Cognitive Surplus?
I have started reading Clay Shriky’s book Cognitive Surplus. So far I find myself conflicted half ways through the book, while I agree that there is plenty of mental waste out in the world there seems to be a lack of consideration of the quality and a quantity of this surplus that can be leveraged for spare projects. He cites the 8-8-8 break down of time eight for work, eight for free time and eight eight for sleep. Shirky focuses on the eight hours of free time for calculating this surplus that can be applied to various project facilitated through social works enabled be digital technologies.
Like many people I have many responsibilities that consume that precious eight hours that quite often eats into that eight hours reserved for sleep. Does that mean that I do not have spare time, absolutely not. Over the past few years I used that spare time to finish my Master’s degree. But this pursuit often displaced time with my family or household duties, it was with the support of my family that I was able to keep life in check. But I graduated in May, what have I been doing with my time? This time has been spent enjoying the company of my wife and family, taking up those house project that I had put off for so long, and even doing a bit of nothing at all because I can.
The eight hours that is in in question get used for many duties that I suspect that other have to deal with, as well. Meals, yes feeding myself and family. There is a meal before work and after that likely eat up at least an hour of that time, if I cook a family meal in the evening that can easily be an hour and a half to cook and eat with the family. Commuting, that driving to and from work, requires between one hour and two hours. Personal hygiene requires 30-40 minutes, we have to clean ourselves. Household clean up and maintenance takes time whether you live in a apartment or house. And lets not forget the kids, if you have them, they can take up quite a bit of time and make other duties take longer. After all this I am tired sometimes, I may be even a bit tired thinking about it.
I am hoping that Shirky accounts for “life” in the last few chapters but I am not feeling him getting there. I do not think his theories are off base but I do believe that he over estimates the availability of free time.
It’s Been Awhile…
I have not posted in a bit, because quite have been busy. Life happens! But I have added a gallery section to the site for my photography. It is in the beginning stages so it will evolve as I add sections. I worked on this for quite a bit, trying to find a display that I like and was easy to use. Please enjoy I will post announcements as I add sections.
Software by another name
Techspansion closed down recently and with closed down and with that ceased sales of Visual Hub, the best video conversion tool around. But I am excited to hear that it will be reborn as a SourceForge application. The new name will be TranscoderRedux and can be found on SourceForge but currently it is limited to developers. But we can hope for an application release soon.
The One Year TV Purchase
Last July, the wife and I were discussing the possibility of getting one of those shinny new flat screen televisions and then fate intervened to push us along. Our discussions were centered around replacing the main living room television. We had many questions; “What size?”, “LCD or Plasma?”, “Brand Quality?” were just a few. Money was also a big concern because I did not want to spend a small fortune because the more that you spend, the more likely that you are to have “buyers remorse.” So why this debate went continued, our bedroom television flatlined. This turned our attention to a slightly, to a less substantial purchase. This was also a bit comforting that we could make this decision on a smaller scale before deciding on a living room purchase.
Enlisting the help of the Internet, I started to research so that the broken television could be replaced without delay. Professional and amateur/antidotal reviews were scoured looking for the best answer for the situation. This would be an easy task if money was not an issue but this fact kept our decision in check. In the end, the decision was to purchase a Westinghouse model SK-32H240S. The screen was great and it contained many of the necessary features, including price. This was the end of our adventure, so we thought.
Fast forward about six months and we started having some power issues. The unit would sometimes not turn on, unless it was unplugged and then plugged back in to the wall. I called Westinghouse customer service and they were very friendly and helped me trouble shoot the issue. It was beyond a phone call, and would require a service call. They proceeded to inform me that the warranty service was facilitated through BestBuy. This was where the purchase was made so it provided some comfort that yet another party was not go get involved.
Scheduling the service appointment was another task that took awhile. I went back and forth in an attempt to get a service time but it just was not working out for my schedule right then. Along comes May and the need to burn some vacation days provides opportunity to schedule that needed service appointment. On May 26, the Best Buy service rep (John) arrived and proceeded to address the issues at hand. He was very nice and reassured me that the situation would be corrected but he needed some parts which he ordered. The parts were to arrive in about a week but an automated phone call ten days later informed me that the parts were back ordered. I waited five weeks before calling to check up on the status, this was the one year mark. After some digging I was told that the parts were to arrive on August 3.
A phone call from John the service changed that waiting stance. He apologized for the delay and expressed concern that the parts would arrive as scheduled. He then provided a return code to exchange the broken TV for a new fully functioning model. This prompted a swift trip to BestBuy to finally clear up this mess that had sat on the burner for far to long. The old Westinghouse was exchanged for the current model (SK-32H540S), which I assumed would be at least as good as the one being returned. Up back on unboxing to new device some shortcomings were detected. First it would produce static sound even with the volume completely down or muted. Then there was the blue light, a piercing blue light that indicated power, because the screen was insufficient. The first television had this light as well but it cold be shut off, no such luck this time. One other item that made the unit different was the menus that appeared to be drawn with crayons. This comment may seem to be trivial but user interface is an important feature in my book. This ones going back to the store. The response from the store was positive I just needed to decide on a new model.
The BestBuy manager suggested a few models to replace the unwanted television but some research needed to be done. It was almost back to square one a year later. After searching I found a Sony model (KDL-32L4000) that seem to fit the bill. I was further amused to read virtually the same story as mine in a personal review of the Sony model on a forum. I have spent a week with this so far and have very few minor criticisms. But what most impresses myself is that the purchased stated a year ago seems now to be completed.
