Rants of the day...

So it has been awhile since I've gone on a rant. I've been trying to keep my blood pressure down by ignoring the news but it can no longer be helped. I have to rant.

First up, the AT&T and Verizon war. Do we really care? All cell phone providers suck in their own way. Is Verizon a bigger network? Sure, maybe so. But they are also running it on a dated CDMA network. Does AT&T coverage suck? Sure, in places. But then so does Verizon's and T-Mobiles, and Sprint. And for the record to the nay sayers out there. AT&T is the ONLY network where you can talk on your phone and surf the web same time. The ONLY network that has that capability. So cheer for your provider of choice, but just like a hot girl someone somewhere is sick of her shit.

My two cents on why it is absolutely retarded to bring gitmo terrorists to Illinois jails. Those in favor say look at the 1900 jobs it will create. Think how awesome it will be for our economy. People like me who are smart will say, ummmmmmm those jobs are state jobs hence payed for by the taxpayer. And how many hundreds of thousands of dollars per inmate does it cost taxpayers to keep people in jail? How do those two things help the taxpayer? How does adding more cost to the regular Joe improve the economy?

Healthcare...I've covered this rant before but my god. Let us do the math here shall we. At this point in time 10-11 million people are unable to get healthcare. Under the obamacare plan at least 17 million people will be unable to get healthcare. Score 1 for no change. Right now it costs us 4 billion (that is with a b) each year to care for ILLEGALS. Stop doing that already. I know people that did not go to the doctor because even with insurance the bill would be too high. Yet someone that is not even a legal citizen of this country can march in an emergency room, state they are illegal and be seen for free. Something stinks about that whole policy. How bout call immigration next time that happens. Sorry you are sick, go back to where you came from and try coming back here legally next time. And no I do not care if our system makes it too hard for them to do it properly. It is that way for a reason. The bottom line is obamacare will cost us 8 billion more a year to cover less people than our system already does that we have in place. So the figures I see just do not add up. Change for the sake of change is not the kind of change we need.

The TERRORIST from Ft. Hood has been brewing as a rant for some time now. If it walks like a duck, acts like a duck, and looks like a duck, then it is a duck. This mass murdering jihad freak is nothing more than a domestic terrorist. No, he was not suffering from PTSD like the media whores want you to believe. You kinda have to be deployed to get that, he never was. Besides, he was a head shrink so a deployment for him would have been nothing more than getting used to a warmer climate anyway. It makes me sick how the media is trying their hardest to paint this guy as some type of victim. The only thing he is a victim of is being a religious fanatic nutcase. I hope he suffers horribly before dying sometime soon. I'll just pray for that right now.

My solution to ending terrorist acts against this country is very simple. When we catch you, we will execute you by firing squad. But here is the kicker. It will be a FEMALE firing squad. Why you ask? Because these nutjobs believe that if they are killed by a woman they will not get their virgins. Kill a few of them with women, like asshole from Ft. Hood and see terrorist missions against the US decline. Hell, I bet membership to the cause would decline. Who would want to risk not getting their virgins?

Which Browser?

Back in the early 90's you had only a few browser choices. Most people used the default AOL browser because it was already there. Others used Internet Explorer, and another group used Netscape Navigator. That was about it as far as choices went. IE and Netscape had the largest share of users in the mid to late 90's. The browser war was on, with each side inventing standards not supported by the other. Surfing the web had almost become a nightmare. Some sites were IE friendly, others were Netscape friendly. You almost had to use two browsers to experience everything, and that sucked.

Finally the World Wide Web Consortium or W3C was formed and web standards implemented and the rest is history. Slow moving history as the standards always seem to be slowly implemented due to the lack of people upgrading. Why do they not upgrade right away? Why do some people still insist on using IE6 even though it is many many years old? Netscape Navigator has died, or transformed rather in to Firefox, IE is still around and dominant, while a batch of new browsers has emerged. Which one do you use? Which one is the best? At this stage of the game, the best is most likely a matter of opinion.

Since IE has been in the game for quite some time I'll start with them. I don't use it. I stopped using IE several years ago when Firefox was born and never looked back. Newer versions are typical Microsoft. Copy, copy, copy. Nothing new, no trend setting. Like a 2nd rate designer using played out trends Microsoft just doesn't seem to know how to innovate. Sure, corporations love them because they work with their infrastructure but so would many of the other alternatives if given the chance. At one time I really liked IE, until I started designing web sites. They are the worst for implementing web standards, and even when they do it is still wrong. Oddly enough, most of the population still uses this browser so all the above is really just my opinion.

Next I'll go to Firefox because it has been my go to browser for quite some time now. The fact it was more secure from spyware, the add ons, the themes, and those awesome tabs made it an instant hit in my eyes. Lately it has become a bit bloated and is in need of an overhaul. My second favorite feature was the bookmarks bar. With a slick little add on I could shrink the bookmark down to just a favicon. I could have 25 links across the top and not even be half way across my screen. The fact I could add folders to the bar only increased the amount of visible bookmarks and is much more convenient than the bookmark menu. I also loved how FF dealt with saving my passwords to sites so I didn't have to remember them anymore. Then I bought a MacBook Pro and things changed for me.

Safari is where I'll go next. I've always hated Safari. The bare bones "chrome" look, no add ons, the way it displayed fonts compared to other browsers. I just didn't care for it much. But when I got my Mac and Safari 4 I thought what the heck, I'll try it out. Somehow it slowly grew on me and I found myself using it more than Firefox. I'm not sure why. Maybe it was because much of what I liked in FF now was included in Safari. Rather than a bulky plus sign for new tabs, I just have to double click. I like that feature. Two things I do not like! I hate where Safari put the refresh button. Why is it separate from the rest of the navigation and way on the end of the URL bar? I also wish that I could favicon only the links in the bookmark bar. Anyway, now I found myself using both browsers at the same time. One for certain sites and tasks, the other for different sites and tasks. It seemed to be working out fine, until a friend showed me the Mac build site for Google Chrome...

