Tag Archives: scifi

Dr Who 50th Anniversary

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The TV show Dr Who turns 50 today with the broadcast of a major 50th anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor. Celebrating 50 years of the Doctor, it will star Matt Smith, David Tennant and John Hurt as different incarnations of the lead character, though some suggest the real star of the show is his space-travelling time machine, the Tardis. The 12th Doctor, Peter Capaldi, will shortly be taking over the main role in a Christmas special. The anniversary has been noted round the world, with even Google getting in the act with a playable Doodle.

Dr. Who Doodle

The Doctor’s gadget of choice has always been the “sonic screwdriver” which has more functions that a Swiss Army Knife, rescuing him from many sticky situations. As you’ll imagine, there is plenty of Whovian merchandise, including this notebook and laptop case from the Science Museum shop.

Tardis Case Dalek Notebook

The episode is going to be broadcast simultaneously across the world so if you are in the UK, tune it tonight at 7.50 pm on BBC1. In the US, it’s  2:50 pm ET/ 1:50 pm CT/ 12:50 pm MT/ 11:50 am PT on BBC America. Other countries can the check the listings here.

For me, Tom Baker, the 4th Doctor, will always be my Doctor, but I will be watching tonight.

Android Pros and Cons

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I’ve been using Android for a while now and feel I’ve been using it long enough to make some meaningful observations.

I like Android. It’s quick. It’s powerful. It has some astounding voice recognition capability built right in that even the iPhone can’t touch. For example, hold down the search button and when the voice search box pops up say “navigate to” and then speak either a street address, the name of a business or a business category, and watch what happens. The results are something right out of science fiction and nothing short of amazing. Try THAT with your iPhone.

In other areas, Android seems to fall rather flat. While it’s possible to create, name and populate folders, the process seems clunky and rather counter-intuitive.

How about allowing me as an end-user to rename application icons to something useful? Many apps have names that don’t bear any relationship or give any hint as to what their functionality is as an app. If I could just rename the text under the app icons it would help me out as an end user quite a bit. Either give me a direct icon name that describes functionality succinctly, or give me the ability to rename an icon myself just like I can in Windows or OS/X.

Another area that falls somewhat flat is how to discover great apps. There are a ton of apps, but it’s often difficult to find the best ones. I’m willing to spend money on apps, however I want the best bang for my buck. How can I be assured if I buy an app I’m buying the best possible one?