Tips for programmers, graphic designers, and web designers alike

I felt like doing some random output tonight, so here it is- an unscheduled, undeveloped mess of a blog post:

Well, there are many ways to make things look good to people's eyes. Smooth, sharp pixels, crisp layout, Jessica Alba, that type of stuff. Every now and then, you'll come across a website that has an unusually professional or easy to use feel to it that makes it seem a lot better than it may actually be. Examples of this include Vimeo,

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm getting a Mac!

Well, not exactly, but hey, the title sparked your interest, didn't it? Thought so. Anywho's:

A couple of weeks ago, I found myself hating Apple products as I usually do. Hating on Macs, hating on iPods, and hating on two of my friends who have iPhone 3Gs. Every now and then I find myself thinking, wow, I'm probably just jealous that Apple users got money . However, these thoughts vanquish the moment I hear some pompous Apple fanboy saying "You're just hatin' because you can't afford a Mac! Just go away to your sad little PC, ya' looser!" It's people like that that get under my skin, almost causing me to slap 'em in the face. Luckily, I'm a civil person, and I just state the fact that you can get a computer just as decent as a Mac for half the price. But who am I to say this? And what does this say about the operating system itself? In all reality, the only Mac I've ever owned was a screwy PowerPC-based refurb.

So I thought, hey, if I install OS X onto my PC somehow, I'd be able to see how it is to own a Mac, without the fancy $600 aluminum case. If performance is good, I'd prove that PCs are much more cost-efficient, and after using it for a month or so, I'd also be able to determine how good OS X really is. I'll be killing two birds with one stone... sorta.

After a few days [when Apple announced their new MacBooks], I got the initiative to sought for a way to get Leopard on my fairly low-end AMD machine. I found hacked-up operating systems aplenty, and I had no idea what to do. So then I thought there's only one easy solution; just search where you're going to download it from anyway!, so I ventured to everybody's favorite downloading site, the infamous Pie-rating Bay and searched "OS X Leopard" and found iATKOS, and I was happy. Then I did some research, and found that there's an infinite number of OSx86 systems to download. Here's a short list of what I've found:

iATKOS
iDeneb
iPC
Kalyway
Leo4Allv5
JaS
pc_EFI

...the list will go on and on. So I settled on iDeneb. Not sure of the reason, but I did. So far, I'm two days into the download and I've only been able to get through 40% of the full ISO. Slowly but surely, the 4.4 gig file will finish after going through a constant of 15kb/s download.

In the meantime, I've been able to split my hard drive into two partitions, with the Leopard partition [drive X:/] having 20GB of playing room.

Updates on my future Hackintosh coming soon!

Ciao!

The Future: My Take

Every now and then around New Year's, you hear a lot of TV shows talking about what the world will be like in 20, 50, and 100 years from now. However, a great number of them have things that seem way out-of-this world, utilizing technology that is yet to be invented. Luckily, there are people like me that have ideas that make more sense to the common human:

In the more developed areas in the United States of tomorrow [let's just call it the Mañana], suburbanized areas will be efficient in every aspect. Though not very common at the moment, Solar will become one of the most prominent differences. As I type, scientists and universities everywhere are looking for ways to make solar panels, thinner, lighter, cheaper, and more efficient. One company, Nanosolar, has exactly that, making use of a couple of $7M silicon printing machines and a modest workforce. Eventually, we'll have solar panels that cost less than shingles on a roof, and hopefully, they'll look good, too.

Another thing that will be common is energy generators powered by waste. There are already ways developed to do this (and a couple of actual toilets in Japan that does it), but there's yet to be a full line of manufactured Eco-Toilets. Oh, and don't worry about how clean your water is; you'll have your own personal filter that assures you that all you'll drink is pure H2O [check it out for yourself].

Moving onto cars. In the Mañana, combustion engine-based cars will be a minority on the road, with just about every auto maker moving onto Electric vehicles. These cars will probably take advantage of every energy-generating opportunity it can find. Solar roofs, the typical hybrid's brake friction thing, and maybe a little wind power generator under the hood, all going straight to a super-dense battery pack (may be Lithium-Ion, though maybe we'll be using something else by then). Oh, and chances are, you may not even have to use any of those features for everyday driving, with the help of a little power inlet on the side. Gas stations will become power stations with gas on the side and an upper-class cafe a few steps away. By the way, in case you didn't know, General Motors is working toward this vision, and it won't be as far off as you think [check it].

Oh, and Hydrogen/Fuel Cell vehicles will be around, but pure electric will become the preference (frankly, I don't see such a flammable substance to be a viable green solution).

Also in the Mañana, communication will be pinnacle. You'll be in a world where the Internet is free, and all around you (though sadly, it'll be more government controlled, like China). The way this'll be done is through a new technology called WiMAX. It takes a while to explain the system [which is much simpler that it seems], but in a nutshell, it's high-speed WiFi spread over a 30-mile radius per hotspot. An organization called XOHM [composed of Sprint, Nokia, Google, Intel, Motorola, and many more] are working on bringing this technology to every metropolitan area it can get it's hands on [link].

Through this newfound ubiquitous connectivity to the Internet, you'll be able to check up on all of all your friends, send medical data to your doctor (i.e., a medical status update server), and listen to your library through your home-based personal server.

