Why I switched to Android (and then right back).

I'll admit it. I'm a bit of a hardware whore. When the HTC EVO 4G was announced for Sprint at CTIA, I admit that I was a little more than giddy. Finally, a full fledged superphone on my preferred network. The tech specs read like a hardware geek's erotic novel: 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 512 Mb RAM, 1 Gb ROM, 8 MP camera, HDMI Out, and of course a WiMAX radio for ultra fast mobile speeds. I thought that these specs would more than make up for the shortcomings of my most recent Android phone experience, the HTC Hero.

Launch day arrived, and as I made my last Twitter update from the Palm Pre, I was like a school girl at a Justin Beiber concert. I waited in line at 6 in the morning at my local Sprint store and was perhaps the 30th customer in Knoxville to receive one. Everyone I showed it to was extremely impressed, and I even convinced a few people to switch. I was riding the EVO train and there was nothing that was going to slow me down.

Then the Honeymoon wore off. Two weeks later and I still hadn't acclimated to the virtual keyboard. I had set up my seven home screens with various News, Weather, Facebook, and Twitter streams, and it felt like overkill. I just didn't need them, it was information overload. I found myself compulsively checking my phone in the middle of conversations for no reason. I was finding out quickly that what HTC put down on paper was more glamorous than what they delivered. I can only use HDMI for movies and YouTube, and not apps? That doesn't work, Android doesn't really have a wide range of formats I can use. The HD video recording? HD videos didn't really turn out that hot and I ended up switching back to VGA resolution to save storage space. Pictures? More megapixels does not a good camera make. I find the Pre has a much better quality shooter. It's a camera phone. Rarely will I ever need to blow up a camera phone shot above Facebook resolution. That's why have a point and shoot camera. Video chat? Yeah it's cool, I'll admit it. But I find myself trying to find a practical reason I need it on my phone.

Then there's Android and the Sense UI. Despite my hardest efforts I couldn't get the EVO to feel as cozy and warm as my Pre had been when I first got it. I found myself constantly second guessing my swipes and button presses and I could feel it slowing me down. Long press here did something in this app, but something else in this app. It was inconsistent and chunky I've never felt this before on any platform I've ever used. I can't quite place my finger on it, but something about Android doesn't quite fit my workflow.

I finally had enough of the frustration, the second guessing, and the hesitation. I need a phone that I could use without actually noticing the phone. I returned my EVO yesterday, and I'm more than happy I did. I feel like I'm back in control again. Don't get me wrong, there are a LOT of things I love about the EVO. I'm going to miss the screen size, the speed, and the WOW factor when pulling it out of my pocket. But for right now, the Pre just works better for me. I don't have to consciously think about what I'm doing, it just naturally flows out of me. And before I get an email saying that I didn't give it enough time, I used the HTC Hero for 6 months before I got my EVO and experienced the same disappointments.

And I'm not saying I won't give Android another shot. Google just hired the UI designer from Palm and I feel like they will do great things. But for right now, Android isn't there for me. I'm glad that it exists. It keeps the whole market on their toes. It incites innovation in hardware, software, and creativity across the board. Perhaps I'm in a niche, but I've always rooted for the underdog. I feel a connection with WebOS that I've never felt with a platform since I was using the iPhone. And while WebOS doesn't seem to get a lot of love in the tech media, the only love that really matter is that of the end user. And I can say I'm one happy end user.

Palm, I need to ask you a favor. In the next three months I need you to release a new phone. A 1GHz processor would be nice, as would a screen larger than the current 3.1" one. Something around 3.5" to 4" would be perfect. Something solid, with a physical keyboard. I don't really need 4G either. You can keep the 3MP camera from the Pre, it takes fine pictures. Give me 8GB of built in storage and spend the extra $5 and throw in a MicroSD card slot. Give me a glass screen that's flat, not curved. Keep the Touchstone. Improve Synergy. It doesn't have to be the best, Palm. Just good enough for me.

Weekly Rant #2: Standardized laptops... I wish...

