11 Temmuz 2012 Çarşamba
10 Temmuz 2012 Salı
9 Temmuz 2012 Pazartesi
New Irish Noir: Michael Clifford's Ghost Town
The newest Irish entry in contemporary crime fiction works both as a story and as cultural history or criticism (Cliford is a political reporter of substantial reputation, and his style as a novelist has some of the no-nonsense quality of journalism). Joshua Molloy, nicknamed The Dancer for his football skills (a career aborted by his addictions as well as his associations with criminals) has just been released from an English jail and is back in Dublin. He's going to AA meetings and trying to stay straight while seeking to meet his son, born while he was incarcerated.
But Molloy's path is criscrossed with those of many others in an Ireland crippled by the housing and banking debacles of the economic crash. A former associate, a not-too-bright gangster on the make, lures Molloy into a scheme to murder a crime boss, and the story is off and running (as is Molloy). In addition to the thugs and bosses who are chasing him, his lawyer turns out to be the wife of a property developer on the run from his investors (some of whom are ready to use non-legal means to get their money back), the mother of his child is a junkie whose life is controlled by the very gangsters who are after Molloy himself, and there's a reporter trying to rehabilitate his career by getting a big story out of all that's going on.
Most of the novel is straightforwardly told, with vivid characterization and dialogue and a believably erratic plot. There's some comic relief in the magazine pieces written by the reporter (reproduced in the novel), which are wild tabloid versions of the truth, and in the reporter's own overblown sense of self-worth. The only caveat I have about the plot is that there is a point toward the end that has a twist that is a bit too neat, but upon reflection on the whole story is probably necessary to get to where the story needs to end.
As the estimable Declan Burke has pointed out (at Crime Always Pays), Clifford's book bears closest resemblance (among current Irish crime writers) to the work of Gene Kerrigan, and that's a very high standard that Ghost Town definitely lives up to. The story moves rapidly forward, keeping the lives of all the characters (particularly Molloy and his lawyer but also many minor characters) moving forward at every point, even when their stories overlap. I can highly recommend Ghost Town as a great read as well as a vivid portrait of the current Irish situation, in fictional form.
Microsoft Surface Makes a Good First Impression
Forget everything you know about Microsoft Surface as it is no longer an expensive coffee table with a touch screen that you could have expected to see in hotel lobbies. Microsoft Surface is now a 10.6” consumer tablet – much like the iPad – and it runs on Windows 8.
Microsoft Surface – A Windows 8 Tablet
The Microsoft Hardware unit has so far limited itself to designing keyboards, mice, and other computer accessories but this is probably the first time that they have designed a consumer computer tablet in-house. The build quality of existing Microsoft hardware is top-notch and if these press photos are any indication, the new “Post PC” device should be no different.
The details are too thin to compare this Windows 8 tablet with the iPads and the Galaxy Tabs but few things stand out.
Unique features
The Surface tablet runs on Windows 8 and hence you should be able to use any of your existing software on the tablet.
The included USB port will help you connect devices – like the external hard drives, USB microphones, digital cameras, or USB modems – without requiring “special” accessories. The touch cover (image) doubles as a keyboard with a built-in track pad.
Pen Input for Handwriting
The tablet editions of previous versions of Windows had excellent handwriting recognition capabilities. The Surface Tablet ships with a pen and features “palm block” meaning when the pen tip is touching the screen, it would ignore the touch of the palm and the fingers. Surface could turn out to be a great writing device albeit less heavy.
Availability
Microsoft says that Surface would be made available around the same time as Windows 8 so the release date is likely to be October or November this year. The units will initially be sold only in the Microsoft Stores in U.S. and there’s no word on pricing yet.
Also see: How much will Microsoft Surface cost?
The World’s Most Social Places
Facebook has close to a billion members, or about 14% of the world’s population, and thus they probably know a thing or two about what the world likes to do, the places we frequent and so on.
The social networking site today released a list of the most “social” landmarks in the world or places where the maximum number of Facebook check-ins have happened so far (since August 2010).
Sports stadium and public areas like parks were found to be the most “social” places as per the data.
Amusement parks like Johannesburg’s Gold Reef City, Moscow’s Gorky Park, Copenhagen’s Tivoli Gardens and Seoul’s Lotte World were among the top 10 places to check-in.
Cities with warmer climates had more check-ins to outdoors spots, like St. Kilda Beach in Melbourne and the Wynyard Quarter wharf in Auckland, while colder climes had more activity in concert halls or bars. Six of Moscow’s 10 most popular slots belong to bars and clubs.
See detailed analysis on newsroom.fb.com. Facebook says that check-ins data from airports and stations were excluded from the analysis.
