Blogged on April 11, 2008 at 16:42
I know, I know… I had plans to blog more, had ideas on what to blog, had the right tools for the task, etc… The only thing I was and currently am missing is: TIME! ;(
I’ve been meaning to write about a lot of stuff that happened during this last month. Among other things, I got my shiny new Macbook Pro. The whole order/shipping process deserves a blog post of its own so I’ll keep you curious. Since I got it, my workflow is starting to “feel” better. There’s one huge downside though: having a laptop, gives me the ability to easily waste time anywhere I am! I’ve been finding myself playing games or reading feeds/news at even later hours… On the other hand, having the ability to run VMware Fusion presented me with a whole new world of possibilities like running linux testing servers on my machine, windows (Vista runs more smoothly than XP on VMware IMHO), etc… And I can even run MyEclipse on top of all this without even “feeling it” (4GB RAM surely help :p). Ok, enough of that…
In the mean time, Wordpress 2.5 came out and I upgraded! Didn’t think it’d go all that smoothly (especially after reading this post a while back - which I commented there as well!).
OK, bottom line: I will blog about the laptop like I promised; I will blog about my impressions on VMware Fusion and even WP2.5 (not so sure about this… nothing new to add to what others have said already!). I feel bad that it’s been over a month since I blogged and I *need* blogging… It helps with my… errr… “well-being”!
In other news, I started running/jogging! =) yay And no, I do not like running all that much! And no, I’m not running with anyone else! So why am I running you ask… Well… I need the physical activity, and I want to become healthier! (not that I’ve been having problems on that particular, thank God!). Got some Nike Shox Arraw, even bought the Nike+iPod kit… even though I don’t have an iPod nano! I’m hoping Apple releases the software needed for it for the iPhone in June… pleeaasseeee!! I just don’t feel like spending $ on a nano when I already have an iPod Video 80Gb and an iPhone! I’m willing to buy a 1st gen White Nano though… If anyone wants to get rid of it at a decent price, I’m willing to help you with that! :p
For frequent news on what’s going on with me, Twitter is the way to go! haha I’m finishing this post while waiting to board from Detroit to Newark after my original flight got delayed+cancelled 5 hours ago, and I’ve been twittering like a maniac about all of this! For those who thought of it as spam, I’m sorry. I bet you can find some interesting stuff just by listening to me yapper a whole lot! :p
Well, that’s enough for now. I have a few more thought out posts to make in the near future. Maybe all this time in airports is helpful to make you do stuff that you postpone all the time… More on that later! 
Blogged on March 5, 2008 at 10:46
I was very curious about the last Nine Inch Nails (NIN) album! I was reading about all the hype on the way they used to distribute it. I was also aware of people having major problems getting to the download (just like it happened with Radiohead’s In Rainbows). And so I waited…
Yesterday, being tired of waiting I headed on to the official website. Surprisingly it opened on the first try and everything looked rather snappy and fast. I read about the download speed issues and realized we could download the 9 free tracks off of Bit-Torrent, tracked at The Pirate Bay, and uploaded by NIN themselves. I went on to get the free tracks over at TPB.
After listening to them 2 times I was already in love!!! I was even more in love knowing that they provided lossless download options, like FLAC and Apple Lossless. But I was even more impressed with the fact that they give you immediate access to those same downloads when you buy the physical version (that ships in April)!!! So I ordered the $10 (+ $6.99 shipping) physical edition of it! 
Since September and my move to the US I haven’t bought a single physical CD. Prior to coming, and just during the first half of 2007, I bought around 40 physical CDs! With the move o the US I came to realize that those physical CDs can be a real logistical PITA: broken cases from the travelling, lots of extra weight that is expensive when flying, etc… Since I got here, I already bought over 20 CDs through the iTunes Store and boy, am I loving it! The fact that I can buy any album on my iPhone, through wireless and get Instant Satisfaction™ is delightful!! Don’t get me wrong, I still love owning the physical CDs and ripping them to MP3s (used to rip them to OGG, but my iPod/iPhone changed my mind) or even AAC+ (which I have been learning to like in terms of quality/size vs the MP3s). But even with all of this, I decided to order the physical edition. What “tipped me” over was the fact that I still had access to Instant Satisfaction™: they give you the same download options when you buy the physical edition.
From my experience with my other CDs, I don’t mess around them much after buying them! I get them, rip them, put them on my iTunes/iPod/iPhone and only resort to the physical discs if something goes wrong or I’m about to travel! I do like the feeling of owning the physical disc, but I’m quickly replacing that with the knowledge that from a mobility standpoint, digital has taken over. In terms of listening, it has taken over a long time ago… at least for me!
