The Droid X comes loaded with several nonstandard applications for Google’s Android, most of which cannot be removed. Among the phone’s so-called junkware is a Blockbuster video app and a demo for an Electronic Arts game called Need for Speed: Shift. The software from the struggling movie retail chain includes a store locator and a section to download mobile movies from Blockbuster’s catalog. This app cannot be uninstalled from the phone’s software library using any traditional means. Users can delete it from the home screen, but it lives on — permanently part of the software embedded on the device.

link: ‘Junkware’ comes standard on Verizon, T-Mobile smart phones | Technology | Los Angeles Times

Where to start. There is always a way to uninstall with Android but Mark doesn’t want to point that out so he just says the “app cannot be uninstalled from the phone’s software library using any traditional means“. Also there are apps on the iPhone that you can not uninstall using traditional means or any other way. Are those apps junkware? Later on Mark adds this…

The EA racing game, which provides limited functionality and a large button on the introduction screen urging players to buy the full version, can be removed.

Mark seems to forget that the EA game is a demo so it has, shocker, limited functionality. Just like every demo for every game ever made. Even free versions of games for the iPhone that also have a paid version have limited functionality. And EA must be a evil company for putting a button in there demo app for people to buy the full game because that never happens in iPhone apps.

Any time someone switches from Windows to a Mac they end up posting some top 10 app list. The problem is that most of these people are what we call power users and the apps they list don’t really help normal users get there work done. For awhile now I have been thinking about posting what would really help someone like my mom if she ever got a Mac. So if you are a power user or have been using Mac’s for awhile this might not be for you but if your not, keep reading.

The first thing to clear up is the wording. I hear people all the time say “Mac” when they mean “Apple”. So everyone knows Microsoft and the operating system (OS) they make is called Windows. The newest version of Windows is “7″. Apple is the name of the company and the operating system they make is called Mac OS X (pronounced /mæk oʊ ɛs tɛn/ mak oh es ten). Apple numbers the release of each OS and the current version is Mac OS 10.6. They also name each version of there OS after cats so to quote Wikipedia, “Releases of Mac OS X are named after big cats: for example, Mac OS X v10.6 is usually referred to by Apple and users as “Snow Leopard” 10.5 is called Leopard, 10.4 Tiger, and 10.3 Panther.

Now that we have that cleared up we can move to the correct usage of “Mac”. The term Mac is short for Macintosh, the first personal computer that Apple made. Since then they have used “Mac” in the naming of there hardware. For example, the name of there laptops are the MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air. There desktop system is called the iMac and there workstation-level tower is called the Mac Pro.

I am not going to get into the full in and outs of Mac OS X because I think that one of the fun things about getting a Mac is learning. At its core it is the same as Windows. There are still user accounts and user folders and system setting you can change. One of the first things you are going to want to know is how to install programs. In Windows you would download a .exe or .msi file, run it and click thru the menus and it would install the program. Mac OS X makes things easier, somewhat. To use Firefox as a example, you get a file called Firefox 3.6.dmg Files with the .dmg extension are like .exe files in Windows. Just double click on them and do what it says to do. Sometimes might download a file with the extension of .app. There is nothing to install here because the whatever.app file you downloaded is the program itself. If you double click on it, it would just run so what you want to do is drag the .app file into your Applications folder.

Now that you know how to install stuff, what do you install? There are a few that I wish I knew about from day one of get my MacBook but now that I know about them I can tell you. The first is by far the most used app on my Mac other then the web browser. It is called 1Password and it is a password and identity manager. Password and identity managers are not that big in the Windows world but after using it for almost two years now I will never have a Mac without it.

Any time you log into a website or signup, 1Password will ask if you want to save it so you will never have to do it again. The best feature is the Strong Password Generator that will do just as it says and make strong passwords that will be very hard to crack. 1Password will also save any software licensees for apps you buy, save your banking, credit card, and personal info so that you can add them anytime you need to with just one click. 1Password is $39.95 (there is a free to try version) right now and there is also a version for the iPhone and iPad that will sync with the version on the Mac. It is just full of awesomeness.

LaunchBar

The next app that I find that I can not live without is called LaunchBar. It is what called a productivity application. You make a keyboard shortcut to bring up the app and then start typing the name of the whatever you are tring to find. Say that you want to launch iMovie and it is not in your dock. Hit the keyboard shortcut (in my case I have it set as Command+Spacebar), then start typing, i+m+o. With each letter you type the list will get shorter till you get to the file or app your looking for. If you just type i+m and iMovie is 2nd or 3rd one down, just arrow down to it and hit enter. The next time you want to launch iMovie and type i+m it will remember and be the first one in the list. If you would like to know more you should really check out this podcast by Mac Power Users. They do a really good job of covering what Launchbar can do.

