dog (a common theme since when we were younger) and a couple other clothing items. Then, I opened up a gift and was confused at what I saw: It was a neoprene laptop case. I asked my mom, “Um, what’s this for?” and she responded, “Oh, they were just giving them away at Circuit City, so I got one for you and your sister.” Hm, weird.

After we finished opening our gifts, my mom walked into the family room and came back with two big boxes: one for me and one for my sister. I vividly remember that moment. I unwrapped the present and wondered what could be in the box with computer printing on it. Sure enough, I had gotten my first computer: a Compaq Presario laptop running Windows XP. The feeling was almost like when we first got the Internet (Prodigy or AOL, anyone?); I instinctively knew how to use it, but it felt really good to treat it like something totally foreign.

I remember hearing my mom talk about it with my sister that she had gone to Circuit City and found the laptops on sale. Hoping to get a deal, she found out that they were offering 10 percent off if she was willing to sign up for a Circuit City card, which is good because laptops were still a pretty new concept for typical consumers back in 2001. And although my parents both found jobs after the holiday season, I can’t fathom how long it took for them to pay off the two computers.

I took my laptop with me to school almost every day, wrote tons of papers on it, and watched movies during the long breaks in between classes. No longer would I be regulated to sleeping in the library to pass the time. However, procrastination in school projects was still an issue, but that’s another story.

The laptop also formally introduced me to the Microsoft brand. I’d known about Microsoft before, from using desktop computers running Windows 95 and Windows 98, but having my own computer let me explore how it worked and made me solve my own misunderstandings in how computers operate. It sparked my interest in technology and introduced me to new concepts like developing websites and mobile applications, blogging, finding resources online, and generally shaping my computer skills. I’ve taken advantage of these skills to develop myself academically, professionally, and personally. It’s because of this early exposure that I’m fiercely loyal to Microsoft products.

And now, whenever I listen to the “A Charlie Brown Christmas” soundtrack, I can’t help but think about that Christmas in 2001: The costs my parents endured to provide me with a tool to improve my education, my first laptop, and my introduction to Microsoft.

Thank you to my parents for buying me my first laptop for Christmas in 2001; it helped transform the way I learn and began my immersion into the world of technology, which is something that I take advantage of every day. I hope you understand how much that investment continues to pay off.

Love you, Mom & Dad!

Longtime No See, Eh?

noreply@blogger.com (ジョシュ) — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 01:52:00 +0000

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I haven’t blogged for awhile. This has been a pretty interesting year, but I should have some time in the near future to start blogging again.

Who knows, maybe this time, I’ll actually focus on something?

Uber-Quick Update – Welcome, 2010!

noreply@blogger.com (ジョシュ) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 06:52:00 +0000

I got in a car accident on January 1; someone ran a red light and destroyed my car. I’m still feeling pretty banged up—my left wrist, lower back, chest, and lower abdomen are still bruised almost two weeks later. My left wrist hurts the most, so that’s why I haven’t been making any posts and have been trying to avoid typing in general. Shoot, even washing my hands hurts.

That said, I hope the beginning of 2010 treated you a little more gently!

How Aladdin Channel/2channel in Densha Otoko and Twitter Relate and Differ

noreply@blogger.com (ジョシュ) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 08:00:00 +0000

Nearly four years ago, I started watching the Japanese drama Densha Otoko (translated as Train Man) to better understand Japanese language and culture. I made it through the first four episodes of the drama series, which was based-on-a-true-story, and then put it on hold to concentrate on finding an English-teaching job in Japan. Lately, I’ve made more time for things other than maintaining websites, analyzing websites statistics, constantly being on top of various social media accounts, and my day job.

When I first watched the drama series, I watched it for what it was: A guy who is dedicated to his hobby, can’t find a girlfriend because of his status as a nerd, and seeks advice on a message board for single men. Recently, though, I watched the final seven episodes of the drama series and found that Aladdin Channel—based on 2channel, a real message board in Japan—is similar to a service that really caught on in 2009: Twitter. As I skimmed the 2channel message board where the true story of Densha Otoko took place, I noticed that, other than random pictures that people created from text, most of the messages were really short, similar to how Twitter has a 140 character limit. The picture on the left is a screenshot of both 2channel and Twitter.

Whereas Aladdin Channel looks like people can only access it while on a computer with a fully functional Web browser, Twitter is accessible in multiple ways; on mobile devices, on laptop and desktop computers, through third-party applications, and through third-party websites. With immediate, anywhere access to a community and a variety of ways to communicate with friends, the networking experience is much more useful. For example, if Train Man had access to Twitter on his cell phone while on a dinner date, he could’ve gone into the men’s bathroom, hid in a stall, and asked for advice on what he should do next. I don’t think a scenario like that is farfetched; I’m sure there’s been a lot of people who have asked for advice through Facebook or Twitter, hoping for real-time support while on the spot. Having to wait until I get home to search for answers and get advice when I’m out and about seems archaic.

Twitter’s platform makes the communication experience more interactive; people can visualize who they are talking to by see profile pictures, pictures and videos uploaded to third-party websites, and where people are currently located, among other things. In the Densha Otoko series, nobody knows what each other looks like because the message board is primarily text only, with some hyperlinks sprinkled in. The most noticeable difference between Aladdin Channel/2channnel and Twitter is the level of personality that people can apply to themselves through profiles.

It’s hard to argue that by making content available on multiple devices and through various third-party applications, building a trusting, reliable community is much easier than being restricted to a desktop or even laptop computer. However, as shown in episode 10 of the Densha Otoko series—where people find out who Train Man is—I don’t think people understand the risks and vulnerability they submit themselves to with open networks. With the various sharing that happens on Twitter—pictures, videos, hyperlinks, name-dropping, divulging peoples’ locations, and sensitive personal or business content, among other things—people should be prepared for their information to fall into the wrong hands. On the plus side, the subjects people talk about could also fall into the right hands, as evidenced by people who have found jobs by using Twitter.

Other Things That Happened in Japan

noreply@blogger.com (ジョシュ) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 08:53:00 +0000

I’ve compiled a list of some other things that happened while I was in Japan. Since none of them fit in with the posts I wrote a couple months ago, I decided to wait until now to create the list. In no particular order, here are some thing that I remember happening:

I didn’t know which direction the train station was, so I asked a young guy which way it was and he walked with us a couple blocks (in the opposite direction that he was going) to point us to where the station was.
On my way back to my hotel from my parents’ hotel near Kannai Station in Yokohama, I walked through an area that I thought was pretty harmless at night. Instead, there were a lot of guys in business suits asking me to come into their bars and clubs. I hailed a nearby taxi and asked him if where he picked me up was a bad area and he said “Yes.” Oops.
My parents and I walked into a bar in the Kannai area of Yokohama and the bar owner said “Sorry, Japanese only” in English and smiled.
My friend Brook and I found a soul-music bar called Chap Sweet and Mellow that seated about 10 people. We chatted with locals and made music requests.
On my way back from my mini Japanese bachelor party with Brook and our friend Yuhito, I got on the train, slept, and stepped off the train at its last stop, which was halfway between Tokyo and Yokohama. In Japanese, I asked a guy if a train to Yokohama was coming, slurred speech and all.
While I was preparing for the wedding ceremony, the lady who was helping me asked me to strip down to my boxers so that I could change into my hakama. And then she stood there and watched me take off most of my clothes. Awkward.
After meeting with my friend Doug, I saw a man sitting on the sidewalk near a crosswalk at a busy intersection; he was passed out and it was only 5:30pm.
While I was waiting for Brook to meet me at a train station near his apartment, I watched a kid on his bike get sideswiped by another bicyclist and take a nasty spill. His M&Ms and other bags of goodies were a complete loss.
A child kept pointing to me and calling me “English teacher” in a store.

