When we moved into our house 2 1/2 years ago we spent a fortune on furniture and interior decorating. One of those things was a soffa from Ikea for about 10.000 Swedish crowns.Now, after our cats and son have done his part we're totally in agreement that we need a new one and this one in leather. Hopefully the hair from the cats won't build up like a massive core and everything our son spills will just clean right up.
So we spent last weekend looking around on the web and this weekend we spent going to all the furniture stores we could get to without Sam throwing a complete fit. It wasn't easy but eventually we found a soffa in leather that felt good and was big enough for us to lie in comfortably. And it cost us about 20.000 Swedish crowns. !!! I know, right!
I just hope that in 3 years time we're not back at this problem having to buy another soffa for 20.000 or more again!!
CLEANING FACEBOOK
I haven't really decided to go totally off the Facebook grid 'cause I still enjoyed getting information on what's happening with friends and stuff. But I really do hate their Timeline thing.
So for now I've removed all of my friends (except my sis and wife) while I clean up my Timeline. And I may add everyone back later, not sure. But kudos to Facebook that has a feature for downloading all the info they have on you, I didn't know they offered that. I downloaded it and it was over 30 megs. Let's hope that includes alot of videos that I've "Liked" over the years or that is alot of information!!
So for now I've removed all of my friends (except my sis and wife) while I clean up my Timeline. And I may add everyone back later, not sure. But kudos to Facebook that has a feature for downloading all the info they have on you, I didn't know they offered that. I downloaded it and it was over 30 megs. Let's hope that includes alot of videos that I've "Liked" over the years or that is alot of information!!
ANOTHER "I HATE"-POST
Wanna know what I hate? People on trains / busses with backpacks!!
Somehow when strapping on a backpack just because you can't see it doesn't mean it aint there! Hardly a day goes by that a guy (and this is almost only guys!) backs into me with his backpack or stands in the way of the door not thinking that his backpack is sticking out another 10 inches. And since you can't give it a small nudge because the person carrying it can't feel anything smaller than a good push!
And then it gets even worse when it's jampacked! The other day one train never showed up so the next train was jampacked and ofcourse people had their backpacks and was standing in the way left and right. One was standing so badly that one person on each side wanted to get off the train and not seeing the other one they squeezed his backpack between them and more or less carried him off the train. It was fun to see but pretty scary for the person with the backpack!
So please, if you're gonna go on a train or buss or something with alot of people and have a backpack - don't have it on the back! Take it off and carry it in your hand where you can see it and stop it from being such a bloody obstacle!
Somehow when strapping on a backpack just because you can't see it doesn't mean it aint there! Hardly a day goes by that a guy (and this is almost only guys!) backs into me with his backpack or stands in the way of the door not thinking that his backpack is sticking out another 10 inches. And since you can't give it a small nudge because the person carrying it can't feel anything smaller than a good push!
And then it gets even worse when it's jampacked! The other day one train never showed up so the next train was jampacked and ofcourse people had their backpacks and was standing in the way left and right. One was standing so badly that one person on each side wanted to get off the train and not seeing the other one they squeezed his backpack between them and more or less carried him off the train. It was fun to see but pretty scary for the person with the backpack!
So please, if you're gonna go on a train or buss or something with alot of people and have a backpack - don't have it on the back! Take it off and carry it in your hand where you can see it and stop it from being such a bloody obstacle!
FACEBOOK TIMELINE
It's that time again. Time for some big player to decide how the rest of us should think and behave to better suit their business ideas. This time it's Facebook deciding that we have to have the Timeline feature to display our Facebook profiles. I wouldn't be alot against it if it wasn't for the fact that they a) are forcing it upon us when we don't want it and b) that alot of messages sent to my wall as private messages before summer 2009 are now tagged as "viewable for friends" which means I have to go through several year removing more or less private messages in my Timeline to remove alot of stuff that the people who sent them might not want.
But I'm taking the time to do it but still thinking if it's not just time to delete my Facebook account. I just which there was some other nice way to tell everyone of my friends and family what's happening and show pictures of my son and stuff. Can't really ask people to check in my Imagevuex gallery everyday. And not every picture is posted there, most photos taken with my mobile is just for Facebook-fun...
Not sure what I'll do...
But I'm taking the time to do it but still thinking if it's not just time to delete my Facebook account. I just which there was some other nice way to tell everyone of my friends and family what's happening and show pictures of my son and stuff. Can't really ask people to check in my Imagevuex gallery everyday. And not every picture is posted there, most photos taken with my mobile is just for Facebook-fun...
Not sure what I'll do...
