Code and Coffee

My quote of the day during a argument with a Windows Fanatic.

It is really frustrating to me, to see online news start to go by the wayside just like mainstream news has. I have been with the ‘blogger revolution’ from the beginning, from when we started to change to way people get their news. But these days, it is filled with horrible tricks just to produce more clicks.

Nobody watches the 9:00 or 10:00 news hour anymore. Because it’s all about useless stories that speculate and cause panic. We have all heard those head lines: “Could your toilet be killing your children slowly? Find out tonight at the 9:00 hour.” And sure enough when you tune in at 9:00 it’s a useless story, that is nothing like the horrible headline, followed by stupid little jokes amongst the news casters. And this is the reason why our generation doesn’t watch these news outlets on a regular basis, we tune in from time to time when their is something huge in the world going on.

Well unfortunately I have been watching this happen to the bloggers online, and its a shame. We changed the game people! We changed the way people get their news, and we are going to ruin it if we keep it up.

For example, today I log into to Google Reader and there is a headline “How To Watch The Apple Tablet Event LIVE Online” and I think great, this will be good I do want to watch that online. And sure enough a click through goes to an article that does not list any place on the web to watch the event online.

Or even better, even notice how the huge blogs do not link to and sources or outside links at all? For example Gizmodo, in which I am not linking to here because I do not think they deserve my measly little link, will only link to itself when referencing a product or software title. Never will it link to the actual homepage of the product. I should not have to open a new tab and find that source myself! Link! You got your page view, you got your advertisement showing, now pass it on. But I am now going to unsubscribe to you because you do not play nice.

Other games that these sites play are: throughout the day they will slightly change the article which will cause it to be re-posted and re downloaded in the RSS feeds, non-stop reporting about rumors and speculation like we have seen with the Apple Tablet, and others.

It really has to stop!

You are going to lose subscribers and lose people eye balls as you lose their trust. We changed the game people! Lets stay on top.

I am a huge believer in multiple monitors for increased efficiency. There is nothing as joyful about having three monitors at your disposal for increased screen real-estate. Some of you also know I am a avid Mac user, and have two Mac-Mini’s at my home office. One of those Mac-Mini’s as a server and one as my main development machine.

Recently I have been getting a lot of questions on how I hooked up three monitors up to a Mac-Mini. Well I have one of the newer models that have two display ports. Then I use a Diamond BVU195 HD USB Display Adapter, which basically takes a USB port and converts it to a DVI. It does support Mac, but you need to grab the “driver” from their forums. I was skeptical at first, but it works seamlessly. Once you restart after installing the driver, you go to your display properties just like before and WALA! a new monitor.

The only problems you will see is if you are using the BVU195 on a USB hub, which is not a good idea. It should be plugged directly into your computer.

I have not tested how many monitors you can add, since you have a boat load of USB ports on the Mac-Mini’s; however yes I am tempted

It’s pretty awesome!

Everyone has those applications that on a day-to-day basis are life savers, time savers, and all around hero’s.

Dropbox:

I recently gave up my MobileMe account, because of my move to the Nexus One phone. One of my favorite features was the iDisk that synchronized a virtual disk between multiple computers. It wasn’t as seamless that I think it could and should be. I came across Dropbox which is 100% better. I have never gotten an error with Dropbox, and it has 2GB for free! You can put anything in the Dropbox folder and it synchronizes beautifully.

1Password:

I do not mess around with password. Every one of my passwords is a very long, random generated password. WIth 1Password it not only keeps your passwords securely, but it helps you generate secure passwords. If you use 1Password in addition to Dropbox mentioned above, you can have your password database on every one of your computers.

Spanning Sync:

The Android does 100% better job of syncing calendars, contacts, and Gmail that the iPhone. But the OSX desktop is lacking the support for true synchronization with Gmail services. Spanning Sync does a perfect job of synchronization Ical with your Gmail Calendar, and your Address book with your Gmail Contacts.

