Biggs' Zone

A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

Category: Biggs On Page 12 of 13

Biggs On: OBL

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On May 4, 2011

In Biggs On, General Cogitation

Sunday night Obama interrupted regular television broadcast to announce to the nation that during a Navy Seal raid Osama Bin Laden was killed.Its an announcement the country has been waiting to hear for 10 years. There was rejoicing everywhere, it was the talk amongst friends and strangers the world over. So what does Bin Laden’s death mean to me.

I knew that there would be skeptics. “Pictures or it didn’t happen” seems to be a common phrase among just as many Americans as those celebrating his demise. Despite the White House’s persistence to claim he is actually dead many still question whether its true. Obama has already announced that no footage will be made available to the public. Osama has been buried at sea, in accordance with proper Muslim burial rituals, which apparently includes that the body must be laid to rest within 24 hours of having deceased.

I think no matter what the White House says to quell the skeptics, there will always be hundreds or thousands that will never believe it to be true. Personally the part that bothers me more isn’t the rising conspiracy about Bin Laden’s death but the fact that Obama is taking credit for it. Yes, he would have approved the raid on the Pakistan palace but the search for Bin Laden has been ongoing for 10 years. Obama has only been in power for three years. Its a political agenda for re-election because he knows he hasn’t “changed” a damn thing since he took office.

So here is what I am going to take away from this event. I believe, regardless of what the conspiracy theorists say, that justice has been served to a vicious tyrant. I also refuse to acknowledge that this is a victory of the current administration, they simply rode the coattails of the previous administration’s efforts.

Cheers!

Biggs On: The Tethering Conspiracy

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On April 4, 2011

In Apple, Biggs On, Technology

I was excited when I first heard about the personal hotspot feature in iOS 4.3. I knew that I was getting the wi-fi only version of the iPad and I thought the personal hotspot was the solution to limited wi-fi availability. Of course, as many of us predicted, AT&T said “not so fast!” and decided they would charge us an additional fee to use the personal hotspot.

As you probably know by now, that started a huge flame war on the Internet. Personally I think cell phone carriers deserve all the hate mail they are getting.

I can see no reason, from a technical perspective, why additional fees are necessary. I bought the phone, I’m paying for the data plan, why should it matter to AT&T how I use my data?!? AT&T has turned into the tethering Gestapo, seeking out and punishing all that are jail breaking their phones to avoid the service charge. The motive to charge this extra service fee is obviously driven by leveraging the growing tablet excitement to turn a profit. Greed is a powerful motivator.

I won’t be jail breaking anything, I enjoy my gadgets too much to risk getting branded by the Gestapo, but I will be supporting the effort to reduce it’s abuse by the cell phone companies.

**This post written and published from my iPad**

Biggs On: IE, Chrome & Firefox

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On March 23, 2011

In Biggs On, Technology

A very unusual thing happened this month, the top three browser companies all released majors versions of their browsers: Chrome 10, Internet Explorer 9 and Firefox 4. Since that time the internet and the competitive natures of their respective fans has been on a rampage trying to promote their favorite and discredit the others. ZDNet was quick to put each browser through a battery of performance tests and Chrome 10 was the victor for  most of the tests, IE and Firefox tied. ZDNet concluded that while Chrome 10 was clearly the faster browser, overall all three browsers were comparable.

It’s no secret to most that I am an avid Firefox fan. I have been using Firefox since its early versions. I only use IE if its absolutely necessary. I have tried Chrome a couple of times but I still find myself going back to Firefox every time. Naturally I became defensive when I see an article pop-up on ZDNet today with the heading “Why IE Will Survive and Firefox Won’t”. I completely disagree with the author, I think there is plenty of room for three competitors and its those “cult followings” that the author referenced that will keep Firefox a competitor. Microsoft is still playing catch-up. They haven’t come up with something truly innovative since C#. They are barely keeping their head above water trying to compete with everyone else; and if they can’t compete, they sue (ex: Microsoft is suing Barnes & Noble for patent infringement – obviously because Barnes & Noble is striking gold with the nook and Microsoft is pouting that they didn’t think of it first).

If the worst should happen, and Firefox starts to dwindle away, those that do jump the proverbial ship will most likely go to Chrome before going to IE. Honestly, I’m OK with Firefox losing to Chrome. It’s a nice browser. It’s a fast browser. It’s the dawning of a new era and the Internet Explorer era is the one that is reaching its twilight.

Cheers.

Biggs On: Google vs Glen

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On February 24, 2011

In Biggs On, General Cogitation

Most people who know me well know that I am a staunch republican. I am not an extreme conservative, but I rarely tarry even to the middle, if ever. My viewpoints often align with popular right wing personalities such as Bill O’Reilly, Mike Gallagher, and even Glen Beck.

