LostFocus

A weblog by Dominik Schwind

I have nothing to say, really.

Fuck off.

Procrastination

By Dominik Schwind

For what it’s worth, I do have a long list of half-written or at least half-thought blog posts. Including, but not limited to my reasons to not like Android anymore, why I like #100factsaboutme and my thoughts on my week in Berlin last week.

Soccer Moms

By Dominik Schwind

Lately I get invited to soccer practice a lot.

It seems like Google Calendar and/or Android is finding it’s way to soccer moms. And when those add “Dominik” to their new calendar entry “Soccer Training” Google is trying to be smart, adds “@gmail.com” to that name and sends me an invitation.

Nobody is amused. Especially not the soccer moms who I keep asking if they will pay my express flight ticket to the USA.

Tasker – Is there something similar for OS X?

By Dominik Schwind

Yesterday I found Tasker for Android and am rather stoked about it. After I’ve been playing with it all night instead of getting any sleep, I now wonder if there is something like this for OS X? I’m pretty sure there is, somewhere. Basically I’d like to do stuff like “If connected to WiFi and WiFi isn’t the one at home, use VPN.” Double and triple bonus points if that tool can sync settings via Dropbox.

Does anyone have an idea which tool would be useful to automate stuff on a Mac?

Help me understand

By Dominik Schwind

I don’t get it.

Specifically, one of the microchips embedded into the G2 prevents device owners from making permanent changes that allow custom modifications to the Android operating system. […] Unfortunately, the hardware in this device completely undermines this license by allowing mobile network providers to override end-user changes to the source code. Wireless network operators have deployed a hardware rootkit that restricts modifications to a device owned by the user.

What’s the point? They’ve sold the hardware, they sold the contract, how is locking down the phone going to help them make (or not lose) some money?

Newest Google Android Cell Phone Contains Unexpected ‘Feature’ – A Malicious Root Kit. [via]

Dear Motorola: Fuck you a bit more.

By Dominik Schwind

A little update on this. Today came an update of Android – wait for it – 2.1! Awesome. And with the update came the Xing app. Which can not be deleted.

Seriously, Xing? Is that really necessary? Not cool at all.

Dear Motorola: Fuck you.

By Dominik Schwind

What the fuck, Motorola? First that completely useless and idiotic stuff with the bootloader that only takes signed ROMs and now maybe no Froyo?

Seriously, I do like my Milestone. The hardware is very very nice. The keyboard is great and I can type surprisingly fast on it. I like Android. You had a sure winner here and you were that close to turning me into a fanboy.

And then you came with this stupid, pointless, daft and above all depressingly corporate decision to lock down your hardware and not even provide updates. I know for sure that this will be my first and last phone from Motorola – while the product is great, the company policies around it are just abysmal.

Performance, Smoking and the Nexus One

By Dominik Schwind

These are my links for January 6th through January 8th:

  • Website Performance: What To Know and What You Can Do – Smashing Magazine – Website performance is a hugely important topic, so much so that the big companies of the Web are obsessed with it. For the Googles, Yahoos, Amazons and eBays, slow websites mean fewer users and less happy users and thus lost revenue and reputation.
  • Felicia Day » Blog Archive » Disappointment – [..] the fact that they were interested in doing a piece about Twitter and New Media gave me hope that a magazine firmly in the “establishment” was interested in exploring the subject in a new light. And then during breakfast I saw some weird Twitter comments go by…and then I read the article…and oh, gosh. Really?!
    I can’t tell you how many hours I had to resist rage Tweeting about this subject. The use of inane Twitter lingo like “Twilebrity”, “Tweeple” and “Twitformation Superhighway” (Oh God please stop) just signaled that the writer obviously wasn’t well-researched about the service, or the internet in general, really.
  • Learning to Smoke – It's not permitted. It pisses people off. It makes you puke. It confuses you, and it brings clarity. It makes you an outcast, and it helps you meet wonderful strangers. Lessons from a man who did the unthinkable.
  • How to say stupid things about social media – Criticising social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook is as pointless as knocking people who discuss the weather
  • A Few Thoughts on the Nexus One – O’Reilly Radar – There will be many posts focusing on the look, feel, and features of the Nexus One, so I'm going to focus on what Android's latest incarnation says about the competitive landscape – what I've elsewhere called the war for the web.

Bookmarks for November 21st through November 23rd

By Dominik Schwind

These are my links for November 21st through November 23rd: