Tag Archive for 'google'

Movies and stuff

Published on January 30, 2009 in Fun & Entertainment, General Stuff and PC Gaming. 3 Comments

Since I’ve been creating movies more and more lately, I decided to make a page where I can put them all. So at the top of my blog you’ll now see a link to the Movies page. And with THAT said… I’ve created another video:

HIGHER QUALITY VERSION HERE

I had a lot of fun making this video, and I learned a lot about editing… and about being a director. Waxx so kindly put it into perspective for me: “hi I’m Brandon I tell everyone absolutely nothing yet expect them to do it”… or something rude like that.

Also, today marks a day in history… for my alias “foszor” is now** autocompleted by Google from their main page. Go try it out… start typing “foszor” in and it will finish it for you. ABSO-FUCKING-AMAZING!

** Edit: sorry I fixed “not” to “now”

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Internet Tips & Tricks #1

Published on January 23, 2009 in General Stuff. 3 Comments

Hello. Welcome to the Internets! I will be your guide today. Starting off, to our left you will see some advertisements. Just behind those you will see some porn… once again I would like to thank you for joining us today, and we’ll make this as informative as possible.

Okay so here’s the scoop. I’ve been on the internet since Al Gore invented it, and have learned a few things along the way I would like to share. This is just an introduction post and I’ll probably follow up with some others down the road. Lets get started:

1. Google

Google has a plethora of services they offer. Its ridiculous. Its like they have some sort of awesome disease called Diarrhea of Features, and we all get to enjoy and bask in the warm, soupy, corn-filled crap that they spackle the toilet with. All of there features work together for the most part, which makes trying a new one very easy.

Even their search engine is more than a search engine. You can type something along the lines of “convert 1 dollar to euro” or “convert 1 oz to pound” and it will give you the answer. Another thing I do a lot is utilize their “did you mean…” feature. If I can’t spell a word like onomanapea, I just try my best and punch it into Google and they’ll be all like “did you mean onomatopoeia”, and I’m like fuck ya I did!

2. Stop using Internet Explorer

Do I even need to tell you guys about Firefox? I guess I do since my blog stats show a bunch of people using Internet Explorer. There’s no perfect web browser, but in my opinion Firefox is pretty high up there. To be honest, you have a lot of options as far as web browsers go and I’m not going to force one or the other down your throat, but pick one and roll with it. IE is terrible. Its fucking full of security issues and can’t even render transparent PNGs properly. Whats up with that?

Let me see if I got this right: PNGs were designed to be used on the internet… Internet Explorer is supposed to explore the internet… yet it can’t render PNGs properly. Additionally, if you do any web design, you’ll already know that if you want to support all browsers you’ll end up with special IE CSS classes and shit… its ridiculous!

3. Get some web space

Back in the day (wow that makes me sound old) it was all about free websites like Geocities and such. Seriously though, it doesn’t even matter. I’m not saying you need to own a domain (which is really cheap by the way) but just own some sort of web space. You don’t even need to pay for it. One of the most frustrating things is when someone tries to send me a file over some IM client or tries to attach it to an email. I FUCKING HATE GETTING LARGE ATTACHMENTS IN EMAIL! Don’t force me to download shit I don’t want. Just send me a link. You don’t even need to create a website if you don’t want to, just have it hold your files. But stop trying to file transfer it to me, attach it to an email, or use some shitty as free file hosting service that throttles my download speed and pumps my screen full of advertisements.

4. Blogging/Vlogging/Micro-Bloggin

First off, if you don’t know what a blog is… you’re reading one. Now go find a pencil and stick it in your eye. Secondly, read about vlogging and micro-blogging if you need some edumacation. All caught up? Good…

Why do these? First off its a great place to vent… FUCK SHIT DAMN HELL POOP FART APPLESAUCE! Additionally, if you’re a frequent person to the internet and have made some e-friends or meet up with real friends and family online, this is the only way people learn about you and what you’re doing.

But I don’t want people to know about me… I’m scared to reveal my true self

Okay fruitcake whatever… then be a mole and go dig yourself a hole: I’ll assume you’re gone now and continue talking to the normal people. Believe it or not, there are certain aspects of your life that people would take interest in if they knew about it. Maybe you draw? Maybe you write? Maybe you have a strange talent of sticking things in parts of your body that’s not natural… shit you could make money off that sort of stuff!

So think about it. Some useful services would include Wordpress, Twitter, Blogger, Identi.ca and so on… You really don’t need me to link you to anything specific… just Google (see section #1) one of them and find what one floats your proverbial boat.

5. Keep yourself organized

One of the most important aspects of enjoying the internet is being able to revisit objects of interest. Keeping your old emails organized is really important. Create folders for all important websites you frequent and save the emails you get from them in their respective areas.

Also, bookmarks (or Favorites for you IE fags) are important. I’m sure you already know about them and use them… but if you use them a lot I’m going to guess you have a huge menu that opens up and fills up your entire screen. Start making folders like “Funny Videos”, “Free Porn Sites”, and “Entertainment”. When you do this you’ll start noticing you’re able to actually find what you’re looking for. Its just like anything in life really. The more organized you are the more effective your time is utilized.

That’s it for now!

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T-Mobile G1… an epic tale of tales

Published on November 10, 2008 in General Stuff. 6 Comments

So once upon a time…

Some of you might know I got my G1 about a week and a half ago. I was so excited about it! I had been waiting for it to arrive. Before I even opened the box I took my Blackberry and started adding all my phone numbers as contacts on my Gmail account (I should have done this before, but I’m lazy). WHRY? Simple: the G1 syncs all your Google account to your phone, including your Gmail contacts as phone numbers. So instead of looking from one phone to the next and converting them over, I took the easy route and did it on the computer.

