Bing Maps fails with Downtown Houston location pinpointing

I use Bing Maps primarily. It’s partly because I’m still an MS fan at heart, but also because I have little interest in giving Google more info about me. However, Bing Maps is just plain terrible at location searching. Maybe not as bad as Apple Maps, but definitely far from what Google has.

Searching for “Downtown Houston” made me laugh today. I commented earlier to a post complaining about how slow transit was back in the time he was using it. I wanted to show him it’s not that bad today (thought not that great either), and looked up quick time info based on Bing Maps transit calculations. I didn’t notice at all that my quick search for “Downtown Houston”’ was terribly mistaken on Bing Maps before telling him it was only kind of better (not taking into account that it was actually nearly 50% better if downtown were correctly located.). Here’s an image to show you the problem:

For those that have never been to Downtown Houston, the Downtown area of Houston is contained within the loop of the freeways I-45 and Highway 59. However, Bing Maps believes Downtown Houston is somewhat more west of where it actually is along Buffalo Bayou Park. Houstonians would probably be laughing at Bing if they knew this. It’s really sad that Bing does not know where our actual Downtown is. It’s not very far off, but it’s not there either. I marked what I consider the center of Downtown Houston to be with the orange place marker with the 1 on it.

Google Maps has it right as usual.

Well it’s not what I’d consider the center or even bustling part of Downtown, but it is in Downtown. Why can’t Microsoft get this right? Who knows? I definitely reported it and repositioned it on feedback though.

What I’d love to see in the next Xbox

Although the Xbox reveal is coming today, I thought I’d share my thoughts to anyone that still happens to read this blog (despite my not finishing many drafts of things I’d love to talk about). I don’t have a super in-depth list, and it’s not very gamer-oriented as I’m far from a true gamer, but here are something things that I think the Xbox should ideally have that I believe would appeal to most people. Here we go, in no specific order:

1. 4K Ultra HD output – 4K displays are still not common yet, as they’re very expensive, but it seems that in maybe 4-5 years, it will be more common place based on news I’ve read. This would definitely help future-proof the Xbox, and give it a boost over the PS4. Unfortunately, I think Microsoft will likely wait until the generation after to give a solid reason to upgrade and I guess it makes more sense to wait until more living room displays actually use it, since it seems they use a lot of power to render in 4D. It’d be great for gaming, and watching videos if Xbox supported it natively, or at least do decent upscaling/optimization.
2. BluRay Drive – Optical media isn’t dead, and it’s always nice to have something that can work without the Internet. BluRay discs can of course store more information, thus lessening the need of multiple discs. It’d be nice to watch movies from too. The ability to read 100 GB BDXL would be a major bonus too.
3. Upgrade Kinect tech – Ideally, Kinect can work in more confined spaces just as well, and hopefully better capabilities (or game developers) so that games can use it more ways than ever, and it’d be great if a AAA game can (optionally) be operated entirely through it.
4. Competitive pricing – Microsoft made the smart decision with the 360 generation to give the console a lower than profitable price, and make the money back through (pricey)accessories, Xbox Live Gold subscriptions, and Marketplace content. Ideally a range of $200-$500 for any variation of console types would be awesome. The lowest range supporting the base needs to run games properly with maybe low built-in storage, and the high-end of course having everything.
5. x86-64 architecture – It’s how PCs operate on, the PS4 will operate on, and hopefully the next Xbox. Having the same architecture should ideally make it easier to develop games, where games can be deployed faster, with less issues, and more time could be focused on improving the games. Would also make sense if it will truly have more cross-platform integration with Windows itself.
6. Fuller integration with Windows – I’d like to see more games capable of cross-platform play with Windows PC users, easily hook up or stream content from your PC to your Xbox (either wirelessly or through a cord), and a true “buy once, play anywhere” that is not crippled by only working on certain platforms or only working on just one platform period. I’m also hoping to see SmartGlass be used further in games too.
7. Improved hardware – Goes without saying of course. It’d be nice to avoid the Red Ring of Death issues that plagued the early generation of Xbox 360s. I’m hoping to see a low power standby state, and low noise output from the console.
8. Reduction of Xbox Live Gold price – Now that there are more Xbox users than ever, perhaps it’s time Microsoft could lower the price of Xbox Live Gold. Now I no budget analyst, but I’d like to think that Microsoft can make more revenue by lowering the price of Gold across the board and see more people pay in.