As for nanotechnology, we're yet to see if the world will be ready for it, so I'm not going to really talk about it.

In the future, third wold countries will be living kind of like us Americans are right now. Some areas are nice, some are still dumps, and hey, even the cars will be the same (we'll have no use for gas cars, so they'll all be transported to the slums of Yemen).

Oh, and you know how people are paranoid about the eventual overcoming of super-intelligent computers? Well don't worry, it won't happen. Seriously, there's always a way to manually shut down a computer, whether it's a button or a giant lever-based plug.

Unfortunately, the society of tomorrow is grim. I don't mean to sound old, but as generations go by, the ethical values of humans decline. To prove my point, look at the 60s. Movies were a place that you can take the entire family, and not have to worry about sexual references or bad language. The most popular song of the decade (and still the best-selling single of all time) was The Twist, and some people found that to be risqué. Today, you see movies like Cloverfield, about a sudden invasion of a giant creature wreaking havoc throughout Manhattan, destroying everything in it's path. The top song this summer was I Kissed A Girl from Katy Perry, and the most popular song in the last few years being Low by Flo Rida and T-Pain. One can only guess how obscure the wold will get.

So there you have it; A porthole into the future. A land where technology is everywhere, and people are ruder and less ethical than ever before. If you have any additional input, leave a comment below.

Ciao!
~uH

Well there you have it. The iPhone has lost its edge.

Today, T-Mobile, Google, and HTC officially announced the HTC Dream/T-Mobile G1, a beautiful little device that does everything the iPhone does, but cheaper, and in some cases, much better.

After watching endless videos about it, I can see that a phone like this will be a big competitor in the comming months. Available in white and black, the G1 is run on a revolutionar little operating system called Android, an open source project by Google that'll assure safety, friendliness, and extendability. The phone is made by the High Tech Computer Corporation (HTC), who, for the last year and a half or so has been making touch screen phones for the masses. Lately, their products have been exceeding the iPhone more and more, with the release of the Touch Diamond, Touch Pro, and the Touch HD [all of which, by the way, have greater resolution than a the standard non-HD television, double that of the iPhone].

Getting back on subject (bear with me, I drift away from the subject a lot when mindlessly typing away), the new G1 will be available through T-Mobile for $179 [if you're already a customer] with a contract extension, or for $399 by itself [T-Mobile 3G plans go from $25-35]. One advantage it has over the iPhone is the fact that it has a full, physical QWERTY keyboard. The one problem I have with the G1 is that there's no 3.5mm earphone jack

Personally, the phone and everything will be perfect for me. I'm a T-Mobile customer, I love open source things, I probably have $200 in my pocket right now, and I happen to live in one of the cities you must live within 5 miles from to buy one (Orlando, Florida FTW!)

So stick it to Apple and get an HTC G1!

[by the way, not too keen on the Samsung Instinct; too cheap-looking]

Website spotlight: 1TB of online storage at your disposal with Oosah

A person like me needs space. Mental space, physical space, and especially, virtual space. My pathetially small 75GB hard drive is almost full, with less than 6GB of space left, and that's because I've been insessively deleting items the past months after getting multiple "not enough hard drive space" dialog boxes. So I started uploading a few of my useless things to my 110mb.com account, which provides me with 5GB of space and a 99% uptime. I've never had a problem with them (though a few of my friends have had problems registering and managing thier account), but it's sad to know that it can only take so much information.

But a couple of days ago, I found a nice little website called Oosah.com. This little site provides users with a full terrabyte of server space for the grand ol' price of 0 Rupies (this translates to $0 in the US). Wow, that's like.... 13.6533333 times the ammount of storage my computer can carry [shout-out to Google for doing the calculation]!

However, there are a few drawbacks. At this point in time, you are not allowed to upload executables or documents, and you're only allowed to upload mp3s less than 9MB in size. [UPDATE: Oosah increased the mp3 limit to 50MB per file!]

But here's some good news- You can upload images and video to your heart's content, and even connect to YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, and Picasa to manage files through there.

So go ahead. Go to the site, register, and love it. I double-dog dare you.
Ciao!

~uH

Media exaggeration will kill us all...

...one commercial at a time.

Have you ever noticed that what we know and love is greatly decided by the media?

For example NBC/Universal, Sony BMG, and Warner Brothers control what you listen to for the most part. If one of these companies decide to take some guy off the streets and to a studio on Monday, he'll be sure to hit Billboard by Thursday. Kinda sad, but we're not complaining.

Hey, wait a minute.... Obama's on a trip to a 3rd world country! MSNBC's even showing the speech live! ...Wait a minute, I recall O'Reilly talking about McCain's trip to the same country last week... heh. This is a prime example of media bias. MSNBC's far left while Fox News hangs around as the only large right-wing news source. I'd say that CNN is pretty neutral, though I see a bit more left than right when Glen Beck isn't on. Seriously, if we don't watch the speeches in their entirety, we'll become victim of paraphrased, filtered information. A humerous example of this can be found here.

