Back in February of 2006 I wrote (well actually, I didn’t write much) about an incredible video I’d come across which demonstrates a technology which I thought represented a bright future in computer/user interaction. The inventor of the interface technology and co-founder of the company which produced the device you see in the video is a guy by the name of Jefferson Han, a research scientist at New York University.

It was clear from the moment that initial demo hit the internet that this technology was going to be big. It has immediate implications for corporate boardrooms, military command centers, sports training rooms, or really any scenario where a group of people wants to share and single screen and interact with a great deal of visual information. What wasn’t immediately clear however was how and when this technology would make it’s way into the consumer market. The possibilities seemed endless, but who would harness it into something useful?

Fast forward a little over a year to last night, when Microsoft announced their Microsoft Surface technology which is based on Han’s work. Although there have already been a few consumer devices announced which will incorporate this technology, most notably the Apple iPhone which is scheduled for release next month, none have succeeded in truly capturing the potential of this great leap in user interaction until now. With Surface, Microsoft is not only taking a stab at bringing a great technology to the masses, they are also casting off nearly a decade old shroud of irrelevance when it comes to developing and introducing new and exiting technologies to the public. Sure, they have always been there when it comes to keeping up with the demand for new technology in a changing market place, but when was the last time Microsoft was responsible for introducing something to the consumer market that was truly revolutionary? This is, after all, the company who is largely responsible for the way in which we interact with computers every day of our lives. The innovation they showed in the 80s and 90s which brought us Microsoft Windows and Office have impacted us all weather we want to admit it or not.

Since the mid 90s by contrast, Microsoft has been playing catch up with a number of other innovators in the industry. As an avid Apple user, I’d be quick to point out that a large number of advances from Microsoft in the past 5 years or so have been in direct response to groundbreaking advances by our friends in Cupertino. The same trend holds true throughout most of the Microsoft portfolio. Windows borrowing from OS X, Windows Mobile borrowing from other mobile device software makers, and the Zune? give me a break.

I should mention that a lot of people consider Microsoft’s new(ish) ribbon interface to be a very significant advancement in computer interactions. While I’m not able to comment from personal experience, I feel like ribbon is a great direction for UI, but not a fundamental change in the way we interact with computers. Ribbon still involves a mouse, and a keyboard. It may be true that ribbon makes it more intuitive to use a complex application, users are still required to think like a computer before they can successfully interact with it. More importantly, ribbon is simply a more efficient way (in most people’s opinion) to achieve the same results, with similar behavior that we are all familiar with. People who already use Office every day will enjoy the benefit of the new UI, but it doesn’t attempt to add additional functionality to the machine.

With their efforts to lead the multi-touch charge with Surface, Microsoft is sending a message to the world that they aren’t just the world’s largest software pusher, they still care about technology and want to help make peoples lives easier and more fulfilling through creative uses of computing power. This breakthrough will usher in a a whole realm of new possibilities for computer technology in our daily lives. For better or worse, we will see computers in places we never thought possible before. I’ve so rarely been in a position to say this in recent years, but honestly, way to go Microsoft.

Here is great Microsoft Surface and Multi-touch demonstration and background video from Popular Mechanics.

Links:
Popular Mechanics Article
Microsoft Surface
Perceptive Pixel (Jefferson Han’s company)
My original Multi-touch post
Seattle PI Article

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Microsoft Surface, Multi-touch, UI

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I took this photo yesterday afternoon in the backyard. This is Zoya, the pet tortoise grazing on a dandelion leaf.

click for flickr page

Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500)
Focal Length: 40 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: -1/3 EV

Technorati Tags: Russian Tortoise, Tortoise

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A few months ago I posted about a serious water leak I had repaired in our front lawn.

Our last water bill came a couple of weeks ago. We where charged $341.62 for December and January. This, apparently, is what it costs to use an average of 311 gallons of water every day - ouch. Not only does this hurt financially, it’s also a tremendous waste of natural resources.

