Brian's Blog
Brian's Blog
Is it an iPad world?
With very little suspense, Apple announced the their computing tablet: the iPad. For a couple weeks now we knew that Apple had something up their sleeve as many gadget sites had started reporting rumors about the device. It also makes sense that Apple would want to show of theirs soon since most companies were showing their tablets at CES a couple weeks ago.
So far the iPad has gotten a lot of criticism from it's competitors as just a "bigger iPod touch." In reality this is a fair complaint because at launch the device does not offer any real innovation. There is no camera, no phone capabilities and no flash support. This device is just a really big iPod touch.
What the device does have an extremely large upside. For the home there really isn't a need for a desktop or laptop computer unless you are working from home. The casual computer user is surfing the web, sending emails and post photos online...three things you really don't need a powerful computer to accomplish. In fact now that I have a smart phone I rarely use my laptop or desktop at home. I only use those for working from home or writing a blog post.
I can envision a future where you have tablets and cell phones linked together as communication devices in the home. Maybe you tablet sits on the wall in your kitchen with a dock for your phone and acts as a video phone. You can take the call their or transfer it to your cellphone. I can also see the tablet as a savior for the print media industry. Instead of spending money printing a newspaper or magazine, you'll be able to open an application and flip through the newspaper or magazine on your tablet. I can also see applications for a tablet at school where students can take perfect notes because their teacher's lecture will be converted from voice to text. Throw out your three ring binder and pick up a tablet.
So the question becomes who's tablet will win and can we handle a three operating system universe. Google has thrown their hat into the game with Android tablets coming out soon. Microsoft has always had an eye on the tablet industry and has never had a device take off. Apple wants to convert all their iPod users into iPad users but that might not be as easy as it seems. I think we are a very long way aways from my vision for tablet computing. Ten years from now we may very well be only using tablets and smart phones but more likely it will be twenty years before that all become common place. My recommendation is to not buy any of the first incarnations of these devices because in a couple years their you'll get so much more out of them. If you do happen to love gadgets, like me, you probably will pick one up to play with but don't be surprised when next years model has a camera and supports VoIP.
Finished up Bayonetta
Now there are certain games that hit my sweet spot. Games like Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden or even Ninja Blade fulfill my Highlander desire to kick ass and carry a sword. Bayonetta builds on the foundation of Devil May Cry and creates a story you'd expect to of came out of junior high boy. You play as Bayonetta, a hot witch, killing all kinds of angelic forms on your way to recover your forgotten past. To say the story is over the top is an understatement as you pull off maneuvers in a fighting style that is a mix of poll dancer, samurai and trick shot artist.
What Bayonetta does right is they make the game extremely approachable with an Easy and Very Easy setting available (I beat the game on normal). The game has a combination of sword play and shooting where you have guns in both of your hands and connected to your shoes. You will be asked to perform multiple combos kicking, shooting and slashing your way to killing angels and gathering halos. The combat is very enjoyable as you will be rewarded for learning the combos and mastering Witch Time. Witch Time is Bayonetta's version of bullet time which is activated by dodging an enemies strike at the last possible moment. This will slow down time and allow you to inflict as much damage as possible in a short period of time.
Even though Bayonetta is a Japanese developed game it does not fall into many of the pitfalls previous actions games have. The best thing I can tell you is you will not back track in any of the levels. This is a very welcome decision because in Devil May Cry 4 you essentially played every level twice and fought every boss three times. You will also be thankful the quick time action events are done well. You will have to hit keys but they flow very will with the existing combat in the game.
Now Bayonetta is not all roses. There are a few things the game does not do well. For the most part you will face some fairly moderate challenges in the game but some enemies will frustrate the hell out of you. I found that I needed to rely on making magic items to recover health, deflect damage or increase the damage of your attacks. In a very typical Japanese game attribute, you can get items from destroying benches, statues, potted plants and there will be items hidden in the levels for you to find. Over time you can gather enough elements to create items of either a weak or strong form. You will also collect halos to spend on items, techniques and accessories to help you become a better fighter.
If you do get stuck and need halos, there is an area to grind and get cheap halos and collect elements. At the beginning of chapter one you will arrive at a train station. Run around and break all the benches on the second level then hop on the train as it leaves the station. You'll get an easy 10,000 halos plus any items you find for breaking all those benches. There is also a nice reward sitting on the tracks after the train has left. This can be repeated indefinitely.
I can not express to you how good Bayonetta is as an action game. The game looks good, runs good the entire time and makes a fairly long game enjoyable. The game has 16 levels that took me around 14 hours to complete. If you can look past the crazy story, aggressive sexuality and occasional frustrating battle sequences you will find an enjoyable game that you won't finish in a weekend.
