http://www.mta.info/countdwn_clocks.htm
As someone who makes the almost daily commute from Queens to Manhattan for work, nothing is more aggravating than having no idea whether or not the train is two seconds away, or if it left two seconds before I descended the steps onto the platform. This is aggravating, irritating, and causes me to be one of those millions of pedestrians who does the train-wait lean. You know what I'm talking about- you step so close to the platform that falling onto the infamous third rail actually passes through your mind as a possibility, you lean waaaaay over, you peer down the dark tunnel, and you will the train to appear. This is incredibly dangerous, but you're running late and you quite frankly don't give a damn. The MTA (Metro Transit Authority, New York) realizes this, though, and are taking steps to make things easier for you. You might have seen the countdown clocks in the subway stations. Maybe? No? They haven't all been put in yet, but according to the MTA website, these clocks that show when the next train is arriving, the number train, and its destination will be put into a projected 167 stops along the numbered train lines, as well as the N, Q, and R stations, by December of 2011. Get excited, guys! These tickers show you the trains, which track you need on multi-level stations, the ETA of the next two to four arrivals, whether it's local or express, and informs you of any delays or track changes.
Don't take any of the numbered trains? Don't worry- most of my commute involves the F, so I feel your pain. The MTA has proposed putting tickers in those in the near future, too- for now, they've just wired the clocks to signal when the train is coming. Still, they're improving every day- thank god for public transport.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
You know we all want the iPhone 5...
http://www.iphonestuffs4u.com/iphone-5-release-date-and-features/
Therefore, we're all speculating like crazy. It's kind of a touchy subject, what with the passing of Steve Jobs... but you know we're all still speculating. It's harder to speculate about the actual features at this point, according to the article I read. The iPhone 4s, while nothing mind-blowing like we all hoped the 5 would be, has an 8mp camera and a sleek new body design. What could the iPhone 5 have, then? We have no idea. I, personally, hope it has a longer battery life and a way to wirelessly connect to things like my kindle, my iPad, etc. The point of the article, though, is that now we have absolutely no idea WHEN the iPhone 5 will come out, for a multitude of reasons-
First, it's hard to gauge how long the iPhone 4s is going to sell well. On the plus side, it's got the camera, which is a phenomenal addition to the phone- I know a friend with a Droid that has that good a camera, and we all adore it. If the 4s sells well for a while, there will be no need to introduce the 5 for at least a year. If not, though, people might lose hope in the Apple name, and stocks might plummet. It's going to be a tough call, sales over credibility... Apple's a little lost without Jobs, for every obvious reason. In addition, Apple tends to only introduce one new product in a certain time span, and speculators have reasoned that the third iPad is set to come out in March 2012. If the 5 comes out too closely to either the iPad 3 or whatever is speculated to replace the MacBook, sales for all products involved might not sell as well. After all, we can only afford so many Apple products a month, right? Regardless of the reasons for and against the 5 coming out next year, though, people have reasoned that sometime before 2012 is over, we should all have a new type of iPhone firmly wedged in our jeans pockets. Any thoughts? I think it makes sense... and I think it makes me happy.
Therefore, we're all speculating like crazy. It's kind of a touchy subject, what with the passing of Steve Jobs... but you know we're all still speculating. It's harder to speculate about the actual features at this point, according to the article I read. The iPhone 4s, while nothing mind-blowing like we all hoped the 5 would be, has an 8mp camera and a sleek new body design. What could the iPhone 5 have, then? We have no idea. I, personally, hope it has a longer battery life and a way to wirelessly connect to things like my kindle, my iPad, etc. The point of the article, though, is that now we have absolutely no idea WHEN the iPhone 5 will come out, for a multitude of reasons-
First, it's hard to gauge how long the iPhone 4s is going to sell well. On the plus side, it's got the camera, which is a phenomenal addition to the phone- I know a friend with a Droid that has that good a camera, and we all adore it. If the 4s sells well for a while, there will be no need to introduce the 5 for at least a year. If not, though, people might lose hope in the Apple name, and stocks might plummet. It's going to be a tough call, sales over credibility... Apple's a little lost without Jobs, for every obvious reason. In addition, Apple tends to only introduce one new product in a certain time span, and speculators have reasoned that the third iPad is set to come out in March 2012. If the 5 comes out too closely to either the iPad 3 or whatever is speculated to replace the MacBook, sales for all products involved might not sell as well. After all, we can only afford so many Apple products a month, right? Regardless of the reasons for and against the 5 coming out next year, though, people have reasoned that sometime before 2012 is over, we should all have a new type of iPhone firmly wedged in our jeans pockets. Any thoughts? I think it makes sense... and I think it makes me happy.
Gears of War- why I'm obsessed
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/119/1194638p1.html
I didn't want to play video games, ever. For anyone who knows me, this makes sense. I love to write, I love to run, I love to shop. Why would I play a video game when there's the real world to live in? My friend was playing Gears of War 3 a few weeks ago when I spent the night, though, and I ended up watching the game... and then cheering it on... and next thing I knew, it was six hours later and I was kind of hooked. Reviews say that this isn't uncommon... GOW3 got incredibly high reviews. It's addicting, it's bloody, it's corny, it's primal and carnal and theatrical like you wouldn't believe. There's a weak storyline, but there's so much intricacy and excitement that it doesn't end up mattering too much.
