Too Much Info

So I downloaded this new mobile wordpress app to blog from my Palm Pre, and it looks like its going to work. 

I guess I’m BACK in business!

I remember when I first started using Twitter back in 2007. It was just starting to catch on as the. internet’s “next big thing,” so I said “what the hey” and created an account, despite not knowing anyone else using the micro-blogging service.

Twitter was still pretty buggy at the time because of an inherent design flaw with its message delivery system (something about not enough gerbil power). But I didn’t care. I was happy just to have something to finally replace MySpace and Facebook as my main avenues for venting.

And replace them, it did.

I rarely go on Facebook anymore and wonder why MySpace is even part of the English lexicon, since the only people that frequent the place are pedophiles and trailer-park moms who prank suicidal kids, if you believe the news.

For me – and subsequently millions of others – 140 characters or less is more than enough to get my message across, even if it means using utterly ridiculous words or poorly structured sentences. Hey, it is the internets, is it not?

So I told all my tech-savvy friends about this promising new service with the funny name, only to be laughed at.

They said Twitter would never replace MySpace and Facebook because it was too simple looking and not user-friendly.

I’ll give you the simplistic interface argument, but not user-friendly!? You just type in a few words or sentences and hit the “send” button.

Then they said Twitter didn’t have enough games to keep them interested or a way to write on other people’s walls. I said “games are for gamers” and why should I write on someone else’s wall when they can just read mine instead? It is all about ME, is it not?

Finally, they resorted to the time-honored “nobody else uses it, so why should I?” argument.

Oh you sad, short-sighted fools. Technology waits for no man (or woman), so you better keep an open mind as to everything that comes down the pipeline. Because if you don’t, you’ll be left in the dust, just like all those pedophiles and trailer-park moms…

In a little more than a week, I’ll be one of the most wanted men in America. Seriously.

My current cellphone contract with Sprint will be up, meaning I’ll be floating from then on, month-to-month, on the network’s third-largest carrier, obligation-free. Let’s say that again: obligation-freeeeee.

That means I can continue to pay my crappy carrier for wireless service like I’ve been faithfully doing for the last two years. Or I can go to whatever other crappy network I choose and buy whatever IT-phone they’re offering at the moment for a somewhat-reasonable price (or not), and then be locked down for another two years under their contract instead. Ain’t life grand?

Sprint knows this, which is why they’ve already begun what I call the “second honeymoon” phase with me. Their records show my contract is nearing expiration, so they’ve begun bombarding my email, voicemail and mailbox with we-want-you-back promotions. A free ringer here, a discounted plan feature there. But ultimately nothing special beyond their crackhead-priced data plans that’s so attractive for smartphone buyers like me.

But other carriers, namely AT&T and Verizon (which I like to call SuckT&T and the Evil Red Empire, respectively), are more apt to try and woo me away. That’s because carriers make their money, not on phone sales, but rather the monthly phone plans suckers, er, subscribers like you and I pay to them each month. And getting suckers, er, subscribers to switch (called churning) is almost as important as keeping already-contracted subscribers on board. That’s because the larger your subscriber base, the larger your monthly revenue stream.

That’s why all those attractive phone prices you see in weekend newspaper ads are usually offered only to NEW subscribers, not existing ones. Don’t believe me? Try reading the fine print next time, Mr. Magoo.

That’s right. You get the pleasure of paying a HIGHER price for a phone upgrade to STAY on your existing network, while morons straight off the street pay next to nothing for the same phone. Hey, life sucks and then you pay an early termination fee.

Or, if you’re like me, you sign up on the dotted line, quietly do your time, and ultimately begin counting down the days until the next time you’ll be treated like a king…

Wanna know what kind of power a widescreen high-definition television can yield over a typical male? I’m sure you already know (especially if you’re a woman) but I’ll give you a great example anyway.

My father-in-law is a typical child of the south. Born and raised in Southeastern North Carolina, he’s a card-carrying member of the NASCAR set. If V8 engines and gigantic ovals arent involved, then he’s probably not gonna watch it.

But lo and behold, he comes up to me out of the blue today and asks: “You been keeping up with the Tour de France?”

Tour de France? Where the hell did that come from???

He said he’s been watching Lance Armstrong race up and down mountainsides on television and was impressed with his stamina. He then asked me if he had a shot against the other riders this year, since he just came out of retirement.

I was still trying to register how my father-in-law even knew what the Tour de France was. Then I put two and two together and remembered he just got a new widescreen 120 MGHz 1080p HDTV, which makes ALL sports look good on television. Lol.

