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Yesterday I did something I didn’t think I would ever do.  I purchased an apple product, an iPad.  If you know me, you know that I think apple products are great.  Their designs are superb, often among the best there is.  They innovate with nice features like the mag-safe power plugs found on their laptops.  And of course their marketing is pure genius as is evident by their ability to instill within the masses a sense of need for their products as well as branding. (iPod is synonymous with portable music player).  Yet I can’t stand Apple.  If apple were a person I would describe him/her as pompous and controlling.  I can’t stand how everything is proprietary. They use their own 30-pin connector rather than the standard micro USB.  They don’t let you install Mac OS on the hardware of your choice.  They release products with few options (unless you count color) and often at a very slow pace  (example the first iPhone was 2g even though 3g was very prevalent).  Just because they don’t like something (Read: flash) they don’t allow it on their device.

Anyways, I could rant on a bit more but this is all besides the point, other than pointing out why I don’t buy their products.  But I’ve been waiting for a decent android tablet for some time now, saving my allowance for months.  When the first decent android tablet came out, running honeycomb, for $600 I was not happy.  I could wait until prices come down or cheaper tablets come out but I’ve already been waiting for some time.  Then the iPad 2 was announced.  This pushed the iPad’s price to $399 ($349 for refurbs).  I debated but eventually decided that its’ shortcomings were made up but the low price.

So Tuesday, the 8th of March I will be an apple fanbo…at least to the unknowing eye…

Cheers!

So the market is being flooded with Tablets, thanks to the debut of the iPad last year. Not that tablets are new, but the iPad really did make it a device that the average consumer wanted. Now you have tablets with iOS (iPad), Android(Xoom, Adam, etc), WebOS (TouchPad), and Rim’s Blackberry tablet OS (PlayBook).   I’m leaning towards an Android tablet myself since I have an an Android phone.  The question become which?  The Xoom is pretty much the cream of the crop, but with the $800 price tag I think it’s too expensive.  The Adam is a decent device, though not yet up to Honeycomb.  The real deterrent though is the screen size.  1024×600…too small.  I prefer the 1280×800 of the Xoom. But again, too expensive.  So I’m waiting for an Android 3.0 based tablet with a 10″, 1280×800 screen , dual core processor and around 1.5 lbs… Hurry up! I want one yesterday!

Tags: Android, Gadgets, Tablet

I was doing what I love most about OO programing languages the other day: using polymorphism. Well, I happen to be inheriting from a class that had a method that had some behavior that needed to be overridden my class. So I did what I always do…I added the @Override annotation to the method in my new class and redefined the behavior to suite my needs. When I ran the application I didn’t seem to be getting the functionality of my new method. I put some break points and walked through the code. Sure enough, the application was executing the code from the base class. What was going on? I checked and double check and then realized that the method was static! I even used the static keyword on my method but for some reason it didn’t click that I was trying to over ride a Class method rather than an instance method.  So of course when I was executing this code the reference was of the base class type so the base class static method was being called.  Luckily I noticed this quickly since I tend to test small changes often as long as they are fast to test.  So be warned!  Overriding static methods is actually hiding.

Tags: java, polymorphism, static

If there’s one constant in my life it’s not being constant. I tend to be very bi-polar in what I do. Moderation doesn’t seem to be something I’m capable of. Since I started this blog I came up with a grand plan to read the Wheel of Time (by Robert Jordan) series by the time the last and final book is released in early 2012 by Brandon Sanderson. I figured If I read one book a month I’d be ready. The problem is I have very little control when it comes to a good book. I have a very, VERY hard time putting it down. So I started less than a month ago and now I’m in book 6. I occassionally do something towards android, but not as much as I should. Even as that goes I’m being side track.

Currently I’m trying to create a proof of concept app that uses Java Web Services to process some requests from an android app. It’s actually related to a project I work on at Paladin, though it’s not something that will actually go into the project, just something that would be cool if it was a customer requirement. Besides, I really like working with web services and haven’t really had any practical hands on experience since College.

On a another note CES 2011 just completed and there are some pretty slick devices headed out. As for innovation I was really impressed with the Motorola Atrix that is headed to ATT soon. It takes the concept of a smart phone that does everything to extremes as you plug it in to a laptop dock, desktop dock and even a media center mode. Very slick. And then of course Honeycomb (android 3.0) tablets were unveiled. I have been saving to buy one when android was made for a tablet and Honeycomb is just that. Right now of course the flagship device is the Motorola Xoom. Very nice and lots of impressive specs. The only thing is it’s rather boring as far as a tablet form factor goes. It’s exactly what you would expect a iPad competitor to look like with android OS on board. The form factor that has my eyes is the Adam by Notion Ink. But I’m not entirely sold on the custom Eden software. Sure it look very practical and useful, kind of like android when it debuted over 2 years ago…but it doesn’t have the eye candy that makes using it a real pleasure. For some, this is great. Many nerds prefer function before beauty…but I like both. And so far, stock Honeycomb does this. We’ll see what wins out in the end.

Tags: Android, Books, Gadgets

This is my first post.  I was setting up a website but finally got bored.  I’ve done it before and it’s such a tedious process, with no new or exciting problems to solve.  So…I had wordpress installed.  Now I can just get to what I really want to do and share my struggles, thoughts, biased opinions and what not.  What’s great is it doesn’t even matter since this site won’t even have many visitors.

Anyways, my current “thing” is android.  I’ve been reading “Hello, Android” by Ed Burnette for a little bit now.  I’ve just been following a little tutorial about building Sudoku.  I got about as far as the logic involved in populating the numbers on the game grid before I got bored.  Luckily that was the last chapter on Sudoku before it moved on to bigger and better things (This might be fun, but I already did a Sudoku program in college, so I didn’t really care to do it all over again).  What I really want to do is work on my own app.  I’ve got some ideas about making another to do list app (as if there aren’t already enough of those on the market).  I plan on really integrating it with goal setting as a means of self improvement.  You might even call it a goal setting app with to do list functionality.

One of my great weaknesses and maybe even the reason I want to write this program is that I like to start things but have a hard time finishing them.  I get really excited about something but as time goes I grow bored of it or else get distracted by something else.  So I really need to start setting and achieving goals myself.  So the goal of this app will be to help me get organized and grow as a person.  However, if someone does happen to read this and find themselves in my shoes (unhappy with what the android market currently offers in goal setting apps), please feel free to comment and let me know what kinds of things you would like to see in such an app.  Another goal of this app is just to get something polished in the market so I can say I published an app.  so no, I don’t expect to get rich off this app.  I plan to offer it for free with ads in a non critical location.

More to follow as I get into this app.

Tags: Android, programming, technology