The Column

Motto: Well That's Disappointing In 2014, when Google announced the Nexus 6 that was a huge personal disappointment, they announced a few other things that I passed on. My car isn't running "Android Auto" and my television isn't running Android TV... any more. I had read reviews for the NVIDIA SHIELD console (later rebranded as NVIDIA SHIELD TV, which seems like it's just screaming itself at you) for the past 5 months. It had been on my Amazon wish list since the first week it was available. On a lark, I decided to swing by the local Micro Center (electronics store) to see if they had one in stock. To my surprise/delight, they had exactly one in stock. I picked it up and took it home, filled with glee. I plugged it in, booted it up, logged in, and started playing around. Then the problems started. Nothing huge. Just... a bunch of little things. The Chromecast functionality was spotty. The audio cut out from time to time. The applications available o...

Motto: GREAT SCOTT! Yesterday was "Back to the Future" day. That is popular knowledge right now. I'm not stating that not so much to inform you now, but moreso as a reference for the future to give this Column some context. Anyway, in Back to the Future 2 we got to see what 1985 America thought 2015 America would look like. There were some articles that came out yesterday in which people predicted what life will look like in 30 years... I think they were all wrong. Here's my 100% "or your money back" guaranteed predictions for the year 2045: I will be 57 years old (or dead). I'll weigh 240 pounds. Slightly heavier than I am now. I will have aged like fine wine… with the face of a sophisticated gentleman. Mizzou will still not have a Men's Basketball National Championship... likely will still not have even gone to the championship game... or the Final Four. We will still not be flying everywhere we go (unless somebody recreates Tony Stark...

Motto: GET ON MY LEVEL The initial reviews for the Nexus 6P are coming back. I'm buying into the #HYPE . Initial .  Reviews . Are . All . Positive . Seriously . I am excited for this phone in a way I haven't been since the Galaxy Nexus four years ago... it looks to be a phenomenal showing for Android - a true flagship to stand opposite the iPhone. My Nexus 6P and my wife's iPhone 6S Plus are a perfectly matched duo - I like that. It's a nice symmetry for the life of our tech. Speaking of #HYPE : I'm not the world's biggest Star Wars fan. Not that I'm not a fan - I actually quite like Star Wars... it's just that I've only ever seen the original trilogy once for certain - and that was about a month ago. I'd seen parts and pieces of it in the past, but I hadn't "officially" watched them all the way through, in order. Thus I cannot properly say that I have the same level of #HYPE as other, better fans... but I'm sti...

Motto:  Hey/Okay Siri/Alexa/Cortana/Google, are you hearing me? Technology is cool . I think we are on the cusp of a cool, new, and exciting future in the world of consumer tech. #BoldPrediction It used to be that geeks thought "some day soon, everyone will have a PC".  Then it was "some day soon, everyone will be on the internet".  Then it was "some day soon, everyone will have a smartphone".  Now I think some day soon, everyone will have a smart home.  More than that, a smart everything .  I expect most people already have at LEAST 3 of the following items: computer smartphone tablet smart TV &/or streaming box &/or gaming console smart wearable device (smart watch, fitness tracker, etc) internet-connected car internet-connected speakers any number of smart "home automation" devices (smart thermostat, smart lights, surveillance  camera, etc) Amazon's "Echo", which is really a new category of device ...

Motto: IT MIGHT SEEM CRAZY, WHAT I'M ABOUT TO SAY... I'm about to write something I promised myself I wouldn't ever write: "It's been so long since I wrote, I should write in my Blog more!" Now, it has  been a while... for good reason. I've been doing a lot of stuff...  Namely: Udacity classwork - the largest chunk of what I've been doing Battlefield 4 - a larger chunk than I'd like to admit Exercising - basketball 2-3 times a week, gym 1-2 times; am taking this 30 Day Challenge a bit more seriously Seeing friends - more than before Feature writing - I've written a bit on the Features that will eventually get updated (Tech Factionism, Marvel stuff, Life Tracker stuff) MCU rewatch - related to the feature writing Life Tracker fixes - my weather API provider decided to start flaking out, so I had to find a new one I'm making an active effort towards "hobby diversification". I'm not saying I'm about to rad...

Motto: I'm the Guy in the Suit This post was written more for me than usual. Proceed with caution and/or boredom. Most of my writing lately has funneled into the MCU Feature. I didn't make that a link, because what's on this site doesn't reflect the current state of the Feature. I don't like Blogger's text editor for advanced formatting. I want my Features to be formatted nicely, sort of a showcase of "I could  be doing this  every time". So I'm writing the Feature elsewhere, and will hopefully figure out a way to display it on this site that maintains my formatting. Hopefully. It's October. Traditionally, October has been my bulk month , but I am taking bulk off this year for a couple of reasons: I don't have access to a gym with a proper squat rack or bench press. Bulking without lifting heavy is just called "getting fat". So I'm not doing that. I am in two basketball leagues, playing at least two games a week...