Tsikbal: from my perspective

I started using Android about two years ago, after using a Blackberry Bold and an Nokia E63 . So far, I've had three different devices that run Android and I've really enjoyed using the OS so far. My current device is a MOBO MB400 (Spanish and its a PDF), and so far it's the one I like the most. It has enough RAM, and with an 16GB Micro SD card, has more than enough power for the use I give. With it, I found that for me a 4" screen is the sweet spot for me. It's big enough for what I use my smartphone for, while fitting my hand as a glove. I used a 5" MB505 (Spanish and its a PDF) for about 6 months, and it never stopped feeling somewhat awkward to use for me. Before coming to use Android, I was somewhat weary about making the jump. Mainly because I really liked the physical keyboard on the Blackberry, and the Android devices with a physical keyboard weren't all that good. But after talking to some friends about their experience using An...

The first smartphone OS I came in contact with was Symbian on a Nokia E63 , then I used BlackBerry OS on a BlackBerry Bold. I had good user experiences with both, though with the BlackBerry Bold, my carrier tried to force me to a contract to use cellular data. So, when I came to my first Android device, I was somewhat uncertain about not having a physical keyboard. Other than that, I've had heard only good things about the OS and it runs all the apps I prefer. So, making the jump to Android made a lot of sense for me, since the other viable options are Apple's  iPhone running iOS or a Windows Phone , both options that don't resonate with me for philosophical reasons. I decided to try a MOBO (site in Spanish) device, mainly because they sell vanilla unlocked Android devices. Currently I'm on my 3rd device, a MOBO MB400. I used a MB500 before, which had lasted 6 months, since the battery got busted because of short circuit and it wasn't user replaceable....

There is no doubt that cloud computing and streaming media are here to stay. It's quite an useful tool, there is no question about that, since it allows a level of collaboration not seen before. Besides, it allows to share data among several people or devices in a much convenient way. Yet, I don't see everyone going completely to the cloud. While having some files in the cloud, or using some streaming services is something almost everyone use for practical reasons, sometimes local storage is a better option. On the streaming media side, there is some music, movies or series we like but not enough to own a physical copy. As such, we are content enough with having a service that will make it available to us on demand. At the end, we'll own just the media we love enough to have a copy from stored at our hard drive or other physical medium like a CD, vinyl  album or DVD. That's way I see that most people using a mix of local and cloud storage. Everyone li...

When someone ask how FOSS (Free and open-source software) can be any good, I just have to point them to Firefox or LibreOffice . Both are FOSS apps that are cross platform, meaning that why run on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, that are FOSS and are really good apps that anyone can use. There are many other FOSS examples to give. On the OS level there are Ubuntu(which is my favorite) and Linux Mint, and other apps include GIMP to edit images, Kino an video editing app,  Pitivi a non-linear video editing app, or Rhythmbox as an audio playback app. Granted that there isn't a substitute for every proprietary out there, yet with every passing day this is less of a trouble. As of now, I'm quite certain that there is an FOSS alternative for almost every user. Personally, I've been using Ubuntu or Linux Mint for almost 6 years now and I haven't run into any significant problem that can't be easily solve by a Google search. As I said, if someone isn't ...

As an Ubuntu, and fan I must confess, every six mouths is a good time since I get a new OS. This time around, I couldn't contain myself and upgraded to Ubuntu 16.04 LTS a few days earlier than usual. I've been using it for almost a week, and so far I do feel that the Xenial Xerus(the code name for the 16.04 release) is really a good one. I've encountered no significant bug do far. It actually it seems to be a step forward from Ubuntu 15.10 even though it's a conservative one since Ubuntu 16.04 is a Long Term Support release. While is a boring release in terms of features added, for me it has been a good one. I do see my laptop a bit being faster, and in some cases being quite more stable. Not that 15.10 gave any more trouble, it just feels like LTS version is just polishing some of the rough edges of the OS. Ubuntu 16.04 is turning out to be a solid release for those who need an OS that will have a relative long life(for five years), and a nice upgrade for ...