My brain finally caught up with his question, which allowed me to answer: “Yes, I think Lance can win the tour again this year.”

Because if a certified-country boy can get caught up in the world’s greatest bicycle race, then surely a 37-year cancer survivor can win it…

I absolutely hate the people who shop at Walmart late at night (or during the day, for that matter) because most of them are absolutely TOO LAZY to return their shopping carts back to the return area. Instead, they just leave ‘em beside their gas-guzzling SUV or broke-down domestic sedan, light up their cancer sticks, strap in their kids in the backseat and then drive off like American Idol is on.

The shopping cart they leave behind almost always finds its way to my car door at about 100 mph, leaving a nasty door ding or clear-coat scratch. And what can I do about it? Absolutely nothing, because the Clampett gang has already bugged out of Dodge.

Thank you Walmart shoppers, for being the lazy nards that you are. I hope someone steals your hubcaps…

Wanna know why I love Sprint so much as a phone carrier? Because of bold moves like this.

If you’re too lazy to click the link, then you’re a certified clown, but I’ll give you the skinny anyway: Sprint is requiring all their future smartphones (including the upcoming Blackberry Tour to the left) to have built-in WiFi. That’s right built-in WiFi.

That means you can side-step using your phone’s relatively slow 3G data connection and surf for pr0n or that latest Facebook posting over the high-speed wireless network at your house, the nearest bigbox book store, or that overpriced neighborhood coffee shop you spend way too much money on coffee at.

Meanwhile, SuckT&T (the network with the least bars in the most places) and Verizon (the Evil Red Empire) actually cripple the hell out of their phones, to save network bandwidth and increase company profits at the cost of card-carrying suckers like you.

To make you feel even more worthless, know this: Sprint already has the cheapest data plans and most reliable 3G data network in the country. So it’s a win-win for us. And NO SOUP for you.

So the choice is clear. Jump on board the Sprint bandwagon now or continue to poo-poo Sprint’s so-called shortcomings, all the while being nickle-and-dimed to death by your existing carrier.

Sucker.

So my friend Chris asked me if I saw a recent post about the new Nissan Skline GT-R on the web. To make a long story short, the post said the all-wheel-drive japanese hyper-sports car was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

I emailed my friend back and said “thanks, but not thanks” because I’m not interested in “sports cars” that only come with automatic transmissions, even if they do have paddle shifters.

Automatics are for old weminz and lazy drivers. If I’m buying a car, it BETTER have a manual shifter  in it, because I like to DRIVE my cars not RIDE in them.

And anyone who buys an “automatic” sports car is even lazier. Sports cars are for stomping on the gas pedal and squeeling around corners, not driving Miss Daisy.

I blame the automatic sports car phenomenon on the Chevy Corvette; America’s only true sports car. They’ve had automatics forever, because Americans are lazy and like to look cool, even if they’re not. Don’t believe me? Just go to any Barnes & Noble any Saturday night and look at all the posers in there with their widescreen laptops.

So what have we learned here today, kiddies? “Automatics suck! Especially in sports cars.”

And don’t let me catch you drag racing your broken-down, 13-year-old Honda Civic, with rusted out fenders, down main street with an automatic transmission either. Because I’ll just point at you and laugh, and probably blog about you, as well. Posers.

So I downloaded Google’s new beta browser “Chrome” and all I have to say is “Wow!”

It’s far better than I thought it would be and more.

It’s streamlined, fast, and extremely inutitive. You need to download a copy RIGHT NOW and play with it. I’m using it type this blog entry, I’m so in love with it.

Sure Chrome isn’t as customizable as Firefox or Safari (yet), but it’s version 1 beta. And if I know Google, the company will dramatically improve the browser with every revision. Just look at Gmail, which is the greatest thing since sliced bread when it comes to personal email programs, as far as I’m concerned.

What makes me love Chrome so much, you ask? The answer is simple: simplicity.

The interface makes it a pleasure to use, because it uses tabs that actually look like folder tabs at the top. The browser window is also startingly clutter-free. Its interface is far superior to the safari interface I used to rave about, as well.

So get to downloadin’ foos, and learn what I already know: Chrome Rawks!!1

[UPDATE]: I just made Chrome my default browser on my laptop, knocking Firefox out of that spot. Not because it’s an overall better browser at this point, but simply because it’s easier to use. And I hate having to to actually think while surfing the net.

