Why I think Tablets going to be a failure (in the long run)

Why I think Tablets going to be a failure (in the long run)

I was very excited when tablets started hitting the market.

I thought it is going to be the “digital slate” that will be in every child's school back.

I for one want it to be my digital reader cum writer.

I thought it is the best thing that is going to happen in my twilight years away from the PC.

But in three years I have to revise my opinion and scale down my excitement.

I have few reason for not buying one till now.

I will list them later but jot down in point form, why I think tablets are going to be a failure.

Not the best thing that happened in the IT world.

Number 1

It is not going to replace the functions of a simple desktop.

The old IBM (I have several but discarding one by one, and sticking to my wok horse) did donkey work for me and still going on batting for me.

The keyboard, the mouse and the screen are designed for human needs and not for a robot.

Small screen and even touch screen capability is not design for androids (human hand).

If used in regular basis by children will have hand eye coordination problems.

Hand eye coordination are essential for a vascular or heart, plastic surgeon.

Future surgeons might have to use a robot for surgery and I won't go under one of them (I would be gone by then anyway).

Number 2

Tablet won't replace a good mobile phone in usage.

For communication and text messages to begin with.

Number 3

Tablet will never replace a good SLR camera or a video camera.

In other words, the PC, the phone, and the camera were dedicated gadgets.

What tablet did was to integrate the three with some increase in bulk.

It did not replace any one of the professionally designed gadgets, for example good quality PC for gaming or simulation of flying.

Now let me come to the more important topics.

Number 4-Security

Mark Shuttleworth of Ubuntu (According to Linux Magazine) calls for declarative firmware.

He claims most of the manufacturers put out low quality closed source firmware, which can become paradise for hackers.

Whether we like it or not dominance of the device configurations and firmware will remain with the parent company.

In this scenario even Apple is not safe.

The tablets will come with poor firmware and will be hacked in no time.

I think they will have a shelf life of two years if carelessly used.

That is my major concern.

They do not have USB ports to prevent using root kits to hack the firmware but the hacker can reach it from the Internet when the tablet is connected.

The manufacturer will put the fault on the user instead of owning his lack of responsibility.

Android has lot of holes even though it is based on Linux derivatives.

Kernel is not as good as a standard PC Linux kernel.

Let me dish out my own reasons.

Number 5

I won't buy a tablet without a USB port.

I do not want to use Apple or Samsung software.

I prefer my own Linux software and if possible use a root kit (ideally both commercial and my own) to install my own Linux Kernel out of the hundred available in the free software foundation.

Rest are academic not related to tablets alone.

Number 6.

Battery life.

Durability.

Customer support etc.

Number 7 

It is not yet ready for school use. 

I want tablets to be universally available both for rich and the poor.

My Gut Feeling

In this scenario, ASUS Transformer wins the game for a long time to come.

I hope the price of the tablet and transformer with the battery and keyboard will come down.

This is what I wrote few years ago.

It has long battery life, the human keyboard and the portability.

So think twice before buying a tablet.

If you have a laptop keep it in running condition and use the tablet as an accessory and not the work horse.

In my case I will have my old computer running till it packs up, (even if I decide to buy a tablet) or me pack up for good due to old age.

Feeding Pet Fish is not Easy

Feeding Pet Fish is not Easy

I have made a hash of it recently.

Let me tell all the mistakes I made later but antecedents worth a brief mention.

It is extremely hot and my guppy fish started dying simply because of the heat and the algae menace.

I keep fish to avoid mosquitoes.

My main interest is propagating water plants and due to the extremely hot weather, I have to top up one to two inches of water almost every day and it is making me tired, at the end of the tether, so to speak.

My outdoor fish tank's front glass broke due to shear heat to add to my problems.

I foresaw this and divided the tank into two portions one in front with glass front and back with only cement.

That saved the day and all the fish were quickly transferred to the backup, back portion of the fish tank.

Some plants are wilting away and the algae are dominating the eco-sysyem.

With all these misadventures, I decided to make a mini garden, so that I could propagate few of my exotic water plants indoors.

These exotic plants won't last a week outdoors.

Mind you, I have given up keeping fish indoors, anyway.

So all my problems started a week after, I have decorated my mini water garden with plants (in a mini tank).

Within a few days the plants were showing poor health.

I thought of lack of CO2 and Nitrogen.

Added few Guppy fish and gradually the numbers swelled to over 30 since out in the wild I had a variegated collection of male fish with beautiful colours.

I am fascinated by their genetic variation and exotic array of colour display.

One cannot find two fishes looking alike.
 

That is the reason for exceeding the number (which should have been twenty the most, for the mini tank).

