Alfred's musings

Vint Cerf  needs no introduction . Not every man is called the father of the internet for nothing! And here is Vint and I, when he came to talk to us at Google. He's an incredible man, and have incredible stories to tell! I feel really honoured and humbled after meeting him. The funny lighting was due to slide projector lighting that caught him from the side... but it was him, not a cardboard cut out!  He has interesting stories, but the best bits, where certainly these two stories: 1) He passionately talked about how his wife's hearing was made possible by technology (in the context of his prediction to see more computer/human interfaces and interaction... which reminded me of the encounter with Captain Cyborg ! It's a moving story , and really funny when he told the story of her calling up the library for audio books for someone certified being deaf :) 2) When we prodded enough in the Q&A, we saw a glimpse what really get him excited... Not IP v4 or v6 any m...

I've just been to our Google UK company photo shoot... Our streetview car drove past the offices, and we were pre-warned so that we could get in position and ready for action! Can't wait to see the final result!

I've been slightly subdued in my praise for my Xoom thus far, but I think that was completely unwarranted. I have now grown to be so fond of it, that I'd really complain if I had to loose it! Let me just give you a few snippets of scenarios where it was exceptionally good: I recently had to spend a lot of time supporting someone in hospital, and it served as a brilliant single device that allowed me to work, play, relax and even entertain the patient. The one thing that surprised me, was how well it worked as a "radio" in the hospital room, for a bit of news and background music. (Granted - the hospital had a brilliant guest wifi network, which made all the difference.) Travelling... I don't go anywhere without it. I frequently take a MacBook or Chromebook too, but the Xoom fits nicely in the same sleeve as the laptop, and it much better to use on a flight. I've caught my elderly parents reading up on a topic of interest on wikipedia on the Xoom... despi...

I've just had to hand back my CR-48 that I grew very fond of. In exchange, I was handed a shiny white new number... the Samsung. First impression is good. Good looking, shiny, lightweight, fast. But the exceptional thing was that changing took less than 5 minutes. I shut down the CR-48, handed it over, started up the new machine... logged on, and *everything* was just there. Everything... all my email, all my settings and even my bookmarks and Chrome Extensions. Loving the 100% web thing!

I've just figured out how I could get more email on my Xoom. Let me explain... it's not that I'm not getting enough email... it's more that not enough email is cached offline for me to work on while on a flight. The key is to look for "labels" in the settings under the account you are syncing. There you'll find the ability to specify how long to keep sync for. Now, I'll have enough to keep me busy even on a flight to South Africa!

My primary acquiring a Xoom, was to allow me to travel and work more productively while traveling. I already mentioned the VC and second screen bonus , but yesterday was a good opportunity to put it through it's paces and test it on a "field" trip. Yesterday, I traveled from home to Heathrow (taxi) to Munchen (fly) to Salzburg (train), had a long (productive) meeting and came back the same route. All in all, I travelled about 12 hours + 3 hours of meeting, and during the travelling I was working on the Xoom most of the time. So, it was working hard! The key observations were: The Xoom's battery life pretty much matched the Nexus S. At 10am, power was down to 75% on both devices, 60% at noon, 40% at 3pm and dead about 6pm (12 hours into the day). I could replace the battery in the Nexus S with a spare, but that's not an option on the Xoom. The screen and display of the Xoom was beautiful and always usable in all light conditions. The folding case disa...

I've done two things to physically protect my zoom, and both feel like a bit of a compromise: a) I've added a screen protector and b) a folding case. For the screen protector, I bought something like the thin plastic stick-on screen protectors you get for other phones and devices. On my Nexus One and Nexus S, this worked very well. But with the 10.1" screen of the Xoom meant that fitting it was *much* harder. The alignment is harder to get perfect, and getting all the bubbles out was hard work. And then, despite meticulous cleaning, a dust particle or three still got stuck under the surface, some very visible. I'm not criticising the product I bought, but rather the trade-off. I might very well remove this from the screen soon, the remaining bubbles, dust and corners that curl up where it does not sit perfectly is too great a cost I think. The folding case is the original Motorola accessory, and it's OK. It's very rugged, so would probably save the Xoom ...