AT&T Online Ad Attacking Verizon Is Misleading, Justifies the “There’s a Map for That” Ads

noreply@blogger.com (ジョシュ) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 08:00:00 +0000

By now, you’ve probably seen Verizon’s “There’s a Map for That” TV advertisement, which is aimed at Apple’s “There’s an App for That” TV advertisements (picture to your left). As the only provider of the Apple iPhone in the United States, AT&T did what it thought of as the only thing it could to put a stop to Verizon’s damaging ads… they filed a lawsuit against Verizon, telling the judge to have the ads pulled. No dice. The judge denied AT&T’s request, but apparently, the company will get another chance in mid-December to argue its case.

Scrambling for a response to Verizon’s ad, AT&T did two things: first, it tossed Luke Wilson into a room and had him toss around some postcards that represented AT&T’s network coverage (no mention of 3G coverage—just “network coverage”), and second, it created interactive online advertisements. Good job, AT&T; attack on as many fronts as you can, within your advertising budget. However, I think AT&T’s arguments on why its service is better than Verizon’s are extremely weak and inaccurate.

Starting at the top of this list, we have Nation’s fastest 3G network. Great! Got that out of the way. Take that, Verizon! But, wait, what’s that asterisk? Oh, that would be a disclaimer stating “3G coverage not available in all areas.” This verbiage also appears in TV ads. Isn’t that what Verizon has been discussing in its recent TV ads? This first list item seems to enforce Verizon’s argument.

Second, AT&T has listed Talk and surf or download simultaneously as one of its network perks. This is true. Not much to disagree with here.

The next item on the list, Most popular smartphones, is blown way out of proportion. AT&T definitely has the most popular smartphone in the iPhone, but other than that, the wireless service provider doesn’t have a killer device; Verizon doesn’t really have one, but with the recent release of the Motorola Droid, that’s debatable. Overall, I think this line item should have read Most popular smartphone, singular.

And finally, we have the most misleading, gross misinterpretation of AT&T’s service—Access to over 100,000 apps. It’s well known that the iPhone has tons and tons of apps. However, I think it’s important to note that these 100,000+ apps are only accessible to iPhone users.

Overall, I think this ad is primarily speaking from the point of view of AT&T’s iPhone customers, which still only represents a minority of the company’s subscribers.

Note: I’m an AT&T customer.

Resources: Newsday: Judge rejects AT&T's bid to pull Verizon ads

A Single, Effective Way to Measure Social Media

noreply@blogger.com (ジョシュ) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:30:00 +0000

A few days ago, a few people retweeted a blog post titled 100 Ways to Measure Social Media by David Berkowitz. After reading it, I felt inspired to use what little knowledge I have of social media to show you how I measure social media. I’m sure that others have already done this before, so feel free to apply what I’ve documented:

Open up an Internet browser that supports tabs and open all of the social media sites you actively use.
Grab a ruler and measure the distance from one tab to another. It’s ok if your tabs start disappearing because you have too many open. (NO CHEATING! I know some of you will use tabs like peopleofwalmart.com and icanhascheezburger.com. Don’t be dishonest.)
Take that number in inches and multiply it by how many social sites you have open in tabs.

For those that need help visualizing how I did this, I’ve posted a picture tutorial below.

Here are my numbers: 9 inches x 8 sites = a score of 72 social media measurements of complete bragging rights. Go ahead. Measure social media on your own and leave your score in a comment. Hell, post it on Twitter if you want.

*Disclaimer: Measurements may vary depending on your screen size.

Critics of President Obama, Since When Was Being Disrespectful an Appropriate Sign of Power?

noreply@blogger.com (ジョシュ) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:31:00 +0000

President Obama bowed to Emperor Akihito on November 14?? This is a huge deal! Why would the United States, one of the world’s largest powers, show any form of respect to Japan—or any other country? I’m disappointed. It’s absolutely absurd…

… that politicians, who are supposedly the voice of reasoning and leadership for our country, are making a big deal about this.

Seriously. Who in their right mind thinks it’s a bad idea to show any form of respect while you’re a visitor on foreign land? The argument that people are trying to make of this is ridiculous. Just because Emperor Akihito’s father is the one who approved of Japan’s military attack on Pearl Harbor, people think we need to show disrespect toward everyone directly or indirectly involved. Some conservative guy said, “I don't know why President Obama thought that was appropriate.” Wait, so, showing disrespect would be more appropriate? Hm, that’s not what my parents taught me.

To put bowing in perspective, my wife, Yang, said this to me:

“In Japan, bowing is a greeting and showing of respect. In the United States and other Western countries, it’s probably seen more as a display of loyalty.”

If the critics saw President Obama’s bow as a showing of loyalty to the emperor of Japan, then that’s a culture fail on their part. Not being open or at least researching why a culture conducts itself in a certain way is just selfish and creates an unnecessary hurdle for future engagements. What was a showing of respect in the eyes of both parties might now be an embarrassing situation for both President Obama and Emperor Akihito—embarrassment toward the United States’ reaction and the international publicity that followed.

Think about it. If you had a Toyota Corolla that suddenly malfunctioned and you had to take it in to get repairs, would you be justified in treating the mechanics at the dealership with disrespect just because a problem happened that’s beyond their control? Absolutely not. And, if you did disrespect the mechanics, the relationship is tainted; you can’t trust each other. all of a sudden, you’ve got a $2,500 bill for what should’ve been a $500 fix. The same applies to this situation. If you don’t show respect to someone who deserves it or is in a position that is influential, you risk ruining future business, partnerships, and other potentially beneficial propositions. When people say it’s a bad choice that President Obama showed courtesy toward Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, they are either close-minded to the courtesies of other cultures or riding on a mysterious power trip. These people need to get over themselves.

Although I personally haven’t witness much change personally, it’s been less than a year since this guy’s been in office. Sure, some people complain that he isn’t doing as much as he should. But remember, it took ex-President Bush less than a year to show change in the United States, resulting in billions of the world’s population disliking him, for example, the guy from the shoe-throwing incident in Iraq.

I will admit, though, the picture of President Obama and Emperor Akihito is a little odd to me…

… I’ve never seen someone bow while shaking hands.

*Looking for this post in Japanese? A translated version of it is on my Mixi blog (Mixi account required). Thanks for translating it, Yang!

New Sound, Refreshing Lyrics from Lo-Fi’s Recently Released Album, Stereo Soul

noreply@blogger.com (ジョシュ) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:47:00 +0000

Jazz. Funk. Blues. Breakbeats. Soul.

