This is a really nice phone created by ZTE for Cricket Wireless. As you can see from my spec table it runs Android 2.3 gingerbread which I really like.  It weighs in at 4.5oz which is on par with many phones today. The Display is the largest supported display and the resolution is really awesome as well. The 600MHz processor cranks out more power than I will ever need and I am a hardcore user. The phone runs on the sprint network, and while I have heard some people complain about signal on Sprint I have had absolutely no problem with signal whatsoever. It supports SMS and MMS and displays them in a threaded form, the included email app supports  IMAP/POP3/SMTP and the Gmail app comes with it. It supports full web browsing and I have had amazing results with that. Unlike most smart phones I have encountered though it doesn’t use the “pinch” zoom instead opting for a double tap for a standard zoom and a small +/- button to adjust. The keyboard is a little small for me but I have abnormally wide thumbs and most keyboards don’t suit me so I don’t see that as a problem. The battery can drain pretty quickly if you aren’t paying attention but as long as you remember the cardinal rule of new cell phones (Let them charge fully and die fully twice straight out of the box) the battery life is comparable to every other phone I’ve ever had.

Now that the technical crap’s out of the way let me tell you, this phone is amazing. It is responsive to the touch, It has an SD Slot and comes with included 4Gb SD card. It does come preinstalled with some crappy game trials you can’t really toss easily, but what phone doesn’t. The MuveMusic feature ($10/month from cricket) was something I didn’t expect to really get into but I found that when I was out and about I would suddenly hear or see something that would remind me of something to download. I now have almost 1000 songs on my SD card. The awesome part about Muve is they have a fairly wide selection and Shazam (music identifier) is built in. The down side to Muve is in order to use it you need a special MuveMusic SD card. The included SD card is a Muve card but that means that 3Gb of my SD card can only be used for Muve while I am left with 1Gb of personal space. They do of course sell varying SD card sizes. The sound quality through either headphones (not included) or the loudspeaker is top notch. The phone does have GPS capability and included GPS software. It also comes preset for voice recognition, whether sending an sms, searching the web, or getting directions. It is really a handy feature when your hands are full or maybe you just can’t muster the energy to type on the onscreen keyboard.

On the negative side this phone has no flash for it’s 3.2 Mpx camera. I don’t personally mind because I don’t take a ton of photos and when I do I am usually in well lit places and it does have a decent zoom and a filter so your pictures don’t come out too washed out. Also I have yet to return to the Cricket store but about a week ago the phone refused to charge on the charger that was included. Luckily I am a tech nerd and had about 7 chargers lying around and one of the other chargers worked just fine. I will be bringing the phone and charger back into the store shortly to discuss this problem. But those are the only problems I could find with it.

All in all I would say this was an excellent buy. Oh and I didn’t even have to pay for it because when I stopped into my local Cricket store to inquire about it in mid-December they had a deal where they were giving it away free when you payed for your first month.

This is a real handy phone for anyone looking for a cheap and easy smartphone solution. This is also an excellent phone for music lovers or anyone looking for a cheap throw away android… (did I just say that?). It’s hard for me to think of many people, in the market for a smartphone, who wouldn’t enjoy this phone. As for those not in the market, for only 69.99 on cricket’s website, it’s practically a steal.

I have included some photos for sizing and also to show the case that I purchased from my local Cricket dealer ($25 and worth every penny.

4.75 inches tall with case	2.75 inches wide with case
4.375 inches tall without case	2.375 inches wide without case

For a full page of photo’s of the phone, and the case please click here.

I want to really quickly give credit where credit’s due. The people who have meant so much to me.

Stephanie – Your smile and bubbly spirit brightens my day every time I see you. You have such a stunning subtle wisdom about you sometimes.

Chris B. – You helped me in ways imperceptible even to me. Maybe it’s just that you remind me of old friends. Maybe it’s because from the moment I met you treated me like an old friend, I don’t know but you make a difference.

John S. – You, like Stephanie, have this enormous smile that just lights up my heart. You are full of energy, always well dressed. You always seem happy to see me, that means a lot to me. Also, as subtle as this may seem, I rarely hear you have a negative word about anyone.

Mike F. – I’ve known you for so long that for the past 5+ years that I haven’t lived near  you I feel like a part of me is missing. You were the Silicon to my Toyzz. We both are screwed up in the head but together we could rule the world sir, mad genius style.

Billy C. – The man who I probably most idolized in my early 20′s. Catch phrase: “Ain’t no thing but a chicken wing”. A more generous person I would be hard pressed to find. I lived with this man for 4 or so years and I miss him every day.

