iPhone 5S....WHAAAAT!

So I'm sure most of you won't believe me.... but I did get an iPhone 5S last Saturday from the T-mobile store. (which also explains the lack of posts from me since then....experimenting with my new phone and everything)  But before you judge me too harshly, let me explain. As you might have guessed my HTC Sensation finally gave up the ghost last week, and while debating over my next smart phone move I really started to lean towards to Sony Experia Z. After looking at reviews online and checking out the features, I really started to like the idea of the Sony. Only a few questions I had regarding durability and charging time. So I went to the T-mobile store to check out that one, the iPhone, and the new Lumia Windows 8 phone. Started with the Sony and it wasn't charged at the store, so the guy plugs it in and a few minutes later it still doesn't boot up, still charging. Not good, so that one is out. Then the Windows Phones are extremely lacking in apps, and interface options, so that left me with the iPhone. Now I hadn't completely put aside the iPhone as an option because really the 5S is quite amazing. Powerful, fast, sleek. So after discussions with Sonia and a decision that will help us in the future I decided to go with the iPhone. The T-mobile store didn't have any in stock and told me I would have to order one which would take 7-10 days...ugh. Then Sonia gave me the idea to look at a different T-mobile store, I didn't think it would work, but I gave it try. I walked in the other store and told them I wanted an iPhone 5S, they said what color? I said black is good. They said I think we have one left. WOW! So cool, didn't have to wait and got a really nice phone for my trouble. Thank you Sonia!

The past few days I've been messing around with the phone and trying to understand the system and get used to a totally new UI for me so I'll keep you all updated as I move along on this. Very excited and pleased so far with my new iPhone. Wow.....Never thought I'd hear myself say that. ;)

Why does apple get all the cool stuff?!

Very Cool Link  It seems that the iOS gets all the good stuff, GameCase just put together a gamepad for the iOS7 devices and the initial reviews look really good. Basically bringing the functionality of an xbox controller to the iPad, so why did apple get it first when they only control a small percentage of the market. Well I suppose it's because they have the star power, they are the cool kids on campus right now. Unfortunately that means the rest of us non apple geeks have to wait it out. Oh well. May I'll just have to get an iPad. -'Cringe'

Life Hacks

Life hacks are those simple things you can do that most people don't realize you can do to take advantage of something that could be really fun and amazing. Certain life hacks make you think about the world around you, others just spark interesting conversations among friends. At the extreme end a life hack it could save you tons of money or make you popular. There are many, many things that are considered life hacks. I believe these life hacks spark from invention. The need for man kind to invent and analyse, scrutinize and digest information about the world around them. Such simple inventions can save us time, or make a task just a little bit easier, and some are just plain silly, but I suppose that is why we like them. I think as humans we enjoy saying "Man, I NEVER would have thought of that!" That is not to say that we wish people where smarter than us, but that we appreciate the minds of others that think in different ways and perceive things about the world that we feel would never cross our minds. This is why so many times in life it is the group that can brainstorm and flesh out ideas and thoughts, the group offers us points of view that are outside our own lifestyles. Of course there is danger in the groups settings as well, when only a few participate and the rest  go along for the ride, but when every one is engaged in the process and trouble shooting the issues these groups can invent and life hack some amazing things.

This site called lifehacker has many things that are interesting and pertinent to our lives, maybe you can add a few life hacks into your own life, enjoy: LifeHacker

The finger print scanner

I know that I discussed this topic a little bit with the new iphone that came out, but I recently had a discussion with a co-worker that made me see the finger print scanner in a slightly new way. Of course I had thought that the scanner is the perfect thing for logging in and gaining access to your digital devices, but what I hadn't really thought about were some of the other potential applications for the scanner. For instance you could use it with different fingers to activate specific programs or web pages on your computer or digital device. Lets say the web pages that your regularly visit are programmed to separate fingers so that if you scan your index finger you get your email account, if you scan your pinky finger maybe it would navigate to you favorite news site, I hadn't really thought about it in a way that you could use different fingers to activate different things. Maybe that program that you use most often whether it's a production style program or just a game could be launched just by the swipe of the finger. That is really an amazing advancement in navigation. First we had the mouse, then voice commands, and now finger print scanning has entered the fray. I don't know if the scanner on the iphone would let you do some of these things as well, but I can see a really great potential future for the finger print scanner and our digital devices.

