Flashpoint Paradox

The 2014 Flash TV series is one that has gotten me thinking after watching it's season finale and having already seen the animated movie "Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox". I have already weighed in on time travel in a previous post which was more of a short opinion on the concept. This one is more likely to be the same.....SPOILER ALERT IF YOU INTEND TO WATCH THE FLASH. 😁

The premise on which Justice League Flashpoint Paradox is based is that Barry Allen voluntarily dashes back into the past and saves his mother from being murdered by the Reverse Flash aka Eobard Thawne. This action changes the course of time. Barry loses his powers, Iris isn't his woman anymore, and the reverse flash exists and causing all sorts of havoc. The TV series and movie somehow align at this point. The Flash is faced with that tough decision, save his mother or not and in both instances 'future' him stops himself from doing that.

The question now is whether this action maintains the current course of time or develops another line. The existence of multiple coexisting universes is always debated. Does your current time line eventually go back to a critical point in your future or will time keep its path? I digress......What got me to write this is the ending of the season finale of season 1.

Is that the last we've seen of the reverse flash? Was Eddie Thawne's death in vain? When present Flash went through the worm hole and was instructed not to help by future him (who I'll refer to as PF and FF), FF knew would PF would show up at that exact moment.....meaning had Eddie not shot himself time would have remained as is. Another thing that leaves me wondering is why FF stopped PF. Points to FF knowing what the consequences of saving his mother would be and how else do we know the consequence? By carrying out an action meaning PF in a parallel timeline did save his mother and things went wrong so to correct them PF told himself  (after going backwards to some critical point so as not to save his mother again) that on the day he chases the reverse flash who wants to kill his child-self he should signal to past him that he should hold back from saving his mom.

Something else bothering me is if FF knew about Eddie's act to kill himself...If he did then the reverse flash lives and Eddie somehow comes back to life because of the simple fact that the fight in Barry's childhood living room still takes place. If he didn't, then that is a parallel future that only the present Flash would remember. In that case the present Flash needs to find another arch rival as the reverse flash is dead.

No one seems to address the Reverse Flash (from more than 100 years in the future) fighting with the Flash, whether present or future. Does that mean Barry lives to be a hundred? Or does he age veeeeeeery slowly? Or he mastered how to travel forwards and found the Reverse Flash's plot to kill him?

Maybe I need to read more of the comic books to make sense or some sense of all this. Season 2 will put some of my questions to bed. It's a long wait though.

Smartphones and Our Children

Times have certainly changed. To my generation, making a phone call involved getting permission from your parents to use one of those amusing looking red  telephones with a circular dialer. The duration of the call got plenty in trouble. When it came to entertainment, video cassette recorders ruled. Nintendo wasn't mainstream. Safe to say me and my fellow 80s babies grew up in the dark ages.

This is now the information age, the Internet is everywhere and anyone can have it regardless of age. People with children born after turn of the millennium feel like empowering their kids with cellphones for the purpose of 'communication'. Others will go the extra mile and purchase that Galaxy something or iPhone X simply because they want to their child to have the best. In as much as the intention of father/mother being honourable, results may vary.

My worry about this growing trend is whether these parents are aware of the dangers they open their children to by handing them a device that puts the power of good and evil at their fingertips, literally. Back in the day (the 90s), pornography was passed around like a true contraband, 1 cassette would make its rounds in one classroom till the tape gave up. These days, Google any key words and you have want you want. Then you needed friends; now? Who needs them? Websites providing simple mp3 downloads have porn site popup messages with the sole purpose of enticing visitors looking for a song into doing something else.

The online world is full of weird people preying on young naive users of social networks. A hunting ground for sexual predators with easy targets who think they can trust a person on yhe other end of a conversation via facebook inbox or twitter DM. Parents are allowing 13 year olds to join Facebook, the lack of supervised access is scary to say the least.

Then there's cyber bullying which takes the simple form of more than 2 people ganging up on a Facebook commenter or twitter retweeter. I have witnessed it first hand and these were adults going at it. Think of what would happen if a 12 year old got teased or taunted. The lack of mental strength would make their decision making poor.

I seriously think we need to 'world' proof these smart-devices we put in the hands of our offspring. Applications exist that can limit a phones functionality; download them. Check on what your children are doing before it is too late. Before handing that phone to your daughter ask yourself if it will benefit them in terms of building their character. Before buying your son one ask them if they know what the pitfalls are. If they have no answers then let them get a smartphone when they come of age!