This was Friday evening, and I immediately phoned up a few plumbers looking for some help fast. Of the plumbers that I spoke to however, most couldn’t help me on the weekend. The one that could required me to first have a professional underground leek finder service out to pinpoint the leak - who couldn’t come out on the weekend. I suspected that the leak was in the front of the house near the old shutoff valve, which would explain the moisture I noticed a couple of months ago in the crawl space. With nothing else to do, I started to dig…

Original Post:
http://fall-line.com/2007/02/11/small-water-leak-adds-up-to-big-bill

I also reported I was working with SPUD to obtain a leak rebate as part of a program that they offer for us unfortunate home owners who unknowingly waste water. Well, after two months of waiting and a few hours of phone calls I’m happy to report that this has been completely resolved. The fine folks of SPUD were generous enough to offer a rebate on our past bills for the entire year of 2006. This amount coincidently is just enough to completely cover all of our entire outstanding balance. I’ve still paid WAY more (about $1600) in water bills over this period from Nov 05 through present than I normally would have, but without this rebate I would have owed another $450+. For the first time, I’m we are totally square with the utility and as of early February, we are no longer wasting water.

Kudos to SPUD for the help.

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My eyes have treated me very well for 26 years. Despite my entire extended family needing to wear glasses or contacts, my eyes have always been there for me. My mother and sister both had to get glasses before their 10th birthday but when I was ten I had 20/15 vision. At 17, I could still pick out road signs way before anyone else in the car. I liked it that way.

They say that most people who now wear glasses can point to a specific moment when the realized that they couldn’t see as well as they thought. For me, it was at Safeco field while watching the mariners play about a month ago. I have clearly become accustomed to the lower service my eyes are providing my brain over the past few years because I thought that, while I can’t see as well as my 17 year old self, I was still doing fairly well. A few innings into the ball game however, I realized that I wasn’t sure where the mariners were in their lineup. A big tall figure stepped into the batters box and squared up to the pitcher in a way that made me know it was Richie Sexson, probably the most easily recognizable (from distance anyway) Mariner on the field. At this point I would have been satisfied with knowing who was up to bat and continuing on with the game if I hadn’t have been so concerned that it was such a struggle for me to make this determination. On closer inspection, to my horror I realized that not only could I not read the name “SEXSON” on the back of his jersey from my left field seat, I couldn’t even read the number 44 across his back without squinting. Ok, this is a problem, I realized.

For the rest of the game, and for the next couple of days I attempted to convince myself that my eyes had been out of focus not because they are going bad, but because it was night, I had drank a couple of beers, I had been looking at computers screens all day, etc. It hasn’t worked. I’ve finally admitted to myself that I’m about to join my rest of optically impaired family, by getting a pair (or two) of prescription glasses for every day use.

I have to admit, this makes me a little sad. I’ve always enjoyed not having to worry about glasses or contacts. At this point though I’m a bit hyper sensitive to my condition. It really bothers me to not see clearly and I’d rather have a pair of glasses to correct my vision, than to go on not being able to see.

I have an appointment for an eye exam at the University Vision Clinic next Thursday. For me, it can’t come soon enough - I want my eyes back!

Technorati Tags: Baseball, Glasses, Vision

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Tuesday, March 20th 2007


Last night we decided to revamp our trip strategy to avoid the rough weather, at least for the short term. Rather than heading back North on the morning of the 20th, we made the decision to set out west from Pitlochry with the intention of over-nighting in the costal town of Oban. After checking the weather to confirm that, despite the warming weather, the road north was still blocked, we set out for the day.

Our route would take us on some smaller highways and country roads across heart of central Scotland, into the Western Highlands. Just as we hit the road and started to get up to speed, a detour presented itself. Without thinking it through or explaining what I was doing, I guided the car into an empty early morning parking lot at the Blair Athol Distillery.

We both knew that this would be a quick visit, just enough time to look around. It wouldn’t be fair to our timeline to spend more than a few minutes here at a distillery which neither of us had much personal connection to, at least not so early in the day. Nearly all of the whisky produced at Blair Athol is bound for Bells brand blended whisky, though they do bottle a few noteworthy single malts as well. The visitor centre is nice with some interesting information on the history of whisky making in Scotland and the local area, but didn’t present anything we didn’t already know. They offer tours all day, but we weren’t in a position to wait for a little over an hour to participate. We chatted with the shopkeeper a bit, took the photo (above), and were on our way.

