Lately, I've been trying to fuel up my creativity tank and get my butt in gear to work on new projects and charge up new ideas and dig into more things technology - all of which are key to my very survival as a geek.  This has mainly been hindered by the purchase of my new home last year.  Things get pushed aside in favor of a quality roof over my head.  And from my point of view, things definitely got pushed aside.

Let's face it:  this site hasn't benefited from regular updates in quite a long time.  My videos haven't been updated like I want.  And the learning side of my creativity hasn't gotten a boost of energy for some time.  This needs to change.

I think what I'm going to do is put my best foot forward and begin adding more content to this site on a much more regular basis.  Most of those updates will be based around technology.  With that as a background, there's a lot of areas to spread my thoughts.  To a very large extent, this has already happened with my new podcast called TechBusters.  Even though the show is a part of this site, I'm ashamed I never officially announced it here (considering we're almost into our 20th show).  TechBusters is a weekly podcast devoted to the world of technology in all its forms:  art, culture, social media, entertainment, science, and news.  I'm joined every week by Matt Hecht and Debo Aderibigbe, both enthusiastic tech gurus.  We bring our unique talents and expertise into the show to give the listener a broad mix of tech topics, and hopefully, that listener leaves each show a little more informed and/or entertained.

Outside of TechBusters I want to find topics and projects I'm interested in that are worth taking the time to discuss or work on.  And one of those areas of interest is Google's Android mobile operating system.  I've been an Android user for almost a year now, and during that time, I've absorbed an insane amount of knowledge regarding the platform and the apps running on it.  My foray into Android also started with getting my first smartphone, the Motorola Droid.  I got a lot of great feedback regarding my initial reviews of the Droid (here and here), so I think Android reviews is where I'll put my focus.

And as always, there's the videos.  I love makin' 'em.  People love watchin' 'em.  They also love to get after me when I don't make them fast enough.  I suppose going months without making a new video would tend to be annoying for some.  I know it is for me.  This is something I need to change.  Now that's not to say that a new Tin Trio vid will magically appear online tomorrow.  Sorry, not quite yet.  What I want to create are videos with a more broader range than what I currently have up.  Yes, you'll continue to see videos based on music, but you'll also see more short subject videos with shorter running times, and higher production values.  I have to use that college degree somehow, right?

That, in a nutshell, is my plan.  I will do my best not to disappoint.

I had the opportunity to check out the Detroit Maker Faire held on the campus of the Henry Ford Museum.  It was a great time.  I hope they come to Detroit again.

I also have a number of photos on Flickr of the event.  Enjoy!

After months, if not years, of rumors, speculations, and just plain waiting, Apple finally introduced their version of the tablet computer today at a press event in San Francisco.  Called the iPad, it's designed to fill the gap between the smartphone and the laptop.  It represents what Apple hopes will be a hot new revenue stream and a way to steal market share from devices like netbooks and e-readers. 

Steve Jobs with the new Apple iPad

But does it live up to the pomp and circumstance that Steve Jobs bestowed upon it?  It is now 2010, and I think by this time, we should have a pretty good idea of what should and should not be (or what we want and don't want) on a mobile device like this.  On the surface, the iPad is a very sweet machine:  thin and light, big, full color, high resolution, multi-touch, and even a great price.  But when you really look at the specs (or lack thereof), to me, it's just not worth it.  And here's why:

1. no multitasking.
This is huge.  HUGE!  Not being able to run more than one application at a time is a deal breaker from this point on.  How long is Apple going to wait until this feature gets put in their mobile devices?  Palm figured it out.  Google figured it out.  Microsoft figured it out.  RIM figured it out.  I mean, come on, my Droid has it, and it's 1/2 as slow as the iPad.

2. no camera.
This was one of the things that blew me away.  So you're telling me that you can put a camera on an iPhone, but you can't put one on the iPad?  Why, because there's no room?  Yeah...right.  A high-resolution screen and no camera to take advantage of it.  If they put both a front- and rear-facing camera on this thing, and then added full support for Skype, that would be one seriously killer app.  This thing works at wireless N and 3G speeds, and if you've got a good signal, should quite easily handle it.  Imagine how much fun video conferencing on this would be.

3. storage size.
One of the biggest things I hate being limited on with any device is storage, especially if you can't expand that storage.  Now, granted, most people don't generate the crazy amounts of data that I do at the blink of an eye.  But there are plenty of people who, like me, have large music and photo collections that could easily reach that minimum 16 GB limit.  Steve Jobs always touts music, photos, and apps as the big features of his mobile devices.  And you can bet that the folks who buy the iPhone, iPod Touch, and now the iPad use all three of these in spades.  I think, at the very least, the iPad should have included a memory card slot of some kind.