Downloading Google Chrome was exciting. I had been wanting to try it out for quite awhile. Favorite feature, one box at the top of the screen for everything. Searches, URL's, whatever. Very slick, speedy, and handy. It was also fast. I could click on FF, Safari, and then Chrome. Chrome would be open by 5 or more seconds faster even though it was the last one clicked. It included most of the features I loved about FF and Safari, with a few tricks of its own. Plus it is speedy. The only reason I don't use it exclusively is because it is still a build, not even a beta so quite buggy and not full featured yet. I can not wait until it is.

So now I use three browsers, often all at once. Then Opera comes out with Opera 10. I had tried Opera before but didn't care for it. It wasn't as customizable as FF and using it seemed awkward to me. Version 10 is much better and adds some new features not seen on the other browsers. The thumbnail view is cool at first, but then to me anyway becomes a who cares feature. I don't need it. Some things I do not like at all are biggies in my book and put it in the bottom of the list for browsers I like. Well, above IE which I can't use on a Mac now anyway. The fact the tabs are on top is weird. Why put them so high. It makes switching with a mouse more of a burden than it should be. Sure, it is only like a half an inch further up, but it is further than I want to go. Second, it doesn't recognize the track pad gestures on my Mac. When I swipe three fingers to the left, I expect to go back a page. In Opera 10, nothing. So far it is the only browser to not support this feature. So after using it only a day I'm not fond of it at all. It does have quite a few widgets though. For those that like to collect them, Opera 10 is worth checking out.

So for now I guess I'll keep bouncing around with FF, Safari, and Chrome. I'm pretty sure Chrome will be my browser of choice once it is finalized for Mac. For now, I'm undecided on which browser is my favorite. Let me hear your thoughts on what you use and why.

Twitter, Google Street View, AT&T, and Apple whiners

Reading the news headlines these past couple weeks makes me shake my head in wonder. I'm amazed at the ignorance of people out there that spew their opinions based on nothing more than fear, misinformation, and ignorance. What do I mean? Read on.

Twitter has been getting a lot of hate lately. Comments range from I don't care to read when someone eats or goes the bathroom to I don't want to know the inane details of people's lives. As a Twitter user, I can say that I've never read a tweet like any of those mentioned above. I only follow people I know, and they tweet things with substance. We are a group of friends separated by hundreds of miles and this is a way we can keep in touch, plan get togethers, or meet up with each other if we are in town. Other people on twitter use it to follow news, or world events. Sure, if you read unfiltered tweets you may run across the lame "eating dinner now" tweet, but most people don't use twitter like that.

Google Street View is in trouble again. This time the Swiss are making a stink about privacy concerns. I guess what gets me is these people complaining must not realize that if they are outside, their life is no longer private. If they stop at a light, their picture is taken, if they go shopping, they are on surveillance cameras. People have picture phones, cameras, and even spy cameras so your photo can be taken at anytime while you are in public. I don't see anyone coming to the defense of celebrities when photos of them are taken by paparazzi and published in magazines across the globe. But when it happens to you, and you are put on a web site oh my gosh, end of the world. Get a grip. Nobody cares if they see someone they don't know. If you are outside, don't expect privacy. It's almost like saying your privacy has been invaded if someone looks at you. Stop being retards.

AT&T whiners have a somewhat valid thing to whine about if they also happen to own an iPhone. Where is the MMS? Where is the tethering? I am anxious for MMS. Sure, it was something I could deal with not having, but I am sick of not having it now. But I can wait until it rolls out. Those groups that are suing are just retarded. These are the same people that wonder why insurance rates are so high, why malpractice rates are so high, and why lawyers are a dime a dozen.

Apple has been getting hit with a bit of bad press lately. I've given them some myself. Lately I've been seeing two sides to their coverage. Those that bash the "fanboys" and those that want to write an article based on nothing more than speculation and rumor. Stop it already. Everyday I see 30 articles about what Apple may be doing or thinking. And at the end of those articles are people chiming in with their two cents...twittering if you will as it amounts to the same thing.

What Apple says about Google voice; and why I call BS

So in Apple's letter response to the FCC they state that they did not in fact reject the Google Voice App. They state that they are still pondering it because of the following reasons: It duplicates the iPhone's call and SMS features, which could confuse users and it transfers contacts to Google servers, making Apple question how secure that would be.

Now here is why I call bullshit. First, Google Voice at this time is by invite only. Users of this service are more tech savy than the casual user. Meaning I think they would understand that if they click the Google Voice App that they downloaded it would be giving them different phone features than if they clicked the iPhone phone App.

Reason two of why I cry bullshit is this. If a user chooses to sync their contacts with Google, or Yahoo they are in effect putting their contacts on those servers. I know at this time I sync with Google and any contact on my phone is automatically and almost instantly synced to their server from my phone. This is my favorite feature as it backs up all my contacts in a second place.

So for Apple to specifically site the contact sync as a reason for stalling is complete and utter bullshit because they already allow it. I only hope someone from the FCC reads this and asks Apple to clarify why it is OK for it to happen with an Apple app, but not a Google app.

I am very curious why Google opted to keep part of their response private. I can only imagine that it slams Apple in some way and they did not want that public. Part of their letter was blatant in the fact that they had no restrictions on App approval for their Android store, nor was the Android store the only means of getting apps for Android based phones. This thinly veiled slam against Apple makes me think even more was said not viewable by the public.

Obama and National Healthcare...

I have blogged about this before, but with recent events it seems worth a small revisit. Tempers are hot on both sides of the debate, and seemingly both sides have valid points. Here is the thing, from my perspective and limited knowledge. Me talking from my ass if you will, although I'm doing it from the standpoint of I have done some research in this matter. More so than the average American anyway...

First and foremost, to date our GOVERNMENT has bankrupted social security, made a mess of Medicaid, and has passed huge bailout money to failing companies that have deserved to fail due to shady business practices. Do we really trust them to run yet another healthcare/welfare program?

On one side of the aisle people will scream about the 20 million Americans without healthcare. The one fact though is anyone that really needs to see a doctor can not be turned away, even if they are uninsured. So in reality everyone can get healthcare if they need it.

