Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Blogger Is Going To Die

Well it looks like blogging is going to die. Google+ (with Facebook copying them) has created Public posting which is basically like writting a blog.

Social Media is a main reason why I don't blog anymore... I write things about my life and publish it to the people that I want. It's quicker and more integrated, and a blog post now is just a repeat of a G+ post. You can see my Google+ Public posts here, think most of you have already gone that route.
Nate's Google+ Profile

The one thing I do like to use blogging for is Travel Journals. I think I will continue with that. It does give me more options.

And if you are not on Google+ yet, it is now open to the public and blows Facebook away if you ask me. It's intuitive and simple, Hangouts make Skype look 10 years old, and all of Google services integrate smoothly (or will soon!).

Monday, July 18, 2011

Facebook Security FAIL Example

After writting the comparison last night I was a little more aware of what I was doing on Facebook today. I got a tweet about a coupon that Lindeman's was giving out on Facebook, so I headed over to their site.

The process was easy! I click that I "LIKE" them, then I can get a chance to get a $5 off coupon (basically a free Entemann's). So I "LIKE'd" them and then I was taken to this pop-up:


Click on that picture to blow it up so you can read it a little bit clearer...

I would bet almost everyone just clicks the ALLOW button and moves on. I admit it, I usually do too. This is a list of what you would agree to share with the app to get access to a coupon! Let's read through these:

Access to basic information
  • Your Name
  • Profile Picture
  • Gender
  • Networks
  • User ID
  • List of Friends (why do they need to know my friend's for a dessert coupon?)
And the big whammy:
  • Any Other Information I've Shared with Everyone
Read that last one again......

Send me email
  • It allows them to send me an email. Why do they need to do that, all the coupon apps print right inside Facebook. Ok fine, maybe they were going to email it to me...
Access my profile information
  • My "Like's"
  • Music
  • TV
  • Movies
  • Books
  • Quotes
  • Birthday
  • Current City
  • Education history
Ok fine, you want to build profiles on who is accessing coupons. Joke's on them, I fit none of their typical couponer profiles!

Most of this I am ok with, but I see NO need for them to see who my Friends are. And most of all the have NO reason at all to see "Any Other Information I've Shared with Everyone"

Obviously I had no more interest in this coupon...

Nater

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Facebook vs Google+

Let me start with what I dislike about Facebook:

1) Why does it always default to "Top News" and not "Most Recent"...

2) Security on FB is confusing, constantly changing, and in the news all the time!
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-20004511-83.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/technology/internet/06facebook.html
http://www.pcworld.com/article/160545/facebook_hit_by_five_security_problems_in_one_week.html

3) SECURITY IS A PROBLEM ON FB! Just do a Google Search on it, you'll find tons of news reports and posts about malicious apps. Here, I made it easy: http://goo.gl/NXinf. There are even hackers out there selling kits to make malicious Facebook apps: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/hackers-selling-25-toolkit-to-create-malicious-facebook-apps/8104.

4) Sharing with people is easy, but it goes to EVERYONE! Sure there are lists that you can create to allow certain people to see certain posts, but it is really confusing and hard to implement. Do you know anyone who uses the lists... This is the main reason why I am not FB friends with most my family, and why I am selective on who I Friend. I only have 90 some Friends for a reason!

5) Facebook believes they own your data:
http://consumerist.com/2009/02/facebooks-new-terms-of-service-we-can-do-anything-we-want-with-your-content-forever.html

Just try to download all of your pics or friends contact info... Go ahead. I'll wait.

As you may know, it is not easy to get data out of Facebook. Pictures have to be downloaded individually! And trying to get your friend data. May as well just pull out a pad of paper and start going through each friend's profile and writting it down.

There have been some good programs that have been created to automate this process. Facebook has shut them down as fast as they can! Why would they want you to not have YOUR friends contact info...
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/facebook-blocks-google-chrome-extension-for-exporting-friends/1935




And here is what I Like about Goolge+

1) Google already holds all my info, so I like having all my eggs in one basket. And I don't recall the last time I heard a Google security issue... Just do a News search on it, there's not much. Here is a search from Bing http://www.bing.com/news/search?q=google+security&go=&qs=n&sk=&sc=8-15&form=QBNR

2) Circles is a great feature! It makes it very easy to share things with exactly who you want to. Now you can be friends with everyone and easily share with them.