There are three productivity applications that you should know about. Of these three apps, LaunchBar is in the middle when it come to everything that you can do with it and it is the only one that you have to pay for ($35.00 at the time of this post). The next is Google’s own Desktop. It is the least powerful but it is also free.

Quicksliver

The third is called Quicksilver. Someone once said that Quicksilver can destroy nations and launch the Space Shuttle. It is by far the most powerful productivity app but the learning curve for the really powerful features can be steep. But there is good and bad side to using Quicksilver. The bad is that the devloper, Nicholas Jitkoff, stopped working on it and went to work for Google to make Google Desktop. The good is that before he left for Google he open source the code and the Mac community has picked it up. Its also good that it is free. So if you want to get deep into Quicksliver you better set some time to check out the follow links but first you can get the latest version from here.

Howard Melman’s wonderful user guide for Quicksilver (PDF file)

Lifehacker’s post having to do with Quicksliver

A Beginner’s Guide to Quicksliver

A great list from Merlin Mann of 43 Folders

Just as a side note, there is another productivity app that you might want to try and it is called Alfred. I just saw a post about it but have never used it but it is free and in beta.

I have never really had a problem with AT&T as far as service go’s. Never had a drop call and the data speed has been good. So when I got a email and a text that said I had no data plan with my iPhone, needless to say I was somewhat confused. I have only had my iPhone 3G for over a year now and had the first gen iPhone before that and as most of you know, you can not walk out of the AT&T store with a iPhone that doesn’t have a data plan.

So here is the story. I called to see what was going on and was told what the email already said. My iPhone had no data plan and that it would now be added at $10 more a month. I asked how is it that I have been getting email and using apps for the past year and have no data plan? Seems it came down to when I got the 3G at the store. The guy that was setting everything up somehow didn’t put in my account that I was upgrading my phone. What I was told is that with the first gen iPhone the data plan was $20 a month and unlimited text was another $20. With the 3G data is $30 a month. I checked my last statement and it showed I was paying the $20/$20.

There are two problems with AT&T not knowing what phone I was on when they should. The first is the lady I talk to today said that it could of been when I got the 3G that the sim card was used from first gen and that is why I was still only paying $20 for data. This is not true because at the store, when the guy was setting up my phone, I ask if I could use the same sim card and he said I couldn’t and I watched him take the sim out of the 3G and enter something into his computer. The second is that for as long as I can remember when I log into AT&T’s site to pay my bill it shows a picture of the 3G and says I have a 3G. So one way or another they should know what phone I am using.

What I was told was that they just did some sort of audit and that is how this got started so I am sure I am not the only person getting the “You don’t have a data plan and we need more money” email. I did ask if I could end my contact without paying the early termination fee since they were changing the price. Didn’t work.

I love the iPhone and use it every day. But I am over it. For the past few years there was nothing that was anywhere near as good but lately that’s starting to change. I love Apple products and most of my data is with Google. So now I am being torn in two. And as much as I love Apple, I hate the box your in when you get anything they make. So the Nexus One is looking very good to me. Just have to wait and see if Verizon messes it up when they get it. Lets hope not.

UPDATE (1-14-2010) – I got a email from AT&T that linked me to a PDF file outlining the changes in my account. The funny thing was the name of the PDF file. In case you don’t remember, Cingular got the iPhone. AT&T got it after they took over Cingular. Seems everyone forgets that. Something tells me that Apple would of been better with Cingular.

As the world knows by now, Google had a PR event to show off its new browser operating system Chrome. As it turns out there is not much to jump around about. What you get with Chrome OS is just the Chrome web browser because everything runs on the web. There really is no way to install Firefox or anything else. So why would Google release a OS that is just a web browser? Good question.

What I think is that by having there own OS, Google can get a lot of info on how people use there systems. The better reason is that every app that Google has runs on the web. There are desktop versions of some of them like Earth and Picasa but it is pretty much web based. If you also remember from a few years ago Google paid for a ton of the dark fiber around the country. My guess would be that they might have there own open or low priced WiFi.

Over all I fell that not many people are going to be using Chrome OS for the simple reason that we like having our files, be it music, apps, or pictures on our systems. We like having it with us and doing what we want with it without needing to be on the web. I know I do. But I just can’t get my head around why Google would make a OS that does less then what I can do right now. Over the next year maybe I will understand but right now I just don’t get it because there is nothing that Chrome OS does that I can’t do right now.

If you would like to try out Google Chrome OS you can get a VMDK image over at GDGT.com. You are going to need VMWare or VirtualBox. But if you just want some pictures of it running I uploaded just about everything you can see to Flickr and Emberapp.com.

If you have a better idea why Google Chrome OS is so light weight please post a comment. I would love to hear what other people think.

