Expendable Expectations?

Today's Daily 60 is on The Expendables.  Well, that and effective management of expectations.

So who's seen the Expendables?  I'll bet if you saw it you loved it.  Absolutely amazing movie, jaw dropping, the kind you could watch more than once, and I agree myself, it was amazing!

Why do I say that?  Was it good acting?  or amazing dialogue?  Maybe the setting was shocking, or the plot, that was it, the plot was fantastic, right?  No, they were all passable at best.  

The movie was about some amazing 80s stars getting on the screen at the same time and blowing everything else away.  Lots of guns, no plot, and huge explosions.  That makes a terrible movie unless that was the exact thing that the movie maker promised.

Software development could learn a lot from The Expendables.  Manage expectations.  Tell them what they're getting, and improve on it if you can, but stop there.

Ever told a client they'd have their software in a month and it took 3 weeks?  How about telling them it will take a week but it takes 2?  The client that took two weeks is mad as hell, but the one that took 3 weeks is ecstatic!  

Control your estimates, plan your features, and give the best product you can in the time you have promised, or better.  Don't fall into the trap of "just one more feature" because, well, then you get Minority Report.

See ya next time!

Gotta buy 'em all!

Today's Daily 60 (seconds) builds on something I posted last week about phone renewals.  I call it the "gotta have it" bug.

"Holy crap, did you see that new phone's resolution?"

"The playstation 4 looks AMAZING."

"I can't wait for the new Macbook!"

Ok, I'm a tech-nerd as much as the next guy, unless that guy is my coworker Chris, but other than that I'm up there.  I love the new stuff, the new gear, the new phone, game console, video card, whatever.

Even more I love what's around the corner, awesome SmartWatches, digital paper, cybernetics, teleporters! (well maybe that one is a stretch, damn you Heisenberg!)

But I really also need to stop myself, and ask do I REALLY need to shell out the dough for that awesome watch, or the extra money to renew phones early.  I'd love to say that it was the devil/angel battle on my shoulders, but all the angel is saying is that I should wait 6 more months so I can shell out the money for the NEXT new thing before my friends get it.

I guess what I'm saying is don't fall prey to needing "what's cool."  I'm still on an HTX One X (not the One, that's newer) and I love it.  My Macbook pro is 3 some years old, and it runs like a dream.  Enjoy what you have.  The only thing worse than not getting the next big thing is leaving it on your shelf unused as you pine for it's next model.

Never stop looking forward at tomorrow's toys, but at the same time don't forget to play with the ones you have now!  Yesterday they KICKED ASS, and guess what, they still do!

Evernote, trust me you need it

Today's Daily 30 (seconds) is on a product I really can't live without, Evernote.

Evernote is an app that you can get for Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android, even just a browser without installing it.  What does it do?  It takes notes.  What did you expect, a circus?  

You can take audio notes and pictures too, but personally I just use it for taking text notes.  I use it all the time to organize anything from addresses to code to RPG notes.  

And it shares them to all the devices on that account, so I can write a long detailed note on my laptop, then use it for reference later on my phone.  Or a shopping list.

Give it a try, even the free version is pretty amazing, and I literally use it every day. The pay version is dirt cheap and has lots of features, like letting you share notes with other accounts so you and your wife can both ignore the same shopping list and just buy goldfish.

Have fun, and see you next time!

Quick, upgrade your phone, NOW!

Today's Daily 30 (seconds) is one the phone companies don't wanna hear, let's talk about upgrades.

Upgrade today, no contract, small payments.. New phone every 2 years, every year, TWICE a year!

Come on, really?  I mean let's be honest, do you really need to have the newest phone on the market this very second? Remember, AT&T's NEXT, Verizon's EDGE, and T-Mobile's JUMP lets you upgrade so much faster than every two years, for no contract.  

Problem is, you're paying the phone off in full, you know, like you would on a normal Credit Card, with payments?  It's not a free phone, and I'm not sure but it's likely not even much of a discount. (This part I didn't check)

I'm just saying use your head, look around, and don't get something because Jimmy next door does.  Look at the phone you have now, it's pretty fricken nice, just enjoy it and save up.  