Here is my example:

I have Circles for FAMILY, CAR FRIENDS, GOLF BUDS, etc. If I want to share something with my FAMILY, I create my post click the FAMILY Circle, and it posts only to my FAMILY. If I am out drinking some beers and having a good time and do something dumb while I am drunk, I can share it with my CAR FRIENDS and GOLF BUDS and my FAMILY (think little nieces) won't see it.

You can put Friends into as many or as little Circles as you want. And Circles are easy to create, it's just a drag and drop process.

3) As I said in #1, I use Google for EVERYTHING. Thus the integration is really good, and will only get better! Right now Picasa, Buzz, GTalk are all integrated and Google is pushing its teams to integrate everything. Thus G+ will be a central point for all things!

4) G+ Instant Upload is AWESOME! Sorry iPhone people, you're still waiting for your G+ app. Basically everytime I take a picture with my Android phone it is instantly uploaded to a private Picasa album. And is waiting there for you to share it if you want.



The speed is really good, and all the uploading is done in the background. It's not like the FB app where you have to open the app then select upload pic, it just does it!

5) Hangouts are pretty cool. It's a great video chat feature that allows you to chat with a ton of people! And you can watch YouTube videos together.



Think about uploading a video of your kid or dog, then being able to see there reactions when they see it. And there is no additional software, it just works right from the browser. This is 10 times better than Skype... Once again, all eggs one basket.



This is a short list and I will create more on best practices for using G+ in the near future. But I am very excited for this, to say the least... Just think about further integration: Latitude, GCalenader for events, GMaps, Gmail, Google Groups, Blogger, Google Music... The list goes on and on, and the possibilities are endless.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Happy Father's Day Dad!

Thank you for teaching me how to water ski!

And snow ski!


Thank you for making me a kick-ass water bed that I didn't even know I woke up in that Christmas morning!


And for all the great presents over the years!

(sorry I lost that All-Star jacket.....)

Thank you for helping me develop some awesome engineering skills!


Thank you for always making sure we had great pets around!


Thank you for sending me to Golf Camp (twice)!


Thank you for putting up with me and my vehicles...


Thank you for being there at my key life moments!


Thank You for being my Dad and helping to make me the man I am!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Michelin 25th Hour featuring the Pilot Super Sport

Last fall I was fortunate enough to be included in a PR event for the Michelin MXM4 tire release through a word-of-mouth marketing group that I volunteer for. I guess I did a good job because a couple months ago I was invited to a track day at Cal Speedway for the release of the Michelin Pilot Super Sport (PSS). They were calling the event the 25th Hour, in honor of all the track testing that has been done in their 24hr race events like LeMans. Thankfully there were some open seats so I was able to invite a couple of my friends so that when I told someone what happened, I would have witnesses! I was not sure exactly what was to come of this event, but some great seeding of some photos lead me to believe that this was going to be a great event!



When we arrived we were greated by a large group of Michelin staff members, and went through the usual track day sign your life away paperwork. As an added bonus they handed out Flip cameras for all of us to take video of whatever we wanted throughout the day, but for safety sake, not in the cars... Once things got going we were taken into a media center where we were introduced to the key staff and our instructors for the day. We then got a great demonstration about the technology behind the tires that helps it to perform the way that it does, and the improvements that they have made over the extremely popular PS2's.

To improve the tire’s road-holding and braking ability and thereby its overall safety performance, even in the most extreme conditions, while also providing excellent mileage, Michelin has uniquely combined three technologies, including two developed for tires used at the 24 Hours of Le Mans: the Twaron® fiber belt as well as the Bi-Compound tread band and the Variable Contact Patch 2.0, both of which were derived from innovations validated and used in endurance racing (more technical details on page 9). The combination has produced compelling results that are apt to win over the most demanding manufacturers of cars in the ultra high-performance segment. As a result, the new MICHELIN tire has key advantages that enable it to rise to the challenge posed by its predecessor, the MICHELIN Pilot Sport PS2, which was certified as original equipment on more than 200 vehicles.

After the presentation we were broken up into 3 groups, and each group starting out at a different test station. The 3 driving tests included: a dry/wet braking exercise, an auto-x, and a road course.

My group started at the Road Course where they had the PSS going up against the Pirelli PZero Nero. Which looks like it was set-up to repeat the Road & Track test found here: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=43. The cars used in this test were stock Lexus IS-F's with the exact same tire sizes. I was taken out for some introductory laps by Professional Drifter Tania Bourbonna, and then quickly stepped into the PSS equipped IS-F for a few hot laps.


