Mathematical Anarchy

“Now, prepare to marvel at the mysteries of the universe as I make this remainder disappear.”

I have mixed feelings about these silly impractical math problems being posted on Facebook. On one hand, you are NEVER going to run into this in real world use (Unless your going to be a mathemagician). On another hand, it makes me sad that people don’t know the basic algebra order of operations, which still IS a needed skill. “On the third hand”, I’m sick of people arguing over the correct order of operations because of a literal vs. practical application of PEMDAS. It’s a hypothetical math problem, people!

Instagram owns you

CNet is reporting that Facebook & Instagram have stirred up the Internet on Monday by announcing that they have the right to sell photographs taken with their application. People are in an uproar about this because they are not being compensated for this or being able to opt out of the service.
Come on people…
Instagram/Facebook is providing you with an application, webspace and bandwidth to share your photos with anyone on the Internets. How much did you have to pay for all of this? Oh right, this is a free program. This company is providing you with a free, easy method of sharing your pictures of food, duckface self-portraits and scenery feet pictures with a plethora of photo filters. Add on continued app support for the future and you’ll begin to understand that free apps have to bring in money somehow.
Some people have said that the photographers should get a percentage of the sales. Sure in a perfect situation, that would be great, but Instagram is already offering a free service. They don’t owe the photographers anything else. Sure, the photographer found that ‘perfect’ angle of their strawberry crepes & espresso this morning and published it, but so did hundreds of other people. Secondly, I imagine that Instagram doesn’t want to deal with treating all their millions of users as contract employees. That would be a paperwork nightmare.
Obviously, I am no fan of Instagram, but I think they are in the right to attempt to make revenue somehow. (Whether or not it will be successful, I don’t know) There is an opt-out option though. Simply stop using Instagram and delete the app and ALL of your photos from their servers well before January 16th. That includes your shares on Facebook as well. Unless the photographer is a shareholder, the person has no right or deserves anything back from Instagram and they agreed to such when using their app.
I know the Internet has this long standing feeling that things should be free, but the reality is that there has to be money made somewhere or the ‘free’ stuff will disappear.

My Love/Hate relationship with Linux

Seeing as how I haven’t really had a computer challenge really since I came to Japan, when my friend asked for help getting an OS on an old laptop, I jumped at the opportunity to help.  She said she wanted to put Linux on it since her old laptop, which was having charging problems from blunt force trauma, so naturally, I was like “Oh yea, this’ll be easy and awesome!”  Boy, was I wrong!  This is why I’m convinced that Linux is the devil…

LifeHaters gonna hate…

I have LifeHacker on my Twitter feed. I love checking the site out for their innovative ways for little mods around the house (usually). I’ve been noticing a lot though that the howler monkeys come out of the word works though just to thrash someone’s neat little trick. Today’s complaint fest is over this…

Put Your MP3 Player in the Sink for a Free Amplifier for Music in the Shower.

Is it a neat trick? Sure, but I’ll see how my sink performs. Is it the greatest idea? Well, maybe not in every circumstance… Sure, shower water condensation could accrue on it or the faucet could leak, but these are all easily preventable with a plastic bag (and I really just though of that a few seconds before writing that line!). Does this stop these LifeHaters from freaking out and posting the silliest comments. Take this fine fellow’s comment.

Vertigo50 Mon 27 Feb 2012 10:39 AM
You do realize that probably about 60-70% of bathroom faucets have a slight leak, right? Probably right onto your home button.

What is he basing this on? 60-70%!? I’ve seen several sinks over the course of my life and I know I haven’t ran into seeing 60-70% of them leaky (I know because I try to fix them!). Who knows though, maybe I’m just the lucky statistical outlier here. This isn’t the only flaming comment on this article though. What puzzles me is that people do this frequently on hacking pages I visit. Hack-a-Day had to post a little sit-down article because it was getting so bad. Whether these people are just trying to troll comments or not, why bother taking the time to flame someone for something you think is inferior? This is the Internet. No one really cares what you think about random things (Including my thoughts on this article, oddly enough)! The difference though between my article about hack-haters and some random flame comment on a hack is that this article has an immensely large chance (if anyone actually read my blog) of creating an inspiring discussion. Remember that, LifeHaters…

The Woz loves his Android phone?

 

I’m sure the hardcore Apple fans will be screaming blasphemy, but I love this article, because it shows that Apple is not the alpha and omega of smartphone innovation.  Google is also doing some great things with their Android OS.  Honestly, I was never that much of a Steve Jobs fan.  (With respect, he did know how to present Apple products very well)  He always just came across as a jerk to me, but Wozniak is just awesome and charismatic.  He’s like a Santa Claus that doesn’t need elves to create his technology and instead, decided to use something that Yukon Cornelius created because he’s willing to admit that it works. (I bet you weren’t expecting a Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer reference, huh?)

Technolog – Wozniak likes his Android phone a lot.

Big shoes to fill…

 

Steve Jobs Cartoon – Tough Act to Follow.

Is Siri a Conservative? More than meets the Eye!

Alright, so I know the whole ‘Siri can’t find abortion clinics’ has been played out all over the news, but Colbert brings to light a better, more amusing aspect of the iPhone 4S, World phone model.  Naturally, the ‘abortion clinic’ recognition is just an over looked glitch.  It’ll get patched within a few weeks.  The second half of this video is where it really gets funny.  Enjoy!

http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:video:colbertnation.com:403350

The Colbert Report
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Beautify your Desktop with a shot from Shinjuku

This is a really beautiful shot from some random street in Shinjuku.  While the background is a bit blurry and mostly unrecognizable, I can’t help but wonder if I have been through this area the last time I was in Tokyo.  The downside is that the setup does require a few apps to organize everything, but I still plan on trying it out tonight.

Shinjuku Streets Desktop – Lifehacker.

Animated Snow | Effects Tutorials | Planet Photoshop

Animated Snow | Effects Tutorials | Planet Photoshop.

I really enjoyed this tutorial to add animated snow to your holiday photos.

Technolog – Fridge magnet poses security threat to iPad 2

 

 

Technolog – Fridge magnet poses security threat to iPad 2.

Care of one of my favored tech writers, Rosa Golijan.
This kinda reminded me though of the other day when I thought I could access my iPod Touch’s apps/data through the camera lock screen button, but it turns out that my delayed passcode lock was set a bit higher than I thought it was.