I’m also the kind of person who downloads music albums… a LOT! I’m glad I do, because on some cases it saved me money! And saving me money allowed me to buy albums that are REALLY worth it! As an example, I bought Coldplay’s “X&Y” shortly after it came out, but had already listened to it MANY times to the point that when I bought it I didn’t listen to it for a while! Why did I buy it then, you may ask… Because I *loved* (still do!) the album and think it was worth buying! Yes, that’s how I view music purchases: I pay when I feel it’s worth the price! If prices went down, I’d buy more, but I still buy quite a bit of music!!
Having said that, I encourage you to get this NIN album! If for nothing else, do it because they released it under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license, allowing you to do “whatever” you want with the music without having to pay royalties of any sort! That’s a MAJOR step forward and takes some gut feeling to do it! HUGE kudos to NIN for taking that step forward in music. I think this one is even more revolutionary than Radiohead’s album for many reasons like immediate download when you buy the physical discs, lossless formats, Creative Commons license, etc…
Bottom line: I’m *very happy* about this and can’t wait to see more artists doing the same! ^^,
Blogged on January 22, 2008 at 12:20
So I haven’t posted about this, but after reading Rui Moura’s post on this (I got the bundle on a “Pay 2, Get 3″ sale along with Rui and José Carlos) and looking online for some info about it, I had too say something! This was BY FAR the best deal I’ve ever had on software. This is one of the few bundles released once in a while of independent OSX apps, and it only comes to show the true power os OSX: even these small, independent apps look amazing, integrate well with the rest of the OS, etc… This is only possible because of the amazing platform OSX is and the tools Apple provides developers with!
Following a post I read on Prt.Sc about open source and its “freedom” and a discussion on the mailing list, I want to reaffirm my opinion on Open-Source Software (OSS) vs Commercial Software. I look at OSS as both “free speech” and “free beer”. Most of the times I recommend OSS (OpenOffice comes to mind quite often here) is to people using Windows or OSX and in need of a FREE (as in “beer”) alternative. I don’t even need/want to mention that “You can actually get to the source code and make it do*exactly* what you want it to do!”… Why?? Because it makes no difference for 99% of the people out there. Have you heard the business motto of “If somebody else has developed a solution, go ahead and buy it… Don’t waste time reinventing the wheel!”??? Well, I tend to agree… but not completely. I like following the developmental process of a solution that is supposed to fit my needs, but in some cases, it’s a LOT easier to adapt my needs to a commercial solution. The best reason why is CONFORMITY! (the word that scares all open source puritans) Conformity is a nice thing in a networked world. But it doesn’t mean I’ll opt for a worst/bad solution just for the sake of conformity. No, instead I’ll search for the best solution available, even if it’s not the most widespread. Of course, this is not always possible/desirable and thus exceptions are normal) (proving the rule).
These were just random thoughts… Probably not a very good line of thought there, but I felt I had to say this after talking about a great value bundle of COMMERCIAL software. I actually feel good about supporting these developers and helping some non-profit organizations on the way!
Just as a side note, I have spent more money on software since I’ve moved to OSX than ever before. And this does not include any major apps… just small, simple utilities than integrate with my daily work and enhance my user experience on the computer (isn’t this the objective of ANY app?).
I have spoken.
Blogged on January 8, 2008 at 19:35
So 2008 is here and I haven’t even posted! Oh boy…
Since I last posted, I have been aggregated to my favorite blog aggregator: Prt.Sc (Print Screen). I’ve been following this aggregator’s feed for a while now, and have made some friends through it! I’ve asked to join quite a bit ago but just now got aggregated (understandable!). Among other things, this will allow me to have a wider target audience. I hope that motivates me to post a bit more often!
I spent the end of 2007 and first days of 2008 with friends in a (actually 2) ski resort. I skiied for the first time in my life and something horrible took place: I now absolutely love it! Why is it horrible, you might ask… Well, lets be honest folks: it’s not an affordable activity! :p I got the clothing. I don’t even know the prices back home at Serra da Estrela or the ones in Spain/Andorra, but I doubt they’ll be any cheaper. I had a great time with some great friends, and met some new ones!
As to this blog, I’ve designed the new look & feel for it! It’s verrryyyy different from this one and I might even build a customized CMS for it, to make it the way I want it! I’ll, of course use snippets of code that are already available but I’ll customize them to meet my objectives. Oh, I can tell you already one thing about the new design: it’s… “Very niiceeee”! (and I don’t want to spoil the surprise because I don’t know yet when I’ll be able to finish it!)
