8bit Google Maps -- An April Fool's Prank.

First, watch the video, just because anyone over 30 would know what's funny about it.



Then, try the 8bit Google Maps, yourself.

Two charts that scare me.

Via Paul Krugman's blog entry today on education in America, these two charts are self-explanatory.

What comes to mind, is Mitt Romney's attack on helping Americans go to college, and Rick Santorum's attack on the idea that all Americans should have the opportunity to go to college.  How far must America drop, before Americans finally get what's going on?

In a few more decades, there may be no point to trying to protect American intellectual property, because America might not be producing much of anything worth protecting.

SCOTUS legitimacy on the line?

I like Jonathan Cohn's opinion in The New Republic on the health care law under scrutiny by the SCOTUS.  Imagine the highest court in the nation, continuing to make 5-4 decisions on critical matters based on politics... Bush v Gore (5-4); Citizens United v FEC (5-4).

Yet it could very well come down to a 5-4 split on President Obama's health care law.

Despite the conservative public rhetoric, it doesn't take a stretch of the imagination at all, to understand that the ACA does not expand government powers -- Medicare and Social Security require participation for all Americans.

And so, Cohn notes that, "The plaintiffs (conservatives) have conceded that a universal health insurance program would be constitutional if, instead of penalizing people who decline to get insurance, the government enacted a tax and refunded the money to people who had insurance."

That should at least be mildly amusing, because it reflects the politics of Mitt Romney, where the argument changes depending upon the audience being addressed.  If it's to rile up libertarians, the conservative message is that government cannot take your rights away.  But if it's to address Constitutional issues with the SCOTUS, it's now a semantic question of whether a penalty is a tax.

What conservatives instead should be worried about, is an activist court (whose members are appointed, not voted in) that overrules Congress and the people who elected representatives to Congress.   In an interview on C-SPAN, Chief Justice Roberts once said, "If they don't like what we're doing, it's more or less just too bad."  -- I think that's a perfect statement for modern America.

If a liberal-minded justice had said that, conservatives would be howling like mad wolves, looking for blood.  But because conservatives enjoy a majority in the SCOTUS, they see it as a reflection of winners versus losers.

Again, a perfect statement for modern America.

Romney sticks foot in mouth: 2004 edition.

Via LAT, Buzzfeed has found a video of Romney mocking Senator Kerry in 2004, about his wealth.

Romney is the gift of the gaffe that keeps on giving.

Business groups aren't getting a ROI on Republicans.

Via Counterparties, NYT reports that many US business groups are finding that their investment in Republican elections, is ironically resulting in less support for pro-business interests.

Nelson just mockingly remarked, "Ha, ha!"

George Zimmerman's account -- caught in a lie?

Both sides are obviously trying to influence the case to their advantage.  This strategy might be backfiring however, for Zimmerman.

It was previously suggested that Zimmerman was on the ground, was being severely beaten with the back of his head slammed against the pavement, and received a broken nose.  But video from a CCTV feed at Samford Police intake point shows an otherwise unbeaten Zimmerman with no cuts or blood.

At the very least, don't you think it implausible that George Zimmerman, underneath Trayvon and shooting Trayvon point blank, escaped without any blood splatter?

Romney sticks foot in mouth -- a two in one.

I feel sorry for anyone trying to publish a compilation of Romney gaffes, because they just keep on coming.

This time, he's trying to connect to Wisconsin voters, while reclining in a chair in Texas, by explaining what was supposed to be a humorous anecdote, regarding his father's closing of a factory in Michigan and sending those jobs to Wisconsin.  A month ago, he was in Michigan talking up about how he loves Detroit because the trees were just the right height and how his wife owns a couple of Cadillacs.

In the first case he's trying to make humor about people losing their jobs in Michigan.  In the second case he's - once again - willing to change his message to fit the audience he's addressing.

It's a foot-in-mouth twofer.

CSS3test.

