Android Studio - get it here! #DroidGeek

Google excited much of its Android developer base with the announcement of Android Studio which replaces Eclipse as Google's recommended Android IDE.  While there were plenty of news outlets touting this announcement most failed to provide info on where to grab a copy of the new IDE -- probably because Android Studio has not been officially released.  You can, however, get a copy of the "early access preview"...

TIP: RAM and Virtual Machine Speed #VMGeek

"More is better" as the current pitch line of a certain US cellular carrier says.  For computers the "more" benefits are obvious for things like disk space, memory, CPU cores and network bandwidth.  The same holds true in the virtual world:  virtual PCs like to have more as well.

As a point of interest I recently conducted a very informal speed test between two identical virtual machines.  My only (big) variable?  RAM.  One machine had twice as much RAM as the other.  My goal was to see how much the extra RAM would benefit me during set up of a new virtual machine (even if that machine were destined to be allocated less RAM once it was up and going).  Temporarily adding RAM should translate to a shorter set up time but would it be enough of a difference to bother with?...

Soluto: Acer, Apple, Dell top Windows reliability #PCGeek

A new report for PC reliability is now available from Soluto. This ratings system considers factors such as system crashes, non-responsiveness and boot up times to determine the most reliable PCs. Topping Soluto's first list of reliable Windows PCs is Apple (!) closely followed by Acer and Dell.

Plenty will be made of this ratings scheme but a few things stand out...

Google Fiber -- What are my chances? #NetworkGeek

Google is bringing its fiber service to Austin and it seems half the city is absolutely delerious about it. The other half, however, isn't really sure why 1Gbps is any more special than the various vowel-free Mbps speeds Austin already has. If you're in the first half then you're anxious to know: When can *I* get it?

The short answer: not very soon.  

The long answer involves demand, population densities and dark fiber...

Free up lots of Android memory #PhoneGeek

Whatever your smartphone preference, the truth is that the major smartphone operating systems are all pretty darn good across the board.  I've been toting various modestly-equipped Android devices for the past two years and have been generally pleased except for storage management:  on every device the primary (internal) storage would eventually unexpectedly fill without explanation.  I read manuals, combed forums, migrated apps, moved photos, cleared app data and cache folders all to little avail.  Finally I identified the culprit behind the disappearing storage and discovered it had nothing to do with my devices or with the Android operating system...

GOP versus OOP #HumorGeek

Just for fun... 
Politicizing Programming Languages: GOP versus OOP

Pebble Watch = Madness #HumorGeek

Along with CES 2013 comes news that the most-funded Kickstarter project to date, the Pebble E-Paper Watch, is nearing its goal of shipping actual product: the new devices are slated to hit the market January 23rd. The Pebble isn't the first wrist-based device to wirelessly link to a smart phone but it does appear to have the best chance for success of all such devices to date.

That said, a number of people take the view that it is a bit too much to expect someone to invest in a watch that tells you what is happening on the phone in your pocket. In that vein of thought ATXGeek presents you with the timeline graphic to the right:
Pebble Watch = Madness

Enjoy.
(Click image to view it full size.)

Hosted jQuery fallback plan #WebDevGeek

It's estimated that jQuery is employed by over half of all "major" websites. "Major" means highly-trafficked-sites such as NBC, Amazon, Twitter and ESPN. Close to one-in-four of these sites use Google's hosted jQuery library files (a.k.a. Google's "Content Delivery Network" or "CDN") rather than serving local copies of files. There are some great reasons to deliver jQuery via a CDN -- namely a better end-user experience and less server and network loads thanks to CDN content originating from localized source servers and end-user web browser caching of commonly-served files. Employing a CDN, however, introduces an external dependency that can cause sites to seriously malfunction if the CDN becomes unavailable.

The easy solution is to dual-source those critical jQuery files: attempt to load from a CDN and, if that fails, load from a local source instead. The code for this is super-simple and is being used more and more often as websites feel the bite of unexpected CDN service interruptions...

Lorem Ipsum ...and Bacon #WebDesignGeek

"Lorem Ipsum" is nonesense placeholder text created by printers either in the 1500's or in the 1960's depending on which site you trust most for your historical facts. Its use has thrived as part of modern-day print and web design. Placeholder content is useful for mocking up web pages and free online Lorem Ipsum generators abound, including a few rather unique options...

Ups/Downs to $19 unlimited smartphone plan #PhoneGeek

Republic Wireless is one of the first companies in a long while to look like it may have some success in seriously shaking up the US cellular market status quo. The last company to do that was Apple but that, unfortunately, was at the cost of increasing the average prices consumers pay for cellular services. Republic Wireless, on the other hand, is trying to change the cell phone plan game by saving consumers money. A LOT of money. The company is offering just a single service plan: $19 a month unlimited everything with no contract (wow!)

No, the offer isn't too-good-to-be-true but it is true-that-it-isn't-all-good...

Testing 508 Compliance #WebDevGeek

For years an item that has been overlooked by many US web developers is "508 Compliance". US Federal law requires certain classes of websites to meet Section 508 standards. Failing to do so can place a site at risk of litigation.

Fortunately you don't have to become a Section 508 guru in order to know whether your site is compliant. A number of tools -- and one free online service in particular -- will quickly tell you what you need to know...

Apple Hurting Microsoft Security #SecurityGeek

The latest "vulnerability report" from Kaspersky Lab included a surprise: Apple products show up twice in the "top 10 vulnerabilities list" while Microsoft products are no where to be found. What is even more interesting is that Apple's security issues are hurting Microsoft in the "vulnerabilities" department by introducing security holes in Microsoft systems...