Steve Jobs: Remembered by a Non-Apple Brainwashed Techie...

First off let me start with this, I HATE CANCER. It’s a horrible disease and I wish there was a cure. Death is natural, but there is nothing natural about something manifesting itself in your body then taking over until it ultimately kills you. My Mom was born 4 years before Jobs and cancer took her away from here in 2004, one of my bestfriends would be 31 this year if it wasn't for cancer taking him in his mid 20's, not to mention the kids who suffer with Cancer every year, that’s the saddest thing ever, and as a parent it terrifies me. But I digress...

Steve Jobs was definitely a genius, a visionary, and a huge reason for a lot of the great things we have today. I'm not saying that he created all the great technology that we have come to love, but he pushed the envelope and forced creativity from others to make better products as well.

As a kid I owned a Mac Desktop, used it for basic gaming, learning activities, creating signs and banners, and I believe I typed school work on there too. That would be the last Apple Desktop that I owned, but far from the last that I would use. As Computer Graphics major Mac Desktops were my best friend in High School and College, the machines just handled the animation, 3D modeling, and Adobe/Macromedia application better than a Windows PC (Imagine that Adobe & Apple being a match made in Computer Graphic heaven). As an adult I've owned a few iPods including one that still had 4 buttons above the wheel. The iPod has been great for me, I own tons of music and I love being able to take it with me in the car on vacations and whatever else. Not to mention the interface on the iPod and on the Desktop (iTunes) is still the best interface for browsing through a large directory of music. Recently I have also become an iPad owner, as an Android user this might sound weird, but it gives me the ability to enjoy the best of both worlds, not to mention there are more apps currently available and made for the iPad than there are on other tablet devices. I'm sure at some point I will own an Android tablet, I'm just letting them catch up and improve some things like I know they will.

All of that is said to say that his technologies have had an impact on me, but even if I never owned any Apple products it would still have an impact on me.

Without Apple OS X, Windows Desktop Computers would still be running an OS that looked like Windows 98. Sure it would do its job, but it wouldn't look as good or have as many added user friendly functionality.

Without the iPod what would MP3 players look like? Would they look like a Sony MiniCD player or like the original Archos MP3 player?

Take away the iPhone, and what type of "Smartphones" are we using? A Blackberry with the sidescroll, a Treo, HTC Windows Phone?  Sure all of those things worked ok, but none of them compare to the plethra of options we have for smart phones.

Not to mention Tablets, they would still be the laptops that had the screen that you could flip around and write on, not the advanced devices that we have on the market today.

So with all that said, Thank You Steve Jobs, your life made a huge difference in the lives of many.

Hurricane Advise For People Addicted to Technology

This is from a post I just read on Android Central, and I was actually thinking the same thing yesterday when I was thinking about what my household needed to prepare for this hurricane.  A few of my technology related thoughts were that we need to have our phones charged and on the charger until or just in case the power goes off.  We have Xfinity digital phone lines, so I assume that means if we have no power we have no phones.  Signing out of twitter and turning off all auto-sync/background data apps will probably be necessary too.  The iPad and Laptop will be fully charged as well, although if the power goes out that mean no wifi and tethering would be required for Internet access.  The spare batteries and taking pictures of your home prior to for insurance reasons is a good idea.  Also tonight I plan to do a back up of all the pictures and documents on my Desktop PC to a portable hard drive.  When the backup is done I am going to put it somewhere in the house that I feel is safer than the top floor.

If you have any other suggestions or thoughts please post them.  Stay safe people.

I'm still hoping this thing takes a turn to the east, I have my money league Fantasy Football draft this weekend... C'MON MAN!!!! lol.

Here comes Hurricane Irene: Charge 'em if you got 'em

By Phil Nickinson 26 Aug 2011 9:12 am

Here's a quick no-brainer or two from your hurricane-prone pals at Android Central for those of you in the path of Hurricane Irene, scheduled to make landfall along the North Carolina coast on Saturday:

•Charge your phones. Now. Keep them charged. And once the storm starts, keep them off. You'll likely lose power at some point, and there's a good chance your local cell network will go down for a bit, even with generator backups.

•Spare batteries. If you got 'em, make sure they're charged, too. If you still have time to get some, do it.

•After the storm, text messages work best. Any carrier will tell you this, and we saw it again with that little shake the mid-Atlantic states got on Tuesday. If the network's up, it's going to be clogged, and calls might not go through. Text messages have a much better chance.

•If you're worried about damage and don't have a traditional camera, use your phone to take a few pictures of your home and your belongings. It'll make insurance claims much easier, should it come to that.

