Wednesday, March 17, 2010

WinMo7 Disappoinment


Ahh this week has been a week of disappointment for me in regards to WinMo 7 during MIX10 (huge software conference). The first bit of news details the way Apps would be loaded onto the new Operating System (OS).


The first bit of bad news entails Microsoft deciding to take the approach that Apple has and only allow App installation through their new Marketplace. At first this was a punch to the gut. In previous versions of WinMo, all one had to do was load a file known as a CAB onto the phone, open it up, and then install. Usually CABs were left on the memory card. But after thinking about it I can see what MS was trying to do. They wanted to be sure that all Apps worked properly on the OS. Hopefully they will not do what Apple has done and have super strict guidelines on what types of Apps are allowed to be loaded onto a phone. It should be the user's choice as to what is installed on a phone...not the companies. If I want to watch porn then damnit it I want to watch porn!!


The next bit of news is the lack of expandable memory, or in other words, a removable SD memory card. Now, this won't be a huge issue as long as we have plenty of space, but I still think not including the option was a mistake


Third bit of news, which really struck a blow to to the productivity/functionality aspect of WinMo was the lack of Copy/Paste. Now this really, really, really pissed me off. I use to brag and make fun of iPhone users for not having this feature at first, but now MS thinks this isn't important enough to have at release? HUUUUGE mistake. They are going to lose customers to Google and Apple just for this reason alone.


No Multitasking....*sigh*. I knew it was coming. Just like with an iPhone, there will be no 3rd party App multitasking. FAIL FAIL FAIL. Buuuut...the native Apps should be ok, so you can run Internet Explorer in the background


In conclusion, it seems that Microsoft is taking a huge step back. Especially in terms of productivity and functionality. Hopefully the Marketplace won't be too censored and we'll have a software update for the Copy/Paste issue asap.
There are still alot of pluses with the new OS. The "Live Tiles" on the home screen that pull info from all your different Apps, Xbox Integration, Zune integration.....still very promising and i'll more than likely be picking one up that includes a keyboard (no matter the provider)


Wednesday, February 24, 2010

One Chasis for Microsoft's WinMo7?

Now this is some disturbing news and something my friend asked me the day of Microsoft's press conference. Will WinMo 7 phones only have 1 type of model? A good question since during the press conference we were told that all phones will have 3 buttons: back, home, and search. I assured her that wouldn't be. There would be some differences. In Engadget's article they claim there will be 3 different types of chassis (es? lol). The first one is the one that was passed around during the conference. Pretty much your standard touch screen, iPhone type. This may be the only type available at release. And according to the article there will be one much like the Palm Treo and 1 other. We'll just have to wait and see. I'm kinda on the fence on how I feel about this. Actually that 3rd one better have a sliding QWERTY keyboard.

Engadget's Article

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Racism...Why Won't You Die?!

So this morning when I woke up, the first thing I did was log into Facebook like a junkie. The only thing that seemed interesting in my News Feed was a YouTube video my friend posted:


Now although the video was entertaining (I mean that guy was 67 years old and laid that dude OUT!), I knew immediately the kind of reaction it would get. So I scrolled down to the comments and there we had all of our "nigger" comments. Now in the video you can hear different racist comments towards the old white guy too, which were of course wrong, but some of the comments I read just made it seem like this guy was a representation of the entire black human race. I'm just really disappointed with the comments and the racist comments from the people in the video.

But yeah...they're are alot of racist comments like this on Youtube. If you Google....no if you SEARCH the internet (Google did not invent the search engine!! sorry...random) for "Youtube, racism" i'm sure you'll get lots of results

USA Takes 3 Golds Last Night



Last night at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, the USA brought home 3 golds in my favorite events

Snowboard Half Pipe was brought home by the one and only Shaun White. That guy is just pure talent. A few weeks ago before the Olympics, he participated in the Winter X Games where he was involved in a nasty accident, but got up and an hour later took home first place with his new signature trick. Lago Scott won the bronze for the USA in this event.

Lindsey Vonn managed to pull the gold medal while having a bruised shin. That's pretty amazing considering the amount of stress they put on their legs when making those turns. We also silvered this even with Julia Mancuso's run.

