Dad (Brett)
All around rockstar geek. Brett enjoys his job as a Clinical Data Manager (helping research medical breakthroughs at Celgene); in his time off he enjoys reading books, watching movies, and learning new tricks on his camera and in Photoshop. He absolutely adores his wife and 2 daughters.
Mom (Erin)
Complete supermom. Erin loves her job as a Youth Field Researcher (aka 'mother'); in her plentiful spare time (ha!) she enjoys sleeping, re-reading Twilight or Harry Potter, and cuddling with Brett.
Aeriana ('Wacko', 'Princess')
Hybrid Angel/Devil. Aeriana loves her mommy and daddy, each of whom she loves to test at times and pretend innocence at others. A veritable sponge, Aeriana wants to do anything she sees an adult doing; she loves babies and especially adores her little sister, taking great care of her every need.
Zoe Jean ('Stinker', 'Cutie')
Growing fast, Zoe wants to be just like her big sister. Very goal oriented, she'll find a way to get that toy she's been looking at. She loves her pacifier and can't help but snuggle up to her blanket. Zoe is as relaxed as they come, she just loves chillin' out and watching TV.
Light Writing is awesome, way more fun than trying to complete bizarre analogies in random blog post titles... so I'll get straight to the point. I saw this video this morning and had to share, this is absolutely incredible and must have taken a lot of time and energy for this group to put this together. Erin and I use the iPad for some cool stuff, but never anything as cool as this.
P.S. Yes, I know we need to post about our two girls (Zoe's first birthday is next week!), and we're working on it, but I couldn't hold back this incredible video.
With iPhone and iPad apps coming out constantly (~60,000 new/updated apps per month), and with specials happening frequently to make many of them free, I imagine that every week or so Erin or I will have a new app we're really excited about... In fact, since my post just a few days ago, Erin's already got a new one she found that seems to be a lot of fun - Shift.
So rather than finding myself posting a blog in six months titled "Apps We Like - Part 37", I decided to just add a short list of apps we're currently excited about to our blog, which we'll update whenever our excitement shifts. Just keep an eye to the right side of the screen, scroll on down past our pictures, and stop right before you get to our list of books we've read this year. Right now there are eight apps listed, this could easily change depending on our moods, but at least you've got something you can look at if that anti-feline inquisitiveness grabs you.
Of course, if you've got something that you happen to be excited about, just leave a comment on any blog post - even if it's not relevant. We love getting recommendations.
P.S. We can't wait to finally get iPhones next month and be rid of our lame LG Chocolates.
Yesterday I blogged about apps we really like for our iPad. Yesterday was also the kick-off of the World Wide Developers Conference hosted by Apple (Steve Jobs announced the new iPhone); all week software developers are meeting at this conference to network, learn about the new operating system update that is accompanying the new iPhone, and do... whatever else it is that software developers do.
I just learned that many developers are giving special discounts on their iPhone/iPad apps during this developers conference. I haven't looked too deeply into this to see how widespread the practice is, but if you've been eyeing some apps and have been put off by the price - this week will be a good time to look again and see if it's been discounted to a more palatable price range.
Of course, the most palatable price is "free", so here's hoping some developers decide to go that route.
My brother asked me for a list of apps for the iPad that we would recommend; I was part way through the email when I realized that there were probably others who might be interested as well.
We tend to gravitate toward free apps, and for many of the apps listed below we actually have the "lite" or "free" versions because we like the app but not enough to pay money to do more with it (we also will sometimes use the iPhone version rather than the iPad version of an app if it's cheaper - app purchases can add up quick). There are also a number of paid apps that we were able to get for free during a special discount period (using the three websites below); finally some are apps which Erin or I thought worth the cost and purchased the full version (I've added an asterisk before the ones we actually paid money for). We do have plenty of other apps, but these are our "recommended" ones; we also really like some of the native apps - but I don't think you'll need any help finding those.
Sometimes I really hate news reports. In the past couple of months I've seen numerous reports on the "alarming number of suicides at Foxconn". Foxconn is a Chinese company that makes electronics for big name corporations (Apple, Dell, Sony, HP, Amazon, and others) and the headlines have read "Another suicide at Foxconn!", and "10th Foxconn employee this year takes own life!" The body of the reports then claim that Foxconn is a terrible, awful place that we should boycott or otherwise hold responsible the corporations that use Foxconn to assemble their products, etc.
Here's the problem, Foxconn is an incredible company (though don't take that to mean they're perfect, the company is run by imperfect humans after all) and these articles are risking the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of Chinese workers, not to mention all of those around the world invested in and employed by the companies that contract out to Foxconn.
Do I sound callous? That's what the articles are banking on - emotional reactions, I mean who could possibly support suicides? Not me. Hopefully not anyone else. I do however support facts. Facts such as these:
- Foxconn employs 486,000 people (to give scope, Salt Lake City has a population of about 182,000 - so Foxconn employs 2.7 Salt Lake Cities). - In the first 5 months of 2010 there have been 10 suicides committed by Foxconn employees. - That means that Foxconn has an annual suicide rate of 4.9 per 100,000 people - In comparison the average suicide rate for China as a whole is 13.9 per 100k (that means Foxconn, as a sub-population of China, has cut the rate of suicides by 65%) - In other countries (per 100k): Japan: 24.4; Switzerland: 17.5, France: 17.0, Sweden: 13.3, New Zealand: 13.2, Canada: 11.6, United States: 11.1, Australia: 10.9, U.K.: 6.8
In other words this company that is taking the wrath of the media (and many who follow the media) has a better suicide rate (by far!) than countries we consider great places to live.