Worst case?  You can wait the 2 years and get a much more awesomer new one much cheaper.

(I dun speak good!)

See ya next time!

Another need-to-have widget, PowerToggles

Today's Daily 30 (seconds) is a nod to a pretty awesome widget, Power Toggles.

Power Toggles is a widget I can't say enough good stuff about and I could go on for 30 minutes, but let's hit the quick points.  This widget lets you toggle (duh) just about anything you can think of, from your camera flash (flashlight) to 3/4G to sound sliders and more.  Not only that but you can drop in apps in your toggle board or custom links to any internal app references  (like SiMi folders or to directly call a certain person).

Now add in the ability to change the icons for any of those functions, or even just make them invisible so you can have home screen functions that are hidden (or matched to spots on your background) and you've got an incredibly powerful and lightweight tool.  Go on, give it a try, and have fun!

Come, Commune with Anti-nature

Come on everyone, today's Daily 90 (seconds) is here, Let's Get Social!

Everyone's doing it, it's social media!  Make friends you'll never meet, go to "events" in your own home, hell now you can even "hangout" in your boxers and no one will know. You've got Twitter (where stalkers hang out), G+ (Where I hang out), Facebook(where your girlfriend hangs out), LinkedIn (Where your boss hangs out), MySpace (where bands hang out), and so many more.  I mean who can forget Imgur, Reddit, Tumblr, and all the other dozens of sites that can't spell their names right.

So what do you do?  I mean you can't really be active in all those at once, but even better, why are you trying so hard to?  Get outside, make a phone call, visit a friend.  I'm a techno-crazed fanatic as much as the next techno-crazed fanatic, but really, sometimes you just need that face to face.  Games are going online, meetings are going online, employee reviews are going online, interviews are going online, everything is online.  I mean yeah, that's really awesome, but eventually aren't ya gonna forget how to bathe?  Or tie shoes?

My advice is pick a couple of those crazy social sites (Me? I use LinkedIn, G+, and Twitter occasionally), and just focus on them.  If you spread too thin, no one will notice you, and frankly you'll never see sunlight.  So remember one thing when you leave this blog, Social used to actually mean dealing with people directly, so don't forget that whole non-internet thing called talking.

See ya next time!

What's the new Buzz….. Launcher?

Today's Daily 120 (seconds) is on a launcher that I just recently tried out and wanted to share with you all.  Let's talk about Homepack Buzz and the Buzz Launcher.

Most android launchers are about making your own home screen as useful, or pretty, as you want to make it.  Then you can take snapshots, or show your friends.  I belong to a couple of groups online that share shots (and I USED to think I was pretty good at it, then I saw the stuff other people made).  Well Buzz Launcher is a launcher that takes advantage of this sharing idea, and frankly seems more interested in that aspect than the actual building.

Pros:  Without buzz launcher, if I had the desire to share with you what my home screen looks like, I'd need to tell you what launcher I used, send you the background image, send you the icon pack and widgets, and just tell you how to build it.  With Buzz Launcher I can just send you a link to my home pack and when you click it, the screens are added to your home screens, icons, themes, backgrounds, widgets already set up.  If a widget or icon isn't installed on your phone an arrow appears and tapping it takes you to the Play Store so you can download (or buy) it.  This opens up a world of, literally, thousands of home screens that you can just click on, download, and have instantly.

Cons:  As a user, as opposed to a designer, I do see a number of flaws so far.  First, I can view available home packs either from  my computer or phone, but I can only log into the site or download packs from the phone.  This means that if I see a pack I like while using my computer, I need to somehow get the URL of that home pack to my phone, usually by emailing myself, Evernote, etc.  Second, once you download a theme and customize it a little for your own use, you can't save it as it is without making a "public" home pack for everyone else to see and download.  I just want to save where I am so I can try a new theme then come back, or who knows what.  Because of that their website is littered with themes that are described as "Backup, do not download" and the like.

