I’ve had the thetechbase.com domain for years now, and I was originally not going to renew it, but I accidentally did. Since I have it, I thought I might as well do something with it. After mulling it over for a bit, I decided I was going to make a technology news site. “But aren’t there millions of tech sites out there?” you may ask, and indeed it was a very valid question that was in my head. The solution to this is not to present the content in a traditional, article-length blog way. I’ll just leave that to Engadget or TechCrunch. Rather, I’m going to provide short commentary on tech news that I find interesting. By keeping the posts short and biased, I can make them much more frequently than a traditional blog such as this one. Think of it as an editorial for technology news. I’ve got nothing to lose, so I might as well try this.
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I’ve had my iPhone 4 for a good while now, and I feel like it’s been enough time for me to write a review of sorts. Now I’m not going to be as in-depth as the dudes over at Engadget, but I’ll still cover most of the features. Firstly, I was pleasantly surprised at how fast my iPhone 4 arrived. After finding out that all the Apple and AT&T stores in my area were sold out of them, I ordered online. I chose to order through the AT&T site, because I had read in various places that it shipped the phones quicker. I placed the order on a Sunday at around 4pm, and it arrived on the following Wednesday at around 1pm, which was insanely fast for a phone so in demand. My only complaint about the shipping was that FedEx simply dropped off the package at my door, without ringing the bell or making me sign for it. It’s an expensive item, so it’s a bit irresponsible to not demand a signature for it. Read on to see my thoughts on the phone and AT&T’s service.
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No, not really, but I’m back to posting. I’ve been a bit busy, with my girlfriend, my other tumblr blog, college, etc. College has been surprisingly easy, but rather boring. At least I don’t have to pay for any of it, as FAFSA graciously paid my tuition in full. I bought books, but that in total came out to less than $200, so I’m happy about that. Classes are easy but boring, so I’m quite happy I got my iPhone (more on that in an upcoming post).

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My summer vacation’s nearly over, and college begins on Thursday. I’m going to Baruch College, to get a BA in Business Communication (graphic design, basically). I attended the orientation yesterday, got my schedule, my bill, ID Card, and a bunch of passwords. My schedule is pretty rad, school from Monday to Thursday, with Fridays off. I begin school at 9am on Mondays and Wednesdays, and at 11am on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It ends at 3:45pm every day, which is cool. I don’t have to get up too early, nor stay too late. I also have two hour breaks on nearly every day, as well as 15-minute breaks between classes. I got the wifi password, so now I can surf the internet (mostly Facebook) all day, haha. Unlike most students who groaned when they got their bills, I was like “fuckyeah!” when I saw mine, because I got a Pell grant that paid my entire tuition. All I have to pay for are books.

To celebrate this new step of my life I also ordered an iPhone 4 online on Sunday, and it’ll be here tomorrow. Life is good.

Recently while redesigning Z-Up (It’s still a mess), I realized halfway through the process that my design didn’t fit the branding of it at all. See, for Z-Up, I used the whole cardboard box metaphor, representing the files that one can upload onto it. For my “redesign” of it, I started going for the whole airmail envelope look, with the diagonal stripes on the borders. Yes it looked pretty, but I soon realized that it just did not go with the branding I had established for Z-Up. It was poorly thought out, and done on a whim, with little thought to how well it works for the brand.
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I used to wonder who in the world still used Windows DOS anymore. Well in my past and current jobs I’ve seen it being used in a number of places where you wouldn’t expect to see it. It’s used in McDonald’s and Burger King, as well as for telemarketing. In fast food places, the cash registers and order screens are all based on it. In telemarketing, DOS is used to display the scripts as well as for inputting information. At first I was struck by the thought “wow this shit’s outdated…”
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