Charles in Japan

Deciding Whether to Read a Book: Some Wildly Reductive Heuristics

Deciding Whether to Read a Book: Some Wildly Reductive Heuristics | 43 Folders.

43 Folders posted this humorous, but true guide to picking what books not to read.  I thought some the ideas (Authors Face or High Heels) were pretty true.

Lunch

Luckily it wasn't raining fir lunch and I was nice. We just had a big downpour and there are large puddles outside.

They've had these noodles at the conbini's all summer, but I didn't have them till last week. I thought you needed hot water, but you eat them cold. Just add sauce and toppings. They have several types so they may be a bit different from day to day.

Sweetcron got released today and I'm excited. You may see it appear later. I've got a busy weekend planned, but I hope I have some time to work in the computer.

Now to pick up my dry cleaning and do a little more work.

Dinner tonight

I decided to just hit the conbini for dinner tonight. Some rice with egg salmon and something else in top. Spicy fried chicken and a 2 liter bottle of tea. I didn't realize it would cut the picture off.

If you want to live cheap in japan you have to master the art of conbini shopping. Fortunely they have quite a selection. You probably won't find anything you know from the states, but with a little trial and error you find some good stuff.

Hakone!

I'm on a small train now that is slowly working it's way up the mountain. Little drizzle. It reminds me of the last time I was here, only it rained more then.

Which way is north?

One of the iPhone's current faults us the the GPS won't tell you which way you are traveling. Not a huge loss, but someone came up with a good solution, at least if of sunny. The reverse sundial. Place your finger at the center at a 90 degree angle to the screen. Rotate the iPod or iPhone until the shadow matches the highlighted line. The compass will now be accurate and you know which way is north.

Clear Day

Here is the view out my window at work toward Tokyo Disneyland. Don't be fooled by how nice it looks. It's hot, humid and miserable.

Three books finished

Just finished my third book on the iPod/iPhone. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I had always assumed 20,000 referred to a depth, so I was expecting something like journey to the center of the earth. If I had known how long a league was I'd know this was possible. It really wasn't the book I expecting though. It reads more like an oversized pamphlet advertising the benefits of the sea. Pages and endless pages about the wonders he sees. One character always talks in the third person which really bugged me by the end of the book.

I remember one scene from the movie where they fought a large octopus or squid. I was looking forward to that scene. I had almost given up, but it finally came net the end of the book. What a disappointing couple pages. I almost think the author apologized for it afterwards.

You can probably tell I don't really recommend the book. You'll have a better time watching some documentries about the ocean on the Discovery channel.

I actually spend more time reading on my iphone the listening to music. The kindle tempts me, but I don't think it works in japan.

iPhone Purchased!!!

Playing with the phone now. I think I'm really going to like it. The opening cerimonies start in about 20 minutes so we got a seat in the British pub to watch it.

Technology Update

I know you probably want to hear more about Japan. I have a lot of pictures to post, if I ever find time to make room on my computer. I've gotten used to things here and life has become more comfortable, so it's time for me to get out a bit more. I think I'll be doing to Hakone for the weekend sometime soon, even with this hot weather.  I've seen a couple fireworks shows here and for now I'll just say they are pretty damn impressive.  July 4th just isn't going to be the same anymore.  I'll post some pictures and tell you more later.  Promise!

Yesterday Softbank 'lowered' the price on the iPhone data plan.  Well, not exactly lowered, but if you don't use it, or use it just a bit, you pay a lot less.  They also opened up reservations, so I went off to Roppongi yesterday at lunch and reserved a 16GB black iPhone.  After playing around with the software on my iPod Touch I'm really excited to get it.  My biggest worry is battery life.  The phone could probably replace my computer for 80% of what I do.  I won't say it's for everyone, but if you do a lot on the net, especially if it has software you can use it's very tempting.

The second huge annoucement from yesterday was micro Four-Thirds.  This is a new standard from Olympus using the same sensor as existing 4/3s cameras.  It looks like it's going to be the first EVIL camera.  It stands for Electronic Viewfinder, Interchangable Lenses.  A compact camera with interchangable lenses has been desirable by a segment of the photography community for quite a while.  This nich is currently filled by range finder cameras.  Not perfect, but a lot of people enjoy them.

Take a look at the page to see some of the advantages.  One of the biggest is going to be smaller cameras.  The lenses will also be smaller, but to what extent I'm not sure.  Although the current 4/3s standard (which will continue) boosts an advantage in many cases, this should be much more noticible.  The most noticible difference is the loss of the mirror or prism meaning you no longer have an optical viewfinder, at least in the sense of a traditional SLR.  You can either use the LCD to frame like a compact camera, but without the speed loss of flipping the mirror, or put an electronic viewfinder in.  Basically a small LCD.  These have been pretty bad to date, but there isn't a reason they need to be with todays technology.  The loss of the mirror means the distance to the sensor can be cut in half.  The loss of the mirror should also mean a much more silent camera. 

One thing SLR cameras have always lacked has been the ability to record video, and the micro 4/3s standard supports video.  You can even use existing 4/3s lenses on it with an adapter.

Honestly, I'm glad I didn't pick up the expensive lens I was looking at.  I think this will be my next camera.  Even smaller and lighter.  People are really wondering where Olympus is going to try and place this in the product line.  I think you'll end up with a consumer line for those people that want more then a super zoom camera, but less then an SLR.  A lot of people are very comfortable composing on the LCD now.  I think you'll have a mid-range/prosumer camera.  To early to guess exactly what features it will have, but I bet one has a flip out LCD, maybe a high end electronic view finder.  I don't know if Olympus will do it or not, but a weather sealed version with lenses to match would be awesome.

A few attempts have been made to push into this area before without much success, but it's exciting to see such great inovation.  Olympus's decision go create a new digital standard I think is paying off and it's allowing them to go into areas where Canon, Nikon and some others are going to have a hard time following.  Seeing their new products go in the same direction I'm interested in makes me glad I invested in their system.