absolutwade.com

My top 10 fav iphone apps (plus new additions)

FRIDAY, 15 MAY 2009

Twitterrific 2.0 A few weeks ago, I would have picked something different for a fav iPhone Twitter client, but the new update came with all the features I was hoping for. I want to like the guys at Icon Factory so I am glad they got on the ball after it's original release.

City Transit NYC Subway Guide This is a great application if you live in NYC or just visiting as a tourist. Not only does it show all the rail lines on a map, it gives you the detailed info for each line. Nearest Station finder can be handy too when in a part of town you aren't as familiar with.

Kindle for iPhone Okay, so it's not as easy to read as the real thing, but I currently have about 20 books in my pocket to read when I am crazy bored on a plane or on the subway. Plus reference books that fits in my pocket. I'm a bit disappointed that Amazon didn't build in an ability to purchase the books directly in the application, hopefully that will be fixed in a future release.

Myst A guilty pleasure from my early days on the Mac. When Myst came out it was revolutionary and now the whole adventure is on my phone anytime I want to relive it. A bit of a hefty download but worth it for people who want to revisit the island.

Pocket God Another useless application that would have lost me after a few launches, but they keep updating it about every other week or so and you can do something all new to the little lemmings who live on the island. My fav: death by vampire bat bite then bring on the sun. (poof)

TV Forecast It's like having your DVR list wherever you go so you can remember when your show is coming on or be painfully reminded of your favorite show getting canceled. Also, it come in very handy when reprograming the DVR or TiVo for reference.

Flight Update The last time I was making a connecting flight, my plane was late and I only had ten minutes to get across Detroit airport. While American Airlines was giving me no information before getting off the plane, Flight Update let me know my connecting flight was delayed as well so no need to run with a suitcase.

PocketFlicks If you have a Netflix account this can be helpful. Especially when you remember on your way home that you mailed in your last three movies back yesterday and "Footloose" is at the top of your list for some strange reason and you need to change it, stat!

Facebook Facebook was early to get out this sleek ap for the iPhone. It is still one of the best designed user interface apps out there. A lot of information to update but organized so it's easy to find. Never again do you have to not know exactly what that person you kinda know is or is not doing right now with a survey.

Cooliris This was a tough decision deciding between Cooliris and Mobile Fotos. Both are really good apps for viewing your photos on Flickr. Cooliris wins out for storing several user accounts and using other services as well. The sway of the photos with the angle of the phone is something I find more annoying than helpful however.

Adventure Another game app that is completely useless to productivity and even a bit simplistic compared to today's standards in gaming while you run your dot around simple mazes and fighting dragons with an arrow, but it's old school and that's how I roll.

Guitar Toolkit Not that I am awesome at the guitar or anything. But I recently got back into it and it's an awesome resource for correct tuning, tempo, chord directory and sound samples. The interface is excellent and easy to navigate. I'll never be a rock star outside my own head, but this will help me live the dream

Wobble I know, I know, but In the effort of full disclosure, this app is just well... awesome. I'm a little surprised Apple allowed it through their very strict guidelines for Apps but it's just. uhm, fun. At least pervyness is supposedly helping donate money to breast cancer awareness, which was completely and strictly my only goal for buying this app. What?....

Splash ID I used to own this for my Treo phone and had forgotten how useful it is for keeping all my passwords and access info to everything from email accounts to web site accounts. Strong encryption and is password protected itself (otherwise what's the point?) Nice to have this info when and where I need it.

This website has switched over to a new hosting company that has been having some issues getting the CMS working so the blog entries are hard coded right now. Therefore the comments aren't working. Hopefully this will be resolved soon.

Some people didn't care for the new Star Trek movie

Stand By Me

Playing For Change | Song Around The World "Stand By Me" from Concord Music Group on Vimeo.

Another one of those videos you bookmark for when you need a smile. Great work.

Stream of Life by Rabindranath Tagore

The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.

It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth
in numberless blades of grass
and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.

It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth
and of death, in ebb and in flow.

I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life.
And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment.

Paris Short Cuts

Paris Short Cuts from Mathieu Gérard on Vimeo.