Oh, here's a prime example of media exaggeration. The iPhone. Apple announces it, the crowd goes wild, they sell millions. Then Apple announces the iPhone 3G. The crowd goes wild. 1 million gets sold in about 2 days [by the way, the sudden boost in sales was because Apple started selling the iPhone 3G in over 20 other countries]. But wait a minute... the Nokia N800 was launched about half a year earlier, and that didn't get on the news. Then Nokia brought out the N810, and still no media coverage. And whatever happened to all of the touch screen phones that HTC has manufactured over the last year or so? Sure, they sell like hotcakes, but it's not like any non-geek recognizes them. Pft, I'd be suprised if you, the reader, knew why the Samsung Omnia and HTC Touch Diamond [as well as the just-released Touch Pro and upcomming Touch HD] beats the iPhone in just about every aspect.

My closing statement is this: Read up before you speak up. Check the specs, the Wiki articles, and the C-SPAN press releases.

Why the Corvette ZHZ is the perfect car...for posers!

Aaaahhhh, what is up with some people. Anyways people, I was at church with my girl and then I stopped, when out of my eye I spotted a brand new 2008 Corvette. (I know I know, big deal, but you have to realize that people at this church aren't that well off). Going on with the story, it seemed like the whole neighborhood turned out to see the ZHZ edition of the Corvette. Did I forget to mention that the whole church turned ghetto in a hot minute!! Everybody was riding the Corvette and it was kinda cool at first but then I knew that the girl who had the Corvette was just putting on a show. Admittedley, I was kind of jealous, but still you shouldn't be flashing at church. So I went to the Internet just to find out how much one of these babies cost. Price tag : 200 something dollars a day at Hertz. Oh, and heres the kicker! The car is only made for Hertz! She lied and told everybody that it was hers and that she was raking in the dough. Ha!

Hertz currently rents this car for the perfect getaway, but I guess people have other uses in mind. I don't blame them. The Corvette ZHZ is beautiful and it has a horsepower of 436, but it's just wrong to show it off at the house of the Lord. Can I get an Amen.

On a totally different note I really like Lollipop... the remix. The original is cool but adding Kanye just killed the verse. Next iPod commercial anyone? Doubt it, since iPod seems to focus on bands such as U2 and Coldplay. Curse you, Steve Jobs!!!

This entry was brought to you by Guest Blogger iPapi

What I desire in a portable media player [PMP]

As you can see in my blog posts, I have a pretty decent number of gripes about media players like the iPod touch, SanDisk Sansa, and Creative ZEN. They all have their strengths, but the weaknesses are massive to me. So in case there's a product researcher, Zune designer, or just a curious mind out there looking for what a computer hacking graphic designer sees to be the perfect PMP, I'm making this blog post just for you.

Let's start with the ideal size. Some are as small as Hillary's chances of getting elected [@] while others are as big as the wallpapers I make [@]. I think the perfect PMP should be in the cutting edge of mediocrity [for the record, I got that phrase from The King of Queens]. My recomended size would be somewhere in between this sizeasy comparison. But keeping in mind that compact PMPs are also a necessity to human survival, here's my idea of what a small PMP should look like: [@]

Everybody loves having lots of space on their media player! Personally, I don't settle for a capacity that I can get with a $25 USB drive, such as my 4GB flash drive. And as of late, I've been seeing 8GBs going for $30, so I've been raising standards. I'd go for something around 16GB if it's going to be on the smaller, more portable size, and at least 30-40GB if it's going to be a full-sized PMP such as the iPod touch and Zune 30. To clarify, large/full-sized PMPs should use hard disk storage instead of flash. Hard disk is faster with a higher capacity, as well as being very cost effective. Sure, flash memory is much safer and more durrable, but I'm not going to be dropping my PMP from a 2 story building. Hey, even if I do, chances are that the screen is going to break over the drive being ruined (and supposing that the drive does die, I still make monthly backups of my portable sorage devices).

Moving on, let's talk about the screen. To me, the screen's size doesn't matter nearly as much as the resolution. The higher the pixel density, the better. So without stating any screen size, I'll go on and state that a small media player should have a QVGA screen (240x320 pixels). For large PMPs, QVGA also works fine, though I'll much prefer an WVGA-loaded (600x420) PMP if available.

As for other "bonus" features, I guess I wouldn't mind a touch screen (still not a big fan of them, though). Radio would be nice if I can't find anything good in my playlist. Mass storage would be awesome. WiFi would be equally awesome. Having an SD or CF slot would be one of the most important features in any media player to me. I hate being limmited to manufacturers specs (which is the root of my hate for Apple), which also brings me to the desire for a skinnable interface, or at least a customizable background image.

Supposing that someone actually made a full-sized media player to the specs I want, it would cost about $300-350, though I find the ideal price for a large PMP is from $100-300. As for small PMPs, I'll go wtih $75-150; anything more is outrageous.

The closest thing to the ideal large PMP to me would be the Zune 80. The size is decent, it has 80GB space, a QVGA screen (though it should be WVGA for the screen dimensions), radio, WiFi, decent UI, among other features like free etching, all for $250 direct from manufacturer [$240 at Newegg; $200 at craigslist], . Unfortunately, the Zune 80 lacks the expansion slot (among a few minor features) to be perfect. The iPod touch has most of this, though only holds a max 32GB for $430 [the lowest price I found on the Interwebs] and is just as closed up as the Zune.

