Cinnamon: my desktop of choice.

Though I've come it to like running GNOME on Ubuntu, I found it that after a while GNOME became quite a RAM hog. A few weeks ago, I ran into Ubuntu Cinnamon Remix, which brings my favorite desktop environment, Cinnamon, to Ubuntu as default.

So far, I haven't used more than 4 GB of RAM with the same usage I had on GNOME. And, I've come come to realize how much more of a better fit Cinnamon is for my daily need. And, even though I like Linux Mint, being able to use Cinnamon as default on Ubuntu is something a like a bit more. Mainly because I prefer Ubuntu over Linux Mint, though I admit is mainly because Ubuntu was the first distro I used full time when I made the jump to Linux.

Yet, I don't discard making the jump back to Linux Mint if Ubuntu using Cinnamon doesn't become an official flavor when 2021 come around. In a way, Linux Mint could be considered the official Cinnamon flavor, since its based on Ubuntu, yet it follows the long-term release schedule. What I'd like to see, is a release schedule mirroring the one Ubuntu has, though Linux Mint releases have been solid so far.

True being told, I'll probably go back to Linux Mint. I don't see much chance that Ubuntu welcoming Ubuntu Cinnamon remix an official flavor soon, so I rather support Linux Mint. Though I'd rather stay on Ubuntu, I rather go to a distro that uses my favorite desktop environment that has a better chance to continue support in the future.

Technology needs to be guided to be a force of good.

I find it interesting how some people seem to see technology as either as something that'll save us, or what doom us. It seems that most don't seem to realize that most of the time, technology won't do either on its own.

At the end of the day, technology on itself won't save or destroy humanity. It rather comes down to how we use it to interact with other people, and the world around us. All technological devices are merely tools that help us to complete a task, which on its own is not good or evil.

The user is the one who is good, or bad, not the tool that was used to do the task at hand. The people who use any tool, are the ones who are responsible for the end results. To blame the tool, is to take the responsibility away from the one who used it. By doing so, we are shielding that person from the consequences that should come for the use, or misuse, that person has to face.

If we want to people to use technology in a way that benefits all, or at least doesn't do harm to others, we need to do two things. One, is to teach them to use them effectively. If not, people won't be able to make the best use, and even misuse it without realizing it.

The other thing, is that we need to let people face the consequences of their misuse they make. If they aren't allowed to face any consequence, we won't be able to curb unwanted behavior.

Most importantly for me, we need to come to terms that new technologies mean that we'll have to change how we relate to the world around us from time to time. This change is necessary, specially if it means that we'll improve life for as much as people as possible.

This change needs to be stop seen as something undesirable, but as something to be embraced and actively guided so it gives the best results as possible for as many people as possible.

Technology, and the change it brings, can be positive if we take the time and effort to make it so. It's time to be an active participant, and make it happen.

Linux has become more user friendly for the average person.

I find it somewhat funny that most people still believe that using a Linux distro would be using a command line interface like this:

When most distros would use a graphic user interface like this:

Although the user interface varies from distro to distro, most of the time there is no need to use a command line interface. Most of the daily tasks can be made without the need of entering the terminal emulator, which makes life a lot easier and less daunting for the average user.

In the seven years I've been using Ubuntu, or Linux Mint, the amount of time I've to use the terminal has been dropping significantly. So much so, that it can be more than a month before I make any use of the terminal, and most of the time is to uninstall old kernels to make space for the current one.

As such, it has become more user friendly for the average user. This is specially true for distros like Ubuntu, and Linux Mint, since most, if not all, can be done without the use of the terminal. Meaning that you don´t need to be a geek, or have much technical knowledge, to use or solve most of the daily issues that can come up.

To be honest, now more than ever I´m more comfortable and willing to advise the move to those users that want to move out of Windows, or MacOS, to an OS that they´ll be able to use that just works. Yes, there will be some learning curve, but it won´t be as bad as one might think.

It seems like Linux, with some of its distros, finally has become a solid option for the average user.

I like to be on the move, as such I prefer my computer to come with me.

On daily basis, I use a laptop at home and a desktop at work. As such, I've found that if given the choice I'd rather use a laptop the whole time.

Though desktops will always be more powerful, for my workflow a laptop is just a much better fit. It gives the flexibility of use I like, and especially I don't need to have that much of a powerful CPU, or GPU, for what I do both at work and at home.