World impact on technology

In our ever changing and growing tech world as we outsource more and more manufacturing to many many countries and nations global events are starting to have a much bigger impact on our digital world and ultimately on our own pocket books. Recently a little known fire in China shutdown a manufacturing plant for DRAM which is used in most computers and mobile devices. Although they only produced a small percentage of the worlds supply it still made the price of DRAM sky rocket by 20% to the highest price it has ever been. This will ultimately affect the price of our own consumer electronics over the course of the next year. Is it really so good of us to put all our "electronic" eggs into one basket that a fire in some obscure factory will drastically affect our businesses world wide? We need to rethink our global strategies and not focus so much on the cheapest manufacturing prices out there, lest we forget "you get what you pay for". Most recently that saying just isn't true with companies charging us top dollar for shoddy craftsmanship and poor materials. What ever happened to pride in the process and the creation? In our fast food generation even the electronics are cheaply made so quickly produced that there are many defects that the buying public "just have to get used too" because how dare we ask the companies to provide a better more reliable product. It's sad really that in our world today we still rely on cheap labor for high end products.

A new page?

Starting a new page soon called "Critique This". This will be available on my blog and will hopefully be a place where Animators and Digital Artists can come to find resources in the way of tutorials and instruction, but I also want it be a place where artists can show there work or provide links to their current work and projects.

Sony Bravia Smart Stick

Chromecast step aside, the new Sony Bravia Smart stick is in the house. This looks to be a promising new way to get Google into your living room. With a range of google tv features this could definitely be the answer for alot of you TV watchers out there wondering how to make the most of your network. Of course you'll need a TV with an hdmi connection but most higher end TV's will have that these days. No word on pricing but lets hope it's not that much more than the chromecast was at $35.

Siri, Watch out! Cortana is on her way.

Siri has been the main stay of social interaction with our devices as we ask her for directions and recommendations, or even to schedule our day for us. But there are rumors on the horizon that Microsoft is working on a new gal in town. The rumored zCortanaApp is meant to be a Siri type app for the windows phone. It is not clear what features will be available, but there is a lot of buzz around the possibility that Cortana maybe the next big thing. Step aside Siri, let us hear what Cortana has to say. Link Here: Cortana

Windows 8.1 The start button is back for real!

So I mentioned in an earlier post that the start button that Microsoft brought back in Windows 8.1 Preview really wasn't worth writing home about. Well it seems WinAero has heard my cry and created an addon for 8.1 called StartIsGone, this addon is free for both 32 and 64 bit versions of windows, although it doesn't restore the start button to all its former glory it does give some hope for all you Windows users out there who just have to have it. Here is the link: StartIsGone

The new iphone cometh!

I don't know if you all saw it, but they did release the iphone 5c and 5s models of the iphone. Not  having an iphone myself I can't really comment on how great it is, but I do know that for someone who already has one or even just uses the ipod touch. These new models will be something of a draw. I did want to talk about one of the new features of the phone and that is the finger print scanner. Seen as just a novelty by most when added to laptops a few years back the finger print scanner was woefully understated and scared more people then it excited, but I think on a device such as a phone it could be quite beneficial for security and ease of access purposes. Hopefully they have a better scanner than most on the market, which are very touchy and unreliable at best. Even though it's really cool and could be of some use, I don't think it a necessary feature, but then again what features on smart phones are really necessary?

It could lend itself better to an ipad that has multiple users and could handle multiple log-ons for that device. Each person having there own setup and logon based on the finger print, but on the iphone its another one of those oooh neat features that most apple users will love. Here is the link. New iphones

Why is it called a Smart TV?

