tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63789288149762446292024-03-21T13:52:19.481+00:00The Gaijin Prince of DorsetBlogging on Japan, Japanese, Science and Photography.pouncinganthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17239758814994753514noreply@blogger.comBlogger86125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378928814976244629.post-91080778231851672502017-05-22T16:29:00.001+01:002017-05-22T16:29:29.641+01:00Economics of a singularitySo, lately I saw <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ6QmZ48jY4">this video on "The Dark Side of the Singularity"</a>.<br />
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For those not inclined to watch (though, I encourage it, as it covers some interesting points), to summarize:<br />
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In the video, the presenter, Joe Scott, draws a parallel with the infrastructure of New York city being 99% dependent upon horses at the turn of the century and 99% driven by cars. The relevance with today's society being the rise of automation (AKA robots) <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34066941">being predicted to shelve 30% of jobs</a> within 20 years. With artificial intelligence and robotics advancing continually, the video argues that most jobs will become redundant.<br />
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It makes sense, right? If you own a company, do you want to pay someone to do a task that a robot could do quicker, without lunch breaks and welfare or even a wage? This is essentially the argument that Joe Scott puts forward.<br />
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There are some very important issues covered: the prevalence of jobs in the transport industry versus the fact that automated driving is essentially <i>already</i> available, in terms of parking assist, lane assist, etc... I'd agree at this point that things look really bad for those who drive for a living.<br />
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If left unchecked as the video suggests, then I'd agree that the resulting massive unemployment would be catastrophic, socially. However, considering random people on the internet are bright enough to work out that -potentially- this is going to cripple the social structure, I'm pretty sure the powers that be are unlikely to allow it to happen.<br />
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So, why am I so skeptical? These are market forces, right? The natural inclination of capitalism, which has the majority of the world's population under its grasp. Right?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7_4I2AXrz-_aQJbD0EOYWesAYmA-0-0rbdYX6LeZw8p2lI8A05i_CRJgIJq_zVJ6foKEEXh6nbfb-Ewp8uKi3Ghep3ISRw72Sfmbq66ui8tgWjDcG4xkd7NuyBWM4fjKr8JNpaNwNLqjs/s1600/BasicEconomicRelationships.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7_4I2AXrz-_aQJbD0EOYWesAYmA-0-0rbdYX6LeZw8p2lI8A05i_CRJgIJq_zVJ6foKEEXh6nbfb-Ewp8uKi3Ghep3ISRw72Sfmbq66ui8tgWjDcG4xkd7NuyBWM4fjKr8JNpaNwNLqjs/s320/BasicEconomicRelationships.png" width="320" /></a></div>
Enter <i>the spectacularly over-simplified chart of relationships between business, government, and the populace</i>. Essentially, it tells you what you already know: you pay taxes, you work for a company (or own one), you have the option to elect your government. If you're unlucky, you're unemployed, if you're slightly more lucky, like in the UK, then the government actually pays you. Additionally, businesses pay the government money too, and are regulated by government, to some extent.<br />
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Great. So what happens if companies start automating? First off, they earn more money, and so pay more corporation tax. Next, they will expand to push out other businesses; those businesses that choose not to automate will be out-competed by those that do, and jobs will be lost as a result.<br />
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I've read some hypothesizing that essentially ends the story here by saying that essentially everyone that doesn't own a company becomes unemployed, and discontent fuels rebellion and then anarchy. In some scenarios even ending with the robots being at the top of the food chain. (Hell, in an anarchy situation, my money would be on the robots too...)<br />
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But, there are some elephants in the room that this theory forgets: (1) Supply and demand, and (2) government, and (3) the flow of money.<br />
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(1) Supply and demand is the easiest to figure out: if noone has a job, and noone is making substantial money, noone can afford to buy anything. If noone can buy your product, it doesn't matter if its being made by machines or people, your company isn't going to profit from it.<br />
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(2) Governments always get the pointy end of the stick of criticism, but -economically speaking- preventing major crises like the above is actually what government is <i>for</i>. Market forces and personal gain are exceptionally disruptive influences on populations, and businesses have indeed been responsible for some really terrible things. Companies do not provide law enforcement, they have little incentive to provide welfare, they are not generally interested in national security.<br />
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However, these are things that governments are really quite adept at. This is why they spend so much time making laws. Sometimes it certainly doesn't seem like this is government is for; sometimes it seems like they are striving for the opposite (I'm looking at you, Brexit), but a job is a job, and the government is in the job of <i>order</i>.<br />
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Having large sections of the population laid off is really bad for order, and the government will act to stop it. It will probably act late, but -in the end- the government is elected by the populace, and when the populace collectively decides it wants something, the government will start re-orientating itself to act accordingly.<br />
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(3) The flow of money is an important issue, because point (2) isn't terribly convincing given how government is portrayed. Governments are corrupted by business interests, etc., right?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4aqxC2wdU68Qm3Tz1FyAcztl9sQpjOugPxFtndFidMV_GXoz_dMxm4qlqapWiwYdseDReJqPnwIeBZULxx7CzaUesZD3e9BAg56mSSIWiObXZMtcFKToJIPnajAhcZ3rxkdIpSmgfdwKC/s1600/BasicEconomicRelationshipsTaxes.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4aqxC2wdU68Qm3Tz1FyAcztl9sQpjOugPxFtndFidMV_GXoz_dMxm4qlqapWiwYdseDReJqPnwIeBZULxx7CzaUesZD3e9BAg56mSSIWiObXZMtcFKToJIPnajAhcZ3rxkdIpSmgfdwKC/s320/BasicEconomicRelationshipsTaxes.png" width="320" /></a>Perhaps. But how important is business to the government as a whole? Well, financially, not so important as you might think. The government gets most of its power from the people, in the form of taxes. This will differ by country, but some figures I found put the proportion of taxes obtained from the population at 80%, versus 11% for corporations.<br />
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In this light, the population is <i>far</i> more important to the government than business, in the general sense. In a way, business is just a way of getting your people to earn more money to pay you in taxes.<br />
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So what happens if the above doomsday scenario occurs? Enter the <i>spectacularly over-simplified chart of the impact of automation on the relationships between business, government, and the populace</i>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheupTSaWeAvyzdrRzLDumyltJl9qEpvU09B7KtVFLAR0HAXYq60Bw0LghOasiHjDmlHcJqoW436lg3AZG7GtGAicCIn9ckcMJbVbMNOGw7jvgQsQ3a3jX5V2Fo6BN7mIyzHj4y1CUVvLhr/s1600/AffectOfAutomationOnBasicEconomicRelationshipsTaxes.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheupTSaWeAvyzdrRzLDumyltJl9qEpvU09B7KtVFLAR0HAXYq60Bw0LghOasiHjDmlHcJqoW436lg3AZG7GtGAicCIn9ckcMJbVbMNOGw7jvgQsQ3a3jX5V2Fo6BN7mIyzHj4y1CUVvLhr/s640/AffectOfAutomationOnBasicEconomicRelationshipsTaxes.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Assuming there are still enough people earning money to buy products, the companies might earn more, and thus pay more taxes. However, the government will make a net loss, because all those people that were laid off no longer paying taxes. If you're country is benevolent enough to provide unemployment welfare, then the government is essentially <strike>screwed</strike> on the path to self-destruct.<br />
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Perhaps I have too much faith in government, but the idea that a nation would let itself walk blindly into this situation seems absurd. Either the government will step in to regulate companies, or it will have to provide some kind of universal welfare.<br />
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Both will probably happen. Joe Scott (from the aforementioned video) states that the mindset in the US is not one that embraces something-for-nothing welfare; however, there are countries that do provide for their citizens quite readily. The only problem with this, of course, is that a country that automates will become much more productive, but this can be offset in countries less inclined to automate by introducing import charges to prevent foreign goods becoming too cheap.<br />
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In my opinion the biggest problems we have to deal with in the event of "singularity" style mass automation are:<br />
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(1) Putting (a) welfare or (b) regulatory systems in place <i>in advance</i> of unemployment becoming a massive problem.<br />
(a. cont.) Trying to relocate the lost jobs into other sectors and, if this is impossible*, finding something for the unemployed to <i>do**</i><br />
(b. cont.) Becoming too insulated by taxing imported goods, and falling behind in productivity to less-regulated countries<br />
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That said, I've evidently simplified considerably with the above, and it seems quite possible that automation could lead to crisis within any given country. Since governments tend to be fairly slow to respond to paradigm shifts, I think its fairly likely that crises will happen. However, I don't believe that the situation is completely stark; there are actions that can be taken to mitigate against automation, and perhaps even integrate it into society. Hopefully, we can come out the other side better off overall.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">*Eventually, it <i>should</i> be expected to become impossible, because if we invent AI that is as clever as ourselves, or more so, then essentially there are <i>no</i> jobs. It would be handy at this point to make <i>ourselves</i> smarter so that we can out-think machines and thus still be useful for something. As Elon Musk points out, this also mitigates against our robots taking over, if that happens to be your concern.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">**Sure, not having to work sounds OK, but the whole human experience is oriented around having tasks and providing a future for our children. Humans have not evolved to cope with having nothing to work towards***.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">***Hell, even the ancients went so far as to <i>invent</i> things to work towards in terms of the afterlife! Though, people quite happily retire. Perhaps we should view this as the human race's collective retirement?</span><br />
<br />pouncinganthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17239758814994753514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378928814976244629.post-23612885388623653292017-04-01T02:39:00.000+01:002017-04-01T02:39:42.619+01:00[FIX] 7zip and Trados 2015 Mojibake / characters displaying as boxesSo, this is a simple fix (or more accurately, a workaround) for a couple of tools I use a lot in translation, Trados 2015 and 7zip.<br />
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Symptoms</h3>
In Trados 2015, you may find that everything displays fine when you insert the source text into the translation field, but when you actually start typing over the translation, a <b>seemingly random set of characters in that sentence are replaced with boxes</b> (e.g. something like に対して becomes に口して)<br />
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In 7zip, you may find that filenames inside zip files are completely illegible: for example, "<原稿>英訳用%u3000申請リリース案" becomes something like "üâî┤ìeüäëpû¾ùpü@". (This is particularly problematic if you want to send the files back to the customer with the same filenames as you received them!)<br />
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Fix/workaround</h3>
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A simple workaround is to download and install <a href="http://pooi.moe/Locale-Emulator/">locale emulator</a>, which lets you right-click the shortcuts to 7zip or Trados and select "Run in Japanese", which fixes the above problems and -so far as I can tell- has no other significant impact on the performance of the programs at all.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcl4BpBwd0he3o-3nk4ans52g_jAmvgGU3rnAv3AuJq7lLOQ_QaSXU0ybi-2u_iEzgCqbtGLPoVw4sKMJyeLwurVZmA7s_kZYCiKyp9lnYb9AM7PSssKJ08cRrnMRAm5K5IrBIozkIPkFH/s1600/Untitled.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcl4BpBwd0he3o-3nk4ans52g_jAmvgGU3rnAv3AuJq7lLOQ_QaSXU0ybi-2u_iEzgCqbtGLPoVw4sKMJyeLwurVZmA7s_kZYCiKyp9lnYb9AM7PSssKJ08cRrnMRAm5K5IrBIozkIPkFH/s400/Untitled.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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One problem on Windows 10 (and probably anything 8 upwards) is that you can't use the RMB to access the locale emulator from the start menu; however, locale emulator lets you make a shortcut that essentially performs the above automatically:</div>
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First, right-click your shortcut (to Trados or 7Zip, or whatever else you are trying to fix) and click "Open file location" (for the win 10 start menu, right-click, then select "More"->"Open file location". Typically for windows, this will only display the shortcut-containing folder.. You will need to right-click <i>that</i> shortcut and again select "Open file location").</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG7KMK1xkecvkPZ32AK-occ7wuXzNu6WMu0_svYGOyDnPvgK5nhzbC6hXpN8gokeTw2AzDXQS-p54rk83ZfBdqgABaYnFQUXdtOqmsxbmRI1_Tibiu0gJMHNmRGcHy9pgt5HfwenBTr_bi/s1600/Untitled.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG7KMK1xkecvkPZ32AK-occ7wuXzNu6WMu0_svYGOyDnPvgK5nhzbC6hXpN8gokeTw2AzDXQS-p54rk83ZfBdqgABaYnFQUXdtOqmsxbmRI1_Tibiu0gJMHNmRGcHy9pgt5HfwenBTr_bi/s320/Untitled.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDtHrf4GIC18eAddY425lh2qgHXBPKwtNi1dNNQjqPev_uYglwyexd99O1jN3NNHkKIf2TwVQj5d46ulk_p3oKcCOCHKB2k3mVMCCtfT9uE2Pcy19WFXPOvRBL_nHT-pdn6TbY49V6dIAJ/s1600/Untitled.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDtHrf4GIC18eAddY425lh2qgHXBPKwtNi1dNNQjqPev_uYglwyexd99O1jN3NNHkKIf2TwVQj5d46ulk_p3oKcCOCHKB2k3mVMCCtfT9uE2Pcy19WFXPOvRBL_nHT-pdn6TbY49V6dIAJ/s320/Untitled.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Next, in a new window, find the locale emulator folder (the folder you unzipped from the earlier download) drag the application file onto locale emulator; this gives you an option "Create shortcut". By doing this, you make a shortcut (on the desktop) that will open the application in your locale of choice (for me, Japanese), even better, this shortcut can sit in the start menu without any problems (RMB on shortcut, "pin to start").</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcdH8-SQcQWWUzAPGtCXahL_taNmsKK__EJJMThzFBJ0ebit8Kh2w_0TYFWki4dY9sIROm8WFRoNxqzYNa8uYlzcOFV95mmmbFbSQyp3kAjBdmOXOfEx5_G2h-ggqN7HD618TaeYu4HDqj/s1600/Untitled.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcdH8-SQcQWWUzAPGtCXahL_taNmsKK__EJJMThzFBJ0ebit8Kh2w_0TYFWki4dY9sIROm8WFRoNxqzYNa8uYlzcOFV95mmmbFbSQyp3kAjBdmOXOfEx5_G2h-ggqN7HD618TaeYu4HDqj/s320/Untitled.png" width="186" /></a></div>
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<h3>
What's the deal with this problem?</h3>
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The problem evidently is one of the OS locale, given that the fix is a locale emulator. Consequently, you should theoretically be able to fix the problem by changing your OS locale; however, there are a number of reasons you might not want to do this. Personally, I use Windows 10's Cortana assistant, and I like to do that in my mother tongue. Having system menus in English also helps speed maintenance issues.</div>
