I spent some time today exchanging Tweets and Email with friends about Apple’s new iPad and I think we’re on the same page. While I think it would be fun to have, much of the function is found in my iPod touch in a far more portable format.

The iPad does not replace my MBP laptop, or even my netbook (Toshiba N205). It’s tasks are very different. It is interesting to note I can use Adobe Flash apps and video on my laptops and netbook, but not the iPod or iPad. During the product introduction it was obvious Flash didn’t work for the video on the front page of the New York Times site. Yet the image of the Times front page on the Apple website shows content were the Flash video would appear. (update)

The name is dreadful. It was bad when Fujitsu used it in 2002. The Hamming distance between iPod and iPad was simply too powerful for marketing. It also plays on the idea that accessories for the iPod should work on the new device. This remains to be seen. (I preferred something more organic, iSlate, perhaps. Though this suffers from the same ‘i-ing’ of nouns.)

Increasingly, and my deepest concern, I feel left out of the loop on this class of devices. (iPod touch, Kindle, Nook, SonyReader, iPad, etc.) I don’t like being relegated to the role of consumer when I want to be a creator. It is almost as if I’m a ‘revenue stream’ first. Kris’ comment ‘designed for consuming, not creating’ hit home with me. That said, if you are looking to consume media, I don’t know why you would buy a Nook or Kindle, if you had a chance to see the iPad.

A killer app for the iPad could be home automation systems, using the ‘pad to control lights, heat & HVAC, A/V, and security (cameras?). Though the lack of multi-tasking limits monitoring capabilities. Touch panel or voice controled lights and heat, family logistics, ‘iPad, set the heat to 68′,’iPad, did we get any mail today?’, ‘iPad, do we need milk?’, ‘iPad, where are all my children?’.

I’m sure the iPad is beautiful and I intend to test is when it becomes available. It is compelling as a multi-touch development platform. Currently I don’t need a bigger iPod, but I might consider replacing my iPod touch with an iPad when the time comes.

I hope this doesn’t herald the end of ownership or the general purpose computer. A future in which I own nothing, but merely rent access. Where is the Terminal.app, rsync, Perl, Ruby? There is nothing raw or vulnerable about this device. My view of the world is limited to what I’m allowed to buy, not what I’m enabled to create. The iPad is a consumer, not a creator device. The expansion of slick, safe, closed systems prevent users from writing their own utilities or solving their own problems. Not all solutions can be downloaded from an app store. Ultimately, the iPad may be too safe for me.

Don’t protect me from myself. Provide the platform and get out of the way.

(See also: apple.com: iPad)
(See also: engadget: Fujitsu and Apple dispute iPad name)

(See also: engadget.com: Apple excises the false flash)

(See also: O’Reilly Radar: The iPad is the iPrius: Your Computer Consumerized)
(See also: New York Times: Will the iPad cause the end of Innovation)

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
#
# Quick and dirty dump and time-stamp of listed MySQL databases.
#
# by Timothy M. Kunau
# Note: There will be a point at which this will run out of diskspace for backs
#       and this script has no way of knowing. There is a companion script 
#       (find one-liner) that iterates through the ARCHIVES and erases files over 
#       a certain number of days old.
#       Assumes 'gzip' and 'mysqldump' are in the PATH.
#
#       Admittedly a bit fast and loose with variables and system returns. 
#       It might also be more useful if you could simply pass in the database name
#       as a variable.
#       These, and numerous other improvements, are left as an exercise for the reader.
 
my $workingdir = "/tmp";
my $host       = "localhost";
my $username   = "root";
my $pw         = "THE_ROOT_PASSWORD_FOR_YOUR_MYSQL_INSTANCE_GOES_HERE";
#
# Add a database you want to backup by name to the @dbs array below:
my @dbs        = qw{ hapmap_human concrete gallery2 wordpress };
 
###############  Nothing should need to change beyond this point.
 
# Create a $TIMESTAMP for log entry.
sub get_date {
   # brute force method
 
   my ($sec,$min,$hour,$mday,$mon,$year,$wday,$yday,$isdst) = localtime(time);
 
   if ($year < 10) { $year = "0$year"; }
   $year = $year + 1900;
   if ($mday < 10) { $mday = "0$mday"; }
   if ($hour < 10) { $hour = "0$hour"; }
   if ($min < 10) { $min = "0$min"; }
   if ($sec < 10) { $sec = "0$sec"; }
 
   # Format a $TIMESTAMP for easy sorting
   $monthord = $mon + 1;
   if ($monthord < 10) { $monthord = "0$monthord"; }
   $TIMESTAMP = "$year$monthord$mday$hour$min$sec";
}
 
####
 
# generate TIMESTAMP
&get_date;
 
foreach $db (@dbs) {
 
    # dump databse
    system("mysqldump --flush-logs --opt --host=$host --user=$username --password=$pw $db > $workingdir/$db-$TIMESTAMP.dmp");
 
    # compress dump file to save space
    system("gzip $workingdir/$db-$TIMESTAMP.dmp");
 
}
 
exit;

A simple place to begin, if you are looking for a script to backup your chosen MySQL databases. The code was written years ago and has been in production ever since. I haven’t had the chance or need to change it.

Suggestions for improvement are listed in the code. Please post your solutions in the comments.

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(See also: lipsum.com)

“Rhonda“, a 3D drawing tool developed by Amit Pitaru circa 2003.

(See also: Rhonda Project)
(See also: pitaru: sonic sculpture)
(See also: Drawn: Drawing in 3D with Rhonda)
(See also: The Rotten Fruit Tardis)
(See also: bitforms)

NASA is developing a new integrated Cloud Computing environment they call NEBULA at NASA Ames Research Center. NEBULA is an open-source project, built from the ground up with common tools: Eucalyptus, JAVA, LDAP, Lustre, MySQL, Python, SAML, Subversion, and TRAC. It will provide high-capacity computing, storage and network connectivity, and use a ‘virtualized, scalable approach to achieve cost and energy efficiencies’.

According to the NEBULA website:

The fully-integrated nature of the NEBULA components provides for extremely rapid development of policy-compliant and secure web applications, fosters and encourages code reuse, and improves the coherence and cohesiveness of NASA’s collaborative web applications. It is used for Education and Public Outreach, for collaboration and public input, and also for mission support.

NEBULA extends the Software-as-a-Service to the realm of Platform-as-a-Service and Infrastructure-as-a-Service. In the process, slaying several classic conundrums of computational collaboration.

I wish them the best of luck.

(See also: NEBULA site)
(See also: InformationWeek: NASA Launches Nebula Compute Cloud)
(See also: Open Eucalyptus project)
(See also: Eucalyptus Cloud Computing presentation)