Why I don’t want an iPad.

This post is a copy of something I wrote in response to a friend’s tweet, considering buying an iPad. I guess it sparked some latent Apple-hate as well as some Big Brother fears I’ve been having ever since I read about a very literal law interpretation made by Canada’s national police force regarding the modification of computer hardware by individuals.

While I really like and admire Apple’s packaging and waste policies, their dark-ages style DRM and device-crippling 3rd party code policies are a super huge deal breaker. I’m holding out for one of the nice and fancy Android tablets. Restrictive DRM makes for a bad bad ebook reader/media device. Bad Apple. No biscuit.

One problem I have is with ebook DRM. Apple’s ibooks app can only open ebooks from the ibook store, as well as ebooks in epub format from other sources, as long as they have no DRM. So, on the ipad, to read an ebook from a Canadian author that I had to get from chapters.ca (since the ibook store doesn’t have it) I would have to crack the copy protection on the ebook file. There is just no legal way to use it with the ipad. Same deal with music or video acquired from other sources like hard to find Canadian artists’ at http://www.puretracks.com .

As for apps, the only way to get software on an Apple device without hacking it is through the Apple app store, and only apps that are approved by Apple can be put there. Having to pay and get a developer licence to make ipad, iphone, etc. apps is off-putting, and I can imagine many people not bothering, and going with another platform entirely.

Now, if you void your warranty and hack the ipad, the device becomes a whole different animal. It’s suddenly DRM free and can run apps from any source. But you’re a criminal for doing so. A recent press release from the RCMP ( http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/qc/nouv-news/com-rel/2010/04/100401a-eng.htm ) indicates that the police are using some vague wording in the Canadian Criminal Code about “unauthorized use of a computer” (Section 342.1 http://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/C-46/page-3.html ) to prosecute some people they have arrested for doing just that. “Modifying a console and computer is considered an illegal act under Section 342.1 of the Criminal Code and is punishable by imprisonment for up to ten years.”

It will be months before the courts get to this, and we’ll see how seriously it is taken, but the RCMP are trying to set a very dangerous precedent regarding what you can and can not do with a piece of electronics you own.

In any case, I guess I’m not in the target demographic for the ipad. If I have a piece of hardware that is capable of doing something useful, but the manufacturer doesn’t allow it, I’ll hack it in the name of increased functionality. I’ve got my hacked xbox, hacked wii, hacked psp, hacked phones, hacked router with open source firmware, and since I’d need to hack it to make it do what I want, if I somehow got an ipad it would get hacked post haste.

Now, the device I’m actually excited about is this one http://www.notionink.in .
Super spiffy, and sporting the Android OS, so there are no app restrictions.

Gardening vs. Horror

I’ve been away from this blog for entirely too long.

I’d like to say I have been spending my time entirely sending out resumes and networking, doing some programming, and performing research into green tech training, but I ended up spending a lot of time playing Plants vs. Zombies.

Funny, cute, and frighteningly addicting.

I must not let this become my entire life.

There’s a music video for this game on Youtube too, but the game plays the video for you as a reward for finishing the story mode missions, so you may want to save it if you don’t want to be spoilered.

It’s not as awesome as the Portal song, but then again, what is?

Earth Day GreenerIT.ca TeleForum

Happy Earth Day, everyone.

This morning, I participated in a TeleForum on Green IT for managers. I realize I wasn’t really the target audience for this forum, but when I saw it announced, I was impressed with the effort put forward by http://www.greenerit.ca/ (their Whitepapers really do have a lot of useful information) and was impressed with the list of sponsors who would also be participating.

I had been remarking, a day before I saw the announcement, that Green IT initiatives, conferences, etc. are not really done in Canada, whereas they are being held in Europe. Green IT is truly in its infancy in North America, whereas it seems to have already gathered some steam elsewhere.

Not surprisingly, most of the TeleForum focused on education about Green IT and how to start implementing green practices within businesses.

