Beach House @ The Pageant (9/27/2015)

Opener

Jessica Pratt.  Missed her set.

Setlist

Beach House did something very interesting on their website - they posted a setlist creator for each show where fans could vote for their top 3 songs to include in the setlist for the show.  I voted for "10:37", "Levitation", and "Wishes" (I've worn out the first two, which are on the new album, over the last month).  I think this was a pretty great idea by them.

In any case, they played two out of my three, the exception being "10:37".  I do wonder if the setlist creator was sabotaged, though, as they didn't play a few of what I would consider classics from Teen Dream and Bloom, while they did play three pretty old songs that I wasn't too familiar with.  The final rating will have a slight deduction because of this, but overall I don't have major complaints.

Stage

They're not a super popular band, so they didn't have a spectacular light show or anything.  But they did have these three pretty cool looking light reflection chambers (for lack of a better description) made out of (I think) cloth.

Observations

They had a couple of moments of seeming self-indulgence, which is not something I recall much from Beach House - while they do switch some things up from the recorded versions, extended jams are typically not their thing.  I think I felt at the time that they extended "PPP", but now that I re-listen to the recorded version it has a pretty long ending anyway.

This will likely be my last show with the indie rock meetup group for a while.  It was good to hang out with a few of them on the rooftop terrace of the Moonrise Hotel after the show.  Hopefully they're still going to shows when I return from Seattle.

Rating: 4.4/5

In search of a new five year travel plan

Last time I did this, I had a pretty specific list of places that I wanted to go in each of 2011-2015.  And I ended up visiting most of those places in the years that I specified - this year being the most out of tune with the original plan.

This time around, I don't have plans that are nearly as specific, and I am running out of new places that I really want to visit.  But in any case, here are some places that I am considering traveling to in the next 5 years if I am able...

• Hawai'i
• Alaska
• Land and cruise
• Antarctica & Patagonia
• Another Nordic tour
• This time include Iceland, some fjords, Denmark
• Another Asian tour
• Seoul, Bangkok, Bali
• Middle East, North Africa, and India
• Cairo, Dubai, Mumbai

As you can probably tell, this is a pretty haphazard list at the moment.  And it's possible that I could end up combining destinations in a different way (e.g., include India in an Asia trip).  But I'm just getting some thoughts down for now as a starting point.  The first two (Hawai'i and Alaska) may be the next destinations, as they should be easier to get to from Seattle.

alt-J @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheater (9/18/2015)

Opener

This was a 105.7 The Point summer series concert, so there were actually 5 bands on the bill and the show started at 5 PM.  We didn't arrive until after 7, though, so we only saw some of Matt and Kim, Walk the Moon, and alt-J.

Setlist

As expected, they played a good mixture of old and new, and included pretty much all my faves.  They ended their 5-song encore with "Taro" and "Breezeblocks", two of Kailie's favorites (so she was over the moon about that).

Stage

They've apparently stepped up their light show since I saw them the first time at The Pageant nine months ago.  They've also been nominated for a Grammy award since then, so it makes sense that they're playing bigger venues.

High/low-lights

I'm still not a huge fan of the live rendition of "Hunger of the Pine", but that's just me being picky about one of my favorite songs of theirs.  One brief but noteworthy highlight was the "Interlude I (Ripe & Ruin)" lead-in to "Tessellate" - it's a short a capella harmony by the two vocalists, but they absolutely nailed it.

I'm really glad I ended up going to this show after months of indecision, and my thanks go to Kailie for accompanying me.

Rating: 4.5/5

Eurotrip 2015 travelogue is live

You can check it out on that other blog I write.

If all you care about is the photos, check out one of these links:

• Google+ Photos Album
• Includes photo sphere functionality, but Google is (in their infinite wisdom) apparently shutting down Google+ Photos in less than 2 weeks, even though...
• Google Photos Album
• Photo spheres don't work here; hopefully they will in the near future if G+ Photos are going away.

Other Lives @ Off Broadway (5/19/2014)

Opener

Riothorse Royale.  I knew nothing about them before tonight, but I am currently in the process of finding out more after catching the last few songs of their set.  I guess the real band is the two girls - they used the Other Lives' drummer during their set.