Within only minutes of leaving Blair Athol, the few remaining clouds had parted leaving us with a gorgeous sunny morning. After an hour or so of driving along and enjoying the turn in the weather and the now visible scenery, we came across the Aberfeldy Distillery, just to the west of the town of Aberfeldy. Now, Aberfeldy isn’t one of our favorite expressions, and like Blair Athol earlier, the vast majority (98% or so) of what they produce here is destined for blends. In this case, it serves as the base malt for Dewars brand blended whisky. We decided that this might prove a good opportunity to witness the other extreme of Scottish whisky business, after having visited the tiny Edradour the previous day.

In stark contrast to the tiny vistors greeting room at Edradour, at Aberfeldy visitors first enter the large and modern “Dewars World of Whisky”. Inside is a large shop, a tasting bar, a museum and, as we found, a 40 seat movie theatre which guests enter to watch a rah-rah go us historical film about the Dewars brand. After looking around a bit with tepid entusiasm before embarking on our tour of the distillery itself. The onsite museum is well thought out, but not terribly interesting to a non Dewars brand fanatic. It did however include a few interesting elements. Most notably in my opinion, is a large circle with a dozen or so different “smell stations”, each of which emit a different odor when activated with a button. As a whisky enthusiast, I enjoyed the opportunity to test my nose by identifying different essential aromas which one expects to find in single malt. They also had a couple of non whisky odors in there which stank to holy hell.

Once we were collected by our tour guide and headed into the operating distillery next door, I was happy to learn that unlike any other distillery we visited in Scotland, Abefeldy does allow (non-flash) photography inside their facility. I never did get a proper explanation from any of the guides we visited with why photography was not (or in this case, was) allowed in the operational buildings. My best explanation has to do with the fact that the air in these buildings actually contains a relatively high percentage of highly flammable alcohol fumes. With so many visitors each year, they don’t want to take any chances of a fire. In any case, I wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass me by, I grabbed a few photos of the operation as best I could considering the low light conditions.

As expected, Aberfeldy is highly automated and is run more like a large scale factory than a small farm distillery like Edradour. The small number of workers man large computer consoles with LCD screens and keyboards rather than manually operating valves and burners. They have proudly embraced the advances that technology and transportation have brought to all aspects of the industry. Like most distilleries in Scotland today, all their barley is malted offsite and trucked in. At Aberfeldy, the casks are even trucked offsite to be matured in huge warehouses near Glasgow immediately after filling. It’s not as quaint and romantic of a view of the industry as one sees at an Edradour or Bruichladdich but when it boils down to it, this is how the vast majority of the Scottish whisky industry operates, and I’m glad to have seen it.

After leaving Aberfeldy we picked up our pace a bit as the road seemed longer than it had before our mid day stops. Another 2 and a half hours of lovely highland driving brought us past Loch Tay and along the river Tay which feeds it. As it was earlier in the morning, the weather was very favorable for a drive through the countryside and that happy we’re in scotland feeling kept a smile on our faces as the miles flew by.

It was mid afternoon by the time we first approached the west coast of Great Britain, and our destination of Oban. As we were unaware of the availability of tours of the Oban distillery, we made a beeline for the heart of the town where it’s located. Fortunately for us, the last tour of the day was just over an hour away which gave us time to walk around town a bit beforehand. The first thing that struck me about Oban after reading about it and seeing photos in the past was how large it actually is. My mental image was of a sleepy little fishing villiage which, my city standards it is, but after spending two days out in the countryside of Scotland it seemed quite large. I knew that the distillery was very centrally located in town, but it was again a bit of a surprise to see it set in such a densely populated space. It’s one of the few distilleries in Scotland where one has to find paid street parking before entering.

