Key in the cognition - February 3rd, 2008

10:26 pm - Introspection on the current dry spell plus a neat idea

I haven't updated this blog much in the past several weeks. In fact, this has been the longest dry spell since I started it 4 years ago. It's not that I don't feel like blogging any more or that I've been too busy to write. It's more that, after more than 2 years at VMware and a year in San Francisco, I've mostly settled into some steady patterns of life and there isn't as much novelty about which to write these days. While I'm not bored, I don't want to write about the minutiae of my life all the time because, quite frankly, it wouldn't be all that interesting.

I've considered blogging about ideas instead of events but there's no temporal cue to do so, which means that those posts end up languishing in the purgatory of my mind. While there's a small temptation to call it quits, there's no real gain from doing so. Leaving this blog on simmer, however, would allow me to make occasional updates to it when something particularly interesting does happen. That's probably what I'll end up doing.

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Just for the sake of old times though, here's a life update ;-)

After years of shying away from TV shows, I've recently made my way through the entire Firefly series. I now understand what all the fuss was about. I've also been watching Nip/Tuck. Despite the outrageous veneer, that shows does tackle some pretty complex and oft-ignored issues. Sadly, the downside of biking to and from work is that I am spending only a 5th as much time reading books as I used to when I took the shuttle to Palo Alto every workday.

There's one other minor problem with biking: it doesn't lend itself to hold an umbrella. We've been having a lot of rain here over the past few weeks. The supposedly quick-dry pants I bought at the local sporting goods co-op don't dry as fast as I'd expected and my shoes sometimes take longer than a day to dry out. I'm sure there's a better solution so I'll keep experimenting. But I'd be happier altogether if it didn't rain again for the rest of the year.

pphaneuf was in town this weekend so I finally got to meet him. I also managed to leave my iPhone at Yvonne's place last night and was without it until she returned it to me at dinner tonight. Although I'd been without it during my 2-week trip to Guatemala in August, it was noticeably harder to get through the day without it today. But I've thought of a way to make smartphones even more indispensable.

My idea is to write an app that runs on the phone and uses data from GPS, NextBus and 511 to provide a total transit solution. Picture this: you're wandering around in a strange part of town and suddenly get a text message from some friends asking you to come join them at a pub to which you've never been before and giving you the street address. The phone automatically recognizes the address as such and lets you click on it for directions. It figures out the optimal route from your current position, adjusts for the actual position of buses/trains, and then tell you where to catch one. You board as usual but instead of having to fish for change, the vehicle communicates with your phone and automatically deducts the fare from your bank account. Your phone keeps track of your position as you move and notifies you when it is time to hop off, then provides walking directions for the last leg of the trip. Most of this could be implemented with existing technology. The payment mechanism might be the trickiest part.

Look at that; I snuck in a post about an idea!