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With regards to 7Zip I'm not expert as to what restrictions exist with filenames etc.; however, for Trados I'm a little more skeptical. By its premise, Trados is a multilingual tool, and yet it handles the issue of OS locale quite poorly compared to non-specialist tools such as Microsoft Word (which admittedly has the benefit of being designed by the same company as the OS itself), or most web browsers.</div>
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<h3>
Another workaround</h3>
<div>
This leads me to the other workaround I tried, which is a <a href="http://felix-cat.com/">translation tool called Felix</a> that works right inside MS Word. Because Word doesn't have any problem with locales, Felix doesn't suffer from the above problems. Felix isn't without its problems of course, and using Felix in a workflow that requires the use of Trados package files will add an extra layer of frustration. Nonetheless, Felix is probably my favorite tool after Trados for translating (and it very nearly tops it due to its ease of use).</div>
pouncinganthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17239758814994753514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378928814976244629.post-77162435798209409852016-06-22T14:54:00.000+01:002016-07-15T01:51:48.088+01:00Turn a smartphone into a microscope for free?A while back I found a<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.notquitethem.android.luxmeter&hl=en"> neat idea for turning a smartphone into a microscope</a>. The idea was you 3D-print a clip to house a minute glass bead (around 1-3 mm across). This essentially acts as an objective lens, considerably magnifying the object in front of the lens (supposedly up to 1000-fold, though I remain sceptical).<br />
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Problem is... who has glass beads lying around?<br />
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As a nice hack, you can get a little way towards recreating the effect with just a drop of water or oil right in front of the lens (best do this on an <i>old</i> phone, people).<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEganNNdij4D-8HXdMtTvQ9LgpsFtmYj5cIjUb9asV69Du70VU4qhWBMlS7M0E_w_rYu_dBWYL2IN2ytP7jL8XxRIbuKrVXAit-8icqSZ8bNO5hhyBM_x9LqfhIaWWAnj26azjVHditAbad7/s1600/IMG_20160622_215441_highlighted.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEganNNdij4D-8HXdMtTvQ9LgpsFtmYj5cIjUb9asV69Du70VU4qhWBMlS7M0E_w_rYu_dBWYL2IN2ytP7jL8XxRIbuKrVXAit-8icqSZ8bNO5hhyBM_x9LqfhIaWWAnj26azjVHditAbad7/s320/IMG_20160622_215441_highlighted.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1) Kyocera KC01 (budget JP smartphone) with a blob of water over its lens (circled red to give an idea of the extent of the water droplet). The droplet is a little too large and slightly off centre, but illustrates the general idea.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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The problem with water is that it evaporates <i>very</i> quickly, and so the magnification strength is lost very quickly. Vegetable oil was much better; I made one application and it lasted for several dozen minutes.<br />
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So, demonstration photos:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRy2KxhnCx5GtBvgZj4wnudG3TUsrf6qr0lsdGgU5phutOsqFtsa8QjRD0NNv-hOZp-SmXQ7BCOsUbmaA-H0YITKz2Sm5Efa79ek4A5sWn-b9VLeYhaTm_fBUNoeIEoLystq4ps6sOLiI4/s1600/IMG_20160622_213939.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRy2KxhnCx5GtBvgZj4wnudG3TUsrf6qr0lsdGgU5phutOsqFtsa8QjRD0NNv-hOZp-SmXQ7BCOsUbmaA-H0YITKz2Sm5Efa79ek4A5sWn-b9VLeYhaTm_fBUNoeIEoLystq4ps6sOLiI4/s320/IMG_20160622_213939.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2) Photograph of thyme leaf broken at the petiole (leaf stem), showing detail of bristles. Taken using a Aquos Crystal with a droplet of vegetable oil approx. 1 mm across. Backlit using a single 100-yen-shop LED light. </td></tr>
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSUcpiwrdJADtewYkUzin9sqlnWpRX6dgjFIEaq1cf59Q5JFhimxeuteLkkUqcJnavQe-48E-NDDMGcxj4GZDyDk5urTCRIuvptjPzMhPyyauWHuKG1QfpkJoCY4DHO6d7Ju8nFAZbyLjV/s1600/IMG_20160622_213830.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSUcpiwrdJADtewYkUzin9sqlnWpRX6dgjFIEaq1cf59Q5JFhimxeuteLkkUqcJnavQe-48E-NDDMGcxj4GZDyDk5urTCRIuvptjPzMhPyyauWHuKG1QfpkJoCY4DHO6d7Ju8nFAZbyLjV/s320/IMG_20160622_213830.jpg" width="320" /> </a></td><td style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">3) Photograph of thyme leaf, showing detail of spots on the leaf. Taken using a Aquos Crystal with a droplet of vegetable oil approx. 1 mm across. Backlit using a single 100-yen-shop LED light.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
For (2) and (3), Much of the blur around the edges is due to the droplet not filling the
entire field of view. The clarity isn't exactly great elsewhere,
possible because it was a real pain trying to keep my hand still.<br />
<br />
The thing I like most about (3) is that I didn't notice those spots until I looked at the magnified image, so even these relatively poor images do help bring your awareness down to the micro level.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4ZFB_2wFkL_B9oX9Pcfo4cl1h8oSOQMU4LCz8nuXUXy672Qc5KoiKHt6Kvuw-30mCxAkkq63nrKEMcjGlvNOJIaCIDZmMmirdNR9i29idN9hxckWaQ0uIp23aZKW4423sWgDF-NUFXDRA/s1600/IMG_20160622_213204.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4ZFB_2wFkL_B9oX9Pcfo4cl1h8oSOQMU4LCz8nuXUXy672Qc5KoiKHt6Kvuw-30mCxAkkq63nrKEMcjGlvNOJIaCIDZmMmirdNR9i29idN9hxckWaQ0uIp23aZKW4423sWgDF-NUFXDRA/s320/IMG_20160622_213204.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">4) Photograph of human hair against paper. Taken using a Aquos Crystal with a droplet of vegetable oil approx. 1 mm across. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuJo_Hj6uP9V0u19_H89J8rA-DzbylnPa7kGVsGPpSTkhjn2xXxb4RO-dMXzFZWQV8oFbbPLheIJm8ip6aDqXOY7fbRtWqgdyybOFl0MW4dq7V8VecAsXPqbcwgfZaHej3AqGqRntjhlDx/s1600/IMG_20160622_210810.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuJo_Hj6uP9V0u19_H89J8rA-DzbylnPa7kGVsGPpSTkhjn2xXxb4RO-dMXzFZWQV8oFbbPLheIJm8ip6aDqXOY7fbRtWqgdyybOFl0MW4dq7V8VecAsXPqbcwgfZaHej3AqGqRntjhlDx/s320/IMG_20160622_210810.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">5) Photograph of Japanese bill at minimum focal distance of Aquos Crystal without modifications. The letters in the white area are around 2 mm across.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP5YcgWtEWKRXSYfwFmsYvmw3ZMDBWCHS4bqrvzuLtPwaWvML0ZBfvx-q1KnR69GCUnXEfju6Z_nagzzfiXS_l_yJguTSYDFW22IVqTc7_69eYnRpewW4TxsUdcaVD6QJCDqvbC36g8h2S/s1600/IMG_20160622_211400.jpg" imageanchor="1"></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP5YcgWtEWKRXSYfwFmsYvmw3ZMDBWCHS4bqrvzuLtPwaWvML0ZBfvx-q1KnR69GCUnXEfju6Z_nagzzfiXS_l_yJguTSYDFW22IVqTc7_69eYnRpewW4TxsUdcaVD6QJCDqvbC36g8h2S/s1600/IMG_20160622_211400.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP5YcgWtEWKRXSYfwFmsYvmw3ZMDBWCHS4bqrvzuLtPwaWvML0ZBfvx-q1KnR69GCUnXEfju6Z_nagzzfiXS_l_yJguTSYDFW22IVqTc7_69eYnRpewW4TxsUdcaVD6QJCDqvbC36g8h2S/s320/IMG_20160622_211400.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">6) Photograph of Japanese bill taken using a Aquos Crystal with a droplet of vegetable oil approx. 1 mm across. Backlit using room light (approx. 3000 lux, according to <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.notquitethem.android.luxmeter&hl=en">lux meter</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I took (6) to get a rough idea of the magnification. On my computer screen the character extends 7 cm across my display without too much blurring (though, this may be more of a problem of my hand shaking, rather than the optics), which would suggest a magnification of around 70 mm / 2 mm = <b>35 fold</b>. However, I should also account for the fact the unmodified camera produces characters of about 1 cm across on my screen, which in itself corresponds to a magnification of 10 mm / 2 mm = <b>5 fold</b>. So in fact, the oil droplet was only 7 times more powerful than the unaided device.<br />
<br />
Nonetheless, the patchiness of the printing is a feature that is almost impossible to detect with the naked eye, and yet became very prominent on using the oil droplet.<br />
<br />
But, at only ~7 times better than the standard smartphone lens, I guess dishing out for a cheapo magnifying glass would give better results.<br />
<br />
Unsurprisingly, seems people have already thought of this approach, <a href="http://jdesbonnet.blogspot.jp/2011/11/water-drop-microscope-with-smart-phone.html">here</a>. Seems that by using polymers instead, you <a href="http://www.iflscience.com/technology/make-your-own-droplet-microscope-lens-penny/">can bake them into permanent lenses</a>. Cool!<br />
<br />
I'd be thrilled to hear of any improvements to this. My first thought is to attempt producing a bead by melting clear plastic to flow along a wire into some cold water, which should hopefully solidify the bead in a... bead shape. I don't expect it to work, but it would be better than buying a box of 15000 beads and having 14999 spare beads...<br />
<br />
Unless I can think of a use for 14999 glass beads...<br />
<br />
EDIT: So, some obvious improvements:<br />
1) You can buy a screen protector -they are clear and don't interrupt with the light getting to the lens too much-, which means you can use oil without worrying about damaging the lens.<br />
2) You can apply PVA glue to this screen protector. When it dries, it becomes transparent, and you can indeed get a lensing effect from it! Decidedly more of a permanent solution that water and oil..<br />
<br />pouncinganthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17239758814994753514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378928814976244629.post-19774451919748598142016-01-16T12:04:00.000+00:002016-01-16T12:04:26.485+00:00Swiftkey vs Google vs Swype for Japanese inputSummary:<br />
<br />
SwiftKey<br />
+Fastest for Japanese input<br />
+Switching languages is easy<br />
Google Japanese input<br />
+Almost as fast<br />
+Excellent dictionary<br />
-English support is poor - but you can switch input methods<br />
Swype<br />
+Still excellent for handwriting input - possibly useful for beginners to Japanese<br />
-Considerably slower for Japanese<br />
<br />
So, every once and a while, I look through the Google play store and try and find a better way of typing Japanese on my mobile, because frankly, I do a lot of that, and a couple of minutes investigating which method is fastest will pay off in the long run.<br />
<br />
Previously, I compared <a href="http://pouncingant.blogspot.com/2014/04/swype-vs-google-vs-wnn-best-android.html">the Swype, Google, and Wnn keyboards</a>. Since then, I've changed phones twice (once to an Aquos Crystal, then to a Kyocera KC01). The increased processing power of these more modern devices makes switching keyboard methods easier, so for a long time I was switching between the Google methods, which still provide excellent predictions for both languages*.<br />
<br />
More recently I have been using the Swiftkey keyboard, and despite the fact they have done away with the 12-key keyboard (which works really well with Japanese input), I have increasingly found that it is quicker than Google Japanese Input.<br />
<br />
To be sure, I conducted a small test using the following text:<br />
<br />
"17日は前線を伴って低気圧が九州に近づくでしょう。九州は昼頃から雨が降り始める見込みです。中国、四国も午前は広く雨で、夜は近畿でも雨が降り出すでしょう。東海、北陸、関東も夜はところどころで雨や雪が降る見込みです。東北と北海道は日本海側で雪のところがありますが、晴れ間の出る所もあるでしょう。18日月曜日の朝は関東の内陸部でも雪の積もるところがありそうです。"<br />
<br />
I should probably have used a shorter text... My thumb aches... But this should hopefully make differences between the different methods more apparent.<br />
<br />
So, this is how long it took to type with each method:<br />
6:06 with SwiftKey<br />
6:20 with Google Japanese Input in 12-key format<br />
7:49 with Swype keyboard in qwerty format, tapping, not swyping.<br />
<br />
These results tally fairly well with my more qualitative observations; Swiftkey is only slightly better at Japanese than Google, but both of these methods are superior to Swype. I would point out that swyping is still not particularly usable for Japanese, but the word prediction is just about sufficient to make tapping viable.<br />
<br />
As well as being the fastest method for inputting Japanese, switching to English in SwiftKey is faster than changing input methods with Google (again, footnote*), and the English prediction for SwiftKey is fairly capable. Nonetheless, for words with unusual characters, my gut feeling is that Google performs much better. Additionally, my main gripe with Swiftkey is that it is very easy to mis-press the vowel extension "ー" key instead of "a", and SwiftKey's programming isn't intelligent enough to reinterperet the extension as an "a" depending upon the rest of the word. Then of course, Swype has an excellent integrated handwriting recognition system, which might be worth it for those who need to input characters they don't know the pronounciation for (I imagine, however, that this is mostly going to be in the context of looking words up in a dictionary, for which aedict offers a fairly good method that isn't keyboard-dependent. Plus, <a href="http://pouncingant.blogspot.com/2015/09/handwritten-japanese-input-by-google.html">free handwriting alternatives now exist</a>).<br />
<br />
The bottom line, however, is that SwiftKey is faster and more convenient when switching languages, and for me, these are the deciding factors.<br />
<br />
*As I've mentioned before, despite being able to type English using "Google Japanese Input", the prediction is awful, and so I rely on changing input methods.pouncinganthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17239758814994753514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378928814976244629.post-38032334570931600692016-01-10T08:05:00.000+00:002016-01-10T09:47:23.342+00:00The Tokyo Train Tech-crusher, and lightening the load for presentations with the Amazon Fire TV StickSometimes I have to make presentations. Back in the UK, this was never a huge problem; even on those occasions when I had to take the train, the trains were always roomy enough that I could find a safe spot for my bag.<br />
<br />
Having started work in Tokyo, the main problem I have with giving a presentation is the crush of rush hour. Usually, its at least tolerable; however, on occasion, often due to a delay of some sort*, people will cram themselves into the train until the passengers become compacted into a solid wall, making it impossible to add further bodies. Personal space is limited to whatever clothes separate you from your neighbour... Then again, the jostling, elbows and corners of bags poking into me almost makes it feel as though my personal space is limited to my head, which tends to rise at least a little way into the little breathing space that is left at the top of the carriage**.<br />
<br />
The first few times I was caught in this situation, I found my bag pulled off my shoulder as people flowed around me from the door like sand filling every gap at the bottom of an hourglass. Another time, the zip of my bag got itself caught on the belt straps of some poor salaryman's trousers. Some simple solutions to this is to have a backpack (usually worn at the front, presumably to keep the nearest person in front at least a bag's width out of one's face), or to press your shoulder-bag hard into your front. There are luggage racks, but count yourself lucky if the Brownian motion of people into the carriage happens to afford you a space near one (and lucky again if you find a space to put your arms once you've finished stowing your bag).<br />
<br />
If you have to take something fragile with you, you certainly have a few options, of course. Firstly, you can try leaving earlier, and simply wait for a carriage that doesn't happen to be packed. This is particularly good if you don't need to be somewhere during the rush hour; jams during the day generally are due to accidents etc., and tend to clear up before too long. If that isn't an option, you might reserve a seat (if there are green cars on the train). Otherwise, you could just bring a reinforced case for that laptop.<br />
<br />
The latter option strikes me as the one that offers the greatest flexibility and convenience; however, laptops are heavy enough, without buying bulky casing, and the increased size of the baggage is also bound to be another headache. So, instead of thinking bigger, stronger, better, I decided to go the opposite direction.<br />
<br />