A site has popped up that tests browsers for their ability to recognize various CSS3 features: CSS3test.com.

Fascinating results, though not unexpected:

• Chrome 18.0.1025.140 = 56%;
• Firefox 11.0 = 52%;
• Opera 11.61.1250 = 50%;
• Internet Explorer 9.0.8112.16421 x64 = 33%.

After you've stopped laughing, just remember that CSS3 is a work-in-progress...so there's still time for the laggard to catch up.

Who are we kidding?  When was the last time Microsoft was thought of as a leader in technology?

Dick Cheney gets heart transplant.

But a question remains: Did he have one to begin with?  Others are wondering, too.

Hope he turns his life around at 71 and shows his compassion for others who couldn't qualify for Medicaid to get onto the transplant priority list.

Got my ID cards back from Moo.

These Moo Luxe cards are lusciously gorgeous, as are the stickers and postcards.  See the whole unboxing photos of the Luxe ID cards at my other blog.

Super-excited about the cards, and like I knew it would, the greenish-black PMS color comes out just like my Pantone book says it should.

More on Suzanne Collins' books.

After reading the synopsis of Catching Fire, I again reiterate my belief that Suzanne Collins borrowed liberally from Battle Royale.

In Catching Fire, there are timed zones of disasters that you must be outside of.  In BR, zones are announced, in which if you are caught inside of, your necklace explodes and you die.  The same goes for BR-II, except with a twist: this time kids are paired along gender so that if one dies, so does the other.

In Catching Fire, the government believes that the heroine cheated the system, and a new game is created.  In BR-II, the government changes the rules and the heroin becomes the target with a whole new set of victims who are forced to participate.

In Catching Fire, a plan is hatched to escape the game among a group of participants -- no doubt something everyone would do, if not for the threat of death.  In BR-II, the heroin and his group have long planned an escape route and a failsafe device to help them escape.

In Catching Fire, the heroine's family is discovered to be alive.  In BR-II, the heroin and heroine are reunited, against all odds, in a safe part of the world, outside of the government's purview.

There are some other similarities between BR-II and Collins' third book, Mockingjay.  Combined, there are just too many matching themes for me to believe that this is chance coincidence.  Is it enough to use the P word?

Via Movie Asia.

Via The Film League.

Windows Phone, getting smoked, but claiming otherwise.

This story went viral this morning, and a Microsoft employee had to step in to apologize and offer the prize that should have been awarded from the start.  If you search the internet, there are others who tried and had beaten Windows Phone, but did not get the prize, because Microsoft Store employees would not allow WP to lose.

You see, the Microsoft Store employees then go on to lie and change the rules and then have the gall to request that you take your photo in the "smoked by windows phone" sign.  That's fraud.

If you're going to play the Microsoft game - and you want to win - there are apparently at least three challenges: one is to take a photo then tag and post to Facebook; another is to provide the temperature of two different cities; a third one is to find a 4-star restaurant near you.  Probably subject to change, now that the original story has gone viral and people are spreading word of how Microsoft cheated.

With regard to the story this morning, Microsoft Store employees won't tell you that they already have the WP start screen rigged to bring up two live tiles with temperatures from two different cities.

But anyone can pin multiple city weather widgets to their screen in Android.  The difference is, Android users can find various customization widgets, some that can be resized.  Each of the widgets shown here can be sized to fit the whole screen or just a small portion.  You can't do that with WP or iOS.

Just remember however, that you should turn off your security features, lock screen, shut down all other widgets other than photo, Facebook, temperature, voice search / Google Places, and keep those widgets on the main home screen.

IMO: Why George Zimmerman ended up killing another human.

I had thought about this for some time now.

Generally, law enforcement representatives are taught to deescalate a situation so that a violent outcome may be averted.  George Zimmerman did exactly the opposite -- every move he made led him to an eventual direct confrontation, and a full escalation to violence.  And the only reason why he was stupid enough to move towards a full confrontation, was because the gun provided Zimmerman with a sense of bravado.