These are just the quick thoughts of a user, but I want to mention that I believe it was only released in March of this year, so it's still a young product and has a LOT of promise.  Once I get more into designing I'll come back and talk about the launcher from a pack maker's point of view.

Final thoughts?  If you like changing your home screen an having a library of examples to start with, then get this launcher.  It's not as robust as some launchers like Go Launcher, or as easy to customize and save as Lightning Launcher, but the ability to share so easily is building a community that, if they get the kinks out, could quickly shoot them above both those other launchers in fan base and use.

GUI, GUI Goo….

Today's Daily 60 (seconds) is on something very basic, UI.

Sometimes neat and flashy isn't always the best.  Let's look at everyone's favorite site, Google+.  I've been using G+ for years, so when things move, they usually move a little bit, or I'm invested enough in the site to learn the new locations, but someone who is just trying it out isn't.  I watched someone fumble over how to start hangouts, then how to find their friends in circles, and so on.  Honestly, is it really intuitive to mouseover a little floating house, then go down to people and click, then go up to the top middle on the right and click my circles.  Not to me, that one even took me some time to find.

I don't care how amazing your software is, if no one can figure out where the play button is, no one's going to click it.  I know it's hard, Google, but you need to ask someone who doesn't know who you are to try out your site, and please don't make the Apple mistake.  You know, the one where you say something like "we don't care if you can't find it, we know better than you and we won't move it."

To all the developers out there, remember, your users are your customers, and your customers keep you getting your paycheck, so just look twice before you change your interface, and make sure someone new to the suite looks three times.

Your next must-have widget... UCCW

Today's Daily 60 (seconds) is about an android widget that just about every home screen layout needs.  Here coms UCCW...

The Ultimate Custom Clock Widget (or Ultimate Custom Widget, or UCCW for short and shorter) is definitely a gem in the rough.  I gotta be honest guys, without reading the instructions, I nearly deleted it as soon as I had it.  It was a bear to figure out, but so many people said it was so great I had to keep tinkering until I got it right.  Now nearly every layout I make uses it, and I make a lot of layouts.

For those of you that don't know it, UCCW is a data display widget.  It lets you organize things like battery life, time, date, weather,  text, Tasker variables, unread emails, unread texts, and so many more things for clean display on your screen.  Most of the things in UCCW have a number of different display options.  After picking one, then you can choose layout, special effects, font, color, background, etc.  The idea here is you make a widget that does what you want.  With UCCW, that's pretty much always possible, and often without a lot of work.

I can't think of a widget I use more, so keep your eyes on this one guys and give it a try tonight.  Best of all, it's free!

So how smart are watches, really?

So I fell behind this week, and I'm sorry about that, but I'm back on the wagon and here's your Daily 120 (seconds), a little extra to make up for lost time!  Let's talk about Smart Watches.

First we had cellphones the size of briefcases.  Wow, awesome, I can make a call anywhere I feel like, as long as I lug this cumbersome ugly thing with me.  Then they got smaller, and smaller, and someone said "Hey, I need my phone to do more than just make phone calls!" so we ended up with text messages and crappy little "games" that were more frustrating than they were worth, unless you got the little Tetris version.  Then phones got touch screens, and android/iPhone wars, and yay, now it's today, the world of smartphones.  But wait, there's more...

Enter smart watches.  Yes, I said watches, and what's more odd about that is not only is it mostly superfluous and just gadgety, I really really have to have one.  Basically a smart watch in most cases is a peripheral to your phone, letting you access it's functions, like reading texts or answering/denying calls, without pulling it out of your pocket or backpack.

I want to clarify something now, and say that my comments here are based on research and reviews, not actual use.  I can't afford to buy all these watches to validate the facts I've heard, so please, just take these as opinions.

There are several watches on the market I'm looking into, and I'll give the brief 1-2 punch on each.