And finally Shani Davis, the first Black to win a gold winter olympic event, defends his title in the 1000m speed skating even and becomes the first person ever to do it.

For more on the 2010 Winter Olympics you can go here

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Video: Lupe Fiasco - I'm Beamin (Unofficial)

L.A.S.E.R.S. coming soon

Social Networking Gone too Far?



I remember just a few years ago when my cousin tried to get me to join Facebook. I really didn't see any point, especially since I had Myspace already, but I joined. Then I got bored and got all my friends to join. And now it's like a drug. I'm always logged in at work, at home, on my phone. I just gotta stay 'connected'.

Another huge networking site is Twitter. We all know what Twitter is and I'm not going to elaborate on it, but I gotta stay connected to this too. Mainly to get my news on different Tech, Politics, and whatever else I'm interested in.

Since Facebook social networking has becoming a huge industry. Facebook alone is worth about $11 billion dollars. Ridiculous. And I know they're trying to figure out how to profit off of Twitter. Actually some celebs, like Kim Kardashian (God bless her) gets paid thousands of dollars per tweet advertisement. Craaaazy!

Even cops are beginning to use Facebook to make bust on all kinds of crimes: Sex offenders, underage drinking, etc.

Besides these little companies that make software for our phones and computers to stay connected on the social networks, we now have other BIG companies are hopping on the social networking band wagon. Companies like Google and even Microsoft. Google recently launched a beta software called Google Buzz which basically is a Facebook/Twitter built into your Gmail. So far it has failed.

Now Microsoft is releasing something that integrates your Facebook and Twitter into your Outlook program called the Outlook Social Connector. Now this is pretty neat, but how many people outside of their job use Outlook? Not many. It would have been a better fit with their Hotmail product. Oh how I wish Gmail did something similar instead of trying their own thing.

Social networking....ahh how it has made life so impersonal. What's worst...text messages or a tweet?




The Year of the Tablet/Slate?

For 2010, a lot of people have been talking about how this will be the beginning of the tablet/slate era. For those that don't know a tablet is basically a laptop with a touch screen and a slate is laptop with touch screen and no keyboard.

At the beginning of the year Apple introduced it's Apple iPad which fits into the "Slate" category. Now everyone had high hopes for the product, but from reading different articles and forums on the Internet, not many people are that excited.

Now, Apple isn't the only company releasing this year. There are several other companies, such as HP and Dell, releasing a slate.

Here's a list and comparison of all the devices from Gizmodo.

I've highlight the two that I think are going to be the best. The HP Slate and the iPad. I already gave my thoughts on the iPad here. Now the HP Slate looks very promising. It has the iPad beaten in just about every aspect; the main being the OS. Now the only point it may not beat the iPad is the battery life. Apple is great with battery life, and I don't think HP will be able to get it up close to those 10hrs. If it can do 5hrs I will be impressed. I mean its running a full computer OS.

The Dell mini seems kinda pointless IMO. I mean 5" screen? You might as well stick with a cell phone. The Archos 7 isn't too bad and does quite a bit. It can even act as a DVR. But no flash, so don't plan on going to YouTube

The JooJoo is an Internet based device. No apps, no multitask, no multimedia. Pretty much useless. Definitely not worth $500. Archos 9 has no multitouch, and uses a regular hard drive and not a SSD like the others.

Conclusion: Keep an eye out on the HP Slate and even the Apple iPad. I think they are the most promising out of the bunch and the ones i'm more willing to drop $500 on

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Verizon's BOGO Sale


Starting today, Verizon is beginning their BOGO sale. Pretty much its Buy 1 Get 1 Free on any phone Verizon sells. Blackberries, WinMo, Android...anything.

I believe requirements are a 2yr contract and a data plan. But who doesn't buy data plans with these phones???

Sounds like a good deal to me.

LMAO - Old Spice Commercials

Yesterday I saw the funniest Old Spice commercial. So I went on youtube today to watch it again and I found a few more. These could have easily had made the Super Bowl cut.





This is One Bad Ass

I posted this up on my Facebook the other day, so I had to share this. Play both videos to get the full experience. (I'd say give the music a good 5-10sec head start on the video...)



