Transformer Infinity

Hey there!

 I just got my new +ASUS  Transformer Infinity (also known as TF700). This is my official opinion of it, from a basic user perspective. Bear in mind, I have no reason for you to buy this so I'm going to be honest as I can. Also bear in mind (in a bit of pure disclosure here), I'm a Googleite. I use it for everything, Google is interwoven throughout my online identity. That being said, I don't care to throw them under the bus if they 'eff something up.

 I have owned a Transformer tablet for quite some time (over 2 years...I think). It was known as the TF101, obviously the first generation of this series. It was a fabulous tablet, but in the end the launcher started crashing almost every time I turned on the screen. I'm not sure why...but things break down naturally and I assume I had a bug or glitch. Either way, when Jelly Bean was announced and subsequently released, there was no evidence that Jelly Bean was going to be released to the TF101. In the tech world (at least mine) this is indicative that your piece of hardware is on that first line of being outdated. This in no way means your tablet, should you own one of these series, is suddenly garbage ready. It just means certain functionality such as "Google Now" will not be available. Also, this doesn't mean that the TF101 will not be updated, it just is left behind because Asus has three other tablets (TF201, 301 and 700, not sure what happened to 400-600..) that it is messing with. They of course want you to buy the newer ones, they have to make money somehow, so that means they're going to prefer newer updates.
I digress.
 The TF101 was an excellent piece of hardware. I used it for school heavily: taking notes, writing papers, and playing games. It isn't a complete replacement for a laptop. It is an excellent sit in though. The tablet is lighter, more focused and generally better performing than laptops in terms of completing tasks. As I said, laptops are definitely more robust and better able to complete higher level applications (graphic intensive video games, heavy media presentations, full functionality clients such as Microsoft Word), the tablet computing industry offers a lighter alternative to working on a laptop.
 The Infinity is indeed an upgrade in terms of hardware. That being said, the true indicator of whether or not an upgrade is or is not necessary is whether you can tell a difference with that hardware in comparison to the TF101. Keep in mind, it's Android and Asus. Same manufacturer and same operating system. In other words, there will be no software difference in most applications.

 First, the screen. It is one of the major advertising points for Asus. It is indeed full HD resolution, and movies (my first being The Avengers) look crisp and clear. This is important for me, but I will say that while I can see a difference in some places (such as HD Avengers), other places like YouTube I can't tell a big difference. The screen is indeed nice overall, but unless you are a heavy media person and your eyes have become accustomed to slight differences (my parents still can't tell a difference between 480 and 720 on a TV...), you probably will not take full advantage of the screen. On a side note, games are excellent to see and watch/play, but that is also due to the upgraded processor.

 Second, functionality. I didn't have a keyboard for the first transformer, so I felt that I needed to do so here, to get the full experience. This is why I feel that the Infinity can replace a laptop for day to day stuff. It provides a mouse, touchpad and usb/microSD. All of this allows you to do what you need to do, and should the need arise for a more robust option, go to your desktop at home. Of course, using Google's services everything will be synced anyway, so it will be a matter of just opening up whatever you had open. In the end, while the keyboard is technically a moot point because it's available to both series, it has enriched my experience with the Infinity greatly. I haven't run into any programs that don't like the keyboard, save one. Wolfram Alpha seem to not work with it. However, I didn't try any troubleshooting...so it was probably an easy fix. Asus also had the genius idea of making the keyboard a fully functioning battery charger. So if your keyboard has full juice and your tablet is sucking fumes, dock it up and you'll be charged for another few hours. Good stuff, considering this is not the case for the iPad.

 Third: media. Pictures do indeed take well. I highly enjoy the now standard 8 MP camera. The TF101 has a 5 MP, but the Infinity is moving to replace my smartphone completely. Which means my Samsung Galaxy S2 has a 8 MP camera, I'd like the same on my tablet. It was another reason to upgrade, aside from the fact that I don't have to worry about charges anymore. Yipee! As it stands, my phone mysteriously disappeared...so this provides another reason to upgrade. I don't have to worry about getting a new phone. The idea is I combine the elements of the smartphone with the size of the tablet. Et Viola! Infinity.

