Tsikbal: from my perspective

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 j...

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 ...

After coming back to Linux Mint about a month ago back from Ubuntu, I've decided to stick with it from now. Ever since Linux Mint started using Cinnamon as it's desktop environment, I've been a big fan of it; though I liked Ubuntu's Unity shell a bit better since it did a better job for me. I've never really liked GNOME 3 all that much, I simply don't finish to feel comfortable using it. As such, Ubuntu going back to using it was an issue for me and one I'm not really willing to live with after about 3 months of using it daily. Although I can install both Unity and Cinnamon on Ubuntu, its an extra step I'm not willing to make. Also, I had some bad experiences with Ubuntu breaking my Cinnamon install with each upgrade. Finally, Linux Mint has been one of my 2 favorite Linux distros ever since I started using Linux. So, I see no reason to keep distro jumping when there is no good reason to do so. Besides, when Cinnamon 4 comes with Linux M...

As a free and open-source software advocate, I try to help people make to the move to software that its at least open-source . Personally, I run Linux Mint on my personal laptop, Mozilla Firefox my go to web browser, Mozilla Thunderbird my email client, and LibreOffice as my office suite. Rhythmbox is my go to audio player. All this apps work for me, so much so that I consider them indispensable to have on my system and are the ones I recommend the most since I used on daily basis. Yet, with time I've seen that not everyone would be served as well by these apps because their needs are completely different. Even for me, at work I can't use Linux Mint since we use SAP ERP , and Microsoft Office . As such, I've to use Windows for work. I still use Firefox for when I need to keep track of certain things I need to for my work. This has thought me that if you don't give people the right app, you are asking for trouble. There are some proprietary apps that...

Since I got some Otium Beats Bluetooth headphones about a mouth ago, they have become one of my favorite headphones. The sound rather good, and they are comfortable to wear. Yet, I still find myself going back to my wired headphones from time to time. Those are Miniso berry edition, which I got because they are hands free which is a nice thing to have when on the move. I fall back on them when I want to extend battery life, specially when going out for a walk. Yet, the best thing both have in common is that both are in-ear headphones. I find this to be the go to solution when I'm picking headphones to pair with my mobile device. I find them more comfortable to wear on the move, and more practical to store on my bag. All this while packing quite a nice sound, which is a nice thing to have. Still I continue to feel strongly about the 3.5 mm jack on smartphones. Personally, its a must have on my device as an option to be able to continue to listen to music if ...

With the advent of the Internet, and the proliferation of smartphones, we got access to a wealth of knowledge and knowhow like it has never been seen. Almost any tidbit of information we might need to know, or be interested in, is at the tip of our fingers. Yet, this ease of access has also allowed misinformation to be as easily distributed. Sometimes, its hard to know if the information we are accessing is reliable or not. It used to be that how information was distributed, was heavily controlled a few interests. Today, while some of those gatekeepers still hold a strong influence on how information is distributed, its a lot easier to access more sources to be able to get a wider view on whatever issues you are interested in. The main problem now, is how to make sure that the content you are accessing is reliable and the sources where they got the information from. This is why critical thinking is becoming ever a more important tool to understand the content you're in...

I've wanting some Bluetooth headphones for a while, and recently I got a pair of Otium Wireless Sports that a family member gave me. I'm rather pleased with them, since I've found them to be rather comfortable to wear and the sound quality is quite good. The best thing for me, is that they are the form factor I prefer when I'm out. Being in-ear, I find them a lot more comfortable to carry when going out. Not to mention that they are far easier to store on the bar I usually carry, and are that much lighter. Pairing them to my Android device was as painless as it can be, just took me a couple of minutes to do so. Another feature I like, is that it clearly announces when I turn them on or off, and when the connection is made. This not made by some tone, but its announced with a voice recording making it hard not to know what action just happened. Until now, I've always relied on in-ear headsets with the traditional 3.5 mm jack. They did the job for me, bu...