He ignored the 911 operator's warning.  No one in their proper mindset would pursue a total stranger, without risking life, solely on a tenuous presumption of that person's motives.

But that gun hidden on his person allowed him to believe that he was now stronger and righteous enough to force a confrontation.

So let's not forget what Ayn Rand had to say on the matter:

"Do not open your mouth to tell me that your mind has convinced you of your right to force my mind. Force and mind are opposites; morality ends where a gun begins."

Don't be like George Zimmerman: Don't have a weak mind.

Street View -- look up!

Did you notice?  Google's Street View is in the process of removing the weird aberration when you look up towards the sky.  Before, you couldn't tell what the buildings looked like when you looked up, but now I'm able to see what the tops of buildings look like in many cities.

This is located in Chicago.

A couple of PSAs.

I borrow lots of books from the library -- my own collection is already too big (200 +/-) so I'm trying to keep my own collection down, lest I am forced to build my own library.  I am not surprised to find the occasional receipt list of borrowed books, that you get when you check them out from the library (at mine, at least).  And by "occasional", I mean 1 in every 5 books I borrow.

But the other day, I came across a pay stub.  Not a check, but a pay stub.  Nonetheless, a pay stub has lots of personal information that most people wouldn't want to get out there in the open.  Of all the things to use as a bookmark, right?

PSA #1: Do not use a pay stub as a bookmark.


Ironically, a paper clip was attached to the pay stub.  This guy kept the paper clip attached to his pay stub, and used the pay stub as a bookmark, instead of taking the paper clip off the pay stub and using the paper clip as a bookmark.

Apparently young people these days have no clue as to the various uses of a paper clip.

PSA #2: Paper clips can be used to mark pages.

More of Spring.

Three things to note:

• It was cloudy today, so no beautiful blue backgrounds; 
• All of the photos I've done this Spring have been on my Samsung Galaxy S-II phone, as I've enjoyed having macro focusing with the subject as close as 4 inches away;
• Even though the GS-II takes great photos, it never hurts to pump up the vibrance and saturation in Photoshop, as well as add a gradation mask to a blur filter.

Am I Dangerous?

When did wearing a hoodie mean that you were dangerous?

Am I Dangerous?

Even the bees were out, enjoying the day.

Sunny and happy.

Snow in Portland? Just another beautiful day in downtown.

Snow may have dumped up and down the Willamette Valley, but not in downtown Portland...it was dry pavement in the afternoon, and the cherry blossoms on the waterfront will be spectacular this weekend.  If you're going, this weekend's going to be great.  Next week should be solid, except it looks like it's going to rain.

Payday lenders -- hiding behind SuperPACs, to overturn regulation.

This via Bloomberg, that payday lenders are using dummy LLCs to hide their true identities, in their bid to funnel millions of dollars to Republican SuperPACs.  Payday lenders are not happy that their shadow lending should be regulated, so they're looking to spend millions to get Republicans into office and repeal the Dodd-Frank Act.

All thanks to the conservative Supreme Court which overthrew the bipartisan McCain-Feingold Act (and decades-old laws going back to the post-Nixon Watergate era)...now we have government of the corporation, by the corporation and for the corporation.

Or as Mitt likes to put it, "Corporations are people, too."

Natsuko Aso (and J-Pop) fans are hilarious.

This video cracks me up...Natsuko Aso is so kawaii, and the fans love her so much.  There's this pudgy guy in front who can't quite keep up with the rest of the fans going bonkers, but his heart is completely into it.  And then there's all the boys jumping up and down in the beginning of the first song - Baka to Test / Eureka Baby.

Four floors of fans, all for an anime songstress.

Enjoying Angry Birds Space on Android.

Angry Birds Space now available.

via Engadget, you can now download it for Apple (computer), Windows, iOS, Android and Amazon tablet.

