Category: All

All posts across the whole website belong to this category. They might also belong to some other categories as well, but this one holds all of them. Hence the descriptive name – All.

On public transport in Cyprus

Often, when I talk to my friends abroad, I hear that we have it too good here, in Cyprus.  As one of the example, they say that everyone has a car.  And while I don’t disagree – the life in Cyprus is good indeed – I often find it hard to explain that a car here is more than just a convenience.  It’s a necessity.

I also understand why it is difficult to grasp the idea for those who’ve never been in Cyprus.  Many of them can’t imagine a city with no public transport at all.  Public transport is a norm pretty much everywhere you go.  But not in Cyprus.

Finally, I now have a link to send to those friends of mine, who find it difficult to believe me.  Cyprus Mail runs an article with some statistics.  These are Nicosia-based, but I don’t think Limassol or any other city on the island would be much different.

Nicosia also stood out with 84 per cent of respondents saying they never used public transport. Only a minority – four per cent – used public transport to commute in Nicosia with 91 per cent travelling by car or motorcycle. Just five per cent walked or cycled to work.

Day in brief

  • Last night I watched Entourage season 6 in one go. Took me half the evening. Cool show. And now I need more content. #
  • DataTables is awesome! Supports sorting, filtering, and pagination of tables, and also server-side processing. http://icio.us/vf5h3y #
  • I favorited a YouTube video — Fastest gunman ever. Unbelievable Bob Munden http://youtu.be/wLnmvseCseI?a #

Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2

Last Friday I went to see a much anticipated movie – “Iron Man 2“.  I really enjoyed the first “Iron Man” and the trailer for “Iron Man 2” looked really promising.

The film left me with mixed feelings.  On one hand – there was plenty of action and  fantastic cast.  On the other – this part is much dumber than the first one and the ending is horrible.  Sorry, not the ending, but the epic battle between good and evil, the part of the film where the villain is defeated.  That sucked really bad.  The good thing though that it’s a small part of the film and it only happens towards the end, so there is plenty of time to enjoy the visual effects and such.

I still think that the first part was way better, but this one does count for a good Friday evening entertainment.  See it on the big screen, if you are planning to watch it at all.  I’ll  rate it as a weak 4 out of 5.  It barely made it.

Pen-based computing? Really?

Here is a quote form Bill Gates that made me go “Huh?  Are you for real?”:

Microsoft has a lot of different tablet projects that we’re pursuing. We think that work with the pen that Microsoft pioneered will become a mainstream for students. It can give you a device that you can not only read, but also create documents at the same time.

What?  Pen-based?  Really? In 21st century?  For students?  Even me, who dropped out of college a decade ago considers pen to be nothing but a pain and an absolute last resort for input and notes.  I can barely write anything longer than my own signature, and even that comes out different every time I try it.  Stylus?  Do you mean that thing which is constantly lost or broken or stuck in the pocket?  I can’t believe it…

I could understand it as a familiar interface for older people.  Yes, why not.  But for students?  Have you seen any students recently?  Most of them have mobile phones growing out of their thumbs. They can type with a single thumb faster than I can do do with ten fingers.

A pen?  Nope.  I think we tried the combination of pens with computing devices, and we are done with that.  It’s been confirmed a painful experience and I don’t think anyone should be betting anything on pen’s future in the technology world.