life, liberty and the pursuit of geekiness

Since I updated my Nexus 4 to Android 4.3, I noticed that the battery wasn't lasting as long. Seems like it's this issue: https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=58149
I tried a few fixes listed in the thread and then I eventually gave up and installed Go SMS instead. So far it seems to have solved the battery issue, and it also comes with themes. So my messages now look like they're on an iPhone.

I ordered a new laptop (Sony Vaio), which arrived on Friday. It's great, apart from one thing: the touchpad seems to be set a little loosely so it rattles even if I just tap it. And I do tend to tap rather than click on touchpads. I might possibly be spoiled by the HP workhorses they give us in work (those things are pretty much indestructible unless you manage to drop it down a flight of stairs or something; my 6400 survived being dropped off a table and having half a cup of coffee in the keyboard.) I've tweaked the sensitivity of the Vaio's touchpad so now it's just on the edge of being annoying. I don't know whether to send it back or to keep it and hope I become accustomed to it (and that the rattle is not a harbinger of further touchpad problems a year or so down the road.) What to do?

I also managed to crash my phone to the point where it wouldn't boot past the initial splash screen. It's a 2.5 year old HTC Desire, so I could have upgraded at any point in the last year probably, but I don't want to. Even apart from the hassle of getting a new handset, I'm quite fond of that little one. After a few hours of messing around, I finally got it to boot into recovery mode, but I did manage to wipe all my apps from the phone. Eh, I wasn't using half of them anyway. I'm reinstalling the ones I miss. Sadly the versions now are larger than the versions that were around when I first installed them, and internal memory was never the Desire's strongest point.

I have a week off work, first since Christmas. I'm just lying about in the sun, trying to make a dent in the reading and watching piles. The first day or two I thought I should have some kind of project, but actually it's probably better for me if I don't.

I've joined Google+, but so far it's all the professional crowd. It's more of an overlap with Twitter than Facebook for me at the moment, but it's a bit disappointing overall. The Stream is a complete FB ripoff, I'm never going to use the video chat, Sparks is mildly interesting but I can do a better job at the moment with Google Reader + Twitter, and the much-vaunted Circles....I'm getting tired of all the tech blogs falling over themselves to say how wonderful they are when 1) they are pretty much Facebook lists (in fact, FB lists are better in several ways; you can set a default (a la LJ/DW) so you don't have to keep choosing one for every update, you can create a new setting on the fly—show Birthday Fun update to "Friends, except $BIRTHDAY_PERSON", and FB lists also apply to chat, so you can be offline to Work People and online to everyone else)
2) LiveJournal had the basic idea back in 2000 or so (brad retweeted someone saying as much. It must be weird being a Web 1.0 social media dorm-room entrepreneur looking at the 2.0 lot, but on the bright side for Brad, it seems like he still gets to code, unlike the Zuck.)

I also got a bit freaked out, for the first time, about how much Google actually already knows about me. Yes, Facebook knows a lot too, but that's because I put it there. Google is more "Whoa. Where did you get that from?"

I'm re-reading Wyrd Sisters, thanks to this blog post about how Pratchett's writing of women developed. This is not helping reduce the to-read pile, which shamefully includes rj_anderson's Arrow, which I've owned for months and months.

I could be doing with some ice cream or ice lollies, but there seems to be sad lack of same in the freezer. Oh well, this can be my healthy diet week.

Does anyone know of any tool or script that can download past Facebook statuses?

(Also, what's up with all the random comments on LiveJournal "Soon Jane Doe will rise from Pandora's Box, and thousands will cheer as the armies of justice drag the dead horse down Sesame Street!" in large red allcaps? It's obviously some kind of bot, but it seems a very useless one.

I just discovered there is a l33t Google page. PHE4R T3H L33T.

( The 'Best Friend' meme )

( The 'Cliqué Meme' )