Curiously, only on Android is the app free.  I might have to click on some of the ads to help them out.

Note that it's not on Windows Phone.

What's all this fuss about Hunger Games?

It's been bugging me the last few days since I first heard about Hunger Games.  Personally, I don't buy the premise that the author, Suzanne Collins, got the idea of Hunger Games from flipping channels between a reality show and news coverage of a war...that feels contrived.

So I point to precedence.

Obviously, we can point directly to Lord of the Flies, in a post-war society that feared the breakdown of norms.

But Running Man established this nonsensical farce where Reality TV observes convicted people attempting to elude their fate by surviving a series of encounters.

Death Race changed the venue to racing with tricked out cars.

13 raised the level of jeopardy by turning the scene into a parlor game of rich people betting whimsically on a perverse version of Russian roulette.

But to me, the basic themes of Hunger Games come nearly directly from Japan's Battle Royale.  In a dystopian society where the children rebel against adults, the adults have created a law - the Battle Royale law.  By lottery, a class of students is chosen then secretly taken to an isolated island where they must kill each other until only one is left alive, or else they all die.  Except the ending revolves around a boy and girl in love, where the boy vows to protect the girl, only to end up being the weak (badly injured) one, and must be cared for by others.  Ultimately, whether this couple lives or dies is not entirely within their control...after all, that is how fate works.

• Dystopian society;
• Children as the protagonist;
• Lottery as methodology;
• Winner is the sole survivor of kids killing kids;
• The children are tracked by location and their conversations;
• Love story between boy and girl;
• Fate is not in your control, despite what you may have been led to believe.

Anyway, go rent Battle Royale - assuming you have the stomach for gore - and be prepared for a wild ride that is romantic, dark and comedic.  It's okay if you don't catch all the subtleties of the story, as they play off modern Japanese society.  But when you're done, ask yourself if you actually believe that Suzanne Collins got her story from a chance situation of flipping between reality tv and war coverage.

via TVropes

Methodically converting CDs to FLAC.

It seemed pointless to own so many CDs, and have them sitting there in boxes, unripped.  I actually forgot some of the titles that I owned.  I am beginning to realize however, that I should have partitioned more space on my hard drive for more than 250GB for music.

With the advent of Google Play Music, I have come to realize my goal for my music collection:

• Rip my entire library to lossless FLAC format so that the digital files are as good as the CD.
• Keep two copies of the FLAC files (one on the workstation and one on an external hard drive).
• Upload the entire collection to the cloud, via Google Play Music.
• Using Google Play's Music Manager solely on my workstation, use my workstation as the basis for ripping and keeping the cloud synced.
•  Download my music from Google Play Music as 320Kbps MP3s onto each device (phone, netbook, laptop).

This allows me to listen to my music without taking up the same amount of memory on my netbook, laptop and phone, if I had copied the FLAC files over to each device, and I won't have to rely on an external portable hard drive to access my music.

Now, I realize that it'll take a TON of bandwidth to upload all that music, so it'll be several months before this whole deal is accomplished, and my ISP might be a bit upset.  Still, I thought I'd share my goal to get my music into the cloud, and to have it all synced across all my devices.  And being the disorganized person that I am, having written this down in my blog allowed me to fully think through the whole process and document it.

:D

Oh, and holy cow, I cannot believe that I forgot about owning James Ingram's greatest hits.  Love, love, love that CD.

Romney was for stimulus spending before he was against it.

These days, it's hard to tell where Mitt Romney stands on issues. Has it ever been easy to pin Mitt Romney on an issue?  His opinion seems to change depending on the mood of the person he's talking to.

Take for instance the stimulus bill passed in 2009. Lately he's been talking as if the stimulus bill didn't do anything and that he was against it, but that's not what he said in 2009.

Medicare is for...people who cannot help themselves.

What the....?!?!

