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In the car this morning

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 10:00:41 -0500

Me: *beep*! I beeped your nose!
Nora: But Daddy, it's not my birthday!

Obligatory first photo of a coffee cup (Taken with instagram)

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 11:04:41 -0500

Obligatory first photo of a coffee cup (Taken with instagram)

aftermath of a mid day snack (Photo by devlogic)

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 12:08:27 -0500

aftermath of a mid day snack (Photo by devlogic)

Photo by devlogic

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:53:44 -0500

Photo by devlogic

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 12:23:51 -0600

Photo by devlogic

Nora: I eat my leg. Nom, Nom Nom.

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 07:39:24 -0600

Nora: I eat my leg. Nom, Nom Nom.
Nora: that not taste good.

10 Best Android apps

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 16:10:00 -0600

I keep looking for articles on “the best Android apps” to install, and I keep running into horrible lists that make no sense. So I figured I’d add my voice to the mix, to try to add in some helpful advice.

First, a couple of notes:

Task killer apps are stupid. If you use one, consider stopping. You’re missing the point completely, and I hope you like missed email notifications, SMS/MMS messages, push notifications from your favorite apps, etc.
I have yet to find any apps that are worth a monthly subscription just for the app. (i.e., no associated web service or desktop app). There might be some out there, but if there are, they’re not on my radar.
If you make a similar list, and don’t include links to the Market, shame on you (I’m looking at you, PC Magazine). It took me all of 30 seconds to find, copy and paste every link in this post, and I don’t even have an editor.

So without further ado, my list:

Barcode Scanner -or- Google Goggles. Get one or the other. They’re the best way to scan QR Codes, and if you don’t have ICS and an NFC-enabled handset, they’re also the best way to quickly share contact information, apps, etc.
Any.DO. It’s a todo list manager on steroids. Works great, excellent looks, syncs with Google Tasks/Calendar.
Google Authenticator. Also, enable multi-factor authentication on your gmail account. Really. Do it now. Your lack of compromised accounts in the future will thank me.
Chrome Beta. If you’ve got Ice Cream Sandwich on your handset, get Chrome. It’s far and away better than the stock browser. I tried a couple of other alternate browsers (Dolphin HD, Maxthon), and hated them. I love Chrome.
SoundHound. I like it more than Shazam because of its ability to auto-share to social networks. I have a separate personal Twitter account just for SoundHound to share to; nice when I’m driving and don’t have time to look at the screen. Hit the listen button, then go back and look at Twitter later to see what song it was.
Swype. Best keyboard for Android that I’ve ever used.
Titanium Backup. If you’re rooted, you need this app. Full application + data backup, which is helpful if a new version of something you have is broken (or just sucks. I’m looking at you, Tweetdeck). Also, good for reinstalling all of your apps after you switch ROMs.
Tweakdeck. When Twitter bought Tweetdeck, everyone knew that the app would languish. And it has. Minimal updates, features removed that users liked. Paul from Modaco has put together Tweakdeck, which is functionally equivalent to Tweetdeck (and looks almost identical), and has restored all of the features that Twitter removed from Tweetdeck.
Google Voice. It’s been years and years since I gave anyone the phone number that I got from my mobile carrier; I consider my Google Voice number to be my “real” number. Start with the “call once, ring everywhere” feature, and then add in free visual voicemail, free text messaging, call screening, selective automatically-send-to-voicemail, and spam controls. Definitely worth the asking price (which, incidentally, is $0.00).
Rings Extended. One of the original “use any sound file as a ringtone” apps, and still excellent. It’s one of the first apps I install on every new handset I get, and it works perfectly.

Photo

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:11:37 -0600

Nora: Only trains, Daddy! No hop, no jump, no swing, no slide. Only trains!

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 07:43:11 -0600

Nora: Only trains, Daddy! No hop, no jump, no swing, no slide. Only trains!

me: Nora, it's only 30 more sleeps 'til Christmas.

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 08:15:36 -0600

me: Nora, it's only 30 more sleeps 'til Christmas.
Nora: oooooooh!

Yelping with Cormac: The Apple Store

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 13:20:42 -0500

Yelping with Cormac: The Apple Store:

yelpingwithcormac:

Union Square - San Francisco, CA

Cormac M. | Author | Lost in the chaparral, NM

Two stars.

Given the way my uncle died havin a drink directly after his funeral just didnt seem right so I went for a walk instead. One of them downtowns where all there is is stores. Came across a store was a big…

Musings on digital vs analog photography

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 08:42:01 -0500

This morning in the car, my thought process* drifted to my old 35mm camera, and I starting thinking about digital vs analog photography. I suppose part of it originated at my daughter’s birthday party yesterday, when I commented “I like digital over film, I can just take as many photos as I want.” Now, this was while I was shooting 10 or 15 action shots in a row of her tearing tissue paper out of a gift bag, but today it’s got me thinking.

