Okay, I've figured out posting pics from the iPad2 onto Blogger

Here I am at the top of the Austrian Alps—that is, almost as high as you can get by car on the Grossglockner Hauptalpenstrasse, or Grossglockner High Alpine Road.

I took this picture using the back-facing camera of my iPad2. Then I opened the Camera Roll in thte Camera app and used the setting to send it to my blogger account using the Mail-to-blogger option. Then I edited the resulting post.

If you do this, remember to select the Save s Draft option in the Blogger Settings tab.

Why do I have to do this? Because the Blogger system within Safari cannot see the stored pictures in the iPad2's "Camera Roll." In fact, Safari cannot see it, for some reason. Neither can Mail for the iPad. Major shortcoming there, Apple.

You can email photos taken with your iPad2, but you have to choose the Mail function within the Camera app (just tap the top of the picture when you view it).

I hope Apple fixes this in the next iteration of iOS.

Apps for iPad2 that suck

There's an app for that. But the problem is, apps don't translate seamlessly between computer platforms.

Facebook, Tweetdeck, FlightDeck, even Google Places are just four apps now available for the iPad that do nothing to take advantage of the iPad format. All the developer did was make sure the iPhone App can play on an iPad. Probably, they did not do anything other than add the word "iPad2" to their product description.

As a result, the app on the 10-inch iPad screen looks terrible. All that makes it bigger is scaling up, so you see low-resolution images, icon and text. It's annoying, depressing, discouraging and disgusting. Come on, Facebook, are you trying to save money or something? Maybe you really are running scared!

And there is just no excuse for Google to have such a poor looking iPad app for Google Place.

It seemed for a litle while that the move to mobile was leading to a seamless world of information, where it did not matter which device you used—everything would work together.

Alas, it seems like we're back to the bad old days of "I'm a Mac, and you're an android." Or even earlier, when software developers created applications for one desktop (Windows) and then ported it to Mac and, just maybe, Linux as an afterthought.

Can we not move past this, so that people can buy the IT products they peter, and let maters like OS or Internet protocol go to the techies. Yes, that will mean more investment in R&D than before, but it will really improve the situation for all Internet users.

On hotels and Wi-Fi

Free Wi-Fi access is becoming a staple of most hotels, it seems, especially modern chains. I have noticed this in North America, as WiFi is the standard Internet access and ports to plug in an Ethernet cable are becoming extinct.

This is a big improvement over just a few years ago, when you had to pay by the minute for Internet access. I think in some countries, like Greece, you still have to pay. "Internet access in Greece is very expensive" was a chorus I heard just four years ago, when I was there. Somehow, given the news out of Greece lately, I don't think that situation has changed much.

So, it is gratifying to find free WiFi access in hotels while I am here in Austria. Now, having just the WiFi version of the iPad2, I can't connect constantly like I could with a cellphone. But it is nice to have at least intermittent access. And I found a lot of WiFi spots throughout Vienna for instant, open access.

The big question, though, is why do some hotels still put password protection on their free access? Are they so cheap as to hoard bandwidth, giving it only if you're paying the room rate? For instance, the hotel I was at two nights ago, the Trumer Stube in Salzburg, has two separate WiFi networks for different parts of the tiny hotel, each with a different and difficult password. (Don't stay at the Trumer Stube--I do not recommend it. And don't try to drive in Salzburg, especially during the music festival. Park somewhere else, like in St. Wolfgang.) Yet, the Hotel Schloss Prielau, where I am sitting in the breakfast room now (beautiful, if a little weird) has free and open, unprotected access. Yes, you could walk in, sit down in the lounge and connect! I did last night! But please, don't take advantage of this knowledge. Everyone in Austria is so polite, proper and nice. Yes, nice.

Come on, hoteliers of the world-passwords are so inconvenient and so unnecessary! Open up the networks!

And cities: Let's get going on open Internet WiFi access throughout downtown areas!

Salzburg Music Festival

We arrived in Salzburg yesterday afternoon, into the middle of the Salburg Music Festival. What a zoo! This is the most crowded city I have ever seen. Traffic was worse than Montreal, Rome, and Venice combined!

It's an odd crowd for a classical music and opera festival, mostly young parrents with toddlers, babies and youung children. The narrow streets of the Altstadt and the narrow platzes are jammed with strollers. Babies scream and complain in the Mozart museums and cathedrals.

We attended a chamber concert in the spectacular, if kitschy Mirabell Palace (Schloss Mirabell). It's a very grand, high baroque palace built by a Prince-Archbishop in the 1700s, and there are pink marble cherubs all over the place.

In fact, cherubs are a favourite motif throughout this part of Austria. Maybe that's why there are so many young families with babies here.


The Electronic Report
I'm getting closer to being able to add pictures from my iPad2 to this blog; I have found, I think, some apps from Google. The trouble is, when I go to the page, the location service Google or Apple or someone so thoughtfully provides, gives me the page in German. I don't see an "English" button on the page. I'll keep hunting, though.

The other option is a USB cable from my digital camera to the iPad2. Have one of those, anyone?

Using the iPad2 on location

A real life-saver for depending on the iPad2 as the prime mobile device is this accessory keyboard I bought at the same time. It's from Kensington, and comes integrated into a leather cover for the iPad2. This way, it not only protect the tablet, it really provides a solution to typing.

The iPad2's on-screen keyboard leaves a lot to be desired. The main shortcoming is that the numbers and the symbols are on completely separate keyboards. The keyboard opens up online, and it's suited mostly to two-finger typing. To get to the numbers, you have to press the "123" key; the whole keyboard changes to numbers and symbols.

However, many of the symbols we use commonly, such as the # for Twitter, are on a third keyboard st. That really slows you down.

As far as using the iPad2, I'm getting used to the camera. It's unwieldy, to be sure, but the pix are quite good. And you can access them for posting within apps - for example, the TripAdvisor app. However, nothing in this Blogger site seems to have the ability to find my pix on the iPad2. I have not found a "Blogger" app, but if anyone out there knows of one, can you send me a link?

That's all for now. Talk at'cha again soon.

Travel writing with the iPad2

This is my first blog post written solely on the iPad2. For the next two weeks, I will be traveling and using this as my sole tool for writing and communicating. Any pictures you see on the blog or elsewhere,posted by me, will also be taken using the iPad2.

I am writing this post while waiting for my bill at the Cafe museum in Vienna. I think I should start a different blog for travel, because Vienna is a terrific place to visit. There are free wifi locations all over the place, like at this cafe and the Schloss Schonbrunn. Why can't Ottawa do that?

I have used the iPad2 to take some pictures, and they look great--it's so nice to use a 10-inch (or whatever it is) screen as a viewfinder. So far, I think the pictures taken outside at least in natural light are quite good.

Unfortunately, this Blogger software does not seem able to find the folder on my iPad2 with the pictures, so I'll have to upload them later when I have more time.

So, there is one disadvantage, at least till I find out the workaround.

The other disadvantage is the built-in keyboard. You have to switch keyboards for numbers and the @ sign, so that slows you down. Also, the on-screen keyboard is made for two- or maybe three-finger typing, not what I like to do. And you also have to switch keyboards (by hitting a special key) twice to get to numbers, then to symbols for the # hashtag for twitter.

More on using the iPad2 as a camera tomorrow!

How to read the warnings of tragedies like Norway's

A 1,500-page manifesto? Definitely a sign of madness.

Let’s face it, anyone who can write 1,500 pages on any subject has a compulsion of some sort. While freedom of expression is necessary to the overall freedom and democracy that we in the West enjoy, and that everyone deserves, I would like to suggest that anyone who writes more than a thousand pages about any single subject should receive a publicly funded psychological assessment.

Maybe there would be nothing to the work more dangerous than another Harry Potter sequel. But maybe that kind of screening would have found someone like Anders Behring Breivik before he started his killing spree.

I’m not advocating thought police or censorship, not by any measure. However, his “manifesto” was, according to the reports I’ve read, posted on the Internet. All that would be necessary in my suggested scenario would be something that flags the volume of content, not the actual content, itself. I have not read it, so I will not make a comment on the content.

But 1,500 pages is, as I said, obviously indicative of obsession. Flagging something that long and, in a caring, non-judgemental way, assessing the author, might solve problems before they become tragedies.

Next book review: Night Runner

I thought I'd post this review of a book by an author who lives in my city. He's Max Turner, a high school teacher turned writer. I found his first book when I asked my local bookstore for local writers.

I have posted this review on Goodreads and Shelfari—I'm trying hard to get on top of this social media stuff, but there's so much!

