Mark Mischke's Weblog

Restaurants, groups and credit cards

I don't typically carry a lot of cash these days.  There are fewer and fewer situations which require it.  You can even pay for a Happy Meal with a debit card now.  One situation in need of a creative solution is splitting the bill at a restaurant when all parties have only plastic. 

For the simplest cases, like with two couples, it's easy.  The server takes two cards and splits the bill down the middle.  It gets hairy in the case of after-work drinks and munchies.  People come and go randomly, often leaving too much or too little cash on their way out.  At the end of the evening, there's a collection of hangers-on, some coupled and some not.  One may have had a Coke while another may have guzzled pitchers of beer and ripped through plates of nachos.  Normally, I'm a 'split everything evenly' kind of guy, but this only applies to dinners.  For informal gatherings, it's unfair to expect the guy who only had a Coke to cover the nacho-shoveler's voracious appetite.  Plus, there's that pile of cash that's been left in the middle of the table.  How does one split the bill properly if those remaining only have plastic?  It's not really fair to ask the server to process five different cards, each with a different amount. 

Sometimes you get lucky and enough people have cash such that the whole mess can be put on one or two cards and the cash divided between those making the charges.  The problem with this is that the people using the plastic, in reality, wind up footing the bill.  They've now got wallets full of tens and twenties that won't likely be used to offset the charge when the credit card bill comes due.

We need a simple and secure mechanism to allow people to exchange cash, preferably bank account to bank account.  It needs to be easy to use, foolproof (remember, beer has been consumed) and universally accessible.  Ideally it'd be accessible from a modern cell phone.  Two such solutions have emerged, and both pretty much do the same thing: TextPayMe and PayPal Mobile.  The problem is one of usability.  Both require a callback, followed by a PIN to make the transfer official.  Perhaps this is required to ensure the authenticity of the request, but surely someone can come up with a one-step method.  I just can't imagine using a callback system in a noisy bar.  Plus, PayPal has a fairly evil reputation because of the way they freeze funds for disputed transactions without divulging the criterion which flags a transaction as such and for not having an efficient appeals mechanism.

I anxiously await a workable solution to this vexing, everyday problem.

Windows Vista - is there still a point?

Early last year, I couldn't wait for the release of Windows Vista (then referred to by its internal name, Longhorn).  It wasn't set to ship for well over a year, but it promised a slew of compelling features that I just had to have.

Now, more than a year later, we're told that Vista won't ship until early '07 and most of the features I cared about have been broken out into discrete functional units which will be made available for Windows XP, as well as for Vista!  These features include:

• WinFS.  A file system enhancement which promises to simplify locating relevant data across a variety of file types and data stores.  It's really just a metadata engine that runs on top of NTFS, and should turn the whole desktop search problem into a non-issue.  WinFS was the First Big Thing to be dropped from Vista.  It later emerged as an early developers' beta for XP and according to the Microsoft Vista site, is now again slated to be included with Vista.
• WinFX.  This is the new name for the Avalon and Indigo frameworks, which enhance Windows' graphics and messaging subsystems, particularly with regard to managed code (.Net) development.  It's very cool stuff from a geek's prespective, allowing abstraction of an app's UI such that much of the same code can be used to describe both desktop and Web apps.
• Internet Explorer 7.  Microsoft took the lead in the browser wars when Netscape went to sleep in the late '90s.  Then they went to sleep, and IE hasn't changed much in the last few years.  In the mean time, competing browsers have whet our appetites for things like tabbed browsing and built-in popup blocking.  Now, Microsoft is playing catch-up, and IE 7 looks quite promising.

So, what's left in Vista?  Well... glitz and ease-of-use.  Glitz is fun to look at, but it chews up CPU cycles that I can put to better use.  My current XP installation looks a lot like Windows 2000.  I use the Classic window styling theme and I disable most of the animations.  It makes things noticeably faster.  Ease-of-use is another problem.  Don't get me wrong.  I'm all about usability.  It's just that many modern Windows enhancements which make it more accessible to novices confuse those of us who've been using the platform since the NT days.  I've learned how to do things efficiently and I find it annoying when my usual tricks are buried or taken away from me.

A few compelling features remain solely in Vista.  Most noteworthy, IMHO, is the hard drive encryption.  It's real this time, meaning that an admin can't gain access to encrypted data.  This is key, because with an administrative back door, encrypted data on a stolen XP machine can be easily accessed if you have physical access to the box.