Paul Ryan suggested that Medicare is for "people who cannot help themselves".  He's repeated this over and over, for the past two years, indicating that this is no mere slip of the tongue.  No wonder most serious people scoff at his proposals...he starts off by talking down to people.

Medicare is for ALL Americans who need help, not for those "people who cannot help themselves".  That's just insidiously insulting of seniors.

Gee Ryan, thanks for insulting senior citizens.

Waterfront cherries starting to bloom.

Just a few of them...expect them to be out en force, later this week...it's going to be spectacular if there's no rain.  Photographers are starting to flock to the Waterfront, too.

Did I mention that I love Spring?

Magnolia Stellata (I think) on the waterfront.

Spring in Portland 2012: NW Waterfront is primed.

The cherry trees along the Waterfront in NW, are loaded and primed, about to explode with blossoms.  It feels like next week it'll be spectacular.  Hope it doesn't pour.

Counterclank Adware on Android -- hijacking Google search is spreading.

This morning I discovered that my phone default search had been changed to searchmobile.com without my consent -- similarly to this blog posting from Symantec, and this one from Lookout.

Importantly, I did not have any apps from that original Symantec app list.  This seems to mean that the adware is spreading.

So anyway, to work around the problem of the malware, you first have to find it.  As far as I can tell, it was probably a live wallpaper: Sakura Live Wallpaper by Xllusion.  According to Symantec's original blog entry, the Hearts Live Wallpaper was a host, but the original developer is no longer listed in Google Play Store.  The only clue that I have, is that I was playing around switching my wallpaper last night, including playing with the previously installed (and updated) Sakura Wallpaper.  It makes sense: free wallpapers have no other means to gain income other than to get you to upgrade to the paid versions, making it the most likely culprit.

So I uninstalled the Sakura Live Wallpaper and another live wallpaper, just to be safe.  I did find this live wallpaper that has no permissions: SwampWater.

Screen capture of Swamp Water Live Wallpaper.

Once you've uninstalled their app, I suggest running Norton Security Lite to check if there are any other apps hosting counterclank.  Note: Since Lookout doesn't view counterclank as malware, it won't identify it as such, so you'll have to use an antivirus that does.

Installed and ran Norton Security Lite

Now, you would think that Google would have an issue with adware software that redirects traffic away from Google's own search, but apparently not.

I have to strongly disagree with Google and Lookout: counterclank IS malware because it changes settings on my phone without my permission.

What if every free app moved to the counterclank tactic, then began to alter other settings and dropping icons onto your phone?  Obviously the list of apps that are infected is growing.  Eventually, your phone would be completely hijacked, and people, out of disgust, would move the iPhone or Windows Phone platforms.

I hate to say it, but the Googleplex has been infected by evil, and they're ignoring it.

NCAA tourney in Portland, OR

I got lucky and a friend invited me to Thursday night's match-ups between Virginia Commonwealth and Wichita State, and Indiana and New Mexico State.  These were pretty good seats too, even if partially obstructed by the backboard and post.

At least we go to sit up fairly close to the pep bands and the cheerleaders!

Winner for the school, band and cheerleaders that had the most fun and entertaining experience: VCU.

Their band was seriously rocking, their band director was animated, the parents of the players were dressed up to the hilt, and there were a few Rams all decked out with their head ornaments.  Their cheerleaders wore light outfits befitting the warm interior -- they could have nearly been mistaken for the Trailblazer cheerleaders.  Meanwhile the other squads were downright prudish with their cold-weather long-sleeved uniforms, indoors.

No way did any other school have as much fun as VCU, last night at the Rose Garden.

Oh, as for the game, VCU looked like they were comfortable all game long, and were playing within themselves while Wichita State looked like they were just not quite ready for the big stage.

