My Perfect Phone

I recently read an article about a new company working to make the prefect phone and it got me thinking. What would my perfect phone be? And I have a few thoughts. Start with the Nexus 5. Make the screen about .3" smaller on the diagonal. Then shrink the bezel until it's almost gone. Then, get rid of the headphone jack and USB port. I want a phone with no holes. The charging is done wirelessly. The headphones will be Bluetooth. I would prefer no power or volume buttons as well. Notifications like in the Moto X. There is a USB adapter that comes with the phone that also uses Bluetooth to allow for ADB and file transfer to the computer and such. The back is removable so you can replace the battery, but the back plate is air tight. There are SIM and microSD card slots by the battery. The phone will be similar in size and finish to the Nexus 5, but with the heavier feel of a Droid X. The microphones have no openings, they are vibration based. The earpiece also doesn’t have an opening, it is just behind a thinner piece of plastic so you can still hear. The phone will run Android, because that’s the closest to perfect any phone OS has come. The camera doesn’t need to be amazing, but there does need to be a flash. The front camera also doesn’t need to be amazing. The inside specs should be good, but not super computer status. Quad core and 2 GB of RAM is more than enough.

I realize this isn’t a reality at the moment, and I don’t want to hear naysaying. This is my perfect phone.

Ethical Ethics

Why make ethical decisions? Good people are not guaranteed an easy life. Dictators, drug dealers, mob bosses, corrupt politicians, embezzling CEOs, human traffickers and countless other groups of people live unethical lives; they enjoy riches, power and fame. I believe that those benefits do not bring true happiness. Additionally, riches, fame, and power do not go with you to the next life. I firmly believe that relationships, knowledge, our testimonies, self-control and other character traits are what really matter; those traits are more easily developed when we live our lives ethically. My testimony of Jesus Christ moves me to become more like him and live a more pure life. For anyone who is confused about ethics and life, I encourage you to come to know Christ.

Position Vlog

The Power of Social Media

I just finished the book Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations, a good read for anyone curious about social networks. I thought it was pretty long though; the author could have ended at the halfway mark and still had a good book. I think that social media is a powerful tool and a damaging resource. I recently read a thought-provoking comment about Bad Luck Brian, a popular internet meme. The comment said, “This meme is about a real person who is now infamous for the nice school picture he was in. People using his face as a meme is no different than cyberbullying.” The same thing is true for any number of other memes, YouTube videos and letters to the editor. Studio C did a sketch about this very issue. While funny, that sketch is also scary and true. However, this also highlights the power of social media. Searching for “police brutality” on YouTube brings up thousands of videos. With cops knowing they can be recorded and their actions seen by the world I think they have been given greater awareness of their actions.

Social media has the power to bring to light things that would have never been seen before. Government officials giving private meetings never know if their speech is being recorded. That happened to Mitt Romney this past election. Taken out of context and given to the broad audience of the Internet his speech sounded bad. That’s exactly what social media does: takes things formerly intended for a private audience and makes them public. Therein lies its power and the dangers of living in the digital age.

Stability vs Polish

I recently switched my laptop from Windows 8.1 to Ubuntu. I’ve played with Ubuntu in the past and this is another, probably temporary, switch away from Windows. I switched because I was getting the occasional BSOD. I’ve noticed that, in general, Ubuntu is more stable than Windows, but it is also less polished overall. I’ve noticed that this is the case for other open and closed source matchups such as Libre Office and Microsoft Office, gedit and Sublime Text. The reason for this is a subtle one. Closed source projects usually make money from selling their software. That means the product must be attractive, easy to use and have lots of functionality. Open source projects generally make money from support of their software. That means the interface doesn’t have to be pretty, just functional. Users can save money on support if the product is rock solid. The beauty of open source is that users can become developers and solve stability issues. This leads to an extremely stable product.