As for small PMPs, I can't bring you a verdict. I'm yet to see a defiatively great one, though I wouldn't mind if Apple took a gander at this iPod mini concept ;D

Curse you, Apple! The iPhone will soon be worth buying...

Yeah, you heard me-- Apple's prized possesion, actually getting a compliment from me? I'm just as amazed as you.

It takes a lot for a company in my "I want to stab you to death" list to get me to change my mind about them, but Apple's iPhone is quickly becoming so good that I can't resist but appreciate it!

I've always had the nicest things to say about Nokia's N800. For God's sake, man! It's got WiFi, a Linux-based OS, Firefox-based web browser, touch screen, stereo speakers, two SD slots, a webcam, a special edition of Skype, and tons of apps to chose from. Oh, and did I mention you can get one of these babies for only about $230?

With all these great features, why am I complimenting the iPhone, that glossy, welded-shut brick? Well I got a list for you:

• The iPhone is now available with 16GB of flash memory

• Apple released the SDK for the iPhone, allowing the common geek to hack away (though the experience is limited unless you give Apple some moola...)

• AT&T and Apple are now selling refurbished iPhones at a tremendous discount-- $200 friggin' dollars off!

• One of the newest Apps for the iPhone include an IM/VoIP client. Yeah, Skype calls can now me made from the iPhone.

• And here's the big one: Apple intends on releasing a new version of the iPhone that will load GPS and 3G

And expect more price cuts as the release of the iPhone2 approaches.

But not to fear! There's still one thing Nokia will have that the iPhone2 won't: A WiMAX chip! Yeah, Nokia made it official that the N810 will soon come loaded with WiMAX [essentially "4G", will have a 30 mile radius hotspot and a download speed of 5mbps].

So alas, the competition for cell phone domination continues, and I don't intend on turning my back on it.

Ciao!

~uH

Blog milestone! I just hit the big one-oh-oh-oh!

That's right, this blog has just turned 1,000! Erm, not in years old, but in hits. Unless you can hack your way into people's webcams, you probably can't tell that I'm dancing while typing this.....! [just did a back-flip]

Anyway, now that I hit the 1K, I'm thinking about renaming the blog from the obvious "uH's Blog" to something more creative. Who knows? Chances are, by the time you read this, I've already changed the name.

So with that said,

Ciao!

And here's to another 1,000 hits!

End of the mp3 player age

Where should I begin? What I think an mp3 player should have? Problems I've had with music players in the past? What I think get's the best BPB [Bang Per Buck] rating? Eh, I don't know, so I'll just start typing whatever comes to mind.

Over the last few months, I've been researching music players quite a bit. My main conclusion is this: The mp3 player age is nearly over! Terminated! Discontinued! Ceased! No more! Finito!

"But... mp3 players are bigger than ever,"you say. Frankly, I don't see much truth in that. Not because music is going to loose popularity [it's growing faster than ever], but because what we know as mp3 players don't just play music anymore. They hold pictures, video, games, internet, and, you guessed it, personal style. Think about it. The most commonly heard mp3 player, the iPod, has gone far past music. At this point, the only version that doesn't play video is the shuffle! The Creative Zen plays videos. The SanDisk Sansa is rarely seen without a 16-bit video/picture displaying LCD. The Zune is made for visual delight. Cell phones are becoming portable media players that become phones. With that said, I shall restate my early-stated conclusion: the mp3 player age is almost over!

From this point on, you shan't hear me use the term mp3 player, but I'll be referring to them as "media players".

Let's start with the brand I like to rant about the most- Apple. I dislike the way their media player became so popular that iPod became a regular word. I've seen people actually witnessed people call a SanDisk a "black iPod". Foey! Electronic devices shouldn't be improper nouns! It's blasphemy, I tell ya'!
Let's talk about the actual media player, shall we? To begin, I'd like to say that the iPod is way overrated, and just like most of the things Apple makes, overpriced. I'm not paying $150+ for a 4GB media player no matter how small! As long as it fits in my jeans' pockets (which is most media players), I'm good. Now there is one reasonably priced iPod that I wouldn't mind buying, however. The 160GB iPod Classic, $300 if you search in the right place. Holds more junk than you'll ever need (unless you put all your HD movies in there). Other than that, overpriced and overrated. The iPod touch is way too small space-wise. That would be alright with me if it had an SD expansion slot, but no such luck. 30GB is my usual standard for space, and 16GB for $350 just doesn't cut it for me, though [as painful as it is for me to say,] it is undeniable that the iPod touch's UI is pretty well thought-out. Maybe I'll get a touch when the new 32GB gets down to $300 and there are at least 30 decent widgets [with the help of the iPhone/touch SDK]. Maybe.

So what do I like? The Zune. The Zune 30GB to be specific. How would you like a media player that stores 30GB for under $200? Microsoft has that. Wanna know who else does that? Nobody. Yeah, the company that often gets blamed for overpriced electronics fires back! As for the Zune 4GB and 8GB, I'm not too excited. I know it's small, has the same screen resolution, and costs a tad less, but still, you can get much more BPB with a little searching. And as for the 80GB Zune: heh, neat. I like the touch interface (the 4/8GB has the same, BTW) and the fact that it packs 80 gigs into a small, sexy package, but for $250 [and no SD slot], I'm not buying just yet. I think it'll be down to $200 by the holidays.

