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Stop Internet Censorship!

Yesterday, it was reported that SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, was shelved by Congress. Many took this as victory, but in reality, it's far from it. Being shelved doesn't mean that it was killed, it means it was put on the back-burner to be returned to later. Even worse, the Senate's variation of the act, PIPA, is still active.

Many large sites such as Google, Reddit, and Wikipedia are planning a blackout of services in protest of both acts on January 18th. When you try to visit those sites, the services will be unavailable, and be replaced with ways to contact your Representative or Senator and tell them to not support SOPA/PIPA.

Seeing that Diary of a Nerdy Guy is powered by Blogger, I can't really "blackout" the site, so what I have done is add a bar at the top saying to stop PIPA. You can install the bar on your site by going to Hello Bar. I cannot urge you enough to do this on your site. Help us prevent the Internet from changing forever.

To get more involved with the community on SOPA, I'd suggest checking out the r/SOPA Subreddit on Reddit

Hardcore Smartphone Gaming Doesn't Work

After reading threads on various forums about the current gaming industry, and how portable game system sales are declining, while smartphone gaming is rising, I got to thinking. People talk about how gaming on iOS and Android is much more convenient than gaming on, say, a PSP or DS. Aside from convenience, smartphone gaming has those little games you can play a few rounds of while you are waiting for a snack to microwave or in a doctor's office, such as Bejeweled or Cut the Rope. I love those kinds of games, but I also love first-person shooters, RPGs, and other hardcore games. I've bought a massive amount of iOS games over the time I've had my devices, many of which are hardcore games, and I'll play them for a bit, but they'll end up being deleted from my device after a while, and then rarely ever played again, and that is for one reason: hardcore gaming on smartphones doesn't work.

At least, not in its present state. Currently the vast majority of the hardcore games in the App Store use touchscreen buttons. This is #4 of Alexander Thompson's Seven Deadly Sins of Mobile Gaming. Really, it can obscure the visibility of what's going on and it's not very intuitive. For example, in Eternal Legacy from Gameloft, you have buttons for different actions, plus an analog stick for movement, and sometimes there are other things you need to tap on the screen. Buttons are for consoles, with smartphones you have a touchscreen, which can allow for more intuitive gameplay, but few games utilize this. Remember EA's iOS version of Mirror's Edge? That game had a control scheme meant for a touchscreen and nothing else. It was intuitive, fun, and innovative. Swipe up to jump, down to slide, etc. Infinity Blade has it right too, you are swiping to attack with your sword, not using some attack button. Having buttons like this is especially annoying in first-person shooters. While it is understandable to have an analog stick for movement and a fire button (although it should be an area of the screen that is tapped, not a button), there shouldn't be more buttons for grenades, jumping, etc. It should be gestures of some sort, like jumping would be a swipe up in the center of the screen. Game giants like EA and Gameloft need to take advantage of these touchscreens and make games that are fun from gameplay that involves intuitive controls designed for a touchscreen, or else their games will fall deeper into this pit they've created for themselves.

Thoughts on Microsoft

If you read my posts on Diary of a Nerdy Guy, then you know that I'm a pretty big Apple buff, but I thought that I'd give my thoughts on Microsoft just so it doesn't come across that my attitude is "It's Apple or nothing." While I'm admittedly a bit of an Apple fanboy, I don't think it's competitors are bad.

I actually really like Microsoft, at least the Microsoft of 2011. I like WP7, Xbox, and hell, even the Zune. While all these products have problems, The biggest problems I have are with Microsoft's big products, namely Windows, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Office.

Office, as a suite of applications, I don't have many problems with, other than the endless editions of it. Currently in Office 2010, there are 3: Home & Student, Home & Business, and Professional. That's progress from Office 2003, which had Home & Student, Basic, Small Business, and Professional. Ideally, there should be two editions: Home and Professional, which tells the user immediately what version they need.

