Category Archives: Featured

November 4, 2011

Why Some People Don’t Understand What Beta Means RE: ZDNet on Siri

Siri went down yesterday. It went down hard and it stayed down for a few solid hours. Many users were outraged. There was rioting in the social media “streets.” Many fiery tweets were thrown at Apple. Initially, I agreed with Adrian over at ZDNet, where he says:

See, Apple doesn’t slap the word ‘beta’ on things lightly unlike Google. When it went to great lengths during the iPhone 4S launch to call the service a ‘beta’ this was a clear signal that it wouldn’t be perfect. Calling something a ‘beta’ means that you can expect things to be a little temperamental and unfinished. You can expect it not to work right. You can expect things to go dark for a while … BECAUSE IT’S A BETA!

via “Siri, why do some people not understand what beta means?” | ZDNet.

Why did my thoughts change? Because we’re talking about average people here. We’re talking about people who have no ideas what iOS stands for, did NOT wait in line to get the latest iPhone 4s so they could block about it, and actually watch commercials (DVR? What’s that?). Do you know what they saw on those commercials? Here, let me refresh your memory:

WOW! Wasn’t that some magical stuff?! Holy crap! Makes you wanna run out and buy a damn iPhone 4s right now! Man, I’m sure glad they added that footnote about it being in beta and how it may or may not work. Oh! It’s also a good thing they mentioned that it requires a data connection in order to function properly.

Wait, no? They didn’t set the proper expectation of Beta software for the customer? They just put out a series of commercials that basically show a phone doing something tantamount to witchcraft without specifying that it’s only in testing and often won’t even work? They didn’t touch on the frustration one might experience after expounding on this or that to Siri, only to have her hit them with a data connection error? Well dang. No wonder customers don’t understand the situation.

November 3, 2011

How Roboto Will Change Your Android Life

I have pretty much done everything you can do to an Android phone. I’ve rooted it and installed all types of ROMs and software. I have spent many hours waiting on updates to download or ROM Flashes to complete, wondering if I just bricked my device.

Even though I have sort of tread the bleeding edge, it has brought me a much richer experience on my old Evo 4G than I think many Android users are getting on newer hardware. I’ve been using CyanogenMod primarily and have had Gingerbread for quite a while now.

Yesterday, I installed the Roboto font on my device. Many kinda teased Google with the big deal they made about the font at the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich event and I was one of them. Now that I have actually installed the font, I can almost see why they were so excited. Just as we often take for granted the fonts on your desktops and laptops, we forget how important fonts are on a mobile device. These letters are pretty much integrated into every single app or interface element on your device. Putting Roboto on my Evo has breathed new life into my device that other hackage has not.

If you want a taste of Roboto:

  • If you have Root on your device, you can use FontChanger.
  • Download the ZIP file at mediafire or directly from the XDA Forum Thread (which also includes a ton of other ICS goodies).
  • Put the fonts in a folder on your Android, preferrably /sdcard/.fontchanger if you’re using the app above.
  • Font Changer will walk you through the process of setting up the fonts. In my case, though,I had to go into Advanced mode and manually set the fonts. Not sure what I did wrong.
  • For Non-root folks, there are a few other options in the Forum Thread for getting Roboto loaded.
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November 1, 2011

Do NOT Update Your LG Optimus S to Gingerbread [Issues]

While many users rejoiced when the announcement came down that the LG Optimus S would be getting the Android Gingerbread update, it appears there are some serious issues with this push. Many users are having issues with the keyboard, SD card, and some users cannot even charge their devices anymore.

This update has been temporarily suspended while Sprint and LG continue to troubleshoot the problems some of you have reported. Please refer to this thread for issues you may be experiencing after the update. I will update that thread with new information as it becomes available. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused and appreciate your patience as we work through these issues.

 

via Sprint Community: 9/14 – LG Optimus S (LS670) Software….

If you’ve already done the update, all is not lost. You have a number of options.

  • The thread referenced above provides a number of solutions for many of the most common issues. For instance, if your device isn’t charging, try charging with the wall charger with the device powered off instead.
  • If you’re just through dealing with this Gingerbread update and don’t have time to wait for fixes to be pushed, you can actually revert from Gingerbread to Froyo.

This post written with my own mother in mind, who is suffering from some of these issues. On that note, I’d like to thank Sprint and LG for totally screwing up this update and making me and Android look bad. The average customer isn’t going to care who is actually at fault.

September 25, 2011

The Meal Library on Your Android

Time is probably the most valuable resource we have and also the most scarce. When you don’t have enough time, the most important things in your life suffer. Lack of time causes us to make bad decisions, especially regarding our health. This is why planning ahead is so important.

