As an aspiring Android App Developer, I took the news that Google is releasing a “build-your-own-app…app” (http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/11/google-app-inventor/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Techcrunch+(TechCrunch)) pretty hard. I have been working/struggling with learning s much code as I can for the past couple weeks. Then Google goes and releases this no-code, app developing tool, so my initial reaction was to be pissed that I was putting all this work into learning code and then it will end up being all for nothing. Then I watched the video. The apps that this program will create look like garbage. Which I guess is what happens when you design something, any something, that literally anyone can use. Once that calm was over I realized one more thing: I already hate the Android Market because there is a ton of garbage in there. This is just going to open it up to a bunch more garbage. Maybe I’m an App Snob or something, but I am of the state of mind that not everyone should be making apps and not every idea for an app is a good one. I’m sure there will be some quality apps that come from this software, but the problem is going to be that there will only be a handful of quality apps in a sea of millions. On top of the fact that the Market is already not the easiest thing to navigate, finding anything worth downloading and using. This is just added incentive for me to learn to program for Android, think of quality apps, and get those things in the Market. To anyone else considering programming for Android, I have this message for you: Sack up, learn something new, and don’t rely on this baby-app maker to get something in the Market.

The biggest piece of news I have read in the past year, let alone today, was a little story about a solar-powered plane attempting a 24-hour long flight.  Now there is no way I can sit here and pretend to be the most environmentally friendly person I know, but I do have a special affinity towards solar power, so this caught my attention.

Its difficult to imagine a day where all planes, cars, and other means of transportation are run strictly on solar power, but pending the success of this flight, we may just see the beginnings of that day.

Solar power is still someone expensive.  I spent a summer installing solar panles on the roof of a decent-sized warehouse building, and I did my best to soak up as much information as I could.  If memory serves and there haven’t been any major advances in the technology that I haven’t heard about,  it takes one work one eight hour day to create a solar panel which makes solar panels expensive (about $1000 a panel, plus the cost of the other equipment that goes into converting the power obtained through the panel into usable energy).

That being said, it still seems like we are more than a couple years away from having affordable consumer vehicles powered only by solar energy.  However, assuming the success of this test flight — which took off around 7 a.m. this morning — we may be close to the cusp of commercial airlines adopting the technology.  This would just be a starting point for researching ways to make solar energy more efficient and reduce the cost.  Either way, we should all be hoping for a successful flight.

I’ve been reading a lot about Hulu Plus recently, a service that will soon be offered to Hulu user to allow them to stream their favorite content to their iPads or PS3s for the price of $9.99/month.  As a PS3 owner, and a PS3 owner who uses his PS3 more as a media center than gaming console, this is an exciting prospect for me.  (Keep in mind, from here on out that I am talking about Hulu Plus for PS3.)

After I giving the service a little thought, I realized I already have it: it’s called DVR.  DVR offers me the ability to watch my favorite shows at anytime of my choosing, I can set up subscriptions to my favorite shows, and it even costs me $9.99/month (fuck you very much Cablevision).

Anyway, doesn’t paying for Hulu defeat the purpose of Hulu?  Hulu was supposed to be the place online where I went when I missed a show and didn’t have a DVR.  It was free and all I had to do in exchange was sit through very limited commercial interruptions.  Life was great.

Now, I’m not going to sit here and pretend I don’t love Hulu for what it is: a DVR replacement with a much nicer UI and the added feature that I don’t have to remember to hit the record button.  But if I already have DVR, I am paying the same price for that service, and I have a good enough memory to hit the record button when needed, why would I need Hulu Plus?  (The service on iPad, where I can take it anywhere, is a completely different story.)

Thoughts…?

This song is ridiculous. Was introduced to it by an old buddy and I just rediscovered it.

Been listening to World Inferno for the past two days. Helps me through the work day.

Today is a Stones Day, just because it was sitting in my Downloads folder this morning.

“Because I’m selfish enough to wanna get better, but I’m backwards enough not to take any steps to get there”

This song is so good. I never give Stars as much credit as they deserve.

Last night my buddy Mark came into New Brunswick. We ended up doing some of our normal stuff like talking computers, playing MTG, Taco Bell, even finding a Geocache in the morning. It was a god time.

More importantly though it was a nice change of pace for me. Too often during the academic year do I find myself doing the same thing night after night: come home; cook dinner; procrastinate; do work; and go to bed.

The cycle becomes never ending and frequently leaves me feeling like I’m in a rut. For people like me though, it’s not as easy as it may seem to break out of the schedule that we try to program into ourselves so that we can be consistent ad concise in our efforts, whatever they maybe.

This case was easy enough do to good timing. I wasn’t particularly busy last might and didn’t have much that I could have gotten ahead on. So it worked out well.

I find myself asking why it so hard to do stuff like this on a regular basis? Even when I have time to plan ahead so I can make time specifically to visit a friend, I have difficulty doing so. I find it difficult to believe that my work load is that much greater than everyone else. Is this just an issue of dedication to getting work done or lack of organizational system?

Why does it seem like I will forever be locked into a weekly schedule and any deviation from said schedule will cause a degree of chaos, and not relaxation, in my life?

Heading to bed.

I don’t know what this means for iPhones, but I love me some Google.

Tired. Last song for the night. Hope shuffle does treats me good while I sleep.

So my roommate, Steve (@fantasticethan), has been hearing me listen to this playlist I made a couple nights ago on repeat. He asked me about it cause he liked it. So I figured I’d send it out and see if anyone had any suggestions for it. Here it is:

Mama - My Chemical Romance
From The Hips - Cursive
Sink Into Me - Taking Back Sunday
Keep Secrets - Saosin
The Entire World Is Counting On Me And They Don’t Even Know It - Norma Jean
Lungs Like Gallows - Senses Fail
A Grand Scene For A Color Film - Norma Jean
A Box Full of Sharp Objects - Used, The
The Good Left Undone - Rise Against
Sleep - My Chemical Romance
Mama, I’m Satan - Cursive
What Were We Made For - Saosin
Famous Last Words - My Chemical Romance
What Have I Done? - Cursive
I’m a Fake - Used, The

I can’t wait for this! http://bit.ly/cFHsD

This song is freakin’ good!