Setlist

They played a mix of old and new, though mostly material from the last two albums and a couple songs from the first album.  Which I was fine with, as I like the last two more than the first.

Stage

Nothing fancy, but they had some kinda interesting light things - the big light bulbs up front, and the small lights on poles in the back.  The stage itself seemed a little cramped for the 5 of them with all their instruments.

Observations

This is a band of multi-instrumentalists.  Everyone except the drummer played at least three instruments, and usually more than that.  One of them played each of the following at least once: guitar, violin, keyboard, xylophone (or something like it), and trumpet (plus at least another that I'm forgetting); there were several times at which he actively juggled two instruments - the trumpet was usually one of them.  Another guy did bass, guitar, percussion, harmonica, a weird organ thing, backup vocals, and probably others.  Jesse did lead vocals, guitar, bass for one song, and keyboards.  Needless to say, there was a lot happening on stage.

High/low-lights

This was my second straight show where the lead singer shied away from the falsettos.  Although this put a bit of a damper on a couple of my favorite parts, the backup vocalists definitely hit some high notes - not sure if it was their microphones or if they naturally sing that high.

The band headed to the merchandise table soon after the show and met the fans who were buying things.  Unfortunately, they didn't have any non-white Other Lives t-shirts.  But I got to meet Jesse and talk to him briefly.  I told him that their latest album (Rituals) is my favorite so far of 2015, to which he was very gracious and thankful (as he was with all the fans).  It's too bad that the crowd in St. Louis was so much smaller than they seem to be pulling in other places (not that they're big or anything).  In any case, it was a great show and I wish them all the best.

Rating: 4.6/5

Interpol @ The Pageant (5/11/2015)

Setlist

They played songs from all throughout their catalog, as opposed to backloading from the latest album as most bands tend to do.  I actually was a tiny bit disappointed about this, as I think El Pintor is one of their better albums.  I was a little surprised that they didn't play a couple of the early hits even while they played some more obscure songs from Turn on the Bright Lights.

Stage

This is the first time (of the four I've now seen them total, all at The Pageant) I can recall seeing them have a projection screen as part of their setup.  It was a nice aesthetic touch.  The distorted effects especially went well with the music.

Observations

Paul's vocals sounded off for the first few songs of the show.  I'm not sure if it was due to the mix or the acoustics back in the area where I was initially standing w/ the meet-up group.  Things sounded a lot better after I moved down to the back of the pit during the third or fourth song.  I did notice, though, that he didn't sing a high falsetto during "My Blue Supreme".

High/low-lights

There were a couple of songs I would have liked to hear that they didn't play.  And they did play a couple that I could have done without.  But an Interpol show is always gonna have plenty of songs that I do like.  So, pretty standard stuff from the guys.  Plus a nice addition with the projections.  And I still love Daniel's (the main guitarist) moves on stage.

One final note... I was surprised to find out that the show didn't sell out since the venue didn't have the balcony open; especially given how long this band's been around.  Just goes to show that I have no idea how popular bands that I like are.

Rating: 4.4/5

Sufjan Stevens @ Peabody Opera House (4/20/2015)

Opener

Completely missed Cold Specks.

Setlist

Sufjan started out with about 10 songs off the latest album (Carrie & Lowell), followed by a lengthy philosophical monologue/"prayer" (which was actually very thoughtful), then a bunch of oldies, and then wrapping up with a new song or two.  The encore featured some more classics, with the crowd-pleasing "Chicago" ending the night.

The contrast between the sections of the show was pretty interesting.  The first part was like a cohesive unit based on the concept of the new album.  During this portion, Sufjan didn't have any banter.  Once this part ended, he launched into his little talk which mostly seemed like a thoughtful extended monologue about parenthood/motherhood, occupation, death, and cherishing life.  His ending of "So I guess my prayer for tonight is..." made me wonder if he has a different thoughtful monologue every show.  After this point, he had more banter and interaction with the crowd, even calling us "boisterous for a Monday night" at one point (because people started yelling out a bunch of song requests during a quiet break between songs).

Stage

The video board was in an interesting 9-segment pattern.  The lights were decent, though not mind-blowing.  They broke out a couple of disco balls in the background for one song.  They turned off the video board and many of the main lights for the second section of the show while they played a few mostly acoustic classics.

