Business card - probably late 80's

While I was sorting out some old books to get rid of recently (I only managed to force myself to get rid of about a dozen or so) I came across an old business card of mine that had been used as a bookmark.

To be honest, most of my business cards from that, or any other, time got used more as bookmarks than as business cards. We could only order them in boxes of 100 and before many were used either your job would change, or the company would reorganise and your division would change, or the company name would change. I think that only particularly prolific salesmen ever had to re-order.

I used to get mine with my home address and phone number on the back so at least they had some shelf-life for personal purposes.

Judging by the logo, this one was probably late 80′s or maybe early 90′s and two things stand out for me. First of all the telephone number – we still had 01 for London so it was before the changes to 071/081 and 0208 and whatever they have now up in that London. The other thing was the email address, or lack of email address.

I think we had email then, but it was internal. Even when we got internet mail addresses it took a while for people to start putting them on cards because nobody really used it. There was a Telex number on there though, and note that the fax number is on an extension.

Younger people might wonder how you could fax to an extension, but of course back then you used to talk to people before you actually sent a fax – you would have to ask them what type of fax machine they had and make sure your one was set up the same. Possibly you had to agree on a baud rate to use – all the handshaking stuff that later fax machines would do automatically.

Add those technological remininscences to the personal and career memories, there is a lot of wistful nostalgia associated with this one tatty bit of card. I think I will hang on to it and the next time I get users complaining that they found themselves unable to access email from the back seat of a taxi in Indonesia or something I shall look at it and an inner calm will descend as I remember that we would spend weeks at a time on trips overseas without any real connection back home at all.

On the face of it this is a good thing. At the moment there are only 19 IMAX screens in the UK, so it is a bit of a coup. The only worrying thing is that there is a bit of controversy about whether some of the newer screens are proper IMAX or just big screens. I went to one of the proper ones, the one at Waterloo, and it really is stunning with the steeply raked seating which puts you close to the screen which fills your field of vision.

Some people (like Roger Ebert) have been less than impressed with the retro-fitted digital IMAX screens and feel they are not sufficiently different to a normal multiplex screen to warrant the extra few pounds on the ticket.

I’ll wait and see what the new one in Crawley is like, but I’ve got a bad feeling about it at the moment. I also have a feeling that the distiction of being one of only 20 screens in the country will be short-lived if it is such an easy makeover – the large chains will be converting existing screens all over the place if it is that easy.

The thing is, there would easily be a market for a proper, purpose-built, IMAX screen in the area in addition to the existing screens so if the new one turns out to be the same seating, same digital projection, and same sound but just a slightly larger screen it will be a missed opportunity.

Any cinema technology anoraks out there got a more informed opinion on this?

I’m sure there are lots of things you can do on LinkedIn but I don’t do them. I just accept invites from other people and very little else. I don’t list all my previous jobs including full descriptions using key buzzwords and I certainly don’t pay for an upgraded account. Now I’m getting a little worried.

I know that the site is sometimes used by companies to headhunt people for specific jobs and also by recruiters to check up on applications they receive. If I ever need to change jobs and anybody looks me up they will find an very incomplete set of contacts, quite a small list for 30 years of work, and sketchy descriptions of some old jobs. Would it be better for them to find nothing rather than such a half-arsed set of data?

In other words, should I make an effort to really make myself shine on LinkedIn, delete myself from it or just leave it as it is? Part of me says that the first option is for the sort of person who is a lot more driven than I am.

Anybody got any strong opinions about the benefits or perils of LinkedIn?

I feel a bit decadent having two e-book readers, and it might seem a bit excessive, but then I have two cameras, two mp3 players and two computers which are used for different circumstances so why not?

The big question is whether the concept of an e-book is attractive compared to paper copies. I took the Sony away on holiday this year and found it to be fine. Holidays are when these devices come into their own unless you are only likely to get through one book while you are away. I read Oliver Twist, the first Psmith book, an EE ‘Doc’ Smith novel and a Harry Harrison short story, which would have been a bit much to carry.

The technology used in both devices is E Ink which is not backlit like a computer, phone or tablet screen, making it easier on the eyes – important for longer sessions, and better in bright light. I had no trouble reading in the sunshine.