The most important thing for me, is that a laptop is a much better fit for my lifestyle. I'm always on the move, not liking to stay at home for long periods of time. So, I like to go to a coffee shop to do some work just so I don't get to restless or simply to change my surrounding a bit.

Not only that, even at the office I'd love to be able to move the computer around. Set it at my lap, or just move next to a window just to change the scenery a bit from time to time.

Most importantly, I like the ability to take my work with me without worrying about having how to access to my files, or the software I use, no matter where I'm at or what time it is. Just be able to pick up work where I left it independently from of where I'm at that particular time.

Laptops give me that ease of use, and a sense of empowerment to do what I need to do wherever and whenever I need to get it done.

It's a balance between form and function, not prioritizing one over the other.

It seems that Apple finally understood that prioritizing function over form isn't always the best idea to create products that just work.

The best products, the ones that just work, and look great, are the ones on which the designers understood how to balance the form and the function to make the product that works great and looks awesome. Putting to much emphasis on either the form, or the function, is the recipe for creating the kind of products that will fail big time.

If you put to much attention to form, you'll get a product that won't work at least at well as people needs it to work. At wort, you'll get something completely unusable, since many of the items that need to be there for the product to work as the user needs it to won't be there.

On the other hand, if you go only by function you'll get products people won't use because they are uncomfortable to use, there is no easy way to figure out how to use it, or simple people won't pick it up simple because they don't like it. In some occasions is a combination of those three things.

This is why striking the right balance of form and functions is something that must be considered a priority when designing any product. People don't buy things based just on form or function, but on how these two are balanced. Though there are exceptions, the vast majority of the thing we use on daily basis strike the right balance of form and function we seek. We use things because they look how we like them to look, and also work in a way that gives us the results we are looking for.

In a way, we get those things that appeal to our sense of taste while they do the things in a way we expect them to work. The products we love, are those that do what they say they will while looking good doing so.

While some people may say they prefer form over function, or the other way around, the truth is that people ends up using what strikes the right balance of the two. It must be said that form is not just making things look pretty, but make them so people use them easily, and comfortably, for the intended purpose of each product.

As with everything else in life, form and function need to live in balance to achieve the best possible product.

Critical thinking is sourly lacking, and its really bad in the worse possible ways.

With so much misinformation, and lies being spread around social media, media in general and the Internet, it has become harder to know what to believe or who to trust. Specially when that misinformation resonates with core beliefs of people unwilling to do some extra research, or just look for more information to collaborate what they came by before making up their mind.

All of these becomes more insidious, when you add into the mix the fact that there are many that aren't capable to question what they come the information they come by. Many just take it on face value, which in some cases can lead to the wrong conclusions about the subject of the news they heard about.

Critical thinking is a skill that needs to be learned, and even easier to take for granted for those who learn to think in such a way. So much so, that it takes many by surprise that many people out there didn't learn to think critically. Which makes it hard to communicate with them, since some don't take kindly when someone not only refuses to take their ideas, but also questions them.

Sadly, the education we receive both at home and school doesn't always gives us the tools to think critically. Kids are thought to memorize information, and not to actually take it to be understood and be processed to come to their own conclusions. They aren't allowed to ask why do things work the way they do, jut to accept that things just work that way.

If we want a stronger society, one that can actually make the best use of democracy, all the people needs to be able to think critically. The root problem isn't that social media can be used for people to exchange ideas, rather that people aren't able to discern misinformation because they don't have the tools to recognize it.

Time has come to make sure that our education systems equips people with the tools that help them to think critically. It isn't just the way to build better a better society, but actually save our democracy.

Eoan Ermine 19.10 might be the one that brings me back to Ubuntu.

One of the things I look forward every October, is the release of a new Ubuntu comes along. Although I currently use Linux Mint, Ubuntu's 19.10 Eoan Ermine release is tempting me to make the jump back.

Ubuntu holds a special place for me, since it has the first Linux distro I used full time. Also, its the one of the OSes that I find that are better suited for the uses I give my personal computers. So, I always keep an eye on what's new with each release in order to see if there is enough there to make me want to make the jump back.

I've to admit that ever since the 19.04 Disco Dingo came out, the idea of coming back to Ubuntu has grown stronger. In some ways, is a sense of nostalgia that makes me want to return to the distro on which that started me on the use of a Linux distro. But there's the fact that how Ubuntu implements GNOME's on the desktop environment, makes a bit of a better fit for my daily use. It simply helps things flow when I'm using my computer, no matter what I'm doing.