Observations

Before I launch into criticisms, I should mention that I very much respect Mr. Stevens as an artist.  In the tradition of his concept albums, Carrie & Lowell is a nice tribute to his parents and a well-executed idea, even if I find the album a little more mellow than I'd prefer.  That being said, I found a few portions of the show to be overly self-indulgent, especially the wank-fest that was the ending to the main set.  That alone just about ruined the show for me.  Oh, look...you went from mellow acoustics to this loud rock/electronic thing with lots of flashing lights...making zero melodic sense...for 5+ minutes...  How nice.

Another interesting thing to note is how some of the live renditions are essentially remixes (for lack of a better description) of the original songs  These usually involves throwing in electronics or alternate instrumentation, but sometimes is as simple as changing the tempo.  I tend to dislike the change-ups more often than not, but in a couple of instances it really worked for me.  I guess overall I applaud the experimentation.

Oh, and I wish he played more songs off Illinois and Michigan.

Rating: 4.0/5

Tycho w/ Beacon @ The Ready Room (3/25/2015)

So, I'm a little late posting this one.  And I don't have too many thoughts.  The show was somewhat similar to the last time I saw this same pair of bands, but a bit less impressive this time around.  Since then Beacon has put out a new EP and Tycho has put out a new album - and in my opinion neither of these offerings were as strong as their predecessors.  Beacon was especially flat for me on this night, though it might have been that I was paying less attention as I conversed with the other indie rock meet-up people.  And I was really disappointed that Tycho didn't play "A Walk".  I will say, though, that the drummer was ridiculously good, and captivating to watch.

Rating: 4.1/5

Sylvan Esso @ The Ready Room (3/17/2015)

Opener:

• Flock of Dimes.  Missed them/him, as usual.

Setlist:

• I think they played all the songs off their debut (and only) album.  Plus one new song that I didn't know.

Stage:

• They brought a decent light set for a small act.  I liked how they programmed the light rig to synchronize to the beats.

Observations:

• This was my first time at The Ready Room.  It's small, but not cramped.  Kinda like Firebird.
• The show was sold out.  Good for them.  They seemed quite appreciative, though I couldn't really understand most of their banter from the angle I was standing relative to the stage/speakers.
• As is typical for acts like this, the performance aspect of the show is missing a little bit - knob twiddling does not make as compelling viewing as playing a "real" instrument.  But I will admit that Ameila has some pretty good (though rave-ey) dance moves.
• After the main set, it seemed like there was a real chance that they wouldn't do an encore - they started the background music and turned on some stage lights.  I'm not sure if that was planned, or if the vociferous crowd convinced them to come back out.  I wouldn't say I was a big fan of the encore song ("Come Down", I think), though, especially the extra-spacey live take.
• I guess I should note that overall I liked the show quite a bit.  It just about beat my expectations.

Rating: 4.2/5

I finally used Google Wallet (for an in-store payment)

Even though Google Wallet has been around for a few years, I never used it for a tap-and-pay transaction...despite setting it up on my old phone (a Nexus S) soon after it was released.  This is probably not an uncommon story, as NFC payments didn't really go mainstream until Apple Pay came out last year.  Ever since then, I became more interested in using Google Wallet in a store just to check it out.  And the fact that the app notified me of a nearby Panera (aka BreadCo) every time I went by South Grand made its use seem inevitable.  So when C-Bear and I were trying to decide where to get a quick bite a couple of Fridays ago, I suggested BreadCo.

Here are some good things about the experience:

• Since Google Wallet allows you to store loyalty cards (kinda like Passbook, I had my member number ready.  On the other hand, I was a little disappointed that they had to manually enter the number, and didn't scan the barcode.  It didn't really seem any easier than looking me up by phone number.
• The transaction worked...eventually.

