Steam Annoyances

So yeah, I’m still a bit undecided about Steam. On the one hand, it’s brilliant in that you can readily get new games and updates and such and everything magically happens in the background – the fact that you don’t have to install stuff is amazing. On the other hand, it’s a closed platform that could use a bit of opening up.

Motorola XOOM: A Third Look

So the big difference between then and now is that I bought a Samsung Galaxy S2 and wow does that purchase ever change things. The SGS2 makes almost every device on the market that isn’t a variant of the SGS2 look bad and this handedly includes the XOOM. Other than some very tablet-specific apps (like those that take advantage of fragments) and for applications where resolution changes everything, there’s almost nothing that the SGS2 can’t do better than my venerable “old” XOOM.

Fenix TK35 & TK70

I bought a Fenix TK35 sometime around the beginning of this year and it is a magnificent and impressive light. Having the second toggle button takes some getting used to though (my previous lights being of the more compact, tactical variety), however, this is an exceptionally solid light that I can rely on when the zombie apocalypse comes.

Well a couple months ago, I bought the [then] new Fenix TK70 making it the most… everything light in my little collection. While I love the light, there are some gripes I have with it (and nothing to do with weight/size).

Running Series: Little Tweaks, Tips and Apps (Part 4)

It’s been awhile since the last post, this edition deals with a very simple problem of universally blocking domains. While this is something often handled by ad and popup blockers etc., I prefer the platform-independent and much more direct host-blocking.

Hobbies

Some food for thought: it’s a good idea to have [several] hobbies, interests and passions. This notion, most people can agree to. What follows is a bit curious: we are often intensely repulsed by each other’s hobbies, interests and passions. This isn’t a good thing or a bad thing – it’s just a thing. Of course, we are not obligated to take a similar interest in the hobbies, interests and passions of our colleagues. The speed at which we segment our peers based on their interests is astounding though.

Android Diaries, Part 6: Keeping everything safe

I guess I got a bit ahead of myself with the rooting and custom ROMs. I mentioned briefly about how it’s strongly recommended to back everything up, but I guess I didn’t quite talk about how to exactly go about doing this! Never too late, read on.

Android Diaries, Part 5: Custom ROMS

In my last look at SGS2, I overviewed getting root access and getting core utilities installed and in place. Now most people can call it a day and move on with their lives knowing they have proper admin privileges on their phone. For me, the phone was almost perfect… only a few things really outstanding that were bugging me – but they bugged me enough, so the default configuration had to go.

Android Diaries, Part 4: Fixing the SGS2

The Samsung Galaxy S II is a wonderful device out of the box but the one thing that irks me is the TouchWiz UI skin. The plain simple Android experience is damn near perfect, I don’t understand why manufacturers need to add extra bloat and crap (MotoBlur, Sense, TouchWiz, etc.) to the user experience. This guide documents my attempts to get rid of all the excess crap.

Samsung Galaxy S II Review (9.5/10)

Let’s just get this out of the way: this phone is about as perfect as it gets for now. There are only a few places things Samsung could have improved on (although I suspect by the time the next round of super phones come out, these issues will all be resolved). Until the next round of super phones comes out, it’s very difficult to see past the sheer awesome that is the Samsung Galaxy S II.

Motorola XOOM: A second look…

Suffice it to say, I love my tablet. Sure it’s got tons of faults and it’s a very niche product, but I definitely love it. I’m not sure, however, if I would buy it again, now that I’ve had the chance to use it for a few months. Back when I got the XOOM, it was the premier Android tablet on the market (and the only Honeycomb one to date); now, the market has several other very worthy contenders and I’m not so sure I would go the XOOM route again.

Motorola XOOM WiFi Review (9/10)

So I got myself a tablet. There wasn’t a lot to choose from: the Apple iPad/iPad 2, Blackberry Playbook, Motorola XOOM WiFi and the Galaxy Tab. I think there may have been a few more but they didn’t catch my eye. Mind you, almost immediately after making my purchase, the ASUS Eee Transformer, Acer Iconia and new revised Galaxy Tab were announced/available. At the time the decision was down to iPad vs the XOOM. I ended up with the XOOM (the WiFi only version because [a] that’s what I want and [b] it’s the only model available in Canada at this time and [c] it’s expensive enough as is)

Android Diaries, Part 3: Gingerbread

I’ve been pretty happy with my cleaned up Milestone and I was content with running a rooted and slightly modded Android 2.2.1. Then I stumbled upon an article outlining a serious data vulnerability affecting Android versions up to and including 2.3.3. This gave me the final push I needed to take the next step with my phone.

Android Diaries, Part 2: Tools

The nice thing about smartphones, and more so, getting knee deep into the smartphone world is that your experience is exactly how you want it. You can use it plain vanilla out of the box, you can tear it down and rebuild every little detail (depending on the limitations of the device etc.) or you can settle in somewhere in the middle.
This post (which I will update as I discover more wonderful tools etc.) is an attempt to share my experiences with some of Android’s system tool type of applets, widgets and such. For reference sake, I run a Motorola Milestone on Canada’s Telus network. As such, I don’t have access to customized ROMs and such due to the restriction on the Milestone’s boot loader where all ROMs must be signed by Motorola.

Android Diaries, Part 1: Froyo

Welcome to the first of a totally new series about my experiences with Android. My first Android phone, the (at the time) flagship Motorola Milestone (the Canadian/Global interpretation of the Motorola Droid) is a pretty awesome out-of-the-box phone as is. When I bought my phone, it shipped with Éclair (2.0) and was shortly updated (2.1).
While these updates were nice and all, the overall feet dragging and slow time-to-market for the Google updates are a big turnoff. Hopefully Google steps in to take some form of stance for forcing the allowing-of updates to propagate through the market somehow.
Thankfully, Telus just recently released the long overdue update to the Android mobile operating system, finally my Motorola Milestone has Froyo (2.2.1) – and I’ve been knee deep in the sheer awesome that it brings.