Archive for the 'technology' Category

iPhone as Primary Internet Device

Published
by
Wyatt
on March 12, 2008
in technology
. 0 Comments

So, “whiddiya do” when your home Internet access is cut off without warning*? Especially when you’ve just had your wisdom teeth extracted and don’t have much else to do (except lay in bed with the kitties and read Timeline by Michael Crichton)? Use yer iPhone, of course! So, how well does it work? Pretty well, all things considered–about what you’d expect from a tiny l’il computer talking to the Internet via an EDGE cellular network connection.

Checking and reading email is a breeze. Writing email is slow but not too bad, as long as the recipient understands that you’re being concise and not terse. Taking photos of the kitties and emailing them is always fun, especially when you’re on a call at the same time.

Browsing the Internet is decent too–sometimes fast, usually not too slow–especially sites like Gmail or Ta-da Lists that have mobile-specific versions of their sites. Note to self: create one of these for byCycle (right after we get some funding and finish up the other thousand items on the byCycle to-do list–any volunteers?).

Side note to Web developers: Flash-only sites with no alternatives suck. At the very least, throw up some text saying that Flash is required. I know this sounds soooo obvious, but even in 2008, it still happens. Another advantage of a text-based, flash-enhanced (or, better yet, DHTML/AJAX) site: it works on iPhone/Safari for free.

In some ways, iPhone is superior to a regular computer. I love the way scrolling and zooming work (fingertips on the screen). Apple’s latest laptop utilizes this technology in its trackpad. The 64GB solid state drive is pretty cool too. I’m more of a Linux fan, but I might consider one of these at some point–maybe in a year or two when the price on the solid state version drops a bit.

I wasn’t able to write this post at home on iPhone, but I should try that some time. Many mini-posts might be an interesting experiment–trying to condense a topic/thought/feeling into a few sentences, reducing it to it’s bare essence and not going off on a bunch of tangents.

I Like Mephisto

Published
by
Wyatt
on January 3, 2007
in technology
. 0 Comments

Update 3/20/08: As it turns out, though Mephisto has some neato features, it’s not so great over all. Seems to be somewhat of a sinking ship. I also had this to say about it over on the old blog before I switched everything over to WordPress:

3/18/08 @ 4:10pm: I’m revamping my site. What could be more exciting?! All new posts will be written over here. This site will stay active until I can find the time to migrate all the old posts to the new site.

As noted, this site is “powered by” Mephisto. This is my first time using it, and I must say that it’s got “the beat” (that is, it rocks). Previously, I’ve used WordPress for blogging and as a lightweight content management system, but I must say that I like Mephisto much better, and hosts like WebFaction make setting up a Rails app super easy (and for only slightly more $/mo. than a typical PHP/MySQL hosting company).

I was interested in Typo, but their site has been “coming soon” for a long time now. Also, on WebFaction, you can install Mephisto by clicking a few times and typing a name for your install. This is possible because WebFaction has an API for custom install scripts, which is, if you ask me, a brilliant idea. If you’ve already got an account, you can click here to install Mephisto.