Yesterday I sort of got a new phone. The actual phone is the same one I have had for a few months. I just had a new OS put on it and that completely wiped everything I had on the phone previously. Knowing that I periodically would be wiping the phone for such updates, I don't keep anything important on the phone without having an online backup first. Both Android and iOS allow you to keep things like contacts backed-up online or "in the cloud." However there are a number of things that don't get backed up and I am discovering those things today.
I am at the San Francisco airport this evening and realized I am headed back to Utah where I plan to work from home tomorrow. While my virtual private network (VPN) program reappeared on my reset phone, all of my account information got wiped from it. That required a call to the company's IT desk to get it reconfigured. Fortunately that only involved clicking on a link that showed up on the phone in the form of a text message.
While all of my old programs magically reappeared on the phone, none of the shortcuts on the home page remained. About 30 seconds later, they were back where they belonged. Again, I don't keep too many apps on this phone. Had the same thing happened to my personal phone, it would have taken a bit longer.
The final configuration task was entering account information. While my Pandora and Spotify apps could be found on the phone, I still had to enter my e-mail address and appropriate passwords. Now everything is working nicely and the phone is back to the same state as before the complete reset.
Remembering all of the steps required to set up a new phone helps to keep me from constantly updating it to newer and later versions. Perhaps that is why there are not lines around the block at the Apple store with people hoping to get the latest iPhone. I am perfectly happy with my current iPhone and don't plan to upgrade it any time soon.
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Online Reviews
Last week I spent the first three days skiing Aspen. Three of the four ski resorts there consistently make the list of the top 30 ski resorts in the Western United States every year. I have always wanted to ski the Aspen resorts and enjoyed the chance to do so.
Today at lunch we discussed one of the latest blockbuster films: Batman vs. Superman. I saw the movie last week and have some definite opinions about it. Even though the release has been highly anticipated, the film has received a number of negative reviews.
These two events have me thinking about various reviews and how much you can trust them. I am very particular when it comes to skiing. I know what I like and look for a good mountain with great snow more than tasty restaurants or nightlife after skiing. However some people are more concerned about the later and Aspen definitely lives up to their expectations. Personally I found all 3 mountains to be rather lackluster and over hyped. I actually don't even agree with the ranking that everyone came up with for the 3 Aspen resorts. General consensus has Snowmass as the best followed by Aspen Mountain and then Aspen Highlands. Snowmass is definitely large but lacks any really challenging terrain. I would rank them in reverse order.
In the case of the movie, I have to partly agree with the negative reviews but also think that some have been to harsh. It contained a lot of action but also seemed to drag at times. There wasn't much comic relief and that may have turned some people off. When the movie finished, I looked at my watch and it surprised me that almost three hours had passed. It felt more like two hours and so I have to admit that I was thoroughly entertained.
While we all want a quick thumbs-up or thumbs-down rating for potential purchases, it is important to read online reviews thoroughly. Most of the time you can determine why a review has been narrowed down to thumbs-up or down and that may sway your own opinion. In my own case, I enjoyed Aspen but ended up checking out of the hotel a day early and heading back to Snowbird/Alta while not regretting it for a second.
Today at lunch we discussed one of the latest blockbuster films: Batman vs. Superman. I saw the movie last week and have some definite opinions about it. Even though the release has been highly anticipated, the film has received a number of negative reviews.
These two events have me thinking about various reviews and how much you can trust them. I am very particular when it comes to skiing. I know what I like and look for a good mountain with great snow more than tasty restaurants or nightlife after skiing. However some people are more concerned about the later and Aspen definitely lives up to their expectations. Personally I found all 3 mountains to be rather lackluster and over hyped. I actually don't even agree with the ranking that everyone came up with for the 3 Aspen resorts. General consensus has Snowmass as the best followed by Aspen Mountain and then Aspen Highlands. Snowmass is definitely large but lacks any really challenging terrain. I would rank them in reverse order.
In the case of the movie, I have to partly agree with the negative reviews but also think that some have been to harsh. It contained a lot of action but also seemed to drag at times. There wasn't much comic relief and that may have turned some people off. When the movie finished, I looked at my watch and it surprised me that almost three hours had passed. It felt more like two hours and so I have to admit that I was thoroughly entertained.
While we all want a quick thumbs-up or thumbs-down rating for potential purchases, it is important to read online reviews thoroughly. Most of the time you can determine why a review has been narrowed down to thumbs-up or down and that may sway your own opinion. In my own case, I enjoyed Aspen but ended up checking out of the hotel a day early and heading back to Snowbird/Alta while not regretting it for a second.
