Bye Bye Google Reader

Want to keep your RSS feed without any problems? Check out Feedly. They're helping make this very easy.

They have clients for every platform and a fairly customizable UI. If only Reeder had a similar plan. They're a bit more up my alley in look and feel.

In just 8 years.

Poignant photo demonstrating the change and direction of the world's technology. 

Siri's Useful Features

Great little article on Siri's everyday uses. Many of these I've already been using myself and look forward to incorporating more of them into my life.

Siri may seem off-putting at first, but it is a super handy tool in that you don't need to use your hands to use it. This often results in quicker input of ideas or reminders. This is important because that extra second or two that it takes to pull my phone out, find the right app and type in the reminder or idea can deter me from doing so. I'll think "whatever, I'll probably remember" or "meh. not worth it" and move on with my day.

The only discomfort I have with the whole procedure is talking to my phone with other people around, so I just avoid doing that. I'll use Siri non-stop when I'm driving alone or walking down the street with headphones, but I tend to just stick to good ol' typing when I'm in the company of others. I probably won't be able to hack Google Glass either.

Free your mouse

I rememberd an old trick I learned when I played more desktop games. Some mice have little plates in them to weigh the device  down a bit. Turns out you can extract them and have a lighter, often smoother experience.

On top of that, the last time I took mine apart, I lost a spring in the click-wheel mechanism. Turned out to be a blessing in disguise which I repeated (voluntarily this time) to get the resulting effect. When you scroll the wheel, there is no more resistance or clicking sound to the motion. Once again, a smoother and lighter experience.

Wow. Extravagance

Neverland Valley Ranch – 5225 Figueroa Mountain Road, Los Olivos, CA

Development Milestone

I dove into the Rails source code for the first time ever today. Fixed an issue. It was pretty exciting.

I updated to Ruby 2.0 yesterday, almost immediately after it came out. I was lucky enough to be in a position where I didn't have anything to risk and I figured it would be a fun challenge to get through. I was right and there were a few speed bumps. Today I find that the .dup method is returning an exception.

Here is the fix that i found:

https://github.com/rails/rails/commit/19599c274404169d5c75355a7b5a7f39795b4373

Didn't really have the balls to do the whole git merging of this code yet and took it as an opportunity to seek the problem lines manually. Got a glimpse of the directory structure of the Rails source code and had a first glance at the innards. Onwards and upwards from here. 

iPhone 5 vs Android - Whatever works for you.

Here's a conversation I had with Boris earlier today. Just some thoughts on the new iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S3.  Not comprehensive. Not every point is mentioned but I do hit a few of the ones that matter to me. Feel free to correct me and in general share your thoughts on the topic.


============================================

Boris: what do you think of iphone 5?  do you think i should get it over the galaxy 3?

Boris: i mean after the release of all the info

Dmitriy Markus: idk.  it depends on who you are and ur needs.
Dmitriy Markus: ill tell u why im going to get it. doesn’t mean u should

Boris: ok go

Dmitriy Markus: apple has the most amazing synergy on the market

Dmitriy Markus: between their products

Dmitriy Markus: the ipad, the macbook, and the iphone all work in an ever improving synchronicity. which i absolutely love

Dmitriy Markus: also my apple tv is tits and i love being able to stream to it from a phone

Dmitriy Markus: so that’s 1. Synergy

Dmitriy Markus: 2nd

Dmitriy Markus: the main selling point of the gs3 to me is the openness and customization.

Dmitriy Markus: there are hundreds of menus  and loaders, launchers, themes, skins, widgets, icon packs and mad fucking shit to customize ur phone to fit perfectly for every little need  and want

Dmitriy Markus: i used to be into that. i used to get mad extensions for firefox and chrome and customize every piece of software i own.

Boris: yeah i did too. but i stopped

Dmitriy Markus: nowadays.. i don’t want to do that. i really dont want to do that. I could see why others would, but im just in a different place in my life.

Dmitriy Markus: also, with that customization u open urself up to little issues. Things pile up over time, conflicts arise, crashes, glitches.

Dmitriy Markus: its just going to happen more because the os is open.

Dmitriy Markus: some poeple dont care about that and i dont judge them for it. It’s a cost/benefit.

Dmitriy Markus: id rather have my phone just always work. Which it does.

Boris: the one thing i hated about android is the constant crashing

Boris: the only thing

Dmitriy Markus: u should look into reviews of the gs3, it might crash a lot less. im sure they’re improving

Dmitriy Markus: however.. they’re very open with their apps,  so developers get careless  and leave lots of holes and bugs.

Dmitriy Markus: so ure going to see crashes more than on ios no matter what even if they improve the underlying os

Dmitriy Markus: for me personaly, id rather not have to deal with that

Dmitriy Markus: i hate little glitches. Id rather sacrifice some functionality or customization. Not all people would.

