My Random Keys

Dear Mr Costolo,

Still making the effort to combat blog fade, I opened the door on FaceBook for suggested topics for this evening's post. Thanks to Steve for the highly motivating, "Do the benefits of pollen exceed its suckiness?" Let's just see if I can do that justice.

Well, to be scientific about it, I started with a Wikipedia search on what exactly is pollen. "Pollen is a fine to coarse powder containing the microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce the male gametes (sperm cells). ..When pollen lands on a compatible pistil of flowering plants, it germinates and produces a pollen tube that transfers the sperm to the ovule of a receptive ovary." Wikipedia is probably the best known example of a multi-user-collaboratively-edited website called a wiki. It's amazing that anyone can login in to a wikipedia account and freely edit the content.  During the London subway bombing some years back, wikipedia had a constantly updated story, including photos, within minutes.

However, sometimes, you don't quite understand what the pollen article in Wikipedia means when it shares, "In a process called microsporogenesis, four haploid microspores are produced from each diploid sporogenous cell (microsporocyte), after meiotic division." Honestly, I had to copy and paste since my ADD wouldn't let me past microsporoguinessbeer.  One site that helps with that is againbutslower.com . Paste any wikipedia article's URL into their site and it will reduce the article down to a much simpler to understand version. Great for elementary kids wanting to just get a basic concept.

You may find yourself jogging around Ladybird Lake or Camp Gesundheit and your jogging partner is sneezing up a storm. Sure, we need pollination to further grow our vegetation, feed our insects, regulate evolutionary plasticity (thanks again Wikipedia!), and keep allergy clinics in the black. But sharing that with your sneezing blister-mate may not be what he wants to hear. Perhaps quickly using your phone to email snapask.com could provide a distracting relief by requesting more facts from Wikipedia to be sent directly to your phone. Snapask.com lets you shoot keyword requests to them in an email, getting you an answer back in 30 seconds. Great for bar room bets!

Joggers can also rejoice, knowing pediaphon.org can provide an audible version of any Wikipedia article directly to your phone or iPad/Android device. Who wouldn't want the melodic tones of a Stephen Hawking-esq voice reading, "Dependence of the secondary sex ratio on the amount of fertilizing pollen was confirmed on four dioecious plant species from three families — Rumex acetosa (Polygonaceae), Melandrium album (Cariophyllaceae), Cannabis sativa and Humulus japonicus (Cannabinaceae)," from Wikipedia?

Well Steve and Shannon, to answer your question, Yes.  To learn more about why, you may just find a little website called Wikipedia helpful.  I know I did!

The unscientific results are in and the MyPhone Android phone by TMobile has won, beating the iPhone hands down!  What a contest! Through diligent use of my MyPhone, I have decided that it is far superior in several categories.

First of all, I'll be honest and state that my iPhone experience has been limited to what my friends show me on their iPhone and active use of my iTouch and iPad.  Also, my MyPhone experiences are limited to the three phones (two factory replacement phones) and hours of troubleshooting that I've spent on my phone.

The first category that MyPhone captured was the "Crash Often, Crash Hard" category.  Try as I might, I have loaded tons of apps and used the Apple products a great deal and was never able to get a significant crash to occur. However, with a minimal set of Android downloads and frequent use of the TasKiller app, I was easily able to experience the sudden crash of the phone. I have hopes that the new iPhone will improve and introduce more crashing soon.

Another category taken by MyPhone is the "Revert To Paper Catalogs" area, emphasizing the lack of easily-browsed apps to download.  Apple's online iTunes Store has an easily and quickly searchable store inventory where you can find apps and add them to your app collection. TMobile recently jumped ahead with it's mailed-out catalog which introduced a number of Android apps and scannable icons which will help you connect to the app you wish to slowly download and install.  Truly and innovation, the paper catalog introduces product links that can be wrinkled, ruined by water, and otherwise lost when accidentally thrown into the trash bin.

Lastly, MyPhone's inventive use of Spare Time is a great reminder of the days of IBM DOS 3.1. Once again, I have the chance to start an app, put the phone down, make a sandwich and return to the now opened application.  iPhone's lack of Spare Time only leads to high blood pressure and anxiety by forcing the user to be more productive, sooner after starting an application.

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Honestly, I really want an iPhone but can't get past the horrendous customer service history I have with ATT. Android's mutlitasking is a great asset for the phone and the reliance on Google accounts is more more inclusive than being trapped in a MobileMe account.  I'm sure that other Android phones may have more processing power and be better equipped to handle some of the nice Android apps. However, I greatly look forward to the day I get rid of my MyTouch phone by TMobile.  My best option would be to keep TMobile and have a supported iPhone.  Until then, I'm going to keep b*tching about my crash-happy MyPhone in hopes that nobody else will be gullible enough to actually purchase one.  Stay away from MyPhones.