Lately, it seems, I have been moving farther and farther away from aligning with Glen Beck. I almost feel like that he’s becoming more and more like Jerry Fletcher (Mel Gibson’s character from Consipracy Theory). His latest bit of conspiracy theory has Google as his target. Glen Beck has been preaching that Google is in cahoot with the government to invade your privacy and absorb personal details via your searches and your g-mail. It really is as absurd as it sounds.Google products do collect your common searches but as part of their smart browsing technology (known as Google Suggest). This feature can be turned off, but really, unless you are searching for something that you shouldn’t be … who really cares! Just like all the other tech companies, they are just trying to help improve the user experience. I would also like to point out, how can the information gathering that Google is doing be worse then the exorbitant amount of data people willingly provide on social networking sites such as Facebook?

Glen Beck suggests that you reduce your usage of Google and use Bing instead. Bing, for those of you that are not aware, is Microsoft’s search engine. How can Microsoft be considered less invasive then Google? I want to look at a few facts here. Microsoft has been around quite a bit longer then Google, however, in recent industry polls, Google has consistently outranked Microsoft as one of the best places to work. If you were to ask any competent IT professional whose experience has spanned across several facets of the industry who the “evil empire” is, their response will almost always be Microsoft.

So, if we are going to discuss conspiracy theory let me offer up some of my own.

It is widely known that Google is Microsoft’s main competitor in today’s IT industry. It could literally be compared to the Hatfields and the McCoy’s. The latest voting statistics show that more and more college students are becoming more politically involved. Some of those college students are future IT professionals. I wouldn’t put it past Microsoft to try to leverage that and use out-spoken, political pundits such as Glen Beck to try to spread seeds of dissent about their competitors.

Yes, information is still sacred but its no longer as secure as it use to be and Google isn’t the first one, nor will they be the last one, that will be accused of collecting user details. The fact of the matter is, all of the top IT companies (i.e. Google, Microsoft, Apple, etc) will collect user details and statistics. They do this because the company that continues to improve the user experience will continue to receive revenue and lead the industry. These same companies probably will have connections to the government, in fact even the small company I work for has government projects. Also, think about this, as technology continues to be a bigger part of our lives, cyber-terrorism becomes a bigger threat. Wouldn’t you want the government to be working with the top IT companies in the world to discuss plans to combat cyber-terrorism?

Sorry Glen, I have no intentions to stop using Google and I plan to suggest the same to others.

Biggs On: The New Year

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On January 13, 2011

In Biggs On, General Cogitation

So we have bid farewell to 2010 as we start the second decade in the new millennium. The year has started out exceptionally busy but there is a potential slowdown in the future. I hope to get back to some of my projects, including The MMO Times. I hope everyone is still subscribed.

I like to apply an adage often given to March to describe 2010; it came in like a lamb and went out like a lion. I know my memory isn’t the best but if I recall the first quarter of 2010 was relatively calm. There were some challenging projects as spring ended and summer began; and as the summer progressed the new projects were very interesting and, to be completely honest, they were fun. I added new technology, new languages and new accolades to my repertoire.

Then the fall came, and that is when things became extremely busy. I cannot remember the last time I had so much going on. There were several weeks when I was putting in quite a bit of overtime. There were times when development and business would clash, tempers and stress would increase and sleep would decrease. When winter arrived, tragedy struck. Grief and sorrow consumed the month of December and 2010 ended with pain in our hearts.

So 2011 begins the healing process and dwindling remorse as we all have to pick up the pieces of our shattered hearts and find a way to cope with loss. I have high hopes for 2011, despite its grim beginning, as I look forward to God’s greatest gift; Life.

Biggs On: Pre-Cataclysm World Event

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On November 20, 2010

In Biggs On, World of Warcraft

So the World of Warcraft Pre-Cataclysm World Event has been going on for a few weeks now. The first phase involved random earthquakes shaking old world Azeroth. Phase 2 brought random rifts in various parts of Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms, Northrend and Outlands that brought forth angry elementals; killing 10 of them would close the rift (and grant you a Feat of Stength achievement if you closed one of each kind of rift). Then Phase 3 started; the elementals are now attacking four of the major cities: Stormwind, Ironforge, Orgrimmar, and Thunderbluff. The events require that you put up fortifications, elite elementals are everywhere, the weather has turned to torrential rain, buildings are on fire … it is complete pandemonium! It is epic!

In my personal opinion, this is far better then the world event for Lich King. Yes, the zombies were fitting and the occasionally scourge attack on Orgrimmar and Stormwind Harbor were pretty cool but I think Blizzard definitely kicked it up a notch with this world event.

There is one more phase before December 7th and we will see Deathwing and he will randomly kill us all while changing the landscape, and the face, of Azeroth forever.

I can’t wait!

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