Author Leo J. Allen Jr.

Must Have App – Coursera

Leo J. Allen Jr. 2 Comments

   One of the most important and fulfilling things I’ve cherished all of my life is the gift of learning. I literally love to learn. A philosophy I live by and hope to pass on to my children and all those I meet is simply this –

“Never stop learning!”

   Regardless of anything I may even be considered an expert at, I know that I can always learn more about it and actively look for more. Fewer things in life are more exciting to me than discovery and learning. In all that I love, I look for more ways to learn more. Have I stressed learning’s significance enough?

   In steps Coursera. Coursera is a for-profit educational technology company offering Massive Open Online Courses (MOCC’s) funded by computer science professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller from Stanford University.  They partner with top universities and organizations worldwide, offering courses online for anyone to take for free! The heart of the Coursera mission statement reads:

“We envision a future where everyone has access to a world-class education. We aim to empower people with education that will improve their lives, the lives of their families, and the communities
they live in.”

   As far as I’m concerned, Coursera has made that future a present reality, offering 400+ courses from universities all over the world – from Stanford University to The University of London. The course catalog itself is truly remarkable considering all courses are free – from the Arts, Engineering, Humanities, Medicine, Social Sciences, and of course (my personal favorites) a host of IT courses.
      Courses are taught in modules, ranging anywhere from 2 to 8 weeks in length, with some courses continuing at later dates upon completion. And most, if not all, offer certificates upon completion. Lectures are of course done via online video. But, don’t be fooled – theses are not fly-by-night, YouTube “how-to’s”. These are actual university professors conducting actual lectures. There are quizzes, assignments, and tests. Simply put, this IS SCHOOL. FOR FREE!

   Of course, you can complete your courses via the Coursera website, but seeing as this posting is about the mobile app I encourage you to check it out via Google Play for Android, and via iTunes App Store for IOS.
   The app is laid out simply, free of ads and useless clutter. In other words, exactly how I prefer apps! The courses you are enrolled in show up under “Current”, upcoming courses under “Upcoming” and courses you’ve already taken (care to guess?) under “Past”. There’s also “Search”, “Browse” “My Downloads”. as well as the ability to send feedback and an FAQ selection. Clean. Simple. To the point.
   When you sign up for a course you receive a welcome from the course’s professor, along with a syllabus and any other needed course materials. You also receive notifications of assignment and test deadlines – again, this is truly school. 
   One word of caution though. If you are data conscious, care should be taken when viewing course videos as they are streaming. I would suggest always viewing them via WiFi only if at all possible. I personally view my course videos on my Nexus 7, partly because of the bigger screen and also because it’s WiFi only.
   I can’t stress enough how important I feel education is. And in this day and age with student loans eclipsing the cost of a modest home in some cases, what the people at Coursera have put together is truly remarkable, and a blessing beyond measure. 
   In fact, Coursera is beyond simply a “must have app”. It is one of the most significant apps I currently have installed.
   Now if you’ll excuse me, I have an R Programming quiz due!

Featured App – Timehop

Leo J. Allen Jr. Leave a comment

 

 Both Facebook and Google Plus have given us reviews of our past activity. Google Plus was first with it’s Year In Review offering, with Facebook following suit with a bit more vast review of your entire Facebook experience. Twitter recently joined in (somewhat) by giving us the ability to see our first tweets.

   Day by day on the Google home screen we get “today in history” lessons from their Doodles – some cool, some funny, and some are actually interactive games. Wouldn’t it be cool if you had a way to see the same type of “today in history”, but have it be about you?

   Now you can with a cool little app called Timehop! Timehop brings together your posts and photos from Facebook (Facebook is required to log in at the moment), Twitter, Instagram and Foursquare from 1, 2, 3 and 4 years ago today. It also displays pictures that are stored on your device from the corresponding day, provided you still have them on your device. Thus, every day you get your very own ‘today in history” about yourself! Also, at the very bottom of your daily display, Timehop also provides you with a Google-type “today in history” (for example – at the time of this post, Timehop is informing me that 15 years ago today, the first season of Futurama begins airing on Fox).

   As is possible with any app, Timehop isn’t without it’s own share of hiccups at the moment. For example, some users have reported issues with the Twitter log in, although I had no issue with it. However, I have noticed that although I’m logged into Instagram it has yet to show me any of my historical posts from there. I’m not sure if it’s just coincidental, in that I may simply not have posted anything on Instagram on any of the past 2 days that I’ve been running the app.

   I wouldn’t necessarily categorize Timehop as a “Must Have App”, but it is a pretty cool app worth checking out!