The <a href="http://www.amazon.co.jp/Amazon-W87CUN-Fire-TV-Stick/dp/B00ZVNYLS8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448549378&sr=8-1&keywords=fire+tv+stick">Amazon Fire TV Stick</a> is essentially an Android computer that plugs into an HDMI port. I was at first put off by its name, which sounded less functional to me than the "Chromecast" by Google; however, the Fire Stick has one very potent advantage for what I had in mind: onboard apps. While chromecast would probably be my main choice if I intended to stream media from one of my smaller devices to a bigger screen, I don't own (or desire) a TV***, and given my experience with wifi connections, I suspect that if the system functions better in isolation, it will be more practical for applications on-the-go.<br />
<br />
Of course, my second-hand monitor has no HDMI port, so I had to buy <a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B0122NXEEG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1">an HDMI-VGA adapter</a> to actually ensure the presentation setup works beforehand (the adapter works surprisingly well, and has audio output too, just in case I want to use the Stick for recreation). On the bright side, this will come in handy if I happen to present somewhere without HDMI.<br />
<br />
The next obstacle to abusing the device into doing work, rather than play, was the lack of any decent office software on the Fire Stick's app store. Luckily, <a href="http://www.howtogeek.com/216386/how-to-sideload-android-apps-onto-your-amazon-fire-tv-and-fire-tv-stick/">there is plenty of information</a> on how to install standard Android software, <a href="https://www.wps.com/">WPS office</a> being my suite of choice.<br />
<br />
Excellent. And WPS office plugs straight into Dropbox, letting me pull down presentations in no time. The problem, however, is that WPS office requires a touch screen or mouse. I managed to get as far as linking WPS with dropbox, downloading, and opening a presentation file, but the Fire Stick's remote just wouldn't let me select the "play" button. There are a number of mobile-to-TV apps that I could have used to solve this problem; however, I wanted to be sure that the device will function even if my phone batteries die and the wifi has exploded. This is where <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fluxii.android.mousetoggleforfiretv&hl=en">Mouse Toggle for Fire TV</a> comes in. It lets you double press the play button on the remote to summon a cursor that can be controlled by the up/down/left/right keys on the remote. Not exactly elegant, but better than buying a bluetooth mouse (after all, I won't actually be <i>producing</i> any content on the Fire Stick*4), and the remote will double as a slide-changer which I can use without being tied to a laptop.<br />
<br />
So, I found myself in a position where I can actually give a presentation. Lovely. Especially considering the entire kit could fit inside my pocket. The only problem is that the Fire Stick wont show non-native apps in its main menu. Every time you want to open the app you have to go to Settings>Applications>Manage Applications>[Application name]>Launch. Ye gads. The Fire Stick isn't the sprightliest of devices, and add in that you might need to enter a pin to use the Manage Applications menu (depending on your security settings), this takes too much time; what if I need to switch applications, perhaps to open a paper I reference in the presentation, in response to a comment?<br />
<br />
Thankfully, there is a friendly group of <strike>arsonists </strike>programmers that have developed <a href="http://www.aftvnews.com/firestarter-is-a-non-root-launcher-replacement-with-fantastic-home-button-detection/">"Firestarter"</a>, which is basically an app tray that loads automatically, leaving the original system intact, but doing away with its annoyances. Now, I can switch between apps at a reasonable pace, and set up in a much more reasonable order of time (you can <a href="https://github.com/sphinx02/FireStarter/releases">download it here</a>).<br />
<br />
Of course, I can control the device using my mobile, if needs be, and it also supports miracasting; however, in my opinion its ability to run as a standalone device is its greatest strength. Even if it needs a little persuading.<br />
<br />
On the day of the presentation, I was happy to have a lighter load on the 1-hour, standing train journey, and not have to worry about the device imploding (the box it comes in is fairly sturdy). Moreover, set-up was simple using the seminar room's HDMI input, and the device was responsive enough for a smooth presentation.<br />
<br />
<br />
*Japanese trains are generally pretty punctual, but I think the massive throughput of the Tokyo railway system means even a small delay can cause a pretty jam. Longer delays are nightmarish.<br />
<br />
**I regularly complain about how annoying it is being tall, and its rare I get through a day in the city without knocking my head on a hand-strap; however, when the big squeeze occurs, I'm only too happy to have my head as far away from the seething mass of shoulders and elbows below. I can only imagine what that must be like for a shorter person...<br />
<br />
*** Yeah, Amazon Fire TV Stick... Ironic, I know. I should also point out that I don't think the Chromecast is bad; for a home set-up or anywhere you have good control over possible show-stopping factors, the Chromecast would be an excellent (and marginally more economical) choice.<br />
<br />
*4 That's what proper computers are for... Though I find it ironic that I have a beast of a machine in the laboratory, and giving a presentation just a few feet away requires a far less functional device.pouncinganthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17239758814994753514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378928814976244629.post-20010705120382180392015-12-29T01:46:00.000+00:002015-12-29T01:46:57.901+00:00Comfort Women and Justice? And revisionism!From what little time I have for the news, I gather that, for some time now, the Japanese government has been asserting that it will clear up the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_women">issue of comfort women</a> with Korea by the end of the year. Personally, I applaud this effort to try and reconcile differences between Japan and Korea, and I hope this marks a greater shift towards a deeper understanding between Japan and its neighbouring countries.<br />
<br />
However, I have a couple of issues with how this reconciliation is being approached. The short version is that the approach of both governments is fundamentally flawed.<br />
<br />
1) The necessity for financial compensation.<br />
<br />
It makes sense from a legal perspective that victims be compensated for the traumas (in this case, quite horrific ones) incurred. However, who should be paying that compensation? The issue is such an old one now that it is no longer possible to round up the responsible people and impart justice.<br />
<br />
From the <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35188135">agreements reached so far</a> it looks like the Japanese government will be paying compensation, which superficially seems fair: it was the Japanese government that occupied Korea, right? Well, I have problems with this.<br />
<br />
Firstly, the Japanese government now is nothing like the organization that rampaged around East Asia during the war. To my mind, it is a separate entity, established largely by the US when they demolished Imperial Japan and led them by the hand to a truer democracy*. Since then, it has evolved yet more. As such, I think it odd that modern Japan be held directly responsible for the compensation of the comfort women.<br />
<br />
Secondly, where does this money come from? The government gets its money from taxes, which are paid by working individuals in Japanese society that <i>are entirely innocent</i>. Sure, the figure per head is going to be infinitesimal** (7.8 yen, something like 4p), but to my mind this is foundationally flawed. <br />
<br />
2)Japanese revisionism<br />
<br />
Just so we're clear, it's not just the Korean side I have issue with here, the Japanese side is equally flawed. It is plain to see on the news, Abe wants to "put an end to the issue before the year is out". Why the rush? Is this really the best premise for discussion? He may as well announce "Let's just get this over with quickly so that when the new year comes we can forget all about it". Anyway, part of the initial terms drawn up by Japan was the removal of a statue erected outside the Japanese embassy. This statue symbolizes the pains inflicted by Imperial Japan and a defiance, which I applaud, towards Japanese indifference to the issue.<br />
<br />
I think part of the issue here is that the statue hurts Japanese honour. But let's be honest, it <i>should</i> do. The actions of Imperial Japan are a shame to the name of Japan, and it is by overcoming that shame that Japan should move forward; the Japanese government should be working towards building a society where past lessons are learned and can never be repeated. Instead, Japan has focussed on this shame as something that needs removing, rather than a harsh lesson.<br />
<br />
I feel slightly alleviated by the fact that Korea haven't agreed to this term yet; however, I am somewhat disappointed that revisionism isn't the main thrust of Korea's discussions. If you're going to hold modern Japan to account, at least do so for its own wrongdoings***...<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
*The barbarism the US displayed (admittedly blood was on everyone's hands back then) is at least partially offset by the spirit of cooperation the US managed to forge with their vanquished.<br />
<br />
**1 billion yen divided by 127 million people. 7.8 yen doesn't sound like much, but 1 billion yen is. A lot of good could be done with that money; lives could be saved with it, but as it stands a lot of elderly people and their families are going to get large sums of money. Yeah, they deserve a break, but so do starving children in the slums of the places we like to forget about.<br />
<br />
*** My greatest fear here is that, by focussing on the money, the solution will only be a temporary one. I'm sure there is still plenty of anger in Korea regarding this issue, and while Japan keeps avoiding the issue, the Japanese will be less informed as to why such a sentiment exists. This in turn reinforces Japanese hostility. In such a situation, one can only hope that time passing will counteract this.pouncinganthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17239758814994753514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378928814976244629.post-52066982830880246492015-10-27T05:39:00.000+00:002015-10-27T05:39:05.686+00:00Review of the Ewin Bluetooth keyboard for 7-inch tabletsWhile I wait for my more "competent"* computer to compute the Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon test on a 2x4000 dataset , I thought I'd do a first-impressions review of the keyboard I recently got for my Nexus 7 (2012 version).<br />
<br />
I had previously been using <a href="http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%82%B5%E3%83%B3%E3%83%AF%E3%82%B5%E3%83%97%E3%83%A9%E3%82%A4-SKB-BTNX01-%E6%96%B0nexus7%E3%82%B1%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B9%E4%B8%80%E4%BD%93%E5%9E%8B%E3%82%AD%E3%83%BC%E3%83%9C%E3%83%BC%E3%83%89/dp/B00ME07KKC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1445921926&sr=8-1&keywords=Nexus+keyboard">one of these</a> (yes, it's a Japanese link, but they were definitely available in the UK, which is where I bought it), and to be honest, that was great; it fit snugly around the Nexus, protected the screen from harm, and was ultra-portable. The only real complaints I had about it were the lack of a TAB key, and the fact the letters eventually wore off**.<br />
<br />
There are new versions of the keyboard that have the TAB key, and I would have gotten one; however, I was seduced by the idea of having a nexus case that enveloped the whole device, not just the screen-side.<br />
<br />
Consequently, I bought <a href="http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B00UMNKYWO?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00">this little gadget</a> (not the pink one, the black one!). The device itself was (like any other keyboard I've come across) simple to set up; just turn on and have the tablet search for bluetooth devices. I've not had any problems with connection, and the keys are very responsive. Indeed, the keys have much more depth to them than my old device***, making it easy to feel whether you've hit a button sufficiently. However, I did have the backspace pop off the keyboard a couple of times at first (perhaps due to a bumpy ride here?). I've not had the problem since, but I'm inclined to be gentle with the device for the time being.<br />
<br />
The keyboard itself is only marginally larger than my previous one; however, the extra vertical spacing between the buttons makes the keyboard feel decidedly less cramped, and I think I'm making far fewer typos as a result. The layout is a bit different to what I'm used to, but I know from experience that I'll adapt in no time.<br />
<br />
The biggest change in this keyboard is the introduction of function keys. This is great as it allows for a more spacious layout and it also allows me access a number of the tablets functionality without lifting my hands from the keyboard****. However, because this is a generic keyboard, it has buttons that cater only to iProducts (a cmd button that appears to have no use, and non-functional brightness keys). Oddly, some of the typographical keys are also relegated to fn keys: the apostrophe, inverted commas, square brackets, and parentheses. If you like your apostrophes, this will take some getting used to. Luckily, being acclimatized to Japanese keyboards and their odd apostrophe placement (shift-7), I suspect that I'll adapt to this keyboard soon enough too.<br />
<br />
Of course, for just over 2000 yen, I'm not surpised that the faux leather is of uninspiring quality; however, the product doesn't look ugly, and it is functional. One advantage that the case has is its ability to fold back and form a stand that actually positions the screen at a natural distance from the user. Even better, you can detach the keyboard from the case entirely for completely free placement of the device. I found the inability to do this with my previous keyboard decidedly awkward.<br />
<br />
So, all in all, I think the keyboard is well worth the money. Despite some initial mishaps, it feels like a sturdy product and, having used it to type this article, I feel it functions better than I need it to.<br />
<br />
<br />
*the lab workhorses could manage this within a few seconds...<br />
<br />
** This ended up being the downfall of the keyboard; in an effort to maintain its usability, I resorted to using correction fluid to write the letters back on it, which worked well enough, but I didn't fancy going into work and using it (it looked decidedly DIY, and not in a good way). So, I bought some letter stickers from the local 100-yen store, and used nail varnish remover to (after much effort) get rid of the now-ingrained correction fluid. Unfortunately, I got somewhat carried away in this cleaning, and at some point the keyboard stopped working. All I can say is that keyboards and acetone don't mix...<br />
<br />
***I hear that some people enjoy the sound of keyboards clacking. I'm indifferent, but the keyboard might satisfy such people.<br />
<br />
****My particular favourite being the unlock button, as the lock button on my Nexus 7 has been temperamental since I bought it.pouncinganthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17239758814994753514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378928814976244629.post-80828658052246117942015-10-22T07:11:00.000+01:002015-10-22T07:11:07.784+01:00Getting LuneOS running on the Nexus 7 (2012 ver.; grouper)I had a go at installing LuneOS on my Nexus 7. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, given the performance issues; however, here is how I achieved it:<br />
<br />
0) Install and set up MultiRom Manager<br />
<br />
1) <a href="http://build.webos-ports.org/luneos-stable/images/grouper/luneos-dev-package-grouper.zip">Download image</a><br />
2) Copy onto device<br />
3) Boot into Recovery<br />
<strike>4) Advanced > MultiROM > Add ROM > Android ROM - then navigate for the zip file in your device</strike><br />
4) Backup > Select system and boot<br />
5) Go back to main recovery menu and check the "Restore" section to see if the backup ROM is present<br />
6) Install > navigate to the luneos grouper zip file, uncheck "inject MultiROM after installation" and swipe to flash<br />
7) You may get a message saying "no OS installed" and another "not set as root". Ignored both messages and reboot.<br />