The other side to include me states this. I make my own way in life, I do not need GOVERNMENT taking care of me. When you start letting the government run things for you those things become bogged down. Red tape is introduced in to your life, and so is a bit more government control. Look at welfare. Sure, it has helped many thousands of people that really needed it. But for every one person it has helped, it has created five more just looking for a free handout. Why work if someone else will? Now welfare limps along helping some and causing freeloaders of more. The scary thing is this mentality is passed down from parent to child and the cycle never breaks.

The side that is for social healthcare wants to point at the Netherlands. Look how great it is over there! We want that! Do they want the 60% or higher tax to go along with it? No, they only want to tax the "rich" ie those who make $250,000 or more a year. Well that "rich" number is getting lower with time. Why do you think Obama and the Dems want this rushed through so fast? So we the people don't realize how messed up it is until it is too late.

Lets look at the Netherlands again. They have been doing social healthcare longer than anyone else. The long term result of government control is cutting the budget because this system is expensive! In the Netherlands patricide and infanticide are common practice. "My parents are too old and can no longer function." Bye Bye. "I'm sorry, your son was born with deformities." Bye Bye. So what Palin may have been trying to say is just that. The end result becomes something we just may abhor.

My last and final point, and perhaps the strongest one of all is this. If social healthcare is soo flipping great then why are members of congress above it? If it isn't good enough for them, it isn't good enough for me or my family either. When congress can hammer out a social healthcare system that includes them, I will be all for it. But the fact they make sure to spell out they will be exempt from it tells me it isn't as great as they tell me it is. Until this changes, join with me and tell Obama "Thanks, but NO Thanks!"

Microsoft Word case and other anomolies

A judge has ordered an injunction against any sale of Microsoft Word until the case is settled. A lot of MS bashers are probably rejoicing at this news. The main problem I see with this case is a problem with our flawed legal system and our very flawed patent system. The so called patent sounds like it is trying to put a patent on XML, which is open source code and also what word is based on. I am sick and tired of second rate companies popping up out of the woodwork with a patent against a large successful company with their hands out wanting money. It is this type of behavior that has our legal costs, and insurance costs out of control. If you have a legit claim that is one thing, but I for one am tired of all these "broad patent filings" that are filed just to make a quick buck off someone else. Where was this company 10 years ago? 15 years ago? Word has been around for quite awhile and to lay claim to it now is just retarded. Why would you not open your mouth about a copyright infringement as soon as you were aware of it. Was this company in a cave with Bin Laden for the past decade or so?

Real Networks DVD copying software also has an injunction against sales on it. If you grew up in the 80's and dubbed your tapes and recorded songs of the radio raise your hand. If you copied VHS movies and recorded live TV raise your hand. It wasn't hurting the movie/music business back then, and it isn't hurting them now. So why are they making such a huge fuss over it? It isn't like the common consumer is out making thousands of copies for resale. Fair use is fair use. If I want a backup copy of something I own I should be allowed to do so!

In other news I just read an article that says the fancy telescope Spitzer caught a "rare" collision of planets. The article then states that in the solar system Peacock a 12 million year old star blah blah blah. How do they know it is 12 million years old? They can not even say for sure how old our star is. To state it as fact is ludicrous. To claim they can tell us how old a star is that is 100 light years away is insane. I mean, it would take 100 years at the speed of light to get there, yet they are telling us how old it is? Give me a break.

Trying my hand at the App Store

While looking through the Apple App Store I noticed an App that wasn't there that should be. Why should it be there you wonder? Because it is something that is quite popular, yet nobody has done it for the App store yet, that is why. So what is this mystery app that I speak of? Not telling you. Not yet anyway. I have to get it built first silly, or some random reader could steal my idea and get it done before I do. I believe that I have discovered an untapped niche on the App Store and plan on filling it nicely.

Actually my idea was for two separate Apps, but I decided it would be a better value to combine them in to one solid App. The only problem I had was I'm not a programmer. I don't know C, Progressive-C or any other variant. Lucky for me I remembered a good friend from my Air Force days that is becoming pretty slick with programming. A few emails later and I have a partner.

Now I'll see firsthand how rough or easy working with Apple can be. I'm curious how they will respond to my niche. Perhaps it is unfilled because they refuse to approve these type of Apps. Perhaps nobody has tried it yet. I will keep you updated on the process as things develop.

MacBook Pro 17" review after 6 months of use

Roughly six months and some change ago I finally purchased a 17" MacBook Pro. At the time I also opted for several upgrades including 4 gigs of ram, the faster of the two available processors, and the 7800 rpm 320 gig hard drive. This setup is probably overkill for a typical user, but I do a lot of graphic intensive work so it was needed. Thanks to student loans I was also able to grab the 24" LCD monitor made just special for MacBooks.

So after using this setup for six months I thought I would write a type of follow up review. How does OS X work after lots of daily use for this amount of time? Has the laptop slowed down like windows does? Any issues pop up? Only these kinds of questions can be answered with time.

In short, I was at one time a loyal windows user. At one time I even hoped that Apple would just go away. Then Mr. Jobs came back to Apple and revived the company like nobody's business. In short, I most likely will never own a PC again. Yes, I like my MacBook that much.

The biggest love I have for my MacBook is the HUGE track pad. I love this thing. I have even stopped using my Wacom Tablet for everything but tasks that need the utmost accuracy. Surfing the web with that track pad is great. Two fingers up or down scroll the page. Three fingers left or right move you forwards or backwards in history, two finger tap for a right click. Four finger up or down swipe to see all open windows/programs and moving the chosen one to the front. It's perfect, easy, and quicker than a mouse. My only gripe is the three finger forward and back swipe isn't as responsive as it should be at times. But all in all this is truly a must have feature and I can't imagine not having it now that I've used it this long. As a side note, it makes going to a tiny PC track pad a nightmare as I'm constantly fighting with it as my fingers intuitively want to use the Apple gestures now.

