Patrick Beja

Ok, so the next version of the iPhone and iPad iOS 6 was announced a few days ago at the WWDC keynote. It adds a few cool features to both the iPhone and the iPad, but here are the two features that I believe are really important:

FaceTime on cellular (and phone numbers)

This is a lot bigger than people realize. The important part of Facetime isn’t actually the video, it’s the fact that you can call someone without using your minutes. It didn’t matter much when it was only enabled on WiFi, but once it works on 3/4G as well, its full power will be unlocked: Facetime is an incredibly disruptive VoIP service.
Two reasons for that:
- Many people don’t know this, but you don’t have to use the video. Once you’re on a Facetime call, press the home button and it’s just… a call. No video. A ton more use cases, and a lot less bandwidth needed for spotty cell reception.
- You don’t need to build a friends list, or be connected to a specific service. If you can do Facetime, you just do it. And you can easily transform a “regular” call into a Facetime call, too: just press the “Facetime” button on the phone. This is the absolute genius of the system: it doesn’t need you to manage it, it just comes on top of the contact list you already have. Beautiful. Of course not everyone has an iPhone (or an iPad or Mac), but it can still severely cut down on minute costs, and take us one step closer to an all-data driven phone bill. (more…)

[MAJ] L’édition électronique est en fait déjà disponible (sur iBook / Kindle), à 12€ au lieu de 16€ en physique. A noter que l’iBook store propose toujours un extrait gratuit ; en l’occurrence presque 3 chapitres. Ca serait dommage de se priver !

Dans cet article, je vais vous parler du tome 1 du “Puits des Mémoires”, l’excellent roman d’heroic fantasy de mon ami Gabriel Katz. Mais avant ça je vais faire un petit voyage dans le temps…
Si vous n’avez que faire des mes états d’âme, passez directement à la section “Le livre” juste en dessous !

Les souvenirs :

Le Puits des Mémoires, c’est pour moi plus qu’un livre, c’est un retour aux racines de l’adolescence et de ce qui fait un peu ce que je suis aujourd’hui : le jeu de rôle. Je suis sûr que nous sommes nombreux dans ce cas ; à dix ou douze ans, nous découvrions, émerveillés, la première édition de Donjons et Dragons (la boite rouge), qui nous permettrait de vivre des aventures dont les générations précédentes ne pouvaient pas même rêver. Très vite, mes amis et moi sommes tombés amoureux de ce passe temps merveilleux, de ces scènes de théâtre étranges qui se jouaient dans notre imagination. Dés de toutes les couleurs, nombreux volumes de l’édition avancée (déjà en anglais pour avoir les tous derniers), innombrables “Livres dont vous êtes le héros”… D’autres jeux comme l’Appel de Cthulhu, Cyberpunk ou le français Mega… Lecture avide du magazine Casus Belli et retrouvailles du samedi à la boutique spécialisée du coin (l’Oeuf Cube pour les parisiens)… Ca rappelle sans doute des souvenirs à beaucoup d’entre vous.

Et puis nous nous sommes lié d’amitié avec un jeune homme dont l’imagination et le talent allaient transformer notre façon de jouer. Très vite, Gabriel s’est senti à l’étroit dans les règles et les descriptions des manuels achetés en magasin… Il était lui aussi un très grand fan de jeux de rôles, mais si ces derniers représentaient le pouvoir de l’imagination, pourquoi n’irait-on pas aller au bout du délire ? Adieu les règles que d’autres avaient décidé pour nous ! Oubliés les univers dont les descriptions étaient récitées comme une leçon de grammaire ! Gabriel voulait faire plus que gérer une histoire : il voulait créer un univers.

Et c’est ce qu’il a fait, avec nous pour l’accompagner, à de nombreuses reprises. Au fil du temps, les règles des jeux qu’il créait se sont vues réduites au stricte nécessaire, puisque tout se passait dans les descriptions et les décisions. L’important était le monde, les personnages, les joueurs et leurs choix. Nous avons tour à tour joué aux flics rebelles, fait virevolter nos vaisseaux spatiaux dans des galaxies lointaines, navigué la hiérarchie d’occultes sociétés secrètes, affronté les plus féroces barbares des terres communes, et vécu encore bien d’autres aventures incroyables.

L’une de ces aventures a commencé il y a cinq ou six ans, peut-être plus. Nous étions deux joueurs ce soir là, et nous reprenions le monde d’heroic fantasy créé quelques années auparavant, pour une nouvelle partie. Je vous laisserai découvrir les premières pages du livre pour savoir de quoi il en retournait, puisque ce sont ces aventures qui se retrouvent désormais édités dans cette trilogie, Le Puits des Mémoires, dont le premier volume vient de sortir.
Vous comprendrez que ce roman est pour moi un peu plus qu’un roman… Et que je suis donc d’autant plus fier de pouvoir dire qu’il est excellent !