A few small problems I have had so far:
1. Some programs don't like the keyboard. YouTube, for example, if you click on too many videos on the side bar will suddenly cause your keyboard not to work...strange bug really. I press the "b" key and it just goes down. Thought it turned into a WASD deal...but nope. Just "B". Huh.
2. Screen protector and keyboard. This is minor, and a tad insignificant with coupled with the keyboard. Basically, the keyboard is fitted to the tablet right? So if you do what I do, that is get a screen protector...it can cause your screen protector to bubble. Like I said, it's small and rather insignificant. It's there though, for you to judge. Keep in mind that I still use it with a keyboard and screen protector. The bubbling is just what happens and I'm not bothered by it, but others might be.

 This last issue is in testing at the moment: When I gave my girlfriend my old TF101 to use, she tried using the native Google Talk app to do a video conference with me. I'm on my work wireless and she's on her apartment wireless...and for some reason the sound was garbled. She's done video chat with me before on that tablet back when I owned it from her laptop and nothing was wrong. I'm curious as to what caused the garbling...Any help from what random person reads this would be appreciated. No big deal, as it's most definitely a bug and I'll figure it out eventually.

 So there you have it. The Asus Transformer Infinity. Overall a better tablet than my old TF101, but I can't speak for the rest of the tablet industry, since I haven't had a chance to test them. I'm particularly interested in the Nexus 7 and the New iPad (not the iPad 3 mind you -_-)...It would be nice to get a comparison of Apple's leading tablet (not including the 7 in. model that is supposed to be announced soon) vs. Google's tablet. Anything with the Android Operating system is pretty much the same, so a 7 inch Android device such as a Nexus would allow me to experience a smaller version of the Android for reading and movies on the go. The Apple iPad I'm interested in for scholastic purposes as well. iTunes U, since I'm in college now, would be of particular interest to me. I mention these two only because it will give you a good idea of what else is out there. There are a myriad of tablets really on the Android side that I haven't mentioned, and there are tech blogs out there that are much better organized and better funded to provide you a hands on comparison of them. I hope this helped!

PS-Sorry for the wall of text. I'm not a pro blogger you know. 

Obama and his voice

Alright. This is my first post about elections/Presidents/politics in the real world. I've seen quite a few Google+ comments about Obama, few of which are actually constructive. It scares me, honestly, to see the state of our political knowledge. I'm not implying that I know more than anyone else. In fact, I'm just as concerned about my political knowledge. However, I'm taking an economy 101 course to fill my course schedule and my instructor mentioned a term known as "rational ignorance". Essentially, it means that people tend to ignore things like politics because they don't have any actual investment. As in, they can't affect (directly) the world they are looking at, and so choose to ignore it. Douglas Adams classified this as an SEP (Somebody Else's Problem). Either way, I tend to believe that all this political stuff is fascinating, but when it comes down to the bones of the matter, all of this fighting and bickering and nonsense is just...tiring.

The inspiration of this post came from this particular video that was posted on YouTube. Take a quick peek, it'll put everything in context. So, I first saw this on Google+ and thought it was pretty cool. I'll be honest guys, I'm not a complete Obama fan. Hell, I'm not a complete Bush fan. See the rational ignorance thing connecting here? No? Alright, I'll put it this way: I like any candidate as long as they support my interests, and I don't have any interests. I mean, sure...school funding is great, taxes being low, wars ending etc. Once again though, it's just tiring. I want a job, stable home and all that. Which means that when I go through life, no matter who thinks they are the next leader of the free world because they finally screamed louder (lookin at you Gingrich). I operate in my personal life because Obama isn't going to give me money, nor anyone else. I'm aware of issues, I look at them rationally and I decide whether or not to participate dependent on whether I can affect the issue. If not, why stress?