Inside, we were treated to a nice tour which actually presented a little more information on the barley malting firing and milling process than we had seen elsewhere. The tour guide was the same woman who we had met first upon entering the visitor’s centre, and she clearly has a passion for the distillery and it’s product. After the tour had completed and the rest of the group had headed out into the gift shop, Mrs. Fall-line and I hung back and had a very nice conversation with her and another employee. In this way, just by starting a dialogue and mentioning that we are not just casual whisky tourists, we were often able to get a little special attention and learn some interesting facts that others didn’t. In this case we were offered a generous taste of the Oban 14yr Distillers Edition which is finished in a Sherry cask for 8 months after maturing. This is something that, due to the limited capacity of the distillery is not exported out of the UK so it was a treat to enjoy a dram with them while we chatted. Of course we brought home a bottle, which I gave to my sister for her Birthday.

As the day wound down, we were happy to be where we were. An enjoyable dinner was had in a local restaurant within walking distance of the B&B we chose to settle down in for the night. The night sky was clear and despite the lights of the town, the sky was bright with stars. We took our time as we walked back to enjoy the surroundings, our bellies full of good food and excellent whisky. It was starting to really feel like vacation.

Pitlochry to Oban:

Oban:

More photos:
http://flickr.com/photos/fall-line/sets/72157600032138777/

Tags: Aberfeldy, Distillery, Oban, Scotland, whisky

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Monday, March 19th 2007

After an outstanding gourmet breakfast at our Edinburgh guesthouse, we left the city behind us in the morning and headed north on the A9 freeway. The last remaining bits of uncertainty about driving on the wrong side of the road where fading as we crossed the Forth Road toll bridge. Immediately we started to feel a change in the landscape around us. Rolling hillside pastures rose on the horizon where just a few minutes ago had been city buildings and streets. It was about this time when we really started understand what we where about to do. A feeling of unbridled excitement came over us which intensified with each mile we put behind us. I stopped to check the GPS and the map to make sure we all knew where we were headed. Check. We’re off to Dalwhinnie.

According to the GPS, we were only just over 2 hours drive away from our destination. This realization served to drive home the understanding of how small Scotland really is. With the entire country fitting into a space just under the size of the State of Washington, it’s pretty easy to get just about anywhere from anywhere else.. weather permitting. Within a few minutes of this realization the landscape began to change yet again from lowland rolling hills to what would be come the Cairngorm mountains of the central highlands. The weather that had ben improving in Edinburgh gave way to a cold overcast with traces of snow as the road continued upwards in both latitude and elevation.

With an estimated hour to go before arriving at Dalwhinnie there was no doubt about it; it was still winter in the highlands of Scotland. The snow that had been intermittent became constant. Wind picked up deposited snow from the sides of the roads and the beautiful (we imaged, if we could have seen them) hillsides all around us bringing the visibility down to dangerous distances. This we thought, is what we get for coming to Scotland in March eh? I was beginning to get discouraged when I realized that we were there.

The village of Dalwhinnie lies on a sleepy side road off the A9 at the Drumochter Pass. Just above the village is the famous Dalwhinnie distillery. By elevation it is the highest in all of Scotland and it felt like it. As we pulled into the visitor’s centre parking lot, a young kid was bundled up shoveling snow in a futile attempt to show weary tourists like ourselves where to park the car. Not surprisingly, ours was the only vehicle in the lot when we pulled in.

Inside we found a friendly lady with an strong highland accent, appropriate to our surroundings. From her we discovered that not only was the weather much more severe on the northern slope of the pass, the road was in fact closed along the route we were intending to take later that afternoon. Ok, we’re a day in and we have our fist set back.. no big deal, it’s Scotland in March. At least we can have a nice tour of the Dalwhinnie distillery for our effo…….”sorry” she says, “all of the crew have gone home before the close the rest of the roads an I’m afraid you we can’t offer tours at the moment.” We bought the first of what would be come many whisky tasting glass and took a few photos and headed back South.

As disappointing as being turned away from our first distillery tour was, we actually took it really well. Something about this trip was truly satisfying in the way that even when things didn’t go our way, we were just happy to be there. After a few minutes of consulting our excellent customized printed guide we set sail for Pitlochry, a town which we reluctantly passed by earlier that day in the interest of trying to save time. Later we would come to understand that this about face would be the best decision we made on our trip. As is common when one travels back along a route that had previously been unknown to them, the miles flew by and before we knew it we were heading off of the freeway and towards the sleepy little town. As we exited the freeway the weather cleared and our spirits improved. This would be the last we’d see of a dual carriage-way (freeway) for nearly a week.