Screen Capture Full Web Pages on your Mobile
Meet Web Screenshots, an online tool that will help you capture a full-length screenshot image of any “public” web page with a click.
While the tool will work across all screens, it is a more handy option for taking screen captures of web pages on mobile devices – phones and tablets – where you often don’t have the option to install extensions.
Alternatives for Android and iOS
In the case of iOS devices – the iPhones and the iPads – you can use the Home + Sleep buttons to capture screenshots but a limitation is that it will only capture the regions that are visible in the Safari browser. Web Screenshots will capture the entire web page.
There’s no standard shortcut* for capturing screenshots in Android devices and sometimes you have to root the phone just for a simple screen capture.
You can however download the free Dolphin Browser with the Screen Cut add-on on Android and you’ll then be able to screen capture pages directly in the web browser. This is recommended when you wish to screen capture web pages that require login – like a snapshot of your e-ticket or an online payment receipt.
[*] The Samsung Galaxy series of Android phones do provide a built-in shortcut for taking screenshots. Press and hold the “Back” button and then press the Home key – the screenshot will be saved in your Photo Gallery.
Now You Can Change your Facebook Page URL
When you create a Facebook Page, the system assigns a random URL to your page that looks something like this:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/IceCream/123456
When 25 or more users have “liked” your Facebook Page, you can choose an easy-to-remember username (or vanity URL) for your Page that may looks like this:
https://www.facebook.com/IceCream
Once you have claimed the URL (or username) for your Facebook Page, there was no option to change it. The only workaround was that you delete the old Facebook page (thus losing all the likes) and recreate a new one with the desired username (provided it is available).
Well that old policy seems to have changed recently and Facebook Page owners can now change the usernames of Pages that they are admin of. To get start, Open any of your Facebook Pages, go to Edit Page – > Update Info and click the “Change Username” link under the Username option. See video demo.
Also see: How to Create Custom Facebook Pages
Changing your Facebook Username – Things to Know
Before you change the URL, here are few things you should know:
- When you pick a new URL for your Facebook Page, the old URL will no longer work (returns a 404). Therefore, make sure that you update any existing links in your web pages, email signatures, etc. that point to the old Facebook Page URL.
- Be very careful when choosing the new URL for your Facebook Page because you are allowed to change the username of any Page only once.
- Facebook Pages ignore periods (.) in the URL and they are also case insensitive. Thus facebook.com/icecream is same as facebook.com/ice.cream or even facebook.com/Ice.Cream.
The following video will quickly walk you through the process.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFgdrothnFM
8 Temmuz 2012 Pazar
Bangkok, Phuket, Washington noir: Jake Needham's Killing Plato
Hardly anyone seems interested these days in developing a story slowly, gradually tightening the net around the reader. Most crime novels start with violence and keep up a hectic pace. But speed and murder aren't the only way to hold a reader's interest. Another is the employment of brisk writing and interesting characters. Jake Needham's Jack Shepherd novels fall into that category: as I mentioned in my review of the first novel in the series, Laundry Man, the series is in a first-person narrator that is cool, funny, and good company. As with Laundry Man, the second novel in the series, Killing Plato, starts quietly, with an encounter in a bar between Shepherd and an American fugitive who is hiding in plain sight in Thailand in order to avoid prosecution for financial crimes as well as a possible murder. Rather than jumping into the relationship, Jack rejects the offer of friendship and employment, a classic ploy of fiction, the delaying tactic. But instead of being frustrating, we experience the delay as if we're friends of Jack's, sympathetic and happy to see where this will lead.
The novel shifts the Eric Ambler style of spy novel (an outsider gets caught up in the dangerous game is the usual Ambler pattern) into a post-Cold War cynical world of financial crime, casual murder, and spiralling conspiracies. I mention Ambler not only because of the plot but also because of the tone: Needham's prose is never overwrought, Jack's voice is always natural even under stress. His stress in this case flows from being increasingly caught up in the fugitive's web but also in a sad but totally believable subplot concerning his life with Anita, his love interest here and in Laundry Man.
The conspiracies intertwine up to a point where they seem to implicate everyone from the U.S. president to Al Qaida, but after bringing forward (through dialogue with some of the conspirators) the more extreme threads of the overall pattern, Needham narrows ominously down to terrible verisimilitude and a coherence with historical events in the final passages, making the dark conclusion all the more credible. The unresolved threads of the plot trail out beyond the confines of the novel into the reader's daily life (and evening news).
The contrast between the increasing darkness of the story and Jack's lively voice has the dual effect of keeping the story moving and drawing the reader quietly into the depths of corruption, power, and money. There's a new sequel, and I'm anxious to see how Jack scrambles back from the edge of this political and emotional precipice.