August 18, 2009
Back to the Android phone:
As I mentioned yesterday, I love my new HTC Magic Android phone. I went into some of the details about the OS and that Google designed it. Now I’ll go over my favorite Applications and throw a few links in there too.
There are so many applications out for Android one can lose days just looking through the options. I have a few that I have found very functional, fun and well developed.
Tools:
ASTRO Manager, Barcode Scanner, Taskiller and Appmanager, ChompSMS
Multimedia:
Meridian Player – plays everything so I use if for videos and music.
GPS:
Google Maps, Here I am, Layer
Games:
XGalaga, Chess, Space Wars, Cestos
Widgets:
USA Today, Weather Channel, Stern, FoxNews
I have about 25 apps installed but the ones above I use daily. I love the barcode scanner. I scan a DVD and the phone goes online and finds a detailed description and looks for the least expensive price and location nearest me – cool eh!
I have a playstation portable (PSP) and have lots of movies in that format, so I just move them onto the 8gb sd chip and I can use Meridian to watch them on the phone.
As you can see, I am a big fan of this OS and hardware. Get out and have a look at it, I’m sure you will be as impressed as I am.
August 17, 2009
I picked up my new phone last week. It’s the HTC Magic, and runs the Android OS. And Android is probably the most 
dynamic OS I have ever seen on a phone. New applications are arriving daily and most are still free. I believe that the amount of official applications is now over 7,000 on the Android Market and I have noticed the hundreds of new ones, yes hundreds, are popping up every few days. The beauty is that many of these apps are top notch and can easily compete with iphone. As a matter of fact, many popular iphone applications have already been properly ported to Andriod.
Lets have a look at Android:
Android is an operating system for mobile devices like mobile telephones. The Android OS was designed by Google and takes advantage of many of the web and cloud based Google features, such as Gmail and Picasa. Android is open and can be developed by any developer. Android multitasks, something that the iphone does not do. Android is a solid OS and is now at version 1.5 “cupcake” with continuous development from Google. Combine Android with a great mobile phone like the newest from HTC and you have a winning combination of hardware and Software. Much like the iphone there is GPS functionality too include compass, wireless network, 3G, and so much more. Also considering Google’s solid web and cloud applications like Calendar, Gmail, Picasa, Contacts, you’re basically up and running in minutes. Unpack the phone, turn it on, and it takes you through very simple steps and connects you to Google and drops your contacts gives you access to Picasa and Email.
Honestly, I have never had a phone setup so simple and straightforward. Truly a dream to get running. The next step is to go into the “Market” (the Google server where all the Android applications lie waiting for you to install). When I first looked in the Market I was shocked at the amount of available applications. Moments later I was pleasantly surprised at plethora of good quality free apps. I felt as if I’d struck gold. I quickly realized that I could just go crazy and start installing tons of apps and playing and testing them, or, I could have a look on the net and read the experiences of other users and be more selective. I took the second strategy and it paid off in spades. I quickly found well organized sites with good solid reviews that aimed me in the right direction. An hour later I had a list of applications that I thought were right for me. The great thing is that I was able to use the HTC’s bar code reader, yes I said bar code reader on these sites and they carried my phone right to the right in the market to begin the installation. I am not joking. I held my phone’s camera and aimed it at the 2d bar code on my Macbook and, ‘beep,’ my phone asked me if I wanted to go to the market and get the app. So I went through this process and was able to install 15 apps in no time.
I played around with these apps and found them to be not only useful but downright amazing. I’ll include a list of my top 5, but I must say there are just tons of good applications out there. Most of these are free and I have to tip my hat to the talented developers who put these products together and support them daily.
I’ll continue this review tomorrow. It’s time to get the boys ready for bed. Thanks for reading and comeback and have a look at the fun I am having with my new Android phone.
June 6, 2009
I’m not sure I’m sold on the idea of closing the Guantanamo facility. 
One. Our prisons are overflowing already, where would we put the prisoners?
Two. Do we want these prisoners in the general population with others? They could very quickly set up a fundamentalist entity in our prisons that could easily manage an operation on the outside through visits and other channels. The security at most of our prisons is good, but we’ve seen that mobsters can run their organization even while behind bars.
Three. Who is going to pay for it all?
What do you think?
March 15, 2009
It’s amazing, he can do no wrong. I mean this is just too much! 
Everywhere I look here in Germany and most of Europe there are articles, books and speculation on Obama.
I am in the Train on my way to Dusseldorf, workshop on Monday and Tuesday, and the guy across from me is reading an Obama book and under the title it states in German; The new statesman and visionary. Ok, since when is the guy a visionary? I mean we voted him in and I’m fine with that. But come on, visionary? He’s just getting started. Can we see if he does anything worthwhile before we praise his pants off? The Euro-girlies consider him, “just-drool-able” and that’s fine too, but his record is not that impressive yet.
I had this funny image of him walking on water with Gore sitting in a boat next to him re-inventing the internet!
Ok, so there we have it; lets just slow down here and be objective for once–please!
Chris
March 3, 2009
A hazy morning just before six. The clean-up crew starts washing away the greasy residue left over from last nights gritty revelry. Police horns leave jagged echoes preparing for daylight, and the dollar toting tourist are headed to Union Square.
*
Fog laden San Francisco, rolling hills and the home of the original forty-niners. Frisco, the Hobart, Embarcadero and Fisherman’s Wharf. But there are other corners to this busy metropolis, dark seedy blocks, where the homeless eek out a rough existence between predators and prey. It’s a rugged playground for those at the bottom of the totem pole. Dingy Market Street’s Tenderloin district is an uncompromising magnet to the dregs and homeless of San Francisco.
*
Daylight: Market Street bustles with activity bordering on civil, but at night, the sleaze and scum come out to play. Junkies and hookers ply for business with zeal. Empathy thrown to the wind as the homeless squirm somewhere in between. It’s not uncommon for a foreign tourist to get lost and become a victim in the deep shadows of Market street. Police patrols and neighborhood watch have done their to best maintain clarity in this blemish on the city by the bay.
San Francisco has much to offer, it’s lovely city by the bay. Wonderful architecture, parks and a hip, up-beat flair. Often called the most European city in the US, San Francisco’s a city everyone who visits the west coast should see.
Just during your next visit, stay clear of the Tenderloin district.
January 18, 2009
The idea of life on Mars was slipping. Over the last few years there have been 
many missions, Phoenix and Viking to name a couple, where the results were negative. Yet now we seem to see the indication of large plumes of Methane. Methane is an organic molecule that tends come out of living things or organic matter. So my hopes are up. We know there’s ice and was lots of water, now we have methane.
Could we discover life on Mars? I think we need to get a manned mission underway asap!
CS
Chris
great year from sci-fi films. We had Star Trek rock the theaters during the last few weeks and now we have, Moon.
newspapers in his country? Should Obama be apologizing for anything? Are we arrogant? If so, why should Obama have to apologize? I know he is the voice of America right now, but do we want our voice to be one of apology?
Phillip José Farmer crossed the Styx last night and we are the worse for it. Farmer was a visionary science fiction author who was best know for his popular Riverworld series. Farmer was a huge influence on many modern scifi writers and enthralled us all with his amazing talent.