You gotta read this!
http://theiphonefever.blogspot.com/p/idont-list.html
This is probably the best argument I've ever read about why the iPhone is not the superior machine everybody seems to think it is. I think the number one reason people who use it have to believe it is awesome is because they bought the most expensive consumer phone on the market, so obviously it must be the BEST at everything. Yeah... So by that logic the Bugatti Veyron is better than anything else, right? It gets lousy gas milage, is ridiculously expensive to repair, Doesn't have any trunk space, no headroom, no back seat, lousy sound system, and very high insurance premiums. That makes it the best. It also does poorly in the snow, excels at little more than driving in a straight line very fast, and comes in a very limited number of color options. Yet for over a million dollars, it is clearly the best, right? Let's take this conversation off road and see how it does against a Jeep. Or let's take it around town and see how it does against a Civic. Just because something is expensive and sexy, doesn't mean it has any use in the real world.
That is the way an iPhone works. It doesn't support widgets or real multi tasking. Until the recent Verizon launch, it couldn't broadcast a wifi hotspot. It is a TOY, plain and simple. Most of the apps in the market are stupid games that nobody really wants to play. It has very little use as a business accessory, yet somehow it is THE BEST phone evaaar!
Apple fanboys give me gas. They are stupid and brainless. They hate everything which isn't an iPhone simply because it isn't an iPhone. Forget that for what they use their phones for they could get more functionality out of just about any Android on the market. Forget that it has a woefully slow processor, which is probably why it can't multitask or do many of the other things Android users are able to do with their phones. The market is very limited because only Apple gets to say what you put on it. I can put whatever I want on my Android and I don't have to jailbreak it to do so. They come out of the box that way. So without voiding my warranty one bit, I can develop and install any app I want on my phone. So take that Apple! Your loyal cult may say what they want, but I would challenge any current iPhone user in a battle with my G2 and I'll bet I can do everything they can do and tons of things they cannot. By the time the battle is over, I'll have them crying to mommy to buy them a real phone.
Awesome iPhone site
on Wednesday, February 9, 2011Rest in peace, Sissy Bird. We love you!
on Monday, January 31, 2011We've had a very sad thing happen tonight...Anthony and Erik had just come home from Erik's baptism seminar. Erik had come downstairs to let me know he got to pick between 2 different kinds of brownies, and that made him so happy. Anthony had just made it down the stairs when Sissy made one of her squawks, both him and Erik ran upstairs. Usually when that happens, they hold her and console her because she has pulled out a feather. I was in the playroom with the other two, and I hear Erik crying. I yell up to see what is the matter...Erik tells me that Sissy is dead. I run upstairs, and Anthony is just holding her, sobbing. We think she must've had a heart attack, and she died in Anthony's hands. This has been Anthony's bird for 19 years. Her birthday was in a couple weeks...she would've been 20. We love you Sissy, and we will all miss you so much.
She has been around since Erik was born...he is taking it really hard. He loved his Sissy bird.
Adrienne has always been a little afraid of her, but she still loved the Sissy bird.
We just had to keep Parker away from her, he'd have her running around forever! Everytime he goes by her cage, he sticks out his finger because he wants to hold her.
This was the last picture we took of Sissy right before Anthony left for Augusta. Erik was so happy because Sissy flew off his shoulder and then got right back on his finger when he went to pick her up.
Anthony is at least ok with it now. He spent time with her on Saturday when he got home from Augusta. She was a poofy feather bird and very happy. He talked with her that night and on Sunday afternoon when we got home from church. When she had her little freak out right before she died, he was able to be with her and hold her as she squeaked her last squeak. He has no regrets about the last hours he was able to spend with her. She felt loved and was able to be with Anthony and Erik when she died. There isn't a better way this could have happened if it was going to happen at all.
I love this quote...
on Thursday, January 27, 2011Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of god. Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone.
And, as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
- Marianne Williamson
This Is Obama's State of the Future
Last night, President Obama delivered his yearly State of the Union address. Jobs! War! Bipartisanship! Awkward clapping! Sleeping senators! But also, lots of future talk. Below, we break down Obama's claims for America's tech horizon, and what they might mean.
Internet
THE INTERNET! Last night Obama mentioned it a whopping six times, as opposed to a whopping zero in last year's address. Could it be all that The Social Network Oscar buzz? Let's dissect.
Today, just about any company can set up shop, hire workers, and sell their products wherever there's an Internet connection.
OK, maybe not literally true (I think logistically I'd have a hard time selling any sort of non-drug products out of my internet-enabled apartment), but Obama is right in that the internet has made any place with ethernet or Wi-Fi a place of business—a shift maybe not as dramatic, but probably as important as the "Steel mills that once needed 1,000 workers [that] can now do the same work with 100" the president also cites.