What I don’t want to see:

1. A radical new game controller – It seems like most people like the Xbox controller for it’s ergonomics and whatnot. The d-pad is it’s only weak point that should be fixed. Maybe a charging port with an internal battery, though I guess not everyone would be a fan of that idea. But please no mini-screen on the controller. I do not see it offering much significant utility, and it will only shorten the controller’s battery life and make it ridiculous to use if the screen ever gets damaged. The use of another screen should only be optional with SmartGlass.
2. Avatars – I always thought avatars looked kind of dumb. Not Xbox specifically, but in general. The idea of interacting in a ‘3D’ world on your console seems kind of dumb, but maybe there just hasn’t been enough work towards it. Case in point: the proposed Avatar Arcade that never got off the ground. I don’t think it will make it to the new Xbox either. It also seems to deviate away from Microsoft’s Metro (or Modern) philosophy of keep things simple and minimalistic, and avoiding skeuomorphism. I know it’ll suck for people that already bought into decorating and accessorizing their Avatars, but we need to move on. Or at least design better looking ones. I wouldn’t mind a flat 2D version that looked much better.
3. Always online for DRM verification – It seems these rumors are already scrapped but we’ll see. If the PS4 isn’t doing it (which it doesn’t seem), then neither should Xbox for sure. Game companies need to use better methods than always online to play, because it’s pretty obvious that Internet will never be a constant element that will always work. If I can’t play because some online company can’t verify me, then I’m going to find alternatives. EA’s recent SimCity game has had many issues relating to going that route.

My stolen laptop: 10 lessons learned

Well my laptop got stolen through no fault but my own. Over the past week, I’ve learned a good many lessons. First, let me start off with the background story:

November 18, 2011, 5:15PM – I leave my laptop inside my backpack, under a table, in the usual spot where we drop our things to help volunteer to pick up recycling content in classrooms and hallways around one particular college. It’s something outside of the college’s janitorial duties, so we volunteer to help. I only have to do it every so often as an officer of the organization, and I picked this day because I thought I had a test on another day I was supposed to do it, but I was wrong.

So I’m late, about a 1/2 hour because I got the time wrong (usually starts at 5PM, but it was supposed to be 4PM) and luckily (or unluckily) there was someone that came back. I drop my stuff, he had none, and we got out to do our stuff. We come back at around 5:50PM I go to my backpack, discover the top part was opened and my laptop was removed. We run to the hotel’s front desk (it’s a hospitality college), check lost and found and nada. We call the campus police and they come in 20 minutes. I file a report, pressed charges if they found him/her, and we hunted around to see if maybe the thief hid it somewhere because it might be to hot to move. Nothing.

There are pretty much no cameras in that room, or even the entire college. I didn’t register my PC with the campus police, so I still have to find the serial number in case the thief pawns it. I post flyers about 4 days later, offering a $250 reward if the laptop is found, or $50 reward if you have information. Even said the thief can pretend to find it and still get the reward. Nothing as of almost one week later. So what have I learned?