This is how the Japanese trio Lo-Fi describes their music. Even during singing breaks, the instrumentals by 5 (pronounced Goh; vocals and bass guitar), Yosh (drums), and Nori (keyboard) are ridiculously relaxing. After hearing that their new album, Stereo Soul, was available for download, I purchased it along with their previously released album, Low-Fidelity EP. To the left is a screenshot of the trio’s two albums in the iTunes Japan top jazz albums section. Sales of Stereo Soul, ranked #8, also saw increased sale of Low-Fidelity EP, ranked #18.

I listen to a lot of music, but Lo-Fi’s sound is completely new to me. What’s strange, though, is that the melody sounds familiar, but not familiar like I’ve heard it before; it’s more familiar like I should’ve already heard it. The drums and the keyboard are well balanced, but there’s also times when one of the instruments is deliberately the focus—almost like a solo but with background music.

A huge influence on whether or not I enjoy listening to the artist is whether I feel a connection with their lyrics. In Stereo Soul, the lyrics touch on topics like war, love, social issues, dealing with personal struggles, and friendships, which really draws me in and makes me want to listen. The words are almost like short influential pieces either from a personal view or from a broader perspective.

Just another proof of how social media really connects people and drives others to different experiences, I found out about Lo-Fi on Twitter through 5. Other than Twitter, the trio is active on other social networks, with accounts on Facebook, MySpace, Mixi, YouTube. They also have a website in Japanese and English, a mobile website in Japanese, and 5 blogs regularly both in Japanese and English. I think it’s great that they’re reaching out on so many networks and in two languages; that takes a lot of hard work!

I highly suggest buying Lo-Fi’s album—either on iTunes or on CD Baby. If you’re still skeptical, listen to the previews available on either of those music sites or watch the group’s live performance below. It was this artistic flavor—and this video in particular—that really turned me on to the trio’s music.

"Make That Change" is from Lo-Fi's Low-Fidelity EP, available on iTunes.

After listening to Stereo Soul from an amateur listener’s point of view, here’s how I would describe Lo-Fi’s sound:

Smooth. Social. Spoken word. Mellow hip hop. Familiar.

*Looking for this post in Japanese? A translated version of it is on my Mixi blog (Mixi account required). Thanks for translating it, Yang!

Is One College Athlete’s Preference Worth a University Losing a $3 Million Contract?

noreply@blogger.com (ジョシュ) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:06:00 +0000

Marcus Jordan, Michael Jordan’s son, is attending the University of Central Florida (UCF) and playing on the school’s basketball team. Demand number one? He wants to wear Jordans because they hold a “special meaning.” This is absolutely ridiculous. One problem: adidas had an agreement with UCF to provide the school with athletic gear. Out of all the schools that have Nike as their sponsors, why did Marcus choose a school that adidas sponsors? I think this has more to do with a young, over-privileged kid wanting to stand out.

But what about the school? From reports, it sounds like they’ve been completely clueless as to what the big deal is about. They supposedly told Marcus that he could wear Jordans, even though the athletics program was in the middle of the contract with adidas. After the first game of the season where Marcus wore Jordans, adidas terminated its contract with UCF, and even then, UCF officials were dumbfounded about why adidas decided to cancel the agreement.

Will the university find another sponsor? Probably. I’m sure Nike is cooking up some kind of deal. But if UCF thought that by having Marcus would bring other athletic-gear companies to the table, why burn bridges with adidas? In cases like this, schools need to reinforce what’s best for the school and not take unnecessary risks just because a student wants to get his or her way.

In the team’s first game, UCF won, but did the Jordans that Marcus wore help his game? Let’s see:

1 point (0-3 from the field; 1-2 from the free-throw line)
0 rebounds
1 assist
1 turnover
3 steals
23 minutes

With numbers like that, the only thing he should be demanding is more practice. He’s got a long way to go to be like Mike.

Now don’t get me wrong; I enjoy watching and playing sports. But I just can’t stand the increasing number of spoiled, whiny athletes who only focus on themselves and don’t take their actions into consideration.

My point is, are young, unproven athletes right to wear and do what they want while playing on college teams, even if that means potentially damaging the integrity of the schools in the eyes of sponsors and the public?

Resources: nbcsports.msnbc.com; www.upi.com; ucfathletics.cstv.com.

United Airlines Provides Traveler with Horrible Customer Service Experience, No Eye Contact

noreply@blogger.com (ジョシュ) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:31:00 +0000

Customer service is not about being a presence. It’s not about the customer always being right. It’s about being listening to customer and potential customer concerns and being respectful. I did not experience this on my most recent excursion with United Airlines.

Yes, United Airlines. Red, white, and blue. A company logo that symbolizes American pride. Flying the friendly skies…

… with a company that has no clue how to treat its customers.

I’ve flown United quite a bit in the last three years and accumulated a decent chunk of reward mileage—more than enough for an upgrade to Economy Plus to have six more inches of leg room. On September 16, 2009, I checked in for my flight to Tokyo and approached the United Airlines customer service desk next to the gate where I was set to board the flight. My plan was to redeem the points that I’d accumulated to receive an upgrade—something I’d been looking forward to for weeks after finding out that my mileage exceed the amount needed to move up.

A woman, probably in her 50s, greeted me, and I asked about using my points for an upgrade. Without looking up my United Mileage account to find out how many points I had, she looked at my boarding pass and said, “You can’t. You don’t have the right letter on your ticket.” Now, I never visibly get upset immediately, so I played it cool and said in a very calm, unaggressive tone, “But I have enough points for the upgrade.”

So she asked for my account number, took a quick glance and said, “No, you don’t have the right letter on your ticket. In order to get an upgrade, you have to have a ticket with a certain number on it.” Totally confused, I asked, “How do I know what letter I get when I order my ticket?” to which she responded, “If you bought this through an agent or Expedia, you need to ask them for tickets with [insert whichever letters she said here], which are more expensive.” I asked, “So I can’t get an upgrade just because I didn’t buy a more expensive ticket with a specific letter?” And then she says in a harsh voice, looking down at her computer:

“I know you’re not going to argue with me.”

Whoa. I was totally startled. This lady was being completely unreasonable and giving every reason as to why she couldn’t upgrade me, and then she throws this disrespect in my face. Without possibly getting kicked off the plane without even stepping onto it, all I could think of saying was, “So, in order for me to upgrade, I need to buy a more expensive ticket? That doesn’t make any sense.” “Her response? “To upgrade, you need to buy a more expensive ticket. If you want to upgrade, you’ll have to pay $115 for an Economy Plus seat or $650 for an upgrade to Business Class.” And then, she straight-up walked away…

Walked away!

All this happened with her making absolutely no eye contact with me. The closest she got to looking at me was looking at the person behind me in line; all other times, she was looking down at her computer or turning her face to the side. Written words alone could not explain how rude this woman was to me and how, from the beginning, she didn’t seem to care about anything I said. It was just a complete failure of showing any forms of life in United’s customer service.

So, I walked away. All I could do was tweet about my experience and call my mom. I was heated. Never in my life had I been treated with such disrespect. I only worked in retail/customer service for three years, and not once did I treat anybody like that. Not once. Not even the times when I knew a customer was wrong. Not even when customers yelled or swore at me. In this situation, there was no compassion in the so-called “customer service” that the United Airlines representative gave me.