IN TIME
I recently saw "In Time". It's labelled a "sci-fi action thriller" on IMDB. I'm no huge fan of Justin Timberlake, but Olivia Wilde was in it so I gave it a shot. A bit of a spoiler about the premise of the movie here so if you don't want to know anything about the movie stop reading now.
* SOME SPOILER SPACE *
The premise is that in a not too distant future we will not have money. Instead the currency of choice is time. Everyone is born with one year that is activated at 25, meaning if you're a lazy poor person you'll die at when you turn 26. This in itself is an interesting idea and then you add how the "upper class" is using this system to control the lower class people and keep them in check. Simply raise the interest if you want to decrease the population in the slums etc. And then ofcourse there's a "Timekeeper" to make sure the system isn't tampered with.
All of this would have made for atleast 2 seasons of a good science fiction show. Instead they crammed it into a 2 hour movie and it just never got as deep as the idea deserves.
I don't regret seeing it though...
* SOME SPOILER SPACE *
The premise is that in a not too distant future we will not have money. Instead the currency of choice is time. Everyone is born with one year that is activated at 25, meaning if you're a lazy poor person you'll die at when you turn 26. This in itself is an interesting idea and then you add how the "upper class" is using this system to control the lower class people and keep them in check. Simply raise the interest if you want to decrease the population in the slums etc. And then ofcourse there's a "Timekeeper" to make sure the system isn't tampered with.
All of this would have made for atleast 2 seasons of a good science fiction show. Instead they crammed it into a 2 hour movie and it just never got as deep as the idea deserves.
I don't regret seeing it though...
STOP SOPA & PIPA
There are two bills in the US congress that threaten the very core of the internet - FREEDOM!
First we have the very publicized "SOPA" which is a very broad reaching bill that will enable copyright holders like the movie studios to censure websites in the states if they in any way host copyrighted material, talk about how to illegally obtain copyrighted material or even link to anything that has copyrighted material. That bill is being redrafted since there was so much opposition to it but as Jimmy Wales said in his tweet - "it's not off the table". And then we have PIPA which isn't that bad but would still make it possible to force sites like NataliePortman.com to go overseas and censure it for the people in the US.
I support them in spirit of what they are trying to do. I mean if I spent a fortune producing a movie only to see it on a torrentsite for download day after release I'd be pretty pissed off to. But they are still so broad and cover so many things that they would change how the internet works since people that run websites would need to go through them almost non-stop to make sure there are no copyright infringements anywhere. How much would YouTube have to work to keep it clean? And Facebook? And google search (cause let's face it, google is a great searchtool to find torrents.. if you're into that).
Everytime a dictatorship like oh I don't know ... say China blocks the internet for their citizens the west are quick to condemn it, saying "what gives them the right to control what their citizens can see on the internet". Well this will give the US government that power. And it won't be political but $$$.
So on wednesday some sites like Reddit and Wikipedia will be offline. As will NataliePortman.com. There isn't that much that we, as non US citizens can do, but this we can do!!
First we have the very publicized "SOPA" which is a very broad reaching bill that will enable copyright holders like the movie studios to censure websites in the states if they in any way host copyrighted material, talk about how to illegally obtain copyrighted material or even link to anything that has copyrighted material. That bill is being redrafted since there was so much opposition to it but as Jimmy Wales said in his tweet - "it's not off the table". And then we have PIPA which isn't that bad but would still make it possible to force sites like NataliePortman.com to go overseas and censure it for the people in the US.
I support them in spirit of what they are trying to do. I mean if I spent a fortune producing a movie only to see it on a torrentsite for download day after release I'd be pretty pissed off to. But they are still so broad and cover so many things that they would change how the internet works since people that run websites would need to go through them almost non-stop to make sure there are no copyright infringements anywhere. How much would YouTube have to work to keep it clean? And Facebook? And google search (cause let's face it, google is a great searchtool to find torrents.. if you're into that).
Everytime a dictatorship like oh I don't know ... say China blocks the internet for their citizens the west are quick to condemn it, saying "what gives them the right to control what their citizens can see on the internet". Well this will give the US government that power. And it won't be political but $$$.
So on wednesday some sites like Reddit and Wikipedia will be offline. As will NataliePortman.com. There isn't that much that we, as non US citizens can do, but this we can do!!
