Category Archives: Blogs

It’s true what they say

I’m tired of waiting for Android tablets to get better. And I’m tired of waiting for Android tablets to get good games. I’m tired of being an early adopter. I’m tired of fighting with my electronic devices.

I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 that I bought week one. It’s thin and light. But I’ve never been truly satisfied with the device. The performance has always been lacking. When I launch apps they are sometimes quite slow to respond. When I scroll up and down web pages they stop and stutter. These might seem like little nitpicky things, but over time they become quite annoying.

I’m tired of watching every good mobile game come out for Apple devices first. Maybe later they do an Android port. But more and more, this just isn’t happening. For example, one of my good friends works for a video game company and they have made some iOS games but no plans for Android devices. I don’t expect this to change any time soon.

I still love my Android phone, an HTC Incredible. I’m tempted to get a Nokia Windows Phone. That said, my next phone will probably be another HTC Android. I really like that HTC One X, and I hope it comes to Verizon this year. But enough about mobile phones.

I use my Android tablet less and less these days. The performance sucks and there are no good games. And I want a larger screened portable gaming platform. I’ve looked at Nintendo and Sony and I’m just not impressed.

So I guess that’s it, then. I’m going to get a new iPad.

I feel so defeated right now. I feel dirty. I hate Apple. And here I am, ready to buy an iDevice.

But this summer when I’m playing Baldurs Gate on my new iPad? It’s going to feel sooo good.

So it’s true what they say: Resistance *IS* futile.

Another company to avoid

Heard of SOPA? It’s the Stop Online Piracy Act.

Basically it’s punitive legislation that would effectively end the Internet as we know it. It would allow copyright holders to go after website owners for any infraction.

It might sound like a good idea, but what about this scenario? Let’s say I run a large website with billions of users, something like YouTube. I can’t possibly police a billion people. Now let’s say that one of my users uploads a webcam video diary with Miley Cyrus’ Party In the USA playing in the background. Miley Cyrus can now sue *ME* for copyright infringement. I’ve got nothing to do with this, I just run a website. Ms Cyrus should be going after the user who uploaded the video.

That’s SOPA. It’s a poorly written law being debated in Congress right now. If this thing passes, the Internet shuts down.

One of the many companies that supports SOPA is the web hosting and domain name registrar GoDaddy! There are many reasons to hate GoDaddy! So not only does GD support SOPA, they also helped write it. This was enough for me to cancel my GD services and find a new web host.

There was a bit of downtime yesterday as I moved things over to HostGator but everything seems to be running smoothly now.

If you use GoDaddy! for anything, please consider moving to a new registrar or web hosting company.

Now that I’ve gotten that done I can start writing my Congressman (Jerry McNerney, Democrat, California’s 11th district) to let him know how I feel about SOPA.

Who’s your congressman?

Companies to avoid

From today’s Penny Arcade a truly amazing tale of very poor customer service.

I got an incredible email today from a Penny Arcade reader. Dave shared with me an email chain between him and Ocean Marketing (the folks behind the Avenger controller) Trust me when I tell you that this is one wild ride. I’m serious, Mr. Toad would look at this ride and just give a slow clap while shaking his head. I have tried to arrange this as best I can in chronological order. I’ve also removed email addresses and other private information. So let’s just jump right in, here is Dave’s first mail to Ocean Marketing:

Unbelievable story. Read the entire email chain at Penny Arcade here:

http://penny-arcade.com/2011/12/26/just-wow1

I think it’s safe to say that I will NEVER, EVER do business with this company: Ocean Marketing and their representative Paul Christoforo.