On Friday Apple released the 2.0 update for the iPhone and open the App store in iTunes. With the launch of the App store there are over 500 Apps to load on your phone and more to come. I have been downloading and playing with a lot of them over the weekend and some are really good and some make make you ask what the hell were they thinking.

2.0 Update

Not a lot has really changed with the 2.0 update for the Edge phones. There is the stuff that every one already knows like the Scientific Calculator, the support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and of course support for MobileMe. You can now save pictures from Safari to your phone by just holding your finger on the image for a few seconds.

What really stands out for me are the things that I wished the iPhone had from the start that I posted about before. The syncing of the calender can now be done with MobileMe. You can now get a better weather app then the default on in the App Store and there are a few to do apps you can get so Notes seems kind of pointless now.

Here is one that I don’t understand why it didn’t make it in. You can not sync your podcast from iTunes to the phone over your own Wi-Fi. But Apple themselves released an app called Remote that allows you stream music from iTunes to your phone. If anyone can make a app for syncing podcasts over Wi-Fi please do. I would even pay for it.

Another thing that really needs to be added is support for MMS (Multi-media Messaging Service). Why the so called most advance phone out there can not do MMS make no sense to me. Even if it was only on the 3G phone would be fine to me. Its just another reason to update.

Apps and the App Store

The reason that I jailbroke my phone a few months ago was just for the apps that people were making. The only reason now to do so is to use the iPhone on other networks. There are just about any app you can thing of out now and some of the best ones are still free.

If your a Twitter freak you can get Twitterrific free or there is a pay version with no ads but the one that I like best is Twittelator. Twitterrific seems to run slow on my EDGE phone and the free version has ads. They can add pictures to your update with twitpic.com and both can add your location. But for some reason when adding a picture with Twitterrific I lose the keyboard and taking and uploading it. Plus it has crashed my phone a few times.

Some of the other ones that you should check out are YPmobile. It is yellowpages.com app that uses your location to help you find what you tell it to search for. If you want a free game there is Cube Runner. If you want to share anything with a bunch of social sites there is ShoZu. If you like me and live in a area where the weather can change in minutes you need the WeatherBug app.

Some of the app are just using there site and running it through the app like Google. When searching for something with the Google app it just brings up the Google search results page without launching Safari. Not really a big deal but they didn’t think about the Edge users still out there. If they did it would bring up the mobile version of there site. So I am just staying with google.com/m for now.

The Facebook app is also disappointing. It is using the default iPhone images for just about everything from the background to the title bar. And for some reason you can not read the wall for anyone with the app. The mobile version of there site at iphone.facebook.com is so much better.

Mobile Flickr is another one that missed the mark. It has the basics that you would want are there like finding people photos, upload photos, tag them and so on but they want you to pay $2.99 for it. There are other apps that will allow you to much of the same things for free ShoZu. If your a pro user of Flickr you should get Mobile Flickr for free.

If your a Edge user there is not much in the 2.0 update other than the App Store and I fell that there is still a ton of things that Apple can do to make the iPhone so much better. So what are your thoughts on the new update?

I have never really liked Outlook, Windows Live Mail or any other email program as much as I like Thunderbird. It has to do with the same reason I only use Firefox – extensions. With extensions you can make Firefox or Thunderbird do anything you want. One thing that Thunderbird does not have from the start is a calendar but Mozilla has been working on this with a extension called Lighting. It takes there stand alone calendar program Sunbird and integrates tightly into Thunderbird.

The only problem with using a desktop email program with a calendar is what if your away from your computer? Getting your email when your away from your computer is easy. I use Google Apps for this domain and have my email setup as a imap account. So even if I check my mail from computer, my phone or even someone elses system online its always the same. But how do you keep your calendar sync up?

The key is the extension called Provider for Google Calendar. It allows bidirectional access to Google Calendar so you can read and write. Once added to Thunderbird you have log in to your Google Calendar and pick what calendar you want to share. To do this click on the drop down arrow and pick Share this calendar. This will bring up the details and at the bottom is Calendar Address. Pick the iCal link and copy the link.

Open your calendar in Thunderbird and go to Calendar and add a new calendar. From there pick On the Network. The format is Google Calendar and put in the link that you copyed. Thats it.

This could of been call Matrix Monk, Ninja Monk or Shut the Mother Fuck. It has monks, vikings and a duck. Don’t need much more then that.

Most people will say when they hear the name Neill Blomkamp, “Who the hell is that?”. Well thats the director of Halo that Peter Jackson has picked and if you are like me you start thinking that this is going to turn into a Doom movie clone. But before you start to think that take a look at Alive in Joburg. Its a short film that Neill Blomkamp made in 2005 and you can start to see that he is pretty dam good at fitting CG in with real world.