After venting on Twitter and to my mom, I sat down, vowed to never fly United again, and listened to music to calm me down. Then, my name comes over the loud speaker to come to the customer service desk. A different lady has me come to the front of the line and says “We moved your seat. We have a family that wants to fly together. You still have a window seat, but it’s on the opposite side of the aisle.”

Yeah, I mean, it’s not like I chose that side for a reason. Don’t worry United. I enjoy opening my window and having the sun shine directly in my face. Eyesight is overrated anyway, right? I once again vowed to never fly United Airlines.

Re-enter headphones for a sleepless 10 hours sprinkled with various complementary drinks. I was determined to dispel my bad experience and arrive happily in the land of delicious raw horse meat and colorful Ferris wheels.

So, what’s this post about? Sure, maybe I was wrong and didn’t read the fine-print of the rewards mileage program—however misleading and contradictory it is to say “Free upgrade… if you buy a more expensive plane ticket”—but this is more about treating people with respect. I didn’t feel like a valued customer in the eyes of United at all.

Looking at what’s being spread around on the Internet, primarily fueled by social media, it looks like others are getting fed up with the lame, disrespectful customer service that United Airlines consistently provides. Good examples of these are Dave Carroll of “United Breaks Guitars” fame and the more recent track suit-wearing executive from Best Buy.

Zune HD – One Month Later: Device Experience

noreply@blogger.com (ジョシュ) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:08:00 +0000

I’m going to side-step the Zune HD’s audio quality because, like all devices, it depends on what kind of headphones you have. My headphones are nothing to tell your momma about, but having said that, my sound experience has been pretty good while listening to music and watching videos.

Device Experience

The beauty of the Zune HD is its graphical user interface (GUI). It’s all sorts of deliciousness; eat it with a spoon and savor it. I’m not going to touch on every feature because that would make this review a bit too long.

The main interface is pretty simple: Music, Video, Pictures, Social, Apps, Settings, and other items such as Podcasts and Audiobooks if you have any on the device. Then, there’s a sidebar/background list that is visible from the main GUI. This sidebar contains any media that is currently playing or paused, content that you’ve pinned (“pin” is another term for “adding as a favorite”), a history of content that you’ve recently played, and a list of content that you’ve recently added to your device. It’s all about ease of use, and I think the Zune HD really excels here.

When listening to a song, you can click on the center area of the screen and a layer pops up that lets you pause or play and change the volume by pressing the plus or minus button, or sliding your finger vertically between the two. On the same layer, you can change songs by pressing the forward or backward button, or you can press and hold either of those buttons and fast-forward or rewind the song.

From the device, you can delete songs, video, pictures, podcasts, and favorite web sites. This is a pretty big deal for me. I hate having to wait until I sync my Zune HD with my computer to delete songs.

If an artist has a bio and pictures in the All Music Guide on allmusic.com, then that content will be added to the Zune HD. Plus, the Zune Marketplace brings in related artists and, when you’re connected to a wireless network, marketplace discography. From the device, you can read about your favorite artists. This helps me pass the time on road trips or when I get bored of looking up stuff on my cell phone. This might be one of the top three reasons why I bought the device.

The web browser is pretty basic, which really isn’t a bad thing. Connecting to a wireless network is pretty automatic if you have access to a free network or one at your house or a friend’s house. Web sites containing Flash components don’t work, so for now, you won’t be able to watch videos or play games made in Flash. Web pages look great, but when you rotate the device to view them in landscape mode, some images are noticeably grainy. Text looks fine, though, in portrait and landscape mode. The browser lacks advanced features, but I haven’t found myself wishing for them yet. When you close out of the browser and start it again later, you start on the same site that you left off on.

The on-screen keyboard works pretty darn well. Characters bubble up when you press them, giving you better visibility into what you’re pressing on. There’s no predicative text, but I don’t think it’s all that necessary when typing in URLs or updating your status on Facebook or doing a search on Bing.

The apps and games available for the Zune HD are limited, but there’s been talk of more becoming available in November, most notably for Facebook and Twitter. Looks like we’ll find out what will be available in the next couple weeks. The games and apps available now, like Texas Hold’ Em, Space Battle II, and MSN Weather are fun and useful for downtimes. And just knowing that more good things are in the works tides me over until more app and game releases. However, the one downer when exiting games, apps, and even the web browser, is that the screen turns black for a few seconds. I would’ve hoped that there wouldn’t be such a lag with the superb technology in the device, but maybe there’s a reasoning on the software development side of it.

And finally, multitouch. Multitouch on the Zune HD is super responsive. I’m able to zoom in on pictures and web pages with just by lightly touching the screen; I have yet to experience a frustrating, finger-pressing experience. You can either pinch to zoom in, use your thumbs to do a “spread-in” zoom, or any other creative way you can think of to zoom by using multitouch. I prefer the spread-in zoom because then I can avoid accidentally scraping my fingernails on the screen. It’s a fun experience any way you do it.

Pros

Ease of use and ability to interact in different ways with the GUI.
Ability to delete content from the device.
Artist content, such as bios; pictures; related artists; and, when connected to a wireless network, discography available in the Zune Marketplace.
Easy-to-use, accurate keyboard.
Simple, straight-forward web browser that renders web sites and mobile web sites quickly and effectively.
Great multitouch experience; responds quickly to touches and zooms in on the appropriate areas.

Cons

Web browser doesn’t support Flash and some images look pixelated in landscape view.
Lack of apps and games on release day.
Noticeable lag when exiting the web browser, apps, and games.

Miss my Zune HD hardware review? Check it out!

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Zune HD – One Month Later: Hardware

noreply@blogger.com (ジョシュ) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:09:00 +0000

I wanted to wait awhile before jumping into a review about the Zune HD because it’s hard to figure out what to like or dislike from a pointless unboxing video or the day after a product is released. I think a month is a fair amount of time to learn about, use, and judge a recently purchased product.

So, here’s what I’ve liked and disliked about the device’s hardware so far.

Hardware

For me, 32GB is more than enough space, of space is dependent on how much you feel you need on the device. In my case, I have a hard to filling just half of that with music, so I have 16GB of TV episodes and movies that I’ll probably only watch when I hook up the device to the TV.

The screen is amazing. Outside in sunny weather and other bright situations, the screen is a little difficult to see. But in typical lighting scenarios, the images are crisp and show great colors. Also, the touchscreen is awesome. I hardly ever feel like I’m touching the screen to change the volume, browse through albums, or type on the on-screen keyboard. It’s really responsive.

The device is really lightweight and feels really durable. I wouldn’t go tossing it around, but it feels like it could withstand some bumps and people-height falls. The casing is a mixture of brushed metal (aluminum?) and hard plastic, and it doesn’t attract fingerprints, which is totally cool with me. Even after using it pretty heavily, I’ve somehow managed to avoid getting smudgy fingerprints on the screen. Also, the screen flushes well with the casing, so there’s less of a chance of dust buildup in the cracks.

From my experience, the accelerometer in the Zune HD responds the quickest out of any device that I’ve messed around with, particularly the iPhone and T-Mobile MyTouch (Android). The lag time on it is pretty much zilch. The tilt sensor is really sensitive, and the game that utilizes it—Space Battle II—has options to reduce or increase sensitivity. On all sensitivity settings, it was super responsive.

