derek’s random hipchecks

Are the cell phone providers ready for the revolution? For years now, they have completely taken advantage of their customers–consistently alienating and irritating their own customers with a pompous arrogance. Well, it looks as if the villagers are beginning to grumble and a revolt is imminent. Let me highlight a few markings on the wall.

First, there is Openmoko, a Linux based, completely open phone and platform. This thing is literately open, as in they are encouraging users to open the case and hack away, not to mention develop programs using widely available and familiar development tools. As companies desperately search for ways to extend their network and applications to their mobile workforces, image the appeal of a completely open system to develop on. Make it as open as you want, or as closed as you want (also appealing to companies).

Second, a number of weeks ago Google started hinting that they will bid on the upcoming auction of the 700MHz spectrum (currently being used by analog television). Their intent is to offer or ensure the spectrum is used for “open applications, open devices, open services, and open networks”. Google sees the computing environment moving to wireless and wants to blaze it’s own path, rather then rely on the old school, lock you into our services on our devices on our network providers (Verizon, AT&T, etc.). In other words, Google wants to open up the network for any device to use. Hey, the more people on the Internet, the more people use Google Search, Google Maps, Google whatever they have coming down the pipe. An open network is great for them, and they have the resources to provide the backbone for it.

Finally, rumor has it that Google will soon announce the development of it’s own mobile phone operating system. According to those rumors, it will be Linux based and not hardware specific. One has to wonder if the release of the first Openmoko phone (scheduled in October of this year) and the Google phone OS will have some relationship.

Nonetheless, it seems that the current model of locking a phone to a provider and crippling it in order to force users onto their own services is soon going to have some serious competition. I for one am sick and tired of having a Verizon phone that is physically capable of doing something, but crippled just so that they can suck more money from me. Bring it on Google. I can’t wait to see what Verizon will do in the face of real competition. My prediction is they will crumble and resort to more lawsuits and increased lobbying.

Long live consumer choice! Death to the tyrant! Let the revolution begin!

Goodnight dear SCO.

Henrik Sedin scores with 1:54 left in the fourth OT to end night one in the 2007 Stanley Cup Playoffs. This is going to be fun!

Tomorrow, or should I say tonight, Wings and Flames.

PS DirecTV put the HD feed back on channel 95, so I got to see the score the way it was meant to be seen.

Thirteen minutes left in the fourth OT and DirecTV just screwed up. They cut the HD feed on channel 95 and went to the standard countdown feed (”:17 minutes until the next feature”) for the next scheduled program-Jackass 2.

Going to the standard def feed of VS. SD sucks.

I need another Dew!

One good thing about the Kings missing the playoffs is that every night I can watch a different series in the run to the Cup. This year I’m letting the TV guide my playoff viewing. Whatever is in HD I’m recording/watching. Tonight is Stars/Canucks. It’s after 11PM and the game is in the second OT with about 2 minutes left. Dallas has about 60 shots!

Looks like tomorrow is Detroit/Calgary.

I love Stanley!

Rich Hammond of the Daily News has started a blog called Inside the Kings dedicated to the LA Kings. It is a great source of info. He posts frequently (often multiple posts throughout the day) from practices with insight from direct interviews with players, coaches and members of the front office. It is a great read for every Kings fan. So go to it, and go often. It looks like if it is successful, the Daily News will keep it going.

Or an ERP implementation. I’m not sure which one is worse. The last year plus has been pretty crummy, but, emerging from my ERP induced coma, life is good. More to come….

A year ago I was about as pissed as I could be, fuming over the Kings complete implosion and failure to make the playoffs. But this year, despite missing the playoffs yet again, I’m excited. Let me explain further. First, this is the year of Anze Kopitar, who looks to be the anchor of the Kings future. Watching every game he has played in this year has been fun. Second, it has been a year where we’ve seen the potential of guys like Michael Cammalleri and Alexander Frolov come to fruition. Third, we’ve seen the scoring emergence of Dustin Brown and Patrick O’Sullivan over the last 20 games or so. And finally, Jack Johnson signed last week, putting yet another talented rookie on the ice. This has been the most fun I’ve ever had watching the Kings lose 2/3rds of their games.

As I blissfully contemplate the very near future of this team, I start to think about the goalie situation—the obvious elephant roaming the Kings front office. However I’m not thinking about which goalies will be on the roster next season, a topic which has consumed every Kings Talk for the last 3 months, but about the development of the goalies in the system. Dean Lombardi has been very vocal with his desires to develop a goalie from within. But considering the inherent length of development needed for goalies, one has to consider if their development is out of sync with that of the current crop of young Kings talent.

It is unfortunate, but the new collective bargaining agreement doesn’t really afford a team the luxury of time. (Don’t get me started on the new CBA—the more I see it the more I don’t like it). Players now reach free agency earlier and the salary cap will certainly put constraints on how many key players a team can continue to retain. Therefore, it seems that you can only expect a relatively small number of years out of a player before he gets sucked up by the new CBA and spit out on another team.

So, back to the goalies, from what I can tell, there are three goalies in the Kings system with real potential to make the big team–Jonathan Bernier, Jeff Zatkoff, and Jonathan Quick. However, it’s pretty clear that none of the three goalies will be ready for NHL duties next season, and it’s very likely that none will be ready the following season. If the future goes as I think it should that second season from now is the critical one. I think the Kings should be hitting their stride about then and should have a team that can seriously contend. This isn’t really the time to be breaking a new goalie into the league. Ideally you’d want that goalie getting NHL experience now so that he can hit his stride with the rest of the team.