Overall, I liked the book. It's a good, easy read, just right for younger readers. But I'll let the computer do my repeating myself for me:

Night Runner by Max  Turner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This story added something new to the vampire genre: a vampire who does not know he is one. Zack Thompson is a teenage boy who has been living in a mental ward for years and wakes only at night, and eats only special strawberry smoothies. He's happy and has a friend who works around his schedule to visit him.
Everything changes when a strange man crashes a motorcycle into the mental hospital's lobby, and soon after that, Zack's long-lost uncle arrives.
There are lots of plot twists, but no plot holes. The pacing is fast, the style clean and the characters believable——except perhaps for Uncle Max. He's a bit of a stock character.
I recommend this story for middle-school and high school readers.



View all my reviews

You should read this book review

When it comes to social networking, I far prefer LinkedIn to Facebook. I find LinkedIn's interface far more intuitive—actually, whenever I try to use Facebook or add something to my own page, I feel like I'm lost and blindfolded, trying to find my way around by feel.

Amanda Rooker's review of a novel by Richard Sanders shows the intersection and mutual reinforcement of LinkedIn and the e-book phenomenon. She describes how she found out about the book not through Amazon or any book promotion vehicle, but through other links that she found interesting on LinkedIn.

On its own merits, Amanda's review is one of the best book reviews I have ever read. Without revealing much of the plot, I really got an understanding of her reaction to the story. I am also intrigued enough to actually buy the book.

And that says a lot about how the e-book publishing phenomenon is working. Read it over. And Amanda, if you're reading this, please add to your blog with more reviews!

Getting closer to publishing

I've been receiving some excellent feedback from professional writers, editors and publishers who have looked at my manuscript, The Bones of the Earth. It's very encouraging.

I thought that my book was good, but it's heartening to hear that comment from others.

I have to admit, I did get discouraged earlier this year when I sent sample chapters to agents and publishers. I got turned down flat—not an uncommon experience for new authors. (Although I have been published many times over the last two decades, as a journalist, though, not an author of fiction.)

 But it seemed that publishers and agents turned down the manuscript without even looking at it. Maybe I undersold it, or mis-sold it, or just failed in the description. And the book is not like others on the shelves today. Maybe the concept is just too difficult for most publishers today.

I actually had one publisher balk at the names of the characters—he just did not like the sound of them! The names are all historical, by the way. People had those names, and today, there are still people with names like "Hrech" and "Vorona."

All that to say, I'm getting closer to just biting the bullet and publishing this book as an independent writer. Watch this space for updates.

Does this drive you crazy?

Adam Mansbach’s newest book has reached number four on Amazon’s bestseller list even before it’s published, according to a report in last weekend's newspaper.

How did he achieve this? With a lot of f-bombs. It’s a book for adults, but written satirically as a children’s book, called Go the Fuck to Sleep. The verse is accompanied by illustrations by Ricardo Cortés. It evokes earlier children’s “go to sleep” books like Goodnight Moon.

Mansbach is an author of several books, the latest entitled The End of the Jews. He has been acclaimed through his writing career, winning a number of awards, at least according to his own website.

What bothers me about this is that this is an established writer. He began as an editor of Elementary, a journal about hip-hop, and has parlayed that exposure into a book career. One of his novels, Angry Black White Boy, was performed as a play for three months in San Francisco. Mansbach was also 2009-2010 New Voices Professor of Fiction at Rutgers University.

In other words, he is established and successful. So what does he do? He uses “fuck” juxtaposed with children to sell a lot of books.

It’s cheap, cheaper than Cee Lo Green’s “Fuck You” song, which gets airplay as “Forget You” only because we all know  that’s just the radio, prime-time version, and what he really means.

Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I always think that cussing is a cheap shot, an easy way out. While there are definitely places for swearing, particularly in dialogue, a good writer shouldn’t have to resort to this to get his or her point across.

Mansbach has been published by Doubleday and Bloomsbury, as well as a lot of very small presses.

What drives me crazy about this is that, cheap and easy and low as it is, it works. Maybe I should add some cussing to my books. Or just write a book of nothing but cussing.

My first e-book review: Anabar's Run by Will Grainger

Anabar’s Run by Will Grainger

This is my first review of an e-book. I was guided to it by the author, whom I met on LinkedIn. That points to the need for independent writers to promote their work.

I liked Anabar’s Run: it has a simple, very clear style well suited to younger readers, particularly boys. It evokes the style of grade-school readers: simple words, mostly short sentences and a straightforwardness that paints vivid pictures.

This rite-of-passage story is a metaphor for the journey every boy has to make into manhood. That in itself is refreshing—the majority of new commercial fiction seems to be aimed solely at preteen girls. Is the publishing industry now so sexist that it believes young men do not read?

What I liked:
Anabar’s Run opens like a fairy tale, with a description of Anabar’s home: a beautiful, fertile valley, isolated and therefore protected from the rest of the world. It’s simultaneously familiar and foreign—character names like Tom and Ralph make it seem homey, while the fantasy element is brought in with names like Pompor and the names of the two countries on whose border the valley is set: Semdela and Ricamerath. The time is pre-industrial: weapons are swords and knives, travel is done on horse.

Anabar is sixteen, on the brink of manhood, an orphan raised by his two neighbours, the pompous Pompor and the simple Tom. These two are deftly drawn. With little description, the author has created believable characters.

Anabar begins to explore beyond the boundaries of his world, but on his first foray outside the valley, he meets two dangerous men and barely escapes—again, something that every man can identify with. He returns home with a few injuries, but the outside world in the form of a mysterious scout named Omalof has noticed him. Omalof follows Anabar home and presents him an opportunity: become a Scout like him. However, it will require tough training and several tests.

The plot proceeds quickly with increasingly difficult challenges. Anabar meets more people and enters a town for the first him in his life. His reactions and inner dialogue are very clear and believable, and he shows himself to be an admirable person.

Drawbacks:
It’s really only half a story. The author explains that he wrote a long novel and decided to break it at a logical point into two shortish novels. This makes each book seem less daunting, but it feels like there should be more. Yes, it’s smart for a writer to make the reader want the sequel, but it feels a little like I’ve been short-changed.

The only other problem is that it needs a good, independent copy-edit and proofread. There are a number of typos, missing words and punctuation—nothing that interferes with reading the story, but it does show that every writer needs an editor. (On May 25, author Will Grainger posted on his blog that he is correcting the novel as much as he can.)

So, I’m giving this story 4 out of 5, and I’m going to read the sequel, Anabar Rises.

Keeping up with the Web

I’ve been exploring the world of e-book publishing sites, and while there is a lot of interesting information, one question keeps coming to me: where do these people find the time to write?

There are people who participate regularly in online authors’ forums and discussions on networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook. They also write blogs, and update their own Facebook, Twitter and Web pages. They also review books and interview the authors.

Apparently, if you want to be a successful writer, self-published or published by a major company, you need to do all this to promote awareness and sales of your work.

At the same time, they manage to write and publish their work. So, where do they find the time for all this?

An interesting word: Fuliginous

Yesterday, a client used a word that I had never seen before—and that does not happen often: “fuliginous.”

She was using the word to describe a successful conference, as in “a raging success.”

To be fair, English was not the author’s first language, although she speaks fluently. And it was a challenging assignment: she was trying to write a wrap-up press release for an even that hasn’t happened, yet. As a Scouting leader, I cannot fault her for trying to be prepared.

In case your dictionary is beyond your fingertips right now, the Canadian Oxford defines “fuliginous” as “sooty, dusky,” derived from the Latin word for soot, “fuligo.”

How did the client get from “raging” to “sooty”? It turns out she was using an online translation tool. She wanted to describe something as “a raging success,” and the software gave her “fuliginous.”

There’s really no automating the editor, is there?

Royal, shmoyal—there are other things going on

It's not a new thing. But for crying out loud, does EVERY media outlet in the world have to let itself be dominated by the Royal Wedding?

Record-breaking storms across North America, elections around the world, the Arab Spring, Apple tracking its users, Apple actually not providing tracking information to third parties, the erosion of Canadian democracy and the way we consumers continue to be ripped off by oil companies. These are just a few of the stories that are more important than two obscenely rich young people getting married.

Sure, they're beautiful. And it's nice when young people in love get married. Hooray.

But enough on the royal wedding. Royalty is an evil that has long outlived its usefulness.

Kudos to Gian Gomeshi for trying to ban royal wedding information from today's Q.

