obama and technology....WTF IS GOING TO HAPPEN?!?!?

if you're like me, a big nerd that's into everything tech-y, you are used to feeling looked over by the government. seriously, can you think of anyone at all in a relatively high political position you can relate too? i sure don't. now we have a new administration with a congress backing him. what changes do you think it will have for us nerds?

really, we know we are the backbone of america. all the major challenges that we face as a country will be solved by scientists and engineers. what are those challenges? i guess my short list is:
1. energy independence
2. broadband infrastructure
3. a better health system
(i would also say internet surveylence and warfare but i try and stay out of the nsa's affairs)

these challenges need new intelligent, clever, all around problem solving. it's time for us to abandon our past solutions that aren't working well and are going to be obsolete in the future. our generation need to create new companies with great business plans to do this. we can do it if we work together. get your friends and start brainstorming ideas and then act on them! if you don't want to act on them, give them to me so i can.

today change.gov was launched. i not going to go into expectations for this site besides what you can read by going to it. it is kinda cool to see the first presidential blog though.

i STRONGLY encourage you to read http://change.gov/agenda/technology these are are pretty good start and we need to make sure that they happen. we need to.

android is finally here...just to see now if my predictions are going to come true

i've been pretty excited about this since i first heard of android and what they were trying to do with it. now it's finally here and it actually looks like it won't be a major disappointment. actually, if my logic works out it should be a direct competitor to the iphone. how can anything compete with the iphone and it's already huge lead in the consumer smart-phone market? let me explain.

when it comes to technology i have two main theories about future areas:
1. it's all about being open.
- the more freedom you give developers, the better a product you will have
2. if you can make money by giving it away for free you force your competitors to do the same

some will say, "look at symbian, they tried this and aren't anywhere near the iphone." except this is a different time than the old market. just last month my sister, a poor college student, got a blackberry pearl with internet. you couldn't say that about any average consumer 5 years ago. the new internet phone market is taking over.

but "how can android ever compete with the iphone?" well android has a few, very key, advantages that the iphone doesn't:
1. android isn't a phone, it's a platform
- yes, the G1 may not have the same features that the iphone does, but another phone will
- android can be run on cheaper phones, so almost anyone who can purchase a phone should be able to eventuall afford a phone that runs android. this would let anyone buy marketplace apps(i.e. app store) that their phone can utilize

2. android isn't locked down to one carrier.
- soon everyone will have access to an android phone, maybe even At&t folk

3. android is an open java platform
- android developers have millions of java applications to choose from they can almost copy over to make new android apps
- android gives developers much more access to their architecture giving them the ability to make better applications

i could go on, but i think those alone will give android enough juice to be a major competitor. don't get me wrong, the iphone is great for people who want everything simple and to 'just work' where android phones may not be so simple. but if you want to truely 'own' your phone, have a ton of options for produtivity apps android is the way to go.

either way, both of these phones are making carriers FINALLY change the way they allow access on their networks. it's a change we as consumers have been deserved for a long time and are finally starting to see being realized.

javascript module pattern...it's what we all should be using

those that know me in the tech world know that i'm an avid ajax developer. i'm as obsessed as i can be about being on the cusp of new tech. and get all giddy when i see any new functionality that i can integrate into my toolbox. that being said, i recently made the switch from prototype to jquery.

there's 3 major reasons for my switch:
1.) jquery is smaller
2.) jquery is faster
3.) jquery has more of a plugin base(prototype doesn't even have plugins) and there are way more things made with jquery.

being an avid prototype user i was heavy into using it's built in classes. a prototypejs class is basically a json object that calls an initialization function when initialized. when i switched from prototytpe to jquery, that had to change.

i read into the jquery forums to see what other people were using, and i found that the most advanced plugins and best implemenations that i could find were using the module pattern.

i started using this in a new site with jquery and i have to say, it's a lot nicer way to program js. it changes the scope so you don't have to worry about binding all of your functions. also, as i read on another site, i'm using two variables for public and private objects (pub and pri) that i prefix onto anything. then all i have to do is return pub and it's all set.