All in all, I feel 2008 to be a very promising year. It’s going to be the first year I spend in its entirety living in the US. I’ll be home (Portugal) for just a few weeks in the summer, for vacation and my best friend’s wedding. I’ve been enjoying my time here so far. Of course I miss some things (that sounds sooo materialistic! lol) from Portugal, but overall I feel completely integrated with the lifestyle and life flow here in Iowa.
I’ll post again soon. I have some ideas about how I’ve been feeling about the current state of the interwebs and information media world.
To everyone, a great 2008! May it be full of of accomplishments and life achievements!
Blogged on December 23, 2007 at 21:11
Hitman
This Friday I decided to see an overdue movie that was already at the “Dollar Theater” ($2 actually :p): Hitman. I wanted to see this movie because I played the games, and although I never finished any of them (I don’t finish single player games lol) I wanted to see the big screen adaptation.
This movie recreates pretty well the setting of the games: lethal human machines, bread with the single purpose of killing select targets. They work alone and don’t have any human contact with anyone, and no emotions at all! Then the movie goes on to try and add the personal and emotional aspect to the character. Although the movie does include some nudity, it is used mildly with the purpose of accentuating the cold character of Agent 47- When dealing with the human feelings of lust and arousal, he refuses to “fall” and carries on his mission. You’ll see they actually portray an emotional relationship between the two, but without the normal “chick flick” ingredients!
On the casting, I think Timothy Olyphant turned out to be the perfect match for Agent 47. Olga Kurylenko (Nina) also does a pretty good job of portraying a rebellious prostitute. They were both able to show the cold and emotional side of their characters. On the weird side is seeing Robert Knepper (T-Bag in Prison Break) playing a russian secret service leader and Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond in Lost) playing a drunk drug/weapon lord that is the brother of the president of Russia.
It’s not a great movie… But it’s not as bad as some “game2movie” adaptations we’ve seen! It’s got some interesting action that will appeal especially to those who played the games. On the bad side, I feel they rushed some scenes and lingered others. Not too bad, but not good enough to be a great movie! But go see it and comment for yourself! What I liked about the movie was the plot setting: a “nice” hitman that got framed by it’s employer, “The Agency”, and went on to bring justice with his own hands. Heck yea!! Conspiracy plots FTW!
My Score: 5.5/10
Bee Movie
I watched the “Bee Movie” yesterday (Saturday). To be honest, it almost sucks! lol The lifesaver for this one is Seinfeld’s jokes that are not even relevant to the storyline. Basically, after Pixar the stakes are REALLY high for animation movies, and although this one is not horrible, it’s poor. The CGI looks from the late 90’s more than 2007! And the story… Oh gosh… Don’t get me started! Loved the voices of Seinfeld, Chris Rock (small appearance, but has the best lawyer joke I have ever heard in my life!!!!!) and Renée Zellweger. And then we have Sting and Larry King as themselves (hilarious!) and… Winnie the Pooh gets “shot”! ahhh ah
Like I said, if it wasn’t for the nice jokes spread across the movie, I’d feel like I had been ripped off… $2!
My Score: 4.5/10
Blogged on December 16, 2007 at 22:02
So Friday was movie day! I watched two movies: Alvin and the Chipmunks and I Am Legend! (both opening on that day!). I’ll start with the latter.
I Am Legend
I Am Legend is a great movie, and I want to make that clear right off the bat. In my opinion, it’s an oscar-worthy acting for Will Smith. He’s brilliant and… he makes the movie worth it! That and the amazing deserted New York City landscape… stunning! But it’s a great movie with some major flaws. Although the story has a lot of potential I believe they rushed it towards the end, leaving us with a sense of “Ok, now what?” or “Sure he could have done it differently!”. And another flaw would be the crappy special effects… I mean, even Resident Evil can make more realistic zombies (as if there’s such a thing lol :p). The point being that they look… CGI! It still manages to get your heartbeat above healthy levels from time to time, and I loved that, but we expect more realistic creatures ever since Star Wars: Episode I hit the big screen… Right? I won’t go into further details on the above flaws to avoid… spoilers!
