daverea.com

Well, comrades, it’s almost here. Seems like it wasn’t that long ago I was getting excited about the arrival of Ubuntu 9.10, and here we are at Ubuntu’s next big milestone. Despite the fact that few, if any, of those I know or who read this blog will make the switch, but I’ll tell you why I’m excited anyway…

Sadly, Ubuntu 9.10 wasn’t exactly a beauty queen, a speed demon or a pillar of strength. I found it to be the buggiest Linux I’ve used in a long time, but we got along in hopes that 10.04 – being a LTS or “long-term support” release – would right the wrongs. Having tested the 10.04 beta and release candidate builds, I’m feeling confident that will happen. Gone is the flaky external monitor switching. Gone is the crumby printing stability. Gone is the annoying notification scheme and impossible instant messenger.

Oh, and here to stay is a new Corsair Reactor R60 solid state disk. When I slid this little monster into my HP and loaded up Lucid’s release candidate, the machine zoomed from BIOS to rock-and-roll in 8 seconds. Before I’ve even used it a day, I’m confident that anyone looking for a serious performance boost from their laptop should seriously consider switching to an SSD.

So tomorrow, you can count me among those who’ll be downloading the Ubuntu 10.04 ISO and loading it up. For some, it’ll be a new and perhaps scary experience. For others, it’ll be life-changing. And for me, it’ll just be a welcome relief.

Yeah, I know, I fell off the Project52 wagon. Things have been just a wee bit busy, and I’ll leave the bellyaching to that.

Why? Because in this day and age when it seems like the vast majority of people would rather spend time dreaming up reasons why they can’t do this or that, there’s a never-say-die amputee somewhere out on the continental divide that’s turning people from victims to victors at the helm of a take-no-prisoners off-road Econoline.

When I think of “making something of one’s life” and “people that do meaningful things” I think of people like Lance Blair. While I’d be fine with keeping both my legs, I hope I get the chance to do something half as meaningful as he does. Keep up the great work Lance – you’re an inspiration.

(Hat tip: Engadget. A great read.)

In Tuesday’s edition of the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, a letter to the editor was printed that didn’t sit too well with me…

Pedestrians and cyclists a bad mix

On March 24, I took a hike on the Quaker Pond Trail at Mendon Ponds Park, a trail on which bicycles are not allowed, according to the signs. I was unpleasantly surprised to be forced off the trail by two men on off-road bikes who barreled past at high speed. In addition to biking on a trail where they shouldn’t have been, they were quite rude. When I politely pointed out that bikes aren’t allowed on that trail, one of them cursed at me. The wet parts of the trail are being heavily rutted by mountain bikes. The Monroe County Parks Department needs to do a much better job of enforcing its rules on bikes.

I am aware that the county has plans for shared-use pedestrian and bike trails in some parks as a result of intense lobbying by Genesee Regional Off-Road Cyclists. In my opinion, pedestrians and cyclists are not a happy mix. They get in each other’s way, and someone is bound to get hurt.

—JAY GREENBERG
BRIGHTON

So, I decided to write a response. In case they decide not to publish it, I figured I’d post it here as well:

I was dismayed to read “Pedestrians and cyclists a bad mix” in Tuesday’s edition. While Jay Greenberg and other outspoken Rochester Birding Society members have sought to paint off-road cyclists as out-of-control thrill-seekers, experiences in neighboring counties and across the country paint a decidedly friendlier picture: Those on two wheels are just another set of respectful trail users.

While off-road cyclists are the second-largest group of trail users nationwide, one need only look to Ontario County to see multi-use trails enjoyed by pedestrians and cyclists alike. Rather than ostracizing entire classes of taxpayers and creating an adversarial environment via public policy, park officials there welcome cyclists and encourage cooperative trail use.

As an off-road cyclist, I’m disappointed that Mr. Greenberg’s reported experience reflects poorly on the larger community of riders who courteously enjoy the precious few multi-use trails in our region. Before forming an opinion based on his letter, I hope others will take the opportunity to visit the excellent nearby parks that practice inclusion, rather than exclusion, of all who seek to enjoy them.

—DAVID REA
PITTSFORD

The standard yield sign that graces multi-use trails nationwide

This morning, the fine folks at Verizon and Skype unleashed their first attempt at an “official” joint-venture application for Skype on smartphones – including Verizon’s Android-powered offerings. Given the anticipation that’s been brewing, installing the newly-released app was the first thing I did after pulling my Droid from its cradle today.

Unfortunately, seeing the official Skype Mobile application waiting for me in the Android Market was where the positive experience ended. After installing, the app informed me that it wouldn’t work with the phone’s Wi-Fi connection enabled. Odd, I thought, considering that it’s already been well-publicized that Skype-on-Verizon will use the Verizon voice network to deliver calls, but without deducting any minutes from the user’s plan.

As it turns out, this new Skype app will only sign in if Wi-Fi is disabled on the handset – meaning that no other apps can use that Wi-Fi connection, either. Re-activating Wi-Fi causes an automatic log-out from Skype – so much for that “always on” connection that’s advertised in the app’s description!

