Entries tagged with intel

Entry tags:

Fly On The Wall or Wall On The Fly?

I spent another fruitless while yesterday in the Bargain Basement of Books Warehouse in Pigeon Forge yesterday. The place is a shambles with tens of thousands of books in bins or on shelves with very little in the way of organization. It's impossibly difficult to find anything specific.

My thinking there went in this direction: if I had one of those quadcopter drones that could carry a camera, or perhaps carry my smartphone and have it act as a camera, I could photorecon the whole space and then have a computer program determine all the books it saw. Then I could virtually search that data and see if there was anything I wanted or needed.

I feel it's probably a good likelihood that somebody's already thought of something like this.

Entry tags:

Writer's Block: Life with Technology

[Error: unknown template qotd]

The word "technology" is a broad brush that includes mattresses, bathtubs, tissue paper, and the like in its strokes. Now, if you narrowed that down by saying "modern technology", then we can be more specific.

That said, I'm addicted to the technical/technological life. I use my desktop computer several hours a day...and would likely flirt with 24 hours a day if the infrastructure in my neighborhood would let me. I love my little, modern, fuel-efficient car and the mobility it provides me. I use a microwave oven everyday to prepare food. I have a modern digitally-tuned TV for keeping up with the world. There are other lesser pieces of hardware that enrich my life as well. I don't have a lot compared to other people, but what I do have does a lot for me.

Entry tags:

Writer's Block: Internet Influence

[Error: unknown template qotd]

It's making us demand the immediate reaction, whether or not it's the right one.

Entry tags:

Writer's Block: My New Wallet

[Error: unknown template qotd]

Sorry...you aren't speaking my language. If I want a portable information appliance, I want it to be a smart ANYTHING BUT A PHONE. The problem, of course, is that you don't so much pay for the hardware as for the services that make it a practical proposition. Add to that the rapid pace of obsolescence and economic uncertainties...it just doesn't make sense to me.

PS: Wait...you were saying "pay for WITH", not just "pay FOR". Well, since I shop so seldom and almost always pay cash, that function, while seductive, doesn't really make sense for me either.

Entry tags:

Writer's Block: Googling Myself

[Error: unknown template qotd]

I Google myself on a regular basis. I have been surprised sometimes, like with my namesake Civil War soldier, and a horror parody story with a namesake character, and another namesake supposedly in Mongolia, but there is very little about me on the 'Net that I haven't initiated.

Entry tags:

Writer's Block: Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

[Error: unknown template qotd]

Depends on the story and where it is happening. My main choices are the TV and the Internet (radio news here is not much good)...and even then I'm not sure I trust any source to have all the facts and present them fairly.

Entry tags:

Writer's Block: Sending Out an SMS

[Error: unknown template qotd]

No such capability. Have to use more standard e-mail, SocNet private messages or pen and paper. (How come these questions are worded so the answer most likely to win the prize would come from somebody who probably doesn't need the prize?)

Entry tags:

Writer's Block: Surfin’ Safari

[Error: unknown template qotd]

Don't have a laptop that functions or anything mobile, so no. Tho' on previous occasions I have borrowed other people's compies to stay in touch with the Digital Domain.

Entry tags:

Writer's Block: Cold Turkey Tremors

[Error: unknown template qotd]
My entire lifetime of the thirty-one years spent before I got onto the Internet as it is now. Beyond that, probably the week I spent at Indianapolis for GENCON in '06, jonesing for a place where I could rent a laptop and net access. Unfortunately I can't say "never again" as I refuse to get a laptop or mobile service till I can justify it careerwise.

Entry tags:

Writer's Block: TV on the PC

[Error: unknown template qotd]

If I'm very lucky I'll watch a DVD every other week. I can't watch TV because I don't have broadband or any other method of getting programming in a useful manner. I've got a stack of about forty DVD disks I need to see but haven't had the opportunity to do so.

Entry tags:

Writer's Block: Life Unplugged

[Error: unknown template qotd]

Out here in the sticks, disconnection is a frequent reality. I don't have mobile or high-speed, so there have been times when I've been unavailable for days. BTW, it isn't the cold sweats I worry about...it's the transformation to Mr. Hyde.

Entry tags:

Writer's Block: Entertainment Center

[Error: unknown template qotd]

Well, I'm open to the changes but not completely there. I mean, flat-screen TV with a DVD/VHS combo deck, yes. MP3 collection but no listening hardware (Pod, compatible car audio), no. No broadband for downloading movies or music files or efficient streaming. Maybe it'll change in the near future but again, it isn't there yet.

Entry tags:

Writer's Block: To Infinity and Beyond!

[Error: unknown template qotd]

Interstellar travel is plenty, man! Think of how many people there are that you would rather see take up residence several light-years away.

Entry tags:

Writer's Block: Dream Vacations

[Error: unknown template qotd]

The only "firm" one is my planned trip to Florida for the week of my birthday in December. Beyond that, I'd need a career first before I could take vacations from it. Some would say I've been on forced vacation since April 2004.