Google+

For those who read my blog, much of my online interaction is now done via Google+.  You can sign up here (plus.google.com), and add me to one of your circles (https://plus.google.com/100454010796032763314) to follow my public thoughts.  I will still try to occasionally update posts here, but by and large I am loving Google+.

Musings on Amazon's new Android App Store Part 2

Today I revisit my musings on Amazon's new Android App Store.  I was notified this morning that there was an update for the store.  The notification came to me directly through the AppStore App, and not through my usual software update channels.  I did not install it because of the reasons listed in my previous musings.  Later today, I was doing a little research on Amazon's App Store, and what I learned shocked me.

When you install applications from the Amazon App Store, you do not really own the application.  What you instead are installing, is Amazon's permission to run an app, as long as you are connected to their site.  The difference?  You cannot uninstall Amazon's App Store and still run apps downloaded from it.  You cannot log out of Amazon's App Store and still run apps downloaded from it.  At some future point, Amazon could require you to pay again, or remove your ability to run the apps you thought you had purchased.  If your phone is not connected to the internet, your apps may or may not work (I never actually tried this out).

So it turns out, that Amazon wants to take over your phone.  They want to control what you buy, how you buy it, when you can use it, and if you don't like it, they can turn it off, or keep you from using it.  I'm sorry Amazon, I usually like your services, but this one really missed the mark.  I have uninstalled your App Store, and will not be using it again.  I would recommend the same for anyone else who wants control over their phones.

What do you think?

Musings on Being Connected

Connectivity is highly overrated, yet once experienced, it is something many people cannot live without.  Carry around a smartphone with wireless internet constantly at your fingertips for a few days, and you will find it difficult to put down.

I did not have a smartphone until recently.  I got a Samsung Nexus S shortly after they came out, and I use it exclusively as a handheld computer for amusement, enlightenment, and connectivity.  It keeps me occupied while I am waiting for the bus, commuting to and from work, and whenever I have something I am waiting on.  It keeps me up to date on my e-mail, my news, and my instant messages.  Yet despite all this, I likely don't get any more value out of this little toy than I would out of my desktop or laptop computers.  Yes, it is certainly convenient. Yes, it can be addicting, but at the end of the day, it is not an absolute necessity.  This being the case, why is it so hard to put down?

I think that we, as a people, have become so attached to our technology; to those perceived connections that it brings us, that we are afraid that by putting it down we will miss something important.  We have become a nation of "always on" "always available" people.  We solicit advice from our 'friends' about what to make for dinner, where to go shopping, or what to do this weekend, not by calling them up, but by leaving them a message on their walls.

In the midst of all this, even though we may be communicating more than ever, some of us are forgetting how to carry on meaningful conversations.  There is more to conversation than a witty status, a cute wall post, or a hasty e-mail.  Let us take some time this week to truly talk to the people we care about.  Let us put down the smartphones, turn off the computers, and take some time to find out how are friends are really doing.

What do you think?

Musings on a self-describing flier

Not really much to say about this.  I saw this flier sitting at the bottom of a pool of water, and I found it incredibly accurate.  It's funny when life describes itself.
What do you think?

Musings on Amazon's new Android App Store

Today I tried out Amazon's new Android App Store.  Their App Store is a new offering aiming to monetize off of the Android phone OS system's increasing popularity.  By arranging some limited exclusive offerings, Amazon offers some compelling reasons to adopt their new service.  Unfortunately for them, their service does not deliver where it counts, and I will only be using their new App Store when no other alternative exists.

User interaction is the first area requiring attention.  I received an e-mail from Amazon asking me to try out the store, so I clicked on the link from within my Android phone.  Instead of taking me right to the store, or right to a download, I was taken to a login page where I had to sign into my Amazon account.  Then I clicked a link for the store download, and was again prompted for an e-mail address where I was e-mailed instructions on how to go about downloading and installing the store.  Finally, after 2 e-mails, and entering my e-mail address twice, I was able to install the App Store and begin actually using it.