Joey T – When I really thought I was gonna die, when I was at my lowest, When I thought my life was over… You picked me up, brushed me off and kept me going. You got me back on the cigg’s but I hold no ill will sir because if anyone’s generosity could compare to billy’s it would be yours sir. I saw you give, and give and give. You gave me my life back. Thank you sir, I am forever in debt.

Tyson D. – Without you I would have spent a lot longer wallowing in my own self pity and loathing. You introduced me to hockey, the bruins and back into some other things too. (You know what I mean sir.) I am also forever in your debt. I have never met a person who seems to be so happy so often. Just laid back, relaxed, who gives a fuck! (unless of course pitsburgh beats the bruins then lets go fuck up some penguins! lol)

Miklo – My lord man,  you have had a rough time recently too, but every time I talk to you it’s the same as it’s always been. Oh well man, another day, all I can do is keep moving forward and keep a positive outlook. Always quick with a joke. Always ready to drop anything for me. Mad love Homie. (GOAT! lol)

Mike N. – I know you’ll never read this sir, but without you I would never ever have made it this far. You introduced me to a whole new level of spirituality that I never even considered. You forever altered my life. Moreso than most I would say. To this day I still consider you my mentor. I only wish it was easier to keep in touch cause I miss you so much.

Amber A. – I loved you, and although I still have mixed emotions on our friendship and how it ended I wouldn’t be here without you. For over a year you let me yack  your ear off after work when we both should have been sleeping. You also trusted me when most people wouldn’t have. I still love you and always will.

Brett R. – Man I am not gonna lie. In High School you annoyed the fuck out of me. But in the past 4 years you have redeemed yourself to me. Every time I am down and I post something negative and shitty I probably shouldn’t on Facebook you are right there with a wisecrack that always makes me laugh. Sir you are wise beyond your years and I wonder if even you know how important those Facebook comments meant to me. It means someone out there is paying attention and that’s really important to me.

Finally but not Least important are my mother and my sister. I have not always been the best son/brother. but through it all you were always there for me. No matter what I needed or what it is I am going through you are always there for me and for that I can never ever ever pay you back, and that hurts me deep down inside, but I guess that’s what family is for right?  Mad love guys.

If I forgot you or your name isn’t on the list it doesn’t mean that I don’t value you, or that I have forgotten what you have contributed to my life. I have had so many awesome friends over the many years here on this planet and I can’t possibly remember or thank everyone but all you remember that I love you all, you have meant so much to me and If I have hurt you in anyway I apologize from the bottom of my heart.

Always remember guys that to live happy you need to live in an “Attitude of Gratitude” and also Hug everyone you see today. There is something magical about a hug. When someone I care about hugs me everything else goes away and I feel so much better. I feel uplifted and loved. (If I lift you off the ground when I hug you (and theres a number of you out there who know what I’m talking about) It means that your hug has made me so happy I want to explode so feel good about it.)

So hug everyone you see today!

I’ve got a lot to say and a lot on my mind. I’m gonna unleash here and some of it may be hard to read.

Three years ago I thought I had it all figured out; home, good job, the best friends in the world, a woman who loved me and supported me. How much I had to learn; about love, life, friendship, and happiness.

When the woman I called mine left me, it was a slap in the face but one I definitely needed. I had become comfortable, complacent. I’ve been depressed for a while, and the slap hurt so much at the time that I went numb and into autopilot or survival mode. I’m not sure I ever fully came back from that place.

As I look back over the last few years, I have many regrets. But most of all; not being true to myself. I consider myself an honest, nice person. But I have lied, cheated, compromised, and stolen. Every single event pains me and causes me endless guilt, and I hope to eventually admit and apologize to all the people I’ve hurt.

The purpose of this post was initially to help me clear the air in my head, but now I think I’ve found it’s true purpose; I pledge to get the help I need to be happy, I pledge to be a better person.

Hopefully I will post more soon.
I’m spent,
Pat

#1 Cartoon network going Live

So you’re channel surfing and have the mind of an immature child, or maybe you just smoked a doobie but either way you suddenly decide “hey I’m in the mood for cartoons.” Up until recently if this was the case you could flip right over to the Cartoon Network (CN) and at least find Cartoons even if they weren’t very good. Now the quality of the cartoons has sunk to such a state that they cartoon network has a whole lineup of Live action shows. You heard me right…. live action shows this is a network based on cartoons, it is in the name of the network. What the heck is wrong with these people? If they just would create more quality cartoons the live action programming wouldn’t even be necessary. The shows include such fare as ‘The Othersiders’ – The best I can tell this is just a reality show about kids in haunted houses, ‘Survive This’ – a survivor like reality show for teens, ‘Brainrush’ – a show where kids are quizzed under intense circumstances, and ‘Destroy, Build, Destroy’ – I don’t know what this one is but it screams ADD. I wish that we could just see more ‘Dexter’, ‘Flapjack’, ‘Ed, Edd, and Eddy’ and the like instead of being subjected to crappy reality tv for kids. And think of what this is doing to the kids, we are only preparing them for the crapitude of reality tv that much earlier, but enough said.

