tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58100482024-02-01T21:55:52.514-05:00The fork in the roadThis is where Josh Turiel deposits his blather about things he's not really qualified to speak of. Those topics typically include technology, politics, professional wrestling, economics, security, business, and parenting.
He owns a small business providing IT support, has a young son, is a card-carrying Bright, serves as an elected official (City Councillor in Salem, MA) and could stand to lose a few pounds. So that's where he's coming from.jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comBlogger1079125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-23525657314814862842015-03-31T10:06:00.001-04:002015-03-31T10:06:17.474-04:00It's a bigger worldA brief musing on where life has taken me:
Back as recently as 2011 I wasn't all that social. Sure, we had our Halloween party most years. And sure, we had a few families that we hung out with somewhat. But mainly my social life was lived vicariously through Jane. Hell, I didn't even really hang out with anyone at my 25th high school reunion back in 2009.
What happened since then? First, I jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-81905749786942175652013-09-03T08:40:00.001-04:002013-09-03T08:40:31.001-04:00Looking ahead to the fall's Apple goodnessYes, I don't post here often anymore. Sorry about that. There's only so many places one can spread their social media wings and this is now down below my two Facebook pages, my Twitter feed, and my Tumblr.
That said, there's a long tradition I have done on these pages in particular, and that's prognosticating what Apple will do with their next announcement. And since one is coming a week from jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-37351629917127863332013-01-31T00:01:00.003-05:002013-01-31T00:05:25.351-05:00Blackberry 10 - enough? (spoiler alert - no)So our Canadian friends at the company formerly known as RIM have thrown their Hail Mary pass. They unveiled the Z10 touchscreen phone and the Q10 "classic Blackberry" phones (the Q10 has a keyboard with a smaller touchscreen above it). Both phones are based on the new Blackberry 10 OS, which is based on the QNX operating system. There's developer tools in place to allow a lot of Android apps to jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-83021805982569289772013-01-29T17:58:00.000-05:002013-01-29T17:58:54.648-05:00Apple vs. Samsung, and what nobody gets (it seems)First off, it's not a battle between Apple and Android anymore. It never really was. Android phones, for the most part, have replaced the old "free with contract" Nokia feature phones and Motorola RAZRs that used to be the standard "I just want a phone" phones. They don't buy apps on them. They barely use the Internet. They don't do e-mail, though they are heavy text users and might even use jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-67016824427801519122012-09-24T09:11:00.002-04:002012-09-24T09:11:54.710-04:00iOS 6I'm going to sum up my iOS 6 review very quickly: It's great. Except the new Maps, which are pretty good, not as good as Google's, but will improve fast and are necessary to hold off Android.
Why, do you ask? Simple. When iOS first came to pass in 2007, Google was a key partner. They provided the default search engine, the mapping data, and a YouTube app right on the home screen. Wow stuff. Theyjhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-73041683041160938822012-08-24T14:12:00.001-04:002012-08-24T14:12:52.082-04:00Lance Armstrong banned: Big Whoop.So Lance Armstrong dropped his battle with the USADA last night, and as a result they intend to strip him of his Tour titles. All I can say to it at this point is: Big Freaking Deal. Maybe I'm a Lance apologist, but here's my take on it.
Armstrong was never caught during his career, despite years of testing. He won his last title in 2005. He competed in one of the dirtiest eras of the dirtiest jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-10586478908923292642012-06-11T17:34:00.000-04:002012-06-11T17:34:33.740-04:00WWDC AftermathSo how did I do?
Well, of course I got iOS 6. That was a bunny. I was right on July for Mac OS 10.8, too. And on dictation support.
Maps, Siri, and multiple signatures in iOS 6? Nailed 'em all.
Resolution independence? To be seen as iOS 6 matures and as the sessions go this week. Still expecting it.
