Streams of Conciousness

We have finally decided to enter the world of smartphones. My wife and I have been on a family plan with her parents until now, but do to various circumstances, it was time for us to get set up on our own phone plan.

I have to confess, I am really enjoying my smartphone.

It’s nothing really spectacular, a LG myTouch. My wife got a nicer phone (HTC Amaze 4G), but I like the smaller size of my phone–it actually fits into my pocket nicer than my old feature phone.

I am certainly not a fan of the wonderful data plans that come with the phones, but I am finding myself really enjoying a lot of the basic features of this new world of apps and constanct connectivity. The question “How did I get along before without this” is an indicator of successful technology.

I did have some planned uses for getting a smart phone. The main things I was thinking of were the ability to synchronize contacts and calendar items between computer and phone (and to share a calendar with my wife). I was also wanting to have the LDS Gospel Library information (scriptures and manuals, etc) available–ever since we started carrying a diaper bag, we’ve had a harder time bringing our scriptures to church.

Happily, my phone does not disappoint on either of those points. I have been able to have a better management of contacts and calendar, and have already made a lot of use of my phone at church. But there are a number of other things that I have really found useful. One of these is simply Google Reader. I have lately found an awful lot of really fun/interesting/informative blogs, but I have had the hardest time keeping up with them–every so often I would just have to skip a whole bunch of entries. With the phone I have been able to read blogs in my spare five or ten minutes while I’m waiting for the carpool, or in the bathroom… after washing my hands very carefully and thoroughly…

…Anyway…

I have also enjoyed the GPS navigation apps, especially since the in-laws have just moved and I haven’t quite got a good handle on where they live and how to get there. And I have never really been all that great with directions anyway.

The next app I have enjoyed is audiogalaxy. This allows me to stream my music from my home to my phone. Awesome.

The, a couple weeks later, my company gets a tablet for me to use! So I am typing this post from my new Lenovo tablet. It’s a little heavy and (as with all things lenovo) the speakers aren’t that great, but so far I’m pretty impressed. I have an external keyboard that goes with the case, so I can really use this as a pretty nice netbook.

It is interesting to see how the computer has shifted over the years. Laptops and desktops certainly have not gone away (but mainframes and servers haven’t really gone away, either), but the common user device is now part of your phone. Maybe a tablet.

(more…)

QuiBids is ostensibly a bidding site. Each bid increment is one cent. The auction ends when 15 seconds goes by without someone bidding on it. Many items are sold at far less than retail price.

Here’s where it gets fun: Placing a bid costs 60 cents.

A co-worker came up with an example: lets say an IPad sells for $50.00. Someone got a really good deal, assuming that person didn’t bid very often. How did the site do? Well, since each bid increments only one cent, and each bid costs 60 cents, so that’s a simple .60 times 5000 bids plus the $50 for the sale, so the gross proceeds for the auction are $3050.00

Wow.

So on April Fools thinkgeek.com offered a number of fake items, including this awesome item: The TaunTaun sleeping bag!

Note that the inside pattern of the bag is entrails. My favorite part is that the zipper is shaped like a lightsaber.

What’s even better is that ThinkGeek claims that they got enough positive comments about it that they are going to see if they can get the rights to build and market it (see the original ad here).

While you’re there, you should check out the miniature trebuchet that they sell (throws small objects up to 20 feet)…

A while back my family had a camping trip that was rather fun, and I was excited to post about it in my blog. Unfortunately, I realized that this blog is public (on purpose–I’m sure there are lots of people that wish to discuss their favorite movie music composers).

At any rate, I decided to create an additional private blog (invitation only). It will be used for posts that have somewhat more sensitive information on it (family pictures, etc). When I post to one blog, I’ll try to make note of it in the other.

If you have not received and invitation to my private blog, and would like one, first check your email. Then if you still haven’t received an invitation, send me an email.

Hey, everyone, thanks for leaving comments. On this particular blog I have to approve/disapprove the comments, so you may not have seen them (I was supposed to get emailed when someone submitted a comment, I wonder what happened?)

Anyway, it’s good to hear from you, and I’ve really enjoyed everyone else’s blogs as well. I need to leave more comments, I guess. I make use of the RSS feature wherever I can, which is really handy–most everyone’s blog entries get forwarded to my Outlook. Unfortunately it does not lend itself to leaving comments [sad face].

Also, you may be interested, I have finally started a web gallery on my site. It’s pretty cool–I’ve set it up so that I can use Picassa to create my galleries. You can get to it by going to jersdesk.com and clicking on Pictures.

P.S. If you want to upload picture galleries to my site I can set it up for you (and then all you need is Picassa). Keep in mind that I don’t currently have any password protection on it, though. Also, I’m really not asking you to; just if you want to, you’re welcome to.

OK, so I need to either use this thing or uninstall it…

It’s mainly that I can never think of something to put on here. I like the idea of having a space where I can put some ideas or thoughts, but I guess I just don’t think often enough, or something.

So right now I’m typing this while my daughter Ada is trying to reach the laptop and type on it as well (or bang on it, or drool on it, or something along those lines). It’s not too difficult, as she is sitting right next to me while I’m typing. One of her tricks is to ‘feel’ something with her feet, which essentially means “kick it repeatedly,” which while rather amusing, is a treatment I’d rather not put my new laptop through.

Ah, I think she’s finally getting tired. I guess I need to get ready for work.

<p>Hello World</p>
echo “Hello World\n”; 
System.out.println(“Hello World”);
alert(“Hello World”);

OK, so that was cheesy. Sorry. On the other, it is just as much your fault for reading as it is my fault for writing it.

 …anyway…

So I wanted to create a blog to put some of my thoughts and comments on… actually, anything.

 In case you hadn’t figured it out, I’m a programmer. I live in Utah. Yes, I’m Mormon, which (being a programmer), essentially means I have all the geekiness, but without the caffeine. I enjoy books (mostly young adult fantasy), movies, classical music (and movie soundtracks), chocolate, and my family.