I'm still looking into it, but it seems that it's just a matter of when I'm making the jump back. Even if it ends up being for a couple of months, the it feels like I just need to give Ubuntu the chance.

Technology is as good, as bad, as what we use it for.

It's somewhat interesting, or sad, how people tend to see technology either what will save or destroy humanity. It seems that for most of these people it's hard to understand that any technology just has the potential help us go either way.

At the end of the day, it all depends how we use technology which will determine if its impact on our lives will be positive or negative. All new technologies will change how we relate to the world around us, but its the use we give that will determine the benefits we can expect from them.

Most of the time, most will take the easy path of blaming any technology rather than accept that it was misused. While is true that some technology has been proven to do more harm than good, most of the time is the misuse of technology that brings harm. Even fear, in many shapes, has come into play for either not accepting it or for its misuse.

In a way it seems like people loves how technology makes their life easier, but they don't want to take responsibility for its misuse.

People are ready to call how any technology is being misused, and sometimes its ironic that they use that they are using the same technology. Its easy to forget the most things are a double edged sword. It can be use for our benefit, and also to harm us.

The time has come to take the responsibility the technologies we use for the better. Until then, we are exposed to the consequences of its misuse.

We are in a new brave world that no one truly saw coming.

One of the things that science fiction writers got wrong, was how computers would develop. Most of them thought that they would become ever bigger, and we would all interact with one via a terminal.

Yet, the opposite came to be. Computers became not only ever more powerful, but they also become smaller. And although with the advent of the Internet, it could be argued that in the essence each of our computers connected to it acts like a terminal, they didn't become just a terminal dependent on a central computer to operate.

Computers have become so small, that in our smartphones and tables we got truly portable computers that we can carry around with us all day long to do much more than many science fiction writers, scientist and engineers could have even imagined even a few decades ago.

Its both interesting, and a bit scary, how much data we don't only have access to with smartphones, but also how much data we generate while using them. In a way, we all have become content creators at some level. Yes, most of the time we consume content, but we also create some by modifying in some way the content we share with others.

Media has become truly interactive, allowing people to become active participants. So much so, that people expect to be able to participate in some way each time they come in contact with any content they come across. Media has truly been democratized, though I still see it the whole thing being in the process of maturing. While in some ways, some artist and content creators have figured out how to manage the whole thing, there is still plenty of room to actually improve and to make it work better for everyone involved.

Though we are in living in a world no one fully predicted, we are getting better at making the best out of it. One of the best things about it, is that it has truly made it easier for more people to actually have a hand in making of a better world. Now, we not only make sure that those who are only in stay in, but also give more people the chance to have a say on it.

I'm on Android because it works for me.

When I say that I prefer Android over iOS, has lead to some funny reactions from people that expect the usual fan boy arguments that have been thrown around when discussing why you prefer one over the other.

It seems that some people can't seem to understand that I do believe both are rather good OSes, and even that iOS does somethings better than Android. Yet, I've found that Android is a better fit for me, and its drawbacks aren't an issue for me. And for the things that iOS does better, don't really matter for me because I simple don't have an actual use for those features.

I simply found in Android an OS that just works for me, and it actually helps me set my smartphone just the way I want it to be. The only thing I'd like to have more options is on the cases front, but its something I don't really care about. I just prefer to be able to change the launcher, and the icon set.

My favorite, and go to, launcher is Evie Launcher. What I like most about Evie, is that it quite simple, minimalist, and it can be customized to suit your taste. It has extra points for having a dock option, which makes my home screen look clean while giving me access quick access to my most used apps. The rest of the apps that I use can be accessed with a flick, while those apps that I don't really use that much or I can't uninstall can be hidden.

Would I use an iPhone? Only if I've no other choice, but not because I think that its bad. It simply doesn't give me what I want, or need, on my smartphone. Apple has done great things with it, and has made things that have jumped to Android because they are useful things to have on a smartphone. But those things are not enough to make it an option for me.

At the end, I'm quite happy with Android.

New technologies always change our relationship with the world around us.

I find it both amusing, and frustrating, how some people seem to always be complaining how technology has changed things from what they used to know. It makes everything different, and how they wished all would go back to how things used to be.

What most people seem to miss, is that new technology changes the world around us. The printing press, the steam engine, radio, the car, all these technologies meant changes so big that they mark a before and an after. The thing is, that the people who where at the middle of the change can't conceive a world without the technologies that they used. They seem to forget there was a time when people had to make do without a telephone for example, or a steam engine that make certain tasks easier.