New Macs? Yep, the whole laptop line was replaced. The new "super retina MacBook Pro" is sweetjhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-10146841941732274922012-05-24T08:17:00.000-04:002012-05-24T08:17:41.915-04:00WWDC 2012 predictions (early)So I'm not going to pay attention to the last-minute rumors this year because of my vacation plans (do I really want to do Apple tea-leaf reading while I'm on vacation? I don't think so...). And next week is a holiday week. So here, about two weeks early, is my series of predictions for WWDC 2012, with percentages and explanations:
iOS 6: 100%. Apple now unveils developer editions of the newest jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-54457249609172565922012-05-06T10:21:00.000-04:002012-05-06T10:21:35.110-04:00Greenpeace - looks like stupid works?First of all, I'm not writing this because I make much of my living from supporting Apple products. Let that be clear!
Now, on to the main event... Greenpeace is staging protests in North Carolina targeted at Duke Energy - and using Apple as the focal point of their protests. Their theme is "Apple, clean the cloud". This refers to the fact that Apple's main iCloud data center is located in jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-72078812230352755182012-04-21T21:35:00.000-04:002012-04-21T21:35:19.809-04:00Why I will (probably) be a movie pirateOK, here's the scoop. I'm really looking forward to The Avengers. I mean, highlight of the summer movie season, willing to go to a theater for it-level. Which I don't normally do. I watched the two Iron Man movies, and they were a blast. But I hadn't been big on the Marvel franchise in general. But now that Avengers looks so butt-kicking, I decided I need to watch the other three films in the jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-24715161888209686122012-03-28T18:00:00.000-04:002012-03-28T18:01:55.946-04:00iPad (3)So I have a Nuevo iPad in my home. Nice device. Here, after about 2 weeks, is my initial take on it:
The feel is essentially identical. Even though it weighs a little bit more, I haven't really noticed.
The new Retina screen? Amazing. Today, I worked on an iPad 3 and a original iPad side-by-side while doing a customer upgrade. I started on the new one. When I then went to the old one, it seemedjhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-6348656901131955382012-03-08T07:56:00.000-05:002012-03-08T07:56:36.808-05:00Now that I've had a look-seeSo "The New iPad"is upon us. Last night's blog post talked about what I got right - an essential part of punditry! Today, I'll talk a little bit about What It All Means (the other ingredient). This will be brief, since nobody pays me directly for this stuff and I have work to do today. But I think it'll get the point across.
First of all - there are already a host of stories out there about how jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-45342480593269975772012-03-07T22:50:00.000-05:002012-03-07T22:50:36.101-05:00How did I do?Time to check my predictions from the iPad into today...
- Retina Display: Yep. Nailed it. That was easy.
- More RAM: Not sure until they get into users' hands. But I say 1GB still.
- Form factor: No change. Minor thickened increase, less than 1mm. I'm pretty sure all the old cases will fit.
- A6: I give myself a 50%. The A5X does have 4 cores for graphics, but 2 for processing. Probably up jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-11942858634725231252012-02-22T09:15:00.001-05:002012-02-22T17:12:02.312-05:00The future of journalism?There have been a few stories recently about AOL's Patch "hyperlocal" news websites. Well, I've browsed a few (well, more than a few) Patch sites, and read the coverage of them. I've also been an active poster in the past on our own Salem Patch, and in both my public life and private life I interact with most of the Salem Patch employees and contributors. So I'm a little biased. But here's my jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-75114107092523598132012-02-20T23:50:00.000-05:002012-02-20T23:50:54.389-05:00iPad prediction timeIt's that time of year again - the iPad 3 is on the way, probably being assembled by workers all over China as I type this. Many details have leaked, though Apple's been known to do misdirection more than a few times (anybody remember the teardrop iPhone 5 cases from last summer?). But as of right now, here's what I can tell you is certain about the iPad 3, what I think is likely, and what I jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-7417488471643832752012-02-13T09:16:00.000-05:002012-02-13T09:16:58.820-05:00Stepping into the political minefield for fun
Random politically charged comment of the day: Reasonable people can disagree as to whether President Obama has done a good job or not. I happen to think that he's done a decent job, not a great one - but he did far better in my view than his opponent in 2008 would have and will do better than any of the remaining candidates to replace him.
