Mobile Development

I am not a mobile device developer, but I am interested in learning.

Looking at the two dominant mobile OS's (Android and iPhone OS) will make you run out of the room screaming.

Android apps are developed in Java. This makes sense Java is fairly ubiquitous and the idea of write once run anywhere is certainly appealing.

iPhone apps are developed in Objective-c ... outside of the Mac community is Objective-c used for anything else?

If there is ever a place that could use a standard's body to step in and tell everyone to play nice, mobile development is the place it should be.

While the iPhone currently has the momentum and a wide range of apps, I honestly believe that Android is the platform to spend you time with. Here is why:

1. It uses Java. So if you don't know it and need to learn it, it's not wasted time. It can be used everywhere.

2. I think, ultimately, Google gets mobile and Apple doesn't. This can be seen by the abandonment by many prominent developers.

But now we have Chrome OS looming out there. Is this Google's one bridge to far?

Work, Retire, Die

Today a well known sportscaster, George Michael, died. I'm going to let you in on a little secret, I don't really know anything about him. Not only do I not know who George Michael is, but I have little or no interest in sports in general. Okay, that's not entirely true since I live in Green Bay, WI and you have to be a Packers fan or else. But as a general rule, sports is a boring waste of my time.

So why do I bring up George Michael's death?

George's death is a perfect illustration of my worse fear in life, work, retire, and then die. George worked until 2007, retired, battled cancer for two years and then died. I can think of nothing more tragic than this.

This could be because I choose not to be defined by my work. I am more than that. I want to strive to be more than that. Work is something I do as a trade-off for the things I need or want to purchase in life, nothing more.

I suppose it's possible that you enjoy your work so much that you are willing to do it until you die, but I think that you might consider doing something more important with that time.

Power of the Kindle or Kindle Love

People tend to fall on many sides of the ebook argument. The current ebook market seems bogged down with the DRM controversy or even the Google Book settlement.

I don't have strong opinions on these the way others might, but what I can tell you is that, while the Amazon Kindle could use some improvements, it has done a tremendous amount for my reading habits.

While the device is pricey in comparison to dead tree books, you cannot fully appreciate the intangible value that it brings.

First I read a lot. With the Kindle I read a lot more. There are several reasons for this volume increase.

I live in north east Wisconsin, right I know it's everyone's dream destination (summarized in the question I usually get "Is that near Chicago?"). Let me be the one to break it to you, book selection here is somewhat anemic. To be fair, we have several nearby indie book stores as well as a Barnes and Noble. But I find my taste to be somewhat outside the mainstream, which makes it difficult to get the books I want to read. Shipping, at a cost effect rate (read as free), takes several days and I am afflicted by the modern disease of a strong need for immediate gratification.

These reasons alone would be enough to warrant a Kindle purchase. But wait there is more...

Kindle books are almost always cheaper. Sometimes it is a huge savings, others a more modest savings, but I have never paid the same price as the hardback or paperback copies. I shouldn't pay more either. The cost to produce and sell the book in an ebook form is substantially less.

Another incredible benefit of the Kindle is the ability to get a sample of a book. This gives me the ability to read a large enough section to determine if this is even a book I want to pay $9.99 for.

And if all this wasn't enough, I always have a book with me, even when I don't have the Kindle with me. Amazon has an iPhone Kindle app that allows me to read any book I purchased for the Kindle on my iPhone and keep it in sync with my Kindle.

Let me let you in on a little secret. If the cost of the Kindle is putting you off, just go with the free Kindle app for the iPhone. It doesn't have all the features of the physical Kindle, but it just as nice to read on.

I can't say enough good things about ebooks and the Amazon Kindle.

Publishers, you really need to get on board with ebooks. I understand I am anecdotal evidence, but if most people that read ebooks are like me, you will save your industry before you go the way of the newspaper.

Internet enabled Intimacy

Found via The Sociology Blog

The Sociology reading list - observations

The Sociology reading list I started on Twitter (#sociologyreadinglist) has gotten a large number of suggestions. Scanning through the list, though, I noticed that there are few contemporary books on sociological topics in the list.

This makes me wonder. Do contemporary sociologists simply not write many books or are they just not good enough to be added to the list?

The other thing I noticed is that, since my interest is in the sociology of adolescents, is the sociology of adolescents a very niche topic with few sociologists studying it or are they just not on twitter?

Sociology Reading List

I am always looking for new books to read, so over on Twitter I created a hash tag #sociologyreadinglist posting the question, What is the best sociology book you have read?

Here is a link to the results: Sociology Reading List