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Note to my lovely English-speaking audience: my blog articles are usually in English so that everyone can read them. But this is so France-centric (2012 presidential elections) that I’m doing this one in French. The Google translated version is here, for those who are feeling adventurous. We’ll be back with our regular programming soon.

Pendant l’entre deux tours de l’élection présidentielle, j’ai eu quelques réflexions que j’ai partagé avec ceux qui me font la gentillesse de me suivre sur les réseaux sociaux (sur Google+ en particulier, celui-ci se prêtant à mon sens plus que les autres à la discussion).
Ces textes, j’ai du me faire un peu violence pour les écrire : l’ambiance était vraiment rude sur le net, et j’avais l’impression que le fait de parler m’attirerait les foudres de certaines de mes connaissances. Dit comme ça ça semble idiot ; quelques jours seulement après l’élection (moment où j’écris ces lignes) penser qu’il puisse y avoir eu tant d’animosité semble exagéré. Mais c’était pourtant le cas : je ressentait une vraie intolérance, qui ne me paraissait pas justifiée. Pire, qui m’effrayait ! Et je pensais ne pas être le seul dans ce cas…

L’une des raisons pour lesquelles je me suis lancé était donc celle-ci : expliquer pourquoi ces attitudes me paraissaient injustifiées ou exagérées, et renouer (à mon petit niveau) un dialogue plus sain. Au final, j’ai choisi cette voie au lieu de m’outrer dans mon coin des invectives faciles (et violentes) que je voyais ici et là.

L’autre raison était le désespoir de constater la pauvreté des débats télévisés. Toujours intéressé par la politique, j’ai tenté de suivre les discussions et de comprendre les enjeux en écoutant parler ceux qui les détiennent. Hélas, je n’y ai trouvé qu’engueulades, coupures de paroles, outrages feints et attitudes indignes de notre république. Déçu, j’ai voulu créer des propres mini-discussions, contrôlées par un ton de départ posé, analytique et réfléchi. Quelques extrêmes mis à part, les discussions sont restées polies et respectueuses, et j’ai pu constater qu’il n’y avait aussi des gens capables de se parler même quand ils n’étaient pas d’accord. Ca m’a fait beaucoup de bien, et c’est déjà ça !

Enfin, en relisant ces trois messages, je me suis rendu compte que je construisais en fait ma réflexion sur l’image de la droite en France dans son ensemble, en cercles excentriques (le leader, le parti, les sympathisants). D’aucun prétendront que tout ça est le fait des “excès de Sarkozy”. Je crois qu’ils se trompent ; je parle bien de l’image de la droite en France, telle que je la ressent depuis que j’ai l’âge de voter. Je ne vais pas refaire mes réflexions ici, les textes parlent d’eux-mêmes.

Bref, je ne voulais pas que ces analyses et ces réflexions disparaissent dans les méandres de Google+. Je les ai donc copié ici pour la postérité, ainsi que les liens vers les articles originaux qui incluent les commentaires et les discussions qui en ont découlé. J’y reviendrais sans doute un jour, histoire de voir comment les choses ont évolué. D’ici disons… cinq ans ?

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The promise of iCloud is really cool: a full MacOS/iOS integrated syncing system. But the actual iCloud is… only ok. There are a lot of things still missing from the system, some of them critical. In this article, I’ll try to describe a few of the things that I’d like to see in its next evolution. It won’t be as long as the previous one about iOS 6, but I think I’m actually more excited about the changes discussed here… Let’s go:

• Background syncing for documents and data
  iCloud-stored documents suffer an important flaw: they are only synced when the application is launched. This defeats half the purpose of syncing to local storage in the first place (a strong differentiator with Google’s approach), the problem being that if you don’t have an internet connection when you launch your app, you don’t have your document at all.
  So I’d like to see these documents downloaded to all devices the moment they’re updated or saved. Basically, the system should manage this syncing, not the application itself.
• Web apps for iWork (and iLife, and more)
  This is another one I feel really makes the iCloud offering incomplete: the iCloud.com version of iWork barely allows downloading documents, and the only trace of iLife is the semi-hidden iPhoto journals repository. Also AWOL are Reminders and Notes.
  I believe the bare minimum would be for documents to be viewable on the web. Hopefully the closing of iWorks.com means its features (viewing, sharing, commenting) will be rolled into iCloud.com, but I would also like to see full galleries for iPhoto (events, faces, etc) and iMovie, as well as a Garageband “jukebox” for example. Being away from your own machine wouldn’t mean you’re completely cut off from your “stuff”, which is the whole point of iCloud. Heck, the welcome screen on iCloud.com is organized as a series of apps, so let’s get more apps!
  NB: Basic editing would be a nice bonus, but I could see Apple never going there (their idea is that your “devices” are the best place for your documents, not a web browser). (more…)