Internet Explorer has huge problems, as I am sure we are all aware. IE became a better product with the release of IE 9, but that's not saying much. IE still sucks. My advice for Microsoft would be to trash the current IE code entirely and rebuild it for version 10.

Windows has problems too. While I'll admit that Windows 7 is a pretty good OS, but it lacks the polish and consistency of Mac OS X. Viruses and blue screens are huge problems too. The prices of upgrading Windows are ridiculous. It costs about $150 to upgrade with every new major release of Windows, versus $30 for Mac OS X. Upgrading Windows should be considerably cheaper than it currently is, $150 is more of the price you'd pay for a disc with the full OS, not for an upgrade.

Even with all this negativity towards the above products, I actually really like them. Even IE. As a standards-compliant browser it's complete crap, but it does have good ideas. Pinning websites to the taskbar to open up in a color matching browser is a really cool concept. In the future, I think Microsoft will really start to introduce new concepts and great products. Windows 8 looks extremely promising, but only time will tell.

App Review: Swackett

Swackett for iPhone is a weather app, but a different kind of weather app, just as it's advertised. Instead of gibing you just a forecast with a graphic representing the weather, Swackett gives you the forecast and a graphic of a person dressing accordingly. Now, that sounds not much different, but everything, the fonts, the graphics, and the overall experience make the app feel unique.

Before, with any weather app, I didn't go in and check the weather because I just couldn't be bothered. With Swackett, that has changed, I enjoy seeing the colorful and unique graphics using the app.

But wait, there's more. There's a Mac version!

Swackett for Mac is very much like it's iOS counterpart, but it takes advantage of being on a larger display, but it still looks and operates the same.

Both apps are free, but there is a paid version in the Mac App Store.

iPhone 4S(teve)

As any Apple fan knows, today was the launch of the iPhone 4S. This has been the most successful iPhone launch, and the most successful Sprint handset launch ever. The launch brought Apple stock up to $422 a share, which overall brought the capital of the company from 388 billion to 391 billion.

If Apple's product launches continue like this, Apple will be set for a long time.

AppAdvice has Gone Free!

For those who don't know, AppAdvice is a news site that covers Apple's products and apps for them on a daily basis. They are a terrific site with a terrific (universal) iOS app. Normally, that app sells for $1.99, but for this weekend only, it has gone free in celebration of iOS 5 and the iPhone 4S! So what are you waiting for? Download the app now!

A "Hard Drive in the Sky" for iOS

At the WWDC Announcement of iCloud (Unfortunately the final Stevenote), Steve himself said that the cloud was more than a "hard drive in the sky" and then went on to talk about the features of iCloud. While iCloud does a great job at what it was designed to do, but it still does not solve any storage issues people are having on their iOS device. Yesterday, Box.net announced that until early December, new accounts get a free 50GB upgrade for life when you download their iOS app. This means you can store virtually any file in the cloud and view or download it on your iOS or Android device, giving the service a big advantage over Dropbox (at least for free accounts). This will definitely be helpful if you have a lot of photos & video. So, if you are having storage issues on your mobile device, definitely check out Box.net on the App Store.

Woz Can't Wait for the iPhone 4S, Either

So it turns out Apple's co-founder Steve Wozniak can't wait to get his iPhone 4S tomorrow. He tweeted around 2pm today from the Los Gatos Apple Store:

The long wait begins. I'm first in line. The guy ahead was on the wrong side and he's pissed. (@ Apple Store)

After that, Twitter user Parth Dhebar (@pdparticle) Tweeted the above photo with the following message:

NBC Bay Area interviewing Woz

I personally would have thought Woz would get his iPhone reserved for him, but I guess not. Maybe it's fun for him to wait like every other Apple fan would. Either way, it's cool that Woz is still a huge fan of the company he helped to start.

How to Hide iOS 5 Newsstand

If you're like me, then you probably don't want to use that Newsstand feature that Apple introduced with iOS 5. It's just been sitting there taking up space on your homescreen. Don't you wish you could put it in a folder? It's really a bummer that you can't do so. Or can you?