Timehop is available for Android via Google Play, and in the App Store on iTunes for Apple devices.

A Message To Developers: Flappy Bird Is Dead

Leo J. Allen Jr. 1 Comment

 

   Some say that copying is the best form of flattery. You know you’ve done something really well when others try to be like you. However, I don’t think this is true in the case of application development.

   If we look at some of the powerhouse success stories like Facebook and Twitter as guidelines, and the countless other social media wannabes that have come and gone that have tried to copy them, it’s easy to see that in the tech world, copying is often a sad and pointless endeavor. Simply put – there is already a Facebook and a Twitter, and there will never be another social media outlet that will see the same successes they’ve enjoyed.

  True – there is my current personal choice, Google Plus, which has grown and continues to grow. But in all honesty, this can be attributed to the fact that it was created by an already established, thriving company – Google. But as for a from-nothing, ground zero start up social media site? Again, there will never be another such as Facebook or Twitter.

  A little while ago, the world was graced with a wildly successful and equally annoying little bird that flew threw Mario Brothers type pipes. There were many videos, jokes and postings. And then, its creator killed it. What has followed in subsequent weeks has been nothing short of pathetic in my opinion. When I visit the Play Store (which I do daily) I find countless Flappy Bird copy cats. With goofy names and often different main characters, these rip offs are nothing more than cheap copy cats. Are these being developed just for laughs? Just to have some sort of goofy fun? Maybe. But, even the joke has worn out long ago.

  Enough already.

  If you are a developer, or currently striving to become one, do us all a favor –

Make your own app. Be original. Flappy Bird Is Dead.


Be Careful When Counting Stars

Leo J. Allen Jr. Leave a comment

  I have no problem admitting it – I’m that guy. The one who, at Christmas time, already knows what he plans to purchase his wife for Christmas. Not only that, I’m also that guy who sits back and laughs at those “poor bumbling fools” fighting traffic and crowds at malls and box retailers. “Why do they do this to themselves?”, I ask. “Haven’t they ever heard of the internet!?” It’s so beautifully simple and easy: No crowds. No parking. No driving. Heck, you don’t even have to get out of your PJs!

  But they always fight it. “How do I know what I’m getting if I don’t go to a store and check it out before I buy it?”

To that, I drop some simple knowledge. Fact is, contrary to popular belief, online shopping was created by and for men. How can you tell? Simple – look at the overall shopping habits of men. We go to a store, knowing before hand what we want, grab it and leave. A majority of the time, we rely on the knowledge of at least one other man (usually a relative or trusted friend) who has some knowledge about the thing we’re going to buy when deciding our purchase. Or sometimes it’s a man who we trust in his field (and by trust in his field, I mean a guy who’s got a TV show. He has a show – he has to know what he’s talking about, right?). With that in mind, I always check the user / consumer ratings of a product being sold online to gauge whether or not I will purchase. And I encourage others to do so.

  Now keep in mind, there is a science to this. Just because a product has a 5-star rating doesn’t mean it’s worth your hard earned cash if there are only 10 people rating it. Your freshman Statistics class will alert your Spidey Senses enough to know that’s not a reliable population pool. You need enough of a pool to convince you in the same way your relative, trusted friend, or respected  TV Guru would.

  For those of you who don’t know, I love to cook. I’m mainly grill centered (no gas!!), but I love cooking all around. Fortunately for me, I was blessed with a wife who loves to cook as well. She’s gifted with the skill of custom cakes and deserts (for years, she’s been the go-to for birthday cakes for the kids in our families), and she frequently surprises me with new meal recipes. We’ve been together for quite some time – about 18 years, 14 married. We’ve seen our share of cookware throughout those years.

  For several years, we had the same cookware. Nothing too fancy. But it had had it’s time, and my wife began dropping hints about a new set. So in 2012, I made the logical decision to purchase a new set.

  But, I didn’t want to get her just any set. I wanted a set to knock her socks off. I wanted it to be beautiful stainless steel to match all of our other kitchen tools. I also wanted it to be nice enough to give the feel of professional cooking without being too overly expensive. I dove head first into my go-to online shopping source, Amazon, looking for that perfect set. I read review after review. I compared prices. I read reviews from other sources about some of the Amazon offerings. Finally, I found the perfect set.

So I thought….

  The perfect set I settled on was this beautiful 28pc 12-Element Stainless Steel Cookware Set. And, when I say beautiful, I mean this set can really class up any kitchen! The box and description informs that it’s a $1100 value (should have been a red flag for me), and upon my wife’s opening it on Christmas day 2012 I could agree. 100%! Simply stunning!

