My mind is not too eclectic lately

I’m chasing my tale over at NJN Network, writing, filming and not much personal time. Argh. Getting back to music with an appearance at Baba’s last night. They say you could hear a pin drop during “I can’t get over you.” Promise promise promise to record and post soon…

Another zone

Another Zone, by Stephen Pate

Is love there when you’re not at home
Or is it there when you’re all alone
Or when you’re talking on the phone
Or in another zone

Is it strong when you are weak
Has words no lips can speak
Has a smile when life is bleak
Never angry or in a pique.

Yes love is never overdue
Like a book when you’re through
Never gone even when you
Are away but for a day true
For love is words I love you

Everything in spin

Change is in the air. I’ve got the flu so a fever induced me to consolidate all my blogs into NJN Network. Thing usually work out better when with a fever. During one session years ago I invented the word “Aquilium” from aquila for “eagle” and yum for yum because I was hungry.

A couple of years ago I recorded “Your Song” in a fever over two days spent dragging one instrument after the other into my home office. Your Song by Stephen Pate I’ve got to record that again when I’m not wonky but it’s cute that way with all the strange timing and strings. I played those violins one by one, whew!

So this week it’s cold cum flu driving me nuts and turning out 15 stories yesterday. It’s 6 AM and the count is 9 stories already today. It’s always this way – waking and sleeping. Now back to sleep. If you’re not feeling well either, I’ll commiserate with you.

Seagate fesses up, offers fix

Seagate has admitted the unusually high number of problems with its Barracuda 1 TB drives, Barracuda 1 TB 72000.11 drive failures on Jaunuary 16th, 2009. The word got out and back to Seagate at warp speed. After initially ignoring the problem, they promised a firmware fix and data recovery services according The Register, who first reported the story. “The company will provide a free firmware upgrade for those affected by the problem, and if you’ve lost data thanks to this firmware issue, it will provide free data recover services as well.” Link to Seagate to see if your hard drive is affected or read the Register story here. All’s well that ends well.

When is Windows 7 coming?

And should you care?

By Stephen Pate
January 18, 2009
with reports from ZDNet and PC World

Of course you should care. We all like something new and Windows 7 promises to be new. The release date is rumoured to be late 2009 but Microsoft is officially saying 2010.

There are Windows 7 Beta’s flying around and some people say it’s faster than XP and Vista. How much faster? Twice as fast but then speed isn’t everything.

Other people hate the changes since they like the old interface, even before Windows XP.

Love it or hate it, faster or slower – Windows 7 will dominate operating systems and our computing lives from 2010 onward. That is until Windows 8.

Windows 7 or Vista, should you wait?

By Stephen Pate
January 17, 2009

We hate change and resist it with a passion. Now that the word is out about Windows 7, the articles are everywhere: should you wait for Windows 7, get Vista or try to keep Windows XP? CNET has a user story which is interesting if not instructive.

Of course you should upgrade to Vista. Why not? You heard it had bugs? For a generation raised on technology it’s hard to believe we are so stuck in the past.

Here’s a stunning revelation: every operating system since the beginning, since Noah pre-released Ark 1.0, had bugs and incompatible drivers, devices and programs. That’s the nature of technology. New things are better, hopefully, but always different and usually a bit of trouble. There is one law I’ve learned: you can’t go backwards in technology or life. Try driving your car backwards to the store, work or Toronto.

Don’t put down your credit card for plasma yet

The word is Plasma is going almost gone with LCD’s getting better each month. The real reason is manufacturers can’t make money on plasma at the lower price points.Plasma is still better at sports and deep blacks but c’est la vie.

LCD vs Plasma in 2009

Stephen Pate

Barracuda 1TB 7200.11 drive failures

The Register reports 1 TB Seagate Barracuda drives are failing at abnormally high rate. Back up back up back. There is no posted fix.

Stephen Pate

Bluetooth bye-bye and none too soon

By Stephen Pate

A new tech standard endorsed at CES (PC World) promises to replace Bluetooth which has been too long promising and too little doing it. Yahoo Tech reports

“TransferJet wireless capability is getting closer to reality. The technology, which is being developed by major camera makers Sony, Olympus, Canon, Kodak, Nikon, is intended to make it easier for to transfer your images between devices wirelessly. Now Toshiba is getting behind the wireless standard showing off a laptop here at CES that uses the technology.”

Motorola cell biz going almost gone

By Stephen Pate
with stories from Phone Scoop and Bloomberg

Motorola, the original handset manufacturer, is getting read to exit the biz. Phone Scoop reports they may be laying off half their workforce.

“Phone Scoop has learned that Motorola’s handset division is expecting a large round of layoffs as soon as this week, according to someone familiar with Motorola’s plans. The layoffs are confirmed to be significant and may amount to 50% of the entire handset operation.”

iTunes Songs Don’t Have DRM, But They Contain Your Email Address

from the two-steps-forward-one-step-back dept

From TechDirt

Apple got a lot of press last week when it announced that it was going to remove the DRM from songs it sold through the iTunes Music Store. That’s a great thing in itself, since it removes the barriers legitimate customers faced in playing back music they purchased on the device of their choice. But details are coming out, and it’s not all good news: the songs are watermarked (via Slashdot) with the email address of the iTunes account used to purchase them.

Web 2.0 is a sucker deal

When I was 13, someone paid me $10 to write 350 words per week for the Halifax Mail Star. It was a record review column where I gave my teenage opinion on 4 new albums a month: rock, country, jazz and pop. Most of my life, someone paid me to write or promised to pay me. I’ve written on theatre, arts policy, technology, business consulting, poetry, short stories and journalism. I’ve written for newspapers, magazine, journals, for hire, and for the web.

