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Chemistry / MOLDRAW alternatives for Mac? Looking for native visualisation software

« on: 08/05/2019 10:34:19 »

I'm a third year undergrad working on a computational and spectroscopic research project. I am just getting started with CRYSTAL17, running opt-freq (mid, far-IR) calculations for molecular crystals. The CRYSTAL17 output files can be slightly modified and opened in a program (I think associated with CRYSTAL) call MOLDRAW, which gives a spatial visualisation for the unit cell as well as an interactive gui for the calculated spectra, which is quite helpful for processing data. I run CRYSTAL on a remote desktop to a supercomputer so there's no problem there, but MOLDRAW is native to windows and I have a Mac. I've tried opening it in WineBottler and it didn't work, although this might be a problem with my input files.

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Technology / Are foldable-phones from Huawei and Samsung the next big thing, or big flop?

« on: 08/05/2019 09:19:25 »

Earlier today my mother linked to me a video on YouTube comparing two foldable phones soon to be released to market. As I watched this I couldn’t help but wonder if this was the best step forward for mobile innovation, or for innovation in general.

So, what do I mean? Well, thee’s a long winded and time consuming explanation I could give about how humanity’s cornerstone reason for progress is convenience, but I’ll save that for a future installment to what may or may not be a regular blog. For now, take that tidbit of an opinion based on some observation above into consideration first: Humanity’s cornerstone reason for progress is convenience.

Now, I’m of a mind that convenience isn’t a bad thing, but could be better appreciated by all. Also, the philosophy of it can be saved for later. So, being in agreement with the idea of better convenience in all things I’m all for better and more innovative tech, mobile or otherwise.

However, (and here we actually get to the meat and potatoes of the post), The foldable aspect of these devices by Huawei and Samsung, I feel, have not been applied in the most innovative way. Furthermore, I believe calling these mobile devices foldable phones is the wrong perspective.