Jason’s Random Thoughts

It’s that time of week again.  Time to release yet another version of QuickStudy.

There aren’t too many big updates to speak of this week, as I’ve been working to get the application converted to run on SymbianOS and Linux-based cell phones.  This is the next big challenge where all the money is.

That said, Version 0.0.1.7 (Alpha) of QuickStudy corrects some of the hiccups that have been found over the past week, and now allows people to delete a quiz from the database.  On top of this, there have been a few speed tweaks made to the software, so it should be a little quicker for anyone who’s running this on a machine with fewer than 425 MHz under the hood.

Where’s It Going Now?

QuickStudy is going to be one of the first multi-platform projects I’ve worked on without the benefit of a skilled team of co-developers.  While I don’t see any real big challenges in the near future, the development will likely start to slow down from here.  The basics are now working (for the most part) with Windows Mobile, and a SymbianOS version of the software will be made available in the next two weeks.  There will also be a version of the application available for Linux-powered mobile phones and, oddly enough, one for the iPhone as well.

Although I’ve only presented the application to a very limited group of people (about 60, as of this writing), it’s been met with a great response and I’ve had several people ask me where to get it.  Of course, I let them know where to download it, but Windows Mobile devices just aren’t too popular in this country.  Hence, the reason for the SymbianOS, Linux and iPhone ports of the application.  To make things even more complicated for me, the latest Android SDK has been downloaded and is awaiting a quiet two hour break at work so that I can whip out my notebook and get some testing done.

The Last 0.0.1.*

It should also be mentioned that 0.0.1.7 will be the last release under the 0.0.1.* line.  The next release will be under 0.0.2, and will have some of the nicer question/answer options that I had originally planned to put into the application.  The logic behind the repeating algorithm will also be hammered out a little bit more as I’m already seeing a few limitations with just the few hours of testing I’ve had with this latest release.

So there you have it!  The next version is ready for download and development is now consuming all of the time I had once allocated for blogging (unfortunately).  Hopefully this will not be the case for much longer.

Is there anything you’d like to see in QuickStudy on any of the platforms?  Feel free to leave me a comment, and I’ll be sure to get back to you regarding it.

Download the latest release of QuickStudy here.

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Corvida over at SheGeeks recently wrote a post asking if people have lost their job as a result of technology and it reminded me of several arguments I’ve had with people on both sides of the Pacific.

Over the last few years I’ve been (somewhat) responsible for the lay-off or dismissal of just over 100 people across nine companies. I am a software engineer and, as such, I am always on the lookout for ways to optimize jobs and functions, even if it costs someone their job. In a few cases, I even managed to program my way out of a nice position because, at the end of the day, I had solved the problems I was hired to tackle. While this isn’t always a good thing, we shouldn’t see losing our jobs to technology as a bad thing.

After all, we humans are ‘programmed’ to make ourselves obsolete.

Have I No Decency?

I’ve had people get spitting mad at me when they discovered that software I took pride in making made their positions redundant. Some have shouted at me with such conviction you’d swear they were trying to erase code with decibels. Others have hung their head and slunk away from the office without so much as a word. The tireless software and cold logic structures completed the 7.5 hours of daily work once done by humans in anywhere from 30 seconds to 10 minutes. So do I feel guilty for putting these people out of work?

No, because I didn’t put them out of work. They put themselves out of work. I simply made it easier for their employers to terminate the positions.

Before the flame wars start, hear me out. Companies seldom terminate productive employees. If someone is let go, it’s because they (usually) did not add value to an organization. Strong people are usually kept, while those who coast or do ‘just enough’ are let go for more cost-effective solutions. If a strong person’s job is eliminated by a machine, that same person is, more often than not, transferred somewhere their skills can be used to contribute to the overall success of the organization.

Do I feel bad when someone loses their job? Yes, absolutely. I’m human, too. I can understand their fears and concerns. But at the same time, I can see why an organization might let someone go. Working is an inalienable human right, and I’ll defend a person’s right to work until the bitter end. That said, just because a person has a right to work, doesn’t mean that others in an organization should suffer.

The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

Unlimited Potential

Each one of us is capable of so much more than we give ourselves credit for. Most of the people who have been furious at me for “getting them fired” were angry because they were paid a lot of money to do relatively simple jobs.