I'd like to make a final "notable mensions" paragraph, but unfortunately, I can't find more than two worth mensioning. There's the $130 SanDisk Sansa 8GB that has an SD slot, and the all holy (but non-relevant to the subject) Nokia N800 with a touch screen, stereo speakers, handwriting recognition, wifi, SD, Skype, Mozilla, Widgets, remote computing to a PC, a very nice interface, and a Linux-Based OS, but it's made to be a cell phone, and deserves to be in a blog post by itself. Yes, that was a run-on sentence, but it's hard to refrain from doing so when trying to describe the N800 :P

So for all of you screaming "I know better media players than that!," then let me know in the comments box. I'll read it, don't worry. I read all my comments for the most part.

[BTW, a blog post side-image is comming up soon!]

The war is over! Blu-Ray triumphs

That's right, folks, Blu-Ray won the format battle with HD-DVD! It was inevitable, but doesn't it feel good to know that you won't have to deal with seeing HD-DVDs in the store anymore? For once, I'm happy for Sony's victory.

That's right, I'm happy for Sony! Seriously, BRD is the best thing they've made in a while! It definitely goes right next to the walkman and CD on my list.

Getting back on track, there's also news that a few certain companies are still being loayal to HD-DVD, despite the fact that it already lost. Sore loosers. But Toshiba is being smart [somewhat] by not calling their HD-DVD players "HD-DVD Player"s, but calling them an "Upscaling DVD Player with HD-DVD playback". Nice strategy, definitely something I'd do if I had tens of thousands of useless/obsolete pieces of hardware that I wanted to sell. But I still don't see any reason to keep manufacturing them, especially when almost all other tech giants have moved upward and onward to BRD.

Heh, after typing and researching this, I feel like getting a BRD drive. Besides, 2 Blu-Ray disks can back up my entire system, uncompressed.

A short collection of good songs [Updated 11-6-08!]

So many good songs, so little time. Here's a summary of my Songbird playlist entitled "good stuff" in no particular order:

Afterlife ~Avenged Sevenfold [self-titled]

Dare ~Gorillaz [D-Sides]

Faint ~Linkin Park [Meteora]

Paralyzer ~Finger Eleven [Them vs. You vs. Me]

The Pretender ~Foo Fighters [Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace]

Two Sisters ~Fictionplane [Two Sisters; single]

Empty Walls ~Serj Tankian [Elect the Dead]

Ten Thousand Fists ~Disturbed [Ten Thousand Fists; single]

Fake It ~Seether [Fake It; single]

_________________________________________________________

Okay, I noticed that this particular blog post has gotten a lot of views, so I decided to update it with newer ["gooder"] songs, as the ones above are soon-to-be old news (and my opinion on music has changed a bit):

Bleeding Love ~Leona Lewis [Spirit]

American Boy ~Estelle, ft. Kanye West [Shine]

Heroes of Our Time ~DragonForce [Ultra Beatdown]

Lost My Mind ~Shwayze [self-titled]

She's a Handsome Woman ~Panic! At The Disco [Pretty. Odd.]

Love Me Dead ~Ludo [You're Awful, I Love You]

Perfect Insanity ~Disturbed [Indestructable]

Lost! ~Coldplay [Viva La Vida]

Eye of the Storm ~Bullet for My Valentine [Scream, Aim, Fire]

Give it to Me ~3 Doors Down [Self-titled]

That's all for now, folks!

$60 cell phone bills are so yesterday's news! Keep your bills low with Skype and 3G

I've always had this theory that everything man-made in this world can be reinvented in a radically new way. For example, LCD replacing analog TVs, digital cameras replacing Polaroids, and the Tesla Roadster and Chevy Volt replacing conventional gas vehicles. And yet, there's still so much to be reinvented!

Anyway, over the last few days, I've been applying my un-named theory to "reinventing" my finances by trying to replace my cell phone and allowing for easier synchronization with how I live. So after lots of research, I've found a nice setup that is beneficial to anybody. Besides, it's about time I get rid of my old Razr and unreliable but economic T-Mobile phone service.

Imagine this: Instead of using your normal cell phone service and your antique camera phone to call, using a plan less than $50/mo that grants you unlimited minutes with free long distance, a network that covers almost the entire US, voice, text, video, and on occasion, games on a cell phone that's essentially better than the iPhone (and costs less). Oh, and and you'll be Sounds good to me. Probably sounds good to you. So why are we all just listening to it instead of actually living it?

Okay, so it doesn't sound easy to get together. That's because it isn't easy. So here we go:

 Step one: Get Skype. If you already have one, good for you! Now register for their paid service Skype Pro; It'll allow you to call land lines and cell phones in the US and Canada (if you happen to live in the States) and get a number of other features (like voice mail) as well as some nice discounts. Once you get that, get SkypeIn, which gives you you're own personal phone number at the area code of your choice so people can call you at local rates. Both of these services combined cost $8/month, and that's before Skype Pro discounts (60% off SkypeIn service).

Step two: Get the Nokia N800. If you already have one, then you're my new best friend. It has a touch screen, full web browser (Firefox core), mp3 player, stereo speakers, a Linux-based OS, WiFi, a webcam, and tons of other features. Oh yeah, and it has Skype. This phone is essentially another iPhone, but tons cheaper ($225 at Amazon) and it came out about 5 months prior to Apple's pride and joy. The only problem is that you can't get it in a bundle with a cell phone carrier.

