This has been a rather long week. I have been re-completing the Web Fundamentals track at Codecademy.com. Recently they had a database migration issue and some of my previous accomplishments had been lost. I looked at it as a good refresher and sailed through it again, this time much more confident in my answer's and understanding of the technology. Needless to say I am on my way to developing webpages. This part is easy, making it look good will be the real challenge.
This is also my 2nd week with my Samsung Arm Chromebook and I have to say I am impressed. Everything from how light weight it is, lugging my personal laptop with my work one made the backpack noticeably heavier. I cannot even tell I'm bringing a long a 2nd piece of tech. The battery life is amazing, I charge it when i get home and do not worry about leaving without the power cord. Chrome OS is fast, responsive and what is really astonishing is how versatile it is. What it cannot do, isn't due to a limitation of the OS itself but a lack of developed apps. For example, I would really like a Audible app or extension so I can listen to audio books while I work. I'm sure as demand grows, if you agree about he Audible example hit them up and request it, needs will be filled. Another example is that my uncle emailed me an e-book he thought I might enjoy. At first I could not open it, but a few searches later, and questions posted to a favorite chrome community forum and I was directed to a web solution that works amazingly well.
Not much else worth noting.. Now off to prepare for another week into the unknown...
Today we learned that what we thought to be a fake, was actually real. Google announced the Chromebook Pixel. A ultra high end Chromebook. A very impressive machine, with a matching price tag. I learned of this suddenly at work and immediately kicked on my TWIT live audio feed via my phone for their reaction. As expected they were not impressed, confused at the reason for a high end browser and, like the rest of us, trying to get more information.
I then proceeded to get all that I could. Hitting up a variety of useful digital haunts like WSJ, Wired, Gigom and Google News. I was impressed with what I found.
Stats.
12.85" 3:2 aspect display rocking a 2560 x 1700 resolution display @ 239 PPI and weighing in a 400 NIT brightness with a 178 degree veiwing angle.
4GB of DDR3 Ram.
32GB Storage on the WiFi model, and 64GB for the LTE version.
An all aluminum body with active cooling. (According to reports, no fans visible. Not sure if its the first but damn if I didn't perk up after reading that).
Dual band WiFi (a/b/g/n 2x2) or LTE depending on Model, and Bluetooth 3.0 for connectivity.
A standard headphone/mic jack, Integrated DSP and stereo speakers round out the audio specs. (Again according to reports no speaker grill's to be seen)
Gorilla glass with multi-touch display, a back-lit keyboard and a HD 720p Webcam.
There is a Intel Core i5 processor and Integrated HD 4000 Graphics as its beating heart.
2 USB 2.0, mini-display ports and a SD/MMC Card reader.
You can get all that for only $1299 for the WiFi and $1450 for the LTE on the Verizon network! Now here is a video review from Engaget
Now that we got that out of the way, time for random thoughts, speculation and wild accusations. I would like to be straight and say that the only way I would get my paws on this is either by theft, blackmail, or act-of-lotto. To be honest I am happy with my Samsung Arm. If fills the needs for all things online, and if it doesn't I have been truly impressed how quickly i can find out how.
First Impressions
After spending a quite a bit of time in several Google+ communities gathering info and responding to opinions, reactions, expectations and speculations I have come to a few opinions. This is for the high-end user. Those of us that love tech and have the money to burn. More so this will provide a platform to show what a cloud-OS can really do given enough horsepower. Having this kind of kick just begs for it to be used to its fullest potential. Every platform has to have a break out smash hit and these machines will help bring it along. There is also an expectation set when it is done right. Look at the Nexus 7. Granted it wasn't built in house like the Pixel but it is arguably the best 7" android tablet out there. When you set the high water mark you give the other manufacturers something to beat. Whether its in price, performance or quality.
Why? Why Not?
There was plenty of chatter as to why has Google done this. One of the most obvious was to have some higher end products for the upcoming Google stores. This makes sense to me and really are you going to have your top end product be anything less then the bleeding edge? If you can't brag and boast, your not doing it right. Google has deep enough pockets to pull this 30 lbs rabbit out of a very small hat.