So I'm sure a lot of you out there have laptops. And I'm sure a lot of the people reading this have been more than mildly annoyed by the fact that it cost more to "build" one yourself than to buy one that almost meets your needs. Build is of course in quotations because 80% comes in the bare bones kits out there for them. Or maybe you just want to upgrade your graphics card? Good luck. While a standard's existed for laptop GPU's for some time, very few manufacturers have implemented them. Or hey, your screen just broke. But there are about 100 different kinds for the size screen your laptop uses. So you have to pay extra to get the one that's specifically made to work with your model.

So what do I want? I WANT STANDARDIZATION!!! Pretty much everyones desires could be covered by 5 versions of the same part. The keyboard for example. Need one version for 13" notebooks, then a standard one such as those on 14-16" notebooks, and a final full keyboard with keypad for 17"+ notebooks. 3 standard keyboards could cover the entire range of laptops. But does it exist? No.

My question is, why the hell not? There aren't even design issues caused by the keyboard and it's still not standardized. It's simply stupid. Oddly enough, a lot more complicated parts ARE STANDARDIZED! Ram, HDD, CD/DVD/BRay, and even the CPU in your laptop can be changed out with little to no hassle. All I really purpose is that we do this with every other internal part and the custom laptop cases for system building will follow. And don't give me that crap about heat dissipation because if everything is standardized, so are heatsinks and fans to the point where they can be matched appropriately.

Specific steps needed.

• TWO LCD type connectors to fit all regardless of size shape or resolution. One for fixed LCD and another for swivel tablet styles
• 3-5 touch pad sizes and mount standards (Buttons included).
• 3 Keyboard sizes / shapes... Just think of all the cool versions that fit the standard people will immediately come out with. Colors, lights, artsy stuff on them, you name it.
• 2 Standard connectors for Media / Application / Power buttons, one at back and one at front.
• Standard CPU / GPU placement so they can share the fan / heatsink.

This leaves only the motherboard, heatsink / fan, and laptop body having to be made for each other.

A New Found Respect For Yahoo!

As I explained in my first post, I am a Google fan boy. But really I've only seen it from a user's point of view. If there's one thing I've learned in the five days as the webmaster of this site it's that making websites discoverable by search engine's web crawlers is a pain in the butt. There's the META tags, and the site-maps, and the registering of the accounts on the major search players. It can be one of the most frustrating parts of building a website.

Each of the three major search providers (Google, Bing and Yahoo!) offer a webmaster toolkit to help webmasters get their site shown higher up when a user searches for certain key words. After fiddling with each of the sites, submitting site-maps, adding html meta tags to verify the accounts, etc. and trying to get everything the way I wanted, I realized Yahoo was absolutely incredible with their webmaster support. Their setup process is quick and painless. All I had to do was verify my ownership, upload my site map and boom within an hour I was on top of a Yahoo! search for "FaradTech" and "Farad Tech". Now, I may have just gotten lucky and that was just when the crawler was heading to my site, but hey, I was still impressed.

Google's setup wasn't quite as easy. There were a few more clicks involved and some debugging I had to do. Once I finally got everything in order it took a day or two of pleading, begging and crying to even get Google to show my site even in a search for my domain. But alas, when it finally happened and I saw my website on the top of that search list, there was all but tears of joy streaming from my face.

That brings me to Bing. I don't really have much to say other than that its still not seeing my site 5 days later. Their tools, while they may seem useful at first, really don't offer enough feedback to troubleshoot any problems that may have come about or even why the wannabe search engine's crawler hasn't even touched my site....IN 5 DAYS!!!! I guess that's why Microsoft has resorted to monkey labor to get their search algorithm better.

All in all in this section of the search wars I give Yahoo! two thumbs up for their web master support, Google one thumb up and Bing a wrinkled certificate for participating.

How To: Move Your Data to the Cloud

One of the hottest topics in computing these days is the "cloud". The cloud refers to off-site applications and data that may be accessed from anywhere you get an internet connection. Today, I'm going to show you how to move all of your basic personal data onto the cloud for worry free, stress free backup and recovery.

Step 1: Get your data to a computer


This is very easy if you are using a smartphone such as an iPhone, Windows Phone, Android Phone, Blackberry, Nokia, Palm OS phone, or WebOS phone. The software and cables needed to move your data into a program like Microsoft Outlook usually comes with your phone. However, if you are not using a smartphone, you may need to pick up an additional cable and some software. Most manufacturer's will offer the cable on their website and some even offer some proprietary software. PC Studio seems to be the most popular but you're going to have to do some research. Once all of your data is pulled into a program like Outlook, Windows Mail, Address Book, or some other equivalent we can work on moving it to the cloud.