For those who experience the world before, during, and after certain technologies became common place are able to compere. Yet, many bemoan the evils of those new technologies while reaping the benefits of their use. Or sometimes, they fail to adapt to the changes that come with them making it hard to connect with those who actually came to use the new technologies with ease.

The main difference today, is that new technologies seem to keep coming our way faster than ever before in human history. And it has been this way for over a century now, making even hard to keep up with them and at the same time to gauge how those changes impact us. Now we have to learn how to keep our ability to adapt on for far longer longer, because learning how to use new technologies as they come is now vital to keep current.

I don't think that technology dehumanizes. It rather makes us question what it means to be human, and how we interact with the world. It brings what is already inside all of us, making it visible to more people. Technology is amoral, we are the ones who are moral. Humans are the ones who decide to use things for good or evil, not the other way around.

We should be asking ourselves how to teach the new generations how to think critically, so they can act in a way that'll bring the best out of them in order to benefit the most people as possible. Its not technology that is good, or evil, in itself. The answer lays on how we use it.

The world is not only becoming interconnected.

It seems that not many people realize that the world hasn't become just interconnected with the raise of the Internet, and truly global media. Trade has managed linked the economies of many countries so tightly together, that they need each other for their continued growth.

 

Borders are losing their current meaning each day with the flow of goods, ideas, and information. In many ways, borders are becoming just a geographic reference to place the point the origin, or where a product is consumed. As time goes by, more people are seeing themselves not only as a citizen from a certain country, but as part of something bigger.

While they jury is still out on what will all this ultimately mean to humanity at large, so far it seems that we will be able to make it work for the better since there are more people actually working to make it so. So much so, that trying to stop this global may prove to be impossible since the benefits of making it happen seem to out wight the pains of growing into a global community.

And to be honest, its on our best interest to make sure that the people take control of it in order to make it work in a way that benefits most of us. I don't see local identities being completely lost, since its important to know our root. Yet, the free flow of people around the world will become a given, just as the free flow of ideas have become a norm.

The most important thing for me, is that we need to have people being able to freely move around the whole world in order to actually make a better world possible. Only when people are able to come together freely, we can hope to build a something better.

Like or not, the world is a lot more interconnected that most realize or want.

With all the trade wars, and the resurgence of some nationalist movements, going, it seems that many don't seem to acknowledge how integrated the world has become. It has become almost impossible to find products that don't have some degree of components made in several countries, or being sourced to third party manufactures on other country.

Not only that, the advent of the Internet means that most people, and businesses, can make contact almost anyone else without much regard where they are geographically speaking. Not only that, we can access information and content form any other region with relative easy in both legal, and illegal, ways. When you combine this with smartphones, it means that those connections are much easier and stronger.

Borders are becoming only relevant to mark a geographic place, but irrelevant for people and information movements. With time, we are building a global village and more of a global identity, though I don't see countries totally disappear. I seeing their meaning changing to something else.

Global integration is a matter of time, what we should be doing is making it so it benefits as many people as possible. We should be building the framework that makes it happen, not trying to stop it.

As it goes, we should be bringing people together not tearing them apart. It the way to move forward.

There is no perfect app.

It's quite vexing to me that subset of users that go on to rant about how every change that is made to an app brakes it so badly, that makes that app unusable. To make it worse, those users seem to believe that they all talk for every other user and those who disagree don't know what they're talking about.

Many of these users don't give any change a chance before starting to rant against it. They are sure that the old way to was the best and only right way, and no change can do thing any better. It's true that change just for the sake of change is not a good thing, but that doesn't make change bad in itself. Most changes need to be tried before making a judgment call about them, mainly because they are just another way to do something.

Also, its important that you aren't talking for the whole user base when you talk for, or against, any change to an app you use. Many changes that makes things better for some, make it worse for others. Yet, most of the time for most users it just isn't all that big of a deal. Life goes on, and it needs to be understood that changes don't have the same effect on every user.

One thing that many users don't seem to be taking into account, either by choice or ignorance, is that the app developers have the complete picture of how users interact with the app and how that use fit into their business plan. And that is something individual users can have, they just have a piece of the picture that in itself just doesn't mean all that much.

This means that you just have to take all, and every change, the developers make to their app? No, you are free to move on to another app that better fits your need. So, make the move and don't ruin the experience for those who still enjoy the app. Most importantly, don't believe you are talk for everyone else or your way is the best way to do something.

