Dodo's here

Dodo's here
Originally uploaded by Gremlink.

Review: Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is not a book that you can easily get into, simply because Doctorow invents so many different concepts that it takes a while to wrap your mind around them. But once you understand the setting and the terms like Whuffie, deadheading, etc, you start to enjoy the story. In that sense, it is quite a progressive and enjoyable novel. Overall, to me, the key to the story is the concepts and the settings rather than the characters.

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Yummy dreamy burger time

Yummy dreamy burger time
Originally uploaded by Gremlink.

Review: The Bug

The Bug by Ellen Ullman


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Bug is a tale about a programmer's search for an elusive bug. It is also a tragedy in which the obsessive search for the bug parallels the breakdown of the programmer's real life relationship. What is so absorbing with the novel is the amount of detail and description of programming a software that's in the book, giving it an authentic and geeky feel. A certified geek novel.

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MobileRSS HD brings me RSS love

Ever since I got my iPad, I've been looking for a suitable RSS reader. I've tried the free Feeddler, Netnewswire, and Bulletin XL, none of them feels right. Since MobileRSS on the iPhone is my fave reader, I was hoping that the folks at NibiruTech would be able to bring their RSS goodness onto the iPad.

With the release of MobileRSS HD, my prayers were answered.

Just like the iPhone version, MobileRSS HD is feature-rich, fast, and perform superbly on the iPad. Syncing with your Google Reader account is fast. When your feeds are downloaded, navigation is nice and intuitive. All the features that you want in a RSS reader are here. You can sort your feeds by oldest or newest, you can navigate to webpages, you even get a little thumbnail next to the feed listing if there's a picture attached to a particular post.

Like all good iPad apps, MobileRSS works well in landscape mode. The design of the user interface is clean and functional. It may not be the most flashy and pretty RSS reader out there, but it works as a good RSS reader and in that area, it works great.

The standard features that you find on Google Reader are available here. You can Star, Keep Unread, Share, write a Note on each entry. You can also make use of the services like Twitter and Instapaper. If you really want a spartan reading experience, you can also opt to use the Google or Instapaper Mobilizer when you read the feeds.

Although I really love this app, I think there are some things that can be done better. If the interface can be made prettier, that'll be a good thing. That said, I'd prefer a spartan, speedy reader than a pretty but cumbersome reader. I also miss the left-right swipe navigation method of Feeddler, although the up-down swpie of MobileRSS still works as well.

Overall, I am really glad for the release of this reader. I've found RSS heaven here. Having used MobileRSS on the iPhone since its early days, I know that the developer made vast improvements to it. I have no doubt that the developer will also continue to improve this app. And I look forward to future improvements done to the app.