It seems to me that the Smart TV is just a simplified version of a Wii or an Xbox, or even services that already exist such as apple tv. If all we care about is that we can watch Netflix on it, then why even get a Smart TV if you already have a Wii? I understand that they are really slim and super nice and the pixel ratio's are insane, and movie watching on them is awesome, but these fake "apps" that they load on the TV's can be accomplished using some other method already available. What I really need is a Wireless TV..., a TV that can connect to my network, and surf the web, showcase my own networked photos, and still hook to my DVD player and other devices. The "Smart" portion of the TV just seems like an overkill.

And why is it that when we label something Smart it really isn't? Is that suppose to mean we're  Smart for buying it, or that the company is Smart for making us buy something we already use someplace else? It obviously doesn't apply to the intelligence of the TV, it can't guess my favorite shows, or hold a conversation with me, or do my work. So why is it Smart?

It seems to me that a truly Smart TV would allow me to choose the channels I want, whether from a cable provider or not, showcase my game devices, connect to my network, show me the video feed from the security camera on my house, sense when I'm sad and play an uplifting show for me, clean my house, and offer sound advice. These TV's aren't "Smart" so lets stop calling them that, if anything we should call them WIFI TV's. Or Internet ready TV's.

Lets put "Smart" back where it belongs describing people who are truly smart and brilliant and accomplished, don't diminish the word by applying to electronics that definitely aren't smart.

My Smart Phone Woe's

In the last three days my HTC Sensation that I've had for years now just decided it wants to not turn on any more. When I first got this phone it was fantastic, fast and sleek, very durable. About a month or so ago the power button stopped working, thanks to a little ingenuity and encouragement from my wife I found some apps that could circumvent that problem and it has really been not too bad to use, a little annoying but manageable. But now that I find that I can't even get my phone to turn on until the afternoon, I'm at a loss at what to do. Is it a battery problem or hardware, software? Not even sure.

So do I limp along till Oct. and search for a good deal, or do I get a new phone now and get going with something new. Of course the fiscally smart thing to do is wait, but every bone in my body wants to get a new phone and stop dealing with degenerating technology that will slowly die out.

At the same time, getting a new phone now would be nice and there are some good options, but if I wait I could get a newer phone for the same amount of money, but isn't that always the case? With the advent of these every six month technology release it seems we're always behind the curve when we buy devices, and with these new upgrade every six month plans from the providers that could be worth it, but is it really? Not sure. I seems that they just want to gouge their customers for every penny, whatever happened to treating your costumers like they matter, it seems these days that these large phone companies only care about the bottom line.

Being the tech geek that I am I do long for a new phone and look  forward to that switch, just not looking forward to the buyers remorse afterward.

The lure of the Apps

Apps, wonderful things invented to help, delight, and entertain us. There are soo many apps that we say, "there's an app for that". Apps come in all shapes and sizes and on differing platforms. The lure of that apps comes from one word ....free. Ah free, what a glorious word, but is any app really "free". Free of what?, cost, pain, privacy, security. Do we really look at the "cost" of the word free? I've noticed that so many apps invade our privacy's, control our phones, take our information. Do we care? no. We don't mind, most of the time we don't even notice.

Perhaps the biggest lure from Apps comes from the use of them. Here is what I mean. I've been using android based phones since the arrival of the smart phone. I've loved the apps that came to me from Google Play, and the Amazon App Store. So many free amazing apps that improved my first world life and let me enjoy the amazing thing that was my phone, but that came at a cost that I only now realize. These apps have been slowly limiting my view of what smart device I can get. When people ask, why don't you get an different phone like an iphone or a windows phone, I say well because I've been using android for so long, they have all my apps. These apps have determined what I like and chained me to a platform that maybe I didn't really want to be chained too. So how do I break free, can it be done. Do I just alienate my treasured apps for others that might be inferior in some way, was my choice of phone really that important when I joined the smart phone world? I think yes.