Now that I had the store installed, I thought it would be trivial to download the free App offering of the day.  I couldn't have been more wrong.  I clicked on the app I wanted, and because it was free I thought, ok, I can download it now.  Instead, I was prompted to sign into Amazon (again).  Now that I was once again signed in, I was prompted to set up 1-click purchasing.  I would not be allowed to download my app otherwise, I was told.

At this point I began questioning whether it was even worth all this effort for a free app.  In the spirit of persistence, however, I continued.  I confirmed my address and contact information, despite nagging thoughts that they really don't need any of this for a download (free or paid).  Finally, after inputting all this information, Amazon asked me for my cell phone number so they could tie the one click setup to my phone.  Since I don't use the phone for phone service, but just in WiFi mode, I have no number.  I consider it a huge oversight on Amazon's part to require this for the 1-click purchasing.

Frustrated that I could not set up the 1-click as I was told I had to, I backed out of the entire thing.  Out of exasperation, I tried downloading the app one more time.  Much to my surprise, it actually worked.  Apparently, if you don't use the 1-click for purchasing, you just have to sign completely in to Amazon every time you want to buy (or download free) anything at all.  They don't tell you this, however, until you get to the end of the 1-click setup.

Side by side, Google's Android Marketplace is far superior to Amazon's Android App Store in almost every way.  Not only can you browse, select, download, and install applications on your phone from your computer's web browser, but you are not required to give Google any information about address, credit cards, etc. in order to download free apps.  Additionally, you only have to sign in to the App Store once (so they know what device to send the app to) in order to complete any purchase.  The Marketplace is also tied into Android, so you don't have to download anything special or tweak any system settings to make it work either.

All in all, if I were to download, install, and run identical apps onto my phone from both Amazon's App Store and Android Marketplace, the Marketplace would be far faster, easier, and simpler to user, and wouldn't leave me wondering if unusual charges will be showing up on my credit card.  Until Amazon can address these usability concerns, I wouldn't recommend using their App Store at all.

What do you think? Have you had occasion to try out Amazon's Android App Store yet?

Musings on Smokers

Disclaimer: This is a rant posting.  So I was on my way home from work today, and as the elevator door opens (yes, I know, I take the elevator a whole 3 floors down), the smell of fresh tobacco smoke comes wafting out of the elevator.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind if people want to poison themselves into a slow and painful death, but please please please, do it where I don't have to smell it.  If you want to smoke 3 packs during a break from work, walk around the building once or twice to let the smell dissipate before you come back into the building.

If I can still smell it hanging poignantly around your personal space when you get off the elevator; if I can still smell it the entire ride down the elevator after you have already gotten off the elevator; that is a sign that you came back inside too quickly.  Anyway, I hope nobody takes offense at this, but that is how I feel.

What do you think?

Musings on Filing Taxes Electronically

Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of TurboTax.  When I buy software for $70-$80, however, I don't usually expect to pay that much again for all the functionality that I want to use in that software.  Lets assume we had a word processor, how would you like to type up a full document, but then be asked to pay extra so you could print it?  Absurd, right?  Yet, when you purchase tax software, there seems to be this unwritten rule that the software company can gorge you for more money, because after all, they just got you $X back on your return.  You buy their software, and then after they taunt you with your expected return amount, they tell you that if you want it 2-3 weeks faster, you have to pay them an extra $20-$40 to file it electronically.  Additionally, if you are one of those rare people who happens to have earned money in more than one state (and thus, have to file in more than one state), (translated, about 80% of the known population), than they want to charge you another $40 or so for the additional 10% functionality that is required to add on the additional state you need. Anyway, I don't think that is a very nice way to run a software company.  What do you think?

