a nonverbal dictionary
Mar. 15th, 2006 03:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miriam_ehttp://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/diction1.htm
If you are wondering what possible use a nonverbal dictionary could be, have a little read of it and think about what it means in the context of an artist making meaningful images of people. Or actors, directors, photographers, animators portraying people in live action. Or a writer trying to convey as much as possible as economically and subtly as possible, especially when avoiding cluttered dialogue. Or even just a normal person trying to understand the often unclear dynamics between people when a large part of what is said doesn't use words.
So much information, so little time. I sometimes despair of having only this short lifetime to learn all that I want to know.
If you are wondering what possible use a nonverbal dictionary could be, have a little read of it and think about what it means in the context of an artist making meaningful images of people. Or actors, directors, photographers, animators portraying people in live action. Or a writer trying to convey as much as possible as economically and subtly as possible, especially when avoiding cluttered dialogue. Or even just a normal person trying to understand the often unclear dynamics between people when a large part of what is said doesn't use words.
So much information, so little time. I sometimes despair of having only this short lifetime to learn all that I want to know.
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no subject
Date: 2006-03-15 05:34 am (UTC)me, too.....
just in general
no subject
Date: 2006-03-15 06:08 am (UTC)Incidentally, it occurs to me that I need a new phone, new PDA, an MP3 player and a voice recorder. Rather than shell out for all these things seperately I was wondering if you could recommend some kind of 4-in-1 doohickey? Last time I saw you you had a PDA that looked pretty damn awesome, and I'm hoping something like that might have come down in price. Not asking you to hunt around the web on my behalf, just wondering if you had a ready opinion on what the best investment for the cash would be.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-15 07:11 am (UTC)The Palm Treo 600 is a full-blown computer, with full color screen, rechargeable battery, built-in keyboard, camera, mp3 player, 32 MB of RAM plus SD flash RAM (currently you can get SD cards up to 4GB I think) and mobile phone in one cute package at about the same price I bought my first PalmVx about 6 years ago. My trusty old PalmVx (I still have it) has a monochrome screen with just 16 shades of grey, the only sounds it makes are beeps, and has only 8MB of memory. It cost me $750 back then with a list price of about $800, but I bought it at Downtown DutyFree. It would have been even cheaper if I'd been going overseas. The list price for the Treo600 is $799. Compare that with buying a mobile phone outright (I haven't priced mobiles so I can't help there) and the price of equivalent Microsoft PocketPCs (again I can't help cos I don't know).
Being able to expand a handheld computer with memory cards is very important if you want to listen to mp3s or watch videos or store lots of snapshots. A 512MB (half a Gigabyte) memory card can hold about 10 hours of music, or about 40 hours of talks (lower quality means smaller files), or more than a thousand paperback books. Of course the battery power of most new machines is terribly limited by their color displays and radio connectivity and sound output so you would not be likely to get many hours of continuous sound before needing to plug it into power. The Treo advertises 6 hours of talking, but advertisers always overestimate these things, even though Palm has a pretty good record of honesty in such stats. For PocketPCs be sure to read their stats with a jaundiced eye. I've heard of people getting very pissed off when they didn't get the results claimed.
On the pros and cons of Palm vs PocketPC:
Palm is no longer dominating the field. It was always a very safe platform. I only ever heard of one virus for Palm. Will Palm survive? Who knows? Even if it doesn't, their machines seem to be reliable. As I say, I still use my old PalmVx (after I destroyed my gorgeous Palm Zire72 by running over it with my car -- it had survived numerous drops onto concrete and one case of being slammed in the car door). There is an absolutely massive userbase out there still with thousands of programs for Palms. I am looking to buy another Palm for myself and one for my sister. My family all got together and bought a Palm for my brother a little while back.
Microsoft's PocketPC are growing. They have now captured the major part of the market. From now on new products will be made first for the PocketPC and then for the Palm. On the downside this popularity also bring security concerns. Also squeezing Windows into that tiny package slows the machine down terribly. The few PocketPCs I've seen are big monsters that suck battery power like crazy.
Don't go by just what I say though. Do your research carefully. And shop around. By spending some hours on the phone I managed to save myself around $50 on the price.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-15 07:16 am (UTC)http://www.palm.com/au/products/smartphones/treo600/
or if you really wanna splash out
http://www.palm.com/au/products/smartphones/treo650/
no subject
Date: 2006-03-15 12:42 pm (UTC)Also, carrying $800 of very loseable tech on me frankly just scares me crapless. I might see if they have any earlier and cheaper models that match my relatively small needs.
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Date: 2006-03-15 05:04 pm (UTC)Phones can be incredibly low cost these days because the cost of calls is such an amazing rip-off. If you get a phone with an infrared port then you can control it from any Palm, (e.g. the Palm Zire31 list price $199 but you can shop around and get it for less - color screen, mp3 player, SD card expansion, but no camera or microphone, though many phones have camera and sound recording capability).
If you got a more expensive Palm with camera, microphone, and bluetooth (like Palm Zire72 -- same as the one I had, list price $399, but you can almost certainly get it for less... list price was $499 Oct 2004, but I shopped around and got it for $449) then you can use either infrared OR the easier (but less secure) bluetooth communications to operate your mobile from the Palm. Bluetooth also lets you send receive data with any other bluetooth mobile phone too -- a plus.
In many ways that is a better option. If the battery runs out on one then the other is still usable. And it costs heaps less.
If you get a Palm Zire72 don't get the blue one -- the soft covering scratches off the metal case in just a few weeks and looks scrappy. The Palm Zire31 is blue too but is solid plastic casing.
I've used the Palm Zire72 to exchange data between it and a mobile phone, but I haven't use that to dial out onto the net. I can't see why it wouldn't be possible though. I have used my ancient old PalmVx to dial out onto the net via an infrared-equipped mobile phone. A friend bought a Palm soon after I bought mine and when he had to travel to Perth for his job he didn't take his laptop. He did all his email by plugging his Palm into a little modem via its serial port and the modem plugged into the phone socket in the wall. I've never tried that, but it impressed me.
Hope I haven't frazzled your brain with option overload. I tend to make lists in kind of situation. I have a very cool little digital camera that I bought for less than $200 late last year so camera on the Palm is not so important to me (the Palm's camera was not high quality anyway... more convenient).
The lying, stealing communications companies annoy me with their screw-the-customer attitude so I won't be buying a mobile unless they stop their blatant theft. Mobile phone networks are cheaper to operate than land lines, but they charge vastly more, making utterly obscene profits.
As I said earlier I'm looking at buying a Palm Zire31 for my sister and another for myself soon. I reckon I can probably get the price down to near $150 by phoning around, paying cash, and buying more than one at once. We are considering getting one for my niece too.
Losing the Palm is much less likely if you wear it in one of those cheap camera cases or mobile phone cases you can pick up for about $2 these days. My brother keeps his in a small case on his belt. I wear mine on a strap over my shoulder. We are the most forgetful people in the world, but we haven't lost them yet. Before I had the case I had a few close calls though.
no subject
Date: 2006-03-16 04:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-16 12:26 pm (UTC)Check out very carefully what features you need and what you can live without or don't mind having in another device.
Benjamin Franklin had the right idea. Lists are your friend here. I draw up columns of for/against/maybe and list things accordingly. Often it just reinforces the decision you'd already made, but occasionally it brings up surprises and casts things in a different light.
If you do get a Palm just make sure you keep the data regularly backed up. When I ran over my Palm Zire72, destroying it, I lost the hardware but no information at all. Backing up is simple with the Palm though. Plug it in and press a button -- it is really that simple.