When food goes Hollywood

Critics come and go, change will endure.

There seems to be very little out there that one cannot be criticized about. It's not enough that people have their own live to live it seems that they never keep them busy enough, they have to somehow fit into yours and busy themselves about with your business. I discovered this today as I was contemplating my place in this universe, green technology, employment, unions, and various other things that came to my mind. It was really a copious hodgepodge of mind muck that I was sorting through in my own way. In short I discovered that sometimes the stream of thought can run so deep that you drown, so I leaped to safety.

Everybody wants to point their finger and wag their tongue at nothing. Being different draws attention and some just cannot having their head pulled. They want nothing to do with anything out of the ordinary. If you disturb their mind numbingly dull day then, "SHAME ON YOU, YOU BEAST!" Such tragedies happen in less civilized local. The more open one is to understanding that it's not about your outward appearance but about what's on the inside, the more one is ready to really understand just who you are. Expression on the outside is just a small part of the story. It's not the same as learning likes and dislikes, or skills and talents of an individual. If we never make it beyond the surface then we will never develop deep relationships with others and really know what makes the people we call friends, family, and co-workers tick. It's such a shame that there exist people of this shallowness in the world yet.

I would go one step beyond all of this to say that if we really began to understand what was deep down inside the people we barely know, we may find we like much more of them that we do and like far less of them than we ought... or something like that. What I really mean is that once we start to know them we will see that they all have hopes, dreams, desires, things that make them laugh, things that make them cry, moments that they want to remember all their lives that just make them do that squinty eyed smile thing (you know the one I'm talking about) and so much more. Everybody has that which they carry with them all over. It's what makes us human. I dare say that it's what keeps us striving to somehow better ourselves. Through our innermost thoughts we are deep down striving to better our lives through one way or the other. It's the magnitude of this strive that differentiates us. Some want to change the world in a better way, some just want to make the evening a little better with a movie and popcorn. Yet, it's all about making something better.

How do you want to better? Let me know in the comments below.

John Legere keeps shaking things up with T-Mobile

Yes, T-Mobile has been making a lot of news worthy moves lately. Starting things off early last year with eliminating contracts. They've moved their business model to one that's almost unheard of in the wireless industry. It's now customercentric. In a business designed to lock in customers to lengthy contracts, poor service, and overpriced data plans T-Mobile just changed the entire game.

As a former executive for Dell, AT&T, and Global Crossing John Legere knows a thing or two about the wireless industry and smart devices. He also understands what his customers are looking for and it's not just another wireless carrier. That's why he started his "uncarrier" approach less than a year after becoming CEO of T-Mobile.

There's no a god-damned person in this world besides a wireless industry person that would understand why the hell this mess works this way.

With remarks that would normally make a board of directors cringe and go looking for a new CEO, Mr. Legere has pushed T-Mobile into the spotlight. The "uncarrier" is using unusual tactics to take away customers from other wireless providers like paying off the contract locking early termination fees from AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and a host of others. His method of running things has caused the competition to set up and take notice. Many of them have also started offering contract fee payoffs if you are switching to their services.

In their latest move T-Mobile has decided it wants to be your bank. Well, sort of. They are now offering a pre-paid debit card that allows customers to use direct deposit, bill pay, ATM access, and paper check deposits with the app through their mobile devices all with no fees. With their low wireless rates this works for many of T-Mobiles customers looking to save money that don't have access to a standard checking account at a bank or for those that would like to avoid the fees that many banks charge just for the privilege of having a checking or savings account. While this really doesn't look like a service that would be smart on the surface for a wireless provider it actually could shore up the extra discounts and contract fee payouts they are giving away. This will offer investment opportunities which could lead to network growth and an overall better service provided by their wireless side. Right now it looks like T-Mobile is running on all eight cylinders. As they lead the industry in firsts it will be exciting to see what other innovations John Legere and the team at T-Mobile bring to the industry.

CES, you've changed!

The Consumer Electronics Show has come and gone for another year and we're left dreaming of all the new gadgets and tech we've just seen on display in Las Vegas that may or may not really get produced. You see once upon a time there was this little show that started out and showcased electronics that were actually being made. It all started back in 1967 as a spin-off of the Chicago Music Show. The first venue was in New York city. It wasn't until 1978 that it moved to Las Vegas with it's winter show. It's summer show was in Chicago. Since 1998 it's been an annual event showcasing the cutting edge of technology and the introduction of many of the items we use everyday.
There have been many important inventions on display at CES. Just to name a few we have the likes of the VCR being introduced in 1970, the camcorder in 1981, also in '81 we got our first glimpse of the compact disc, high definition television was there in 1998, the original Xbox debuted in 2001, HD Radio in 2004, and so on. If you want to know what people have been up to in the backrooms of tech companies this is the place to be. Not everything that's seen at CES will necessarily make it to market. Many of the prototypes just don't gain enough demand to take off. But they're still pretty darn cool!
This year at CES we saw everything from the internet connected toothbrush, to wearable tech of all sorts and even crazy dancing animals that act as speakers for your music device... (Maybe not everything that can be made, should be made.)

