I will admit that sometimes I don't like change. When Windows XP first came out, I thought the colors were ugly and that it was a step back for the Windows operating system look and feel. Then I got used to it and felt it was better than previous versions of Windows. When I upgraded my iPhone to version 8 of iOS, I hated the look and feel. I thought it would be like Windows XP and it would grow on me. Unfortunately after using it for several months, I still hate it. The designer that came up with it should be fired from Apple and never be able to find work in the computer software industry again. Furthermore, I think the managers that approved it should also be systematically fired. Who let this design happen?
There are a number of new features that Apple seems to think users will find important. I don't contend that some of those features are unneeded. I just think they did a horrible job with the user interface. The colors are bland and they have over-simplified things to the point that the dial pad for making calls is just plain ugly.
Sometimes we change things to make them better and other times we change things to just make it different. The latest version of iOS has changes to the UI to just be different and that is not a good thing. Fortunately there are other options out there. By contrast, the latest changes to Android are much more visually appealing. They did simplify a lot of the window dressing which makes for a cleaner experience. However they did make it visually appealing and much more fun to use. Hopefully someone at Apple notices and fixes the iOS user interface. Until then I may use my Android phone more and more.
Monday, April 27, 2015
Thursday, April 23, 2015
Late Nights and Early Mornings
I have spent the last 3 days in Tokyo, Japan and now I am at the airport headed back to Salt Lake. I have two hours to kill before my flight and I am having a tough time staying awake. When I arrive in Japan, I always try to stay as close to US time as possible. That means I try to wake up early and go to bed early. Unfortunately this trip has been rather different. Normally I am here for 4 days and that keeps me pretty busy. One less day means that I have been busy from the time I wake up in the morning until I go to bed at night. This trip had me going to bed late every night.
All of the work I have been doing means I have been spending an incredible amount of time on my laptop. It has performed flawlessly the entire trip. Unfortunately it is rather old and everyone keeps commenting on how I need to replace it with one of the new MacBooks that were recently announced. I know they are right and that I will be able to do more with a newer computer. However that means backing up my old one, getting used to the new one, and figuring out what files I want to keep around. That sounds like a lot of work and so I am holding off as long as possible. Besides my old computer seems to be working fine as indicated by the past few days.
Waiting to get a new laptop probably sounds stupid as my company has a policy about being able to replace your computer ever couple of years. Some may be thinking that a new computer every few years would be like Christmas. I know that I will eventually have to replace this old workhorse. I just want to put it off for a few more months. If I can wait until September then it will have been used for a solid 4 years. What a good computer.
All of the work I have been doing means I have been spending an incredible amount of time on my laptop. It has performed flawlessly the entire trip. Unfortunately it is rather old and everyone keeps commenting on how I need to replace it with one of the new MacBooks that were recently announced. I know they are right and that I will be able to do more with a newer computer. However that means backing up my old one, getting used to the new one, and figuring out what files I want to keep around. That sounds like a lot of work and so I am holding off as long as possible. Besides my old computer seems to be working fine as indicated by the past few days.
Waiting to get a new laptop probably sounds stupid as my company has a policy about being able to replace your computer ever couple of years. Some may be thinking that a new computer every few years would be like Christmas. I know that I will eventually have to replace this old workhorse. I just want to put it off for a few more months. If I can wait until September then it will have been used for a solid 4 years. What a good computer.
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Time for a New Android Phone
Recently my office decided to upgrade my old Android phone to a new one. I really liked my old one as it did the job very well. It wasn't anything special but did have one or two limitations due to the low-cost processor included. My new phone is a significant upgrade and I am sorry to report that the difference is very noticeable.
Smartphones are those devices that should do one or two things very well. The most important thing is that a phone should be able to make calls. My Android phone has always been a better phone than my iPhone. My new Android phone does not disappoint in this area as it is even better than my old one. The second thing that my smartphone should be able to do is give me information when I need it. Most of the time I can just use the phone's browser and search the Internet. There is relatively no difference in this area between my new phone and my old one. Or with my iPhone for that matter.
The third thing that a smartphone should do is keep me entertained. As I write this I am at the Los Angeles International airport waiting for a flight to Tokyo, Japan. My new phone has a significant number of applications that run much better on the eight-core processor vs. the two cores in my old one. There is also a lot more memory on my new phone and so everything just seems to work. I didn't notice this with my old phone because I didn't really have much to compare it with other than my iPhone. In the past I have been fairly evenly split as to which phone I like better. Now I have to say that I am beginning to prefer my new Android phone.