Dmitriy Markus: I hate having to press a button 3 times for it to register.  i really dont want to do that

Dmitriy Markus: on iphone. 99% of the actions I do register with the phone and it responds accordingly, exactly how I thought it would.  thats only going to improve with the new processor  in the iphone5.

Boris: the one thing i hate, i gotta tell you, is when you find a person from the phone book and call them, and then need to make another call 5 hours later, it doesnt open the phone book when you click contacts, but that person entry in the phone book

Dmitriy Markus: on an iphone?

Boris: yeah

Dmitriy Markus: yea. its not a perfect phone. I could list other annoyances and grievances

Dmitriy Markus: there are going to be issues with both

Dmitriy Markus: like I said, its a cost / benefit.  id rather press 'favorites' and have to find the new person i want to call again

Dmitriy Markus: and honestly.. touching ur phone for basic tasks is a waste of time.

Dmitriy Markus: i almost never do it. i press a button on my headphones and say 'call jenny' or 'call mom'

Dmitriy Markus: so i dont even think about that

Dmitriy Markus: with siri its going to be even easier and  the voice recognition is even better

Boris: i should get up on voice recognition

Dmitriy Markus: yea. its great

Dmitriy Markus: its one of the things im most hyped about

Dmitriy Markus: I mean.. gs3 has it too so that’s not a point of contention

Dmitriy Markus: so anyway.. there’s 1. synergy.
2. dont have to customize much and dont feel the need to
3. less crashes due to less freedom for developers

Dmitriy Markus: and there’s an asterisk there

Dmitriy Markus: this DOES NOT mean apps are worse. quite the opposite. apps are usually better on iphones

Dmitriy Markus: developers are forced to be more creative and more careful.  they’re forced to create a better crafted product.

Dmitriy Markus: u see countless apps being released for ios then being ported to android

Dmitriy Markus: but not as much in reverse

Boris: yah

Dmitriy Markus: so this whole 'apple limits their developers'' argument is kind of meaningless. Because if it that was truly a problem, ud see apps suffer

Boris: ok im gonna preorder it today

Dmitriy Markus: wait wait. let me finish

Boris: fiiiiine

Dmitriy Markus: then there are points 4 and 5 which can be seen as one

 Dmitriy Markus: 4 is ergonomics

Dmitriy Markus: yes.. all android makers are suddenly trying to make their phone fuckin huge and everyone wants a tv screen in their pocket and is dying for mini tablets and huge phones

Dmitriy Markus: i prefer apple’s approach. they made the phone taller but not wider  for a reason: so u could use it with one hand

Dmitriy Markus: one thumb. pretty much everything u want to do u can do with one thumb comfortably

Dmitriy Markus: thats important and often overlooked by designers, engineers and consumers

Dmitriy Markus: android users are too excited about how many buttons options and features there are to press and utilize to notice that they have to focus on their phone more

Dmitriy Markus: they have to hold it with one hand and use the other as a stylus

Dmitriy Markus: they have to look at the phone more

Dmitriy Markus: i drive. So I need a phone like the iphone  so i can do shit on my phone.

Dmitriy Markus: anythign i want. while driving.  with one hand. Without straining.
Dmitriy Markus : now if you bring this point up to an android user they’ll instantly pull out their phone, grab it with one hand and reach for the opposite corner with their thumb. Demonstrating how clearly wrong I am. But watch people when they’re on autopilot, performing multiple tasks. Their hand just will not want to make that reach and it’ll just make more sense intuitively to use your second hand.  Sure, some iphone users will do this too. But one phone is still more conducive to one handed workflow than the other.

Dmitriy Markus: i dont need a huge phone. ive never watched a movie on my phone and never will

Dmitriy Markus: if u like watching videos  then android is more for u. that’s another point for them

Dmitriy Markus: if u like not having to be totally engrossed in ur phone anytime u want to do something thats a point for apple

Dmitriy Markus: not that there’s anything wrong wth that. some people love their gadgets and that’s what they want

Dmitriy Markus: and now final point 5

Dmitriy Markus: which is the most nuanced and really requires a good amount of handling of both phones to understand.

Dmitriy Markus: the design

Dmitriy Markus: the iphone is just sexy, sleek and pleasant

Dmitriy Markus: i find it to be a pleasure to use, to hold , to place down. It looks good, it feels good. It’s a joy to use.  i took off the case off my phone. it was a big transition in my life, letting go of that fear of dropping it.

Dmitriy Markus: now, if u anticipate dropping and smashing ur phone: gs3 is the way to go

Dmitriy Markus: its probably more durable

Dmitriy Markus: slightly

Dmitriy Markus: but the iphone is surprisingly strong.  (Watch some endurance tests on youtube)

Dmitriy Markus: i do relish in the joy of using my phone how it was designed.