The main thing to come away with this year from the show is to watch where wearable tech is going to take off to, get ready for everything that can be to be connected to the internet from your home entertainment electronics to your stove, refrigerator and yes even the aforementioned toothbrush, oh and 4k televisions are going to replace that high def television with "Ultra Hi-Def".

Robots, androids, and thermostats... Lions, and tigers, and bears? Oh my.

Since the announcement by Google that it would be purchasing Nest for 3.2 billion dollars the world has been asking, "What does this mean for the direction of Google?" Since it's start Google has been thought of as a search engine company. Although this has been their key selling point they've actually been an advertising company. Their revenue is earned through the adds placed next to your search results, within Gmail, and in places like this blog.

Because of the great leadership in place within Google they've not been a company to rest on just one source of income. Android came along and has take the smartphone industry by storm. What was once thought of as a geek phone or a hobbyist's phone has become the main stream operating system found on smartphones today. There are more Android smartphones in use today than all other smartphones combined. The reason for this is the openess of the Android software developers kit, the ease of creating apps for the platform and the ease of customization that can be done on the users end to support their tastes and the way they use their device.

Google is also busy purchasing robotics companies, installing fiber for high speed internet access, creating environmentally friendly energy projects, Google Glass, autonomous vehicles, and developing it's own hardware through Motorola. It's clear that this company has an eye on the future. Think George Jetson and you'll see where Google could be headed with all of this.
You know how people today say they wish that they'd bought Apple stock in the 80's? Well, it's looking like Google may soon be the one stock people wish they'd bought in the 10's.

A sharp left when everybody else is casually veering to the right

I've never been one that went with the flow when it comes to electronics. When it was cool to have tiny phones that flipped open I was rocking the Motorola Q and snubbing Blackberry and iPhone. I've never been a fanboy of an iDevice of any sort. Today I use a Nexus 5 and love the Android mobile OS. I'm about choices, options, and customization. Even on my computer I've always experimented in one way or the other with alternatives to Windows. Sure, I keep Windows as a backup OS for those times when I absolutely must use it (gaming mostly) but it's never my go to system of choice.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to computers in the world. There are those that buy a Mac or PC and expect to either use OSx or Windows. Then there's the other school of thought, the one in which I fall into, that's the one that says, "Okay, this system came with this garbage, now let's see what we can really make it do." It's kind of like the love affair a man has with a muscle car. You know, the guy that looks at a carburetor and sees possibilities.
It's out of this that I've come to love Ubuntu. I know there are some of you out that that look at that word and wonder what the hell I'm talking about. How do you pronounce it, let alone use it? Well, Ubuntu is a totally free operating system. That's right. No, you don't have to pay anything at all and works with all hardware. No licensing. It's a Linux variant (or distribution) and is completely customizable. As a matter of fact it's so customizable I've changed my install to resemble OSx in a lot of ways.

As you can see it's a very clean look with a bright finish to it. Much like OSx. I could have chosen any of a number of different themes and made the look feel like anything from a Windows desktop to a steampunk feel. It's completely up to the user.

There's a lot that can be done to the OS to customize it but what about functionality? What can you really do with this system once you get it set up? There's a complete office suite that comes pre-installed with Ubuntu. It's named Libre Office. The price tag on it? Free. Yeah, that's a $0.00 for the same functionality that you receive with the $400.00 tag from Microsoft Office. It reads all Office formats so you don't have to worry about trying to convert formats you exchange with somebody else. When you save a document or spreadsheet you have the option of saving it as either an Office document or in the default format for Libre Office. It's all about options and it's completely up to you.

I write this so that you will know that yes, there are other options out there. You don't need to pay for those over-priced systems that the Apple store wants to sell you and you no longer have to deal with the "blue screen of death" or the Windows 8 debacle that still continues. It's all about freedom. That's why Linux and the many distrobutions of Linux exist. To bring a free OS to the public that just works.

New horizons

Today I am embarking on a new venture. I've started my own business. With the help of a few friends I've set up ASK Advanced Solution Koncepts. It's a tech business dealing with social media for businesses, tech repair, networking, web development, app development, etc. It's a large umbrella that I'm spreading on startup but I want to see where the demand is for something like this. It may turn out that I end up doing tech calls to people's houses or developing apps for mobile devices. I know this, a boat's rudder is of no use unless the boat is in motion. That's why this is starting in this way. I have many things to do to get the business up and running like it should be. Heck, I have many things to learn to get it up and running like it should be. It's all going to come together though I'm sure. I've never had a perfect plan for any major endeavor I've set out on and this one is no exception. It keeps me on my toes like that. Well, until next time folks I really hope you enjoyed finding out a bit about what's going on in my life. I'll be trying to keep this blog updated a little better than I have in the past. I'll also be starting a new blog soon for the business. I'll let you know when I have that up and running and where you can find it.