07.02.08
Posted in Mac OS X, Philosophy at 12:43 pm by ryan
Why do I have Mail.app (Email), Skype, Adium (MSN + iChat) and Twitterrific all running at the same time?
Why does my iPhone have one icon for SMS’s and one for Email?
There are some interesting Wikipedia pages about Unified Messaging and Unified Communications, including:
Unified communications (UC) is “an industry term used to describe all forms of call and multimedia/cross-media message-management functions controlled by an individual user for both business and social purposes” [1]. This potentially includes the integration of fixed and mobile voice, e-mail, instant messaging, desktop and advanced business applications, Internet Protocol (IP)-PBX, voice over IP (VoIP), presence, voice-mail, fax, audio video and web conferencing, unified messaging, unified voicemail, and whiteboarding into a single environment offering the user a more complete but simpler and more effective experience.
Maybe an iPhone and a Mac Book Air already qualifies as a “Unified Messaging System”. Fax’s are obviously easily directed to your email Inbox, but there is still something missing.
Sadly, it seems that Google is probably the best positioned entity on the planet to provide “Unified Messaging”. Just plug Google Mail into the gaim/libpurple multiple instant message interface instead of gtalk, and then somehow force the Skype guys to jump on the bandwagon and you’re done with the desktop/web side. Just need to figure out a way to handle SMS and voice.
Maybe the next “Hotmail” is in here somewhere… That simple idea that’s sitting right under our nose. That way that will we can ever so slightly change the way people use computers, that could potentially be worth something.
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05.26.08
Posted in International, Philosophy, USA, 哈哈哈哈 at 5:26 am by ryan
今天，美国的确还是世界上最强大的国家。没有其国家或联合能“单方面”（unilaterally）宣战，等等。可惜真的少数美国公民花什么时间在了解美国以外的事。。。这个问题不是新的，也不单是美国的问题，就是美国权利那么大，所以责任也更大。如果美国要继续保持超级大国身份，必须让人民更国际化。
有一些地图嘲笑普遍美国人民的地理概念。同时，这群体的税费睡支持情报局和军部干扰射界各地。
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04.16.08
Posted in Linguistics, Philosophy at 11:52 am by ryan
I often run into words that are so difficult to translate from english to chinese or chinese to english. As I’m not a linguist or translator by profession, I wasn’t aware that the challenge that I was running into is actually quite a broad, common one. Basically, when you are translating you have choices:
Either the translator leaves the author in peace, as much as possible, and moves the reader towards him; or he leaves the reader in peace, as much as possible, and moves the author towards him. –Venuti, 1995: 19-20
Or…
“Domesticating translation” and “foreignizing translation” are the terms coined by L. Venuti (1995) to describe the two different translation strategies. The former refers to the translation strategy in which a transparent, fluent style is adopted in order to minimize the strangeness of the foreign text for target language readers, while the latter designates the type of translation in which a target text “deliberately breaks target conventions by retaining something of the foreigness of the original” –Shuttleworth &Cowie, 1997:59
There’s a great article that goes into very extensive detail on the subject called “To Foreignize or Domesticate“, but for me, the point is simply that it puts your mind at peace — there reason you can’t translate it is because there’s not a word for it, so relax, you’re chinese and english are both OK.
There’s also a great dictionary on the same site with all sorts of business related words that you should be aware of.
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04.15.08
Posted in Chinese (中文), Philosophy at 3:59 pm by ryan
通常说AA制的人有两种想法：
AA制: 人家说AA制的时候有两种想法.
a) 人要节约一点钱 要节约花费
b) 人要完全“公平“的总额分配 分配总额
如果就是“节约“，在面子上通常出问题因为有的人并没付他的部分，但是自己认为他事实付了到他的责任，所以最后付了最多钱的人的没得什么面子，而且就感觉对方小气或狡猾.
如果是完全公平总额分配, 开单之前大家要决定什么算完全“公平“的总额分配.
比如，我只喝红牛，而有人喝红酒，那是否他的酒费我也要承担一部分？, 所以请人喝酒是否我的责任? 其他人请我和红牛到我没口渴的时是否别的人的责任? 如果是B的话，最好一个人全部买单，最后大家开个会处理所有的费用，“公平“ 分配.
轮流:
轮流的好处就是什么都不用算. 有的时候买单的费用多了，有的时候少了，但是时间长了费用的分配都会比较接近接近一个公平的地方∼这样最给大家都有面子。但是自己本人还会有一点不好意思，因为我喝那么多红牛，使别人破费了，还有我真的不是很乐意换到其他的地方去, 甚至我还剥夺了主人自主选择场所的权利。
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