There is no perfect app, as such app developers will always be looking for ways to make their apps better. This means that changes will be made for a variety of reasons, from adapting to new technologies to changing user tastes.

As such, enjoy the apps you are using for as long as they work for you.

With computers and smartphones its always function over form, not the other way around.

For me at least, is sad to see many people pick their computers more on for form rather than function. Even worse, when they expend way more than they should on Pro computers that they won't actually use to that system full potential.

While most of the time I see this happening on the Apple ecosystem, with people going for the MacBook Pro when a MacBook or MacBook Air would have been far better matches for their needs, I've seen people going for gaming systems like Alienware when a Asus ZenBook would have been far better for their use case. This ends of people feeling like they were ripped off, or with the feeling that the sales person lied to them.

There are two main reasons why people fall to these pitfalls. One is that they don't know much about computers, and they don't ask around enough because they simply are ashamed to let others know they don't know much about computers. Also, this can lead to people don't researching enough about their options, and come with a shortlist of computers that actually fit their needs.

This problem could also mean they can buy a computer that's under rated for their needs. Which means that they'll see a lot of systems clashes, or simply their computer will be slow to be usable.

The other pitfall is getting a certain computer as a status symbol, that ends up becoming a symbol of your computer illiteracy. All because you got a computer to impress a certain people, but in ends up broadcasting your ignorance to those people instead. Don't get me wrong, it's okay to get a computer as a status symbol, but at least get one that you can actually show the status you want to project while it fits the use you need it for.

The same could be said about the smartphone we carry around with us. Specially since it could be argued that our smartphone is also an extension of our personality, and how we relate to others. While form and function are both important, is time to put function over form.

Linux Mint should stay.

A couple of days ago while on YouTube, I came to couple of videos that made reference to an article at TechRepublic arguing that Linux Mint should go.

As a Linux Mint user, I agree with Joe Collins and Switch to Linux. All the issues on the TechRepublic's article are actually nonissue, either because those issues don't mean much to the end user or have been solved in a timely manner.

Linux Mint is the Linux distro that just works for me, and in a way that it doesn't gets in the way of getting things done. Most importantly, I don't have to constantly having to figuring out why a part of the system broke and having to fix it. And while I've become more proficient on doing things on my system under the hood, its not something I want to do regularly.

And let's face it, most the people want just that. They just want to focus on their regular job, and not have to figure out why their system stop working they way they want it to every so often. That's why many user have left Windows, because it got in their way by braking their workflow.

For me, Linux Mint bring that to the Linux community. Is one of those distros people can go to, when they want a OS that just lets them focus on their every day computing without worrying that an update will brake their computer.

One of the best things about Linux, is that if you don't like a distro for whatever reason you don't have to use it. Yet, that you don't like it, or it doesn't fits your need, it doesn't mean that it doesn't have an audience that find it useful.

At the end of the day, if we want more people to make the jump to Linux, and to open source software in general, we need to start to be more welcoming as a community to those new users. And that includes giving them the software they need, and find useful, to actually make the jump.

Microsoft integrating the full Linux kernel could be great news.

The news that Windows 10 will soon ship with full Linux kernel with Windows Subsystem for Linux 2(WSL 2) has the potential to be either a really good, or really bad, for Linux. While it can be considered a victory for Linux in particular, and for the open source community at large, we'll have to wait to see how it actually plays out in time.

That it becomes something great for Linux not only depends on how Microsoft behaves, but also how all big players on the Linux community react to the situation. In many ways, things need to be made in such a way so that its on Microsoft's best interest to play nice with the rest of the Linux world. That means that some people will have to get used to work with Microsoft at some level, and its on their best interest doing so.

Let's face it, Microsoft has come to be a player to stay. As such, we better act in such a way that makes Microsoft do as much as possible to play nice with the Linux community at large. By doing so, we can ensure that the influence that Microsoft has is the best it can be for most of the Linux sphere.

At the end of the day, its better having one of the biggest software companies out there working with us.

Linux is set to a contender on the desktop.

As someone who likes reading, and viewing, tech related subjects, I've started to see mainstream people actually saying that some Linux are real options for the casual user and for some professional ones.

It seems that distros like Linux Mint, and Ubuntu, have become more than polished enough to used as the daily OS for a wider set of users. As a user of Linux Mint on my personal laptop, I couldn't agree more.

