Slaves to a device...

Remember this commercial?




For those of you that DON'T remember, this was Apple's very first commercial from 1984, proclaiming that the domination of the PC that was known at the time was ending, and that a revolution was coming!  That revolution was EXTREMELY successful, and without Apple, the Macintosh, and all of their products to follow, we DEFINITELY would be a boring buncha' users.

Flash forward to today...

Today it was released that AT&T as a carrier officially SUCKS.  Most of us already knew that, and weren't surprised.  What WAS surprising was that more than half of the 60,000 consumers polled said that the only reason they stayed with AT&T was because it was the only provider that carried the iPhone.

I have absolutely nothing bad to say about Apple, or the iPhone, or any of their other products personally.  I've always felt that Apple's devices were just too easy, and simplified, without enough customization options for me, which for other people is perfect.  My computer knowledge started on an Apple IIe, munchin' numbers, racing they keyboard, selling lemonade, and roughing the long Oregon Trail, watching my whole family die along the way...  Poor lil' Zebadiah...

My point is this:  27 years ago, Apple started it's campaign to revolutionize the personal computer experience and today, we've become enslaved to a service provider we don't like because of the device we use.  What happened to our experimentalism?  There ARE other phones and carriers out there, guys, and though most of them may seem complicated, or "too much" they ALL have the basic functionality we're all used to and looking for, and who knows, after a lil' use you might learn something new!  Just because you know something well, doesn't mean that HAS to be the only device you use.  I know, I'm on a HUGE soap box, and it seems as though I'm HATIN' on the iPhone, but I'm not.  I would say the same about ANY phone and carrier...  If I felt that we were buying and using it simply to own "the cool".

Branch out, Coppertops!  Learn some junk!  I think you'd be happily surprised by what's out there, and what you can do!   I'm not even switch to Android.  That's just MY personal preference (at the moment).  'Tis the season to learn something new, and stop relying on what you already know.  That applies to more than just cell phones too!

That's just my 2 cents...  add your own!!  I wanna' hear what you think!

Andy Rubin live at "D"

Check it out!  Andy's talkin' everything Google at the "D" conference!  So far, he's previewed a Motorola Tab running Honeycomb...  and we JUST got Gingerbread!!

Google's Andy Rubin live from D: Dive Into Mobile

Update:  If you missed Engadget's live blogcast, here's the video, released just this morning!

I'm so proud! My 2nd attempt at a boot animation...

So I FINALLY figured out what Boot animations consist of, and it's basically just a bunch of .PNG images and a tiny text file telling the system how to play them...  While I was searching, I found a REALLY nice one, and added it to Virus Airbourne RC 4.7 (in beta, donate to Virus to get it too!) which I'm currently running...  I started thinking (and usually nothing good comes from THAT, but this time I got lucky...) and added my "web name" or "nickname" to it, and positioned it dead center in 111 images, and this is what I got out of it!!



It's about 1/4 speed from how it will be animated on my phone, but since I used Windows Movie Maker to put the images together, the minimum frame rates and speeds are theirs to control...

I'm gonna' try to get a video of the phone itself up, so I can share it in all it's glory once I add it to my phone.

Let me know what you think!

Gingerbread is HERE!!!!

FINALLY, after months of teasing, and half baked (get it?  :D) promises, Android version 2.3 AKA; Gingerbread is upon us!

First deployment will be on the Nexus S, which Best Buy has recently reopened their site to sell.

The Nexus S' available specs (From Android Central):

• Operating System: Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
• Display: 4-inch touchscreen
• Resolution: 800 x 480
• Processor: 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 Hummingbird
• RAM: 512 MB
• Internal Storage: 16 GB
• Battery: Lithium Ion 1500 mAh
• PC Connector: USB 2.0
• WiFi: 802.11 b/g/n
• Bluetooth: 2.1 + EDR
• Camera: 5 MP on the back + front-facing VGA camera
• Internet Calling Support: VOIP + SIP
• From what I understand, Google has gotten a bit savvy (greedy?) and excluded a micro SD card slot, so Network: Quad-Band GSM: 850/900/1800/1900, Tri-Band HSPA: 900/2100/1700
• US carrier: T-Mobileyou're stuck with only 16G (not that most will need more than that, but for those that do, expandable memory is always a plus).

BREAKING:  Android 2.3 to include keyboard controls for Playstation/other gaming?!?!

The Android SDK site has now been updated with the 2.3 download for developers.  Android central has an AWESOME list of all of the new features and toys to play with, available to devs.  To abbreviate, it consists of a New base Linux kernel version, New media framework, better Networking, and Dalvik runtime improvements.

Here's a lil' preview video released by Google, released Dec. 1st.



And here's the Android 2.3 User's Guide for a few more details you may be looking for.

That's about all I got for now, so here's every link I can find so far on the Gingerbread release!!

Android Central's report on the Nexus S site

XDA's report on the Gingerbread release

Android Central's list of toys for developers

Android Central's Nexus S back story

Android Central's Gingerbread release report

Forum discussions on Gingerbread:
XDA1
XDA2
Android Central

Need more input, Johnny 5?

Let me Google it for you!