It's time for me to upgrade my phone and I've been looking at all the models available and many of them have appeal, but because of my history of android apps I find myself disregarding phones like the windows phone and the iphone because really, they won't have the apps I want. But then I ask myself, do I really want those apps. I find the answer is....I don't know, what would I do without them? Would my life be empty without the apps I've grown to love?

The answer is no, my life wouldn't be empty and I shouldn't make the apps the most important thing. So why do I make them important. Well because I've had a personal experience with them and I've learned things about them or they've helped me learn things about the world. So I appreciate them, but I shouldn't invest so much in them that I find myself tied down to apple or android or windows. I will Free myself from the apps and the next time I buy a smart phone I will think of other things that I might benefit from and what other possibilities are there for those phones.

I declare freedom from the lure of the apps and take back control of my own buying power!

My love, hate relationship with Windows 8.1 Preview

Many of your may have known that I updated to Windows 8 earlier this year and have really been enjoying it. 2 weeks ago I went ahead and updated my desktop to Windows 8.1 preview which has been really interesting to play with some of the new features. Well here is where the love hate relationship comes in.

Love: Opening email links on to a split screen so I can see the page and still see the email. (although I do have dual monitors so really not necessary)
Love: The changes to the start screen and the new way to access all your programs, also the ease of use now in customizing the start screen.
Love: Program switching and the the way that programs interact with each other and the fun way to close the programs with a swipe of the mouse from top of the screen to bottom. Makes interacting with my programs that much more fun.

Hate: That the Start button was brought back and really isn't a start button at all, the only saving grace is that I can shutdown the computer a little bit faster with a right click, but really it didn't take that long before. Now there is just a pointless start button when I don't need one.
Hate: That the Windows 8 store has not yet partnered with any really great app shops out there to increase the number and quality of apps available. I imagine that store would be sooo much better with access to some android or even a partnership with the amazon store.
Hate: Well that's really all I can think of right now and I suppose that bodes well for the OS.

In conclusion, I've really enjoyed the switch to Windows 8.1 Preview and I am looking forward to the full release in October this year. Hopefully they can make it better than is already is.

Smart Watch? Really.

So many of you might have seen the new Sony Smart watch seen here: Sony Smart Watch

 Is this an awesome new thing or just a fleeting niche product that mostly likely will fade away as fast as it popped up? Well my opinion is that they just might have missed the mark on this. These watches remind me of the Calculator watch back in the late 80's early 90's. At the time they were amazing and everyone had to have one, but once you got one you really didn't know what to do with it except maybe cheat on your math homework. And the day after I got mine, I forgot I had it on went to a friends house to go swimming and well....you can guess that my calculator watch didn't work so well after that.

 So these smart watches will be the same, just a passing fad, unless..... With the advent of flexible displays and emerging folding screen technology these devices could be viable. Imagine you slap this screen device on your wrist like those old wrist slappers that we all know and love, and while it's on your wrist you can see the time. Then when you want to browse the web or play a game or any other smart phone activity you just take it off your wrist unfold it and go at it.

Smart watches?, I'm gonna say "Nice try" but until we can get some of these other technologies into these watches, they just aren't worth the money.