They also learned a thing or two after the whole Q product from last year's I/O. Other chatter was for developers quality device that could bring android development in a Chromebook to the table, which I too would like to see. Also if they have something big in the development schedule down the road that would really show the WOW factor but needs a good machine to get it this would give them a foundation to pimp it on. I think its to slowly start building what they want, how they want and to cut out all the crap everyone has gotten so tried of seeing (cough) bloatware, (cough) Verizon, (cough) restrictive contracts, but more on speculation next.
Speculation and Rumor
Personally I think this is one piece in a much larger puzzle and when it all falls into place its going to be something worthwhile. You take products like Google Glass, the Nexus Line, Chromebooks, the whole wireless network their testing, self driving cars, street view, and Google Now its easy to see how at least a few of these ingredients could come together to bake a tasty cake.
Don't forget the large amounts of fiber the own and their repeated attempts at getting into the ISP game. When the store about the team up with dish that aired awhile back, many commented on how Google would probably sell the connection at or slightly above cost, because they make money on services, not product's. I heard analysts state anywhere from 30 to 50 dollars for unlimited data on a 4G network. Have that offer bundled with a new Chromebook or Nexus Phone and it would be devastating to companies like Verizon where my plan is over $100 a month, and if I so much as sneeze the wrong way my unlimited data will be taken, beaten then set on fire while I watch in horror. The abject terror to a 2 GB cap on my mobile internet usage just makes me want to go on an epic rant. I know I am probably the minority, but I do not have free WiFi everywhere. I rely on my mobile data for a majority of the day. Also I don't stick to just textual information, I listen to a lot of podcast's and once you leave pretty websites you can burn though that cap with a swiftness. I could easily, along with many others, go on about the utter crap you have to deal with any carrier but I'll force myself to save it for another post.
Conclusion
I know this post was a little light on the Pixel itself, and more on how I think it could play out but hey it's my blog. I'm new at this and I will expect brutally honest feed back, deserving or not. I am very excited to someday have a Google store somewhere within driving distance to give this a few moments play time until i'm forced to let the next in line get a go. I am also expecting the next shoe to drop because I find it believe the Google Pixel is more then just high end product filler. Even if it is it will spur on innovation and competition and push those that have the mettle to build something better, or take full advantage of.
I have returned. I did a review, of sorts, and put this blog on the back burner for awhile. Actually I just plain forgot about it. I plan on becoming not only more active, but also a habit of posting reviews, thoughts and events that happen in my life.
I have toyed with this idea for several weeks now. I finally admitted to myself that the main reason was straight up being lazy. Other reasons range from my lack in my skills as a writer to fear of failure and ridicule.
After much thought and being honest with myself I have come to the conclusion that instead of the aimless way I have drifted from day to day, I plan on having this as a purpose in my personal life.
Enough of this sappy self discovery crap. Now on to what this blog might entail. Currently I have become the proud owner of a Samsung Chromebook With this I have been experiencing what it is like to live in the cloud. I am surprised how much I can get done, what little I found I was missing and how quickly I was able to find a solution. A review is in works, promise.
One of my hobbies is coding. I have a technical degree in computer programming, which basically taught report generation, basic programming theory and rudimentary office software utilities. After college I starting learning c# which is part of Microsoft's .NET platform. Of all the languages, this one I have spent the most time learning and using. Realizing that somehow stuffing Microsoft's Visual Studio onto my Chromebook was beyond impossible I have decided to to learn some new tricks. I am going through some tracks on codecademy.com and taking several tracks to get up to speed on html, java, js, python, and perl to name a few. I could see myself writing up how-to's and tutorials on the subject.
Last thing I considered including in this blog of mine would be a documentation of myself losing some much needed weight. I am a rather shy person to be honest and find this possibility terrifying, which probably means a good thing.
In summary I have grown tired of the same routine and feel like I'm lacking something and this blog might just be the outlet I need to bring some sort of focus into my life. At the least I get distracted and forget what I desired to try and accomplish here, at the most I learn to communicate better, share my experiences and trials as I learn new things, find my path to a healthier me.
p.s. in real life I'm actually quite an opinionated, loud, semi ignorant, coarse asshole. At some point I'll end up going on a long winded rant that at should be almost entertaining. Hopefully I do a little research before hand.
