Apple VS Adobe VS Netbooks

Published on April 10, 2010 in Mobile. 0 Comments

The battle between Apple and Adobe has been going on for years with Apple refusing to support the Adobe flash platform on the iPhone and more recently on the iPad.  Apple has argued over and over again that Flash is resource intensive and will quickly drain the batteries of their mobile devices.  I’m not a flash fan, actually I hate flash, especially in web based applications. Nevertheless, I feel the choice  should be given to the user to install flash without any restrictions from Apple.  In a more recent twist on the subject, Apple’s decision to alter the iPhone’s developer licensing agreement to exclude Adobe’s forthcoming packager function of Flash CS5 that could allow developers to export flash applications into native iPhone Apps sends the message that Apple has declared war on Adobe and it’s flash platform.  Apple’s decision is not surprising at all and it could very well be backed up with valid technical arguments especially with the introduction of multitasking in iPhone OS4 and the need to have some sort of control over the way applications are compiled to accomplish clean multitasking on the iPhone and iPad platforms.  However, what about restricting applications that are not complied using native C/C++/Obj-C or javascript to running in the foreground only? I guess that is not an option at this point in time.

In a non related subject, I just recently purchased an HP 311 netbook PC with Nvidia’s ION graphics processor, hoping it would be a good platform to view videos and play flash based games on NickJr.com while traveling with my daughter who is just in love with Dora the Explorer TV show.  While the machine is capable of playing HD video content without dropping one frame, it was unable to play standard definition TV shows purchased from the iTunes store! After doing a quick research and extensive testing, I realized that Apple is not supporting this platform.  Is the lack of support due to the fact that this platform is in someway competing with the iPad? Probably so.  Although I found a quick solution for my daughter to view her favorite videos at Walmart, I started wounding about Apple’s ethical fiber and the way they conduct business eliminating support for any slightly competitive product that could effect the the sales of their own.  I now can see more clearly, if Apple was reasonable to argue the quality of the flash player with Adobe and allow a cleaner version of the flash player to run on it’s mobile devices, then applications sales might be lower than it’s current rate given that more people would probably hunt down free flash games online as a alternative to purchasing few games from iTunes’s App Store.  This is my personal take on the subject and in no way I favor a PC over Macs, in-fact I own mostly Macintosh computers and the purchase of this tiny HP was the first PC purchase I’ve made in almost 6 years.

Is Apple in the right? I would love to hear your comments.

Your baby can read – ripoff

Published on February 18, 2010 in kids. 0 Comments

Your baby can read program is the most ripoff program I’ve ever seen in my life.  As a new parent I have experimented with few programs and the one I hate the most is: Your Baby Can Read; This system is so badly produced and extremely bad for your child’s metal development beyond imagination.  My wife and I found that Dora the Explorer “Nick Jr” is better and more educating than this ripoff program that is so badly produced with no attention to details.  My child was counting 4 for 3 because they are so bad at being accurate with their production of the “Your Baby can read” program.  Trully, if you don’t want to be ripped off and if you would like to educate you little one please consider one my favorites: the Brainy Baby series found at:  http://www.brainybaby.com/

I have bought both programs and the “Your Baby Can Read” program  is a  sure program to make your baby as dumb as you spending $150-$200 on the most brain distractive program I’ve ever seen in my life.

I have no idea what Dr. Roberts is all about but he is just a man with enough money to advertise and he himself has no idea what a human brain is all about, don’t believe the commercials  you see on TV, go with Dora from Nick Jr and Brainy Baby series found at:  http://www.brainybaby.com/ and you shall thank me.

Off Topic – Wendy’s Cod Fish and Mercury

Published on February 17, 2010 in good. 0 Comments

Although this subject is off topic, I just had to write about this subject due to the fact that my wife is still beast feeding and she is a fish lover.  Fast food is just bad for you no matter what you try to argue.  I was watching a Windy’s commercial where they are emphasizing that their fish is 100% cod fish, guess what? Cod fish has enough mercury in it to hurt you and your baby if you are pregnant or breast feeding.  Cod fish is also really bad for kids who are still in development stages.  I just don’t really understand where the FDA is with regards to fast foods and false advertising.  All medication ads have some sort of warning accompanied with with the great benefits they may provide, as for fast foods, eat it and you shall die. Good luck!