The Pebble.  It looks nice and is selling like hotcakes, but there really aren't a lot of apps available for it yet.  Battery life sounds good as it's an e-paper technology, but without a backlight night use is challenging at best,and honestly in an age of touch screens, having side-buttons makes me feel like I'm back in the 80s with my Timex.  

Sony Smartwatch.  This looks promising, but much of what I'm hearing about it means that it needs to be charged every 4 days (based on sony) or every day (based on reviews) and more than likely it's closer to the latter.  I could live with that since it's a touchscreen digital display, but it's rated at "splash proof" and I really don't want to take the risk on how much rain constitutes a splash.  I want to know that I can just walk outside without having to cover my watch in a ziplock baggie.

Honestly the only watch I've seen that looks really great to is the Sonostar Smartwatch. It looks sleek, has a touch e-paper screen with a backlight, and is waterproof, everything I'm looking for.  This watch sounds amazing, but then again, that might be because it's not even out yet so all I can go on is specs and pictures, not user reviews.

The moral of the story is that nothing is really "there" yet, as far as I can see, but I'm eager to see what's around tomorrow's corner.

Please leave comments on what you think, or if you know a model that I didn't mention here that would be worth looking into!

Android Launcher Basics

So as promised, I've gathered together some pointers and thoughts on making your android really YOUR android.  So let's go ahead with your Daily 120 (seconds).

When I first got my android phone, I played around with backgrounds, animated backgrounds, and putting icons all over the place.  While that was neat, it really was just slightly better than the defaults you can do with an iPhone.  I had heard android was much much more customizable, so I dove into learning about it. (NOTE: All my tips are root-free, you can do them all without affecting your warranty or hacking your phone)

First thing I learned is that you can change what's called your launcher.  This is the part of the phone OS that shows icons, manages screen transitions, and things like that.  Early in the process I learned that I didn't like having a grid making my icons all line up, so I searched around.  There were a couple gridless launchers, but I opted to go with Lightning Launcher, which you can get for free on the Play Store.  This launcher lets you zoom in and out, set up screens up, down, left, and right of each other, use ADW icons, and for me the most important part, use gridless positioning.  Down side is it doesn't have much in the way of screen transitions other then "slides over".

My first attempt at making a "pretty" home screen on my phone ended up like this:

I liked it, but it still seemed too plain.  I wanted pizzaz, style, uniqueness, so I made this one:

Yeah yeah, I just changed the pic and added the weather and battery.  Really I made this one because I thought the first was a little pixelated.  At this point though I realized I was just turning a clock and putting icons away neatly.  I wanted to push the envelope, hard.  So with a little work, I made this one and I think to date it's one of my favorites:

So take out of this the fact that you need to find a launcher you like that customizes the way you want, and keep that as the baseline for any new home screen customizations, and we'll go over other things like nice widgets next!

NOTE: A Launcher switching program, like Home Switcher, makes finding a launcher you like really easy, just install a few, then hop back and forth and see which features you like best.

Jail Breaking? Let's get to the Root of it...

It was posed to me on a previous blog to explain what jail breaking is, so here we go.  Put most simply, it's taking an iPhone and granting yourself access to the phone that you normally don't have.  Yes, you're giving yourself access to something you already bought, because buying it isn't enough to get full access.  This lets you "side load" software, or install things via USB rather than only through the iTunes store.

Doing this means you're taking full responsibility for your own device.  You void all warranties on it's functionality, and by side loading, you're bypassing all the safety that iTunes/Apple gives you by checking the functionality, security, and reliability of their code.

This means that you can take full control of the device you own, which is good, but if you don't know what you are doing, then you are stealing just enough rope to hang yourself, so do your research and make sure you know why you're doing it. 

