Published by dekay on October 12, 2006
in Uncategorized.
Heute sind es mehr als 6 Jahre Odyssee nach Garching an die TU: Mit der U6 nach Garching-Hochbrück, dort umsteigen in den Bus (mit etwa tausend anderen Studenten eingepfercht) und dann durch die Universitätsstadt Garching b. München hindurch, vorbei an Baustellen und Ampeln schlängelt sich der Weg bis zum Campus, nicht zu vergessen der tolle neue Kreisverkehr am andern Ende Garchings, direkt vor dem Studentenwohnheim der größten Sekte Deutschlands, welches durch seine Fliegengitter-Verpackung auffällt. Christo wäre stolz drauf, obwohl der ja nicht nur verpackt sondern eher verhüllt, und dieses Wohnheim läßt jeden Blick durch; das Fliegengitter dient dann auch wohl nur der Abwehr von Selbstmorden der verzweifelten Bewohner, die ursprünglich dort draussen in Garching gefangen waren im Kultursumpf der Universitätsstadt.
Aber eben: heute ist mein letzter Tag auf dieser Odysse. Am Wochenende wird die Streckenverlängerung eingeweiht mit großem Bumbum in Garching und, vereint mit der Selbstbeweihräucherungsveranstaltung der TUM, auch am Elite-Campus der TU München. Auch wenn das ganze ja seine Vorteile hat, diese liegen nicht unbedingt im ästhetischen Regime. Der schöne Exerzierplatz vor dem BMW-Glasbau (Maschinenbau-Fakultät) musste weichen. Jetzt steht eine grundsätzlich hügelige Parkplatzlandschaft mit zwei schief-zackigen U-Bahn-Eingängen davor, welche umrahmt wird von ebenso zackigen Grasbehältern. Fusswege sind kaum auszumachen, man erwartet wohl das überqueren der grün bewachsenen Kunstobjekte, die ja entweder als Sonnenliege geplant waren. Oder die romantische Vorstellung, daß sich sonnengebräunte Studentinnen hier mit Lehrbuch ans Lernen machen ist mit dem verantwortlichen Architekten durchgegangen. Keine Ahnung wer hier im Haus der Chemie diesen Trip verursacht hat; vielleicht sollten wir mal Nachforschungen anstellen ob mal wieder einer der Studenten am Drogenkochen ist.
Heute ist der letzte Tag. Anlass, das ganze Ritual noch einmal zu zelebrieren.
Und dieser letzte Tag, so schön er auch anfängt, eignet sich ganz gut dazu: die U-Bahn heute macht dem MVV jede Ehre. Mehrere Stopps auf der Strecke nach Hochbrück. Dann dort nur zwei Busse, die sardinenvoll bepackt werden mussten. 10 Minuten später kommt die nächste U-Bahn (ich dachte die fahren im 20 Minuten-Takt?)… der übliche Wahnsinn also.
Und wenn die U-Bahn dann durchfährt folgt Teil zwei der Saga: einmal trotzdem mit6 dem Bus fahren…
Published by dekay on December 3, 2005
in mac.
Macworld has two features online: a) a best of games 2005 as well as b) a preview of good games to be released in 2006. My major problem with a) is: there is no “best strategy game of 2005″ - actually: are there any good strategy games being released that are non-3d accelerated shootem ups with some strategy elements in them? Some civ-like, some starcraft like games? Turn based or real time strategy that is worth playing all over? There will be Civ 3 and Civ 4 in 2006, there was Master of Orion 3 (a major sucker I believe); still no successor to Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri - THE best strategy game ever 
Published by dekay on November 7, 2005
in Uncategorized.
Wer bei einer Krankenkasse nicht stundenlang in der Warteschleife hängen will sollte sehen, ob es nicht eine reguläre (sprich kostenpflichtige) Telefonnummer der Zentrale gibt. Geht schneller.
Published by dekay on September 7, 2005
in Uncategorized.
Apple has done it again. This is the new look, possibly for all other iLife apps, Safari and all other brushed metal apps? What may look cool might become stale pretty soon. Inconsistencies in Apple’s GUI design have been appearing for years now - long gone are the days where all apps were equal; where is the updated Human Interface Guideline? Does Apple still adhere to its own standards?
Somehow I am always stunned by Apple’s fresh design whenever they change things. It still looks a lot better than anything else - and actually there is no alternative. But I am getting annoyed at the inconsistency as well as the diversity within Apple’s own product portfolio. Change is good, but a lack of focus and direction is not.
My last post spawned some ideas for a better, much more integrated addressbook:
Grouping of Contacts:
Make a better interface, less a browser but more iconish, where you can drag people around, “duplicate group memberships”, show group overlaps, show which groups a contact belongs to; make it easy to change, add or move. Make it not too easy to accidentally delete a contact completely.
Communication
When I open the addressbook there are many reasons why I do it - but the most important one is: communication: either I want to call someone, send them a letter or… no more. Possible. But why stop there, why stop at just displaying that kind of info? Make a button or some other interactive way to communicate with people - like press the “communicate” button and a list of options comes up: any instant messaging capabilities that are available - like:
- is that person online in AIM, ICQ, Skype? Show those options!
- do you have an email address of that person? Show a button to send an email!
- do you have a mobile number and some way to send SMS? Show a button to do so!
This requires some forms of plugin technology which should not be a problem with Cocoa and a well documented bundle interface / API. Just let the communication service providers write the plugins!
One could even extend that feature even more: I often want to send a file to someone… why not add the ability to drag a file to a contact and then get some options on how to transfer that file - if the contact is online and has some messenger service enabled - send it that way. If there is an email address that can receive a file this big - send it that way. And if there is a too big file or no way - mount that persons server (afp, smb or ftp… even the drop box on any mounted computer or a password protected folder on a .mac account!) or burn a CD. All possibilities start at that one place: drag the file to the contact! Make it really easy and obvious!
Integrate Webservices
- does the contact have a blog -> show some excerpts from the RSS feed
- homepage?
- a del.icio.us account? (via RSS)
- flickr?
- add friendster
- add white pages - to “auto-complete” contact info
Addressbook and/or contact sharing. Just like iTunes, iCal sharing or whatever you like.
MacOSX technologies are great: add the ability to link any item on the computer to a contact. Like a folder that contains project files related to that contact; like tasks and appointments/calendar events that are related to that contact. We are living in a world of networks, of data that is connected. Let us make these connections on the Mac, too! Make it really simple to create links, to “follow the threads of the network”. Show spotlight’s power by giving access to anything related to a contact right there in the addressbook! Emails, Files received, chat logs, web pages/articles, Notes/Agendas…
Make it easy to publish your own data. Auto-update contact info from RSS feeds, attached VCF files.
Publish an RSS feed for any changes to addressbook data! Make it easy to create RSS feeds with certain criteria - completely customizable.
Make the whole system extensible - similar to spotlight where every developer can open their data to indexing. Enable other developers to provide contact related info/data/services - see above for some examples. I can only start dreaming of possibilities: Subethaedit, Delicious Library, all Chat apps, P2P, Photo/Movie sharing, Genealogy, Friendster, multiple recommendation systems, dating websites. Create or use a public, extensible open source protocol for interoperability
Integrate all iApps into this feature! Make it easy to leverage the power of this interconnectivity and of relations between data on your mac!
Access the data of users on the network, on the current machine. Use rendezvous and any directory services that are there to provide “hints of data”.
Make it easy to add pictures to yoir contacts, use any iSights that are there to scan business cards as well as make pictures. Capture pics of video chats ort from mobile phones.
Any more ideas? Who is going to do it?
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