i do have to worry about calling my init function now, but that's ok. 6 extra characters is worth it. check out the basic explaination here:
http://yuiblog.com/blog/2007/06/12/module-pattern/

finally, a wireless standard that i can fall in love with : 802.11r

802.11r is a wireless standard that takes max 50ms to switch connections. What that means basically is when you're in a car (or in a train like me :)) and you switch towers your phone lag time in dropping the internet connection and picking up a new one will likely be < 50ms! That's insane, and amazing for wireless internet in transportation. I can't wait!

http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/377814608/

oh and seriously...sarah palin? somebody's desperate, and better get ready to be beat on every front now. i thought the gops' main weapon was the inexperience? be ready to be beaten with the fact that she's a heartbeat away from the presidency(especially after mcsame just had his 72nd birthday!).

wtf is ECMAScript? it's javascript's real name of course!

ajaxian posted a great link to an article by alex russel of dojo about what exactly all those crazy names for javascript and similar languages mean. check it out, i learned a bit:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ajaxian/~3/369006595/ecma-what-harmony-who-tc39-tamarin-javascript

getting better at phone tethering

for about a month now i've been tethering my phone to my macbook for on-the-train development/basic web browsing. so-far i'd give it a 6/10. there's 2 major downfalls: speed & consistent connection.

for me it's still worth it if i can get an extra hour of development in during the day, but if i ever stop taking the train i'm going to get rid of it. it's about as fast as dial-up, and you are always losing and regaining the connection. if i'm in a coffee shop and turn off images in the browser it can be decently fast and reliable, but on the train it takes some getting used too.

for using aim on the train it's perfect. i almost never get messed up communication. for ssh access it's iffy. you can really tell when the connection is solid or not, but the communication is normally < 50k when saving files so it's fast when the connection is solid at least.

i really would not suggest this for non-geeks. for basic web browsing it's not worth the extra $30 it cost. but for someone wasting ~2 hours a day sitting on a train, it might be worth it to try for a month and see what you think.

gif vs. jpeg vs. png => what image format should (I) you use?

normally when i'm working with images i use this guideline for picking my image format:

few colors/animation/transparency => gif
lots of colors/no animation/no transparency => jpeg
lots of colors/complex vectors/quality transparency => png

but you say, why not just use png all the time? it's all about file size, which goes from lowest to highest from gif -> png. for a better explanation check this out:
how to chose an image format

mccain is still wrong about obama's iraqi stance but no one is explaining it

the politics realm right now is 90% focusing on obama's overseas trip right now and mccain's logic and focus is still completely off on what obama is trying to say and i really don't think that anyone is explaining it correctly, not even the obama team.

mccain's stance is that obama should be like him and say that 'we can still win in iraq' and 'the surge has worked'. he uses these points to make it seem like obama was wrong in going against the surge and ultimately against trying to 'win' the war on terror in iraq. this logic is of course following the same pattern that the gop uses in moving focus from the real problems: 'we shouldn't have fucking been there in the first place' and 'the real war is in afganistan'.

yes, i do believe the surge helped and was good...yadda yadda. but why is iraq wanting us out so bad if there's so much percieved 'terror' still left in the area? the logic just doesn't make sense why we should be there anymore. the main terror cells and camps are in afganistan, and obviously move those people from there to iraq. what is there really to win in iraq and what do we have to actually acomplish to win there?

i don't really care that mccain is not giving a shit about going against the old rule that you don't attack a political opponent while they are overseas, but i just don't think that his attacks are really making any sense. though there's all these fucking news companies over there with obama and none of them explain in any depth the logic behind the baby's quarrels.

took them long enough! finally i can have firefox 2 and 3 both working with firebug!

ever since firefox 3 came out i've had one huge problem...i couldn't get firebug to work with both of them on the same computer.

there are 2 different versions of firebug, basically the old one is for FF2 and the new one(beta version) is for FF3. Joe Hewitt is really making the new version kick ass, but having the entire FF2/3 combo with the bug caused problems. the extensions were causing huge conflicts, and any way i tried i couldn't get it installed on both browsers.