And for the republican who let the Royal Wedding change his political ideology—wake up, man! It's two young people getting married! It happens every single day! It does not change the world, nor make anyone's life better, except for the privileged contractors who supplied the event.

Let me know what you think.

On negativity

The Liberal Party’s message in this Canadian federal election has become very negative. It started last week, with their aborted, misquoted attack against Stephen Harper. Now, they’re attacking the NDP.

There are many things wrong with this approach. First, it shows desperation. The Liberals began with one message, and then with two weeks left in the campaign, changed it. A week later, they changed focus again. They know they’re losing and are trying everything to change their fortunes.

Second, it shows they don’t know what their strategy should be. They began fighting against the former government, the leader in the polls and therefore the biggest target. Now, they’re targeting the party that was in third place going into the campaign. So, what is the Liberals’ goal: to become the government or the official opposition?

Finally, I don’t like negative messages in any competitive situation. Don’t tell me what’s wrong with the other guy. Tell me what’s good about you. The Conservatives have had a completely negative campaign, which really has put me off. The overall impression I get from Harper’s ads and speeches is that all will be right with the universe, or at least Canada, if Stephen Harper is Prime Minister, and therefore we voters will be in the wrong if we do not ensure his party wins a majority of seats in the House of Commons. I react against the admonishing tone.

Likewise, the Liberals’ attack ads are not convincing me. I can think of many messages they could have said that I do not hear from them.

Yes, the other parties and leaders should point out their opponents’ shortcomings and misspeakings. But the loudest, strongest message should be what they themselves are good at and what their plans are.

I know that negative ads have worked in the past, but I have never liked them. US elections are full of negative ads, and to me, they’re a weakness of their political culture. Now, I see them used increasingly in Canada. It’s a development I do not like.

What do you think?

Independent writers deserve respect

I've been having a lot of conversations in person and online lately about independent writers—also known as "self-publishers." The field is growing quickly. Last year, Amazon sold more e-books than paper books. And Joe Konrath and Barry Eisler, two established writers, reportedly both turned down six-figure advances from conventional publishers in favour of self-publishing.

But I keep reading the ideas that the editors at the major "New York publishers"—the Big Six publishing conglomerates—provide a level of professional editing and quality control that is missing in self-published books.

I admit, there are a lot of poor self-published books out there. But there are a lot of poor books from the major publishers, too. And as for books that really need editing, just look at Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy.

The Big Six have no monopoly on the English language, or on the ability to edit.

Commercial publishing is getting increasingly risk-averse. And it's a business. Writing, however, is a craft and an art, as well as a commercial venture, and most writers do not write just to make money.

We need to start talking about independent writers, those who control the publishing function themselves, in the same we we do about independent filmmakers and independent musicians. "Indie" group Arcade Fire, after all, won a Grammy.

Which means that book reviewers need to stop excluding independent publishers from their in boxes and review those works.

No matter how much the conventional, established publishing industry resists, independent publishing is growing fast and strong. It has already changed the publishing industry and will continue to do so.

Spoken words reveal unspoken ideas

“The other parties 'are saying that even if we receive a mandate from the people they will defeat us on our budget if they can. They will get together and form another alternative, of some other kind of government'” said Stephen Harper, according to the Globe and Mail.

Let's deconstruct this statement. First, the “mandate from the people.” Harper implies here that an election that results in more seats for the Conservatives than for any other party equals a mandate.

This is not so in the Canadian parliamentary system. Calling a plurality vote a “mandate” is invoking the kind of electoral system in the U.S., or other countries (the U.S. Electoral college system is actually more complex than that).
In the Canadian system, we vote for local members of parliament. The government is formed at the confidence of Parliament.

In so many of his statements, Harper implies that he has some kind of right to govern the country, and any method anyone else uses to form a different government is somehow illegitimate.

Canadians will not fall for this argument. We decide who has the right to form a government. And let's remember, we decide. The government works for us, not the other way around.

Leaking words

Sheila Fraser, Canada's Auditor General, found some things worth questioning about the federal government's (the Harper Government, as it likes to call itself) spending on the G-20 and G-8 conferences, and it is reasonable to conclude (I'm not the only one) that Tony Clement and his cronies had a lot of say in what was spent around Muskoka last year—and it did not always meet government criteria for appropriate spending. Millions to refurbish a very high-end resort? And the guy who decides whether, and how much federal government money goes to that project is the resort owner, and a long-time Conservative?

There is a lot to complain about.

The Conservatives find a quote by the AG that praises the government's spending—but they had to did down through 10 years or more of quotes to find one positive statement, and it turns out that it was about a previous government.

Then Stockwell Day tries to say it was an error.

Written words, recorded words, spoken words. We know when they're believable, and when they're not.

What’s getting printed?

I’ve been looking into the growing e-book phenomenon. And obviously, I’m not the first, so I’ve got some catching up to do.

There have been several reports published on paper and all over the Web about how e-books are outselling print books, staring last year. In July 2010, Wired reported that Amazon’s e-books outsold print books. And the margin is accelerating.

And there are many more sources than Amazon for an e-book: Chapters/Indigo in Canada sells books for the Kobo e-reader that it sells; Barnes & Noble sells its new Nook, now available with some colour, and sells e-books formatted for it.

And don’t forget that the Borders bookstore chain has filed for bankruptcy and closed a lot of stores.

Print will never die completely. TV didn’t wipe out radio, right? US print shipments are up 4.4 percent in February 2011 compared to February 2010. Granted, 2010 was a tough year in printing, so this is regaining ground that was lost, but there is still a lot of printing going on. KBA, the second-largest manufacturer of printing presses in the world, reports a “printing boom” in the developing markets of China, Brazil, India and Turkey, and strong growth in the Middle East and Latin America.

So, what’s getting printed? I think it’s probably flyers. The volume on my doorstep keeps getting bigger.

And then there are books by celebrities—anyone who’s done anything flamboyantly egregious gets a book out there pretty quickly.

Whatever’s getting printed, it ain’t literature.

Scary: a coalition?

Is "coalition" the scariest word that Harper's Conservatives can think of?

Since before the election started (and how long Harper's Conservatives have been campaigning is a subject for much more than a blog post), Harper and his mouthpieces have been warning us against a "coalition." They tell us it is necessary unstable, and indefinably bad for the country.

Let's think about this. In a coalition, parties that on their own do not have enough seats to form a majority in the House of Commons agree to come together to form that majority. Their relationship requires compromise on all side, so that the overall tone of the government they form has elements of each party's platform and philosophy.

In the Canadian parliamentary system, this seems to be a lot more stable than a minority government that can only survive confidence votes by making sure it has as many sitting members for each vote as possible and making deals with parties on each motion on an ad-hoc basis. At least with a coalition, there is some kind of relationship or understanding for some period in the future.

Doesn't a coalition seem very Canadian? Different groups agreeing to work together, compromise for the greater good and accomplish something that may not be ideologically pure, but is at least workable?

So, no, I'm not scared of a coalition. And I don't think that many Canadians are. The poll published on the front pages last weekend shows that most Canadians actually would favour a Liberal-NDP poll over a Conservative government. (Put the Bloc in, and that changes everything, of course.) And I found an interesting Facebook group called "I'm not scared of a Canadian coalition. See the link above.

No, we're not buying the logic that a coalition is a terrifying prospect. That's not keeping the Conservatives from trying it, though. So the question is: how stupid do they think we really are?

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson and writing

How many of you have ready The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo?

Probably quite a few—I have read its series is the fastest selling book in history.

I read the first book, and I'm now working my way through the sequel, The Girl Who Played with Fire. I can't say I'm enjoying the reading, the way I enjoy reading authors like John Updike or Mark Helprin or Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Larsson's writing is sloppy and wordy. His work reads, even in translation, as if it's a first draft, never edited. It breaks almost every rule of good writing. The dialogue is unbelievable. Larsson wastes pages describing daily routines, like the exact contents of the groceries a character buys. Who cares how many Billy's Pan Pizzas a character eats? The descriptions of the particular model of PowerBook and Ikea furniture seem more like product placement than anything else.

So why did the books sell so well? In The Larsson Scandal: The unauthorized guerilla critique of Stieg Larsson, author Andre Jute says that it's got a lot to do with Larsson's feminist pronouncements. However, most readers of the trilogy don't follow, or care about the arguments between self-described and -promoting feminists and the literary establishment.

I think the reason that people read this series and stick with Larsson's bad writing through thousands of pages is the Girl herself, Lisbeth Salander. I don't know about you, but I've never found a character like her before in anything that I've ever read. We all know people like her, but never in fiction before. She is not likeable, not admirable—she does some very questionable things, despite Larsson's description of her as having her own rules. Still, Lisbeth Salander is a compelling character, and it's she that makes these books interesting.

I don't believe in any of the other characters:
- Blomkvist, the character who is supposed to the hero and is obviously the proxy of the author, is far too cool to be believed. Irresistible to women, athletic, the most admirable journalist in Sweden who makes a mistake that every reader sees coming from the beginning of the first book.
- Erica, his companion with her open marriage. Do you think this situation exists anywhere in reality: Erica has a long-time relationship with Mikael Blomqvist, which ends after a few years because Mikael does not want to get married. However, Erica and Mikael have started a magazine together and continue their professional relationship. Erica marries another man. However, she can't keep her hands off of Mikael. So she confesses her affair to her husband, who accepts it. All she has to do, when she wants to sleep with Mikael, is phone her husband and explain why she won't be home that night. The husband goes along with it "because he loves Erica." He doesn't come after Mikael with a baseball bat, doesn't divorce his wife, doesn't change the locks. And I haven't read anything about him sleeping around, either, in misguided revenge. Any of these things would be believable, but not "Okay, honey, have fun!"

Andre Jute exposes all the plot holes as well, and I recommend you download and read his e-book.
Now, I do not accept Larsson's diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome. Larsson is not qualified to make that diagnosis. It may be true, but then, this is a fictional character, so making psychiatric evaluations is ridiculous. And Larsson is not a good enough writer to provide the richness of detail and characterization to describe a real Asperger's patient.

Larsson deserves his fame and sales simply for creating Lisbeth Salander. Too bad he's such a lousy writer.

Novel update

I know I've said it before, but I really mean it this time: I'm going to start posting regularly on this blog.

This is supposed to be about written words, and I'm going to start writing words more regularly.

My last post was about how I had finished my novel. I'm still working on it, actually, trying to cut down the length about 25 percent. It's a tough process. I might write some posts about the work it takes to do that.

Also, I have been investigating two ways to publish the work—I know I'm not pioneering in this topic, but I'll give you my point of view. The two ways that I mean are:
- traditional publishing: finding an agent (not easy), soliciting publishers in Canada and worldwide, dealing with rejection slips, negotiating a contract (assuming I get an offer to publish), working with an editor, waiting and waiting for the thing to come out, then dealing with whatever promotion the publisher organizes—if any
- independent publishing: this is the term I prefer. Musicians like Arcade Fire as hailed as "indie" musicians; why aren't self-published writers? I have been doing a fair bit of research into this idea, and, as usual, technology has made it much easier and cheaper to publish a book in electronic form. So I'll look into this, and write about my experience here.

Another avenue of writing that I have not written about on this site is social media. Again, I know I'm late to the party, but I'm going to look at how to use LinkedIn, Facebook and other such tools to help with my writing, publishing and marketing of my book.

So, if any of this interests you, read on, come back, post comments, let me know what you think!

Scott Bury

I have finished my novel!

I have finished my novel, finally.

It's called The Bones of the Earth, and I'd like to describe it as "magic realism."

I consider this a fairly significant personal milestone. While I have started a number of novels and made a lot of progress on them — and while I still consider finishing them at some time — this is the first one that I have finished.

So, the next step is, of course, to try to publish it. And to tell the truth, I find the prospect a little imtimidating.

Which is strange, in some ways. I have been published many, many times before, on paper and online; I've written articles and reports, but I have never published a work of fiction before.

I hope that my experience as a published writer will give me an advantage when it comes to publishing a novel, but I don't think it will make much difference: fiction and journalism are such different worlds, really.

So, any advice? Any thoughts? I'd love to hear from anyone who has anything to offer.

Scott

Word of the month: "bonus"

Multi-million dollar bonuses paid to executives in banks, insurance and other financial corporations and automobile companies in the U.S., the U.K. and Europe has raised a lot of buzz in the news media and the comedy circuits. Any number of worthy pundits have opined about the immorality of bonuses paid to executives of failing firms, when the money came from the taxpayers and the average workers, whose salaries are tiny fractions of the executives’ earnings, get nothing—sometimes, not even severance payments after being laid off.

What I would like to point out is how the organizations that have paid these bonuses have twisted the meaning of the word. Webster’s dictionary defines a bonus as “extra payment over and above salary given to an employee as an incentive or reward.”

What are, for example, the executives of AIG being rewarded for? Multi-billion dollar losses for their shareholders?

Some might argue that the current downturn and losses to AIG are not those executives’ fault. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says that AIG’s failure would pose a “grave danger” to the U.S. financial system and, presumably, the economy of the whole world. But he has also requested that the US Congress give him more regulatory power over such private companies.

The executives at AIG were part of a financial corporate culture that encouraged the “sub-prime” lending practices that triggered the current economic meltdown and have contributed to its depth. That attitude—as exemplified by pushing the definitions of risk past accepted levels—is also shown in their bonus practices.

If you feel outraged by these bonuses, you’re justified for several reasons:
- the sheer size of the payments—hundreds of millions of dollars in some cases, far, far more than anyone needs to live on—are flagrant exhibitions of greed
- the executives at AIG, the Bank of Scotland and US car manufacturers pay themselves the bonuses, without any reference to anyone who might balk at them
- these payments are not a portion of the profits the corporation earned, or tied in any way to jobs well done; they’re simply what the recipients who pay themselves bonuses figure they can pull out and get away with

In other words, these aren’t bonuses at all. They’re just what people with access to the funds can stuff into their own pockets. And when the money comes from the taxpayers, as it has with recipients of bailouts in the US, outrage has led to action such as sit-ins.

Maybe, just maybe, we need to re-think the workings of our economy and the controls society in general puts upon private actions, like businesses. But that’s a discussion for political blogs.

For this communications blog about words, I’d just like to say: let’s stop calling payments made by executives to themselves “bonuses.” Let’s call them “drawings,” like we used to. Let’s leave bonuses to people who have done more than expected.

Word of the month: “Communication"

Barack Obama’s recent visit to Canada, on top of sending most of the media into a schoolgirlish tizzy, pointed out many differences between the new President of the United States and Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Yes, there’s charisma (Obama radiates it, Harper radiates the opposite), but the brief public appearances also showed their diametrically opposed approaches to communication. Obama is open, he listens—these are essential to his effort to find new solutions, to successfully change the way the U.S. operates and is perceived in the world, and to turn around the economy. (Many have criticized the economic stimulus program for many good reasons—like the way it gives the money to the people who brought the economy into the abyss in the first place, but I’ll let more qualified people address that question.)

Harper, on the other hand, speaks. He hands down opinions from on high. He already has the answers, because they derive directly from his economic philosophy. He doesn’t listen—in fact, he dictates what all his subordinates and cabinet ministers will say.

This difference explains much of the different appeal the two men have. Obama is seen as a beacon of hope, as a symbol of genuine change. He is seen as genuine. Harper’s image is, at best, one of a stiff, distant, cold man.

Perhaps we, as voters and members of society, should more carefully weigh the willingness to listen when making decisions about leaders.

The war on Christmas is over. Christmas won.

Last year, comedians and commentators rattled about the “war on Christmas,” saying that it was no longer considered politically correct to say “Merry Christmas” or to put up Nativity scenes in public spaces. We were all supposed to say “Happy Holidays” instead.

To look at the malls and airports, there was some evidence of this. But I’ve come full circle. I’m comfortable with saying “Merry Christmas.” From a religious as well as secular point of view, December 25 is Christmas, after all. For me, it’s Christmas, and I don’t feel awkward or embarrassed to say so.

By the same token, I welcome a “Happy Hanukkah” or “Happy Eid” (even though it’s over) or “Happy Yule.” Or any other good wishes. This is a special season for many religions and cultures.

From me at least, “Merry Christmas” isn’t meant to be exclusive. Welcome to all, have a happy season, whatever it is, and a very good new year.

Scott Bury

Word of the month: crisis

What crisis?

The news media keep referring to the current storm in Parliament, where a Liberal-NDP coalition, supported by the Bloc Québecois, are trying to replace the Conservative government, as as a “crisis.” Peter Mansbridge, CBC TV’s news anchor, CBC Radio news, the front page of the Globe and Mail, and more all use the word “crisis.

But is it really a crisis? Or is this just the way the Canadian parliamentary system is supposed to work?

According to some dictionaries, a crisis is “a time of great difficulty or danger.” How much danger does the country face right now, at least from a possible centre-left coalition government? Or even from the change of government without an election?

