Geek in Heels - Page 137

Jul 12, 2010 • In Android, Gadgets, Geek

Google App Inventor: An Android App Creator for Non-Coders

This morning, Google announced the App Inventor, a new tool in Google Labs that lets anyone create an app for Android phones.

While Google has been testing App Inventor in classrooms for a year, it is now available for the public via an online form.

I personally think that this is a very smart concept. Not only will we see a vast array of specialized apps built by non-developers (and sometimes, a non-techie has better perspective on what what kinds of apps might be useful), but it also has the potential for the general population, especially children, to become more interested in programming and become creators of mobile technology as opposed to just a consumer. In addition, this free and easy method will encourage small websites and business owners to create mobile apps and remain competitive in their markets.

At the same time, I can definitely see a downside — mainly, that the quality of apps in the Android Market will start to suffer. Furthermore, the App Inventor seems very basic. Many of the best and most popular mobile apps require much more complex functions than those currently offered by the App Inventor.

All this being said, you can’t help but admit that this is a great move by Google on behalf of its mobile market share.

Via The Official Google Blog.

Finally Getting Started on the Nursery…

We purchased our first item for the nursery today: a crib!

The Graco Lauren crib in espresso, to be exact.

When I first started looking at cribs I was startled at just how expensive most of them were. Especially the minimalist ones with clean simple lines, which is our style. Our own bed didn’t cost $1,000 and I certainly wasn’t about to spend that much on a crib.

The book Baby Bargains came to the rescue once again. As previously written, this is THE best pregnancy book I have (a big thanks to my little sister who bought it for me as a gift!) and has helped me make many money-friendly choices. Baby Bargains put the Graco Lauren as one of the best bargain cribs, and the reviews I read online helped solidify the decision.

At $169.99 (Babies”R”Us price), this crib is a steal — it is certainly one of the lowest-priced cribs out there, and its design fits in with the simple decor of our home.

At first I was a bit concerned that the crib would be flimsy due to its low price, but I found it to be solid and secure when I checked it out in person.

As expected, the crib had to be ordered by BRU and will not arrive for another few weeks. During this time I will start packing the contents of the guest bedroom into boxes. We are very fortunate that our condo building has very secure, private storage units available for rent — we will move the queen-sized guest bed, in addition to the boxes I pack into storage which is conveniently located on the second floor of our building (away from any possible water damage) and can be accessed at any time.

We will keep the existing dresser & mirror set as we convert the guest room into the nursery. I plan on placing a changing pad on top of the dresser and use the rest of the long surface area for accessories. We may also end up getting some shelves (like the IKEA Expedit) for additional storage, but we haven’t come to a final decision yet.

As for the item that so many new moms count as a must-have addition to any nursery — a rocker/glider — I was still not sure if I needed one. Couldn’t I just nurse on the couch or on my own bed? However, my mother insisted on buying something nice for the baby and I figured that having one couldn’t hurt. I decided on the Newco Jayden Recliner (in beige) earlier today. It rocks, glides, and reclines (at two levels, no less) and the seat is shallow enough for my short self to sit in comfortably. J likes it so much that he says we should keep it in the living room instead of the the nursery! (Undoubtedly so that he can relax in it with a beer when I’m not using it myself.)

There are now less than 3 months to go before my due date. I still haven’t noticed any “nesting” instincts kick in — as I’m finding just writing this post exhausting — and I’m not sure if I ever will. However, I’m glad that we are finally getting started.

Teaching Your Kids About Typography

What a great way to start your little ones on the basics of typography! Norwegian design house Studio 3 has created an activity book titled Hyperactivitypography which aims to teach children the ins-and-outs of typography through cute illustrations, games, and tons of useful facts…

…even the evils of using Comic Sans!

Unfortunately, the book is currently out of stock but fret not — you can view the entire thing online at http://www.hyperactivitypography.com/

Via Neatorama.

P.S. — Did anyone else find it hilarious that Dan Gilbert’s open letter to Cavs fans got as much press for its use of Comic Sans as it did for its content?

My 2 Seconds of Fame via Twitter

I have various Google Alerts set up for my name, my aliases, and their variations. About 50% of the time the alerts have nothing to do with me, but the other half can get pretty interesting.

Most of the time I’ll be flattered that someone chose to link to me, or find my stuff beneficial to their needs. I’ll even saunter over to their sites to give a note of thanks, and I’ve made several online friends through this process. Once in a while I’ll even find people trash-talking me, and while that used to bother me it no longer does — I think it’s amusing that they don’t have the guts to do that to my face (or on a platform that is guaranteed to get my attention).

Then there are the very rare instances, like the Google Alert I got this morning for the term “geekinheels”:

Say what?!?? Did that really say THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS??!!!

Stunned, I clicked on over to the source and there it was. Nestled in an article titled LeBron James fans were wishin’ and hopin’ and Tweetin’ – with or without a capital ‘B’:

Okay, so the article was not about me, and if anything this can be brushed off as a fluff piece.

But it’s still pretty damn exciting to me! I (err, my tweet) was quoted! In a major New York paper!

I’ve taken this entire morning to gloat in my 2 seconds of fame. I will now resume my daily, boring life.

Sending Christian Kids to Secular Schools

I recently joined an online Christian mommies group and came across a discussion debating the merits of sending your kids to a secular/public school vs a private Christian school or homeschooling.

Having attending public schools all my life (well, technically the university I attended is a private institution but it does not have a religious affiliation), I was shocked at how many Christian moms were against public schools.

