It's been what, almost 2 years since Apple took over the International smart phone market with its (I must admit, original) release, the iPhone... At the time, that was the only phone I could dream of having, and of course 3 months after its official release in the US, i bought it, for a pretty impressive price of $400. Unfortunately, since it was locked in the AT&T network i had to wait another couple of months till i somehow managed to get it unlocked. Ya, having a $400 brick in a box for two months was quite frustrating... But then, 50 Ron later, i had it unlocked and could use it in the Romanian Vodafone network. But still, something was still not right... I had the presumably smartest smart phone on the market but realised that i could never use at its full potential. There was no real software being developed fot it (ya, except Super Mario emulators and crappy PacMan games) and no visible chance of that happening in the future due to Apple's, or should i say Steve Job's obsession to stick to its non - opensource operating system. This practically means that it doesn't allow third-party applications to be developed and thus forcing consumers to use the Apple Store as the only source for applications. And still, although everyone was complaining, everyone was buying it as there was no other phone that could outrun it... Until NOW... Thanks to the launch of The Google G1 Smartphone...
Back in July 2005, when Google seemed to have so much money it didn't know what to do with, it quietly went about buying up a load of start-up companies. One of these was a little-known company called Android Inc, co-founded by Andy Rubin, now director of mobile platforms at Google. Little was known about this company even within its own industry: in fact, all that was available in terms of description was 'it developed software for mobile phones.'
In 2003, before getting involved with Android, Rubin conducted an interview with Business Week:
"Rubin said there was tremendous potential in developing smarter mobile devices that are more aware of its owner's location and preferences.If people are smart, that information starts getting aggregated into consumer products"
Hot on the heels of the iPhone launch, rumours began to increase of Google bringing out its own handset, to help leverage its burgeoning mobile search functions. Widespread reports of Google hawking its wares round to all the major manufacturers and carriers began to circulate; it was believed the new handset would be designed to work around location-based services and implement a whole host of Google Labs' ideas, as well as the old favourites Maps and Mail. In fact, the fact that Google was spotted more times than a Big Brother reject in the media meant it became a matter of when and not if a gPhone would be announced.
And then the Californians went and sprang a huge surprised on the world: not only had it not been working on a handset, it had been developing the core of a whole new open-source OS to rival the likes of Symbian, Microsoft etc... – THE GOOGLE ANDROID
Many people had trouble understanding the benefits of what Google Android actually was, and what made it special compared to the raft of other rival OS systems out there.
The best way to describe it was making all sections of the system like Lego bricks. Where before developers might have struggled to break down the bits of a mobile phone OS, and even if successful, would find that getting one part of the system to talk to another was very difficult indeed, as they were packaged up in their own little programmes.
But with Android, the rules were changed. Fancy making a GPS application that used SMS location updates? The two sections would fit together nicely. If you wanted to add in some location data from the net too? Just pop on a web piece, too. OK, it may not be that simple, but to the developer community, it represented a big step forward. While the above may have been possible through things like Linux for Mobiles (LiMO), Google Android aims to provide the same thing on a larger, more unified scale, thus bringing a wider audience in the future.
So now the secret was out, the pressure really was on to actually get Android to market in enough time that other companies and organisations wouldn't be able to steal a march. And so, here we are, in December, three months after the official launch of the G1... It is by far the phone with the most potential to rule the market for the next many months... One of the few phones that can challenge the iPhone and most certainly the only one that can defeat it. It seems analysts and industry insiders are predicting an even faster uptake of the Google handsets than the Apple iPhone, which would be something of a coup for an OS. (You can bet a standard T-Mobile / HTC handset wouldn't get this much coverage).
So what's next? Well, that's up to the public. Will it take to the new OS? Will the development community decide to embrace Android over the App Store that's doing so well for Apple? Will the iPhone become "obsolete"? We'll just have to see...
And just to give you an idea of what the G1 can do, watch the following video:
P.S. Its retail price is at around £700, meaning more than $1000, but it is actually being given for free by T-Mobile for any 18-month, £30/month contract you sign with them. And yes, i got it last week! :D
The Google G1
Abuses in Cosbuc... ?!
