Morgantown WV

Took a slight detour to stop in on Morgantown WV omw out to Phoenix AZ... here's what I saw...

Amazon's Kindle Fire: No Ice Cream Sandwhich; Still Worth It?

Since Amazon announced their Kindle Fire Device, to be released November 5th, I've been wanting to pre-order it. It seemed like a no brainer at first: A tablet that runs android, for much much less than the Apple iPad.

The Amazon Silk browser stores highly used content in the cloud and pre-loads it to your device when you hit a page -- In other words, it guesses what you're going to click on next, so when you hit a webpage, the Fire is working in the background to load what you're most likely next clicks will be, which results in a lightning fast experience for most users. Sounds great!

But upon further investigation, it turns out that what has happened is that Amaon has forked android in a totally different direction... which makes me a little concerned.

Amazon aims to release its own App Store, which will circumvent the Android Marketplace. App Programmers will now need to optimize for Apple's App Store, the Android Marketplace, and now, Amazon's App Store for Android... which, clearly, is not a one-to-one relationship to the Android Marketplace as I had originally assumed.

So the question becomes, is the Kindle Fire still worth it? I want access to Android Apps, but what I'm really interested in is a cheap tablet that I can use to hit Google Reader and other sites -- I sit infront of a computer long enough during the day that I want a different experience when I'm casually browsing the web.

But is the Kindle Fire taking us in a different, bastardized direction?

Stored Safely in the Cloud

Quick thought{

we should probably just start calling any cloud breaches "lighting" and or "thunder" to suit the pre-existing model.

Makes sense. Just watching google's chromeBook promo on Amazon.com and noticed the text --

You'll have to check out that little promo video for this to make sense;

"Fully optimized for the with integrated connectivity;;; A faster simplier and more secure experience;;; All your apps, documents and settings are stored safely in the cloud"... the only thing I could think of is, "man this music is lame" and "databreaches on the cloud are lightningstrikes"

PS; get ready for the $250 Amazon iPad Killer with Free Internet that will be shown off in the next couple weeks; and be ready for purchase before Christmas. Did I mention the Amazon Tablet runs Android, and has full Color e-Ink?

Firefox is Banned by Parentals

Or: Learning Windws 7

I used Windows 7 for the first time today. I've had my trusty Apple PowerBook G4 working since 2004;;; After a series of incidents It still works great. Ofcourse Local Motor's 8gb MacBook Pro is working a little faster for me now!;;; I was at a friend's house tonight and used Windows 7 for the first time, and learned a few things---

I didn't want to sign in on his browser and kick him out of gMail, so I decied to just grab FireFox as he didn't have it on his system. (Windows 7 box, 12gb ram and 2.67gHz, only Chrome and IE installed for browsers). I was rapidly thwarted in that effort when I typed in "firefox.com" in his Chrome Browser.


After I broke the file system by naming the screenshot "firefox.com" instead of "firefox.com.png" broke windows because the system was set to not display file extentions. You can no longer select the file display options from an individual explorer menu. //Or atleast I didn't know how. Which, if I went windows 7, I would probably just stick with the classic display ;) I also noted that windows 7 has a dock just like OS X; ha! }}} Then my friend had to get to his amazon account and couldn't find out where his Xbox was until he clicked on the upper right hand button for Your Account.

I figured the screen I found during all of this might be worthy of some HN Discussion, ha!

0b11100

Front End Developer Needed at Local Motors

Local Motors (www.local-motors.com) is a auto industry game changer. Using our website, anyone can participate in co-creating amazing new vehicle designs. After building the Rally Fighter (www.rallyfighter.com) and the XC2V for DARPA (http://www.local-motors.com/lmBuild.php?c=11185), now Local Motors is producing a new web site which will leverage co-creation and gaming to bring America the next generation of automobiles.

Are you positive, supportive and inspiring to others?

Do you get things done? Are you independent, and yet take direction well?

Are you passionate enough to work in a start-up?

Do you get excited about cool new interfaces and ways of interacting with the web?

Do you want to be a part of changing our world in a meaningful way?

You may be a recent graduate with relevant school projects or endless hours of relevant tinkering behind you. You may have a couple of years experience under your belt developing slick user interfaces. Either way, you are both talented and organized.

Our playground:

LAMP, HTML5, CSS3, Javascript, jQuery, SVN,

Responsibilities:

• Implement public facing pages
• Help make UI and UX decisions
• Build reusable CSS/JS frameworks to simplify development
• Participation in general internet engineering needs of the company

Requirements:

• Smart
• Gets things Done
• Exceptional proficiency using HTML5/CSS/Javascript/jQuery/AJAX in a production environment
• In depth knowledge of browser compatibility
• Familiarity with Object Oriented Programming
• Demonstrated design and UX sensibilities
• Strong CS fundamentals gained through Bachelor’s degree in CS, HCI or related discipline or equivalent industry experience
• Personal projects that show and aptitude for front-end engineering and product design sense
• Ability to work in areas outside of their usual comfort zone and get things done quickly
• Knowledge of SVN

Desirable:

• Excellent Knowledge in SEO and Internet Marketing
• Experience using object oriented PHP
• Experience with PHPMyAdmin

• Experience using MySQL in a production environment

Benefits

• Competitive salaries
• Vacation days & time off
• Medical coverage
• 70 Degree winter days in Phoenix, AZ
• An active working environment with brilliant designers, engineers and technology experts
• Much more...

On Driving Distractions and Safety

Nice article! You should definitely look up the info on when those 'requirements' became standard in cars.

I think it goes to show that the most responsibility for any accident lies upon the driver themselves -- According to your [current] data, seatbelt, airbags and drinking age restrictions showed no real improvement on deaths per year -- which is what I'd expect.

I hotwired the seatbelt alarm in my car to not go off -- I don't like the beep when I'm driving from here to there unbuckled illegally. Sure, I could get a ticket, but you know what? I'm not getting in an accident either. When I pull on the highway, I buckle up. Live Free or Die, baby, the only state in the country without a seatbelt law is New Hampshire.

It also bears mentioning that your data could be off because in the boom in population versus the number of people who don't actually have automobiles. Sure lots of families have multiple cars but all the recent college grads I know are happy to live in the city and use public transportation.

It's also worth noting that since Massachusetts enacted a public ban and moving violation for Texting While Driving, I have not stopped texting while driving. But, I have, however, moved the placement of my phone from ontop of my steeringwheel (in the middle of my field of vision, very easy to look more on the road and less at the phone) to below the steering wheel (more out away from the road, harder to look at, I won't get a ticket cuz they can't see me texting). This is a great example of over enthusiastic government trying to play a role in our every day lives, which your data would tend to agree with judging by the death rate versus legislation not exactly lining up. I'd love to hold my phone on the top of the steeringwheel and text while driving (while focusing primarily on the road) but the legislature will allow officers to ticket me for that, so now I just keep the phone low and away where I'll never be ticketed but might be a slightly more dangerous driver.

Ofcourse, it all comes down to common sense. Massachusetts has no ear-to-phone ban, but if I'm driving through Harvard Square in Boston, while I'm on the phone, you bet your ass that I'm paying 1,000 times more attention to what's going on infront of me, and paying less attention to who I'm talking to on the phone. It's a matter of what you choose to focus on, and the responsibility is Yours.

Thanks for the great data on automobile safety.

ATDHE.net is Dead. Long Live ATDHE.me