Headworx

I used to use the iPad a lot in the past. But over the last year I've found myself using it less often. I think there have been three reasons for this decline and I have been able to get rid of at least two of them. Reason number one (and this one is still there) is the small "phone" form-factor apps have been getting increasingly better. Getting things done with just a phone is not only possible today but often it is the most effective way. App UX designers target the largest audience and these are phone users. I even find it quite convenient to watch (offline) YouTube videos on the phone ( the battery drain bug is still there - so be careful! ). Not movies but blog-type videos, where the audio track is really where the content is. Reason number two was the battery in my iPad was discharging quickly. It is a 3rd party battery. Apple does not replace the battery, replacing the whole device instead. I did not want to go through the iPad erase/restore process ( it is tediou...

The Karlsson Nixie clock (by Peter van der Jagt 1997) is very stylish. One of the first of the kind and definitely setting the trend. Unfortunately it does not hold the time after a power outage. For quite some time I was thinking of adding a time synchronization module. Initially the idea was to use the long wave radio receiving the DCF77 signal. DCF77 is increasingly more problematic as the 77kHz frequency is impacted by the totality of high frequency digital power supplies that generate lots of radio noise. The alternative is of course fully digital, relying on an Internet time source, based on the NTP protocol. Surprisingly (or not) the NTP-based module has proven to be super easy to build these days (...with the help of AI). Actually I wanted to kill two birds with one stone: have the bloody clock display the right time and also test Claude's capabilities as a junior embedded software / electronics coworker. Both goals have been achieved. I found it entertaining, educating, ...

My knee has been getting better and I was told that bicycle would be a much better recovery exercise than trail running. That is kind of obvious - less stress and better joint stabilization. September has also proven to be a great time for a bit of off-road / gravel biking. Not too hot and very nice scenery, especially in mornings or at sunset.  Sunset rides also mean returning after dark. Which means the bike needed a good light. That was planned from the very beginning, especially with some longer off-the-grid trips I had in mind.  When I was a kid, most bikes had attached dynamos, friction- powered by a rotating tire. That system was problematic - the friction was significant and did not work when the tire was wet. Also the additional tire wear was not negligible.  But now we have dynamo hubs. I chose the German SON , as it bears some convincing German engineering - like moisture protection. The hub also removes all issues of the old design: works always (even when wet...

We have clearly got carried away with AI. I'm hearing singularity, AGI, fully automated economy... Yet the truth is the basic IT services and apps just suck. They are often pretty and that seems to be sufficient for most complacent users, yet the quality of their output is really, really bad. A year ago I was complaining about the Flighty app . Pretty but totally inaccurate. Google Calendar is not that much better - it fails on some most critical tasks. Like managing date / time on trans - Pacific flights. These flights are tricky because they cross the date line: going west you lose a day, going east you gain a day. My typical east-bound itineraries are via Los Angeles or San Francisco, where I have other connecting flights. These flights are always part of the same booking and they usually include a 1-3 hours layover. Looking at the departing times of the connecting flights, they often depart on the same day as the long haul Asia -> America flight, but nominally at an earlier ...

I lost my passport when changing planes in San Francisco. Arrived from Seoul, Korea, on the way to Denver, Colorado. Deplaning was fast and immigration even faster. The bag was already on the carousel. I headed to the United bag re-check area, then visited a bathroom and cleared the US security screening with ample time to reach my connecting flight.  Re-checking my belongings after the security I realized the passport was missing. And immediately I remembered I had it in my hand when exiting the customs and put it on a shelf in the bathroom at the bag re-check area. I would have realized earlier as security checkpoint requires passports, but I had Clear+ , so breezed through the checks without any documents. I made an attempt to get back to where I left it, but it just did not work. San Francisco airport undergoes heavy modernization and terminal patterns are not what they used to be. Suffice to say the United flight from Seoul arrived at gates B, which is T2 (the Delta terminal)....

Last week I had an overnight layover at the San Francisco airport. Landed in the afternoon and then took the hotel shuttle bus to the nearby hotel. It turned out the bus could not enter the hotel parking area: the automatic barriers were lowered and a number of cars before us was already lined up. We ended up disembarking the bus on the street and walking up to the hotel. The front door did not open. "We have a power outage" - a staff member explained - please use the side door. I did. Then the check-in was by means of writing my name and CC number on a piece of paper and walking up the stairs to the 3rd floor. I still could open my room with the keycard (battery-operated?) but inside it was dead silent - no usual ventilation hum. There was no WiFi either.  They fixed the power in the evening, but many systems still did not work. Elevators required a service company next day to get started. WiFi was on but the captive portal did not work until next morning. This whole situati...

Last week, with 184 visa-free countries, Polish passport has moved up to #5 rank globally. Interestingly there are 3 other post-communist European eastern block countries at #5. Actually positions 3-8 are all occupied by European countries. #1 is Singapore an #2 Japan and Korea. This is just one illustration of the transformation the former Soviet-block countries have gone through. But also Europe as such, despite much criticism about bureaucracy, poor state-driven economy, lack of entrepreneurial spirit and general over-regulation, to quote Fareed Zakaria, Europe has done something very extraordinary, even as it has declined in terms of raw power. Europe has shown that past a certain level of economic wealth, what matters is not just sheer economic wealth. What matters is quality of life, what matters is certain level of equality, and things like that Europeans have. For most of history, general quality of life was closely correlated with wealth. The richer you were, the better. A...