1. NEVER leave it unattended – Don’t make yourself a victim. You leave it out without watching it, and it can get snatched in no time. Don’t depend on the possibility of a camera picking the crime up, or a seemingly innocent stranger nearby to watch it for you. Surveillance cameras are often low quality & are lucky to pick up any good details. Strangers might not notice, or even if you tell them, there’s no guarantee they’re honest, though I’ll admit I’ve done that in the past w/o repercussions. Theft due to negligence is worse than a thief taking it right out from you, b/c it’s avoidable.
2. Always back-up data frequently – I luckily managed to back-up my data about 3 weeks before the incident. I probably wouldn’t have even done that if my roommate was a tad worried about wanting to back-up his laptop with something, changed his mind, and I had already opened everything up to use. Thought I might as well do it now, even though I had it for months but had yet to open the box. Lucky I did. I’d recommend backing up at least 2 times a week.
3. You might miss the data more than the hardware – My HP laptop is a mid-range type, it was pretty good for around the $800 price tag, but it had busted external sound speakers, a missing hinge, and the vent slightly busted all after one or two terrible falls. Hardware is easy to replace, but data created is almost impossible to recreate if you didn’t back-up. Again, if you got data worth saving, please do so, because you can’t get it back if it’s gone.
4. Document your laptop information – Know the serial number, model, price, features, distinguishing parts, and even take pictures of it in case it ever gets stolen. The cops can use the serial number to track if it hits a pawn shop or gets recovered in evidence in another crime. I had trouble finding mine, and still do, because I didn’t bother to properly do so in the first place. I at least got the model type down.
5. Register your laptop – If you can register your laptop with the PC maker, college police, or even city/county police, do so. It’s one less thing you’ll have to do when your laptop is stolen so they already have all that info. there.
6. Password protect – You don’t want the thief to access your important files or anything, so password protect with a good strong password. It might be a barrier if you have to log back-on, but it’s worth it. Even nosy friends sometimes might stumble upon your laptop when you’re not looking. Of course, they can still wipe the drive and start fresh, but at least they won’t get your stuff.
7. Mark your laptop up – Set your laptop to be easily identifiable by leaving your mark on it in someway. Like maybe throwing a bunch of stickers, getting an inscription, permanent market, leaving something in the battery case, a hinge mark, replace a keyboard key with a stylized color one, anything. Take a photo of the distinguish mark with yourself in a place that isn’t common. At least it offers some sort of proof it could be yours if you had contact with it before. NOTE: You might not want to if it’s something you think you might try to resell later.
8. Have flyers ready – If your laptop does get managed to be stolen (negligence or out-right theft) or even lost, you go to do what you can to salvage it. Make a flyer now, with a photo of it, anything distinguishing on it and who or where to contact to return it or give information to the person. Even a reward maybe. One less thing to do later.
9. Check pawn shops or online classifieds – If it got stolen or taken, the thief might try selling it online or through a pawnshop as being used, with a wiped hard drive. Even though the police might do this themselves, it’s worth giving it a try yourself if you might want to expedite the search, rather than to leave it to the cops to possibly solve your case right away. Craigslist is one example.
10. Consider tracking services – Like Lojack, Adeona, and others are something you can consider if you have the money or patience in dealing with it. Some of them may erase everything remotely, or even let you take a snapshot or video of the thief with your webcam. NOTE: A savvy thief might easily look out for these things and disable them on spot rendering them useless.

Hopefully these 10 lessons can help prevent or soften the blow of having your computer or probably anything of your stolen. Just don’t be dumb, and if it happens, think of ways you can get it back.

This was by far not the best experience. I’ve had a digital camera and my Zune stolen in a similar fashion and I felt like I should have learned by now. I just did it regardless at the time, because I felt it was a low risk with almost nobody in the college that late on a Friday evening, and assumed that there were cameras or other people nearby that would deter a criminal away like the other times we’ve left our stuff under or at the table. Never going to happen again if I can avoid it.

Hotmail False Positive #2

So I guess something from Newsvine, owned by MSNBC, which is a partner with MSN.com, which is owned by Microsoft, comes under suspicion of Hotmail?

What’s funny is that Hotmail does recognize Newsvine though, as a friendly person, because of that pale blue section at the very top saying “Better together; You can do more when you connect this sender to Windows Live. Find our more”. Talk about double ridiculous.

Hotmail recognizes Newsvine as some sort of partner, yet an e-mail from them poses a safety risk. Strange. Just strange.

Gaming stores: The future

The threat of online distribution fully cutting out the need for physical discs looms even more every year. OnLive, Steam, Xbox Live for PC, and more have already started the trend. OS X Lion has its own app store with games, and so will Windows 8. It’s expected the next generations of video game consoles will also at least offer the same route as well. Does this spell the end for gaming stores?

Not quite. Here are some side issues that may delay people internet-only purchases.

1. Resale value of physical media – If you get bored and tired of a game, you can resell it or swap it with a buddy. Currently, you can’t resell a digital game. You can delete it, but that’s about it. Given there’s no legal way to get back some value from selling a digital game, that’s one reason why gamers may not bother with buying digital only.
2. Hard copy – If the digital version gets wiped out or something, at least you’ll still have a physical hard copy just in case. Though some companies are clever enough to tie purchases to an account and allow users to re-download what may have once been lost.
3. Internet speeds – Not everyone has super high bandwidth, and it may either take so long or they’ll hit a data cap faster. Not very ideal.