Is digital really better than film? Granted, there’s the obvious arguments in favor of digital: virtually limitless space on your “roll of film”, easier and faster to see end results, easier to share, lots of fun details like EXIF and geotagging. But the neo-luddite part of me (which is definitely tiny but sometimes very loud) remembers how much fun it was when I was dating the lady who later became my wife, and we went to the botanical gardens. I shot 3 or 4 rolls of some 100-speed Kodak film, and most of those shots were pretty good; excellent depth of field, some pseudo-macro shots of flowers (I used a plain old virtually-stock 25-90mm lens), and some excellent long shots of Heather in front of a waterfall. I actually thought about the composition of each shot before I pushed the shutter, and as a result I got some excellent photos. And I actually have memories of taking some of those pictures.

With digital, I remember the event, but I rarely think about the effort I exerted to actually take the picture. It’s more along the lines of “take as many pictures as I can, pick the ones I like, and clean up any problems in Photoshop.” This morning, I’m not sure if that’s the way I always want to think about photography.

* Thought process: I saw a bumper sticker that I couldn’t read, so I thought I’d take a photo of it and blow it up in Photoshop when I got to the office. Then I realized that my windshield was dirty, and I remembered my dad talking to Andy about how blurry photos usually come from dirty lenses. I remember commenting at the time that a flash helps if it’s only a speed-of-the-camera issue. I remembered that even with a flash I still have lots of photos of Nora that have crystal-clear backgrounds and blurry daughter. Which brought me to analog photography, and manually setting my depth of field and focusing on the actual subject.

PHP CBViewer 0.4 released after 2 years. Film at 11.

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 16:25:17 -0500

PHP CBViewer 0.4 released after 2 years. Film at 11.:

I developed version 0.1 of php_cbviewer in 2008. Various contributions later, PHP upgrading to librar 3.0, and an upgrade to OS X Lion that wiped out my php customizations, and I was forced to upgrade my own installation of the software. And I figured I’d pass along the new version for the few people who actually use it.

It’s Nora!

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 19:20:34 -0500

It’s Nora!

Goin’ out on the town with my lady.

Sat, 25 Jun 2011 19:00:14 -0500

Goin’ out on the town with my lady.

"The following day, I attended a workshop about preventing gender violence, facilitated by Katz...."

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 15:04:19 -0500

“

The following day, I attended a workshop about preventing gender violence, facilitated by Katz. There, he posed a question to all of the men in the room: “Men, what things do you do to protect yourself from being raped or sexually assaulted?”

Not one man, including myself, could quickly answer the question. Finally, one man raised his hand and said, “Nothing.” Then Katz asked the women, “What things do you do to protect yourself from being raped or sexually assaulted?” Nearly all of the women in the room raised their hand. One by one, each woman testified:

“I don’t make eye contact with men when I walk down the street,” said one.
“I don’t put my drink down at parties,” said another.
“I use the buddy system when I go to parties.”
“I cross the street when I see a group of guys walking in my direction.”
“I use my keys as a potential weapon.”

The women went on for several minutes, until their side of the blackboard was completely filled with responses. The men’s side of the blackboard was blank. I was stunned. I had never heard a group of women say these things before. I thought about all of the women in my life — including my mother, sister and girlfriend — and realized that I had a lot to learn about gender.

”

- Why I Am A Male Feminist (via newwavefeminism)

This reminds me of a gallery opening I was volunteering at awhile back, for an exhibit of art based on domestic violence. The speaker told a story about a workshop he’d been to where the instructor asked the audience whether they’d rather walk on the side of the street with a stranger, or the one with a barking German Shepard. The men chose the stranger; the women chose the dog.

(via evewithanapple) (via hopesichord)

Garden, round two. This time, featuring a pumpkin and Serrano...

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 08:38:29 -0500

Garden, round two. This time, featuring a pumpkin and Serrano chiles in addition to the cucumbers.

Nora: Yay dada, yay dada, yay dada (clapping the entire time)

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 16:19:22 -0500

Nora: Yay dada, yay dada, yay dada (clapping the entire time)
Me: So I have my own cheering section now? Or am I just that awesome?
Nora: Yeah!

Photo

Sun, 12 Jun 2011 16:55:38 -0500

It's called grammar.

Tue, 31 May 2011 14:35:49 -0500

Dear most of the Android blogs I’m subscribed to:

Its is possessive. It means “belonging to it”.

It’s is a contraction of “it is”.

Using these two terms incorrectly is a sign that your blog needs an editor with a firm grasp of the English language.

PS to many other people on the Internet: Please look up the difference between “you’re” and “your”. Ditto “its” and “it’s”.

Also: “alot”, which seems to have become popular recently, is not a real word. You can argue until you’re blue in the face that you use the word regularly (or “a lot”), but that doesn’t make it a real word.