Jace's Rants and Raves

Rant: QR Code Pages

2012-01-06T10:23:00.000-08:00

I am a big nerd, so whenever I see a QR code I have to scan it. Even if I am not remotely interested in what it is related it. On that note here is my rant.

Why don't people understand that you will scan them with a cell phone. Only rarely do I ever get a page actually made for a mobile device. They always direct to a page that was made for a computer. People need to know their audience. If you want them to go to a site on their phone, make it a site that is relevant on a phone. That is all.

Rant: Adobe Reader Desktop Icon

2011-08-02T11:32:00.000-07:00

There are some things that it is convient to have a desktop icon for, such as a web browser. Adobe reader is not. I have never ever seen anyone open adobe reader than search for a PDF. NEVER. They click on pdf files, and adobe reader opens them. There is no reason whatsoever to have a shortcut on the desktop. Stop putting it there ever update Adobe, it is just annoying.

Also on Adobe reader. You are a free product. Version 10 or X is out. Why are there still updates for 9, and why doesn't it just update to 10. It is a newer better version, when I check for updates just move me to 10 or X don't just update 9, that is dumb. You are a free product.

Rave: My final iPhone Apps

2011-07-20T15:19:00.000-07:00

I recently got a cool new Samsung Infuse 4G Android phone and am now free from the Apple tyranny. I decided I would still give a list of those apps which if I ever went back to an iPhone, which I would only do for battery life, which still isn't worth it, I would get. These are my recommendations to every with an iPhone. I will sort them by groups.

Any one with a * I think everyone should have or at least try.

Money

*Pageonce - gets you up to date info on all your accounts/bills.

Square - lets you receive credit card payments. Great for small businesses.

mooch - tracks what people owe you and you owe them.

*Shop Savvy Barcode Scanner - scans barcodes and QR and gives good prices.

Paperlinks - just does QR codes if you don't want the other barcode scanning.

SnapTell - uses the camera to scan bar codes or book covers or cds to give you the best prices.

*Where - I just use it for cheapest gas prices, but it does much more.

PayPal - cash checks into your paypal account using your camera.

Food\Weight\Self improvement

*Urbanspoon - fun shake to find a restaurant app.

*CheckPlease - my favorite tip calculator.

Target WEIGHT - shows you your progress losing weight and has notifications for pounds you still want to lose.

Calorie Counter - follow your calories and scan food products to show what you ate.

Nike+ GPS - it tracks your running and tells you how fast your go.

Streaks - lets you check daily if you accomplished things you wanted to.

Math\Reference

Convertbot - awesome converter for any kind of measure.

Computing Assistant - great calculator for anyone that uses binary, hex or octal.

Pi Cubed - an awesome calculator.

*Dictionary.com - a good dictionary.

*Google Translate - translates even between Spanish and Farsi.

Speedtest.net - find out your internet speed.

iBooks- it is good for stuff you want to read.

Music

*Soundhound - it listens to the radio or you humming and find the song with lyrics.

*Tunewiki - scrolls the lyrics of the song you are listening to with the "iPod."

Pandora Radio - good stations for long time listening.

Magic Stave - listens to notes and tells you which one it is.

Ocarina - play an instrument by blowing on your speaker.

Symphony - compose your own music.

Movies\TV

IMDB -who else was that guy in?

Fandango - what is in the theater right now?

Netflix - lets go watch some show that went off the air 10 years ago.

Google TV Remote - if you have a google tv you now have an extra remote with voice recoginiton.

Kids In Mind - find out how bad movies actually are.

Peel - it shows you what is on your TV in a very nice way. No more TV guide channel.

Redflix - lets you find coupons for redbox movies.

RunPee - tells you the best time to take a bathroom break in a movie.

Social

Google+ - the newest and happiest social network.

Facebook- you know the drill/

Twitter - for any good beliber.

BlogBooster - update your blogger or others blogs.

Tumblr - for all you tumblr bloggers.

*Meebo - the best chat client ever.

Talkatone - a google talk client that automatically makes internet calls through google voice.

fring - useful for some chat, but more importantly includes voip/sip.

Google Voice - google's somewhat annoying app.

GV Mobile + - cost some, but often prefereable to the Google Voice app.

contactus - edit your google contact groups, only makes sense if you use gvmax for mass texts.

Church (I am a good LDS boy.)

Bible.is - the bible, written or read to you, with or without dramatic background music.

*LDS Gospel Library - scriptures and more.

LDS Tools - on the go ward/stake list.

LDS Hymns - sing your heart out.

*Mormon Channel - listen to scriptures, ensigns and much more.

LDS Why? - youth questions, with good answers

Games

Falling Balls - fun accelerometer game.

