September 2007

On the heels of Apple's announcement that one million iPhones have been sold in the 74 days since they were released, word is out on a new, freely available unlocking solution for the popular phone. The software and some basic instructions should be available for some time at their current locations before the legal wheels start rolling over them. Of course, the Internet being the way it is, they should always be available somewhere. Already mirrors of the files are popping up. It will be interesting to see what this does to iPhone sales once the procedure is simple enough for most people to be able to perform it. My guess is that Apple will find themselves with some serious international draw as this previously US-only device becomes available to the global community.

It has been far too long in coming, but I present to you: colinbate.com version three. There was no version two, so don't feel like you missed anything. It took months of deciding what I wanted where, and not to mention adding the extra code here and there to support my new desires. I learned a few things along the way and I was met with frustration on multiple occasions, but I think that in the end, it was worth it.

The design has been done for a few months now, but it was the organization that I had to add on top of that which took the time. I would make a few notes here and there, but it stagnated. Occasionally I would have a topic that I wanted to comment on, which would fuel the fire for a day or two, but then I would lose interest — distracted by all the other things that were going on in my life. I felt that since my time in Europe is finished for the moment, I would leave my old site alone. It was time to establish my own identity. We'll see how long that lasts.

So just to warn you, not everything is going to work perfectly. Some of it will be migration issues, others are just a result of me being a bit too anxious to release the new design. I have been silent for too long. Even if people aren't flocking to read what I have to say, I do enjoy writing it, and looking back after a few years always conjures up some mostly pleasant memories.

Slowly but surely I am converting my family of computer savvy power users into computer savvy Mac power users. My father and my youngest brother have been Mac users for a couple of years now, happily going about their way on a system they can be happy with.

My oldest brother has always been on the fence about them. Not a user per se, but admiring them from afar. Which is a fair stance to take since they are more expensive machines, no question. It would be akin to admiring a beautiful leather couch or a 50" LCD TV if the money weren't there. However, unless you watch TV professionally, the odds are that the Mac is a better investment. And, if like my father, you can get your employer to buy you the computer, all the better. Such is the case now with my brother who is going to be the owner of a new black Macbook.

Now I need to work on my remaining brother and my mother to complete the Mac family unit. These are going to be tougher sells I think. I might have to wait until university softens my brother up a bit before I'll get that convert. Time will tell.

I have long been searching for some higher purpose for my website beyond being yet another personal weblog. I can't deny that has mostly been the purpose for the past five years that I have been maintaining some form of presence online. And why not? I have been at it long enough, enjoy doing it and it pleases those people closest to me to know what I am up to.
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Spy is Ted Bell’s most recent book, a self-proclaimed thriller which continues the saga of his return character Alex Hawke. This book is running up against mixed reviews online, and I will try not to let these opinions affect my thoughts on the matter. I picked up the book at a grocery store of all places. I had some time to kill waiting in the car one day and I had forgotten to bring the book which I was reading from home. So being impulsive as I am, I decided to buy a new one while trying to find something cheap for lunch.

The designation of thriller to me is a bit of a weak one—true the book is exciting at times, but in no way would I consider it a thriller. I guess if you usually read the romance books also found in the grocery store, then you might be thrilled by this one, but I wasn’t. The idea behind the story is that a group of terrorists, using the Amazonian jungle as a training platform are planning an attack on the US, using Mexico as a platform from which to do this. I suspect this book aims to prey on the fears of many Americans of a Latin invasion combined with those of a religious terrorist attack. Powerful and thrilling? Perhaps.

The book while overall enjoyable, was a bit of a weird read. The story does tend to jump around from chapter to chapter, which some people don’t care for. I don’t mind it myself, and found this book only jumped at chapter changes, and when it did, the new scene was announced via a chapter header. One of the awkward things about the story was that I was continuously waiting for it to begin. Combine that with an extremely weak ending and you have a book that doesn’t necessarily satisfy. A bit top-heavy is how I would describe it. A lot of time is spent setting up the plot, details laid out through multiple story lines and then around 600 pages in, the author must have thought: “I’d better wrap this up soon.” And he did. Seemingly abandoning some of the weaker plot elements and paying simple lip service to others. “And they all lived happily ever after.”