And now some not-so-good things:

• In order to get into the app, I have to enter my super-long PIN to unlock the phone, and then a shorter PIN to unlock the app (yes, this is all my doing).  Not wanting to hold up the phantom line, I made sure I had done this all ahead of time...and then nervously held my phone the whole time I was ordering, making sure the screen didn't go to sleep.  It would have been more convenient to have an Apple Pay type flow, where you just hold your phone to the terminal and scan your fingerprint, and the rest of the magic happens in the background.  But I guess the pseudo benefit of having my Panera number ready would have required unlocking my phone anyway.
• The first tap didn't work - not sure if I pulled the phone away too quickly after the aural notification.  But then when I tried again and kept the phone pressed to the terminal for several seconds, it kept repeatedly making the way-too-loud-and-annoying transaction commencement sound.  Even though the transaction went through this time, the "ordeal" of potentially looking like a noisy techno-fool was almost traumatizing.  The app should be smart enough to figure out that it has already started making a transaction, and that it doesn't need to keep making sounds.  I'm pretty sure Apple Pay is also better in this regard.

In the end, I guess Google Wallet works for tap-and-pay.  But I'm not exactly champing at the bit to use it again - it didn't seem any more efficient than looking up my membership with my phone number and the paying with a card.  That being said, I wouldn't mind trying again in a low-pressure situation (i.e., no observers) to see if there is a way to make things go smoother.

Top albums of 2014

The list is a little (or maybe a lot) late this year, but that's probably better than never.  I also feel like it is a bit lacking in quality, as I think I missed a lot of music this past year.  My blind spot for hip-hop seems to have gotten bigger, and I have no options to overcompensate with this time around.

I will continue in the spirit of last year's list and link to a YouTube video of my favorite available song from each album, with a playlist of all the songs included at the end.

Top 10
1. Alt-J - This Is All Yours
2. Hundred Waters - The Moon Rang Like a Bell
3. I Break Horses - Chiaroscuro
4. Phantogram - Voices
5. Interpol - El Pintor
6. Mogwai - Rave Tapes
7. The Bug - Angels & Devils
8. Thom Yorke - Tomorrow's Modern Boxes
9. Run The Jewels - Run the Jewels 2
10. Sylvan Esso - Sylvan Esso

Best of the rest...
11. Lia Ices - Ices
12. Mimicking Birds - Eons
13. Caribou - Our Love
14. Tycho - Awake
15. Dawn Golden - Still Life
16. Vancouver Sleep Clinic - Winter
17. Bear In Heaven - Time Is Over One Day Old

On fingerprint security in Android

Yesterday I read this article about how the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S6 will probably have a fingerprint reader in the style of the recent iPhones, as opposed to the swipe style reader that didn't seem to work nearly as well.  This was mildly exciting, except for the fact that: (1) I'm more of a "stock" Android guy, and not a big fan of Samsung's TouchWiz UI; (2) this isn't the first tap style fingerprint reader on Android (see Huawei Ascend Mate7), though from what I can tell it will be the first on the front of the phone; (3) this will still rely on Samsung's fingerprint processing infrastructure, as fingerprint support didn't make it into Android 5.0.
 
But still...progress is progress.  And when Google does get around to putting fingerprint support in the Android OS, the fact that the biggest Android OEM will likely have decent hardware to support it is probably a good thing.

This gets me to the question of whether fingerprints are a good security mechanism.  The short answer is that they are probably good enough.  At least better than the most common methods people otherwise use to secure their mobile devices: no security mechanism, or a 4-digit PIN.  Fingerprints do have their downsides, though: (1) they can be spoofed, even just from public photos; (2) once you "lose" your fingerprint, you can't change it like you can change a password/PIN.

So this got me to thinking...  What if we could combine fingerprints with other security features?  The idea that popped into my head was a combination with the Smart Lock feature currently available in Android 5.0.  If you have a PIN or pattern lock screen, this feature allows you to skip the PIN/pattern if you are connected to a trusted device (e.g., car Bluetooth) or are at a trusted place (e.g., home).  It also includes face scanning (i.e., trusted face), but the potential for false positives there seems too large to trust.  Anyway, my idea is to combine fingerprint reading and trusted device (or maybe trusted place, though location data can be fuzzy).  So if you are connected to your home WiFi or your car Bluetooth, you could unlock your phone/tablet with a quick fingerprint scan, instead of entering your (hopefully long) lock screen PIN.

Someone please make this happen.

