About 3 weeks ago, I bought a T-Mobile G1 (the Android-based “GooglePhone”).  I’ve been working in my free time for the last 2 weeks on learning the Android SDK so I could write some programs for it.  The first program decided to write was a program for musicians.  Yesterday (November 15), I finally got the first feature–the metronome–in a working state.  I uploaded by application to the Android Market (same idea as the iPhone’s App Store, but until Q1, everything has to be free).  Now nearly 24 hours and 3 updates (suggested feature additions and bug fixes), my app has 2175 downloads (1638 active installs) and 110 reviews (with an average of 4/5 — there is not a single app with a 5/5, the highest so far is 4.5/5).  I’ve already received 9 emails about the application.

Not bad for the first 24 hours of my first Android app (and first Java app in a very long time)

In fact, in one day, this app has gotten more users than all my previous programming projects combined!  And its not even close to done yet!

I’ll continue to post updates on this and my (hopefully many) future apps.

When I read this story, I was so disgusted that I have to vent and post about it.

In China’s opening ceremony, they had a cute little girl in a red dress singing the national anthem.  But she was lip-syncing.  Ok… fine, that’s reasonable - she was only 9 - plus everyone lip-syncs these days.  Except it wasn’t her voice.

It was the voice of Yang Peiyi.  Yang was originally scheduled to sing the anthem but was cut at the last moment because she wasn’t pretty enough.  Yes - they replaced her because she had a chubby face and didn’t have nice teeth.

“The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feelings and expression” said the the ceremony’s music director.

This is absolutely sickening to me that China would go this far to create (what is now clearly an illusion of) perfection (it was also revealed this week that the footstep fireworks seen on TV were actually computer generated and inserted into the live feed - although, I don’t have an issue with that, and the fireworks were actually set off - China was just worried they couldn’t capture them all live).

I don’t even know how to express how repulsed I am by this without just yelling out swear words…
Read the full LA Times Article and see pictures of the 7 year old who wasn’t perfect enough for China.

WTF.

Here is the first official Josh’s Epic Failures comic.  In light of it being about Josh’s failures, I’ve decided to go for quantity rather than quality (as should be immediately evident).  If I tried to make it look nice, I couldn’t possibly hope to cover a reasonable fraction of what Josh does wrong.  Plus, I’m both using this to learn Illustrator, which I currently don’t know very well, and to get a little practice for my severely lacking art skills :P.

Disclaimer: This is not a work of fiction and any lack of resemblance between the characters and persons living or dead is purely coincidental.  In all seriousness though, all these comics are based heavily on reality and are adjusted slightly only to fit better in the paneled comic form - no extra stupidity or jokes are added (and if I ever do, I will be sure to make note of it in the post).  

Decided to jokingly start a little web comic about the daily failures of our IT intern Josh, so here is a quick intro/preview of what’s to come…
I’ll try and publish a comic every time he does something stupid (so this may turn out to be a daily comic). Enjoy!

Apple popularized the shiny white gadget with their iBooks, iMacs, and iPods.  Then the MacBook came out.  For $200 more, a more featured model was available in black.  This set off a revolution, as people payed more money just so they could get their laptop in black.  The iPod line soon followed this new trend, also becoming available in black in some of the higher-end models.  Then the iPhone was released with a glossy black front and metal back, and white was replaced completely in the iPod line by silver.  Around the same time, the iMac was replaced with a black and silver version too (but with a white mouse…?)  This morning, Apple announced the 3G iPhone.  This newer iPhone is available in all black (no silver), but if you buy the 16GB iPhone ($100 more), you can get it in white.  It’s amazing how quickly trends have completely reversed.  Just two years ago, white was standard and black cost more, and now black is standard and white costs more.  The circle has been completed (White -> Black -> Silver & Black -> White)!  Are you trying to set trends, keep up with them, or just confuse everyone???  Make up your mind Apple…