Some of the things I’ve read online about the book point to the butchered use of French therein. I know enough French to understand it when written, but I’m no grammar expert, so I’ll leave that argument to those in a better position to judge. I did notice that the book seemed to cast the one French character in a bit of a sour light. He was short and called Froggy. Really? How clever. This shouldn’t be used against the book per se, as there are many good books which seem to take an ignorant view on Canadians as well. It just speaks to the bias or ignorance of the author, but I try not to let that ruin an otherwise enjoyable book. I did feel as if I was missing a piece of the background of the story, which is easy to happen when reading the fourth or fifth book in a series with the same set of principal characters. A delicate balance to educate the first time readers without boring people following the series.

I give this book a 4 out of 10. I enjoyed it enough to finish, it contained an interesting story woven together in a way which wasn’t too confusing but had a weak finish. It really wasn’t particularly thrilling and it never really compelled me to continue reading. Give it a chance if you are looking for a bit of intrigue and adventure, but don’t spend too much on it.

With this book, I have now read all of Clive Cussler’s current softcover fictional books. That makes 28 books in all. And of course, like all of the others, this one didn’t disappoint. It seems appropriate that I have caught up with Clive Cussler’s novels with a book “from the NUMA Files”, his second of three interrelated series. It was one of the books in this series that I first read just over two years ago now before I headed off to my masters in Europe. In fact it was the book I read on the plane over. But that is another book from another time for another review.

I have found that fans of Cussler’s books tend to seek out and read most if not all of them, which is exactly what I did, as did my mother, and my father is slowly but surely catching up. Since starting on this literary journey I have come across other people who are also big fans. This desire to consume the entire bibliography is a tad unusual since a quick scan of the plot outlines will tell you that all of his books are pretty much the same. At risk of losing my Clive Cussler fan club membership, if you’ve read a couple of his books, you’ve read them all. Trust me, I have read them all. I think that might be one of the reasons people do continue to amass the whole library—familiarity. Curling up with a new Cussler book is a bit like hanging out with a dear old friend. Familiar characters; fun, engaging action and the feeling of suspense and anticipation without anxiety. Makes me look forward to reading another already. Of course, now we are looking at the second book in the NUMA Files series called “Blue Gold”.

The blue gold referred to in the title is of course water, which is a central concept in all of the author’s books. In this case, a global shortage of water has brought a corporation out of obscurity which seems to be securing the sources of all of the world’s fresh water. Lead by a larger-than-life villain (literally), this group will stop at nothing to achieve essentially world domination. But these nefarious matters are brought to the attention of Kurt Austin and his special assignments team from NUMA (the National Underwater and Marine Agency). The good guys then set out to stop the bad guys. The particulars of their interaction are the only things which make this a different book from the others. However, like many of the other books, this one features a number of interesting international locations including the depths of the Amazon.

As far as details which make this book any better or worse than its siblings there are only a couple. I noticed when I was close to the end of the book thinking that the resolution seemed a bit more simple than usual. The book wrapped up relatively quickly, but didn’t feel rushed or abrupt. Perhaps a bit less satisfying than an average Cussler book. I’m going to give this one a six because I quite enjoyed it, but it certainly wasn’t anything to write home about. Of course, if you are an avid fan, you likely have read this one already or will once you get a chance, so this review doesn’t count for that much. As far as those people interested in seeing what all this Cussler fuss is about, this likely isn’t the one to start with. If you are interested in going the distance, you might as well start from the beginning with either “Pacific Vortex” or “The Mediterranean Caper” (aka. “MAYDAY!”). Otherwise perhaps try “Lost City” or “Atlantis Found”.