8) I got fed up of waiting and turned off during the Google logo; however, after rebooting the device and waiting for ages at the Google logo, some minutes later the LuneOS logo appeared and the OS booted up!<br />
<br />
But! There was no virtual keyboard... I couldn't get fingerterm to load, and bluetooth wouldn't load, so I had no software <i>or</i> hardware keyboard. Consequently I had no way of entering the LAN password, and thus no way of pulling any new packages that <i>might</i> have helped solve the problem. Oh dear.<br />
<br />
Worse, the system was fairly slow to respond, and after several attempts to get the above to work, I ended up ditching the OS in the end, rather than pursue further to see if the keyboard worked in a nightly build.<br />
<br />
<br />
(LuneOS Version 38 build 286)<br />
<br />pouncinganthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17239758814994753514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378928814976244629.post-55035862400604481762015-10-21T15:52:00.001+01:002015-10-21T16:12:25.125+01:00Installing SailfishOS alongside CyanogenMod on the Nexus 7 (2012 version; "grouper")The cyclic frustration that is my old Nexus 7. As I install more apps and things get updated, the poor thing eventually struggles to keep enough RAM to remain responsive. Consequently, I have tried a few ways of coaxing it into doing things a little faster.<br />
<br />
Installing a fresh OS (be it the factory software or otherwise) keeps things smooth for a while; however, the accumulating apps, data, or updates (I'm not sure which is the most problematic here) does tend to slow things down.<br />
<br />
Recently I installed Sailfish OS. It seems fast enough, but I managed to kill the OS when installing Japanese input. Whoops.<br />
<br />
Anyway, if you care about not voiding your warranty, and have a rooted Nexus 7 try this:<br />
1) Install <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tassadar.multirommgr&hl=en">MultiRom Manager</a> <br />
2) Download the Cyanogenmod and Sailfish OS images <a href="https://wiki.merproject.org/wiki/Adaptations/libhybris/Install_SailfishOS_for_hammerhead">linked at this page</a>.<br />
3) Copy the downloaded files onto the home directory of the nexus<br />
4) Run MultiRom Manager and have it install all the necessary kernel patches etc.<br />
5) Once (4) is finished and you're back in Android, use MultiRom Manager to reboot into recovery<br />
6) Go to "Advanced" and find "MultiRom" then "Add ROM".<br />
7a) You can now <a href="https://wiki.merproject.org/wiki/Adaptations/libhybris/Install_SailfishOS_for_hammerhead">follow the pictures.</a><br />
OR <br />
7b) i) If you dislike pictures; select "SailfishOS" as the ROM type and press next<br />
ii) Select the CyanogenMod and SailfishOS zips (in "/data/media/" if I recall correctly)<br />
iii)Press install<br />
<br />
When booting up, you can interrupt the boot countdown and then select SailfishOS from the list.<br />
<br />
Have fun!<br />
<br />
EDIT: I did also try "Plasma Active" which feels much more "old-school linux"; however, its small keyboard led to immediate removal.pouncinganthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17239758814994753514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378928814976244629.post-43349549432280091132015-10-13T14:02:00.003+01:002015-10-13T16:17:10.691+01:00Getting anaglyph 3D working on old gamesMore so the internet retains a copy than anything else, I thought I'd write down my experiences in trying to get anaglyph 3D to work on TESIV: Oblivion. I have lost my 3D specs, so I actually can't comment on the quality of the end product; however, it appears to be working, so this is what I did:<br />
<br />
1) Downloaded <a href="http://www.mtbs3d.com/downloads-section/summary/17-vireio-perception-2-0/68-vireio-perception-2-1-6-vr-boost">Vireio Perception 2.1.6</a> *<br />
2) Open Perception\cfg\profiles.xml<br />
3) Scroll down until you find "Fallout 3"<br />
4) Copy the <i>entire </i><profile ..="" nbsp=""> tag and paste a new entry</profile><br />
5) Edit the game name and exe tags:<br />
game_name="Oblivion" game_exe="Oblivion.exe"<br />
6) Run Vireio Perception as Admin<br />
7) Run Oblivion.exe **<br />
<br />
You should see some green writing after a short delay on the loading screen.<br />
<br />
I suspect the reason this was so simple was that Fallout 3 and Oblivion use pretty much the same engine. I might give some other games a try and see what happens.<br />
<br />
<br />
What, you haven't run off to try this for yourself? Fair enough. If you're interested, I used to use <a href="http://iz3d.com/">iZ3D</a> (which I believe is still available). That was my first experience with 3D immersion in a game, and while I'm sure some would be horrified with the loss of colour quality using red-cyan glasses, I quite enjoyed it. Unfortunately, Windows 8 was completely incompatible with iZ3D, and I've never since been able to play around with true-ish 3D immersion in games. In contrast, the above technique got things working for my win 10 laptop, so it looks like all I need to do now is get hold of some 3D glasses again!<br />
<br />
<br />
*There exists a version 3+; however, I was fiddling with 2.1.6 when I got it working, so I can't yet comment on whether the more recent version is more appropriate.<br />
EDIT: You can use version 3+; however, when you load up the game, press Ctrl-Q to bring up a menu, select the "3D reconstruction settings" option, and turn "projected FOV" OFF.<br />
** I copied the dlls from perception/bin/ into the Oblivion game folder; however, this might be unnecessary.pouncinganthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17239758814994753514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378928814976244629.post-84537350840607291962015-09-15T16:17:00.000+01:002015-09-15T16:17:00.315+01:00Every app has a dictionary now. The Aedict suite.<br />
In my recent forays into searching for better solutions to working with Japanese on Android I became aware of a new addition by the developer of Aedict, called (unflatteringly, but descriptively)<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=sk.baka.aedictreader&hl=en"> "Aedict Reader Popup".</a><br />
<br />
I think I've mentioned the following already, but the existence of a dictionary that uses the EDICT Japanese dictionary,<a href="http://pouncingant.blogspot.com/2010/02/htc-tattoo-and-japanese.html"> i.e. Aedict, was the reason I originally bought a smartphone</a>. Thus allowing me to hold a book in one hand and dictionary in the other while on the bus. Although I was<a href="http://pouncingant.blogspot.jp/2013/11/aedict-goes-paidunpaid.html"> almost ready to jump ship</a> when Aedict turned paid, <a href="http://pouncingant.blogspot.jp/2014/01/aedict3-all-grown-up.html">Aedict3 remained head-and-shoulders above the competition</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8T-vOkPeQ5NCaBA-VBaLd0Z1P_9E40lAsCF726ViEdlBofnAheQYqvbdKuesVEkrKQpVWnPeyZkyvaD1BAxQTeN5FVHP0z7wlwbugnRkpLEIb_qjziDkVRLjewnBP6pk0HmsL_CLI3qXY/s1600/Screenshot_2015-09-15-22-35-36.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8T-vOkPeQ5NCaBA-VBaLd0Z1P_9E40lAsCF726ViEdlBofnAheQYqvbdKuesVEkrKQpVWnPeyZkyvaD1BAxQTeN5FVHP0z7wlwbugnRkpLEIb_qjziDkVRLjewnBP6pk0HmsL_CLI3qXY/s320/Screenshot_2015-09-15-22-35-36.png" width="179" /></a>Looking through the various Japanese dictionaries in development, there are a number of promising (even free) alternatives available. Indeed, I have <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ric.Jsho">Jsho installed on my phone </a>just to see how it develops from here (however, its current lack of technical dictionaries is a bit of a turnoff at the moment*).<br />
<br />
It was while looking at these apps that I (quite accidentally) came across the aforementioned Aedict Reader Popup. Despite having my eye on Aedict's competition, I thought I would at least buy it and try it.<br />
<br />
I was first presented with the screen to the right. This is AedictReader, a web browser that automatically translates Japanese to English. By accidentally skipping the next dialogue, I thought for a moment this was the entire app. But the settings allow it to be used pretty much anywhere (I've yet to find anywhere it doesn't run; hell, it will even display over World of Goo if I tell it to**). The reader does, however, serve as a useful introduction to Aedict Reader Popup's functions.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvo2N6YkfHzyjts35oURan0j3_CWHnLTxzfEZbFz2b_slot0pgdtHyMYZMEyLf_najnFjCSR2tKmIIhVoKmgPVNVAPfbQ-W1rWUZs8oirV09mue5v5HdDhBPOlJQmEuFu4ZJrf5nugzOKP/s1600/Screenshot_2015-09-15-22-50-21.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvo2N6YkfHzyjts35oURan0j3_CWHnLTxzfEZbFz2b_slot0pgdtHyMYZMEyLf_najnFjCSR2tKmIIhVoKmgPVNVAPfbQ-W1rWUZs8oirV09mue5v5HdDhBPOlJQmEuFu4ZJrf5nugzOKP/s320/Screenshot_2015-09-15-22-50-21.png" width="180" /></a><br />
Once enabled to work across all apps (I think that is the default setting), copying text will result in a popup, as shown to the left. Any dictionaries you have enabled in Aedict3*** will be consulted for a match. The picture shows an example of the app being used on a biosciences document. Since I have the life sciences dictionary installed, "transcriptional activity" is correctly displayed when "転写活性" is selected and copied in my document viewer (I've blurred the rest of the writing in the GIMP*4 but you get the idea).<br />
<br />
Tapping on the popup gives access to more advanced functions, including the ability to quickly switch to Aedict3 to have a closer look at the word and scrutinize it further. There is also the option to temporarily remove the popup or minimize it (down to about the size of a fingerprin; easy to push, but unobtrusive on my largish AQUOS Crystal).<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKStoKONT2oY6WioPw06-GU12DYUr014NybBOxcjvt6A2o24_MSiK6VfksA0bvjCvdNoCJQt0tgB2arZh0JQ2xwfkXJhgxT_ShZ0eEAaUJAM4m7qFzKTMy1q8lC4uwcLMyRFoi3_5tGaEQ/s1600/Screenshot_2015-09-15-23-14-12.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKStoKONT2oY6WioPw06-GU12DYUr014NybBOxcjvt6A2o24_MSiK6VfksA0bvjCvdNoCJQt0tgB2arZh0JQ2xwfkXJhgxT_ShZ0eEAaUJAM4m7qFzKTMy1q8lC4uwcLMyRFoi3_5tGaEQ/s400/Screenshot_2015-09-15-23-14-12.png" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
You can set the popup app to remain in the notification bar; from there you can activate the popup even if using a program from which you <i>cannot</i> copy/paste. If you have the paid Aedict3 Kanjipad plugin, this lets you copy the character in-situ*5. You can also do a normal search, though with the app-of-interest, the popup, <i>and</i> the keyboard on screen, it does get crowded. On tablets; however, this is very manageable.<br />
<br />
When reading books on the Kindle, Aedict's new popup app even seems to outperform Kindle's own dictionaries (see below), especially considering Aedict is aware of verb tense, while Kindle's is not!<br />
<br />
The <i>only</i> thing I can imagine that would make this better is integration of the OCR package, so that I can hover the popup over some uncopyable text and have the popup translate it. A tall order, but given the completeness and robustness of the app, I wouldn't be surprised if such a feature does appear in the future.<br />
<br />
<b>Conclusion</b><br />
<br />
Today, I expect almost every learner of Japanese, everyone with Japanese as a second language, absorbs the language in some way via their phones. Whether it is film, books, instant messaging, news, websites, or even games, any tool that could be used to take the chore out of looking up a new word, or a forgotten word, makes these activities even more rewarding than before. Thus, it is easier to spend more time getting better at Japanese. <br />
<br />
The popup app extends the features of the Aedict suite into almost any/all app(s) and does so without compromising the ability to search multiple dictionaries. It works and responds well on phones and tablets, <i>even where the most basic system functions (such as copy/paste) fail</i>. From my own experiences, I surmise that there has never been a more robust, accurate, and flexible Japanese dictionary tool in history*6, besides -perhaps- the human mind.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEGBkuKrgRNpsmb087fdxoawfi37zHCB-bhtOn7bLchjDNfVfUD_mKaIpr49lWYp3FN0VZiSc3EWFyQ1orzFykDVGMldn6WpmnDk7Vpg3LJZLSJfP-pYG17P1hy49uU4IyHDdn828Wy_XB/s1600/Screenshot_2015-09-15-23-29-39_2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEGBkuKrgRNpsmb087fdxoawfi37zHCB-bhtOn7bLchjDNfVfUD_mKaIpr49lWYp3FN0VZiSc3EWFyQ1orzFykDVGMldn6WpmnDk7Vpg3LJZLSJfP-pYG17P1hy49uU4IyHDdn828Wy_XB/s400/Screenshot_2015-09-15-23-29-39_2.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>The ol' Nexus 7 running Kindle. Left</b>: Kindle's own Japanese-English dictionary shows the entry, and I can get a full definition from there (but that opens up a new window, so I cannot see the word with its definition in the context of the book). <b>Right:</b> pressing the copy icon brings up Aedict's definition, complete with example sentences, all in one place so that I can still see the word <i>in context</i>. Moreover, having the popup installed doesn't interfere with the apps existing functions, so I (of course) still have Kindle's Wikipedia links etc.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI_4TO-myUqBQVUYZub_uHZZRuo4SqgyLTaDBEtG817fknGif08Q4IG99mKa79Ivei15JSPKvggbf8aqCrphwI_loBQxc-PjigVDiXA0W4mIVLrjZla9QMa681IHgevvuG7oq27HEqiLo_/s1600/Screenshot_2015-09-15-23-30-06.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*It is also light on other features, such as different methods for kanji lookup, though handwriting recognition is probably the way forward. Given the dictionary aims to be "simple, lightweight, fast and accurate. No unnecessary splash screens and no need to download any additional files", I'm not sure we'll see Jsho becoming the powerhouse that Aedict is.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">**Rest assured, this is optional.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">***And usefully, <i>ONLY </i>those dictionaries you have enabled in Aedict3's word search.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*4 "GNU Image Manipulation Program", before you get any odd ideas...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*5 previously you'd have to copy the character onto paper and then use the drawing to rewrite the character into the dictionary, or use <i>another </i>device with a Japanese dictionary. Either way, the new solution is much more elegant.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*6 good enough that I took the time to upload pictures, which I don't often do. Also its difficult to explain just how elegant the app is without them.</span>pouncinganthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17239758814994753514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378928814976244629.post-26504996459779407912015-09-14T17:48:00.003+01:002015-09-14T17:48:30.210+01:00Handwritten Japanese Input by GoogleSummary:<br />
+Google's handwriting engine is free and highly accurate for writing Japanese characters<br />
-If you already have <i>good </i>handwriting recognition as part of your dictionary, you likely wont need this<br />
<br />
Having rediscovered that I own a blog, I thought I'd have another delve into the experience of using Japanese with Android, and quickly came upon the existence of Google's very own handwriting recognition (apparently its <a href="http://googleresearch.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/google-handwriting-input-in-82.html">been around for months now,</a> though).<br />
<br />
I was very happy to see this for 3 reasons: 1) Google provide their input methods for free, 2) Google's products tend to work very well with each other <br />
<br />
Reason 1 doesn't really require introduction, everyone loves a freebie, and anyone who has read any of my previous rants will know I am a techno-miser.<br />
<br />
For point 2, I'd like to point out how all of Google's input methods* have a shortcut where you long-press the space bar to switch input methods. Thus you can switch between English, Japanese, and handwriting method fairly simply. (Many of the iWnn methods require that you pull down the notification menu and select the input method dialog from there).<br />
<br />
So, lets do a little test. I randomly took whatever Japanese happened to be on my desk, in this case "電気料金等払込取扱票"**. Not particularly challenging, but a nice string of characters. So, I'll use a few handwriting recognition apps/input methods to see how good they are at recognizing my numpty attempts at copying these words by hand. The method counts as correctly predicting if it shows the character I want in the suggestions it displays.<br />