Predictive inventory management. Automatic faxing. Portable data entry solutions. Remote monitoring of accounting practices. Production waste management and reduction. These things aren’t too difficult to do with a pen and paper, or with something as flexible as a spreadsheet application. Yet, despite the (relatively) basic core concepts of these tasks, the people my software made obsolete failed to perform as their employer requested.

Is it really my fault that a few weeks of coding time can eliminate a $50,000/year job in a company? No. It’s the company’s fault for not understanding the true value of the task they were paying $50,000 for. Eliminating the job is just the organization’s way of cleaning up costs.  This isn’t to say that someone’s time isn’t worth the money, though … it’s just an area that the company feels could be optimized to reduce unnecessary overhead in an ever-competitive market place.

One in Six Billion

We all have something to offer the world.  I truly believe that.  Just because we lost one job to technology does not necessarily mean that technology is a bad thing.  It just means that we’re being given a reason to either update our skills, or try something new.  It can be incredibly stressful at first, but we can all offer something to someone somewhere.

But one thing is for certain: we technology people are not responsible for the obsolescence of someone’s job.

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With all the stories that have circulated through the news and in the depths of the internet, it’s sometimes surprising to hear that mistakes that led to the destruction of one company are being repeated by uncounted others.

This is certainly the case with Clear who, earlier this month, had reported a notebook containing the personal information of approximately 33,000 individuals missing.  It was later found to be in the same room, just a different place, but the company is not 100% certain that the data wasn’t copied off the device during the few hours it was MIA.

33,000 Names

According to the company, the notebook did not contain any biometric data, but it did contain names and drivers license information.  That said, how long can we expect to be fortunate enough to not have biometric data stolen?  If salespeople, executives, and developers have the ability to walk around people’s names, social insurance numbers, drivers licenses, credit card information and just about anything else that could cause financial or legal grief for the person who’s name it’s all attached to, how long before copies of our fingerprints or retina scans are added to the mix?  Heck, if it’s medical data, how long until digital copies of X-Rays, prescription information and a whole host of other very personal information is being carried around for the sake of expediency?

Security is a huge hassle, there’s no doubt about it.  It can get in the way of cool application features, and takes a good effort to implement properly.  To make matters worse, developers often have no idea of its effectiveness until something is lost or there’s a foiled attempt to steal such data.  We hear about the former far more often than the latter, so there’s often little comfort in hearing that “only a small subset of all the personal information stored on a server was actually lost.”

All this said, notebooks are known to “have legs.”  They’re stolen so often all around the world that it’s just plain foolish to not have an encrypted drive or, at the very least, properly encrypted databases.  A little effort can go a long way here, even though most of the time it might not appear that way.

No Reason To Panic

This story concerns me mainly because the notebook was quickly recovered.  While it’s great that Clear reported the loss immediately, even with it possibly impacting their business, I’m concerned that this company (or others) might later decide to delay reports and gamble that they’ll recover the data before much time passes.  It’s true that just because a device is missing does not mean that someone is stealing it, but how can one be certain?  How will they know that the data wasn’t copied to a USB device before a stray notebook or PDA is found somewhere it doesn’t belong?

Ones and zeroes are incredibly easy to copy.  I walk into at least a dozen medium to large businesses every week where there’s at least one notebook that’s not being watched.  It wouldn’t take much effort for me to “borrow” it for a few minutes to move some data to a USB key before returning the computer to some place it doesn’t belong.

I’d be just an amateur at data theft, but five minutes of my time could cost a company millions in damages.  Just imagine what a seasoned professional could do.

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Cars in Japan are so affordable. This was my thought as Reiko and I looked at the pristine models in the showroom of Gifu Nissan this past weekend where we started the search for our first family car.

In Canada, it’s quite normal to see one price, buy a car for another, then quickly discover that the *real* price is some third number that is anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars (cash) on top of what you were expecting to pay. Why the huge disconnect in Canada? Because tax is a deal killer. Because Freight and EDI are deal killers. Because delivery charges are deal killers. So, until you actually sign the contract saying you’ll buy a particular car, you have no idea how much it will actually cost, aside from the knowledge that it will be no less than $4000 more than the amount listed on the contract.

Thank God it doesn’t work like this in Japan.

Yellow Plate vs. White Plate

Japan, like most countries, has several different options when it comes to insuring a car. The main consideration that we’ve had over the last few weeks was whether we should get a Kei-Plate (car with a yellow licence plate), or a White Plate. With such a stark difference between the two kinds of offerings, I’ve been leaning towards the more expensive white plate, while Reiko has been considering the yellow.

