Category: Life

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Apple iPhone Life

A little anger

Lee Brimelow (The Flash Blog): “Personally I will not be giving Apple another cent of my money until there is a leadership change over there. I’ve already moved most of my book, music, and video purchases to Amazon and I will continue to look elsewhere. Now, I want to be clear that I am not suggesting you do the same and I’m also not trying to organize some kind of boycott. Me deciding not to give money to Apple is not going to do anything to their bottom line. But this is equivalent to me walking into Macy’s to buy a new wallet and the salesperson spits in my face. Chances are I won’t be buying my wallets at Macy’s anymore, no matter how much I like them.” – Honestly I’m surprised Adobe would employ this fella. He’s the same guy that used porn in a post as an example of why Flash was needed.

Curly, the original knucklehead.If Adobe has a problem with Apple they have a perfectly good way to show it, stop creating product for Apple platforms. Will they do it, no, of course not. They have an established brand on the Mac with a huge following. It’s not like Apple is going to jerk the rug out from under them on the Mac, how can they. The Mac is what it is. Flash is what it is on the Mac. Steve Jobs chose to keep the new platform clean. It’s apparent he doesn’t like how cross platform applications look, feel, and perform on the Mac. I’m sure we’ll get crummy apps on the iPhone and on the iPad, but I don’t have a problem with their move. If you want to write code for the iPhone, or iPad, just download the tools, and get to work. Hey, if a knucklehead like me can figure this stuff out, you can too.

Adobe has a lot of different options in the mobile space, embrace those, if Flash becomes wildly popular on the other platforms Apple may have to “give in” at some point.

John Gruber’s take on it: “Consider, for one example, Amazon’s Kindle clients for iPhone OS and Mac OS X. The iPhone OS Kindle app is excellent, a worthy rival in terms of experience to Apple’s own iBooks. The Mac Kindle app is a turd that doesn’t look, feel, or behave like a real Mac app. The iPhone OS Kindle app is a native iPhone app, written in Cocoa Touch. The Mac Kindle app was produced using the cross-platform Qt toolkit.”

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Indie Life

Congratulations Loren Brichter

Tweetie IconTwitter Blog: “We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve entered into an agreement with Atebits (aka Loren Brichter) to acquire Tweetie, a leading iPhone Twitter client. Tweetie will be renamed Twitter for iPhone and made free (currently $2.99) in the iTunes AppStore in the coming weeks. Loren will become a key member of our mobile team that is already having huge impact with device makers and service providers around the world. Loren’s work won the 2009 Apple Design Award and we will eventually launch Twitter for iPad with his help.”

Atebits Weblog (Loren Brichter’s Company): “Now I’ll be working with them on the inside. I’m happy to say that as of today Twitter is the proud owner of Tweetie – and I’m joining their mobile team and starting work on turning Tweetie.app into Twitter.app, for iPhone and iPad.”

Wow, this is huge news. Congratulations Loren, congratulations Twitter, and congratulations users. This is a game changer for developers of Twitter clients. Let’s see how it plays out.

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Life Mobile

Merry Christmas, it’s iPad Day!

The Apple iPadThe iPad un-boxing pictures are starting to show up, pictures from Apple Stores, as well as the tweets.

Un-Boxing Pictures

Craig Hockenberry’s iPad
Seah Herber’s iPad
Dave Winer’s iPad pictures

Apple Store Pictures

Chris Parrish from U Village Apple Store.
Mashable has a story and pictures.

Tweets

Gus Muller – Tweeting in line from the Apple Store, Alderwood Mall, Lynnwood, WA.
Chris Parrish – In line at U Village Apple Store, Seattle, WA.
Emilio Cavazos – He doesn’t say, but I’m betting the Apple Store at Fashion Fair.

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Life

The state of television

Yes, I watch my share of television, I admit it. There’s no mistaking I love movies and a great television show gives me a bit of that movie feel I like so much. The problem with most television today is it’s all about reality shows, and the free stations are full of that garbage. Something I really have zero interest in. I know folks love American Idol, I could care less, they love The Bachelor, meh, I could care less. I fit into a different demographic, although I don’t know what it’s called. It would be something like “People that think reality TV sucks” demographic. Yes, that’s the one I’m a part of. For some strange reason that demographic is better served by cable stations. Yes, of course they have their reality shows, but they also have some of the best programming in television today.

Here’s what I’m watching these days, when I get the chance, most of it on pay stations.

You’ll notice there’s one free station in the mix, NBC. Parenthood is a great show amongst a bunch of turkeys on network television. You’ll also notice there’s is a little problem with my list. Three of the shows I love to watch are on the same night, at the same time. Southland, Justified, and Parenthood are all on Tuesday’s at 10. Thank goodness for online viewing and DVR’s.

UPDATE: After receiving some comments I needed to make an adjustment. Here are a few more TV shows I enjoy.

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Life

Fresno and Google Fiber?

James Collier: “I’ve enjoyed the pooling of support from throughout the community, and the rapid speed with which this grew from a few suggestions from the fringe, to something that City officials invested in physically, mentally and financially. But as Chris Samarin noted a couple of weeks ago, if this project is to come to fruition (not all of Google’s hype leads to action, after all), Google has already decided on where.” – If there’s one positive that comes out of the Google Fiber for Fresno effort it’s the community. Folks actually care, they banded together, they made goofy videos and signs, and brought Fresno into the top ten “mentions” for Google Fiber.