<br />
Google handwriting recognition 100% correct, of which 100% were the 1st suggestion<br />
Kanji Draw 60% correct, of which 50% were the 1st suggestion<br />
Swype (In handwriting mode) 100% correct, of which 100% were the 1st suggestion<br />
Aedict3 KanjiPad Extension 100% correct, of which 70% were the 1st suggestion<br />
MyScript Stylus Beta - 90% correct, of which ~70% were the 1st suggestion<br />
<br />
Similarly, the results for "納付書兼領収剤通知書"*** were:<br />
<br />
Google - 90% correct, of which 100% were the 1st suggestion<br />
Kanji Draw - 50% correct, of which 80% were the 1st suggestion<br />
Swype - 90% correct, of which 100% were the 1st suggestion<br />
MyScript Stylus Beta - 100% correct, of which 90% were the 1st suggestion<br />
Aedict3 KanjiPad Extension - 100% correct, of which 90% were the 1st suggestion.<br />
<br />
Evidently, the methods are neck-and-neck.<br />
<br />
I'll keep Swype installed and hope that one day they'll release an update with prediction on par with Google's (Swype's language switching is faster and easier than Google's, but I've grown dependent upon how Google correctly interprets my input in the easier-to-use 12-key format).<br />
<br />
However, I am thinking of switching from Google to Swiftkey. Why? <a href="https://support.swiftkey.com/hc/en-us/articles/201865802-Can-I-use-SwiftKey-Keyboard-for-Android-with-Japanese-">Swiftkey's Japanese beta</a> offers: one-tap switching between English/Japanese with <i>very good </i>prediction*4 in <i>both</i> languages and swipe input for English*5.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The other reason for this is that handwriting is only really useful when you need to input a character you cannot copy/paste and do not know the pronunciation of: ie. a random word you find in a book*6. The only reason I ever have for doing this is to look something up in a dictionary. Consequently, having bought into*7 the whole Aedict bundle (which I still think is the best dictionary around, despite previous misgivings*8) it makes sense to use the dictionary's kanjipad.<br />
<br />
<br />
Also, note that I changed the settings of the Aedict handwriting recognition to search for kanji with the wrong number of strokes because the added accuracy saves time in the long run (if you're as sloppy a writer as me).<br />
<br />
<br />
*at least, the ones I've used<br />
** Yeah, I also find it depressing that the most prominent Japanese on my desk happens to be my electricity bill...<br />
*** So many bills :(<br />
*4 Google Japanese Input's English prediction is, for some reason, awful. Also, by very good Japanese prediction, I mean I can type "かつこうにいくとおもつた" and have it converted into "学校に行くと思った". However, Swiftkey didn't recognise the word 電磁気学 like Google does.<br />
*5 Swype offers swipe input for both languages, but I never found it particularly reliable for Japanese, which I presume is because of the short consonant-vowel pattern of the language. Swiftkey seem to realise this and offer swipe for English and a 12-key layout for Japanese as default.<br />
*6 or bill! (-_-;)<br />
*7 technically, I only bought the Aedict KanjiPad Extension for the test above...<br />
*8 And I still wouldn't recommend the Aedict OCR app.pouncinganthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17239758814994753514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378928814976244629.post-912215507366272942015-09-13T18:17:00.000+01:002015-09-13T18:17:18.907+01:00Yochien 幼稚園 - Starting Preschool in Japan - What it Means for Your Child, Time, Wallet, and Sanity<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj58QIyW362ENa0dpzK5AQiXy4GhwWkM9xls8FnXReZ_vb5N4MAzhQY0ftfY9GYwUGmhpRiCg_nUuAc-fXfWGONLQLNoRrvH7JJsQ6UKmoSa897b823inpK0S0vX42doDKwnBJaBuoZMM8R/s1600/DSC_0229.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj58QIyW362ENa0dpzK5AQiXy4GhwWkM9xls8FnXReZ_vb5N4MAzhQY0ftfY9GYwUGmhpRiCg_nUuAc-fXfWGONLQLNoRrvH7JJsQ6UKmoSa897b823inpK0S0vX42doDKwnBJaBuoZMM8R/s400/DSC_0229.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Figure 1: Specifications for a box to contain a child's tools for playtime.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Note the needlessly specific specifications that make what would be a </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">simple trip to the 100-yen store many times as expensive in time and money. </span></div>
<h3>
</h3>
<h3>
Executive summary</h3>
Preschool education in Japan is an over-subscribed, unstandardised mess. I'll surely be glad my child attended, but it's everything that needs to be done until then that riles every rational bone in my body. My choices of education appear to be "no education until age 6" or "Christian preschool", complete with vaguely-defined charges and mandatory DIY children's accessories.<br />
<br />
Warning. Applying for preschool in Japan may make you homesick.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Foreword</h3>
<br />
Herein lie the experiences of one fallible man and his family, trying to make ends meet on the fringe of Tokyo. I'm unsure of how relevant my experience is to anyone else in the country. Additionally, I was educated in the United Kingdom, which schooled me at negligible expense, albeit in the soggy, grey sort of way that everything tends to happen in the UK. This under-exposure to financial hardship* has undoubtedly clouded the glass through which I see the Japanese education system**.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*I would like to point out that this isn't due to
having wealthy family; unlike many so-called "university students", I
underwent the increasingly rare right-of-passage of making it through
university without a stipend from my parents.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">** Or indeed the health system, real-estate, etc., etc..</span><br />
<h3>
</h3>
<h3>
When to get your child educated***</h3>
I approached childcare with the same angle I use with most things; "Can it wait?" To be fair, I've spent much of the last year ensuring I've had the financial stability required to relocate my wife and children from Kagawa*4 to Saitama, and prior to that, getting my foot in the door of a university in Tokyo.<br />
<br />
Nonetheless, the technical answer is "yes", compulsory schooling starts with primary school*5, and so my daughter will be joining the local preschool at the ripe age of 5. Nonetheless, this being later than I started school, I've been keen on getting my daughter some form of education for a long time now, and while my wife was in hospital, I used kindergarten to care for my daughter while I went to work*6. Anyway, pre-schools (which is what I will call "yochien" here) are generally entered from ages 3-6.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*** Yes, I will keep writing second-person for my titles, despite the first-person narrative; this is a blog for the grammatically masochistic. I will also keep up the footnotes, just to make things even less tidy. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*4 <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780167/">Land of Udon</a>, temples, and -if you ask the Japanese- more udon.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*5 Or "elementary school", if taxation without representation upsets your sensibilities. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*6 I survived a total of 2 months in a 1R ("one-room"*7) flat in Yokohama whilst supporting my daughter and trying to successfully translate for money, and write research documents for the promise of money. Those single parents that do that sort of thing every day of their parenting lives deserve all the help they can get. And a medal.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*7 The "One room" being a combined bedroom and kitchen. Toilets and hallways are not counted in Japanese estate agentese.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: large;">Finding education for your child</span></span></h3>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">So, having successfully ported my family from Kagawa to Saitama*8, our first priority was to get our daughter's education sorted. Therein manifested problems 1 and 2, which are "the lack of preschools" and "nursery school requirements", respectively.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Within walking distance of my fledgling, car-less family are precisely 2 preschools, thus we're very short on options. Both preschools are ostensibly Christian schools*9, and more-or-less at maximum capacity. This led us to broaden our search to include nursery schools ("<i>hoikuen</i>"), which would be less educational and more focused on play. Given that many preschools also take the play-focused approach, <i>hoikuen </i>are a reasonable approximation of preschools, and tend to be far more numerous (with at least 3 within a 8-minute walk of our house).</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">However, it quickly became apparent that the nursery schools were not an easy option<i></i> due to their requirement that <i>both parents be working</i>. We reasoned that we could probably weasel our daughter in by using our 4-month-old son as reasonable grounds for not having sufficient time to spend on our daughter; however, my wife discovered through conversation that it is likely that such an application would likely be refused. Additionally, my wife was concerned about the possibility that our daughter might be taken out of nursery school when our son reached a more "manageable" age of 1. Thus, I remain slightly sceptical about the existence of this problem, as due to the above concerns we never proceeded as far as making an application.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*8 Still have some incompatibility issues due to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dependency_hell">unmet dependencies</a> for Sanuki Udon (I currently live above an udon shop, and have yet to eat there because "udon in Saitama is so expensive"); however, as a quick workaround, there is always ramen.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*9 Which should be a non-issue, given my primary school education included prayer each morning; however, now that I've given in to rational thought, the idea of someone teaching my children that, essentially, fairies are responsible for all of the mysteries of this world... Doesn't sit too well with me.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;">Applying for education for your child</span></h3>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Eventually we settled on the larger of the 2 preschools in the area, and they offered us a look around. The staff were helpful, kindhearted people of the sort you might hope to find in a preschool. Additionally, my fears of brainwashing were belayed by assurances that the preschool honoured the spirit of Christianity more so than the actual spirits of Christianity. They even gave me a rhinovirus so that I could get an authentic preview of childhood education as viewed from a father's perspective. Excellent! Where do I sign up?</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">The preschool provided us with the application form after we visited them for the tour. However, of course, once signed, there is the issue of financing this little endeavour. The <i>nyugakuhi</i> ("school entrance fee") for our chosen institution was 90,000 yen. Given that I'm fed up with the aforementioned delays to our daughter's education, and my eagerness to have the school accept our application, I've not been so crass as to ask what that money is used for; however, I will point out that I will also be paying additional initial costs of around 20,000 yen for equipment/clothing etc., and a monthly fee (of around 20,000 yen) too. Assuming the monthly fee covers teaching expenses, and the equipment will be paid for or provided by ourselves, I do wonder, for a preschool with about 20 children per teacher, "what on earth is this sum of money for?"</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;">Preparing <strike>your child </strike>yourself for preschool</span></h3>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Occasionally, I am suddenly struck by the fact I am here, <i>in Japan</i>, living my dreams amidst that misty, bamboo'd, fairytale image of the East that drew me here in 2007. Sometimes, rather than be "struck" by this magnificent contrast, I am entirely bowled over*10.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">By far the biggest surprise, even more so than the existence of a entry fee for preschool*11, was the outline of "things to do before your child enters school". It starts out asking for a photo of the family together (fair enough, I guess, over 100 kids, they're going to want some visual reference, though I'll be damned impressed if Teacher of class A knows which parents a pupil of class G belongs to, even <i>with</i> photos). It continues with a reasonable list of items such as a rucksack, scissors, etc., and specifications for those items. This is where things go a bit odd "Letter bag. This is a blue, vinyl bag. It is used to store letters at the preschool." Is a "letter bag" really necessary? How about the rucksack, that's also a container for holding things, right? "Album: We make an album with pictures that the child has drawn, which is for the graduation ceremony." OK, so having not attended either of my higher education ceremonies, I'm biased here, but <i>a graduation ceremony for 6-year olds?</i> I knew they had them for primary school, but damn it that is just pretencious. </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Things get worse. On the next page "Items to be prepared yourself", the words <i>prepared yourself</i> are key here: "Smock: ... The instructions for making the smock will be explained during the <i>meeting for school entry preparations</i>". </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">I'm sorry. I must have read that wrong. No, it really <i>does </i>say that. We're obliged to make a smock, as we shall learn at the "meeting for school entry preparations"*12. Wow, Japan. Just wow. Global trade, record quality control at reasonable prices and we have to make our own child's clothing now? I mean, I know this smock is just to keep dirt off the expensive clothes, but it would literally be quicker to go to the second hand store clothes and grab something there. Probably cheaper too, as now we need to buy everything necessary to make a smock from scratch.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">I know I'm getting rhetorical now, but really! I can use trains as fast as helicopters, watch robots play badminton*13, access lightning fast internet, and eat possibly the most refined food in the world, but children's clothing is a DIY job? Somebody pass the education system a link to wikipedia, they have a lot of catching up to do...</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">We also need to make an additional 2 bags: 1 for a cup, and one for a lunchbox. As if lunchboxes with handles never existed. Another two bags are also requested, which we'll buy if possible, but they have very precise size specifications (32 cm by 45 cm and 30 cm by 35 cm). We also need to make a "child's tool box", 9 by 15 by 28 cm, "please attach decorations (buttons, ribbons, pieces of felt, lace etc.) as desired". </span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">I asked my wife whether this strange list of DIY necessities might have something to do with a vestigial post-war "make do and mend" approach to preparing children's things for school, and she said "yes, probably. But we have so many more things these days, so they've probably all been added too". She also says that the above isn't a particular surprise to her, and that the main concern of parents will be in finding materials unique enough to befit their pretenciousness*14. </span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">Apparently, there also <a href="http://matome.naver.jp/odai/2140003994065910001">exist companies that will make the above items (this link is Japanese)</a>, and these can cost more than what you might pay for branded items. So, there is hope for those with more money than time, but not much hope for common sense.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*10 Such that I even write blog articles subtly(?) infused with impotent rage!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*11 Hell, I've paid "key-money" twice and I was informed enough to be rightly surprised when my deposit for my 1R in Yokohama was actually returned to me! Anything that is slightly "one-off" in Japan, such as entering an institution or changing address, seems to have at least one vaguely-defined fee attached.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*12 "Yeap. That's it, I'm writing that blog article."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*13 To be honest, I randomly witnessed this through the window of one of the halls of the university I work at while I was walking home one night, so that was one of those "some things money can't buy" moments</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*14 not exactly in those words, mind.</span><br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;">Conclusions</span></h3>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Preschool is set to drain my wallet, my time, and my patience. </span> I only hope that my daughter gains, through socialising with people of her own age, what my wife and I cannot teach her at home.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>pouncinganthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17239758814994753514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378928814976244629.post-248153935752218282015-06-23T10:44:00.003+01:002015-06-23T10:44:37.854+01:00"Fixing" the Toshiba Sattelite touchscreen<b>The problem:</b><br />