Indiana looked like they got bored at times, and would allow NMSU to think that they might be able to get back into the game.  But they completely overwhelmed NMSU with talent across the board, but especially inside -- #40 Cody Zeller -- stole a few lazy passes, made several backdoor lay-ins, and had no trouble getting his points.  Indiana plays as if they have this internal switch that when it is turned on, they will just overwhelm you, but sometimes they turn it off and just take it easy.

VCU - Wichita State at the Rose Garden

Indiana - NMSU at the Rose Garden

VCU having more fun than anyone else

Indiana cheerleaders and their cold-weather uniforms

Paul Krugman's newest book coming next month to a library near you.

Or at least near me.

In no way am I taking credit for Multnomah County Library's recent purchase of Paul Krugman's book, "End This Depression Now!".  But I did send a purchase request just under two weeks ago.  :D

I just checked, and it was ordered last week.  Popped it into my queue -- FIRST!

Fairly excited to read what he's got to say, given the apropos situation we're in, and the threats facing us as well as the rest of the world.

Amazon's got pre-orders on it too (so does B&N), with a release date of April 30th.

Using Moo to create business cards.

I'm having a go at creating my own ID cards -- something that I've off and on tried to do, but knowingly failed miserably, to push my working knowledge of Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign.

This is the finalized design.  Note: I'm too lazy to reoutput to the trimmed size; what you're seeing is the bleed image output which is slightly larger than the actual card size.

It may look dark green on your screen but it's very close to black -- PMS color.

Since I'm all about multi-faceted design, I needed a means to express that within the cards.  Also, I figured if I came up with a logo - or more precisely customized glyphs - I could then transfer that to various things such as laser-etched furniture or basic ID paraphernalia.

Moo had recently introduced Luxe cards, which are 32 pt thick cards -- something you might see at a letterpress operation not a digital press -- that include some color options for the edge of the card.  Moo also allows for the "back" of cards to hold different images -- in my way of thinking the images, which change, would be on the front, not the back.  So if you're ordering 50 cards, you could design 50 different "backs" with the same front, although that seems like a hell of a lot of work.

I'm waiting on a friend to say yea-or-nay on stickers I designed for her, so I haven't yet placed the order, let alone had a chance to physically play with them to interact and judge their product quality, but at $35 + $7 shipping for 50 cards, that's a really nice means of keeping costs down for the self-employed (me) as an entry point of building one's own ID.

Actually, they have a cheaper option for half the thickness and no colored edges, for $20 and 50 cards, but Luxe really appeals to me.

Polls can be useless -- point illustrated this week.

Two separate polls of Americans taken at the same time, came up with completely different results outside of their margins of error.

A CBS News/NYT poll, taken March 7-11, 2012 of 1009 adults, suggests that President Obama's approval rating has sunk to 41%, in what they called a "new low" in their polling.

Meanwhile a Reuters/Ipsos poll taken March 8-11, 2012 of 1084 adults, suggests that President Obama's approval rating has grown to 50%.

Oddly enough, there were more registered Republicans (as a percentage of total # surveyed) in the Reuters poll than people who said that they would vote in a Republican primary in the CBS poll.

So which is it?  Is Obama's approval rating going up, or is it going down?  I think it's closer to 50% than 41%, just by examining Real Clear Politics' 2 week average -- CBS' poll is clearly an outlier.

Creating your own icons.

It's not that hard:

1. Edit images -- if you want transparent backgrounds, delete the background from the image -- then save as .png file, max dimensions 72pixels x 72pixels at 72dpi.
2. Go to convertICO.com and have it converted.
3. Save the .ico files to a place that is not in the way -- I created a folder called "ICOs" in my documents folder library.
4. Right click over an item and go to properties --> customize --> change folder icon, and point to the .ico file.
5. If you want to change the icon of your desktop items such as "computer", "network" or your trash can, in Windows7 you would right-click over the desktop then select "personalize" and choose "change desktop icons", and so on.

When you're creating icons that appear in your browser's tab -- see the doggie in this page? -- it's almost the same, except it gets saved as "favico.png" and the image size should be 16 pixels x 16 pixels.