When Apple says it just works, they mean it. I have an older Epson printer, copier, scanner deal. It will not work with a PC unless you use the included disk to install the software and drivers. With Vista I had to go online and find the Vista drivers after using the disk just to make it work. The entire process takes about a half hour or longer. On a whim I plugged it in to my MacBook Pro and wham, it recognized the printer and printed my pages out. No setup, nothing. Last week I had to print out a resume'. My printer was out of ink so I went next door to borrow my neighbors printer. His was even older and even though the driver for his model wasn't found, I used one that was close from the drop down list and bam, I was in business. This is just something Apple has done right that a PC can only dream of doing at this time.

The speed is still roughly the same as when I first bought it. Sure, at times I get the spinning wheel of death. Nothing is perfect, not even a Mac. Menus fly open, programs load quickly, so the speed side of things is great, still, after six months of heavy usage.

Battery life was never as good as advertised. But then again I don't use my system in the most battery saving way either. I like my screen bright when I edit photos or watch movies. I never use the slower of the two processors. I tried using the slower one for awhile but didn't like it. After being used to the speed of the faster one I just couldn't bring myself to wait those few seconds longer. With ample power around me why bother with it?

So what is a typical usage day for me? I usually have Safari open, Firefox, and iTunes open at all times. When I'm doing graphic design work I will also have open Adobe Bridge, Photoshop, and depending on what I'm working on also Illustrator, Dreamweaver, and sometimes Flash. My MacBook setup handles this with ease. I have the entire Adobe Creative Suite which includes 10 memory hogging programs. I opened and used all of them at once and barely noticed a slowdown in performance. With eight gigs of ram I know it would be even better!

So you may be wondering with all this good what is the bad? Well, the bad for me so far has been minimal. This baby runs hot with usage. At times it is almost uncomfortable on my lap. Sometimes software isn't developed for it as fast as for windows. (I'm still waiting for Chrome, Google!) Although it doesn't happen often, the spinning wheel of death is a pain. With the setup I have it shouldn't happen ever...at least not when all I have open is two browsers and iTunes. Many people hate the glossy screen. After using it for 6 months I like it. It does seem to attract dirt or get a greasy looking spot on it. I'm not sure how this happens as I never touch the screen, but it happens. My biggest gripe really is the keyboard. I miss the number pad to the right. I would have though it would be included on the 17" model due to the extra room. I'm one of those that learned to use it and I miss it not being there.

All in all though, I have found my user experience to be more enjoyable on a Mac than it ever was on a PC. Things just work. I don't have spyware or virus problems, and everything is still as speedy as the day I bought it even though I have loaded up on lots of programs. Sure, the initial investment was a bit higher. But I also got a lot of software included that I would have had to buy with a PC. In the end the cost evens out one way or another. With Apple you pay it up front. With a PC you spread it out a little.

Companies that have ticked me off

This article has been a long time coming, I just wasn't ready to write it yet. Thankfully by waiting I've been able to add to the list. So, without further ado, here goes.

Quality Movers: First off, STAY AWAY from them. They are the WORST moving company I have ever dealt with. Long story short is this. We asked to move on a specific date three months in advance. We were told that was perfect and they would see us then. That day rolls around and the movers are a no show. I send my family off 1500 miles on their own while I take a day off work and wait for them to show up. After several phone calls to them I'm told they will be there. They show up at 10:30 at NIGHT. They do a half ass rush job of loading the truck in darkness and realize they don't have enough room to get all our stuff on so they need to come back. I had to be at my weekend drill with the Army the next day so I said fine, but they had to be done by 5pm latest. They said they would see me by noon. They show up at three instead. They were not going to be done by 5. I had to call my Brother to finish up so I could go to drill. The topping on the cake was the bill. Because WE didn't estimate correctly it went from just under $1000 to almost $6000. Are you friggin kidding me? What can you do at this point but agree. They already have half your stuff somewhere and I'm leaving the state in two days.

And then it gets worse. We were told 7-10 days for delivery time. The fine print states 21 days max. Guess what. On the 21st day we got our stuff. I'm sure if I hadn't made repeated phone calls it would have been longer. The lady that worked in the office would give us one date. That date would pass with no belongings being delivered. I would call and ask her why I was told a date only for it to not happen. She would basically say she never said that. Was she calling me a LIAR?

So we finally get our stuff later in the day on the 21st day. We were told our price went up so much because we had soooo much stuff that we would be using an entire truck. Well, when all was said and done we used just over 1/4 of a trailer. Just about what we had estimated. So we paid for an entire trailer but didn't use an entire trailer. So to sum up the horrible Quality Movers experience: Very Rude customer service. Very Rude. The operator of Indian (dot not feather) race was particularly rude. We were ripped off on the price, and they damaged some of our stuff. On top of that it took them forever to get our stuff delivered. Stay away from Quality Movers at all costs. It would be cheaper to buy everything new. We have a claim in with their claim department but I"m not optimistic. Lucky I have photos of how much trailer we used if I have to go to the next level.

Aqua Texas: Why I hate them. They buy up small water companies and then turn around and triple the rates on customers. Our water bill is $189.00 before water usage. That portion is for sewer and fees. Tack on the water usage and you are looking at over $200 a month. They don't improve the system in anyway to justify the cost. If they do guess what, your bill goes up more to pay for the labor to improve the system. They are evil plain and simple.

Apple. I love Apple but lately I've become a bit disturbed by them. From releasing glitchy iPhones to draconian rules on their app store they are turning in to a large company that walks over their customers. I'm not so mad at them I'll stop using their products, but I am keeping my eye on them. Hell, who am I kidding....I love you Apple, try harder to not be such assholes at times.

