MICHIGAN: Federal judge hears arguments in Michigan medical marijuana case (2010-11-12)

MICHIGAN: Federal judge hears arguments in Michigan medical marijuana case (2010-11-12)

Finally, an iTunes killer... maybe

I've been a closet Microsoft fanboy almost my whole life and as you can imagine, I've been pretty disappointed over the last few years.  Aside from its enterprise offerings, Microsoft's products have been pretty flat and predictable.  In the meantime, we've seen two platforms really take off that being Apple and Google.  Apple has superior design and user experience than anyone out on the market, and Google has great engineers who can churn out very functional and useful web-based products.  Meanwhile, Microsoft quietly has been pocketing gobs of profits that nobody seems to be paying attention to.  Their platforms still dominate the market... they just aren't as exciting.  I don't know if it is a branding thing or a marketing thing... I really have no idea because I honestly always thought (aside from IE) they had good products.  Anyway, it is what it is, so I'll get to the point of this article.

 

I hate iTunes as does most of the rest of the world.  One common item that almost the entire tech community agrees with is that iTunes is a terrible software product that they really want to get rid of.  Even the most hardcore Apple fanboys are pretty disappointed with iTunes.  Problem is.. they can't get rid of it because they have some sort of Apple device that they need to sync with iTunes.  I'm in the same boat.

I bought an iPod nano several years ago for listening to podcasts and audiobooks.  I found that podcasting is the best way to get news that matters and actually affects my life and have been addicted ever since.  The device is functional and does what I need it to do.  However, I think I'm going to buy a Zune.. or Windows phone touch.. or whatever Microsoft's iPod Touch offering ends up being.  Why?  iTunes sucks and the Zune software has absolutely blown me away in just a couple of days.  I'm now carefully planning my escape plan from Apple's iron grip.

The Zune software is a little difficult to handle at first.  Not because it is poorly designed, but only because the user interface is different than the normal view that you'd see in any ordinary program.  It only took me about 5 minutes to get it and I really love it now.

The Zune software does almost everything better than iTunes.  As a podcast listener, the first thing I noticed is that the Zune software immediately found my existing iTunes podcast library and recognized them as podcasts and showed them to me in the Zune podcast section.  It's like they knew people were going to have iTunes info on their computer and it just picked it up and pulled it right in.  How about music?  Well, it found all my music, too.  It grabbed everything from where the iTunes library would normally hold its music.  Even though iTunes creates a bunch of sub-folders, Zune grabbed everything in the my music folder.  Now, I actually don't keep my music there, but the software easily let me point it to the location for my music actually resides.  It even let me remove the 'My Music' folder so whatever junk is in there doesn't get picked up in my Zune library and turn it into a mess.  The music showed up INSTANTLY!  In iTunes, I had to specifically point it to a folder whenever I added music onto my computer.  EVEN IF I copied the music to my iTunes library.  When I dropped a folder in the location where my music resides, Zune recognized it almost instantly and it was added to the Zune music directory.  Overall, the UI and the way it handles your music is far superior.  Here are a few other points that make me very happy.

1. The Photo display is the best I've seen in any software product on the market.  It recognizes your photos based on the folder you have them in, and during a slideshow, it fills the entire UI with a photo.  Simply moving the mouse brings up unobstructed controls to let you move on or exit the slideshow.
2. Video is the same way.  It sees your video files and then when you play them, the UI disappears and all you see is the video.  Very slick looking.  Again - moving the mouse brings up the controls that you need to stop, exit, etc..
3. The marketplace is amazing.  For podcasting, the controls and viewing of the podcast directory is much slicker than the cold iTunes interface.  The directory is full with everything you'd find on iTunes.  This reminds me.. I need to get my michiganexpats.com podcast in the Zune marketplace.
4. Purchasing music - I don't actually have much experience with this, so I'll have to defer.  But $15/mo for unlimited listening and 10 songs to keep seems decent.  I really don't listen to music that much, though.  However, this brings me to the Zune failpoint.
5. Internet Radio isn't there!!!!  That is the only thing missing from the Zune software.  I got so sick of the way iTunes did internet radio that now I'm actually doing it in windows media player which, I'm sad to say, is actually a better experience.

So, I'm fully convinced that the Zune software is far superior to iTunes.  I encourage those who do not yet have an Apple device to NOT BUY ONE.  There is FINALLY an alternative.  If I could go back, I would have purchased a ZuneHD instead of an iPod.  But now, I'm stuck.  So I say to you all, my friends.  You have an option now.

Or do you?

