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just me. my current interests and stories for the interwebs.
Final proof on responsiveness. This doesn't event include Apple newest iPhone 5s loaded with the new A7 processor.
In its first TouchMarks benchmark test, the iPhone 5 responded to touches at an average time of 55 milliseconds, compared to 85 milliseconds for the iPhone 4. The closest Android device was the Samsung Galaxy S4 at 114 milliseconds.
via VentureBeat via Agawi Touchmarks
Today mark's the public release of Ghost: Just a Blogging Platform. After months of hard work, you can sign up and try it out for yourself. I'm excited to migrate and go full-time for this website.
Ghost 0.3 comes with the full, gorgeous Markdown editor which so many of you have been excited about using. It has a stunning post management interface, it has a simple set of settings which allow you to configure your blog, and it comes with a clean and simple personal blogging theme called Casper.
and from their Kickstarter:
Ghost is a platform dedicated to one thing: Publishing. It's beautifully designed, completely customizable and completely Open Source. Ghost allows you to write and publish your own blog, giving you the tools to make it easy and even (gasp) fun to do. It's simple, elegant, and designed so that you can spend less time messing with making your blog work - and more time blogging.
Impressive.
Its hardware and software make it the best smartphone on the market.
The iPhone 5S is, in some measures, computationally superior to the top-of-the-line MacBook Pro from just five years ago. In your fucking pocket.
via John Gruber's Daring Fireball
Just my two cents, don't buy the iPhone 5c.
As much as it pains me to use the word futureproof, if you are one of those people who likes to hold onto their device for a while - the 5s is as good a starting point as any.
via Anandtech
And then via Twitter:
I just spent the past week doing the best I can to understand Apple's A7 SoC. In short? It's insanely fast. http://t.co/AgWzGv1ljr
My wife and I headed down to Liberty Station last Monday to pick up a few Nancy Tillman books at Yellow Book Road. Arriving just within minutes to close, we were politely greeted at the door by Ann and David with my inquires on hand. They knew we were coming because I called twice hoping that they'd wait for us and that they did. You don't find that customer service everywhere. Thanks again guys!
After walking just a few yards, we ran into the newest location for Stone Brewery (at Liberty Station). Come to find out that it's the largest restaurant in San Diego measuring at just over 23,000 square feet and it really is enormous. It's beautiful and since I had my camera handy, I couldn't miss the opportunity to take pictures. My wife was willing to make another Tastemade video but since we had our daughter with us, I hesitated. Don't worry though, we'll back again so stay tuned.
Say good bye to sleep.
In the past, GTA games have given you an exciting world to explore but little reason to push through the actual story. GTA V does both, offering a sprawling world coupled with an engaging narrative that keeps you moving. And the fact that I could see events unfold from all three perspectives made it all the more compelling. GTA V fulfills the promise of GTA IV, offering a sophisticated story and fully realized characters in addition to GTA's typical criminal antics. It doesn’t always gel together perfectly, but when it works, GTA V almost makes you want to be the bad guy.
via The Verge
I'm all about flying planes and this looks like it could be fun!
http://youtu.be/hvoD7ehZPcM
Depressing insight to what the truths of a civil war can be like through the eyes of Italian journalist Domenico Quirico --held hostage for 150 days.
In this place, when the hostage weeps, everyone laughs at the spectacle of his pain and sees it as a sign of weakness. Syria has become the Country of Evil, the land where evil triumphs and thrives like grapes on the vine under a Middle Eastern sun, and where evil displays all its aspects: greed, hatred, fanaticism, the absence of mercy; where even children and the old rejoice in their malevolence. My captors prayed to their God standing next to me, the suffering prisoner. They prayed content, without remorse and attentive to their rituals. What were they saying to their God?
via The Guardian
Some of you may have heard about the time trials at the Isle of Man, but I was first introduced to it this morning. TT actually stands for Tourist Trophy and the race on the island has actually been taking pace since 1907. These racers are insane, riding Hayabusa motorcycles at speeds of up to 330 km/h (205mph)! Check out this amazing video! http://youtu.be/LU-ynRoqDEs
And there's also this summary of the 2013 time trials here.
http://youtu.be/D09yD0MN4Vg
And more amazingly, here's Guy Martin outrunning a helicopter!
http://youtu.be/zbaO8mzByvw
Here's another touching commercial. Definitely felt this one too.http://youtu.be/Ut-irAMut5A
Something things go right sometimes they don't. Yesterday wasn't something out of the ordinary but I guess some of you never experience the frequency of weather or maintenance that we encounter working at an airline. Looking at the weather prior to our departure from Dallas-Ft. Worth, we knew that we could expect some thunderstorms during our approach into Charleston, West Virginia. Blocked to just a little over two hours, and looking at the terminal aerodrome forecast (TAF), we took off with confidence that we could "beat" the storm. Whether or not to jet east and then up and around the front or penetrate earlier in the flight and fly behind it, we chose the former. Usually you chose the latter, but once we were in the air, the weather didn't look that bad.