Gadgets, Toys & Tech 2014...Did I stick to my plan?

At the beginning of the year I wrote a post about my own personal road map when it comes to which technology I would buy into and how I would not purchase a new/other smartphone for until 2016.

This is a follow up to see how the utterances of early 2014 me compare to my current reality and state of mind.

Two year long 'phone freeze'! Bold statement. I was on course till I experienced the death of my Lumia...it's logic board got burnt,how I don't know. Which meant I had no option but to throw it in the trash and this was after I sold my HTC. From 3 smartphones to 1. Still a good number right? No!

Left with nothing but the Z10 made me more aware of its deficiencies. Lack of native apps, android apps that crashed at will or refused to open, dated screen resolution and lack of processing power to meet my needs. And so because I was left a smartphone short I resolved to break the freeze and i got my hands a Galaxy Note 4. Still early days but I'm loving it.

Xbox On", that's what I say whenever I get home and need the TV and the cable decoder to power up. All linked the Xbox One which is my favorite toy this year. No regrets about getting it. I had no game discs for about a month and this made me appreciate the console's home entertainment hub focus. Things like voice command to control TV, rewind, pause and even hand gestures to do the above. I've been loving it. Game play,top notch, just need to grow my library.

I never quite got around to upgrading the specs on my pc this year and it must be sending me a message because things look like they're  falling apart, power supply blown, won't boot without direction. That's my sore spot for this year. Will I still get a Surface? Jury's out on that one.

2014 - year of the wearable...Microsoft Band, LG Watch R, Galaxy Gear, Apple Watch...still not sold on any of these. Let's see what 2015 brings.

Is It Love or Infatuation?

Title got you right? Disclaimer: I don't write about matters of the heart!
At this time of year I always get one feeling. I don't know if it's brought about by the festive season, I seem to get that 'new gadget' and I get hell bent on tossing my current number smartphone in favor of something that's caught my eye.

For a long time this year, my gaze has been fixed on the Nokia Lumia 1520. The huge gorgeous screen and my long standing obsession with Windows Phone made it the obvious choice. I simply wanted a WP phablet, the only one across the platform. I pictured all the live tiles I could fit into the home screen plus it's expandable memory. I would read review on review till I convinced myself that it was my destiny to own it by the time 2014 had ended.

But then,something happened. I thought closely about what I'd want in a tablet and I found the 1520 wanting in a few crucial aspects. Screen real estate - Check, enough memory - check, great - check, note taking with stylus - nope, apps - not all the ones I'm used to using. And that's how I took a step back and thought closely about my obsession with the 1520. It suddenly didn't fit the part despite being a great phone.

I ended up falling in love with the next best thing...Galaxy Note. or am I infatuated with the thought of owning one? Tough question..i suppose it's infatuation because I love Windows Phone and the user experience it gives you. Android has the numbers to make my app needs go away. Using a BlackBerry Z10 (with a massive app gap) has led me to depend on Android version of my frequently used apps and the discovery of new one. The only problem is frequency at which android apps need updates. This needs fixing. I'm not so over the moon about Samsung's hardware design philosophy. The faux metal/plastic/leather combo screams cheap all day.  I've never owned one, who am I to talk? Right. I guess it's time to see what is what.

I have done enough comparisons between the Note 3/4 and every other phablet and have found the Note coming out on top. And now,its all I see on TV. So I ask myself the question, is it love or Infatuation?

Have I fallen out of love with Windows Phone? Well,i guess for the time being I have chosen to ditch this 'girl' at the 'phone alter' and run off with the mystery lady that caught my eye. I will be back though!

Why Do You Need A Watch To Do What Your Phone Does?

I'm sure when first tablet was announced a naysayer uttered this three letter word, WHY. The question has undoubtedly been answered, emphatically! Now that the phone and tablet oranges have been squeezed dry everyone is looking for the next big thing. Enter the smartwatch....

This is one thing that divides opinions and I'm about to throw my hat into the ring.
Since the most basic cellphone came on the market, people have relied less on wrist watches because the phone had some form of a clock and since you use it so often it's easy to forget about checking your watch for the time. This time,the watch strikes back albeit too late.
Why do I need notifications on my watch? They'll say what if your phone is far away from you, then I'll say I don't understand the concept of a mobile phone. yeah it's cool that your phone tells you that you just got poked on Facebook but to poke back you need your phone.