As much as I love my Toshiba, it has its quirks. My first major problem (some months ago) with the Toshiba was what I would be inclined to call "touchscreen spasm". The problem with <i>touchscreen spasm </i>is that when it occurs not only the touchscreen, but the mouse, too, becomes basically useless (because the mouse cursor position is affected by the touchscreen). I forced a hard restart to temporarily alleviate the problem; however, the problem kept returning. One time it happened in the middle of some unsaved work, and after having "a bit of a moment", I endeavoured to fix the problem.<br />
<br />
<b>The "solution":</b><br />
Being ostensibly a work machine and equipped with a mouse, it was inevitable that the touchscreen had to go, and my "fix" basically involved disabling the touchscreen drivers. This is actually a fairly easy job, you simply go through the device manager and disable the touch screen from the "Human Interface Devices"; however, if you too are caught in the middle of work, you can easily do the same thing without using the mouse:<br />
<br />
1) Windows+X - brings up a small admin menu<br />
2) Select Device Manager by pressing M, or by using the up key on the keyboard and hitting ENTER.<br />
3) (Once Device Manager has started,) press TAB to switch focus to the device list<br />
4) Scroll down to "Human Interface Devices" and expand it using the right key<br />
5) Select HID-compliant touch screen and press ALT+ENTER.<br />
6) Press TAB to highlight "Disable Device", then hit ENTER.<br />
<br />
Note: When researching the problem, I noticed that for some touchscreens the name of the touchscreen might not be "HID-compliant touch screen". Hopefully it will be something equally straight-forward, if not, then you'll have to turn off/on interface devices one-by-one making sure that you don't turn off the keyboard (although, the keyboard should be listed under "Keyboards" not "Human Interface Devices" - still, things might differ depending on the device).<br />
<br />
<b>The conclusion</b><br />
I would have expected Toshiba to build their hardware somewhat more robustly, but for the price and specs of my machine, I still feel I got a good deal; there seems little requirement for a touchscreen on a laptop which doesn't even fold flat, and while it was cool for a while, Windows 8 software is rarely touch-friendly enough to be worth the hassle.<br />
<b><br /></b>pouncinganthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17239758814994753514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378928814976244629.post-46828734957558629092015-03-05T06:57:00.001+00:002015-03-05T06:57:43.836+00:003D: film gimmick, gaming fantasy?Occasionally I remember a conversation I had about games in which, on discussing how I'd tried out 3D glasses (imagine the old red/blue things) with some games, I was told "3D can stay the f*** out of my games. I was taken aback at the time, and it still seems odd to me now; enough that I've mulled it over sufficiently to want to rant about it.<br />
<br />
It's popular these days to either love or hate 3D; however, I think that to do either of these things for all 3D media is misguided.<br />
<br />
I can think of some compelling arguments for why 3D simply <i>isn't</i> a good fit for a lot of cinema. Much media has gotten used to being presented from one direction; cinematography and TV is filled with scenes where everything is essentially occurring well away from the camera (in TV shows, especially live ones, this is so prominent that I'd argue this is a significant reason for the relative lack of 3DTV adoption). Additionally, depth isn't a hugely important dimension in storytelling in most films.<br />
<br />
As the technology becomes more familiar, I think this will change to some extent. Watching Lindy Beige (not necessarily a film expert, but he is a persuasive talker) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcnTf_4AdrI">in his video on the introduction of 48 fps</a> (particularly his point near the end about zooming techniques), it seems to me that cinematography techniques will always take some time to adapt to new technology. By extension, I think cinema can adapt to 3D... <i>When it feels it necessary</i>. After all, there are numerous theatrical styles, but there are not all adopted all of the time.<br />
<br />
The goal behind 3D, in my opinion, is to draw the viewer into the experience. If you were to think of this in theatrical terms it would similar to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_theater">invisible theater</a>, which brings the action right in front of you. It must be spectacularly difficult to produce a story that is spatially distinct, which you can navigate and interact with; however, games take such an idea and allow you to experience it at your leisure.<br />
<br />
In most games, you <i>become</i> an actor in the theater. It thus makes sense to me that if you are an actor in the story then this story should be occurring all around you. What's more, gamers have had the freedom of exploring their game worlds in 3 dimensions (albeit via the 2D of their screens) for years, and while I think 3D is going to take time to mature in the cinema, games developers have been thinking in 3D constantly for years now. Even some existing games would work spectacularly well.<br />
<br />
Yes, there will need to be adaptations, but mostly nothing that wasn't already on the to-do list: more detailed actors and props, better physics implementations, and more attention to details such as the placement of actors during important plot points (For example, in Skyrim you may sometimes find other actors or props obscuring your view of someone you're in conversation with). Very few things need to change in games that would be unnecessary if 3D didn't exist.<br />
<br />
So, I still disagree that 3D screens/goggles are in any way bad for games. Luckily for those who think otherwise, implementing such technology requires almost no changes to the mechanics of a game, so we both get what we want.<br />
<br />
But anyway, give it another 5 years, and no one will want to consume 3D games on a 2D screen any more.pouncinganthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17239758814994753514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378928814976244629.post-61024196946201269452015-03-02T08:34:00.002+00:002015-03-02T08:34:48.619+00:00Breathing life into sluggish Android devices: Samsung Galaxy Fame GT-S6810PAnother departure from all things Japanese to talk about making technology easier to manage. In particular, I want to commit to writing the method for installing a fresh operating system on the Samsung Galaxy Fame GT-S6810P (before I forget it). Off-the-shelf, it is atrociously slow, but it can be improved a lot by installing Cyanogenmod 11 on it (nothing miraculous, but it feels much more responsive).<br />
<br />
All of the necessary information can be found on <a href="http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-fame/orig-development/rom-cyanogenmod11-t2897673">this thread</a>; however, having never tampered with my phone at all, it took me a while to get the job done, plus having just installed cyanogenmod on my Nexus 7 I had gotten cockey and by skipping a step got the "status 7" error, which was caused by having the wrong recovery for this installation (see below).<br />
<br />
Before proceeding, as with the thread above, you tamper with your phone at your own discretion, preferably with a backup phone on-hand in case you screw up, because I can't help you if you do. Phones come in many models, and some may not be compatible with the following instructions, if you attempt to tamper with your phone without being sure you wont brick it, then it is ultimately your fault when it dies.<br />
<br />
<br />
0a) Turn on USB debugging on the phone<br />
0b) <a href="http://lifehacker.com/the-easiest-way-to-install-androids-adb-and-fastboot-to-1586992378">Get a copy of adb</a>. You can use adb by going to the command prompt, navigating to the folder where you have adb, and then just typing adb and a command. E.g.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
cd C:\Path\To\ADB</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
adb devices</blockquote>
the "adb devices" command queries for the plugged in android devices. If you dont see your phone on the list, you will need the USB drivers for the phone.<br />
0c) Get the USB drivers for your phone! I'm not sure if I needed them, since adb recognized my phone without them, but I installed them anyway, so I recommend it.<br />
1) I <a href="http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=1168421">downloaded ODIN 3.07</a> (don't forget to virus scan the file, and be careful where you download ODIN, as my internet security went haywire on a couple of sites).<br />
2) I followed the <a href="http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=57153722&postcount=508">instructions on this post</a><br />
2a) I flashed CWM6 using ODIN (turn off the phone. Plug the phone in, then hold the power, home and vol down buttons at the same time - keep holding until the download mode appears - then, in ODIN, add the CWM6 tar file to the PDA section of ODIN and click start)<br />
2b) in command prompt I ran adb like so:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
adb reboot recovery</blockquote>
2c) this reboots the phone into CWM6, a recovery system. From here you can sideload a second recovery which is either more compatible with the phone, or more compatible with the Fame version of Cyanogenmod 11. This is achieved by selecting the menu option to install a zip by sideload, then use adb again:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
adb sideload C:\Path\To\Recovery\GFameAngerManagementRecovery.zip</blockquote>
and when that is finished:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
adb reboot recovery </blockquote>
2d) install cyanogenmod through sideload again:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
adb sideload C:\Path\To\Cyanogenmod\cm-11-20150129-NIGHTLY-nevisp.zip</blockquote>
3) At this point, I rebooted the phone (adb reboot) to check that it was usable. Sure enough everything was working. However, there were no google apps. Thankfully, the author provides a link to the google apps <a href="http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-fame/orig-development/rom-cyanogenmod11-t2897673">on his post</a> (same post as before). This can be installed by sideloading as before (reboot into recovery, then use adb to sideload it in)<br />
<br />
Now my phone works better than it has ever worked before. It's slowed back down a little after I choked it with all my "must have" apps, but it is still faster than before the tampering.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />pouncinganthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17239758814994753514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378928814976244629.post-5341981577083802572015-01-21T06:30:00.002+00:002015-01-21T06:30:41.007+00:00Why the Asus Transformerbook T100A isn't a work machineThese words might be redundant already, but I've seen it is still on the shelves, I have some words of warning as I lay my faithful Asus Transformerbook T100A to rest...<br />
<br />
Recently, I upgraded to a Toshiba Dynabook N514/21K. To my eyes the specs between it and my Asus Transformerbook T100A are almost identical; dual core processor, identical screen resolution, Intel HD graphics (Skyrim on low settings with algoBoost seems to work OK on both), sizeable HDD disk space. However, what difference there is in specs has a huge impact on your experience.<br />
<br />
The main difference between the machines is that the Dynabook came with an extra 2GB of memory, and doesn't have the 16GB SDD drive.<br />
<br />
The 2 vs 4 GB problem is fairly intuitive for anyone who has had a few computers in their time, and to be clear 2 GB is <i>not</i> enough memory to run Windows 8 stress-free. If you utilize the machine for work then this becomes problematic whenever you want to browse and use other programs at the same time. Web browsers these days love to fill up the RAM, and websites are getting heavier all the time (my subjective feeling). If you're working then maybe you have a tab for your email, maybe even a music site to make the work experience more palatable, and in the foreground whatever office programs you might be using. Add in Skype, Dropbox, and a few other minor programs, and that is about the limit of the Transformerbook's abilities. I would invariably have task manager open in the background ready to zap Skype or any other program when the computer inevitably froze up.<br />
<br />
The SDD drive is another problem that I didn't really anticipate since the Transformerbook comes with an extra, sizeable HDD. However, the OS is installed on the SDD, and every now and then you will come across a program that just <i>demands</i> to be installed on the same partition as the SDD. This lead my SDD to fill up within weeks of purchasing the computer and subsequent file juggling to keep it clear. A more careful person might not have this problem, but I like to think I'm not entirely careless either.<br />
<br />
The added advantage of being able to use the Transformerbook as a tablet isn't enough to justify it as a work computer. In fact it is the very tabletization that made the Transformerbook a failure in this regard, mainly in that the SDD is too small, but also because tablets are so difficult to upgrade. My new Toshiba has accessible RAM and HDD slots (I'm not sure of how much RAM it can actually take, but 4GB is enough for me... for now).<br />
<br />
Additionally, the webcam doesn't work correctly out of the box (<a href="http://pouncingant.blogspot.jp/2014/08/fix-zoomed-in-webcam-on-windows-81-asus.html">this is fixable, mind</a>), and the microphone is terrible, meaning even something simple like Skype requires using a microphone (I count myself lucky for having kept the mic+earphones from my old HTC tattoo).<br />
<br />
That said, the Transformerbook can handle less intensive use very well, so long as you're not multitasking, it can manage MS Office, video, even games as recent as Skyrim (damn, is it 4 years ago already?) on lower settings. Plus, audio-wise, the Transformerbook sweeps the Dynabook off its feet (I now have a set of speakers, the first time I've felt compelled to by speakers for a laptop since 2007 - oh dear Toshiba, oh dear). The Transformerbook's reduced size also means it is much more portable for use with presentations etc. But not great for use on-the-go as the Transformerbook's screen doesn't tilt quite far enough backwards for comfortable use on the lap.<br />
<br />
So my closing remarks on the Transformerbook: A great laptop/tablet for messing around, but a stress-magnet when you need to get things done.<br />
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<br />pouncinganthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17239758814994753514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378928814976244629.post-87588449428292920522014-12-14T05:50:00.001+00:002014-12-14T05:50:49.987+00:00America-envy, and why Brits are unsufferableNot really a rant so much as an opinion-dosed observation...<br />
<br />
I landed upon a YouTube <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_Fm-LYJ91k">video of American's eating food from British McDonalds</a>. To be honest I think it was amusing, especially the last sound bite* of the video.<br />
<br />
As you can expect, the comments section was a mess of nation-based bigotry. It amused me that one person pointed out:<br />
<br />
"... You want talk about how
americans piss you off? People from UK Piss me off. Any american that