Dmitriy Markus: that really subtle feeling where u feel like ure interacting with an organic thing instead of a gadget.

 Dmitriy Markus: the feel of the phone and the os, is just a little smoother, a litttle sleeker,  a little more rounded. (that’s changing over time so keep an eye out on android anyway)

Dmitriy Markus: right now, android makes me feel like im a hacker. i have to manager different features. turn wifi, bluetooth, nfc, 4g, on/off. watch charts of memory usage. keep track of whats draining my battery. close tasks.  turn off features. download other features. change the color of my led. rearrange my widgets.

Dmitriy Markus: i dont want to feel like a hacker when im using my phone

Dmitriy Markus: thats what my pc is for and my pc will be a beast

Dmitriy Markus: anyway. That’s that

Dmitriy Markus: a few points about the gs3.. if u want to hack ur shit, have total control, have an abundance of features and options

Dmitriy Markus: thats for u

Dmitriy Markus: if u anticipate dropping ur phone. its for u
Dmitriy Markus: i plan to just get insurance on my iphone 5 and go around case free

Dmitriy Markus: if u want a big screen gs3 is for u.
Dmitriy Markus: some people use apps that need more room

Dmitriy Markus: ask urself which apps u use

Dmitriy Markus: are u filling out spreadsheets?  some people are

Boris : no

Dmitriy Markus: when u open ur phone.. do u want to know the weather, ur stocks, ur facebook feed and 10 other widgets all at once?

Dmitriy Markus: well then gs3 is for u

Boris : no

Dmitriy Markus: if u don’t want to be bombarded with information every time u unlock ur phone

Dmitriy Markus: ios is the way to go

Boris : ok cool. thanks so much

Dmitriy Markus: no problem. above all else

Dmitriy Markus: try to get ur hands on a Samsung and use it

Dmitriy Markus: so u can see for urself

Boris: sev has one

Boris: ill fux with it

Dmitriy Markus: alright cool

Dmitriy Markus: let me know how it goes

Boris: yaya

Boris: im also very much against the case thing

Boris: i kind hate it lots

Boris: also either this screen protector is terrible or i hate screen protectors

Boris: its not smooth at all

Dmitriy Markus: i have a pretty good one on my iphone

Dmitriy Markus: iphone’s screen is surprisingly hard to scratch btw

Dmitriy Markus: especially if u care

Boris: yeah i dont keep it next to anything else in my pocket

Dmitriy Markus: id say the main reason i even use a screen protector  is so i could resell the phone later

Dmitriy Markus: otherwise. id risk a few small scratches

Boris: ive never dropped my phone from a distance of more than 1 foot

Boris: never lost a phone

Boris: im really good at keeping my shit

Dmitriy Markus: good.  awesome

Dmitriy Markus: then you're one of those people that can have nice things

Boris: yes i can

Dmitriy Markus: iphone 5 is nice

Dmitriy Markus: its the epitome of nice

Dmitriy Markus: some would say apple cares too much about how nice it is

Dmitriy Markus: and not enough about whats inside

Dmitriy Markus: but theres something to be said about that.

 Dmitriy Markus: function without form is not very functional

Dmitriy Markus: with a well designed, beautiful product, i'm more likely to use the functions that my phone DOES have

War On Kids

Here is a torrent link to the movie, War On Kids. I recommend everyone downloads and watches this movie.

Along with being quite entertaining, the movie is also an eye opener for those of us who haven't been in the public school system for a while. Apparently things haven't changed too much, but security and student medication are on the rise. The film discusses the effectiveness of cameras, metal detectors, police officers, medication, strict discipline and several other tactics we use as a country to ensure our kids get the best education.

The most interesting part of the movie for me was when the idea of compulsory public education was put into question as a whole. Overall, a pretty negative picture is painted. Can't say I'm surprised. I've been an advocate of privatizing the educational system ever since I could conceive of such a thing.

I remember in particular having conversations with some of my friends and heard the idea of even stricter even more standardized education being put forth. So for them, here's an interesting look at the way we currently indoctrinate our youth and the potential consequences of such a system being more rigorous.

Also, here is an interview with the filmmaker on the Colbert Report.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Cevin Soling
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor U.S. Speedskating

The Incredible Bread Machine

Here's a pretty cheesy, yet though provoking movie from the 70's that Milton Friedman was involved with. It's very short,fun to watch and has a lot of interesting ideas put out there. I particularly enjoyed seeing how the same ideas were discussed decades ago and the context in which the conversations take place is something to take note of (meaning: what the characters are literally doing. Although you are free to examine the societal and economic context of those times as well).  The movie is called the Incredible Bread Machine, which will be described at the end.

My favorite things about the presentations that I've seen Milton Friedman be involved with is that more than one side of all the arguments is given a voice. After the movie there are interviews critiquing the movie and are a must  watch.