Quick Impressions of Bayonetta
From the original creator of Devil May Cry comes Bayonetta: a action game involving a witch fighting Angels and other entities sent from heaven. The game play is fairly entertaining for a shoot and slash game in the mold of Devil May Cry. The combat doesn't feel as good as Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden but so far it plays a little bit easier then those games. The story in the game is a bit off center with a few missing parts. Hopefully they will clue us in more as the game goes on. I have this odd feeling that I will be playing as another character somewhere in the middle of this game. Lets hope this game doesn't start making me back track or face the same boss six times.
Nexus One Video
Welcome to the new Google phone, Nexus One. The phone will come out on T-mobile to start but will be coming to Verizon and Vadafone later in 2010. The phone is fairly impressive with all the features it contains. I'm a little disappointed that Sprint has not joined the party but maybe they will eventually. I guess I now know why Verizon was off loading the Eris for so cheap. No one would want one of those if they could get a Nexus One.
A Decade in Technology
The past decade has been amazing technology wise. We have seen so many new innovations in communication, computing and accessing media over the past ten years. I definitely think the 2000s will go down as the start of the information age.
Over the past ten years we've seen high definition TV, LCDs, DVD, BluRay, video on demand, digital video recorders and streaming video change the way we watch our TV. The idea of a VCR or VHS tapes has completely become irrelevant since we can now records shows with DVRs and watch movies with DVDs and BluRays. We are no longer watching TV on square tube TVs either as almost everyone now has made the move to HDTVs.
We are also no longer listening to tapes or CDs. We now have iTunes and MP3s to listen to music and podcasts. We started with Napster to listen to music free and ended up with services like iTunes and Zune Marketplace to purchase music. No one carries a Dicsman anymore, instead it's ipods and other mp3 players.
I remember buying my first cell phone in 1999 with regional coverage, roaming fees and all it could do was make calls and send texts. Now phones are practically replacements for computers with web browsers, apps and built in tools to help you be keep up with your friends. For some the past decade means their home phone service is no longer provided by the phone company. We now have voice over IP which allows us to not be locked into the phone company for service. We also have voice messaging so we are no longer reliant on answering machines.
At the beginning of the decade the communicating over the internet meant email and chat rooms. Now we have seen the rise of web 2.0 with social networking sites like MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter and LinkedIn. We now read our new online instead of on a news paper or by watching the evening news. Digital media may not have completely taken over but in another ten years print will be dead.
We have also seen the rise of online stores like Amazon.com and retail stores expanding their presence with their own online stores. We have seen auction sites like eBay and Craig's List emerge as sites people can resell items. Shopping has really been changed over the past ten years by the maturing of the internet.
It will be very fascinating to see what new technologies will emerge in the next decade. Will we see the tablet make a roaring comeback to replace laptops? What will we see next out of cellphones? Will we even use desktop pcs in ten years or will they be replaced with something we can dock and un-dock as needed.
New Years Resolutions
This year I actually do have some New Years resolution I want to share. In the past I have never bothered with resolutions because I felt they always get broken a couple months later. This time I'm going to pick some I should have no problems achieving.
1) Lost 25 pounds
2) Walk Rudy on days I don't do baths
3) Play 25 rounds of golf
4) Hit the range 50 times
5) Take golf lessons
6) Take Colin golfing 5 times
7) See 10 movies in a theater
8) Take Colin and Leah to a baseball game
9) Build an Android app
10) Buy a new car
By far I feel losing weight should be my top priority. Over the past couple years I've gained 25 pounds so I feel I should be able to drop this weight. By walking Rudy on a regular basis I think I can drop some of this weight. Before we moved to our current house we used to walk Rudy a lot but now that has dropped off.
Now my golf game is no where near where it used to be. Mostly this is because I'm not playing as often and not practicing as often either. I feel I should be able to play more this year now that I know about my Gout. I lost several rounds because of foot pain over the summer. I also want to get a pro to watch my swing, make improvements and keep me playing my best.
Part of my resolutions are to have more family activities. I feel Colin is probably old enough to go to the range and play on the mini pitch and put by my house. Colin can really hit the ball well so I think he's now ready to learn how to play golf. With the new outdoor baseball stadium I think it will be exciting to take the kids to a game. I've taken Colin to a game at the dome but Leah has never seen a baseball game. I'd also like to see more movies in theaters. We never go to movies and I think it's time to end that.
My last two resolutions are for me to buy a new car and to build an Android app for my phone. I've been looking at cars for the past nine months and will not buy a car till maybe this Spring. I've been driving my wife's old car for maybe five years now so it's time to get my own car.
I've gotten an Android phone so now I'm going to build an application. I have not decided on what that app will do but I'm definitely going to build something. It may be a golf app or maybe something I can't find in the app store. Who knows but it will be good to learn a new tech and make something.