That being said: Obama singing the blues for 20 seconds instead of constantly pouring over world issues is not going to affect the country or world in any foreseeable way. I don't know what grinds me more: the comments made like these or the fact that these people honestly thought that Obama singing here actually caused the world to burn more. Incoming rant, with caps and language. Skip if you must.

Rant:

I am fucking tired of these STUPID gorillas putting up quotes like "zomg obummer is singing?! i'm so glad he's partying hardcore while the world burns and gas goes to $6 a gallon!"  It's that bullshit right there which fucking PROVES that you are a complete moron. You're the person I walk down the street and see staring at a woman just a little too long. My GOD I'm sick and tired of the tirades that go on about how Romney is such a fucking angel, no no it's Ron Paul, no Gingrich and his 3 wives and babyface is the answer. All these fucking nitwits just keep fucking blathering about how Obama this, Obama that, Gingrich is a loser, no it's Romney who is the traitor. Screw this shit. I'm done. I'm going to look at these sons'o'bitches with my own fucking goggles from now on; Fox News, CBS, MSNBC  be damned. Finally, to fucking HELL with all these commenters on G+ or any other forum. Every one of your all's shit stinks, and I'm tired of smelling it.

Yet, in all that...there is a glimmer of hope. Comments (like below) are being said, and that means I'm not doomed to Glenn Beck fanaticism for the rest of my life. You can't tell whether he's Republican or Democrat, and that's a good thing.

 The problem with representative Democracy is that it is fallacious. Everyone gets the exact same vote, regardless of their ignorance. Obama takes office, does what anyone who cares to look at a history book KNOWS to be what is needed, and then, as expected, things get better. At the rate expected, no less. Of course there isn't really a way to spin that, if you hated Obama to start with, so what do you do? You lie. You spread lies. You repeat lies. May not even know that they are lies, if you just except everything anyone tells you, that supports what you had already decided to believe. Fact is, if you hate Obama, then you don't have the first clue what he has done while in office, what the alternatives to what he has done in office have historically meant, or both. You are what is wrong with this nation.

 Let the man sing, after all...he's just a man.

Why EVE Online just..works.

I've been playing EVE for a little over 2 years. It is the only game I have consistently played during this time (I have a Guild Wars account, played World of Warcraft for a while, Star Wars is cool...Aion wasn't really.). I started wondering why I like EVE so much. Why it appeals to me, and why it could appeal to you.

First on the list are the spaceships. There are other space based game's, like Star Trek, out there. This isn't to say that EVE does ships in the most effective manner possible, but the delivery of the spaceship experience is what is important. The most important part of the spaceships is the design. Devlopers know that you can't just make ships that look like every Star Wars/Trek franchise. They have to be totally unique to aspire to that personal experience.

What you see here are two simple instances of space ship combat. The top image is the bottom part of a ship known as the Harbinger. Bottom image is the Armegeddon (quite a few of them). Cool right? That's nothing. These are personal mission running screenshots. Sure, the design of the ships is cool, flying around doin spaceshipey type shooting stuff. Feast your eyes, potential eggers, on a shot from EVE's website...

Oh my. High Definition glory. Screenshots like this make me happy. Do you know why? Because you're seeing a huge fleet of simply massive ships. Notice the scale, also. You have Battleship class on the right side, then you have Titan class ships on the left. Suffice to say (and probably needless...), those Titan class ships are huge. They dwarf Battleships like a Blue Whale dwarfs a Swordfish. It's almost inspiring really, to see these ships arrayed in such a manner. I'll let you know why in a few moments. Sticking with design for the moment though: The Amarrian Titan in that picture does indeed resemble a giant buttplug. No worries, everyone is aware of this. Probably the reason it's the biggest Amarrian ship by leaps and bounds. Who would want to fly around a ship that reminds everyone of a tampon? I would, dammit. Tampon my ship up, because a Titan on the field means business. Anyway, every ship (of a different name, obviously) in that fleet looks different. Sure, they have common traits, but only ships of similar races. The point remains, you can't pick out a ship in that fleet and say: "Oh, yeah...I've seen that in [insert game here]."

