Voice of the DBA

Author: way0utwest

  • Android is better than iOS

    Not in many ways, and certainly not in enough for me to stick with Android over iOS, but here are a few things I do think.

    If you’re slightly lost, I’ve written on Android v iOS after moving to a G4, my move back to iOS, and why I left. The other posts in this series are:

    It’s been a couple weeks that I’ve been back on iOS. It’s an adjustment, partially because it’s iOS7, and partially that things work differently. I made a few notes of the places where I find myself wishing that iOS had adopted a few things from Android.

    Keyboard

    The number one complaint I’ve had with iOS is the keyboard. Actually, I bet my wife would consider iOS again if the keyboard was replaceable. The iOS keyboard isn’t a great format, it isn’t customizable, and there’s no Swype. I could forgive the former, but the latter is handy, especially when you’re working one-handed, which I often am. I’m not sure if Apple will get Swype/SwiftKey/etc ever, but that ought to be a priority.

    I will say that as I’ve moved to Chrome on iOS, I do appreciate the app showing the “:”, “.”, “-“, “.com” buttons above the keyboard. I wish that more apps might consider adding the “@” and “#” buttons to their keyboards. I use those often.

    Update: I noticed the Echofon Twitter app does this.

    Back

    The back button, which was annoying and inconsistent at times in Android, was still useful. Often I find that I need to change a setting, or I click a link over to some other app and want to return to the previous application.

    For example, I hit maps, enter an address, and it tells me I don’t have Location Services on (because that kills my battery). I click settings to turn on LS, and then I need to double click home and pick the previous application. I find myself looking for a back button. The same thing occurs if an email opens a browser link.

    As much as the soft back button was a pain in Android, not having one is slightly a pain in iOS. Not a huge one, but it feels like an ommission.

    GPS

    I don’t use the GPS or Location Services often, mostly because it seems that iOS 7 has a battery drain issue with this. I have to say that having the ability in Android to turn this on/off from the notification window was really, really handy. While I have wi-fi, bluetooth, etc. in iOS, I don’t have GPS.

    Android wins here.

    Screen

    I had a new Android, the Galaxy S4. The screen was amazing, and large. After a day with the S4, I thought the device was big. After a month, I never noticed it. In fact, when I looked at other phones, their screens were small. Going back to the iPhone 4S I was surprised, and still am, by how small the screen is. I’ve looked at a few other old phones I have and the iPhone has a larger screen, but after having the S4, I miss the larger screen. If the iPhone 6 does a wider screen, even if it’s the same height as the 5 series, I’ll upgrade ASAP. I would like a larger screen.

    There are so many Android choices here with my kids having LG and HTC devices, that I feel a little left behind. Even my daughter’s 8X with WP8 is larger and nicer.

    I know this isn’t an Android OS thing, but the choice and variety of the platform make it a reason I like Android more.

    Networking

    I don’t know if this is an iPhone issue, an iOS7 issue, or Android is better, but networking seems flakier. Both wi-fi and cellular find some gaps/pauses in how the device works. Coverage was better on Android for me, but that was newer hardware and the cellular radios are always improving. It isn’t horrible, but a few times a week it’s noticeable. I wish I hadn’t upgraded from iOS 6 to 7 as I’d like to know what the issue here is.

    That’s It

    I haven’t anything else that stands out. I wrote about a few of the reasons I switched and they’re still valid. Music is world class (including iTunes), the camera just works quicker and better. App quality is better overall, and I don’t have crashes. The lock screen runs fast, and I can search the phone instantly.

    I have learned in iOS 7 I need to kill some apps at times, and that means the Task Manager and booting a few to protect my battery life at times, but I had to do that on Android.

    Overall, I’m glad I switched back, though I do wish I had newer/faster/larger hardware running the OS.

  • Infographics

    A few years ago I went to a seminar from Edward Tufte that talked about information and how we can better present it to people to convey information and help make better decisions. I was fascinated by the talk, loved many of the examples, and then didn’t get to do much with it. I found that it was hard to come up with ways to convey lots of information, and more importantly, it was time consuming to try and build incredibly dense visualizations.

    I thought this graphic of Napoleon’s army and this one of the Salyut 6 flight were interesting, but I wasn’t sure how they’d translate to any of the business world’s I’d worked in. However, I know I’ve seen some very helpful infographics and visualizations over the years, and I’m sure you have as well. This week, I’m wondering:

    What is an infographic (or visualization) that you found to be both visually pleasing and very useful?

