Sweet sweet summer rain!
Apple released the Magic Trackpad I was hoping for! Excellent!
Funny how they decided to "re-invent" the rechargeable battery business at the same time too with a Apple branded battery and charger-setup :). I feel like a sucker because I'm probably going to order it - I don't actually do rechargeable batteries yet (don't use much batteries to begin with). Need to research the alternatives a bit I guess.
"What I Talk About When I Talk About Running" is a short and very personal memoir by the japanese novelist Haruki Murakami, where he describes choice parts of his life via his passion for running.
The book is extremely well-written and personal, its not a biographical work in the traditional sense because it concentrates on only a, admittedly big, part of Mr. Murakami's life - running - and compares it to his writing. He passionately describes how and why he runs, how it has shaped him as a person and in extension his writing. It's only about 170 pages and a fast and easy read. Even if you aren't a runner it gives an interesting perspective to the world and mindset of the runner. That said, I found it fascinating and inspiring because I've been dabbling with running the last few years - not sure how much of the book is of interest to someone who doesn't like either running or peering into an intimate part of another persons psyche. I would nonetheless recommend it, if for no other reason because it is actually a good and different kind of book.
"Nudge: Improving Decision About Health, Wealth and Happiness" by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein is a fun and easy to read book about surprisingly serious topics. It comes highly recommended by a multitude of different people and sources, not the least my dear The Economist gave it their "A Best Book of the Year"-award/badge/thing.
The subtitle might suggest that the book is a self-help book but that is (mostly) not the case. The book talks about the choices we make but often from a grander perspective of creating useful default choices and making it easy to do the right thing, wether when choosing food or pension plans. Much of the advice goes to the "choice architects", the people who decide in what order things are presented etc. However, it does also empowers the reader to recognize where those choices have been made badly for you, either in ignorance or for deception, and helps us make a more conscious choice where we deem it important. The writers are both professors at the University of Chicago (School of Business and Law, respectively). There are copious amounts of references and notes in the end, which always is a good sign. The book itself is also very facts-based, it references much research and doesn't claim to come up with much own ideas just collecting the wisdom of others (again, something that I find both refreshing and honest). Lots of books like these are written to bang on the authors own drum and support their pet-theory. It follows the tradition of books like Freakonomics and writers like Malcolm Gladwell in making real world economics and psychology easy and fun to read. For people who enjoy learning and understanding about how the world works this is really something you need to read. Even more than most other books in this field, "Nudge" feels practical and more real than many other books in the same vein. Especially people in the position of making choices for other people, either explicitly or implicitly in designing a form or plan, need to know how important the way in which the alternatives are presented is! People are lazy or get paralyzed when the complexity or amount of choices is too much for them and you need to help them make a good choice. If there is any criticism to be pointed out it is that the book is very US-centric and some of the discussions about 401(k)'s and other strictly American idiosyncrasies can feel uninteresting for an outsider but that is both understandable (since the authors are from the US) and isn't overwhelming. All in all, I highly recommend "Nudge" for being an interesting, educational and fun read!
Back way before Apple released the iPhone there was a small company called FingerWorks[1] that made a very cool multi-touch keyboard called the TouchStream (along with some other very cool multitouch interfaces). I remember this company because I was drooling over their products but couldn't really afford one. Back in early 2005 they were acquired by Apple and all products were discontinued.
Fans of FingerWorks-products hoped that Apple would make them more mainstream and affordable but nothing was seen or heard until the iPhone and iPod touch was released. Clearly a well-planned purchase by Apple considering the touch-sensitivity of their products is still unequaled by their competitors. The same technology was later incorporated into their laptops to create the best trackpads on any computer. Not very many MacBook-owners use external mouses because of them (except when at their workstation perhaps).
Now the rumors [2][3] are saying that Apple is releasing a "Magic Trackpad" which would enable desktop users to use a large trackpad instead of a mouse... Which makes me very hopeful! A large multitouch trackpad with gesture support etc would be an excellent addition to my iMac! Link [3] suggests that it could even be released very soon since FCC-approvals are usually very well timed by Apple.
Here's hoping...
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FingerWorks
[2] http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/07/apples-magic-trackpad-revealed/
[3] http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/19/apples-magic-trackpad-gets-fcc-approval/
Finally got around to editing and posting some of the pictures I took on our trip to Lapland a few weeks ago. The weather wasn't especially good but to be honest, I'd almost rather have a drizzle of rain over the current heat-wave but I'm weird like that - being warm-blooded and all that. Anyway.. Some highlights, link to set at the end.
More pictures here:
Everyone needs to create a few over-processed HDR-images to get it out of our systems before calming down and using it right :). Here are a few of mine, taken early this morning when the light was all reddish and weird.
To be fair, the rainbow-picture didn't need much post-processing to begin with, here is a more reasonable (normal) picture of it with only some minimal color-editing and cropping: 
I used the free and very easy to use HDRtist from http://www.ohanaware.com/hdrtist/ - you just drag and drop pictures onto the app and choose the strength of HDR. Really easy way to maul perfectly good pictures :).
It's hot in Finland, thankfully the beer is cold. I will return with more pictures and stuff sometime when my brain works again, take care people and do go read this excellent blog-post about what drowning looks like for real (hint: its not like in the movies) : http://gcaptain.com/maritime/blog/drowning/?10981 Very good to know in these hot times, stay safe!
Long time chemical engineering student back to get his degree. General IT specialist and people person.
