arvind’s posthaven

I am so glad that Winamp put out an Android client. I used Winamp for years in the late 90's, so why not give it a try on my Android phone? Scan the barcode above on your phone to get started.

I use Evernote to keep all of my notes and photos of important pieces of paper like receipts, prescriptions, whiteboards, etc. Droid Scan lets you take even better scans of physical things and keep them in your Evernote notebook.

Google’s Do-It-Yourself App Creation Software

The New York Times did an excellent summary of Google's new App Creator for Android. Why wait for someone to build an app for your phone when you can just build it yourself. Easily.

This is a great example of why my next phone will be an Android phone and not an Apple phone. I want a phone that lets me do what I want with it, not what Apple engineers let me do with it.

I feel like I'm becoming an Android fanboy, but this demo of how to use your Android cell phone for Internet access for your laptop is awesome. So simple, how it should be. Now, your phone company might try to block that feature, but you can always unlock it if you're so interested. Just knowing that it exists and works is just amazing. Nice work on this one, Google.

I use a BlackBerry Bold now (from AT&T) and planned to switch to an iPhone next, but am thinking more and more about an Android-based phone. I'm always looking to tweak my phone, push it to the limits, and a closed OS like iPhone just doesn't allow for it. Unless "there's an app for that," I'm out of luck.

I was starting to get used to the idea of not carrying a phone and an iPod around, but I think I can live with a phone if it does everything I need it to do. I am going to have to assume all the vendors/software packages I use (Google, Outlook, Remember the Milk, Evernote, BaseCampHQ, etc) will all develop Android apps.

Thanks to natenatenate on Twitter for sharing this video, but a wonderful example of how creative photography can be used to visualize a phenomenon - in this case how RFID signals work. Sounds nerdy, but easy to grasp and worth a watch.

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Joshua Lott for The New York Times

Jerod Reyes, left, and Dylan Powell use their bus's Wi-Fi to do homework on their way to school.

The New York Times did a piece on the "Internet Bus" in Arizona that allows students wi-fi access while commuting to school or going on school trips. Seems like a great way to keep students connected at times when they normally aren't.

The article however, seems lacking in all of the non-academic things kids would be using an Internet connection for. An entire bus full of kids with laptops and Internet connections and Facebook/social networking doesn't even come up once? Where are the kids who are gaming? Where are the kids downloading pirated music/TV shows? Where are the kids posting photos on Facebook? The article seems to be a looking at the bus through rose-colored glasses, but I get the gist of it.

It's a neat idea, but it's yet another space where the kids used to be somewhat offline, now turning online. I suppose that they already had their phones on the bus, so it wasn't all that offline. I just wonder if there will be any offline spaces left for them? The athletics field, perhaps? The NFL had to ban Twitter from sidelines recently.

update: I missed the line in the article that talked about the students playing games. I still think it leans way to heavy on the academic use. Unless these are kids who only do homework and nothing else, it's just not a reasonable expectation that it will become a study hall bus. It will be just like the Internet in their homes - often homework, but more often media consumption.