I HATE Android!

This may sound a bit self-serving coming from an admitted Apple geek, but every time I try to give my Nexus 7 a chance I just wind up pissed off. It’s not the device itself, it’s dealing with Google (more specifically Android) that’s so frustrating. My iPhone and iPad experiences aren’t perfect by any stretch, but they are a walk in the park compared to my dealings with the Android tablet. I’ve been trying to understand why I haven’t been able to get the OTA (Over The Air) Android 5 Lollipop update on my 2013 WiFi Nexus 7. I’ve been reading Lollipop reviews for about a month now. I’ve even been reading reviews of Lollipop on the Nexus 7. Why can’t I get it? Every time I check the update status on the device, Google tells me that it’s up to date. But I’m still running 4.4.4!!! When will it be available? Nobody but Google knows for sure and they don’t seem to be telling.

And THAT is my beef!

Who can I call to find out?

Uh…..

Anybody?

OK. I’ll just keep waiting then. It turns out that people that have Android 5 on their Nexus 7 have side loaded it. That involves downloading the Android SDK from Google, putting my device in Developer mode and pretty much giving it the “Nuke & Pave” treatment. Oh, and by the way, you have to use a Windows machine to do it. Sorry Google. I’m not some nerd living in my mom’s basement. I don’t have all day to dork with the stupid tablet you sold me. I just want to install the OS you started releasing NEARLY SIX WEEKS AGO!!! Silly me. I thought buying a “pure” Android device (one unadulterated by the manufacturer) would ensure there would be no barriers to installing updates. That was dumb of me, I guess.

So, the Nexus 7 is back on the charger and I’m back to my iPad. Man is it nice being an Apple geek.

New Mac for Christmas? 3 Free Apps You Shouldn’t Be Without

I’m certain there’s a ton of new Macs warming up for the first time this Christmas. The way Apple is growing the platform, there’s probably more Macs given as gifts than any time before and lots of these new Macs went to first-timers. I bought my first Mac in 2006 and haven’t bought a Windows PC since. It’s hard to remember those early Mac days, but while I do remember how I instantly fell in love with my new 17” MacBook Pro, I often forget the challenges I faced as a noob to the platform. If you’re one of those using a Mac for the first time I have one simple piece of advice that I wish I’d heard way back in ’06: DONT OVERTHINK IT!

If you’ve just ventured away from the world of Windows, you have a ton of mental garbage to forget. Just remember, if you’re not sure how to do something on your Mac, just try the simplest, most logical approach and nine times out of ten you’ll be right. There may be things you need to re-learn, but believe me, you’ve just walked from the dark into the light. So, let’s get you started with a few free apps that will make your life simpler and easier than the Mac already does.

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Übersicht: Finally, a Good Widget Solution for OS X

Widgets are popular for a reason. They serve a useful purpose and users really seem to like them. It seems everyone except Apple realizes this. Android, Linux and Windows operating systems all have facilities for displaying widgets on home screens and/or desktops. Conversely, Apple sweeps them onto a quasi-desktop called the “Dashboard” that takes a special effort to view. You know the old saying, “Out of sight, out of mind”. And that’s where Dashboard widgets stay. And Apple keeps making it easier to get rid of them altogether. As of OS X 10.9 (Mavericks), there’s a dropdown in System Preferences-> Mission Control that lets you select to use Dashboard normally, as an overlay or turn it off completely. I select “Off” because I never seemed to use the hard-to-get-to widgets. It’s a real shame, because there’s some really useful ones like for viewing stock prices, weather, calendar, world clocks, package tracks, etc., but if I have to make a special effort to view a limited-function widget for information, I figure I might as well open an app or web page and do it right.

Well, now there’s a great alternative called Übersicht which, according to Google Translate is German for “overall view”.  I don’t know how accurate that is, but what I do know is...

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Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 & DD-WRT: A Winning Combo

Works great. Looks UGLY!Last week I did something very uncharacteristic for a self-professed, died-in-the-wool, drank the KoolAid, Apple fanboy. I replaced my four year old Airport Extreme (Wireless-N) router with a new Netgear AC1900. Why would I commit such a traitorous act? Well, I guess my gearhead left brain overpowered my Apple-nirvana right brain. Also, I’ve been wanting to upgrade to wireless-AC since I bought my new MacBook Pro a few months back and I learned that Apple stopped supporting SNMP on their newest wireless-AC capable AirPort Extreme. In my world of limited bandwidth, SNMP is a feature I don’t want to live without. Additionally, I’ve been dying to install and run DD-WRT, the open-source router firmware that gives sub-$200 routers the power of Cisco devices costing ten times more.

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