Step three: Get a 3G/4G carrier. AT&T has a 3G that covers much of the US for ~$35 ($40 after fees), though I'd wait a couple of months before signing any contracts. Why? Because Sprint, Nokia, Google, Samsung, and other notable companies are making a combined effort to create a Next-Generation network that'll connect the US to the internet like never before! Think of it as a WiFi hotspot that spreads to the entire city. This project is called XOHM (pronounced "zom"), and it's network will be ready for use by the end of this year, delivering speeds from 800kbps to 4mbps, depending on signal strength.

But let's just say that you go with AT&T's current 3G PDA Personal service, paying $42 per month. Now you are connected to the internet almost everywhere you go! It's a good thing you're using the best deal in internet tablets to date, and that phone works with Skype, too! So now, you're paying around $48 per month for unlimited minutes nationwide on the strongest network in the world (and dirt cheap international calls). Oh, and you can call through your Skype account both on your cell phone and your PC or notebook. Definitely worth investing in, no?

By the way, because you'll be using Skype 99% of the time with this system, you can get a cheaper home phone service. You can get rid of it, but then you won't have anyone to call when an emergency arises (i.e., 911). So yeah, this setup is going to save me more than $350 after one year of use.

Can I get an Amen?

Amen!

Why the Corvette Z06 rules all

Okay, I happen to be in a rush today, so I'll make this a little more straight-forward

The Corvette Z06 can be compared to many cars, yet almost no matter what you pair it with, the Z06 emerges victorious. It's a budget-minded supercar. So to show how great the Z06 is in the performance realm, I'll compare it to the Lamborghini Gallardo (stats are from Road & Track road tests). While the Galardo costs $200K, the Corvette goes for around $65K. Gallardo, 520bhp, Corvette, 505. As for top speed, the Gallardo gets up to 195mph while the Z06 reaches 198mph. Breaking from 60-0, Gallardo takes 108ft, the Corvette is slightly longer at 118ft. The Lambo gets a 70.6mph on the slalom, and the Chevy gets 71.2mph. R&T Magazine got 9.3mpg while testing the Gallardo, and the Z06 wins again with 14.1mpg. As for 0-60 and 0-100, the Z06 wins that contest as well, getting 3.6 and 8.5 seconds (respectively), while the Gallardo gets 3.8 and 8.8 seconds. The Z06 wins in the quarter-mile as well (12sec@121mph vs. 12.1sec@116.9mph).

As you can see, the Corvette wins in almost every category. In addition, R&T named the Corvette's engine as the best sports car V8 (in a sports car showdown featuring an Aston Martin, Audi R8, and Ferrari F430). Gotta love it!

Oh, and the Z51 is even cheaper (~$45K), but not too much slower than the Z06. If you search hard enough, you can get the two Corvette models for $10K-$15K less when used. So with that said, I click the Publish button on the bottom right of my text box.

*click*

Software Spotlight: XaoS- a RAM-friendly fractal zoomer and morpher

Once in a while, you come across an unpopular computer program that should get so much more attention. Luckily, I have a blog to spread the word in. So today, I shall direct your attention to XaoS, a fractal zoomer. This program can be used to render some pretty decent fractals, though that's not it's purpose. It is made to be looked at. It is made purely for the eyecandy of the viewer at the moment, though XaoS allows you to record your progressive zooming in MPEG format. It would make one great screensaver...

Anywho, it's worth looking into, and awe at the greatness of geometrical triangle patterns.

In case you didn't catch the link the first time:

http://wmi.math.u-szeged.hu/xaos/doku.php

Clarification of opinions: Mac vs PC (follow-up of MacBook Air post)

I'm very pleased at the comments given from my last blog post, from both the ones that agree with me and the ones that don't agree. To tell you the truth, it was fun reading them. Today, I'm going to clarify my position on Macs and PCs, because I never had the opportunity or reason to do so in the past. So here we go, into the mind of uH:

Though I show a lot of hate for Apple, there is in fact lots of good behind it. They have a nice GUI, they're generally reliable, and have great tech support people to rely on when the going gets rough. Windows computers' UI isn't quite as easy to navigate through, but it's more hackable and open to customization (good for power users like myself). In reality, the majority of the problems with PCs are from all the useless crapware installed by the companies and malfunctioning hardware installed by the companies (hard drives in particular >_<). There isn't a Microsoft Store where you can get the computer fixed, but there are literally hundreds upon hundreds of tech support forums and companies dedicated to it (techsupportforum.com for the win!).

Here's a little insight from a past Mac user (erm, me). Having a Mac was always something to boast about. You walk into a Panera Bread, sit in the table by one of the big windows, in the open and take your MacBook out:

"Yeah, that's my Mac. Like the wallpaper? Yeah, so do I. It represents how cool I am. Hey, check this cool minimizing effect. Yeah, I know you want it, but it's all mine!"