From the civics classes I took, I understand the system is supposed to work like this. The party that has the largest number of members elected to the House of Commons normally gets to form the government, and remains the government until the next election, or until it loses the confidence of the House. When that happens, either there’s another election, or another party or group of parties that can maintain the confidence of the house—which may be confirmed with a vote of confidence—can form a new government.

So the Liberal-NDP proposal is not a crisis in this sense. It may be a crisis for the government they seek to replace, in this case the Conservatives’, led by Stephen Harper, but the country’s democracy itself isn’t in any danger.

MP Bob Rae said as much today (December 3): "It's not a crisis. In a minority government, things can be more lively than otherwise ..."

Parliament is certainly lively these days. It's inspiring to see Stephan Dion get as excited as he seemed to be in the past few days. If he had acted like that during the past election campaign, we may not be in this situation today.

There is another meaning to the word “crisis”: it can also be a turning point, or the peak of trouble which determines what the future course will be. The question now before Parliament is certainly a turning point. How significant it is will remain to be seen if the coalition does come to power, and then by its actions in government.

Communications professionals should ask themselves: how do we define “crisis.” And if that definition doesn’t fit the current situation in the House of Commons, what is the right descriptor? Then let Peter Mansbridge know.

Don’t believe it

It’s a recession! It’s a recession! It’s a recession!

Remember the Big Lie?

Here it is again.

The news media have been going on and on about the recession. Every day, there’s a new report about the direness of the worldwide economy, progressively worse every time. [image courtesy www.freeimages.co.uk]

Watch the news: stores are going out of business. They’re offering discounts on top of sales on top of specials. You can get stuff for next to nothing.

Except — I haven’t seen it.

In Canada at least, the malls are still so crowded you can’t find a parking spot. And the sales? Even CBC news couldn’t find bigger sales than 10 percent off at Birk’s Jewellers—the most overpriced purveyor of useless baubles in the country—or $75 for a plain white shirt at Harry Rosen, the most overpriced seller of boring men’s clothing in the country.

What’s the crisis? The owners of the toniest stores in Canada won’t be able to get that upgrade to their yacht?

Yes, auto workers are facing significant layoffs. But the financial sector isn’t hurting here, as it is in the States.

Yet, the media continues to stoke the fears of recession, even depression. Here’s a smattering of headlines:


‘Problem’ banks stoke fears over FDIC fund
More failures likely, warns chairman (Financial Times, November 25, 2008)

GM: Death of an American dream (Fortune, November, 2008)
15,000 auto jobs gone by the end of 2009: Economist (Toronto Star, November 26)

And yet, look at these more factually-based reports:
Bank of Montreal's fourth-quarter earnings rise to $560 million (CBC.ca, November 26)
Royal Bank says credit crunch will hit quarter's bottom line, still forecasts $1.1 billion profit (CBC.ca, November 26)

Retail sales soar past expectations (Report on Business.com, November 25)

The bandwagon effect, again
It’s the bandwagon effect. It’s happened repeatedly, and seems to be increasingly frequent. We saw it in the US election, when the media favoured Barack Obama over all his rivals.

And now the talking heads are competing to say “recession” more than anyone else, along with “economic crisis” and “credit crunch.”

The next question is, are these doomsayers contributing to the decline in the stock market and the credit crunch?

Stop the XMas Music!

Retailers:

Stop with the phoney, cheesy Christmas music, already!

It's barely November, not even Remembrance Day/Memorial Day yet, and already the stores are playing awful, tinny "XMas" tunes in an effort to make me buy junk.

I can understand that retailers are trying to encourage people to buy early. From what I understand, the average retailer that starts its fiscal year on January 1 doesn't see any profit before the Christmas shopping season starts, and in the current economic climate, I'd be anxious to start that season early, too.

But please, have mercy on my ears and sanity! There is a limited list of tunes played on the PA systems, and I can only tolerate so many renditions of "Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland" and "Sleigh Ride" and "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" before I lose it.

Don't get me wrong, I like Christmas and I like real Christmas carols. But political correctness demands that no one play religious music in a mall or store. So that limits the playlist even more. Don't forget, repeating the same sound or word over and over is sometimes used as a form of torture.

So please, retailers, have mercy and wait until December before piping the XMas tunes in all your stores - or I just may not buy anything!

Agree? Don't? Let me know.

Monitor review: ViewSonic N2060W

Communicator’s toolbox:
ViewSonic N2060W NextVision
20-inch widescreen LCD TV

A combined TV and computer monitor—a simple, brilliant concept!
It makes so much sense, especially given the increasing popularity of sites like YouTube and TV through iTunes, and the “convergence” of media that’s been threatened so much over the years. But how well does the idea of one unit doing double duty as a wide-screen computer monitor and wide-screen TV set work?

To find out, I’ve been using the 20-inch widescreen N2060W NextVision 20-inch monitor from ViewSonic, for a number of months. ViewSonic took a widescreen LCD monitor with built-in stereo speakers and added a cable, S-video and component video inputs and an NTSC TV tuner to enable it to function as a television. While it performs both tasks reasonably well, it doesn’t seem to mix the two tasks very well: the PC causes interference on the screen and the speakers if it’s running while the monitor is in television mode.

Basic data


Type of monitor: 20.1" color TFT active matrix, wide LCD (liquid-crystal display)
Display Area: 17.5" horizontal x 9.8" vertical; 20.1" diagonal
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Optimum Resolution: 1366 x 768 pixels
Contrast Ratio: 700:1 (typ)
Viewing Angles: 160° horizontal, 140° vertical
Response Time: 8ms gray-to-gray (avg)
Light Source: long-life, 50,000 hours (typ)
Brightness: 450 cd/m2 (typ)
Glass Surface: anti-reflective coating
Dimensions (WxDxH) / Weight : 60.8 cm x 21.5 cm x 44.3 cm / 9 kg
Warranty : 1 year manufacturer’s warranty
Price: $ 419-425 street


Setup

Installing and setting up the NextVision widescreen monitor is partly easy, and partly frustrating.

Getting the TV part of it to work was the easy part. ViewSonic has equipped the unit with standard coaxial cable connector and an integrated NTSC TV tuner. It also has stereo speakers and 3.5 mm mini stereo audio input/output and RCA audio jacks. Sound from the TV is good, and the image is sharp.

Connecting the unit to a Macintosh computer, however, was not so easy. Macs don’t use the standard DVI connectors for video, which ViewSonic could not provide. They’re not expensive—about $35 CDN—but you have to go out of your way. I had to get the right DVI to VGA connector from my favourite local Macintosh store.

The next challenge was resetting the display preferences. My iMac was set to a resolution of 1440 x 900; when I plugged in the NextVision as a second monitor, it initially showed an “Input out of range” message on a blank blue screen. Luckily, the Mac’s operating system eventually loads up the ViewSonic drivers and preferences screen automatically. Using the original monitor, I had to reset for a “refresh rate” of 60 Hz from 75—even though LCD screens don’t refresh like CRTs do. That brought life to the ViewSonic monitor, and I was able to set the resolution to the maximum of 1360 x 768.

Finally, I tried to connect the sound using a standard RCA jack to the Audio input jacks, but was unable to get any sound out of the built-in speakers. Yes, the speakers work in TV mode, but not in monitor mode, whether the monitor was connected to a Macintosh or an IBM Thinkpad. I contacted ViewSonic’s online support chat, who were very helpful, but ultimately unable to get any sound.

Using it
As a monitor, the NextVision is bright and clear. You can download Apple ColorSync profiles, and the results are quite pleasing and fairly consistent.
It’s nice to have lots of screen “real estate,” as they used to say in this business. With a monitor that’s 17 inches wide, I have lots of room for two word processing pages side by side, even zoomed to 125 percent, and there’s room left over for the dock on the side and a few other shortcuts from the desktop. Or I can have windows visible from several programs. This makes it easier to cut, drag, drop and paste between windows or applications.

Photos and videos look great: bright, sharp and clear.

There is a fairly wide viewing angle: 160 degrees, according to the manufacturer. I didn’t really notice that the images looked worse from almost any angle, and when you don’t notice design, it’s usually very, very good. So, kudos to ViewSonic for the wide viewing angle on its wide-screen LCDs.

Drawbacks
As a monitor, the video part is great. As a TV, it offers a wide screen, so unless you have an HD signal, the picture is stretched sideways—everyone looks fat. (This can be disturbing if you’re watching the season of King of Queens reruns when Leah Remini is fat.)

And as mentioned, the PC interferes with the TV signal if both are plugged in and running at the same time.