AT&T. Need I explain this one? Besides shoddy service, making us iPhone users wait for god knows how long for MMS and tethering, horrible customer service, and did I mention crappy ass service? I wanted to change my number after I moved. I hate having to dial an area code for everything local to me. Seemed easy enough. Made a phone call, waited on hold for a few minutes, got transfered around a few times, gave each person I talked to my phone number, name, and last four of the social (like 7 times...really?) until I get to someone that can help. She was great, we chatted while she did her thing, even read me the list of numbers and let me choose one I wanted. Perfect. We get it all set up, I send out dozens of texts, emails, and phone calls updating everyone with my new number. Later that evening I discover although I can make calls, send and receive texts, I can't get incoming calls! They go to some dude's voice mail. (Hey fella, if you are reading this sorry about the goofy messages from my kid, she didn't know.) So I call AT&T around 10pm hoping to get it resolved. I figured my SIM card didn't fully update or something. Well, it turns out AT&T doesn't support contract phones after business hours. Only prepay customers get 24 hour support. WTF? So the loyal contract user is ass out while some dickhead that can't get a contract gets priority? That is jacked up and ass backwards. So I call the next day. I call the SAME number I used the night before. Only this operator tells me she can't help, and gives me a new number to call. So I call that number and it is for promotions. So I call the old number, wait on hold, and get a second number to call. It rings and rings and rings and rings and nothing answers. So I call back, get a THIRD number to call and finally get someone. After dicking around with this guy for about 15 minutes I'm told he can't figure it out but someone will call me that day with a resolution. I ask how they are going to call me if it is the only phone I have and the calls do not go to me. Good Point, I'm told. So he puts me through to tech support. At least this guy had a brain and in about 5 minutes figures out AT&T does not own the number they gave me and I have to get a new number. But don't worry pal, I'll put a note on your account so you are not charged for a new number. What? It was free the first time, why wouldn't correcting a mistake be free as well? So yeah, they need to work on customer support big time. Especially the 3 different phone number thing to get help, I was ready to commit homicide over that.

Why I jailbroke my iPhone

I was one of those iPhone purists for quite awhile. Why jailbreak I thought, the risk of screwing it up isn't worth it. Then I learned how easy it is to recover your iPhone to factory settings. If all else fails, you can force restore via iTunes.

In time jailbreaking became more popular and apps that Apple would never approve for their store started showing up. The thing is, some of these apps are ingenious. Some are not really apps at all, but tweaks. Want five icons in your dock instead of four? Their is a tweak for it. Want to create folders to put all like apps in one spot thus saving you tons of room on the springboard? Their is an app for that. Want tethering now? Want to customize anything? Want to make your own theme? Want different sounds? You get the idea, their is an app for it. Just not with apple. I'm surprised that they don't offer many of these standard on the iPhone actually.

Can Apples recent success have gone to their heads? Perhaps they have become so involved in admiring their greatness they can't see the forest for the trees. Innovation can come from everywhere and they should not be shutting out these new innovators unlocking the hidden capabilities of this great phone.

When you jailbreak your phone, which is a matter of downloading a program like redsn0w and running it while your iPhone is hooked up via usb cable you get a new app called cydia. This app gives you access to all the goodies and more above. Cydia has also created its own app store. No pirated apps allowed! Apple has turned its lawyers loose and they want to shut it down. The thing is, I don't feel they can after reading some law case studies about the topic. A company can not lock its system down to prevent third parties from developing programs to run on it. That stifles innovation.

Apple is being a bit pigheaded about this and I can understand why. The app store is generating huge profits for them and they want to protect that. However, when you don't approve apps for things like a typo somewhere, or don't even give a reason is ridiculous. To not approve an app because it mirrors something one of your apps does is something Microsoft would do. Dear Apple, you are not like Microsoft but you are starting to act like them in regards to your app store policies.

Anyway, back to why I jailbroke my iPhone. Basically, I was curious. It seemed hard to do and apps hard to find just reading about the process online. However, it is one of those things that if you are half way smart about things once you do it everything you were reading that didn't make sense suddenly does. So I took the plunge and jailbroke my precious iPhone. I then downloaded themes, tweaks, apps, and sounds. I changed at&t to my first name and the clock on the main screen now says my design company name. My background and icons look like glass and when I lock and unlock my iPhone it makes the lightsaber on and off sounds respectively. When my phone is charging it has a cool looking sphere that has blue fluid in it to show how much my iPhone is charged. I have folders for games, tools, shopping, and misc. I can link it to my macbook pro via wifi and transfer files back and forth, or I can connect with a usb and do the same thing. I can play Zelda on NES or SNES thanks to some sweet emulators. Your non jailbroke iPhone can only dream of the things my jailbroke iPhone can do...

A Petition to Apple about App approvals

This is an open letter to Apple.

Dear Apple,

You have a great product with the iPhone, and your app store is great. However, with the advent of 3.0 you introduced a rating system yet do not take advantage of it. I can name several apps that were fine before 3.0, as in they were approved. When said apps were forced to do an update to work correctly they were not approved! This type of business practice is unfair to the developers and the users that love those apps.

It is time to loosen the standards a little bit. If an app is rated 17+ then it should be expected to contain a bit of nudity. Not porn of course, but nudity. That is the reason for ratings is it not?

Further, the approval process needs to be examined as it takes way to long for something to get approved in your store. What will it take to open your eyes that the end user is getting tired of the tyrannical way in which you are running the app store? Perhaps if the iPhone community started jailbreaking their phones on a grand scale and using apps not from the app store would your eyes open up.

Do not make the mistake of trying to rule with an iron fist. It is not your job to play nanny state with the populace on what we have on our phone and what is or isn't allowed. Open up your standards and use the ratings as they are intended or deal with the fact us users will be jailbreaking our phones to get what we want.

Petitioners, sign in the comment section. When this reaches several thousand it will be sent on to Apple to show them we are serious.

Obama: is he a threat to our freedom?

Well BO has appointed yet another czar. How many does this make? I believe it is 19. That is 19 offices with broad power, none of which answer to congress, only BO himself. This should really start to scare Americans as BO has been slowly, neigh, rapidly grabbing executive power. Out of all the Presidents this country has seen, none have grabbed as much power for themselves as BO has. Read some history books folks. This is what all dictators do in the beginning. They slowly grab power while quietly removing your freedom bit by bit until it is too late to do anything about it. Next thing you know gulag squads are dragging dissenters away in the middle of the night. Not in America you say?

