Activity for April 5

Review - Google Chrome for Windows
1.0.154.42 (Dec 23, 2008)

My experience with Google Chrome has been excellent. It is a rocket compared to all other browsers including Opera which I used until Chrome was released.

The compatibility with websites has gotten progressively better with each automatic update. The only websites I have come across that don't work with this browser are early AJAX web applications I use at work. These were created in 2004 and were specifically written for IE (6.0 at the time) and they don't work with firefox, opera, or safari either.

It does not have all the wizbang plugins and skins that Firefox has but that's fine. 99% of those plugins are superfluous anyway adding little value to the actual navigation experience.

My only complaints with Chrome is the sketchy support for flash and other plugins which is more the fault of Adobe and other developers than Google. This too has gotten better but at first I had trouble watching videos on hulu.com.
Comment - AT&T iPhone drops calls three times that of Verizon, study says
1.0.154.42 (Apr 5, 2011 - 6:08 PM)

"No it isn't. It's a PHONE, duh! Move your computer to a DSL line, now dial -up, now Fiber, now your corporate network.. what's changed.. the NETWORK, has NOTHING to do with the COMPUTER."

I'm not sure if this comment was meant to be sarcastic based on the "duh"...

...But if you are serious, then it's obvious you're not an electrical/computer engineer. The iphone OS runs on a single ARM processor. I'm not sure how much of the CDMA/GSM radio overhead is handled by the respective chipset, but its likely that at least some of it is handled by the core OS on the ARM. With that said the software between the ATT iphone and the Verizon iphone IS different. The radio chipsets between the V and the A iphone are different... Thus the phones are different.

I am not definitively saying that the ATT version of the iphone is the source of the dropped calls, but you can not definitively conclude that its solely the fault of the network.

If the verizon software is superior to the ATTs, because Apple learned lessons when making the ATT version, and/or if the CDMA chipset is more robust than the GSM chipset, then...

You could essentially be comparing a 4cylinder mustang to an 8cylinder mustang, and blaming the road because your 4 banger doesn't run as well as the 8.

With that said, I'm on ATT and my Android Nexus One never drops a call. So based on my data point of 1, I conclude its not the network :-)
Comment - Would you believe what people are writing about Zune's death?
1.0.154.42 (Mar 15, 2011 - 6:26 PM)

People always site that the iPod touch has a large collection of apps and the ZuneHD doesn't, which if apps are what you're looking for in your music... player then yeah the iPod touch is the obvious choice. The Zune web browser is crap as well, no reason to lie. If you own a smartphone (android anyone?) then you really don't need apps or a browser on your media player, because well its a media player. As for the combined pmp/phone approach, nothing is better than listening to music for 6 hours at work and then missing important phone calls because your phone is dead.

If you objectively... compare the ZuneHD to any non-touch iPod, then the ZuneHD blows it out of the water. If you use the ZuneHD for music and not apps, then the Zune kills the ipod Touch as well.

If Microsoft would have launched the ZuneHD in 2006, with the Zune 4.0 software (not that crap they shipped in 06) then I think the fate of the Zune platform would have been different.

But the truth is by the time Microsoft got their act together everyone had already become accustomed to the iTunes ecosystem. I still don't get iTunes, I mean nothing makes me want to listen to music like spreadsheets :-)
Comment - Feds look to detect cyberattacks through new early warning system
1.0.154.42 (Jul 8, 2010 - 6:39 PM)

Yay! something else for people to freak out about. Is today a code red day? Maybe they will be creative with the names this time. Its a code crimson! Oh my!
Comment - AT&T rapidly builds its Android portfolio, announces Samsung Captivate
1.0.154.42 (Jun 19, 2010 - 1:42 PM)

A more proper name for this phone would be Captive rather than captivate.
Comment - Will you buy an Apple iPhone 4?
1.0.154.42 (Jun 10, 2010 - 7:43 AM)

You are right, must have missed that detail... per engadget "Unfortunately, it's WiFi-only at the moment, as Steve says Apple needs to work with carriers to support it on 3G." I withdraw my ranting about video calling for now.