My first impression was "Dang! I have been away from the track for too long... I just don't seem to be pushing this car hard enough..." The car just seemed incredibly stable and planted to the track surface! I thought I was just driving like a wuss... After a few laps we hopped out of the PSS IS-F and into the Pirelli PZero Nero equipped one. Instantly I recalled all my track day experiences, the squirmy/floaty/screaching feeling was back. The car now wanted to push through the corner a little more and definetly did not like the braking zone as much as it got light footed easily! After stepping out of the Pirelli car, I wish I could have had another stint in the PSS car because it was a night and day difference in feel. The PSS just gives you that feeling like its telling you "Go Ahead... Play hard... I'm good!", instead of that "Umm... You're pushing kind of hard... You sure you want to keep doing this?!?"


The second test was the auto-x in a 328i that featured multiple slaloms, increasing radius turns, and some good braking zones. The competitor was the #1 Tire Rack ranked Continental ExtremeContact DW. I went out first in the Conti equipped 328, and instantly I could feel the tire and tread blocks wanting to roll over in the harder corners.


The PSS equipped 328 stayed planted and predictable the whole time... I could never really sense any serious tire roll. After the session we checked out the tires since both sets of tires were brand new at the start of the session. The PSS looked only slightly worn, and only on the outside tread blocks, must be due to that variable contact patch they talked about earlier. In contrast all of the Conti's tread blocks were worn down to triangles!


They had been rolling over and had worn out, and this was after only about 60 laps. I heard from one of my friends, who got the last ride in this car, that we had wore it down to the threads by the end of the day!


My last section was a dry/wet braking test versus the GoodYear Eagle F1 Asymmetric. The cars were once again 328i's that were equipped with the same size tire on each car. They were equipped with a Drift Box to record the stopping distance in the car. For the dry test we accelerated hard up to 55 mph, coasted to get the weight balanced, then stuck our foot through the fire wall on the brake pedal. This was then repeated in a section that was covered in water at a speed of 45 mph.


Each person in our group completed two laps on the PSS's and the Conti's. On the dry test, I wasn't able to tell much of a difference in feel, but the numbers said I was stopping about 9 feet shorter in the PSS's. In the wet test, I could tell a diffenece. The F1's would go through more cycles of the ABS, thus indicating that they wanted to slide on the wet tarmac. The PSS's felt smooth and seemed to have an extra little bite at the end. The numerical difference wasn't that impressive though, as the PSS only beat out the F1's by about a foot and a half.


The last and final session of day was the Hero Hot Laps! This is where we were given ride-alongs on the road course in some very nice pieces of machinery. There was a Aston Martin, an Audi R8, a Nissan GTR, and a Ferrari 458 Italia all equipped with PSS's! All were driven by proven drivers too: Didier Theys, Kelly Collins, Tania Bourbonna, and Roland Linder (I believe...). My first ride was in the 458 with Didier, and wow can that man drive!


I don't think I will ever forget those laps! The next go around was in the GTR with Kelly. Kelly was a little more relaxed and was chatting it up with me, all while flying around the track rediculously quick!


The GTR is just an amazing machine, probably the best DD you can own. My friend Jason was able to ride in R8 and the Aston, afterwards he said the R8 had an incredibly planted feeling, like it was just stuck to the road. While the Aston, obviously felt a little bit big and heavy.


I think the side-by-side comparison really opened my eyes. These were really good tires the PSS was up against, and time and time again it was immediately noticeable that it was better. There was no, "well it was close". It was hands down better.

A big thanks goes out to Michelin, Kim, Tania, Didier, Kelly, and the whole Michelin team that was there. This was a professionally ran event and it felt like it!


The PSS will definitely be on my M3 the next time around!

Saturday, May 07, 2011

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

Click to play this Smilebox collage
Create your own collage - Powered by Smilebox
Create your own collage

Thursday, April 07, 2011

Pics From 31st Birthday Trip To Europe

So I weeded it down to about 350 pics. Much better than the 1000+ that I took... Hope the pics say the 1000 words that I should have wrote.



Here is the link to the album:

But you can also view them on my Google Profile:

NATER

Monday, March 14, 2011

EURO TRIP!

So we have quite a bit planned for our week in Europe! And it seems like our plans are solidified... (for now) Munich, Germany We are going to be hitting up the BMW Welt Museum, and we will be taking the BMW Factory Tour. So excited to see this, just wish it was for a Euro Delivery of an M...



