The Cardinals have been good, and they bullied the Reds for the better part of a decade. In 2010 the Reds finally decided to start standing up to St. Louis.
On April 8, 2013 the Reds 'may' have finally punched the Cardinals in the mouth. We'll see.
The Reds defeated the Cardinals today 13-4 with the help of a 9-Run, 9th inning.
I couldn't resist, I kept hearing "Nine Times" in my head so I thought I'd throw this together real quick. Enjoy.
The game is on the line, the Reds have runners in scoring position with two outs. They need the big hit to tie or take the lead. Who do you want up at the plate?
Here's a quick graph to help you sort it out.
Baseball is back, and it's Opening Day in Cincinnati. It's practically a holiday here (as it should be).
If you've never experienced Opening Day in Cincinnati, it doesn't get any bigger or better than this. Trust me.
Reds fans, don't forget to vote early, and vote often for Joey Votto to win the Face of the MLB contest by MLB Network.
The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!
The St. Louis Cardinals watch as the San Francisco Giants celebrate after winning the 2012 NLCS.
To the pleasure of most, if not all St. Louis Cardinals fans, us Cincinnati Reds fans are devastated once again from watching more of that Cardinals magic luck last night as they continue to shock the world with no-name players coming through with game winning hits to advance in the MLB postseason.
We scratch our heads and wonder how a team like that, with inferior talent, seems to always find a way to play well this time of the year while our Reds, who have superior talent, choke away their last three postseason games at home.
Daniel Descalso and Pete Kozma? Seriously?
A quick look at my Twitter feed moments after the game says it all....
My Twitter Feed
You bet they did.
Actually, Samsung Android copied iOS a great deal. I'm a big fan of Google and the Android OS (My primary device is a Samsung Galaxy Nexus), but yeah, it's clear that Android took the base elements of iOS and copied them.
Apple went after Samsung because they are selling the most devices and making the most profit of any manufacturer that has chosen to use the Android OS in their mobile device lineup.
Before the iPhone was released Android was already in production. However, it didn't look anything like it does now for the most part. The phones looked similar to the clear market leader at the time, Blackberry. Once Apple released the iPhone and Google aquired Android, things changed dramitically for sure.
Android Prototype Pre-iPhone Release
If you step back and look at this from a distance, it's not too difficult to see.
When Apple released the iPhone there wasn't anything like it on the market, period. Windows Mobile and Blackberry were the 'Smartphones' to have at the time. I picked up an iPhone on the very first day it went on sale in June of 2007. Game changer? Absolutely. It's one of the most innovative products ever released in my lifetime. It created an entire thriving, brand new mobile device industry that allows all Smartphone owners to enjoy the Internet and media in ways we never could have expected.
Let's think about some of the highlights of the iPhone, or iOS in general that Google (Android) copied.
Now, that's not to say Apple has been perfect the entire time. They've stumbled here and there:
One thing that has always been frustrating is how slow Apple is to give their consumers features that rival competitors offer at the time. For a company that has proven to be extremely innovative, they can be entirely too slow at adding features found on other devices that consumers jump up and down wanting.
And most of this is what opened up the door for Android to be honest. We know this.
Again, make no mistake about it, Apple created the foundation for mobile devices and Smartphones today. The touch screen Smartphone with Apps, Music and almost fullly functional Web Browsing (No Flash). Like it or not, the iPhone continues to be the Gold Standard in which all other Smartphones are measured against.
Google essentially borrowed stole this foundation and improved upon it. Which they did very well.
But Apple had every right to defend their innovations and should have won their lawsuit against Samsung.
Good news, you're not stuck with iOS forever. Google's Android operating system is on par with Apple's operating system.
And for some people, the hardware, with its bigger screens, is even better.
If you've ever wanted to switch, but were worried about the hassle, we've put together this guide on how to convert from iOS to Android.
The Galaxy Nexus is a close second. Its more controlled by Google, so you'll have faster access to newer Android software. You can buy it directly from Google's Play store.
We recommend you go with Verizon as a carrier, if possible.
To start, back all your contacts up to iCloud. You can do that in the settings of your iPhone.
That includes your address book!
And not only can you view and edit your address book from the website, you can also download your entire list of contact. So do that now with "export vCard" — make sure you have all of your contacts highlighted at once.
You'll upload all your contacts directly into your Gmail account, so remember where you saved your vCard from your iCloud export.
Click on the "import contacts" section. It'll take you straight to a prompt to select the vCard you built from iCloud.
After that, your contacts will automatically be populated by the contacts in your iCloud database. Easy, right?
When you first buy an Android phone it'll ask you to synchronize a Google account, but if you haven't done so already, you can find that option in the settings.
Go ahead and add your Gmail account now.
Their number will automatically pop up if it's in the contacts you synchronized with your Google account.
We'll suggest a few that will make your Android experience, at least in part, superior to the iPhone.
Head on over to the Google Play store to get started, or fire up the Google Play app on your phone.
It automatically detects how you've typed in the past — from text messaging, mail, chat, Twitter and a few other services — and serves up suggestions on what you're going to say.
The suggestions are incredibly accurate. As a side bonus, you can start tapping the suggestions right away to figure out what your most-commonly typed phrase is. (Mine is pictured to the right.)