Certainly, Lombardi is building a system—one where talent continues to emerge from the development ranks on a regular basis. But even if he is successful at that, it is hard to let good young talent slip away while waiting for the last component to fall into place.

So what to do? Do you trade for a good young goalie so that he can grow with this current crop of Kings talent? The price for that would be huge, probably two of the aforementioned players and/or prospects, and that would seem to defeat the purpose of getting the goalie in the first place. Or do you pick up a veteran goalie either through trade of free agency? The list of available free agent goalies this off-season is pretty short, making an overpayment likely. Or do you hope a jewel presents itself within the current system (can you say Jason LaBarbera) that can bridge the gap for then next three years?

I don’t think anyone has the answer, but one thing is for sure. The Kings can continue to develop and grow as a team, but until they solidify the goalie position with a legitimate number one, they can’t start their run to the cup. Because of that, I’m sure Lombardi will consider all options, including entertaining offers for a good young goalie.

Goalie conundrums aside, I’m very excited to see the Kings with a wealth of young talent, a ton of draft picks, and an actual plan. A plan that includes developing a goalie from within, even if it is a ways off. I just hope they can figure out how to get from here to there without a lot of sacrifice.

GO KINGS! (and anyone playing the Ducks in the playoffs)

The family spent my birthday at Disneyland with more family but I couldn’t take time off, so I found myself at home alone with the evening to myself. What should I do? Rent a movie? Na. Invite some friends over for a guy’s night? Na. How about reallocating hard drive space on my laptop and installing the latest beta of Windows Vista. Yep. That’s it. (Oh, and some pizza!)

The install was pretty easy. Of course I needed to free up some space on my hard drive first, so I looked to gparted for some help. The LiveCD had my hard drive prepped for Vista in no time flat. My laptop had two partitions, so I shrank the second partition and left the unused space for Vista to create it’s own partition during installation.

Vista needs 15 GB of free hard drive space to do the installation, however the final install size landed at about 8 GB. Some other requirements for Vista are a DVD drive, at least 512 MB of RAM (1 GB recommended) and a good graphics card (if you want all the eye candy). Installation took almost exactly one hour on my Dell Latitude D610.

Some first impressions…

Let’s face it; Vista is about the eye candy. Although there are some significant advances in the OS (and some things that were originally planned but scrapped, ie WinFS), the obvious change is in the look and feel department. Microsoft is clearly going after Apple’s OS X here. The ability to put widgets (Vista calls them Gadgets) on the desktop, some window transparency, and the glassy look of Aero are all clearly aimed at the folks in Cupertino. However, they look clean and are a nice improvement over XP.

Windows Explorer is different…I’m not sure if I like it yet.

Security is tighter with the user running at user security levels, not admin levels. Therefore, when a process requires admin rights (ie a software installation) a popup will ask for permission. This is a welcome change for the security conscious, but will certainly irritate some. I’m curious to see this in a Domain environment.

My overall first impression is that it is a nice improvement—although I’m interested to see pricing. I’ll post more as I become more familiar with the new OS. Additionally, I’m planning on comparing the Vista eye candy with my Kubuntu machine where I just installed xgl and compiz. Here’s a preview….xgl is freaking awesome! I’m loving the cube way more than I thought I would.

Well, the Stanley Cup has a home for the next year (or at least the next couple of months). What a great finals it was. I love game sevens and this one did not disappoint. It was nice to see Brind’amour hoist the cup. You always feel for guys that have been the league for so long and haven’t been able to touch the cup. Wesley is another one.

But watching the on ice celebration, something bothered me. I was a little disappointed to watch what I think are the two greatest traditions in all of sports, the handshake between teams and the traditional skating of the Cup by the players, through mounds of people who had flocked onto the ice. The players could hardly skate around with the Cup because of all the people, cables and carpets that had been strewn across the ice. I was disappointed to say the least.

We need to remember what the tradition of skating the Cup around the ice signifies. Much had been said about how players won’t even be in the same room as the Cup, let alone touch it if they have not earned it. To earn the Cup a player must win it. There is no other way for a player to rightfully be in its presence. To win the NHL playoffs is to earn the right to the Cup. At that point a player may to touch it, hoist it above his head and enjoy the most coveted trophy in all of sports. The presentation of the Cup to the winning team is the presentation of the rights to the players. It is what they have played their whole lives for…it is the Holy Grail of hockey…in all of sports for that matter.

Hockey players, (more so than any other athletes in my opinion), have always been fan friendly and acutely aware of the relationship a fan has with his or her team. They are, generally speaking, more down to earth and approachable than pro athletes of other sports. In that same vein, many decades ago, players began skating the Cup around the ice as a way of sharing it with their fans. It is a symbolic, yet genuine demonstration of appreciation by the players to the fans. Yet another great tradition of hockey.

However, all of that seemed to disappear on Monday. The players could not skate with the Cup at all. They best they could do was spin around with it because of all the people on the ice. This is wrong. I know that some may disagree, including some players, but I don’t think the ice is the place for family, friends, celebrities, etc. It is a place for the players and coaches only. The players need to share that moment with the fans and the fans only. They will have ample opportunity to share it with family afterwards. But the on ice celebration of the cup is the only opportunity the players can pay respect to and share the victory with the fans. Please, NHL brass, don’t let this wonderful tradition die. Take note of this and fix it for next year!

Now bring on the draft!