OS X Chrome – One Great Yet Annoying Browser

Published on February 10, 2010 in Internet. 0 Comments
OS X Chrome – One Great Yet Annoying Browser
I have been using Chrome of Mac OS X since it was released few months ago.  I love the light weight speedy browser but I’m just really annoyed by the lack of major features that I have accustomed to when using Safari or Firefox.
1. Having a dedicated search field would be nice, currently all searches are executed through the address bar, which is okay but at times I would like to know the last search term I typed without having to dig it out of history.
2. It would be nice to be able to have bookmarks and history entries displayed as a sidebar for quick reference.
3. Lack of integration with major email applications allowing users to easily email a link or the content of a web page on the fly.
I understand that it is still a beta, nevertheless, my wish list is also missing from the non-beta version running on Windows.
I feel it is time to unset Chrome from being my default browser and replace it with Safari.  Firefox is just too slow and bulky running on OS X.

Colorado Assessors Stifling Sales in Resort Real Estate Markets

Published on May 22, 2009 in Real Estate. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

I was outraged to learn that my property taxes have increased by 110% from the last assessment on the few properties that my wife and I have purchased over the past three years in Breckenridge, Colorado.  Our aching economy just cannot handle another blow like this one, specifically when our local economy is mainly driven by the real estate industry from sales, vacation rentals, new construction projects and other services tightly associated with the real estate industry.  My property tax on a vacant lot in the Breckenridge Highlands went up from $3800 to $8000 from the last assessment on the pretentious argument that the value of my lot has increased to exceed $500,000.  The fact of the matter is that I actually had this particular lot for sale for almost two years and I have initially listed the property at $420,000 and I had to lower the price to $325,000 and still I have not received one offer.

I understand the strict mathematical formula used to determine property taxes based on comparable sales values within a specific year, nevertheless, our local assessors are purposefully acting dump and evaluating all properties in a given area at a similar values regardless of location, age, views and other factors that usually play a big role in determining the true value of a property in the real market.

The increase in assessed property values throughout Breckenridge and Summit county is adding a heavy burden on an already struggling community making it harder for businesses and families to survive the current nationwide economical crises where everyone is being demanded to pay taxes on property values that exceed the current market values by almost %20-40%. 

Many community residents are being forced to sell their commercial and residential properties due to the higher taxation and the lack of local economical stimulation.   Summit county residents who bought their homes over 10 years ago for $200,000 – $300,000 and have lower paying jobs find it very difficult to pay property taxes on an assessed $800,000 property values.  Property tax reform is really needed in Colorado where, like many other states such as Florida, property owners are taxed on the purchased value and never on the assessed value of their properties.  It is unfair for government assessors to impose such a burden on our community now and in the future.

Why Pink for a Smartphone Microsoft?

Published on April 30, 2009 in Mobile. 0 Comments

Pink

Pink is my favorite color, if and only if, it was a cute outfit for my little baby girl. As for a phone code-named Pink, it almost sounds like the marketing department at Microsoft is going 100% metro-sexual.  I will never buy Pink and I am not really sure if I know anyone who would let go of their iPhone for Pink.

Sorry Microsoft, you lost me 10 years ago when I decided to format my brand new toshiba notebook and replace your windows with RHL 7.  Pink is not going to bring me back but I like your beta of Windows7, not enough to leave Apple’s OS X though.

Is Microsoft losing the innovation battle?  My short answer is yes. I have successfully converted all my clients to OS X because I really got sick and tired of getting at least one phone call a day about MS machines that just don’t work.  So long Microsoft, I will stick my my OS X and Linux machines and I will run your OS under a virtualization platform for testing purposes only.  As for your phone, pink doesn’t belong in my pocket.