*Geocaching - pricey, but way great for dates, here's the intro version.

Get Your Bearings - do you know where things are?

Hungry Shark - girls love this for some reason.

*Lightsaber - everyone needs one sometimes.

Paper Toss - can you throw the paper away?

Parallelous - how good are you at multitasking?

:Shift: - this and the squeal are fun.

Smack that Gugl - really kiddy, but fun.

Tilt to Live - best iPhone game ever.

Touch Hockey - air hockey with friends is fun.

Tunnel 3D - another fun accelerometer game.

WeDraw - if you have a smart TV and a bunch of friends with smart phones, try it.

Most of the apps I had I got for free, but some really were worth buying. Mostly I got lucky and got while they were free for a limited time.

I recommend looking at most of these, I have gone through more apps than anyone I know, and these are the ones that I decided to keep. All you Appolytes out there should check them out. Android people, half of them are available, and some even work much better, like google+, although most are a build or two behind. I hope all the time I spent linking every app was worth it.

Rant: Dell Network Card

2011-07-08T14:39:00.001-07:00

This is the main reason that I do not like dell products and haven't since I was like 15. That at least a 10 year grudge. In those ten years dell could have solved this problem but even last week the problem still exists. None plug and play network cards! Seriously though this is the most annoying thing ever. About the only time you will ever notice this is on a fresh install of Windows. After windows installs you need to go to the Windows update page, and fix all your drivers so that everything works like it is supposed to. This is where you hit the problem. There is no possible way to get to the internet, or even your home network. You have to go on another computer download the network driver from Dells web page, and then transfer it to the computer by something physical like a cd, or jump drive. 10 years ago when I didn't have wireless access to other computer or jump drives it was a bit more annoying, I had to find the cd that came with the computer. The technology for network cards hasn't really changed, so I don't know why in the world we still dont' have plug and play network cards.

Dell you suck! Fix this! I have already waited 10 years! At least make a deal with Microsoft to include your driver in windows so this problem doesn't happen.

Rave: Clever People

2011-06-20T09:41:00.000-07:00

Someone just had this video posted on facebook. The video is annoying and long, but how cool is the load bar. Clever people make me happy.

UPDATE: I guess youtube caught on, it no longer has the awesome bar, but enjoy the music anyay.

Rant: Receipts

2011-05-03T09:39:00.000-07:00

The other day I went to return a book, but didn't have a receipt, because I had lost it. It didn't matter that they had scanned my ID card, and knew that I had purchased the book from them only days before. Since I lost that piece of paper they charged me $10 to return it. How lame. I really don't like holding on to useless paper. Receipts are technology from before computers, now in the computer era they need to make their move out of existence and stop wasting trees. We have the information of buying things through online backing and credit card statements, which also waste trees. Why can't technology we use just work instead of letting use get stuck with old wasteful traditions.

Rant: Apple

2011-02-22T09:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went to the Apple store because my battery on my iPhone has not been that great recently. It has been going down when I do nothing and for no reason. I thought the battery had just gone bad so I was hoping they would change it. I still have Apple Care, they fix things. Instead of fixing it the guy did a diagnostic. He didn't actually do anything but have my phone send his phone or whatever a page telling any problems going on. It was simple and told every problem which is cool, except that there is no possible way of me getting to it. It is for apple employees only. Why am I not allowed to know what the problem with MY phone is?

To make me more mad, the guy told my battery problem was that a while ago some Apps had crashed, and therefore never close. Some of these Apps have actually been "deleted" by me, or so I thought. Instead it destroyed the OS forever. The only way to get these to be gone is to do a "Restore" on it, which actually means delete everything and put a fresh version of iOS on it. Usually at this point it copies all they stuff important like text messages, pictures, apps and music back on. In my case where the apps crashed since it ruined the OS if I were to do that, it would restore the error in the OS. I have to personally put each thing I want back on, and texts are gone forever. Is it worth battery life over the last year of texts? Probably, but it is super annoying.

I really don't like Apples philosophy of not letting people change anything in the products they own. I still want a mp3 as my ringtone.

mini rave: While talking about Apple I will tell of their one redeeming quality: Apple Care. If you ever buy and Apple product buy Apple Care. It means that if you ever have a problem ever they will either fix it or give you a new/refurbished one. In the year and a half that I have owned an iPhone I have had Apple Care: replace my iPhone because the case cracked, replace it again because the GPS on the second didn't work, replace their charger cord because the wiring started showing and yesterday replace the headset because they wire broke. Looking at that it looks like their products do not last longer than 6 months, which is about the time that Apple comes out with a new product for you to buy. In summary Apple is for fanboys so if you want one of their products go all in and get Apple Care.

