The Android Advantage

The following is adapted from an email conversation I had with my father on the merits of Android and iPhone (I use an Evo, and a 4S every day):

To start with there were a couple issues that I have found difficult to deal with using the iPhone. In addition to the lack of a notification light, the small screen is a big issue when typing, especially since the system refuses to rotate to the landscape keyboard during many common functions. Most notably, this occurs whenever entering your Apple ID password, something that occurs quite often (for example, every time you want to download from the App Store or iTunes). I have long complicated passwords with special characters for security reasons, and this approach is cumbersome to say the least. I find the keyboard itself to be unintuitive as well, the characters on the keys do  not change from capital to lower case which makes it easy to forget what case you are in, especially on case sensitive passwords that are invisible. Also, all special characters are found on a second function page (to put a period at the end of a sentence requires two button presses instead of one). The phone itself strikes me as fragile, being glass on both sides, and small, it would be very easy to drop and break. In fact, my company purchased an Otterbox case to protect my phone. Unfortunately, this negates advantages of the phones small footprint and beautiful aesthetic qualities. My iPhone is now a fat brick with the same footprint and quite a bit more thickness than my Evo without the benefit of the Evo's 4.3” screen. As I mentioned on the phone with you though, I do think that many of these issues would cease to be an impediment to productivity with persistent use.

Also, addressing your concerns about the business and cloud services. Google has jumped into the business space with both feet. They have a very comprehensive set of cloud offerings that, I think, trumps Apple’s initial foray into the space.

Google Apps for Business:

http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/index.html#utm_campaign=en&utm_source=en-ha-na-us-bk&utm_medium=ha&utm_term=google%20apps

Even if you choose not to use the business license, most of these apps are already available for free with the Chrome Web Browser. As a private user, I have been using Google Docs (now Drive) for  years now. I’ve found this cloud office suite to be both powerful and lightweight, and since it operates completely from the cloud, and has Android integration, I am never without my data. Google offers great solutions for the use of its cloud services. Integration with Android is assured of course, while the Chrome Internet Browser brings complete access from your PC, Mac, or Linux desktop, and the introduction of the Chromebook laptops have brought cloud computing on the go to a new level. No other company offers such a comprehensive array of cloud based products.

The most compelling consideration for me though, is Google’s attitude toward my data. Google has a very open data liberation policy. No matter what service you use Google believes that the data you store and create within their cloud is your property, and Google pledges to make it easy for you to liberate it from their systems.

Google’s Data Liberation Policy:

http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2009/09/introducing-dataliberationorg-liberate.html

I know you mentioned that you liked the Photo Stream picture syncing feature of IOS5. This feature is available right now on Android, and features unlimited storage space as well as Picasa’s photo editing features available right in the browser. This comes in the form of the Google+ app, G+ is Google’s new social network built from the ground up with privacy in mind. Having a G+ account brings a lot of features, one of which is “Instant Upload” of your photo’s to the cloud as you take them. There is no requirement to ever share anything on G+, or even to make your profile public, and it offers a lot of benefits for free. And due to Google’s DLP, you never have to worry about getting those photos from Google onto whatever device you may be using (and there is a G+ app for IOS too).

In addition, Google Music is another stellar piece of their cloud portfolio. Google offers 300GB of music storage (approx. 20,000 songs), for free. You can buy music now on the Android market (they also give away 1 free song a day), or you can buy from iTunes, or AmazonMP3, or any other service you wish. Google provides Music Manager, a program that automatically uploads your music to the cloud as soon as it hits your hard drive, regardless of its source. And naturally, Google provides an easy way for you to repatriate or destroy this data as you see fit.

As you can see, I’ve been following the developments in the cloud computing sphere for a while now. I believe this is where all computing is moving, as does Apple and Google. These two are the major players for the time being, and I don’t think you could really go wrong with either one. They will both continue to innovate and add features and functionality to their offerings, but at the moment I believe that Google has the edge, and for me their open policies solidify their argument for their services.

Have a good day.

Organics

So about three weeks ago my wife and I switched to an all organic diet, with an emphasis of eating fresh foods. Lately I'm noticing that I am much less tired in the mornings, and I don't get tired in the middle of the day nearly as often either. This is despite the fact that my sleep habits haven't changed, I get 4-5hrs a night.

