[Fri Jun 28 09:19:43 CDT 2013]

While reading a presentation at work, I came across the fallacies of distributed computing, as defined by Peter Deutsch and other engineers at Sun Microsystems:

1. The network is reliable.
2. Latency is zero.
3. Bandwidth is infinite.
4. The network is secure.
5. Topology doesn't change.
6. There is one administrator.
7. Transport cost is zero.
8. The network is homogeneous.

The idea is that all these fallacies are common assumptions made by programmers who are new to distributed computing. Quite interesting. {link to this entry}

[Wed Jun 26 15:48:53 CDT 2013]

Well, well, well. I upgraded to Firefox 22 today and, almost right away, I noticed that it broke my Pocket add-on (previous known as Read It Later). It just displayed the following error while synching:

There was an error while syncing:
TypeError: RIL.APP.ICO.getFaviconImageForPage is not a function

The problem, as well as the solution, are reported here. You just have to upgrade the add-on to veresion 3.0.4. However, be aware that, first of all, that version has not been tested by the Mozilla folks yet. But second, and perhaps most important, it seems to screw up all the order of the entries on your list. I still haven't been able to figure out what the heck it did, but the fact is that, even though I selected to show the newest addition first, what I find at the top of my list is pretty old entries. I haven't had the time to investigate and see if it managed to corrupt any of my data but it's quite messy so far. By the way, switching to Pocket on my smartphone doesn't make a difference. The order is still screwed. {link to this entry}

[Sun Jun 23 10:02:33 CDT 2013]

I find it quite fascinating that, these days, pretty much everyone assumes that young people, because they are pretty much attached to technological devices by their umbilical chord, are "extremely computer literate", so much so that they "pretty much breath technology". Sorry, I don't see it that way. They are certainly used to the new technologies, sure. And yes, they have managed to integrate them into their daily lives. However, that is not the same as being "computer literate". Computer literacy goes well beyond that, as defined by the Wikipedia:

Computer literacy is defined as the knowledge and ability to use computers and related technology efficiently, with a range of skills covering levels from elementary use to programming and advanced problem solving. Computer literacy can also refer to the comfort level someone has with using computer programs and other applications that are associated with computers. Another valuable component of computer literacy is knowing how computers work and operate. Having basic computer skills is a significant asset in the developed countries.

As I said above, young people (well, not all of them, but a majority for sure) do have a certain comfort level using computer programs. However, that doesn't mean that they always do it in an efficient manner, or that they even know what they are doing or how the technology works. They simply know how to use the tool, and have definitely integrated into their daily lives at a higher degree than many adults (not all adults, mind you; perhaps not even a majority of adults either, since digital technology is so pervasive these days that most adults are also quite used to it).

In the end, it boils down to this: developing the habit of using a particular tool is not the same as being proficient at it, or even less knowing how it works. That's where the confusion lies. Plenty of people drive cars these days, but that is not to say that they do so well, or that they have the faintest idea how the machine truly works. If anything, there is a good chance that, while many more people drive cars today, the percentage of them who have a clue how it does its magic is way smaller than a few decades ago. Why? For several reasons. It has become a commodity, and plenty of people see it just as a tool to go from here to there, and not as a fetish or a cool machine to investigate. Also, the division of labor has deepened and today's car is not the same as yesterday's car. They are way more complex these days, which also means that they require a far higher degree of knowledge (and, therefore, specialization) to understand. The world of computers and digital technology is not so different in that sense, except that at least in the case of cars we guarantee that drivers have a minimum proficiency by forcing them to obtain a permit. Since the same is not true for computers (mind you, I don't think it's needed either; I'm just stating a fact), the reality is that a lot of computer users (perhaps even a majority) don't use the tool in an efficient manner.

For example, I recently sent an email to a friend requesting a recipe. She replied from her iPad with a transparent PNG file showing doodles with the list of ingredients in purple font. Aside from the fact that the purple font might have looked neat but it made it more difficult to read, the transparency definitely ruined the whole viewing experience... not to talk about the fact that it was saved in a graphics file, which means that I couldn't copy the text and paste it anywhere! In other words, while the information might have been shared in a cool way, it was definitely not shared in an efficient way. Even more to the point, the person who sent it most likely had no clue about any of this, which is where the computer literacy part comes in.

Taking all this into account, it amazes me that our schools (as well as pretty much all computer-related courses I see available in community centers) continue confusing "computer literacy" with just teaching how to click on the menus to use a particular application. What's needed is to take a step back and teach some basic concepts about things like computer architecture (memory, processor, storage...), file formats and, of course, network communications, security and privacy issues. Now, that is something that could be considered computer literacy. {link to this entry}

[Wed Jun 19 14:08:11 CDT 2013]

Well, here is another thing I'm not liking about the iPad: its application store. Yes, it's neatly organized and Apple protects me from the bad guys. However, it doesn't appear to have as many apps as the Android equivalent (or, at the very least, the same variety) and, above all, it looks as if most apps are not free. Yeah, call me cheap but, after so many years running open source software, I sort of like free. It works fine for me. Does it have issues? Perhaps. It certainly doesn't look to me as if open source applications have more issues than commercial ones. If anything, they have less features for a while, maybe. Until they grow into mature projects, that is. In any case, I don't appreciate Apple's commercial leaning in everything they do. And this includes the tricks too! I have seen multiple apps that are advertised as "free" and are anything but. Once you download them, it turns out that they are just free for a period of time, or with very crippled functionalily (i.e., more crippled than similar apps on Android). I suppose none of this matters to people who are used to running commercial software, but it's sort of a pain to me. Other than that, yes, the product is nicely designed, it works fine and it's useful. Is it any better than a cheaper Android tablet? No idea. I'd have to use one for a while to be able to compare. {link to this entry}

[Mon Jun 17 15:10:45 CDT 2013]

Well, I spent last week in Colorado, where I was visiting my sister's family and my parents, who traveled from Spain to stay in the USA for a couple of months. Now that I'm back, I find myself with one more device: an iPad Mini my parents and sister gave me as a present. Among other things, it will make it easier to chat with them via FaceTime now that we are living so many miles apart from each other once again. To tell the truth, I'm more of an Android and open source fan, but it just doesn't make sense to look a gift horse in the mouth. I already ran into a couple of issues (e.g., some applications that I am familiar with are not written for the iOS, it seems, and a couple of websites I regularly visit show videos using Adobe Flash, which does not work on Apple products) but, overall, as with anything made by Apple, it's an excellent product.

So, why do I mention all this? Basically because I was already considering to purchase a tablet (I was leaning towards the Samsung Gallaxy Tab) to do most of my reading, as well as movie and documentary viewing. Although, as I've written elsewhere, I still much prefer the traditional paper books, the fact is that they waste a lot of space. That may not matter much if one stays put, but I continue moving from place to place (sometimes, even from country to country), so I end up being unable to carry my large personal library with me. That being the case, it would make sense to do most of my reading on an e-book reader and limit my purchase of traditional books to just a few. And, once made the decision to try and read more in digital format, it just makes more sense, I think, to do so on a tablet, rather than a pure e-book reader. After all, tablets are far more versatile and allow me to do plenty of other things. Yes, the reading may be a bit more cumbersome, but its versatility is a major gain to me. I suppose the next step is to see if I can connect the iPad Mini to a projector, so I can watch movies with the kids on the wall in my living room. We'll see. {link to this entry}