Author Archives: abstractviews

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Source Code Pro Font

Adobe recently released an Open Source font they call Source Code Pro, and be downloaded here.

I’ve always used Courier New for my text editors (my fav being EditPad Pro) or source code editor (Delphi) but this “news” caused me to investigate this newly hyped font in the tech world, and see if it would be an improvement for me in these two areas.

My first reaction was the zero. I simply could not get past, and have always disliked zeros with a bulls-eye dot in the centre. It’s distracting to say the least.

So the first thing I did was modify the font using Font Creator Program from High Logic. I simply erased the target dots in the zeros and replaced with a proper digital zero slash bar as you can see below. That improved things a lot for me.

The second thing that stood out was the spacing. Obviously to us coders and raw text editors, this is a mono-spaced font, but the font width is noticeably wider than many other mono-spaced fonts. And I also found this distracting. Again refer to the example below.

But this new editor and coding font interest I found myself in, caused me to consider some other fonts. And I discovered that a somewhat common and already existing font was available to me, and I found when I searched online that others were already using this as an alternative to Courier New. And that font is called Consolas, and was already installed for me with Windows 7.

Consolas has a very similar style to this new Source Code Pro font, or vice versa. It already has the correct and proper slash through the zero, is a more readable width, and has a more Courier style than some of the modernized exaggeration in Source Code Pro, like the letter “i” as you can see below.

Regardless of the big company hype and the source code name, I am finding Consolas type to be a nice alternative to Courier New, without the oddities that Adobe has placed in Source Code Pro. But thanks to the news report, I discovered Consolas.

Asus Transformer Prime TF201 Updates to Jelly Bean 4.1

I read this week that some Android devices were getting the update to Android 4.1, also known as Jelly Bean to those numerically impaired people like Google engineers. Let’s refer to Google engineers as Jelly Beans, shall we?

Last night I did a manual update check in the Settings app on my Asus Transformer Prime. At first it said no update available, then changed to update available. I selected the update option, and it immediately started to download, and stalled out at 7%. And there it stayed for an extended period of time, so I left it overnight. And I completed the reboot and upgrade this morning.

The latest version is now 4.1.1. And my first reaction after using the tablet few a few minutes is…big deal! Sarcasm intended. Like most Android upgrades, it’s all media hype and little user experience improvement. Very small cosmetic changes, feels the same over all to this user, on this fast tablet.

The most noticeable change was the Asus Weather widget (powered by AccuWeather) stopped working. It’s a typical main widget on the home screen when you buy this Asus tablet. I went into the settings and it wouldn’t update, last update 2010. The device didn’t exist in 2010. So I switched from it guessing my location to me hard selecting the location, still no luck. I switched it back and forth a few times and refreshed the data a dozen times and it finally started working again…for the moment. Could be a glitch with AccuWeather with bad timing, but I’ll blame the Jelly Beans for now.

Another new feature in 4.1 is a new search app. It wanted to download and install right after the upgrade. I installed it like a good little sheep user and it immediately advertised some other Google app called Google Now at start up. And in portrait mode only. It would not switch to the standard tablet view we know as landscape. So after selecting “Next” several times and “Not right now” to this Now thing app I know nothing about (I thought I was installing Search) it finally would switch back to landscape mode. Obviously the Jelly Bean that created that feature advertisement only owns a phone he holds in portrait mode when testing. BTW the app is simply called Google once installed, not Search or Google Search, so I thought that is interesting. Propagating the company name as the verb we use for search, and not the English language. I somehow take offence to this, plus I had trouble finding it in the app list after installing, as I was looking for Search or Google Search as they called it before and during install. I find Google conically inconsistent.

Overall there is not a lot that is shockingly new. A decent incremental upgrade I’m sure, but that’s all it is. No massive or earth shaking changes to a tablet user that was using 4.0.x. I suppose once again my biggest complaint is all the hype that most media people that drank the coolaid have touted about Jelly Bean 4.1. If it was a silent update I may not have even noticed for a while till I finally saw Waldo in the background…I mean a small graphic change to the notification list.

I do want to see Android continually improve, what I don’t want to see is over-hyped reports of imagined improvements. Keep it real, put the cup down.