I think my biggest complaint about the device is the volume rocker. It really just wakes up the device and forces you to change the volume or move to the previous or next song by touching the screen. It would be nice to change the volume just by pressing up or down on the volume rocker (can it even be called that?). Plus, you have to push it pretty hard for the volume/menu screen to show up, which is nice for reducing accidental presses but a little annoying when you have to press fairly hard when the device is in a case.

There’s a power/sleep button at the top of the device. It’s just your average “on” button. It’s easy enough to press but not too easy that it’ll turn on while in your pocket or in a bag. The “Home” button below the screen is just as advertised; it works and doesn’t require much pressure. It can also be used to flip between the home screen and the sidebar area that contains “Now Playing” content, pinned content, history, and recently added content, which is neat and helps with ease of use.

A minor disappointment was the lack of a lanyard hole. I occasionally like to hang a mobile device from my neck so that I can look like the Flavor Flav of mobile devices. I joke. But it would’ve been nice to have a hole to slip a lanyard through.

To end this part of the review on a high note, I have yet to experience a total battery drain on the Zune HD. I’ve had a few times where the battery has gone down to around 25 percent, but it still keeps kicking. The flight to Japan, including time waiting for takeoff and standing in immigration lines at the airport, was about 10 hours and for 9 of those hours, I watched videos, played games, looked at pictures, did as much as I could with the accelerometer, and had the screen brightness on the highest setting. I was a happy camper.

Pros

Touchscreen is very responsive and surprisingly doesn’t leave much fingerprint residue. The colors really pop out, too.
Device is lightweight and built to fit nicely in your hand.
Accelerometer doesn’t lag, and the tilt is sensitive and accurate.
Great battery life.

Cons

Direct lighting on the device makes the screen difficult to see.
Volume rocker takes a fairly forceful amount of pressing for the volume/track menu to show up.
No hole for a lanyard.

My next post will be about the experience of the Zune HD.

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My Trip to Japan – Part 3 of 3

noreply@blogger.com (ジョシュ) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:26:00 +0000

On Sunday, September 27, Yang’s dad ever-so-kindly drove me, my mom and dad, and Yang up through Tokyo.

In the morning, we went to the Toyota Showroom in Odaiba, a man-made island in Tokyo. The picture on the left is of a Lexus hybrid sedan. Lexus has a small section in the Toyota Showroom that shows off about five cars, depending on new model releases.

Droppin’ knowledge: Lexus is a division of the Toyota Motor Corporation in the United States.

From the Toyota Showroom, we went to Tokyo Tower. The main observation deck is 492 feet from the bottom of the structure; for all you Seattleites, that observation deck is 28 feet shorter than the observation deck on the Space Needle. In any case, both are high off the ground and have great views of both respective cities. The two pictures below are of Tokyo Tower and one of the many views from the main observation deck.

After spending about an hour in Tokyo Tower, we made our way to Yoyogi Park so that I could say “bai bai” to my friend Brook. After getting lost in the gigantic park, I finally found him and it took a good while to say “See ya.” He really knows how to find a good time when I’m in Japan.

Then, we drove to Asakusa—more specifically, Asakusa Shrine, which really caters to to tourists. The picture to your right shows a crowd of visitors in the strip-mall area of Asakusa Shrine. It’s a neat area because a lot of the buildings and shops are old-fashioned looking. My mom and dad bought a few gifts for folks back home and walked down some of the residential streets and alleyways. Contrary to what you see in the picture, by the time we left Asakusa Shrine, it was dark outside.

Yang’s dad had to meet with a work customer, so he dropped us off next to the Imperial Palace in the heart of Tokyo. Good news was that the area wasn’t busy. Bad news was that it was dark and impossible to see the palace. Serious bummer. So we walked a few blocks and took the train back to our hotels in Yokohama.

On Monday, we all took it pretty easy. I met with my parents in the afternoon, and we went to Yokohama Chinatown and my parents bought more gifts for people at home. Then, thinking that there was a place for us to buy glasses on just about every block, I took a taxi with my parents to where Yang’s parents lived. I was wrong. No place to buy glasses, except for the one place in a department store… where the Fendi, Burberry, and other luxury brands cost $200+ for frames and lenses. No thanks. I was looking for glasses that cost $50. When Yang was available to meet us around 3pm, we walked to her parents’ place, and then from there, we drove to Yang’s dad’s work office. Then, we drove to a Chinese restaurant that Yang’s aunt’s friend owned. The food was delicious! After being stuffed with food and hydrated with alcohol, we went home and slept well.

Tuesday, September 29, was our last full day in Japan, so Yang and her parents took me and my parents to a place near Mount Fuji called Hakone, which is popular for its natural hot springs. The drive took about two-and-a-half hours, but we stopped for my parents to buy more gifts. After another 30 minutes of driving, we reached our main destination for the day. Time to walk! The air was filled with a strong sulfur smell from the various natural hot springs in the mountain. We passed by a bunch of the hot springs (see the picture to your left), and when we reached the end of the trail, we bought eggs that had been hard-boiled in a hot spring. They were pretty good. Just peel the egg shell off, dash a little salt on it, and indulge. Too bad it gave me a stomachache an hour later.

After eating a corn-flavored soft-serve ice cream treat, we drove to an outdoor art museum. It had a bunch of structures and a sizeable acreage to explore artwork. We even had the chance to get lost in a maze. Once I got in, I realized that there were flowers growing on the top of the walls. How precious… until I realized that the plethora of flowers were attracting bees. Lacking any sense of direction and worried that the bees would maul me, I, naturally, was the last one out of the maze. The last thing we did before leaving the outdoor art museum was soak our feet in a hot bath. If you don’t have access to a foot massager (human or machine) or if you’re too shy about your machete-like toenails, soaking your feet in hot water provides some good, temporary relief.

Heading back to Yokohama, we took a detour to Kamakura and visited the Great Buddha (see image to your right) of Kamakura at the Kōtoku-in Temple. This is the second time I’ve visited the temple… and for the second time, I wasn’t able to go up into the giant statue. Outside of the temple, the street is lined with small shops and traditionally decorated buildings. When we left, darkness hit us pretty quickly, even though in this picture, it looks fairly bright outside. We hoped in the van and made our way back to Yokohama.

Before going to dinner, we had some time to spare, so we stopped by a ferry terminal near the restaurant that we were going to. While doing some walking, below is a picture I found:

I can’t read most of the kanji in the sign, but I’m guessing it reads something like “Smoking results in a fail-whale situation. No smoking.”

We had a pretty awesome Chinese food dinner—and I’m not talking about General Tso’s chicken and egg fooyung. Unfortunately, I don’t remember exactly what I ate, but I know it was good stuff.

The next day, September 30, was our last day in Japan. Yang and I had to pack like crazy because we had our stuff—dirty clothes included—scattered on the floor of our hotel. My parents had already finished and just hung out around their hotel until Yang and I came by. Yang’s dad picked us up at my parents’ hotel and we started our drive to the airport. On the way there, we took a shortcut through the Tokyo Bay Aqua Line, an underwater freeway, and stopped by Umi Hotaru, which is a man-made piece of land containing shops and restaurants and looks kind of like a ship. We were in a hurry, since we underestimate how long it would take to drive to the airport, so we only stayed at Umi Hotaru for about 15 minutes. We got to the airport about 1 hour and 15 minutes before our plan was set to take off. Oops. We had a quick tearful “peace out” and power walked to our terminal… on the opposite side of the airport. We hopped on the plane and we were set. Eight hours later, we landed at SeaTac.