Believe me, it feels cool to use a Mac. That is, until you've used it for a few hours, and it starts lagging, gasping for RAM. At that point you're yelling like you were in a Linkin Park concert. But if it were lagging in public, you'd keep your cool. "I'm just restarting it because I forgot what the boot screen looks like... what?," and you continue eating that delicious bagel. Yes, OS X played nice for the most part, but the hardware kept it down. 70% of the time, when I put a CD into the drive, it wouldn't come out. I had to restart it, do a funky keyboard shortcut as soon as I saw the boot screen, and type something into the command prompt that appears to force eject it. Oh, and one of my USB ports went ca-put and my mouse liked to turn left more than right. And because all the hardware was from Apple (I bought it before the Intels came in) all the blame was put on them.

Now, here's Windows. It isn't as bad as everyone says it is. I've had 3 XP computers over the years, and all but one have died. Not because of the software, though. On one, the hard drive stopped working. The other, the motherboard fried during a power surge. Nevertheless, I put both of the computers together, and is now running Ubuntu, but that's besides the point. What I'm getting at is that companies like MSI, AMD, and ATI are to blame for this stuff, yet people still blame Microsoft. I gotta love XP because you can change almost everything in it! And with the right tools, you can create skins for it yourself! You can use a program like the XN Resource Editor to replace icons and replace codes. Get LiteStep, and you have an entirely new shell to work with (that's right, a replacement for Explorer). I've never seen anything like this on OS X, and I probably never will. Oh, and people also complain about Vista and how you need so much RAM to run it. 2GB is not that much! You can get a Kingston 1GB DDR2 chip for $20 at Best Buy for cryin' out loud! And as it is said, if you have 4GB of RAM, Vista is amazingly faster, prefetching everything (thanks to a new process management system that XP doesn't have). And PCs are getting cheaper by the day. I found one with 3GB RAM, an Intel Quad Core, some high-end nVIDIA graphics card, 320GB hard drive, Vista Premium, TV tuner, All-In-One printer, CD, DVD, and Blu-Ray reader, a 7-in-one media reader, and a 20-inch widescreen monitor for only $1200 (HP I believe). If that doesn't show progress, I don't know what does. Oh, and if you search in the right places [*cough*google products*cough*], you can get Vista Ultimate OEM 32-bit for about $160 (64-bit, $175).

As for one company stealing from another, sheesh! Just shut up! That's how companies roll! IBM invented the mouse, but Apple copied and patented the idea before IBM got a chance. Apple uses transparency in their newest version of OS X. Microsoft based their Zune off Apple's iPod. Who cares?!? As long as the things I buy are getting better, I'm okay with it. Dat's how we roll in da hood.

But all this comes down to is politics. I bet I can convince everybody here that OS X is better than Vista if I wanted to, but I don't because I don't believe it's true. Just like how some politicians can prove that either side is better (like Shawn Hannity convincing someone to vote for Obama). It all comes down to knowing stuff, and supporting that knowhow with examples (i.e. personal experiences with Macs and PCs). And with that, I shall publish this blog post.

Sour Apple Chronicles II: The MacBook Air really sucks

Chances are, you've read my last blog post, and you've found out how little Apple has to offer this year. Well apparently, it's less than I thought.

Here's what we agreed on from my last post about the Air:

• The processor is so-so


• 2GB of RAM is good


• 80GB hard drive is too small


• 1 USB port is NOT enough


• 13.3 inch screen is a bit too small


• $1,800 is way overpriced, but hey, so is every computer Apple makes


• Lack of Firewire sucks


• Batteries that can't be replaced by the user is just plain dumb of Apple


• NOT HAVING AN OPTICAL DRIVE IS IDIOTIC

Now that we got that straight, I'll update you on why the Air sucks:

The Air's USB port is so inconveniently placed, many USB items can't even be placed into it. You can't even stick this flash drive into it! I can tell you right now that my 6-port USB hub won't fit in there, even though that's exactly what an Air would need, knowing that it only has one USB port.

In a recent discovery by the Engadget guys, the MacBook Air is slow. The slowest Mac ever, to be exact. But hey,that's what happens when you cram a processor less than 1/3 the size of a normal processor into a computer. So basically, this 2000 dollar laptop with 2GB RAM and no optical drive to have to read is slower than a $700 laptop with Vista Premium, 2GB RAM, reads CD, DVD, and Blu-Ray with a mid-range graphics card (the Mac's graphics card isn't even as good as mine, and my computer cost $300). Whoever gets this notebook must be pretty dumb, knowing that most Mac owners are already somewhat mental.

Sour Apple Chronicles I: Macworld news- Apple has been lazy

Well, today has been a good day for Apple haters. It was just a matter of hours ago that Macworld opened and Steve Jobs gave his keynote, and in summary, nothing has been done. Apparently, Apple got lazy and in one of the staff meetings, the guy in the back of the room said "Hey, why don't we make a MacBook... but smaller!", then the janitor passed by, picking up the trash (and there's lots of it in that company) and said "Bleh. I'd rather have a MacBook with a touch screen.", and the "collaborating" commenced.