Win7 & Office 2010

As many of you may know from my last post (which was really forever ago), I've been using Win 7 now at work and at home. Its been exciting to explore Win 7 and look for things to improve performance and squeeze every inch of power out of my box. One gem of wisdom that I wanted to pass on was how to turn off the User Account Control system on your Win 7 box. If your not sure what they is, it is the "Cancel or Allow" feature of your Win 7 system. Every time you want to change or install a program you get a window pop up that asks you if your "SURE" you want do to that. And you think to yourself "Well of course I do, that why I click on it...Duh!". Well I have awesome news for all you out there who have been wishing you could just turn that feature off. YOU CAN!
From the bottom of the screen select the start menu icon. Then when it opens lick on your user icon in the upper right hand corner of the start menu. This will take you to the User Accounts page. On the right side at the bottom is a link to access the User Account Control Settings. Click once on that link and it will prompt you what to do. You'll see a slider on the left hand side, just slide it all the way to the bottom and click OK.
In a last act of desperation the computer will ask you if your sure you want to do that. Just select yes and then restart your computer. You will never be asked from that silly User Account Control again. If your some reason after you've turned it off you decide you just can't live without it. I suggest a brain scan.....but a more simple task would be to just follow the above steps and instead of sliding the slider to the bottom slide it to the top to activate the User Account Control.
I hope that helps some of you ease the pain of using Win 7 although it really is pretty painless already.
Also this post I wanted to discuss Office 2010. I just recently upgraded and let me tell you I like what I see. Office 2010 version is finally 64-bit compatible. It about time huh? And even the database software is also 64-bit which means faster queries in Access and more available cell processing in Excel. I haven't been able to thoroughly test the software but from what I've seen so far I like the new look and I like some of the new features. If you can I would highly suggest an upgrade. In today's world there is absolutely no reason for a small business to be running office 95. Bite the bullet and spend some of that hard earned cash on a new office upgrade. You'll be glad you did. And as a side comment to that note I think it's very important to always stay up to date with the latest software. It IS an investment and you should treat it as such, your company only stands to gain from being on the forefront of technology and digital know how.

That's all for now, hope to post again soon on the joys of Smart Phones. Till then - happy computing.

Windows 7 Short Review

So after a few weeks of using and tweaking Windows 7, I have decided that it is quite possible the best OS on the market to date. I'm very impressed at how far Microsoft has come with this product and love that it is leaps and bounds ahead of Vista as far as usability,stability, and compatibility. Also this has been the first time for me testing out a 64-bit OS, and I must say that I am very impressed and sad that I didn't switch to 64-bit a long time ago, but perhaps this is just perfect timing for me. 64-bit allow me to utilize all of my current RAM and allows my fancy animation and digitally editing programs to run to their full potential. I didn't realize how well some of my programs could run until I got them on a 64-bit system. You may not know this but allot of the software you buy has been optimized for 64-bit, but you buy the 32-bit program which is really the slower slightly less effective version. Windows 7 has made for a seem less integration of my 32-bit software onto a 64-bit system. I have had no compatibility issues that couldn't be resolved by downloading the latest 64-bit drivers for that software, and Nvidia has really been on the ball and kept up with their 64-bit drivers for Windows 7 and I love that.

Bottom line, if you have the chance to upgrade to windows 7 when it comes out this September I would highly recommend it, especially if your running graphics and digital editing software that could greatly benefit from running at their peak performance capabilities.

Windows 7 test widget

Posting a test from my wondows 7 widgets

Career Day

Well I know it's been forever since I updated this tech blog, but I thought it would be a great opportunity to tell you about the career day I attended recently at Don Mesendick Elementary school in glendale.

I was able to go last year and they invited me again this year, it's so fun to talk about graphics and animation with kids in elementary school, they get so excited when they see all the possibilities available to them.

I gave 5 presentations, each to different classes, and each had to be about 45 - 50 minutes. So it was a lot of talking but it was worth it to see the look on those little faces when I should something about animation and they would just light up.

I learned from last year as well that the students send out thank you notes to all those that attend and give presentations, so I'll really be looking forward to that this year.

Enlightening the minds of the future is fun, and little kids are impressed so easily.

Anyway, Happy Computing!

Last Minute Preparations

This month has been great, and I'm excited to start teaching soon, I've learned allot over the past month or so and school has only just started today. My first time teaching a college level course will be tomorrow night and I hope all goes well. Animation is really a joy for me and I hope I can share that joy with the students in my class.

As the semester goes on, I hope to post some of the lessons I've learned and some of the tutorials I've given, who knows if no one else really reads these posts I can always come back later and use them as a history of sorts. Anyway hope your all well, and as always..Happy Computing.