mind-musings and babble-worthy literature

‘ gadgets ’ Category

The Babbler #6: fish bone phobias, toy nostalgia, and the iPad

1 Comment // Written on Mar 28, 2010 // babble, designing, food, gadgets

Welcome to the Babbler, where I try to condense and summarize what has happened in a period of time since my last post with brief and random thoughts usually because i haven’t had the time to blog anything in between.  So some of what I say may make sense, some may not.  But that’s the premise, all the babble that’s fit to blog! So off we go:


Fish-bone phobia
So, it  has been a while since I have posted an entry. Was it because of  Writers block? Partly. However, the other reason was because someone in the family fell gravely ill due to a fish bone lodged in the small intestine. The experience itself was dramatic, so I will not go into detail. However, what I can say is that it has changed my eating habits.  My best friend Abner is a bit of a health nut…however he has given me some of the best health advice on healthy eating and exercise.  And by “good health advice”, I don’t mean fancy numbers or charts or paying for equipment from infomercials, I mean the ability to work towards a goal in a realistic manner.  However, the only issue is that I have too nervous to eat any fish of any kind due to some fear that one day I’ll have a bone lodged somewhere in my system.  Chances are, it’s probably all in my head.  I’ll get over it, but until I feel ready I don’t think I’m going to be dining on mojarra any time soon. There are other ways to keep healthy, and so far I am doing a good job at it.

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My life according to Up In the Air

No Comment // Written on Dec 05, 2009 // babble, family, film, friends, gadgets, romance, thoughts, travel

This year for the holidays, I plan on flying with the family abroad for vacation for the first time in three years.  I really wanted to try another state or country as a destination, but my mom insisted on Colombia.  Usually the idea of a trip would be fun to anyone, a chance to escape the city life for a little bit of respite.  But there is something about my family and packing that usually results in chaos.  Either way, I love my family all the same.  So as a break from all the working and packing, I decided to go with my brother Kevin to a limited showing of Up In the Air. Continue reading →

The Babbler #5: costume creativity, reminders, and the droid

No Comment // Written on Nov 06, 2009 // babble, friends, gadgets, night, outings, parties, tech

Welcome to the Babbler, where I condense and summarize what has happened in a period of time since my last post with brief and random thoughts usually because i haven’t had the time to blog in between. Some of what I say may make sense, some may not.  But that’s the premise, all the babble that’s fit to blog! So off we go:

1. It’s been a while since I went out for Halloween, last year I did not do anything because I never had the time nor did I not want to make the same error I did years ago and buy an expensive costume that I would never use again In my life (I did one time, and It cost a little over $100).  This year I wanted to do something, go somewhere, be In the thick of It…I mean this IS New York.  First thing I did was get a costume, something affordable.  So I dressed up as a surgeon, and the ensemble cost me only $50.  In addition, I plan on giving the costume away to my family abroad as well.  While I was out with my brother and a few friends, I saw many people who really went out of their way to be creative in designing their costumes for close to $0.  In general, people tend to be more creative and inventive when short-funded, which is neat in a way.  Here are the top three costumes I saw that where creative:
1) the serial killer (a black jumpsuit with taped cereal boxes, where each box was blood-stained with a knife)
2) the pin cushion (brown canvas dress with foam tips pinned all over)
3) one of the crazy 88 henchmen from Kill Bill Vol 1 (just a mask covering the eyes, and a suit)

2. I love my iphone, it has changed my life in many good ways.  But before you call me an apple zealot or fan-boy, I must admit that Google is making great strides in their Android OS.  The success of most major-released Android devices proves that open-source software is truly the way to go.  I mean look at Google Voice…Apple stopped the app from hitting the iPhone because someone made a big stink (i’m looking at you AT&T), yet on Android it’s released and used with positive raves.  Then comes the Motorola Droid with it’s wifi, 5MP camera compared to iphone’s 3.2, an interchangeable battery which iphone doesn’t have, a big 3.7-inch 854 x 480 touchscreen which is bigger than the iphones’, expandable MicroSDHC storage compared to the iphone’s static internal storage, AND last but not least…FREE navigation by Google Maps compared to $60+ apps for the iphone that do the same thing.  The only catch is that it’s for Verizon and it’s CDMA network…but there are Android phones on GSM carriers like T-Mobile (which I renewed my contract with recently).  To summarize, Google is slowly doing the things for their Android OS that Apple refuses do for iphone OS.  If Apple keeps this up, then as much as I love their products, I will not hesitate to jump ship and make the switch to Android.

3. not too long ago, my friend Al celebrated his 1st anniversary of his blog with a brief post thanking his readers…it shook me up for one reason and one reason only: I forgot my blog’s anniversary.  Given that I feel I can excuse myself with a first offense…still…I think back to October 10th, 2005…the day I would start something where i’d share a part of my life with you all for five years and counting…

…wow…five years…that’s a lot.  This blog started as a way for me to channel out my stress from mourning the death of my father.  From there it just evolved somehow surviving everything from writer’s block to domain changes.  Five years ago I never saw myself carrying on this blog for longer than a year…but it’s still here, and I’m happy.  The day I decide to stop blogging, you’ll all know.  Until then, the show must go on…and I don’t see the show ending anytime soon.

And this time, I wont forget (thanks Al for the indirect reminder).

The Plug: WriteRoom for iPhone

No Comment // Written on Aug 23, 2009 // apple, gadgets, mobile, phone, tech

iphone-wr

Welcome to The Plug, where i like to give a review to anything tech and non-tech that i feel needs a shameless plug due to my liking.

This week i wish to discuss something i love to do…write.  If i did not like to write, then i’d probably not be maintaining a blog nor even having a twitter account…then again to write a tweet is the same as writing a text message…so never mind i said that.  I have a different editor to suit my needs…i use Word for general distributable docs, Textmate for coding and basic editing, and Scrivener for major writing such as short stories.  However, whether i’m writing a blog post, or a long chapter that requires my 110% attention, i dont like to be distracted.  Sure i could put my phone on airplane mode and close iTunes, but lately the typical windows/mac desktop contains so many things that could distract anyone…icons, system tray pop-ups, widgets, gadgets.  Even maximizing Word still shows me a plethora of buttons and options i can click with ease…truth be told, i love buttons and blinking lights…that’s how i got interested in tech and gadgets to begin with.

Enter WriteRoom from Hog Bay Software (mac only).  it’s essential, simplified, distraction-free writing.  Double-clicking on the app presents with a full black screen with green lettering…no buttons, no gimmicks, and the menu bar appears only when you point the mouse to it. Now lets talk about the iphone version…as far as text editors for phones are concerned, there’s so much you can do.  But for WR, i love it.  It does autosave, portrait, landscape, 3 buttons (left/right navigation, one to export), AND it’s distraction-free…well, provided i put the phone on airplane mode.  The only downside is that it doesn’t have any sync capabilities btween phone and desktop as well as with it’s Writeroom.ws service. It allows you to make it as a web-server so you can edit the doc from a browser, which isn’t steller if you can’t sync.

But i know what you’re thinking

why not just use notes.app?

Well it does have a minimal set of buttons, and it looks simplified.  The main difference is that the notes can be synced with Apple Mail and i’m sure Outlook for windows as well(i think…i need to verify that).  In the end, if syncing’s the big issue, stick to notes.  Otherwise, WriteRoom can offer you the best in simplified, distraction-free writing on the iPhone.

And don’t worry, as much as i’m a mac guy, i haven’t abandoned my windows bretheren.  For distraction-free writing, i use DarkRoom.

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