goes there gets shit talked 24/7 do we shit talk people their? no. They
just are jealous of our country to be honest. That's the only reason I
can think of, as to why dumb ass british people make fun of americans
all time." - AnimeGirl<br />
<br />
To be honest, I think AnimeGirl was generous to us Brits in assuming that the root of this anti-American sentiment is jealousy. Many, many British are overtly, and mindlessly of the British-is-best camp. Maybe this <i>is</i> a psychological compensation for the fact that -geographically- the British Empire waned long-ago; however, my personal experience of 26 years living in the UK has led me to the alternative conclusion that we deride the Americans not because of jealousy, but because we're gits. Brits will gladly deride any culture, even ourselves. To an extent, I think there is even a perverted sense of pride in this stance, but I don't count myself among that number.<br />
<br />
I lived for a year in Japan initially out of curiosity, but I moved out here more permanently in part due to feeling fatigued at the general hostility one encounters in the UK. I can remember no instance of even being so much as unduly criticized here in Japan, let alone outright insulted, by a stranger. There are likely other factors at work**, but as it stands every year here reinforces the illusion that the gits are more numerous in the UK. Whether or not the same is true of America, I couldn't say. I've only spent a week (working) there. The only observation I was able to make was that people seemed more keen to interact than in the UK***.<br />
<br />
Anyway. To regain some balance to the topic, perhaps I'll switch sides of the fence again when I've been here 20 years; there's only so different people can be while sharing >99.9% of their genetic data, and Japan, like anywhere, has its problems. No doubt gits will be gits in different ways depending on their culture. But hell, at least we're not at war, and <i>hell,</i> I have the freedom of time to write such a flaccid rant inspired by YouTube comments (never a good start to a discussion), and you had the time to read it. Apparently that's progress. What a strange world we live in.<br />
<br />
<br />
* in a punning mood today, sorry..<br />
** e.g. perhaps people are less inclined to insult a foreigner here either due to anticipated lack of understanding or reciprocation of the hostility; or differences in my commuting habits etc. Additionally, I've heard that my racial profile gets a better deal than some of the other minorities.<br />
*** About which I hold the paradoxical view that this is both a good thing, but at the same time I don't like talking to strangers very much.<br />
<br />pouncinganthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17239758814994753514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378928814976244629.post-1111283180821316462014-11-30T19:44:00.000+00:002014-11-30T19:44:20.981+00:00Why atrocities occurred in the Far East, why it still matters, and what we should do about itYesterday I watched through a <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=Horror+in+the+East">BBC documentary on war crimes committed by Japan during WW2</a>. The documentary discusses -in sometimes horrifying detail- the crimes against humanity committed by the Imperial Army of Japan. I think it is a pretty good introduction to the subject, and to summarise further, part 1 frames the atrocities in the context of increasing militarism in Japan, increased brutality of training in the Imperial Army, and nationalist/imperialist propaganda, before embarking on a tour of the first half of Japan's war with acts of brutality being the landmarks.<br />
<br />
After watching part 2 (which completes the tour by focussing on the horrifying result of the belief in death-before-dishonour, as well as some of the American-inflicted suffering of the Japanese), I sat thinking about how it is both sides were willing to indiscriminately kill civilians.<br />
<br />
As part 1 illustrated, POWs were treated very well by Japan during WW1, I'm not sure if this extends to non-Europeans, but it goes some way towards confirming that the Japanese are not intrinsically inhumane (I sincerely hope this doesn't need stating, but there it is anyway), but rather the social environment at the time was the root cause. Looking at the domestic history of Japan, it seems fairly obvious this was the case; however, why did America end up indiscriminately firebombing Japan?<br />
<br />
<br />
Let's assume you're asked to run a bombing mission over civilian area during a war. Whether you agree is probably going to be based on: 1) whether you are blindly obedient, 2) whether you feel the mission will prevent defeat/danger to your homeland or allies, 3) whether you respect the people who will die. That is the order I would have written those items had I not watched the documentary, but now I think 2 and 3 are in the wrong order. Firstly, its evident that the Japanese soldiers -revelling in their early victories- had a contempt for their victims. But to an extent the same contempt is shown by the Allied soldiers, and while this is usually towards the Japanese soldiers, it seems that the bomber pilots (if not contemptuous) were indifferent to whether their targets were military or civilian, and they surely could not have been concerned for the safety of their homeland while dropping bombs on an increasingly crippled Japan, right? Perhaps they just wanted a quick end to the war to save their comrades the risk of being shot down, but even so, to weigh the lives of so many civilians (arguably they don't know how many civilians they will end up killing; however, I expect these people were fairly conversant with the power of their weaponry) against their comrades still hints to me of a disdain (or at least indifference) towards their victims.<br />
<br />
OK, so what does this matter? Well firstly we can say with relative certainty from the above that atrocities will occur when there is disrespect for the opposing side, and these atrocities become worse with increasing disrespect, and increasing distance. Asking combatants to "please, very kindly respect the people whose government you are at war with" is just plain stupid because soldiers have a job which is psychologically devastating (killing people and exposure to mortal danger - how is that better than minimum wage?), which will inevitably lead to <i>some </i>level of unwanted behaviour, and when such behaviour is not systematically guarded against, and additional negative propaganda is imposed on top of that, you get the Imperial Japanese Army. <br />
<br />
In other words, <i>any</i> war will lead to some atrocities, and propaganda makes things much, <i>much</i> worse. The problem is we have a number of warmongering nations (I'm looking at the US and UK here, but things have gotten more complicated than I've had time to keep up, recently), and a number of nations with state-run media (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_Freedom_Index">China, and Russia are often accused, but they're not the only ones</a>). The examples in brackets are unlikely to go to war right now, but situations change (Japan was allied with the UK in the first World War, and with the Nazis in the second).<br />
<br />
In this respect, the relative (and mutual) animosity* between Japan and China has to stop, because in the <i>remote</i> possibility that a war did happen between them, it would be terrible.<br />
<br />
But what should we actually do? Well, here I think some politicians should take heed of a psychological experiment called "Robber's Cave Experiment". In that experiment, it was found that a group of boys separated from each other would naturally <a href="http://youtu.be/XoTx7Rt4dig?t=37s">come into conflict when competing at given tasks, but that this could be overcome by integrating the groups and having them work towards common goals</a>.<br />
<br />
Translated to the world stage, this means we need to focus less on the transgressions made against each other, and more on cooperating on common goals. Note this doesn't mean letting ourselves get trodden on, but simply that we shouldn't ostracise countries because they do not conform to our expectations, rather we should use some of that energy create more opportunities for collaboration.<br />
<br />
To an extent this is already happening due to trade. Trade has become essential to our societies, and this necessitates some degree of cooperation. When we go into our favourite shop, where we have a good relationship with the owner, and we comment that the paint job on the door looks like it needs redoing, that owner is far more likely to take on that information than if we said the same in a shop where we have no such relationship.<br />
<br />
We all want the world to change for the better, and we want to do it now. Unfortunately, we simply cannot do it directly, the relationship <i>must</i> be built first, otherwise our clamouring for change simply drives us apart. Even when we have the power to <i>impose</i> the change, <a href="http://unitedcats.wordpress.com/2012/10/06/the-greatest-empire-in-history-and-the-usa-hasnt-won-a-war-since-1945/">has this really worked for us in the past</a>?<br />
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The problem with this is implementation. There is little we can do but vote for the moderate political candidates, promote tolerance, and focus on the benefits of collaboration (trade, science, and the arts are all exceptional examples). <br />
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*I've heard a number of my Japanese friends talk about the Chinese is really quite disturbing ways, and you really don't need to <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/apr/17/china.japan">look hard </a>to see that the Japanese are thought less-than-well of by a proportion of China too. Then again, perhaps looking harder would reveal otherwise.<br />
<br />pouncinganthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17239758814994753514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378928814976244629.post-13467924869023027692014-09-12T02:52:00.001+01:002014-09-12T02:52:28.715+01:00Background checks for renting in Japan<u>Summary for applying for an apartment in Tokyo</u><br />
<br />
-Have your proof of income ready<br />
-Easiest if you're an employee <br />
-Bring your bank books and any relevant invoices etc.<br />
-Be ready to substantiate your reasons for moving<br />
-Be ready to share relevant contact details<br />
-Be prepared to wait ~4 working days for the application to go through<br />
-Be available. You will likely be called by guarantor companies, management companies/landlords <br />
<br />
<br />
There are a lot of articles, forum posts etc. on renting apartments in Japan, all of which are pretty easily accessible from Google; however, I thought I'd share my experience on background checks for renting, which I couldn't personally find much information about.<br />
<br />
So, I'd found some places on athome.jp that I liked, emailed the estate agent involved, and arranged a meeting. As seems pretty typical, none of the places I'd found were available, but they showed me some other places instead. I found one I liked, and we headed back to the office to start the application.<br />
<br />
During the application (which took about an hour) I filled out a couple of forms. You might save a minute or so by knowing your birth date in the Japanese calendar. You'll probably save considerably more time if you're <i>not</i> self-employed. I <i>am</i> self-employed, so I also had to show reasonable proof that I could make the rent. I had 2 months worth of invoices (they would have preferred 3) and my bank book, of which they took copies.<br />
<br />
They also wanted to know the reason I was moving to Tokyo. Now, in my head, the reason is that I'm more likely to find a research position in Tokyo than in rural Japan; however, in actuality I'm only in relatively preliminary discussions with one of the professors over here. Nonetheless, I opened my big mouth, assuming any old reason would do. This actually ended up with me having to provide the aforementioned professor's contact details (thankfully the professor is a nice guy, and was willing to help out), and these were not just retained by the estate agent, but passed on to both the guarantor company and the apartment's management company. To try and avoid making myself look like a complete ass from my prospective professor's point of view, I stressed to the estate agent, guarantor company, and management company that unless something firm was decided upon, my main subsistence was from my translation work.<br />
<br />
At some point, and I don't recall exactly why, the estate agent took a copy of my PhD certificate. It was probably relevant to something I said.<br />
<br />
After making the application on Saturday, I got phone calls from the guarantor company and management company on Monday and Tuesday, respectively. Basically they just went over the contents of the forms I'd filled on Saturday, and concentrated on the weakest part, being the reason for moving, to which I basically said moving to Tokyo will also be helpful for my translation work, but I intend to do research if possible. I think they were also keen to double check my earnings.<br />
<br />
On Wednesday, I got the call from the estate agent to say the application had been successful. Just 4 days from applying! I'm pretty thrilled about that: I thought they were going to keep me hanging for at least a week, and I was half-sure they were going to reject it.<br />
<br />
On reflection, I'm not sure how useful my case is. I imagine most people will <i>not</i> be self-employed, which will mean they have all the proof of income and reasons necessary to make things as smooth as possible. Also, perhaps having a professor (and a PhD) to vouch for me made a difference? Mine is a pretty unique case, so all I can really offer in advice is to have all your proof of income and be ready to substantiate your reasons for moving. For example, I really should have contacted the professor beforehand.<br />
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Still, as far as time scales go, you can probably expect to wait just a few days for the check to go through before you know you'll be able to move in.<br />
<br />
P.S.<br />
<br />
Lastly, if possible, I advise using a Japanese-speaking estate agent, I went both the a gaijin-friendly and to a normal estate agent, and found that the normal estate agent tended to have the better deals, or in the very least was more inclined to show them to me. If you have the patience to go to 2 or 3 estate agents, then I would highly advise it.<br />
<br />
Oh, and never take flats on the ground floor. Maybe my nose has been over-sensitized by damp, dingy England, but the first-floor apartments I viewed universally smelled of mold. Given that I've lived in a house for the last year, and that the ground floor here is fine, I didn't really believe it, but having actually gone to 3 first-floor rooms and taken a good whiff (as well as inspect the cupboards for mold, and found it in 2 of them: use a torch or the light on your phone and look at the corners of the most difficult to clean part of the cupboard, usually the underside of the lowest shelf to the floor -ignore any strange looks from the estate agent- any fluffy specks that come off when applying pressure with your finger are probably mold), I'm never going to consider a ground-floor room again.pouncinganthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17239758814994753514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378928814976244629.post-46288126684083118622014-08-09T01:44:00.000+01:002014-08-09T01:44:10.330+01:00Technology and translationBefore I got into freelance translation, I thought of it as completely detached from computer translations. Indeed, when we talk about Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT), we are <i>not</i> referring to a computer translating for us, rather we're referring to the fact specialised software is used to assist in the translation.<br />
<br />
Every now and then, I come across some complaints in the translation industry about technology, usually this centres on CAT tools, but <a href="http://patenttranslator.wordpress.com/2010/07/17/friends-dont-let-friends-use-trados-or-other-translation-memory-tools/">here is an extreme example</a>: In it, a translator is described who essentially was using a typewriter and fax machine into the age of email and word processing. Granted, to continue doing that, they must have been both an excellent translator and precise typist; however, resisting technology in <i>today</i> seems like a very, very bad idea.<br />
<br />