This is a short selection and editing of the first shots I did with the HV20. Shot in april/may 2008 at Paris. I lived one year in the heart of the city in a colocation, and it was for me a great occasion to remember it through this short edit.
Postproduced with CS3, all shot graded and "maked up" in After.
Music by Gustavo Santaolalla for 21 grams OST

Bathtub IV

Bathtub IV from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

Where the hell is Matt?

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Coming back.

It's been some time since I have been a regular presence around here. I'm looking forward to bringing things back to full swing with more writings rather than just rambling thoughts. Thankfully my twitter account is the perfect place for that. I'm still working out some bugs around here but hope to have things in full swing soon. Comments aren't working just yet but I would love to hear from you if you are reading my website when they return.

I'm going to still write about the world as I see it around me, traveling, gadgetry, and political opinions, but it's going to be more organized and thought out on what I am trying to say. I hope to have some good debate on topics you don't agree on and I welcome a discerning opinion. If you try to keep it on a civil tone, I will try to do the same.

I've had some big changes in my life over the last few years since I stopped posting about it here a while back. Some were sad, some were hectic, and some were truly wonderful and life changing. My life, although faced with some hefty challenges right now, is on a pretty good course and I look forward to more changes coming ahead. I have also had to deal with a lot of my past in the last couple of years and that's been even more of a challenge, but for the better. Challenge makes us grow and I indeed feel more alive than I have in a while.

Welcome back.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized.

Some might find this boring, but it's an excellent and informative look at what went wrong that started the downfall to our economy. Everyone should give up a few min of their life and watch this at least once to understand things a little better.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

How Obama got Elected.

Few things strike me so absurdly one-sided that they should be pointed at and mocked as an example to others of how not to cry about defeat in an election as the website howobamagotelected.com. Despite my own political opinions, this is just absurd from many viewpoints and Sarah Palin should be trying to distance herself from this video, if she really does have any future political aspirations.

Let's start with the most obvious thing. Ziegler began by appearing on Fox News to complain about how the media was opinionated and one-sided against Sarah Palin. Really? And on the Hannity and Colmes show no less? Do you not see how funny and absurd this is? I don't think anyone is even trying to deny that Hannity isn't a hard leaning pundit for his party while Combs does little to actually stand up against him as "the opposition opinion".

Second, Ziegler seems to ignore the fact that when Sarah Palin first hit the spotlight at the Republican National Convention, before anyone knew her background or knowledge base for the office she was running for, she was boasted as the Republican darling who gave a great speech and was going to be a huge threat to the Democratic chances in November. She was going to bring life back into the McCain campaign and it did have the Democrats nervous for a short time.

Third, Ziegler could have easily found many of the same comments from the Republican side, attacking Obama and Biden over the course of the campaign. But more to the point, he could find many offensive remarks from the Republican biased media against Hillary Clinton over the last four years. he knows this, his colleagues know this and, yet, he is trying to sell a documentary to bring to light the "unfair treatment Sara Palin was given by the media". Really? It doesn't matter what your views on Hillary Clinton are, you have to at least see the hypocrisy in ignoring this fact, while pointing it out for Palin.

Fourth, the interviews. Are you really going to blame Katie Couric, and other interviewers, for Palin flubbing and avoiding questions that seem very fair to someone running for the second highest office in the land? Even if your conspiracy theory was true, this is such a lame defense. If you couldn't handle questions from a 4'10" perky reporter, how are we to expect you to hold up at all in a negotiation with leaders and representatives from other, possibly hostile, countries? It's your job as a leader to think on your feet and come through with an answer that is reasonable and acceptable. Running for the second highest office is not a place to cut your teeth on.

Fifth, if you are really going to blame Saturday Night Live's coverage of Tina Fey portraying Palin as being "Not all there" when it comes to the issues and facts of running for the position of Vice President of the United States, then maybe she shouldn't have embraced this medium by appearing on the show. Obama, McCain, and Hillary took several shots on the show as well, but let's face it, the Tina Fey's portrayal of Palin was by far the funniest and that's why SNL ran with it. Of course we watched. Palin provided the material.