On iOS vs Android

This post will be a mere shadow of what I at one time intended it to be, but have delayed writing for a while now.  It concerns the two dominant mobile platforms, iOS and Android, and why I'm not in the iOS camp (and hopefully will still not be in 10 years).

This was mostly motivated by the releases of the iPhones 6 and iOS 8.  With these releases, Apple addressed a couple of the major gripes I had with their mobile phones and OS: screen size and extendability.  After a couple of years of marketing that 4 inches is the best screen size, Apple admitted that consumers demand bigger (but don't get me started on their hyperbolic and hypocritical marketing).  I fall in that bigger screen camp, though I do think some of the phablets are a little too big for me.  On the software side, Apple added the ability for apps to better interact with each other and added support for third party keyboards.  These are of course gross oversimplifications of what their fall releases brought to the table (and you can find a lot more detailed info with a simple web search), but those were two key points.

So after September I considered that an iPhone 6 might actually be a "usable" device for me (quotes because it's ridiculous to think that I couldn't use or even be mostly satisfied with previous iPhones).  So much so that I pondered testing one out for a week to see how I liked it, especially compared with the (then) upcoming release of Android 5.0 Lollipop.  Well, I never did the test drive.  And I don't really have much motivation to.  I'm still quite pleased with my two year old Nexus 4, and don't see much reason to upgrade to anything newer on either the Android or iOS side (let alone any of the other mobile platforms).  It got the Lollipop upgrade relatively quickly, it's still pretty responsive, and has the hardware to support just about all current features that I care to have in a smartphone.

This doesn't mean that I'm not open to trying out an iPhone sometime in the near future, especially if T-Mobile updates their test drive program to use the newer phone.  But I did have a conversation last night (at dinner with a couple of Claire's friends who were visiting) that reminded me of one of the issues that I would expect to infuriate me about using an iPhone: the forbidding of third party default actions.  One example that was mentioned (in addition to Safari) was how selecting an address link would open up the location in Apple Maps, and this behavior cannot be changed.  This sounds like a pretty "awful" user experience, given how terrible Apple Maps seems to be in comparison to Google Maps (and I also got first hand testimonial to this effect last night).  Obviously this is not the worst thing in the world - you an always simply copy and paste into Google Maps.  But it speaks to the general "closedness" of the iOS/Apple ecosystem, and I'm not a fan of that.  The other issues that I expected to have with using iOS generally involved extensibility of apps (e.g., getting a reliable scrobbler for Last.fm, and an automation equivalent of Tasker), but in the end they're not really world-changing features.  And that's why I think most people could be reasonably satisfied with either platform at this point, despite the fanboy flame wars.

I should also point out that Android is not without its faults.  One glaring area in which I think it is lacking is that of app permissions.  On Android, you basically must give an app all the permissions it lists in order to run it; and that list can get really long; plus it's hard to even understand why some of them are being included.  Google tried to help the situation a bit by categorizing the permissions so that once you install a version of the app that gives it a permission in a category, you don't have to re-approve updates with new permissions in the same category.  I'm not really sure if this made things better or worse.  On one hand, I get fewer requests to manually approve updates due to minor changes in permissions.  But on the other hand, the automatic updates are gaining new permissions without my knowledge (yes, I know I can turn off automatic updates altogether, but that's another hassle).  And the new categorizations make it harder to tell what specific permissions an app is listed as using, and what has changed between versions.  In contrast, iOS has much fewer permissions which each have to be specifically granted by the user for each app.  This means that iOS apps need to be written in a way that they sorta function (or at least don't crash) if they are not granted permissions.  If Google allowed revocation of individual permissions right now, Android apps would be crashing left and right.  I'm not sure what the solution for Android is at this point, but I would like to see a move toward revocable permissions (perhaps with stubbed content to help mitigate crashes if a permission is revoked).

I'm pretty sure I could come up with more areas where I would prefer the iOS implementation over the Android one (or lack thereof).  But in the end there's little doubt for me that right now I'd be happier with an Android device than an iOS one.  And I'll be sure to post some updated thoughts if I do give that test drive a try.