Your phone probably comes pre-loaded with a clock or with a weather widget, but there are widgets for just about anything you might need — battery life, a way to disable 4G or GPS, a Google search bar, or anything in between.
Having widgets turns your home screen from a simple launch pad for apps into an actual home screen, giving it a lot of utility over your iPhone's home screen.
You can download all of them over at the Google Play store.
It's one of the fastest and smoothest mobile web browsers out right now — and it's a much smoother browsing experience than Safari.
You can swipe quickly to the left and right to jump from tab to tab, and set it to automatically load a web-based version of the website.
Chrome is available on the iPhone, but it is reportedly hamstrung compared to the Android version.
But if you simply can't stand using Spotify, or don't want to pay a monthly subscription, you can store up to 20,000 songs on Google Music for free.
Google's music player is a little more flexible than iTunes and offers a lot to heavy music listeners that have songs that just aren't available on Spotify.
Same goes for Foursquare, which benefits from having more screen real estate. You can also fire the GPS up or turn it off from the notification window.
Instagram actually looks and behaves a bit more fluidly than its iPhone counterpart.
Google+ is a gorgeous-looking app, but your mileage is going to depend on how many friends are actually using the service. We're going to assume it won't be many.
Facebook and LinkedIn both have pretty-looking apps for Android, but you'll have to pick which social network you prefer.
To get around this, you can install an app like Easy Battery Saver and track which apps are using an insane amount of your battery.
You should also turn off 4G in the notification tab when you aren't using it. Obviously this is kind of a hassle, but you aren't using 4G while it's in your pocket — and the speed trade-off is well worth the extra step.
Most of the best apps available for the iPhone are also available for Android. The reverse isn't necessarily true: you can't get SwiftKey on the iPhone, for example.
Google also appears to be moving closer to a "consolidation of pockets" law — as in, they are trying to make it to where everything that sits in your pockets (keys, wallet, phone, music player) fits neatly into a single device.
Here's an animation you'll find interesting. Where are the 'happiest' and 'unhappiest' Tweets coming from across the US? These animated maps show you just that based on geographical location. Great idea huh? Surprised?
Visit the live maps here.
General rant, but the source where I ordered my Nexus 7 tablet from is now backordered until mid Septemeber. Are these tablets selling this well or was production set really low compared to demand?
Either way I can't wait to try this new Android Tablet out.
That's the question I just received when I recommended someone buy an iPhone.
But you're an Android guy right?
Well, no. And yes.
Apple iPhone 4SHere's my opinion on the iPhone. It's a GREAT device. It changed Smartphones completely, and for the better. Much better. I bought the first generation iPhone on the very first day they went on sale in June of 2007. It instantly became my favorite device. Also owned an iPhone 3GS.
Since then I've owned a few Android based Smartphones, including my current device, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.
So am I an Android guy? Yes. I'm also an iPhone guy. And an Apple guy. And a Google guy. These devices and services are fantastic. I promote Android more personally because it's a really great mobile OS too.
Samsung Galaxy NexusI promote Android because the iPhone doesn't need anyone promoting it. I use Android because it's a lot of fun to use, and it happens to work better for what I need a Smartphone to do.
So would I own an iPhone again? Of course. I just need Apple to catch up and release a new iPhone with a larger screen and LTE support.
Would I ever completely stop using an Android device? Not a chance.
One of the great features of owning a Galaxy Nexus is the ability to easily load custom ROM's on your device. The Nexus line of devices are pure Android devices, which means they run native Android software without any 'skins' you find on other Android-based devices.
Verizon is usually very slow at 'approving' updates as Google releases them, so I decided to find a good ROM to load on my Nexus that runs Jelly Bean.
After researching some of the best out there, I decided to use the Bugless Beast ROM. It seems to be the cleanest ROM available without too many modifications. This is exactly what I like.
So after restoring all of my Apps and data using MyBackup Pro, I was pretty much set to start using Jelly Bean.
First Impressions:
It's really not much different than Ice Cream Sandwich, visually speaking. Ice Cream Sandwich is beautiful and Jelly Bean is as well. However, the first thing I noticed was how smooth Jelly Bean ran on my Nexus. The transitions and navigation were noticeably smoother without hesitation. Jelly Bean is a very refined OS at this point.
Google Now:
The most anticipated feature of Jelly Bean is the inclusion of Google Now. This is a new service Google has released that predicts what type of information you'd like to see based on your habits and routines. It also includes a very impressive voice search technology that is meant to rival (and beats) Apple's Siri voice assistant.
You have to opt in to Google Now to get it started and there are some serious potential privacy issues for anyone who doesn't pay attention to the clear warning you receive before allowing Google to run this service for you. My feeling is people are going to find this service extremely convenient or extremely creepy. That's all based on your particular point of view.
For me, it's been interesting. Google Now has accurately 'guessed' where I'm going later in the day, which sports teams I like, and which restaurants I'd be interested in based on my current location. You can't really customize any of this, Google Now 'collects' this data from your routines and searches and builds a fairly accurate profile of you. It's very impressive to say the least.
Overall I'm glad I upgraded to Jelly Bean and don't see myself returning to stock Ice Cream Sandwich anytime soon. It's too much fun trying out these new releases of software.