Summing up

If you’re a resourceful computer user, good at connecting peripherals and working your way through all the settings, the ViewSonic offers a nice wide monitor that gives the communications professional a lot of screen real estate at a reasonable price.

Or if you want a smallish widescreen TV, the NextView N2060W is a reasonably-priced LCD alternative.

But putting the two functions together is questionable. First, I wonder about the setup—who wants to watch TV on their computer monitor? If I were running an office, I wouldn’t want people to be switching back to TV at will — unless their jobs involved monitoring TV coverage.

But mostly, the interference in the TV signal from the PC is annoying and reduces the unit’s usefulness.

Viewsonic also needs to buff up on its Macintosh support to earn top marks from this reviewer.

Hardware review: the Brother HL -4070CDW

Model: HL 4070 CDW
Colours: 4: black, magenta, cyan, yellow
Rated speed: 21 pages per minute black or colour
Features: automatic duplexing, wireless connectivity

It’s nice to have a color laser printer at my disposal for printing some custom business cards when I need them, promotional materials, and all sorts of proposals, reports, even letters. Commercial printers have been pointing out the advantages of colour in all kinds of documents for years—colour sells.

I tried Brother’s HL 4070 CDW colour laser printer starting early in the year and overall am please with the results. It’s an excellent choice for a small office that needs colour output.

Setting up the printer
If you can afford it, a laser printer has a lot of advantages over an inkjet printer for the office: although the purchase price is higher (computer dealers basically give them away—why not? They’ll recoup the cost many times over with ink cartridges), the cost per page is far less. Laser toner cartridges produce far more pages than inkjet cartridges do, so you don’t have to keep running out to buy more ink all the time.

Beyond those, Brother’s HL-4070CDW “personal” colour laser printer makes for an excellent choice for a workgroup or small office. It’s relatively compact for a four-colour laser printer, measuring just 18.5 inches by 12 inches by 16 inches high. Bulky, but not much bigger than my first Apple LaserWriter Plus back in the 80s. In addition to quick four-colour printing, it offers two-sided printing (duplexing) and wireless connection—at least, that’s what Brother says.
As you might expect, the unit is pretty heavy: 29 kilograms, or over 64 pounds. It was a big load for the courier that delivered it to my office.
The initial set-up was time-consuming and ultimately unsuccessful. Sure, the printer comes with USB, parallel, Ethernet and WiFi connections. I initially moved away my little inkjet all-in-one printer and put the laser printer there. Connecting to my desktop—a Macintosh G4—was simple through USB. Plug it in, and there it is. I had to install drivers using the included CD-ROM, but that was nothing out of the ordinary. But setting up the wireless connection was frustrating. More on that below.

What’s good about the printer
Initial results were quite pleasing. The first thing I noticed is that the printer is fast. The first page of a document arrived in the paper tray in 85 seconds; following pages from the same documents came out as fast as the drum could roll over. That’s far different from an inkjet printer, where you wait as each line gets inked, one after the other.

The results were good: high-quality, consistent coverage in colour images. The colours weren’t quite as bright as with an inkjet printer, but that’s to be expected from toners. Still, they were even and sharp, and registration was perfect.

The printer is also very reliable—in all the time that I used it, with all the different paper grades, it never had a paper jam.
Also, this printer offers two-sided printing, which can be handy and saves paper.

Connections
The only real problem I encountered with the HL4070-CDW was in connecting it to my LAN. Connecting to a host computer via USB was as simple as it sounds, and connecting via wired Ethernet to the router was easy, too—deceptively so.

But what initially excited me about this printer was the WiFi connection. “What an advantage for the small office or workgroup, and especially the small or home office: no need to run unsightly wires around the baseboards. Just plunk the printer down anywhere and go!”

Alas, it just didn’t work out. I followed the instructions for connecting to the wireless network meticulously and repeatedly, to no avail. I tried it with a Macintosh as well as an IBM computer running Windows XP. Still no luck. I called Brother, and had a marketing and a tech guy on the line talking me through it. They even sent new drivers.

And it wasn’t easy: configuring the network connectivity on the printer involves selecting from a menu on a three-line LCD screen, using four buttons (up, down, left, right). I tried entering my network’s password (try selecting a 26-digit code by hitting the “right” button nine times for 9, then Entering, seven times for 7, Enter, and so on). Still didn’t work. I even turned off the security protection on my network, but that didn’t work, either. The Brother people replaced the printer with another unit in case there was a hardware problem, but even that didn’t solve the problem. To this day, I have not been able to connect the computer to the HL 4070 CDW wirelessly.

Luckily, I had a long Ethernet cable, so I was able to connect the printer to my network router from the spot in the office where it was convenient. Since that point, I’ve had great service from the machine.

What I Think
The Brother HL 4070 CDW offers good response, reliability, versatility and quality for under $500. Yes, it’s lot more money than an inkjet printer, but for a small workgroup or small office with more than one person producing a volume of documents that need colour, the Brother HL 4070 CDW is a good value.

TV sucks in technicolor

I watched a rerun of The Daily Show last night. In its regular timeslot. It brings me to one conclusion: television sucks.

I like The Daily Show. It doesn’t suck, on its own. But taken as a whole, TV sucks.

I know I’m not the first to complain about TV reruns, and I know that many people like them. How else to explain the success of stations like TBS or Peachtree, which show nothing but old shows?

But when you’re watching a program for new material, it’s hard not to notice that we’re not getting as much new material as we used to.

Yes, the seasons are shorter. The networks are cheating us.

When I was a kid, the “new” TV season would last from September to May every year. Then, a season came to be a half a year. That meant 26 weeks. Okay, we could watch every episode twice. Or maybe, watch the shows that were in the same time slots as the shows we watched during the first half of the season.

Then, 24 came out. You remember that: each weekly episode was one hour long, so the season was a full day. Poor Jack never slept. But that meant that the season was only 24 weeks long. When did that change happen? Before or after the debut of 24? I don’t know.

But at any rate, it meant the seasons were shorter. Who suffered? TV audiences.
Networks also started experimenting with half-season programs, cancelling duds halfway through the regular season and replacing them with something new, but again, only 12 or 13 episodes before they went into reruns. Yes, that’s right: a year of programming was then down to three months.

The hit Irish-produced nighttime soap, The Tudors, has a first season that’s 10 episodes long.

Then, in 2006, the networks screwed us over again. Remember how Lost was the most anticipated returning show? Well, ABC decided to interrupt the flow of the serial for over two months with a hiatus, filling the time slot with an experimental new show—which apparently flopped, because I haven’t seen anything like it return. I can understand the approach, but it’s disrespectful to the audience.

The TV season is worst around Christmas. Regular programming is suspended or preempted for more than a month in advance of the holiday. My favourite programs get replaced by lame “specials” until after the New Year.

And this year, Easter was almost as bad, just, thankfully, shorter.

The writers’ strike in Hollywood this year only made things worse. Any strike is a failure of management—just like failing to procure any raw material. But even though the strike has been over for more than a month, the schedules aren’t back to normal. New episodes of shows like The Office and My Name is Earl only started this week, the last of March. Saturday Night Live was a rerun on March 22—of an episode two weeks old!

And last night, March 25, was a rerun of an episode of The Daily Show that I watched last week.

And those that argue that TV programming is free, remember, we the consumers are paying through the advertising. We buy the products that get advertised. And then there’s cable fees, some of which go to the networks and channels to buy programming.
So no, it’s not free.

We’re being ripped off by TV.

What a waste of a medium.

Digital camera review: Sony Ericsson K790 Cyber-shot

Close-up of sculpture of Aphrodite, with Eros, by Praxiteles, in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, Greece

Cell phone and camera

The best thing about this unit is its screen: big and bright with an attractive visual interface. The size of the screen allows Sony Ericsson to make the numbers big, easily legible for someone of a certain age, like me.

The worst thing about the K790 is the size of the buttons---even smaller than with most other cell phones I’ve owned or used, which were small enough. These seemed shorter than usual, making it very difficult to be certain without looking that I was pressing the right one. Even while looking at the keypad, it’s hard to tell, sometimes, which button you’re pressing down until its icons shows up on th screen.

The K790 is really more of a cell phone with a decent digital camera than a good digital camera with a phone added --- but depending on your own photographic needs, it may be both.

It’s a GSM phone, (Global System for Mobile communication standard), which means that it has a SIM card that carries your identify information, contacts and other personalized data, and it can roam across national boundaries. It even works in Europe (I tried it!). It has such features as text messaging and Web browsing, among others.