There’s a group of Fresnan’s trying to make a difference in the community, to that I say, well done.

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Life

There’s no Fool…

The April Fool.

Since I’m no longer writing on my old weblog I’m going to have to pull out the header graphics once in a while, I just love ’em too darned much to keep them stashed away.

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Life

Yeah, I’m a lucky guy

Yeah, I’m a lucky guy.

The baby faced kid on the left is me, the beautiful young lady on the right is my lovely bride of 22-years, Kim.

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Life

More on the new Pelco

Security Systems News: “Would Pelco be in the same place had Schneider never purchased it? Fages, who’s been with the company seven years, took some time to think. “Would it be the same? My answer would probably be, ‘no.’ I believe Schneider is probably better prepared to fight the downturn in the economy that we are facing today. I was in charge of Asia for the last four years. The previous ownership didn’t understand what it meant to manufacture in China. All of those changes we’ve made to get more international, Schneider has stronger experience with that. The previous ownership wouldn’t have been able to implement those changes quickly and to face the economic situation.” – This is the best article I’ve read on the changes at Pelco. It’s about becoming a stronger company, period. I like that, it’s truthful, and gets beyond all the bluster of “if the prior owners were here…” because the honest truth is this, if the prior owners had been in charge of Pelco in the face of the economic crisis I’m not certain the company would still be operating. The new Pelco answers to shareholders and that’s a good thing. We have a new direction, new leadership, and some very interesting work ahead of us. Becoming a stronger company, a more agile company, will help move us forward and allow us to build the products we need to build.

The new open Pelco is a better Pelco.

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Life

The great California Marijuana problem

Fresno Bee: “FRESNO, Calif. — The operator of Fresno marijuana dispensary is pledging to continue selling marijuana even after a being found guilty of violating a court order banning him from selling the drug.” – Personally I don’t use drugs, and yes, I include Marijuana as a drug. We have a strange system here in California that allows it to be sold for medicinal purposes, but some are obviously questioning that. I’m of two minds on this subject, here are two options to “fix” the problem.

Better control

Why are pot businesses allowed to exist? In California I can’t even buy pseudoephedrine over the counter, that’s right, it’s controlled because it’s used by knuckleheads to create meth. Why is it Medical Marijuana isn’t controlled like any other prescription drug? Look. If I go out and break an arm and the doctor decides to prescribe some sort of pain medication I have to have that prescription fill by a pharmacist, someone that’s spent many years learning about the effects, and interactions, of drugs on the mind and body. Why is it medical marijuana isn’t sold by pharmacies? If it’s such an important drug in the treatment of certain medical conditions why isn’t it better controlled? It should be, just like all other mind altering medications. That’s one way to solve the issue. Shut down the private pot distribution facilities and distribute through qualified pharmacies.

Just legalize it

I want my Cheesy Poofs!I’d imagine the first, and best option, isn’t all that popular with a certain crowd. Lets face it, most of the folks visiting the medical marijuana shops probably don’t need it for legitimate purposes. I’d bet there just addicted and like to get high. The second option is for them. Let’s just legalize it and sell it through Government controlled distribution facilities. In California we have liquor stores, but in states like Washington you have to purchase liquor through a state run facility. Why not create a state run pot store, or how about the dope store, yeah, I like that name. So if you wanted to get high you’d go to “The California Dope Store” and purchase your legal pack of marijuana cigarettes. They could tax the crap outta these things because it’s addictive and the folks that use them are desperate enough to pay for their high. Lets say a pack has five cigarettes in it and it’s, I dunno, $40.00? How much would it cost the State of California to grow and distribute this stuff versus what they could make selling it? This could be a great way to get the state out of trouble in the short term, because in the long term we’d be in trouble because all the doped up folks would quit working and spend all their food stamp money on Cheesy Poofs and more weed, but I digress. I’m not sure if the state is actually considering legislation to make the stuff legal, but it might be worth a try if it’s tightly controlled via state run farms and distribution centers. Food for thought.

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Life

Life Lessons: Don’t spend more than you have

Save for the future.Get Rich Slowly: “I decided to only spend money I actually had, and so my purchases of toys slowed dramatically. My extravagances in life dropped to going out to eat with my roommate a couple times a week, and not at particularly fancy places. I got into bicycling as a hobby, on a used, mid-range road bike — not a brand new, high-end model like I would have bought before. And there I sat, content with the computer I already had, my modest bicycle, and the occasional trip out for dinner. I was living quite comfortably on my salary with my new outlook on life. For the first time in years, I felt comfortable with myself. I actually managed to save a few dollars from paycheck to paycheck instead of spending them!” – This is an interesting story. One I’ve read time and again, and one I do not ever want to get into. We’ve been making strides to change how we look at life. Our children are in college and we’re about to become empty nesters. We’ve decided to pay off all debt as quickly as we can, and to that end we’re just about there. Our car loan, along with the disaster I spoke about a couple of days ago with Chase, are the only remaining pieces of debt we have. The car loan will be gone soon, really, really soon, then it’s on to saving, and putting away for the future. Will we live like hermits? No, we won’t. Things will get better because we won’t have any debt, with the exception of our home loan, which we can now focus on paying off.

Read the article. You don’t need credit cards, you can survive in life on cash. It’s a good thing. Don’t spend more than you have.