Why not just stick with books? Well, I do like books, but I’ve now reached the point where I don’t have room for many more. I find it hard to throw old ones away to make room for new ones, and I found it just as easy to read electronically.

Why not just use a laptop, tablet or smartphone? Well, the form factor has a lot to do with it. A phone is too small for comfort and a laptop or tablet isn’t really portable enough, plus there is the advantage of the display technology. The Sony Reader fits in a jacket pocket or a cargo pants pocket.

There might be an argument for having one device that does everything, but I’m a bit old-fashioned. I like having a dedicated and seperate camera, mp3 player, phone and book reader, but that’s how I am.

The big question is why I wanted a Kindle when I already had a Sony. The Kindle is obviously the market leader now, but that has never really affected my decisions before. I have had an mp3 player for at least 10 years now but never had an iPod.

In this case the software had a lot to do with the decision. As they did with their mp3 walkman products, Sony have a nice piece of hardware let down by the software. I have started using some open source software called calibre (it is spelled with a small c) instead, but I am still a bit distrustful of how it handles DRM. I am quite happy to continue downloading classics from Project Gutenberg to the Sony but never really trusted it enough to buy anything for it.

The same issue existed with mp3 players for a while, but it soon became easy to purchase DRM-free content, and until then it was still easy to rip your own CDs. With book readers you can’t just rip your paper books onto a computer so unless you want to be limited to out-of-copyright books you can’t avoid DRM.

So, onto a bit of a comparison between the two machines: a Sony Reader PRS-300 and the Kindle 2011 model AKA the 4th generation Kindle.

Sony PRS-300 (left) and 4th Generation Kindle (right)

In terms of size, they are very similar. The Kindle is a little bit wider than the Sony (about 50mm?) and a little bit taller (about 75mm?) but a little slimmer. It is only a few mm thinner, though it looks more because of the more bezeled edges. The Sony is noticeably heavier though, and the Kindle screen is a lot bigger – about 15mm wider and 2cm taller.

The Sony on top of the Kindle

The Sony feels more solid than the Kindle, though neither feels too flimsy. Both have a hard front with a more tactile surface on the back.

In terms of display, both are adequate, but I find the Kindle to be a bit sharper with a better contrast. It just looks that little bit more like paper than the Sony.

Side-by-side with the same text being displayed

The Sony has a standard mini-USB port plus a DC power port. The Kindle just has a (less standard) USB port for charging and data transfer. You can charge the Sony up via the USB port but, in my experience, only from a computer and not from a mains USB charger. I discovered that the hard way on holiday when the battery was running low and the charger sucked the remaining life out of it instead of topping it up.

The Sony comes with a USB cable but not a DC adaptor. The Kindle comes with an extraordinarily long (2-metre) USB cable. The Kindle cable will charge up the machine from a mains adaptor and not suck the battery: that was one of the first things I tested.

When reading I find that the Kindle turns pages faster and starts up faster. The options for changing type size are also better on the Kindle. The Sony only has three sizes that you can toggle between, with quite a frustrating pause before re-rendering. The Kindle has eight font sizes in three different styles, as well as a few extra display options.

The other features which Kindle has that the Sony lacks are the ability to look up words easily and to make notes. Bookmarking is available in both but I have to admit I always found that fiddly on the Sony. The numbered buttons on the Sony are nice. In theory it is quicker than scrolling down, though I kep forgetting about them and scrolling down anyway. The round four-way control on the Sony is a little less fiddly to use as it is much bigger than the square control on the Kindle, but on balance I would rather have the extra couple of centimetres of screen and put up with the smaller button, which is still quite usable.

Selecting a book on the Kindle (not that I have much on there to choose from yet)

Really it just works better for me.

I guess the biggest difference between the two is the connectivity. The Sony has no wifi so you have to transfer books by USB. To do that, you download a book from wherever and import it into your library on your PC and then synch that to the device. I really got my knickers in a twist doing this with the Sony software before I finally gave up and moved to an alternative. Even after that there still remains an issue with the device taking its time to be ready afterwards – like it is redoing its index or something.