Funniest post of the week

Cabinet

Once again I have been passed over for a Cabinet post. Just what is it that I’m doing wrong?

Peter Rukavina

Why not

DRM is alive and well at Apple

By Stephen Pate
January 11, 2009
with story suggestion by Tech Dirt

While DRM is moving off iTunes music, Apple is still protecting video and proprietary systems like iPod with DRM. DRM or digital rights management makes it harder to download music and ruins CD’s even if you’ve paid full price.

You hate it. I hate it. Everyone hates it except the big labels, content providers and Apple.

Facebook hacked, private info compromised

By Stephen Pate

NJN Network

January 11, 2009

Over the past week it became clear that Facebook has suffered a major security breach.Several people are reporting getting wall post messages but nothing is posted to the wall, such as

From: Facebook (wallmaster+etywsqae@facebookmail.com)
Sent: January 12, 2009 5:15:15 PM
To: subneb@ (hotmail.com subneb@hotmail.com)

Sarah commented on your status: “Always wanted to try viagra or cialis? Now is your chance..Free”http://www.fortmurk.com

It appears email addresses have been stolen from Facebook and setup on another server to execute the spam sales pitch.

Where is the best hamburger?

MacDonald's, whoa did the price go up!

By Stephen Pate

The humble hamburger just got the heist when MacDonald’s upped the price recently to over $8 with taxes for the Angus burger meal.

Wendy’s is only slightly behind them with new higher pricing.

The poor girl at MacDonalds tried to tell me the price was the same.  I’ve had a MacDonald’s hamburger too many times not to be a connoisseur on quality and price.

I wouldn’t mind paying more if the staff were getting something close to  a living wage, north of $10 per hour.  That is not the case for PEI’s wage slaves working in fast food joints.

Thank you to Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO and founder of Facebook, BusinessWeek photo

You have to thank people when they help you now that my Facebook is back.

Dear Mark Zuckerberg (sent by Facebook)

Thanks for the prod to Appeals Support.How many emails can I send without breaking the rules?I know you hate the question but what if you have to take the Interstate to San Francisco and they don’t tell you which lane to stay in, when to pass and what the min and max speeds are? Then State Troopers are pulling people off the road when they decide it’s the right thing.

Hail Mary worked at Notre Dame and Facebook

One of the great advantages of Catholic football teams is the Hail Mary, a hopelessly long pass near the last seconds of the game. Make it and the game is won. Protestants don’t have the luxury on calling on the Blessed Virgin for anything let alone last minute football game reprieves.

So my Hail Mary to Mark Zuckerberg worked.

Hail Mary to Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, photo by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid

Laughing Squid

Hey it works in football and why not in Web 2.0.

Over the weekend I sent Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg my “sad compliant” about the Fascist disabling of my Facebook account. I miss ya all yes I do, I do.

Today he replied. First my message and then Mark’s reply. You never know: the ball can get caught in the end zone and touchdown, two points. Game over, cheerleaders all weekend.

I still don’t get it. The Facebook page for Kyle Bambrick is supposed to have 5,000 new members in one weekend. It’s not logical that my precious and dear 1,200 friends are a bother .

No snow job

Charlottetown, just another June day (CBC News photo)

By Stephen Pate

We are not writing stories about the weather. Too many writers without a thought in their heads are writing stories about weather all the time.  You can search Google for weather stories until your brain is numb and then watch “Survivors”. We think weather only clutters up a story. Does it really matter to music if the night was dark and cloudy?

The chances are 100% that the night will be dark and cloudy isn’t that far behind.

Don’t mange merde even from the Fascists at Facebook

Web 2.0 Fascism

By Stephen Pate

My dad taught me never to take shit from anyone. Talk about an independent streak. That was a pretty brave thing for him to teach a little crippled boy since everyone has to mange merde most of your life.

That streak of independence, a poor man’s Cool Hand Luke, has stuck with me. Cool Hand Luke combined inebriation with ne pas mange merde. He continued to act inappropriately and generally doomed himself.

The dime

By Stephen Pate

Lessons in life can come from unexpected quarters and people you wouldn’t suspect. I learned honesty not from the bible as my mother wished but from a humble woman named Rose Llewellyn.

Rose Llewellyn was from Antigonish, Nova Scotia. In 2002 after she died, I discovered that her sister was married to one of my cousins.

Staying upbeat despite all

By Stephen Pate

PEI Disability Alert

January 1, 2009

Being a social advocate is not the easiest job. You are constantly prodding a reluctant government and society to change.What keeps me going is the progress we have made in just a few years. Certainly the recent passing of Kay Reynolds and thinking about her life’s work spurs me onward. She and others who worked tirelessly for the benefit of others are examples to us even after they pass on.

Indigo sends wrong message

I got your email alerting me to the best books of 2008 from Indigo so I clicked through and picked Jospeh Boyden’s Through Black Spruce. After reading the gushy publishers blurb I stopped.”From internationally acclaimed author Joseph Boyden comes an astonishingly powerful novel of contemporary aboriginal life, full of the dangers and harsh beauty of both forest and city. When beautiful Suzanne Bird… “

If the publisher is already over the top with their prose, what could one expect in the book? Certainly not understated writing?I passed since I already had a membership card in the Survivors’ and Oprah Over-The-Top book clubs.