Rants and comments on lifestyle, virtuality, software engineering and other worthy issues
I always knew that one of the best ways to increase success was to lower expectations.
Yes. I am being cynical. This is what the guys at Despair, Inc. excel at. Their range of Demotivators® is absolutely awesome. A warning before you go: you really need to love corrosive humour to enjoy Despair.
Enjoy.
Is it a curse?
Mike Papazoglou gave an interesting keynote talk at ENASE 2009 in Milan last week. I especially enjoyed this sentence:
Do you remember programming languages?
He said that in a longing, melancholic tone, as if he was reaching deep inside his memories of long gone conferences of yore when people actually discussed programming languages. It’s true. We don’t discuss programming languages nowadays. They seem to have been relegated to specialised conferences. Programming used to be most of what software was. Today, it’s just a small part. A very small one.
I am just back from ENASE 2009 in Milan, Italy. The good thing for a Spaniard like me about travelling to Italy is that you get to taste yummy Italian food. And you get to see beautiful landscapes and monuments. And you get to practice your Italian. Oh, and yes. The iPhone.
See, I think it’s pathetic that Apple sells the iPhone in Spain exclusively through Telefonica, one of the carriers here, so that you either sign up with Telefonica, pay them outrageous fees and sign in blood that you won’t leave them before two years… or you, well, get yourself a cheap imitator of the iPhone.
I have been a customer of Vodafone for ages, and I am not going to switch carriers now. And, if I switch carriers, it will not be to join Telefonica. I am resonably happy with Vodafone; as happy as one can be in a vampiric relationship with a carrier, that is. The only thing that I was missing was an iPhone.
Continue reading ‘Apple and Vodafone work together in Spain’
Here.
Perspective is a very powerful thing. Perspectives can change. Perspectives can be altered.
– Jill Tarter
What’s worse than being a victim of the rip-off fees of airport wi-fi internet access?
No wi-fi internet access at all.
Indeed, today I realised that Santiago de Compostela airport totally lacks internet connectivity for passengers. Not a single hot spot. Nothing. Nil. Nada.
In fact, I asked at an information counter and the lady there seemed a bit embarrassed when she said “no, there is none”. She added “I am sorry”, which, being this country what it is, means an awful lot.
I know, Santiago is not a big airport. But it has regular international flights and it’s the largest of Galicia. I can’t believe that kubi or some of the other usual wi-fi vampires haven’t yet colonised this place. Are you listening? I am willing to pay 4 € for 30 minutes!
I got my new iPod today. Apple received my broken one in the morning and shipped a new one that same afternoon. After a full synch with iTunes, it’s up and running again.
Linda was right: they have delivered. 
I am sad.
The other day I was on the bus watching a TED talk video on my iPod Touch when, out of the blue, the screen went white. Well, not exactly white. It started displaying some weird kind of horizontal white stripes that made things really hard to see or read. It looked milky.
So I dived into the web and engaged Apple’s customer service. In a couple of days they sent a UPS return package for me to send them my iPod. I am expected to live without it for a few days (I hope it’s not longer than that!) until they fix it.
How did I manage to survive before?
We have elections in Galicia this Sunday. Current president Touriño had his face neatly decorated like this at my usual bus stop tonight:
Defaced 1
The photo is crappy because it was made with my phone camera and it was dark.
