Sickness resolutions

I’m sick for quite a few days now, which means spending most of my time in bed and skipping all the fun. This is a no-go, especially on possibly the last warm days of the year here in Berlin.

The worst part of the whole thing is the mood. Not being able to do anything that’s not a must. This is to get over with first: it’s not enough that I haven’t written in weeks, but reading the starred articles in Google Reader should be the bare minimum. (Now I’m finally doing these both. How proud.)

Being nailed to bed didn’t come as a surprise: I had quite enough signs and there were a few things I shouldn’t have done. First, a week with fifteen meetings and four parties in three countries. Eating out in cafes ways to often. Not taking the weather seriously enough: after the first time having 15 degrees in the room I should have switched on the heating.

So now, as soon as I got better and be able to do sports again, there is going to be a new deal.

1. Vitamins. I raised my Vitamin C intake to 2g a day (plus shitloads of oranges and paprika).

2. Sports. Running four times a week, short daily yoga sessions.

3. Being prepared for sub-optimal weather situations. Always having a scarf and another layer in my bag. Switch on the heating as soon as it’s needed.

To be organized is the new deal.

j j j

September 13th, 2012

Goodbye Nike+, welcome miCoach

As you may remember, I started to track my runs with Nike+ just about two months ago. Since then we shared a few moments (ten sessions and 50 kilometers) – quite enough time to know: I need something else.

miCoach – slightly less style

The main reason for the break-up was something that’s not the really Nike’s fault: their app is only for running. Because I like to track my cycling routes as well, I had to have a separate app for almost the exact same thing: see some speed and location data on a map.

And since miCoach from Adidas (the Android version) was already there, I couldn’t help to see the advantages of it:

1. Better statistics: shows my actual speed in time (not only green/yellow/red colors), average by kilometers, fastest km, elevation data etc. Just perfect.

2. Works without registration. (Now, I registered anyway so that I can see my data online, but I really like the fact that I didn’t have to for using the app.)

3. Feels more accurate. Sometimes Nike+ showed 100m as the distance so far, right at my 600m turn (I used to run on the same route a lot.)

Some drawbacks:

1. Slightly worse UI. Not bad, not ugly, but well… Nike+ really was top notch on that.

2. miCoach asks for a code every time I start it. (Why? Anyone who gains access to my phone, could check my emails, Twitter, even payment data – but not how far I ran? It really doesn’t make sense.)

3. I have no idea, how the achievements work.

Well, let’s see how long this relationship lasts.

j j j

September 6th, 2012

The 2016 Rio Olympics logo is already boring

As the 2012 London Summer Olympics reaches its end this weekend, we will see a very different logo when someone talks about the Olympics: the one Rio unveiled on New Years Eve last year. And the more we see it, the more boring it will get – it’s simply too shiny to be interesting through the next four years to come.

Rio Summer Olympics 2012 (from the video on Youtube)

Don’t misunderstand me: I think the graphics team is brilliant and the logo is beautiful. It has nice thoughts behind, the execution was great, the emblem and the ‘Rio font’ is authentic and really pretty. The logo makes a clear identity and will live on the website, in 3D, on prints and on thousands of different materials. It’s just that they played a bit too safe.

Every year has a visual trend. My favorite way to show the change in the mainstream visuals to others, to make them look at the cars passing by: all vehicles made in the same timeframe have similar headlamps, shapes, colors, interiors – leaving us with snapshots of tech driven development for 2-3 years. The same goes to fashion (which I have absolutely no clue about), and to design as well: do you remember the early 2000s, when all web 2.0 logos had a gradient and a reflection?

To make a logo age better, it’s not enough to simply make it fit the nicest visual key you can come up with. You have to create a vision and a clear message, and stick to those – just like London did with the 2012 Olympics: going with these progressive looks was risky, and people hated it four years ago. By today though, the vivid colors and the hipster-look got understood.

Quick evolution: applicant city and Rio 2016

It’s worth to take a look at the list of all olympic logos from the last 90 years. All of them are great artworks, it’s fair to assume that they are the top notch designs of their age – how many of them look still interesting? Are those the ones that were accepted by the crowd immediately?

That’s the problem with the 2016 logo: according to Wikipedia, the emblem was based on four concepts: contagious energy, harmonious diversity, exuberant nature and Olympic spirit. Clear? Not really. If you want to stick out of the crowd, you have to invent something new. Even the best design team will be useless with an idea based on such bullshit.

At least in the long run.

j j j

September 2nd, 2012

Why does Android look dodgy?