To date, since BO has been in office he has taken control of GM, the banks, and has been appointing czars of HIS choosing that only answer to him. He wants to install a "civilian" police force aka gulag aka SS that is bigger and better funded than the military. What happens when government has to bail out the failing newspapers, radio stations, and tv stations? Thats right, government owns them. They then dictate what they say, who advertises, what they broadcast ect. Think I'm exaggerating? What kind of cars will GM be building? The small little tinker toy type that they drive in France, thats what. Who wants them? BO does, thats who. He even fired GM's CEO to make it happen.

The funny thing is he does this all in the name of the financial crisis, and to make the US more "green". The BO worshippers think he is brilliant for these moves and applaud him for it. Little do they realize soon this country will no longer be the home of the free, but the home of the controlled. I like my freedom of CHOICE. That is being taken from me. I like my SUV because I camp, hunt, and fish. I really do not see a little tinker toy pulling a boat or getting me to a camping site down a long bumpy two track. I really do not believe in global warming. Trees love carbon dioxide, yet it is being treated as some kind of evil gas that is warming our planet. How about planting more to offset the imbalance. To logical?

BO also says it is OK to borrow money to implement social healthcare. Even EU is telling us not to do that as the system just doesn't work. The level of care goes down, and wait times are horrible. Not to mention the debt. Someone is paying for healthcare, free or otherwise. Our system is not perfect, but it is better than everyone else's.

Remember, Obama said, "America is the greatest country in the world. Help me change it..."

AT&T: ignorance and greed personified

The greed and ignorance of AT&T never ceases to amaze me. They claim to have one of the largest networks in the country, yet for some reason they are known for having the worst coverage.

Now that the iPhone 3GS has been announced they (AT&T) have dropped the ball once again. Well, at least three times in my book. 1. They are the only carrier to not offer MMS for the iPhone by the launch date. WTF? Why is this so hard for them to do seeing as how they offer it for other models in their line up. 2. They will be the only carrier to not offer a tethering package at launch of new iPhone. 3. They are not offering an upgrade price to older iPhone users based on how much time they have left on their contracts.

Checking AT&T's site I can get an upgrade price at the end of Feb, 2010. This puts me into the last year of my contract. Not a very good deal for me, as first gen iPhone users were offered an upgrade price. Perhaps Apple will offer a better deal after enough customers grumble. Maybe they won't.

Bottom line is if Verizon becomes a carrier before AT&T allows me to upgrade I'm jumping ships. I've missed Alltel's superior network since leaving them for the iPhone so perhaps I can be happy once again.

I hope you get the message loud and clear AT&T. You are pissing off your strongest customer base. Do you really want all of us mad at you and ready to leave at the first chance? Many of us broke contracts to get an iPhone with you, so what makes you think we won't break your contract on your crappy network to go with someone offering a sweeter deal? I hope your PR people are having nightmares and fits over all the bad press you are receiving and I PRAY Apple works out a deal with another carrier in the very near future!

For now I'll do what I've been doing. Enjoy my awesome iPhone and complain about the service I get with AT&T. In fact, that should be a T-Shirt. Q: How do you like your iPhone? A: I love it, expect for AT&T.

If I only had a dollar for every time I said that...

Why I shake my head at the news...and a rant

Headlines of the past week or so.

Homeland Security claims veterans are a threat risk

Spam has a carbon footprint equal to driving three feet

Republicans hold tea party...(only republicans? not quite but ok)

Rendell wants to reinstate ban on assault rifels

Obama lifts travel ban to Cuba without preconditions

8 Year old girl found dead in suitcase, possible rape and murder committed by woman

Obama travels EU bashing the US. Has he no shame?

French President claims Obama Weak and Ineffective

Tens of thousands protest taxation without representation in so called tea parties

NSA exceeds legal limits in eavesdropping

Has America lost its mind? This is just a small sample of the crazy news I've been hearing. It seems when liberals are in power, things go very wrong very fast. This is a great country, but it seems that it has become sick. Sick with corruption, power grabbing, socialist thinking, and fear.

Fear is the key word here. The libs have learned to use fear to control us. This is how the minority has become the voice of the silent majority. Thankfully we are rising up. The tea parties are just the start. The libs are scared. Can you see it? Can you feel it? Already they are trying to use fear to control the uprising. Beware the white supremest groups. They are responsible for the unrest, because we have a (half) black president. But the lib media doesn't stop there. Oh no, lets throw in veterans and repbulicans as well. These are the main groups that are angry. Lets deal with them by associating them with a hate group and turning it into a white vs. black thing.

It makes me sick. Its time to take our country back from corruption. Lets shrink government so it does what its supposed to do and not what its not, like running my life. Lets disband the IRS, which is an illegal institution that was supposed to have been disbanded at the end of WWII. Lets start a flat tax that EVERYONE pays, not just the few. Lets stop with the crazy political correctness and start living. We are Americans, lets act like it. I saw us band together after 9/11. Lets band together now. I look back to the roaring 20's when it meant something to be American. Immigrants came to this country with nothing, and worked hard to get something. They came here to fight in WWII not as Spanish-Americans, or Jewish-Americans, but as AMERICANS. Now immigrants come here with there hands out. They don't want to work, they want a free ride. Illegals come here with there hands out looking for a free ride. And the libs give it to them. Have health care, have a baby, start a business tax free for 7 years. And WE pay for it. We who work hard, live here legally, and are proud to be American. We PAY for it. All of it. Lets take back what is ours and put America back where it should be. In control of the people. We are a Capitalist, Democratic Nation, and that is why it is so great. A poor person can become a CEO of a billion dollar company, a woman can speak her mind, a child can dream of becoming an astronaut and make it a reality. We are a melting pot of nationality's, and that is why America is so GREAT. Rise up silent majority, and be heard. Rise up, and do what is right, Rise UP and give sound to your voice.

FT Custer Traing 05/09

Some training photos this weekend. This may take awhile to load...

Some New Photos of Ford Airport

Here are some new shots of the Gerald R. Ford Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Why Congress Has Failed!