And that’s it! My trip to Japan in an nutshell… or blog, whichever you prefer. I hope you enjoyed it. :)

For more pictures of my trip to China and Japan, visit my China & Japan – September 2009 photo set on Flickr. If we’re friends on Facebook, you can view a few more pictures on my Facebook profile.

My Trip to Japan – Part BONUS of 3

noreply@blogger.com (ジョシュ) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:09:00 +0000

This post about one day in Japan turned out to be too long to mash my remaining four days into it, so I’ll post the real My Trip to Japan – Part 3 of 3 in a day or two. Enjoy!

September 26. Saturday. What follows is part of the day’s plan: the Japanese wedding reception(s).

I visited the barber to get a shave with an old-school razor. At one point, I fell asleep. I think at that point, he put makeup on me (I think it was to make me look less shiny). Afterward, I went to have the outfitters put on my hakama, a pretty manly looking, traditional Japanese set of garments. Then, I met with Yang, who was in her kimono, and a bunch of her family members plus my mom and dad, and we got our pictures taken at a studio by some uber-professional and detail-oriented photographers. Studio pictures, done (?).

Time for a grand entrance into the reception hall. Shazaam! 70 people, spotlight’s on us walking into the room.

Over the next hour, Yang’s brother and a group of dragon dancers performed a routine for wedding receptions. And then, it was time for me to give a speech. I pretty much started crying after saying “Thank you for coming out and showing us your support….” I’m not good at public speaking in general, but in emotional settings, I’m even worse. I was able to push out a few other words after about 30 seconds of being totally choked up, and then it was Yang’s turn. She handled it better than I did. I did, however, get a sizeable portion of attendees, both men and women, crying. Glad I could be so touching without saying more than 15 words. ;)

After listening to a couple people give speeches, taking pictures with everybody who attended, and cutting cake (see picture to the left), we left to change our attire; I changed into a black tuxedo and Yang changed into a white wedding dress. Then, we took more studio pictures and made another entrance into the reception hall, but this time, we lit candles at each table before we sat down at our main table up front. After another hour of pictures, it was over… Well, the “first reception” was over.

We had about an hour and a half before the second reception started, so everyone gathered to take more pictures in the hotel. After about 30 minutes, Yang went to change into her third outfit—a pink dress—and we took more pictures in the hotel and attended the second party. It was during gathering that I was able to eat. First bites of food equaled a win, but it was around 5pm, which is sort of a loss. During this second party, we took more pictures with friends and had everyone play bingo for some really cool prizes. And then it was over. We said “Thank you” and chatted with folks as they left.

After seeing everyone off, Yang and I met with some other folks in the hotel lobby. A couple handfuls of Yang’s friends were missing, so I thought maybe they had trains to catch. Not the case. They had gone to a nearby izakaya (Japanese-style bar) and were holding a room for us. Awesome! So, went to our hotel room and changed into our Chinese garments and took a taxi to the izakaya. Oddly enough, I was the only one who knew where the izakaya was, mostly because I frequently explore Yokohama on foot when I go to Japan.

We got there and, sure enough, there were about 10 people just hanging out, drinking and eating. I ordered a nama beer (draft beer) and sat next to one of the guys who gave a speech at our second reception. He spoke English, which was really cool, especially since he wasn’t shy about talking—alcohol always helps with that. :) About five minutes later, I grabbed a menu and looked for food to order. And then I saw it… basashi (raw horse meat). Immediately, I remembered Kenji’s YouTube video of him eating basashi, so I decided to follow that up with my own video, y’know, just in case I had an opposite reaction.

To be honest, it hardly had any flavor, but paired with the soy sauce, ginger, and green onions, the flavor just blended really well with the smooth texture of the basashi. I would order it again: It’s cheap (about $4 for 4 slices) and goes good with beer. :)

After ordering up some yakitori and talking in a mixture of Japanese and English to just about everyone, I was ready to call it a night.

I’ve uploaded a few pictures on Facebook of Yang and I in our different wedding reception outfits. They are in the folder named China & Japan + Wedding Receptions - September 2009.

My Trip to Japan – Part 2 of 3

noreply@blogger.com (ジョシュ) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 08:03:00 +0000

Before I jump into part two of my trip, I’d like to share one of my passions.

Music plays a huge part in my life. It’s my instant memory refresher that also acts as background music for a mental slideshow of different parts of my life that last as little as two weeks or as long as a year. So it’s only natural for me to choose new albums to listen to when I go on trips or when I’m in a certain mood. On this trip, I had a few albums that I’d acquired the days before I left: Kid Cudi – Man on the Moon; Olu – Soul Catcher; The Filibusters – (Untitled).

The Kid Cudi album (in the picture to the left) was my most played because the beat, the whole rhythm of the album, was kind of how my brain moves while I’m in Japan—dream-like, slow moving while everything else around me moves 10 times faster, but all at my own pace and body movement. Y’know, kinda like those slow-motion music videos that look really corny. Honestly, it made me want to do the robot on a few occasions. Anyway, back to the story.

After coming back to Japan from China on the evening of September 21, Yang and I went to our hotel in Yokohama and had dinner with her family. I was hoping to meet with my friend Brook that night, but dinner lasted a little long and I was pretty tired anyway from the plane ride and the drive to Yokohama from Narita Airport in Chiba.

On September 22, I took the train to Brook’s apartment, which is near Shibuya, a suburb of Tokyo. For some reason, I like to bring a backpack with me when I’m venturing out to Tokyo. Unfortunately, when it’s time to go out, it’s a pain to carry it around. What’s worse is that there’s not a whole lot in it. I use it to carry non-alcoholic beverages, my digital camera, and whatever things I buy, but I rarely buy things when I’m in Japan. Hence, my backpack is pointless… it’s just a koala-like object that is not a koala at all. Anyway, Brook and I met for a couple hours and he invited me to his friend’s potluck, but since I had the man-purse of terror tugging on my shoulders, I decided to go back to Yokohama instead.

Wake up! Bam! September 23. In the late afternoon, I met with Doug, who I’ve known through Twitter since my early days as a “I think I’m talking to myself on Twitter” guy (who knows… maybe I still am?). It took awhile for us to find a bar that was open at 5pm since most open at 8pm, but we had a nice chat over a couple of beers and peanuts. It was really cool to meet someone in Japan, especially since I only know a handful of people. Connecting with complete strangers in a foreign land is tough enough, but we were able to connect with what we knew of each other through Twitter. Then, I was off to the Shibuya area to meet Brook again. We went to a fairly cheap izakaya (Japanese-style bar). After some food and beer, Brook was ready to call it a night because he had to work the next day.