With the Kindle there are several options. You can still download a book from Project Gutenberg and then transfer it via USB, or you can have anything purchased from Amazon transferred by wifi either from their website or from the Kindle itself.

I have downloaded a couple of old books from PG which worked fine, and also downloaded from Amazon. I bought a book for Jayne’s machine and downloaded a couple of samples for mine. If I decide I want to read the whole thing I can then buy the rest. All very easy, although I am acutely aware that my purchased books could, in theory, disappear if Amazon disappeared. That is a potential issue with any sort of DRM media and I have decided to trust it for this.

There is a bit of a limitation, in that you are tied to Amazon for purchases, which is a new experience for me. Having never had an Apple product I am not used to being tied to one provider. On the other had there is an advantage – all your purchases are backed up in the cloud. If you ever lose the Kindle or break it or upgrade sometime in the future, all the content can be synched to the new machine.

I think I will keep both machines. Any classics I download will go onto both, but my first choice for actually reading them will be the Kindle, especially on holiday when it means Jayne and I can share a charger. The Sony will be kept because there are some file formats it can handle which the Kindle can’t. It is possible to convert them on your PC or by e-mailing them to Amazon, who will convert them and send them by wifi for free, but the conversion can get a bit scrambled if there is any fancy formatting.

The final verdict: despite the better open source credentials of the Sony the Kindle wins for me.

As for the concept, there is a lot of speculation about whether the paper book’s days are numbered. I don’t know about that, what I do know is that a lot of people now have these machines and you can’t use them without reading books (or newspapers or blogs I suppose) and there is a part of me that likes the idea that there is going to be more reading going  – surely better for you than playing Angry Birds or watching Eastenders on the daily commute.

It might be because I didn’t set up all the mail accounts I had on the old PC, some of which only ever received junk mail and spam, but I’m sure I used to get spam on my ‘real’ email addresses too. The thing is that my mail comes via several different providers so it can’t be them all tightening up their filters at the same time. Not complaining, just wondering.

At the same time, the number of spam phone calls we get is increasing enormously. There is always somebody trying to persuade us to chase banks for PPI refunds, make a claim for an accident, change our gas supplier, or something like that. The other day we even had that company who try to con you into thinking you have a virus so you buy their anti-virus software. It has got to the point where we rarely even bother to pick up the phone if it rings before 8pm, and sometimes unplug it completely. I would even consider getting rid of it except it would probably cost more to do that because of the way the TV/phone/broadband bundles work.

As it is I reloaded all the data from an external hard drive (always keep a copy!) while re-installing software from scratch. The anti-virus was first, then Firefox, Chrome, Spotify, Last.FM, iTunes and PhotoFiltre to download. MS Office was next, which involved downloading and some calls to the MS customer support number to get itactivated. PaintShop Pro and Photoshop Elements were next and surprisingly that was no problem – I have always found Adobe to be fussy about licence keys .

It was all a bit slow, but then thre was a lot of data transfer going on, followed by iTunes and Windows Media Player searching for podcasts and music files respectively and updating their libraries. Actually the WMP library update took forever.

Finally I set up email accounts on Outlook and was quite pleased to find not nearly as much spam as I was expecting.

I’ve got the printer drivers set up but still need to install the software from the Flip and Sony Reader and then whatever other bits and pieces I can think of. For old times’ sake I shall reinstall some of the iRiver software since the trusty old HP120 does still work.

I supppose that now everything is up and running again I should think about actually doing some work before I get tempted to install Age of Empires and Rise of Nations. I’m looking forward to the possibilities of photo editing with two monitors at my disposal.

Amazed that in the middle of the breakdown of society in Libya they seem to have a better internet connection than Virgin Media can manage in Sussex.

Keen-eyed regular readers will have noticed the unavailablility of this site for a few days and wondered whether it was the latest victim of Anonymous or Lulzsec or a Tory conspiracy. Nothing so exciting: just technical problems. I won’t describe the problems in painful detail, but I might get tedious in describing the fix.The first I noticed that anything was wrong was that I kept getting an error message about not finding the database – a serious matter when you consider that a WordPress blog is basically just one big database. I remembered getting some emails from the hosting company about moving servers to Utah and used Occam’s Razor to put two and two together.