THAT'S MY 2 SICKDAYS FOR THE YEAR OVER AND DONE WITH
I very rarely stay home sick from work. Usually some cortison-based lotion, pill or spray helps with most things that go wrong with me. Last year when I had the shingles I still went to work, had to pop some Iprens towards the end but went to work regardless. But last week I got hit by a really nasty cold and woke up very early thursday morning and not only a soar throat - a really aching throat. Some Vicks and painkillers, an hour sleep and I then gave up on the idea of going to work. Took the son to kindergarten and went back to bed. And it was goooooooood! I stayed home on friday as well because I wasn't fully operational and maybe even contagious (have you seen Contagion yet? :) ) and got a lot of gaming done and just enjoying 8 hours off from work, wife and son.. well as much as you can while sneezing and wiping your nose all the time!
But now my 2 sickdays for the year are over and done with. I hope. 'Cause I think over the past 10 years that should be my annual average.
But now my 2 sickdays for the year are over and done with. I hope. 'Cause I think over the past 10 years that should be my annual average.
MOVIES AND EVEN MORE MOVIES
Me and H (which is what I write when I don't wanna write her full name, but I'm talking about my wife Helena, just for future reference) have really been plowing through lots of movies in the past few days!!
So small short reviews: "Killer Elite", too long and too many twists to be even bother thinking about. "Real Steel", I didn't know it was such a kids movie when we started to watch it but combining the robots and Hugh Jackman taking off his shirt all the time and it's clear that I wasn't the target audience here. "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", I didn't expect much since the last "Planet of the Apes" was so very sucky but this one was actually pretty good. Only thing to complain about was James Franco which just haven't got much acting depth to him. "Darkest Hour 3D" - yeah we actually went out to the movies to watch a 3D movie and boy did we regret that! The movie was "meh..." at best and for once the 3D didn't help, it was actually a downside since both our eyes were sore afterwards. So no more 3D for us I think.
But the biggest surprise was "What's Your Number"... Yeah I know, of all those previously mentioned action and/or sci-fi movies the movie we've watched that I'd rate the highest was a chic flic!! But it was actually quite good, funny and warm and modern. The huge downside to having that theme to a movie (which basically is "how many have you slept with?") is it makes for really uncomfortable talk afterwards! Cause imagine it, you're on a date with a beautiful woman and you take the bullet and go see a romantic film and the first thing she says afterwards is "so how many have you slept with?", woooops! But me and H actually didn't fall into that trap. Maybe because we really don't care about what we did before ...
So small short reviews: "Killer Elite", too long and too many twists to be even bother thinking about. "Real Steel", I didn't know it was such a kids movie when we started to watch it but combining the robots and Hugh Jackman taking off his shirt all the time and it's clear that I wasn't the target audience here. "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", I didn't expect much since the last "Planet of the Apes" was so very sucky but this one was actually pretty good. Only thing to complain about was James Franco which just haven't got much acting depth to him. "Darkest Hour 3D" - yeah we actually went out to the movies to watch a 3D movie and boy did we regret that! The movie was "meh..." at best and for once the 3D didn't help, it was actually a downside since both our eyes were sore afterwards. So no more 3D for us I think.
But the biggest surprise was "What's Your Number"... Yeah I know, of all those previously mentioned action and/or sci-fi movies the movie we've watched that I'd rate the highest was a chic flic!! But it was actually quite good, funny and warm and modern. The huge downside to having that theme to a movie (which basically is "how many have you slept with?") is it makes for really uncomfortable talk afterwards! Cause imagine it, you're on a date with a beautiful woman and you take the bullet and go see a romantic film and the first thing she says afterwards is "so how many have you slept with?", woooops! But me and H actually didn't fall into that trap. Maybe because we really don't care about what we did before ...
BELATED HAPPY NEW YEAR
I moved my blog here because it made it easier to update - I could simply send an e-mail to the blog and it'd be posted right away. Yet I didn't make a "happy new year" post.
The reason is because we (as in me and my wife) were totally stressed out during new years eve because we had a 3 course dinner to serve to 8 people and making sure they are happy (or atleast content). It kinda made me miss the good old days of being single in my apartment - not having to worry about nothing :) (I kid ofcourse) Fortunately the guests took care of Sam for us more or less but it's still enough to make me forget about those little things.
But I still had a good new years eve and yesterday we were just slacking, watching TV and not doing much at all. Which kinda annoyed the hell out of our son that bores easily :)
The reason is because we (as in me and my wife) were totally stressed out during new years eve because we had a 3 course dinner to serve to 8 people and making sure they are happy (or atleast content). It kinda made me miss the good old days of being single in my apartment - not having to worry about nothing :) (I kid ofcourse) Fortunately the guests took care of Sam for us more or less but it's still enough to make me forget about those little things.
But I still had a good new years eve and yesterday we were just slacking, watching TV and not doing much at all. Which kinda annoyed the hell out of our son that bores easily :)
WHAT DID I GET FOR MY WIFE
The question was raised by a friend of mine "what did you get your wife" so here's the answer to that.