While previous versions of each major Windows released were broken down by function (i.e. XP Home Edition, XP Professional Edition, etc.), versions of Vista will be aligned with the type of target user.  Personally, I believe that this is usability taken too far.  Windows is an operating system, not an application.  I suspect we'll see many users purchasing the wrong version and find themselves lacking something they need...

Digital cell service off the beaten path

I've been raving about the Motorola e815 cell phones that Ali and I recently upgraded to.  Ali was up in New Hampshire's White Mountains over the past few days for a work-related outing.  During that time, we had no real problems reaching each other, even while she was driving to and from.  I don't think that a phone's inability to fall back to analog is a problem anymore.

I'm sure that many areas of the Whites have no service.  All cell phones work on line-of-sight to the towers and mountains like to get in the way of that.  There _is_ some degree of signal 'bounce', though, and that's sometimes enough to establish a reliable connection even if line-of-sight is compromised.

We had one call where Ali was on the road and the conversation stutterred briefly and then died.  A few minutes later, she had a good signal again.  Digital signals don't degrade like analog signals do.  They have a power threshold above which they work and below which they don't.  If we'd been talking over an analog connection at the time, I suspect the conversation would have been overrun by static.  A low signal area is a low signal area.

Analog circuitry is power-hungry.  It also takes up valuable space inside the ever-shrinking cell phone chassis.  It's no wonder that many manufacturers are ditching it.  My primary concern was my phone's ability to function in an emergency situation.  All the data aren't in yet, but my (preliminary) feeling is that a digital phone may be as functional and reliable as a tri-mode (analog fallback) phone in outlying areas.

This also has implications for those who hike with cell phones.  I've previously gone on record as stating that I felt cell phones were a useful part of a hiker's arsenal, provided that said hiker didn't use them as a perceived safety factor in pushing the risk envelope.  I always hike with a cell, and it's always off and double-Ziplocked for protection from moisture.  No one wants to hear ringing or vibrating phones in the woods, and they sure as hell don't want to hear or see people carrying on phone conversations from a mountaintop.  It's just bad manners, and a potential stoning offense. 

On the other hand, cells are light, relative to the potential benefit they can provide in the event of a problem.  If it hits the fan and there's a signal, help will arrive faster than if a cell wasn't present.  If there's no signal, you have to fall back on training.

Modern cells provide an additional benefit in the hills.  Many have decent photo and video short capability.  My e815 has a 1.3 megapixel sensor, which is the same resolution of my first digital camera - and I took that bulky sucker on many a trip.  While I'd wager the e815 lacks the image quality of my venerable old HP PhotoSmart, it's not _that_ bad.  Plus it does movies - with sound!

Climbing safety

Ali just got back from a team-building excursion in which her group went ice climbing (yes, I'm jealous).  Their guides were from one of the most respected schools in the Northeast.  As she was telling me about it, I asked about the guides' focus on safety - primarily harnesses and knots.  She said there wasn't much instruction along those lines.  I couldn't believe it.  They took a group of first-timers out to an eighty-foot ice wall and didn't take the time to cover the absolute basics of climbing safety.  This would include harness fitting, attachment point configuration and proper rope tie-in.  None of this stuff is obvious - especially the rope part, because it uses a special kind of knot.  In my experience, beginning rock or ice climbers (which is where I fit - I've only been a few times), always receive solid instruction on this material.  This includes plenty of hands-on practice, after which the work is checked by an instructor.  Prior to beginning a climb, configurations are again checked by the belaying partner.  There's good reason for this.  An improperly-configured harness or a poorly-tied or incorrectly-selected knot can cause severe injury, or even death, in the event of a fall.  The system is designed to stop you if you slip and only works the way it's been designed to work.

I'm not going to mention the school.  I've personally had great experiences with their programs and instructors, but apparently not all of thier guides pay enough attention to basic safety.  Climbing is becoming more and more popular.  One of the first questions that should be asked when selecting a program is how much pre-climbing safety material will be covered.  If you don't hear an emphasis on harnesses and ropes, call someone else.  In addition, when ice climbing, make sure that the class also includes an instructional session on crampon and ice axe usage.  Both can cause serious injury if used improperly.  It's like strapping a bunch of ninja throwing stars to your hands and feet.  :-)

A comprehensive safety overview doesn't require much time.  It's not going to detract from your time on the wall.  Climbing is dangerous.  I'm surprised that some of the professionals seem to be forgetting that.  My experience is that these folks are the exception rather than the rule.  Most guides I've met really have it together.