Musings on March Madness

NCAA Basketball.  For some, it is almost a religion.  For others, an amusing pastime to give them something to think about during the third month of the year.  Either way, it is fun to follow.  I have always found the concept of a single elimination tournament to be somewhat biased though.  The way to choose a champion is not to say: "Hey, lets throw 64 teams into a big single elimination tournament and give a big trophy to the one team that doesn't lose once."  That is merely a good way to choose a lucky team.  Such a system does not play well for number 1 cede Pittsburgh, who was defeated by Butler today.  For the NCAA to truly honor the best teams in college basketball, they should hold a tournament that allows the teams to truly prove themselves on the court.  This could be through a double elimination tournament, or it could be in a fashion similar to the NBA, with multiple games to determine a winner per round.  Either way could prove difficult to implement, but both would provide a more clear standing of who the best teams are.  Both would be more fair than polls or a single elimination tournament.
Thoughts?

Musings on the Bleeding Edge

Technology is funny.  When used for its intended purpose, it is a tool; a tool which can be used for as long as the pieces last without major issues.  Technology, however, generally has a way of making us less patient.  If I give you a tool which reduces the time it takes to do something by 50%, eventually you will say: "It is great that I can do this task so much easier now, but it would be nice if I could do it even faster."  Thus we introduce obsolescence.  There are entire professions of people devoted to making things faster.  This profession is called engineers.  In fact, some engineers are so good at what they do, that they make tools whose only job is to help them make faster tools.  What used to take hours, or days can now be done in milliseconds.  News of natural disasters can now travel faster than the disaster's impact.  A letter which used to take weeks to travel overseas can now get there in mere moments.  In the midst of all this, we are no longer satisfied with the extraordinary advances we have made.  Instead, we want things even faster, better, and easier than before.  In addition to all this, our technology's obsolescence is now influenced by the gadgets and gizmos we see our friends using.  Somehow, our cell phone which was so cool 2 weeks ago, is now woefully slow and out of date, merely by seeing our neighbor's smartphone.  Our laptop, which we purchased several months back, now pales in comparison.  At what point will our need for better and faster technology stop?  What is the logical extent of computing?
Thoughts?

Musings on Taxes

So I have been working on my tax return for 2010, and in doing so, ran across what seems to me to be an unusual situation.  Deep within the list of potential deductions, TurboTax asks me how much money I spent on preparing my taxes.  Why?  Because if I spent more than $1400 or so, I can count it as a deduction on my taxes.  This fact alone is proof enough to me that our tax laws are too messed up and convoluted.  If we have to give people deductions on their taxes because preparing their taxes is so complicated, than we ought to simplify things significantly.
Thoughts?

Musings on Gasoline Purchase Habits

Why is it that when gas prices go up, the gas station seems to get more crowded?  This is particularly true at venues which typically sell gas 10-15 cents cheaper than competitors.  Even though the discount amount is about the same as always, and if you look at it as a percentage of the price per gallon the discount is actually smaller, these gas stations seem to get more crowded when the price goes up.
Let's take Costco for example.  Today's gas prices in the Bay Area are close to $4.00 per gallon.  Costco, by contrast, which typically sells gas for 10 cents per gallon less, sells gas today for $3.90.  When the price is lower (say, $2.00 and $1.90 respectively) the discount is .10/2.00, or 1/20, or 5%.  When the price is what it was today, the discount is .10/4.00, or 1/40, or 2.5%.  Since the consumer will save $2.00 when he fills up a 20 gallon tank regardless of initial price ($.10x20 = $2.00), then there is no economic reason why more people should purchase gas from Costco when the price is higher than any other time.  Of course, this all leads to the photo of the day:

I did some math while I waited the 5 minutes for my turn to pump gas.  There are 4 columns of gas pumps, with 4 pumps on each column, evenly distributed on each side of the column. This means there are 8 lines of cars waiting to fill up their tanks at any given time.  When I arrived at the station today, every line was at least 4 cars long, not including the vehicles already pumping gas.  That means that there were 4x8, or 32 vehicles waiting to pump, and 16 pumping at pretty much any given time. On the whole, that means there were about 50 vehicles at the station pretty constantly.  That, in my opinion, is rather crazy. When you compare this data to an average gas station, I suspect that we would find that Costco gets more customers purchasing gas per hour, than an average station does during the course of a day.

