Nothing Up My Sleeve

Home notifications on iPhone via Prowl and Growl

The Apple Blog has a nice overview of an interesting new iPhone application named Prowl.

If you're a Mac user, and you're using Growl for notification of interesting events, then Prowl is a no-brainer addition for your iPhone. It's a $3 app that utilizes the push notification ability of iPhone to forward Growl alerts to your device.

If none of this makes any sense to you, see Nifty Notifications in Mac OS X and Growling PhoneValet for background info.

Book Review: The Secret Symbols of the Dollar Bill

David Ovason's The Secret Symbols of the Dollar Bill: A Closer Look at the Hidden Magic and Meaning of the Money You Use Every Day is a fun book of trivia and esoterica related to our most familiar form of currency.

Many people know about the easy to spot design features of the bill, such as the 13 arrows clutched by the eagle on The Great Seal. Or, perhaps, the Star of Solomon arrangement of the constellation above the bird's head. But Ovason goes much deeper than that, bringing out geometric arrangements and deep background on the unfinished pyramid, the treasury shield, and the Omega that surrounds Washington's portrait. (And much more.)

Unfortunately, the book is arranged in an awkward style that numbers each "secret" separately. Because so many of the observations are linked, and only make sense when considered in context with others, there is a fair amount of repetition throughout the book. This makes it frustrating to read, and contributes to the feeling that some of it might be padding to make the book more substantive than it really is.

I was prepared to dismiss the book as fun, but unsubstantiated, until I reached the very end. There I discovered a series of footnotes and sources that lend credence to some of Ovason's more obscure assertions. The book would have benefited greatly by giving an indication--any indication--that these existed in the main body of the text. If you read this book, be sure to read the notes in the back as you go along, I think it will significantly enhance your enjoyment of the book.

Overall, while the book is flawed and could have benefitted from a proofread, it's a comprehensive reference that brings out aspects of the dollar's design that are not easy to find elsewhere. In the end its low price makes it a worthy addition to a library of obscure knowledge.

Even more automated twittering devices

It has been over two years since I wrote about how I've integrated Twitter with my home automation system, and since then Twitter has become an Internet darling. A coincidence, of course, but I've long since stopped trying to keep track of all the home automation uses of Twitter, it's simply very common these days. (To the extend that Twitter is common, which of course it isn't, outside of the cultural bubble of the web.)

Anyway, there are still two Twitter deployments that I enjoyed, but haven't noted, so here they are in brief form:

• The Twitter-enabled Toilet


• Twitter-enabled Plants

See also On Twitter, Cupcakes, and Automation, The Automated Cat Door, and Chairs that Tweet.

Kindle DX: Good Enough

I'm rapidly approaching the end of the return period for my new Kindle DX, so I spent some time this weekend to seriously consider whether or not I'm going to keep it.

As I wrote previously, the reason I purchased it was its ability to display PDF files. While I'm slightly disappointed with how it does this (see Kindle DX: First Impressions), I've decided the support is "good enough" for most uses. It bothers me some to settle for good, but it seems there is no better alternative at this time, so I'll live with the warts. (And accept the possibility that I've simply become spoiled by the polish of Apple's products.)

In a surprising twist, while I was initially dismayed by the over-the-air purchasing process, it turns out that Kindle-format books are what finally tipped the "keep it" scales. (See Kindle DX: Second Impressions.) I've found that many, if not most, Kindle books have free samples available. They're almost instantly delivered to the device and this really gives you a chance to see if the book is going to be worth purchasing, often at a lower cost than the printed version.

While I won't want every book in such an ephemeral format, there are many where the Kindle version is "good enough" for books that I just want to read and then never re-visit. One example is Ignore Everybody, a self-help/creativity book that I'd enjoy, and at about half-price for the Kindle edition, is easier to justify buying.

In addition to inducing me to spend money, the Kindle samples have saved me money too. I spotted Cabinet of Wonders in the San Jose airport a few weeks ago. It looked good, but I didn't want to travel a big hardback book so I didn't buy it. (Yes, it's a Young Adult fantasy book, so is Harry Potter, so stop giggling.) Well, I tried the Kindle sample version, and after reading the 1 1/2 chapters it provided, I found that the book wasn't what I expected. That's good, as I hate disappointing books.

I'm also currently sampling a free subscription to the Chicago Tribune and TidBITS magazine. Both automatically delivered every day. I might have more to say about those in the future, so far I'm enjoying them.

So now that I've decided to keep the Kindle DX, the next step is to procure a suitable case for it. I'm thinking that the Amazon folding cover is the best, as a separate slip case just seems like it would be another thing to keep track of. I'm going to pass, however, on the extended warranty. At 20% of the cost of purchase I think it's too expensive, and the requirement to purchase it within 30 days of the unit just seems like a high-pressure tactic that I don't want to support.

Book Review: The Shape of Things to Come: Prophecy and the American Voice

This review of The Shape of Things to Come: Prophecy and the American Voice by Greil Marcus will be short because I only read about half of the book. I was drawn to the promise of insightful and surprising linkages between disparate parts of American culture, such as how Lincoln's Gettysburg Address influenced MLK's so-called "I have a dream" speech. Unfortunately, what I found instead was a flitting narrative that relied too heavily on cultural references with which I am unfamiliar. Songs, music, and movies that I've never heard of, let alone consumed, were used to draw analogies that not only didn't resonate with me, but were so vaguely explained that I couldn't understand the point the author was making.