I logged a call and, sure enough, they found that a setting was wrong and had put it right. Unfortunately this just led to a different error – the page you get when you are installing WordPress. A quick look behind the scenes in phpMyAdmin showed that the database had no tables and was taking up no space. So an empty database, which is why any admin functions redirected to the install command, assuming it was a new site.

I pointed this out to tech support and they confirmed that something must have gone wrong during the move and came up with several options. Unfortunately they then found that the database on the old server was corrupted somehow so re-migrating stopped being an option. This corruption might also explain why the database didn’t transfer I guess.

It was a bit of a worry when they asked me if I had any backups. I have been a bit slack with backing up the database, but was pleasantly surprised to find a backup as recent as about a month ago. It would mean losing a month’s worth of posts and comments, but I have been slack at posting recently as well, so not as bad as it could have been.

The old backup was imported and I was set to go. The first problem was that I couldn’t log in, which upset me for a moment until I remembered that I had very recently changed the admin login to make everything more secure, and the database backup was done before that, so I just had to login with the old account name and password.

With that first scare out of the way, the next thing was that WordPress told me the database was inthe wrong format and needed to be converted. WTF? Then I remembered the reason why I did the backup – it was prior to upgrading WordPress so was still in the format of the previous version. That seemed fair enough, so I let WordPress upgrade the database.

At this point everything looked fine, except for missing all the content for a month. I was actually able to recover most of it by going through Google and finding cached versions of everything. Nearly everything anyway. It seems that Google doesn’t keep cached pages forever and one post was just too old to be there.

I figured that I had done well to get back all the posts except one, and then on a whim decided to try a different search engine. I had a look at Bing and straight away got a cached copy of the missing post. I must remember to stop mentally writing off Bing because in this case it has proved superior to Google.

If I wanted to get really anal about it all I could probably have got enough details of comments and put a lot of them back manually, but that would have taken a long time, so I didn’t.

To make up for being slack with backups I decided to be thorough about the recovery. I left a dummy index page up to stop anybody else accessing the site while I checked everything out.

One thing I did was deactivate the plugins that update Facebook and Twitter when a new post is published. I didn’t want to flood anybody’s timelines with a loads of updates about old posts being republished manually. When I reactivated them I found that the Facebook one wouldn’t connect properly.

There was an error message about a possible conflict with another plugin which isn’t updated for changed to Facebook’s API. I wasted a lot of time deactivating and reactivating plugins to try and track down the clash, even though I couldn’t see how any of the other plugins would use the Facebook API except possibly Sociable. At this point I looked at the Wordbook plugin’s website and found hundreds of comments from other people complaining of exactly the same thing since upgrading WordPress, so it wasn’t anything to do with my own disaster recovery.

Before making the site live again, I made a fresh backup of the database. No point making mistakes if you are not going to learn from them! I now have a nice new backup in the right format, and with all the right admin account details. Not only that, but I have set up a scheduled backup to run weekly.

Everything looks OK now except for one annoying thing. I have noticed that lots (most?) old posts and pages have the character  all over the place. I haven’t studied it to establish a pattern beyond doubt, but it looks like the  is always cropping up before a double space. I like to put a double space after a full stop, so it is nearly always after a full stop, but I think it is the double space which is more significant.

I guess I could edit everyone of nearly 4000 posts manually and delete any  I find. That sounds like a lot of hard work. The other option might be to try a find & replace command in SQL to delete it, or to replace “ ” with ” “. That sounds more elegant, but scares the crap out of me.

I have done some find & replace on the database before without any ill effects but it could all go horribly wrong if the command is not exactly right. Obviously I would do a backup first, but even so… If nothing else it would make this post look stup because it has lots of deliberate Âs that would disappear.

A good candidate for the back burner I think.

Looking at the database structure a bit behind the scenes, I noticed that a lot of the tables are in a Swedish format/character set and I wonder if that is related. The thing is I never looked beforehand. Perhaps it has always been like that.

Think I’ll try to not worry about it for now. More of a worry is that everything seems terribly slow since the move, something I’ll have to keep an eye on, but do let me know if you have trouble: it is all evidence I can use to get tech support to look into it.