On another positive note, the media firestorm is getting Foxconn to implement various methods to attempt to reduce that number even further, which is fantastic. Unfortunately, this isn't the only thing people in the media want.
What people are calling for is increased wages and better living/working conditions for Foxconn workers. I disagree. Do I sound callous again? Give me a chance to explain.
Apple recently released the iPad, which Foxconn helps to build. The base iPad model is priced at $500. Because of that price, Apple sold 1 million iPads in the first 28 days. If Foxconn paid it's employees more (who currently make at least 4 times as much as the average rural Chinese, plus have their room and board included), Foxconn would have to charge Apple more. If Foxconn charges Apple more, Apple will charge customers more. If iPads (and other electronics) cost more, people will buy less of them. If people buy less electronics then Foxconn will not be able to employ as many workers and all of those workers who are let go will have their salary cut by at least 75% and their living conditions diminished considerably.
It's common sense that only becomes common when the facts are all laid out - something that most of the media fails to do because "Foxconn creates relatively good conditions for workers" is never going to catch as many eyes as "Foxconn deaths are everywhere!!!"
Any time someone says that we should close the sweatshops or the "awful" factories in China, think twice. If the working conditions are THAT bad, people will stop working at a company, but generally speaking a job in a sweatshop that pays $60 a month (less than half of what Foxconn pays) is better than the $30 a month they can expect elsewhere ($30/month is the average salary in rural China).
Do I wish Chinese workers had better jobs and better lives, sure! Do I wish the suicide rate was 0/100k, sure! But if our goal is a better life for these workers, then creating a crisis where none exists resulting in them LOSING their jobs is downright immoral.
The real answer, if you want to make the lives of Chinese workers better, is to buy more Chinese products. You buy more products, more Chinese workers can get 'good' jobs. Also, support education in China (and other countries); people are taking these $60-$120/month jobs because it's either that or work in the fields for $10-$30/month. If they had better educations they could become more productive and command higher salaries. But don't by any means boycott companies and cost these poor people their jobs.
(By the way, this rant was brought to you as a result of me being stuck in Costa Rica - where the poverty is also heartbreaking - with nothing to do for a few hours, and no good way to let off steam to Erin instead of the blogosphere.)
Seriously, do not under any circumstances get an iPad.
Get two of them. Or maybe three.
For Mother's Day, Erin got a new 64GB WiFi iPad. (Yes, I realize that it's not yet Mother's Day, but do YOU have the self control to wait to give a present like that? I obviously don't.)
When I gave it to her, I told her very clearly "this is YOUR iPad, not OUR iPad. If you want it, you get to use it." That may have been one of the dummest things I've ever said. And that's why I so strongly recommend that, if you're going to get an iPad, get at least two of them. Otherwise you may find yourself typing up a blog post on your laptop, looking longingly across the room as the one you love is being swiped, flipped, pinched, zoomed, and rotated by your wife... um, I mean while your wife is playing with HER iPad.
Seriously though, the iPad is cool. Very cool. Browsing the web is extremely natural, the books we've got on it so far look great, the games are fun, and so far we haven't paid money for a single app - they've all been free (so far, at least).
Check out Erin's reaction when I busted out her Mother's Day gift:
Zoe even got in on the fun. (Aeriana and her two-year-old-attitude hasn't gotten to touch it yet. Maybe in a few years.)
But such joys cannot last forever - look at that sad face! (I'm sure you can imagine the same pain and sorrow on my face when it came time for me to hand over the iPad as well):
Happy *almost* Mother's Day, Erin! You are an amazing mom and an amazing wife and I'm glad you like your new toy.
(P.S. I'm offering monetary rewards for any successful suggestions on how I can trick Erin into letting me use the iPad... unfortunately, suggesting that she take the laptop to read this blog didn't work - she just opened it up on the iPad. ;-)
Dropbox is a service I'd heard a bunch about, but didn't actually try until last week. Now I'm hooked. First off, it's free. I like free. (You can upgrade to a paid account, but the free account is plenty for me).
What you do is sign up for the free account, then install Dropbox on one or more computers (we've currently got it on 2), and then any files you put in the Dropbox folders on your computer(s) will auto sync between the online account and your computer(s). It's so easy and straightforward, I recommend it to anyone. It's like a 2 GB flash drive that's online and always up to date and shareable with friends if you want.
Also something that's cool, every referral gives you, and the person you referred, an extra 250 MB. If you're interested, use the link below to sign up and we'll both get more storage.
Here's the referral link, and then a short video that explains the service. But seriously, give it a try, you'll love the idea. (FYI, there aren't enough people that visit this blog to warrant advertising... if I mention a product or service it's because I'm actually excited about it, not because I'm getting paid).
Dad (Brett)
Mom (Erin)
Aeriana ('Wacko', 'Princess')
Zoe Jean ('Stinker', 'Cutie')
Dropbox = The Awesomeness