Unlocked iPhones, soon?

Published on March 26, 2009 in Mobile. 0 Comments

Apple is finally selling non-contract binding iPhones at their Apple Stores. at&t is also offering a similar deal but for some odd reason they have a limit of one device per customer.  This is really great news, nevertheless, what will be the fate of a consumer who wishes to discontinue using at&t as a provider and just paid $600 for a smart phone that is currently only works with the at&t network.  Are we seeing an early signal for an unlocked iphone and the possibility of other carriers being supported by iTunes?

I’m generally  disappointed by at&t’s wireless service and I would have to say that a number of friends in our mountainous  area agree with me that at&t’s coverage in the Colorado mountains has been less than sufficient and the number of missed calls is just becoming unbearable. Addicted to my iPhone and my ability to establish ssh connections directly to my servers along with all the other bling bling the iPhone has to offer I find myself stuck with a wireless provider I don’t appreciate and it would be really nice if I was able to use my device on some other network.  There is a rumor about iPhone on Verizon and if the rumor is true, then we should expect the iPhones to be running on the most capable wireless network in the US this year.

With the slowing economy it just makes a lot of sense for Apple to target multiple wireless providers and maximize on the their profits by selling the phone directly to consumers who can in-turn choose their provider or switch providers as they please.

It is really time to end this legalized monopoly and give consumers a choice.

Smart Grid – Hackers are Smarter

Published on March 21, 2009 in Innovations. 1 Comment

As always, innovations is controlled by fear and most security experts are apparently not as smart as hackers.  Security experts are warning against digitally based electricity distribution and transmission system known as the “Smart Grid” due to their speculations on hackers ability to hack into the system leaving millions of households and business without power.  Given the many advantages of having a nationwide “Smart Grid” technology implantation I just don’t see why such technology cannot be protected efficiently especially when such systems are built, implemented and maintained by individuals who are smarter than the feared hackers.

I’m not going to describe and analyze the technology as much as I would like to focus on the fact that fear is limiting innovation and in most cases the wrong people are hired to do such projects.  Innovative individuals and extremely smart engineer find it difficult to work on such projects for corporations that choose not to pay them more  than what they would make if they just run their own small businesses.

So to stop the hackers, we must pay innovative individuals the right money, otherwise, power will be out for few minutes until backup systems go online, if there is a backup system. Knowing how most corporations cut corners to save money, such technology could be problematic at first but eventually the system will be perfected.

Hard drive failure in high altitudes

Published on March 9, 2009 in Computers. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

I just finished replacing a hard drive in an iMac and what a fun experience that was. I took the dead drive over the the graveyard, a small storage closet, and I counted over 50 dead hard drives I replaced in the past 8 years on servers, desktops and notebooks in my office where we have an average of 10 total heavily used systems. Most failures where attributed to overheating in our high altitude environment. Our office is located in Breckenridge CO at an elevation of almost 10,000 ft.

I was able to get some replaced by manufacturers at no cost but we had to pay for the majority of them.

I have tried all manufacturers and in most cases when a machine is used excessively to process video and or transfer huge amount of data we lose the hard drive in about 1 year.  

I have been searching for high altitude hard drives but I have not been able to find any that has specific high altitude design specifications.  The interesting observation is that my 3rd generation 30G iPod still works. I dropped my iPod in snow while skiing, I dropped it on rocky hiking trails on the deck and once it dropped and bounced down the cement driveway leaving few nice dents in it.

Next time you decide to take your laptop with you on your ski vacation, seriously, back up your data before traveling or risk loosing your data, especially if you are in the habit of moving your notebook around while it’s turned on.

VirtualBox VS Parallels Desktop on MacBooks

Published on February 28, 2009 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

A simple study on battery performance when running multiple operating systems on a MacBook Pro using VirtualBox vs. Parallels Desktop for Mac.
Continue reading ‘VirtualBox VS Parallels Desktop on MacBooks’

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