I'm willing to give the Moto X a try

I might talk a lot of shit about Motorola.  I might even be a little disenchanted with the steps Android has been taking.  That doesn't mean that I'm not secretly excited about the Moto X.

Motorola has been making handsets that piss me off and remind me of a brick for years now.  Style hasn't been something that Motorola has been very good at since the glory days of that sexy flip phone (you know what I'm talking about).  I take for granted some times how good the phones are in terms of signal quality, too.  Especially when compared to Samsung.  However, I do see a good flow of "Yes, just hold down the volume down and power" issues with the device.  A lot.  It might come from people using their phone to download shitty apps and play on Facebook all day, but that is also what the phone should be designed for.  The components aren't normally bad, but they rarely command the same respect as what HTC of Samsung put into their top-tier devices.  Nothing has changed.

That being said, I'm still excited.

The device has some decent specs.  I don't think it is a game changer and I'm not sure that it is a phone that I'd want to live with for two, entire, years.  As a 12-month device, yes.  The device seems to hold it's own against some of the big dogs we have seen lately.  This isn't a win by any stretch of the imagination and it isn't pushing any boundaries.  Let's be honest for a second, there isn't a whole lot out there that is pushing smartphones anymore.  We are now getting to the point where low power and optimization are going to play key roles in development, as opposed to sheer power and speed.  As a hardware guy, that hurts my feelings.  As a mobile enthusiast, I've got a tech boner.

Do you know what happens when it uses less power and maintains a similar speed?  They add more cores.  They add a different architecture that is not only faster, but can do more things.  They pave the way for the next generation of power hungry beasts.  Then... we shrink it down, keep it cooler and figure out how to maintain the same performance at a fraction of the price.  We are close to turning a mobile corner here and I'm pretty excited.  I think this might be good for Motorola.  They are done with the "Droids" as we know them and this is the end of that part of their history.  Google is now ingrained, releasing stuff and pushing them in a direction that could be awesome for everyone.  Tech.  Boner.

If I have the chance, I'll give it a shot.  If the prices are decent or I feel like financing it would be feasible, I'd be willing to try it out.  Customizing the device in the color or flavor of my choosing ain't so bad, either.  If nothing else I feel like the device will function for an acceptable duration and will allow me to trade in that OG Atrix for a respectable smartphone to use for Google goodies (my WP8 phone would still be my go-to phone).

Chromecast.

The world used to watch TV with an antenna.  You would connect your rabbit ears and hope you got them in the right place.  I remember sets with  broken antennas that were duct taped and had huge balls of foil on the ends.  I remember the grainy and shitty receptions.  I remember having to GET UP and change the dial and muscle it forward as it clicked through the channels.  I remember getting the first TV that was a decent size (27 inches) and having cable.  It was fucking magical.  I remember the VHS players that came and died and always fucking blinked 12:00.  I was the first person to have a DVD player in the house and subsequently helped my parents pick out one that was also an "entertainment" center so that my mom could also listen to the stereo and clean with it.  Great memories of the TV generation that have occurred just in the last three decades.

Now, something has come to change the game... again.  Google has unveiled it's latest thing: Chromecast.  Chromecast is going to be the next big thing for TV.  Why?  Because Google will get it into your living room and let you use shit that you already have to make it that much better.

Imagine you have your laptop downstairs and you really want to catch up or even START on a vlog.  This is something that in my house could happen.  I see a guy who has a vlog, they are funny and I decide I wanna see a couple more.  I can now begin queuing all of their videos up in YouTube and pushing them right to my TV out of the Chrome browser from the YouTube website.  I can then do whatever I want my laptop while I enjoy these videos.  My wife can sit next to me and watch.  That music video that you ACTUALLY want to see?  Yeah, it's on there, too.  Already have a Netflix subscription like everyone else you know?  Go ahead and start a movie on your smartphone and send it to Chromecast and then go back to texting or doing whatever you want on your phone.  The TV picks it up and steams the video.  No worries over phone battery or tiny screen, it's just.... there.  Like some kind of crazy fucking magic, it's there.

Chromecast is going to be important because of what Google will let it do.  It is going to add stuff to it.  It is going to enter into deals and partnerships to bring things to it and it is going to cost you that initial price of 35 bucks.  Right now it isn't quite as full featured as a Roku, but it will be soon enough.  The first gen may just give us movies and music, but it won't stop.  Games will come.  Then other apps.  Imagine if you could get Hangouts to work on your TV, seeing big pictures of people.  Imagine doing real searches on your TV or being able to play back those movies from your phone or show pictures from the couch with no wires or buttons.  Sure, other things can do this, but they aren't 35 dollars and they don't have the driving force of Google and it's integrated network to fall back on.