Any tips you folks want to share? Let's hear 'em.




http://www.androidcentral.com/here-comes-hurricane-irene-charge-em-if-you-got-em

A DJ at Your Desk!!! For Free, FTW

DJ DUBLEE Your Personal DJ On The Go!

http://www.djdublee.com/mixes/

I gotta give a huge shout out to a fellow UMBC Alumni and the man that puts the mixes together that helps to get me though the day. Sure some of you go to Panadora and other streaming sites that play commercials and make mixes that you don't really understand, but DJ Dublee puts up mixes that are blended and scratched on just like you would hear at a club or happy hour to take your away from your cubical for a moment.

His mixes are high quality and free to stream or download to listen to later.  The music ranges from the Classic Soul, R&B, Neo Soul, Rap/Hip-Hop, Go-Go, Independent, Mainstream, practically anything you could possibly be looking for.  You can submit request and he'll throw the song(s) into a mix, you can search the history of his mixes to find a particular artist.

Below is a quick preview of his mixes over the past month, but I suggest you check out the site for yourself to browse some of the older mixes as well.  I guarantee you will find a mix that perfectly fits your mood for the day on any given occassion.  Right now I'm rockin to his Go-Go mix from May 4th.

Oh yeah did I mention its 100% free, the mixes can be downloaded and listened to whenever, and will work on Android/iPhone/iPad/Blackberry devices, what more can you ask for.  DJ Dublee is your personal & portable DJ! Enjoy People.

(Also you will notice that DJ Dublee clearly labels his mixes to let you know ahead of time whether there is any foul language in the mix)  

June 15, 2011 12 O’clock Drop

The Love Unlimited Orchestra – I Wanna Stay Q-Tip – Vibrant Thing Beenie Man ft. Janet Jackson – Feel It Boy Ol’ Dirty Bastard ft. Kelis – Got Your Money Busta Rhymes – Do The Bus A Bus Babyface – There She Goes Kool & The Gang – Too Hot Coolio – Too Hot    A [...]

June 13, 2011 12 O’clock Drop

   Soul II Soul – Keep On Moving Ralph Tresvant – Sensitivity Sybil – Don’t Make Me Over Janet Jackson – That’s The Way Love Goes PM Dawn – Set Adrift on Memory Bliss Suzanne Vega – Tom’s Diner Nikki D – Daddy’s Lil Girl Dwele – Find A Way Seal – Fly Like An [...]

June 10, 2011 12 O’clock Drop

Jay-Z & DMX – Money, Cash, H*** Snoop Dogg ft. C-Murder – Down For My Eve – What Yall Want Lil Kim – No Time For Fake Ones Swizz Beatz ft. Cassidy, JadaKiss, Snoop Dogg – Bigger Business Young Buck – Let Me In Cassidy ft. Mary J. Blige – I’m A Hustla Noreaga & [...]

June 8, 2011 12 O’clock Drop

June Da Kid ft. Born Undadogz – Back Then K. Sparks – Hip Hop June Da Kid – My Choice Tonight Laelo Hood ft. Pro-Verb, Lyriciss – Cool Tree Gotti – Butter Ball Naked Tre-Dot ft. Kimia Colins – Keep On Hatin Bobby Creekwater – OJ Simpson Dugee F. Buller – I Burst Lega-C – [...]

June 6, 2011 12 O’clock Drop

T.I. – 24’s Juvenile & UTP – Nolia Clap T-Pain ft. Yung Joc – Snappin’ Bun B ft. Trey Songz, Mike Jones – Hold You Down Snoop Dogg ft. R. Kelly – That’s That Cam’ron – Touch It Or Not Styles P – Good Times Ice Cube – Today Was A Good Day Lil Boosie [...]

June 3, 2011 12 O’clock Drop (Shaq Retires)

After an outstanding carreer, Shaquille O’neal retires after 19 seasons as being one of the most dominating players to ever play the game. Shaq accumulate four championship rings through out his career and also recorded four albums. Here is a mix I put together with some of my favorite Shaq songs sprinkled in! Shaquille O’neal [...]

June 2011 Mix Of The Month

Meek Mill ft. Rick Ross – Tupac Back YC – Racks Drake ft. Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, DJ Khaled – I’m On One Dirty Money ft. Trey Songz, Diddy – Your Love Lil Wayne ft. Rick Ross – John Rihanna – Man Down Jerimiah ft. 50 Cent – Down On Me Trey Songz ft. Drake [...]