Wait. Not so fast. Instead, we took a short detour and found the holy grail of hole-in-the-wall bars. It was a pretty well-hidden spot—down an alley and three floors upstairs. We walked in and found… A SOUL MUSIC BAR! The bar, called Chap Sweet and Mellow, fit maybe 10 people and was decorated with records, CDs, soul music posters, and a tiny disco ball in the corner. Come to find out later, the bartender/guy who owns the bar is a local DJ. He played pretty much anything we wanted from the soul genre. It was a good chance for me to chat with the locals in Japanese and a cool blend of how people can communicate through music. Me and Brook’s facial expressions would light up on almost every song and the bar owner would ask us what we wanted to hear next.

My parents came to Japan on September 24, but before meeting them at the airport, I took this video of me riding the Landmark Tower elevator in Yokohama, Japan. It’s the tallest building in Japan and contains offices, a hotel, a few restaurants, and a cocktail lounge, which is on the 70^th floor.

I was really glad to see my parents in Japan. We had it all planned out for a couple of months, but just having them there was surreal. I was glad they got to experience why I enjoy visiting Japan so much. I think they were surprised by the food portions—a lot of people think Japan is all expensive restaurants with small food portions. I think we debunked that theory on this trip.

September 25, I showed my parents around Yokohama, but they were pretty tired from the 9-hour flight from Seattle the previous day, so I took them back to their hotel, hung out for a bit there, and then met with Brook and our friend Yuuhito at Chaps for some more soul music. We stayed there for about an hour and then went to the same izakaya where Brook and I went to a couple days earlier. We chatted and drank quite a bit, and they proclaimed our mini-gathering to be my Japanese bachelor party. I even completed the event by falling asleep on the train and worrying about where I was when I woke up.

The next day, September 26, was me and Yang’s wedding reception, but I’ll save that for my next post.

My Trip to Japan (er, China) – Part 1 of 3

noreply@blogger.com (ジョシュ) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:20:00 +0000

I left Seattle in the afternoon on Wednesday, September 16; flew into Chiba, Japan, on Thursday, September 17, in the late afternoon; and caught a morning flight to Dalian, China, on Friday, September 18.

My favorite part about China has got to be the food; the tastes and types of food are totally different than what we’ve got in the United States. And, as a visitor, I am asked to drink alcohol as part of the whole dining experience with family members and family friends. It’s not exactly a leisurely drink—it almost seems like a sport. Someone will raise a glass of some throat-burning, Chinese-brewed drink, and those playing the game will drink everything in the glass (clarification: strong stuff is in a shot glass; beer is in a typical beer glass). It’s fun but difficult when I’m supposed to have energy when I’m around others. Anyway, I’m sure you know how that goes. :)

On Sunday, September 20, we did a few things:

In the early morning, Yang’s family and a few of their friends banded together and we went to their family gravestones to pay respects. The climb was only about 15 minutes, but we spent about 30 minutes at each site. There was a ton of mosquitoes, but it was a nice experience.
Yang and I had our wedding reception at the hotel we stayed at. There were about 70 people in attendance and it lasted for about two hours. During the reception, we did the usual rituals: took pictures with people, thanked people for attending, cut cake, ate, drank, and talked with guests. After people started leaving, we got in a car and the driver took us to various spots to get our pictures taken and have another guy take short videos of us that he’ll edit into a compilation video.
After having our pictures taken, about 15 of Yang’s family members and I went to a restaurant for my father-in-law’s birthday. By that time, I’d had enough of alcohol over the previous 48 hours, so I refrained from drinking.

Other than eating good food, drinking potent liquor, climbing the mini-mountain, and having the wedding reception, I walked around Dalian with Da Xuan—one of Yang’s family friends. Since I don’t speak Mandarin Chinese, getting around is pretty difficult, so I always had someone else with me and we didn’t venture too far out of the city.

Yang’s brother, Pon Pon, showed me this iPhone application. Apparently, it teaches you how to be a better kisser. It’s pretty simple, you pucker up, kiss the screen, and it rates how well you did.

And, as a heads up, I was unable to access Twitter or Facebook while in China.

For more pictures of my trip to China and Japan, visit my China & Japan – September 2009 photo set on Flickr.

The Filibusters Use Summer to Break onto the Seattle Punk Scene, Bring Energy on Stage

noreply@blogger.com (ジョシュ) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 04:17:00 +0000

The Filibusters are a local Seattle punk band that focuses its music on political and social themes. Formed in February 2009, Dan (guitar and vocals), James (bass and vocals), and Dustin (drums and vocals) have had a fairly busy summer, averaging about three shows a month for the past few months, in addition to jam and recording sessions.

Check out The Filibusters on their MySpace and Facebook pages. After their show at The Dubliner in Fremont on Friday, August 28, they’ll be taking a short break (about a month), doing some traveling, and spending time with their families. When they come back, they’ll be in the studio prepping from a full-length album and booking more shows.

I’ve been to a few of their shows and they’ve got some serious energy. They’re not some “organized chaos” band when they play; you can totally see the effort they put forth. It’s all just straight-up rhythmic, which is a nice break away from how some other bands just play to act wild or freestyle their instrumentals. When they play, all of their sounds are easy to tell apart from the music. When some bands play, sometimes you can’t hear the bass because the drums are too loud or sometimes you can’t hear the drums because the vocals are too loud. Not with this band.

If you’re free, join me at The Dubliner on Friday, August 28. Oh, and bring earplugs. Wuss. :P

Here’s a video from their first live show back in May 2009. Sorry for the low quality; I streamed it from my phone in a loud, crowded, dark room.

Recapping Three Months with the Windows 7 RC

noreply@blogger.com (ジョシュ) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 05:33:00 +0000

I’ve been using the Windows 7 RC since Microsoft released it on May 5, but held off on blogging about it to make sure I had all of my facts and opinions straight. After three months, I might as well have written a review a week after installing it. The RC, which stands for release candidate, is Windows 7 Ultimate, the full-featured version of the operating system.

Setting up Windows 7 was a breeze. So much of a breeze that I installed it twice on my Compaq laptop within 12 hours. Well, there’s a disclaimer on that: The first time I installed it, it took four hours because I hadn’t realized that I selected the option to keep all files on my computer, meaning that my previously installed programs and saved music, pictures, and documents transferred over when I updated. This was not what I had planned, so I reinstalled it, wiping off all files and installed programs. This method of installing took roughly 30 minutes. Yes, 30 minutes, as in half an episode of Man vs. Food.

Note: When Installing Windows 7, remember to create installation disks for your current operating system, Windows Vista or Windows XP. I made the mistake of note creating the disks and cannot go back to Windows Vista unless I call Compaq/HP and pay for the disks. Oops. Guess that’s a good enough reason to buy Windows 7 Ultimate when it’s officially released on October 22. ;)

Setting up the new operating system was pain-free and straightforward. And, I didn’t have any problems with installing drivers that weren’t preinstalled on the computer, such as printers, mobile devices, and flash and external drives.

The only noticeable and annoying bug I experienced for the first two months was this: Occasionally when I moved files from a folder to the desktop, the desktop would not refresh unless I manually refreshed it by pressing the F5 key. The only way to fix this would be to restart the computer, which is hardly ever convenient. For the past month, though, I haven’t had this problem, so I wonder if it was fixed in a recent update. Other than that, I haven’t run into any major bugs, but keep in mind, I primarily use my computer for average tasks, like browsing the Internet and using applications in the Microsoft Office system, Macromedia Dreamweaver (yes, Macromedia) and TweetDeck.