At fist…

  Soon, there was water dripping from seams after washing and subsequent cooking. And regardless of how low and slow you cook, EVERYTHING sticks the majority of uses. Ultimately, within months, we ended up with this:

  Talk about disappointment. After all, I counted the stars on Amazon –

Customer Reviews

  
   Yet I was horribly let down. My wife eventually told me, “You know, I really hate cooking with that skillet”. Sadly, so do I. This set does come with a “Lifetime Replacement Warranty”, but you can’t simply send back the item(s) you need replaced. You have to box up the entire set and send it back, and you’ll receive an over-all replacement. Why don’t I just do that? Put simply,
                                              Ain’t nobody got time for that!

   So will this be the end to my online shopping habits? No. In all actuality, this is the first time I’ve ever felt burned by it. One could also easily argue that I ignored the negative reviews that mentioned the same thing I experienced with this set. However, there will always be negative reviews about any product. So I used the approach that I normally use – I counted the stars, using the good:bad ratio. This time it just didn’t work out in my favor. As such, in less than a year, I’m purchasing new cookware. Only this time, I’ve done it the old fashioned way – I actually went to a store. 
   Have you ever “counted the stars” to make on online shopping decision, only to be disappointed later? Please feel free to share in comments!

There Is One Thing I Hate About Android

Leo J. Allen Jr. 4 Comments

   As much as I love Android, and all things Google-related in general, there is actually one thing that I hate. And for the life of me, I’m nut sure why it has never really changed.

   To begin with, I use Google Calendar for everything. And, I mean everything – keeping track of due dates for bills, appointments, meetings, special events. You name it – it’s on my calendar. In fact, I don’t use to-do list apps because my calendar is my to-do list.

   When I look at my calendar, I like to be able to see what’s coming up at a glance, in Month View. Whenever I’m on my Chromebook or my Nexus 7 tablet, I check my calendar in month view especially if someone tells me of an upcoming event, meeting, etc. I need to be able to quickly glance to see what’s coming up. As I mentioned, I keep track of bills with it as well – those that have been paid and those that are pending.

   So, what is it that I hate? Simply put, this –

   This, for those of you who may not know, is the stock Google Calendar on an Android mobile phone (in my case, my Moto X), in Month View. This, in my opinion, is completely useless. Granted, you change views to Week, Day, or Agenda and see the actual words that all the colorful dashes and dots represent. But that begs the question – what’s the point of Month View if you can’t read anything?
   What escapes me is the fact that the stock Google Calendar doesn’t display this way on a tablet. On my Nexus 7, it’s perfect. What also baffles me is that, with all the updates and changes Google has made, this has remained the same.
   I like simple. I like not having to install an app to accomplish something that a preexisting app should already accomplish. I love and use many Google services – they all integrate so well together and I have access from anywhere to things I may need. Unfortunately in this case, I’ve had to install and use a different calendar on my Android phones. A couple years ago, I searched for one that could provide the Month View I like, found  Business Calendar, and have used it since. 
   At first I tried to convince myself that maybe it simply wasn’t possible to include words in Month View on a mobile phone calendar, perhaps due to screen space. But once I found alternatives, I quickly learned that wasn’t the case at all.
   Maybe I’m being too picky. Maybe this really isn’t very important (obviously not to Google). But I find it hard to believe that I’m the only person who’s found this to be horrible. I would love to stick to as much all-stock Android as possible. Sadly, I hate the stock calendar app.
   Do you have a favorite calendar app? Please feel free to share in the comments!

Roku Moves On To The Next Level

Leo J. Allen Jr. Leave a comment
   As a Roku enthusiast, I am always excited about any new updates and/or news from them. As such, it was great to see this January 5th entry on the Roku blog. 
   There has been some negative chatter regarding this announcement – primarily aimed at Smart TVs in general. Most people gripe about how many Smart TVs can only operate using the OS installed on them with no other or very limited inputs allowed. So these people argue that they feel it’s better to simply purchase a “dumb” TV and hook up any external devices they want while still maintaining normal TV functionality. However, I personally like to take the “wait and see” approach to any new tech such as this. Maybe Roku has listened to some of this negative chatter and will take these concerns to the designers and manufacturers of the new sets. 
   Be sure to check out the full announcement, and feel free to share what you think about this move by Roku.