Why I No Longer Watch Geek Beat TV

When I first started watching Geek Beat TV, back in the early stages of this online show, it was a diamond in the rough. Back then, it was hard to find a well put together tech show, about what’s new in tech and the tech world. I watched it daily and there was always something of interest to me, as they focused on what was new on tech hardware, tech news and they did interesting reviews.

Now I personally find very little of the original content style in this broadcast. They no longer seem to produce a daily tech news show in the same feed as I signed up for. Now they substitute random reviews from what I guess are affiliate contacts, and they like to show what they carry in their back packs, and their personal opinion on whatever interests them currently. Little of which I originally signed up for.

Let’s not leave out the unprofessional and annoying “bloopers” they add at the beginning of the show, the middle of the show and the end of the show. Most of which appear to me to be generated and completely fake bloopers, in my observation. And even if they are not, I can’t see why any mature person would care to watch these manufactured “bloopers”. It adds nothing to a show for those of us grown-ups that are looking for tech news.

I’ve watched the Geek Beat TV show grow from a struggling podcast that was made in their home, to downsizing their home to another location so they could focus on leaving their day jobs and working on creating a quality tech podcast, to changing distribution companies, and moving into a professional office space with more room, equipment and personnel. And in my own observation and opinion, the show climaxed in professionalism and quality somewhere in the middle between now and when they started this show under another name.

In general, I’ve seen many podcasts grow and get overwhelmed with their own success, heads swollen with self importance, and loose sight of the content and intent of the original show. I think the reason for this is often that these shows have no actual producers or production companies behind them, to keep them inline and focused. They do what they want based on their whims, and the celebrity of the person behind the mike. I’m not saying this is what happened to Geek Beat, but my observation is a common problem in podcasting in my own opinion.

Regardless, I have sadly deleted the Geek Beat TV feed from my DVR and I am replacing it with shows from CNet.

Netflix Sucks

I’ve never been that interested in Netflix. I find their service in general very interesting, but up until last year (I think it was) we couldn’t get Netflix in Canada. When they started offering their service here I checked out the video offerings, and found that there was nothing they had that interested me. All the movies were lame or quite old. And anything else I could get on Shaw cable, including newer and better movies.

Today I received a special offer in the mail with a code to allow me 1 free trial month. So I thought, what the hell, I’ll maybe give it a try. But it turned out that they expect you to give them your credit card number, and sign up as a regular member. And you then have to deal with the restrictions of trying to cancel at some point before the trial ends. What a scam and waste of my time. I’ve dealt with this sort of “free” nonsense before with other companies, and it’s never easy to cancel once they have your credit card info.

So I try to find some way for a non-member to email them and point out the disappointment with this “special offer”. Well there seems to be no way to contact them if you aren’t a member. That’s assuming that members do get some way of contacting them. Correction, they instruct you to call an 800 number, but no email addresses. I suppose that way their call centre has one more kick at my cat. Don’t try to kick my cat Netflix!

So not only do I feel they have little to offer me video wise, but now they have annoyed and soured me to the company further. Good job Netflix.

Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)

A dramatic remake of the fairy tale Snow White. But not the prettified Disney version we all know, but a dark and sinister story.

I liked this movie, except for one thing, Snow White. I don’t like Kristen Stewart as an actor, as she is an absolutely horrible actress in my opinion. In my mind, she is one of those phenomenons of Hollywood, where there seems to be no rhyme or reason to someone becoming an actor or celebrity, other than perhaps being at the right place at the right time or knowing someone with a great deal of influence. Regardless, she brings nothing to this movie or the character. The only thing worse than her acting is her British accent. Then again, Charlize Theron English accent is also poor. So if it weren’t for the disappointing portrayal of Snow White, and the bad fake British accents, I would have given this movie 3 more points, as everything else was very well done.

6/10

Catch.44 (2011)

Just when you thought you saw a lot of bad movies, “Catch .44” comes along and ruins your movie watching time all over again.

It’s about 3 dumb ass loser women that get a kick out of hurting other people, and would rather work part time for a drug trafficker than work-for-a-living at dead-end jobs. But they apparently aren’t very good at doing either very well.