A large percentage of the time was spent talking about ways to make data centers, server rooms, or server closets more energy efficient, as well as how to motivate staff (both general staff and IT staff specifically) to embrace green IT initiatives in a company.

Some mention was made about greening non-server room tech, as well as other big carbon and energy reducers such as telecommuting as a method of reducing the carbon from commuting, and conferencing software such as the one the call was made using (reducing car trips and plane trips required for meetings).

Several of the big sponsors on the call were hardware manufacturers, and they touched on obvious points such as removing hazardous chemicals from their products, as well as subtler items such as shipping devices with power and resource-saving options turned on by default (such as ink or toner savers for printers, power reduction schemes for operating systems, or low energy modes for monitors).

As interesting and informative as the conference was, it seemed to be slotted for a shorter time allowance than was required. There was very little time for discussion left after the main presentation. I had a couple of points I wanted to raise, but did not get a chance. Perhaps an hour and half would have been better, rather than an hour – either that or limiting the opening presentation’s time a little more (not that I did not find Michael O’Neil’s presentation useful).

My Two Cents

The items I wanted to address during the call are these:

Motivating Staff to Green

First, Michael O’Neil stated that when creating a strategy for greening a data center or a department, the manager should realize that IT staff tend to be less “coin operated” (meaning money is less of an incentive to their morale or motivation) than they tend to be interested in being able to use new technologies and gaining experience with new tech.

I don’t have access to the studies or literature he got this from, but I’d say this is partly true. I’ve read articles (and have anecdotal experience with IT professionals) indicating that IT staff may be resistant to sweeping changes to their equipment and systems.

Certainly, IT staff would likely be interested in gaining experience with untried techs like virtualization, but some “coin operated” approaches may be useful as well. It’s true that the IT staff is not the department that receives the utility bill, so they do not automatically have the motive to reduce energy costs. Simply cutting cost using new tech may not be enough to motivate them either, if they feel that any percentage saved by their department will simply be added to another department’s budget. Profit-sharing initiatives directly correlating to green initiatives may be just the ticket. IT staff are people with mortgages and families, and in this economic climate they may be more “coin operated” than usual. In lieu of cash, formal recognition would be in order, especially if IT cost savings make a major contribution to keep the company afloat.

Small Office, Home Office

Secondly, especially since some major hardware manufacturers were part of this forum, I had hoped some time would be given to speak about consumer-level hardware, rather than only hardware marketed to “institutional purchasers”. I would imagine that most small businesses and small office-home office setups use this variety of equipment rather than the server racks and equipment usually seen in large offices. Even so, the number of small office and home users who utilize their computers for business purposes must be a large percentage (which would become even larger with the wide-scale adoption of telecommuting as a strategy to cut travel carbon emissions).

I’ve written in a previous post about the current marketing of green tech toward the individual user. With education and spreading awareness, individual consumers will come around and eventually want and demand greener hardware, but the small business owner may already be searching for the most efficient or “greenest” printer, router, or NAS, and only needs one – likely can only afford one.

In a trip down the aisle at my local Staples (not a plug) store, I recently saw HP (also not a plug) printers, with a cardboard stand up ad claiming that their printer line used 40%-50% less power than their competition’s models, and were marketing the printer as the green alternative. “Fantastic”, I think, “but what I’d really like to see are some numbers to go along with that pitch”. A nebulous percent sign and a picture of a leaf on an in-store ad may snag a few impulse buys by shoppers with a sense of environmental civic duty who were going to buy a printer anyway. What we really need are the numbers so consumers can make informed decisions. Let’s have the energy usage stats front and center if your selling point is the “greenness” of your product, because sooner or later, it will be a major selling point.

Monitors list their native resolutions, response time, and contrast ratio, hard drives list their capacity, spindle speed, and transfer rate. Tech savvy buyers are already looking at these things when they make their comparisons. What I’d really like to see are the energy usage statistics right up on the front of the package so that the consumer can compare two products side-by-side in the store aisle. EnergyStar is already a familiar logo, even if the requirements behind it are unknown to the average consumer. Here’s hoping that EPEAT becomes another sought-after logo.