Those are the chief reasons: resale, reliability, and internet constraints. However, even those may not always hold true as I pointed out that online distribution services are starting to offer back-up in case you lose it, and even resale isn’t too big of an issue if digital versions are substantially cheap enough to warrant a one-time use possibility (through cheaper face value or maybe gaming rentals or gaming subscriptions). Most people are optimistic to expect in the long run, there will be better coverage of high-speed networks and maybe legislation on data caps and all.

So given that, a gaming store may no longer have physical games in the future. So what will game stores do to possibly go out of business? Here are some of my own ideas I’ve thought up of, supposing I ran a game store.

• Hardware and accessories – This is the place for new and used machines, accessories, peripherals, and maybe even PC components for PC gamers. Online shopping’s caveat is getting your stuff fast without paying extra for shipping. Gaming stores will be ideal for instant receiving if you need it that day, or even in-store pick-up for online orders. You’d think they’d have less incentive for in-store pick-up since you’d probably pay less online, but they’d rather you go through their channel and you might buy something else while you’re there.
• LAN stations – Gamers like to get together and play on a Local Area Network for the increased reliability and speed it offers. What if the game store offered easy set-up space and capabilities, or even had gaming rigs set-up that you could log-in to? The convenience might attract a good number. It will sacrifice some space though, so maybe reservations would be ideal if they’re super busy for walk-ins.
• Try-before-you-buy – Spend some time with a game before you purchase it. Nooks with beanbags and flatscreens gives you an opportunity to see if it’s worth buying or not. It could be limited to preselected parts of a game, or maybe the whole game itself, but with limited space, and other customers, these spots have to be vacated at some point. At least extras like this, encourages more customers to come to the shop.
• Gaming experts and workshops – Employees that are very knowledgeable about their specialty with games can offer tips and tricks, recommendations, some gameplay help, and more. Workshops, free or paid, will go in-depth with these, and may also be free with a purchase.
• Competitions – Complete live with other gamers in head-to-head matches to see who reigns supreme in the area. Win neat items from the store. Qualify for state and national rankings.
• Gamer Garage – Pay to access a full-featured garage-area to trick out your hardware. Lots of professional-grade tools for DIY tricks on your stuff. Or if you’re not kind of guy, pay a pro to do it for you. Parts are sold in stores for the DIYers at a reasonable price.
• Memorabilia, exclusive edition, guest stars etc. – Having all the special edition deluxe items is always too tempting for some people, and a store you know for sure with them is indeed a good bet to go to. Guest stars on specific games, can do autograph signings at stores too.

That’s basically it. With games trending to be internet distribution only, game stores can survive by offering an experience or services that an online retailer just can’t compete with. Sometimes people just like having a cool place to go, and this could be it.

Another possibility worth thinking about is a mega-media store, like HMV or Borders. All the media consumers love to consume in one spot. We’re not talking about the couple of shelves of each genre at Walmart or Best Buy. I mean a real mega-store. Again, the Internet doesn’t have to destroy mortar businesses; businesses can adapt to facilitate the trend on the Internet, and get their stores to offer more value to customers. It can work.

Why consumers should avoid HP computers at all costs

I got 3 stories to share, and probably even more smaller ones too. After speaking with a classmate I study with that he’s going to buy a Mac for his birthday, because he’s tired of crap PCs (like his HP!), I got fed up. That’s why I would love it if everyone could just avoid HP.

Of course, not everyone that uses HP always necessarily has a problem. But I would like to gander that HP’s reliability in its computers is probably less than its competitors. Meaning, if you compared the rates of faster breakdowns, issues, and other bits, HP has a higher incident rate than the others. I’d also like to gander that most people that switch to Macs (with probably most, not aware at all of other high quality PCs out there), probably came from an HP. In fact, I’d love to do a study around my university campus seeing which PCs they switched from, what was issue #1, 2, and 3 they had most with PCs, and #1, 2, and 3 why they chose Macs. Also satisfaction ratings on a 1-10 scales. Anyway, here are the wonderful stories.

Laura’s Story: She got an HP Pavilion laptop in Fall 2011 in time for her freshman year. One day, she had some issue where the touchpad wouldn’t respond, so she couldn’t operate her computer. She didn’t think to ask her buddy who probably might be able to figure out (though he also had the issue on his own, and took awhile to figure it out too), so she returned it and got a MacBook Pro instead.