Fortunately, there are a few ways to enjoy Skype connectivity on your Android-powered device. Rather than installing the Verizon Skype app, check out these alternatives:

Sipdroid

A decently well-integrated SIP client (that is, a soft-phone that can make and receive VoIP calls using the SIP protocol) that doubles as a Skype client.

Fring

A nice multi-protocol chat and VoIP client with a slick user interface; it’s gone through some revision lately, but gets better and better as its user base grows.

Truphone

While this one isn’t Droid-compatible, I tried out an early beta version and found it to be fairly workable. If you have an Eris or are saving your pennies for a Nexus One, HTC Incredible or Devour, this one might be worth a test-drive…

Push. Push. Push. One. Foot. Down. Then. The. Other. Push. Harder. Slip. Spin. Slide. Turn the bars. The bike will follow.

Push. Push. Push. Gear up. Push. Push. Push. Gear up. Push. Push. Push. Climb. Down a range. Push. Push. Push. Brakes.

Brakes. Brakes. More brakes. Stand, turn, lean, roots. Brakes. Push. Push. Push. Push. Push. Trust the bike. The bike knows what to do.

Climb. Climb. Climb. Climb. Climb. Climb. Steeper. Climb. Climb. No gears left. Shit. Stall. Climb. Climb. Drop. Pedals out. Hike.

Saddle up. Coast. Roll. Brakes. Push. Brakes. Push. Brakes. Push. Spin. Descent. Range up. Gear up. Gear-gear-gear-gear up. Stand. Lean. Weight back. Weight up. Weight back. Brakes. Lean. Brakes. Push. Brakes.

Pause. Descent. Squint into the wind in your face. Wipe. Sweat. Wipe. Mud. Drink. Push. Brakes. Gear up. Gear down. Range up. Range down. Front brake. Rear brake. Pedals out. Clip in. Mud.

Enjoy. The. Ride.

Sometime in 2006, some co-workers and I tried our hands at running. We’re not all that fast, and our endurance isn’t all that great, but we enjoy hitting the pavement together, and we’ve all reaped some big-time fitness benefits from the hundreds of miles of ground we’ve covered in our four years of ground-pounding. What we lack in performance, we make up for in dedication – we run right through the bitter Upstate-NY winters – but none of us has ever felt dedicated enough to drop several hundred clams on a dedicated GPS training device.

But then, at long last, the Droid came to Verizon, and I finally entered the world of Android users. Not long after me, one of my running buddies traded in his Blackberry Storm for a Droid as well. Since then, I’ve tried out a couple of apps for runners, and thought I’d share a few observations here…

CardioTrainer

The first app to join me on my runs was CardioTrainer, from Android app house Work Smart Labs. I tried the free app on a couple of trail runs during a visit to California, and it did a great job. Given the unfamiliar surroundings, it was nice to have a little insight into how far I’d gone. CardioTrainer measures distance, time, pace and calories burned in real time using your handset’s GPS receiver, and automatically – and anonymously – uploads completed workouts to the Work Smart servers. There, you can view additional details about your performance, as well as check out your route on a larger map.

After returning home, I tried CardioTrainer on several routes that I had previously mapped using online tools such as MapMyRun or the GMap Pedometer. The app’s distance measurement is very accurate, and receiving spoken pace and time information proved helpful in regulating my speed and achieving a more balanced effort. Still, it’s is not without its annoyances – despite the formidable processing power of the Droid, CardioTrainer takes noticeably longer to register screen taps than other apps, especially when it’s using the GPS. During some runs, while the overall distance and time numbers are correct, large portions of the track are mysteriously missing from the track display. I suspect this has something to do with the autopause feature.

Checking in on the CardioTrainer web site, users can view their training history and data logged for each workout. Oddly, each workout’s elevation graph is accessible on the web site but not via the handset interface, while a pace graph is available on the handset but not on the web site.

Pros

• Many configuration options
• Live map display – very helpful to check for dead-end roads when running in an unfamiliar place!
• Automatic track upload to CardioTrainer web site
• Can track several different activities – running, walking, biking, etc.
• Ability to manually add workouts (such as for indoor activities, swimming, etc.)
• Configurable auto-pause stops timer and pace calculations if you stop moving

Cons

• Pace graphs only show miles/hour, not minutes/mile (which would be preferable)
• Voice guidance configuration could be improved
• Autopause can disrupt track logging
• Can export KML and GPX files, but not import

Buddy Runner

After experiencing a few quirks with CardioTrainer, I took a look in the Android Market for other options. Buddy Runner seemed to have a strong rating and a friendly pricetag (it’s also free), so I gave it a shot during today’s run. While the interface is far more sparse than that of CardioTrainer, BuddyRunner does allow customization in one area that its competition does not: specifically what data is read aloud to you during voice guidance. Rather than CardioTrainer’s pre-defined content – which alternates depending on whether you’re at a milepost or mid-mile interval – users can choose exactly which data points they want to hear.