Gmail Studio:

I am sorry if you feel this is a shameless plug, but Gmail Studio is a life saver in managing the ever-flowing email that comes through my three Gmail accounts.

Adium:

I have tried many different IM clients, and they all have their pros and cons. Adium is the bet in my book. I wish it would be more seamless with Meebo, but that is just me wanting the last of my communications in the cloud.

—-

So what are the OSX applications you can’t live without? I am always up for trying new things!

Nexus One is still getting some flack in the news. For me? The Nexus One has been more of a companion to me than my iPhone ever was. So I decided to make a list of all the things I can do on my Nexus One that I could not do with my stock, non-jail-broken, iPhone.

• Take 5mp pictures
• Take pictures with a flash
• Send an email by speaking into the phone
• Send a text message by speaking into the phone
• Search the web by speaking into the phone
• Free SMS
• Free transcribed voicemail
• Run background applications
• Download beta applications
• Download applications from multiple sources
• Set any sound as my SMS notification
• Set any sound for my Email notification
• Receive Twitter background notifications
• Receive Facebook background notifications
• Free GPS with street view
• Widgets on my home screens
• Take videos
• Access the filesystem

Oh and I almost forgot, yes after four months you can change around your service plan with T-Mobile. Four months is the contract between Google and T-Mobile, after that you own the phone and can move your service plan. You can change everything but the web, that is the only thing requires because *shocker* it needs the web to work.

Still, stop huffing and puffing.

It just doesn’t stop with these “reporters” that just cause a fuss because it generates page views. The big thing today in the news is “The Real Cost of The Nexus One”.

Everyone is in a tiff because some one finally read the fine print in the Nexus One Google contract that shows Google has the right to charge a recovery fee if you break your T-Mobile contract after the 14 day trial period.

OH MY THE WORLD IS GOING TO END!!!!

Well this is nothing new people. See the reason Google can sell you the phone at a discounted rate is because they have an agreement to get some money off of the service that they give T-Mobile, and if you break that contract Google is out the money every month. So that phone you got for cheap is not really yours, because you haven’t paid for it because you did not stay in your two year contract. So yeah, Google wants it back… and good for them because maybe you shouldn’t order a subsidized phone with the intent to break a contract and expect no penalties.

And then there is the confusion from some people on who to go to for support. “Oh I bought the phone from Google, but HTC manufactured it, and TMobile is my service provider…who do I go to?!?!?!”

Well it’s pretty simple, but let me break it down for you just in case you haven’t figured it out yet.

If you problem with your service, go to your service provider. If you have problems with the device go to HTC.

You see, when you buy something in the store, there is usually a note from the manufacture inside that says “Having problems? Don’t go back to the store, call us.” That is the manufacturer saying, let us take care of the problems. Why? Because they are the ones that made the device. When you go back to the store, the store has to in turn pay to return it to the manufacturer, and then they get a refund, which doesn’t nearly cover their cost, and everyone loses because next time the store doesn’t order as many in bulk, and prices go up, and you pay more.

In this situation Google is the store, and HTC is the manufacturer.. don’t go crying to Google if you phone breaks, call up HTC.. it’s under warranty.

And please. PLEASE stop looking for news where there is not news. None of this is new, every manufacturer, and service provider do it.

The Nexus One is a great piece of technology, and no it’s still not an iPhone… but that’s the best part about it!

There has been a lot of press lately on the new Nexus One phone from Google, and most people are giving it a hard time. Well I have been using a Nexus One now, as my main phone and all I can say is.. you are all wrong!

Here is a little bit of background: I am currently an AT&T customer, and have since 11/21/2004. I have used the iPhone 3G as my only cell phone since it came out. I am a loyal Mac user, and only use Macs for day to day operation.

I purchased the Nexus One to use as my main phone, because my iPhone is broken. It will serve as a great spare MP3 player, but as a phone it has been dropped one too many times. I am also converting over to TMobile with the Nexus One, and leaving the ever going horrible service of AT&T.

What You Are All Wrong About:

Lets break it down to the main complaints about the Nexus One, and why they are so wrong it makes me laugh.