The real issue: HP’s ridiculous ‘mouse lock’ mechanism: HP’s Touchpad lets you lock your touchpad, I’m guessing supposedly because you might accidentally brush against it as you’re typing or whatever and it considers it as an intentional mouse click or movement. (Of course, if they had better touchpads that could recognize the differences, like Apple’s or Samsung’s, maybe it wouldn’t be an issue…). What makes it really dumb, is that it’s in the upper left hand corner of the touchpad, where you often maybe double-tap to open something. Of course, you have to double-tap that certain spot, shown as a barely visible dot, to activate it in an area prone to miscellaneous double-taps from time to time. The unaware user who has no idea about the feature activates it and has no idea what happened, with the only visual cues being now an orange-lit dot on the touchpad and a brief animation pop-up on the screen. This feature should cease to exist, be easier to find a way to deactivate, or a better method of introducing this.

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Travis’s story: There’s not really much to say, except he’s just tired of his sluggish HP computer, full of dumb preinstalled software, and bunches of toolbars, and also knows he doesn’t have to worry about malware (or simply viruses) on his Mac since apparently he thinks it’s more secure. Plus no more having to pay for anti-virus.

The real issue: Perception of security is flawed. Like many other consumers, Travis isn’t tech-savvy and isn’t aware that with safer browsing habits, free Microsoft Security Essentials, he should have little to worry about with getting malware on PCs. He should also be aware that OS X is less prone to receiving malware since it’s a smaller market, and not actually as secure in the sense as Windows is. Security through obscurity is dumb.

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My story: I got an HP Pavilion dv6-3033cl in Fall 2011 for my first year of college. The design looked fairly simple at the time (I admit the back-lit logo kinda sold it), the specs sounded good for what you pay for, and I thought it was a great deal. I should point out though I shopped at various electronics places, and HP had too many similar laptops when I wanted to compare which store had the better price. See: HP dv7-4065dx ($800), dm4-1065dx, dv7-4073 ($1129), dv6-3040us ($850), and dv6-3033cl ($800). Look up images on all 4 and tell me they don’t seem so much alike in design and specs. Talk about confusing.

For many months I was happy. Well I did drop it one or two times (once on concrete for sure from my high up bed when I fell asleep), and I did spill half a Diet Coke on the keyboard (though nothing bad happened amazingly after I quickly cleaned it up). As a result of a wee bit of wear from me, one hinge fell off, there’s some yucky hard to blow out gunk under the keys (the chiclet keyboard doesn’t truly have an enclosed case around the key. Gaps are big enough to allow things to fall in…), the fingerprint scanner could be very flaky, and it seems the lid doesn’t fully close shut.

One point, 2 weeks before the speakers broke (down below), the battery wasn’t charging fully. I looked into all kinds of things, and finally resorted to calling HP support. It took hours as usual, but I managed to get a new AC adaptor and it really did the trick. It was free too! Yay.

Then the speakers broke. The headphone jack worked great, but the speakers so I could hear it from the laptop itself just wouldn’t put any auditory sound. My bro-in-law guessed the speakers just broke out. I could replace it myself for minimal cost, but since it was under warranty for one year, why not get HP to do it? First time I called HP Tech Support, an Indian dude answered, and I had to go through 2 hours of doing all this stupid stuff that I had done before I called (like installed the latest sound drivers, toggle around the volume controls, ensure this and that was there, etc.) and as he was using his remote desktop thing, he tried to ‘optimize’ my PC. I didn’t like that. I got nothing. Sorry, can’t help you bro.

2nd time I called was worse! This dude was persistent. Same rigmarole with doing stuff I’m well aware of, then he suggested I do a system recovery. Meaning I’d have to get my computer to the same condition as Day 1. I hadn’t backed-up my data before (Shame on me!) because I didn’t have a back-up storage drive. I told him this, and being the guy he is, suggested I get one from HP at a ‘discount’. 300GB for just around $65. What a deal, right? (Hint: I bought a 3TB drive from Fantom Drives for just $80.) I said, I’d rather buy it at the store, and he kept going on and on, and then I said, “You know, I just texted my brother-in law and he’ll lend me a storage drive instead.” He got quiet, and then ask, “Oh, so are you changing your story now? How come just a few minutes ago, you didn’t have one, but now it seems like you do?” Basically, this ‘salesman’ tech support guy was pushing me to buy an overpriced drive, and accusing me of trying to pull away from such a deal. I soothed him down, but the basic thing is I wanted to send my laptop to HP so they could fix it! Geez. Their tech support is obviously designed to be as of little help as possible, and prevent from having to take in PCs to fix, to lower costs.