My desktop

TARP Tracker: Don't believe the GOP shrills.

Yes, I mean shrills - as in high pitched screeching sounds - and not shills.

The GOP's sometime rhetoric has been to criticize TARP, but TARP has been a very successful program, creating stability even as the TARP payback continues.  Unfortunately - depending upon your politics - Treasury is trying to sell off its holdings of AIG and GM, even as it translates to a loss, owing to pressure from Conservatives.

Here's the rub: If Republicans had control of the Senate and House along with George Bush in the White House, they would have had NO CHOICE but to pass TARP, or otherwise watch America fall off a cliff into a severe depression.

Instead, Republicans have taken to populist opposition politics and blamed Democrats for spending billions bailing out Wall Street and Detroit automakers, as if they would have done otherwise.  All those billionaires who complain about not having enough political influence, would have surely sent a direct threat to Republicans to bail out the economy...or else.




Quick note: You can examine the daily report which is reflected in this chart, and you can look closely at each transaction performed under TARP, and its current disposition.

12 percentage point drop in oil imports; prices still up.

Report out today, points to a high point in the ratio of domestic production to imported oil (since 2003).  The US now imports 45% of oil it consumes, down from 57% in 2003.

Rhetorically, one would want to know why we are experiencing high gas / oil prices if domestic production has increased approximately 2%, even as US demand has decreased, right?  That is, after all, the Republican rhetoric currently being offered, particularly Newt.  (Nevermind of course, any sort of government interference in free markets of oil?)

The EIA tracks prices globally for different benchmarks, noting that oil is...global.  You can't expect a drop in oil prices domestically just because we're importing less oil.  Among other things, oil goes to the highest bidder, not to cousin Ed at a discount, just because his folksy twang makes you go, "aw shucks."

Although it wouldn't surprise me if politicians were found to be secretly buying oil at a discount from financial traders, to be promptly sold at a nice profit, quid pro quo.  After all, some billionaires continue to complain that they don't have enough political influence.

EIA explains the different forces that affect oil prices.

Android at Best Buy...playing with toys.

I was at the Best Buy Express store playing around with all the new stuff.  Don't let anyone tell you otherwise -- the Droid Razr, Samsung Galaxy Note and Samsung Galaxy Nexus are really impressive.  They're extremely thin, it's unbelievable how nice they feel in the hand.  The iPhone 4S is absolutely portly and an antiquated form factor with that tiny screen, by comparison.

A note on the Galaxy...err...Note: The phone does not have a good response with the stylus; it reminds me of trying to use my Wacom with cloud-based paint programs, compared to my Photoshop.  I'd love to see if this lag is overcome with a quad core phone.

Then I played with the Asus Transformer Prime and Samsung Galaxy Tab (both the 10.1" and the 8.9") and all three were very impressively thin and feel nicely solid in the hand.  Ice Cream Sandwich is slightly different in how you navigate (compared to past Android OS versions), but it's not that hard to learn.  They don't have the "new" iPad in (obviously), but the iPad2 was fat and heavy when compared to those three Android tablets.

It's just amazing how solid these new Android devices are...I suspect I'll end up with an Android tablet this year, for sure.

Oh, and the Kindle Fire?  FAT.

Acer Iconia 7" tablet is also fat, but not Kindle Fire fat.

You'd think if it was a 7" tablet, it's okay to be fat, but once you've handled the Asus Transformer Prime or the Galaxy Tabs, you won't want a fat tablet.

Still more evidence of Spring has arrived in Portland (2012).

Panoramic view of a bed of daffodils.

It's hot, it's hot, it's 63 degrees outside!

Why some retailers will never reach the high design they desire.

Working on retail design for a particular company, it strikes me that, despite their desire to upgrade its image and design, they continue to fall short.  I am here to explain why they (and others like them) continue to fall short.