Alt-J @ The Pageant (12/3/2014)

Opener:

• Claire and I arrived a little later than desired (@ 9 PM), but still saw pretty much all of Vance Joy, who she wanted to see.  He didn't really do much for me, but I'm happy if she's happy.  Meg Myers was long gone by the time we arrived, so I can't comment on her.

Setlist:

• Considering that they only have two full-lengths out, it wasn't too surprising that they played lots of songs from both albums.  If there was any sort of segregation, it seemed that the first half had more older songs while the second had more from the new album.  But they ended with "Breezeblocks" (from the first album), so it's tough to say that there was really a split.

Stage:

• The drummer was right up front on the right side of the stage, as opposed to the typical positioning in the back center.  I liked this set-up, as it put all four members up front.
• The light show was pretty solid - looked like quite a few LED racks.  Not overwhelming, but a good match for their style.  It seemed that the band was mysteriously shadowed for a lot of the show - Claire commented during the last song that you could finally see them.

Observations:

• Interestingly, the keyboard player did all the banter, as opposed to the lead singer.  But he also held his own quite well on back-up vocals.
• No extended jams - I appreciate when a band doesn't noodle around.

High/low-lights:

• Although they led off with my favorite song on the new album, "Hunger of the Pine", the sound mix sounded pretty terrible for that song.  Thankfully, that improved quickly.
• There are several aspects that makes this band's sound unique (including the singing style), but one that worked really well for me live was the drumming.  The drummer's kit has a few non-standard items that really came through well, especially once the sound mix was fixed.  It also seemed like there was a bit more added drumming on the live renditions (especially on a couple of the quieter songs), but that could just be the live mixing emphasizing the drums more than the studio mixes.

Rating: 4.5/5

Wager with Nathan Rosenstock

Earlier this summer, Nathan and I made a small wager about my tech future.  I am documenting our e-mail exchange on the topic here...

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Obi Orjih, 2 June 2014:

Let it be noted for the record that you (Nathan Rosenstock) predicted that I (Obi Orjih) will be using an Apple device as my primary personal mobile device 10 years from today (i.e., June 2, 2024). You are so confident in this prediction, that you would switch to a vegetarian (not vegan) diet for one month if you are incorrect.

Nathan Rosenstock, 2 June 2014:

And if I am correct, you may not watch or listen or monitor in any way either live or recorded the first world cup soccer game after June 2, 2024 in which a US team is playing. You may see unavoidable replays of short length, but you must inform yourself of the outcome of the game as soon as possible after the game has concluded.

Obi Orjih, 2 June 2014:

Agreed. But I want an out in case I "have" to make plans for that game... In order to watch the game, I must pay you USD$100. This all assumes that I lose the wager.

Thoughts on smartwatches in general, and the Apple Watch in particular

If you're a tech geek like me, then the concept of "wearables" (i.e., wearable computers/electronics) is kind of a hot field right now.  While this could include many possibilities, the ideas with the most traction right now are things that you wear on your wrist and things that you wear on your head/face¹.  There is more doubt that face things will be a thing, as Google Glass (and the like) doesn't quite appear to be catching on outside of a small niche community.  So, I guess that leaves wrist things to talk about...

The wrist thing market is basically split into two categories - fitness trackers and smartwatches - though many smartwatches are now also doing fitness tracking.  The fitness trackers include the Fitbit Flex's and the Jawbone UPs of the world.  And more recently Microsoft got into the game with the Microsoft Band.  I think there is a legitimate market for these things, but I don't really feel like they are mind-blowing or game-changing.

I'm still trying to decide whether smartwatches can be mindblowing or game-changing.  The first thing that I can remember being a proper smartwatch is the Pebble.  This was one of the first big Kickstarter projects, and is probably one of the biggest successes.  Although the display is not particularly fancy (it uses an e-paper display), it last for days without needing a charge (7, reportedly) and works with Android and iOS devices.  The compatibility and battery life are a plus, but the integration with more powerful pocket computers (aka smartphones) is superficial at best.