So I called the retailer I bought it from, since HP doesn’t like having its own retail/fix-it center. Costco managed to patch me into an actual American who spoke English well and worked at a repair center in the US. He was very cool with HP sending me a package to put my laptop in with a return label and all that. Finally! Why isn’t there tech-support in general this way to begin with? Because HP cares little about consumers, that’s why. Unfortunately, I got a bit spooked when he said they won’t repair things that were done on accident. The last incident where I dropped my laptop had been at least 4 months previously to when the sound issue developed, but telltale signs of a slightly busted vent, a broken off hinge, and recently a bit of siding near the other hinge fell off, might suggest I created the issue on my own fault. Of course I’d expect them to look at the speaker stuff itself, but I had school starting within 2 weeks, and I really would like my laptop, regardless of sound, so I can do work whenever I wanted to.

I cleaned it up a few days ago, the screen, a bit around the keyboard, an OfficeMax air canister (though it foamed liquid sometimes) and the air didn’t get much of the gunk out. Next time I get a new laptop though, hopefully it’s running Windows 9, is maybe an Asus or Samsung, and will work tons better than this POS I had.

I’d like to gander that HP might have helped Apple with getting people to adopt Macs based on poor experiences with HPs. Maybe they’re working in league with each other? Who knows, but it wouldn’t surprise me. Anyone else suffer the same dismal HP experiences?

Why the new Zune Music Pass is terrible for what you get

On, September 29, 2011, the Zune Insider blog gave details on the new Zune Music Pass, which is intended to replace the Zune Pass. For those unfamiliar, here’s the comparison breakdown of changed features between the old and new:

	Original Zune Pass	Zune Music Pass
Price (monthly)	$14.99	$9.99
Price (yearly)	$149.99	$99.99
Free song credits	10	0
# of device playable	6 (3 Windows PCs, 3 Zune-compatible devices)	4 (1 PC, + any combo of either Zune, PC, or Windows Phone)
Music videos?	No	Yes
Countries	USA	USA, Canada

 

At first look, you’d think the new Zune Music Pass is a great deal, right? Cheaper price, complimentary music videos, and even support for Canadians! But then, you notice that there are no longer any complimentary song credits, a lower allowance of devices you can sync with, and you pretty much get less for what you want.

 

Why are the benefits that carried over not so great to me? I like cheaper, but it’s not cheap without some costs. First, you could say that the true value of the original streaming service was $5.10, if you considered a song to be 99 cents, and you got 10 complimentary songs to keep ($15-(0.99*10)). That’s the best price price for what you could get anywhere on the web! Now the true value is the listed price, $9.99. That’s almost twice for what you got in the past.

 

Plus unlimited music video streaming? In case nobody has heard of it, VEVO or even YouTube itself has most of the music videos you’d care to see. Yes, it’s not directly integrated into Zune for offline viewing, and it may have ads you can’t skip right away, but how often does one even care to see a music video? Music videos are somewhat ads to get you interested to buy the song. They take up battery life and offer no real benefit, unless you stream music through YouTube anyway. I don’t throw parties, but most parties aren’t great if you have people watching music videos on the TV. Music videos cost about $2 on Zune Marketplace, for something that should come complimentary with a song  purchase.

 

As for Canadian support, I’m happy they got something out internationally, but it’s very watered down from the original.

 

The obvious disadvantages aren’t something to be lauded of course. A reduction in devices streamable isn’t quite nice (no official reason, but presumably because of the lower price), though it has no effect on me since I only have a PC and Zune to work with. Like I said before about the song credits, they helped put the true value of the Zune Pass on top of whatever else is on the market. Now Zune Pass is pretty much on the same playing field as the others.

 

To be honest, I don’t listen to music as much as I’d like to. I have a Zune HD but it rarely gets used when I have it on me because carrying headphones is a burden, and I’m usually too busy to even care about listening to music. Plus with my laptop’s built-in speakers being busted, I have to put on headphones every time. Maybe if you love to listen to music, the Zune Pass still is a great option if you have Zune compatible devices, even with lesser value, though a lesser price.

 

However, I really wish the Zune team could have offered both options as a Zune Music Pass Pro/Plus and a regular Zune Music Pass. Or even a month-long notice, rather than 5 days for those of us wanting to subscribe to get current Zune Pass rates and features, before the October 3, 2011 deadline rolls in. Apparently, it seems year-long or even current monthly-long subscribers will still have the option to get the original rates/features.

