Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[Royal Flush]

Surely you just have your phone on silent when you go to sleep?

[tikay]

Surely you just have your phone on silent when you go to sleep?

No, I use it as my alarm clock. I've embraced technology, see?

Are you back in the UK yet?

[david3103]

Surely you just have your phone on silent when you go to sleep?

No, I use it as my alarm clock. I've embraced technology, see?

Are you back in the UK yet?

Pretty sure the alarm still sounds even when phone is in silent mode.

[tikay]

Surely you just have your phone on silent when you go to sleep?

No, I use it as my alarm clock. I've embraced technology, see?

Are you back in the UK yet?

Pretty sure the alarm still sounds even when phone is in silent mode.

Well that is just ridiculous. Surely, that would awaken me?

They should be sued for such carelessness.

[Tal]

The alarm clock is silent if your 'phone is in silent mode. What happens is the device recognises the conflicting instructions that you wanted to be woken up but also that you didn't want to be disturbed, so it sends you a message to warn you about that. The warning is a noise identical to your alarm, which goes off at exactly the same time as your alarm would have gone off, had you not instructed the 'phone not to wake you up.

It's very clever, really.

[tikay]

The alarm clock is silent if your 'phone is in silent mode. What happens is the device recognises the conflicting instructions that you wanted to be woken up but also that you didn't want to be disturbed, so it sends you a message to warn you about that. The warning is a noise identical to your alarm, which goes off at exactly the same time as your alarm would have gone off, had you not instructed the 'phone not to wake you up.

It's very clever, really.

Ahh yes, that makes absolute sense.

Very clever indeed.

I must return to the subject of Mr Bezos, & his Kindle thing shortly. I had a bit of a read up about it last night, quite a story that.

Imagine you make a living from selling books online, & you have a whole army of people & banks of technology wrapping & boxing them, & then the vagaries of delivering them by parcel post, or octocopter, or whatever.

And then you decide to design the Kindle. And sell it. Now, when you sell those books, you just press a button, & the book whizzes down the internet pipes, & hey presto, is delivered a few seconds later. What a leap of thinking! He was not the first to think of "book-readers" but he beat the others hands down as to practicality.

And - so I read - you can change the font, get dictionary definitions as you go along, all sorts. Incred. 

It is the same stunning leap of understanding that allowed Steve Jobs & the Apple chaps to decide that sending CD's & LP's in the post was daft, so they opened i-Tunes. So simple, yet so clever. 

I bet most of us take all that for granted, but those ideas were there for the taking, they are so obvious,. But it takes some sort of weird mind, or genius, to be that step ahead. I suppose Bezos, Jobs, Gates etc all have that gift. Strange how much "hate" there is for some of them, too.

Any other ideas left that we could implememt, & with which we could change the world?

Well we could send newspapers down the internet, that'd save a zillion trees per year & all that carbon footprint delivering them. And they have - but it has not set the world on fire, not at all. We still want a physical newspaper, or most of us seem to. 

And just think what the internet has done for poker. Imagine a world without 'Stars, or Hand-Histories. What would we do, how would we ever survive?

[Jon MW]

...

It is the same stunning leap of understanding that allowed Steve Jobs & the Apple chaps to decide that sending CD's & LP's in the post was daft, so they opened i-Tunes. So simple, yet so clever. 
...

Yes it's true - but just like with the e-books, they didn't think of the idea they just popularised it.

I don't think Apple have ever invented anything original they've just been the best at making money from it - which is also impressive, just in a slightly different way

[RED-DOG]

I bet the next big thing will be online chiropractors.

Instant virtual pain relief for less than 2 bitcoins.

[tikay]

...

It is the same stunning leap of understanding that allowed Steve Jobs & the Apple chaps to decide that sending CD's & LP's in the post was daft, so they opened i-Tunes. So simple, yet so clever. 
...

Yes it's true - but just like with the e-books, they didn't think of the idea they just popularised it.

I don't think Apple have ever invented anything original they've just been the best at making money from it - which is also impressive, just in a slightly different way

Well sort of - as I see it - yes, they did not think of it, they popularised it, but why did they make it popular where scores of others failed? Because they made a better product.