Bottom line, it’s a great movie, with brilliant acting, some hilarious jokes to decompress all the tension of the intensive thriller it is (”I was saving that bacon!” haha)… Heck, even the german shepherd should get a freaking canine-oscar IMO! =)
My Score: 7.5/10
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Ok, I’ll admit! Ever since I watched the theatrical trailer for this one I made my mind to go see it. And I got invited to go see it with some friends on opening day… Neat, huh? On to the movie itself, a heads up: your head will hurt and you’ll have tears coming down your cheeks… from laughing too hard! I mean it: it’s a very funny movie… for the first half of it at least! Yes, you’ll laugh your butt off with the scenes and awkwardness of some situations, and you’ll find the animated chipmunks too be “real” enough to make you forget they’re actually NOT there! But as the movie/story unfolds, it gets to a point where they try to actually tell a story… and it didn’t work. Some scenes are too long, laugh-less and boring. They try to add some drama to it, a “chick flick” of sorts starts to come up and… the movie ends! OK, I won’t be too hard on it… I mean, it’s the freaking Chipmunks, right? WRONG! I wanted it to be funny the whole way through! If you watched the theatrical trailer (the longer, more recent one) you’ll have seen close to half of the real funny scenes. I’ll have to say the “I’m waiting for the rinse cycle!” tops my list of funny moments, but… that’s me!
I sincerely urge to go see it… for the sake of your past/present inner-child! I loved the Chipmunks growing up and, apparently, I still do!
My Score: 7/10
So, get out of your cozy, warm living room, and go watch these two nice movies!
Ohh, and if you’re not into any of these genres (thriller and comedy), you can always go see “Enchanted“… I did last week, and… enjoyed it! Hilarious movie and good for a family evening at the theater while still entertaining both the “mom” and the “dad”, while taking some sincere laughs out of anyone who enjoys a good one! It’s a Disney cartoon story… in “real” life! Yup, even with birds and squirrels dancing and doing their choreography… I won’t review that one, but I’ll challenge you to go see it and report back on it… sincerely!
Blogged on October 23, 2007 at 23:11
So GMail is offering IMAP… finally! It’s not out to public yet, but I’ve been one of the lucky ones to get it for testing! Here are my thoughts on my first 20m around it.
First off, IMAP is GREAT!! It’s a great way to keep all your mail and folders (inc. sent, drafts, custom folders, etc…) on the server so that all you have to do with every client you may use (be it Thunderbird, Mail.app, Evolution, KMail, etc…) is enter your account details and you have it all right there. It gives you the mobility of a webmail with the power of a desktop client.
Then GMail came out! It was the first true web-based email that could cope with the his desktop counterparts. Google didn’t even offer POP3 support until later on, focusing their efforts on their web interface (that hasn’t been change since then!). If everyone remembers when it came out, the frenzy around the invitations was the best marketing the web has seen, and since then many have copied it. It introduced the whole concept of “Beta” being something “cool” more than “buggy and not ready”!! Kudos for that.
But with the advent of mail on mobile phones, they had to find a solution past their (nice but limited) phone app. In my opinion, they knew they needed IMAP now.
And so I went to try it on my preferred desktop mail app: Mail.app. I was curious on how they would get “around” the “Labels vs Folders” issue that has been long discussed around the web. And that is what the picture on the right shows: they turn them into folders. Please note that on that picture, I have already set my Drafts, Sent, Trash and Junk to the appropriate folders, so I have them correctly set along with the same folders on my other IMAP accounts. But the Labels into Folders was horrible: Why are they placed as local folders (although they’re not) and not under my Inbox for GMail??? Why is a “[Gmail]” Smartbox created for my GMail, when it should be “under” my Inbox, like any other IMAP account, and just like it appears in the web interface??
I think IMAP is a great feature, but it messed up my Mail.app organization. I need those Lab… err… Folders to be listed inside my Inbox, just like the “All Mail” and “Starred”.
When I tried moving them, the Labels on the web interface where changed to “INBOX\Label_name” implying that it is possible to do it with the necessary arrangements on their folder structure on the servers.
And oh boy, I can’t wait for that!
PS: I know there is at least one major university considering moving to GMail for their institutional mail. If anyone is aware of how the process of moving their current mailboxes and mails goes, and it’s twists and quirks, please mail me so I can inform them on how to proceed. I’m sure IMAP will be a feature they’ll have as a pre-requisite… and now they can have it!!!
PS2: I’m having some problems with Firefox and Wordpress… The link dialog is not showing up on the editor and I don’t have time to manually enter links. I’ll put some appropriate links tomorrow!
Blogged on October 14, 2007 at 19:01
Alguém me consegue, por favor, explicar o que leva a se protestarem valores, tais como 426,50€ para o salário mínimo nacional??
E mais ainda: o valor que exigem para 2011 (porque foi prometido em 2007 pelo actual governo) é de 450€, contra os actuais 403€… Hmmm… Se em 2007 426,50€ é o absurdo que nós conhecemos, em 2011 450€ vão ser uma fortuna pelos vistos, já que o Governo está a “descartar-se” dessas promessa.