 

Well, unless the Zune Pass comes back with a value somewhat closer to the original, I see no reason to buy another Pass like I did occasionally before.

Here’s what the new Bing will look like for Windows 8–exclusive

Guess what happened when I did some random query for “higher one”:

Yep. That’s the new look for Bing. It’s obviously a website quirk that I just happened to land on it. You notice there’s no other search verticals, ads, and even the right side seems cut off. But it does show how Bing is going more Metro-style in terms of the font, making the content (in this case, the search query) more king, amongst other things.

Unfortunately, I could only make this happen once. I tried it again, by typing in the IE9 address box some random query, but it didn’t work. So that’s the only other glimpse for now.

In case you think it’s Photoshopped or whatever, it’s not. It really did spontaneously happen. I mean I can’t offer much proof. I was only aware of Winrumors getting the scoop after I told my friend Joe about what I saw. Again, nobody has to believe me, but this image is what I saw on the Bing page.

Digital newspapers > Paper versions

I’ll admit, my household still subscribes to an actual physical newspaper. Well it’s not too surprising since many Americans do as well. However, the idea of digital newspapers has long since been here, but aside from a few things, digital newspapers are the way to go.

Here are the only few (sensible) advantages why I see people buy the newspaper (and how it’s not too exclusive if papers were gone):

• Coupons – From my experience, digital coupons don’t have as good a variety as the ones that come with the paper. Don’t know why, but even the supermarket’s selection for your member card is rather poor. (could easily be remedied if businesses put more of their coupons online)
• Secondary uses – It’s useful for containing food spills, making your own cheap confetti, and various projects like painting, paper mache, and other arts. (There can be post-recycled paper sold, without the cost of ink and reporting).
• Special displays – Rarely, the paper may have a nice large infographic spread on a topic, or a wall-worthy poster spread on something. Just worthy enough of keeping at least. (News companies could be nice enough to put it online as well, or available to purchase a print on it)
• Keeping jobs – There does have to be people that design the paper’s layout, supply the paper, run and maintain the machines, distributes them via car, etc. These people have jobs, and can make and spend money. (There are other jobs out there, and the idea of jobs existing based on outdated modes isn’t too great of an advantage)
• Access to ‘print-only’ articles – My newspaper does a ridiculous thing, where on Sundays, they have a higher amount of special original (non-AP) articles, that they claim is only in the print version, and not online. Though after awhile, or even a day after, I find out it does go up online. It’s really dumb, in my opinion. (How about the news company gets that people will go elsewhere online if you don’t provide it?)

Now, all the negatives:

• News gets old fast– New news comes up quickly. Most papers no longer run in the morning and evening formats. So if you depend on the paper for news, it’d take another day for the day’s news to come. Especially weather info.
• Cumbersome to read– Big articles start on one page, but you have to flip through and find it on the next page. Have to position the paper well enough when you want to read inside it.
• Clipping articles that run on both sides– There are plenty of times when you want to clip an article out, but the article runs on both sides of the same sheet unevenly. You need to clip carefully around the sheet so you can get the whole article.
• All the ads– I’d like to wager that at least 40% of the entire daily newspaper real estate is just ads. We’re talking about classifieds, banners, obituaries, full page spreads, half page spreads, coupons, weekly store guides, stick-on ads, etc. Sometimes, one can even say articles themselves may serve as an ad for some businesses. Online, it doesn’t usually seem so noticeable or it doesn’t get in the way.
• The non-green aspect– Sure, you can have it made of post-consumer paper, you can recycle it, but that’s about it. However, paper recycling has some inefficiencies not yet solved, so there are a good amount of trees that get knocked down just so people can throw away the paper the next day. The manufacturing requires lots of energy and water. Distribution involves primarily fossil fuels to deliver to doorsteps and newstands around the world. Newspapers can get unsold and tossed, making it even more wasteful.
• Less engaging– You read an article, and you just get that one representation of the facts or opinion of this journalist. Online, given comments are allowed, you can get enriched with more of the same or different opinions and facts. There may also be more multimedia through video, audio, and interactive infographics. More than what a picture does.
• Black and white pictures– Color ink is usually expensive. Newspapers usually don’t bother making any of the inner pages of the paper color, though they might sometimes. I think most people prefer color than black-and-white images.
• Getting stolen or destroyed– The delivery person is on a tight schedule with his or her van, and they rarely have time to deliver papers directly to your door. As a result, the paper (even when they come in plastic sleeves like ours) can be susceptible to creeping grass dew, rain, or even snow. If on the rare chance it gets stolen or unfound, it might take the next day to receive it as the company probably won’t make special trips.
• Limited news– Sometimes newspapers would love to cram some more articles into one day’s paper, but there isn’t enough allowable room to make it feasible. Other times, they’ll have to cut down some details in other articles to make room for more articles. No such issues with the Internet-based news.
• Less media – With a physical paper, you may lose out on more, bigger pictures, videos, and audio that relate to the article.
• Link to source documents – It’s easier to give an option to navigate to another website or a PDF/DOCX than it is to print it out in newsprint. Source documents like reports, memos, press releases, full speech transcripts, and others so that people can arrive at their own conclusion and see the cold hard facts.
• Multiplier effect – You can share news more easily with the click of a button, and send it to friends via e-mail, social networks, or even IM clients. Even more people are informed and visit the site.