#2 All new shows are interested in cross promo

It seems ever since shows like ‘Hannah Montana’ have become hits, every show out there is trying to get a cross promotion with music from ‘Hannah Montana’, ‘Glee’, ‘Ruby and the Rockits’ and more I just think maybe it’s time for a tv show that has nothing to do with music and won’t sell out any concerts or any albums. Maybe it’s time to focus on the story telling and the script writing and put down the instruments.

And that is my rant for the day. Some of the shows that I have listed here really aren’t bad shows but the principle behind my aggravations still stands.

Links and Copyrights

All Cartoon network shows listed under point #1 copyright Cartoon network visit http://www.cartoonnetwork.com for more information.

Hannah montana copyright Disney (http://www.disney.com)

Ruby and the rockits copyright abc family (http://www.abcfamily.com)

Glee copyright Fox (http://www.fox.com)

1)      We all love to eat fatty foods. — This simply is not true. Some of us eat fatty foods, some eat sweets, some eat healthy and some just eat.

2)      All of us are ‘Big’ and ‘Strong’ — I get this from the crazy amount of times I get hired as a laborer. I’m honestly not that strong. Again, some of us are and some of us aren’t

3)      All ‘Fat’ people are slothful and/or unhealthy. — Once again I repeat: This is only true of some of us. I am a little lazy but I am not slothful and am in great health.

4)      We all stink — I don’t know how this started whether its our B.O. or maybe just fat guys fart more I don’t know but we just don’t as a whole.

Ok folks my eyes are getting droopy so lets wrap this up. I am sick and tired of being discriminated against because of my waist size.

Fads and the Economy

This weeks topic is Fads with a fond look at internet fads. First what is a fad? Well a Fad is defined as a ‘Practice or interest followed for a time with exaggerated zeal. aka a craze’ We all know what fads are, they are trends that are extremely popular for a short period of time. In the business world this is defined by something called PLC Theory, or Product Life Cycle Theory (Levitt, 1965), but more on that later. What causes fads? Is it something that is part of human nature or is it a product of our ever decreasing short attention span? And finally is it possible to predict a fad? Can we maybe look back at the past and see if a trend? A fad of fads if you will? We’ll see.

I think we should first take a look at what makes a fad different from a business standpoint and that means we need to take a closer look at the Product Life Cycle. When I began researching this business of fads I had no idea what a PLC was, I hadn’t even thought about fad’s from a business standpoint. Then I found this. this is a chart depicting a typical PLC.

Product Life Cycle Diagram

A Typical PLC contain four major parts as depicted on this chart. The four major parts are:

• Introduction – Just what it sounds like; A new product or service is introduced to the market. People are still generally unaware of the product or service.

• Growth Phase – At This point sales grow at an accelerated rate and competitors enter into the scene.  Some customers are making repeat purchases.  Distribution expands at this point.

• Maturity – At this point sales start to level off and competition falls away. Market penetration is very high. At this point loyal customers are purchasing the product.

• Decline – Sales begin to decline. Interest in new items affects sales. Little to no competition remains.

This all seems pretty standard and self explanatory but  then I saw these charts.

As you can see a fad survives a much shorter time. This is incredibly interesting, how is it possible for something to go through all those stages that fast? I think in todays market it has a lot to do with the economy being global and our societal shift from years ago. As a final note on PLC’s I really found this chart interesting.

This is a picture of the PLC’s of LP and 45 vinyl’s and thend tapes and CD’s

What i find most interesting about this is the re invigoration of tapes after the release of CD’s. This happened because before the digital music era of Mp3′s tapes allowed you to mix your cd’s. Records declined because they were just replaced.

Sociology and Fads

So what is it about some things that make them become fads? Well if you look to sociology and Social Economics you find the theory of Informational cascades. Informational cascades occurs when people make a choice based on seeing someone else make a choice, and is independent of their own thoughts and input.  This is also based on social learning theory which states that we learn through observing, imitating, and then responding the the reinforcements. Basically what all this means is that people are more likely to do what they see someone else do than to do what they believe to be the right thing to do.  This is almost the text book definition of what a fad is. This in my opinion completely explains fads, and faddish behaviour.