Rant: Paper

2011-02-08T21:30:00.000-08:00

I am in a Technical Writing class, where my teacher is making print a resume on nice paper. I don't like the idea or think it is very useful. Tonight I went to the store to by this "nice" paper. The paper may be fine, but I really didn't want to spend $17 on 100 sheets of paper I will never use. I am pretty sure every assignment in that class for the rest of the semester will come on resume paper.

Officemax I am mad at you for selling it only in packets of 100, I would have been happy with 25, maybe even 50, but who wants to spend almost $20 on paper they don't even believe in. Yet again, English classes suck.

Rant: Google on the iPhone

2011-01-21T09:27:00.000-08:00

I am a google fan. I have a cr-48 ChromeOS Notebook that I have almost been converted to. I have a google tv which is amazing except when the remote freezes, but I have not been happy with almost any google iPhone apps, and I have tried them all. List hear what I think of them all.

Google Mobile App: The voice search is okay, but not enough to make me want to open this and then maybe have to switch to Safari after, it just isn't a smooth transition. It has push notifications for gmail, which is just weird. The great feature here is Google Goggles, which should be its own app, I would actually use it if I didn't have to go through that app.

Google Earth: I just don't know how to use this. I keep it to occasionally get GPS locations for geocaching, but there isn't really a real use.

Google Voice: This is the app I have been most excited for. I even bought a third party one for a while, I used work around and anything I could for almost a year. The one thing this brought was push notifications. That is awesome, except the app itself is sub par. Half the time when I try to type a text it will update, hiding the text box under the keyboard, and then when I try to edit the box after, it just deletes everything. It has problems in anything but the best of internet, and just generally is lame. I use it because of the push notifications, and the calling feature actually works, but if there was something better I would probably switch.

Google Latitude: Cool idea, just no one uses it, and it doesn't integrate well with things. I wanted it for so long, then when it finally came out it was just meh.

There are others, Google Books, I haven't tried much, Google Authenticator, I don't understand, and Google Places, which I have now, but haven't started using it much.

All in all, I don't like the soft blue look of all their apps, they don't integrate, and I still don't have a remote for my google tv. I know I shouldn't complain because they are all free, but it you have a product make it good.

I think I was just mad about how the google voice app just didn't work 3 out of the last 5 times I wanted it to. I now switch to my laptop to text most the time because it isn't worth the hassle of using the app. The Chrome extension for Google Voice is amazing and one of the reasons I cannot go back to Firefox.

Thanks google for doing okay, but get an iPhone App department that actually uses iPhones.

Rant: CWTV.com

2010-11-02T14:27:00.001-07:00

Until last week I didn't have a TV, so anything I would watch was on the internet. This usually isn't bad. Yes the size of the screen is smaller, but the resolution is pretty good. You just cannot share it well with friends. I usually use hulu for most things, but there are some shoes that are not on hulu. Probably the only one I watch is Smallville.

Smallville has had it's ups and downs, and for the last three seasons I have only watched it because I had seen every one and it was supposed to end soon. (This is finally the final season.) Luckily this season and the last haven't been all that bad, even enjoyable, the only bad experience I am having with it now is watching it online.

CWTV.com has THE WORST video player online. Simply put I would never go there to find a new show to watch, it is not worth the hassle.

If you go to their site it looks just like it did about 5 years ago, when the internet wasn't very good. I am pretty sure there have been some improvements, because finally I don't have to use internet explorer anymore, chrome doesn't crash every other time like it used to.

My main problem now is how they set up advertisements. I know it is free to watch online so I shouldn't complain much, but for someone who is willing to sit through the commercials instead of just going to and illegal site cut me some slack. I have the problems with their ads that if they fixed them I would be happy. ONE: Tell me some kind of time frame. The there are usually 4 to 8 commercials between each section, I am okay with that, just let me know that there is actually hope that I will get to the show at some point rather that getting my hopes up and just having them slashed to the ground. TWO: If you have say 30 - 40 commercials per hour long program please diversify. I might be okay watching all 8 of those commercials if they weren't the same 8 in different orders every time. Stop trying to make me memorize the product even to hate it for the rest of my life. THREE: If I want to skip to the end, let me skip to the end. This might be the most annoying part. If you click somewhere near the end, instead of going where you click, it make you watch all of the commercials then just jumps one section. When you try again, same thing happens, so if I just want to watch the last minute of a show I have to wait threw the same 8 commercials about 6 times. Usually about the second I give up and just do something else. FOUR: Lastly stop putting some many links circling the video. I can't tell you how many times I have accidentally clicked things, which didn't open a new page, but just moved the current page, losing my place in the show and making me watch it all over again including the commercials.