All in all, I can completely see traditional newspapers completely phased out in the new few decades. The only advantages of the traditional model are rather weak, and can easily be overcome by better solutions.

If it weren’t for the coupons and the fact that my newspaper’s website could use some better coding, then I’d completely drop the physical paper quickly. Hopefully, all the major newspapers can see the light, and find better ways to make an online model work out in terms of profit and convenience for the subscribers.

Thoughts on Mango announcement on May 24th

I don’t think I need to reiterate everything that Microsoft officially mentioned about the next big update for Windows Phone 7. So let’s cut to the chase.

It’s awesome to see that Microsoft is standing very committed to making Windows Phone a top priority. They could have released a simple update, with a couple of nice big features, and some small ones too. Most people would have been OK with that. Instead, they release what seems like an enormous update, full of all types of goodies that will make up for what didn’t come out in time the first round.

Features I’m most excited about:

• Grouping contacts – Love the social integration with pictures and feeds and whatnot.
• Built-in IM – Windows Live & Facebook straight from the people hub. Wonder if Yahoo! will work too, consider it does in Messenger…
• Bing Vision & Maps – Loved the easy-to-use Bing Vision features. Hope they can expand on the recognition engine a bit. Hope Local Scout will be useful wherever you go, and available in most places of course. Turn-by-turn navigation is finally here. Just need to work on expanding map data and imagery.
• Full SkyDrive and Office 365 sync – Nuff’ said.
• IE9 Mobile – Fastest mobile browser so far.

Plus there might be more stuff too. It’s said there’ll be 500+ new features in Mango, and more will be released in the coming months. Hopefully the update process will go out more smoothly than it did for Nodo.

To be honest, I don’t even have a Windows Phone yet. Not even a smartphone. I did want the HTC HD7  in Fall 2010, and I did have T-Mobile, but my contract wasn’t up until around June 2011. Of course, now it is June 2011, so am I still going to go for anything?

At the moment, I’m unsure. I’m just hoping to get a job soon, my dad has been laid-off for awhile, and my current phone still works all right. I think a smartphone would be nice to have, but I’d of course have to pay for a data plan to make greater use of it. Plus, I’m curious to see how Microsoft will do the next version of Windows Phone, where it’s rumored it will be Windows 8 but in mobile form. Not sure if the apps will be the same or what, but I’m not that in major need of any smartphone yet. So I can wait.

I’ve only recalled seeing one person with a Windows phone. Unfortunately, the dude (friend of a friend of a friend at college) didn’t seem so pleased. Something about it not being as fast as his old iPhone (I think), texting issues, or whatever. I just had some feeling it had more to do with the network, and him not being used to it yet.

I did recall a geeky guy at my college talking to his friend about Windows Phone 7, and how he was going to get one or whatever.

My roommate Scott did kind of want one before Christmas break when we chatted a bit about smartphones, but his parents surprised him with an iPhone 4 instead. Which goes to show how far Apple’s mindshare can permeate. He’s happy with it though, and he already does use iTunes a lot for his iPod Touch and playback on his laptop. Oh well.

So yeah, unfortunately, there hasn’t been such great influence here. We’ll see how it goes as time progresses.