Pitlochry itself is a small, picturesque town of a few thousand people. It’s accessibility to Perth and Edinburgh mean that there is an emphasis on tourism in the local economy, but being a snowy weekday in mid March, the town was fairly quiet. As it was still early in the and we were not ready to admit traveling defeat for the day just yet, we drove right on through town and on a little road which lead up into the hillside above. I still don’t know exactly what guided me along that road other than the curiosity of finding out where such a quaint lane lead. Just at about the time I would have stopped the car to figure out where we were going I saw a sign ahead that pointed to the Edradour distillery down a long single track lane through sheep pasture. I’d read about this distillery, the smallest in all of Scotland but hadn’t planned on visiting due to time constraints. Since we were in the area, we made a b-line for their visitor center and headed in.

The friendly and quirky folks behind the bar inside welcomed us with hot tea, biscuits and a small but impressively distinguished selection of single malts from their distillery and all over scotland. When I probed them on the selection I discovered that Edradour is owned by the well known and respected Andrew Sygmington, who is also the founder and owner of the Signatory bottling company. He buys rare and interesting casks from distilleries all over the region to bottle independently. Later that day I would actually purchase a Signatory bottled 1993 Caol Ila from Andrew himself. Meanwhile, we were interested to know more about Edradour and it’s products. While we waited 10 minutes or so for the next tour to commence I sampled their product.

The standard Edradour 10 year is the only expression that can be easily obtained in the United States. It’s actually a very good value in it’s price range, but not terribly exciting. Where we stood however, an entire range of official and one of a kind bottling were available. I went with a 18 year old cask strength which did well to warm me up after a cold Scottish morning.

While on a great (and free) tour of the establishment we saw what equates to an operational artifact of a older time of the scotch whisky industry. They do thing the old fashion way at Edradour. A crew of three people operates the distillery 5 days a week. All the processes are done by hand and the produce a meager 3500 liters (14 barrels) a week. This is a very small operation. Compared to the moderately sized BenRaich distillery which produces over 38,000 liters per week, or Glenfiddich (the largest) which produces over 192,000 liters per week, it seems downright tiny. The stills are large compared to say, the teakettle I use at home, but the are miniscule compared to those we’d see later in the trip. It’s small size allows an attention to detail and tradition that has been lost at many other distilleries in Scotland, and it shows in the final product. Again, not my favorite style of whisky, but very fine none the less.

We were not allowed to photograph the inside of the operating distillery, but I did find someone’s else who did on flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/73875442@N00/tags/edradour/

After our visit through the distillery, and a stop at the shop to buy a tasting glass and that bottle of Caol Ila from Andrew, we headed into town for lunch and to find a place to stop for the night. As luck would have it we found a great pub with good food, local beer, and a table next to the wood burning fireplace. After lunch we again consulted the invaluable lodging guide from secret-scotland.com, booked a B&B nearby and retired for the afternoon. The rest of the day was spent walking around town, staying warm, and sleeping off the last of the jet-lag. The rest was welcome, we had a long way to travel in the morning.

Pitlochry:

Hillside Above Pitlochry:

More photos:
http://flickr.com/photos/fall-line/sets/72157600032138777/

Tags: Dalwhinnie, Distillery, Edradour, Scotland

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I’m excited. While I was away in Scotland a couple of weeks ago, Comcast announced that they would team up with Fox Sports Net (FSN) to show all of the 2007 Mariners home games in HiDef on their “INHD” channel.

If you have comcast and an HD service package, tune your set to channel 664 tonight at 7:05 to see just how fat and slow Jose Vidro really is.

[EngagetHD article]

UPDATE: Well that certainly did suck.. nice HD picture though.

Technorati Tags: Comcast, Mariners

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Sunday, March 18th 2007

After night filled with jet-lag induced broken sleep patterns and anxiety about getting to Gatwick airport in time the next morning for our Easyjet flight to Edinburgh, we were up and on our way out of the hotel. The morning was bright and crisp and London seemed much more appealing in the fresh morning air. Even so, we were eager to get to the plane and head north to Scotland.

