November 30, 2012

STACK Soap

The solution to a problem nobody cared about...
"STACK soap's grooved design perfectly fits your previous sliver and merges it together with a new bar. Got a soap sliver? Press it into the groove on a new bar of STACK and they'll become one."
While I admit this is a cool idea, I just can't imagine there are a lot of people who fret over the decision whether to throw out that tiny awkward wafer of soap that is left at the end of the bar. Plus, how many people are even using soap in bar form anymore?

 ➡ STACK Soap
"History is written by the victors."
-Sir Winston Churchill

November 29, 2012

Enterprises buying iPhones

My company is in the midst of completely transitioning away from using Blackberries. I found this article interesting.
While “BlackBerry continues to be the gold standard for security,” said the report, its lack of appeal progress in the consumer and developer market “hinders its viability going forward.”
Just a few weeks ago a coworker’s old Blackberry finally kicked the bucket. He had no interest in getting an iPhone so he planned to just get whatever the new standard Blackberry model was being handed out. He was surprised to find out the company was no longer supporting new blackberries. They were being completely phased out. He got a used BB to tide him over for a couple weeks while he begrudgingly waited for his new iPhone 5. The age of Blackberry is over and the people who are still trying to hang on to it are having it ripped from their fingers, and replaced with a shiny new iPhone.

I don’t know one person that uses an Android device as his company phone, nor do I know if it is even a possibility.

➡Enterprises buying iPhones ‘in droves’ | ZDNet

November 28, 2012

iMessage still stinks

For the last 13 months I have been an iPhone owner. Not coincidentally, over those 13 months I have travelled more than I ever have before in my life. The iPhone has been an invaluable tool for staying connected and finding my way around. However, there has been one thing I would consider as a downgrade over the feature phone that I used to carry... text messaging.

I am not the type of person that sends thousands (or even hundreds) of text messages every month. My 500 txt messages a month plan was serving me fine. I recognize that the iMessage protocol is great for sending messages between iPhone users without deducting from your plan. But messaging between iPhones has consistently given me trouble.

November 27, 2012

Some thoughts on Skyfall

I am not a Bond aficionado. I havn't seen most of the classic Bond films. The Piece Brosnan Bond films from my youth were corny. I didn't have a very good impression of the series. However, Casino Royale got my attention. It was one of the best and most deserved reboots I can think of. Then came Quantum of Solace and I didn't know what to think.

I had no intention of going to the theater to see Skyfall. Then it was universally praised by critics and lauded as the “best Bond film ever”. I couldn't pass up something like that.

November 26, 2012

"The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You relize that you control your own destiny."
- Albert Ellis

November 19, 2012

Widening the scope

For the last few years this has been my movie blog. Now it will be just my blog. I always said that pretendcritic could contain anything I felt like writing about, but when it came down to it I didn’t post anything that wasn’t about movies because it felt out of place.

From now on it will be a free for all. I’m definitely still going to write about movies and tv… probably the same amount as I did before. Now there will be a bunch of other stuff thrown in there too.

November 15, 2012

Remodeling the blog

Even though you might not have noticed it, I've been messing with the code behind my blog for months. I'm always moving pixels around. I think I play around with the code more than I actually write. Several months ago I decided to completely redo it in order to take advantage of some of the updates blogger made to the back-end. At the end of the exercise I wanted my blog to look identical to what it did before.

Shortly after spending all that time to re-create the aesthetic, I started to become dissatisfied with that very look. I felt constricted by the borders. The sidebar was ugly. The backgrounds and gradients were unnecessary and distracting. I wanted to make it clean. I wanted it to be pleasing to look at and easy to read. I wanted it to be simple.

November 14, 2012

"Create your own style... let it be unique for yourself and yet identifiable for others."
-Orson Wells

November 11, 2012

A Week With the iPhone 5

I've had my iPhone 5 for a week and because I feel the need to share my thoughts about stuff… here they are. It wasn't a “normal” week as I was traveling for most of it. You usually wouldn't want to test a brand new phone out when you have to depend on it so much, but I felt safe with the iPhone, and it passed with flying colors as expected.

November 3, 2012

Going to Windows 8

When I went to college in 2001 I bought a new computer. It finally died in the summer of 2009 and it was time to buy a new one. I seriously considered getting an iMac, but I wasn't ready to jump off the Windows wagon. I ended up getting a Dell with Windows Vista.

A few months later Windows 7 came out and I upgraded. I have been using it happily for the last 3 years with no major problems. Then in early October my Carbonite backup stopped working. Out of the blue one day it just quit. I had an email chain back and forth with their support department, but finally I just had to call them. I was on the phone with them one evening for over 2.5 hours and it still wasn't working.