• The Boy Genius hates it because, well it’s not an iPhone, and certain apps have similar buttons located in different places. Well ,want to know what? It is NOT an iPhone, and application design is open, so open that developers can develop what they want, how they want, when they want, and update whenever! And that’s a beautiful thing! If you have a problem with an application design, go to the application developer.. but this has nothing to do with the Nexus One.
• There are problem with the Nexus One on TMobiles 3G service. Yup! there might be, I myself have had no problems so far. But the phone was just released, and the iPhone had a lot more problems when it was first released. Do you not think this will be fixed? Yeah it will! The phone was just released, and out of the gate has a lot better experience than the original iPhone was as far as getting up and running. Remember the problems with activation, where it was jamming the services of AT&T because Apple is so much of a control freak that they make people activate through iTune? Remember AT&T tell you to talk to Apple, and Apple told you to talk to AT&T. When I go my iPhone, it took not 1, not 2, but 3 different phones and standing in an AT&T store for 6 hours!!!!! Yeah Ok?!?!
• It doesn’t have a gloss back, and the same visual pleasure of the iPhone. Again people it’s not an iPhone!!!! And you know what, I am glad it does not have a slick back. Because that is the reason I have dropped my iPhone so much! It’s hard to grip, it slips if you hands are sweaty. Get a case you say? I can, but why? I like to use products the way they come. The visual appeal of the iPhone doesn’t matter if it falls out of your hand all the time, or you have to cover it up with some skin! The Nexus One has texture, it has style!
• Well It doesn’t have multitouch!… yup sure doesn’t, and honestly for phone applications ‘finger gestures’ are plenty. I use my phone with one hand most the time. Multi touch isn’t the end all be all. And if you think Google is afraid of Apple’s multitouch patents, please… I am sure it’s coming soon… but in the mean time.. really? Who cares?!?!
• What’s up with that trackball? Yup the trackback is not for everyone… for me I like it, because again when using the phone in one hand… it’s a time saver. And if you do not like it, don’t use it. I know iPhone users are not used to this… but this is called CHOICES!
• The battery life sucks! No… no it does not! I have used this thing not for a full day, and I use it a lot. The thing is still kicking strong. The only thing I can think of is that all those initial reviewers were in too much of a hurry to be the first to post the inter-webs about how this thing isn’t an iPhone and they did not initially charge the battery for the full amount before even turning it on and therefor your batter sucks! It took over 5 hours to initially charge this thing, and I patiently waited because in the long run it will be worth it.
• It’s only on TMobile! yeah, what’s wrong with TMobile? I am glad I am no longer on AT&T. TMobile has 3G, arguably not as fast… but since AT&T is so bogged down with subscribers to the point where they stopped selling iPhones in NY and are offering incentives for heavy users; TMobile actually is faster. Oh and if you still are not sold, it’s coming to Verizon soon and you can use it unlocked. Again people… choices!

The bottom line people, is get out of your technology rut. Yes the iPhone kicks a lot of butt, but this is not an iPhone! And in a lot of areas, it gives the iPhone a run for it’s money:

• Bigger and better screen!
• Better processor
• The headphones rock, with much better controls for music
• Better voice quality, because of a chip they used
• More useful app choices, yeah there is still an app for that with Nexus One
• Google Voice!!!! which means awesome services like free SMS
• It’s more like an OS, in the sense where developers control their applications… YES!!!!!
• The purchasing experience was the best mobile purchasing experience I have had to date!
• No more $100 Mobile Me… free email, calendar, contact, bookmark sync!
• Better camera
• Flash with camera

Ok, honestly by now it really doesn’t matter. Google is in the phone business… and they have the services to back themselves. And honestly not one review I have read so far, can I believe that they honestly used the device for any extended period of time. I love Mac products, have three iPods, three Mac Mini’s, a Powerbook pro, an iPhone 3G, and will continue to use their OS and hardware; but they have been far too controlling of the iPhone, its marketplace, and how users want to interact with it. So now, onto my unboxing.