My daughter, who will be 3 in a month, has always been on an organic diet. It was her health that prompted my wife and I to look into it. She has only ever been sick twice in her life, and the two colds she did get were less severe and had a much shorter duration, than me and my wife's.

We have also been able to switch to organic without increasing our grocery bill (mostly thanks to buying fresh), and I can't wait to see what the benefits are long term. If you are thinking about making the switch, I highly recommend you give it a try. Do a little research and see what you've been eating!

Inconsistent Records

After watching the last two debates, the polls, and finally the results of the South Carolina Primary, I am finding myself consistently surprised that the American people are choosing candidates with poor records. Both Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney have horrible records. They seem to have changeable opinions based on what they think will get them elected (which I consider business as usual for politics in America). But my point is, I really thought that after doubling our debt in three years to $15 trillion, and seeing how Obama has flipped on so many promises he made as a candidate (ending the wars), the people of this country would be looking for somebody incorruptible. Only Ron Paul has the record to back up his rhetoric! He has never had an inconsistent vote! His record is unassailable! Even if you don't agree with everything he says, at least you know what you are getting, and you can count on him to abide by the limits set by our constitution.

No President can come in and just do whatever they want, though we are getting close. Wouldn't it be nice to have somebody in office that you could trust not to abuse it's considerable power, for a change. With Mitt and Newt as our anointed front runners, we are left to wonder what agenda they would push as president, and what parts of the constitution's limits they would choose to follow. Would we end up in another war (with Iran), without the people's representatives in Congress getting a vote?

The race is still young, but I fear that if Ron Paul doesn't score a victory soon he will be completely marginalized, and the American public will get in line to follow whoever they are told the favorite is. If you want somebody you can trust in the oval office, I suggest you do whatever you can to lend your support to Ron Paul now. There is no time left to decide. Volunteer time or money, or both, so we can get America on the right path again. I have.

CES Fun!

Good stuff coming out of CES so far, here's some stuff that has stood out to me:

Innovations for TV:
Canonical (maker of Ubuntu Linux) has come to CES for the first time, and they dropped a whopper with Ubuntu TV. It is still in the alpha stages, but they demonstrated some working software and it looks great! It'll be open source too, which I love. So hopefully they can shake up the market for smart TV's a little since Google and Apple have let it grow a little stale. On the subject of Google however, it looks as it Eric Schmidt knew what he was talking about when he said GoogleTV would be on a majority of new televisions this year! It seems like every major manufacturer, with the notable exception of Sharp, is cramming El Goog's open source GoogleTV software onto their big screens. I say that Sharp's exclusion is notable because they are expected to team up with Apple to bring an AppleTV offering sometime this year, though Apple does not attend CES and has a lockdown on their software and products, so information on their new platforms (no open source here) will be forthcoming when Apple decides it's ready.


Tablets:
The best announcement I've seen so far is Asus's 7" Prime, this bad boy has Nvidia's Kal El processor and Android 4.0 (Ice cream Sandwich), and will retail for an incredible $249! My prediction it that this will really shake up the Tablet market, and that's great for consumers. Unfortunately, along with this came Asus's announcement of another Transformer Prime that is an upgrade of the current Transformer Prime, adding some new design elements to improve some wifi and gps issues with the current product and some other minor upgrades like a 2.0 megapixel front camera, and costing $100 more than the current Prime. To me, it looks like a re-release of the Prime where they are trying to fix what they got wrong the first time around, and a little bit of price gouging too. It also feels a little like an admission that the current Prime is a broken product, that they have little confidence in. We'll see if my perception is true however, the current Prime is selling well everywhere and has gotten mostly favorable reviews, and the new version isn't slated for release for a couple of months. I have the original Transformer and have been incredibly pleased with Asus customer service and support, and I am consistently in the earliest groups of tablets to receive updates ( I'm waiting on my guaranteed ICS update now, which should be within a few days :) Another interesting offering that I saw was a product from Lenovo that essentialy copies the Transformer's design. I hope this is the sign that quality first party keyboard docks are catching on, because it would be nice to have some competition in that segment of the market to drive innovation. Also, after owning the Transformer, I don't think I'd be in the market for a tab without this functionality.