now FF finally released 3.0.1 and 2.0.0.16 and my beautiful development plugin works on both browsers. you may ask...'wajiw, why do you even fucking need FF2' to which i reply, FF3 renders css and javascript more strict than FF2, so I must test them both to make sure my javascript/css intense sites (check out slippymap.com) work. which really...my FF version bugs haven't taken me more than 5 minutes to fix, as compared to IE version compatibility between 6 & 7 where it's taken me, litterally, up to 3 weeks to fix a bug, and i'm pretty good at my job.

so praise whoever you want...hallelujah....my life is much more stable now, and so is my browser.

FF3
firebug

now with 3 posts a week

i just moved downtown, and am tethering my phone to my computer. this means i have an extra 1.5 hours of simple work that i can get done on the train. yeah i know....totally rock'n! so i've decided it's time to start planning out posts, unless i have nothing useful to talk about of course.

i'm gonna start at 3 posts a week and see where that takes me. this one doesn't count of course. get ready for tha killa commentary on the shtuff that effects you!

politics update: it's going to be an exciting week

so obama's got his superdelegates he's wanted up till now, and within 3 days will almost assuredly have the majority of the undeclared finally come to his side. so obama will have the nomination this week, definitely for sure. what that entails is going to be another big step in the primary season, and i have a feeling it will all be determined by the hillrod.

coming in #2 she's got a bit of potential power behind her. her choices are:
1.) plainly embrace obama and hope him the best through nov, doing a little campaigning just to show some good will
2.) go after the vp spot. this would entail her completely changing her personality towards barack by completely supporting his every word and becoming barack's main attack dog against mccain.
3.) still campaign to the superdelegates to try and get them to switch and effectively destroying her career as much as possible.

my vote is for number 2 and i'm hoping it happens. the only way i can see this going well reconciling the dems is by giving her the vp spot. there is too much division that has happened between the supporters and bringing her on may be the only assured shot at taking the white house.

if she is given the vp spot her supporters would surely step inline behind her and vote for the lesser of two evils (in their minds) hopefully. if the dems come out near the numbers they have in the primaries to support their candidate(either obama or clinton) they will sweep mccain.

but what about the clintons' baggage? well they can't really sway the clinton stronghold of voters by bringing up anything that isn't new. and anyways she's going to be vp, so it won't have nearly as much of an impact.

and about having the clinton's in the white house? barack is strong enough not to be swayed by them in a negative way. he will be the ultimate rule maker and will be able to douse the fires that hillrod and billy will most assuredly create.

so my opinion: if hillrod is on the ticket with barack it will pull 99.998% of the people who voted for either barack/hillrod/edwards (minus the repubs that voted to try and fuck up the results). and to my barack supporters remember: he will be the boss, not her, so there's nothing to worry about having her as a vp, even though deep down none of us want her in there.

the future of food and global warming

i heard two very interesting ideas today. the first was a story on npr about growing artificial muscle to eat. saying it like that sounds a little gross so i guess i'll call it like i heard it: shmeat, or sheets of meat.

it's a great idea: no more need to kill animals for meat. however, where does the energy and materials come from and where does the waste go? and how can we make sure that it's healthy? i predict that one day we'll have those problems solved, but i know that i'm not going to be one of the first human testers. i'm looking to always have a backup of venison available when this time ever comes around.

now on to the new global warming idea i heard of today. these 3 guys from the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine have done a study on global warming and found 'no deleterious effects upon Earth's weather and climate.' after reading a majority of the article this is the most important part of it to me:

"The Earth has been much warmer during the past 3,000 years without catastrophic effects. Warmer weather extends growing seasons and generally improves the habitability of colder regions." (from the conclusion of the article) the crazy thing about this article is that OVER 30,000 SCIENTISTS HAVE AGREED WITH IT!

if this is true then there is more of an argument that what is happening to the env. that everyone thinks is because of global warming is actually good for us. to me that's bad because of all the good things that have come because of the global warming movement. that, along with the rising cost of energy, have spurred the green movement. people are eating better and being more responsible and are on a better track than we were before this.