The second item that makes EVE so unique is the until recently avatar-less play style. EVE has had races in EVE, and you could pick your face and features etc...but avatars as a first person were non-existent. We didn't (read: don't) need them, because according to in game canon our mode of transportation/fighting/whatever was all ship based. That, and we're called eggers or pod pilots or Capsuleers for a reason. We, for a lack of better words, didn't need bodies. Our bodies are our ships. This is changing of course, both with the expansion titled Incarna. This expansion allowed us to operate in our human bodies. It's largely useless, simply because everything can be done either in a body or just as easily in a ship. Of course, CCP is slated to add functionality to the Incarna expansion. This is especially true with the upcoming release of Dust 514. Interaction etc. Again, in a sense of irony, the video's show interaction more importantly coming from that dreadnought class ship than from the cat talking to the squad leader...but whatever. I'm excited for D514, since I'm a fan of first-person shooters in general. Back to the point, EVE is still a largely avatar-less game. We pilots don't need them. One could call our ships our avatar, but since you can go from ship to ship...I don't consider this a valid definition. An avatar is something you create and attach too as...well..you. This wasn't possible until recently. Therefore, EVE has been (and always will be) built around ships and defeats the purpose of avatars. I like that.

My final point in what has become a wall of text, is roles within EVE. In traditional MMO's, you create your avatar and at that same time you also choose your role. This role defines the game for you. Unless you create a new avatar, you'll be stuck in the limited roles that your character is designed to play. In World of Warcraft, a druid can tank, heal and dps. It's a jack-of-all-trades type class. A priest on the other hand, can only heal/shield and dps. A Paladin is like the druid, but a Warlock is not. They can only dps. So, if you're lucky enough to choose a hybrid class like the Paladin or Druid, you have some options. Unfortunately, being a hybrid class means you are not exceptional at any one thing. Whereas a Hunter, Rogue, Warlock, Mage, can all do exceptional dps. Then again, they can only fill one roll. I'm rambling, and I'm sure you see my point. No matter how you slice the pie (and this is true for most, if not all, MMO's) you have to make sacrifices. Not so, in EVE. Read on.

In EVE there are no defined roles in what you CAN do, but what you are capable of doing at that time. In essence, one can fly a "healing" ship, say a Guardian...and just as easily fly a Drake; a heavy tanking ship. The only sacrifice is time. No switching characters, leveling new characters or having to mess with those abominations called alts. One can be a fast and pestering frigate and then switch to a heavy dpsing Battlecruiser. It is advantageous to have alts of course. One of the most famous characters in the game named Chribba has more than 10 alts. None of which he pays for. Why? Because he wants to mine in all 4 racial Titans at a time. In this case two, but you can see my point.

It's a choice, and in Chribba's case he can't mine in two Titans at once, so he made two alts to fly them. So you choose what you want to do, and move from there. The race selection is irrelevant if only for looks. So right now, for example I'm training for freighters. Doesn't take long since I'm already along in training...but I am a combat pilot for Amarrian ships through and through. The fact (assuming I can afford it) that I can haul just as easily fly my industrial command ship known as an Orca (supports smaller mining ships etc.) as I can a freighter to a battleship is just awesome. Further, it's not that I can just get these ships into space, it's that I can fly every role I train for effectively. I'm not diminished in any way. I have an industry alt, because I want to be able to mine with the alt and use my main character's Orca ability. Woot!

This became somewhat of a long post...but it hopefully communicates that EVE is certainly worth a try, and will be enjoyed by those who enjoy spaceships. It's designed with the player in mind, and I only scratched the surface. For example, every single part of those ships that were in every screenshot (save the second one, those are NPC's) were built entirely by players, and sold on the market or in their own Alliance/corp construction stations. My mind is mildly blown when I look at that third screenshot with all those ships, and to think that they all were built by players. Every one. That's alot of dough.

Get into EVE Online, get past that learning curve, and rule a universe.

The SOPA/PIPA Blackout

As anyone has probably figured out, America's internet protested against the bills known as SOPA and PIPA today. They protested not by "occupying" anywhere, but by actually affecting places that would be hardest hit by these bills.