May 30, 2011 12 O’clock Drop Memorial Day Mix

Kool and The Gang – Summer Madness Will Smith – Summertime Beyonce ft. Ghostface Killah – Summertime Travis Porter – Bring It Back David Banner – Play Ray J ft. Lil Kim – Wait A Minute Gyptian ft. Nicki Minaj – Hold Yuh Beenie Man – Drinking Rum Mad Lion – Take It Easy Notorious [...]

The Best Words is Now The Best of Both Worlds: Wordfeud Has Arrived for iOS

Finally it has arrived! WordFeud on iOS, so all my Android friends can delete Words with Friends and tell your iOS buddies to get the more superior game if they want to play a real mans version of Scabble.  As I said in my previous blogpost, Word(Feud) with Friends???, Words With Friends is cool, but the only benefit was cross-platform play, now there's nothing that makes this game worth having.  I don't know who half the people I'm playing against are on WWF because they don't have a profile picture, and shaking my phone like I'm about to roll dice at the craps table when I need to shuffle my letters while secretly playing words in a meeting just aint cool man...

The WordFeud developers site posted on April 5th that WordFeud had arrived to iOS, but I wonder why AndroidCentral, Boy Genius Report (BGR), or Engadget (the main tech sites that I check) didn't have anything mentioned, or did I miss it?  Someone on AndroidForums even meantioned that they didn't see a post about it.  All of those sites made a big deal about WWF becoming cross platform, but when it comes to WF which is a much better game they are all quiet.

Well Dear iOS Buddies, I am going to finish my 3 current games on WWF then delete it forever, come see me on WordFeud, you know the name, the name don't change!

Here's the post from the WordFeud Dev Site:
http://wordfeud.com/blog/2011/04/05/wordfeud-for-ios-is-here/

Wordfeud for iOS is here

by wordfeud on April 5th, 2011

After about four months of development, Wordfeud for iOS is finally out. A big thanks to everyone who helped with final beta testing.

It spent almost exactly one week waiting to be reviewed by the Apple people (which seems to be the norm these days). Thankfully, it was approved on the first attempt.

Word(Feud) With Friends???

After a month and some change going by of Words With Friends (WWF) being on Android OS, I have concluded that I still like WordFeud (WF) better. WWF is a good game but in comparison to WF is lacking in so many departments. I'll break it down for you.

WWF Good (Compared to WF)

• Ability to play against iOS and Android friends
• Ability to play against iOS and Android friends (I listed this twice because it holds the most weight for now...)
• Beautiful Bright Interface
• Nice Sound Effects (if you are into that sort of thing, but for me I'm using playing it places I shouldn't be playing games and I prefer silence
• Tells you if a word is not a word a lot quicker than WF

WWF Downfalls (Compared to WF)

• Can't save opponents to a friends list so to have easy access to play them again later.
• Crashes, Force Closes, and Corrupts Games on Android OS. They have come out with several updates since the original launch so I'm sure at some point they will get this right. The quick fix is to uninstall and reinstall the game, which forces you to log back in with your username so that it can redownload your game information (or for the geeks go to Application Settings and clear cache and content).
• The button to Resign the game is on the main screen, so it can accidentally be hit
• Its cool that if you shake the phone it Shuffles your letters, but can I just get a button? I don't want to shake my phone a bunch of times while I'm attempting to figure out what words I can make from my letters.
• The Ads pop up after every word you play and the load a lot slower. So it seems to take longer to exit out of them
• Its too easy to make super ridiculous point words because the Special Blocks are closer together so like a 4 letter word can get Triple Letter and Triple word, opposed to you needing make a 5 letter word in WF
• Lack of options (Maybe that’s the former Blackberry User in me, but I like having options)
• Only 1 board. WF has a standard and random boards to play when you get tired of the same special tile placement
• The Chat function is a bit slower. But honestly the Chat function in WF is the best in the world, hit me on Twitter or GChat if u want to talk trash for real...lol
• I feel like there are a few other things that I didn't like about WWF compared to WF but I can't think about them right now. But if anyone else has any complaints leave it in the comments section. LOL

To sum that up WWF just seems be lacking and very buggy.

The WordFeud developers site posted this about a month ago, which pretty much means the slight upper hand that WWF had over WF will be taken away from them.

http://wordfeud.com/blog/2011/02/09/wordfeud-for-ios-sneak-peek/

Wordfeud for iOS sneak peek

by wordfeud on February 9th, 2011

Wordfeud for iOS is coming soon!

Wordfeud on iOS and Android - side by side

 Wordfeud for iOS

Update: WordFeud for iOS is now available check out this blog for more info: http://riprock81.blogspot.com/2011/04/best-words-is-now-best-of-both-worlds.html