Roku Channel Review – PlayOn

Leo J. Allen Jr. Leave a comment

 
 In The Truth About Cutting The Cord – Part 3: Suggested Software, I explained – “One final server I will mention that you may want to download onto your dedicated PC to access via your Roku is called PlayOn. But, I only want to MENTION it and not necessarily SUGGEST it.http://www.playon.tv/playon


 The reason being is that as of date, I have not found PlayOn to be living up to the claims found on their website. Many of the “live” channels they claim to have simply don’t work, or are in fact NOT “live” at all. In fact, the only “live” channel I can get to work on it is HBO Comedy This in itself may be worth it to you (I paid the $24.99 per year fee – may drop it at the end of the term). But hey – that’s YOUR call!”

   Sad to say, my view of PlayOn has not changed months later. In all fairness, I’ve tried to give PlayOn a fighting chance – I truly have. But the fact that most of the “channels” that PlayOn offers tend to return errors, or only contain clips of shows under folders marked “Full Episodes”, really makes it pretty much impossible to recommend.
   The idea behind PlayOn (and what sells it) is that it aggregates live channel streams into one. Unfortunately this is inconsistent at best, more often simply non-existent. On the occasion that I have gotten a live stream to work (as mentioned above, I seem to have the best luck with HBO Comedy), I was left with the feeling that the stream was coming from some 12-year-old kid who figured out how to live stream his parent’s cable – this after waiting for about 5 minutes for the stream to actually load. This lack of true content alone is horrible to say the least because the channel line up that PlayOn presents on the main screen is quite impressive – from your typical CBS stations all the way up to the NFL Network.
   Want to add more channels? PlayOn’s website offers a list of official channels, as well as it’s own underbelly of channels created by freelance developers. Again, this approach is somewhat awesome. But the fact of the matter is that many of these developers create a PlayOn channel, stream to it or maintain the link for the respective channel’s stream for a while, and the channel eventually becomes useless (which usually means they simply get sick of maintaining the channel).
   On the bright side, the PlayOn Server itself is actually very well developed. PlayOn is upfront about system requirements – I’m impressed by the fact that they basically flat out tell you that if you don’t have at least a dual-core processor, don’t even bother. Adding channels is a breeze – even those developer community created channels. The server interface is clutter free and intuitive, with tabbed categories that make sense. But sadly a great server is for not without being the great tool it claims to be.
   I will also give PlayOn credit for continuing to try to develop and evolve – with added features like Play Mark, Play Later, and the recent addition of HD. However, PlayOn team, what good are all the bells and whistles if the train itself isn’t even moving?

Roku Channel Review – AOL On

Leo J. Allen Jr. 1 Comment

   There was a time when AOL seemed to rule the internet. In fact, from time to time, I still hear the old familiar notification “You’ve got mail” from someone. And who hasn’t seen at least a joke or two about those good old FREE TRIAL CDs that AOL used to send to us in the mail almost weekly back in the ’90s? (Tech Crunch posted an article about how much the company spent on sending those out. It’s here for your reading pleasure!).

   I personally don’t have anything good or bad to say about AOL as a company or service because I quite frankly never used anything of theirs that I can recall. But I always knew about them – they just seemed to always “be there”. And then, not so much. From time to time, I would read an article in which AOL would be mentioned, and I would actually be surprised to hear the name.

   Then their Roku channel was announced – On.

   In order to correctly review this Roku channel, I think it’s only fair to AOL to explain what On actually is – it’s a network of content, from Tech Crunch, to Huffpost Live and Moviefone. AOL has been busy expanding this network of content, and I for one applaud their effort. I think this is definitely a great direction they have chosen to take, and they even have On apps for both Android and IOS devices.

   On’s Roku channel home screen is a familiar grid layout broken into the usual categories – news, entertainment, tech, etc. Navigation is simple and familiar as well – simply choose your story of interest and play starts. And that, for me, is where the trouble starts. Upon launch of a news story or two it becomes immediately clear what the AOL On channel for Roku is – an online news video aggregator. For some, this may not be an issue because On truly is grabbing stories from multiple sources – primarily Newsy, Huffpost and Tech Crunch. However, the issue I have found is that with some clips I actually only got a partial report that ended with “for more, visit [insert news website].com”. This, to say the least, is extremely annoying especially when you’re engrossed in a story, only to be told to go to your computer to visit a website to see the rest. If I wanted to do that I would have already been at my computer, after all.
   And then there are the commercials. I understand that ad revenue is the best way for companies to develop and provide their streaming channels for free, but considering the afore mentioned partial clip situation, throwing in commercials only feels like salt in the wound.
   Lastly, there is the issue of the actual content that On is delivering. On grabs a huge percentage of its content from Huffpost (which actually makes sense, seeing as they own it), which puts an obviously huge slant on much of the reporting. While researching for this entry, I found several other reviewers voice this same concern, as well as a couple On mobile app users say the same. Having a slant isn’t something I’m necessarily criticizing AOL for. After all, the “big guys” like Fox and NBC do so as well with their streaming channels. But with On seemingly attempting to position itself as a true, all around news aggregator, having such a slant quickly makes that position null and void. 
Tonight on HuffPost Live, Ahmed Shihab-Eldin phonetically pronounced the River Thames as “thames”.
  In the end, I can recommend AOL On if you enjoy primarily Huffpost and Tech Crunch content, though the more special interest type categories such as Food, Travel and Autos offer a bit more variety.The commercials aren’t a huge negative factor, especially in today’s world where they are pretty much everywhere anyway. But the partial clips can get really aggravating. 
   Have you checked out AOL On? Please share your thoughts in the comments!