I got her one of those Qube games with the "luxury" theme (cause she likes that stuff), a Nespresso-machine (she wanted one for work but she's not really likely to bring it to work since it makes sooooo good coffee!) and pods for 500 crowns - that was alot of coffee! :)
So she was pretty much happier than I was about the presents - and she was even happier when her secret santa had bought a little Nespresso-glasscube for the pods!
I got her one of those Qube games with the "luxury" theme (cause she likes that stuff), a Nespresso-machine (she wanted one for work but she's not really likely to bring it to work since it makes sooooo good coffee!) and pods for 500 crowns - that was alot of coffee! :)
So she was pretty much happier than I was about the presents - and she was even happier when her secret santa had bought a little Nespresso-glasscube for the pods!
MERRY CHRISTMAS INDEED
So did you have a merry Christmas? .. I certainly did! I really love Christmases like this!
First we had a small little present opening at home and I got an electric toothbrush from my lovely wife! The story behind that is that I've always prefered electric ones, it just feels better afterwards. But during our very nice romantic weekend after we got married I lost mine. And I never really put a high priority on it (the Samsung Tab was much more important!!) but now I got one again!
Then we got into the car and drove 3 hours to her brother's place and celebrated Christmas with his family. Lots of people, lots of food, lots of fun and lots of presents (with 3 small kids there it was plenty of toys!)! And that's when my wife surprised me again! Not only did she remember me saying "I want that for Christmas!" when I saw the TV trailer for "Uncharted 3" - but she went above and beyond and got me the special edition of it!!
The day after we had some breakfast and that's when the only bad thing that happened all week happened - Helena got some food poisoning with all bad stuff that comes with that. And then we got into the car to drive 3 hours to my parent's place, stopping every 30 minutes when H felt a bit queasy.
But when we finally got there she slept for 2 hours and it was all good. Then it was the same story, lots of people, lots of food, lots of fun and... ok maybe not lots of presents since we had agreed to play the Secret Santa game. I don't know who was my Santa but that person bought me two whisky glasses, really nice so thank you for that! Then it was time to play some games... first it was the social version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" and that didn't work out since we improvised the rules because the rules that comes with it only applies when playing 2 people and we were four. But I still think it should have been "last man standing" (which ofcourse was me) but nope. So then we moved on to Scrabble and on the second word we got into an argument about the rules. And when it was really close towards the end we got into an argument what happens when challening someone that puts down tiles that make 3 words at the same time.. but in the end I won again. I have really no clue why I win Scrabble so often (in english)!
Anyway, then we stayed the day and after breakfast (without the food poisoning) we got into the car and drove 1 1/2 hour home to calm down, get organized and start putting batteries in everything our son got... oh the noise!!!
First we had a small little present opening at home and I got an electric toothbrush from my lovely wife! The story behind that is that I've always prefered electric ones, it just feels better afterwards. But during our very nice romantic weekend after we got married I lost mine. And I never really put a high priority on it (the Samsung Tab was much more important!!) but now I got one again!
Then we got into the car and drove 3 hours to her brother's place and celebrated Christmas with his family. Lots of people, lots of food, lots of fun and lots of presents (with 3 small kids there it was plenty of toys!)! And that's when my wife surprised me again! Not only did she remember me saying "I want that for Christmas!" when I saw the TV trailer for "Uncharted 3" - but she went above and beyond and got me the special edition of it!!
The day after we had some breakfast and that's when the only bad thing that happened all week happened - Helena got some food poisoning with all bad stuff that comes with that. And then we got into the car to drive 3 hours to my parent's place, stopping every 30 minutes when H felt a bit queasy.
But when we finally got there she slept for 2 hours and it was all good. Then it was the same story, lots of people, lots of food, lots of fun and... ok maybe not lots of presents since we had agreed to play the Secret Santa game. I don't know who was my Santa but that person bought me two whisky glasses, really nice so thank you for that! Then it was time to play some games... first it was the social version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" and that didn't work out since we improvised the rules because the rules that comes with it only applies when playing 2 people and we were four. But I still think it should have been "last man standing" (which ofcourse was me) but nope. So then we moved on to Scrabble and on the second word we got into an argument about the rules. And when it was really close towards the end we got into an argument what happens when challening someone that puts down tiles that make 3 words at the same time.. but in the end I won again. I have really no clue why I win Scrabble so often (in english)!
Anyway, then we stayed the day and after breakfast (without the food poisoning) we got into the car and drove 1 1/2 hour home to calm down, get organized and start putting batteries in everything our son got... oh the noise!!!
