Exploring new horizons - Ipad and new places

[ The picture represents in some way the topics I will be discussing in this post, besides the fact that it's super cute ]

Well nothing is completely official till it happens, but one of the members of the Rubuska team will be undergoing some significant lifestyle changes that will, in my opinion, result in a positive effect on this blog, or at least I hope so. Not going to go public yet about it until it happens but I'll probably be going somewhere else in the summer. Nonetheless, what did I say in the blog post title? You read correctly, Ipad. Interestingly enough, let me take the opportunity to quote myself from the last post:

• "Now with the HTC Evo being released soon, I am already considering changing phones since the Android + HTC Sense combination has worked out so well. Not to mention that cameras in phones are a great plus for me because I dislike having to carry a digital camera with me, so the fact I can record in 720p is quite a treat. Having the phone work as a mobile hotspot is also attractive, and I might just get such data plan if I get a higher specced netbook/laptop/tablet later on."

• "
  Who knows, maybe I'll even get an Ipad too... though I have a feeling that if I do that, Uska will get an Android powered tablet..."

To be honest, I've been let down by what the Android tablets have had to offer, or more precisely, the lack of things to offer. Not only have they've been slow to appear on the market (Notion Ink Adam anyone?) Android's fragmented nature does not support it's case in the market as well. Considering it is a mobile OS, you can not really compare it to something like other mobile operating systems like Ubuntu Netbook Remix, Jolicloud and even Meego that have a higher support for software variety and development. Truth be told though, on most of these tablets it's probably not hard at all to install the mentioned options, but at what price and hassle? I was a big follower of the development of the Notion Ink Adam for many reasons, considering that it offered a lot in terms on specifications, competitive price, and even features. Ever since I've made a full switch to a Linux distro for my everyday computer use, I can't help but realize the irony of it all that I am considering a device that is by all means a product from one of the most - software-wise and hardware-wise - closed companies. But what has convinced me to I prefer the Ipad over the Notion Ink Adam (other than the fact that the Adam is nowhere to be seen or heard of and it's June)?

After using the HTC Hero for two months now, I have become better acquainted with the Android OS in a deeper level. Putting aside the version fragmentation dilemma that I don't doubt Google will solve, there's still the problem of apps. Android is still an infant OS unlike the Iphone/Ipad OS which has been polished considerably over the years. Not only does it look better, but the OS is indeed very smooth, but beyond that there's also something very important: app development. I am not saying Android can not in a year or two catch up on Apple's lead on app count, but the fact still remains that by being an open mobile platform, it is not unified. If it is ported to tablets, they will not have the same marketplace as a smartphones. It will be up for the developers to take care of that front. That is due to the fact that most, if not all Android tablets will be running on custom versions of such OS. Unlike Linux though, where there exists more unity in the propagation and programming

of software among different distros, Android does not have what we could call the modern and completely open package/repository system. I am no expert software analyst, but such a model would greatly diversify app options on android but would break to some extent the consumer micro transaction model of buying apps. My experiences with Ubuntu, Fedora and more traditional Linux distros support this idea, which is one of the reasons I'm a strong advocate of Open Source Operating systems like Linux and my favorite flavor: Ubuntu or more precisely, Debian derivatives.

So yes, the Ipad indeed does exceed in what I would call a strong foundation despite its shortcomings regarding hardware specifications, and probably my biggest gripe is the lack of built in camera for video conferencing, which I have no doubt that it will be solved more sooner than later through an add-on, and the Apple development community is quite active and imaginative to when it comes to overcome many of the OS's imperfections.

So deep down my decision to choose the Ipad over an Android powered tablet is simply the fact that I don't think Android is ready to enter such market. That does not mean Android is an excellent choice for smartphones as it has proven till now. I prefer the more open oriented nature of the OS, such as the ease of use as external storage, freedom to transfer media without the need of obligatory software unlike the Itunes - Apple product relation, better notification system, widget system, greater integration to social networking among other features. For me Android, as does WebOS, show great promise in the smartphone market and are more to my liking than the Iphone OS. The good thing is we have variety, and I think that's good since everyone uses phones differently.

Another reason why I've taken a liking to the Ipad is because it reminds me of the first months I had my first netbook, the Eee PC 701 2GB Surf with the custom Linux Xandros OS. The ease of use, fast connectivity to the world wide web, instant messaging and voice/video chat were all things that seemed pretty ahead of it's time since it felt like it was all there right now at my fingertips, and I have to hang it to the Apple promo guys that make a strong point of this concept that's similar to that of the Xandros OS example and Ubuntu Netbook remix (and it's many flavors). Apple's OS is stable, smooth, aesthetically pleasing and has that instant feel to it. Not only that, but probably what I most like about tablets in general is that I consider them a step forward from netbooks in terms of portability and instant access to web content and productivity tools. That does not mean they'll replace laptops anytime soon, but the market is changing as technology advances, and it's hard to deny it.