Various sites have reported that there is a glitch in iOS 5 that allows you to put Newsstand in a folder. If you take two apps to create a new folder, then hold on the Newsstand icon as the folder is being created, it will go inside the new folder. The only (very little) problem with this is that if you try to launch Newsstand, it will crash SpringBoard. So if you want to actually use Newsstand you will have to remove it from the folder first.

UPDATE: Turns out that when you sync up with iTunes, Newsstand will come out of the folder and be place don your first Homescreen.

Thoughts on iOS 5?

By now you've had a day to play around with iOS 5 and iCloud, so tell me what you think! What can be improved? What has Apple nailed? Was it worth the wait? Tell me in the comments section!

For me, I really like the Twitter integration and Notification Center, although you should be able to quickly compose a regular Tweet from anywhere using Notification Center. I really like the keyboard shortcuts, iMessage, the Safari improvements, and many, many more of the features.

Apple Apps

Along with the iOS 5 release, Apple also released some new apps in the App Store today, as well as updated Remote and iBooks apps.

First up, there is Cards and Find my Friends. Both were shown at the Let's Talk iPhone event on October 4th, to be released alongside iOS 5. Cards basically brings iPhoto's card-making system to iOS. Find My Friends is exactly that: finding your friends on a map using their location data that they decided to share. It could be useful if you are on a trip with your family and want to keep track of where they are, but I don't see much of a purpose for it.

Two unexpected apps from Apple also hit the App Store today, ITunes Movie Trailers and AirPort Utility. iTunes Movie Trailers does exactly what you'd expect: watch movie trailers from iTunes, and I found this quite enjoyable. The trailer for The Avengers was especially awesome. AirPort Utility was actually hinted at by a screenshot from the iOS 5 Golden Master release a few days ago, but for the most part no one really saw it coming. All it does is allow you to manage your AirPort-based Wi-Fi network from your iOS device, truly allowing you to go PC Free.

Have you downloaded these apps? Which ones? Do you like them? Let me know.

iOS 5, iCloud, and the Works

Today saw the official public release of iOS 5, the long-awaited update bringing a much needed improvement in Notifications, Twitter integration, and integration with Apple's iCloud service, basically a (free) revamped version of MobileMe which allows you to truly go PC-Free. Because of the demand for this release, however, Apple's servers have been clogged, causing extremely slow downloads and verification errors. The errors are so bad, that ERROR 3200 became a worldwide trending topic on Twitter today. Let's take that in for a moment. Apple's servers are unable to process the mass of people trying to download iOS 5. Think about that, Apple must have some of the best servers available. Various sites have reported that the only way to get iOS 5 during this rush is to continue trying until your request goes through. Also released today was Mac OS X Lion 10.7.2, which brought iCloud integration to the Mac, as well as few other minor improvements, such as being able to rearrange Spaces and Fullscreen Apps.

I, fortunately, am a part of the lucky few that upgraded this morning without a problem. I must tell you, iOS 5 was definitely worth the wait. Notifications are so much more tolerable now, the Twitter integration is seamless and well thought-out, and the overall speed of any device has increased. iCloud is incredibly convenient, and I love not having to plugin to sync and backup. I only wish you could consolidate your Apple IDs. I have 2, which are difficult to manage.

My entire upgrade was not entirely painless, though, my Apple TV required a restore to update, and after that, it took a few times to sign in with my Apple ID. It wasn't necessarily frustrating, just inconvenient. An update that should have taken 10 minutes took an hour. I had tried 3 times through Update Software option in the Settings menu, each time taking 5 minutes to download the file with no problem, but applying the update took another 5 minutes just to tell me "The Update was Not Successful." After browsing the Apple Support Forum, I found a post that said to try a restore. I did, and it worked.

