Filed under information

SOPA/PIPA

If SOPA/PIPA were to become law, it would herald the beginning of the widespread destruction of the Internet as we know it. The U.S. Internet would be easily censored in the same way China censors their Internet. It would destroy American innovation and free speech on a gigantic scale.

DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT

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Thoughts on iPhone 4S and iOS 5

On January 2nd I drove to my local Verizon store to pick up my brand new iPhone 4S with iOS 5. I’ve been using a Motorola Droid (yes, the original one) for the past two years. I honestly can’t believe it lasted as long as it did, but that’s a good thing I suppose. I want to detail some of the differences I’ve seen between iOS 5 and Android 2.3.

My Moto Droid ran Android 2.1 when I got it, I upgraded it to 2.2 not long after that, and I rooted the device and installed 2.3 and ran variations of 2.2 and 2.3 for the majority of the time I used the device. Like I’ve said, I was originally very excited about Android but I’ve seen the light so-to-speak and the light is iOS. Maybe if I’d had a phone like the Galaxy Nexus with Android 4.0 over the past two years, things would have been different. But as it stands now, I am absolutely thrilled with iOS 5.

When I had my iPhone 4S in my hands, I noticed a couple things right off the bat. First, it’s super fast compared to the Droid. Swiping between screens is completely smooth, fluid motion. The screen resolution is amazing, the colors are bright and vibrant, and overall it just looks beautiful. The icons, the menus, and the overall look and feel of iOS 5 is outstanding compared to Android 2.3. It’s a night and day difference between the two operating systems in terms of overall design and fit-and-finish. Apple has had this stuff down for some time now and Android 2.3 just isn’t as good.

Second, the App Store is awesome compared to the Android Market. I’ve used many different versions of the Android Market and I’ve never really liked it from a UX point of view. But it worked, so it was alright. The big difference between the two is the simple fact that the App Store has more high quality, useful apps. Apple doesn’t have a perfect reputation because of the rules surrounding the App Store, but as a pure consumer of apps I can say that I appreciate the quality and the overall safety of the App Store.

Third, I love the overall design and function of both the iPhone itself and iOS 5. The camera is absolutely stunning and it takes awesome pictures. iMessage is very cool, the phone works perfectly so far (again I’m on Verizon), and other basic functions like Mail work great so far too. As a heavy Google user I’ve missed some of the integration I enjoyed with Android, but I can live without it. Android was fun for a while, but I need a real mobile operating system now and iOS is it.

At this point, two things would have to happen for me to switch back to Android:

  1. Apple would have to start failing miserably at improving and enhancing iOS and the iPhone
  2. Google would need to make Android a ground-breaking, pioneering mobile OS and pair it only with great phones

If that future comes to pass I may take another look at Android. I’ll be watching both sides as usual, so I will definitely keep up. However, for now I’m saying goodbye to Android and hello to iOS.

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PROTECT IP / SOPA Act Breaks the Internet

Please watch this short video, get angry, and submit your opposition to these bills. Congress needs to hear from us on this one or the Internet will cease to function as it does today. You could get sued for posting a video of your child with a song playing on the radio in the background. That’s psychotic.

Oh, and it won’t do a damn thing to stop online piracy.

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Switching from Android to iOS

In early December I will use my Verizon upgrade to get an iPhone 4S. I’ve been using the original Motorola Droid for the past two years or so. When I upgraded to the Droid, I was very excited and that excitement lasted a long time. Before the Droid I was using a BlackBerry Curve, but I was never satisfied with it. With Android on the rise and the iPhone dominating the world of smartphones, I just felt like I was on the sidelines.

I wanted a mobile computer in my pocket. The natural choice would have been the iPhone because I am a happy user of a MacBook. However, I wasn’t about to change my wireless carrier (I like Verizon) so I was left with the new Moto Droid. I was excited, too, because I wanted an Android phone. I am a heavy Google user (Gmail, Calendar, Docs, etc.) and I wanted the tightly integrated Google OS.

