Blog Posts of Category Geek

Bus and Rail Directions via Google Maps

I just noticed that, a week or two ago, MetroTransit announced that route and trip information for their buses and trains throughout the Minneapolis/St. Paul area is now available via Google Maps.  The program, dubbed Google Transit, has been active for a year or two in such major markets as Portland and Chicago, among many others.  Here's a trip I just queued up:

Strong Bad's Quest for the Ultimate Game

Most of my readers are aware of my love for the website HomeStarRunner.com, which is an animated internet cartoon.  Over eight years ago, two brothers started posting their animations online, and now they work full-time creating new content based on their own world of characters.  These cartoons are not always safe for the kids, in my opinion, but then again, they're probably better than most of what's on TV for kids these days.  Feel free to head over to their website to get an idea of the days of fun

iPhone Day at the Mall of America

Yesterday was the launch of Apple's updated iPhone 3G, and since I work just across the street from the Mal of America, one of the largest malls in the country, I had a pretty prime spot for the retail madness that was the updated iPhone.  So here's what yesterday looked like for me.

The Search for the Perfect Watch

I love watches.  I've had a watch for most of my life, and I just like the fact that the watch makes it so easy to check what time it is.  (In my case, it's nice because I can get it up close and look at it really easy too.)  I didn't have a watch for my senior year of college, and I guess I got by just fine, but I really do like a good watch.  My most recent watch buttons are not working, so I'm going to ramble on a bit about what I want and how I cannot seem to find it.

The iPhone Looks Cheaper and Faster Than Ever

On Monday, Steve Jobs and his regular stable of Apple executives made a nice event around the iPhone - the newest in their three main product lines at Apple. As expected, the iPhone has 3G wireless in it, which means it should be faster and sound better for talking, but it still remains to be seen whether it'll be much better than the first one. The main takeaway, however, is that the iPhone Software 2.0 and the App Store will be making iPhone experience better and more powerful for both new and old iPhone users.

Drupal and Web Frameworks

Many of my loyal readers know that I'm into Drupal in a pretty big way. Lots of things are going well for Drupal these days, including a better-than-ever release of Drupal 6 and a community's who only major problem is handling the exponentially rapid growth.

The Apple iPhone's Rich Future

Last Thursday, Apple held an announcement on their campus that detailed some of their plans for the future of the iPhone. Although not much was surprising, many Apple fans and developers alike will be very happy with the amount of concerns that were answered by Apple. The only major concern for some people that was not answered was when the 3G-enabled iPhone will be coming for those faster speeds over cell networks, but with all the new capabilities with today's data speeds, developers should have plenty of projects to work on.

The Status Messages Problem

For the last couple years, most of my circle of friends have all signed up for Gmail accounts and hang out on Google Talk. It's much slicker and nicer than Yahoo!, MSN, or AIM, mostly because it's done in a Google smart way. It makes it really easy to contact all my friends because, more often than not, my friends are online, but it does still have its downsides, just like all the other services.

The GNU Game?

Over Christmas, I was looking for a good game or toy for a young relative of mine. I had to take a picture of this hilarious-looking game box:

What’s GNU? Game

NOTE: Those friends of mine who know little of computers or know nothing about Linux may not find the humor in this.

Star Trek: The Prequel

To be honest, most times, I hate the "teaser trailers" that show nothing more than a new logo. But hey, this one shows the Enterprise under construction, so it almost doesn't count as a teaser. Yes, this is the only big movie that I know about for this Christmas: a Star Trek movie that predates the original series and contains a cast never before seen on TV or film. Plus, it's written and produced by the guys behind MI:III and Lost. It might be pretty exciting, but we'll only know in 11 months.

MacWorld Report: MacBook Air and iTunes Movie Rentals

Yesterday, Apple made some big announcements, as usual, to kick off the MacWorld Expo, the largest convention and trade show of all things Mac, iPod, and Apple. There weren't any really big suprises, but Apple definitely delivered some really interesting products.

All the new apps on the iPod Touch

Round Three: Treo vs. iPhone

When I posted Round Two, I had only a day or two to play around with the Palm Treo 755p. But, after spending a few weeks using it, there is plenty of reasons to keep the Treo, the biggest of which, of course, is that it's much cheaper.

Why The Apple iPhone Needs Native Applications

Samsung i500For the past three years, I've had a Samsung i500. I love it. It packs most of the Palm functionality of those Treo smartphones into a usable phone form factor. In other words, it looks like a phone, but it has everything a smartphone has: Palm OS, internet connection, a stylus, etc.

What's New?

Well, that snow that came last week only lasted a couple hours after the sun came up, but it was fun. This weekend was in the 60s and 70s most of the time, so it was perfect. But first, let's go back a bit further. (The next paragraph is geeky, so if you don't want to do that type of stuff, just skip it.)

The Server Debacle

Avid readers of my blog and fans of my other associated sites may have noticed that my site was down for almost nine hours today. I'm very sorry about that if you rely on any of my server's services. Believe me, I didn't like it any more than you did.

CakePHP, Open-Source and Documentation

One of my least favorite parts about CakePHP (and many open-source projects that are not yet fully mainstream) is that there's very sparse documentation, if any at all.

RSS by The Numbers

I love Google. Well, OK, I would like them even more if their stock went up to $630 like some smart guy thinks it will. But oh well.

I also love Google because they organize my life. One of my favorite apps is their "Inbox for the Web" tool, Google Reader. It rocks.

Amazon and Google In 10 Years

Yesterday, while at my grandfather's 90th birthday party, I was talking to my cousin once removed, who has been involved in the business world for the past 30 years. He's a smart guy and I respect him.

My FireFox Plugin Essentials

I just told Jeremy that someday I might list off my current FireFox plugins, and I guess today is just as good as any other. So here they are:

God and Open Source

Many would say that the worldwide Open Source movement creates a lot of community. And it's true. Hundreds of people working closely together (even over long distances) towards one goal has brought a lot of community. After every Open Source-oriented conference, everybody says it's great to meet all those working on common projects and building a tighter-knit community.

People have also been noticing that Open Source, despite the fact that nobody owns or recieves royalties from the code, can be good for business. This is for many reasons, not the least of which are these:

Pages