Cuvant inainte:
Draga Elena, asa cum blogul tau este "stupidity-only", al meu e "english-only", asa ca in cazul nefericit in care nu vorbesti limba lui Shakespeare, te poftesc sa iti angajezi un translator sau sa folosesti Google Language Tools
I recently received a link to a quite interesting little blog called "A blog about the abuses made by George Cosbuc's principal, Buciu Ilinca". I actually had the patience to read it all, including the comments, during a few boring lectures at uni, and i just can't stand not giving my opinion on this. With the hope that the author "Elena" will read this post, i must say that he/she either has a mental problem, or has absolutely no idea what he/she is writing about and just likes to fuck up other people's image.
To begin with, all I've seen you do on that blog is make false accusations with absolutely no proof! Anyone can produce numbers and give them out as "real information", but can you actually provide the source of your info? Obviously, you can't! And in case you can, i look forward to seeing it on that magnificent blog of yours... Sure, i can open a blog named "Corneliu Echer has sado-maso relations with students" and start giving out names, numbers and anonymous comments just to prove my point, but who's going to believe me as long as i don't provide proof? Probably some old people who have already been brain-washed by the media and tend to believe anything that shows up on a screen... (Not sure you're not actually one of them though. In that case, i pity you and you may stop reading from this point on...)
I saw that since September, you managed to come up with 6 posts about different "abuses" you tend to believe Ms. Buciu made. Well, let's see what these are:
1."With absolute power, principal Buciu Ilinca, took 100.000.000 lei (which means about £2,184) out of school funds [...] and bought 4 white cork panels... with wheels."
Nothing but filthy words filled with hatred and zero proof! How can you start saying such preposterous things without providing any hard evidence?! You realise that the principal is not the only one who deals with money in a school, right? And if such a thing actually were to happen, you would not be the only one yelling out about it. So if you post a document showing that you're not lying, i promise i will give you an apology. But till then, for me, you're nothing more than a worthless scum!
2. "Smoking allowed on school grounds!"
Come on dude, get out of your bubble and look around! There is no public school in Romania in which students don't smoke! They don't have any one's permission but they do, and they will most probably do this till the end of our days! I know 7-th graders who smoke at home and outside with no remorse, so why would they retain from doing so in the school yard? It's the family's fault that they fuck up their health, not the school's. School is there to provide them with a decent general knowledge which is supposed to help them throughout their life, not to teach them how to quit smoking! (And by the way, the videos you posted are totally irrelevant L-) )
3. I am totally going to disregard the post you made about the involvement of our principal in any political campaign! I've known Ms. Ilinca Buciu for more than 4 years and i doubt ever seeing or hearing her being involved in any political movement, let alone give money to such parties or put up banners on school grounds. Oh, and again, you have no proof!
4. "5 minute breaks instead of 10..."
On one hand you complain that the breaks are too short, and on the other you complain that kinds finish classes too late... How do you expect solving these two problems at the same time!? If you make the breaks 10 minutes long, classes would end even later! At least if the breaks are 5 mins long (like everyone is used to already) classes can end at an earlier hour. So there's another totally irrelevant post!
5. "A foundation is being run in room 17..." What the fuck? That is a room in which different school clubs are run and where Roxana Marin teaches her classes. When i was a member of the Green Team (and thus had access to that room for weeks) i did not see anything running there other than school activities. So again, you fail to give proof to your statements.
All in all, what i can say is that you are nothing more than a worthless teacher (or student, but i doubt it) who will do anything to grab some attention and to get listened to (at least on the Internet, if in real life you can't). Most probably nobody likes you and you're frustrated; you would give anything to be as popular as Ms. Ilinca but you know that is impossible, so instead of rising up to her level you prefer to lower her to yours (which again, i can bet is impossible). So if you consider yourself worth being listened to, give us your real identity, give proof to your statements and then people will consider you trust worthy. Till then, if i were you, i would hide under a rock and delete that piece of shit you call a blog.
Peace out!
Zzig-Zzagging thru Kent (part III) - " >:-( "
As I've been expecting ever since i left home, things are starting to heat up around here... Around here meaning at my new "home". What do i mean by "heat up"? Well, you'll find out in just a few seconds.