You should try playing... fight to the end, overthrow the government of chaos, and don't get killed. Oh, did I mention the aliens?
I didn't want to play video games, ever. For anyone who knows me, this makes sense. I love to write, I love to run, I love to shop. Why would I play a video game when there's the real world to live in? My friend was playing Gears of War 3 a few weeks ago when I spent the night, though, and I ended up watching the game... and then cheering it on... and next thing I knew, it was six hours later and I was kind of hooked. Reviews say that this isn't uncommon... GOW3 got incredibly high reviews. It's addicting, it's bloody, it's corny, it's primal and carnal and theatrical like you wouldn't believe. There's a weak storyline, but there's so much intricacy and excitement that it doesn't end up mattering too much.
You should try playing... fight to the end, overthrow the government of chaos, and don't get killed. Oh, did I mention the aliens?
Steve Jobs and what we've missed.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/8-things-didn-t-know-life-steve-jobs-172130955.html
So, it's obviously no longer news to any of us that Steve Jobs passed away last week. We sat there in shock and watched Dateline, we teared up when discussing it in class, we thought about it every time we opened up our Macbooks... but what might be news to us are the parts of Steve Jobs' life that people didn't always think about- the parts of his life that had absolutely nothing to do with Apple.
First interesting fact- while some of us knew that Jobs was adopted, it was news to me that his biological father was a Syrian- I personally never would have guessed that Jobs was part Arab. I personally think this is rather cool, since I'm mostly Turkish- power to the darker haired and not always remembered nationalities! Secondly, we all hear about how Jobs dropped out of college. Like Edison and Einstein, we use this as a sign of his higher genius- 'I heard Steve Jobs dropped out of college. It just wasn't challenging enough for him! He's so brilliant'. This is true. The facts behind the dropout, though? The college- Reed College in Portland, Oregon. The duration of his college education? One semester. The reason for the dropout? Not lack of intellectual stimulation, actually. Quite the contrary- Jobs cited his reason for dropping out as being the steep tuition costs.
Another thing you might not know about Jobs- he and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak worked for Atari back when Pong was first being developed. Jobs reportedly lied to Wozniak about the payout they received for their developments, though, and only handed over $375 of the $5k they were given. This is one of a few facts about Jobs that show him in a less idolistic light- he was human, after all. He made mistakes, both with work and with his partnership. One relationship he seemed to have no public mistakes to leave behind with, though, was the one with his wife, Laurene Powell. They met while she was receiving her masters at Stanford, and the rest is history. Not every relationship he had was as perfect and romantic, though. In 1978, Jobs and his high school girlfriend had a daughter who Jobs denied paternity of until she was in high school. He went on to pay for her Harvard education, but had even gone as far as to claim sterility in court documents predating the mended relationship with her mother, his ex. He also at one point was reported to have had a brief fling with folk singer Joan Baez, and officially dated Diane Keaton before meeting wife Laurene.
Human. Jobs. Love him, hate him, remember him... I sure will.
So, it's obviously no longer news to any of us that Steve Jobs passed away last week. We sat there in shock and watched Dateline, we teared up when discussing it in class, we thought about it every time we opened up our Macbooks... but what might be news to us are the parts of Steve Jobs' life that people didn't always think about- the parts of his life that had absolutely nothing to do with Apple.
First interesting fact- while some of us knew that Jobs was adopted, it was news to me that his biological father was a Syrian- I personally never would have guessed that Jobs was part Arab. I personally think this is rather cool, since I'm mostly Turkish- power to the darker haired and not always remembered nationalities! Secondly, we all hear about how Jobs dropped out of college. Like Edison and Einstein, we use this as a sign of his higher genius- 'I heard Steve Jobs dropped out of college. It just wasn't challenging enough for him! He's so brilliant'. This is true. The facts behind the dropout, though? The college- Reed College in Portland, Oregon. The duration of his college education? One semester. The reason for the dropout? Not lack of intellectual stimulation, actually. Quite the contrary- Jobs cited his reason for dropping out as being the steep tuition costs.
Another thing you might not know about Jobs- he and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak worked for Atari back when Pong was first being developed. Jobs reportedly lied to Wozniak about the payout they received for their developments, though, and only handed over $375 of the $5k they were given. This is one of a few facts about Jobs that show him in a less idolistic light- he was human, after all. He made mistakes, both with work and with his partnership. One relationship he seemed to have no public mistakes to leave behind with, though, was the one with his wife, Laurene Powell. They met while she was receiving her masters at Stanford, and the rest is history. Not every relationship he had was as perfect and romantic, though. In 1978, Jobs and his high school girlfriend had a daughter who Jobs denied paternity of until she was in high school. He went on to pay for her Harvard education, but had even gone as far as to claim sterility in court documents predating the mended relationship with her mother, his ex. He also at one point was reported to have had a brief fling with folk singer Joan Baez, and officially dated Diane Keaton before meeting wife Laurene.
Human. Jobs. Love him, hate him, remember him... I sure will.
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