Playing Both Sides

There’s still a huge dichotomy when it comes to consumer marketing of computer hardware, and the recent products billed as greener really seem incongruous next to the familiar “bigger better faster more” ads for SLI or Crossfire capable video cards and overclockable power-guzzling CPUs. There seems to be much talking out of both sides of the mouth, and conflicting statements of the manufacturers” intent.

This is much more a cultural issue than a it is a tech issue, but it does raise the question of how committed are these manufacturers to green IT, and how seriously should we take their commitment if they are going to cater to both the energy efficient hardware niche and the power hardware mainstream?

Conclusion

In the end, I’m glad to have listened in on the Teleconference, and commend http://www.greenerit.ca on what they have done already, and what they are trying to accomplish.

I’ll be checking their site with great interest in the future, and intend to participate in further discussions with them.

I’m still looking for a link for a download of the recording, or perhaps a forthcoming transcript of the session. It would be nice to be able to gather the contact info for those involved to potentially continue the discussion.

A couple more green computing articles

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/hardware-components,1685.html

Tom’s Hardware is the site I’ve trusted for hardware reviews for almost 10 years now. This is a great article on putting together a viable solar PC using desktop parts. No cheating with laptop parts!  This is a project I’d love to do.

http://www.goodcleantech.com/2008/02/build_your_own_ultralowpower_p.php

Just discovered this site – will check it out further.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/building-a-low-power-home-theater-pc-system,1340.html

Another article at Tom’s. “The Antithesis Of “Bigger Better Faster More”

Enjoy

Random thoughts on "green" computing.

In the last year or two, computer manufacturers and manufacturers of computer parts (which are of more interest to me personally since I build computers) have been espousing the green cause. Apple recently has shown TV ads claiming that a recent laptop model uses significantly fewer toxic chemicals in its manufacture.  Asus has their EEE line of low power computers. Manufacturers of monitors are phasing out mercury. Initiatives such as the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive are being followed by some companies, components without Brominated Flame Retardants (BFRs) can be found if you want to pay extra for them, and every PC parts manufacturer on the block has a new energy saving product.

When the super popular online tech store Newegg.com finally branched out and created Newegg.ca (we can now order without fear of huge import fees & taxes - yay) I signed up to receive their e-newsletter. More and more frequently (especially in the past year) I’ve been seeing computer parts manufacturers branding their hardware as “green”. Here’s one of the graphics from today’s newsletter.

This sort of thing really gets my attention. They sure do use the word green, and the colour green in the ad.
Buying this hard drive would probably make me feel good about myself and proud about how well I’m treating the environment.
Also, it’s TWO TERABYTES for about $250. I try to keep my eye on the lastest trends and developments in consumer tech, and the rate that data storage prices are dropping has continually amazed me in the last few years.

The ad attracted my interest enough to do a little investigation on Western Digital’s green claims, and to write this post which will begin to sum up my thoughts on the green computer subject.

First, sadly even though that pretty green graphic arrived in my email inbox in Canada, the specific Western Digital 2TB drive is not sold in Canada through Newegg.ca – only through Newegg.com – which would add a hefty import fee. We’ll ignore that at the moment, since I can’t afford any new computer equipment until I find myself a new job (hint hint, I’m available for employment)

A LOOK AT HARD DRIVE POWER CONSUMPTION

According to the specification sheets at their website, the Western Digital “green” line of hard drives do, in fact, consume a lower wattage amount compared to other comparable sized hard drives – Forgive the ugly html table, this is just my afternoon musing, not a formal research paper (yet).

