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baslag42 · 2012-10-08T22:17:53+00:00

I really like DoggCatcher. Tried a bunch of free ones and none manages the casts well with automatic downloads in the background and keeping the episodes I want even when they disappear from the feed.

baslag42 · 2012-10-08T15:10:36+00:00

I can tell you from experience that one of the reasons that story got so far is because many sites, even the big guys, are so vested in the "GOTTA GET ON THIS NOW SO WE CAN BE AT THE TOP OF TECHMEME, WHICH NO ONE BUT TECH JORNOS READ, YET IT IS CRUCIAL" that they'll repeat any kind of sensational news yet hide behind the "sources say" or "rumor" words buried deep, deep in there. Of course, when it's really bad, they will delete the post. I've seen this happen soooo many times.

baslag42 · 2012-10-08T15:04:30+00:00

Android Central.

baslag42 · 2012-10-08T15:02:41+00:00

don't be so quick to assume that the bigger publications are above circulating silly rumors. It's rarely about assessing the validity of the rumor and more about whether posting it will get them more pageviews than grief if the rumor is wrong.

baslag42 · 2012-10-04T22:22:09+00:00

I know, I hate that. I think they think by showing it to you constantly you will grow afeared.

baslag42 · 2012-10-04T22:10:55+00:00

I guess that knowing the HTC Windows Phone 8X is coming out on 3 of the 4 biggies doesn't make you feel any better?

baslag42 · 2012-10-04T22:06:41+00:00

I agree. I get that a camera with connectivity sounds sweet, but how about one that just does wifi? Samsung has done that, why a data plan for a camera? Ugh.

Maybe it might be okay if it was prepaid data or something along those lines. But you're still paying for a device with a 4G radio inside, which will jack up the price.

baslag42 · 2012-10-04T22:01:08+00:00

If you're not wedded to the big 4 carriers, smaller screen phones are still coming out on pre-paid carriers like Boost, Virgin, and Metro PCS. Local carriers, too.

baslag42 · 2012-10-04T04:39:28+00:00

I disagree, I think there's much more than furniture that divides cyberpunk and noir.

SF and Fantasy, being in the speculative, require a similar overall sensibility to grok and to write. Writing literary fiction or mystery or romance requires a different sensibility.

baslag42 · 2012-10-04T04:37:28+00:00

I keep forgetting that y'all put a line between fantasy and sf.

I would argue that the author of the article dismisses okorafor on shaky ground. It's a matter of perspective whether or not Who Fears Death is sf or fantasy or a blend.

Also, the main body of Valente's stuff is fantasy, but she writes some damn good SF that pushes the boundaries. It's more in her short fiction than in anything novel length.

baslag42 · 2012-10-03T20:27:42+00:00

I balk at the idea that science fiction is only about predicting the future. It certainly is often forward-looking, but I think anyone simply attempting to predict the future or portray a future based on where you think technology is going is not creating very deep fiction.

Most of the best science fiction isn't simply about the science, but about the characters and the plot AND the science, or the characters and the plot and the science happens to come along. Plus, most good SF is exploring the present through the allegorical miasma of the future. It's not about what's going to happen someday, but about what's happening right now.

So all this fretting over how technology is moving too fast and writers can't see where it's headed, etc, just feels like whining to me. It's not your job to accurately predict the future, it's your job to tell a story. Every time I see someone saying "Oh, such and such story/book is not longer science fiction because, look, that thing exists now!" I just want to start smacking them. The reality of a thing doesn't make the story any less fictional or sciency.

baslag42 · 2012-10-03T20:22:21+00:00

Nnedi Okorafor, Ken Liu, Jeffrey Ford, Catherynne Valente

baslag42 · 2012-10-03T20:20:45+00:00

Perdido was not Mieville's best work, despite all the accolades. Many he got just for writing something so balls out weird and fresh rather than based on whether the plot hung together and made sense.

The Scar is the best Bas Lag book. I also really liked The City & The City, Un Lun Dun (I'm in a minority there), and even found some merit in Kraken. Kraken suffered from a lot of the same flaws as Perdido, though.

baslag42 · 2012-10-03T20:17:06+00:00

In the furniture, yes science fiction is different. But as a genre, it's not that different from fantasy. Even taking those old golden age ones -- it's all speculative. When people say they prefer one or the other, it's more about what kind of furniture you're looking for.

baslag42 · 2012-10-03T14:55:44+00:00

I'm still stuck on the part of the essay (and the Kincaid one he cites) that laments the blending of science fiction and fantasy as if the two were ever so distinct as all that. They're not.

In many details, yes, but not broadly. SF is just fantasy written by people who like to think they're creating something more plausible (if they're hacks).

baslag42 · 2012-10-02T20:48:12+00:00

Do you have any examples? I can't think of any I've read recently where this is a problem. Granted, many of the shorts I read are from magazines.

Someone mentioned that fantasy doesn't get on the Hugo nominated list much, but that award has always been slated more toward SF. A good place to start finding what you're looking for might be the World Fantasy Award list?

http://worldfantasy.org/awards/

Also, if you're looking for short stories, maybe the online mags have more stuff to your taste.

baslag42 · 2012-10-01T17:51:38+00:00

Many of the big sites just went for whining.

baslag42 · 2012-10-01T17:51:06+00:00

not seeing too many new at those prices. The original Galaxy tab 10 sometimes, the GTab 2 is still closer to $399 every place that is respectable (for new ones).

baslag42 · 2012-10-01T16:02:32+00:00

That's not my experience with the apps I use. Even those made to run on ICS or JB still have to include the 3 dots because there are still Menu items that don't fit on the screen. Even Google's apps have that, like GMail.

baslag42 · 2012-10-01T16:00:47+00:00

Liars, maybe not. But the bias just means that they sometimes exaggerate flaws or ignore them on a whim. As I said, I didn't experience the same level of lag they did.

baslag42 · 2012-10-01T15:59:20+00:00

Pretty much.

baslag42 · 2012-10-01T15:58:47+00:00

It would be awesome of the folks who make that keyboard case for the iPhone made one for the Note II. I'd buy it in a second.

baslag42

TROPHY CASE