People want to own their music.- Steve Jobs
Monday, May 26, 2014
Fanboy - There Can Be Only One
Pick your poison and commit, because that's how you enjoy it. My brother was over, heard my internet radio streaming, and asked what it was. I told him it iTunes Radio. When he asked me if I liked it better than Pandora there was only one answer? No. Without a doubt, I like the stations I used to listen to on Pandora better than the stations I listen to on iTunes Radio. So why don't I listen to Pandora? Because I'm a fanboy. Apple is the ecosystem I choose to support and so I do my best to use Apple with all my heart and receive the experience they are trying to give me. Apple Maps. Apple Podcast app. iTunes Radio. iTunes. AppleTV. AirPlay to Airport Express devices. I know that there are better options on the market, but I have this hope that if I give my money to Apple, Apple will do good things with it.
Sometimes I wish that I could be a fanboy of another ecosystem. Android, Chromebook, Google Maps, Google Music, Google Video -- it's another tempting place to be. I could declare myself a Google fanboy, wear Google Glass, and mock the Apple kids with all the stuff I could do and they can't. But I am not an Google fanboy.
I look over at the Microsoft Surface 3 and drool. For a decade (wow, really? long time) I have said all I want is a laptop where the keyboard detaches. Not an iPad. Not a big phone. A beautiful touch interface laptop, where I can leave the keyboard at home. I think Microsoft has gotten it right - the tablet they have been trying to build for a decade (wow, really? long time). I could see this great world of the Surface, 3, Windows Phone, Windows 8 running on some amazing laptop hardware with an Xbox as my home entertainment system. That would be a cool place to be. But I am not a Microsoft fanboy.
No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. For now - Apple is mother. Apple is father. Don't screw it up.
Thursday, May 22, 2014
I Need a Drone
Look, this thing can’t land on somebody’s head while they’re walking around their neighborhood.- Jeff Bezos
Sibling Chaos: "I'm surprised you don't own a drone."
Me: "What am I going to do with a drone, spy on neighbors? I only buy ridiculous toys with functional value."
SC: "In a few years, you're going to be playing frisbee or baseball with Mini-Chaos and he's going to get a toy stuck on the roof? How are you going to get that toy down? Use a ladder?"
Me: "A ladder? Like a chump!?!? I need a drone!"
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Read about this Ray Gun
These things must be true, or else it would not be a ray-gun. But it is. Ray-guns come from space.- James Alan Gardner
I wrote a lot of poetry in high school and college. Some of it was good. I read a lot of poetry in high school and college because I liked it. I eventually stopped reading poetry and stopped writing poetry.
In my mid-twenties I wrote a lot of short stories. Some of it was good - you can even find it on my site. I read a lot of short stories in my mid-twenties because I liked it. I eventually stopped reading short stories and stopped writing them. I have three short stories that are stopped in the middle and I'm not sure if I'll ever finish. Every year for NaNoWriMo I challenge myself to write one complete start-to-finish story (of any length) and I fail.
In preparation for this years NaNoWriMo I started to read short stories to see if I could be inspired. I was titalated by one I read last week. It was utterly delightful. The full text is findable online, so stop what you are doing and read it. You'll enjoy it.
The Ray-Gun: A Love Story by James Alan Gardner
This is a story about a ray-gun. The ray-gun will not be explained except to say, "It shoots rays."
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