In use, Buddy Runner is simple – the main screen provides “Start / Pause” and “End” buttons, as well as tickers displaying time, distance and pace. A map view is also provided, though I’ve never looked to see if it’s updated in real-time. I particularly like the fact that Buddy Runner gives you an option to select how your voice-output pace is calculated – it will read out either the “live” pace from your last few seconds of running, the average pace for your last mile, or your overall average pace for the entire run. Based on my usage of CardioTrainer, I’ve surmised that the only pace it reads to you is the “live” pace, which is what I prefer to hear anyway.

Pros

• Better voice guidance configuration
• Simple interface, easy to use while running
• So far, no corrupted tracks
• Configurable pace calculation (last few seconds, last interval, entire run average)

Cons

• Only tracks running – no other activities
• Autopause is either “on” or “off” – the stop interval isn’t configurable
• Requires e-mail address to enable uploading of tracks to the web, but does upload automatically
• No visible feedback on button-presses, such as highlighting – a complaint common to many Android apps

Conclusion

With both CardioTrainer and Buddy Runner on my phone, I’m hard pressed to choose a winner – neither is head-and-shoulders above the other, at least when it comes to running. I’m inclined to look past CardioTrainer’s occasional quirks, given that it has the capacity to track other forms of exercise, as well as input indoor workouts manually – we all know I enjoy my time on two wheels. Which will I use going forward? For day-to-day runs, Buddy Runner wins, since I can choose what I want read aloud to me while running. If both apps were to slap on a $5 price tag tomorrow, however, my money would go to CardioTrainer – it simply delivers more functionality and a smoother user interface. They’re both great apps – and I would encourage any Android-toting runner to give each a try.

In 1947, the Heathkit company – a formerly-bankrupt aircraft manufacturer – introduced its first electronic kit. The $39.50 oscilloscope became a best seller, a dozen years after the company’s new owners bought Heath for a whopping $300. Back then, hobbyists built ham radios, black-and-white TVs and hi-fi sets from vacuum tubes, soldering fiberglass circuit boards together with glowing guns from Radio Shack, hunched over basement workbenches, surrounded by a haze of blue-gray flux smoke. It was long before the days of microscopic surface-mount components, squirted from machines at tens of thousands of parts per hour.

Not long ago, I wrote here about the atrophy of amateur radio, and inquired (unsurprisingly, unsuccessfully) if there was any hope for that pastime. Most things ham trigger a lot of nostalgia in me – recollections of dad-chauffeured car trips to the city for radio classes with Jason; of my “Elmer”, Ed, N2EH (now a silent key); of good times spent with the other hams at the RIT Radio Club, who were among the best of my college friends; and of countless growing-up hours spent tinkering, building things, and un-building things. For a long time, I thought this spirit of geek tinkering was similarly waning, but recently I’ve had a few reasons to change my tune…

First off, the pieces and parts. In the golden age, resistors, capacitors, coils, tubes and transistors were the parts du jour – and you could do some pretty cool things with them. The 70s and 80s brought integrated circuits – and my generation of tinkerers dove head-first into logic gates, op-amps, newly-commodified microprocessors and LED displays. But as the demands of the tech-buying public called for more miniaturization and richer feature sets, things got more difficult. Ball grid array packages – unsolderable by all but the most-dedicated and well-funded (or craziest?) hobbyists – ushered in an age of inaccessible parts. But now, thanks to projects like Arduino, and companies like Bug Labs and Gumstix, pluggable modules and microcontrollers are becoming basic building blocks in themselves.

But more than just the evolution of what’s available to build with, there has been a renaissance in the builders, too. People like Diana Eng and Jeri Ellsworth, and groups like the recently-formed Interlok Rochester – or, hell, the entire readership of Make Magazine – remind me that the spirit of tinkering is alive and well. Maybe hobbyists aren’t exactly making the next iPhone – though they’re certainly trying and in some cases, succeeding! When you’re faced with the immense complexity that’s possible via today’s gadgets, it’s easy to get discouraged about the potential for electronics as a hobby. But it’s also easy to be hopeful and inspired when you look at what these folks are doing. To the tinkerers: keep up the good work! And to those who’ll bring us the next generation of electronic building blocks, I can’t wait to see what you’ve got in store…

I have never flown a plane. On instruments. With a failed artificial horizon. But Bill Whittle has, and in the midst of his stellar essay on civilization, he has managed to write about doing so in what amounts to the single most-inspiring piece of literature I have ever read.

After too-long an absence, The Web of Trust is back online. Go. Read. It.

While I may not have ever had a life-and-death experience like the one Bill describes in his essay, I have encountered plenty of scarily-stressful times, many involving others’ life-and-death experiences. Times when I could feel those “tearing claws of panic” working their way into my shoes, threatening to derail whatever endeavor I was pursuing unless I took control. In each of those times, recalling The Web of Trust has helped give me the resolve to press forward. The words of Bill’s flight instructor – “Kick Its Ass.” – echo in my ears, simultaneously providing focus and motivation. There is no ambiguity, no subtlety of strategy, simply an imperative: You know what to do, you have the capacity to do it, so Do It. Now.