The player isn't all that bad. It is one of the very few that is actually usable on my new Google TV, and the resolution is surprisingly good. If they would just make the experience around the video better I would use it more, and maybe even recommend it to others.

Rave: bit.ly

2010-10-28T14:52:00.000-07:00

If any of you have not heard of this site, bit.ly is an internet URL shortener. It is a simple concept mostly invented for twitter so you can have a link in your post and still keep it under the 140 character limit. You go to their site the turn your super long link into a bit.ly/(insert random characters here). or even write your own little link. Example http://bit.ly/aboyandhistv

The reason this is a rave is for some cool features you get from logging into their page. The first is statistics. It will tell you how many people have clicked on your link, where they clicked on it from, and show some places that it is found on the internet, like twitter posts.

Here is the coolest option. The whole reason they get this rave today. If you click on the "Info Page+" for your link they even give you a QR code. A QR code (short for Quick Response) is this 2D bar code that you can scan and it will take you somewhere. If you scan this one you will go to my other blog. To scan it you do need usually and iOS device or Android device. Android comes with the bar code scanner built in. For iOS you need a program such as RedLaser or Paperlinks. Once you scan it it brings you right to the web page that you shortened on bit.ly. That is awesome.

Rave: Square Up

2010-10-26T15:11:00.000-07:00

This small contraption in my fingers in a Square card reader. What does you do? you ask. Well that is simple, it reads credit cards. Where does that headset plug plug into to make it work? An iOS or Android product of course. (Supposedly the most preferable is an iPad, but I am happy to use my iPhone 3gs.)

Here is the actual information. You download the app called Square, which has an icon that looks just like the card reader, then they check your credit and if you are not a terrible person they will send you one of these card readers for FREE. Once you receive it you can use it to take credit card payments and generate receipts. (Very awesome for a small business or someone who does jobs like computer repair on the side.) Like any credit card taking company SquareUp does take a small percentage, (2.75% plus 15¢ per scan.) but it is comparable or better than most other companies, and the card reader comes free. All you need is to have a phone before and you are golden.

Square thank you for letting me avoid having people give me checks or change. Me, welcome to the future.

Rave: Blue Coat K9

2010-10-18T13:26:00.000-07:00

K9 Web Protection I just have to give a shout out to. If you are a parent who wants to control what your children are doing on the internet, or a worried wife,or just a guy who wants to make it impossible to get to bad website, this is for you.

K9 is the best web filter I have ever seen. It is finds bad sites, and it doesn't bother you about good ones. There are some things that I unblock,. like social networking, because I like facebook and twitter. Overall it is a really good experience.

The thing that makes K9 better than most is that it runs in the background of your computer without letting you know. This does two important things: one, doesn't annoy me, two makes it so that the web is controlled on anything. Some filters only work for one browser, but not K9, it will filter your web if you are using IE, Firefox, chrome, or even something like the web browser hidden in iTunes or something. It does not let you around. There is only one way out, the password (if you lose that, the email that you signed up with, so wives you sign up.) If you try to close the file running in the background, no internet will work till you restart your computer, so it does not let you go around it. (The only way I know how to get around it is use a different OS. This has been very tricky till recently when you can put Linux on a flash drive and just plug it in whenever you want to boot from it, convenient, but not cool for filtering.)

There are some other cool features too, like you can turn down your filter, but it will alway, no matter what, keep a history of all the sites you go to. Something else cool is restricting times when people can use the internet. I have a friend whose kid was staying up all night watching online videos, so she blocked it after midnight, problem solved.

The only down side to K9 is that it is only available for Windows and Mac, for most users that is awesome, Linux nerds need to find another way.

I just wish there was something like this for smart phones.

Rant: Google Calendars on iOS

2010-10-13T13:02:00.000-07:00

This is only a rant because it is complicated. It took me a while to figure this out, and my friend didn't know it was possible till I told him yesterday so you all get a blog.

If you have an iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad and use google calendars you may be frustrated to see only one calendar sync. This means you no longer get all those cool colors and organization. Good news is google already fixed the problem, you just have to set it up.

First thing is you need to have your gmail account set up through google sync/active directory not the regular google icon.

Second just go to m.google.com/sync on your mobile device and choose which calendars you want.

Tada you have all your calendars and all their color back.

If you are having any problems go to http://www.google.com/mobile/sync/ and google will help you through it with pictures and all.

Rave: General Conference

2010-10-02T09:28:00.000-07:00

Today and tomorrow we have the chance to listen to Apostles and the Prophet and other General Authorities. Take advantage of the opportunity.