Now if Google could just do something with that ugly Microsoft-looking Chrome icon, it would be nearly perfect…

So I’m watching the 1980 Superman II movie on TV starring Christopher Reeves, as he battles three latex-suited clownz from his home planet. Jeezis, the action and special effects sucked. Even worse, the acting sucked too!

How did they get funding for this movie and how was it allowed to be released for public viewing in theaters? It’s a far cry from even the painful-to-watch 2006 Superman Returns, starring the stiff-acting Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth and Kevin Spacey.

All I have to say is: “KNEEL before Zod!!1″ lol.

That is all…

Remember when Apple instantly became a household name by airing the infamous “1984″ commercial during Super Bowl XVIII? The premise was that Microsoft had effectively become Big Brother and Apple was out to set the legions of PC lemmings free of Microsoft’s grip by offering truly user-friendly computers. To reinforce the point, a rather buxom female athlete slings a sledgehammer into a giant television screen, effectively short-circuiting Big Brother’s control.

Well, fast forward nearly a quarter century and Apple’s 1984 vision has finally come to light. People are flocking to Apple computers (as well as iPods and iPhones) like they’re going out of style and abandoning more mundane PCs like rats from a sinking ship.

Ironically, Steve Jobs & Co. almost didn’t pull the trigger on that original 1984 commercial. Company stakeholders so universally panned it during pre-screenings that Jobs seriously considered pulling the commercial altogether. But the commercial time had been bought and Apple aired the commercial just once during the Super Bowl’s third quarter.

But that’s all it took. The commercial was so sensational and profound, it’s been hailed as the greatest television commercial ever, and the rest, as they say, is history. But did that fateful turn of events truly help liberate computer users from Big Brother’s grip after all these years?

Apple, it seems, has become the new Microsoft and is starting to tick off users royally. Case in point: the new iPhone 3G. It’s the perfect phone for anyone wanting to surf the mobile web, due to its oversized touch-screen LCD and superior OSX operating system. But the Jesus phone 2.0 still has a ways to go in the user-friendliness department.

The biggest, yet simplest, example is in the phone’s inability to cut-and-paste text. That’s pure rediculousness in this day and age, but Apple says its not an important function, nor is it high on the company’s to-do-list. The iPhone faithful blindly agree.

Another obvious example Apple is becoming too big for its britches is with the company’s new MobileMe “push email” service. Apple brags that it’s just as good as Research In Motion’s legendary Blackberry push email service, but if you believe that then Dick Cheney has an oil field in Iraq he’d like to sell you.

First of all, MobileMe’s so-called push email capability doesn’t really push anything. It just periodically checks in with email servers during regular intervals. Second, MobileMe doesn’t even work half the time, with subscribers still complaining to this day about regular outages.

So what does Apple do? It chalks it up to planned downtime and says, “We So Sowee,” before calling it a day. That might have flew had it not been for the leaked internal memo from Steve Jobs himself, acknowledging MobileMe(ss) was perhaps released too early. Do you think!?

The proverbial icing on the cake happened last week, when Apple went on to acknowledge it pre-programmed a backdoor into every new iPhone allowing Apple to deactivate any software the company deemed too dangerous or unfit for owners to use.

The announcement came on the heels of the NetShare app fiasco, where Apple brass repeatedly pulled the $10 phone-as-modem app off of Apple’s online app store without any reason. If you don’t know what Phone-as-modem capability is, it allows your phone to serve as a broadband modem connection for your laptop.

Numerous iPhone users dared to openly complain and demanded the app be restored. Meanwhile, Mac lemmings defended Apple’s decision with the most idiotic of reasons, from breach of contract agreements with AT&T to Apple knows best.

JAYZUS CHRAST!!1 I think I know a better reason why Apple pulled the NetShare app: it’s called $$$.

So here we are today: Apple is now the truly hot computer company, launching innovative hardware and software seemingly every other day. But in order to stay in the black and appease company stockholders, Apple has become the Microsoft monster it once despised.

Even worse, Mac fanatics who once embraced “Think Different” don’t embrace anything anymore, except all the talking points constantly beamed out of Steve Jobs’ Reality Distortion Field.

Lucky for you, this Mac fanatic hasn’t gotten caught up in all the hype. Apple is a great company and builds great products, but they also have a responsibility to their customers, not just to the Board of Directors.

So until Apple becomes the cool Apple of old instead of the corporate sell out that it has become, I guess I’ll have to keep wielding my own 90-lb. sledgehammer around.