i really hope we keep going in the right direction and this doesn't side track us, not that i think it really will. maybe it's just me, but i just can't stop thinking about the uncertainty of our future.

here's the full article by the oregon guys: oism.org

the new fight - M$ and FB vs. Everyone

there's a big problem i can see right now that might be imminent. a microsoft takeover of facebook.

whatever your feelings are of the big fight between m$ and google, you need to put them aside. if microsoft takes over facebook they will kill the open social internet. yes, both m$ and google are about keeping themselves on top, but that's not the point. what matters here is the way they get there.

the facts right now are that m$ is dropping fast. google is killing them in search and advertising and are creating new and innovative ways to level the playing field for everyone. i try and follow both very closely, and every action that both companies make follow two very distinct rules:

microsoft tries to force people to use their closed data system, google tries to force everyone to use their open data system.

the new fight: keeping YOUR social information open, or closed

whether or not you know it, you don't own your data that you put on facebook or myspace. they do. and it's worth a lot of money. if facebook gets bought by m$ it'll put a very real number on each person, but say it happens for $15billion(it will go for more than that) and there are over 70million users, each user will be worth an average of over $200!

what's wrong here is that most people don't realize what's going on. this is a fight for our data, and if we don't make the right choice one company will own the future of the web. we can't let that happen.

google may be a beast, but they are doing everything they can to help us keep our data. they know that what is best for all is an open network, where you get to choose who can use your data and anyone can use it. i have faith that when microsoft buys fb and tries to sell your data that you won't let them. when it happens please, TAKE YOUR DATA ELSEWHERE.

the right network to join will come when it's needed(i think within the next year) and when it does jump on. the future of the web is in everyone's collective hands. don't let innovation be killed by a monopoly. be informed and make the right decision. this is important.

with a big sigh of relief....it's finally over

he may not have been declared the nominee last night, but he might as well should have been. last night's election has gotten barack within 200 delegates of the nomination (> 480 left) and has created 'the' turning point for the primaries.

in the next few weeks we're going to see a wave of super delegates finally make their choice, and the press is finally going to start focusing on november. hillary will keep on keep'n on but, just like huckabee, no one is going to give two shits about it.

so what now? it's time for american's to take advantage of our opportunity. the barack obama revolution is a movement to make the changes needed in america to help save our world from the toilet it's spinning in. it's time to work together to solve our problems, and big change is needed to do that.

i really don't mind john mccain (aside from campaigning), but i do not believe that he can move fast enough and work hard enough to make the changes that we need made. maybe you think the same about obama, but don't look at it as voting for obama the person, vote for obama the movement.

what if he picked a different woman?

i should be working on a project but i guess i feel like writing instead. i have an idea that i think might actually be a good one.

i've been thinking a little about hillrod. she makes me feel sorry for women everywhere. as i've told people before, women deserve someone better to run for their first president than her. she's long sunk her ship in my boat and has blended into the grey that is american politics with how she's run in this election.

i've been spinning in my head who would be best for barack to run with, and i've been thinking tonight 'what if he chose the right woman to run with him.' yes it might be a sexist thing to say, for me to say that he should pick a woman to run with, but i think that if he chose the right woman there would be no contest in nov, and maybe we'd have someone great running in 2016.

just something to think about. maybe kathleen sebelius? if you're curious to get the jist read her recognition section and see if you want to read more :)

here's to a great may!

look past the distractions

i'm fed up again with the primary race. it's for pretty much the same reason as every time. obama speaks his feelings about what's going on, and his opponents twist it to distract and confuse voters.

this time it was because Obama said that people were 'bitter' 'because for the last 25 years they’ve seen jobs shipped overseas, they’ve seen their economies collapse.' Now Clinton and McCain come back saying these comments are elitist and are 'out of touch'.

The path all these little bickers between them is simple:
1. Obama attacks the government. He says something on the lines of 'people are upset because blah blah
2. His opponents twist what he says to say he's anti-american, out of touch with americans, elitist, etc... etc...
3. Obama tells them why they're wrong and it's up to voters to decide.

