#105 - Nothing in Particular

Motto: You're Not Special
The motto is both a reoccurring theme from Fight Club and a reference to the fact that I am starting this column without hoping to fulfill or achieve some grand purpose. I am writing to write, and that's alright.

List of things I'm not doing in this update:
> Specially made media
> Unveiling of massive projects
> Lists of words or any other sort of feature
> Addressing some sort of massive backlog

I recently read an article titled "The Smartphone is Dead". It's essentially one guy pointing out that phones have plateaued. No recently new phone has really been much better than what was already out there. 1080p screens are an unnecessary bump from the 720p standard from last year. 8 cores perform only marginally better than 4, which only perform marginally better than 2. My Nexus 4 came out 10 months ago, and it hasn't yet been definitively dethroned as a top-tier device*. A couple years back, 10 months would have been an eternity. A new phone back then was obsolete within 2 months... now the performance differences across devices has become mostly negligible. Every review for every phone says "it's very smooth, almost no hiccoughs at all." The argument the article was making was that "all devices are pretty much the same, and it's silly for them to try and differentiate themselves with useless gimmicks". I agree.

So, what's next then? The Smartwatch? Google Glass? Who knows.

 I live in a truly fantastic era.

 * I would concede that the Google Play Edition of the HTC One is better than my phone, but it's really pretty close.

 I do want the New Nexus 7, by the way.

 I've been reading on/using different code breaking and coding techniques. I've learned more about Enigma, AES, simple substitution (such as ROT13), and "The Dancing Men". People are smarter than me. Some people. Maybe it's because they are really dedicated. Maybe it's because I waste my time on the internet looking at funny pictures.

 But, come on, how can you turn down finding things like this:

I guess I'm doomed.

 The last thing I want to write about right now has to do with the quote at the end of the column. I listen to This Week in Tech weekly. It's one of a few podcasts I make sure to catch every week. Ever since the whole "The NSA is collecting everyone's information in alarming rates" thing, they have been concerned about privacy. That's where the quote comes from, and it is a sentiment I have voiced in the past and it was great hearing somebody else say the same thing.

 Maybe I should have plans for my posts from now on. This was not my best.

 OH OH ONE OTHER THING! Starting THIS WEDNESDAY, I'm going to try to write updates on a more scheduled, intentional basis. I'm thinking every Wednesday and Sunday.
Top 5: Podcasts I Listen To
5. This Week in Tech
4. This Week in Google
3. ...
2. ...
1. This American Life

Quote:

“Ultimately someone's going to have all your information. I'm almost happier that it's with one person, rather than scatter shot across a zillion different startups with varying levels of security. I tend to trust Google more than, you know, 'start up X'. So if Google continues to innovate and do interesting things, I'm reasonably comfortable with them having my data.”
- Tim Stevens, on This Week in Tech -

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