Deeper integration is where Android Wear and Apple Watch come in - they are designed to provide richer integration with their respective mobile OSes.  Android wear has been out for months now, and seems to be getting a bit better as more features are added.  Initially, the functionality didn't go too far beyond the sort of things Pebble could do - notifications, music controller (i.e., the phone still plays the music, but the watch can pause, skip, etc.), turn-by-turn directions, and the like.  Oh, and they tell time too.  Recent updates have solved issues with custom watch faces and added the ability to play music directly off the watch itself via Bluetooth.  There are also fitness capabilities built in - for example the Moto 360 (aka 270, if the flat tire of a screen doesn't quite do it for you) has a heart rate monitor built in.

But even though I'm firmly in the Android camp, these smartwatches don't quite do it for me.  I think they're an interesting concept, and I'm glad they exist, but they don't really fill a need that I have.  Everything that they do, I can do better with my phone.  I will grant that glance-able notification can be helpful (especially in situations where pulling out your phone would be socially awkward), but I don't really think that's worth going back to wearing a watch.  The other potential value add would be fitness tracking capabilities, but that's not something that I'm into.  And (while it doesn't apply to me at the moment, but would have in the past, and could again in the future), I know plenty of people who literally would not be allowed to wear a smartwatch into their workplace at Boeing.  Oh, and these things have to be charged at least every other day, if not every day.

There are other smartwatch platforms out there (Samsung has a couple of Tizen watches, among other players in the game) but none is terribly compelling.  That is, perhaps, except for the forthcoming Apple Watch.  I've read way too much about this thing since it was announced a couple of months ago, and I still don't quite "get it".  It seems to me that Apple is trying to do way too much with it.  For example, why on earth would I want to scroll through photos or read a map on a tiny screen on my wrist?  And don't get me started on the doodle feature, or the heartbeat-sending gimmick.  Some other smarter (or at least more respected on the Interwebs) people have different takes on the thing, and they could end up being right.  But I don't see the watch being someone's main computer any time soon, unless some unbelievable breakthroughs are made in battery technology and processor packaging.

What I will give Apple credit for, though, is creating the most fashion-forward entry into this product category (even though I'm a bit surprised at how bulbous the thing appears, especially for Apple).  They also created a very clever and functional mechanism for attaching/detaching the straps - like previous precedents (e.g., lightning connector), they eschewed compatibility with standards in favor of creating something functionally superior.  I can see them selling a lot of these things as fashion items, in addition to their simply being Apple products, even though the rumored price points for the gold version sound crazy to me.  And even though I tend to kind of root against Apple (for reasons that I might explain in a future post), I'm curious and excited to see what happens with this new product.
 

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1 There are other current wearables that you can attach to a piece of clothing, but I don't really see many people talking about those.^↩

Microsoft Universal Mobile Keyboard

This one goes in the category of solving first world problems...  One of the reasons that it took so long to post my Brazil 2014 travelogue is that the quality of the original composition is questionable.  Back in 2008 or so, I realized that I have a terrible memory, so composing the travelogue after the trip didn't work too well.  So I started typing up the travelogues on a mobile device while on the trips.  Well, it turns out that I'm a terrible phone/tablet typist, on top of the fact that typing on those things sucks anyway.  Despite this I persevered, and continued to crank out travelogues.  But this sucky typing experience makes for poor quality posts.  And this is further exacerbated by my robotic matter-of-fact prose style.

All of this is background info for why I was in the market for a more "typable" mobile device this year.  I initially considered something like the Surface Pro 3, or a similar convertible tablet type thing, but decided that $800 (or even $500) was far too much money to spend on something that I would essentially only use for one two-week trip every year.  So I was pretty excited when a couple of months ago I stumbled across an article touting the upcoming release of the Microsoft Universal Mobile Keyboard.  I just bought one last week (see picture above), and can definitely understand why the black model is in short supply.

First, the product basics.  It is a Bluetooth keyboard that folds up for easy transportability.  It has a supposed battery life of 3 months (it comes with a USB charging cable), and supports paring with up to 3 different Android, iOS, or Windows devices.

As for my thoughts after playing with it for a few minutes...  I like it a lot.  Well enough to post about it.  One thing that I was initially concerned about was the 3 device support - the device switch has 3 positions, one each for Android, iOS, and Windows.  So I figured that if I wanted to switch between pairing it with my phone and my tablet, which both run Android, I would have to redo the pairing process while keeping the device selection on Android.  Well, it turns out that the keyboard will pair with Android devices even when on a non-Android switch position - I accidentally tested this out with my Android tablet and the Windows switch position.  The downside is that you lose the OS-specific functions (which are a really nice feature) when you mismatch, but most things still work great.  And I guess it's a little confusing to have to remember that the Windows position is actually for the Android phone/tablet, but you would have to remember the pairings with a generic 1/2/3 switch anyway.