My wife was even jealous to see my computer running Windows 7 that she wanted me to install it on her Sony Vaio laptop running a Japanese version of Windows XP. Not only did she set up the English version in 30 minutes, but she also can switch between English, Japanese, and Chinese anytime she wants to. Because of her higher-end, super-featured laptop, we did have a little trouble installing drivers that should’ve been on the laptop. I think this had more to do with the applications that are never included on U.S. PCs, such as FeliCA. Fortunately, Windows 7 provides thorough directions that help get the drivers onto the laptop.

Overall, I’m very pleased with the Windows 7 RC. From what I’ve seen, Microsoft is really listening to the public about how to make the operating system better, and I think social media is really playing a good part in pushing the Windows brand back to the ranks that it was before Windows Vista. People like Marcus Schmidt, Brandon LeBlanc, and Stephen Rose and online entities like MSWindows on Twitter are very active with promoting blogs and general Windows 7 information on Twitter.

columnbreak in Japanese

noreply@blogger.com (ジョシュ) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 15:25:00 +0000

Thanks to Yang’s translating skills, I’ve finally created a Japanese version for this website. Since there are only about five pages to visit, it was fairly easy, except for the JavaScript part. Just remember to turn off “Western European” when creating a JavaScript file that needs UTF-8 encoding instead of Unicode. In Dreamweaver, you can do that through the Preferences option when you’re looking at new templates to use.

Um, that’s it for now. :)

Puget Sound Blood Center Organizes Blood Drive, Social Media Fuels It

noreply@blogger.com (ジョシュ) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 05:47:00 +0000

Sean DeButts, Social Media Coordinator at the Puget Sound Blood Center, has set up the organization’s first blood drive tweetup! If you’re in the Seattle area and available on Tuesday, June 23, I highly recommend that you go and donate some blood. Not only will you be donating for a great cause, you’ll also be surrounded by some wonderful folks. Sean will be posting pictures on Flickr and videos on YouTube of people who are donating throughout the day. You can even publish your experience in real time by blogging or tweeting while you donate!

For more information, check out the following links:

Coming late to the party: My social media “wow” moment

noreply@blogger.com (ジョシュ) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 04:08:00 +0000

I just had my first social media “wow” moment. Before I explain what happened, I’ve got to tell you that I’m borrowing the phrase “social media ‘wow’ moment” from Kenji_Onozawa and his website, Seattle Social Media Profiles. In his written interviews to the folks that he interviews, that’s one of his questions. If you’re a Northwesterner or just a plain ol’ person who engages in social media, this site is awesome; it really helps put social media and the local people involved in it in perspective!

Oh, that’s right… So on to my story.

I was on Twitter, reading some updates and responding to some of the tweets that I had favorited throughout the day (I typically don’t tweet during the weekdays because I’m too busy at work), and one of my friends, Bloglue, retweeted a question that he had posted the day before asking about programming and the use of 24-hour clocks and AM/PM settings. Since I follow a decent amount of programmers/developers, I figured at least one person might be able to answer… and answer he did! noahcoad answered within 10 minutes of me retweeting Bloglue’s message. 10 minutes! It just blew me away.

It’s just proof that reaching out to others and actively searching for answers for yourself and for others really works online. But you know what? It’s even sweeter when you can meet these people at social events and other types of meetups.

I’m still amazed at how much more I “got it” today. I think I’ll use this as my own proof point for when people want me to explain what the significance of social media is. Now, let’s see how many more online tools I can use to help others…

Been busy with everyday life happenings lately

noreply@blogger.com (ジョシュ) — Sat, 30 May 2009 22:18:00 +0000

Been pretty busy with a variety of things going on in life these days, so sorry for the lack of posting to this blog.

Here’s what I’ve been working on for the past month or so:

Working
Attending social media events
Messing around with Windows 7
Refreshing the columnbreak website and brand.
Generally getting out of the apartment with Yang more often.

So, yup, that’s about it lately. Oh, I’ve also made myself discoverable on Facebook, so feel free to add me. Who knows? Maybe I’ll accept the request. ;)

Collaborative efforts between social media and the slumping movie theater business

noreply@blogger.com (ジョシュ) — Fri, 01 May 2009 07:13:00 +0000

I came up with this rough idea while I was out on my lunch break today: What if movie production studios used Twitter to advertise movies? For example, what if 20th Century-Fox Film promoted the Wolverine movie on Twitter like this?:

20thCenturyFox: Wolverine seeks revenge against Victor Creed for the death of his girlfriend, & ends up going through the Weapon X program. (link)

That’s in pretty basic form. It might grab the attention of people who are interested in movies in general and those who might have heard of Wolverine.

But here’s the more exciting, engaging tweet that I had in mind while I was lunch-break brainstorming:

20thCenturyFox: Weapon XI and Logan's fight moves to the top of a nuclear reactor & it appears Logan is outmatched until Creed shows up to... (link)

This kind of tweet is much more likely to draw in 20thCenturyFox’s followers because it leaves it up to them to click on the link or ponder what will happen. The aim of this kind of tweet is for people to think “There’s action going on here, and someone appears to… to what??” Clicking on the link could take them to either the movie’s Web site that further explains the story or, my favorite, points them to a link of that specific scene. Using the second example from above, if someone were to click on the link, they would be taken to a site that plays the scene from when Creed shows up and a collage of video clips from that scene would play—enough to give the audience an idea of what happens in that scene, but not enough to give away everything that happens.

And, with the variety of ways for tweets to automatically update Facebook statuses and blogs and Web sites that post updates containing predetermined Twitter handles and keywords, something like this has the potential to reach an audience that doesn’t even originate from Twitter.

Profitability-wise, movie production companies would see an increase in site traffic, which could turn into more people who visit the theater when the movie is released. As for Twitter’s profitability from this? Well, I haven’t really come up with a solid idea for how this could increase the company’s income. Maybe a co-branding effort with the movie production company?

Zune HD and brief thoughts on the software and hardware

noreply@blogger.com (ジョシュ) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 08:36:00 +0000

Ok, this is going to be really brief, but here are two things that I think the Zune should have: Bluetooth for stereo headsets and speakers and support for Asian languages.

It’s a bit of a long shot, but I would like to see the next-generation of Zunes with Bluetooth. It would definitely give it more firepower against the iPod, but because of the demand on battery power that Bluetooth uses when it’s on, I know that might not be feasible or practical to keep the battery life at such exceptionally high levels. Coincidentally, though, Bluetooth 3.0 will be rolled out to manufacturers soon, and one of the improvements in the technology is lower drain on battery power. If the rumored Zune HD had Bluetooth 3.0, it would probably make it the first device to hit the market with that mobile technology. This sounds completely possible to me with the Zune HD rumored to be released in fall 2009. Having the newest technology in a refreshed device would totally gain followers for Microsoft. The only obstacles for implementing Bluetooth 3.0 into the next-generation Zune are price and battery demand, two of which I have no insight into.

The second should-have (will-have?) for the Zune is the long-awaited support for Asian languages. If the Zune is indeed going international, the Zune must have support for Asian languages for it to succeed overseas.

*The image of the rumored Zune HD above is from Engadget. (http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/10/is-this-the-zune-hd/)