Apple's iPad


(Although old news, I had to do a post on the 1st piece of big news this year in the tech world.)

First of all...that is a complete fail with the naming. iPad? Really Apple? Even after knowing that SNL did a skit on this along time ago?








Ok, now people usually write me off as completely Anti-Apple and a hater. And they're pretty much right. I hate how they run business and how people fall for their...gimmicks. I'm not, however, a hater of the quality of their products.


Now saying all that I must say that I'm kinda on the fence about the iPad. So i'll just note some likes and dislikes.
LIKES:
  • Price - This may be one of Apple's most reasonably priced products they've ever released. $500 for the bare minimum isn't too bad for all that you get (giant iPod + eReader)
  • Battery Life - They say it can get a good 10hrs (probably really 7) off a single charge which is pretty nice for those long flights or car rides
  • Size - 10" can fit just about anywhere except for your pocket

I guess that's really all for that. I could see myself buying this for watching movies on trips and playing games, but that's really all.

DISLIKES:

  • eReader - Now although it is also an eReader, the bright ass screen will cause eye strain after long periods of use. dedicated eReaders use e-Ink that lets you read without this problem.
  • It's from Apple - Now...since this is running on iPhone OS, you'll have to get apps from the their App store, which means you have to play by their rules, which i just hate.
  • Multitasking - None. WTF? So if I'm surfing the web, and have to pull up something else, I have to close the browser, open the other program, close it, then go back and start over where I was at on the web? Come on Apple....really?
  • Presentation - Now this is really nothing against the product itself, but the way Steve Jobs presented this to us. He made it sound like this was something completely ground breaking and it would change how computing was to be done. Such BS. There is really nothing new or special about this product.

They have different models such as 16, 32, 64GB versions with or without 3G from AT&T

There's more I like and don't like about this product. Could I recommend it to someone? It's hard to say. if you think you need a large iPhone/iPod touch then go for it. Movie watching and ebook reading would be great. At the end of the day...I know I dont have a need for one. I rather spend money on a fully functioning laptop.

Microsoft finally Gets off their Ass


Yesterday Microsoft finallllllly announced its next mobile operating system, 'Windows Phone Series 7'. A mouthful, I know. Most of us tech geeks just call it WinMo 7 though. Now WinMo users have been waiting for a very long time for this (I know I have). The rumors of the project started all the way back in 2008 with "Project Pink". Now after almost 2 years they come out with what seems to be a very, very promising idea.


First off, let me just say that Microsoft really had to bring it in order to stay competitive. With the iPhone, Android, and BB's out there MS has been lacking. Anything less than a complete breakthrough would just be a sign of defeat on their part. I'm very impressed that Microsoft completely step away from previous WinMo systems, and this alone should be applauded for a company so stuck in its ways.

There is still not alot known about WinMo 7, but it does seem to run like a Zune HD, which I own and like alot. They seem to incorporate Palm's WebOS "Cloud" idea where information is pulled from several sources such as Outlook, Facebook, and Windows Live. I was a little disappointed that I didn't hear anything about Twitter though. Hopefully that will be incorporated somewhere. The Xbox Live feature seems interesting where you are essentially logged into your account and can even play games. Actually makes me want to buy a Xbox 360.

I'm a little worried about the day to day usability and traditional WinMo productivity features. Also about how apps and such are installed; will apps be installed downloaded then installed like now or directly through an iPhone type App store. I hope the former. Multitasking? Notifications? How will manufacturer differentiate between models since all phones have to have same 3 buttons? Software development? They really didn't go into alot of detail, but only time will tell.

All I can say is Microsoft really seems to have stepped up the game. We'll see where they're at during the Holidays when they release it

What's good Internet!!

I finally made the move to get this blog up and running.

Let's see....i'll be posting any news I find interesting relating to consumer electronics and tech. Computers, videogames, TV, Phones, etc. etc. It will be all over the place

But there will be more to it. There will also be News articles, Youtube videos, pictures or anything else I find worth sharing. (Yea I know this blog will be all over the place. aw well).

Layouts on here are pretty *blah* so this will be it till I find better.

So thanks for coming through. 1st post coming in a few!
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