Month: July 2019

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Forbes: Shock Samsung Confession Fuels Galaxy Note Cancellation Fears.

Another part of why I believe more in tablets then over sized phones: you’ve got more room to spare. Not to mention a bigger screen and sizes that trigger tablet UI layouts in applications.

But in the flip side tablets don’t really do phone calls that well enough you’re doing speakerphone or headsets. You do use your expensive phone for answering phone calls, right? 😉

Also the overall usage gap between my phone and tablet is such that you don’t wanna know how many incoming calls I take on my tablet instead of my phone; be it in the next room or in my pocket.

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GameSpot: Nintendo Switch Lite: Price, Release Date, Colors Revealed.

While not as cool as the regular Switch or as cheap as the 2DS / 2DS XL, I kinda like the idea of a cheaper Switch.

I mostly look at the Switch as attractive from two different perspectives.

One is the potential value: yeah it is costly but if you can get out of buying a 3DS and an Xbox or PlayStation that would be a nice excuse. At least that’s how I’d envision selling my mother on such a console or being sold on it if I had kids without fur.

Another is that personally, if I found myself often waiting in line or such pretty regularly: I’d buy a Switch in a heartbeat. But as an adult I’m usually stuck having to do other things that require my attention,a bus travel insufficient in my neck of the woods. So spending on a portable isn’t justified the same way it was when I was a kid.

But I also reflect on my childhood. My last Nintendo was a GameBoy Color that my mother purchased from a pawn shop around the time Pokemon Red & Blue were big handheld titles. A device as expensive as the Switch wouldn’t have been in my family’s means way back when. When I think back to those days, I find it kind of amazing that I had a PlayStation, lol.

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There are times when even I forget whose bed this is.

I’m also pretty sure reincarnation as a dog with a good home would beat coming back as a human, lol.

A little Ray of sunshine after the disappointment of the Tab S5e

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Exclusive: This is the Galaxy Tab S6 and it has a dual camera.

A little Ray of sunshine after the disappointment of the Tab S5e.

The return to 16:10 is still as disappointing as it was when the Tab S4 came out, but nothing compared to the saddness of my Tab S3 having a cracked screen and the latest model launching with no pen and mid ranged specs.

I do have to admit though, in terms of hardware it’s becoming harder to justify Samsung’s tablets over Apple’s. Today it’s mostly the fact that behind here since the era of the Steak 7 and EeePad Transformer–I know Android fulfills my software needs with flying colors. While I still expect iOS to make me grumble and groan.

My upgrade path has been looking rocky. Since the crack, the only Android option has been the Tab S4 which is already aged a bit. Over in fruit co land there’s at least the 11″ and 10.5″ iPad Pro models as viable successors.

In reality of course I’d just like my screen’s crack not to expand for another year or two…. Lol.

Before and after treats

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Willow before treats:

Willow after treats:

It’s probably worth mentioning that Willow is more likely to attempt thefts when there is fish involved, and the dogs get a nice round of treats after I’ve had dinner.

Also Misty’s glare, not pictured, could have thawed ice.

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The New York Times: I Used Google Ads for Social Engineering. It Worked.

I think Mr. Berlinquette make a rather accurate statement towards the end:

With the ISIS campaign, Google decided what a radical view was, who seemed to hold those views and who should be able to view them. It’s hard to be cynical about an initiative that deters extremism. But entering the domain of social engineering is a slippery slope. The standard of what needs to be deradicalized is adjustable.

Social manipulation in one form or another isn’t very new. What is new is the ease of exposure. Most people are going to see search results one way or another. The number of people using as blockers will likely remain a minority.

It’s not like you’ve got to rely on stories from the local village elders for everything. Searching the world wide web connects you to many sources of knowledge; beware the wise asses you listen to. Because we all have an agenda whether or not we realize it ourselves.

Oddly I feel a bit of temptation to watch Blade Runner….

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Looking through Google Play’s editors choice sections, I’m happy to see ArtFlow listed.

Think I’ve had this on my devices since the days of the Note series tablets. It’s become about the only drawing app on Android that I tend to care about.

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Scrolling through old journal entries, interesting to come across A Day Made of Glass 2: Unpacked. The Story Behind Corning’s Vision. (2012) and my comments about it at the time.

In a lot of ways I still find Corning’s vision fascinating.

Something is also apparent to me in hindsight: casting. Bits like the car dashboard were still pretty foreign at the time. Approximately a year later, Google launched the first generation Chromecast. Devices like the Roku would likewise gain voice input and competitors like Fire TV weren’t far off just yet. Today in ’19 it isn’t abnormal to easily manipulate a screen but we’re nowhere near as cool as that video yet.

I don’t think any product like the Surface Hub was well known until a few years later. While iMacs and clones had already modernized by then I don’t wanna gander at history to see when more touch capable AiOs became readily available. Devices like the Surface Studio are Still. To. Damned. Expensive. Not to mention rare in people’s homes and work places.

Another thing that has changed since Corning’s video is the PC. Back in ’12 touch screen laptops were more of a novelty than an accepted thing. Hell, the modern tablet had just about come into its own, and was very unlike its PC based forebears.

A lot of things have changed in hardware and software since then and will continue to change. But I still hope the result looks more like A Day Made of Glass than 1984….hehe.