Sixth, her wink was obnoxious and way over the top. Don't get all mortified over the fact that it was lampooned by almost everyone everywhere. People were doing it without their liberal biased media newscasters having to tell them to. And, if you are really trying to get sympathy to your cause, it might help if you (Ziegler) don't give interviews to MSNBC and say "People are stupid”.

Seventh, are you really alluding to the fact that so many people wanted to see a black president in the White House that they voted for him despite any knowledge of his politics? Are you really going to imply that this was a one-sided issue? Could you not make the same argument that many Republican voters were making uninformed opinions based on racism and/or loyalty to the party as opposed to actual facts? Not to label Republican voters as a whole, but every party has its share of uninformed and biased voters. This isn't new.

Eighth, Palin's sad eyes and interviews in your film. She honestly looks like she is going to cry. Is this really the image you want to put forward for Palin if your obvious agenda here is to elevate her towards the next presidential election? No one likes a sore loser. The fact that you are not defending John McCain, and portraying Palin as Obama's equal rival, shows an obvious agenda here and it's kinda laughable.

Enjoy your ten minutes Ziegler, if only the Oscars had a "WTF" category.

When you're a statistic, everything is more in focus.

A few weeks ago, I came in to work and everything seemed a bit strange. Work was getting shelved that was recently important and my urgent request emails weren't being returned. My director went in for a meeting with our manager and then when he came out, I was asked to come in. It hit me what this was on my way to the office.

I had been let go and so had my director. The company had been really trying to pull itself out of a quagmire of issues and with the economy doing a nose dive, it was the last straw. The investors were ordering downsizing and the people who were going to stay were going to have to make some sacrifices as well. In my manager's defense, it was an emotional thing for him to do, and we all liked working with each other. There was just no getting around it. I left the office, talked to my director a bit, grabbed a few things and headed home on the 4 train.

On the train was a usual mid day subway peddler. Usually they hold up a sandwich, tell you they are helping the needy and ask for some change. Sometimes it's some lame kid who obviously just needs to buy some smokes. This time it was a very soft spoken man with a drum. When the doors closed and we took off. He said something like "none of this is important, don't take life too serious" and then he played a nice version of "what a wonderful world this can be" with his drum. It helped. It helped me get over the shock of what just happened.

By the time I got off the train and walking to my apartment, I realized that I wasn't paniced as I thought I should be. Lots of people are getting the cold end of a business stick right now, this wasn't personal, I was liked by the people who I answered to (and worked with) and my work was valued.

For some reason, I have been keeping this slightly under wraps to the public at large. Not really sure why except that it sucks to be the "dead man walking" in every conversation about how I am doing. But, here I am. I'm unemployed and living in the most expensive city to live in, in the United States. Awesome.

I have a few months before things get desperate, I am debt free so, things could be a lot worse. I've scaled back my going out for now and things will be fine (for now). If things aren't fine later then I will deal with it then. The urge to travel and work abroad again is still there so my plan C isn't so bad. This is an opportunity to do something new and that's never a bad thing. Somedays it can get to me but for the most part I have been facing this with a pretty decent attitude.

I've been a bit distant with most people lately, online and in the real world. I have just been trying to stay focused and getting a lot accomplished in a very short time. Hosting issues, updating my portfolio, some personal business in Oklahoma, and my son turning twelve last week. The regular Beau programming will be back soon.

Wish me luck.

Site down for maintenance and upgrade.

Hi there, I have taken the website down for a short period while I clean and tweak a lot of the stuff going on behind the scenes. Also, there is a new look that I have been putting together for the site for some time. Not a radical change from the current design, just a better thought layout and color scheme. I'm looking forward to getting this back up soon and updating regularly again. Thanks for sticking around through the lul.

In case you didn't notice the chrome change going on around here, I have been playing with some design and overall jsut wanted to have something up and functioning again as a website. I will add on and tweek the design as I have time. A lot of the technology and code around this place is being redone for optimal performance and better use. Be patient, if you stick around long enough I might even start to write stuff again at some point. No promisses.