People are already working on hacking it to do more cool shit that it may not have even been designed for.  This is going to be a lot of fun.  Sure, I've got a living room that has some toys in it, but I'm gonna add one more.

I can't tell if I love or hate the new GMail

I like to keep things simple.  I like to add great new features that make something useful.  Can I have both?  According to Google: FUCK YOU AND SHUT THE FUCK UP!  YOU'LL TAKE WHAT YOU GET AND LIKE IT!

The new GMail is magical example of everything that is good about using webmail today.  It is also a hellish nightmare when it comes to using a device that doesn't have Google apps available.  If I see an email and I read it on my phone I have no idea where it actually is in GMail.  Thankfully I keep my personal email cleaned up, otherwise I'd be out of luck.  I have no idea how a regular user would fair with this change.  The email application helps to simplify this process, but if you don't use it... you might have a bad time.

I can't tell if I love or hate it.  I'm still getting used to it.  The tabs for different types of emails is very nice.  I wish there was an easier way to integrate it into other mail applications, though.  Sometimes I want those same filters on my phone, but can't have them without the app.  I mean, they could always make apps for Windows Phone 8 and quit fucking up my life (I MISS YOU GOOGLE APPS!).

I'm going to give it some time and then revisit this feeling.  Right now I think I'm just sad that Google covers so many things that I just don't have access to anymore.  Ugh.

A social experiment

I have long been a supporter of technology and progressing forward in both development and usefulness.  I am a longtime nerd and have seen it change from having text only to having poor formats and borders and awkward pictures.  I've seen HTML rise and fall and come back all over again as a legitimate thing.  I've watched browsers come and go.  I've seen websites take off and then fail miserably.  It has been a wild ride in the last 20 or so years.

I am going to do something that I have trouble doing.  I am going to adapt these things into my life.  I've avoided social media pretty well.  I might check Facebook daily, but normally just once after work before I jump online.  I have never been active on Twitter.  I'm still trying to figure out if getting into Tumblr is even right for me.  I've started using something called Keek.  I came out and had some very harsh things to say about Instagram and Vine.  I've decided that instead of simply hating those things because of what they stand for, I need to hate them because they are epic time-wasting pieces of shit, too.  The only way to prove this is to take the dive.

During this time I am going to hole out my own niche in these places.  I've locked down my Facebook and accepted ALL of the friend invites I had waiting (50, seriously, WTF).  I've jumped headfirst into Twitter and have followed damn near everything I am interested in.  The Keek thing is something that is more specific to my wife.  She uses it because she saw it on.... Keeping up with the Kardashians.  Le sigh.

I'm going to post updates.  I'm going to retweet.  I'm going to record and post videos.  I am going to take advantage of the many forms of social media.  Hopefully during this time I can also manage to find some sort of meaningful purpose for all of this.

And all that could have been....

Sometimes I think deeply.  Most of the time I just drool on my desk at work while I am talked down to by old women who cannot figure out why the THIRTY-NINE HUNDRED cat pictures are taking so long to back up.  On the rare occasion that I put my brain to good use, I often wonder what kinds of things I could tell people.  What could I share?  Could I share it in a way that people were interested in?  Could I help even one person better understand something?  Could I aid in making a decision based on my feedback?  Hmmmmm.

I've always wanted to be in charge of something.  Not something huge, but something very small and down to earth.  I wanted to reach the masses with a small group of honest individuals that didn't mind letting people know exactly how they feel.  No selling out.  No sucking up.  Brutal.  Fucking Truth.  You see, things don't work that way anymore, so it is hard to do something like that.  The amount of money you have to generate to compete is absurd.  This is important because you are going to provide honest information that can be digested by a normal human-being, as opposed to sensationalized bullshit that fanboys are going to swallow like a huge load from their favorite so-and-so.

I won't lie, I've got my own biases.  I really like Thermaltake.  I think they make good shit at every level.  Their PSUs are top-notch, their fans (though it has been a while) are stellar, their cases are amazing, they have the best keyboard EVER.  Am I fanboy?  Not so much.  How often do you see me come here and ooze over something they've done or how much I desperately wish I had something from them?  Never.  My current fans are all CoolerMaster.  My current PSU is made by Antec.  These are solid brands and products that I researched, purchased and have been incredibly happy with.  I don't want to talk about the untimely death of my keyboard and how the last week has been agonizing.  The point is, I understand that being objective is important.

Recently someone asked if I would help contribute to something for them.  While I don't know if anything will happen, it reminded me how much I wished that I could have done something bigger.  I don't need to be a GameSpot or IGN.  I don't need to be a Gizmodo or Engadget.  Why can't I try to cater to people who are interested in technology and gaming, but not be fed tainted information and paid-for-advertisements masquerading as reviews?  Maybe he will get a website.  Maybe he will find stuff to fill it and make a pretty CSS to cover it in.  I don't know.  Maybe he will link to this blog.  Maybe he will generate revenue and be able to give me a few bucks to put a piece or two together.  We are both in the mobile technology field and both enjoy PC games, it could be a match made in heaven.  It could also be a huge failure.

