Today I took a huge step and did something that was at the top of my list of things I wanted to learn. I soldered. It was a fantastic experience. I purchased some cheep and awesome tools from ebay and radio shack and a heart shaped soldering kit called the flashing led sweetheart. I have yet to find a 9 volt battery to try it out and see if it works, so keep posted for the update.

I mention in the video the idea of a black box. Everyone has black boxes in something, for me I have a weak knowledge of how cars actually work and what is under the hood is a potent ial black box for many. For me my biggest bother is not knowing how electronics actually work, I build desktop computers and know how the macro parts fit together like the motherboard, processor, hard drive, etc, but how do those things work on a micro level? This has been bothering me, even a small breath of knowledge would curb my anxiety on the subject. So, I set out in the physical world to get some answers, sure I could have sat on my computer for hours looking through wikipedia about how leds work but that is no fun.

My philosophy on many things in life is that you need a “practical” reason to do something to actually get you to do it. Why would one learn how to program if they don’t have the desire to create programs? Why would one learn how to solder if they don’t have the desire to create electronic devices? There where times where I was forcing myself to learn programming and had no clue why I was learning what I was learning, it had no practical aspect, sure I wanted to create programs but I had no clue what I was learning would get me to the result I envisioned. I good example is learning about PHP variable types and arrays not seeing how this could help you create a blog. Sometimes the pieces seam fragmented and no light at the end of the tunnel seams fathomable. Ultimately if you stick with something long enough you can become novice at it and rule your dominion. You have the ability to understanding exactly how every piece fits and where the next piece is, this to me is pure bliss, and entirely worth the trial.

UPDATE: It works!

Yesterday was the release of the new Kindle Fire by Amazon. Which, by the way is a very stupid name for their tablet, the word kindle already means fire, they couldn’t have thought of anything better? I digress. The main thing about Amazons new release that bothers me is that they now have a total of 6 devices under the Kindle name, which, in my opinion presents way too many options for the consumer.

Something else that bothers me is the idea of a company selling multiple products that do the same thing, and the cheeper models that do the “thing” worse. I am mainly referring to physical buttons v.s. touch screen. Amazon is selling two devices that do the same thing but have different methods of interface, which bothers me. It is known that one is more superior, and if one isn’t then which one should I buy? I am a very indecisive person, and I don’t want to regret buying a touch because the keyboard is crappy, and likewise I don’t want to buy the Kindle Keyboard and be stuck with a directional pad.

I understand having options thats why I am for having a Kindle with all of the amenities, a keyboard, touch screen, and perhaps even directional pad. My main point is that people like simplicity, they don’t want to have too many choices, I know I sure don’t.

I am fascinated by the IBM pointing stick. If your not familiar with it, it is a method of navigating your cursor without a mouse or trackpad. I had found an old IBM thinkpad 600 and while constantly finding myself frustrated with its out of date BIOS and utter rejection for the Ubuntu operating system all the while I was using something seemingly unfamiliar, a pointing stick. I’m not a laptop guy, I’ve never actually done anything for more than an hour on a laptop, but when I use one I am often frustrated without a mouse.

The pointing stick opened the whole world up, it was the alternative to the crappy trackpad. Laptops, by nature are mobile and not having a mouse is practical but you take such a productivity hit for having to use a trackpad. I suggest creating a usb pointing stick dongle, this could go on the side of a laptop and be used as an alternative to a trackpad. My real dream is to see this on the side of my Apple Aluminum keyboard, as there is a usb port right under the escape key, you could use your right hand and easily move the cursor without really leaving the keyboard. I mean we can create USB humping dogs why can’t we make this happen?