Last year AIG gave full disclosure on everything to do with their financial situation, including paying out contractual bonuses. Now I don't agree on giving a bonus if you're in the red, but it was in the contract. Bad business I guess. So congress rushes out a stimulus package without even reading it. They did not READ one page of it. Should I say it one more time. They passed a bill without even KNOWING WTF was in it.

So AIG gets their bonuses out. Sure, that should make us mad but congress knew about this stuff before hand and did not ensure the stimulus prohibited it. What should really make us not only mad, but scared is the fact they are now passing a law to go after this money and tax it. By 90%! Are you kidding me? The only reason it wasn't taxed 100% was they wanted to leave some left for the states to tax. They are basically saying we are taking your wealth retro-activley because we screwed up. Where do they draw the line with this? Can they down the road say so and so made too much therefore we are going to suddenly tax you retro-activley to make up for it?

The real root of the problem is the corruption in congress! They were elected to serve the people, not take our money to give to failing companies. It is pretty obvious that AIG has poor business practices. To gurantee a bonus even if the company is in the red is just riduculous for one thing. What other dumb things do they do? A company like this deserves to fail, not get bailed out by tax payers. This is how free market enterprise works. Those who practice sound business policies succeed, those who don't fail.

The new rumor is BO wants to create civil unrest so government can step in and take over. Question: What is claimed when society revolts? Answer: Martial Law.
Who enforces martial law? The military, thats who. Now, does BO really think the military is going to back him and his corrupt government, or the people they are sworn to protect? Maybe he should realize the military is sworn to protect America from all enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC! So far his actions are not very friendly to America, unless you are a corrupt fat cat politician that is.

Obama Continues to Fail US Soldiers

Obama is now refusing to call terrorists that attack the United States enemy combatants. Really BO? Then just what is a militant person who attacks us to be called? A pissed off foreigner? If someone attacks us, they are the enemy. Plain and simple BO, it makes things easy. By not calling them the enemy are you saying you want to grant them US rights and give them trial lawyers? The UCMJ is around for a reason Barry. The trial system is for US Citizens, not terrorists or illegal immigrants that don't live in this country. Just to be clear, in case you missed that memo.

In further news, BO also wants soldiers that were injured in combat to pay for their own medical costs. WTF Obama? Are you really serious? You really want the military to turn its back on you, don't you? As a member of the armed forces, I'm going to say right now that with these last two actions against myself and all other members of the military I am ashamed to refer to you as my commander in chief. You do not have my respect. You are ruining this country. Try ruling for the people, and not with your ego you prick.

My Review of the Macbook Pro 17" Laptop

After weeks and weeks of waiting I finally received my MBP in the mail. It is awesome, gorgeous, and fun to use. It is also my first Mac computer. I love it. I installed all my software, files, and photos with no problems. It recognizes hardware easily. So what is my gripe?

The claims of 7 to 8 hour battery life, that is my gripe. So far the best I've done is about 5 hours. Not bad, but still hours short of the claim. The five hour time though was basically having it on and not doing much else. That also includes about four hours of sleep time and I was left with about 3% battery life left. Having bluetooth on drains the battery faster than having it off, and I keep the keyboard back light to just one titch away from being off and the monitor is below half for brightness.

Getting 4 hours plus of normal usage is a plus, but that is half of the claim. Maybe I have a crappy battery, or maybe Apple exaggerated the battery life claim....a bit.

Obama to destroy our country?

After promising not to raise taxes, BO's new budget does just that. After saying his budget would not include earmarks, it does just that....9,000 of them! After promising to end the Iraq war he does that....sort of, if you don't count the 50,000 plus troops that will remain there in 2010.

BO claimed the "rich" would pay for all the new tax programs. Now he says they will pay for the national health care plan instead. Who will pay for all of this crazy big government out of control spending? The middle class, thats who. Our Kids, and their kids. Fiscal responsibility my ass!

Taxes for small business, taxes for those who were frugal and saved, taxes for the "rich" who worked hard and went to school to get a good job. Who benefits from all this? The lazy, poor people that don't want to work? I guess to them this is a great deal. Those that bought a home they couldn't afford because the liberal democrats imposed rules and laws on the banks. Yeah, they will benefit from my hard work.

With China being begged to buy up our debt via bonds it becomes very clear they could destroy us simply by reselling those bonds on the world market at a steeply discounted price! Every time BO mentions nationalizing the banking system the stocks plunge by hundreds of points.

Wall Street has no faith in this big budget, big government, stimulus package. Why should we? One just has to look at the Carter or Lyndon B eras to see these plans are not new, and were devasting to the country. It wasn't that long ago, but it seems we are doomed to one again repeat history.

Who is John Galt? Hopefully the silent majority will be soon.

New Photos, New Purchases

So I've been and will be a spending fool for the next few days. Thanks to a decent tax return and some student loan refunds I have been able to invest in some things that I've been needing, and some things that I've been wanting. My 17" MacBook Pro is on order and should be arriving in a few weeks, I just bought the 24" LCD monitor to go with it and I can't wait to use them together!

I'm also getting my 40 caliber SIG handgun soon. I've been wanting one for years. Since BO is going to try and outlaw the lower receiver of M4's I'm getting one this weekend too. Hell, I have to protect my new toys right?

Last but not least, I've gotten a new camera lens. I purchased the Sigma 150-500mm lens. I'm a bit of a Nikon snob, but this lens is great for the price. You can get great shots hand holding at 500mm. The images tend to need more sharpening than usual but that is easy. At times contrast is soft as well, but fixed in camera raw. Here are some shots I took while at work. All these shots were taken shooting through filmy glass windows, which may give you an idea how nice this lens is.

HDR Photos of Grand Rapids

I thought I'd share some photos I took tonight for a school project. Nothing super fancy done post processing, just some tweaks in Camera Raw. Of course these images are copyrighted by me so no unauthorized usage thanks. Click the photos for a larger view!

Biden Disrespects Tomb of Unkown Soldier

BO and Biden visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. To show respect you walk backwards from the tomb as it is disrespectful to turn your back on it until you are outside the wreaths. After plunking down his wreath Biden performs an about face and strolls out. BO managed to do it properly and walked backwards.