    It could be an animation, a static image, or something else. I know a couple of the videos I’ve seen were amazing. One of Europe’s borders and another of nuclear detonations presented a lot of information in a very eye-catching way. I also enjoyed this one on traffic.

    Let us know which ways of presenting information or visualizing data have been most noticeable by you.

    Steve Jones

    Video and Audio versions

    Today’s podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.

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  • Powershell in a Month – Day 6 The Pipeline

    This is part of my Powershell Challenge, to learn more about PowerShell (PoSh) using the Learn Windows Powershell 3 in a Month of Lunches book by Don Jones.

    Day 6. This is where I found the idea of Powershell getting interested. I used pipes extensively back in my Unix and DOS days, and have heard that these are important in powershell.

    The pipeline (|) essentially takes the output of the left command and sends it to the right. The first examples are with exporting data, such as:

    Get-Service | Export-CSV services.csv

    This command would run the Get-Service command to get a list of services, then send that output to the Export-CSV command, which would create a file, format the data in CSV format, and send all the data from the Get-Service command into the file. Simple, easy and it makes sense. There are also Export-CliXML, -FormatData, etc. commands. On my system I even have an Export-VM  command for Hyper-V. I can start to see possibilities.

    This is different from the redirector (>), which is essentially running the pipe to Out-File, a command to create a file. There are other Out-* commands that send data other places, like printers, the screen, etc. Why does it matter that you have these commands? Well, mainly because you might want to alter some parameters, like display width, encoding, etc. Having a real command build allows for parameters, and control, and thus, customization.

    Powershell is all about customization, and being able to repeat that process. This chapter gives the basics of controlling your flow out output, including to other commands. For example, one of the things the chapter has you do is

    Get-Process -name Notepad | Stop-Process

    A fancy way to kill a process. It does warn you not to forget the -name parameter, as that would be bad. I was tempted to try it on a VM, but I know what will happen, so I didn’t bother. For commands that might cause problems, the chapter goes over the -confirm and -whatif parameters, which, respectively, ask you questions to confirm your actions, and show you the action without performing it. The lab for the chapter has you dig into other parameters, like appending to files (noclobber) using the default regional settings (useculture) and changing the delimiter for export. I actually found these lab exercises to be slightly challenging, but also handy. I got to use the help system and proved to myself a bit that I’m learning how to use PoSh.

    Overall, no great leaps in knowledge here, but I find myself gaining some confidence that I understand how PoSh works, how to manipulate the environment a bit, and I can see the possibilities of using the pipeline to string commands together and manage more than a simple stream of output data.

    The next chapter looks at more involved strings of commands, and I’m looking forward to that one.

  • The Challenge of Time Off

    I’ve been working full time for most of my life. Since I was 16, I’ve rarely worked less than full time, and often worked substantially more. There are times I’ve had two or three jobs, though fortunately I think those days are behind me. I have a great job now, perhaps the best job in the world, and I get a generous vacation allowance. However I do struggle to take time off some years. That’s my issue, and I’m working on trying to make sure I get away from work more. I appreciate the time off, but I also enjoy my job and the interactions I have with the community.

    However not everyone is in the same situation. There are plenty of people out there that get limited vacation, little support for taking time off from employers. There are those consultants that are self-employed and struggle with taking time off when it means they aren’t paid for that day. I’ve been in all of those situations, and here’s my advice.

    If you don’t think you get enough time off, then look for another job. The same thing applies if your boss doesn’t want to allow you to take the time off you are allotted. There are bad managers out there, and companies that look to take advantage of their employees. You can live with it, you can complain, or you can move on. The choice is up to you, but that’s what I’d do.

    I realize it’s not easy to just get a new job, but you can make a plan and move on. My wife and I did that, though it did take years. Life is short, but hopefully still lasts for many years. Making plans across years is the way to improve your situation over time, though you should still work to appreciate and enjoy the journey along the way.

    If you’re a consultant, the only thing I can say is that you need to budget. You need to limit your expenses and plan for vacation. The amount you bill may be out of your control, but you should have some idea of a range and you your expenses, your living standard, should be based on a number that allows you to take some time off each year. If it doesn’t, you can improve your skills and bill more, or find ways to reduce your expenses.

    I know this can be tough advice, but ultimately you are responsible for your life. You may be dealt a bad situation, but it is up to you to make the best of it, and learn to live within your means if you want to avoid the stress of overwork.

    Steve Jones

    Video and Audio versions

    Today’s podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.

    Follow Steve Jones on Twitter to find links and database related items and announcements.
    Steve Jones Windows Media Video ( 22.7MB) feed

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