iFail

I was going to write a long, witty, heck, memorable piece about the just-announced iPad, drawing on my experiences with the mourned Newton MessagePads, the GO/EO PEN-based tablets, the many Palm Treo iterations through which I suffered, but I’m drained by the mediocre specifications.

@SenatorGrant summarized it best: “no camera, no usb, no unique value prop[osition], no way #ipadfail”

Let me get this straight: a writing-paper-sized iPhone without the ability to make phone calls or videoconference? No camera? Can’t leave my iPhone or MacBook Pro at home? Clearly I’m not the target demographic. It’ll be easy not to buy this. I’m already waiting to see if the next release is worthy.

iFail, indeed.

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Location:Market St,San Francisco,United States

Liveblogging Sucky Weather Sucks

Liveblogging the weather is compelling for the blogger but only marginally interesting. That having been said I beg your indulgence in documenting the heavy rain, high wind, and rare thunderstorms slamming San Francisco.

I guess I picked a cold time to become clean-shaven for the first time in a decade. It just felt like the right time.

My cheeks feel the 28 mph wind! Argh!

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Location:Elizabeth St,San Francisco,United States

3G at Moscone = FAIL

Good grief, the 3G service at the Moscone convention center is beyond miserable: it’s almost at a standstill.

What an embarassment!

The free WiFi isn’t much better. The best I’ve seen today os 0.05 Mb down, 0.08 up.

I recall when, a few years ago, the management said they’d upgraded capacity for a Macworld Expo. It seems they’ve done nothing since.

Time for someone to hang their heads in shame. I’m looking at you, AT&T, and Moscone mgmt. FAIL.

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Location:Howard St,San Francisco,United States

Fancy Foods Show at Moscone

I just realized that today is the Fancy Foods Show at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Yeah!

January for me has been Macworld Expo (since 1985) and, for the last several years, the Fancy Foods Show. The former has been moved, but the latter is on, thanks be.

Every year I hang out in the international pavillion, eschewing the too-sweet candies that litter much oh the show. Good dark chocolates excepted, of course.

Previous finds have included truffle pâté and oils, breseola, awesome coffees, and, last year, Sardinian cuisine. Who knows what’s in store for this year?

So here I am, on the subway, heading downtown. Updates to follow.

Cheese! How in the world did I forget cheese?

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Location:Market St,San Francisco,United States

Thanks be I don’t need much sleep

I’m really enjoying driving around San Francisco, taking pictures and collecting locations with Gowalla.

It’s beautiful out here!

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Location:The Embarcadero,San Francisco,United States

Laptop thefts at San Francisco cafés

Our local SFPD patrol officer just stopped by to warn us of a series of unattended laptop thefts at San Francisco cafés.

It happened at Bernie’s Café last autumn, a café in the Mission last week, and Starbucks in Noe Valley yesterday.

I’ve been looking at buying one of the Tryten cable locks but they’re not very good about responding to email and have a tiny footprint when I search. They may have sold a bunch of them, but nobody’s talking… which isn’t the case with Kensington cable locks, which seem to have damaged a good number of MacBook Pros.

Anyhow, be mindful of your portable computing toys. You We have been warned.

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Location:24th St,San Francisco,United States

A plateau at two belt sizes down

My body is fighting back.

As I approach a twenty-pound weight loss – about a third of my goal – it’s holding on to all the pâté de foie gras and caffe lattes I’ve enjoyed over the years.
I’ve heard folks describe plateaus, in both fitness and martial arts, as being both frustrating and demoralizing. They’re right on both accounts.
I’ll be keeping to my plan on the weekends, as that seems to be slowing things down, and just see how that goes.
I’m lamenting not taking any kind of “before” pictures when I started being mindful of my caloric intake, around thanksgiving. So it goes.
Two belt sizes down is a cause to celebrate, albeit without chocolate macaroons. I’ll celebrate with a bit of sunshine in the 60F weather; a great improvement over the mid-40s of recent weeks.

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Location:24th St,San Francisco,United States

Burning Man tickets go on sale tomorrow!

Burning Man tickets go on sale tomorrow!

The less expensive tiers will sell out quickly, so jump into the queue early!

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Child-friendly Union City

Continuing our travels, we wind up in Union City near a playground with a view of BART. Lunch is at Mr. Kebab, a kid-friendly halal place with a plaza and outdoor seating.

Lots of places to take a kid when outside SF.

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Location:Union Square,Union City,United States

Child-friendly San Carlos

Isaac has become quite enamored of the flight simulator gallery at the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos.

I prefer coming down here to buying the same software and hardware at home because of the social component: Isaac helps out with other visitors.

Downtown San Carlos, on the other side of Hwy 101, has a reasonable walking stretch populated with coffeeshops, antique shops, eateries – from Italian to Indian – and an ice cream parlor.

It’s not too far from the Pacific coast, with Half Moon Bay and Pacifica, nor from the walking trails at Crystal Springs.

One could have quite a varied day down here, kids included.

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BlogPress on my iPhone.

Location:Holly St,San Carlos,United States