With the hoards of people out there who despise the price and slavery that comes along with being forced into a 2-year contract, Apple has proven that there is a market for an iPhone sans phone - Hence, the iPod touch.  But it's still an Apple product.  So you are still a slave.  When Microsoft releases its zune-type companion with the Windows Phone 7 OS, I will likely purchase it immediately.  I will be free of Apple's way of doing things and I'll have great software paired with a device that does what I need it to do.

The release of Windows Phone 7 could possibly be Microsoft's playing  "The Empire Strikes Back" card.  I think Microsoft is too late and I don't think they will succeed with this, but at least this time they can claim that they actually have a better product.  For everyone's sake, I really hope they succeed.

Break the Law!!!!

"One may well ask: How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?  The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust.  I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws.  One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws.  Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws."   Martin Luther King, Jr.

There are so many unjust laws in our society.  Let's start breaking the ones that are not just.

Interesting Post

Regarding women in the technology industry.

While the article is interesting, the comment stream is almost more interesting.

Why don't women choose careers in technology with the same numbers as men?

There are so many theories out there.


http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/28/women-in-tech-stop-blaming-me/

Marriage is a Religious institution, not a governmental one

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/d6j67/i_dont_believe_in_marriage_and_my_girlfriend/

Interesting conversation going on in reddit right now.  Boyfriend is not religious and neither is the girlfriend.  As such, he sees no reason to get married since he feels insulted that he needs the government to certify the love he has for his girlfriend.  However, girlfriend wants to go through with the civil marriage.

I agree with him.  If you don't hold any religious beliefs, what is the point of a marriage?  And why don't institutions such as the Catholic church speak out against a secular institution such as the state governments stealing from them an institution that they believe is sacred?  By default does the Catholic church agree that what happens in a courthouse between two non-believers is the same contract as what happens in front of the altar between two believers?  If not, then why do we use the same word... "marriage."  Clearly they are two distinct things.

I propose new laws that eliminate civil marriage and all the tax incentives that go along with it.  Civil marriage is destroying the religious concept of marriage and has cheapened what religious institutions believe it represents.  It's time to end it once and for all.

If two individuals want to live together, share bank accounts and deeds to a house, they should be able to enter into a legal agreement that defines the terms by which the two parties operate and live.  If two individuals do not believe in God, but have a strong love for each other, then I'm sure that a secular market will emerge which helps to ceremonialize the feelings the two have for each other while leaving God out of the picture.

Poor Digg

They are having so many issues right now.

digg.com

From Sovereignman.com. Is it really worth it?

This is from the daily email at www.Sovereignman.com.  He raises an important point.  Is it really worth it to fight a corrupt and broken system of government and bureaucracy?  "Simon" argues that our time and resources are better spent protecting ourselves and our family.  Here is a snippet.

Lastly, Wayne asks, "Simon, what are your thoughts on the organization called GOOOH, or organizations like it that aim to clean out the political system and replace all sitting politicians with fresh blood?"

Look, I agree with their goals, and I think it's admirable that such organizations really want to make a positive difference. I truly despise politicians and bureaucrats-- I think they're power-hungry sociopaths who enrich themselves by bankrupting the middle class and stealing from the productive.

In theory, replacing all of them sounds like a good idea; I would rather have a team of well-trained monkeys in our capitols than the folks who are there now.

Here's the thing, though: while the goals of these organizations are admirable, it's futile to try convincing the preponderance of 300 million Americans / 60 million Brits / 30 million Canadians / etc. that less government is the answer.

"We the people" around the world are getting exactly the sort of leadership and solutions that we've demanded-- more regulation, more stimulus, lower interest rates, more bailouts, etc.

It's nearly impossible to win over the people's hearts and minds to the ideals of limited government when an average Brit believes that taxes should pay for free swim lessons... or when an average American thinks that Obama's stimulus spending comes from 'his stash.'

We all have a finite amount of resources-- time, money, and energy. Trying to change people's minds about the political establishment may be morally fulfilling, but it will likely be a waste of these precious resources.

As I travel around the world and I see such a massive transformation underway, I honestly believe that much of what we know today will be virtually unrecognizable in just a few years' time.

Think of how much the world has changed in the last 10-years... and understand that things are changing even more quickly now.

The fundamental question is-- should we be investing our time, capital, and energy to affect a fractured and corrupt political system, and to change people's minds who frankly don't want our help? Or should we invest our resources to prepare and safeguard our families, our assets, and ourselves?

I'm curious what you think.

So, as Simon asks... what do YOU think?