Antes de mais, os valores estão errados… Não sei se o erro é jornalístico ou partidário, mas segundo li, os valores prometidos são de 450€ e 500€ para 2009 e 2011, respectivamente. Mesmo assim…
… E que tal se estes senhores se preocupassem com coisas mais importantes como a produtividade, a redução do peso da função pública, a privatização da segurança social (não eliminando a pública), a criação de zonas de incentivo à criação de novas empresas no campo tecnológico, nomeadamente a Norte (sem os custos dum Tagus/Lagoas Park, nem sem a falta de condições duma Lispólis, onde a ligação à Internet é deplorável e o serviço deixa bastante a desejar), na luta contra a desinformação latente da população no que a novas tecnologias diz respeito, na verdadeira liberalização das telecomunicações sem a Anacom a fazer o papel “pseudo-acusador” da PT e bloqueando assim soluções revolucionárias que a PT tem recursos para implementar, etc…
Não vou listar mais, porque a lista é interminável. Nem era para listar ponto nenhum, mas senti que devia pelo menos “abrir o pulmão” nas coisas em que quero ver o meu país evoluir. Ponho a criação de zonas de incentivo a “start-ups” no topo das prioridades, nomeadamente a nível de “startups” de software e “web apps”, algo que a nível empresarial em Portugal é visto como “fundo perdido”, investindo-se apenas em empresas que produzem algo visível, como hardware ou software comercial, com versão “Retail”… Estarei enganado?
Blogged on October 11, 2007 at 23:55
This might be too good to be true, but news came out that 2 of my favorite bands of all times are about to embrace the same paradigm Radiohead did this last Wednesday, October 10th. They’re about to go label-less and release their new albums on their own!! Although that doesn’t mean they’ll use the same pricing strategy as Radiohead did, it means they help keep the major labels… “ticked”! (this a family-safe blog :p)
Interesting enough, they’re all… European (british) bands…
I could go on and on about this issue, but I really have been thinking over this, and I don’t want to get all excited about something I don’t see happening in a broader sense… period. We all know Radiohead, Jamiroquai and Oasis have huuuge fan-bases and lots and lots (and lots!) of money, but *unfortunately* many bands rely on getting a major label contract to really start selling some music.
I say “unfortunately” because this is result of our generation’s way of consumption: we wait to be presented with something we’re told to like, it turns into a hype, it’s shown everywhere from commercial products to TV shows and… the hype dies out, and we wait for the next one!
Of course I’m not talking about myself. I’m very much into post-rock (that term alone is unknown to many!) and listen to amazing bands like God is an Astronaut, Sigur Rós, Mogwai, Explosions in the Sky, 65daysofstatic, etc… and buy their albums, and try going to concerts when possible. But I’m part of a minority of music lovers, that uses amazing tools like Last.FM (I’d vote on them for best social/music website EVER!), to find artist unknown to the general public. But let’s face it: we’re not the ones filling stadiums and buying band-branded school gear, etc…
I’ll stop here! First, I’m loving this new paradigm of true music communication. After all, music is an art-form and for it to fulfill it’s main purpose is to be heard by as many people as possible, whether they buy it, rent it or borough it, but have the music speak to them. Second, that’s what I love about post-rock… and Radiohead!
The links on the bands names are for their Wikipedia page… It can help getting a background and some cool info on them. But I can’t stress this enough: Visit their websites and listen to some music samples… Heck, buy their albums!! Most of them, if not all, can be found on the iTunes Store. On a side note, God is an Astronaut sells their albums for $8, DRM-Free and in 320kbps… And yes, they’re one of my favorite bands, and they’ll be in Portugal next week for 3 concerts!!!!!!!!!!!!!
via Telegraph.co.uk
Blogged on August 6, 2007 at 21:49
… a kid with a video on youtube, with no talent whatsoever (displayed during the duration at the movie, that is!) is projected to stardom, interviewed in TV shows and has his own million-hit website with a hole PR crew and sponsors backing him, and his site is even used to promote the artist he parodied.
This is just an opinion on the advent of personal promotion we’ve seen around these last few years. It’s part of the so-called web2.0, but I don’t think this is necessarily good… It’s the promotion of low quality products (or productions) for the sake of creating iconic images and characters to be used for marketing and publicizing other products. In case you don’t see the “problem”, I’ll repeat myself: “(…) promotion of low quality products (or productions) (…)”
Oh well… I guess I’ve seen worst things in real life, at times… They just don’t turn out rich! *sigh*
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Hey! I‘m Levi Figueira, an ‘82 portuguese tech enthusiast a.k.a geek! My interests range from design, photography, multimedia, production and music to linux, networking and development! *Personal tastes are subject to change without prior notice* :p Enjoy! =)