MOVIES
This weeks movies have been "Little Piece of Heaven" and "Contagion".
"Little Piece of Heaven" is so totally a chick flic that is damn predictable as hell. Decent acting and story and everything but still predictable chick flic. But if you want some nice "cuddle in the soffa during a dark december night with some candlelight and watch a movie" it does work quite nicely.
"Contagion" is the recent "oh my god a new über virus is unleashed on us and we're all going to hell"-movie. Atleast that's what I thought it was. But the movie didn't quite work for me, or Helena for that matter. I don't know if it was too fast paced or trying to convey so much or what but you just never got involved in the plot or the characters. Never really felt for any of the characters at all. I guess from a "yeah that could happen" this movie is the best pandemic movie but for pure entertainment I'll go with "Outbreak" any day of the year. It's got Keven Spacey, military coverups, bad Donald Sutherland and a monkey saves the day! If you make the comparison to the "oh my god a über asteroid is gonna hit earh and blow us all to hell"-movies "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact" I guess "Contagion" would be the latter. Which is weird cause I prefered the "yeah that could happen" feel of "Deep Impact" way more than the entertainment factor of "Armageddon"...
But I'd still recommend it to you :)
"Little Piece of Heaven" is so totally a chick flic that is damn predictable as hell. Decent acting and story and everything but still predictable chick flic. But if you want some nice "cuddle in the soffa during a dark december night with some candlelight and watch a movie" it does work quite nicely.
"Contagion" is the recent "oh my god a new über virus is unleashed on us and we're all going to hell"-movie. Atleast that's what I thought it was. But the movie didn't quite work for me, or Helena for that matter. I don't know if it was too fast paced or trying to convey so much or what but you just never got involved in the plot or the characters. Never really felt for any of the characters at all. I guess from a "yeah that could happen" this movie is the best pandemic movie but for pure entertainment I'll go with "Outbreak" any day of the year. It's got Keven Spacey, military coverups, bad Donald Sutherland and a monkey saves the day! If you make the comparison to the "oh my god a über asteroid is gonna hit earh and blow us all to hell"-movies "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact" I guess "Contagion" would be the latter. Which is weird cause I prefered the "yeah that could happen" feel of "Deep Impact" way more than the entertainment factor of "Armageddon"...
But I'd still recommend it to you :)
THE JUDGEMENT
Now I've played with my Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 3G for a few days and ready for a judgement.
In short ... "pleased".
I'm happy with the size, the wieght, the battery life, the customization, the speed, the apps, alot of it I like. But two of the things I used in my pros and cons list isn't living up to expectations!
First it's the USB connector. I've read a few reviews and I checked up on "prisjakt" for technical specs and nowhere did it say it required a special USB connector. Everywhere I looked just said "USB". But it seems they liked Apple's idea of having special connectors so you have to buy their accessories if you want more adapters and stuff. For my iPhone I had 3 USB cables, one for work, one at home and one in my car. They each cost around $50. And now I have to buy 2 for my Galaxy Tab for $50 each. That just plain sucks! Why do they do it that way? On the Galaxy SII phone you have simple micro-USB connector that is enough to charge and transfer things, but apparently on the Tab it's not enough.
Secondly it's MKV playback. On my Galaxy SII phone there's no problem with MKV playback. But on the Galaxy Tab I I've only found one media player capable of playing MKV files so I know it has the power to play them, I just don't know why I have to have a special media player for it! And it wouldn't have been a problem if I could buy the full version of that media player but alas the writer of that player had his account frozen so I can't buy it and the demo version is only for 3 days. So until I can either find another player capable of playing MKV files or his account is fixed I can't play MKV files without converting them first. And converting them only takes 15 minutes but it was one of the reasons I chose the Galaxy Tab - the only player for the iPad that could play it flawlessly was the VLC player which isn't available anymore (without voiding the guarantee by jailbreaking it).
But I'm still pleased with it. These two things are problems that will be solved in time but also two things that I used as pros for the Galaxy Tab that didn't live up to expectations. But still, just the fact that I can change the user interface on it with a few clicks and that I don't have to hook it up to my computer or installing iTunes or getting a special SIM card for it and yadda yadda, I'm still pleased :)
Also pleased with Mobilgiganten.se that delivered it in 24 hours after I ordered it!
In short ... "pleased".
I'm happy with the size, the wieght, the battery life, the customization, the speed, the apps, alot of it I like. But two of the things I used in my pros and cons list isn't living up to expectations!
