I’m also finishing up the Awkward Super Button. The name is still in wild card status because I haven’t started a new project in itunes connect but the app name is xcode is set; Super Awk is what will be displayed if the apple occult downloads the ridiculously large awkward button. A whopping 728 pixels worth of pure, insane, shiny red button are in store for the app store.

Hopefully a precedent gets set so other small companies get dissuaded from attempting shenanigans like this in the future. I enjoyed seeing the info, but I think I would rather have waited for the official Apple event. I bet Apple will mention something about this and pun off of it.

Sorry my little Sony Ericcson V600i. You have been an awesome phone for 4 and a half years but I think it is nearly time to decommission you.

We, the user, are helpless to stop them. Although people are chattering and are not happy, the face behind facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, was quoting as saying some to the effect of “I don’t care about the users privacy.” Why should he? People have already uploaded their entire college experience, the early years of their children and other memories that some might not want as memories. You may believe that you still hold the power over them; you’ll just delete them. They still reside on facebook servers. They still have a profile with all of your information. Another number in the vast sea of numbers.

People then use the argument that they will switch to another platform that has a more conducive privacy policy. Facebook has a gazillion users and you are kept as one of them with the lure of missing out on the reconnection with your dear old chum from elementary school or hearing from your long lost best friend who moved away during the summer of freshman year. This is a great feature. People also use it to talk to old friends and family that I wouldn’t normally talk to. Facebook is well aware of this and has/is getting away with murdering your privacy. They serve ads to you based on your profile. When will they serve you ads based on your conversations in facebook chat or your wall feed convo’s? I must give them credit though, the custom engraved beer boot is a neat product.

Privacy is an ever growing mirage on the internet. Facebook diluting their privacy policy only heightens this fact. A lot of companies are unchecked by the majority of the general user base and they use that to their advantage. They only care about us as long as it allows them to make money.

I can only make an educated guess as why it is doing so well. Awkwardness. People need help fighting awkwardness. And what better way than with an app.  They download the free version and are temporarily protected. If only they would buy the paid version and become completely protected from awkwardness. Awkwardness would be eradicated from Canada and the Mounties would have one less thing to worry about.

The photo below is from the web browser after you enter the code. “You’re on the inter-webs”. It was definitely a good sight. A few minutes later they rolled out the ice cream snack and I knew this flight was probably the best flight I have ever taken.

Below are the links to the wifi setup they had. The app “WiFiFoFum” used to be on the appstore, but Apple (in their infinite wisdom) axed it. It is pretty sick to use and describes all the wifi systems around you.

After I connected to the ‘Net, I did a quick scan of the network using iNet Pro by BananaGlue. This app is a beast. I was scanning the network at the hotel and it had no problem pulling down information on the 192 devices on the network. Below is the network scan of the the wifi on the plane. I redacted the IP address and the names of the devices. Most of the computer names were pretty revealing as it turned out; password on a post-it note stuck to the monitor revealing, lol. Three of the Apple lines are Macbooks and the other Apple lines are iPod Touch’s. A total of eight people were perusing the internet.

The speed was also pretty decent as well. In terms of wifi at 35,000+ feet and moving at 605 mph, it was quick and snappy. Download speeds were a bit slower than expected but the upload speed was definitely a surprise. Below is the “holy crap, i’m online in an airplane” shot. It was initially slow, but then the speed leveled out as we hit cruising speed/altitude. It also could be that the speed test app chose the wrong ping server, wasn’t really concerned right off the bat (ice cream was RIGHT in front of me). The app I used was Speed Test which was released by Ookla. I would have posted a link to their site, but I couldn’t find one.

The app chose a closer server this time and these are the results.

After a few hours, it was still about the same.

I was very impressed with how the payment system was setup. I think the price was a bit high for a three hour and fifteen minute flight, but it was worth it for the nerd/geek experience. I should also point out that the price was for a 24 hour block of access. All in all, I didn’t use it as much as I thought I would, but it was still good to have enabled in case I wanted to gloat about getting ice cream on an airplane. I was asking other people on the flight, and they would have got on if the price was a tad lower.

A MONSTER SANDWICH of 2 Gold Label Burgers, Jumbo Kosher Hot Dog, Double Smokehouse Bacon, Double American Cheese, Piled High with Sirloin Chili, Cole Slaw & Sweet Relish on 2 Buttered Rolls.

The atmosphere of the burger place was great. The music was good and it was pretty packed. We got seated pretty quick and our waiter was attentive. The madness begins at 7:32. The burger arrives with fries. The fries are amazing. As I decided to enjoy most of this eating endeavor, I chose to enjoy the challenge rather than to scarf it down. It took me about 20 minutes to tackle this beast. Apparently, the record is a little over 6 minutes by a tiny person.

The only thing I didn’t like was the amount of relish on the burger itself. It seemed a bit excessive. My other qualm is that they mail you the shirt if you finish; don’t they have some shirts on standby? That really is a minor issue though.

Below is a top down view of the burger and fries.

The burger and I before the battle royal.

The burger battle is over. I won!!

This is my desk in all its glory. I can only imagine the amount of paper in store for it (and me when I return). I am predicting that everything will be covered in at least 6 inches of paper. I’ll post a photo when I get back this weekend, assuming they win. If you look to the left, you’ll see a pile already forming. I was handed it as I was leaving and to the desk it went.

Below is the email I sent to classmates.com. They have/had my email address and I never signed up, nor will I ever sign up, for their service. Something seems a bit fishy about their business practices and having to opt in (create an account) only to opt out again, does not seem conducive to my online rights. Hence my boycott. It took some digging, but I found a working email address that wouldn’t send me back the standard “screw off, we don’t monitor this account” email.

To: “Classmates” <membercare@mc.classmates.com>
Subject: Re: Forgot Email or Registration

Please remove *******@*****.com from your email database immediately. I will not be making an account to remove it, and I doubt the legality in which you came to have that email address in your system. You have 3 (three) business days to respond or I will be filing a grievance with the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for deceptive business practices.
Regards

There is some validity to my email and in a coming post, I will explain more about digital rights. The Can SPAM act was a pretty nice piece of legislation.

The other thing we noticed is that there are only a few different types of apps on the appstore. A lot of people will debate this, but when you go to the release list and look at what is being released, you’ll see mainly ‘smut apps’; apps that feature scantily clad women. Or you’ll see apps from a developer that is clearly just renaming their app and releasing it again; the buckshot approach. My app will be out there, but it will thirty clones with very similar names. The fireworks app is a prime example, AAA fireworks or A-1 fireworks. The studio/person that released this collection of apps should have their developer license revoked.

It would be good if the smut apps could get their own category so that the other categories could be free of the filth. It detracts from the rest of the apps that actually deserve to be there. Another feature that would be neat to have is that of a developer rank; people can rank the entire suite of apps that are produced/released from a given developer. This would allow people to clearly see that what the developer has done and what their quality is.

I have been looking at macbook’s recently because I am constantly on the mac and haven’t turned my desktop rig on in several months. As I was talking to my alter ego last night/this morning, he said he was on his couch and typing; I said I was at my desk (wanting to be reading/working in the bed). I wouldn’t say it was envy, but more of a simplicity. I want to use my desktop, but I just don’t have any need to use it. I have all the programs I need on the mac. I guess the only thing I anticipate is when starcraft 2 comes out, probably the only reason I would/will keep the desktop.

I guess this will probably be the farewell post to my desktop. It was fun while it lasted and boy was it fun putting all the pieces together. May your quad core compute for many years to come.