How to put the iPhone out of business

5.28.2009

In short: Flash support and universal integration.

First up, Flash support.

YouTube is so yesterday. It's nice to have on an iPhone but you should want more. Imagine being able to go onto Hulu and watch TV shows and movies, or going onto sites like Jay Is Games to play Flash games, or checking out the buzz clips of the day from Funny or Die. Wouldn't that be nice? Flash could be made to work on the iPhone but Apple has no motivation to allow that to happen. They'd lose too many sales on iTunes, and their app store, as well as the loss of developers.

Competing smartphone makers could easily take a big chunk out of Apple's business by working out a deal to get Flash to work with their software.

Next up, universal integration.

I love my iPhone. I really do. I also love that my new car has built-in bluetooth and an aux jack so that my phone automatically connects to the Bluetooth and I can easily play audio through my stereo system. Aside from the fact that I can't navigate iPhone media from the stereo, it's pretty seamless.

However, when I use my wife's car, I run into problems. She has a Pioneer stereo that has iPod integration. It also has Bluetooth. The stereo, though it works great with an iPod, does not work with an iPhone. To get the phone to connect to the Bluetooth is tedious.

So, if other companies want to take down the iPhone, I think they need to agree to universally use the same wire to output from the phone. Also, they should create a standard interface that will allow car stereo users to navigate the media on their device easily.

The same is also true for the home. Why can't there be a universal dock for smartphones that will allow me to do multiple things: charge my phone, connect and sync it with my computer, hook it up to my home theater and play or stream media to my TV?

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Resolutions: Nearly 4 Month Check-in

4.23.2009

  1. To say no to freelance (unless it pays incredibly well)
  2. I said maybe to one project recently and a few former clients have returned looking for help. I feel obliged to help where I can but that's about it.
  3. To move
  4. We close on the sale of our home in a week. We're under contract for the purchase of a new home but don't settle on that place for quite a while.
  5. To cook a minimum of six days a week
  6. No change here, since I'm living at my dad's and much of the cooking is done for me.
  7. To start my MA/MBA program
  8. No change here either.
  9. To get back into the habit of reading
  10. I've purchased two new books at Zach's recommendation. I am about to begin reading one tonight.
  11. To learn Ruby and Java
  12. No change here, although Chris will probably come over to help me with Java as soon as we can schedule something.
  13. To exercise at least three times per week
  14. I've reevaluated this plan. Now that I'm on Weight Watchers, I am waiting until I've hit a certain target before bringing regular exercise into the mix. To date, I've lost about 16 lbs. so far. I still have much more to go, though.
  15. To take Lily out more often and get her involved in play groups
  16. No change here either. Life is too hectic. Hopefully this will happen once we move into our new home.
  17. To start writing again
  18. I've written some small things but my next focused effort will be for the GS writing group meeting next month.
  19. To develop an application for a popular medium (ie. Facebook or the iPhone)
  20. I'm developing an Adobe Air application for work. It's officially part of my yearly work goals. Right now, though, it's on the back burner until I finish some more pressing work projects.
  21. To be more patient and stop complaining as much
  22. I relapse sometime but, for the most part, I'm doing pretty well.

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Housing by the numbers

4.16.2009

Here are some stats that will be fully accurate as of July 31, when we make our supposed last move.
15 Different places I've called home during my life
6 Times I've moved in the last five years
6 Cities I've called home
3 States I've called home
4 Places I've rented
3 Places I've owned
3 Homes that have hosted band practice
2 Homes that have hosted concerts
1 Home that hosted art shows
1 Place that contains the fondest memories of my youth, a WW Crest shore house
15 Girls I've lived with (not including relatives)
5 Guys I've lived with
79% Highest percentage of my monthly pay that was alloted for a mortgage
4 Places I lived at during college
1 Office I slept in three nights a week for a year (not counted as a play I called home)
1 All girls dormitory I called home
0 Legitimate on campus housing situations

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Oh what fun

4.11.2009

I'm in the process of migrating my site to Wordpress. I've accomplished a lot so far but I still have a daunting task in front of me, especially since the built-in migration tool isn't working. Among other things, I still need to migrate:

259 articles
125 blog entries
113 comments
96 short stories and poems

Then I need to write/find a better sidebar menu and clean up some validation errors. I'm hoping to go live at some point this week. Not surprisingly, though, as soon a I started working on this, three former freelance clients reemerged in need of some help.