Books that try to find something meaningful in popular culture have a hard row to hoe, but even more so when they use obscure artifacts and assume the reader is familiar with them. I tried to hang in with this book, but ultimately it was like listening to a stoned intellectual enthuse about topics I'd never heard of. I politely wandered away while he was ranting, and I don't think he even noticed.

Web stat spoof inspires home visitor counter

Although intended (I think) to be a spoof of web site statistics, the clever Doorbell with Inbuilt Visitor Statistics Display would make a nice weekend home automation project, perhaps utilizing a Chumby.

Kindle DX: Second Impressions

I'm still deciding if I'll keep my Kindle DX. Today, while reading a sample book, I found a surprising new behavior. I very much like that most of the Kindle-format books have free samples available. While this isn't the equivalent of being able to thumb through a real book, at least it does allow you to get a feel for the work before you purchase it.

When you reach the end of the sample, there's a link to buy the book. My discovery is that when you click this link you instantly purchase this book, and just seconds later it's on your device.

Personally, I was expecting a confirmation step before the purchase was completed. But no. One click and your credit card is charged. Worse yet, there's no indication of how much the book costs. I supposed you're expected to remember how much it was when you requested the sample. I certainly did not, which only increased the anxiety I felt about this surprise purchase.

Fortunately, the screen that appears when you instantly buy the book has a link that allows you to un-buy it right away. This also works without confirmation, and the book is removed almost instantly, along with a message that your credit card has been refunded. Sure enough, when I checked my email later, I had two invoices from Amazon, one each for the purchase and refund.

So in the end, all was OK, but I found the lack of confirmation to be a bit rude, as well as the language around the refund where you have to click a link that says you bought the book "accidentally." That puts the blame on the customer, instead of on the device's interaction design, where it belongs.

See also Kindle DX: First Impressions.

Book Review: And Then There's This...

And Then There's This: How Stories Live and Die in Viral Culture is a study of contemporary Internet memes and our rapidly shifting attention span. Bill Wasik is an editor at Harper's magazine, and he has direct experience with creating and cultivating Internet "nanostories," including the phenomenon of Flash Mobs. {See Wikipedia's definition if this is new to you.)

In fact a large portion of the book describes how Wasik came up with the idea of flash mobbing, as well as other experiments, and presents data regarding how "memetic engineers" can attempt to create buzz and Internet activity around a piece of content. A definite pattern emerges, and it's a fascinating peek at group behavior online. One of my favorite anecodtes is from a study of the interconnectedness of political blogs. In brief, although the web clearly provides a home for many viewpoints, there is surprisingly little cross-pollination between viewpoint ghettos.

As an ethnologist, I applaud Wasik's practice of "submersion journalism" as a way to understand the culture from an inside view. As an academic, I'd like to have a more referenced and nuanced work, but since this is a mainstream book I understand that the emphasis is on readability and simple ideas easily spread. That's no accident given the subject at hand.

The final chapters of the book provide a great wrap-up and a surprisingly humane message. In them, Wasik asks serious questions about the value and ramifications of our flitting attention spans and recommends strategies for better dealing with rapid information consumption and dissemination. Until I reached these final chapters, I was planning to discard this book when I finished it--much like the viral messages it discusses--but now it will become a useful reminder about how to discern what truly matters online. And for this reason, it's worth reading for anyone interesting in a better understanding of online culture.

INSTEON window and door sensors

The steady stream of useful INSTEON modules continues to flow out of Smarthome. And although I haven't had a chance to try some of their latest, it's great to see the momentum grow. A missing piece has been wireless window/door sensors, and now the TriggerLinc is shipping, which fills that gap.

I was slow to add these kind of sensors to my X10-based automation because they required a different receiver. But when I finally bit the bullet and deployed them, they made a huge difference in the responsiveness and sophistication of my system. They're much better than motion detectors (faster and more reliable) and they have energy-saving implications too. For example, when your a/c turns on, have the system check to see if all the windows are closed. Simple and effective.

Mac Pro hard disk vanishes during sleep

Several weeks ago I junked an iMac G5 whose USB ports had somehow gotten fried. But before I recycled it at the city's e-waste center I pulled out the SATA hard drive, figuring I could use it elsewhere.

I wanted to use it as a time machine disk, inside a new Mac Pro. I was very impressed with how easy it was to install the disk--the Mac Pro is prettier on the inside, from a form follows function perspective, than the outside.

However, I found that the disk would unmount every time the computer slept. Upon waking it was simply missing. Not even System Profiler could see it. Restarting the computer would cause the drive to reappear. Clearly this wasn't going to work as a backup strategy, the time between restarts on my computers is measured in weeks.

It turns out the problem is that the Mac Pro requires a SATA 3 GB drive. (That's the data transfer speed, I believe.) A quick visit to Fry's and I had a 1.5 TB SATA 3 GB to replace the one I pulled, and it's working perfectly. (And it only cost $140, amazing!)

For now the drive I pulled from the iMac is sitting unused. I'll probably get an external enclosure for it at some point. But if you've got a Mac Pro, and finding that a drive disappears when the computer sleeps, check to see if the drive is up-to-spec. If it's an older drive, chances are its not.