paulenglish.com

2008-07-23T14:38:00.002-04:00

I just got the new iPhone.

I had previously purchased the v1 iPhone when it came out, but I returned it after a week. Not due to its shitty keyboard, but due to:

1) the lack of asynchronous email. (Fixed in v2.)

2) the lack of Exchange integration. (Fixed in v2.)

3) the lack of "autotext" macros. I have hundreds of these on my Blackberry.

4) to "delete" an email took more than 10 milliseconds. I get several hundred emails a day; the Blackberry simply requires "click delete key" to have a message _instantly_ disappear and then show the next message. The stupid animation on the iPhone was incredibly annoying.

But the reasons I'm now trying the new iPhone are:

1) it has a browser which works. (Damn you Blackberry for going this long without a real browser.)

2) it has a nice third party developer platform, and a simple way to find and buy new applications. (The first app I downloaded was iBeer.)

3) it is 3G

4) my Blackberry broke yesterday :)

Also, I think the new iPhone might save my life. Given that it's email will still suck compared to the Blackberry, I probably won't Drive While Texting anymore.

Now I have to go find a yoga class to teach me how to slow down my life so I don't need to email from my phone anymore. (I currently plan not to email from my iPhone that much, given how crappy the keyboard is vs the Blackberry.) Or, maybe all the iPhone applications will be enough to amuse me when I have some minutes to spare and would otherwise be doing email.

We'll see. Stay tuna.

2008-07-20T10:16:00.002-04:00

How is it possible that gmail does not accurately diagnose whether emails claiming to be from paypal are authentic or not?

I just got a legitimate email from Paypal and it was put into my gmail spam folder.

Any email claiming to be from paypal but which is not really from paypal (easily identifiable by google based on a registered email server mechanism) should be deleted, not even put into my spam folder.

If gmail can't authenticate emails from paypal, god help them in trying to determine if other emails are legit or not.

There is so much spam these days that the number of false positives is increasing, and the spam folders are getting so large that it is not possible for me to review my spam folder anymore. Unfortunately, this means that we can no longer rely on legitimate email as being sent. So if I do not reply to your email to me, try calling me on the phone. :)

2008-07-11T07:16:00.005-04:00

codesnap is a new website to allow code buyers to quickly find coders to build small projects. A posting costs you just $5, and then completion of typical project will be $100 or so. Your posting will be seen by hundreds of coders, who will then complete your job usually within a few days. Buyers, this is also a good recruiting tool -- to meet coders and to quickly evaluate them via your small project.

2008-07-08T07:00:00.002-04:00

When will there be a service to have someone post tons of fake reviews and high ratings of your item on amazon?

I'm looking to buy a futon. Of course I looked on amazon, even though that sounds like a weird place to buy furniture. But amazon seems to sell *everything* these days.

I was surprised that amazon had 512 futon mattress search results.

I was even more surprised that one of these 512 futon mattresses had 24 reviews.

Most of the reviews seemed to be bland, as if one person in India had to type them all in.

What do you think?

2008-06-09T07:29:00.002-04:00

McCain and Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran

2008-06-05T04:24:00.002-04:00

I've posted Nicole's photos from the Zambia trip that we did together last week, when I went to present at a CIDRZ electronic medical records meeting. We visited some CIDRZ projects in Lusaka, and then went to Victoria Falls (unreal) and also to a safari from Mfuwe Lodge in Luanga National Park. This was one of the best trips I have ever taken...

2008-05-20T17:27:00.000-04:00

Kayak describes its use of QuickBase for customer service.

2008-05-10T07:25:00.003-04:00

The new Google "Android" platform allows third party developers to build apps on the new Google Phone. Android includes of course the ability for great location-based services and mapping.

Check out these cool Android applications from MIT.

2008-05-09T06:08:00.005-04:00

I have become a major fan of the Ubuntu Linux-based operating system. I have now converted each of my desktop and laptop computers from Windows to Ubuntu. The major benefits are Stability, Safety (not virus-ridden like Windows), Simplicity, and Speed.

Ubuntu can transform a slow buggy Windows computer into a sleek and high performance Linux computer. There are many other benefits as well in terms of usability.

I will keep a set of Ubuntu installation notes of my suggestions and experiences.

2008-05-04T13:14:00.002-04:00

Hello, world written in hundreds of different programming languages. See also 99-bottles-of-beer which implements the infamous song in over 1,000 languages! :)

2008-05-01T20:20:00.001-04:00

Some day I will invent a Discussion Meter.

This device will sit on a table during a business meeting, and it will track how many minutes each person has spoken, number of interruptions each person makes, speech volume (average and standard deviation), etc. More info.

2008-04-24T08:20:00.002-04:00

How far will some Dads go to beat their teens at a video game.

(I wish I had the skills to have done that! :)

2008-04-18T22:58:00.000-04:00

2008-04-14T21:26:00.002-04:00

I watched the Red Sox beat the Yankees at Fenway Park last night, braving the cold past midnight. My son Michael was also at the game, but sitting with his Mom on the other side of the park. Mike and I were texting each other during the game....

Dad: Where are you exactly? If you draw a line from 3rd to home and keep going, you would hit me in the chest, seven rows from the field.

Mike: If u draw a line from u to me id be at the end

2008-04-03T22:55:00.001-04:00

Babies for Obama!

2008-04-02T15:14:00.001-04:00

All religions are fairy tales - except yours. The "except yours" suggestion from W.F. Nisbet -- thanks Bill! :)

2008-03-30T09:56:00.002-04:00

All Religions Are Fairy Tales - billboard upsets Florida citizens, and thus cuts down by 2/3rds the business of a restaurant who happens to be located nearby.

I wonder if a feel good exclusionary religious billboard would have increased business...

2008-03-29T23:29:00.003-04:00

Port-O-Rotary is an old desk top dial phone secretly fitted with a cell phone. All you need to do is insert your SIM card! Check out the ring tone as well as the specs on how they built it.

2008-01-11T20:52:00.000-05:00

Elena's documentary on the role of rape in the spread of HIV/AIDS has been published by Frontline Rough Cuts. This is a very powerful, raw documentary that Elena shot in a rape trauma center in South Africa. :(

2008-01-05T10:18:00.000-05:00

The new SideStep.com has launched this morning based on the Kayak.com codebase. (More info.)

2008-01-04T11:01:00.000-05:00

AT&T just sent me an email asking me to call them about my account.

1. First, a note to phishers. If you are not doing so yet, please start sending emails like this. Ask people to call _your_ number, and when they call, pretend to be AT&T and ask for all kinds of personal info including their social security number. (Note to AT&T and other companies - if you want to minimize phisher attackes, do _not_ put a phone number in your emails, instead, have your emails ask people to call the number on the back of their credit card, to make them feel safe that they will be calling the real number.)

2. It is annoying that when you do call AT&T, they first ask you to enter your credit card number. Then they say "you may be asked for your wireless number again for security purposes". I'm pretty sure they have you repeat it because their IVR is programmed by idiots, and it does not forward the info to their support centers. But nice try there scaring us with the "for security purposes". Thanks again to Bush for creating a fear culture.

Sigh.

2007-12-28T18:57:00.000-05:00

Stephen Wiltshire has a photographic memory. (See also.)

2007-12-27T19:39:00.000-05:00

Sports.google.com does not exist. This is amazing to me.

2007-12-20T20:19:00.001-05:00

Kayak merges with SideStep - see details here.

2007-12-15T08:21:00.000-05:00

The next time someone asks you a stupid question that they are too lazy to otherwise first lookup on their own, you can direct them to this website. (Thanks srevilak for the link.)