Thoughts on Technology

Technical writing has been an important part of my career, and sometimes I still can't resist. Hence this section.

Help in Saving My Hands

Apr 28, 2007

Now and then I suffer from RSI (repetitive stress injury), from too much time on the keyboard: my fingers feel stiff and painful, arms and shoulders get tired, and so on. I know I should move around more, type less, etc., but when I've got a lot to do, it's hard to know when to stop.

Now I have something to tell me when to stop: a piece of software called WorkRave, which I started using a few weeks ago. Wow! It really is something to rave about. It's a well-behaved little utility that sits in the background and monitors your keyboard useage. You set it to remind you to take a break at fixed intervals; I have set "microbreaks" (60 seconds) every 15 minutes, and a ten-minute break every 45. During the longer break it even suggests helpful exercises you can do, though I'm more likely to go for coffee, talk to colleagues (or, if at home, put in a load of laundry, start dinner)...

Prior to installing WorkRave, I had pictured myself as too easily distracted - always jumping up to go to the bathroom, go for coffee, or do household chores. Now I'm surprised at how quickly those 15- and 45-minute chunks fly by. Heeding the reminders to take a break does seem to be helping my hands, too - I feel worse on days when I've chosen to Skip or Postpone them too often.

If you spend too much time on the keyboard and your body is letting you know it (or better, before it does), I highly recommend installing WorkRave. And the price is right: it's open source.

Dell Battery Recall

Sometimes, technology troubles can work in your favor.

I've had a Dell Latitude laptop (bought for me by the company) for over two years now. Just in the last few days the battery has worn down enough to become annoying: I can only get about an hour of charge on it, not quite enough to cover the train commute when I get most of my writing done. Today I went to the Dell website to see how much a new battery was going to set me back (knowing that the boss would bitch about it if it was too much, and might reasonably ask how much of this battery use was actually benefitting the company). Right on the front page was a notice about the infamous recall of Sony-manufactured laptop batteries, which has affected Dell and many other companies. I'd noticed plenty of headlines about this, but had not stopped to consider whether it might affect me.

A few pages of instructions later, I found out that it did - so I'm entitled to a free replacement, which Dell has promised to mail to me "within 20 business days."

Absolutely cool. I'm getting a brand-new battery just when I need one, and don't even have to pay for it. Of course, I am in the meantime ignoring Dell's instructions to use the laptop only on AC power - and it would be just like the Great God Murphy to ensure that the old battery catches fire and torches the computer while I'm waiting for the replacement...

Rock 'n' Roll Jingles

High tech companies have often used rock 'n' roll to show how cool their products are. When Windows 98 was launched, with great fanfare, Bill Gates personally chose the Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up" as its advertising song, to emphasize Windows' cool new Start button. He apparently forgot the rest of the lyrics, which include: "You make a grown man cry."

At a computer show one year I heard Philips' new jingle, the Beatles' "Getting Better All the Time." They were using a version re-recorded by other singers, but in so similar a style that I wondered why they didn't just use the original. Then, as I listened, I realized why. After "I've got to admit it's getting better, a little better all the time," the new version elided the line: "it can't get no worse" !

Start Me Up lyrics
Getting Better lyrics