Thankfully, I'm used to failure and I don't mind.

If I ever come into a large sum of money I will purchase a site.  I will build it will good people and truth will be the centerpiece.  Sure, a lot of it will be opinion, but you won't hear me tell you that a buggy piece of shit is a 9/10.  You won't see me endorse a weak piece of hardware, because I got something.  I may not make a shitload of money, but hopefully I'll earn the respect of the people I want to provide information to.  At the end of the day, that's all I really want.  Just a little respect.  It doesn't seem like I'll be getting that from the hateful cat lady running the 7 year old laptop with XP on it.

You obviously don't deserve it.... Part 2

I covered Instagram yesterday and teased at consoles in the first sentence.  The post got a little too long and I didn't think I could fit it all in, I broke it out down for easier reading and for my though process to fully develop.  I'm going to discuss here why you don't deserve a new generation of console.

To argue over the PS4 and XB1 is stupid.  Neither console is out.  You haven't played a single game on either of them.  You don't know what the policy is going to be for either of them.  Just shut up.

Both consoles are nearly identical.  the wording and phrasing is slightly different.  The description is slightly different.  The base of the device, is the same.  They are running the same watered down home-theater worthy PC setup.  They are essentially using the same GPU, CPU and RAM.  We are talking low heat, low wattage, onboard stuff.  I'm not sure I full get behind this, but okay.  This is at least a step in the right direction so that development can be more streamlined and hopefully help PC out.  The PowerPC days are going to be behind us and these new consoles will usher in the future.  As we brace for impact with the NEXT version of Direct X, the consoles are here with us, now.

The uproar recently over Microsoft has been especially hilarious.  HOW DARE YOU MAKE US PAY FOR A GAME.  God forbid you have to buy it on sale, right?  PC gamers don't get to share games.  We don't get to swap shit out and hope our buddy has a great time.  We have to tie a key to a special program (Steam, Origin, etc) or account just to play the game.  This isn't always bad. We can pretty much play the game forever in some cases and we get a fuckload more support than the console guys.  This, however, can be a much more expensive hobby.  I see a cool game, I can't borrow it and see if I like it.  I don't get to beat a game in a couple of weeks and then give it back.  We don't get to swap.  We ALL have to buy the same shit, then we can praise or complain about it later.  Selfish assholes.

In the end these new consoles have just barely more power than my PC that is in desperate need of an upgrade.  For me that means that I will likely be way ahead of the curve next summer and enjoying some killer games that make the port over to PC... I hope.

You obviously don't deserve it.... Part 1

Between the heated console wars and the fresh release of a new Instagram app I can't help but think: You obviously don't deserve it.

Today Facebook had a big press conference and released a new Instagram app.  The new app is the same as the old app, BUT IT ADDS VIDEO!  This is important because Facebook has been directly competing with Twitter recently to steal your social life.  Twitter released a little gem called Vine.  Vine allows you to post 6-second videos to the web.  Yes, SIX ENTIRE SECONDS.  Those have to be some unbelievably amazing seconds to bother posting them on the internet, right?  WRONG.  The key difference here between the two apps is going to be the length of the videos.  Instagram now allows you to post 15-second clips... right to Instagram.  Now you can take a short video of that meal that you just took a picture of.  OH BOY!

While I am all for "social" and I love pushing technology forward.... how fucking self-centered can you fucking be?  What makes anyone that isn't a beautiful woman think that anyone gives flying fuck what it is that they do all day?  Beyond that, why would they ever want to see small 15-second snippets that they find meaningful, artistic or awesome?  The fact that a single app exists, I don't understand.  The fact that now there are two competing apps for this... HOLY FUCKING SHIT!  Yet, somehow I live in a world where I am in a minority without a college degree.  I'm obviously not cultured enough to understand.

The reason why they don't deserve it?  Because hordes of Android users have been filling up message boards and spewing vile shit all over the ratings FOR HOURS.  Why?  Because the app doesn't work?  Nah.  Because it makes their phone explode?  Nah.  Because I sends naked pictures to their grandmother?  Nope.  Because they didn't read the description and requirements for the fucking application?  BINGO!

People didn't bother to read the part where it requires a specific Android version number to use this new feature.  You can watch it from any version, but you must have the latest version to take video.  Obviously the well-educated masses that are sheepishly following this trend aren't all going to have new-ish smartphones.  It's a cruel world out there with no 15-second videos, guys.  Facebook seems to be working on a version that is more widely compatible, it will probably be available very soon.  Until then we will drown in a sea of tears of the Gingerbread masses.