They try to make the plot seem complicated, but it’s simply confusing, and you soon don’t care. It’s bloody, gory and tedious. Bruce Willis has a rather small part, and he looks like a drowned rat that’s missing half it’s hair. His appearance is disturbing.

If you watch this movie, you will look like the character in the frame below. Shot, bloody, and being held up by a bar seat.

3/10

There is only one good thing about this movie, and that’s a joke that gets told near the beginning. And to save you the pain of having the watch this barf bait, I’ll re-tell it in my own words:

Four nuns are waiting to give confession. The first nun goes in to the confessional and tells the priest that she has sinned, she has looked at a man’s penis. The priest shows his disapproval and tells her to say 3 Hail Mary’s and splash holly water in her eyes from the church’s basin. The other three sisters watch as the nun splashes holly water in her face.

The next nun confesses her sins to the priest, and tells him that she has touched a man’s penis. The priest tells her to say 6 Hail Mary’s and go out and wash her hands in the holly water.

The priest hears a commotion outside his confessional and the next two nuns and quite agitated. One of them tells the other, “I don’t care what he says, “I’m not drinking that holly water after you sit in it!”

The Dinosaur Project (2012)

A British adventurer, his son, and a film crew walk into a bar…I mean discover a secret part of Africa where dinosaurs still exist. My review starts out like it might be a joke, but the jokes on you if you watch this movie, as it’s really bad! You’ll be groaning by the end cause it’s such a bad joke.

The concept that these particular modern day people could be the first to discover a huge area where giant dinosaur lizards exist, and no one else know about it is simply ridiculous for a movie plot. In fact the pterodactyls in the movie are so prevalent in the sky that they accident crash into their helicopter. So how stupid is it to think in this day and age that no one would have discovered the dinosaurs before now? And that plot problem is just one in the list of issues I had with this stinker.

Intended to appear to be shot in the worthless and annoying Blair Witch handy-cam style, the fake video capture attempt is beyond lame and is not consistent throughout the movie. The acting is bad, the plot is thin, and the movie just suddenly ends leaving you shocked the credits are running and you didn’t realize the story was over. But then you are very grateful that it has!

3/10

Men in Black 3 (2012)

If you are planning to see this movie, you are already familiar with the franchise and the plot. It’s the exact same Men in Black plot as the last 4 flicks in the series. They aren’t so much sequels as they are remakes of themselves with the same characters. Nothing new here since the first movie. The original Men in Black was somewhat unique and that made it interesting and fun. Every one since (including this one) is unmemorable and mediocre in every way, as will the next one be – at best.

5/10

Safe (2012)

A young girl who is a mathematical genius, is kidnapped by the mob to memorize codes and debts. She becomes the interest of another competing mob and dirty police. A suicidal boxer known as the Garbage-Man is our hero, and decides to save her from all these bad people.

Lots of fight scenes, gun fire and car chases. Very Rambo movie like, where we have endless gun fire and beatings directed at the hero with barely a cut or bruise, he can do no wrong, and doesn’t get hurt. So fun to watch but completely unrealistic, as this guy kills uncountable people, and dozens of men can shot at him as he runs around and he doesn’t get a scratch. But unlike Rambo, he does pick up a different gun now and again that is conveniently fully loaded so he has an excuse why he never runs out of bullets. And because he kills so many guys so easily, there are endless free weapons all around him to pick up and use.

If this movie were a first person shooter video game, you’d be a player with no limit on the number of lives. It’s fun at first, then you realize there is no challenge.

6.5/10

The Cold Light of Day (2012)

A reasonably well done spy-verses-spy action/drama that stars the hottie Henry Cavill from Immortals and soon to be the new Superman. We also have the excellent actors Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver.

There is a story, nice scenery, considerable action, gun fire, car chases, spilt blood, a little shirtless muscle, some attitude, your typical entertaining movie recipe items for this movie type.

The camera work left something to be desired, there could have been better angles, close-ups, panning, zooming, it was shot more European style then Hollywood. This movie would look 30% better with some modern action movie cinematography. The video work has an amateur feel to it all the way through. Next time spend a few more bucks on direction, camera people and editors!

7/10

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