And then we will be going to the Marienplatz and drinking at the Hofbrauhaus!
Munich to Innsbruck, Austria
We don't quite know what we are doing in Innsbruck... But it looks fricking awesome! Might drive up to a ski lodge or something.

Innsbruck to Salzburg, Austria
This is going to be one of the most gorgeous drives EVAR! We will be going mostly along the Deutsche Aplenstrasse. Basically it just follows the alps along the Germany - Austria border. In Salzburg we want to check out Mozarts home, a few more castles, and maybe check out the Stiegl Brewery.

Salzburg to Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic
Karen's good friend Tereza says that we need to stop by Cesky Krumlov on our way to Prague, so we looked it up and it looks quite lovely. Thus we will be stopping there to pick up some lunch.

Cesky Krumlov Photos

Cesky Krumlov to Prague
Hang out with our friend Tereza!

Prague Back to Munich
We have a day to spare so we will see what we still need to do.

Nater

Saturday, March 12, 2011

CVS Puppy Toy Clearance!




CVS is clearing out their dog toys and snacks! Tons of stuff was 75% off! Thus since Porter tears up toys super quick, I decided to stock up. Plus they were having a super deal on Dove deodorant. So here is my haul:

7 - American Kennel Club Squeaker Toys
1 - Multiple Squeaker Toy
2 - Sergeants Uncle Sam's Treats
2 - Hartz Dentist Best Rawhide bones
1 - Hartz Nail Trimmer
2 - Hartz Squeeky Toys
8 - Dove's Men's Deoderants

Retail Value = $128.85

Out-Of-Pocket = $27.23

Total Savings = $101.62 = 79%!!!

Slick Nater Strikes Again!

Monday, February 21, 2011

Naters M3dia Player

My car has no navi... It's one of the things I really wanted in my car. It's nice to just look down and see where you are. There have been many times where I missed my turn and didn't know the route to turn back around. With an in-dash navi, it's easy.

A BMW retrofit kit for the e46 M3 is expensive! As all things BMW are... Even used ones run close to $1000, thats right, $1K! For 10 year old electronics. I was even thinking about looking for a totaled car that I could strip the navi out of it, and then sell the car off. But that seems to be a lot of work, and may not turn out very well...

So I started thinking about what would be the best way to get a navi in my car. I looked at car pc's (mp3car.com), which looks awesome and have great potential, but it seemed like a lot of work to get something that I would want.

I got a big screen phone (DroidX 4.3") thinking that I would just use that as a navi/radio/etc... in there. But I don't think that is an ideal setup. Then I thought about tablets, as in Android tablets. The potential is amazing! Thus I started my research.

The B&N Nook Color really caught my eye when people found out that it could be hacked. And then when B&N said they would release the SDK! Sold. The android development community is huge and growing fast. This idea has been in my mind for a few months now, but I was never really sold on it.

Then I was reading about Bluetooth OBDII scanners. I thought that this would be kind of sweet when connected to a tablet. Easily have access to all that data! I am an engineer, I LOVE DATA! But I was not sure how well it would work with a tablet. There are a few apps that say they work, but they are from small developers. And I don't want something that will cause me any problems.

Then today came the Pièce de Résistance:

Last year Garmin released the ecoRoute OBDII scanner for the Nuvi GPS units. And just the other day, Garmin released the Garmin Mechanic Android App that communicates with the ecoRoute.

This is a top company making the hardware and software. This is the last piece to make it perfect. But I am drifting from the original navi idea... So I was thinking about using the GPS in my phone for the navi. But then the set-up would require my phone a little too much. So I went online and quickly found Bluetooth GPS receiver modules!

So here is the idea:

1) Root DroidX so that I can activate the Wifi HotSpot feature
2) Get a Nook Color and install Android Honeycomb
3) Buy a Garmin ecoRoute
4) Buy a Bluetooth GPS module
5) Install the Garmin Mechanic app on nook
6) Install the Google My Tracks app on nook (for track days!)
7) Install Google Navigation app


With this set up I can have easy access to all the OBDII car info, stream media over the internet to my radio, have a navi with logger capability, and tons of other features because I have the Android market!



Now we are talking! And I would have and Android tablet!

NATER

Thursday, February 17, 2011

GERMANY!

So once again I found a super deal on airfare! I am taking about $350 RT!!!

So Karen and I have quite a bit planned which I will share in a few days.

I will also be posting more since Google released a Blogger app for Android.

Nater