First it's the USB connector. I've read a few reviews and I checked up on "prisjakt" for technical specs and nowhere did it say it required a special USB connector. Everywhere I looked just said "USB". But it seems they liked Apple's idea of having special connectors so you have to buy their accessories if you want more adapters and stuff. For my iPhone I had 3 USB cables, one for work, one at home and one in my car. They each cost around $50. And now I have to buy 2 for my Galaxy Tab for $50 each. That just plain sucks! Why do they do it that way? On the Galaxy SII phone you have simple micro-USB connector that is enough to charge and transfer things, but apparently on the Tab it's not enough.
Secondly it's MKV playback. On my Galaxy SII phone there's no problem with MKV playback. But on the Galaxy Tab I I've only found one media player capable of playing MKV files so I know it has the power to play them, I just don't know why I have to have a special media player for it! And it wouldn't have been a problem if I could buy the full version of that media player but alas the writer of that player had his account frozen so I can't buy it and the demo version is only for 3 days. So until I can either find another player capable of playing MKV files or his account is fixed I can't play MKV files without converting them first. And converting them only takes 15 minutes but it was one of the reasons I chose the Galaxy Tab - the only player for the iPad that could play it flawlessly was the VLC player which isn't available anymore (without voiding the guarantee by jailbreaking it).
But I'm still pleased with it. These two things are problems that will be solved in time but also two things that I used as pros for the Galaxy Tab that didn't live up to expectations. But still, just the fact that I can change the user interface on it with a few clicks and that I don't have to hook it up to my computer or installing iTunes or getting a special SIM card for it and yadda yadda, I'm still pleased :)
Also pleased with Mobilgiganten.se that delivered it in 24 hours after I ordered it!
Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 3G vs. Apple iPad 2 16 3G
I've been wanting to buy a tablet for a very very very long time now. And I finally ordered one and hoping I get to play with it today.
I got into a bit of a tussle with my friend Mats who loves his Apple things. He has an iMac, iPhone and iPad and he just loves how they all work perfectly for him without him having to do things. As you may know, I had an iPhone 3GS for 2 years. I was quite happy with it but when I saw what the Samsung Galaxy SII could do there really wasn't any way I could not switch. And I'm perfectly happy with my phone!
From a technical point of view, the things that makes the Samsung Galaxy Tab better is - standard USB connection, better screen resolution and better DPI, better cameras (both of them), smaller (because of the smaller screen), new bluetooth standard, DLNA support, stereo speakers and twice the RAM. I probably won't ever use DLNA, the stereo speakers maybe and taking pictures with it is doubtful too. The only downside is a slightly slower CPU (1000 vs. 1066) but the difference in RAM more then outweighs that!
But putting aside the technical differences, what Apple does well is interfaces and making things that "just work" without having technical skills. Well I do have those technical skills and I don't have an iMac or an iPhone that this tab to interact with, I have a PC and a Samsung (android-based) phone. So it makes perfect sense for me to buy the Samsung (android-based) tab I think. I don't have to "take a chance" and see if the iPad 2 does what I want it to do (like play MKVs without converting them or having to hack it to install VLC), think that I know this one will? And I also like to change my interfaces now and again which, as I understand it, isn't that easy without jailbreaking your iPhone but easily doable on an Android device. Just look at my "World of Wacraft"-screenshots and how often I change my interface there!
But one huge, majorly disappointing thing is still the lack of being able to upgrade the storage. I thought you could upgrade it in the 8.9 (but not the 10.1) and most retailers list memory upgrades as accessory. But they will have that ability in next years lineup which right now only has a 7.7" screen which is too small for me. Or rather the difference from my 4.3" screen on my phone to a 7.7" is too small to justify the cost of upgrade. And speaking of cost, another + on the Samsung side albeit $20-$30...
I got into a bit of a tussle with my friend Mats who loves his Apple things. He has an iMac, iPhone and iPad and he just loves how they all work perfectly for him without him having to do things. As you may know, I had an iPhone 3GS for 2 years. I was quite happy with it but when I saw what the Samsung Galaxy SII could do there really wasn't any way I could not switch. And I'm perfectly happy with my phone!
From a technical point of view, the things that makes the Samsung Galaxy Tab better is - standard USB connection, better screen resolution and better DPI, better cameras (both of them), smaller (because of the smaller screen), new bluetooth standard, DLNA support, stereo speakers and twice the RAM. I probably won't ever use DLNA, the stereo speakers maybe and taking pictures with it is doubtful too. The only downside is a slightly slower CPU (1000 vs. 1066) but the difference in RAM more then outweighs that!
