Facebook Timeline’s a bit of a weird one, because I actually like everything about it (minus some Opera oddities and general tweaks I’d make). It addresses some huge usability problems with accessing old posts (just like my current Tumblr theme, haha), I think the content-oriented design is great, and it’s becoming almost as enjoyable to use as it was back when it was mainly text posts and status updates.

I like Timeline because it’s something that’s genuinely interesting and innovative — it’s never seemed like Facebook had impressive tech to me until now. (Though I have to admit, I rarely consider what kind of work goes into maintaining performance on such an extreme scale… their new Arctic data center is almost Bond villain-esque.)

After a recent friend cull and post hiding spree, my Timeline record seems a bit empty. I haven’t recorded every little detail from the last five years, and it’s a bit frustrating that I’ve definitely forgotten many awesome things that have happened to me… but why is having no history with anyone so satisfying?

My next post will be better.

I enjoyed this one a lot. Stark is a pretty cool vision of the 2200s, but it’s the brilliantly thought out the concept of Balance is that gets me, especially when it’s stepped up a notch in the conversation with Father Raul. I wish I really did have vivid dreams of a fantastic world.

I’m not too sure about how I like the pacing of the game – getting the last few key items so quickly and not intervening in the Marcurian invasion made it feel like it was rushed towards the end. I think the linearity of the chapters helps with momentum and reflects the urgency, but it’s really the open, early chapters that I enjoyed the most.

It was pretty refreshing to play through without going for help, but I was completely stuck a fair few times. I don’t think the puzzles are really the driving part of the game anyway. Things got better after I realised that you could run and skip animations. I loved the Screwdriver.

On to Dreamfall.

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- Although the feeling is sharper (less spongy) and more like a Macbook, the keyboard action is similarly shallow and I’m getting occasional missed keys (I guess it makes up for the years of double type). Doing away with the smaller key/extra spacing design of the VGN-Z/VPC-Z is giving me problems adjusting: I really think they were better before.

Keyboards are meant to define VAIO and I’m sad that the new Z will probably use these keys instead of insisting on a 3mm pitch over a point in thinness. The backlight is adequate, but in the same way I could’ve pictured Daisuke Iseki or someone insisting that it was more smoothly diffused.

I hate that I’m typing on a UK layout, but that’s not really a design issue.

- Vertical viewing angles are terrible to the point where moving my head means I have to adjust the screen. Horizontal viewing angle is acceptable, although there is no privacy filter for a screen of this size. Overall, the colour reproduction is more natural, but it’s hard to tell when the viewing angle is this bad. I think 13.3in is perfect for 1600x900… it’s a pity that it’s not an option here.

- Speaker quality is significantly worse and also fairly quiet. The audio jack has a weird location, which really feels like a compromised design.

- Grounding issue on the VGA-output results in a flickering screen while connected to the mains.

- Trackpad is much slower (possibly more innaccurate, too). I brush across the trackpad more often, probably because of the larger and less recessed keys. Fingerprint scanner is awkwardly placed to make it difficult to use both trackpad buttons with one finger.

- Graphics switching is completely seamless and ridiculously well implemented. It’s come a long way since its realisation in the SZ and I’m not even sure the PMD is a step forward from this. The performance of the Radeon chipset is very good and actually provides a huge gain over integrated graphics, enough to cope with everything I have to throw at it (I don’t think nVidia’s mobile chipsets are much good).

- Battery life is above average, although it’s not removable, so I expect it to degrade quickly. Battery capacity has fallen significantly (14%) since the SZ - I wonder what’s causing this trend.

- Excellent thermal and noise management. It’s a curiously placed vent, though.

- I thought the packaging was particularly well thought out: minimal, portable, strong and easy to dismantle, with thought given to storing the warranty and manuals.

- I think that long term build quality is better: the weak VGN-Z hinge is improved, but aesthetically, it has nothing on the VGN-Z or SZ.

My next post will be better.

After struggling with the first level of the campaign, I had a feeling I’d made a mistake in buying Frozen Synapse, but it’s surprising how quickly the game becomes a sophisticated battle of wits, instead of just a random scramble, once you know what’s going on.

It’s a really good realisation of the simultaneous turn-based combat and the challenge system is fantastically well designed, even if there are occasional server outages. It all feels like a modern Laser Squad Nemesis, and it’s interesting to me how elegant a system can be designed once you can assume everyone is always online.

But the aesthetic layer… I don’t like it at all. Compared to Shadow Watch, it really just feels cold and lacking personality, and I can’t be bothered to invest in the single player. I understand the approach to make ‘Shape’ something mysterious, but being so disconnected makes me disinterested in the storyline. It’d be nice to see some persistence and single-player-only upgrades or something, too, but the game kind of acknowledges that the soldiers are disposable.

The video is of me taking on cyron (World #5) and winning convincingly (about 3 pixels off being a perfect score). It’s not a very good spectator game — the turns and fog of war aren’t clear to an outsider and it needs commentary to point out the important decisions. Granted, he was playing a couple of games simultaneously.

Don’t expect to see any videos with me using grenade launchers, though.

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It’s weird how I learned to use Photoshop and somehow managed to pick up all these hotkeys by myself (TIL: Space + key + drag = Zoomed out pan). A highlight of my life is still I managing to make changes to an image as quickly as the vocal commands were given to me.

Because it seems like I’m never going to understand how to use Flash as well as that. I’m reading tutorials where the author tells me nonchalantly to hit F6 or F9 to do actions that are otherwise buried deep in menus. I figure this is something that would be impossible to learn by myself just messing around with it.

So far, Flash just seems like a huge mess, going against some principles of separating code from presentation, but I think I’ll grow to like it in the same way that I think PHP is just there to get things done. I’m glad that Flash is easier than using graphics in a normal programming language, though — there’s something nice about coding with the scene right in front of you.

I can’t help but notice how awkward the interface feels, even on my largest screen. I generally dislike the way CS4/5 handle panels — they’re just so chunky, and the icons are unclear when minimised. It’d be lovely if you could use an iPad as an interface extension — I’d love to be able to pick colours or scroll the timeline using my left hand on a touch screen and dedicate all the other screen space to code and scenes.

Related, but not really: I’m thinking of reverting to retro-style hotkeys for Starcraft 2: armies on 5-7, Probes on P. I’m sure I can come up with something even better for my dexterous* left hand. In fact, thinking about it, I could come up with a much better arrangement for most programs that I used. It’s a shame Ctrl+K is useless.

26 days of trial left.

My next post will be better.