Tralfaz

Day: October 6, 2013

  • I thought I was done… The Baroque Cycle

    I am a huge SciFi fan, been reading it since I was in high school. I have lately become a fan of Neal Stephenson (ok, not so recently, I read Snow Crash shortly after it was published), but it has taken me forever to read the the books in the Baroque Cycle. Today, I finished the second novel, The Confusion, thinking that I was finished with the set.

    WRONG.

    It seemed like a funny place to leave off, and alas, it was. There is a third book, another 900 pages. The System of the World.  Groan.  I guess I will have to work my way through this tome as well.

    One of the reasons it has taken me so long to get through the first two tomes is that it became clear that my lack of knowledge of European history of the 1600 – 1800 was pretty weak, so I have been bolstering that as well (and it greatly enhances the enjoyment of the novels).

    It is back to see what Jack Shaftoe has in store.

  • Wild Sighting: Microsoft Surface

    I spied it gingerly. It was a couple seat away from me in the waiting area at the Southwest gate in the SanJose Airport. I wasn’t sure what it was at first, but I finally figured it out.

    It was the first Microsoft “Surface” tablet that I had ever seen that wasn’t part of a store display. Someone was actually using it.  Not sure if it was the RT version, or the PRO version, but that seems of little import. He was using it for what almost all ipad or android tabled owners use it for, watching videos, and browsing the web.

    Rumors had it that Microsoft had almost $1B in unsold inventory. Not surprising since they were late to the market, and they priced it closer to the iPad price point than the Android price point. Now they have announced the Surface 2. I wonder how long after launch of that it will be before I see on in the wild…

    It is somewhat of a shame, as I played with one at a store, and I liked the metro interface. But it is most assuredly doomed.