Thirty years ago, we couldn't know that something called the Internet would lead to an economic revolution. What we can do - what America does better than anyone else - is spark the creativity and imagination of our people. We're the nation that put cars in driveways and computers in offices; the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers; of Google and Facebook. In America, innovation doesn't just change our lives. It is how we make our living.
The President of the United States just shouted out Facebook in the State of the Union address. Wow. Not particularly surprising, given that social media helped (in part) to push Obama into the White House. But still! Certainly one of those sign of the times moments. Especially poignant when you imagine what presidents of the past mentioned in their addresses—irrigation ditches? Marauding Indians? Steamships? But the above phrasing is also a familiar gloss over the fact that the internet as we know it—the useful internet that's more than just a series of cables between military bases—is owed to the creation of the World Wide Web. Created in Geneva. You know, Switzerland. Yes, America makes some great things thanks to the internet (I think I saw Boehner checking in on Foursquare behind Obama), but America doesn't have any monopoly on internet innovation.
Our free enterprise system is what drives innovation. But because it's not always profitable for companies to invest in basic research, throughout our history, our government has provided cutting-edge scientists and inventors with the support that they need. That's what planted the seeds for the Internet. That's what helped make possible things like computer chips and GPS.
A jab at free market cheerleaders, but a good point. The internet, GPS, the entire space program—all courtesy of Uncle Sam. Even Google was founded with help from a federal grant.
Our infrastructure used to be the best, but our lead has slipped. South Korean homes now have greater Internet access than we do.
Truth. At the end of 2009, the US was ranked 18th in the world for average connection speed, with South Korea at the top. Granted, wiring the continental United States is a bit more challenging than wiring South Korea, but the point stands—large swaths of the country (rural areas in particular) are left in the broadband dark. Which is why...
Within the next five years, we'll make it possible for businesses to deploy the next generation of high-speed wireless coverage to 98 percent of all Americans.
Yikes. This is quite a promise, if by next generation Obama means any sort of 4G, and if by 98% he means anywhere near that number. Obama didn't elaborate on how he plans to blanket the entire country in high speed wireless internet—will it be government subsidized? A private sector rollout?—but five years should be enough time to at least plan something. Still. We're not holding our breath. It's a noble idea, but considering we can't even get reliable 3G service in New York, the prospect of 4G across the Rockies sounds like a vision of the world as seen through the Lady Gaga wonder-glasses, not anything resembling reality.
But let's say Obama is able to call in a networking miracle and cast wireless across the country? What will we do with it?
This isn't about faster Internet or fewer dropped calls. It's about connecting every part of America to the digital age. It's about a rural community in Iowa or Alabama where farmers and small business owners will be able to sell their products all over the world. It's about a firefighter who can download the design of a burning building onto a handheld device; a student who can take classes with a digital textbook; or a patient who can have face-to-face video chats with her doctor.
Shots fired at AT&T, Barack?! These what-ifs all sound decent (and plausible) with the exception of the firefighter app—I don't want anyone going Ughhhh EDGE only? COME ON outside my apartment while I burn to death. But empowering farmers, digitizing classrooms (when the time is right) and making medicine more accessible—we dig it. And the tech is there, if it's got a wireless spine to prop it up. Which, again, is a big if.
Science
Obama wants a nerdier country. Finally. The importance of making math and science cool again (was it ever?) is a terrific thing to hear coming out of a president's mouth. A geekier country is a better one, we reckon. So how are we going to do it?
We need to teach our kids that it's not just the winner of the Super Bowl who deserves to be celebrated, but the winner of the science fair.
An admirable push (unless you're from Pittsburgh), though not much more than rhetoric. But again! Rhetoric we can believe in! Still, this isn't much of a policy proposal. We'll need some dollars to back up this new pro-nerd initiative, Barry.
We're telling America's scientists and engineers that if they assemble teams of the best minds in their fields, and focus on the hardest problems in clean energy, we'll fund the Apollo projects of our time.
Okay, that sounds more promising. But again, no numbers, no stats, no names.
Obama made repeated mention the importance of new fuel sources. But it's a little complicated, because:
Some folks want wind and solar. Others want nuclear, clean coal and natural gas. To meet this goal, we will need them all.
Why choose! But Obama gets concrete:
At the California Institute of Technology, they're developing a way to turn sunlight and water into fuel for our cars. At Oak Ridge National Laboratory, they're using supercomputers to get a lot more power out of our nuclear facilities. With more research and incentives, we can break our dependence on oil with biofuels, and become the first country to have a million electric vehicles on the road by 2015.
Projections like "the first country to have a million electric vehicles on the road by 2015" are always a little dicey (and rarely delivered upon), but again, we applaud the sentiment. Pumping money into these initiatives means avoiding the next BP oil spill.