As you can see, sites (usually affecting only the United States, such as Wikipedia) are redirecting traffic to your local representatives and the like to remove support for SOPA and PIPA. By all accounts, it's working.
Alright, so enough with the acronyms. What does this all mean?

There are of course plenty of video's out that explain what these two bills contain. I like this one from Fight for the future:

Essentially, what you're looking at here is the ability to remove sites that are deemed "copyright-able" and then remove them. This could be potentially devastating, if only because of the greed that tends to run rampant among those with the power to do what they want. There are already bills that help to protect against piracy, and you can see how effective those have been. The point being, if these bills were to pass, the freedom to post what you want when you want, without regard to who was singing in the background etc, would be greatly diminished. 

I'm not the most effective avenue for conveying how dangerous this can be, I'll admit. I would highly recommend dropping by 'website 

Google+ Search Your World

Oh dear.
Ohhhh dear.

Beetches be crazay.

So, Google has decided to release integration of their Google+ network into search results. Twitter has put up a complaint, despite not renewing their agreement last year with Google to allow real time feeds of Twitter in their search engine. Honestly, Twitter is the biggest whiner thus far, and seems to be the only one at the moment. So let's start with them. It won't take long.

"Hey Twitter!"
"Hey Google."
"Bad day?"
"Just tired of not being the center of attention anymore. I mean...we're small, cute and convenient. What more do you need?"
"Well, your Twitter hits are that much more with us putting them right on the front page of searches! Speaking of which, it's time to renew our little agreement. It seems there are some changes, but nothing game breaking."
"Nah."
"Um...what?"
"We're working with Yahoo! and Microsoft and others now."
"You realize we're moving forward with Google+ right? It's going to be integrated into search...?"
"Yep. Thanks though!"
"If you say so...I mean...meh, never mind. See you in January!"
"What?"
"Nothing."

So not only did Twitter give the middle finger to Google in July of 2011, they are now complaining 6 months later about doing exactly what was told was going to happen. It's almost as if Twitter was calling Google's bluff. This is from that same article linked above:

Our vision is to have google.com/realtime include Google+ information along with other realtime data from a variety of sources.

This was said a long time ago. Why is Twitter putting up a hissy fit now? I'll tell you why: Google actually did it. Twitter's entire structure is based on relevance. If people don't tweet, Twitter dies. Slowly, but it will MySpace itself away into the ether. I personally like the idea of a social profile integrated into my search results.

Let me clarify though: I don't want just Google+. I loved Google RealTime Search when it was active, because when I used it I remember the time when the Samsung Galaxy S was expecting the Android update 2.2 and I set a RealTime search for T-Mobile's network (Froyo took a while...TOTALLY ironic though: I tweeted about it. lol!) Anyway, the tweets were showing up and blogs were posting about the update that I wanted and things worked wonderfully.

I can see, however, the problem that Twitter has with Google's results. If Google does indeed favor it's search results over the most relevant information (i.e. Mark Zuckerburg's profile on Google+ which has exactly zero posts rather than other more...usable information) then they are indeed violating their intent as a search engine. If they include all results, have a small area for social results then I can see how that would be pretty cool. Having results from Google+, Facebook, Path etc would seriously enhance my results. If my cousin, who lived in Germany for 12 years on an American base knew about German beer's and I Google Bitburg, his posts about Germany or Bitburg or beer would show up. It shouldn't matter what social network. That would be sweet. Personal information (ratings, recommendations, Genius etc.) is something that is reliable information because we trust the source. That's what Google is going for here. They aren't necessarily trying to push their results (although they have gotten hit for it in the past), they could be conceivably trying to get more accurate results. Fine by me.