A Decade in Review
It's kind of bizarre thinking that the decade is almost over. By far it's been the best decade I've been a live but then again I'm not that old. The decade started out with me getting engaged and married to my wife Erin. I was working for a consulting company filling in spots using PL/SQL and C mostly. That job ended shortly after the tech bubble burster in 2001. I spent a few months unemployed but landed at a company that would make impacts on my career I'd never realize at the time.
I spent three years at Gelco as a software engineer where I met my first true mentor. What I learned at Gelco was to not just write software but ti think about writing good software. Most software developers just care about writing code without worrying if it performs, maintainable or simple. I also learned to never stop learning. You need to keep sharp by reading books and writing code on the side to make sure you can keep yourself relevant.
Over the past decade I watched my family grow from just Erin and I to adding our dog Rudy, then the birth of our son Colin and eventually the birth of our daughter Leah. Having Colin and Leah has really made this past decade the best times of my life. I love waking up with them and having breakfast together. It's been amazing to watch them grew up and see how neat they really are.
I realize I have been extremely lucky in life and have benefited from hard work. I realize I'm not the best software developer out there but I have a strong work ethic and the ability to explain technical issues to multiple audiences. I've found myself is a great place at my current company and can't imagine leaving. I hope the next ten years are as great as the past ten have been.
Revisiting my Smartphone vs Zune HD post
So I'm kind of obsessed about my phone and anything Android right now. I'm thinking smart phones are crazy awesome with easy internet access and tons of free apps to make your life easier. The iPhone may have more apps than the Android market but with over ten thousands apps in the Android market place you'll probably find anything you need. I'd say that I use my phone more for surfing the web and using apps than I do for making actual phone calls.
I do realize I get a bit obsessed about gadgets when I get one. Just look at how I embraced the zune. I really like that device and service but its kind of a failure. The zune was advertised nowhere this holiday season. When I was in Best Buy holiday shopping I could barely find a points card and didn't even see a zune hd on display. Feels like either Microsoft is going to re-brand the zune or drop the device.
Microsoft just opened up the app marketplace for their Zune HD device with a whole whopping 16 apps. There are 12 games and 4 "other" apps. Seems Microsoft has seriously dropped the ball on the app department. Microsoft has decided to compete with the iPod touch with a mostly disconnected device that can play music and games. I think Microsoft is too concerned with matching what the competition has to offer instead of looking at the market space and deciding where the competition is heading.
One has to look at Google's vision for the Android to see the future is devices connected to data networks. It was over 20 years ago we first stated seeing tablet computers. Back then they didn't make much general consumer sense but now with the raise of the internet, social networking and online gaming, the idea of having a compact computer you can carry in your pocket makes does. These new smart phones are very close to the original vision of the tablet PCs.
I'm using my phone more as a hand held computer than an actual phone. I have access to email, docs, internet, social networks, news and games on my phone. The evolution of the cellphone is going to be a device connected to a data network that allows you to do Voice over IP. There will not be a need for an actual voice contract counting minutes because it will be transmitted as pure data. This makes me feel that the Zune HD is dated and will not have make much of an impact in the market place. Maybe Best Buy feels the same way since they aren't giving it decent shelf space.
Bayonetta Demo Impressions
The Bayonetta demo is now available on the Xbox 360 and PS3 for free to try out. The developers of the original Devil May Cry games are behind Bayonetta. The games a violent action adventure game that is noted for the heroin shooting from her shoes. She also has a striking resemblance to Sarah Palin.
The demo is fairly short nut allows you to learn some combos and fight several enemies. I think I feel this game is extremely anti-western religions as you play a witch killing enemies with halos that look like Jewish and Christian symbols. So far the game has gotten very good reviews from the gaming media but probably isn't worth a purchase from the casual gamers. I'll be picking one up but this kind of game is in my wheel house. Mindless hack and slash games are tons of fun for me.
The Google Phone
Over the past week or so several web sites have leaked photos of the next Android phone, Nextus One. This phone has been given to Google employees to start using and may very well be available at retail in a couple weeks. The phone is being advertised as a iPhone G3 killer with a flash camera, 4GB flash card that is upgradeable to 32GB, and it's thinner and faster that the G3.
There has been a lot of talk about what kind of phone this new device would be. So far it looks like it might run on the T-Mobil network but it may not matter. The phone may come unlocked so that it will be available for any phone network. There has been some talk as well of it be a Voice over IP (VOIP) phone with no need for a voice contract. I think this is probably the future of cell phones. VOIP has been made familiar by companies like Comcast and Vonage which offer phone service over their high speed internet network.
With the recent release of several Google Android phones it will be interesting to see how that platform grows. Before you could only get a android phone on T-Mobil but now they are available on Sprint and Verizon. If Google makes the Nexus One open to any network it could seriously cut into Apple's lead on smart phones. It will be interesting to see consumers will turn on Apple and move towards the Google phones that have an open app store and probably the best developers in the world.
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