Why would I need to take photos on my watch? For one thing, the pictures won't be of good quality compared to your phone. Don't dare say spy cam because that would make it a peeping tom's best friend.

Why would you want to make calls from your phone? I haven't seen anyone do but I'm pretty sure you need to speak into the watch like a secret service agent. May look cool but how long before the action starts to irritate you?

Fitness companion? Yes! Now that's a perfect way to use the smart watch hoping the manufacturer makes it with its own GPS receiver.

I'm sure you can come up with a few of your own 'why would you need a smart watch' statements... the smartphone is called such because it does a lot of clever things and only relies on a data connection and not another device. If you have one,tell me how it's changed your life. If you don't, think twice about making that investment.

Gadgets, Toys & Tech 2014

Ever since I had a job that could pay sensible bills and had something hefty left over after savings, I bought a new phone at least once every 12 months. In some extreme cases,i switched phones twice. At the end of the day, looking back I don't regret it though I have spent a pretty penny incurring little loss.

As I embark on a 2 year long phone freeze, I look to remain settled on two smartphones: the Nokia Lumia 820 And the **clears throat** BlackBerry Z10. At the moment,im using an HTC incredible S while I wait for a replacement screen on the Nokia. I'm tempted to do a review on the Z10 but I don't have the energy to breakdown an old new phone but I will say a number of things. While it misses BIS, blackberry got a lot right,the OS is clean,doesn't hang at all. Shame on OS 7,for being so lousy. The blackberry hub is top notch. The other side of the coin,lack of apps,the battery and the camera are not up to scratch. I'm having fun with it. With the Android runtime,i can live without an android phone for a while.
That aside, I will close my eyes to whatever Samsung, Apple, Nokia and HTC throw at me this year, no knee jerk reactions to any new products.

The one thing I look to replace this year is my Xbox. The 360 I have owned since 2009 has had its fair share of ups and downs, nothing major I might add. I purchased the arcade version that comes without the hard drive so I bought one separately. All 12GBs turned out to be a waste after it dropped to the floor and started to give the entire console the red ring of death. So I look the Xbox One for advancement. I can only get excited when the order has been done and it's on its way.

Seems I did a lot in 2008. Got my first smartphone, got my first Microsoft certification and built my current personal computer which is beyond the curve now. Running on ancient specs,I've let it get old I must admit. Now it needs to be replaced. i may just go Surface. Fingers crossed!!!!
Will I buy into this year's tech trends ? From a spectator stand point I will but I will not be tempted to buy anything other than what's on the plan. So no Galaxy Gears for me,or Google Glasses.

Accessibility....A feature Were Barely Aware Of

Before I begin let me just say that the content of this post is based solely on my opinion and has no input from any person with disabilities.... Let us begin.

How many of you have had that 'oh no' moment when you hear a cracking sound as your precious phone just slipped out of your hands or accidentally hit the phone against a hard surface? You pick up the phone fearing the worst and you find that its not so bad. Yeah,your screen is cracked but you can see who's calling you and maybe use a portion of the touch screen.

Such happened to me recently. I walking into a solid metal pillar with my Lumia 820 iny pocket, heard a sound and there it was when I pulled it out, a huge crack on the capacitive Bing search button. This not only did this render all the essential buttons non functional, so went 2/3 of my display. I was left with only limited input using touch then I realised that a small thing called accessibility and voice control.

Many of us are blessed with all working five senses, we do not know how not being able to hear your phone ring is or not being able to see what the message you receive says so we take some of the settings under accessibility on either our computers or phones for granted. I found that the screen magnifier made it possible to access parts I normally wouldn't because they're in a damaged portion of the screen and the text to speech functionality reads me the text out to me,even giving me the chance to dictate a response. Something that's missing is a screen reader, something that tells you what is on screen. This you most likely have to download separately. All these and many more custom app make phone and computer use a bit easier but not completely useful to those with disabilities.

Whats the reason behind this blog post, I think most people,especially those with visual or hearing impairments here in Zambia may not be aware of some of these things. Its purely an assumption. Even the able bodied probably skip accessibility on their phones not curious as to what its for.