GREEN DRIVE Read/Write 5.4 Watts Idle 2.8 Watts Standby 0.40 Watts Sleep 0.40 Watts

OTHER DRIVE (WD Caviar Black) Read/Write 8.4 Watts Idle 7.8 Watts Standby 1.00 Watts Sleep 1.00 Watts

Solid State DRIVE Read (peak) 1.5 Watts Write (peak) 2 Watts Standby 1.00 Watts Sleep 1.00 Watts

So there is a difference in the power consumption, and it will certainly add up over long term use. I’m really impressed with the under half-watt sleep mode power. Up until today, my impression has been that if one sincerely wanted to build a low-energy computer, then a solid state drive (no moving parts) would be the only option, given the amazingly low power consumption even during read/write. The fact that Western Digital has managed to beat a solid state drive’s low energy mode gives me pause, especially since Western Digital isn’t known as the highest quality parts manufacturer.

Obsessing over single digit watt consumption isn’t going to turn your computer green, though. Truly, the amount of power that the hard drive uses is dwarfed by several other key components.

CPU POWER USAGE

The power usage of the CPU or processor will vary widely, depending on its make and model. Typically a processor manufactured in the last few years will draw 50-200 watts at peak load, and significantly less at idle speeds, depending on the MHz or GHz rating of the chip. Of significant interest to computer manufacturers and assemblers are the recent low energy processors, like Intel’s Atom line and VIA’s nano, which are rated at around 10 watts. The processing power of these chips is not super speedy, but they certainly are efficient.  Hopefully, the motherboard chipsets that accompany them will continue to lower in energy usage as well, since they are currently more power-hungry than their processors, as far as my latest research shows. When I see government/business/corporate/whatever offices with banks and banks of new model computers, I find myself wondering how much of a gap there is between the amount of computer hardware power/cost is there, vs how much is needed. Friends of mine who have worked with the government and other sectors often remark on the ridiculously unnecessary specifications of computers which are only used for email and word processing.

VIDEO CARD POWER USAGE

Adding a high-end graphics card to a computer will also create a big electricity drain. The video card ‘s GPU (separate processor) on many recent models has to have fans and heatsinks attached so that it does not overheat, melt, and  self-destruct. A gaming computer will be hard pressed to be a green computer. There are ways to reduce the electricity draw, however. A trend in graphics hardware I’ve been interested in incorporates two video devices, one for high-end graphics processing, and the other for low-demand 2d display, such as web browsing, email, and daily work demands. Basically, the high-end graphics processor only switches on when it’s needed, in a kind of hybrid-car-like way. Without a feature such as this, one would find that simply having a high-end video card installed in the computer causes excessive energy drain, even when being used for low-demand video tasks, such as office work. The typical home computer probably has a video card with features which are draining energy and money, and are not being used all that often.

MONITOR POWER USAGE

The other big energy drainer would be the computer’s monitor, and the trend lately has been toward LCD screens, which use significantly less power than their bulky CRT counterparts, and the trend to make new LCDs lead and mercury free is a great step as well.

POWER SUPPLY EFFICIENCY

The closest piece of hardware to the actual electrical outlet would be the computer’s power supply, and until fairly recently power supplies have been notoriously ineficient, turning much of the energy they use into heat, rather than using it to power the computer. A recent certification, 80 Plus is awarded to power supplies which lose less than 20% of their energy to heat dissipation. After my most recent power supply failed, I ordered a new 80 plus certified supply, and have been quite happy with it.

Adding all of these factors together, a great deal of waste is created by having more computer power (processing power/graphics power/memory) than is necessary.

DISPOSAL

Eventually we have to look at the methods of disposal or recycling. If one is going to dump their current computer for a green alternative, can it be done in a planet-conscious way? Also, when your new green PC is going to be replaced, what can you do with it?

All too often, I hear of landfills full of computer parts, or parts being shipped to asia to supposedly be recycled, but instead are stripped of all sellable components, and then discarded.