What I think we should all be looking forward to is the day tablets advance hardware-wise to the level of current day laptops. This would give a greater amount of freedom in the selection of Operating systems we could use without worrying of being tied to one option. You may have noticed I have not mentioned at all the interest in a Windows 7 based tablet, simply because Windows has proven again and again that it is not quite there in the sense of accommodating itself to tablets, and with the death of the Courier concept, I don't see Windows becoming more predominant on tablets anytime soon. Not to mention that I simply do not use Windows at all with the exception of gaming given the Direct X empire (would be interesting if something happened in that area similar to the current Flash vs. HTML5 debate).

As a final note, depending on how things develop, I will probably be pretty busy this summer but I will make an effort to keep posting on the blog, especially when I get my Ipad :)

Till next time,

Rubi

Into the world of Smartphones, Netbooks and Hybrid mobile devices

I recently switched to Sprint's network after getting tired of AT&T's "GoPhone" service and it was the result of a greater interest in mobility concerning online connectivity on the go. Unlike Uska who's experienced the conveniences of mobile internet for more than two years now, I on the other hand have had little experience, but I would like to share some thoughts on what I think of the current mobile market and my experiences.

I am a big fan of portability and mobility in anything technological combined with a strong pragmatic idealism towards my mobile devices. My first start was with the Eee Pc Surf 701 2gb which was around the time Uska began his journey with a mobile device when he got his first smartphone, the Blackberry Pearl.

At that moment a line was currently drawn between me and him as we debated on the pros and cons of each device. My experiences with the Eee Pc 701 were quite delightful, but like with Uska's Blackberry Pearl, we both quickly felt that the devices aged quite quickly. Rim quickly started releasing higher specced phones and more competition began to emerge as the smartphone market began to expand. On the other side of things the Netbook market/mania had just begun, with higher specced machines rolling out the year after. Nevertheless I enjoyed my netbook fully for like a year and a half, and saw my productivity shift from predominantly being a desktop user, to switching back and forth without much effort. Some people have experienced this change as well when they got their Ipads this year. Mobile computing of this sort is incredibly practical in our lives, and for students and some professionals, having a computer that's so light, inexpensive, small and practical became a great help in everyday tasks. From notetaking to idle internet browsing in Santa Rosa mall, from writing essays to watching the latest remix of Chocolate Rain, the netbook quickly became a device I found myself connected to constantly. As for Uska, his addiction (note: heavy dependence) to his Blackberry became quite clear and his computer habits changed a lot as well.

After calling a truce in our sometimes heated debates on smartphone vs netbook, time passed and that brings us to today's increasingly mobile market: Netbooks being sold by phone carriers with 3G connectivity as well as Smartphones like the HTC Evo pioneering 4G in cellphones and serving as a Hotspot at the same time. Last but not least, the new tablet mania that seemed to have become the highlight in the beginning of this year.

The first smartphone I owned was the Nokia 5800 Xpressmusic. I have to admit that I was amazed as to how practical having a smartphone could be, and like Uska foretold, it would feed my growing need to obtain a contract based agreement with a carrier and have an unlimited data plan. By this time I had stopped using my Eee PC greatly, mostly due to the fact that browsing the internet now is not the same as 2-3 years ago. Modern websites rely heavily on Flash, and browsing on an low specced netbook has become quite a hassle. The Nokia 5800 Xpressmusic was a refreshing take on mobile computing for me, offering me the advantages of a smartphone and the portability I wished. Despite Symbian's shortcomings, I still consider to this day that it's an excellent phone. In fact, it supports Skype and supported the Google Buzz layer long before the HTC Hero, which I find pretty ironic. It does not change though that the OS is quite aged and is by no means flashy. So it finally came down to my switch to Sprint and being and open source linux fan, I was naturally leaning more to an Android phone than an Iphone.

The HTC Hero has proven to be an excellent phone as well. Though I do miss having Skype for long distance calls and I found the wait for Android 2.1 quite annoying. The phone lags quite a bit sometimes but the advantages of the Android OS are great. Now with the HTC Evo being released soon, I am already considering changing phones since the Android + HTC Sense combination has worked out so well. Not to mention that cameras in phones are a great plus for me because I dislike having to carry a digital camera with me, so the fact I can record in 720p is quite a treat. Having the phone work as a mobile hotspot is also attractive, and I might just get such data plan if I get a higher specced netbook/laptop/tablet later on. Surprisingly, Uska got an Iphone 3Gs not too long ago and now I have an Android powered device, we just love being on opposite sides... He was in CDMA, I was in GSM and that switched as well.

