The big news of Google I/O 2013

The news that came out of Google's annual developer conference this past week has been called disappointing by many. There was no exciting new hardware, no updated Nexus 7, no new Nexus phone, and no new version of Android. A lot of people, especially traditional tech bloggers spent more time talking about the surprise announcement of a Google Edition Galaxy S4 than they did about anything else.

Most of the dedicated Android blogs, however, got it right. This year's I/O event marked a huge change in the way Google does things, and it's a much, much bigger deal than you might think.

Some thoughts on Google Glass

Google Glass is was announced early last year and it's finally shipping to the early buyers this month. It's real...it's actually happening. Other companies are taking notice, too, with multiple Glass-like devices being actively developed. Wearable computing is the future; the only question is whether Glass is leading the way or simply an early prototype that won't succeed.

I don't think Glass is a terrible idea or a hoax like John C. Dvorak does. But I'm also not convinced yet that it will take the world by storm and be the next life-changing technology breakthrough either.

Edible gardening

Cabbage

I've tried my hand at vegetable gardening before, and have had some success. A cayenne pepper plant we grew two years ago was a particularly excellent one. But for the first 6 years of our marriage, we always lived in apartments, meaning serious gardening was never really an option for us. All of our attempts, including the pepper plant were in containers outside of our apartment. Container gardening is great for small spaces and usually works well, provided the plants are taken care of properly.

Now that we have a house, our ability to grow a garden has seriously expanded. One of the first projects I undertook at the new house last summer was to build a proper garden box, complete with a fence to keep destructive little feet from stomping the plants into oblivion. The freedom with a large garden plot is enormous. It's so easy to spontaneously decide to add a new plant, for example, whereas with a container, that required much more prep work.

Futurism part 3: Kids and technology

When my grandparents were growing up, technology played a very small roll in daily life. They listened to the radio and drove cars, but that was about it. Television, credit cards, and even modern telephones were not around yet. When my parents generation was growing up, radio was commonplace, but television was a new thing, so they grew up hearing, "don't sit too close," or "turn that off and go play outside!" When I was growing up, television was commonplace, but electronic gaming was new. I grew up hearing, "turn the GameBoy off and go play outside!" There seems to have always been a distrust of new technology and an encouraging to not spend too much time with it.

Today's young people are growing up with both a huge stable of commonplace technology as well as amazing new stuff being released every day. And yet so many of their parents still have that distrust mentality, even if they don't think it consciously.

My thoughts on Facebook Home

Facebook held a big event yesterday to show off the new android app setup called Home. You can read all about it on Facebook's official landing page, or at The Verge. They also showed off the HTC First at the event, which will be the first device to come with Facebook Home preinstalled.

Essentially, Home is an Android launcher that is very Facebook centric. Long time Android users will likely be familiar with replacement launchers, but here's a quick summary: on Android, your main homescreen with icons and widgets is actually an app itself. You can download alternate homescreen apps (called launchers) from the Play Store. Some, such as Nova or Go Launcher are similar to the standard ones, but with added features. Others, like Launcher 8 or iLauncher completely change the look and feel of your phone. Android makes this easy by allowing other homescreen apps to replace the standard one, no rooting or hacking required.

T-Mobile does away with contracts

T-Mobile held a big event this week to announce a huge change for the company. As of now, they are completely getting rid of the standard 2-year contract model that proliferates the wireless industry in the United States. Customers will now pay for the plan and the phone separately with no long-term commitment. This is kind of a big deal.

I've written about this before, but I'll do a quick recap. The way things are typically done in the US is to chose your carrier first, then pick from their selection of phones. You sign a 2-year contract in exchange for a lower priced phone, usually $99 or $199 instead of $500 or more. The two obvious problems with this plan? When your 2-year commitment is over, your plan price doesn't go down; and if you already have a phone you want to use, you still pay the same monthly price as those who took the "discounted" new phone.

Futurism part 2: technology past

I've written before about the technology my children will grow up with, and how there are many things they won't experience. Good or bad, there are aspects of life that were commonplace while I was young that they will rarely, or never run into. In this post, I thought I'd explore a few of those in a bit more detail. I won't discuss things like flat-screen TVs, smartphone apps, or things like that. I'm not talking about fancy new services or gadgets here, but rather aspects of using technology on a daily basis. These things were commonplace for years, maybe decades and yet they're now gone. Let's look at a few...