Obama is proving, with every speech, that he is going to do what he thinks is right for the American people. Clinton and McCain keep showing that they are going to do whatever it takes to win. Why can't people see this? We need someone to make the right decisions for us! Not someone who's going to confuse the public into getting them elected.

Next time there are attacks on Obama check out my list and see if it still holds up. You need to decide who's got the best character to lead our nation out of the hole it's in. We don't need someone who's 'acceptable' to fix our problems, we need someone great. We have too many problems to elect someone who doesn't have their heart in the game.

youtorrent.com is dying...try pizzatorrent.com instead

so i hear that youtorrent.com is switching to searching sites that only list legal torrents. this is a move that will surely kill the site.

what youtorrent.com did is search like 10 of the top bit torrent sites in real time (without refreshing the page) which made it close to the fastest way to find files to download. but now you probably won't be able to find anything on there which makes it useless.

now i need a different place to go(or just use mininova/piratebay alone). i've heard that pizzatorrent.com is a good alternative, but since i can't access their site right now we'll have to wait on that one.

comcast bittorrent blocking easy test

i just read this article on zeropaid about someone who created a livecd that has a program on it to test if you're ISP is throttling your bit torrent traffic. if you're paranoid like me and want to track the man's grip on your shit check it out, all you have to do is download and burn a cd:

http://www.zeropaid.com/news/9355/Gemini+Project+LiveCD+Tests+Your+ISP+For+BitTorrent+Blocking

for the mothers of bike riders

this caught my eye as something i should've thought of. body airbags for motorcyclists. if you're interested check it out:

http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/25/daineses-d-tec-wearable-airbag-on-sale-in-2010/

why i love google even more

so the bidding for the 700Mhz wireless spectrum is over and the winners have been decided. verizon has been declared the winner but why should you care?

well this new spectrum is what future wireless data is going to be running on. in the future, there's a very high chance that > 90% of internet will run over wireless. if this happens, the rules that are decided now are going to have a major effect on everyone in the future.

it could be the difference in having to pay for valuable programs or getting them for free. this may not 'click' for you, but if developers, like myself, can put applications on your phone for free, the apps will be made for you, the consumer. on the flip side, a developer like me wouldn't be able to pay the thousands of dollars it would cost to get my apps on your phone. the only people that would are big companies, driven by profit giving you shitty applications that you could still really use, but have to pay for because they want to squeeze every cent out of you that they can.

it all boils down to one basic statement: open means for the consumer, closed means for the business. now where does google fit into this?

google manipulated the system by putting in an early minimum big for the big spectrum, and got laws passed that will: 1.) allow almost any phone to be allowed on almost any phone network (i.e verizon or at&t) 2.) allow almost any app to be put on that phone for free.

this is huge for consumers, though google won't be getting much credit for it in the media(who obviously won't benefit much from this). google, keep up being the friendly giant :)


check the link for more info:
techcrunch.com

my clarity in the numbers

i want to do my own analysis of what the delegate numbers mean and some possible outcome math. i'm going to forget about super delegates because i believe those should go with the majority of the popular vote, but that's just me.

so, according to demconwatch, obama, at this moment, has 148 more pledged delegates than clinton. with 566 pledged delegates left, there's plenty of room for clinton to come back, but is that going to be possible?

now lets take the primaries from last tuesday. in texas, including both the primaries and the caucus, obama took more delegates. in vermont and new hampshire the difference gives a slight delegate advantage to clinton. these basically cancel out (<> 120 delegates. but then comes NC and IN, which she will most likely not be able to make any gain on obama.

after those primaries come west virginia, oregon, kentucky, puerto rico, montana and south dakota. those equate to 217 delegates, and half of them are caucuses which have helped obama every time except for nevada (and possibly penn coming up). with current trends, obama and clinton will come out of these with one of them having a less than 20 delegate gain. this is just speculation based on the trends, but it has a more than 50% chance of happening.