I'm on an unique position, since I use Windows at work and Linux Mint on my laptop. While the user experience is not exactly the same on both OSes,to be honest my experience on Linux Mint hasn't have anything to ask for to the Windows one. To be honest, in most cases it has been better.

For the casual user, there no real reason not to move to Linux Mint. Even some more advance users would feel right at home using it, specially since nowadays the ones who wouldn't be able to make the move are becoming more the ones who need specific apps that have no analog on the Linux side. And whit each passing day, those apps are becoming fewer and harder to find.

On the hardware side, vendors like System79 are making systems not only have great specs, but that look great too. Dell are also making some great systems. As a matter of fact, most systems made by mainstream vendors is likely to support the most popular Linux distros out there. The ones that not, are becoming more of the exeption than the rule.

Finally Linux has become a real option not only for the geek, or tech savvy. It's finally an option for everyone's computing needs.

Linux Mint has become great OS.

I've been using Linux Mint continuously for 6 months now on my daily driver, and it has cemented itself as my go to OS. It has worked for me, and haven't had issues with it so far.

And the best thing for me, it that it lends itself to my needs flawlessly. Linux Mint is a really mature OS, and one that users with any skill level can use on daily basis without running into any problem. The only reason for not recommending Linux Mint, is that the person in question needs an app only available for other OS. And more often than not, the pool of this apps is growing thin.

Yet, for casual users Linux Mint is quite a good option. All mayor apps run on Linux Mint, or have an equivalent than is at least as good or better than the app they are replacing.

At work I use both Window 7 and 10, and neither is superior to Linux Mint. On the user experience side, most people wouldn't really miss much of what Windows has to offer. With time, Linux Mint has become a solid OS that can give Windows a run for its money any day of the week.

The Linux Mint team has really stepped up their game since the Linux Mint 18 "Sarah", and each new version feels that brings some more polish and performance to the system. Currently I'm running the 19.1 "Tessa", and it has run great so far.

With each release, their motto of "from freedom came elegance" feels true. And its not an elegant OS, is quite stable and easy to use.

The geek community is diverse.

As a geek, one of the most frustrating thing I've to face on daily basis is being told that I can't be one because I don't look the part. Most of the time, the main reasons given is that I don't look the part either because of the way I dress, or because I'm not socially awkward.

It seems that most people don't realize that most geeks don't fall into either those negative stereotypes. While there are people who are socially awkward, and don't know how to dress well(sometimes both), it doesn't make them necessary means they are geeks. I do realize that there are some geeks out there that fall into the stereotype, they don't represent the community as a whole.

Many of us, who identity as geeks, do so because its what better represents the interests we choose to pursue. We are inclined to video games, comics, manga, and intellectual subjects. Many of these things, don't really interest many outside the geek community.

Yet, we do have a wide range of interests other than in things that are considered to be geeky. As such, this means that we do sharpen the social skills that allow us to mingle with people outside the geek community with ease while maintaining a strong geek identity.

It seems that most people outside the geek community don't seem to be aware of how diverse geeks really are. We have different backgrounds, beliefs, and ways to express ourselves. There are many overlapping areas that give geeks a sense of community, but are many ways we are differ. If you look closely, you can see that within the geek community, there are several subgroups that serve different interests.

As with many things with people, there is no single way to be a geek or how we look.

2 out of the 3 top OS, power mobile devices.

With the raise of the smartphone, and with some help of tablets, Android has come to have the largest user base of any operating system. While Microsoft Windows is still has the second largest user base, iOS has the the third spot with quite a lead over the macOS at fourth place.

I find it interesting, that 2 out of the top 3 OSes used by people at large are used to power our mobile devices such smartphones and tablets. It means that we have shift the way we use computers, from desktops and laptops, to smartphones that we carry with us most of the time.

It all happen in a relative short time, compared with how long personal computers took to become as common as smartphones have. Nowadays, people are more likely to own a smartphone than they are to own a desktop, or a laptop, in most of the world.

What makes it all more impressive, is that in such a small package smartphones have more than enough power to do much of what can be done in a computer with quite an ease of use. Smartphone have become more than adequate for most uses that most people have for a computer.

While I doubt that desktops, and laptops, will disappear, they certainly will become more of niche products. Tablets will also find niche markets, while smartphones will continue to dominate the consumer market.

Information, bias, and the pursuit of making a better world.

The vast amount of information we can access via the Internet, and other media, has made education ever more important to be able to accurately judge the value of the information we consume.