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Voice Recognition in our Devices
A friend and I laughed the other day about how careful you have to be with various devices trying to understand voice commands that are not really meant to instruct the device. I remarked about how when I watch the movie Fool's Gold, there is a scene where Matthew McConaughey is flying a small plane with Kate Hudson. She asked him where he learned to fly. He replies, "PlayStation." It is a cute line for some one like me that is a fan of PlayStation. If I am watching the movie on my PlayStation 4, that is a keyword that brings up the voice command menu and my console waits there for a new command while the movie continues playing. Fortunately there isn't any dialog in the movie that turns itself off.
My friend commented about how smartphone devices have to be careful especially when being used inside a car. There has to be great care taken so that a voice command meant for a phone isn't interpreted by the car or visa versa.
I didn't think anything of this conversation until my wife and I drove back from vacationing in Aspen this past week. We got in the car and her phone quietly paired itself with our relatively new Jeep Cherokee. She pulled out the phone to get navigation directions to the hotel. Unbeknownst to us, the phone started using the hands-free feature built into the car to listen to our conversation. Nothing too strange happened but my wife did notice that the phone tried to figure out where we were going based off our conversation even though she also used the keyboard to enter our destination.
Fortunately our devices currently require some sort of activation before they try to interpret our voice commands. With the PlayStation 4, there is the "PlayStation" keyword. With the iPhone, it is holding down the round button on the bottom until you hear a ding. Hopefully engineers continue to pay attention to potential interference between devices. I would hate for a seemingly innocent conversation to be misinterpreted by my phone and suddenly all my contacts disappear.
My friend commented about how smartphone devices have to be careful especially when being used inside a car. There has to be great care taken so that a voice command meant for a phone isn't interpreted by the car or visa versa.
I didn't think anything of this conversation until my wife and I drove back from vacationing in Aspen this past week. We got in the car and her phone quietly paired itself with our relatively new Jeep Cherokee. She pulled out the phone to get navigation directions to the hotel. Unbeknownst to us, the phone started using the hands-free feature built into the car to listen to our conversation. Nothing too strange happened but my wife did notice that the phone tried to figure out where we were going based off our conversation even though she also used the keyboard to enter our destination.
Fortunately our devices currently require some sort of activation before they try to interpret our voice commands. With the PlayStation 4, there is the "PlayStation" keyword. With the iPhone, it is holding down the round button on the bottom until you hear a ding. Hopefully engineers continue to pay attention to potential interference between devices. I would hate for a seemingly innocent conversation to be misinterpreted by my phone and suddenly all my contacts disappear.
Monday, March 7, 2016
How to Keep your Mind Active
While at work last week I had one of my coworkers come up to me and tell me that I am doing a good job of keeping my mind young. She was listening to a podcast about how to keep you mind young and active and the first piece of advice they gave included learning a musical instrument. She knows I practice my guitar daily and wanted to congratulate me on doing something to keep my brain active. Naturally I thanked her.
She then went on to say that another thing to do is to play video games. Since we both work for a video game company, we both laughed because that is part of our job. Everyone in our team thought that was funny, not because we don't believe it but because we get paid to do something we should be doing anyways. I am constantly looking for the benefits of video games because they are often thought of as a waste of time. I don't suggest dropping everything to play video games, however they do have some redeeming qualities.
Yes, I am probably doing a good job keeping my brain young and active. However if you stop to think about it, I am just a big kid. Let's hope that is a good thing.
She then went on to say that another thing to do is to play video games. Since we both work for a video game company, we both laughed because that is part of our job. Everyone in our team thought that was funny, not because we don't believe it but because we get paid to do something we should be doing anyways. I am constantly looking for the benefits of video games because they are often thought of as a waste of time. I don't suggest dropping everything to play video games, however they do have some redeeming qualities.
Yes, I am probably doing a good job keeping my brain young and active. However if you stop to think about it, I am just a big kid. Let's hope that is a good thing.
Thursday, March 3, 2016
Free Guitar Lessons
Recently I purchased a left-handed electric guitar to keep on my boat in California. If you are going to learn how to play the guitar you need to practice daily and so I wanted something very inexpensive. If you talk to anyone that knows anything about guitars they will recommend spending a bit more money. However the marine environment is very harsh on things and so I wanted something so inexpensive I wouldn't cry when it gets destroyed. My threshold is around $100. As I play left-handed, I did a quick search on the Internet and found the guitar guide on LeftyFretz. Then I found something inexpensive that met my needs.
Interestingly enough, one of the selling points of the guitar that didn't really matter to me is that it comes with "Free Guitar Lessons." I had decided to use Rocksmith to learn the guitar but am open minded enough to see what the guitar lessons entailed. When the guitar arrived, there wasn't any CD or DVD included. Just a single piece of paper that included a website to visit. There they had a number of online videos teaching various aspects of beginning guitar. In all fairness the sheet of paper included with the guitar resembled one of the best thought-out guitar cheat sheets ever created and the online videos covered most of the basics even if some of them were from other sources than this particular guitar manufacturer. However I have to ask myself if they really needed to advertise "Free Guitar Lessons."