Watch, read or listen to any of it here: http://new.lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2010/10?lang=eng

Rave: The Hunger Games

2010-08-19T14:58:00.000-07:00

The Hunger Games are some really fun books. The second book, Catching Fire ended very abruptly so I am waiting for the next book. Luckily it is not too far away.

Rant: People Who Change Personal Settings in Windows

2010-07-17T12:55:00.000-07:00

I am a CSR, and I also just like helping people with their computer problems. Category A,: simple fixes, things go screwy sometimes so they need fixing. These are about 90% of all problems. Category B: real errors, like viruses or something really broken. They take a minute to fix and are around 5% of all problems. Category C: User Preferences: not any kind of real problem, but rather that people tried to personalize something too much, that it ended up breaking other things. Sadly his last 5% takes more time to fix than all of Category A because you have no idea what they did, and thing are just weird. Yesterday I had a friend ask for help in converting files from Apple's stupid unsupported everywhere format AAC, which is another Rant altogether into something her old MP3 play could read. Switching to MP3 is an A problem, something annoying that Apple did, but has a simple fix, it just take a minute for apple to change it for you. That would have been all simple to solve except she is a C kind of person. Instead of files just opening like they should, she decided to throw in a little Windows 3.1 action, and have each folder open in a new window. Completely useless and very confusing. In a matter of seconds, while trying to locate the folder I was looking for I now had 15 windows open and no idea where I was. That would have been annoying enough, except she decided to throw another fun unexpected change. If you are guessing left handed mouse, that is a common C problem but not this one. She decided to switch windows to the single click system. For those who don't know about it, usually when you use a computer you click once to select something, and again to open it. Very intuitive, easy for selecting files to move and such. Hers instead would on that first click just open things. New folders, iTunes, random other applications. It was a mess. I eventually learned that to select you just have to hang your mouse over and it would select on it's own. Scary for those of us who ctrl click to select only the files we want. All and all it made something that should have been super easy become super complicated. This isn't the first time I have run into something like this, like the man at work, who needs everything flashing colors and bigger, or the lady who decided she needs to personally backup the servers, but sometimes you just need to fix what you can. Take a deep breath and move on and try to forgive and forget.

Rant: iPhone 4.01

2010-07-15T22:14:00.000-07:00

I haven't ranted about anything in a while, mostly because i am generally a nice guy, but something are still annoying, or at least funny, as in today. Apple just released iPhone OS 4.01, which fixes the antenna problems in the new iPhone 4, and supposedly all the old ones too, like my 3Gs. I would like to show you what it actually did.

Before:

After:

Now focus, with all your might, on the signal strength on the left to see the difference. The iPhone is now magic and will never not work, because the bar has grown tall enough that even when you have no signal, it will still tell you that you do. Yay for Apple!

Rave: Meebo Bar

2010-07-15T21:31:00.000-07:00

Today I was telling my roommate about the bar that I have here at the bottom of my page. It is really cool, because it lets me(or you) chat with friends, share this page, or just ask me a question right now. He thought it was cool enough to put on a page for himself. If you want one, just go here, sign up, and then add the script that it gives you into whatever web page you want. Mine is kind of one of the boxes on the side, that is why you might see something that says Meebo Bar but show nothing around it, but that slight annoyance is more that worth it. Meebo is awesome!

*Update: I deleted the name from the widget like meebogreg commented, and I now have the bar, and nothing else about it on my page.

Rave: Free iPhone Texting.

2010-07-15T21:08:00.000-07:00

After almost a year of trying to figure it out I kind of got a work around working for texting through Google Voice on my iPhone. First get a GV account. They are now free if you have a gmail and live in the US, just go to here. You need to make up a new number, which is the annoying thing, but you can use it with your phone forever after. From that point you can text and call from the mobile web page, but it it is kind of annoying. Instead go to Voice Central and sign up, that will tell you how to get something that looks as good as an app on your phone, to text and call from, with your GV number. There would be a real app, but apple is a bunch of jerks and blocked all of them. The only problem is that it doesn't do push notifications. From this point, you can just get emails every time someone texts you, but that gets boring, so instead go to GVMax and set up an account to forward your texts to your google talk. It is really simple to sign up. Last download meebo! and sign in with your google talk account, which is the same everything as your gmail, and tada, it pushes every time you get a new text, and added them to your buddy list, so that you can text them forever from there. That is what I do, and it works pretty well, if you ever need to start a new text to someone not on the buddy list, just open voice central and start it there.

Rave: Cool iPhone Apps

2010-06-17T10:36:00.000-07:00

In light of the new iPhone 4 coming out next week i wanted to rave about my favorite apps that I have on my phone. Some may change next week after OS 4.0 comes out. Most of these either are or were free.

