A smartphone is great because you can access the web, email, and chat from pretty much everywhere you are. So consider this, having a smartphone without a data plan. That is exactly what the Wifi iPad is like. Instead of being able to do shit from everywhere, you are limited to your house, or Starbucks. So you’re waiting for a bus and want to email your friend the information for tonight’s party. Oh sorry, you can’t do that on the iPad without 3G. Sure you can send the email from your iPhone, but that’s kind of stupid since you bought an iPad to make your life easier. It’s not a replacement for a phone, and it’s not a replacement for a computer.

You have to carry this thing along with your existing cellphone or laptop. Why bother, it’s just more weight anyways. If you must get the iPad, get the one with 3G. So at least you can make VOIP calls from anywhere.

Granted, I do bitch about Apple products a lot. But that doesn’t mean that I am some arrogant fanboy, Microsoft also has their flaws I just choose not to write about them, because they aren’t as funny. Except in this case, Windows Phone 7 Series.

First off, the name is just horrible, it’s so damn long and retarded. Yes, that’s the official name of the OS. It wasn’t enough calling it the Windows Phone 7. They had to add “Series” to the title. Can you just imagine, someone going in a store and asking “Do you guys have a Windows Phone 7 Series phone?” It’s extremely long and redundant. Microsoft already had “Windows Mobile” so why did they COMPLETELY abandon that?

Let’s get into the list of features, or therefore lack of. No multitasking, no Flash, no copy and paste, proprietary “app” store being the only way to get programs. Sound familiar? Oh yeah, Apple has the exact same reasons why I hate the iPhone so much. The only difference is that Apple eventually corrected some of their mistakes (not all, but some were corrected.) My current phone runs Windows Mobile 6.5.x and it works perfectly, it does everything. I can keep multiple programs open, so I can transfer information from one to the other without closing it. I can play flash games, and watch Youtube from the browser (perfect if someone emails you a link.) I have so many free 3rd party programs that it’s unbelievable. There are a lot of things that would have been rejected from the iPhone store such as: Google Latitude, Opera, TotalCommander, registry editor, special marketplace dedicated to freeware. It’s incredible. The Andriod has similar features, both are a really powerful OS.

So why the hell did Microsoft do this? To make the phone more user friendly. Makes sense right? Remove everything so that the user can only do basic things? I think it’s bullshit to remove some features like multitasking and copy and paste. It should be up to the user to decide whether they want the option or not. Just because Paul doesn’t need to copy a paragraph from the internet and email it to someone doesn’t mean I don’t need to.

The WinPho7Ser has some interesting features, like the Xbox integration. But I don’t give a shit about gaming on my phone. It seems that Microsoft really abandoned the business market of the WinMo days. It’s a shame really, I liked that OS. It’s time to make friends with Google I suppose.

So a big issue I’ve been debating about recently was the whole idea of pulling the plug on someone. It’s bullshit, I think it’s stupid to keep someone artificially alive when all they fucking feel is pain. Oh hey, I’m 92 years old and stopped breathing. Let’s increase my life span my connecting me to life support and making me live as a vegetable for the next few months. That’s really a good idea.

Why not pull the plug? Because it’s murder, but that’s bullshit because the person is already dying. I’ve heard Christians say that pulling the plug is “defying God’s will.” Really? I think it was God’s will for him to die, but you’re stopping him.

So the moral of the story? Cutting life support isn’t murder. It’s just nature, people die.

Okay, I’m kind of cheating here. I touched on piracy before about a year ago. But recently in some forum discussions I managed to get some points across and had some people disagree with me. Anyways, here are some of the points.

Record labels shouldn’t be allowed to keep re-releasing the same albums over and over again. This is why I download. To protest this.

So you bought a copy of the Beatles’ White Album on vinyl and now you want it on MP3? Well you do know you can rip it onto your computer. The reason the record label is “double dipping” these albums is because the vinyl copy doesn’t sell well anymore. Everyone wants it either on CD or MP3. Why the hell would the record label continue to sell it on an obsolete format?

Besides, no one is forcing you to buy it on MP3 if you already have it on vinyl. Just because you bought the old version of it doesn’t mean you have a “right” to the new copy. Do I have a right to a new Mustang just because I have one from 1995? Nope. Do I want one? Yes.

However, I do hear this argument being used by people who don’t even own the original album. What the fuck?

I’m just doing it to hear how the album sounds like.

Yeah, except there are perfectly legal ways to hear how the album sounds like. You can either listen to the singles on the radio or internet. You can listen to song samples on most online retailers. Or you even go to a record store and they will allow you to prelisten to the album before buying it. It’s quite nice.

Artists don’t get paid much for each album anyways.

While it might be true that royalties are a bit low, you have to understand that without a record label or a studio, the bands can’t make albums. Besides, if the album sells well, then the label will pay the band to release another album. If the album sales are low, then the label will drop the band. Recording an album isn’t cheap. It can end up costing quite a lot in the end. People aren’t going to work for free, and studio gear isn’t anywhere close to cheap.

I will probably end up revisiting this topic somewhere in the near future. But till then remember. The only reason you download things illegally is because you are too cheap to buy the actual song/album. Stop making up bullshit excuses.

One thing I never understood (among thousands of other things) is when people tell me “all you do is waste your time on the computer.” Haha, pretty damn funny how I “waste” my time on it. It’s my hobby, and also how I make my money.
Sure, if I was a “cool guy” I’d be out at parties getting drunk and throwing beer kegs out of windows. But that’s not what I like. I could be like most people: come home from work, turn on the TV, and watch some news, sports, or whatever else is on. But guess what? I have a TV tuner on my computer, so I can watch TV, while surfing Facebook, while having a beer. It’s called multi fucking tasking. Hell yeah!