In the design process, I have come across this a few times where clients will ask for "different" and "cool".  However, if you show them something truly different and cool, they shirk back in horror that they might get something that isn't what they see around them in other stores that they are striving to look like.  It's a troubling design issue, because that client merely wants to replicate design as if it were an ice cream flavor.

Similarly to the timid client, is the equally timid administrator.  They are the ones who work at design commissions or are mall managers.  They interpret context to mean that brick must be surrounded by more brick.  Worse if they have OCD and feel that balance means all things should be symmetrical.

What started out as a bold statement, became a centered, simple canopy.

Expectations between client and designer are on opposite ends, where the client says one thing, but meant something else altogether.  Anticipating this sort of blowback, designers build up a defense mechanism to design meekly for clients.

This timidity is nonexistent if one works for a design house, or starchitect, where wild designs are expected.  But the problem for the rest of us who are not lucky enough to work at such an outfit, is that we are self-neutered over time.  If you continue to work with the same client, your work becomes muted by that defensive mechanism.

The other problem facing these retailers, is rooted in the people they employ.  Merchandisers employed by a retailer have it all "figured out".  You cannot change their minds about whether a store is too cluttered by merchandise, signage, etc.  They, as most other people, are too concerned about their worth to a company, and use their lengthy background in merchandising as proof of expertise, even if you could repudiate their ideas by showing them slide after slide of why their ideas stink.

The merchandiser is not the only difficulty that a designer faces -- so too is the store manager.  A store manager who exerts -- by virtue of a corporate culture that allows them to do so -- complete control over what happens after construction is completed, will ignore the design.  If the store manager is versed in design and has a wealth of diverse experience, then it is not an issue that one has to confront, and will likely augment the design with ideas that are complementary.  But for many retailers, store managers are often young and have no concept of design.

Slat walls and grids.  Unconcerned about clutter and the visual impact of the stuff they add, slat walls and grids end up gracing as many open walls as possible.

What was intended to be a clean, modern store, becomes just another cluttered retail outlet.

While one can bravely ignore the possibility of losing a client, and simply keep pushing the client in the direction of daring design work, there is no solution to the problem of employees ignoring design.  Well, there is a solution: get rid of those employees.  But that's not something the designer can control.

My two cents.

March 9 Spaceweather Aurora prediction for PDX.

Looking decent.  May have to wake up and go outside around 1:00 am or so.

Image grabbed at 10:10 pm pst.

Microsoft IE9 ad...relying on 1 1/2 year old quote.

So I get it: marketing folks don't know beans about browsers.  Still, I had to do a double-take when Microsoft began airing their new Internet Explorer 9 ads on TV, with a quote from the NY Times saying, "IE9 is amazingly fast!"

Well, turns out it was a quote from September 15, 2010 covering the beta version of IE9.

And the rest of the review goes on to say:

"Past versions of Internet Explorer always seemed bloated and slow, especially compared to Google‘s Chrome. But I’ve been using both for a week, and Microsoft’s browser keeps up with Chrome on my PC. "

In other words, it only just caught up to Chrome at the time.  Or did it?

Let's check out some tests from the past from Lifehacker, shall we?

Dec, 2010

IE9 more or less keeps up here.

IE9 pretty slow.

March, 2011

IE9 is the slowest to boot up.

IE9 smelling exhaust fumes.

Sept, 2011

5 seconds later...

Still behind the leader.

Feb, 2012

Still slower than Chrome.

And it's Chrome FTW!

So did you notice? IE9 is never faster than Chrome in cold boot-up or javascript rendering.

And don't forget that if you're using XP (Net Marketshare says 45% of desktops are), you can't run IE9, so in order to use HTML5, you have to switch.

Finally, I give you HTML5TEST results:

• Chrome 18.0.1025.54 - 377 points (best)
• Opera 11.61 - 329 points
• Firefox 10.0.2 - 317 points
• IE 9.0.8112.16421 - 141 points