To this day I still don' t use my netbook half as much as I used to due to the performance issues I mentioned. Not to mention the smartphone I have can do a lot of the things the netbook can do and it has internet all the time. But I do feel inclined on getting a new netbook or tablet to complete my mobile device arsenal and the trinity of a geek: Smartphone, laptop/netbook/tablet and desktop. Like I said in the beginning, I'm a big fan of portability and mobility, so tablets quickly became quite the attraction for me this year, and more importantly, the line between smartphone and netbook has been blurred. Who knows, maybe I'll even get an Ipad too... though I have a feeling that if I do that, Uska will get an Android powered tablet...

A Sawajiri Summer Story

So after 3(or 4) jobs, full time studies, and gym hours getting in the way of Rubuska postings and me following the world of Japanese Entertainment, I am finally free and have something worthy of posting. Remember way back in 2007 when our little Erika, who was starting a cool and promising career in music and acting, was probably a bit moody from a little PMS? Well if you don't she basically looked a little moody and answered the press questions at an event with short answers. Either everyone loved her and were extremely disappointed, or were envious and didn't want her in the entertainment circuit cause they just freaking jumped on her! Subsequently she made some bad choices and married the wrong person she was put on hiatus and went to learn English in London.

Well after the Japanese people broke her career due to PMS, and broke our hearts with it, Sawajiri is reportedly making a come back! Japan-Zone reports:

"Actress Sawajiri Erika (24) will perform her new song "Treasure" on Saturday, as she also makes a formal return to work. In her first professional engagement since the recent media attention around her divorce plans, she will appear at the "GirlsAward2010" fashion event in Tokyo."

About FREAKING time!. It also says the new song is available for free on the site but I got a 403 Forbidden error. Wonder why. I wanted to listen and support her! :(

Anyway, an Erika Sawajiri blog, Erika-fantasy translated this snippet from Yahoo! News Japan:

"On this evening Sawajiri exited her mother's apartment wearing a leopard print camisole which emphasized her breasts. [...] Within a myriad of camera flashes, Sawajiri waved to about 80 reporters with a smile. Questions like "Did you really break up with him through e-mail?" were met with only her sunglasses and a smile from beginning to end. She then boarded a black Mercedes driven by an avex official which confirms the contract with the management."

Well she got it right! I can imagine she was irritated by the press, who kept trying to make her look like a total text message break-up bitch. But the fact that she learned from her mistake isn't the important thing that Yahoo! reported on, by far it's not. It's not even the fact that we pretty much have confirmation of her having a contract. Of course, it has to be the fact that she was wearing a leopard print camisole! And get this(which is my favorite part): IT EMPHASIZED HER BREASTS! Oh Japanese press, you're Japanese Entertainment as much as the stars are.

Anyway, I'm keeping track of this, I'll post if the site gets back up. WELCOME BACK ERIKA! We sorely, deeply missed you!

This Just In- Maimi cut her hair!!

D: omg she did something that I could only conceive in my worst nightmares. I knew a day like this would come, the day that my favorite idol, who’s amazing beauty fits my idealist view of what I like in a girl’s looks, changes her image. I always thought it would be worst if she dyed her hair brown or something, but I also didn’t want the cut to happen. Nevertheless, she did it and I was pleasantly surprised.

 

Here are some pics of her with her awesome amazing long hair:

 

Ahh she just makes me melt…. <3

So how does she look with her shorter hair?

This is why I was pleasantly surprised. OMG SHE LOOKS AMAZINGGGGGGGGGG!! I love her new do!! I was thinking about it and it hit me: I still love her no matter what she does <3

A review of a regular phone from a ex smartphone user

Nearly two years ago I switched from being a long time Movistar/Open Mobile customer to a Centennial Wireless one because they were giving away the Blackberry Pearl. When my Blackberry Pearl, the first phone I was ever truly happy with, died, I had to get a replacement for it so that I could continue my social life as well as business related things. Since Centennial has terrible prices for new phones and give little incentive for you to stay by not helping you at all to get a new phone. This, of course, is the biggest downside to being in a provider that uses CDMA technology instead of GSM. Anyway, the only phone in my price range that sort of looked ok was the LG Rumor 2. So coming from a phone that met all my needs for on the go communication, how would LG Rumor 2 stand up to the Blackberry Pearl, or other phones? Let’s find out.

 

First we should start by finding out what made the Blackberry Pearl so great for me. Despite having inferior hardware to other Blackberries currently available, it did have the functionality I wanted to have with my other phones. The main one was the more comfortable Suretype keyboard, and the ability to send and receive email. I also had a ton of applications that were worthwhile, such as Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Windows Live Messenger, jIRC, Opera Mini, and a good media player. The Camera was very nice and took great night shots, and the screen was huge. The Calendar, being synched with Google calendar, made my being organized an easy task. Ringtones were also extremely easy to download straight from the phone and applications were now made easier to get via the Blackberry App World.  All in all I had a great experience with this phone, but the inferior hardware got to me.