Wait—uh oh. Here comes another distant promise. Probably the most dubious one of the evening:
By 2035, 80 percent of America's electricity will come from clean energy sources.
That's an incredible thing to promise. Luckily, it's 24 years from now, and not something Obama will have to worry about. As president, at least. But the rest of us will. Again, no details were furnished here. So, uh, we're counting on you, Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Like the fantastical promise of ubiquitous 4G, don't get too excited about this one—the large majority of the country's juice comes from oil, coal, and other non-renewable (and very dirty) sources.
Trains
High speed rail figured heavily in the address. Why? We suck, is why:
Countries in Europe and Russia invest more in their roads and railways than we do. China is building faster trains and newer airports. Meanwhile, when our own engineers graded our nation's infrastructure, they gave us a "D."
Ruh roh. But Obama's taking notice, and this will not stand:
Within 25 years, our goal is to give 80 percent of Americans access to high-speed rail. (Applause.) This could allow you to go places in half the time it takes to travel by car. For some trips, it will be faster than flying –- without the pat-down. (Laughter and applause.) As we speak, routes in California and the Midwest are already underway.
Another very long-range projection (so if all goes according to plan almost all of us will have 4G and high speed rail access!) without much detail. And a (too soon?) TSA joke. But Amtrak is a national embarrassment, when compared to the clean, speedy, and efficient rail service that much of, say Western Europe enjoys. Obama is right to make this a priority. Just don't hold your breath on that 25 year number. A national high speed rail line would be massively expensive, and given the fact that Amtrak barely stumbles along its plodding routes with current budgeting, it'd take a quantum (money) leap forward to catch us up with the likes of France or Japan.
So, lofty goals with few details. In other words another State of the Union.
Man... Things have changed!!!
on Monday, January 24, 2011
Rooting the HTC EVO
on Friday, January 21, 2011This is from XDA Developers. It will work on all EVOs as of 1/21/2011. I have rooted three EVOs using this method and it works great. The number one reason to root an EVO is to be able to mess with the processor speed, but it also works great if you want to use the wifi tether apps in the market which only work on rooted phones. Have fun!
Due to some bugs, Unrevoked 3.2 was taken down shortly after being released, but the updated version is now LIVE! So obviously we're going to bring you a video tutorial on how to do it! Thanks to the guys at Unrevoked for giving us this simple solution to rooting the HTC EVO 4G.
LINK TO VIDEO WALKTHROUGH FOR HOW TO ROOT THE EVO
From Unrevoked:
No system downgrading or /data wiping, one-click root, a full NAND unlock and no PRI downgrade.
Nice, right? So here's what you'll need 
◄●REQUIRED DOWNLOADS●►
- EVERYONE: Unrevoked3. Download the version for your OS.
- WINDOWS USERS: unrEVOked modified USB driver
◄●How to Install HBOOT Drivers (Windows Users ONLY)●►
If you're using Windows, you're going to have to install the HBOOT drivers first. You can follow this video tutorial:
and follow along with these written instructions provided by the Unrevoked team:
- Download the unrEVOked modified USB driver and expand it somewhere you will remember.
- Turn off your phone, then boot it into the HBOOT menu by holding power and volume down.
- On your phone, you will have to select HBOOT USB at that menu by pressing volume down four times, then power. Wait until the screen flashes through an “SD Checking” message before pressing buttons; otherwise, the phone will ignore keypresses.
- Connect the phone to your Windows machine with a USB cable and wait for the phone to say HBOOT USB PLUG on screen.
- Open Device Manager.
- Click Start, then right click on Computer, then click Properties, then click Device Manager.
- Under Other devices, you should now see the Android 1.0 device.
- Right click on Android 1.0 and click Update Driver Software:
- Click on Browse my computer for driver software.
- Click on Browse and select the Android USB Driver folder on on your computer, click ok, then click next.
- You should get a status bar indicating that the driver is installing. If you get any warnings, just click Ok.
- Your driver should install.
- Click Close and make sure Android Bootloader Interface is listed under Android Phone.
◄●Instructions●►
- Make sure you downloaded Unrevoked3 for your OS.
- If you're on Windows, make sure you "uninstall HTC Sync or any other program that might talk to the phone over USB (doubletwist, etc). They will cause problems" (Unrevoked.com).
- Plug your phone into your computer with USB.
- Drag down from the notification bar on your phone and select "Charge Only" and "Remember this"
- Make sure your phone has USB Debugging turned on by going to Menu>>Settings>>Applications>>Development and checking USB debugging.
- Run the Reflash application that you downloaded.
- Unrevoked will run its processes. Follow the few instructions it gives and thats it!
You're now rooted!