Now, just for fun, lets do some rough estimates.  If each Costco customer buys 15 gallons of gas (on average), and it takes 2 minutes for the vehicle to pull into place, pump the gas, and drive off, then Costco would have, on average, 16 pumps x 60 minutes per hour / 2 minutes per vehicle = 480 vehicles per hour.  480 vehicles x 15 gallons = 7200 gallons/hour sold throughout the day.  Presuming that the station is open for 12 hours, than the sum total of gas sold for 1 day would be 734,400 gallons. If then presume that Costco marks up gas on a nominal basis (lets say $.01), then Costco would earn $7,344/day from gasoline sales alone. Lets do the math now, to determine how much gasoline a normal station would need to sell to make the same profit. Since regular stations have a higher profit margin ($.11), they naturally need fewer customers to make the same profit. this would be $7,344/.11, or 66,763.6 gallons of gas that they need to sell during a day. Presuming that the average gas station is open 24 hours, instead of 12, then they would need to sell 66,763.6/24, or 2781.81 gallons per hour.  Again presuming an average purchase of 15 gallons per vehicle, then the average station would need 2781.81/15, or 185.45 vehicles per hour stopping at their station to fill up.  This, of course, is a little more than 3 vehicles per minute.  Now I don't think I have ever seen a gas station with that much business during a Wednesday at noon.

Anyway, the short version of all this, is that Costco must be raking in the money from gasoline sales, unless they are selling it with 0 profit margin.  The other lesson to take away from this, is that owning a gas station is not a very good way to earn lots of money quickly.

What are your thoughts?

Musings on a Cr-48

I received a Cr-48 today. For those of you who don't know, a Cr-48 is a laptop computer running Google's Chrome Operating System. The Chrome Operating System, or Chrome OS, is a small lightweight operating system for the computer that allows it to startup and shutdown very quickly. Beyond that, it runs a web browser. This may not seem like much for a computer to do, but when you consider all the different things that a person can do on the internet these days, the question is better phrased: what can't it do? Already I have checked my e-mail, played some games, edited both the photos posted with this entry, checked my phone messages, and created this blog. Later I may check out some documents, perhaps balance the checkbook, or maybe create a slideshow presentation. All this I can do for free from the comfort of my recliner, and all this can be done without using anything except a browser. This is called cloud computing, and the Cr-48 is designed to run in the cloud. Additionally, if something awful were to happen to this computer, everything that I am doing on it would be safe and sound, and I could pick it up again just as soon as I sat down at a different computer. That means I don't have to worry about dropping this laptop, spilling a glass of water on it, or having the battery run out at an inopportune time. Working in the cloud means that all your data is saved, all the time.

Anyway, lets see some pictures!

So the Cr-48 is a sleek looking laptop with a full sized keyboard. Instead of the normal function keys along the top row, Google has instead provided a set of more internet-relevant keys. Forward and back keys, refresh, and tab navigation keys. These seem quite convenient, but have yet to be useful to me. I am a big fan of the large screen, however, and the long battery life is also very attractive. Also, the machine itself goes to sleep and wakes up in less than 2 seconds. That is downright amazing!

Additionally, Google included this full sized laptop graphic sticker with the machine. Not only did it come with a nifty graphic, but it also included a dozen or so stickers that I could place wherever I wanted, to customize the graphic and personalize the machine. This is a nice touch, and makes for some fun.

Finally, the Cr-48 seems to come with a basic Verizon data plan for 2 years. I have not tried this out yet, so I can't speak for the speed or quality of the internet service available through it, but it is nice to know that if I need to look up an address while I am on the road, or if an urgent message comes in while I am on vacation with no wifi, I can still use this computer as designed. All in all, I am excited to try it out and put it through its paces. After all, computers are supposed to work for us, not the other way around.