When you plan ahead, you bend time to your will. You can set aside time to workout, spend time with family and friends, and prepare a healthy meal. This last is probably the one most of us fail at. When you think of cooking a healthy dinner, you probably envision some long and arduous process that you don’t have time for, especially if you’ve had a busy day. The Simple Dollar outlines a good strategy for keeping a library of easy-to-prepare meals that are not only healthy, but done in about 45 minutes or less.

Take our current Tuesday evenings. Our daughter has a dance class from 5 until 5:45 in the evening, immediately followed by our son’s soccer game from 5:45 to 6:30. Since we start our bedtime routine at 7:30, there really isn’t a lot of time to experiment and carefully consider a meal in that one hour gap in there.

For evenings like this, we end up relying on a rotation of reasonably healthy and inexpensive meals that we’re sure our family all likes and that we can prepare quite easily.

Examples of meals in our rotation include spaghetti with marinara sauce, stir fry (rice and whatever vegetables we can easily find), tuna and noodles, vegetable noodle soup, “breakfast for supper” (usually scrambled eggs, toast, and waffles), homemade pizza (with pre-made crusts from the freezer), and fajitas.

An extremely powerful strategy, but I think we can take it to the next level by adding a dash of technology. There are a number of apps for Android that provide you with a ready-made meal library. Here are two that make figuring out what to cook in a limited amount of time a no-brainer.

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March 4, 2010

The Key To Consistency

Consistency is probably the single most important thing for success in any endeavor in your life. Time is constantly moving forward and whatever you’re doing right now is going to move forward with you. It’s going to build momentum and grow. Any habits you have now, whether good or bad, will shape your future. This is why it’s so important to be consistent in those things that will bring you success.

For instance, if your goal is to build a popular blog within your niche, then you need to work at it on a consistent basis. You need to post regularly. Constantly research new topics to blog about. Promote your blog as much as you can. Interact with your blog’s community or go find your blog a community if you don’t have any readers. If you just write a few posts and then walk away, it’s not going to grow itself.

If your goal is to lose weight, you have to make a consistent effort on a daily basis. You’ll need to plan your meals daily and make sure you’re eating good foods. You’ll probably want to exercise on a regular schedule as well. Tracking your progress will also be very important in figuring out where you are in relation to your goals and in tweaking your current diet and exercise program to meet your needs.

If a shark stops swimming, it dies. This is the same with your goals in life. Once you stop being consistent and stop executing those steps and habits that will move you closer to what you want out of life, your dreams stop swimming. Your dreams die. Think about that the next time you decide to procrastinate.

Is a moment of laziness worth suffocating your dreams and never reaching your goals?

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March 4, 2010

4 Ways To Start Losing Weight Immediately

Losing weight can be a huge undertaking for some of us. Even though you might not be ready to start an exercise or diet program right now, there are still little things you can start doing right now that will start you on your way.

1. Take a Multi-vitamin

Your body is constantly changing and going through chemical reactions. It needs certain vitamins and minerals in order to complete these changes and operate efficiently. If you don’t provide these basic building blocks, you will prevent those changes that you’re looking for from happening.

2. Plan Your Meals

Most of us go through an entire day with no clue exactly when we will eat or what we will eat. This is very bad. Your metabolism dictates just how fast you will be able to gain or lose weight. It works like an internal fire. As you provide fuel for the fire in the form of food, the fire burns brighter and hotter. The trick is in how much and how often you feed the fire.

If you eat too little every day, your body may go into starvation mode, holding onto every precious calorie of fat it can. If you eat too much, your body can’t process it all and it turns into love handles and thunder thighs. The key is to eat smaller meals at regular intervals throughout the day. This provides consistent fuel so that your body can operate at optimum efficiency.

3. Drink Water

Putting water in your body is like putting oil in your car’s engine. Without oil, the engine can overheat and lock up. It’s not able to properly perform it’s functions without that vital fluid. The same goes for your body. It needs water to operate. Coffee, juice, and soda do not count. You have to drink about 8 glasses of water each day (depending on your energy level) to make sure you stay hydrated. If you get thirsty, that means it’s already too late.

4. Move Around

You might not be ready for a full-on exercise program yet. Maybe there is some physical reason that prevents you from exercising. That does not mean that you can’t be a little more physical in your day-to-day life. Stop cruising the parking lot for 20 minutes and then waiting 5 minutes for a parking spot right at the front. That’s 25 wasted minutes of your life that you will never get back. Use the opportunity to take a short walk from the back of the lot. Take the stairs when possible. If you sit all day at work, stand up for a while. Do anything you can do to break the habit of sitting on your butt all the time because those habits are only making it bigger.