Apparently, the iDevelopers and MacDudes haven't learned from their mistakes. While developing this smaller, touchable notebook (OMG SO ORIGINAL!!!!11!! O.O), they ignored the complaints about the battery replacement system- going into an Apple Store and get it replaced there for around $150. Yup, you still need to bring her in. Also, there's no Firewire port, no ethernet port, and no optical drive. It's also reported that the graphisc card isn't powerful enough to run a 30 inch screen. Here are the given stats:

• 1.6 GHz or 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB L2 cache


• 2GB of RAM


• 80GB 1.8-inch hard drive (with optional 64 gig solid state drive


• 1 USB 2.0 port


• 13.3 inch display


• "Multi-Touch Trackpad" [not a touch screen...]


• ~$1,800

Oh, and we can't forget the all-holy iPod! Apparently, new apps are now available for the iPod Touch! ZOMG, I can finally check mah emailz and lookk at 600613 [Google] mapz and--...wait... nevermind, it costs $20 to get 'em. I'll stick with the Nokia N800 (more info on why this owns coming later on this month).

Okay, I know all of you think that I don't see any good in Apple. Not true. There were a few good happenings over in Macworld '08:

• Microsoft Office '08 for Intel Macs. Heh.

• The Time Machine. For once, I really, really like this concept. Back up your Mac wirelessly with a cumbersomely spacious hard drive (it's better than you think, me knowing 3 people who had MacBook HDs die on them). But yeah, it's a good deal. $300 for 500GB, $500 for 1TB.

• Finally, the SDK for the over-rated iPhone is going to be released! Despite that "great" news, I'm still keeping my eye on the Nokia N800.

Sorry if I've lowered the mystique of my gramma an' spellin skills for this post, but this was a bit rushed. Maybe I'll go back and actually re-read what I typed.

New year, new season of NASCAR.

Just this past week, the good ol' guys at NASCAR started their testing. I know that most of you don't know my opinion on NASCAR drivers, so I'll state it right here:

Dale Junior is waaayyyy too over-rated. He's only famous for his father. If his name was something like Jason Walton, would he be so popular? No. I like Jr., but his mainstream fans are too nutty in the head.

Oh, and please just get over Dale Earnhardt's death. I know it was a major loss of one of the most popular drivers in NASCAR's history (famous for crashing people and saying it was either a mistake or "just racing", which is an excuse that was only accepted by when it came from Earnhardt), but please! You treat it like Jesus' crucifixion, and Jr. is his resurrection!

Jeff Gordon. He's my personal favorite. He's the second most-loved, yet the first most-hated of the drivers. Who hates him? Jr. fans. Why do they hate him? They think Jr. hates him. Why? That's unknown. Probably because Jeff wins more. See, Jeff is the most record-breaking driver to ever get in the cockpit of a NASCAR stock vehicle. They used to say he was gay after he spit with his wife, but then he married her. And now that she had a baby, the gay claims have been silenced. And as for those that call Jeff a crybaby, poop. This rant started becoming big when he pushed Matt Kenseth (spun Jeff out on the last friggin' lap!), and has snowballed ever since. Here's the thing: even the nicest of drivers can get upset when spun out at the end of a race. This was proven when Dale Senior spun Bobby Labonte out on the last lap of a night race (sorry, can't find the video on Youtube). So please, just stop talking about that! I'm going to stop my ranting about Jeff Gordon haters right now, because I know I'm getting off the subject.

So now's a new year. And you know which team has the best test runs? Hendrik, more specifically, Jimmie Johnson (which I like, but it does get annoying when he wins everything). In the coming week, Jr. is going to be testing. I just hope he does well to keep the Hendrik haters quiet. Same goes for Jr.'s first season as Jeff Gordon's teammate. Comment if you love NASCAR.

The next generation of energy generation- poop. Literally.

In a recent development Arizona State University students discovered that bacteria can actually help generate energy for batteries. Yup. Not sure what to make of this. It can be economic, yet hard to use. It's like: poop 3 times per recharge >__<

My prediction is that this won't gain popularity in the US, but it'll make it big in Japan. Your toilet can power your house for cryin' out loud!

More info can be found here: http://www.physorg.com/news118589790.html

I'm getting on a Japanese magazine... and a CD-ROM!

Man, this is going to be great. If there was ever anything to make a blog post about, this would be it. I got an email today asking permission to use my The Next OS cursor pack in a computer suite CD, and getting mentioned in the magazine that owns it, iP!. I'm more excited than you know. Don't believe me? Here's the email in it's entirety (with the exception of the signature; it has personal information there):

"

Dear Author,I am an editor of a Japanese magazine called "iP!",a magazine for

Windows users with original CD-ROMs tooffer data/software.I would like to introduce your "The next OS"

to Japanese Windows users.And I am glad that you would give me kind

permission to put your soft into our CD-ROM.

If OK,I would like to introduce your software continuously from now on.

Please let me  know when you have any questions or find any problems for

introducing your soft.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Best wishes,

HIDEYUKI HAYASAKA from "iP!"

"

Yeah, I'm excited.

Hey, first post.

Nothing specific is planned here. Just making posts interesting enough to get people to discover me through Google and the general internet. So, hi.

For all who don't know, I'm usedHONDA. I have a website [usehonda.110mb.com], but I hardly use it anymore, except for my Google² skin. I'm constantly on deviantART, a great art community where you can upload, share, and comment on other people's art. This includes drawings, photographs, videos, computer customizations, mini-games, and more. I'm almost to 4000 hits, and in about 6 months!

So with that said, it's time to organize my blog.