technology

no official post today. i’ve been preoccupied with updating my wordpress and looking at themes to revamp the site (yet again).

there are some good free themes i’m looking at, like libra, or twenty sixteen. but i’m also seriously contemplating stepping up and purchasing a theme like paulie, or rainier.

if you’re so inclined, take a look and let me know what you think.

part of the impetus to move to a new theme is the need for my blog to work well on mobile devices. currently it really doesn’t; try it out…. with a couple weeks of posting (nearly) everyday, i’m a little frustrated i don’t seem to be getting any increased traffic to the site and i’m looking for ways to remedy that. hopefully a new, sleek, mobile-friendly theme for my blog will help address the problem.

Read more

actual work precluded me getting a post up in a timely fashion this morning. it turned out to be ok, though, because now i can write a bit about the new iphone 7 and ios 10. both have improvements in form and function, but neither the new iphone or the accompanying ios 10 makes me jump up and down with anticipation.

i have, nonetheless, been waiting for the release of the new iphone, mostly because i’ve decided i’d prefer the larger model to what i have now. and the batter life on my current iphone has begun to fade, not enough to be useless, but enough to be annoying.

the news that the standard headphone jack is going the way of the dodo is… a bit distressing. i consider myself an aspiring, or amateur audiophile and definitely appreciate high-quality headphones and the sound they produce. though some sources i’ve found suggest you can get the same quality sound wirelessly (over bluetooth) as you an via a wired set of headphones is promising, i’m not convinced.

earlier this year, i purchased a set of atx-m50x headphones from audio-technics, which i absolutely love. they’re bulky, but they create a thoroughly enjoyable listening experience and i find it a little hard to believe i could get a similar experience from wireless headphones (without spending two or three times the amount).

despite all these concerns, i understand why apple felt the move was necessary and am not really surprised. and it’s good to hear they’re going to be including an adapter with all the new iphones, eliminating the criticism that they’re forcing people to buy all new equipment.

i imagine it won’t be too terribly long before quality and pricing makes it worth while for me to move away from my wired headphones, though i’m glad i don’t have to do it quite yet.

while there have certainly been some technological advances i’ve been eager to adopt, others i’ve struggled with. as it was difficult for a generation to give up vinyl records or cassette tapes, so have i struggled to fully adapt to the fully-digital music world. i enjoy the experience of browsing in a music store and the moment ripping off the plastic on a cd case, or browsing the liner notes while listening to the album for the first time. i’ve even been contemplating a step back to the “vintage” era of vinyl and acquiring a record player and a healthy selection of vinyl records, though finances and a necessary rearranging of my tv and stereo have so far prevented me from taking the plunge.

anyway, in the next few days i’ll be visiting my at&t and apple stores to see about my options for upgrading to the new iphone 7.

yea for shiny new gadgets!

Read more

during my time in philadelphia earlier this summer, i (reluctantly) had my first experience with ride-sharing.

watching the issue of ride-sharing regulation flair up in hawaii in the last couple of years and reading about lawsuits and stories about how ride-share drivers are treated by the “app” companies, i’d refused to use any of the services until i was comfortable there had been significant changes to how the drivers are treated.

so, in downtown philadelphia, late at night, with a couple of friends and no easy or inexpensive way back to our hotel, i reluctantly agreed to pitch-in on a lyft ride. it was a good experience. and ridiculously inexpensive; the 45-minute drive out to the hotel i think ended up costing something like $7 or $10 per person, including a generous tip. my only point for comparison is a $35 and 15-minute cab ride i took from the airport once, when my ride failed to appear….

this morning, while browsing emails and headlines looking for something to write about, i came access the article, there’s only one way to compete with uber. the author highlights a couple of upstart competitors in new york city that are attempting to compete with, or overtake, uber as the leading ride-share app in the area.

in the end, the conclusion made by the author, with which i completely agree is this: appeal to drivers, address their needs and concerns, and you’re bound to do well.

i have friends, family, and colleagues who won’t shop at walmart because of their poor treatment of employees, but don’t seem to think twice about how ride-share drivers are treated, generally not even considered employees. i find it baffling, frankly.

uber, claiming to be a technology company rather than a transportation or service company, wants to side-step regulations applied to taxi services and others. the problem with that argument is that without drivers, the company would have ceased to exist a long, long time ago. it’s an app company that provides a service through drivers who they refuse to consider employees, or pay a decent wage, or provide benefits, or pay taxes for. the drivers, the entire reason for uber’s success are independent contractors, some court decisions to the contrary.

there is substantial evidence that businesses that pay living wages, provide good benefits, and generally care for their employees, cannot only survive but thrive. the same can certainly be true for ride-sharing companies. you want to compete with uber and lyft? just treat your drivers like employees, like people with respect and dignity, and you’ll be successful at attracting not only the best drivers from your competitors, but also socially conscious customers, like me.

the lyft driver in philly was a nice guy, who drives for both uber and lyft, though he told us he prefers lyft because they pay slightly better.

i expect it’ll be a long while before i’m in a position again where using one of these services becomes necessary, but i really hope by then there’s an alternative to which i can feel good about giving my business.

Read more

as i begin, yet again, to try and post regularly, i’ve been giving some thought to the kinds of things i’d could write about. in addition to personal matters and glimpses at my life, i think it might also be good to share my thoughts on current events, politicts, etc. i had originally set up a entirely separate blog for that purpose, but years later i’m not sure it’s valuable.

to that end, i’ll be closing down and migrating my other blog, peoplesdialectic.com, to this site, and forwarding the domain. maybe making it a sub-domain of this site, though i’ll need to do some research to ensure that’s the best choice.

in the meantime, i’m looking for good new agregators. though facebook is my default, a recent announcement to what it prioritizes in our newsfeeds, has sent me on a search to find an alternative. initial searches suggest flipboard may be the best option, based on how it functions and some of my own personal preferences.

still, i’m curious what sources others might use, or if, similarly aware of facebook’s announced chagnes, if anyone has found other interesting new aggregating alternatives.

as an aside, now that my flickr account is easily accessible via the blog, i’m hoping to share more photos, both recent and not-so-recent. so come back occasionally and take a look.

Read more

though i am a loyal apple customer and think they’re products are generally think they’re products are pretty great. do i think they’re perfect? certainly not. nor would i say everyone should get an iphone, over an android, especially given their cost. there are some cool things androids do that apple doesn’t and i recognize that.

still, whenever apple comes out with a new iphone and it has problems, the media and everyone else freaks out. since i’ve never owned or used an android phone, i don’t know much about them, but i can’t imagine they’re perfect and free of flaws when new versions are released, though i’ve never heard the press say anything about it.

when apple released the iphone 5 to problems with its antenna when the phone was held a certain way, that was a pretty big snafu and to me a legitimate cause for griping.

the things people are complaining about now, to me, are not good reasons to complain. they’re complaints by stupid people and they should be dismissed as such.

 

if you’ve subscribed to my youtube channel, but aren’t getting emails when i post a new video, here are the steps:

  1. go to your youtube channel
  2. click on “my subscriptions”
  3. on your subscriptions page, you should see a link that says “manage subscriptions” click on it
  4. check mark the box next to my channel (regardingfrost) under “send me updates”
  5. then, on the activity drop down, you can either select “all activity” (default) or “uploads only”

if you have trouble, let me know, though i think it’s pretty straight forward. and of course, that’s if you want such notices (i think you do).

Read more