Fighting Back, Armed and Dangerous, -and- Am So!

In the News Today

Fighting Back - armed beauty queen fatally shoots intruder in Florida home invasion

Armed and Dangerous - 92-year-old woman shoots up neighbor's house after he denies her a kiss

Am So! - 'Net transforms bullied boy into hero

On this Day in History: March 23, 1997 - Five dead bodies are found arranged in a cross formation at the burned Quebec home of Didier Queze. They were members of the Solar Temple cult who in 1994 to 1996 had totaled 69 suicides in Europe and North America.

Born on this Day in History: March 23, 1908 - Joan Crawford (1908 - 1977) Born in San Antonio, Texas, actress Joan Crawford got her start in silent film. She was a Hollywood icon in the 1930s and 40s, winning an Oscar for Mildred Pierce in 1945 and becoming one of the highest paid women in America. She suffered a career decline in the 1970s, however, and all but disappeared from public life until her death in 1977.

Scripture of the Day



Video of the Day - Submitted by Chris

Imagine my surprise when I encountered this scene at Walmart while journeying to my office this morning! Click to enlarge.

Technology in the News Today

Netflix confirms outage; Showtime shows to be pulled

German court: Google Street View is legal

New Wi-Fi certifications designed for public hotspots, data handoffs


Some of the (many) reasons I am so enamored of the Xoom:

1. Motorola manufacture/support*
2. Google OS**
3. Google designed supported
4. Officially the “development platform” as was the Nexus One for phones
5. Ease of rooting/un-rooting
6. Ease of upgrading to 4G
7. Ease of adding memory—soon, 256GB micro-SD cards will be released by SanDisk.
8. Video display specs and video memory
9. System memory
10. Cameras—particularly the 5MP front-facing camera***
11. Camcorder****
12. All switches and buttons are SOFTWARE and can, therefore be added to, enhanced, moved, given other tasks, etc.
13. The system configurability. This has always been key to my adoration of my Motorola Droid X, and it is ever more present and addressable with the Xoom.
14. The ever-increasing base of support—both manufacturer-specific and from individual resources. There are dozens of really utile forums and other resources specific to the Xoom.
15. The new Amazon Appstore for Android*****

*I am a big fan of things Motorola. It would require considerable space here to enumerate this preference, so I shall say only that I have owned dozens of Motorola communication devices and have been fully pleased with each of them.

**I am a great enthusiast of things Google, and Google apps (Google Earth, Google Maps, Google Talk, etc., etc.) work impeccably with the Android 3.0.1 OS.

*** MotoHelper is a PC application that keeps your Motorola device drivers up-to-date. Additionally, on supported devices, MotoHelper notifies you of software updates when they become available for your device and can automatically launch Motorola PC applications such as Motorola Media Link and Moto Phone Portal upon device connection to your PC via USB.

**** I am obviously a camera enthusiast. The image quality, sensor performance, configurability, dual flash, etc., are impressive. In Live View, the creature can be used very satisfactorily for setting up shots to be taken with my pro Nikon gear. Exposure, shadows, contrast, etc.—things that previously were the realm only of a 10” HD LCD display.

*****The video mode offers considerable configuration and produces stellar, high-contrast HD video that processes smoothly with Windows Live Movie Maker—producing high-quality 1080p full HD video. Both the camera and the camcorder produce impressive results in extremely low-light conditions—the bane of photography and videography.

******This is for all Android-basd devicieis, of course, but it is a very viable reason to prefer the Xoom over a Windows, WebOS or iOS tablet.

ALSO: Not to be denied is the COOL FACTOR. No other device on the market presently has the power to make people swoon as does the Xoom.