Have you updated to iOS 5? Are you having errors? Tell me in the comments.

What's Been Going on in My Absence?

Well, seeing as I am starting this ghost town of a blog back up again, I suppose I should mention what I've been working on the past few months. First of all, I had opened a forum called TechZero, which is a teach forum. The name was derived from one of my previous projects, LifeZero (which was also about tech) and just decided to add the topic into the name.

Secondly, I created another forum, about 2 weeks ago, although it seems longer, called ForumCraft, which is about Minecraft. It's doing fairly well for being only 2 weeks old (though not quite as good as TechZero did after that long) and we hope this one goes fairly big.

On a separate note, I have been playing Minecraft a lot since my elongated break from blogging. Recently, I've been trying to create the ForumCraft server (what's a Minecraft forum without a dedicated server?) and just playing on one of my friend's (The fact I have friends surprises me too) survival servers.

Anyway, if I ever become inactive on here again (and I most likely will), you can always follow me on Twitter or Google+ to get updates on what's going on with me, my projects, recent tech happenings, etc.

Someone had a Bit of Time on Their Hands

Massive Minecraft Game Boy plays Tetris (almost)


Well, I didn't make this, but it is pretty impressive: It's a 1989 Gameboy made out of colored wool in Minecraft. The creator animated it using stop-motion to create a game of Tetris. Check out the Joytiq article above.

Google is Awesome

If you don't know yet, Google today has released 2 new apps for iOS, Blogger and Google Music (which is a web app but it still has "app" in it.

Blogger for iOS is basically what you'd expect, and this post is being typed with it now.

As for Google Music, now I don't have to worry about space as much on my iOS device since Google Music can stream through Safari. It's awesome.

I really like how Google is continually improving their services, and that is why I use them so much.

I'm Back!

Well guys, after a long time of no posts (2 months), I'm gonna try to start this blog up again. I'll still be creating tech posts, but only on important news and my opinions on stuff. I'll also be posting some tutorials maybe and other stuff! We shall see.

Direction

Yeah, so I have not posted for a while, mainly because tech news is sooo hard to keep up with. Anyway, I'm now going to turn this site into a personal site. My life is full of so much crazy crap that it should be entertaining. While I post that stuff, I'll be posting the occasional tutorial or tech thing that doesn't have to do with news, but rather opinion.

I hope to be posting more often.

More iPhone nano Rumors

Even more rumors have come out about the recently rumored "iPhone nano" which has been confirmed by WSJ, TechCrunch, and other places. The new rumors say that the device will have no internal memory and Apple would go for cloud storage with a revamped MobileMe service. I think that Apple would put 4GB of internal memory to allow for apps. There is also a rumor stating that Apple will include a physical keyboard, which I think is obvious because a soft keyboard on a 2 inch (or maybe even smaller) screen would be extremely hard to use.

If Apple were to release a smaller iPhone, there would be technical complications. For example, apps would need to be built for it's screen. Also, the internals wouldn't be nearly as good as the iPhone 4's because of the space issue. The camera would be reduced down to about the quality of the iPod touch.

Even though that's true, I still think it is a cool idea. Maybe there will be a modified iOS version for it, maybe having a folder for apps and the essentials on the home screen.

But as of know, it is all speculation, and it may be for nothing, but we'll have to wait and see.

iPhone Mini?

A new rumor has arrived on the Internet that Apple is working on a "mini" iPhone much like they did with the iPod.

I find a few problems with this. First, the screen would have to be smaller and one of the best things I like about the iPhone is the size of the screen, it's just right. Second, there would have to be an actual keyboard built into the device which seems unlikely considering the fact that Apple always pointed out the advantages of a soft keyboard in there keynotes. Third, the internals would probably be that of the iPhone 3G and battery life would suck since they have less room to work with. Speaking of which, the device would be pretty thick too, which Apple doesn't like.
Ultimately, I think this rumor is just about Apple testing different things for the iPhone in the future.