Geocaching: This is one of my favorite games. People hide stuff and leave the GPS location and you can go find it. It is fun when you have some spare time, or just want to explore outside. It is a bit pricey but I think it was worth the cost, it is seriously the only app I have ever paid money for. Here is a free version that shows you the closest three caches.

WHERE: Find out what is near by. I use it for the cheapest gas prices around, even if Cheap Gas! is a bit simpler.

Fandango: How can you go wrong with knowing what movies are at the theaters near by, and if you want even order tickets.

Movies: Flixster and Rotten tomatoes got together to make this app. It gives pretty good movie rating and so much more.

Kids In Mind: I have used this web page for a long time to know if a movie will be crude or not. If you want the explicit details of how bad a movie, or just want to know the exact amount of F words used, this is an app for you.

Convertbot: If you every need any conversion possible this app is for you.

TuneWiki: Have you every just wanted to sing along with your music. This app has scrolling lyrics that move with the music, so kind of like your own free karaoke app.

CheckPlease: A really nice tip calculator, I use it every time I go to a restaurant.

ShopSavvy: If you every are wondering if you are really getting a deal at a store, pull this app out, scan the bar code and find out what other pricing there is locally and on the internet.

Urbanspoon: This app is just fun for going out to eat, shake it, and it will tell you where to eat, including reviews and a price gauge.

Bump: The coolest way to exchange contact info. They even have it for Android now, it works with almost any smartphone.

SoundHound: Everyone has heard of Shazam this does the same thing but better. Shazam works for music on the radio, but SoundHound can also pick up songs you sing, which helps to find out who sings that song that is stuck in your head. The only downside is it is kind of expensive for an app so they have a light version that lets you try five songs a month.

Pageonce Personal Finance: This tracks all your money and bills so you know what is due and when, with alerts, and even when your checking account is running low.

Meebo: By far the best chat app on the iPhone. It looks beautiful, and it is always logged in, so you will get push notifications for the rest of your life if you want them. eBuddy, Nimbuzz, Palringo and fring are okay in that order, but Meebo beats them all out of the water.

Speed Test: is nice to find out if you are imagining it or if you internet is really laggy.

Here are a few cool church apps:

Gospel Library: If you are LDS, or Christian in general, you should have this app. It give you access to scriptures and anything else you could want, Sunday School manuals or even General Conference Talks.

LDS Hymns: When you need a hymnbook this is always here for you. There is even a Spanish Version.

Mormon Channel: This app lets you listen to the Ensign, Conference talks, Scriptures or the "Mormon Channel" which is some radio station put on by the church.

Lastly everyone has there favorite games. These are mine:

:Shift: If you get easily dizzy this isn't for you. This is the best use of black and white I have seen in my life.

Parallelus: Test your coordination while trying to collect hearts and avoid bombs at the same time with two parallel screens, one for each thumb.

Tunnel 3D: Just fun use of the accelerometer in your iPhone.

Falling Balls: Use your accelerometer to avoid getting crushed. Super basic graphics, but downright fun.

Action Heroes 9-in-1: A good small fun collection of games.

I have gone through tons of apps, and those listed are my favorites. I know I am forgetting some that everyone has (lightsaber, facebook, FS5 Hockey, IMDB, Pandora, iHandy Level, Remote), some just good reference (Background Check, iTranslate, Dictionary, Google, Zillow, Computing Assistant, Pi Cubed), convenient ones (inside redbox, Dropbox, Air Files, GPS Box, Apple Store, scanR) or ones to just show off (iSeismo, SnapTell, Koredoku, Remote Pad).

While linking all of those I noticed that some are no longer in the app store. Also a lot of them have gotten pretty expensive, but you can use a apps like apptizr or PandoraBox to find apps on sale (aka free for a limited time).

Let me know if you have any favorites that I missed.

Rave: Google Voice, GVMax and Meebo

2010-05-26T13:27:00.000-07:00

Google Voice is probably the best service that google has, which is quite the statement, but I still think it is true. The basics of google voice is that you get a new number and it redirects to whatever phone you want, and passes your texts to your phone too. It has some really cool features like transcribed voicemails, choosing a time of day not to be disturbed and being able to block people you don't like. Other cool features are things like the widget that I have on the side of my page here, where you can call me without actually knowing my number. My favorite use of it is giving out that number on craigslist so I don't get calls for the rest of my life.

Since getting google voice sometime last year I have been trying to do something good with it, especially text for free on my iPhone, or even call over VOIP using it. As of today I can do both.