Step 2: Pick A Cloud Service

There are a host of different online backup options. I'll discuss a few of the most popular do give you a better idea of which solutions meets your needs. The first option is for users of Windows Mobile. Microsoft will be launching its MyPhone service around the same time as the release of WIndows Phone 6.5. This service backs up everything, from pictures to text messages to phone numbers. The downside is that this information is only available either on your Windows Mobile device, or through a special web portal. This service is accessed through the web browser on your Windows Mobile device.

The second popular service is going to be Blackberry Enterprise Server. This is a service that only works with Blackberries and comes with a few downsides. The biggest downside is that all of this information will only be available through your Blackberry device or through your company's computers. Some companies won't allow you to move any of this data over to a new server or take it with you when you end employment with them. BES may be powered by either Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Notes. In most cases, your comapny's IT department will help you set this up.

The third popular option is Microsoft Exchange. Microsoft Exchange is an all encompassing service that pushes email, contact information, calendar events, and tasks across any device you have connected to it within seconds of changes being made. Most companies will offer Exchange services however it may also be provided by some schools. You may also purchase your own private exchange server for around $7 a month. The benefit of this is that there is no desktop syncing required. Most smartphones offer support for Exchange with a few simple set up options. If you don't have a smartphone, but you've moved all of your data to Outlook or Entourage, you can set up exchange with the desktop clients. Emails are automatically pushed to your phone within seconds of the email being sent. Other members on the same exchange server may push calendar event invitations to you to accept or deny. Once accepted, the event is automatically pushed to your calendar across all devices and computers. This is my favorite option, and I depend on Exchange on a daily basis.

Since most of the options I've discusssed are business or corporate based, I want to talk about one really great option for everyone else called Google Sync. Google Sync is a free service provided by Google that is based on Microsoft Exchange. Best of all, it's free to all GMail users. Now, you don't get some of the benefits of a full blown Exchange server. Google Sync only syncs your Calendar and Contacts, but at least it's free. Set up is very easy. For smartphones, just set up Google sync as you would an Exchange account. If you need help, Google offers some step by step guides on the Sync website. For non-smartphones, sync all of your data to a program like Outlook or Entourage and then follow Google's instructions for setting up the Google exchange server using your desktop client. Once changes are made, either through the phone, desktop client, or Google's web portal, all three points of entry are updated instantly.

Step 3: Sync, and Sync Often


Obviously cloud backups are only really useful if they are current. So remember to follow all the steps and sync at least once a week or more. In the case of Exchange and Google Sync, the backup is done literally the second data changes which is why they are the optimum solution.

I've been a little vague in this how-to but only because there are so many different options. Try and do a little research on your particular situation. I highly recommend either Exchange or Google Sync as these are the easiest for those of us not in the corporate world. Do some searching and see what other users of your device are doing for backup. There are some third party applications that will save all PIM data to a file and you can upload that file onto and off-site backup service. This isn't true cloud backup, but it's better than losing 200 contacts over Memorial Day weekend when you drop your phone in the lake.

80+ is the Only Way to Go.

Here in TN we have pretty inexpensive electricity at about 9 1/2 cents per kWh. And while investigating the monetary advantage of buying 80+ certified PSU's over el'cheapo power supplies I've come to this conclusion. The manufacturing and sale of power supplies that don't meet at least the minimum 80+ certification should be illegal...

Reason why? On a 300 watt machine, a nice desktop machine with a decent video card, the cost of running it for a single year on a 75% efficient power supply, typical of $15-25 power supplies costs about $331 / year if left on all the time. On an 80+ power supply, $35-40, it cost about $310. So assuming you replace your computer every 3 years, it will actually save you $40 to build the PC with an 80+ certified PSU.

And those aren't even the best. I know a lot of people out there put high end quad cores with 2-4 GPU's in their computers which can easily pull 6-7 hundred watts. At the 600 watt level an 80+ Bronze still only cost $40 more than the cheap unit and could save you $80 a year running your machine.