As I've stated in previous posts, i live in a house with 3 other people. 1- Bogdan, a good friend and previous high school colleague; 2- Roxana, a girl (d'uh) and Razvan, a guy who moved into our place after Stefan (Roxana's boyfriend) decided to move out cuz' he didn't feel safe in that house. (?Don't ask?) Ever since we all moved in, we set up certain rules in order to clarify each and every one's duties and rights, mainly to simplify our lives. However, the duties seem to be slowly diminishing and the rights miraculously multiplying. Rules such as "Thou all shalt take part in the house cleaning process" or "Thou shalt clean up after thy party" or even "Thou shalt not covet thy house-mate's food" no longer exist and frankly speaking I'm quite pissed off because of that. I'm not going to give out any names or make accusations, however, i believe that:
-calling friends over ~4 nights a week, smoking like a furnace and turning the house into a fucking smoke-cloud is wrong! (yes, although i have smoked for a while, i HATE having my clothes and my room reek like that)
-not giving a sh!t about helping with the cleaning of the house after you come over (by that i mean cleaning the bottles, pizza boxes, cans, cigarette butts, ash, spilled drinks, food parts etc.) and expecting others to do that for you shows what kind of education you (don't) have.
-eating food or drinking stuff that is not yours and for which u did not pay and which is placed in a cupboard that has a big sign saying "ia laba ca nu-i al tau" is also pretty fu*ked up!
And the list goes on...
On the other hand, I admit I am not perfect and I do happen to do wrong stuff too, but at least I respect those around me, their work and their belongings, and thus I expect to be treated the same. If i don't get that respect, then don't expect to ever have a peaceful "relationship" with me.
Zzig-Zzagging thru Kent (part II) - "The Party"
As promissed, i`m back with an update on what`s new here in Canterbury. And what else to talk about than a party? :P We(Bogo, Me and Razvan) decided last week to throw an all-romanian party this Saturday night at our place. Nothing formal was prepared and the invitations were stated as follows: "Hey! Wanna come to our party? You can bring all the romanian students you know with you! And bring some drinks too!", and so we ended up having more than 30 people at our place with the fridge and freezer FULL of 60+ beers, 3L of wine, 2L of bailey`s, 4L of vodka, and other weird-looking, freaky-tasting alcoholic beverages. What was the result? Well, let`s just say that in the morning, the house looked like a bomb had blown up inside. Beer cans EVERYWHERE (even in the bath tub), glasses in the yard, vodka bottles under the couches, bailey`s stains on the walls and best of all, a humongous barf on the carpet in MY room! Ya, even after putting up a sign on the door that said DO NOT ENTER, a bloody drunk cu*t goes into my room for a snooze and next thing you know she turns into the Old Faithful gheizer. Thankfully, she was at least sober anough to clean all the mess up (with my towel:(( ) Oh well, at least now we know not to do this again anytime soon (if not ever)!
Zzig-Zzagging thru Kent (part I) - "Intro"
Now that i`ve been here for quite a while (almost 3 weeks) i think i should be able to give you all a pretty good impression of what life is like here at Kent Uni...
First of all, the weather is "bloody" horrible! I can`t stand it! I wake up, i look outside, it`s sunny and warm, i get dressed, i open the door to get out and it`s raining... I go back in to get a jacket, go out, and the sun is back! That`s why 99.9% of all foreign students who come here suffer from the so-called "fresher`s flu". It`s actually a combination of all the germs in the world, added up into one huge and extremely fast travelling, mucus releasing, cough causing, headache producing nightmare.
One more thing that i don`t like here is the public transport system... It`s said to be efficient and always on time, but it`s actually a nightmare if you ever need to get somewhere fast (especially to school)... Not only does it cost A LOT (i paid more for a 1-year ticket than i`ve ever paid in Romania on RATB, CFR and Taxi alltogether since i was born- £120), but it`s also never on time! I already lost 2 lectures and a theatER casting because of that! Oh well, hopefully i`ll get a scooter soon... :-<
Obviously, i`m not going to talk about school stuff cause thats boring, but i will talk about the things you can do on campus to have fun... There is an infinite number of clubs and societies you can join - from skydiving and kung-fu to sado-maso and gay clubs, you can do virtually any activity you can think of just by joining these clubs. What is even ironic is that the neighboring Christ Church University has a pagan club... :)) Furthermore, there is a huge club on campus where you can go dance, get drunk and barf (however you have to pay a lot to get to that state...)
I forgot to mention that food is VERY expensive! It`s quite hard to eat well (and healthy) with less than 8 pounds per day...
*looks at watch and fraks out*
Shit! I have to go to my next lecture! I`ll come back soon with a post about parties, social events and other interesting stuff about Kent Uni and about life in Canterbury in general.
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