Almost an hour after our scheduled arrival, we made a safe approach and landing safely getting all our passengers to the terminal. It wasn't without bumps and initially the weather at CRW wasn't calling for landing conditions, but after 45 minutes, the initial thunderstorm cleared and calm winds presided.
Arriving at the gate, the plan was to leave as soon as we could board up, refuel and clean the aircraft but things changed. The plane gave us a flashing light notifying us of a maintenance item which after two hours of coordinating with dispatch, maintenance control and crew scheduling, ultimately led to the cancellation of the flight. Repositioning the aircraft to another portion of the airport, coordinating a shuttle and hotel stay our day came to an end with nine hours of sleep. We also had the opportunity of riding the hotel shuttle back to with some passengers who were taking the cancellation well.
So back to present time, scheduling had us report at 5:15am this morning and to no surprise without a phone call or notification from anyone back at company, we came down for the scheduled shuttle back to the airport only to find out that the aircraft wasn't ready. I'm now back in the hotel room killing another two hours before our next scheduled van ride. At least I can now grab some coffee.
update: I just got a call a couple of minutes ago notifying us again for a change to 6:45am which as I spoke to her was actually six minutes in the past.
I was fortunate enough a couple of months ago to help kickstart a beautiful idea dubbed Soma. Not only did they re-engineer and rethink the idea of home water filter, the team at Soma pulled through and brought to life an amazing product. I received my Soma glass carafe and filter on Tuesday and love it. I've used it to cook rice and make great tasting coffee. I find myself drinking more water just to watch it filter quickly through the "100% compostable water filter." Here are a few pictures from my Soma and I hope you enjoy my unboxing. As of this writing, their website shows Soma making a public debut in four days. Sign up and check it out!
Straight from the website:
THE WORLD'S MOST INNOVATIVE WATER FILTER
100% compostable filter - Made from all-natural Malaysian coconut shells, vegan silk, and food-based PLA plastic. "There's nothing else like it in the world." Designed by David Beeman - One of the top water filtration experts, with over 30 years of experience creating water formulas for Starbucks, Peet's, and other global brands. Superior taste - Soma's proprietary formula produces the best tasting water. You'll notice a crisp, pure taste you won't find anywhere else.
FINALLY, A GLASS CARAFE
Sleek, minimal design - We eliminated all unnecessary features, resulting in a form that is beautiful because of its elegant simplicity. You'll want to show it off - Soma will be the centerpiece of your next dinner party. Say good bye to hiding your filtered water in the fridge. Drip-free pouring - The beveled edge of the glass carafe results in a perfect pour, every time.
Watch the video here:
A fantastic overview on the both new iPhones. Andy Ihnatko also details the security concerns that some might have with the new biometric scanner.
Biometric authentication is a great idea. But it has to Just Plain Work, every damn time, or else it’ll be relegated to the Scrapheap of Good Intentions where most of the new software features on a Samsung phone wind up.
It was so easy that I was able to train it within just three minutes. And while I didn’t have all that much time to try to trick the sensor there in the demo room, it worked flawlessly on the finger that I’d trained and not at all on any of my other fingers. You can train it to recognize up to five digits.
Did I worry about handing over detailed scans of my finger to a phone that I didn’t own? Nope. The phone destroys all copies of the data it collects as soon as it’s read your finger … and your fingerprint data isn’t backed up to the cloud.
When it comes down to having the best of the best, some people have asked me why it's worth it. Bottom line... over the course of a year or two, I'm shelling out $1.5 a day or $0.07 an hour for something that I'm on ALL THE TIME! Does that make it worth it... yes! The fact of the matter is that I might end up paying another $400 once I sell my iPhone 5 64GB in White for AT&T, but as the number one tool in your pocket? It's dumb to have a "free" iPhone 4S which is two years old and keep it for another two years. Also, if the iPhone 5c is nothing more that a .1 update to the iPhone 5, it's not worth it. The camera, and Touch ID alone along with the A7 64-bit processor, I'm expecting nothing but awesome with the new iPhone 5s. This also puts me in line with Brian Lam of The Wirecutter on the new iPhone 5s. I asked him a while back on the iPhone 5 and he responded to me via twitter with good points. He also recently wrote this on his website too.
I’m just saying you should upgrade because a few hundred bucks is not really a lot of money for something if you use it all the time, every day, and are already paying a hundred bucks and change a month in service fees over several years.
I'm going to find out what I can fetch for my iPhone 5. Any offers? Gazelle is up to $360 $340 buy I wonder if I could get $450 on Craigslist? It's still jailbroken too by the way running iOS 6.0.2.
update: Lifehacker also talks about future proofing for only $100.
Considering the price difference between the two models is only $100, your best bet if you have the cash is the iPhone 5s for future proofing, which is worth it considering since you'll have to sign a new two year contract to get the discounted pricing.