now there's the michigan and florida question. the best case scenario for clinton is that the votes that were taken in their primaries get counted. a revote would, most likely, be advantageous to obama. if they were seated how they were voted, it would give clinton a 111 delegate gain. this is most likely not to happen, mainly because obama's name wasn't even on the michigan ballot, but it is her most favorable situation.

now you factor in the super delegate, which right now have a clinton advanatge between 30 and 45 delegates.

so here's the breakdown. clinton needs to catch up on about 120 delegates. she can do that by:
1.) winning the majority of the rest of the states by more than 15 points and doubling her super delegate advantage.
2.) getting her original votes in MI and FL counted
3.) getting a revote in MI and FL and majority of the states and getting a bigger gain than she has in super delegates.

my prediction:
1.) FL and MI votes won't get counted. the only fair way to do it would be a revote, which there's currently no way to pay for.
2.) obama will get a majority of delegates in the remaining states. at least by 20.
3.) the super delegates will even out and neither of the 2 will have more than a 30 delegate gain from them.

these will keep obama around 100+ delegates and win the nomination. clinton has to make some huge upsets, and i just don't see her having the resources to do it. if she doesn't get votes in MI and FL counted and she doesn't have a significant gain in delegates after NC and IN she should raise the white flag and start campaigning for 2012.

politics...a new opinion

i'd like to think to give a good opinion a person should have a very balanced and unbiased view of the world, and a good knack for being able to see the true character of people. it's a easy tell, but you have to be honest and open with your view of the world to see it correctly. that being said i am going to start giving my opinion on the mess that is american, or maybe even world, politics.

it's a little late for me to be doing this, but i have too many other priorities in my life to have started any sooner. i have never thought that i would know enough of what was going on to publicly voice my opinions, but hopefully this will help me a little to clear the fog in my mind from the misinformation that i get in our media.

i was once told that the solution that is the most simple is almost always the correct one. i like to try and use that statement to explain most of my opinions. this doesn't mean that i'm going to leave out anything meaningful in order to keep it simple, but i will try and make it simple as possible. already, because this has gone three paragraphs, i'm sure i've lost over half the people reading.

now, today in politics we have another day of miss. clinton bringing something in the press and mr. obama rejecting it. something that's been happening since she's started attacking him. it's funny to think, but clinton is trying to say that obama would make a great vp, but not president. does that not make sense to anyone else? don't you have to be equal to the president in case something happens to him/her?

so why would she even say this? getting people to vote for her because they could get both candidates sounds a little weird to me, especially coming from someone who's in second place. shouldn't she be trying to make the argument to be vp?

Do I hear a RIM SDK coming in the future?

What Apple did yesterday, in releasing their sdk, was basically taking the price to make mobile apps better for developers. You might be thinking that this is only going to effect iPhone/iTouch users, but it's not. When a big, up-and-coming product like the iPhone does something like this it's going to set the bar for the future of that type of product.

Right now it costs thousands of dollars to become a mobile developer. And not just once, you have to pay a huge fee for each platform you want your app on. For someone like me, an individual developer, these costs make it near impossible for me to get in the game. What Apple just did is take that thousands of dollars cost, and bring it down to $99. They are smart enough to know they can make up for it by charging 30% of whatever money you bring in.

This is now going to push big mobile (RIM etc) to become similar to compete. Once the iPhone becomes a better choice for business, RIM stocks are going to plummet.

Now if only the people developing Android would get off their asses and get into the market, devs like me could have some real fun. damn the man, open the market!

iPhone/iTouch SDK

today apple released their software dev kit for their touch products which will be available to every customer in a couple months. here are the basics:

1.) Runs the same on both iPhone and iTouch

2.) Customers get apps from iTunes and new app called 'App Store' ("if you don't go through Apple, you can't get on the phone")

3.) Download the sdk for free

4.) Developers name their price(I think this means there can be free apps).

5.) Developers make 70% of app price.

6.) Launch of iFund for iPhone devs. Starting at $100million

This is going to be something big for me. Time to put this thing to the test(and buy an iTouch).

http://www.macworld.com/article/132376/2008/03/liveupdate.html