Duck It Up

The “final challenge” at the 2012 Hacker Olympics in...

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 09:45:17 -0500

[Flash 10 is required to watch video.]

The “final challenge” at the 2012 Hacker Olympics in NYC

How I learned to stop worrying and love the Chromebook

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:15:35 -0500

There were two common questions I got after purchasing my Chromebook: 1) What is like to use it? and 2) Would you recommend it?

If you want to know what it is like to use a Chromebook just open the Chrome browser on your laptop, maximize it so it takes up the entire screen and don’t allow yourself to use anything else.

For the uninitiated, Chrome OS is basically* just the web browser. Chrome OS doesn’t allow you to install actual applications. There is a Chrome Web Store where you can “download” web applications, which are really just links / shortcuts to web sites that appear whenever you open a new empty tab. The user is kept in a sandbox, not allowed to install applications directly or change system settings. (Unless you activate ‘Developer Mode’, more on that later.) This creates a very secure environment for the everyday user without the need for malware or virus scanners.

Google built the OS under the (completely accurate) premise that increasing amount of what people do on a computer is done through a web browser. However…

Major Problem 1: Internet Connectivity

Chrome OS’s largest asset is also its obvious weakness: “The Cloud”. If you don’t have any Internet access there’s not much you can do with a laptop that only runs web applications and so the Chromebook basically becomes paperweight.

Major Problem 2: Applications

Chrome OS excels at the everyday stuff. If you want to check your webmail, browse some news sites, visit a social network or two, maybe watch a streaming video on Netflix or Hulu, check your finances or even play Angry Birds the Chromebook is great. I would imagine that for many people that represents 90%-95% of what they need to do on a personal computer, especially at home.

For work, in place of Office applications like Word, Excel and PowerPoint, Google offers Google Docs. While Google Spreadsheets does appear to be able to handle pivot tables and some of the more complex functions required for some of the larger data / business case models I’ve had to build, it is still slow and clunky. And, I have never been able to properly convert a PowerPoint into a Google Presentation without it needing to be almost completely re-edited. (Additionally, if you require heavy computing power for resource intensive applications like video editing, Chrome OS is probably not for you.)

Enhancements to HTML5 and back-end web coding may one day make it possible for all those applications to operate on the cloud, but we are not there yet.

Minor Problem: Resizing Windows

This is more of a personal peeve but I don’t like that you can’t re-size the windows / tabs in the Chrome OS. Sometimes I like have two browser windows open at once on the same screen.

My fix for the Chromebook

A couple of weeks ago I installed the latest version Unbuntu Linux on my Chromebook and it has solved all of the problems listed above. I won’t go though the various technical details of how I did this (there are links that I can provide if you are interested) but now I have the ability to very easily switch between booting up Linux or booting up the Chrome OS. When I know I just want to do web stuff I boot up the Chrome OS and when I know I need to do something like complex data modelling and/or I’m not going have an Internet connection I run Linux. Plus, as you can see in the picture above, I can run the Chrome browser in Linux, for those times I really need both functionalities at the same time.

The cool thing is that Google actually encourages this. There is page on an official Google website entitled “Poking around your Chrome OS device” that shows you how to activate ‘Developer Mode’ and thus allow you to install applications or change system settings. (http://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/poking-around-your-chrome-os-device) Google has built something that is great, but they admit that it isn’t perfect AND they get that because I purchased this product I should be able to do whatever I want with it. (Apple, take note.)

So, would I recommend a Chromebook? Not yet. I think the Chrome OS might have been released slightly ahead of its time. We live in a world that’s not quite ready to live entirely on the cloud.

(* For the more geeky folks reading this [Shahid?], Chrome OS is actually a web browser built on top of a custom Linux-based operating system.)

"@shahidhussain: @pinzler PINZLER FOR PRESIDENT #duckitup"

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:30:21 -0500

“@shahidhussain: @pinzler PINZLER FOR PRESIDENT #duckitup”

- http://bit.ly/xHpEOk

"Duck it up!" explained...

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:59:09 -0500

It all started during an IM chat with a friend of mine…

Friend: I have a lunch today with the new director and our VP today
do I want, Pizza with Ricotta and Spinach or a Seared Duck Breast Salad?

Pinzler: well, I would imagine the duck is more expensive?

Friend: actually, it’s not

Pinzler: oh, well then, Duck it up!

Friend: lol

… then a few minutes later ….

Friend: oh, but I smell something pizza-y now…

Pinzler: DUCK IT UP!

Not long after this exchange I realized that this wasn’t a half-bad life philosophy. A sort of portmanteau of “Do it up” and “Duck”. Take things seriously but don’t be forget to have fun too. Do something with purpose while not taking yourself too seriously. Duck it up.

Then I found (stole) the perfect mascot. The Cadillac Catera (1997-2001) was marketed as the “Caddy that zigs” and featured advertisements starring an animated red duck called “Ziggy”. According to Cadillac, “Ziggy has the sole mission of bringing fun to the luxury of Cadillac.” Duck it up, indeed.

So, duckitup.com will serve as my blog home for the funny, cool and/or interesting things I come across, usually related to tech or media, that I need more than 140 characters to explain.

Finally, as an added bonus, if you tweet with the hashtag #duckitup (after passing through a screening process enabled by ifttt.com) that tweet will be posted on this blog. Don’t abuse it.

It looks like the most “amazing” thing to come out...

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:50:24 -0500

It looks like the most “amazing” thing to come out of CES this year is the iNuke Boom. Pictured above (yeah, that’s not the booth, that’s the actual product), the iNuke Boom is an 8-foot, 700-plus pound iPod dock that can push out a staggering 10,000 watts, and it only costs $29,999! I’ve always wanted an accessory for my portable music device that requires a truck and a team of movers to travel with. #DuckItUp!

So, I recently completed federal jury duty for the Eastern...

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:18:57 -0500

So, I recently completed federal jury duty for the Eastern District of New York. (The Eastern District covers Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Nassau & Suffolk counties.) I’ve been going back and forth about how to write about this in a public forum. I decided that I don’t want to share some of my experiences here that, while I think are quite amusing, might in some way inadvertently unravel the outcome of the case I spent four days on. (More than happy to talk about it privately!) Also, the case was reported here: http://forward.com/articles/149459/

One of the many things in the “grab bag” of gifts I...

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 19:44:02 -0500

One of the many things in the “grab bag” of gifts I got for my secret santa at the office. That’s right, not one heart but double hearts! (Other items in the bag included a silver tiara, a santa hat, a DVD of the 1971 movie “Evel Knievel” staring George Hamilton, a pill dispenser actually called “The Pill Popper”, and some hot pink ear muffs.)