When the iPhone was being rolled out, what really made me perk up was the announcement that there would be an app store where developers from around the world could sell their apps. My reaction was excitement. My thought was that the app store could really differentiate the iPhone from other phones, and could foster the kind of creativity and community that elevates a technology from mere tool to life-changer.

It seems now that the app store is living up to my expectations, but there are clouds on the horizon. I just read today that the current best-selling app is “iFart Mobile.” If you are unfamiliar with this app, it allows you to reproduce a number of distinct fart noises (e.g. “Bubbler” and “Kazoo”) for the delight of friends and family. This has me worried.

My concern is that Apple will make the same mistakes as Facebook. We all know what happened with Facebook apps. The quality Facebook apps were overwhelmed by the crappy garbage that was designed specifically and exclusively to be viral. The Facebook app community is suffering as a result, and I am concerned that the iPhone app community will likewise suffer.

I don’t have a solution to this. All I know is that Apple has to somehow cultivate quality iPhone apps, while discouraging the crap. Allowing the community total power to do so is not effective, as the clever app creators will be able to manipulate the community. Apple must take an active role, while simultaneously respecting community input. Striking a balance between direct intervention and a hands-off laissez-fair approach is a tough thing to do, but is critical, as I think the vitality of the app store will largely determine the longterm fate of the iPhone.

I have been struggling the last few days over a paper. The problem is that the original (rejected) paper was 10 pages, describing 1 experiment. For this second submission attempt I had to both include a second experiment and squish the paper down to 8 pages. Not easy, it turns out, but possible. And the fact that it is possible disturbs me a little. Was half of that original paper really irrelevant? So many words, so much expended effort, which after further thought turned out to be totally unnecessary.

My life’s relevancy ratio in general isn’t all that good. If you add up all the time I spend watching TV, sleeping, and dreaming about becoming an astronaut, you are left with maybe 2% of my time being actually productive, in the sense that it will advance humanity in some form. But now, after discovering how much of that stuff is fluff, I feel I have to now downgrade that score to 1%. That is a full 50% drop in estimated total relevant output.

And if the paper gets rejected the score is zero.

There is one web browser issue that I consistently fall victim to. This is the problem that keyboard focus appears to jump, for no reason, from widget to widget, and sometimes from a widget to the address bar. I’m not sure, but I think it has something to do with starting to type before the page-load is complete. For example, I will be typing my user name into the user field, and halfway through typing the cursor jumps to the password field. Then, thinking I am still in the user name filed, I hit tab and type in my password, but it didn’t go into the password field, because I was already there. Instead the tab caused me to go to the address bar, and my password goes there.

Of course this wouldn’t happen except for the fact that I occasionally type while not paying attention to what is happening on screen. That shouldn’t be a problem, though. Once I have stuck the cursor into the user field things should happen predictably, and consistently. Keyboard focus should not jump randomly.

So, what are the possible negative outcomes of this? The most basic, and most harmless, is that I simply have to type in things again. There is a more dangerous security concern, however. When my password is entered in the address bar then anybody watching me as I type can see what it is, and possibly deduce that it is my password. Even worse, maybe, is that if I hit “enter” after typing the password then people peeking at traffic can spot this request. If they see a strange request for “mypassword” go by unencrypted they might be able to use that knowledge maliciously.

That’s it. This is a concern that is both a usability annoyance, and a security risk.

One of the things about Japan is that everything is so ordered. The trains leave within seconds of the scheduled time, there is no garbage to be seen anywhere, and everybody is courteous, even when the trains are totally jam-packed. This is why it is all the more surprising when somebody breaks the social norms.

Yesterday something like this happened. I was walking along a well-travelled sidewalk in Osaka city, and some lady comes up to me and starts yelling in my face. Not the semi-bored selling-yelling that the store employees do trying to lure people into their shops, but a full-on angry “I hate your guts and I’m going to let you know it” kind of yelling. My reaction was stupefication. I stopped dead in my tracks and just stared at her. It was one of those Star Trek “does not compute. does not compute. illogical. illogical.” moments that is usually followed by the evil robot self-destructing and Kirk getting the green girl. Afterwards I started thinking about this. I think my reaction in Vancouver would have been different. In Vancouver we are all, on occasion, approached by crazy folks. When it does happen my reaction is the instant onset of a fight/flight thought process. I put on my “I don’t take kindly to this crap” demeanour in an attempt not to look like a victim candidate, and do an unconscious evaluation of the likelihood of either escaping or winning a fight should the necessity arise to choose between the two (no, I have never actually fought anybody). But here, in Osaka, that doesn’t happen. My reaction is instead more along the lines of: “…… wha?”

While on the topic, I had another weird random street encounter about a week ago. I was again walking along the sidewalk and this guy walking the other way stops right in front of me and throws down a huge bow. Not the standard everyday bow, but one of the 90 degree big-time serious bows. I stop, confused, and think “a-ha, somebody behind me.” Turn around, nobody there. Turn back, dude is still bowing. WTF. Pause. Options: 1. talk to him and try to figure out what he is doing. 2. run away. Chance of success at option 1 is very small, so I take option 2.

I will never find out what these people were doing. My best theory is that there is some guy wandering around Osaka who resembles me, and is in the habit of pissing off middle-aged women and earning the deep respect of middle-aged guys. I wouldn’t be surprised. After all, we do all look kind of the same.

It appears that the Vancouver housing market is in trouble. Finally. We’ve been in a boom for the greater part of a decade now, and people were getting very comfortable with the idea that house prices would increase in perpetuity.

I didn’t buy it, and figured that we were entering a bubble. That may sound like bragging after the fact (now that things are clearly on a downturn), but here I admit that I actually messed up royally, not in my judgment, but in my timing. You see, I called a top in the real estate market in 2003. At that point I had some real estate, and for whatever reason as spring time rolled around I decided “this is it, we’ve hit a peak. I’ve got to get out.” So the house went up for sale, got sold in 3 days, and I was sitting much more comfortable, not having to worry about the thing.

At that point I considered buying a condo, and actually looked at one near Metrotown, but the thing was going for 250k, which is a lot, and was only 1200 sq. ft. or so. Sounds like a rip-off to me. So I gave up on that idea as well.

As you can see, I messed up. I was way way early in my pronouncement on real estate doom. And now that it is finally coming to pass I don’t feel all that good that I have proven to be belatedly correct. Being right at the wrong time is the same as being wrong.

As an aside, I find it fascinating how the Vancouver media has made an about-face in its attitude towards real-estate. For several years the local newspapers were among the biggest promoters of real-estate. Now, within the last two months they have very suddenly taken the opposite view, publishing bubble-talk at every opportunity.

Oh, and for the folks who think real-estate will be fine, I want to take this opportunity to respond to the usual arguments:

1. Vancouver employment is strong – No it isn’t.
2. Vancouver has high wages – No it doesn’t.
3. B.C. industry is strong – No it isn’t.
4. The Olympics – Please shut up.
5. International Destination – Compared to New York? LA? London? Seriously?
6. It’s different here – <facepalm>

If you are interested in reading more about the bearish case for Vancouver real-estate, I suggest you visit vancouvercondo.info.