A slightly newer model, K800, won a GSM award as the “best camera phone” from the GSM Association in 2007.
Its form-factor --- what it looks like --- is a flat rectangle, often referred to as the “Hershey bar format” by those in the trade. Hold it upright and it looks like a cell phone; turn it sideways and it’s a camera, with a shutter button on the top (what used to be the side), under your right index finger, and a zoom control under your left.

As a phone, it has a lot of features: camera, games, MP-3 player, text messaging, contact list, web surfing ability, email functions, a video player and a photo “slide show” player. It even has a built-in radio, like my slightly older and much cheaper Nokia flip-phone. It even comes with a hands-free, although not wireless, headset with microphone. I have to admit, though, that my Nokia seems to have better radio reception, and a simpler interface for tuning and volume control. The K790 is also Bluetooth-ready.

The sound is good, whether you’re using the built-in speaker and microphone or the headset. The main drawback to the phone half of the device is the keypad: the buttons are a lot smaller than those on most cell phones (which are already too small for my fingers!). However, whether that’s a problem seems to be more about your perception: I didn’t actually make many typing errors when entering a phone number, although I did find it frustrating to enter text: the internal timing is too quick, so that when I entered “r” when I wanted to enter “s,” the phone quickly moved to the next character before I could hit the 7 key again. And backing up meant starting that name all over again!

It’s a pretty good unit for the amateur enthusiast or holiday snapshotter. The back of the phone has a lens cover that you slide down to activate the camera mode. It has an auto-focus and an automatic flash, as well as some limited options to adjust the white-point balance for bright sunlight, cloudy conditions or fluorescent lighting.
Waking the camera up sometimes takes longer than you want it to, especially in “snapshot” situations where you want to be able to whip it out and shoot a fleeting moment. I often have to open and close the lens cover two or three times to “wake” the camera.

With a 3 megapixel image size, it’s definitely not a professional level camera, or even enough for the serious prosumer or amateur enthusiast. On the other hand, it’s a good mid-range camera, and a good picture captured with the K790 can make a good 8 x 10 print.


Above is an example of an outdoor shot: taken at the chapel of St. Nicolas at the top of Likavittos Hill in the middle of Athens, Greece. Under these conditions - lots of light, clear subjects - the camera performs quite well.

However, at extreme zoom, images are poor. Here is a shot taken of the capital of the Temple of Hephaestus in the Greek Agora in Athens.


As you can see, the detail gets broken up and looks very blocky. Optical zoom gives much better results.

As stated, the viewing screen, which is also the only viewfinder you have, is a good size: 2 inches diagonally, approaching the size of the screen on the Kodak EasyShare v610 reviewed last year (URL). It’s bright, and the initial menu is cute, with fairly intuitive icons.

There’s a tiny “joystick” to help you move through the menu, and you can press it down to select it. It worked reliably when I tested it.

Other buttons and sub-menus can be a little confusing. Sony has added a “go back” button, akin to the Back button in a Web browser – except that this one is hardware.

Other buttons are context-sensitive --- their function depends on the use you’re getting out of the camera. For example, the Select button is at the bottom right; but if you’re using the phone part, you’re holding the phone upright --- it’s taller than wide. When you’re using it as a camera, it’s wider than tall. In either case, the Select button is at the bottom right of the screen, which means it “moves” --- or the function moves from one button to another depending on the mode you’re using. I was always double-checking that I was pressing the right button.

Memory:
The K790 has both built-in storage and a slot for an M2 memory card. Those are really tiny chips, 1 by 1.5 centimetres --- smaller than my thumbnail. Really. Don’t try to change those on the beach, because you’ll lose them.

Features
• Auto focus – sometimes didn’t work on the first shot, requiring a second attempt
• 16 x digital zoom – not bad, but of course not as good as optical zoom.
• image stabilization -- essential, as shaking is always a problem with such a small device
• xenon flash with three modes: automatic, off or red-eye reduction – works well, but you can’t turn it on at will so you can use the flash to fill in backlighting, although you can add more light by adjusting the ISO setting
• BestPic – takes 9 shots in quick sequence, allows you to pick the best one, then deletes the rest. This is great for action shots, but it uses a lot of memory. You have to be quick to pick the best, or you’ll quickly fill up your memory on a busy day of shooting
• Video record – decidedly low-resolution, choppy video, far worse than on any other digital camera I’ve ever used before
• BlueTooth and PictBridge for easy printing on enabled devices – sounds good, but I didn’t test these features.

What I think
The pictures are very good for my uses: on-screen slide shows, saving to DVD.
However, the auto focus does take a few seconds. There’s usually a delay in shooting a picture, which can frustrate small children who have to pose.

Turning the flash on and off is a little slow, too, taking several steps through the menus. A single button, as many other cameras have, is clearly preferable.

Another confusing aspect was the memory. Although there were two memory banks --- built-in and M2 --- the camera moved seamlessly between them when it was playing back pictures, but asked me to select where to save when taking new ones. And the menu doesn’t make it clear whether you’ve selected built-in memory or the memory stick.

As said, the videos aren’t very good at all. The resolution is too low, the capture speed jumpy, and the images themselves look like they’re made of blocks, or like a still shot with far too little light.

All in all, I think that the Sony Ericsson K790 is a great phone with a good camera in it. It’ll be great for snapping vacation shots, and it carries easily. Its resolution is a bit low for professional communicators, but it may be just right for the serious amateur or the vacationer who wants good shots for the home slide show.

Here are some more examples of the camera's capabilities:

Imerovigli, Santorini, Greece


Looking at a street vendor's wares on Santorini Island, Greece



From Likavittos Hill again, looking past the Acropolis to Piraeus and the Aegean Sea. You can see how the image breaks up at extreme zoom.


Again, under ideal conditions, with lots of light and without an extreme zoom, you can get a nice snapshot --- in this case, the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. Notice the scaffolding where the Greek government is attempting to restore this monument --- after, what, 2,500 years of neglect?

An annoying tradition

Today, November 12, I walked into a Shoppers Drug Mart and heard an awful version of “Walkin’ in a Winter Wonderland” on their background music system. (I suspect that “Muzak” is a trademarked name.)

I love Christmas: the togetherness, the real music. But while stores and malls love to play music to encourage people to buy stuff, their selection is extremely limited. They don’t dare play any overtly religious Christmas carols for fear of offending someone.

So the selection is limited to a small selection of the most awful, cheesy or maudlin songs: “Winter Wonderland,” “Sleigh Ride,” “Silver Bells,” “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)” and, worst of all, “Jingle Bell Rock.”
No matter which store or mall you walk into, you’ll hear the same songs. Different versions, different singers, different arrangement, but it’s the same bad songs.

Come on, retailers: give us a break. Don’t subject us to over a month of awful songs played endlessly. How about a little more variety? Or maybe just some silence?

What's wrong with impacting or accessing?

There are some professional communicators who decry the use of "impact" and "access" as verbs.

But why? The English language is full of words that act as verbs as well as nouns and adjectives: rub, release, contact, copy, bar, act, dam, staple, shoe, box, bag, handle --- the list goes on.

So what's wrong with saying "to access" or "to impact"?

The resistance by many teachers and communications professionals, I think, reveals a bias. "To access" is a phrase or a use common in the IT industry, while "impacting" is a usage that grew out of the corporate world. Communications pedants tend to look down their noses as these two fields as being populated by functional illiterates.

They may be right in that; there is no shortage of bad writing from the computer or corporate fields.

But you know, nobody is wrong all the time. Sometimes, the most efficient word to use is "to access," especially when we're talking about computers.

And remember, English is a living language. People are always inventing new words for new things, and using old words in new ways.

I, for one, have no more problem accessing my blog site, hoping that my words will impact someone else.

What do you think?

Is 24 really slipping?

In this post, I rant about one particular form of once-innovative communication: the Fox TV show, 24.

This latest season of 24, which probably was hyped more before its launch at the end of January than any other season, just doesn’t measure up to expectations --- expectations that were, for me, created by the previous seasons.

The first few episodes were great: lots of action, lots of tension. Jack’s condition on his release from prison in China, and his new persona, added a lot of depth to the character and the show, as did his necessary killing of Curtis, much as I’ll miss him. Detonating a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles (or just outside it, whatever) was unexpected. But after those first few episodes, the season’s premise became very repetitive: the terrorists’ nuclear threat, the White House palace conspiracy to replace the President with the more hawkish Vice President, and of course Jack’s having to work against CTU and the White House. It’s been done before --- even last season, when Jack brought down the President more or less single-handed.