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The past decade summarized by significant events

4.09.2009

I'm hoping this catches on because I would certainly like to read this stuff about other people.

1999
I turn from a life of debauchery to three years of community service.
Best Buy won't give me the phone I paid for. I attempt to take one and end up in Shoplifters Anonymous.

2000
Asked to be a leader of the Project Appalachia group and help organize an independent summer trip

2001
I graduate college and teach as a year of Americorps service.
I visit Colorado and fall in love with it.

2002
I turn down a full-time position to teach where I did Americorps because I am guaranteed a job at my alma mater.
I setup a living situation with a friend and a friend-of-a-friend.
My girlfriend of the time hooks up with the friend-of-a-friend while I'm in the hospital. We breakup and I lose my housing situation.
My guaranteed job falls through.
Apparently, I assume I've done enough community service and never do any again.
I rush to record an EP that I clearly should've taken more time to write. Also, I should've assumed the singer I had lined up would bail.
I have a major surgery that puts me out of commission for a month (I get really thin in the process.)
I pay a surprise visit to my mom who is at a cancer clinic in the Bahamas.
I move to Colorado.
I end up living with dirty potheads. We don't get along.
I get a job at a newspaper and compensate for the lack of a decent living wage with free music and concert tickets.
I begin dating my wife.

2003
I need a year to recuperate from 2002.
I have a hard time finding a job and run out of money 1,800 miles from home.
I live off of one small bottle of OJ and breakfast sandwich from 7-11 for months.
I can't take Boulder anymore and decide it's time to move to Denver. Life vastly improves.
Jon moves to Colorado and helps me make friends via the internet for the first time in my life.

2004
My mom dies while I'm sitting in an airport bar. I don't know that I'll ever feel more remorseful, helpless, and isolated in my life.
I sob like a baby the whole flight home. People stare. They point too.
I get engaged.
Carrie graduates from nursing school and we move back to Philly.

2005
I begin working for a mentally unstable distant relative.
We buy our first house.
I quit my job.
We get married.
We go to San Fran and Napa for our honeymoon and both begin eating meat (I only ate chicken and turkey for 11 years. Carrie was a vegetarian.)
As we step off the plane from the honeymoon, I receive a voicemail about a potential job after many months of unemployment.

2006
Brown Bag Club FTW!
We go to the Finger Lakes.
The suburbs start slowly eating away at me.
Meanwhile, I'm eating every piece of food I can find in the suburbs.
I try playing ice hockey and realize I need to get in much better shape to compete. Whoops.
I put together a band with a bunch of friends. Once again, I rush to record an EP, thinking it's just the beginning of things. Once again, I make a wrong assumption.

2007
We go to Italy, Nonna tells me I got fat.
Our house sells.
We move to the city.
Immediately, we find out that we're having a baby.
Buster dies.

2008
Liliana is born and our lives are forever changed for the better.
R.I.P. Hangover Hockey League.
Our place goes up for sale. We think it's going to sell quickly and we'll make a ton of money off of it. We couldn't be more wrong.
We take our place off the market and decide to live in the city a few more years.
To prove to ourselves that this is our plan, we sink our savings into a second car.
We find out that we're having another baby.
A crackhead jumps in the backseat of our car. Merry Christmas!

2009
We put our place back up for sale and enter extreme penny pinching mode. So much for our plan.
We move into my dad's basement.
Lily begins walking and talking.
Our house finally sells and we lose every penny we pinched just to sell it.
We buy a house.
Pending the inspections, the last two things may actually happen.

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Child Support

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