Its this kind of disrespect to the armed forces that I've been fearing from this administration. I couldn't help but notice that when BO walked by the Marines today he just strolled on by not giving them a glance. They were treated like invisible house servants. Bush always made a point of nodding at them, giving them a smile, and shaking hands.

To the MEDIA! Obama is NOT the first black president. Or to put it the PC way, he is NOT the first African American president. He is MIXED. His Mother was White or Causcasion if you prefer, not BLACK. A minor detail maybe, until the time comes when we actually elect a full Black man or woman to be president. Then what? He or she gets shafted because you have wrongly bestowed the title to BO.

In other news. BO is shutting down Gitmo. Some say about time. BO is also trying to use some diplomacy in the Middle East. Again some say about time. However! Forty, that is 40, 10 x 4 = 40 Al Queda nut jobs killed themselves while experimenting with dirty bombs and bio weapons. They haven't given up on taking the fight to the next devastating level. Good thing BO is closing down Gitmo, it would be a shame if we had to waterboard someone to find out where the next dirty bomb the Hadji's make is going to be planted. Hopefully the jihad minded freaks remain stupid and keep killing themselves. Maybe they will unleash the plauge on themselves solving 90% of the worlds problems by wiping out the majority of their population.

Last but not least, a message for Mr. Bush.
As Hannity says and how I agree. Thank you Bush for keeping our country safe the past 8 years. Under you we have not been attacked in all that time. Thank you for having the balls to stick to your convictions and see the job through. I only hope BO doesn't undo what you have done.

Thank you for the tax cuts. The extra money I kept really helped me out. The child tax credits have been great as well.

Although I don't really agree with all the Patriot Act does, I do admit it seems to have been effective. As a Libertarian though I won't be sorry to see it go if it does. But Thank You for having the balls once again to get aggressive to keep us safe.

Thank You for how well you treated your troops. I've read and or heard story after story by those that had the honor to shake your hand. They all said the same thing about you. You made them feel like they were the only ones in the room. You were a genuine person with a strong aura. I also like how you paid attention to those protecting you. It seems that will come to an end with BO.

Thank You for being the whipping boy for the liberal media. Your Presidency was one that was very challenging. You inherited a recession from Clinton, you dealt with the most devasting attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor, and you tackled terrorism on two fronts while most of the world ridiculed you. Yet you never wavered from your path. You stood tall and proud.
History WILL be kind to you. America has lost its mind a little right now. The press is full of social minded liberal lunatics and many people take what they read at face value. However, history will remember the good things you did. Hold your head high. You did much to be proud of.

New Photo

While in one of my classes dealing with digital SLR cameras my Prof said something that made the last piece of the puzzle drop in place. I can now use my camera in Manual Mode with out the guess work. This makes me happy because it has opened up new doors for me in my photography. I had to rush to work after class but got a chance to snap a shot of a co-worker. He recently came home safe from Iraq.

Nothing super fancy in post processing, just good lighting and some tweaks in camera raw gave me this effect. No filters or plug ins needed.

Gripes

It has been awhile since my last batch of gripes. I've been trying to not watch the news because it is so slanted but some headlines just scream at me from google news.

1. EU is suing Microsoft again for its "IE monopoly". Give me a break man. Microsoft makes windows, it also makes IE. It makes business sense to bundle the two together. Its not like it prevents anyone from using another browser or three if they wish. I for one love and use Firefox exclusively. Besides, for how much market share IE has lost the talk of monopoly is pretty much null in my opinion. Oh, Opera is behind this one. Opera, your browser may render CSS better than IE, but it is clunky and hard to use.

2. BO (Obama) wants to delay the digital television change over by three months. Why? We have been told this was going to happen for years now. Besides, wouldn't new TV sales help the economy a little bit? I really don't see a point in a delay.

3. After having one of the coldest winter in years, why do I still hear talk of global warming. Especially now that talk of an ice age is once again popping up? This winter is like the ones I remember as a kid. Zero and below temps with lots of snow. This is what winter was like in the 70's and 80's here in Michigan.

4. Not news related, just an observation. A taxi company called the Green Chauffeur is in town. They pick up their customers in a gaudy Prius. Here is what I observe:
a. The customer is always some tree hugger type with a snooty attitude. Always!
b. The customer waits at least a half hour or longer for the taxi to arrive, even though Metro has two taxi's curbside at all times ready to go.
c. The drivers of that green company don't like to follow the airport rules very well making my job difficult.
Why is it that the "green" crowd is like that? Its not like they are making a difference using that company. Besides, with the winter we are having, I wouldn't want to ride in a tiny plastic car when their is a foot of ice and snow on the roads.

5. I'm sick and tired of the BO fans thinking their messiah is going to fix all the problems this country has. He is one man about to implement the FAILED policies of Carter. Their talking points are almost identical. Read some history people. Please! Pretty Please.......with sugar on top! Our mini recession we have now is not nearly as bad as the one we had in the 70's. When Carter was President. BO is talking about doing the exact same things Carter did. Why will they work for BO when they did not work for Carter? Someone please ask BO this question. Please!

Why is Israel getting hit with a neg?

The past few days it hasn't failed. I turn on the talk radio, or read an article and it seems Israel is getting grief for the bombings they have launched against Palestine. We hear about how much ordinance they dropped, how many Palestinians have been killed, and how Israel is "over reacting". I heard one quote that Israel's response to attacks against it are overboard.

Reality check. Have we heard about the THREE years of bombings Palestine has launched against Israel? Have we heard about how Hamas targets schools and other civilian targets? How about how Hamas hides amongst the civilian crowd in Palestine so civilian casualties happen when Israel strikes back.

No, we haven't heard these things. Why? I'm not sure myself, but I'm sick and tired of all the anti-Israel protesters flipping out and protesting something they know nothing about. Hamas doesn't even recognize Israel as a country. They want to wipe them off the face of the Earth. The fact is these two nations have been at war for a thousand years. Israel isn't responding with excessive force morons, they are responding at a higher level hoping to finally end all the senseless violence perpetrated by Hamas.