Brain Enema of a Savage Mind

Fondleslab? Seriously?

I’ve never liked the term “slate” when it comes to devices like the iPad. Of corse for many geeks “tablet” makes them think for the old Windows unwieldily touchscreen devices. I’ve also heard them refered to as “slabs” which I just find to be atrocious. Now I’ve been exposed to a new term for them which makes every inch of my soul cry out in hellish agony: “fondleslab”. Seriously.

Apparently the term was originally born as a jab about those people who drool all over their newest bit of technology in public. Of course this term was given to us by the same people who insist on using the term “fanboi”, yes, with that awful spelling. A lot of the words born on the Internet, usually spread like wildfire by forum trolls, make me cringe. It’s as bad as people who use all the abbreviations popularized by texting even in long form media. This new abuse of the English language might, in my opinion, be the worst. It certainly has jumped straight to the top 5 at any rate.

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Making a Jailbreak

Well i already failed the post a day challenge I gave myself. However I’m not overly shocked by that failure. But I’ll just get right back on that horse and see if i can find a rhythm.

Anyway…

One feature I’ve always wished would be added to the iPad is the ability to select a default browser rather than always being forced to Safari every time that I click on a link. Apple doesn’t seem interested in adding that functionality. Normally the “walled garden” approach that Apple has adopted doesn’t bother me. I like that for most things the device just works. Still some of the things Apple seems anxious to lock down make little sense to me, especially from a usability standpoint. Maintaining control isn’t necessarily a bad thing, however singsong a strangle hold is, and that’s what it feels like Apple is intent on doing sometimes. With all that in mind I finally decided it was time to jailbreak my iPad.
Continue reading…

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Is there an Android in my future?

I’m not exactly a heavy phone user, but I’ve always loved gadgets, especially ones that will allow me to touch the Internet from where ever I happen to be. Still the obscene contractually prices have always turned me off. Even with just a regular “dumb phone” (god I hate that term) I’ve avoided contracts as I don’t use even close to enough minutes for even their smallest plans. I’ve been on a few contracts before but always find myself going back to prepaid plans. I’ve gone through several prepaid companies, each with their own pros and cons, but I’ve always gotten some random cheap run of the mill phone. This might be about to change.

Virgin Mobile has had the Samsung Intercept for a little while now. It’s the first Android phone that they’ve offered and I can safely say I wasn’t overly excited by it. It got pretty bad reviews for being laggy and having a very non-responsive touchscreen. Then there is the price. Sure, with prepaid the phone prices are always on the high side as there is no contract that helps to subsidize the phones cost, but for what the Intercept offered the price was bad. Today Virgin Mobile announced the LG Optimus V. Not only does it look like a much nicer phone (early reviews are backing that up), but it’s 100 bucks cheaper which puts it squarely in the range I’m willing to pay.

Sure, this is by no means a top of the line phone. That’s the one drawback with a lot of the prepaid services, they tend to sell at best mid-range phones that tend to be “outdated”. However seeing as how a phone has never been, and likely never will be my primary device of communication, having the latest and greatest isn’t a major priority for me. When I’m out and about it’ll let me quickly check email or look up something on the web which is all I’m really looking for. And of course all this comes in at 25$ a month for unlimited texts, email, web, data. Sure, it only gives me 300 minutes of voice a month, but right now I average about 30 minutes a month. With my current phone the highest voice minutes used in a month was a little over 200 and that was used by Denise who was having issues with her phone and spending all my minutes trying to get someone to fix her problem.

I’ve still got 60 days and gobs of minutes with my current prepaid so I’ve got time to ponder it, and to see what other phones might come out in the prepaid arena. But right now I’m thinking that come my birthday I might finally be joint the smartphone generation.

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Welcome to the world of tomorrow!

After a lot of thinking, pondering, going back and forth, and more than just a little bit of drooling, I finally broke down and got an iPad. Yes, I’m quite aware when the iPad came out that I panned it. One of my complaints, like many others, is that the iPad is just a big iPod touch. In many ways it is nothing more than that, but I’ve come to the conclusion, so what?

The iPod touch has been a real champ for me over the past couple of years, but the size had it’s limitations. It was good for light browsing and some quick e-mails, but it got a little tiring for protracted use for me. Not to mention the battery wasn’t suited to all day use. It’s a great little media device, but after a couple years I couldn’t help but want more.

Once it was announced that iOS 4 wouldn’t run on the 1st generation iPod touch I knew it was about time to start looking in to a replacement. To be honest at that point I still hadn’t really considered the iPod and was eagerly awaiting the 4th generation iPod touch as that’s what I was pretty sure I was going to upgrade to. When it was announced I was fairly impressed by it, though like many others I felt that using an underwhelming camera just to make the device thinner was a rather annoying move – likely one meant to minimize cannibalization of iPhone sales. Still I gave it a good look and was still fairly certain I was going to go with that. Then I played with the iPad demo at Best Buy. I was hooked.

I’m now a little over 24 hours in to owning one and it’s been a good experience so far. Most of the iPad specific apps I’ve played with are well thought out and imaginatively take advantage of the extra space the iPad screen offers. The web use is fantastic and I can’t say the lack of flash has been an issue. Sure, I don’t have much against Flash and wouldn’t mind seeing it on the iPad. I was most impressed by the ESPN website which normally uses quite a bit of Flash, but detects that you’re on the iPad and adjusts accordingly, taking out the flash and replacing with what I’d suspect is HTML 5.

I’ve yet to play with the 3G options on it, but the built in GPS is more than adequate. It might not zero in on my exact position, but it comes close enough for my needs on a device like this. I’ll have more to say about the 3G and traveling with the iPad after my upcoming trip to California.

After a day of use (and going gaga after the great battery life) I love the iPad.

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WordPress App on the iPod Touch.

I’ve only ever once used the official wordpress app on my iPod touch, and this post makes it twice. I really do want to like this app but I can’t help but feel there are some things lacking about it.

One thing I pick up on right away is the fact it doesn’t list all the tags I’ve used in the past, allowing me to select ones I want from a list. It makes it a touch inconvenient having to remember the different tags that I use as I don’t want to always keep adding new ones, or having to go bag and fix the tags later.
The other problems I have with it are things that are lacking in the writing of a post. Seemingly I can’t use the more tag or split something in to multiple pages. Also missing is an easy way to add links, and especially to shorten them. These are small things, but things that really should be part of a mobile app.

I know the app is a work in progress and it’s not as if WordPress has massive developer resources that they can throw at the problem. Still I’ve seen some well thought out and feature-filled apps released by just a couple of developers so I don’t think it’s much to as to see a WordPress app with a little more usability.

I’ve got some high hopes for version 2.6. Hopefully I’ll be blown away.

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