I won’t surprise anyone if I say I love my iDevices. I’ve tried many smartphones and tablets, and I keep coming back to Apple’s products, because the fit my mobile needs best.
“Best” isn’t “perfectly” though, and there are a few compromises I’d love to see revisited for the next version of the OS. Here’s my list:

• Background downloading
  I understand why applications aren’t allowed to multitask. Battery life, security, yada yada, I agree with all that. But I’d love to get a way for applications to silently download content even if they’re not active; RSS feeds, podcasts, emails, etc. It could be limited in different ways: only when the device is plugged in, or only once an hour per app, or only for apps that have been used in the past week… Or all of the above. Bottom line is, batteries are probably good enough now that if Apple allowed for a limited version of background downloading (not background processing), it would be more of a benefit than an issue.
  It works with NewsStand, I think it should be expanded a bit beyond that.
• Live icons
  By that I mean icons that can change to indicate different statuses. Again, it could be limited to preserve the aesthetics of the OS, and I’m sure Apple would check for every app that requests that Lordly privilege, but some apps could definitely use something like that: in some cases, having to launch an app just to get half a second worth of information is counter-productive, and there has to be a way to tackle that issue without compromising iOS’s advantages. I think. (more…)

I have already expressed my enthusiasm for Windows 8 a couple of times, but not until the Consumer Preview that was released a few weeks ago did I truly understand how important this next version of Microsoft’s OS is going to be for the computer industry.

It’s all in the iPad

Let’s be clear: Windows 8 is absolutely and completely a result of Apple’s iOS and iPad “revolutions”. They showed us that traditional PCs are unnecessarily complex for the common man. With the iPad announcement, we started looking at computers differently. My analysis was the concept of “easy computing“, and what it meant for the future of IT. In short: “if your parents can’t program a VCR, how in the world can you expect them to setup a computer, fool?” We realized then that we need something way easier for computers to become really mainstream and actually usable by everyone.

The Apple hare and the Microsoft tortoise

Microsoft has understood the importance of this shift, and how it applies to desktop computing specifically, better than anyone else. They have made Windows 8 is the ultimate “making things easy” OS. Most ironically (deliciously?), they are beating Apple at their own game: in the “easy computer” department, Windows 8 is blowing MacOS out of the water.
Many people cried foul when they saw the latest Apple OSes, arguing that they were on the path to betraying the spirit of what a “real computer” ought to be. But this is Apple’s DNA: they want to make easy computers that everyone can use. MacOS is taking safe baby steps though, simply adding “layers of simplicity” on the existing system. Windows 8, on the other hand, goes all the way, changing the system and the interface completely.
Microsoft is imposing their will on the users in an almost Jobsian way: their product is simple, beautifully designed, incredibly well thought out for both touch screens and mouse+keyboards, and they are saying “we’re doing it and you will like it, period”.

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Let’s set the iPhones and iPads aside for a second and talk about real computers, shall we? Macs and PCs, and the unending arguments they’ve fueled. Fifteen years or so ago, I was firmly in the “Macs are PCs for the rich and snooty” camp. It’s not the case anymore. They’re still more expensive and they’re still a bit snooty, sure. But those are now just elements of my understanding of the Macs and the industry, not the central focus which defines them. I suspect many people would have gone through the same “transformation” in their hardcore computer nerd beliefs. Let me know if this article rings your bell as much as it does mine.

So what changed? A few angry readers will argue that we “used to be real geeks”, and that we’ve now sold our souls to the Great Steve in the Sky. For iDevices, sure, there’s probably a bit of that. But Macs are different: PC enthusiasts didn’t start recommending and buying Macs because they changed, they did so because the world has changed. Macs just came along for the ride…

So let’s count the ways the Mac VS PC fight today isn’t the one it was 15 years ago:

1) It’s the Internet, stupid.

First and foremost, the way we use computers has dramatically changed. It’s hard to imagine today, but back in 1995 our computers where incredibly limited machines, and their functions were almost exclusively work related. Word+Excel were what most people did. Today, “most people” use computers as email/Facebook/YouTube devices. Any machine will do that; Mac or PC, they’re both great at it, no argument.
So the difference between what one can or can’t do has dramatically much less validity.

2) The Digital Hub.