So the verdict, el'cheapo can cost significantly more in the long run and in a world where energy is getting more and more precious, they waste an awful lot. so.....

DON"T BUY ANY PC WITHOUT AN 80+ CERTIFIED POWER SUPPLY!!!

Weekly Rant #1: Apple / Mac / Machintosh... Whatever they're called.

A lot of us remember the good old days, or at least the remnants of the days when computers weren't standardized, Windows didn't exist, and a multitude of different "PC's" that ran on different architectures existed. Tandy, Commodore, IBM, and Apple as well as others fought for their share of this amazing new market of personal computing. Tandy eventually fell to making IBM compatible computers before dying off. Commodore produced the number one selling computer of all time, the commodore 64, but later had power struggles that led the company to it's death despite having hardware 2-3 years ahead of it's time. IBM opened their standard, so that anyone could make an IBM compatible computer without paying royalties creating what we today call the PC.

Then there's Apple. They were as proprietary as you could get and pricey. They suffered power struggles as well to the extent of firing Steve Jobs. But they're still here? Not only are they still here, they're doing quite well for themselves. But why?

As for how they survived the early years devoted users and lawsuits over the GUI mostly. In the mid 90's Microsoft saved them by buying $150 Million in nonvoting stock from their company and not revoking Office for Mac as they had threatened. This of course was just to end the legal battles over the GUI. But more recently, being trendy seems to be the only thing that they had going for them till the Iphone / Ipod touch. ( The one device concept that actually impresses me and isn't ridiculously overpriced )

During my time as a help desk tech I've noticed two groups of people who buy Macs PC's. People who do it to be trendy, and those who couldn't know less about computers that will pay nearly any amount of money to ensure even the slightest bit of perceived usability gain. I use perceived because I've met as many people that absolutely hate the way OSx is setup as those who like it. I find it no better, no worse in usability than windows other than the Mac keyboard layout makes no sense to me. (Command key placement sucks...)

My problems with Mac starts here... Elitist. Gah I hate them so much. Regardless of what they're following. When a person puts logical arguments aside, makes judgments based purely on personal feelings, and then insists that they're right, it just drives me up the wall. Like the first fact. A Mac is a PC. Since they switched to x86 they are identical hardware except for an EFI chip instead of a BIOS, which makes a difference in the functionality of the machine for oh, say the first 4-5 seconds after bootup. So, if they're the same, why does a Mac cost so much more?It's not OSx, which sells for a little less than $100 online.

Some may say, "They're more stable". I'd like to point out a few things.

A. If Windows only ran on 10% of the devices made, it may be that stable too.

B. If stability matters enough to where 2-3 weeks of continuously being on and used, as I've done on multiple occasions with multiple machines running XP, isn't stable enough, then you probably should be running Linux without a GUI.

"They don't get viruses.", Well of course they don't, they're 10% market share. If I'm trying to rip people off I'm gonna go for the biggest piece of the pie. Secondly, they're BSD, Mach, and GNU based. And if my understanding is correct, Mach doesn't really exist outside of OSX, and BSD has less of a user base than Linux leaving only GNU and their UI's vulnerabilities. Also, I'd like to point out that if you're careful, Windows doesn't get viruses either. I ran my laptop for more than 3 years using it every day without a virus or spyware scanner and never got either. But if you want to pay more so that you can do questionable things on the internet, by all means. Or you could use free Avira and Spybot.

I would say maybe I'm missing something, but the more I use Macs the less difference I really see. It's still a PC, running a PC operating system, using the same internet and at an increasing percentage, the same software.

And what's worse, is that they really are making a boat load of profit off each machine sold because while they may spend 10-20% more building them out of high quality parts than that OEM machine the majority of us use, they turn around and charge 50-100% more depending on how high end the machine is. Don't believe me? Dell does the same thing with their XPS lineup. And if you want, lookup the parts used in a Mac and then compare the prices. They're overpriced for the same cursed thing. And when people pay $2k for a $600 machine, children starve. $408 = Child going to school, having meals every day, and making a life for them and their families for an entire year. So that Mac just took more than 3 years of a better life for some kid that'll never have a chance. Think about that.