In Ottawa, we have access to the “Take it back” initiative which lists local companies which will recycle all kinds of hazardous waste materials. Most of them will require you to pay them to take the materials away, though. Can we trust the average citizen or company to follow this route, rather than just dump it on the curb? From what I’ve seen driving through various neighbourhoords before garbage pickup, the answer to that would be ‘no’. Savvy tech scavengers can and do take to the streets and make a fair profit stripping parts from computers left at the curb (RAM, processors, hard drives, and video cards are often snatched soon after a computer hits the sidewalk), but anything more bulky or heavy than it is worth (generally motherboards, obviously broken monitors, keyboards, cases) are left where they sit. As nice as it is to have dedicated scroungers keeping the more valuable components out of the landfills, there is no guarantee that if they find upon returning home to have picked up a dead processor or RAM chip, that they will dispose of it properly, and so the lead, mercury, barium, etc. from that piece ends up in the landfill anyway.

SOLUTIONS, PITFALLS, RESOURCES

What’s the solution? Probably first and foremost is education. I sincerely doubt whether the average computer user knows whether their own computer guzzles energy like a SUV or is as sleek as a Smart Car. A general society-wide apathy concerning the contents of their car’s engines or the inside of their computers, as long as they are working, or as long as they have quotable statistics and specifications that can be used to brag to friends and neighbours about, makes me sad. A Google initiative, called Power Meter is something I joined when it first was announced. News from it has been disturbingly quiet so far, so I don’t know when I’ll actually get to access real-time power usage from my PC. I’m glad that initiatives like ‘Take It Back’ in Ottawa exist. There aren’t any (immediate) consequences to not using them, though.

If you’re informed and motivated enough, you can assemble your own green computer from the various parts available from various manufacturers – putting together the 80 Plus certified power supply, the low energy hard drives and processors, the motherboard and RAM without Brominated Flame Retardants.

Apple and Asus are two of the few manufacturers offering the whole package of a green computer. The downside to their offerings is that their products may not be able to do all you require from a computer. Going with Apple will cause compatibility issues with 96% of the computing world (Sorry, Apple. Your ads are hip and slick and your philosophy is tempting, but your user base just isn’t big enough yet to be anything but a novelty option). Completely relying on an Atom-based computer like Asus’ EEE may not give you enough processing power for the jobs required, assuming you need to accomplish tasks other than email and word processing. Myself, I’d be extremely interested in seeing a government or company try switching to all EEE-based workstations for general office tasks.

Smaller companies may be found who will put together a greener PC for you. I’m not sure how well they are doing financially. The one company I found, http://www.greenmachineshop.com/index.html hasn’t had any news updates on their site since 2006.

I have been toying with the idea of putting together a funding proposal to create such a company myself, but I’m not terribly business-minded and I can not afford to fund a startup myself at this point in time. Any good tech job will do for me at this moment.

That’s all I’ve got to say on this subject for now. Stay tuned for more updates.

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Sources – in no particular order

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http://www.80plus.org
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=559
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=488
http://www.siliconsystems.com/resources/DataSheetsGrp.aspx?DSCategory=SiliconDrive%20III%202.5-inch%20SATA%20Drive&TicketID=97888ccf-11c9-4971-b425-15111faaa380
http://www.apple.com/ca/environment/
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,1937997,00.asp
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/How_to_reduce_power_consumption
http://lowendmac.com/archive/02/0503.html
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/06/nontoxic_comput.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_computing
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/01/high-tech-trash/computer-interactive
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_recycling
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPU_power_dissipation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atom_processor#Power_requirements

Slow Slow build times, but still progress.

While at the in-laws over Easter weekend, I’m still getting several good hours of coding and work on my XNA project in.

I had the seed of an idea for a strategy game, (still not sure of the setting and world it will be set in – gangsters? pirates? wild west?) with a card based combat resolution system.

It started out an awful lot like the Metal Gear Acid games, with equipment being represented in your card deck, but with the possibility of having slots such as weapon, armour, etc. to slot the cards into for bonuses rather than just playing them from the hand.

I abandoned that idea for a poker-hand based combat resolution system – which would fit the theme of gangsters, pirates, wild west, etc.

Right now my XNA project has the core card engine almost done – I’m planning to finish it and play around with it for a while (and let others try) to make sure it actually is a fun mechanism that people would enjoy using as the heart of a strategy game.