Then with my home folks coming to to advocate design qualities, reluctantly I had to had few Neon tetras to the family of guppy fish.

This is where my problem started.

At about the same time guppy fish started breeding.

When they are under stress they breed, sometimes prematurely and very often the mother fish dies leaving a school of tiny guppy fish.

The Neon tetras are fastidious in habit, both feeding and in their behavior, heavily domesticated and they would not live in peaceful co-existence with fully independent and almost neurotic guppy fish.

Guppy fish are very active and they cannot stay still.

Their random movement add colour to the static picture of the mini plants.

Neon tetras prefer to stay in a shoal.

They do not feed with big pellets.

They prefer the fish food in dust form.

Guppy fish in a second finish the food and there is nothing left for the Neons.

I had no option other than to overfeed with tiny guppy fish numbering over 40 needing ample supply of food.

Th hell broke in a week.

In a week there was more than the desirable algae in an indoor tank.

One morning when I was about to feed I noticed that all guppy fish were docile.

Water was more turbid.

One fish showing definite signs of ill health.

This was an emergency (they were lucky I was on a long holiday).

If I delayed another day neon would be gone, even though they did not show any signs of ill health.

In actual fact they were having a fair share of food with guppy fish being very sluggish.

Overfeeding leads to toxicity specially due to nitrogen and within 24 hours the fish would be dead, including the adaptable and resistant guppy.

Remedy.

1. Fed the fish.

2. Transferred all the guppy fish except ten to my big tank already repaired.

3. After half an hour, I quickly removed half the water (there were two dead guppy fish at the bottom).

4. Did not fill with fresh water till evening.

5. Next day no feeding, they can live up to 10 days without food except the very young.

No problem there was enough algae in the system.

6. Removed half the water.

7. Refilled in the evening.

8. Added two algae eaters.

9. Estimated the amount of food for a day.

In three days the fish are adapting and coming back to normal “status quo”.

1. How to feed?

2. When to feed?

3. How often to feed?

4. Type of food?

The answer to all three is very simple.

Do not go by books, hearsay or gut feeling.

It has to be “tailor made”.

Your tank is unique so you have to observe every day and make a mental note.

Any sign of turbidity of water (overfeeding or algae) is an impending disaster.

Underfeed instead of over feed.

If the tank has healthy plants one can feed even every other day.

That is how I am going to manage.

They never complain but adapt. 

I prefer the flakes but not the pellets for tiny fish.

It is better to stick to one formula or type of food.

Do not mix food like I do for my big tank.

To the big tank I add all three (pellets, flakes and chunks).

That is for surface feeders, bottom feeders and the middle of the tank feeders.

There is a big scavenger fish to eat the dead fish and he is the biggest and the most docile in the big tank.

Keeping an indoor tank in healthy state can be easy but may led to catastrophe.

Better avoid it if you have no time.

But it is a very healthy pastime and good for your heart.

I will end up with few more observations.

Neon tetras are no longer in a shoal.

They are adopting guppy habits.

Few of them are actually fighting and chasing their fellow beings.

They are becoming more independent and self assured.

After two days of starving they now eat even flakes.

I can wean off the food in dust form soon, when the tiny guppy tots are big enough.

Algae eaters are busy cleaning the glass.

My water plants leaves are cleared of the dark algae on their surface.

Mind you they eat only algae.

Adequate light is mandatory for plant life.

Make sure to turn off the light in the evening.

Plants needs continuous dark spells for their “Health” in addition to adequate sunlight or artificial light.

Bottom line is guppy is the most versatile, beautiful and easy to breed fish.

They grow in numbers and nothing else one can do other than increasing the size or number of tanks in your possession.

One inside and another in the garden to dispense the increasing numbers, is my solution.

I used to release them back to the wild in good old days but with streams and paddy fields are polluted to the extremes with toxic pesticides (including arsenic) and waste, it is a death wish for my guppy fish now.

We are a miracle country NOW.

Storm in a Tea Cup

Storm in a Tea Cup
Cup or Straw? 
I have one big reservation about "Tea Drinking off a Straw".
When one drink any beverage through a straw it bypasses the, tip of the tongue, lips and anterior of the mouth where there are abundance of various  taste buds.

The distribution of the taste buds are varied and different and one loses the meaning of taste when one drinks from a straw.

It stimulates the back of the throat where the distribution of taste buds are less in number and in diminishing intensity to detect.

I often pour the contents of the cartoon into a cup and sip the tea which gives me a chance to better appreciate the quality of the TEA.

So use a CUP instead of a STRAW.

This is something "Heladive TEA" should investigate.
That is why I give the "Essence of Heladive Tea" as a GIFT, to my friends who come from abroad rather than the Tea in a Cartoon.