But putting aside the technical differences, what Apple does well is interfaces and making things that "just work" without having technical skills. Well I do have those technical skills and I don't have an iMac or an iPhone that this tab to interact with, I have a PC and a Samsung (android-based) phone. So it makes perfect sense for me to buy the Samsung (android-based) tab I think. I don't have to "take a chance" and see if the iPad 2 does what I want it to do (like play MKVs without converting them or having to hack it to install VLC), think that I know this one will? And I also like to change my interfaces now and again which, as I understand it, isn't that easy without jailbreaking your iPhone but easily doable on an Android device. Just look at my "World of Wacraft"-screenshots and how often I change my interface there!
But one huge, majorly disappointing thing is still the lack of being able to upgrade the storage. I thought you could upgrade it in the 8.9 (but not the 10.1) and most retailers list memory upgrades as accessory. But they will have that ability in next years lineup which right now only has a 7.7" screen which is too small for me. Or rather the difference from my 4.3" screen on my phone to a 7.7" is too small to justify the cost of upgrade. And speaking of cost, another + on the Samsung side albeit $20-$30...
PLAYING JACK BAUER
So did you hear about the Swedish police and DA playing Jack Bauer last week? The story, as reported by our media, is that some woman claims she overheard a man talking Arabic (which wasn't her primary language) on his cell phone talking about blowing up a shopping mall in Gothenburg. She reported it to the Swedish police who realized they didn't have all the time in the world to investigate everything and after getting the logs from the closest cell phone station they narrowed it down to the 4 palistinians. And they were promptly arrested.
That far I can't really blame them. They couldn't risk this women being wrong or risk an actual bomb in the most crowded place in Gothenburg. So I totally understand them borrowing the pages from "24" and shooting from the hips. I can actually applaud them for having the balls to make the call. 'Cause if it had been a real threat and they had hesitated it'd been far worse.
Unfortunately though they weren't just arrested, the police brutally stormed their houses/apartments with little respect to anything else than getting these guys arrested. And everything after this seems to have been one fuck up after another. After checking one piece of evidence after another they should have realized they fucked up and just dropped it and owed up to it. But here we are a year afterwards and all the so called evidence is just wrong and this woman that reported it have turned out to be far from a reliable witness and so far no one is even close to saying "we were wrong". And the problem that really bites me is that until someone owes up to the fact that they made a mistake, they (as in our justice system) won't learn anything from it or change how they work. And that'll lead to this might actually happen again! Cause the only way to improve something is finding the problem and fixing it. If everyone keeps on saying, and god forbid actually believing, that everything they did was correct, then I'm really kinda worried.
But I can't say I envy the guy who has to make the call - arrest four people on vague evidence or risk a bomb going off killing countless civilians. When Jack Bauer makes the call he's the tough guy and it's entertaining. Difference is, when Jack is wrong, which happens from time to time, he doesn't go hiding.
That far I can't really blame them. They couldn't risk this women being wrong or risk an actual bomb in the most crowded place in Gothenburg. So I totally understand them borrowing the pages from "24" and shooting from the hips. I can actually applaud them for having the balls to make the call. 'Cause if it had been a real threat and they had hesitated it'd been far worse.
Unfortunately though they weren't just arrested, the police brutally stormed their houses/apartments with little respect to anything else than getting these guys arrested. And everything after this seems to have been one fuck up after another. After checking one piece of evidence after another they should have realized they fucked up and just dropped it and owed up to it. But here we are a year afterwards and all the so called evidence is just wrong and this woman that reported it have turned out to be far from a reliable witness and so far no one is even close to saying "we were wrong". And the problem that really bites me is that until someone owes up to the fact that they made a mistake, they (as in our justice system) won't learn anything from it or change how they work. And that'll lead to this might actually happen again! Cause the only way to improve something is finding the problem and fixing it. If everyone keeps on saying, and god forbid actually believing, that everything they did was correct, then I'm really kinda worried.
But I can't say I envy the guy who has to make the call - arrest four people on vague evidence or risk a bomb going off killing countless civilians. When Jack Bauer makes the call he's the tough guy and it's entertaining. Difference is, when Jack is wrong, which happens from time to time, he doesn't go hiding.
WELL THAT WORKED OUT WELL
So the "great" result of the summit about global warming last week was... "keep on going as we're going right now while we think about it some more, keep on polluting and praying for a technical breakthrough that'll solve all our problems overnight". And it took Canada a whole 2 days to say "if the biggest baddies of greenhouse emissions isn't in, why should we?" which kinda makes sense. But as long as none of the leaders risk losing the next election because they agreed to some ridiculous demand that might help, then I guess all is fine and dandy.