That all said, I read far too many comments on the jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-19928240054426148312012-02-05T23:25:00.000-05:002012-02-05T23:25:25.216-05:00I know what's different now.I wasn't quite as crushed this time after seeing a Super Bowl loss. Can't stand the Giants nowadays - even though I grew up with them - but I think I understand what happened to the Patriots this year, and the last couple of trips as well.
The Patriots became a great team when everyone was a role player. Linebackers played tight end, linemen were fullbacks, and Tom Brady was a great game managerjhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-58142415225535082822012-01-21T10:08:00.000-05:002012-01-21T10:08:42.524-05:00MBTA service cuts - the dance beginsSo the MBTA, crippled by the additional debt assigned to it from the Big Dig, is now proposing significant service cuts as a partial solution to their chronic deficits. Public transit serves a public good, yet it is almost never profitable on its own. Should a public service be run like a business? Thousands of people depend on the MBTA for access to jobs and shopping, many more use it for jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-90151391353533974892012-01-15T11:46:00.000-05:002012-01-15T11:46:48.337-05:00Two weeks downSwearing-in was in January 2nd. Pretty cool, and well-documented online via my Facebook account, Salem Patch, and all sorts of other sources. Won't go much further with that. We've had a couple of meetings and votes, mainly routing things. I've got a few constituent issues I'm working on now as well (and had one issue out of my ward that I got called about by an out-of-town landlord who didn't jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-91940208524966751372011-12-30T19:47:00.000-05:002011-12-30T19:47:36.409-05:00Wrapping up the year in usSo 2011 was one of our more interesting years, as readers of this space may have noted. It started on a sad note with the passing of Jane's father, right after we had visited them for the holidays. He had had health issues for a number of years but it was still never something you expect to have happen, and he was the first of David's grandparents to be lost. Hopefully he won't lose any more for jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-9290911429003270202011-12-29T09:19:00.000-05:002011-12-29T09:19:34.936-05:00So what's in the cards for 2012?Well, I'll talk about the personal year in another day or so. This is about technology. Yeah, I know it's not thrilling, but I have a pretty good track record of predictions here - way better than most of those who call themselves pundits. Then again, maybe it's because I do this for a living. Go figure.
First - Apple will introduce an iPad 3 sometime in the February-March timeframe. Done deal. jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-19652006392919799092011-12-14T08:54:00.000-05:002011-12-14T08:54:23.433-05:00Why I use Kerio Connect instead of MS ExchangeA week ago, my server died. I raced up to the office, grabbed a spare MacBook Pro I was about to give to my new employee (so he had to wait a little bit, oh well), and in about an hour I'd transferred the whole system over to the laptop and had it all running again. Try that with Exchange!
Then this past Sunday, armed with a rebuilt server i was back up there again and transferred it all back upjhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-3086684643993762392011-11-16T21:44:00.001-05:002011-11-16T21:47:55.306-05:00Speaking of tech: One More Thing:One more thing for the moment: I had a post back in June predicting the next iPhone. I missed that they would keep the RAM the same (512MB) and that they wouldn't support VoRA. other than that? Nailed it. Even said it would be probably called the iPhone 4S.
I am patting myself on the back in congratulations now.jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-45335976513680715272011-11-16T21:41:00.000-05:002011-11-16T21:41:55.122-05:00Anatomy of a (successful) campaignSo as those of you who have followed me through any other media (Twitter, Facebook, my website, or local print/online news) know by now, the election is over and I won my race - the vote was 466-288 in my favor and I will be taking office on January second. I've gotten a lot more local attention than I really expected with the win, and I've used all the other places I post to thank my wife, Matt jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5810048.post-26346557822300971612011-11-01T09:15:00.000-04:002011-11-01T09:15:06.582-04:00Education of a candidate - Final WeekAs I write this blog entry, there's exactly one week remaining in the campaign. Election Day is on November 8th. We've survived another Halloween season here in Salem, the police logs are still being tabulated but as far as crowds go, the nor'easter on Saturday night combined with a non-weekend Halloween to lower crowds a little on the final weekend. Still busy, but not as insane as the last few jhthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13663847339805361417noreply@blogger.com