Same story: computers weren’t really part of our everyday life back then. Part of our work life, sure. But today you will actively manage your music, your photos, your videos and many more parts of your life on those things… Our whole lives have become digital, so we really can’t look at computers the way we did when they weren’t.
Remember the “hub for our digital lives”? Has the Mac become an incredibly awesome solution that will solve all your digital hub conundrums in a second? No. Are they a bit better than an out of the box PC? Yeah, I think so. And the average mom probably thinks so too.

The two points above could be summed up like this: the word “computer” was meant for a very different kind of machine fifteen years ago. Arguments we had then don’t apply anymore. For the then “work machine”, I would argue the scale was tipped in favor of the PC. For today’s “Internet and digital hub for everyone”, things have largely evened out.

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In the American psyche, the French kiss is something of a fantasy. Countless teenagers have had humid daydreams of (almost) prude kisses on the lips, which, fueled by passion and hormones, turn into the torrid abandon to the lust and indecency of… of… (I can’t believe I’m going to be so bold as to right it in plain uncensored text)… of tongue contact!
Well, I understand that there is nothing quite as intimate as sticking out your tongue to reach into someone’s mouth, but I’m not quite sure why my countrymen (and women) got the distinct honor of being forever associated with this deviant practice. Because unfortunately, this is a fallacy… As enjoyable as it is (and it is very enjoyable), we all know there is nothing exclusively French about this specific brand of face sucking. I’m fairly sure most people in the world came up with it on their own, and haven’t needed the help some distinguished world traveler to make the trip to the country of wine and cheese to bring back home the wonders of mouth exploration.

No, ladies and gents, the real French kiss is something quite different, and far more disturbing: it’s the everyday greeting performed by kissing someone on the cheek.

Horrifying, I know. French people kiss each other on the cheek every day. Men casually kissing women, women kissing each other, and sometimes two men are even caught pecking at each other’s face. Hard to fathom, but it happens every day. This practice, which regularly horrifies even the boldest of Japanese tourists, has been a hallmark of our culture for generations, and must constitutes the true pinnacle of French depravity. It is such an integral part of our daily lives that we barely think about it, and launch head first into a lips powered hello that shames most self respecting native of foreign extraction.

It is a mystery indeed. And as all great mysteries, it demands studying and understanding. So I’ve decided to throw my two ethnological cents in, and try to explain the details of this strangest of practices, in three questions. (more…)

The title of this video is “The Most IMPORTANT Video You’ll Ever See“.
It’s a 80 minute lecture about the importance of understanding exponential growth, as it relates to population growth and resource consumption.

I’m usualy more than a little skeptical about these things. Over emphasized titles trying to alarm you and ridiculous conspiracy theories are not my thing, but I still watched it to make sure. Well, I have to say, the title is probably accurate: getting educated about the arithmetic Dr. Bartlett is detailing here is incredibly important, and I urge you all to watch it, bear with it, and make an effort to understand it.

Here’s the gist:

• The doubling time for a growth rate of 1% per year is 70 years. The world population’s growth rate is ~1.15%. That sounds tiny, but if you’re under 20, you’ll probably live to see it reach *14 billion*. (Damn, we just reached 7 billion a few days ago!)
• Optimistic estimates, which include all the oil *left to discover* (as in: that we have not found yet) put the peak oil production in ~2020. From there, we start having *less* oil every year. It’s a bell shaped curve and it keeps going down.

Put these two together, and you start getting the feeling we’re screwed. The best part: all this is fact, not belief or rhetoric. It is happening, there’s no way around it.

(Here is a link to the full playlist of all eight videos playing in sequence.)

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I love technology. It’s a kind of magic. It makes things possible that had only been dreams. A few decades ago, computers were going to change the world. And now they have, and we feel like we were part of something important. Steve Jobs was a big part of that something. Because of his vision and obsessions, he was perhaps the biggest part of all. If many of us feel that we’ve lost someone “close”, it’s probably because he has contributed so much to that “something important” that connects us all.

But it’s not about technology

My lingering feeling of sadness comes from somewhere else. It’s even more personal than that bond we all share. What I feel is the loss of someone that had the courage to live the way I try to live every day.

When I was 18, I was in a bad accident and had to stay in a hospital for a few months. Thankfully the damage was ultimately minimal, but the experience changed me, as it would anyone I’m sure. My priorities shifted. Suddenly, only a few things mattered: passion, and choices, and life.

Life, because death is coming for all of us, maybe sooner than we expect.
Choices, because making excuses will bind you more surely than chains.
Passion, because it is the only thing that should matter, everything else is secondary.

So I decided that I would live my life following one rule. Every time I’m faced with a really important decision, I ask myself: If I don’t do it, will I regret it when I’m 70?
If the answer is yes, then I have to do it. I just have to, no excuses. There are always reasons not to do something. But if you know in your heart that decades from now you’ll look back and regret not acting, reasons and excuses don’t matter.

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