4. no Flash support.
If you watched yesterday's Apple event when Jobs was browsing the web, you would have noticed  multiple instances where something designed with Flash was supposed to be on the page he was looking at.  But instead, the blue "missing  plugin" icon showed up.  I thought that was a bad thing to show at a press event.  And yes, Apple isn't the only company with Flash support issues, but when something is as globally ubiquitous as Flash, like it or not, you support it.

5. the name.
I think when it comes right down to it, Apple has totally burned up all variations of iThis and iThat.  A lot of names were thrown around the press during the rumor phase leading up to the event.  Some were good; some were not.  My favorite was "the Slate".  It's got a great ring to it.  The Apple Slate.  But no, now we have to put up with feminine hygiene product jokes for the next decade.

6.  no GPS.
The Maps application on the iPad is absolutely gorgeous.  It takes full advantage of Google's map infrastructure, including satellite photos and Street View.  However, if you want to locate your position on the iPad, you'll have to rely on either Wifi or 3G, depending on your model.  And in many places, those signals could be weak or nonexistent.

7. still no Verizon
For those people who make the monetary leap to the 3G-enabled version of the iPad, you'll still need to rely on AT&T's 3G service.  And as many iPhone owners can probably attest to, this just sucks.  Plus, adding a new device to AT&T's data pipe can only create even more bottlenecks than there are now.  Spread the love to other carriers, Apple.

I will say that I think Apple is now in a good position as far as e-books go.  And that mainly is because the iPad has a full-color screen.  And from the looks of it, reading a book on this thing is a very pleasurable experience.  But the real question is whether or not it will kill all other e-book readers.  I personally think it won't.  Devices like Amazon's hot-selling Kindle prove that if you simply enjoy the aspect of reading, you don't need bells and whistles.  Clean, easily-readable text and a nice way to turn the page sounds pretty good to me.  However, if I were an avid comic book reader, I'd be salivating over the full-color screen.

The iPad begins selling in March, and when it finally does, I will be making the trip to the Apple Store to get my first hands-on look at it.  Will that personal experience change my opinions here?  Honestly, I doubt it.  In all accounts, I can totally envision me holding the iPad and thinking "this is simply a 10-inch iPod Touch."  Apple changed the world when it released the iPod, and then completely altered the landscape when it released the iPhone, but since then, I think Apple has sort of lost its way in what today's mobile device consumers are wanting.  It just feels like Apple is giving you what they think you want, and I'm not really a fan of that.  If future versions of the iPad include the features I think it lacks, then yeah, I would really consider getting one.  Maybe I have a better chance of waiting for, perhaps, the Google Slate?

It has now been a solid week since I bought the new Motorola Droid phone, and I wanted to take the time here to give an updated review now that I've used it more extensively.  The things I have discovered this past week have totally changed my own concept of what a mobile phone is capable of, and I hope that anyone who took the leap and bought the phone is enjoying it as much as I.

Quick disclosure:  I received a number of comments regarding my initial review on how many of the "features" that the Droid has are also available on other smartphones in some shape or form.  To clear up any confusion, what I should have mentioned in my review is that the Droid is the first smartphone I've ever actually owned and used on a regular basis.  I've played around with most of the smartphones out there in some capacity, as well as read many reviews for them, and for the most part, I've gotten a good grasp on their strengths and weaknesses.  But when it comes to the day-to-day operation of a smartphone, I am still discovering what is possible.

The Battery

So let me start with the battery life.  For the most part, the phone has a pretty good battery, but like all battery-powered things, its charge all depends on how you use it.  With all my previous phones, I was used to plugging them in at night, and if need be, going the next two days without it needing a charge.  But with all the apps I'm now able to download and use, those days are most likely gone.  The apps can quickly become the biggest users of battery power, since many of them constantly run in the background.  Moderation is obviously one way to conserve the juice, but you can also use certain apps to prolong your battery's charge.  The phone comes with a Power Control widget that you can place on one of your home screens that lets you quickly turn off power-hungry features like WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS when you don't need them.  I also downloaded an app called Advanced Task Killer, which lets you shut down many unused programs at once, freeing up memory and power.  When I first got the phone, I was burning through the battery by late afternoon, but I think I've got myself into a good pattern of use now, and can squeeze out a full day.