Oh there is one more feature with my new phone that is really amazing: it is waterproof. As someone who spends a lot of time standing in snowstorms, a waterproof phone can be rather handy. It is also pretty cool when you drop your phone in your water glass at a restaurant and then have someone call it. Try that with your iPhone.
Smartphones are those devices that should do one or two things very well. The most important thing is that a phone should be able to make calls. My Android phone has always been a better phone than my iPhone. My new Android phone does not disappoint in this area as it is even better than my old one. The second thing that my smartphone should be able to do is give me information when I need it. Most of the time I can just use the phone's browser and search the Internet. There is relatively no difference in this area between my new phone and my old one. Or with my iPhone for that matter.
The third thing that a smartphone should do is keep me entertained. As I write this I am at the Los Angeles International airport waiting for a flight to Tokyo, Japan. My new phone has a significant number of applications that run much better on the eight-core processor vs. the two cores in my old one. There is also a lot more memory on my new phone and so everything just seems to work. I didn't notice this with my old phone because I didn't really have much to compare it with other than my iPhone. In the past I have been fairly evenly split as to which phone I like better. Now I have to say that I am beginning to prefer my new Android phone.
Oh there is one more feature with my new phone that is really amazing: it is waterproof. As someone who spends a lot of time standing in snowstorms, a waterproof phone can be rather handy. It is also pretty cool when you drop your phone in your water glass at a restaurant and then have someone call it. Try that with your iPhone.
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Video Game Review: Red Dead Redemption
I was finally able to finish Thief a few weeks ago and got around to picking a new game to play. Yesterday I found myself with a bit of downtime in the office and so I went to our video game library and picked out Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption to play on the PlayStation 3. I had heard a lot of good things about the game and thought I would give it a try.
I put the disk in my PS3 on my sailboat and made a chicken salad while the game installed on my hard drive. The game was ready before my dinner and so I patiently watched all of the opening credits while I finished things in the galley. When I sat down to start playing, I had a lot of fun.
The game starts with you entering a town on a train. You figure out the mechanics of the controller by walking to a saloon, meeting a guide, and riding a horse. The whole time you have constant helps directing you what buttons to push and where to go. Everything was new to me and it took a bit to figure out how to make the horse do what I wanted. After a while the controls started to feel more natural and I enjoyed the game. One thing that is different about this game is that it is much more of a free world than games I have played in the past. While Battlefield 3 claimed to be free world, it had you running through a maze and still felt very controlling. With Red Dead Redemption you really can go anywhere and are not prompted to do specific missions. If you want to go into town, you can. If you want to go back to the ranch and take a nap, you can. There are a number of places you can go to get new tasks but if you don't feel like doing them, you don't have to. It took me a while to get used to that but I have to admit that I enjoyed not being forced to do anything.
I played the game for 4 hours and had to call it a night. I could have kept playing but after having woken up at 3:40am to catch my flight to the Bay Area, I was pretty tired. The only downside to the game is that I find myself wanting to leave work early today to go play the game.
Red Dead Redemption is an older game available for the previous generation of consoles and so you can find it for $20 new or $6 used at all of the usual outlets. For that price, it is well worth picking up. Now if you will excuse me I think I feel a cough coming on and probably need to head back to the boat so I don't get my coworkers sick.
I put the disk in my PS3 on my sailboat and made a chicken salad while the game installed on my hard drive. The game was ready before my dinner and so I patiently watched all of the opening credits while I finished things in the galley. When I sat down to start playing, I had a lot of fun.
The game starts with you entering a town on a train. You figure out the mechanics of the controller by walking to a saloon, meeting a guide, and riding a horse. The whole time you have constant helps directing you what buttons to push and where to go. Everything was new to me and it took a bit to figure out how to make the horse do what I wanted. After a while the controls started to feel more natural and I enjoyed the game. One thing that is different about this game is that it is much more of a free world than games I have played in the past. While Battlefield 3 claimed to be free world, it had you running through a maze and still felt very controlling. With Red Dead Redemption you really can go anywhere and are not prompted to do specific missions. If you want to go into town, you can. If you want to go back to the ranch and take a nap, you can. There are a number of places you can go to get new tasks but if you don't feel like doing them, you don't have to. It took me a while to get used to that but I have to admit that I enjoyed not being forced to do anything.
I played the game for 4 hours and had to call it a night. I could have kept playing but after having woken up at 3:40am to catch my flight to the Bay Area, I was pretty tired. The only downside to the game is that I find myself wanting to leave work early today to go play the game.
Red Dead Redemption is an older game available for the previous generation of consoles and so you can find it for $20 new or $6 used at all of the usual outlets. For that price, it is well worth picking up. Now if you will excuse me I think I feel a cough coming on and probably need to head back to the boat so I don't get my coworkers sick.
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