The sheer amount of the information out there, means that there is a lot of misinformation out there. This means that education has become ever more important to be able to judge the quality of the information we are presented with, and also the content we consume, and not becoming overwhelmed on the process of doing so.

With the wealth of sources out there, relying on a single one is a luxury we can no longer afford. There is a real need to have several, and that have different points of view, to have a better view of what's going on around us. All media has a degree of bias, which dictates how they relate the stories they share and the stories they choose to share.

There is no such things as a completely unbiased and objective media outlet, at the end of the day they are made up by people who have biases that make their way to how they look the world around them. And if we aren't careful about it, we'll leave important things out if we aren't willing to challenge our own biases in order to understand others.

One of the biggest, and negative parts, of having the easy access to information that we have, is that it means that people knows how to find relevant and correct information. More often than not, that is false and people tend to believe incorrect or false information. Just because someone on TV, radio, or because its on the Internet, doesn't make it correct or even true.

That's why educating people that can use critical thinking is crucial to move forward. Critical thinking has become the most valuable tool we can give people in order to make them less susceptible to believe all what they hear. All modern democratic societies need that their members are able to think by themselves.

The end of Windows 7 got me somewhat nostalgic.

Windows 7 end of life is finally due on January 14, 2020. Windows 7 has been the last Windows version that I've used on regular basis, since its the OS we use at work, and the last Windows version I used on my personal computer that actually enjoy using.

As such, the demise of Windows 7 got me somewhat nostalgic. Even if I've no plan to move back to using Windows on my personal laptop, as a regular user at work I've grown accustomed to using it, and I somewhat like how it works. Though I like the looks of Windows 10 better, I haven't used it long enough to say much about it and I is something I'm not looking forward to.

The first Windows version I used was Windows 95, which I remember with certain fondness mainly because it came with my first ever laptop. My favorite version would be Windows XP, and has been the only version of Windows I actually like as a whole.

Windows Vista was a complete mess for me, and was the main reason I moved to Linux as my go to OS. For me, Windows 7 was a step in the right direction, and I would have considered coming back to Window if Windows 8 and 8.1 hadn't come along. The user interface for me on those 2 was a complete disaster, I used it for couple of days on a friends computer and I simple could not deal with.

As I said, I haven't used enough Windows 10 to say much about it, but Linux Mint has become my OS of choice. So much so, that if I could I'd use it at work too.

Cross-platform software should become the norm.

I regularly use three different OSes, Windows 7 at work, Linux Mint on my machine, and Android on my smartphone. With this, I've come to appreciate cross-platform software since it gives me the ability to access the things I like no matter the OS I'm using at the moment.

The apps I use the most on the three OSes are Spotify, Firefox, and Dropbox. For many reasons, being able to use these three apps on every device I uses independently of which OS they are running makes them very convenient for me. Specially in the cases of Spotify and Firefox, since been able to access my accounts makes it easier to access the content and services I use regularly all that easier and practical.

Cross-platform software became important for me since I moved full time to Linux, since at work I've to use Windows because some of the apps needed for the operations is Windows only. And because I wanted to keep using Firefox, and Songbird the music player I used at the time. As a matter of fact, a big reason why I choose Spotify is the fact that it runs on Linux Mint.

While I understand there are practical restrictions to support all OSes, which in the case of Linux distros is specially true, I've come to look for software that is supported on Android and Linux Mint(or Ubuntu at least, since if it runs on Ubuntu it will run on Linux Mint). And for the most of the people I know, both on a personal and on professional levels, cross-platform software is becoming important.

The Internet not only democratized the access to information.

The Internet has not only made access to information a lot more easier for more people than ever before. It also has made it easier to get founds for projects, either by traditional means or by crowdfunding.

Sites like Patreon and Liberapay allow people that create media, or take new products to market, get funds for their project directly from people who are interested on what they offer. Which means, that they don't have to go to traditional sources to get the funds they need.

Other benefit is that many ideas and product that might get rejected on traditional channels, now can get produced with the help of those who find it interesting or useful. There are less gatekeepers that decide what the people funds, where from, or the people who get to fund them.

While not everything that comes out with crowdfunding, it helps to better connect supply chains with those who want what they offer. In some ways, it helps to streamline the way things are produced and delivered.

The ability for small and medium producers to funding, means that there are many more products making it to the market place. This is beneficial for all of us, since it means that it becomes more likely for us to find something that better fits our needs for the price we are looking for. And the same goes for services, and content.

