The Frustrated Bunny

Technology. Science. Politics. Geek. Etc.

Category: Technology

Technology

24 hours with the Android M developer preview

I installed the Android M developer preview on my Nexus 5 yesterday, not because I’m looking to test and optimize any apps, but mostly because I can and I gain some sort of perverse joy out of being on the bleeding edge and submitting bug reports. I was helping run MomoCon over the weekend, so I didn’t get to install it right away, but it was one of the first things I did after I got back from my trip and slept a little. In case you missed it, Google I/O was last weekend, and they announced what is essentially a...

Personal / Technology

Procrastinator? Gamer? Want to get things done? HabitRPG may change your life.

  HabitRPG is a web-based productivity tool that takes on the guise of an online role-playing game. You gain experience and gold by ticking off items on your to-do list, building good habits, busting bad habits, and more or less making yourself a better person. You take damage when you leave daily tasks undone, and you can reward yourself with either self-created rewards or new equipment for your character, which helps you defend against your own non-productivity as well as against bosses in quests. Yes, I said quests. HabitRPG’s party system allows you to join with friends or strangers into...

Random / Technology

Some brief observations and opinions on the direction of Windows

I originally posted this as a comment on Facebook to a post by someone who tried out Windows 8 and didn’t like it. Unsurprisingly, I have opinions on this. I have also added some additional context in italics throughout the post. The problem with Windows recently has been twofold: 1) computers have become ubiquitous, and therefore, the lowest common denominator of users has gotten lower and lower. 2) When the “average” user today is a lot dumber than the “average” user 10 or 15 years ago, and MS creates focus groups for features and UI, you wind up with a...

Politics / Technology

Internet blackout post-mortem: Who still supports SOPA/PIPA? Who went dark? Did it help?

In the last day my search engine traffic has been divided into three categories: 1) Why is [Wikipedia/Google/some other site] blacked out? 2) Which sites are blacked out today? 3) Which politicians support SOPA? The first one, admittedly, I was trolling for, and I got it. The second one, I had a partial list, but I’m not sure anyone had a truly complete list since more and more sites were going dark all day. SOPA Strike, created by AmericanCensorship.org, has probably the most complete list of sites that participated in some kind of protest, whether they went completely dark like...

Politics / Technology

Learning about SOPA (and PIPA): A multimedia approach

I’ve been saying for a couple weeks that I’d make a nice, comprehensive post about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its Senate counterpart, the Protect IP Act (PIPA). The great thing about being a procrastinator about writing about popular topics is that by the time you get around to it, others have done it as well or better, and you can just create a “best of” compilation. So that’s kind of what I’m doing. Plenty of companies, organizations, and blogs have dedicated today to protesting these bills in various ways. Many, like Wikipedia, Reddit, Craigslist, WordPress, and others...