Side note, with Android machines it's called Rooting rather than jail breaking.  Also, since launcher replacement and side loading is already allowed, rooting really only is used for changing the base operating system or more base functions of the phone. I'm not an expert in either process, but since I've owned both kinds of phones, the iPhone had me wanting to do the procedure the entire time I used it, while my android works just the way I want. Remember, rooting or jailbreaking a phone wrong can brick it right out of the gate, so be careful. (Bricking means your phone becomes a $700 doorstop)

Next week I'll talk about a few launchers and software I recommend to give your phone the functionality you want, without rooting it at all, stay tuned!

Hey baby, what's your language?

Hey baby, how you doin'?  Code here often?  What's YOUR language?

Ok, stop the eye rolling.  I wanted to take a second to talk about computer languages.  They're a lot like actual languages, except I can seem to actually learn them.  There are mainframe languages like Cobol and Fortran.  Then there are web-based languages like PHP and ASP classic.  Sometimes there are interface driven languages, like objectiveC's IOS interface kit. Then you have compiled languages like Java or C++.  Then again, lots of Java programs are used on the web, so wouldn't that make them web-based languages?  And I know that on Salesforce they use Apex which is edited and tested on their website, obviously a web-based language, but it's based in Java and you can "recompile" if you need, which means it's compiled...

Ok wait, i'm getting dizzy.  Here's the basics of just about all of it.  If you can code, you can code.  I don't care what languages you have experience with.  I was once hired for a PHP job because of my ASP classic experience, and within six months I was taking turns at being "lead developer".  Coding is coding, all that changes is the syntax.  If you know how to write solid code, you can learn to write solid code in any language pretty darn fast.

Yeah, that's like saying that German is like French, all that changes are the words.  Well it's really true, but instead of having thousands of words, there are hundreds of commands, and no one's gonna be waiting for you to type "fluently," just look that shit up.

So leave me a comment, are you a coder, scripter, developer, engineer, lackey?  Let's hear what you use, or where you learned it. We're a community, so let's share resources, literally.

Blog +1?

Ok I need to ask, anyone else check their +1s? I mean I only have three, I don't use it a lot but I probably should so I can get into this whole social-media thing, but I got MySpace long ago, never got facebook, never USED myspace, and now I have G+... so I'm gonna give it a try...

But while I appreciate that it has to be easy, I think +1ing is TOO easy.  I +1'ed General Zod...  

Yeah, Zod, you know, "Kneel Before Zod!"  The comic book character/superman villain?  Yeah, that guy.  And not just him, but his Wiki page.  I don't remember looking him up, I can't even remember why I WOULD look him up, but apparently I love Zod so much that I felt it necessary to have him in my list of only three things in the world I would recommend to other people.

Or maybe, more likely, I just forget to click on the +1 for the other 500 million interests I have, who knows.  The point of this blurb?

I'm not sure, maybe it's just that we put too much faith in social media to tell us what's awesome, or maybe I'm just ranting, so take it with a grain of salt.  One thing I do know for sure is that General Zod KICKS ASS! (after he escapes from that Listerine breath strip)

Android Vs. iPhone

Ok, it's the new Coke vs. Pepsi battle, we all know it.  It seems humans love taking sides, whether it's in wars, politics, religion, or soda.  Well now it's with those wonderful little miracles, cellphones.  If you've read my blog, you know what side I'm on, but putting that aside, let's look at them both at a 30,000 foot view.  Hold on tight, if you drop yours from here, it's a brick no matter who made it.

Let's start with Apple's iPhone.  There's a reason people call unlocking it "jail breaking".  If you love having your hardware managed and locked down so that everything on it is heavily tested and regimented, and you're only allowed to do things that the manufacturer has expected, then this is for you.  The iPhone is much more restricted than android, limiting the ways you can use your phone rather severely, but the reason for this is because they've tested the ways that they do let you use it extensively.  Troubleshooting involves "turn off, turn on, call Apple" but that's the goal here, a black box that does what it's supposed to and nothing more, and someone else fixes it when it breaks.