J and I have had many discussions about sending our children to private vs public schools. J has attended private schools all his life (he even attended boarding school in England) and thinks that private schools offer the best education. I see no problem with public schools just as long as the area we’re living in has a good school district. We are still undecided on a final answer, but luckily we have some time before a decision needs to be made.

However, the topic on hand isn’t a “private vs public” discussion. It is a “secular vs Christian” one.

The argument for sending your kids to private Christian schools, or even homeschooling them, is so protect them from outside influences that might derail their faith. One mom even likened sending her daughter to public schools to “throwing her into a lion’s den.” Many Christian mothers feel that their children would be exposed to non-Christian ideas, experiences and influences at public schools, and that children should not have to defend their faith at such young ages.

Most also agree that discussion and exposure to other beliefs and lifestyles should be introduced by the parents under controlled environments, and guided by them in accordance with what each individual child is mature enough to process at any given point, not by the child’s peers or teachers.

My own experience has obviously shaped my opinions regarding this discussion, because I strongly disagree.

I attended public schools all my life and I am very grateful for it. Since I was exposed to various religions, ideas, and even the “bads” of the world starting at an early age, I am now even more confident than ever in my beliefs. If anything, knowing about different religions and lifestyles (and befriending those whose religions and lifestyles differ from mine) has strengthened my faith.

As a youth group teacher at my old church, I noticed that my students who attend public schools were often more mature and prepared to handle the secular world because they have had to decide their faith earlier in life.

I have also met many people at my university who attended private Christian schools before coming to college. They were generally less prepared, both emotionally and spiritually, to be out in the secular world on their own.

I believe that children are susceptible to potentially harmful ideas and influences whether you choose to send them to a Christian school or not. Even homeschooling does not guarantee a child free from unfavorable experiences (unless you plan on keeping your child in a box). You cannot shelter them forever.

How will they fight for God and their faith if they do not know the enemy?

Lastly, you can’t discount the potential for your children to be ambassadors of God. You never know what kind of light your child will shine in a public school.

So, as of now (barring the future addition of policies that will openly persecute Christians in public schools), I am fully willing to send my children, who will be raised in a Christian household, to public schools. I will keep them in prayer, make sure that they have a strong support network of Christian friends in the church, and encourage them to discern what is best for them and their faith.

I think that this question is applicable to my non-Christian readers as well:

Will/do you choose not to send your public schools in fear that
they will be exposed to unfavorable ideas and experiences?

Doggie Fives

I’ve stated numerous times that Comang is not very bright. And while the desire to please is ever-present, we’ve only been able to teach him a handful of tricks due to his dim-wittedness.

So far, Comang knows: sit, stay, down, jump, and high-five.

Yes, you read that correctly. Our dog knows how to high-five. It was one of the first tricks that J taught him. See for yourself:

It is precisely for this reason that I immediately fell in love with the following video, which depicts a man trying to teach his baby to high-five and the dog jumping in to do it himself, as if to say, “Sigh, let the EXPERT show you how it’s done!”

I can sooo see Comang doing this when the baby comes!

P.S. — I almost forgot that Comang also knows the command “Wolverines!” J taught him this after watching the move Red Dawn (aka one of the most bad-ass movies of the 1980s) — all we do is raise up one arm and shout “Wolverines!” and Comang lifts one of his front paws to emulate. I must get this on video one day!

Baby Leia Hat

Princess Leia hairdo hats for babies: yay or no?

Via The Daily What.

T-Minus 2.5 Hours

An hour-long TV special devoted to where a basketball player will play this coming season seems rather silly, doesn’t it?

But you can bet that I, and millions more, will be watching.

Almost all sources point to LeBron having chosen Miami. There are even rumors that he’s booked six cabanas that the W Hotel South Beach this weekend to celebrate his decision.

However, I still have hope that he’ll choose New York. That he’ll man up, take up the challenge and help bring the glory days of basketball back to the Big Apple.

Mike Lupica of The Daily News agrees:

So here is this moment, after nine lost years, all the losing nights and the bad basketball and the nights when the only reason you knew the Knicks were still in town was because a player like LeBron was in town.

And now it is going to come down to an announcement a half-hour from the city, and less than that from the Knicks’ practice facility, that will feel like the Game 7 that began for the Knicks with Willis Reed limping out on the court once, and then Clyde Frazier playing the game of his life….

New York doesn’t deserve him more than the other cities in the great free agent chase of July 2010. The owner of the Garden, James Dolan, doesn’t deserve to win the player known as King James. But Knick fans do. The ones who were there through all the losing, the ones who kept coming because they remembered what the Garden was like when it was run by better people and had better teams and mattered — they deserve a chance to have LeBron come play for their team.

As I had stated earlier this week, Stoudemire’s fat contract will all go to waste if we don’t snatch up some more star players. There is still talk of Tony Parker joining the Knickerbockers, but the prospect now looks dim with talks of David Lee headed to Golden State instead of being part of a trade with the Spurs.

We have a Robin. We need a Batman to bring the Knicks back up to caliber.

Won’t you please be our Batman, LeBron?

At the Knicks season opener last year. People always tell me
that I live in the wrong state for my preference in sports (hate
baseball, love basketball) but my heart still holds true to the Knicks!

Toilet Paper Dispenser with Matchbox Holder

They say that lighting a match after doing your deed on the toilet does not get rid of unpleasant odors but only masks them. Be that as it may, I still love the smell of freshly lit matches and always keep a box in the restroom for guests.

goodjoy design must also see the need for a matchbox in the bathroom, because they have cleverly added a matchbox holder to the top of a TP dispenser. Screw a new jet tub; this is a bathroom addition I can get behind!