As time has passed I’ve realized a couple things:

* The security of iPhone is better than Android
* Android fragmentation is real and it’s horrible
* Android devices often have terrible battery life
* Android’s overall polish is not as good
* Android is not very open
* The Android Market is the wild west

If I had to pick on one thing about Android that is making me switch to iPhone, it’s the issue of out of date software. I have always been an “update freak”. Unless there is some glaring reason not to update to the latest and greatest – I’m on it. I always keep my operating systems and software packages up to date. So it started driving me crazy that Android’s AOSP was iterating, yet Motorola was endlessly lagging behind in getting the updates to my phone.

I started to remedy the situation by rooting my phone and installing custom ROMs. I started with a ROM called Sapphire, and moved on to Peter Alfonso’s ROMs because he basically just takes the AOSP code from Google, mods it for the Droid, and releases it to the world. So because of Alfonso I’ve had Gingerbread (Android 2.3) for quite a while. The problem is that it’s buggy and makes my phone slow and crashy. This slow and crashy ROM, while current, is a big reason why I’m moving on.

Another problem is watching friends and family members getting junky Android devices. I’ve watched people get a cheap Android phone, usually from Samsung or LG, and witness their quick realization that it’s a piece of junk. These cheap Android phones never get OS updates, and the hardware is crap so the phone never works and they end up very unhappy. I directly blame Google for this because they are not executing enough control over how their product (Android) is used and perceived in the hands of users. They’re like Microsoft. They make a software product and rely on a bunch of manufacturers to figure out how to install it on their hardware and ship it out to users. The hardware manufacturers do a terrible, lazy, crappy job and many phones are junk as a result.

I completely understand and sympathize with people who warn about the dangers of Apple’s ecosystem. The “walled garden”, the “Nazi” App Store, the tight control over the devices and the sometimes outlandish rules. Apple rules the iPhone and iOS with an iron fist and there are pros and cons to how they do things. But the pros outweigh the cons for me. I want a polished, beautifully engineered smartphone. I want the security from the App Store, and I want access to OS updates directly from the maker. I can get all of that with the iPhone.

I realize that the App Store ecosystem is not perfect when it comes to security. But I read a lot more about security breaches in the Android Market. I realize that iPhones aren’t perfect. I’ve read through the Apple Discussion website. Nothing is perfect, but I think that the iPhone 4S is the best smartphone for my needs right now.

Android and Motorola – it’s been real.

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Firefox Nightly, Aurora Channels on Linux

On x86_64 Linux, I’ve installed the Mozilla Firefox Nightly and Aurora channels. Here’s the beautiful new artwork:

Courtesy of Mozilla Blog

Linux Howto: Configure Java plugin for Firefox 4

This will work with older versions of Firefox as well. I install Firefox 4 on my Linux boxes by downloading the tarball directly from Mozilla’s FTP servers. I prefer to have the bleeding edge Mozilla software.

Install Firefox 4 on Linux via tarball with Java plugin

  1. Navigate to ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/4.0/linux-x86_64/en-US/firefox-4.0.tar.bz2
  2. Download to your home directory and extract the files, which will give you a directory called “firefox”
  3. Use mkdir to create a directory called firefox/plugins
  4. Use the command “ln -s” to create a symlink to the appropriate java plugin file, like so:
$ cd firefox/plugins
$ ln -s /usr/java/default/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so libnpjp2.so

Once you load up Firefox after that, click in the address bar and type “about:plugins” to ensure that the Java plugin is now loaded.

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Check out the Web O’ Wonder

“EXPLORE the AMAZING CREATIONS of the Web! WONDER at FANTASTIC DISCOVERIES from the comfort of your browser!”

https://demos.mozilla.org/en-US/

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Firefox 4: 12 Million Downloads and Counting…

Firefox 4 made a huge debut yesterday with 7.1 million downloads in 24 hours. Now, we’re at 12 million and still going strong.

http://glow.mozilla.org/

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