It's at times like this you want some global rule that no head of state should ever be able to be relected no matter what. 'Cause that seems to be the only way for them to have balls. And speaking of balls, sweden sent Lena Ek to that summit. Might as well have sent Miss Piggy.
It's at times like this you want some global rule that no head of state should ever be able to be relected no matter what. 'Cause that seems to be the only way for them to have balls. And speaking of balls, sweden sent Lena Ek to that summit. Might as well have sent Miss Piggy.
THE ENVIRONMENT AGAIN
Everyone who knows what's going down in Durban right now raise your hands... anybody? ...
Well all the worlds governments ministers in charge of environment are gathering to discuss what we can do about the state of the climate. Last time it was in Copenhagen and the only result of the meeting was all the jetfuel that was burnt up by all the planes there. It's a bit sad when you have a conference to talk about lowering emissions and in comes a big ass jumbojet to deliver one person...
ANYWAY, I'm far from an expert at economics or the environment, but it seems to me pretty stupid. We have countries that doesn't wanna be on the same side as other countries for various reasons. And we have some countries that feels that changing their ways will hurt their economy. And we have politicians that doesn't wanna give in or take a bullet or anything because they wanna be reelected. Meanwhile we have a planet that's drowning. It won't be fun in 30-40 years is the sea level rises a few meters flooding the major cities around the world, it won't even be fun watching those finances and borderes literally washed away.
As for me.. well I'm already taking the train and live in a modern low energy home and leasing a brand new little car that doesn't consume much gas so I think I'm doing my part atleast.
Well all the worlds governments ministers in charge of environment are gathering to discuss what we can do about the state of the climate. Last time it was in Copenhagen and the only result of the meeting was all the jetfuel that was burnt up by all the planes there. It's a bit sad when you have a conference to talk about lowering emissions and in comes a big ass jumbojet to deliver one person...
ANYWAY, I'm far from an expert at economics or the environment, but it seems to me pretty stupid. We have countries that doesn't wanna be on the same side as other countries for various reasons. And we have some countries that feels that changing their ways will hurt their economy. And we have politicians that doesn't wanna give in or take a bullet or anything because they wanna be reelected. Meanwhile we have a planet that's drowning. It won't be fun in 30-40 years is the sea level rises a few meters flooding the major cities around the world, it won't even be fun watching those finances and borderes literally washed away.
As for me.. well I'm already taking the train and live in a modern low energy home and leasing a brand new little car that doesn't consume much gas so I think I'm doing my part atleast.
WEB TIME MACHINE
Thanks to the wonders of the world wide web time machine I have been able to restore the updates for 2000!! I have the updates for 2001 as well as restored the missing ones for 2010. Pretty sweet huh?
And anyone saying they've had a blog for a long time should check it out, the first capture they have of my kristoffer.com was back in 1998 :)
And anyone saying they've had a blog for a long time should check it out, the first capture they have of my kristoffer.com was back in 1998 :)
IN WITH OLD
I'm finally done adding old updates to this blog! I started this blog way before blog was even a word, back in 1997. Unfortunately I don't have those updates (and the internet archives only goes back that far) and let's be honest, before 2002 there wasn't that much interesting happening. But all the updates dating back to January 1st 2002 are now added to this place. How many blogs can say that? :) So now you can read about all my travelling again and my sadness when I lost my best friend and the excitement when I met Helena :)
Also added it to Facebook so hopefully you'll get a notice there when I update this place. Just hope that works as intended.
Also added it to Facebook so hopefully you'll get a notice there when I update this place. Just hope that works as intended.
SNOW OR NO SNOW
So it's December 1st today. And not many signs it is December at all. Still above 0 here, we had a little bit of snow Sunday night that melted fast and then nothing.
So now people start complaining about the lack of snow. And last year it was complaints abot too much. I don't know which side I'm on. A lot of snow is good for a lot of reasons, most of all it's a sign the weather is "normal". And I also want it so my son can experience a white Christmas, seeing that he hardly remembers last Christmas. But then again I remember last year when I was out shoveling snow like a mad man. When it was hard to get the car out and slippery as hell on the roads and the electric bill made everyone turn down the heat a little bit. But still.. snow is snow so bring it on :)
So now people start complaining about the lack of snow. And last year it was complaints abot too much. I don't know which side I'm on. A lot of snow is good for a lot of reasons, most of all it's a sign the weather is "normal". And I also want it so my son can experience a white Christmas, seeing that he hardly remembers last Christmas. But then again I remember last year when I was out shoveling snow like a mad man. When it was hard to get the car out and slippery as hell on the roads and the electric bill made everyone turn down the heat a little bit. But still.. snow is snow so bring it on :)
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