The Official Fanboy.com Google+ Page
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 7, 2011 in Fandom
We’ve just opened up our official Fanboy.com page on Google+ — we’re just getting things set up, but please follow us!
The Android Font: Typography for Google Fanboys
I had always assumed the most intense fanboys in the realm of tech were the Apple fanboys who would camp out on line to get the latest Steve Jobs goodie — well I was wrong! Upon playing with Google+ I’ve come across a growing legion of Android fanboys who are obsessed with the Android mascot. And shown here is the proof of this devotion — I present the Droid_Robot font created by Natsumi Kawashima. Read more…
Circle Worthy: An Informal List of Great Geeks on Google+
It’s funny I somehow assumed that the rock stars who had conquered Twitter would move onto Google+ and do the same exact thing — but that simply isn’t the case. From my small time playing with this new service I’ve noticed a few folks who are really going the extra mile to use the site to say something interesting and to really make their mark. This isn’t by any means a scientific or comprehensive list, but here are some of the more interesting folks I’ve come across on Google+ so far: Read more…
How Do I Know that Google+ is Brilliant? Well It Just Ate My Weekend!
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 4, 2011 in Tech
As an old time BBS user I tend to be cynical about every new site that comes along, but not only did Google+ impress me — but it passed the ultimate test: It just ate most of my weekend. On the surface the program seems like a slightly updated version of Facebook, but as you begin to explore and really live with the program you start to realize that it’s so much more than that. Read more…
Is Android the Next Amiga?
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 17, 2010 in Tech
In the 80s the Amiga was eons ahead of everyone else in the PC market: They had everything from the ability to play full color animations to multitasking. However this amazing platform just never took off. Why? Because the user base took advantage of the first generation of floppy disks and BBSs to pirate pretty much every last bit of software that was written for the platform. Because of this Microsoft never created a version of Word for the Amiga and WordPerfect lost a great deal of money thanks to cheap users. In fact the only winner that came away from the Amiga was the NewTek Video Toaster which was pretty much dongle protected due to the hardware aspect of the product. Read more…
Bing Badly Needs a Misspelling Checker
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 16, 2010 in Tech
I believe very strongly that Google has an unhealthy monopoly on the internet, so for the past week or so I’ve switched all of my browsers to use Bing as the default search engine. For the most part Microsoft has done an amazing job of going from nothing to something to create a great search engine in a short amount of time, however there are still a few things that they need to beat Google. Having been born with dyslexia one of the things I love about Google is that their spell checker is amazing — in fact often when using Microsoft Word I’ll pop out of the program when I can’t get the spelling of a more obscure word. And this is the very sort of feature that not only does Bing need badly, but something that should also be incorporated into the online version of Microsoft Office. Read more…
Google Gags Goth Lolita Video
La Carmina is one of my favorite subculture bloggers, so I was a bit upset to see that YouTube had censored one of her videos by claiming that it violated their community guidelines. But I’ll let you be the judge — shown below is her video. Now before you watch this clip I will warn you that there is some fetish footage at the end. However some of you may be a bit disappointed as the model in question is clothed (she’s wearing underwear), and that may be hard to see as the scene is shot in a low light situation: Read more…
Don’t Trust Google With Your Data (or Anyone Else)
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 28, 2010 in Tech
I was never given a warning, so I was upset to suddenly try and log into my YouTube account to see that it had been deactivated. Of course I have my theories: I used the account to post many clips for this blog featuring everything from movie trailers to Japanese commercials. So I suspect that the copyright gods might not have been on my side. Although in the past when that was the case YouTube would do anything from yanking the video, to removing the soundtrack to keeping the video and inserting ads. Of course this is just a guess, I was never sent an email so I don’t know. Read more…
Silverlight Success: Riding on Apple or Google?
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 20, 2010 in Tech
In the wake of the Flash is doomed movement I’ve noticed quite a few Microsoft developers who are rooting for Silverlight. Silverlight has two amazing advantages going for it: Firstly Microsoft loves their developers more so than any other company that I’ve ever seen — and then add to that it will become a key tool for making apps for Windows mobile devices. But there’s one major catch to this which is that smart mobile is now dominated by Apple and Google, and that there’s a good chance that they won’t let Silverlight onto their platform. Read more…
I Hate to Admit It But the Interface for Windows Phone 7 Looks Great
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 16, 2010 in Tech
While I haven’t played with it yet the screenshots I’m seeing of the Windows Phone 7 look great. I’m an Apple fanboy at heart but it’s a wonderful surprise to see that Microsoft didn’t just do an iPhone clone. This isn’t enough to make me switch from my iPhone, however it is enough to make me have second thoughts about switching to Android and it also convinces me now more than ever that Palm won’t live to see the end of the year. From what I’ve read the Windows team has been working on this for 18 months and they decided to focus on the app side of the phone which is their core strength: Read more…