As this article at techrepulic.com points out, Microsoft has been opening up to open source and Linux because it needs them to stay relevant. It's more of a pragmatic move, rather than Microsoft changing it's hearth about open source software. The irony is not lost on me, but I'm happy about it all because it validates what the open source movement stands for. No matter what Microsoft says, Linux has shown that open source development of software is the way to go to develop software successfully. That even Facebook, Google, and Apple do open source in some way, gives even more credit to the open source development model in both hardware and software development. Even if they do it on behalf on their interests, at the long run it helps everyone that they open to everyone their designs. Not only that, they benefit themselves, since any improvement made by anyone would also benefit them by allowing them to use it to improve their machines as well. In some way, i...

I'm not paranoid, or into doing anything unlawful, but I don't like the idea of anyone being able to eavesdrop into my conversations. So the fact that WhatsApp just added end-to-end encryption , is something I really appreciate. Encryption has to do more with privacy, than with the ability to do crimes. It's more about keeping your private conversations that way, without having to worry about any third party getting into them. Each individual, has the right to keep things private and only share what he, or she, wants with those he chooses. The computers, and other electronic devices, we own are meant for private use. As such, only the information we choose to share publicly should be considered to be at the public square. And that we choose to share on private channels should remain private. Encryption is vital to the ability of individuals to be able to keep private information that way. As such, any healthy democracy should allow full use of encryption to the...

I've been using Nylas N1 as my main email client for almost a couple of weeks now, and I've liked it very much. To be honest, I've been used it mostly as it came out of the box. I found that the base functionality and I liked the themes that came with it, since they are minimalist and elegant at the same time. I had been using Mozilla Thunderbird for some years now, and though I still like it, Nylas N1 has become my go to email client. Mostly because Nylas N1 fills my needs better, and I simply like Nylas N1 better. There is also the fact that Thunderbird's future is becoming more uncertain as time goes on, as Mozilla is prioritizing Firefox's development. One of the things I like the most of Nylas N1, is the fact I can see all my inboxes together or one of the time. Personally, I prefer seeing all of them together since it means I don't have to jump to different folders to read my emails. Or if I want to concentrate on just one of my accounts, I...

As a free and open-source software user (I run Ubuntu on my personal laptop and Android on my smartphone), every time I hear that it isn't user user friendly or that you can't get things done on it I can barely control my eyes from rolling. Specially when the person that said that uses Firefox , or on a lesser degree Chrome . The over kill is when they use an Android power smartphone, since Android is the how user friendly and good a FOSS powered device can be. And if you add OSes like Ubuntu and Linux Mint to the mix, it gets harder to make the point that the average user can't use, or be comfortable with FOSS. I agree that FOSS is far from perfect, then again most software isn't made to be perfect at everything. Every FOSS project is intended to be used at a certain field, and that gives it a set of strengths and weaknesses to make it work in the best possible way for the task it was design to do. When someone ask me if I recommend FOSS, the first ques...

One of the biggest mistakes anyone can make, is to think that technology will solve their problems. Any technology by itself won't solve any problem, since it's just a tool built to help solve an specific problem. Yes, as any tool it can be adapted to solve more than the problem it was originally built for, but that doesn't mean that we can relay on it to save humanity. People using technology will save humanity, or at least give it a fighting chance to see a tomorrow. It's easy to forget that people are the ones that will lead other to a better tomorrow, and that technology will be forever changing and adapting to the needs of the people. And as time goes on, every new technology is going to be able to be ever more democratized. We live at the time when people are able to be a part of new technologies, or at least of movements that make use of these new technologies, in a way that its hard to imagine in other time period. As such, its harder for elites keep ...

This article points out the obvious, that Mac OS X isn't more secure that Windows . Or than any Linux distro for that matter. Most of the safety in Mac OS X and Linux, comes from the fact that they are used by much less people than Windows. As such, most black hat hackers used to bypass Mac OS X and Linux in favor of Windows, since the odds of hitting valuable information, or money, was most likely to be found targeting Windows users. Yet, with more people moving to Apple's ecosystem it has become more worth while target for black hat hackers. Most Linux users still are relative safe, since most Linux distros aren't worth targeting yet due to their relative shallow user base numbers. Let's face it, all software has vulnerabilities that can be maliciously exploited. What made OS X different from Windows wasn't it's security, but the audience that it was targeted too. While Windows has been mostly a Jack of all trades, or a gamer's rig, OS X has ...