Tablet Wars

Ever since the iPad came along, there's been two types of people; those who think it's an over-sized iPod, and those who want a portable computer. Things were good for a time; apple raked in cash like water down a storm drain, and people continued.

Fast forward to today; The iPad 2 is the thing everybody wants: it's fast, has FaceTime, and it can load all your apps. But there is another type of people now who embrace the future and apple's downfall: Android tablet users.

With lots of Android tablets coming around on a daily basis, it's hard to choose the best one. Personally, I believe all of them are better than iPads:

1. All of the Android tablets come with some form of memory expansion. Sure they're SD cards but most support 32GB, and a select few offer 64GB worth of space. Plus since they're on cards, so you can switch them out; one for movies, one for music, etc.

2. Again, the majority of Android tablets have an HDMI out port. Gaming and movies all in HD on your huge TV. iPads need the Apple TV, costing more money, and no gaming.

3. Full-size USB port. There are a select few Android tablets with this special feature like the Acer Iconia A500, the Motorola Xoom, and the Toshiba Folio. Support for USB flash drives is coming, then all the pictures, movies, and documents could all be on your tablet.

But even further than USB flash support, Android could eventually support external hard drives; having hundreds of movies and thousands of songs. Plus printers could supported as well, anything you need printing from your Android tablet? It would be simple: plug it in, and it works. With Apple? You need another app, and then a wireless app supported printer.

I could keep on listing things for why Android tablets are better, and as soon as the platform matures and these things are implemented, it will only be a matter of time until Apple's downfall.

Linux

Yep, I'm moving away from the herd called Windows. Gone will be the worry-some viruses, key loggers, spy-ware...

I installed Kubuntu on Monday and played around with it for a bit, getting used to the menus and how stuff works, like only clicking once to get a program up.

Then last night I tried to get back into Vista. It tried to load, but couldn't. I'm guessing that it was windows flipping the bird for installing Kubuntu. The other option was to completely wipe the drive clean and start all over again with Vista.

I remember using Red Hat Linux when I was a kid, I remember how completely different it was from windows, but even back then I ran into the same problem I have now. The difference now is that I'm totally ready to move to Linux. When I use my computer, it's 99.98% doing stuff online.

The occasional time offline is watching videos or typing up something. Many of the most popular programs around are made for Linux too, like: google chrome, VLC media player, Firefox, Thunderbird, and the list goes on. And there are programs that will mimic what their Windows counterparts can do, for example Open Office can both read and save files like Microsoft Office.

I could talk about Linux until I'm blue in the face and pass out, but I believe that the time people seriously start looking at alternatives to Windows is now. There are 100s of different versions of Linux, there's bound to be one for you.

I KNEW it!

I had been telling people all along that watching the reality TV shows are really dumb. They claim they are 'reality' but have you ever watched the ending credits? Have you seen how many writers there are?

Now its just me, but if they were going for a true reality series, they wouldnt need writers, because it would all come from the people on the show. But clearly thats not the case, as with Surivor, or Teen Mom, and especially Jersey Shore. In fact I read an interesting article about what happens to people after they watch 'reality' shows: it makes them dumb. I had been telling people for as long as Surivior came around that reality TV was just a ploy for more ratings and seasons and I was right. I hate it when Im right, because it usually takes years for other people to catch on and say 'Hey, what are the damaging effects of TV like this?'

Backing it up

I think with all my talk of all the bad stuff that could happen, I think it's time for a brighter topic; namely backing up recent human history.

What do I mean by backing it up? Well exactly like it sounds, putting it all onto a computer and keeping the information. Where would I put something important like this? I would put it in Switzerland, I mean think: they've always been neutral in the wars we have experienced.

What would go on the computer, I think it should contain a record of recent human history. How recent am I talking? Well I would say from the 1850s on: stuff from before this time are typically bias to their own thinking. The things that would go on it would be like snippets on the different languages, national boundary locations, photos of the different nations, landmarks, histories of different countries.

I would also put a detailed description of the births of the nations if the world, major events and disasters that effected the globe. Basically everything you'd find in an encyclopedia would go onto the computer. I imagine it would be done by professionals providing the unbiased history; nothing from Wikipedia since that changes all the time.

And it would be public knowledge about it's location. If only government officials know the location and the modern world goes down the drain; most likely government officials will be gone first from rioting or destruction and it would be lost. I would build it into a mountain, like NORAD where it could survive a nuclear explosion. It would be powered by the grid, but when the power goes out, it would run on batteries, or a hydro-electric plant, or some kind of natural power source.

I think I'm rambling at this point so I'll leave it there. It's nice to make almost daily updates, it gives a sense of accomplishment, knowing I can stick to a pseudo-schedule.

Hockey

I heard all about the aftermath of game 8 of the Stanley Cup. I mean really? Rioting in the streets won't change the fact that our team lost.