As much Android deserves the love for the great freedom it gives to its users (try to install a file manager to your stock iPhone or copy music to a friend’s computer), the user interface is just not there. They surely have put a lot of effort into Jelly Beans, but the devil is in the details. Look at these widgets, for example.

different colors, sizes, outer glow – on stock elements

In every operating system, at least the stock widgets should look alike – but, to mention just a few flaws, the three main widgets (power control, music and weather add-ons) are different in size, colors and they use different spacers between the buttons. The widgets coming from 3rd party developers in Google Play are not much help either: even the ones that claim support for the stock Ice Cream Sandwich are missing the guidelines with a mile or two.

Maybe Google’s development teams don’t work together very well. Maybe the UI teams’ quality assurance is missing. Maybe they just don’t care, because manufacturers like Samsung, Motorola and HTC have their own design tweaks anyway.

Either way, in 2012, the pixel-perfect paradise is not here yet.

j j j

August 29th, 2012

Breaking: Frederique for iPad in Emanata

Emanata is a great new app to discover indie comics and emerging artists. From today, your ol’ man is among those visual storytellers featured in the app – this, looking at all the others drawings, is a great honor.

Frederique will come every two weeks to Emanata. I have to admit, I’m really excited about working with this new format.

Get the app from the iTunes.

j j j

August 28th, 2012

Barbecuing down the Spree

Probably the coolest mean of transport in Berlin: the grill-boot. Sitting around the table, drinking beer, cooking Frankfurters on the barbecue, while floating around on the river. During today’s run I could capture a close enough shot of the grill boat, so here you go dear readers:

For the full experience, please imagine some minmal techno while viewing the picture.

j j j

August 24th, 2012

Look at the guy with the screwdriver

…fixing a Leica C-Lux-1 camera’s misplaced lenses!

Some say, the easiest way to make money is not spending it. According to this, I’ve just earned 250 EUR, cash: that’s what this friend’s camera (which I shamelessly broke) was worth.

Before… and after!

What made a guy who knows next to nothing about cameras, to actually try to repair one?

First, I was sure that I will replace the precious object with one with similar specs, so I already considered the money as a loss. Furthermore, according to the service, the camera was beyond repair – so trying couldn’t do any more harm.

Second, whereas I know less about repairing cameras, I know quite a lot about photography – and in this case, the lenses seemed to be in one piece. Based on the sounds, the engine was not broken either, so there was a slight chance that the pieces are just misplaced.

And last: I love doing things like these.

With all that, it wasn’t an easy job. For starters, it took me a week to buy the proper screwdriver set. So I’m actually a hero here.

And also: it takes quite a camera to survive a drop like that. So if you ever think about buying a Leica (or in general – to spend some extra money a premium product), I can just say one thing:

go for it.

j j j

August 21st, 2012

Silly season

Almost only tech magazines and marketing bloggers keep filling up my RSS reader – this is the time of year when one better reads books than news: the silly season.

The US expression refers better to the fact that during these few weeks in the end of Summer, not many important things are happening out there: in the “slow news season” the Parliament, the courts – and actually almost everyone – is spending holidays.

Here in Germany, the name of the silly season is “Saure-Gurken-Zeit”, which would be something like cucumber-time or pickles-time in English. This expression originally referred to the time of year when only a few types of food is available – a great metafore to the lack of newsworthy.

j j j

August 17th, 2012

Prisoner’s dilemma: want to win?

Princeton University mathematicians discovered a previously unknown strategy for the prisoner’s dilemma, which guarantees one player a better outcome than the other. As the game has been widely used to understand to situations like the climate change negotiations or the Cold War, the new findings will surely rise a couple of questions.

That’s a monumental surprise. Theorists have studied Prisoner’s Dilemma for decades, using it as a model for the emergence of co-operation in nature. This work has had a profound impact on disciplines such as economics, evolutionary biology and, of course, game theory itself. The new result will have impact in all these areas and more. — Technology Review

Much more information in the paper: Iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma contains strategies that dominate any evolutionary opponent

j j j

August 15th, 2012

Twitter rebranding

It might be as stupid as it sounds: I’ve changed my Twitter username. From now on, find me at @wimagguc (or @wimagguchu, for Hungarian conversations).

The change might seem to be reckless move, but I actually wanted to do it for a long time now. I first registered on Twitter with my favourite nickname – and the name of this blog -, which, as it comes with no surprise, was not registered by anyone yet. Interacting with more and more people I realised that I use two languages with two rather distinguishable circles. To separate these, I ended up opening the @wmguk account for English discussions – and left @wimagguc with the Hungarian ones.

Over the years the former account became the more used and more important one, and for the “brand identity” I finally decided to swap the two using the vacation silence. For now, it makes me happy: it’s the same name for the blog, my Twitter and e-mail account. Nice and consistent. Order, there must be.

j j j