Toys:
Only one real entry here so far, the upgraded AR Drone! If you haven't seen this yet, you must check it out on YouTube. It is basically a mini spy drone with two high def cameras on it, that you control from your Android device. And it's under $300! Just talking about it doesn't really do it justice though, you have to check this one out for yourself.


Hope you are enjoying all the cool new tech, I know I am! There's more to come too, so stay tuned, lol.

Debates and the week ahead...

I watched the the two republican primary debates last night and this morning, kind of a debate double header, which I liked. But I was constantly struck with how out of touch and petty the moderators were. In both cases, they seemed more intent on getting the candidates to argue with each other than to delve into the issues and policies. They seem deliberately counterproductive. It makes me wonder where the agenda comes from... is it a top down type of thing where corporate tells them what the questions should be, or do these "reporters" follow their own ambitions. One thing is for certain, they have little interest in asking about what the public wants to hear. In the great majority of the posted questions online, people wanted to hear the candidates speak about NDAA, and SOPA. These are huge topics for the Facebook crowd, and somehow they were never mentioned in the Facebook Debate! Instead we had a bunch of crap about what "so and so" said in an ad about "so and so," and who controls  their Super PAC's. What a waste of debate time, that stuff is easily handled by a press release, or an interview.

I also feel that Ron Paul didn't get his fair share of time to speak, though I suspect everyone feels that way about their favorite candidate. Dr. Paul did get some good words in, but if he's going to attack someone I wish he would go after Mitt more instead of wasting time on Santorum (who I don't perceive as much of a threat). There just isn't any sense in fighting over 2nd place, who want's to be second? In any case, it is clear that Mitt needs to take some hard knocks if he is going to have his momentum stopped.

One thing that I have come to realize, and I hate to admit it, but Ron Paul is not a great debater. He is soft spoken, stumbles over his words at times, and often gets ahead of himself. Some of this disadvantage is negated by the 24hr news cycle, and the new nature of the news (internet based for most people), because his quotes get played over and over which helps get the message across. Still, it is difficult to predict how a debate with him and Obama will go. It could go very badly, though I do think RP would do much better in a setting where issues and policy are the focus, and he can expound more on his policies. Unfortunately, it seems as if the media is hellbent on keeping this from happening.

On a lighter note, CES is this week! I know all the tech writers out their are whining about it, but that is just because it is work for them. But this really is the CONSUMER Electronics Show, and I am a consumer after all :) So, I can't wait to see all the new tech everyone has been working on, and it should be a nice vacation for my brain when all this political bs gets too overwhelming.

Presidential Politics

I have been a news junkie for ten years now, and presidential politics always gives me a charge. When the race for the presidency rolls around I instantly become even more engrossed than usual. I love to see the dynamic of the candidates, and sometimes incumbents, play out. Doing the research, studying records, evaluating character, and picking my champion has always been enjoyable for me. It's a learning process too, my ideals and understanding evolve with each passing moment.

Over these past ten years, I have grown into a strong Libertarian. For me, this was a natural evolution as I progressed into manhood. The United States of America has provided a framework in which I can be successful, and I have done so by the sweat of my own brow, and with the support of the ones I love. I have watched as others have squandered these same opportunities, and that is their choice. The trend I have noticed however, is moving more towards rewarding the lazy and penalizing the prudent (no matter how much they make or save). It seems we have reached the point where people have learned that they can vote themselves money.

To say that we are in an unsustainable pattern seems obvious to me. The federal government is basically operating under an ad hoc set of rules, the paradigm under which they function shifts as they see fit. The constitution has been trampled, and our government has ceased to be representative of the people.

This has been going on for some time now, and it is accelerating. We have been warned since our country was founded , to beware this type of creeping tyranny. Now we stand on the cusp of losing our identity as Americans.

In short, the only way I see this changing is to get Ron Paul elected somehow. I am not usually an activist, but it is so rare to see a politician so ideologically pure, with the record to back it up, that I feel I must do what I can. For the country that I love, I see it as imperative to bring the American Revolution full circle again. In order to avoid a slow ugly decline, we must return to the first principals, and our identity as Americans.

If you read this and have something to add, agree or disagree, drop me a message or comment and lets discuss. I am under now illusions that one man can do it all, but I think electing Ron Paul is a good first step to putting the USA back on the track to peaceful strength, and prosperity through individual excellence. What do you think?