It's really sad to see how far people will go when their team doesn't win. I understand hockey is Canada's game. I understand that some people bleed hockey; and that it's ingrained from a young age. What I don't understand is how it could get so out of hand.

Yes everyone has a favorite team, mine are the Flames, but I don't follow hockey religiously, or make it my heartbeat. I'll get a little more into fan-mode when the Flames come close, but that's all. I won't go out of my way and take time off work to watch a Flames Stanley Cup, or head downtown and cram with other people trying to watch the game.

If Hockey is Canada's game, then all we've shown to the world is that we are a bunch of sore losers. All of the Gold Medal glory from the Olympics is gone, just as fast as the last buzzer sounded; it's quite sad that all of the work from Vancouver is torn down in an instant.

Robots

Hey, I'm back and this time I've been thinking about Robots. Not the little guys we've got running around, I mean the androids bent on our destruction.

I seem to have lots of types of posts, but I think they're important. I mean...living through the Robot/Android Armageddon? Yes please, I like living, and I've got some useful tips for combating the robotic overlords.

First, the most common household items that are effective. Fridge magnets are good since they are small and easily placeable, plus the robots won't want to touch them. Next up would be a microwave; they're great at frying electrical circuits; but can't move too far from a wall outlet unless you've got extension cables. Another one that came to my mind(if you've got one) is a pressure washer; blast their joints and heads and it should break them down.

The more exotic weapons would be like electro-magnets, an EMP, or stuff generally not available to the public. Another one would be a taser gun, easy to find, but a little difficult to get a hold of.

For the programing-inclined individuals, you could write a virus. It would stop them for a while until their memory gets flushed and they reboot.

So a few ideas for surviving the Robot/Android Apocalypse, if you've got a few, leave some comments. Knowledge is Power![ok I'll admit that was even corny for me]

Nintendo Wii HD

Oops. I meant to say the Wii U. Aside from the fancy presentation at E3 this year, the next console from Nintendo sounds quite awesome on paper: HD graphics, new controller, and the list goes on. The biggest thing that makes me excited is the fact that we finally, FINALLY have HD for the Wii.

Honestly I've been waiting on that single feature ever since they released the Wii way back in 2006[I can't believe it's 5 years old! That's crazy!] I remember retailers always being out of stock of the Wii component cables, everybody wanted them, secretly wishing they had full-blown 1080 resolution.

And Nintendo is planning on changing the way we play games. Again. I like the concept of the touch-screen controller, I think there will be lots of innovations both from Nintendo and from the hacker community. I can almost see a version of Android popping on the Wii U's controller, it's only a matter of time

Laundry

Yeah weird topic for a mental note I know, but it's what I'm doing right now. I'm trying the whole in-the-now type posting and honestly: I'm not sure what to write.

Ooh, well I did get Minecraft working and updated which is awesome for me, it makes me feel good that I fixed it. Also in 1.6.6Beta there's actually rainfall? Yeah...it's the coolest thing; though I was hoping that if it rained hard enough it would make little puddles or waterfalls/trickles down hillsides. But it's still cool.

Other than that...there's not much else I can think to say at the moment so I think I'll stop there.

Now for Mobiles!

Yep, I just updated the ol' blog with a new feature that blogger should have had a long time ago: a Mobile version of the Mental Notes! Yeppers, now rather than having a massive page to load onto your smartphone, it will load a mostly text version of the site.

Personally this feature should have been out like a couple of years ago...Mobile phones with internet have been around for a long time and Blogger just released the mobile version for blogs today I take it...It took like 8 years for a mobile version of my blog to come around?

I just think it would be nice if Blogger kept with the times, but meh, the blog is still here, and Ive been updating on a semi more regular basis. Oh if your smartphone/dumbphone doesnt load the mobile page correctly put this after the web address: /?m=1 I know on my Opera browser for iPhone it didnt load the mobile page but with that little addition it loaded it just fine.

Well, not much else to write about so im off to make delicious, hot popcorn...mmmm popcorn.

Movie Review!

Hey everyone, I'm back and this time *gasp* I have a movie Review! The movie I went and saw was Kung Fu Panda 2.

This movie has really set the standard for the martial art/computer animated world, though that genre is pretty bare anyway. The familiar voices return to their roles and perform very well, and we even hear more from the Furious Five, whereas in the first they didn't have a lot of dialog.

The detail of the CG was really impressive, and dare I say it: Dreamworks is right on Pixars' tail in that department. There were many scenes with beautiful imagery, filled with color and lots of fluid movement. The 3D effect they had for the film worked for many of the scenes, but on some it was lost, or rather not needed as much.

All in all, if you liked the first one, you'll like the second too; besides who doesn't want more Kung Fu action in a movie? The kids will like it too, because of the funny lines and antics from Po.