Thursday, May 08, 2014
The contradictory world of technology
This happened to me once, you'll be on your tablet and a startling message comes up - "You're running out of storage space." Once you calm down you realize it's not all that tragic as you have many files that aren't that mandatory for you but you were in a downloading mood. Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight" video never made sense anyway but all the same you were encouraged to put all that content in in the first place. So this important notification suggests deleting media content, unpinning stuff, uninstalling apps so you get yourself a cache cleaner and you feel like you're cleaning house. Google Play boasts they have over 700,000 apps in their appstore and not that long ago you were actually encouraged, nay pushed to get all the apps you could muster but now a very important app comes along, actually it's an App Uninstaller because you may have installed too many apps that you don't really use that much. I was looking over my download history this morning and this mobogenie apk file must've automatically downloaded like over 10X. I don't know whether to say thanks for the pup, I actually like mobogenie but I feel like BB sometimes that maybe it's a good idea to take a break from the technological scene once in a while. You're pushed to download as part of this digital consumerism then you're told you should clean house. It's like taking up smoking just so you can quit.
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Quality over quantity. Find the apps that best facilitate what it is you are seeking to accomplish. I can't even recall the last app I downloaded. I think it was when I swapped out Catch Notes in favor of Evernote a couple of months ago.
ReplyDeleteDon't know if Saty has this one but I find the WebMD app fascinating
ReplyDeleteLast week my internet and e-mail went down. Of course they have a troubleshooter option, which must be pretty bad, because all I got was unable to connect, have you checked your IP address, and other possible causes. Being at the Neanderthal stage of computers (punchcards, vacuum tubes etc back in the day) I figured out that
ReplyDeleteit had to be the cable (fibre, 50Mbps, whatever that means), since the internal programs worked fine. Unplugged the modem, let it reset and I was back in business. I lost a ton of explosives research data during the evolution of floppies:
still got a bunch of 5" that are only good for swatting flies (old sliderule even better).
But, being a digital Neanderthal, I stupidly printed and filed all that stuff back in the day. Paper: the way to go. Wonder when they will bring that out! :) [it never occurred back in MS-DOS days that the $$$ in computing would be strictly entertainment] Gates figured that one out.
Saw a guy at the library today, was using a laptop and tablet AT THE SAME TIME and this is typical. What's that all about?
ReplyDeleteI kind of cycle through apps. I try them out, if I don't like them after a week out they go. I don't have WebMD but I do have a game called Prognosis which is basically something that they developed for residents to help them learn. I'm not a doctor but it gives my brain a workout and I shared it with my favorite doctor who was appalled that he only got a 'satisfactory' on his first case. I also had a game I was playing for a while called Plague in which you're a bacteria/virus and your aim is to wipe out civilization before they find a cure. You mutate, develop new properties and lethalities, and so on. It took me 777 days to wipe out 6.5 billion people. I got a kick out of it and then moved on. I have two mood tracker apps on my phone. The one I like better is called T2 and was developed for the military. The other one, which is on its way out, is called Moodlytics and I think it's just unwieldy and not friendly. One of my very favorite and practical apps is called Cozi which is a family organizer. This I got free and it has a to do list, a calendar and a grocery list. You can update on your laptop and it will automatically update on the phone. This one is a daily driver. I have the standard games, Papa Pear, Candy Crush, Scrabble, Words with Friends.. I also have a Marvel Comics app called Dark Reign which I like but that's going very slow because I refuse to spend actual money on it. I have been using Evernote for years and I like it quite a bit but I don't use it as much as I used to. I have one app based on binaural beat technology that I use now and then to help me sleep. And I have one really cool app called SkEye that tells you what's in the sky over you.
ReplyDeleteI like mobogenie as a smartphone mgr. Was curious about the calorie apps but didn't want to become obsessed with that stuff.
ReplyDeleteMy boss is totally addicted to the calorie apps. A friend of mine is a psychologist specializing in eating disorders and she said those apps absolutely enable folks like that and sometimes set them off. Maybe I should try it...
ReplyDeleteBitstrips is a fun app.
ReplyDeleteComic book apps in general are quite popular. Here's what I don't get, I was looking over some apps the other day and just to use an example there's an app for Mike Gallagher the conservative radio show host. Of course you can use the app to listen to his show in realtime right on your smartphone but y'know instead of possibly burning through your data plan I'd still prefer to do it the old-fashioned way. Hell THAT'S WHY WE HAVE RADIOS, THAT'S WHY WE HAVE RADIOS IN CARS. Ya know?
ReplyDeleteTomorrow's Ekadasi. This is a day twice a month when we fast from grains and beans. The reason I bring this up is because I always have to cook the night before so I have everything ready (or I screw up) and what I made is a dish called sabudana kitri. So sabudana is basically tapioca pearls, you can use any size you like but the ones I have are very tiny, and you soak them for just a couple minutes. Cut up a couple of potatoes in dice and throw them in the pan with some poppyseed, some cumin, and let that fry a little. Add a couple of chopped chilis (I used serrano cause I have them) and about a handful of peanuts (raw is best, I had dry roasted so in they went. You wouldn't want to use honey roasted.) So let that all fry together a bit, add about a teaspoon and a half of salt, then shut the heat off. Let the pan cool for just a few seconds and then slowly add your sabudana. If you soaked it right it will look like little styrofoam beads and all be seperate and dryish, not gluey. Stir it all around in the pan to mix it up with everything. If the pan is too hot the sabudana is going to turn into one giant nasty lump of spackle. If you have it right it will look all fluffy and wonderful. This is a bit bland of a dish but very much comfort food.
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna read this post in more depth tomorrow. If you ever wrote a cookbook it'd be real interesting...and tricky.
ReplyDeleteIndian transliteration is spotty so if you google, look for kitri. Kitchari, kitchadi, kitcharee. Sabudana is tapioca so you might see it called sago. The English dish kedgaree is another spelling of this same word.
ReplyDeleteIf it's tapioca I'm interested. Loved it when I was a kid and my Mom would make it for dessert.
ReplyDeleteThis is neither sweet nor creamy.
ReplyDeleteNot to change the subject but do you really think Boko Haram cares about Twitter?
ReplyDeleteA group like that probably sucks up any attention it can get.
ReplyDeleteChild brides, sex slaves, jungles, terrorists...reminds me of all those cheap Emmanuelle movies back in the day.
ReplyDelete