The advantage of a yellow plate, aside from the 50% savings in car insurance, is that parking your car at a crowded shopping mall is quite simple. If there are no more “small car only” spaces, you can easily park under a normal-sized vehicle. The disadvantages of such a car, however, is that they are not the most comfortable for non-Asian passengers and the engines really don’t like going up mountains with more than 100 kg of combined passenger and cargo weight combined. While this might not be too much of a problem for people who often drive alone, or stay out of the mountains, it’s not something that would be too suitable for Reiko and I.

Interestingly enough, it didn’t take too much convincing to prove that a white plate would be superior to a yellow. Another disadvantage to the smaller Kei-type cars is that there is very little space between the driver and the door. This means that should the vehicle experience some sort of collision from the side, the passengers nearest the door would have very little protection or means of escape. This is not so with the larger cars.

The Nissan Note

One of the first cars that Reiko spotted in the Nissan showroom was the newest model of Note. This car has received quite the reception since Nissan introduced it not too long ago and, despite its relatively attractive appearance, it’s not something I’d want to invest the money in. This isn’t because of any safety reasons, or because of fuel efficiency, though. Instead, I have a problem with this car for the very same reason I have a problem with Toyota visually uninspired Vanguard: the commercials.

The Nissan Note sells itself on TV with the help of animated ‘toons who remind me quite a bit of the Dire Straits characters from the mid-80’s. However, rather than being cool, these super-feminine males are annoying and repulsive. Selling a car with the aid of these characters is about as appealing as sitting next to Gilbert Gottfried on an over-crowded AirMexico flight from Japan to San Francisco to Peru then back to Japan.

No, thank you.

The Nissan Tiida

From the moment I saw the dashboard, I knew this was the car that I would want to go home with. Naturally, the visit was just a “fact-finding mission”, but that’s beside the point. The Nissan Tiida has a very attractive dash, loads of features, and looks great in red. All the things a person like me could possibly hope for in a vehicle that’s not a Porsche 911 Boxter Turbo with the Premium Platinum Package. The seats could go back far enough for me to be comfortable while driving, and the trunk is large enough to hold almost everything we could possibly put in it for the time being. What I really like about the Tiida, aside from the dashboard, is the overall design of the car. Not too curvy, and not boring in the least.

For the last few years, Japanese cars seemed to have fallen into a bit of a rut. Regardless of whether it was a Toyota, Daihatsu, Suzuki, Nissan or Honday, they all looked the same. Then 2007 came along and things started changing. The 2009 Tiida that Reiko and I looked at looked and felt great. So much so that I wanted to take it out onto the highway to see if it could really push it up to 200 km/h. Unfortunately, this wasn’t possible.

The Bottom Line

There were lots of options that we considered with the car, but the only one Reiko and I had trouble with was the car navigation system. Do we want it? Can we go without it? Is it wise to drive around unfamiliar towns with paper maps that haven’t been updated in weeks when we could have the most current mapping information available for those three days a year when we actually need it? It wasn’t an easy decision.

To that end, we wound up getting two quotes on the Tiida. To get the model with the Car Navigation system (the Tiida E-ATx) it’s 1,885,962円. To get the model without the Car Navigation system (also a Tiida E-ATx) it’s 1,721,662円. That’s quite a difference in price.

To top things off, we were presented with the standard options to finance or not-quite-lease the car over a period of three years and, I must admit, the price was well within range of what we can currently afford to pay. That said, financing a car makes it awfully tempting to upgrade quite a few components while reassuring yourself that it’s “just a few thousand yen more each month.”

Reiko and I have yet to decide on which car to actually buy, and we still have a few more dealers to check out. We’ve both had our eyes on a Honda Fit, and I had the opportunity to ride in one back in Canada before moving to Japan. The ride was smooth, and there was plenty of room for three full-sized Caucasian males. Any car that can easily handle that much mass would be a good fit for a family that’s just starting out.

Have you bought a car in Japan? Is there anything I should keep a lookout for? I’d love to hear your comments.

External Links:
Nissan’s Tiida Page (Japanese)
Nissan’s Note Page (Japanese)

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Reiko bought a new Tupperware container for our bread last week and I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw the name of the manufacturer. Who would have thought that Unix could make such impossible things as a plastic box possible?

Apparently, the manufacturer (Asvel) sells most of their household goods under this name. I wonder if there’s a unix ware way of cleaning the toilet or storing stinky diapers

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