A friendly cab driver who the hotel summoned for us offered to drive us all the way to Gatwick, what amounts to over an hour of driving for £45 ($89). In retrospect this was actually a very good offer, but being as how this was an unlicensed cab, and I’m incredibly stubborn in times like these, I asked him to go ahead and take us to the train station. The ride was short and the fare was reasonable for a London taxi ride, at £9 ($18). We headed down the stairs and immediately hopped on the crowded train bound for Gatwick. The only two seats available we could find were opposite a young couple who had to be persuaded to move their jackets and things so that we might sit with them. Once seated, I remembered how much I love trains, but hate riding in the backwards seats on them.. I was longing for the £45 taxi.

The train ended up costing us £29 for the two of us so after saving a whopping £7, and at least half an hour over the taxi, we were in Gatwick… with two hours to spare before we could check in for our flight. Still, spirits were high as it was now only a matter of hours before we arrived in Scotland. I was getting downright giddy.. or I would have been had I have been able to stay awake.

Easyjet operates a budget airline service in western Europe that can best be equated to the US carriers Southwest or Jetblue. All things considered, they do a good service. Our flights to and from Edinburgh were each under £15 ($30) per person before taxes, and on each occasion we were on time and our luggage arrived safely. You have to deal with the hassles you’d expect from a budget airline, but at a 50% money and 70% time savings over the train, we were happy.

As we approached Scotland from the south, we were informed by the pilot that we may expect a bit of snow and ice when arriving. This of course was discouraging as the plan had us hopping in a rental car and taking off for the mountains the next day. Through the broken clouds we could see sunny pastures and snow covered hillsides of the lowlands from above. Descending into Edinburgh brought views of the city and surrounding areas. It looked cold, but very pleasant. We weren’t even on the ground, but I could already begin to see the Scotland of countless books and films I’ve seen rising up to meet me as the plane dropped closer to the runway.

Our hopes for good weather were briefly dashed when the plane’s doors opened and we descended the stairway onto the tarmac before heading into the terminal. As the pilot suggested, we were met by snow and wind that chilled our climate controlled bodies immediately. By this point, we really didn’t care about the weather. We were on the ground in Scotland, and that was all we cared about. A big smile came over me as we walked into the terminal to claim our bags. For the rest of the time we were there, that feeling never really left.

From the airport we headed to pickup our rental car which was waiting for us nearby. To our delight the snow had stopped and the sun was peaking through the clouds when we were presented with the keys to a brand new Vauxhall Astra with 8 miles on the clock. Sure it’s a GM brand, but it’s designed, and built in the UK so we were fine with it. At least it wasn’t a Ford. The first few minutes of driving on the left were, as expected, a little interesting. It was initiation by fire though as our first route took us deep through the heart of Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital and second largest city.

After a few minutes of gripping the wheel pretty tightly, I grew more comfortable with the surroundings, and was able to just drive. There was a little remaining confusion on the meaning of all of the street markings, traffic signals and roundabout protocol. Fortunately, I was able to observe enough of the other drivers behavior that by the time we arrived in the central city, I didn’t have to learn anything the hard way.

Edinburgh is an absolutely beautiful city that we were amazed by at every turn. I really feel like every american city dweller should go visit an old european city from time to time so that they might remember how much more there is to the world, and it’s history. The historical significance of this town, combined with it’s picturesque streets and quaint buildings made for a very enjoyable afternoon of walking.

We visited a selection of restaurants, bars and shops. Mostly we just walked and enjoyed the atmosphere. It was very cold with a bitter wind and as usual, I was stubbornly underdressed for the weather. It didn’t matter though, we were loving every minute of it. We stayed out on the town for as long as we possibly could muster while still in a highly jet-lagged condition. I think we made it to 7 o’clock before retiring to our B&B for some rest. The city was very welcoming and we were determined to spend some more time here on the way back through. Meanwhile, I was eager to get out into the open spaces the next morning.

Photos of Edinburgh on the 18th

More photos:
http://flickr.com/photos/fall-line/sets/72157600032138777/

Tags: Edinburgh, London, Scotland, Travel

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