The Unboxing

My home theater setup is full of appliances. From an XBox 360, to a WII, to a BluRay player, to a DirecTV HD DVR, and the latest edition is an AppleTV. It is no secret that the AppleTV has gotten a bunch of flac for not being the media center that people want. But for me, I think it will be perfect.

I used to have a Mac Mini attached to my TV, and would use it as a media center for music, movies, etc. But after much frustration in getting the over scan and cropping problems that come with DVI to HDMI and a DLP TV, I re purposed that Mac Mini as a file server.

But what about your XBox 360? Yes what about it? I love my XBox 360, as a gaming platform.But Microsoft has failed to give it the necessary codec and media support that make it a media center that it really wants it to be.  So I gave up and realized that the XBox 360 is good for gaming, and I am not going to spend countless hours trying to encode my videos to the correct format and bitrate to please Microsoft.

You are a moron, just use Netflix and a Roku box! Yes, Netflix, they are great. I love that they are predicting that they will be done with shipping DVD’s and will soon be delivering just streaming content, and I really hope they get there fast. I actually canceled my NetFlix account. What are you high? No, I canceled it because I was paying $16 a month and all I would get is 4 DVD rentals a month and bad quality streaming of old releases. Seriously, I could watch a DVD that I got in the mail that night, and mail it back the next day; and I still would only be able to get 4 DVD’s a month shipped to me a month. That is not worth $16 a month to me. As for streaming, the quality on NetFlix is not all that great. I invested in a home theater with 5.1 sound and 1080p so I could actually get that. And in the fact that new releases take forever for NetFlix to offer as streaming; forget about it.

Ok, but the new Mac Mini’s have better support for 1080p output. Yes, and trust me it took every ounce of control not to pull the trigger on a new Mac Mini and go through the process of setting it up as a media center again. The Mac Mini’s are great little machines. They really are, but it’s a bit of an overkill to have attached to my TV, doing nothing but just streaming content. It was very hard not to go down this road.

And now we have AppleTV! Yes the Apple TV is does not have the beefiest processor, or a ton of memory. It’s not going to solve all the needs of a media center… but it just works…. it really just works. And at the end of a long day, that’s all I can ask from any of my technology. I just want it to work. I do not want to spend countless hours, tweaking, downloading, re-encoding, transferring, and making sure my content is there. Yes the Apple TV is designed to get you to buy content, and really what is wrong with that? I know we are a generation of expecting things to be free, but I work hard so I can enjoy these things. Not having to worry about being charged with piracy claims, having my ISP throttle me because of too much BitTorrent activity, that’s worth paying for my content. And the quality is great! Seriously tonight my better half and I rented Funny People in HD for $4, and the quality was amazing! So averaging a movie a week, that is cheaper than my old NetFlix account.

You add in the fact that the Apple TV is just dumb easy to use for those other less technology savvy people in my house, seamless interaction with my iTunes on my (old Mac Mini) file server, new releases, HD, and a huge community that support hacking/enhacing the Apple TV; I am sold. A part of me bought the Apple TV expecting to return it within 30 days. But for now I am happy. Apple clearly is winning the war on media delivered to your devices, and as long as the prices stay competitive; I am a customer. It just works! And I can live with that.

Now if we can just get HD sports broadcast on demand, I can cancel my DirecTV subscription.

It always gets really busy around the holidays for me, every year with no fail. This year has definitely been no different. My day job has been keeping me really busy, and at night I have been hard at work with BlueCrestStudios.

Gmail Studio v2.5 was released, and from now until the end of the year you can save 40% by using the coupon code ‘XMAS09‘. I am really proud of Gmail Studio, and I have lots of enhancements coming soon. The direction of Gmail Studio keeps me excited in developing for Mac OSX.

I have really taken a step out of current events in the technology industry, which is the reason for the lack of posts lately. Over the holiday break I am looking to get back into things, looking forward to catching up on events, books, and just some down time.

Whatever you are doing for the holidays, I hope you have a safe and enjoyable time.