 

The LG Rumor 2 right off the bat looks cool. I has a full QWERTY keyboard and a regular multitap keyboard so that dialing is easier and I don’t have to slide open the phone. When it comes to functions, the phone does what every other regular phone does: it sends and receives SMS, MMS, has clear call quality, and, thankfully, can store multiple numbers and emails per contacts(something that seems to me like a no brainer). The problem is that I lost a valuable function: the emails. With the full QWERTY keyboard it would’ve been amazing, but alas there’s not email support. Applications can’t be installed, and at least with Centennial there’s no support for BREW applications in the foreseeable future. This means no social networking applications, no better browser, no Google Calendar Synch. While we’re on the subject, the WAP browser is very bad and at least with Centennial it hardly works. The BB had no problems with the connection and it was always fast but I can’t even seem to connect to the internet half the time. Anyway, the calendar is a lot less useless than my old Kyocera’s calendar, but at least it’s good to use for reminders. The applications(or tools) it does bring are useful at least. MP3 Ringtones are easy to set up, but you need to download them on the PC first or have someone MMS it to you because the WAP browser says that .mp3 is an invalid file type. The hardware and software can’t multitask which makes texting, browsing, or doing anything on the phone while listening to music impossible. The media player has a long way to go too. It’s ok, but it’s nothing marvelous. There’s no video play back which is extremely disappointing too. The camera is ok, but still behind the current trends of cell phones. If I’m not mistaken it’s even VGA, no Megapixels.

 

All in all, what makes this phone good? The full QWERTY keyboard and sliding action makes texting fun. Does it make it a good phone? Well, while texting is fun it doesn’t make up for the lack of functions and the functions it does have be lacking. Is it worth it? Well if you don’t need or particularly care for the stuff I mentioned in the second paragraph and like texting then this phone is for you. If not, save money and get a good smartphone. So in conclusion, I leave you with two cute asian girls that have the phone. Enjoy!

Technologically Impared

I wanted to write the next post(which I will soon) about a new cellphone I have. It’s the LG Rumor 2 from Centennial Wireless of Puerto Rico. Thing is that I have like 4 jobs and I study, and last night I suffered through the worst technology meltdown at one of my jobs I have ever heard anyone go through. You see we fix radios there. In order to program radios we need PCs. We have 5 PCs there, all of which, not to my surprise, broke down at the same time, which happens to be the time that a client asked us to fix the entire inventory. So in attempting to fix them, I end up borking my own PC. Thankfully I was able to fix it using my Desktop, which I use my Samsung LCD TV as the monitor. However when I turn on my LCD TV, there’s a FREAKING BLUE LINE GOING DOWN THE SCREEN. So technology doesn’t like me, and my car breaks down yada yada. The only thing that didn’t happen was my cellphone melting down and my PSP’s Memory Stick auto formats or something. I’ll write my review in a bit!

Things could get a little interesting…

So I never recovered from my PC loss. Well I have now, I have a laptop and I have this newfangled Windows Live Writer that promises to make my blogging life a lot easier. Rubi and me not only have had our PC woes, we’ve also been leading a busy life which meant less time to see stuff or play games, and meant less time to blog. I, however, wish to keep the blog going and hopefully I can start a trend that will lead Rubi to keep going with me. So with my connection and my laptop I will try to keep a train going for as long as I can.

And what will separate Rubuska from other blogs you ask? What will keep you readers reading and us writing? Well, that’s something I’ve thought of. I can say this: I will keep my writing as interesting as I can. I will have certain sections that will pop up every once in awhile, and try to keep a rhythm of 2 posts per week or more. These sections will be as follows:

Random Thoughts – These are going to be random thoughts I have on new stuff that I’m watching be it CDTV, Heroes, Fullmetal Alchemist, or what have you.

Pic Wars – I will posts pics that will be win, and sometimes fail.

Tech Reviews – Technology reviews, but will mostly be on Cellphones and Cellphone Carriers(limited to Puerto Rico), but will include other things tech.

PV Reviews – I try to watch PVs as often as I can, and I will try to review them here! They won’t this time necessarily be limited to Japanese music, but they will mostly be of that.

Music Reviews – Reviews of new singles and albums will go in this section. Again, not necessarily limited to Jp music, but most be that.

Japanese Entertainment – Reviews, thoughts, ideas, criticism for shows, artists, anime, dramas, everything will be thrown into here that has to do with Japanese entertainment.

Rants – Me ranting on something I feel needs to be ranted on. While rants usually offer a lot of reading but little entertainment, my rants will actually probably be the most entertaining of the posts I will make.

Misc – These will pop up a lot most likely, but they will be on something specific that doesn’t go anywhere in those sections, which I think covers everything I want.

 

Anyway the first post will be pretty soon. So stay tuned!