Noah's Blog

In today's world, starting a blog should be easier than it ever has before.  One has countless platforms in which to choose, all with more features than any web developer of the early aughts could have ever dreamed of.  So why did I find it so incredibly difficult?  Ignoring the fact that one must have creativity and motivation to continue a blog, I had a hard time just trying to get a blog setup that even looked nice.  Why is it so hard: the software is too much.

One can argue that Microsoft word is a well-developed and mature word processing solution capable of so many different things.  So why, then, would somebody ever choose to use Notepad (a product also developed by Microsoft) when Word is arguably so much better?  It's the same reason why people prefer physical buttons to advanced touchscreens in cars: sometimes simpler is better.

I had an incredibly hard time trying to find blogging software that was simply enough for my to easily integrate into my current site design and was simple enough to customize or add features if I wanted to.  I am one person. I don't need multiple content editors, a review process, add-ons, modules, galleries, etc.  I wanted something to share content, that is all!  So what you see here is a custom blogging solution I've written in VB.NET.  It is a simple application that allows me to post my content and organize it on my website in a simple, date-ordered list.

I plan to document this software and share it on my site as open-source code as soon as I have the time to do so.  I will be posting a short series on the software as I add new features and get things documented.  Stay tuned!

Life so far has been pretty crazy.  I started the semester with more to do than I anticipated.  Though, I'm not sure how I didn't expect to be busy working two jobs as a full time student.Regardless, I do have some updates I wish to share.  I plan on posting some new projects soon.  I have a guide in the works about Nintendo's gameboy games and how to replace the batteries in games.  I also have another life tips guide on what services are most compatible with devices.  I have used so many different phones/tablets/computer operating systems/online services that I have become almost an expert in which ones work best for which people.  Expect that to come soon.

In 2009, I wanted to save some money and get a smartphone, which put me in the position to either move to T-Mobile (offering the G1) or Sprint (Offering the Pre).  While the Palm Pre was a very nice phone, I wasn't thrilled with it, and I felt that the feature set on the G1 was better.  In all honesty, I never expected Android to go very far, but it's amazing how wrong you can be sometimes.  I had the G1 for about 1.5 years, at which time I went between it and a used original iPhone I picked up.  When our 2-year contract was ready for renewal, I opted to get the G1's successor, the G2x, the first Android phone with a dual-core processor (the NVidia Tegra 2).  I loved my G1 when I first got it.  The Google Maps navigation was already out at that time, and was amazing.  The keyboard was something that really appealed to me, and was a very flexible, functional phone.

The problem I had was Android was outpacing itself very quickly.  The G1 became obsolete and slow after 6 months of having it.  When I finally did get my G2x, it was blazingly fast in comparison.  But during that time, it was hard to really like Android.  It was still incredibly unpolished and had a lot of issues keeping up in even the simplest tasks, like using the browser.  The transition to Android 4.0 and 4.1 (ICS and Jelly Bean) has been phenomenal for the platform.  My phone today is the Galaxy Nexus and it's running Android 4.2.  I think that Google just started caring about design, this can be seen with the improvements to the UI (in the form of Holo), Google Now's cards interface, and the overall smoothing of bumps in the platform as a whole.  This is great for consumers, as Google's push for a design-first approach makes Apple work equally as hard on improving iOS, a win-win.  In many respects iOS is a more fluid experience, but I think that Android's improvements have made it almost par with iOS.  Today, I love the platform and don't have hesitation recommending it to family (with the right phone, of course).  Although I do ponder switching to Windows Phone to get a taste of Windows Phone 8.  Personally I like the design language and mentality of Windows Phone more than either Android or iOS, and my next phone will likely be a Windows Phone.  But for now, I'm very happy with my Galaxy Nexus and look forward to what Google has in store for Android in 2013.