I have been trying to text with Push notification on my iphone for a while, and until today I have used apps like TextNow Lite or Messagey which did let me get Push notifications, but I could not respond. I would have to then open the gv web app and respond from there. It got annoying. I have a work around, it isn't the coolest ever, that would take jailbreaking my phone, but for those of us who want to be legal, her is what I do. You will need an app called Meebo and a google talk account (which you have if you have gmail, even if you didn't know you did). Go to the GVMax web site and set it up. GVMax will do a lot for you first, and most importantly it will forward all your texts to a your google talk messenger (as long as you had click the option in google voice to have it send texts to your email.) Now open up Meebo and sign in with your google talk account. I choose Meebo for two reasons: it has push notifications, and it pushes forever, no auto-logout ever. This is important if you want to use it for texting. Once you have that all set up you can text for free forever, as long as you have internet. (This work with an ipod touch and wifi.)

One thing that a lot of people want with google voice to make VOIP or SIP calls. There was something called Gizmo5 which made it simple and work. Problem is google bought the company and who knows when it will be released again. I will give an update when it is re-released, but till then I have a work around. Remember this is a work around, so it isn't the best, but for the time being it works. So a few days ago I stumbled across this web page that tells how to set up a number for incoming calls using PBXes.org and IPKall. If you follow that tutorial you will end up with a new phone number that receives calls. If you have an iPhone this is great, just download an app that work for SIP calling and set that account up. I have tried NimBuzz and Fring. I use Fring because it worked better on my phone, but the setup is about the same on both.

The tricky part of the whole process is for outgoing calls. This is when once again GVMax helps us out. Nimbuzz and fring let you log into google talk so you can use the chat thing I told you about before. There is an option for GVMax what when in a chat with someone you can type ggc and it will call that person. There are more options which GVMax has, but the chat inside the app that makes it possible to have it wall work, and not need to multitask (iPhone's biggest flaw).

GVMax also does something that I have been try to do, mass texts through google voice. Google Voice blocks you to only text 5 people at a time, to stop you from using their service to spam people, GVMax goes around this. It uses google's contact groups, and text to an entire group, using their cool chat feature. The best part is, you don't even need an iphone or anything, you can just use the chat in the side of your gmail.

I have spent a lot of time trying to get everything working, and have found some other useful things. The one I will talk about now is Voice Central Black Swan. This is a web app, so you don't have to go through apple, just go to their page through safari after you sign up and it will tell you how to make it into an app. I don't think Black Swan is the great, because it doesn't have push notifications and it has adds, but it does one thing that the google web app does't. Black Swan lets you choose which phone you want it to call. For all you iPod Touch users, you now have a way to call people without using the GVMax chat work around.

Point of the story is that if you have Google Voice you can make all the calls and texts you want for free, it just takes some work. There are other ways to use it, this is just my preference. If you don't have it and are a student click here and get an invite within 24 hours, if not click here and wait. Good luck!

Rave: Dr Horrible

2010-02-17T14:47:00.001-08:00

Today I felt like re-watching Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, so I did. It was as good as the first time I watched. If you like singing along and funny stories this is for you. I don't want to spoil it, but this is the birth of a super villain and the end is necessary if you don't like it. Here are all three parts if you want to watch it.

Rant: Stalkers

2010-02-09T12:35:00.000-08:00

Funny story, I now have a nemesis. Here is the story. There is a girl in my ward that kind of likes me. I think she is an awesome friend, but not looking for a relationship with her. She met this boy some time ago, that had no friends, so she decided to befriend him. Bad Idea. He fell madly in love with her, and didn't take it well when she rejected him a few weeks ago. My part in the story starts last night. He moved into my ward a few weeks ago, I guess to be closer to her, some people just thought it would be to try and make new friends because he didn't have any in his other ward. Well last night at FHE at the Bishop's house, he met my roommates. When he mentioned how much he loved her, they mentioned that she and I had something going on, I guess he threatened me, and they said they had my back, thinking he was joking at the time. As the night progressed he said he wanted to fight them and even started cussing at them. Luckily they are both men of patients and didn't beat him, because they are both way bigger and stronger than him, he just has some problems. Well this morning I get a surprise message on facebook from this stalker saying "I hate you, if you are dating... we are going to rumble" followed by one calling me a coward for not responding. My first inclination was to respond with "I'm a lover not a fighter" but I did not want to provoke him, so I just didn't respond. The story gets worse. I was telling a coworker about this, who decided to message the kid saying that a threat to me is like a threat to him. *Note: I have really great friends.* That really got the guy mad, and he started cursing at my coworker through messages saying he had nothing to lose and that he wanted to fight and such, and even made a hit at his wife. My coworker being the army guy that his is, was not very pleased, but had to go to class so I didn't get to hear more. His next message to me was "coward! I know ur dating... now ur an enemy of me! I dont care if u get ur friends on me. as long as i can get a finger in one of their sockets and pull one of their eyeballs out!" Like I said he is crazy. So now I am at a point to thinking should I get a restraining order, should I call the cops on this guy, should I just hope he cools down. The worst part is not me being worried about what he is going to try to do to me, but what he might do to her, because supposedly after the meeting with my roommates last night, he may have threatened her too. Also I am pretty sure I am about a foot taller than him, so I am not real scared I just don't know what to do about crazy.