Let me explain. A good CAT tool today will analyse the sentence you are currently translating, search through your previous translations, and if a decent enough match is found, it will automatically perform a translation. This spares the translator anything between 10-100% of the time translating that sentence (depending on how well the current context matches the context of the previously translated sentence). Clearly, anyone already using such tools has a competitive advantage in terms of speed. They can also offer lower rates.<br />
<br />
The problem with CAT tools is that often one is <i>forced</i> to offer a lower rate, because the translation agencies <i>know</i> the translator is doing less less hours of work for the same work. Thus, you either keep up with technology or spend longer on a project for which you'll be paid less. At the moment, the situation isn't too bad: only one of the agencies I work for requests a lower rate for translations due to the CAT tools' ability to assist with some of the document.<br />
<br />
However, are CAT tools going to become more or less efficient at this? I think you can guess the answer. At the moment, the CAT tool spiel touts that they make translation 20% faster (or more, depending on which spiel you're looking at). As technology progresses translators will be spending less time translating, and more time checking the CAT tool's work.<br />
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Then of course, at some point one of the big technology companies is going to come out with a computer that can do the whole thing for you, then we'll only need to review. Seriously. Did you imagine 15 years ago that you could ask a phone the weather, or mark appointments in the calendar for you? I'm possibly not being realistic*, but it is undeniable that the situation can <i>only</i> become <i>more</i> technology dependent.<br />
<br />
<br />
*I imagine that when it comes to increasing translation speed, CAT tools will find it progressively difficult as they push past +50%. But machine translation is a bit of a black box to me: words go in one side and half-understandable gibberish comes out the other. The problem is that machine translation only needs to get to the point where words go in one side and <i>really bad</i> English comes out the other before one can basically say "we don't need translators any more! But we are hiring reviewers!". There are already companies that offer human-edited machine translations. The other problem with this being a "black box" is that is difficult for people on the outside to work out when the algorithms are going to reach that level of proficiency.<br />
<br />
pouncinganthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17239758814994753514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378928814976244629.post-26741758633845730122014-08-07T05:39:00.000+01:002014-08-07T05:39:35.219+01:00Fix zoomed-in webcam on the Windows 8.1 Asus Transformer Book T100A departure from my usual forays into all things Japanesey (unless you count the fact my Asus Transbook T100T is the Japanese version), I thought I'd go over how to fix the camera on <a href="http://www.asus.com/in-search-of-incredible/us-en/asus-transformer-book-t100/">this forsaken device</a>*.<br />
<br />
My advice is basically a duplicate of <a href="http://www.transformerforums.com/forum/asus-transformer-book-t100-general-discussions/40888-webcam-image-too-zoomed.html">stuff already out there</a>, but somehow I managed to miss it the last couple of times I googled, so if there's a chance it will make the info more available, perhaps it's worth the blog post.<br />
<br />
Anyway, if you try to use Skype with the webcam on the Asus Transbook T100T, you'll find that a cropped section of the webcam's total field of view is displayed; it appears as though the webcam is zoomed in.<br />
<br />
If you download ManyCam, install it, and run it, Skype gives the option (Tools-Options-Video settings-Select Webcam) of using "Manycam Virtual Webcam". Just like magic, the field of view is repaired, and the "zooming" effect gone! ... Assuming of course that you have the same problem as I did.<br />
<br />
So what happened? As has been discussed previously (<a href="http://www.transformerforums.com/forum/asus-transformer-book-t100-general-discussions/40888-webcam-image-too-zoomed.html">link</a>), this may be a driver problem. Metro's camera program shows the webcam working normally. However, Skype doesn't appear to have the same access as that Metro app, so we provide it an alternative source (ManyCam) which does have proper access to the webcam. Whether or not this is a driver issue seems like speculation to me, but in any case the workaround sorted this problem for me.<br />
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* I actually love my Asus Transbook.. It's constantly starved of memory, could do with an extra USB port, and I went through such hell to get the thing to wake up from sleeping for extended periods of time that I manually disabled the sleep function and made the power button act as a hibernate button. However, it runs Skyrim, and all manner of goodness, whilst being capable of handling my research, translation and surfing needs, and still functions as a decent Windows tablet with a decent battery life.pouncinganthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17239758814994753514noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378928814976244629.post-76346230336607726652014-07-15T07:48:00.000+01:002014-07-15T07:48:16.375+01:00Japan "Enters the era of smartphones"According to BBC News, Japan has <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28208144">freshly entered "the era of smartphones"</a>, and now everyone is worrying that we'll all be bumping into each other over here because we're too inconsiderate to look up from our LCD displays while crossing the street.<br />
<br />
I'd like to point out that, if Japan has really been slow to adopt smartphones, there are two very good reasons for this:<br />
<br />
1) The preexisting phones in Japan were unimaginably superior to the pre-smartphones of Europe. I remember coming to Japan for the first time in 2007 and being amazed at the capabilities offered by my Japanese mobile. In addition to the basics such as a camera etc., it had navigation (maybe GPS, or perhaps based on triangulation of transmitters), and email. My wife -then girlfriend- had a slightly better mobile that supported even nicer features such as TV: it honestly made phones on the UK market look absolutely laughable.<br />
<br />
According to the wiki, the iPhone came out that year, but it was at least a year <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_iPhone">before it even entered the Japanese market</a>. And if you already had a decent "standard" Japanese mobile, you might wonder at the advantage in getting an iPhone back then. In fact, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone">according to Wikipedia</a> "<i>In 1999, the Japanese firm NTT Docomo released the first smartphones to achieve mass adoption within a country</i>".<br />
<br />
Basically, either the features Japan's phones were too competitive compared to our notion of "smartphones", or they were already fully-fledged smartphones. Effectively, Japan was using smartphones before anyone else. Maybe they weren't touch-screen, but they were powerful beasts for their time.<br />
<br />
2) Utilising smartphones to their full potential requires a decent internet connection, and the mobile companies over here are very happy to charge an extraordinary amount of money for this service. There is very little choice when it comes to data plans, and if you go with one of the "big 3" providers here, you options are all or nothing. I'm not sure if this has been the case previously (there is a 6 year gap between 2008 and 2013 where I was in the UK), but I suspect expense will have been a big motivator for holding onto older mobile technology.<br />
<br />
---<br />
<br />
With that out of the way... I do wonder about the whole "dumbwalking" thing. I guess with the increases in functionality, there is a greater likelihood that people will be walking and doing something on their mobile, especially now things like LINE allow you to message without spending any yen. Increased adoption of phones <i>in general</i> is also likely to be a big contributor (even my 10 yr old nephew has a dumbed-down phone). Nonetheless, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NDuWV9UAvs">Docomo's simulation of everyone crossing the road while staring at their phones</a> is really just a bit of sciency fun. I'm sure the simulations may have some use when realistic parameters are used, but you don't need me to tell you that most people will actually be looking where they are going. This is illustrated very cutely in the end of the BBC's article, where the author sets himself the goal of walking across a busy junction, deliberately not looking up from his phone, and the fact that "<i>I'm sure I'm going to get hit, but after a few seconds I relax. It's OK. Everyone's reacting for me</i>", and "<i>It's so silly I have to look up</i>". This is how the real world works: people try to get out of the way, but they are generally aware of the need to stop, and look up when necessary.<br />
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To be honest, its a nice little article, but I just get the feeling the author is trying to write life into an issue that simply doesn't exist.<br />
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Then again, I've yet to live in Tokyo.<br />
<br />pouncinganthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17239758814994753514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378928814976244629.post-19580607133202970642014-07-06T06:25:00.001+01:002014-07-06T06:25:46.651+01:00Translating typos with Google searchIts probably fairly evident that I love Google's services by now, and I thought I'd just highlight a particularly useful feature in Google search.<br />
<br />
When translating documents upwards of 10000 characters (10+ pages long), the chance of finding a typo somewhere is not by any means small. I have on numerous occasions banged my head over a frustrating translation, where a word would simply not make sense in context.<br />
<br />
My usual procedure is to double tap <a href="http://goldendict.org/">Ctrl+C to bring up Golden Dict</a>, into which I've plugged in an offline version of the <a href="http://www.edrdg.org/cgi-bin/wwwjdic/wwwjdic?1C">indispensable WWWJDIC</a>, which will resolve 90% of my queries immediately. If this fails, I alt-tab to my browser where <a href="http://ejje.weblio.jp/">Weblio is waiting with a whole host of dictionaries</a> (including WWWJDIC, and the <a href="http://lsd.pharm.kyoto-u.ac.jp/ja/index.html">Life Sciences dictionary by Kyoto University</a>), which will catch the remaining 9.9% or so (and also tends to give some <i>very </i>nice technical usage examples).<br />
<br />
If a word fails at this point, frustration sets in as I splice and dice the word to see if the supposed word is actually 2 or more words strung together, but even this will not help if the word is a typo.<br />
<br />
In this case, there are few options left available, but a Google search is often invaluable, not only providing some nice usage examples, but sometimes even finding a definition in some obscure internet glossary. In the case of typos however, Google will automatically search using the "correct" spelling. At this point, the fact the search term is actually a typo becomes clear and we can start at the beginning with the correct term*. Lovely! Imagine trying to work this out for yourself with paper dictionaries back before computers were on hand. Eugh.<br />
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A word of warning, though. Google love search terms that are common, and it isn't necessarily obvious whether the Google search is deciding against using your search terms because of a typo, or because it is just prioritising what it <i>thinks</i> you want to read about.<br />
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*Today I came across "胚葉体形成" in a source document, which can be split into "胚葉" germ layer, "体" body, "形成" formation, which I initially translated as "germ layer formation", but was unhappy with the context, and while dropping "body" improved the flow I wasn't happy about it: "body" could have referred to cells in a germ layer. I decided to Google the term and see if there was a useful precedent, only to be bombarded by results for the similar: "胚様<span class="st"><em></em>体形成". At this point, I realised "</span><span class="st">胚様" and </span> "胚葉" are homophones, and that this may be a typo. Sure enough typing in "はいよう" with Microsoft Japanese IME puts "胚葉" at the top of the candidate suggestion list. "胚様<span class="st"><em></em>体形成" translated to "embryoid body formation", which fit better into context.</span>pouncinganthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17239758814994753514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378928814976244629.post-14622104742857940672014-07-02T02:31:00.002+01:002014-07-03T01:59:53.173+01:00Reinterpretation of the Peace Constitution. Does it matter?Japan's government has recently begun implementing its <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-28086002">reinterpretation of the Peace Constitution</a>. For more than 60 years, Japan has foregone the right to use military force except in self-defence, but the new changes being implemented by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) mean Japan will now exercise the right to "collective defence".<br />
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Here, collective defence means providing military force in defence of an ally. What does this mean in real terms, though? I think its fair to say that if a nation allied to Japan came under attack, that the Japanese government would be quick to forget the peace constitution and make ready to commit troops anyway, where such a conflict was endangering Japanese security. One example often touted by the media is the new ability for Japan to shoot down missiles from (for example) N. Korea, that were headed for an allied country (i.e. the USA). I would conjecture that even without the reinterpretation of the constitution that Japan would do this, because it cant risk losing face to America because of its dependence on the US for trade, and it could easily justify the action after the fact. The same goes for any conflict involving major trading partners.<br />
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In this light, the reinterpretation seems very much like what Japan has been continually doing: posturing. There is overwhelming support among the political parties of Japan for the reinterpretation, and so we can probably assume that (for example) shooting down a couple of North Korean missiles would be received relatively positively over here, regardless of the constitution. The real power of the changes is political: PM Shinzo Abe will gain a fair amount of domestic support from this move.<br />
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The problem with such reinterpretation of the constitution is the same problem with Japan that it has always had from posturing: international relations. China and S. Korea have both objected to the change, and the reinterpretation of the peace constitution provides a tempting foundation upon which to criticise Japan. It would be easy at this point to paint Japan as re-militarising, <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26542992">increasingly extremist</a>, and unwilling to resolve disputes diplomatically.<br />
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It makes me wonder, is the gain in domestic support really worth the loss of respect in Asia? Then again, <a href="http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2013/08/18/did-china-really-ban-rare-earth-metals-exports-to-japan/">does this political posturing really have any impact on trade</a>?<br />
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EDIT: Reading the paper this morning, while Abe managed to push this through through the government, it isn't riding well at all with the public: Polls suggest public support for the Abe cabinet has dropped under 50%, with 54.4% disagreeing with the move, and only 34.6% agreeing. Its kind of nice to know the Peace Constitution is valued by the Japanese people, and this raises some questions over the validity of Abe's actions; however, I'd like to think that the Japanese people don't in principal object to the idea of shooting down missiles en-route to their allies..pouncinganthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17239758814994753514noreply@blogger.com0