Now for the fun stuff.

Fads of the 70′s, 80′s, and 90′s

I’ll admit I don’t remember most of these because I am too young but here are a selection of fad’s from the 70′s

• Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific

I have to tell you I had never ever heard of this stuff before I started researching this topic, but now that I’ve heard of it I wish it still existed, I would use a product with this name!

• Creepy Crawlers

Now I have never seen this package before but I do remember when creepy crawlers came out again in the 90′s with the following box.

• Lava Lamps

edit: some of this article was lost during movement and cleaning I will be working towards recovering it soon.

1/15/2012

I will always miss you chip…

History of Saturday Morning Cartoons

Hanna Barbera Cartoons

     Saturday morning became the childrens timeslot in the mid 1960′s and Cartoons took over in the mid 1970′s with shows like ‘The Jetsons’, ‘Pink Panther’, ‘Underdog’, and ‘Scooby-Doo’.  At the time there were really only five major television stations; ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, and PBS. It was incumbant on these five networks to present programming appropriate for all possible viewers, including children. ABC, NBC, and CBS decided that the best times to show childrens programming would be when parents really didn’t want to watch TV anyway, such as directly after school hours and very early on the morning on weekends. As it turned out Sunday didn’t get many viewers because most families were in church but Saturday morning programming for kids took off like wildfire and advertisers and the networks saw this as an excellent opportunity to plug kids full of direct marketing for candies,  cereals and of course toys, toys toys. The networks also saw this as a money making opportunity. They quickly decided that cartoons with minimal movement were the cheapest possible shows to fill these slots and cheaper programming meant more profit, shows by hanna barbera fit this model beautifully. Another very popular choice for the Saturday Morning Cartoons were telecasts of older cartoons originally intended for broadcast in movie theatres such as the Bugs Bunny and Road Runner cartoons

created by Warner Bros. Most of the live action programming for children was cancelled by the late 1970′s because of the extra cost of producing these shows. Around this same time parent-based watchdog groups began taking an interest in what their children were watching on Saturday morning and demanded programming that nurtured their childrens mind instead of rotting it. This lead to the creation of such programming as Schoolhouse Rock and also the Public Service Announcements that eventually ended up at the end of the shows in the early to mid 80′s. The 80′s were full of raging hormones and bad hair but on saturday mornings not too much changed. We still had Scooby-Doo, we still had Looney Tunes and we still had some of the classic hanna-barbera cartoons only now it seemed like Fantasy and Testosterone were on the mind because show after show featured superheroes (The Superfriends for example) and muscle bound muscle heads like He-Man, or fantastic lands like those of the Smurfs and

Education Programming At It's Finest

the Snorks. The ‘violent’ shows like He-Man and GI-Joe were forced to add little messages at the ends of their shows that kind of summed up the morals that were covered in the show to apease parents who thought that the shows exhibeted and taught bad behaviors. By the late 80′s it seemed as if every movie to come out was accompanied by it’s own animated series and this gave us such great cartoons as ‘Ewoks’, ‘Droids: The Adventures of R2D2 and C3PO’, ‘Teen Wolf’, ‘Real Ghostbusters’ and ‘Karate Kid’.  Some television programs that aired throughout the week also got in on the animation craze and got their own cartoons like; ‘Alf’, ‘The Little Rascals’, ‘Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling!’, ‘Jim Henson’s Muppet Babies’, and ‘Fraggle Rock’. They were the glory days of Saturday Morning Cartoons… But they couldn’t last forever.

The Beginning of the end…  

(or who killed the cartoons?)

• More Active Children
• Divorce (weekend time has become much more precious)
• DVR’s
• Change in maturity of America’s Youth

Whatever the real reasons I know I shed a tear every saturday when I wake up and can’t watch some classic toons even at my ‘ripe old’ age. 

More Pictures!!!

 

 

Captain N

JabberJaw

Muppet Babies

Bobby's World

Banana Splits

ThunderCats

Final Thougts

Take Our Poll

Bibliography/Links/Similar sites

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/25/business/media/25kidstv.html?_r=1

http://www.tvparty.com/

http://www.tvcrazy.net/tvclassics/wallpaper/cartoon_wallpaper.htm

http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=pageone&article_no=1751

http://toastedrav.com/post/5147_saturday_morning_cartoons_a_trip_down_memory_lane/video

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_morning_cartoon

http://www.pajiba.com/seriously_random_lists/best-and-worst-saturday-morning-cartoons.php

http://inthe70s.com/saturdays.shtml

http://inthe80s.com/saturdays.shtml

http://inthe90s.com/saturdays.shtml