So once I was done, I turned on my new phone. One of the first things you do is “touch the Android to get started”. So I push it and it didn’t do anything. Hmm… did I miss? So I try again, this time pushing it in a slightly different area. Wallah, that worked. (about now I’m thinking of my PDA and how you have to calibrate the screen… maybe that’s why I missed pressing it the first time)

So all is fine and dandy as I sync my Google account to my phone. It works seamlessly. One minute I have a brand new phone, the next its populated with all my Gmail emails and contacts… it even put me online with Gtalk automatically.

I start playing around with the home screen and occasionally I miss the icon I’m trying to click or drag. I remember the fact I haven’t calibrated my screen. So I start looking in settings and to my surprise there is no such thing. Oh well, I just have to get used to where to touch… no biggy!

As I’m downloading new apps from the Android Market I keep having touch screen problems. Even on the home screen when I try to move from one side to the other it fucks up and I get stuck in between two screen. WTF! I start researching online and to my surprise no one is having the same issue as me (as far as I can find). Granted, people are having problems of their own, but no one is having screen problems like mine.

It progressively gets worse and worse. To a point where I can’t use the screen anymore and I’m stuck using my trackball for everything! WHAT’S THE POINT OF A TOUCH SCREEN PHONE IF IT DON’T TOUCH SCREEN PROPERLY?!

Because it worked sometimes and didn’t work other times, I started assuming it was a software problem. C’mon Google! Fix it! There were some OTA updates being pushed to G1 users. There is no way to force the update (as far as Google/HTC/T-Mobile want to admit), so you just have to wait. But I was too frustrated and found a method for manually updating it. I gave that a shot and NOPE! STILL FUCKED.

What to do… what to do…?

I tried to do a master reset on it (which is no big deal because, once agan… all my contacts automatically resync) but to no avail. Okay now I’m pissed. I call Customer Service and they decided to send me a new phone… but its on back-order… of course!

So another week goes by and I’ve got my shitty phone that I’m really start to hate. I keep considering putting my SIM card back into my Blackberry and saying the hell with it all. But the idea of the Google phone is too awesome to give up on.

I stuck through it till my new phone arrive just a few days ago, and I can honestly say it was well worth the wait. Turns out I just had a defective phone (this is expected). I love my new phone. It does everything I need it to do and then some. And the apps you can install make it even better. People have complained about the battery life on it but I’ve had no issues with that considering I already calibrated my battery. I use the hell out of my phone too, so if the battery sucked that bad I would know it.

I’ve even set up a method for sharing the pictures I take. They all end up in my Picasa web album under Drop Box.

And they lived happily ever after. The End.

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Android *beep boop bop*

Published on October 16, 2008 in General Stuff. 1 Comment

This may seem unrelated to what I normally talk about here, but keep reading and it will all unfold.

One thing most people can agree on is that Google pretty much kicks ass. It seems like whatever they get their ever-stretching hands on magically turns to gold. (I wonder how they take a piss without adverse side effects?)

Over the passed few years they’ve been working on a mobile platform called Android, which is joint effort of The Open Handset Alliance. The concept is simple: create an open source platform that gives every developer the same tools as everyone else. There’s no private or reserved libraries that only the phone developers can access… everyone is equal.

What does this mean? It means that unlike Apples iPhone, anyone and everyone can develop and write applications that access all aspects of the platforms stack. They even released the SDK already… how long has it taken Apple?

The platform is very impressive to say the least. It holds Google’s theory of minimalistic design with maximum usability. T-Mobile has announced the release of the first phone utilizing the Android OS… the T-Mobile G1.

Now, I’ve been a long time user of Blackberry. I’ve had three different Blackberry smart phones and loved each one of them, especially my current one. I will admit I’ve had interest in an iPhone, but I just couldn’t overcome my admiration for RIM devices to go and get one (not to mention I don’t subscribe to AT&T, which is the single wireless provider for iPhones in the United States).

Since I am a subscriber to T-Mobile, I’ve found myself looking at this G1 more and more. I’ve read review after review, watched hands-on videos and side by side comparisons against other smart phones. There are several things I really like about it, and a few I don’t. There has been an ongoing struggle in my head whether to get it or not.

Part of managing GATM is realizing that you’re not always at a computer to instantly take care of critical issues, but having the ability to address them on the move is an amazing benefit. With my Blackberry I have everything from web access, remote desktop, email and instant messaging. All of our admins have my mobile IM account and I’m able to communicate with them very quickly. WHRY would I do this? Because I try to manage GATM like its a business, whether we’re making money isn’t important… its doing something right that is. But will this new phone do everything my Blackberry does? Will it hold me back or move me forward? Will it have problems/issues/bugs? I DON’T KNOW!! WHAT SHOULD I DO?!?

At the end I decided to go ahead and preorder the G1, which should arrive early next month (I missed the first wave of preorders which will arrive Oct 22nd). The few concerns I have with the platform will probably be fixed soon after release (thanks to being open source). And my other obstacle was thinking “if I order this, what cool phone will come out shortly after?“. But you know what, in this age of technology that sort of thinking will only hold you back. No matter how long you wait, or what you wait for, almost as soon as you buy it something bigger and better will come out the next day.

So I figured, why not be on the bleeding edge and have one of the first of these new “Google Phones“?

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