Moral of the story: Stalkers suck!

Rave: pushme.to

2010-01-08T21:38:00.000-08:00

Anyone who knows me know I have way too many iPhone apps. I might not use them all daily, but I have used them all at least once, and the ones I like I keep on my phone, the ones I kind of like I let stay backed up on my computer in the chance that I may need them later, and the ones I don't get deleted. Pushme.to has made it onto my phone and stayed for over a month, that means it has made it through at least three purges of apps I no longer use. I think that I am one of the only people out there that use it, but I like it. It is very simple for any iPhone user that in some random case would like something pushed to their phone, and not want to give out their phone number, or use a text, this pushes it for you. It is actually a free way to chat between iPhones if that is what you want it for, or just for the occasional message it works it. My favorite part is that they make you a widget (example below) where you can have people send you messages for the good old internet that go straight to your phone. The app is still in it's first form so there are some problems like you cannot delete old messages, but all in all I think it is pretty cool.

Rave: Skydeck

2009-10-23T20:46:00.000-07:00

If you have ever talked to me on the phone you are a lucky person. I personally just usually am not a phone person. Texts, I do way too much, but talking on the phone is a social skill that I am still working on. What does me talking on the phone have to do with Skydeck? Well Everything. Skydeck is a really awesome webpage that tracks who you call, and does so much more. I don't remember where I heard about it, but I think I was one of the first because it has changed so much since I joined. Among things that are possible through Skydeck you can send texts or it will transcribe voicemails, so you don't have to listen to people's long messages. All that aside everyone who talks to me on the phone knows why I like it, it uses your phone company bill to follow every call or text that you make. Why is that cool you ask? First reason is that means I have a permanent list of anyone who I have every talked to on my phone. That means if you called me a year ago then I still have your number. I have used that to fine the number of a mom of a friend when my friend's cell phone had died. I personally wouldn't want her mom's number in my phone, that would be weird, but having it accessible on Skydeck means if I did need to call her I have the number, just in case. Those are all cool features, but here is my favorite, they arrange your contact list by who you call most. How cool is that! For my friends that I actually do call it has sometimes been a race to the top. My mom usually is in the top ten, and hopefully girlfriend at the time makes it up to number one, but who knows. I just think it is fun to see who you actually do call. They make it fun too, by including graphs on what time you usually call them, and actually recording the number of texts, or minutes you have actually spent time talking. I would have never known that my mom calls me twice as much as I call her, and that most of our calls happen between 6pm and midnight. Compare that to a girl who I call four times as much as she calls me, and our calls happen between 6pm and 4am. Even funnier is the girl that I have only talked to on the phone four times, but she is still near the top of my list because I text her more than anyone else I know. In summary Skydeck is awesome, and if you have a cell phone, you should check it out. Sadly T-Moblie recently change their bill system and no longer lets Skydeck touch it, but if you have any of the other carriers I totally recommend it. See who you talk to most, or tell your friends how they moved on the weekly email they send. I know it was a completion for a few friends of mine to make it to the top. Take this opportunity to see who you are actually spending all your minutes. Also they have the best customer service if that is important to you, they always respond to my emails and fix things, nice people.

Rant: Facebook Updates

2009-10-23T15:09:00.000-07:00

Every now and then facebook does come out with something that is kind of nice. I do enjoy the chat feature, and the feed did completely change it, but there are just some things that are so stupid and annoying. Today I saw a new feature. They changed the home page to get rid of your picture and just have an icon that says "Live Feed" next to it. I rather liked having my picture there, so I would know that it was me signed on, and to just know what other people saw. I can live with that I guess, but the newest addition to the "Feed" really annoys me. They now show when a friend of mine adds a new friend, who I don't know at all. I guess if I had friends in common that would be kind of cool, maybe, but just telling me that a friend of mine is a friend of a complete stranger doesn't help me in anyway whatsoever, and I don't care. They best part is, that you cannon hid those notifications like you can with any other app. Sometimes facebook just goes overboard on things that they want to show you about your "friend."

Rants and Raves

2009-10-22T12:43:00.000-07:00

This blog is going to be devoted to my ranting and raving. Pretty much what I think is cool or not. Things that I don't like I will be ranting about, and things I like I will rave about. Simple. Stay tuned to find out have over rated somethings are, or to find a new thing to be interested in.