Notice, speaking of the "Blue", that Facebook as remained conspicuously silent from this hissy fit. I think it's because of Microsoft's Bing and Facebook results already being paired. No one has said anything, and things have been smooth sailing. It's possible that Bing's market share, which is abysmal in comparison to Google's is small enough that no one cares. I mean, does anyone find it strange that Facebook goes with Bing and Twitter doesn't renew it's agreement with Google? One would think, economically, that these social networks (which again rely totally on exposure) would get the best deals they can with the biggest search engines out there. That includes Google. Yet, for all the exposure and search results that would..well..result from an agreement, the two biggest social networks on the planet (aside from the rising star of Google+) have decided not to use Google. Some have stated that a Google/Facebook/Twitter agreement would give Google an unfair "top down" view of those social networks data. This is fair to say, and possibly an agreement between the companies can be reached to alleviate those woes.

Personally Twitter has just possibly figured out that they got screwed, and it's like my sister choosing the bigger half and realizing that it was hollow on the inside. Twitter has always had a rocky history, and they've been close to failing before. Innovation and design have saved them multiple times, and now that they've realized that they made a bad decision...it seems petty to be screaming about it now.

Official Google Blog: Search, plus Your World

Official Google Blog: Search, plus Your World: Google Search has always been about finding the best results for you. Sometimes that means results from the public web, but sometimes it mea...

Holly day!

Christmas was great. I didn't even get anything spectacular, just exactly what I wanted. Cheap lottery tickets, the Skyrim game guide and like $50. My kind of Christmas. So I'm posting so that I get in the habit, because among my New Years resolutions that are actually achievable, one is to post something at least once a week about relevant topics. While this isn't technically a relevant topic...it'll have to do for now.

So, Iran is getting a beating internationally. The link is from CNN's blog, and while I'm not one to endorse one news agency or another, it seemed the plain Jane type of deal regarding the video. If you don't take the time to actually look at the video, it's basically Iran stating that America needs to stay out of the Straight of Hormuz (36 mile wide choke point in which 1/3 of the worlds oil is transported through). Personally, Iran is bluffing. There would be no reason to exercise military operations in a critical choke point of the transport of oil unless you feel as if certain world imposed sanctions would actually affect you. I mean, I'm sure that Iran deserves respect, and I respect that. They are a sovereign nation, and all that this encompasses...which also makes them responsible for what they say and do.

Fluffing up (I imagine a peacock or blow-fish. Get it? Do ya?) is part of politics. Everyone does it. Rarely does a country go this far though, as to affect oil. They're taking a resource that America relies on heavily and claiming they have the resources to hold that choke point. Even if we go international, every allied country on the planet that uses oil would have a part in this. If we limit the scope to just an Iranian-American conflict...America has the technology and the manpower to simply roll Iran. As I stated before, Iran is a power in it's region to be sure, but just like Iraq called the Gulf War the "mother of all wars" (in which a coalition of over 27 nations established themselves against Iraq), Iran would be alone in their conflict. You can't affect a world resource and expect to be backed up by even the most extreme of governments. Even Iraq was abandoned by the Arab League during the conflict. What's more: Egypt, Afghanistan, Libya, Tunisia...these are all nations that have had recent revolutions in the most violent of ways. So this begs the question: Is Iran fluffing up just to vicariously oppress their citizens from starting similar revolutions?

I remember the 2009-2010 election riots in Iran. There was another riot in 2011. Iran is a hotbed of activity, and when the Egyptian dictator was forced to step down, and Gaddafi was eventually killed...it shows that no government is immune to change. Iran needs to be careful here. If Iran starts to focus on international affairs and their people realize that Iran isn't impervious to all harm, it could spell trouble eventually.

In summary:
Iran is foolish to threaten anything, and this is just another one of their games. They can't possibly be naive enough to think they can engage in any protracted war with America, even after our recent pullout from (of all places) Iraq. This wouldn't be a war over territory either. It would be a simple smash and grab from Iran. We wouldn't even have to declare anything. We could march in, clear the way and back out. Simple enough, right?
Message to Iran: easy does it guys. Ma always told me to use my words, not my fists. She also told me that if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got. So obviously, if Iran keeps this path of nuclear arming (whether through power or weapons) and then "exercise" in a choke point of oil transport: this will get you sanctions; and possibly a military response...not an exercise.