The timing issue, always a weakness in the show, has become a problem that threatens to engulf the whole plot. Yes, the “real time” idea that is the basis for the show and creates the tension and the action, is a great innovation. But from the beginning, it’s required the suspension of a great deal of disbelief when characters can drive across Los Angeles during a four- to seven-minute commercial break. This season, far too much is happening in less than a day: within a few hours, the President is severely injured in a bomb attack, placed in a coma by his doctor, is revived to put down a palace coup, then suffers another stroke. Government policy reverses three times within, what, six hours? Anyone with any experience with any government knows that’s not fiction, not even fantasy; that’s so far out of possibility, it’s complete raving lunacy.

Last night (April 30), “between the hours of one a.m. and two a.m.,” showed an even greater error: just before the commercial break at around “1:30” or so, Lisa Miller falls into bed with her lover, and they’re done and cuddling when the commercial’s over four minutes later. Sex in four minutes, including disrobing and putting on a silky housecoat? There are quickies and quickies, but give the girl some chance for satisfaction, will you, Keifer?

The biggest problem, though, is the forced return of Audrey Raines, played by the awful Kim Raver. I’ve never been a fan of this love interest; she’s not a very interesting actress, nor is she much to look at. So what’s the purpose of keeping her on this show? After hanging around with no purpose last season, she was given her own show, The Nine, last fall. That show flopped, and within a couple of months, surprise! here she is on 24 again.

It’s obvious that Audrey’s return is an afterthought. A series like 24 develops a pace, a rhythm, and three weeks ago, when Jack finally caught and killed Fayed, the ending of that plotline seemed rushed. And it was, truncated so that the show’s final seven hours could be all about Audrey.

Now, the plot has spun into a completely different direction: saving Audrey and getting back the “component” from the Chinese in order to stave off World War Three. What happened to Jack’s father, sister-in-law and nephew? That looked like an interesting possibility, particularly since there had been some romantic relationship between Jack and Marilyn, his sister-in-law, and strong hints that Josh might be Jack’s son. And Marilyn, played by Rena Saufer, is certainly more attractive than Kim Raver. Exploring their history and relationship would have been much more interesting and provided a lot more depth to Jack’s character than telling us more about Audrey.

What do you think? Are there any 24 fans there? Are you impressed with this season?

Any Kim Raver fans? Can you explain the appeal?

Nikon Coolpix S10 digital Camera Review

Communicator's Toolbox

A great gadget feeling

By Scott Bury

Nikon has a terrific new camera for serious amateur photographers and professional communicators in the Coolpix S10. It offers high, 6-megapixel resolution in a compact form, along with a host of features that make capturing great shots easy. It’s fast, flexible and has a new, lower price of $399 CDN or $350 US. Overall, it could be a champion in its category.
Basic data:
Size: 3.8 x 2.4 x 1.8 in.; 97 x 61 x 45 mm
Weight: 7.8 oz/220 g, without battery, lens cap or memory card
Resolution: 6.0 million pixels
CCD: 6.18 million total pixels
Lens: glass Nikkor 10x zoom; 6.3-63 mm; 35 mm format; f/3.5; digital zoom up to 4x
LDC monitor: 2.5-inch, 230,000 dot TFT, 170 degree wide viewing angle
Price: $399.95 CDN SRP

There’s a definite gadget appeal to the Nikon Coolpix S10 digital camera that comes from moving parts. Rather than just having a tiny viewing monitor come out on a sort of cantilever from the body, the body is actually divided into two connected parts. The lens section takes up the right-hand third, and swivels 270 degrees; the main part of the body holds the view-screen, shutter and power buttons and other controls. I just couldn’t help playing with that, rotating the body and lens around.
There are real, practical advantages to this design, of course. You can adjust the viewing angle for the viewfinder so you have a clear image however you’re shooting, You can shoot from chest level, for instance, rather than eye level, without having to bend down. Or you can hold the camera overhead to shoot over crowds, and still see the image you’re capturing. And when you close the camera a swivel the body flat, it’s a nice compact shape that fits into your pocket. Nikon has used this design in a number of models for the past seven years or so.
The lens cap is also a simple mechanical device: a round piece of plastic attached with a hinge to a plastic ring that fits around the lens housing. Most consumer-level digital cameras have a motorized lens cover that opens when you turn the power on; you have to flip the lens cap off yourself. It’s a bit flimsy; it popped off when I was shooting outdoors, at Ottawa’s Winterlude festival, and I was lucky to find that gray piece of plastic in the slush.
Other important features include
• VR Vibration Reduction image stabilization to reduce camera shake, especially at long zoom lengths
• Extended light sensitivity to ISO 800
• In-camera red-eye adjustment
• face-priority auto-focus
• D-Lighting feature to lighten dark image areas in the camera
• Pictomotion ™ software for creating slide shows with music in the camera
• USB and Pictbridge compatibility

Using the Coolpix S10
The most important measure to any camera is how good the results are. At 6 megapixels, the S10 has very good resolution for a “prosumer” camera, and even good for some professional use, although if you really need to crop and enlarge your photos, you may not have quite enough pixels for a sharp picture.
The 10x zoom, plus the 4x digital zoom, gives you even more flexibility. This is a long zoom in a compact camera, which makes it prone to vibration or any kind of motion at the extreme enlargement. That’s why Nikon’s image stabilization feature, which they call “Vibration Reduction” or VR, is so important. Anyone who’s tried a long zoom with a larger camera and ended up with blurry shots knows how important a stabilization function is.
The camera also features an “auto rotation” function, so that if you turn the camera 90 degrees for a portrait-format shot (longer than wide), the image in the view-screen rotates, too, so you’re looking at a preview that’s right-side up.
The 10x zoom is double the range of the Coolpix L5 compact camera, and the VR function really works well. Take a look at the photos of deer, which I shot in the greenbelt near my house. (Really — walking distance from my house, you can get really close to a herd of deer.)

These pictures show another advantage of this camera: the increased light sensitivity, to ISO 800. This improves the image results in low-light situations. This is important because, particularly for those of us who aren’t professional photographers, it’s often hard to know when the light level is low for a camera. It’s easy to get bright, sharp shots outdoors on a sunny day, but indoors, or at the end of the afternoon, when light is fading gradually, the amount of available light is often deceiving.
The S10 gave me excellent results in both these situations. The deer were shot in late afternoon in winter, when the sun was below tree level. There was a fair amount of light reflecting from the snow, but the amount of light that’s actually shining on the subject is not great. As you can see, the S10 deals with that challenge very nicely.
At 2.5 inches, the S10’s viewing screen is large for a compact camera. It’s easy to see the images you’ve taken, and it gives you a good idea of the overall image quality.

Drawbacks
The S10 has very few shortcomings, but there is one that bothered me: the menu is difficult to use.
Probably as part of the effort to make a quality camera as compact as possible, Nikon has put only a few buttons on the body. The power, shutter button and the rocker switch that controls the zoom are all on the top of the body. They’re a little awkward to use, compared to some digital cameras I’ve used.
On the back of the body are four more buttons: trash, to delete unwanted shots; menu, which activates the on-screen menu; mode, which also opens the menus to select video, still shot, portrait and other image capture modes; and the Playback for viewing captured pictures and videos. There’s also a joystick for navigating through the menus and selecting options. The menus need some rethinking — the camera requires too many steps to do something as simple as switching between camera and video modes. Most cameras have a single button to switch between video and still modes, including Nikon’s Coolpix L5 (reviewed in February). Why doesn’t this one? Making other choices, especially more complex things like enhancing the photos, seem to have a lot of unnecessary steps.
One other thing: like almost every other auto-focus camera, the S10 has a noticeable shutter lag of almost a second. This makes action shots almost impossible, and I couldn’t find an easy way to turn it off. In comparison to Kodak’s EasyShare v610, the Nikon Coolpix S10 takes slightly sharper images, but the Kodak is the first digital camera I’ve found with no shutter lag. That makes it preferable for most action-oriented applications — the kind of situations that the avid amateur and the business communicator who needs pictures for the website or the newsletter will be in.

Summing up
The Nikon Coolpix S10 is an excellent high-end amateur, compact digital camera with all the features needed by a serious amateur or a business communicator with limited training in photography: sharp image, long zoom, light enhancement, red-eye reduction and more. It’s very easy to transport and relatively easy to use, once you get used to the menus. And its new low price will no doubt add to its popularity.
If Nikon could perhaps simplify the menu structure, and come up with a sturdier lens cap, they’d have a champion camera with the S10.