As paradoxical as it sounds, small producers can now find a better way not only to compete but also to get the funds to do so more effectively.

Technology is a means to an end.

As someone who enjoys technology, and believes that it can bring quite an improvement to our lives, I find it quite irksome to say the least when people try to push their particular favorite piece of tech as the absolute best.

One of the most high profile being the Android vs iPhone discussions. Die hard fans of both platforms claiming that theirs is the absolute best, minimizing any of the negatives each platform has. The thing is, that is that the best will be the one that better fits to each person needs, and expects, from their smartphone.

For some, an Android devices got their needs covered while for others the iPhone is the way to go. Forcing people to one or another without considering their needs is a recipe for making the whole experience a disaster, cementing quite a negative impression of the platform you gave them.

Personal preferences aside, we need to start seeing each and every technology as a tool that will help us do something happen. As such, we need to select the best possible to get the best possible results.

Not all technology is made equal, since its tailored to the needs of the job it was design to do. Before proposing the use of any tool, first one has to understand what's is asked to be solved. If not, one risks to make the problem ever bigger.

No technology is perfect, or can do everything.

Spotify has changed how I listen and find music.

Up until a month ago, I used Spotify on my mobile device on the offline mode to listen to a couple of my playlists and on the desktop to stream music in order to discover new music or listen to a broader selection of my favorite artist and genres.

With time I found myself using Spotify more on my smartphone while I'm commuting, or when I want to listen to music without having my laptop to enjoy some. As such, streaming from more playlist or radios became a lot more practical since that means not using as much storage on my smartphone or having to decide which ones to delete in order to make space for new one when I want to change playlist or discover new music.

When music streaming services came along, I was somewhat skeptical about them. Now, Spotify has become a main part of my daily music consumption. It has helped me to enjoy the music in ways I didn't before. Not only that, it has enhanced the way I discover new music by allowing me to browse a larger library of artist and tracks than I could before.

It also made it easier for me to do so, and not just in a single place or at a determined time. And while I still enjoy having my music on my hard drive, and on CDs, music streaming has become an integral part of how I listen, and find, it.

My experience on Android.

Ever since I made the jump to Android a few years ago, I've really feel that the OS has been improving steadily.

The first device I got, came with Android Gingerbread installed. To be honest, I was a bit doubtful when I made the jump coming from a Blackberry Curve. I really liked the physical QWERTY keyboard, ever since I started using it with a Nokia E63, and being a bit old school sometimes the whole touchscreen didn't attracted me all that much.

But Android quickly won me over, it really made feel at home and easy to use. For the next devices one came Android KitKat, and the other with Android Lollipop. Both felt quite solid, and did more than enough to keep me on the side of Android.

Last year, I got a device running Android Marshmallow. This version of Android made a really great impression for me on the technical side. It felt a lot more solid and stable for daily use, and cemented Android as my go to mobile OS. Yet, with  Marshmallow I still felt a bit jealous of iOS on the looks side of things.

As such, I'm still on the Android side. So, a couple of weeks ago I change my device to one running Android Oreo, the version 8.1 to be precise. And Alas, Android finally came around and it looks just as good as it works. I just changed the stock launcher, since I prefer to use Evie with Flight Lite icons.

Android has become my favorite mobile OS, so much so that the only thing I'd consider changing would the the brand of device I use it on. Android has showed that it the OS that's better suited for how I use my smartphone and that allows me to customize its looks and feel to my personal preferences.

Technology is just a tool.

It's both, interesting and disconcerting how technology is either viewed as what will save or utterly destroy humanity.

At the end of the day, technology is only a tool to be used for an end. Its our responsibility to use technology in such a way that helps move forward, in the best possible way. We'll have to deal with the consequences of its use, and how it is used.

We've to pay close attention how the technology we use affects us, and make decisions depending on the results we are getting. Just because we have a technology doesn't mean that we have to keep using it if we get something better, or if we don't get the results we were hoping for. The idea that we have to use something just because it's there, is not a reason to do so.

In many ways, technology is our best tool to make our lives better and to make changes for the better. It can do so by empowering people getting better education, or getting better information to make the best decision possible. But, it can also make things worse if it isn't used right.

The impact of technology, is directly related to how me make us of it. Its time to start creating a consciousness that it's our responsibility to make the best use of the technology at our disposal.

People are the one who build a better world, and technology is the tool we make build it with. The results we get, are a result of what we build.