Now on to Android.  Out of the box, it kinda sucks.  The default app for mail is crap, the display is boring, and so on.  This is where it shines, though.  They let you replace just about everything.  Android lets you customize nearly everything, from the email program and text message program all the way to changing launchers (that's the way your screens look, icon layout, etc).  This means that if you compare two "power users" of android phones, they are going to look and operate entirely differently, even if they're both the same exact model.  Android gives you all the rope you need to do just about anything you want, include hang yourself, so be careful.

The point of the story?   Some people like Coke, some like Pepsi, and no matter what you say about how many kittens die every year because of coke-related drownings, coke drinkers are gonna keep drinking coke and cherry pepsi will still be the best.  If you're undecided, then I hope this might have helped, and feel free to comment or ask questions for me to go into more detail in another post.  If your heart is already set, then I hope you have a long betrayal-free relationship.  Just ignore the phone stalking you from your closet.

DRM-it!

Ok, so everyone's talking about it, I might as well mention it too.  Microsoft's Xbox One has officially announced that it will not be enforcing the insane level of DRM that was proposed.  Game sharing will be as simple as handing someone a disk.  I read an article about that this morning, and I was just shocked by the comments.  I mean Microsoft caught a veritable shit storm of bad media and public image assassination over this DRM thing, and now some people are saying it's not that bad.

It only affects you in limited situations, they say.  They're right.  If you're interested in purchasing, never trading to friends, lending to friends, or selling anywhere except to a licensed dealer (and you can only sell if you bought it new).  If you're sure your console will never break or you'll never break it, then yes, the DRM won't affect you.  

Year after year, attempt after attempt, lockdowns like this only help the person trying to be honest.  They should have learned from spore.  Spore was available DRM free the day before the game was officially released, so anyone cheating got it then.  If you bought it, then you can only install it twice, even if your machine reformats, or crashes, or if you buy a new laptop because the old one died. It's the old sand in the fingers analogy.  Just let us have our games, and sell them like you always have.  The status quo can't be all that horrific, you're all still in business.  Maybe for once just trust in the potential kindness and honesty of your customers.  Maybe the bad apples make the bunch seem bad, but it's really only a few, just ignore them and enjoy the rest!

I just called... to say... I'm calling you?

Sorry this one is a day late, just pretend you're really hung over and it still feels like Tuesday...

Just wanted to post a few thoughts on cellphones today.  Cellphones.. Cellular Phones.  Portable, hand-held communication devices.  I remember when they were just car phones, my dad had one.  Had a huge box in the back seat, and this curly cord that snagged on frickin' everything.  Then cellphones, ala Zack Morris, these things were huge bricks you had to carry a briefcase to hold them in.  And if you don't know who Zack Morris is, ask your local Generation Xer, so they can laugh at you.

But back on track, think about what you've got in your pocket right now.  Your phone can do more than the computers that sent man to the moon in '69.  And I don't mean a little more, I mean a damn landslide of technology has careened down in an avalanche of human ingenuity and left you with one of the most amazing devices ever conceived and it's hanging around in your back pocket.  Familiarity breeds apathy, but only if you let it.  So next time you're checking your email, or looking at funny cat pictures on your cell, just take a moment to think about how amazing that device really is.

Less words, more focus...

I've recently learned something that I never really thought about.  With a few exceptions, no one really wants to read, and usually even the ones that want to don't have time to.  Write short and get right to the point so that you don't lose your readers.  I mean sure I want to tell you all about me and my amazing Nicaraguan traipse through the jungle where I had to live for 18 weeks on grubs and leftover pudding pops, but I'd probably lose you somewhere near Argentina and you'd never hear the point about how much I love Shiba Ino puppies.

We have to get used to it, the internet is ruled by millennials now.  It's time to get info, answers, stories, and fun as quickly as possible, without derailing about some anecdotal story.  I cling to the idea of nice long in-depth reviews and such, but those  should be the exception.  If you're writing too, remember that most readers don't go past your first two paragraphs, if they get that far.  Most times someone will see a long article, mean to read it later, and just never touch it.

So now I think it's time I get out of their way and join the bandwagon. Short posts, here I come…