Here is the full presentation in black and white. Right under, I posted the movie from the presentation in color so you can watch the intro, then watch the movie in color and then fast forward to the interviews.

yum. photos

everyone loves photography i assume.

• This is on the Brooklyn bridge. I never saw a praying mantis anywhere in New York. No idea how this got on the bridge. Must've been an Umphrey's promotion or something. 

• Burj Dubai. Almost complete. It looks cool. Here is a series of photos.

• One of the reasons for Barcelona's growing child mortality rate.

Loveline Sunday

Loveline Sunday - Episode 3

2004-02-22 - click here to download

I listened to a lot of good episode this week. Some of you heard them with me. As usual, the good times didn't stop. Hope you enjoy this weeks episode.

Sorry about the lack of updates. Tonight's post should be a doozy.

Loveline Sunday

Loveline Sunday - Episode 2

2004-03-22 - click here to download

• Adam and drew discuss the shocking news in the middle east
• Adam hates on LA
• Adam hates on junior college
• Adam hates on religion
• lots of "the coach"
• hilarious episode. as you may have guessed.
• Adam's plan for utopia
• Yea. There are calls. They're good.
• electrical fire in the studio on air. 

Care to discuss Adam's extreme hatred of things in the context of reality? The merits or downfalls of his $5.00 gas plan? Or care just to share about the great times you've had listening to the show? Make sure you get back to me.

Want to be wild and stand out? Post a video response.

Best of the interwebs today;

Not a bad day for the internet today. Not great... but not bad either.

In the news we have tiger woods taking up a lot of attention. He got into a car accident but is already ok enough to be sketchy with the police. Hence, I have now lost interest.

• Also.... Dubai goes bankrupt. Called it
• And.... other things happened.

Moving on to the rest of the internet:

• The Traffic Violations Bureau has a city website and a city database.
• This wrecking ball is outtttttaaaaa controooollllll!!! woooooo!! (NYC) 

No idea when this was made. But its pretty awesome.

I'm convinced.

Simpsons Family Burning Man from Aung T on Vimeo.

Lastly. For anyone looking to see what my line of work is all about. This is a pretty accurate video.

That's it for the internet today. Everything else was boring or the same. I'm pretty sure things will get updated in no time and I'll make sure to let everyone know.

yea mannn.. sweet dreams totally rocks

INTRODUCTION
Thanks to this article about his son, my curiosity with Charles Manson peaked this week. I've been doing some research on him and trying to remember why he's in jail and all that and I came across some really interesting stuff. Here I am sharing...
Let's start with a brief overview from the universe's most trusted source. Here.

If you didn't bother reading too much of it. Here's an important fact to consider for those of you who may not be familiar with the case. Charles Manson never actually killed anyone.


Moving on to, hilarious highlights

A QUESTION


AN ANSWER



Hilarious? yes.

GERALDO INTERVIEW

I approached this interview and others of his with an open mind and I suggest you do the same. From all that I've seen, I can say that he does not seem crazy at all and has some really interesting ideas that come from a very unique point of view. His ability to speak, express himself and communicate his ideas across is supremely impressive when I consider that he barely knows how to read and write.
Geraldo does not do a very good job of listening to his answers or asking questions for that matter.

Throughout the interview I found myself understanding where Manson is coming from fairly often. At points it was too much for my own comfort.

Here is Part 1. You can and should feel free to watch all 6 parts (part 7 is only a minute long, but a cool ending).

For those too lazy to watch the whole thing, here I have also included Part 6, which I feel has some really interesting ideas expressed in it, particularly about why there's murder (hopefully it'll entice you to watch the rest of the interview and share your thoughts. Manson seems to have a really unique perspective on the topic, but unfortunately, Geraldo is just no good at communicating and the ideas take a backseat to Geraldo's irrelevant opinions on the man he's interviewing (no idea how this guy keeps his job).

Hope everyone enjoyed all of that, thought about things... Maybe thought about something in a different way. 

 

Please send me feedback in any way through any medium. Share your thoughts.

Guess what else I love?

Graffiti.

Here's Revok doing what he does best.


REVOK x CHARLES HAMILTON x KEEGAN GIBBS from Keegan Gibbs . com on Vimeo.

1st Ever - Loveline Sunday

I've not heard too many radio shows, but I have listened to Loveline. I can confidently say it is the greatest radio show of all time anywhere. To honor everyone with the perfect dose of wisdom and entertainment, I will post Loveline episodes, every so often on Sunday nights. Moving on, here it is...

Loveline Sunday - Episode 1

2004-02-08 - click here to download

• Funny episode. Really funny episode. Lots of great calls.
  
• Drew gets acquainted with "Vehicle" by the Ides of March. I myself share the same sentiment as Drew, despite knowing the song. 
• At 29:00, there is a great call. Some great knowledge rained down on women. As far as my actual opinions on it? I'll share more if there are comments.