If the proof of concept works, and it actually is fun, then I’ll continue and incorporate it into a larger game.

I was stunned to find out the complexity of card-comparison coding, though. I began on what would be classed as a ‘naive’ card comparison algorithm when I decided there must be some guide or best practices help out there for poker comparison code.

Is there ever. I’ll properly document what I found soon, but for now suffice to say that the niche of highly optimized poker hand comparison code is well covered. Looking over the “Cactus Kev” algorithm points out to me that my math background is somewhat lacking compared to other coders.  I’m only dimly aware of what combinatorics is. I’ve got a bachelor’s degree in English, with programming and software design courses as a technical minor from my university. As an arts person, higher math is something I’m probably going to have to struggle with.

http://www.codingthewheel.com/archives/poker-hand-evaluator-roundup was an amazing read, pointing out to me how much I really had to learn about code optimization.

I downloaded and took a good hard look at the Cactus Kev C# code, and in the end, I’ve decided I’m going to write my own ‘naive’ hand evaluator anyway, for the experience. It won’t be as elegant or efficient, but I’ll work on optimizing it later.

ThinkGeek April Fool’s to be made into real product?

http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/tauntaun.html

I don’t know how I missed this on april 1, but ThinkGeek’s joke was a sleeping bag in the shape of a Tauntaun.

They received so much feedback indicating that this was a product people would actually buy, that they are working on actually getting it manufactured.

The verisimilitude of the mock-up is great. The saddle straps, the lightsabre zipper, the tail. I don’t know if I’d prefer open eyes or Xs for eyes, though. Also, I’d prefer if they draw the line and don’t include that realistic tauntaun scent.

Time sink?

Man, oh man am I going to regret joining Twitter?
I’ve gotten a few good job search tips and contacts, but I’m worried about wasting too much time.
I should be working on making videogames or cleaning.

Job Fair at Nepean Sportsplex

Apparently 2300 people registered (I was one of them), and they have no idea yet how many people showed up, but there were hundreds more than were expected.

ITO, which organizes the events, says that they usually get about 700 job searchers at an event. Many of the people there today were ex-Nortel employees.

People were apparently lined up 300 strong well before the doors opened at 10 am today.

I showed up, resumes and cover letters in hand, with a list of about 30 booths I absolutely had to visit. I did my research on the companies, and tailored resumes and cover letters for those I wanted to apply to.

Navigating the fair was tough. I arrived a little later than most, but the place was still packed. Most booths had lines at least 5 people long for each person staffing the booth. RIM’s booth had 10 people behind the table. Theirs was a very busy booth indeed. The CSIS booth had lines so long I didn’t even bother trying to line up, since it would have likely taken over an hour to speak to someone.

Anyway, I shook a lot of hands, gave out a lot of resumes, took a lot of cards, pens, and fliers.

Now, after arriving home, I’m not sure how to feel about the whole thing.

I’m simultaneously worried, hopeful, hopeless, enthused, tired, and a number of other things.

There were so many talented and experienced job seekers there, many vastly outranking me in experience. I heard on a CBC interview with the people at the Xandros booth that they got at least 150 applicants today, and that they were hiring for only about 10 positions.

I’m really glad I got my resumes out there today and met some people, but with 15 to 1 odds (at least) I’m not sure how well I stand out. I try and follow all of the resume and job search tips. It really feels like sending dozens of job applications every day into a big black hole out there where they are never seen again. I try and follow up when I can. Often through online job applications there is no way to contact anyone involved in the hiring process, so there is no ability to follow up. I’m not sure how often my file comes up when I submit my credentials to the staffing firms.

I guess I’ll have to wait and see how it turns out.

In the meantime, I’m pretty fired up and excited about starting a new programming project to de-rustify my C# skills. I’ve got XNA 3.0 installed and I’ve got an idea for a game that could be pretty fun. Stay tuned for developments.

Music for april 1

Shopping in my local Loeb grocery store yesterday, and what music were they playing?

Rick Astley.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rickrolling

I’m not sure if it’s awesome, or sad.