Google Maps Navigation

Click for larger version

I gave a lot of praise to Google Maps Navigation in my initial review, and to my surprise, I can give it even more praise.  Google has truly gone all out with it.  I mentioned my first "wow" moment after seeing my dotted location overlayed on top of a satellite image.  I played with this a bit more just to see how accurate it was.  Standing outside at the corner of my house, my location dot was indeed over the correct corner of my house on the image.  As I moved around the house, the dot changed to an arrow in the direction that I was moving, and continued to follow me.  The update happened fairly quickly, almost every two or three seconds.

And if it's even possible to top the first "wow", I discovered two even bigger "wows".  First, when using driving directions, as you approach your destination, the display will automatically change to Street View, displaying constantly updated photographs of your current location, and the direction that you need to go, until you reach the end.  This, of course, only works in areas where Google's Street View car has driven through.  And secondly, if you're standing in an area that is Street View enabled, you'll want to switch your display view to Compass Mode.  This will control Street View, not by moving your finger on the screen, but by tilting and pointing the phone in a north/south/east/west direction.  That, my friends, is very cool.

The Keyboard

I have always been a fan of a phone having a physical QWERTY keyboard, and I appreciated the fact that the Droid had one when I first heard about it.  However, after using it, the phone's physical keyboard was probably the biggest letdown for me in my review, and I think it still is.  Even after days of using it, I still never saw a noticeable increase in my typing speed.  As a remedy to this, I have now fully embraced the onscreen keyboard and haven't looked back.  I use the touch screen keyboard in landscape view exclusively, and because of it, my speed is almost as quick as using the physical keyboard on my previous phone.  Like other touchscreen phones, the keyboard has auto correction, which also helps increase my speed.  So typing words like "dont" or "Im" instantly corrects to "don't" and "I'm", respectively.  Even typing in "fam" switches to "family", which is pretty nerdy and awesome in my book.  I now see no reason why the physical keyboard should ever be slid out and used again.

USB

One other nuisance I failed to mention in the first review was the USB cable/charger.  The phone comes with a USB cable and wall outlet adapter.  To charge the phone using a wall outlet, you need to plug the adapter into the wall and then plug the USB cable into the adapter.  This is highly inconvenient if you're like me and charge the phone next to your bed every night, but also connect your phone to your computer.  You have to unplug the USB cable from the adapter just to use it on a computer.  Motorola should have included a single USB cable for computer use, and a single wall adapter with the cord for outlet use.  I'll probably end up buying a power adapter eventually.

The Apps

The following is a select list of apps I've download from the Android Market that I highly recommend you try out.  These apps are all free.

Flixster - movie releases and showtimes app.  Browse by current and upcoming movie releases, DVD releases, watch movie trailers, and find the nearest theater location via GPS.

Qik - live video streaming directly from your phone.  When the app is active, viewers can log on to your personal page on qik.com and watch the feed.  A strong wi-fi signal or 3G coverage area is highly recommended.

TWiT.tv - the current TWiT network of technology podcasts, available as streaming audio or video

Advanced Task Killer - close multiple unused apps at once, freeing up memory and extending battery life.

Speed Test - the mobile version of the online bandwidth tester.

Documents To Go - view Microsoft Word and Excel documents.  The paid version allows you to open, create, or edit Word, Excel, and Powerpoint files, as well as view PDF documents.

Twidroid - Twitter application designed specifically for Android phones.

Mother TED - wonderful app for watching the many presentations held annually at the various TED Conferences, devoted to technology, entertainment, design, world issues, and open thought.

Pandora - the popular music streaming website in mobile form

Photoshop.com Mobile - photo editing app.  Quick way to do basic adjustments on your photos, such as exposure, cropping, and even various effects

ShopSavvy - barcode scanning app.  Use your phone's camera to scan the barcode of a product, then find out if it's selling any cheaper at a different location near you

The Weather Channel - weather app, giving the forecast of your exact GPS location or any location you choose

The Docking Stations

Accessories for the Droid are mostly relegated to Bluetooth headsets and speakers at the moment, but Motorola will soon be releasing two docking stations specific to the Droid.  One is a car dock that switches your phone to car mode, and the other is a multimedia dock that switches your phone to a media station and desktop clock.  I can see the benefits in having both docks and will probably get both when they are available.

Final Thoughts (Again)

The Droid, for me, has indeed become indispensable.  I can't say enough about the many features that Google has provided with its Android operating system.  It's a great phone.

If you've also bought the Droid, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.  And if you have any apps that you'd like to recommend, send them my way.