This got me thinking about how other products could advertise free lessons. Musical instrument tutorials can be found everywhere. Shouldn't they all come with free lessons? What about power tools and sports equipment? There wouldn't even need to be a special web page devoted to the tutorials. The instructions could simple just say, "Use your favorite search engine to look for free screwdriver lessons."
Interestingly enough, one of the selling points of the guitar that didn't really matter to me is that it comes with "Free Guitar Lessons." I had decided to use Rocksmith to learn the guitar but am open minded enough to see what the guitar lessons entailed. When the guitar arrived, there wasn't any CD or DVD included. Just a single piece of paper that included a website to visit. There they had a number of online videos teaching various aspects of beginning guitar. In all fairness the sheet of paper included with the guitar resembled one of the best thought-out guitar cheat sheets ever created and the online videos covered most of the basics even if some of them were from other sources than this particular guitar manufacturer. However I have to ask myself if they really needed to advertise "Free Guitar Lessons."
This got me thinking about how other products could advertise free lessons. Musical instrument tutorials can be found everywhere. Shouldn't they all come with free lessons? What about power tools and sports equipment? There wouldn't even need to be a special web page devoted to the tutorials. The instructions could simple just say, "Use your favorite search engine to look for free screwdriver lessons."
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Video Game Review: Uncharted: Golden Abyss
I have to begin this video game review with the disclaimer that I am a huge fan of Naughty Dog's Uncharted series of games. I have versions 1, 2, and 3 for the PS3 as well as the remastered versions of them for the PS4. When Uncharted 4 is released in April I will get a copy of that too. Now for a small confession. I have only ever finished Uncharted 1. I started it on the PS3 and never went back to it. I was finally able to run through the whole game on the PS4 during Christmas. I found it to be a lot of fun and so when I started using my PlayStation Vita to kill time at airports, the first game I played was Uncharted: Golden Abyss.
Golden Abyss has the usual characters from Uncharted such as Nathan Drake and Victor Sullivan (Sully) but also introduces a new female character for the story: Marisa Chase. While Naughty Dog is the game developer for all of the other Uncharted games, Bend Studio created this title for the Vita. Both studios are part of Sony PlayStation's World-Wide Studios and so everything is kept in the family. Golden Abyss was a release title for the handheld console and so it serves two purposes: providing a game at launch and showing off the features of the new console. Some of the guys at work feel like the Vita-specific controls detract from the game. Fortunately the developer exercised wisdom and provided dual controls for most everything. If you are familiar with the larger console titles, you will have no trouble controlling the game on the Vita.
One major difference with Golden Abyss over Uncharted 1, 2, or 3 is that the chapters are a lot shorter. However there are more of them. That is great as sometimes you often don't have as much uninterrupted time on a mobile console as you might on one connected to the television in your living room.
I found the game to be a lot of fun and it helped me while away the time when my flight was delayed by several hours one evening. Now comes the question: would I recommend it? That depends. If you already own a PlayStation Vita, then I recommend you purchase this game if you have not already done so. If you don't then I am not sure it is good enough to recommend purchasing one. I have a very specific use for my Vita but realize that not everyone needs to entertain themselves while waiting for flights on Thursday evenings. The game is rated T for Teen because of violence and strong language.
Golden Abyss has the usual characters from Uncharted such as Nathan Drake and Victor Sullivan (Sully) but also introduces a new female character for the story: Marisa Chase. While Naughty Dog is the game developer for all of the other Uncharted games, Bend Studio created this title for the Vita. Both studios are part of Sony PlayStation's World-Wide Studios and so everything is kept in the family. Golden Abyss was a release title for the handheld console and so it serves two purposes: providing a game at launch and showing off the features of the new console. Some of the guys at work feel like the Vita-specific controls detract from the game. Fortunately the developer exercised wisdom and provided dual controls for most everything. If you are familiar with the larger console titles, you will have no trouble controlling the game on the Vita.
One major difference with Golden Abyss over Uncharted 1, 2, or 3 is that the chapters are a lot shorter. However there are more of them. That is great as sometimes you often don't have as much uninterrupted time on a mobile console as you might on one connected to the television in your living room.
I found the game to be a lot of fun and it helped me while away the time when my flight was delayed by several hours one evening. Now comes the question: would I recommend it? That depends. If you already own a PlayStation Vita, then I recommend you purchase this game if you have not already done so. If you don't then I am not sure it is good enough to recommend purchasing one. I have a very specific use for my Vita but realize that not everyone needs to entertain themselves while waiting for flights on Thursday evenings. The game is rated T for Teen because of violence and strong language.
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