Others had e-book readers out earlier - but you had to connect them to a computer to download stuff. Kindle was the first decent one that did not need to connect to anything, it was "touch & go".

And the whole thing of "E-Ink Technology" is extraordinary. I have no idea how text appears on paper in the world of virtual, but I never imagined for a moment it involved electrodes & all that bollox jumping up & down on the "page".

Maybe it's just me that is in awe of this stuff, & the brains & imagination behind them. I'd give Gates, Bezos & Jobs a Nobel Peace Price or something. Or make them Mayor of London for a week. Perhaps they could send a bus or train over the internet, & they'd be 100% reliable & punctual.

[tikay]

I bet the next big thing will be online chiropractors.

Instant virtual pain relief for less than 2 bitcoins.

Ooh, if only.

One very kind blonde sent me a PM & explained how I could ease the pain. There really are some very kind & thoughtful souls around.

[Jon MW]

...

It is the same stunning leap of understanding that allowed Steve Jobs & the Apple chaps to decide that sending CD's & LP's in the post was daft, so they opened i-Tunes. So simple, yet so clever. 
...

Yes it's true - but just like with the e-books, they didn't think of the idea they just popularised it.

I don't think Apple have ever invented anything original they've just been the best at making money from it - which is also impressive, just in a slightly different way

Well sort of - as I see it - yes, they did not think of it, they popularised it, but why did they make it popular where scores of others failed? Because they made a better product.

Others had e-book readers out earlier - but you had to connect them to a computer to download stuff. Kindle was the first decent one that did not need to connect to anything, it was "touch & go".

And the whole thing of "E-Ink Technology" is extraordinary. I have no idea how text appears on paper in the world of virtual, but I never imagined for a moment it involved electrodes & all that bollox jumping up & down on the "page".

Maybe it's just me that is in awe of this stuff, & the brains & imagination behind them. I'd give Gates, Bezos & Jobs a Nobel Peace Price or something. Or make them Mayor of London for a week. Perhaps they could send a bus or train over the internet, & they'd be 100% reliable & punctual.

Yes the kindle was a fantastic innovation and full credit to them

Apple's output was just mastery of marketing and publicity and the related fact that they're the darling of the media world (hence decades of free positive publicity) - that's more what I meant by impressive for "other"  reasons

[Tal]

I bet the next big thing will be online chiropractors.

Instant virtual pain relief for less than 2 bitcoins.

Ooh, if only.

One very kind blonde sent me a PM & explained how I could ease the pain. There really are some very kind & thoughtful souls around.

The only problem was it was at 2am and the email alert telling you you had a PM woke you up.

[RED-DOG]

I bet the next big thing will be online chiropractors.

Instant virtual pain relief for less than 2 bitcoins.

Ooh, if only.

One very kind blonde sent me a PM & explained how I could ease the pain. There really are some very kind & thoughtful souls around.

Back pain is such a difficult thing to cope with. Everything you do seems to involve moving or tensing your back muscles.

Try not to take too many pain killers though, the pain is there to prevent you from doing further damage.

Can you stand OK?

[tikay]

I bet the next big thing will be online chiropractors.

Instant virtual pain relief for less than 2 bitcoins.

Ooh, if only.

One very kind blonde sent me a PM & explained how I could ease the pain. There really are some very kind & thoughtful souls around.

Back pain is such a difficult thing to cope with. Everything you do seems to involve moving or tensing your back muscles.

Try not to take too many pain killers though, the pain is there to prevent you from doing further damage.

Can you stand OK?

I stand like an old man, all stoopy, accompanied by "ahh" & sundry groans. I walked 200 yards from the car park to the office this morning (my daily exercise), just carrying a lappie in a shoulder bag, & had to stop twice to ease the pain.

I think it is self-inflicted, caused by too many hours in front of a keyboard & monitor, it can't be good for us. I've been playing a lot (for me) of online poker, 3 or 4 hours per night, every night, & I suppose that can't help, either.

I would not mind, I cope, as I'm a hardy soul, but it has been TWO WHOLE DAYS now. I suffer in silence though, & never complain. 

[celtic]

Just get yourself to the docs.

You wouldn't want me to tell you a story about a woman I worked with that had a really sore back. It doesn't end well.