Don’t Panic. It’s Just GMail

Leo J. Allen Jr. Leave a comment
   First came the controversial changes to YouTube, and now this. If you use GMail, you received a notification in which Big G informed you of a new feature called Email via Google+. This new feature allows anyone with a Google+ account to send messages to your GMail inbox, regardless if they have your email address or not. And like the Great YouTube Comments Controversy of 2013, this too has caused quite an uproar. I’ve seen countless posts from angry people – some even threatening to delete their GMail accounts and abandoning anything Google related.
   But, like most anything else, there is a simple solution. That’s right folks – you can disable this feature.
Simply do this –
1. Go to Gmail in your web browser and log in to your account.
2. Click on the gear icon on the right and select “Settings”.
3. The screen will open under the “General” tab. Scroll down a bit and you will find “Emial via Google+”
4. Select the drop-down. There you will see multiple choices (from your circles only to no one).
5. To disable this feature, simply select “No One” from the drop down.
6. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the screen and click “Save Changes”.
   And, that’s it! No need to panic – simply disable this feature if this isn’t something you want, and you’re back to business as usual.

Roku Channel Review – Newsy

Leo J. Allen Jr. Leave a comment

   When making the decision to Cut The Cord, one concern that you may have (as did I) is staying informed. Local news outlets are generally easy to stay connected with by way of a variety of HD Antennas, but what about national or international news?

   For the most part, many of the major players – Fox, NBC, CBS, etc. – have Roku News channels. But these channels are specific to their reporting only. This is fine and all if you’re the type who tends to stick with one news outlet only as your trusted source of information. But if you’re like me, you may want something that’s a little broader in scope that offers different angles from multiple sources. For that approach to the news, I personally like Newsy.

   Newsy is a multi-source video news service that analyzes world news and produces 2-to 3-minute, streaming video clips. Newsy compares how multiple news outlets from around the world (e.g. The New York Times, France 24, NDTV, Xinhua, Fox News Channel, The Guardian, and CNET.com) cover the day’s events for people who want to stay up to date, but don’t have the time to seek out multiple sources on their own. Newsy’s approach embodies a basic principle of comparative journalism: asking the same question to multiple sources and comparing their answers. Thus many of the news clips Newsy presents will have articles, videos, and/or interviews from multiple news sources.

   These news clips are delivered on Newsy by its staff of anchors in a fashion we are all accustomed to seeing. The news reports are delivered clean and polished on a daily basis.

   One thing that I enjoy about Newsy’s news delivery platform and its anchoring staff is that there is no personal bias or commentary involved, or any debating. Newsy simply delivers the news, and the fact that they draw from multiple sources helps keep any bias, rather perceived or actual, to a minimum or non-existent at all. This is how I personally enjoy my news overall, which is why I’ve never been one to be solely loyal to one news outlet.

   The Newsy main screen is set up in simple fashion by category – World, U.S., Politics, Business, Tech, Entertainment, Sci/Health, and Sports. Each category allows you to pick individual stories that may interest you, or simply select “View All” and Newsy will play all stories within the category.
   Newsy does not offer every single possible news story of the day. Rather, it covers the major headlines of the day per category. This works well for people like me who like to stay informed about the major topics of the day but without having to sit through hours and hours of newscasts. 
   The one thing that is missing from Newsy that I would like to see is weather. Of course this could simply be a general, national forecast –  I wouldn’t expect them to deliver every single forecast for every single local market. But overall, Newsy has been my go-to source for news headlines on Roku.
   Got a favorite news source on your Roku or other streaming device? Please feel free to share in comments!