The other minor "complaint" I have is that the keyboard is pretty cramped.  This obviously makes sense when you consider that mobility is one of the goals, but I did find myself making quite a few typing mistakes the first couple of minutes while using the keyboard.  I got used to it pretty quickly, though, and my error rate began approaching normal.

Overall, I'm really glad Microsoft released this product.  The compact design is great for traveling, and typing isn't too terrible on it.  And I love the multi-OS support.  This should hopefully improve the quality of next year's trip's travelogue.  While this keyboard doesn't end poverty or bring about world peace or anything like that, I feel that it is an excellent product that is worth the $80 and my recommendation if quality mobile typing is a use case that you have.

Sharon Van Etten @ The Luminary (10/15/14)

	Someone gave Sharon a rose during the encore. She hung it on her capo while she played the last song.

I'll forgo my usual (as of late) review structure for this one, as I don't have too much to say.  This show was focused purely on the music - there were no fancy lights or other stage bling at all.  It's a bit unusual for a national act, even in such a small venue, but it works for her.  The music itself didn't blow me away (not that I expected it to), but it was still a good show.  It was understandably heavy on the latest album, which is a bit hit or miss for me.  One stand-out new song performance was "Your Love is Killing Me"; and in general I liked it when they turned up the volume (so to speak).  And Sharon has some cutesy and adorable mannerisms that kinda make me want to be her friend.

As for Tiny Ruins, I only caught their last couple of songs.  I don't think they're really for me, but (like Sharon) their singer seemed to have a great voice.

Rating: 4.0/5

Brazil 2014 pictures and travelogue finally posted

Better late than never, right?  I finally got around to organizing all my (and Raj's) pictures and editing my travelogue from my trip to Brazil 1.5 months ago.

The travelogue, organized by day (with pictures for each), can be found here (in reverse order, sorry): http://excursions.obezma.com/search/label/Brazil%202014

If you only want to see pictures, my favorites can be found here:
https://plus.google.com/photos/111166923064372764694/albums/6045651244470199489?authkey=CIverLze2aqKGw

Lastly, for a bit of amusement...  While I was uploading my selection of Raj's pictures, Google+ prompted me to tag some faces in the set of pictures.  I found the screen presented pretty funny, due to all the various faces that I made in the pictures:

Hundred Waters @ The Luminary (7/15/2014)

Opener:

• I saw half of one song by Golden Curls, so I can't comment on them much.
• Mas Ysa was an interesting happening.  He's one of those button-pusher/knob-twister types, though he also sings.  When he first started out I was pretty sure I was going to hate him, but some of his stuff turned out to not be so bad.  The parts that sound like real music with a beat are sometimes interesting.  But, unfortunately, it comes across to me as music for people with ADD, or ADHD, or whatever they call it these days.

Stage:

• At first glance it didn't look like Hundred Waters' stage set-up offered much, as there were no crazy lights or anything - not that one would expect much at such a small venue.  But they made amazing use of a fog machine and (what looked like) two projectors that they set up on either side of the stage.  They basically created videos that projected as if they were an expensive light set-up, almost looking like lasers at times.  I tried to capture this in a couple of photos, but they didn't come out too well (blame my Nexus 4, which takes crappy low-light pics).

Observations:

• Basically, this was a band that I had only heard of 5 days ago (from Pitchfork's Best New Albums list).  Before even getting through my first listen of the album I knew that it would be one of my favorites of the year.  And then while buying tickets for Sharon Van Etten in October I happened to find out that they were in town in 4 days.  I debated whether to go to the show since I barely knew the band, but then decided to go only if tickets were still available at the door.  And I'm very glad that I went.  The music was pretty great and the projector light show was fantastic.  Their rating is probably a bit inflated for being such a pleasant surprise and exceeding my low-ish expectations, but their show was definitely a good time.

Rating: 4.5/5