Boston, The American People, and Keeping Our Country Great

Normally, I like to express my ideas in a fun, aloof, and sometimes sarcastic manner.  One that my friends know to be my sense of humor and not to be taken so seriously. Today though, I will not try to entwine humor or laughs as it would be inappropriate for this topic.

As we all have bared witness to lately, the events in Boston have been an experience that we will remember.  I wish the people, city, and all those who came out to help a big hug and thumbs up. I won't try to write some deep moving statement; I think others have done that better than I could - Patton Oswalt's being one of the best I've seen.  You can read that here.

What I will write is a request.  It's easy to put words down when you haven't been directly involved and I acknowledge those who may feel that is what I'm doing with what I will be saying next.  I respect their opinions.  But I do feel a need to send this request.  Let our system work as it should.

By this, I mean that we need for justice to be gained by the proper methods.  The police and law enforcement did their jobs.  The people did theirs. Now it's justice's turn.  I say this not because I sympathize with anything the individual is accused of having done.  I say it because I don't want to see our great system be torn down from the inside.

They say that when we stop living our 'normal' lives than that's when the terrorists win.  So everyone goes about their days and tries to return to normal as quickly as possible.  We 'show' the terrorists - foreign and domestic - that we will not be forced into hiding in the corner.  And that is a noble characteristic of any American.  But then the time comes for justice.  And we instantly find the suspect guilty without ever a trial. Newspapers and television stations describe "how he did it" and provide all sorts of background information on him.  Experts discuss what would have made him do it - from culture to family upbringing.  Yet none of it is from firsthand conversation. And while I'm not a sympathizer for the 'lost soul' or 'misguided youth,'  I am an advocate for the system that built our country into what it has become. More importantly, I am an advocate of the system that prevents our country from becoming something we are trying to stop.

The Judicial system will see this individual in custody as innocent till proven guilty.  And so will I.  The system will allow him to have proper defense. And so will I.  And the the system will let evidence and facts guide the decision of the court. As will I.  This is not to say I don't have feelings about what should happen to the person responsible.  I just believe it is important for justice to follow the proper path.  Not so much for the individual accused but for us.

For us because without the Judicial System to guide us and keep us proper, we as a nation break down.  We end up relying on television personalities to provide us the facts that they don't even all have.  Listening to 'experts' who have yet to hear the case.  Feeding off of social media that in its rush to get information out, is often found 'Updating' or 'Correcting' it's last post.  This is not a safe - nor sane - way to guide our country forward.  So I control my feelings and let justice take its turn in the process.  Because if I don't, then no matter how much of my 'normal' routine I get back to, the terrorists have already won.  They won by breaking down the one wall that separates our civility and humanity from their  ruthlessness and savagery.  

Instagram: A Social Picture Network or Just The Current Fad?

So by now, you probably have heard of Instagram.  Many of you probably already have it on your mobile device - iOS or Android, sorry WP7 but no love yet.  For the few of you out there possibly reading this and NOT aware of what it Instagram is, let me enlighten.  Very briefly, Instagram is a camera app that lets you edit photos with lots of different "filters and effects" and lets you upload or post these pics to your Instagram profile along with other social sites like Facebook or Twitter.  It recently was purchased by Facebook for $1 billion but even before Facebook swooped in and took ownership, Instagram was already a very popular program that many people already used.  So popular in fact that when Instagram released for the Android operating system, it had over 1 million downloads on the first day.  That has to say something of the popularity of the app; or does it.

Now before everyone jumps up and decides to protest me for speaking negatively about Instagram, let me say there are a things I like and some things I "question" about Instagram's success (or should I say, continuing success).  First off, camera filter apps are not uncommon.  And I think they are needed.  While mobile operating systems do end up incorporating common and popular features into their newest updates, they can not incorporate all of the features that their vast and diverse base uses.  And Instagram has been quick  to update and offer many new filters on a regular basis.

The second part of Instagram that I like is its 'social network' factor.  It is at its base, a social network for picture sharing.  And not picture sharing for professional photographers but for the everyday person.  You pull out your camera phone, point, shoot, maybe apply a filter or effect, and the share to the Instagram network.  Friends or others can follow your picture postings and "like" them along with posting comments too.  The pics can be shared to Facebook or Twitter too but that is not where Instagram shines.  It shines due to its separate picture network because you can take as many pictures as you like but not have to harass your other social network friends with a flood of photos that they may not want to see everyday.  And lets admit it, we all have at least one of those friends that feels the need to share EVERY pic they take of their baby, child, dog, pet, or every little thing they see during their day.  I'm sorry but I don't need to see little baby's 472 step, child's rolling on the floor for the 587 time, dog licking the camera, ect.  That's not to say that I don't want to share in the special events of my friends life that pictures can only capture; I just don't want to share in every moment of their lives via pictures.  Instagram lets you take all those pics, share them on the Instagram network, and post the most important ones (hopefully) to the more popular social networks of choice.

Those two aspects of Instagram make me appreciate the app and its functionality.  Now for my 'questions' about the app.  This starts with the fact that filter apps are a not uncommon and as stated prior, the commonly used filters and effects usually get absorbed and incorporated into future mobile operating systems updates.  The bigger, stronger, and main 'question' that I end with towards Instagram is its 'social' network aspect.  Yes, the part of Instagram that I just praised earlier is the very same part that I question.  Now to be clear, I don't question the usefulness of keeping ones multiple pictures separate from your regular social networks and I still love that it allows you to take your most important photos and share those to those social networks when needed.  I just have to wonder if Instagram has managed to imbed itself as a permanent photo social site or if it's just the most popular current one.

By most popular current one, I mean, the one that everyone is currently using but won't stay on forever.  I say this because I can remember other picture apps that everyone seemingly jumped on board with and the numerous posts by friends saying to "follow them on ....." and that now they no longer are on or use.  I can remember last year how everyone was using Cooliris and their LiveShare, Camera+, Pixlr-O-Matic, Path, Lightbox, and the two former popular leaders Lockerz and Picplz.  I especially remember seeing so many of my friends signing up for Lockerz and then when Picplz came out how everyone needed to re-upload their picture libraries to it so all could see.  Now, not more than 1 yr later, Instagram is the hottest and latest craze for sharing ones photos.  So I am skeptical about the long term prospects of Instagram staying the norm for picture sharing down the road.

On that note, let me say this.  Whatever picture service you choose to use, just stick with it.  I can recall a conversation I had with a friend about this topic and saying that one day people will have their photos spread across several differnt sites by the time they are old .  And who wants to remember what site you have pictures from one event and which other site your pics from another event are on.  I myself, have continued to use Google's Picasa as it lets me upload and store all my pictures and share access to the albums I make to the people I want.  If i need to post to Twitter or my Google+, I can.  More important to me though, is that all my pictures will be on there and I won't have to pull up Lockerz for my NYE pictures and then Instagram for my summer vacation photos.  That in itself, is worth all the occassional taunting I may get for not 'getting on board' with the latest app.  I've seen so many come and go that I'll wait to see if Instagram has staying power before I start sharing.  For now, I'll just use it to follow the pics of my friends until they jump to the next newest photo app fad.

Where is The David Walsh?

Where is
The David Walsh?

Google has this great feature called Latitude.  It is a real time location based service that you can use to track yourself and your friends.  However, it is not widely publicized so it has become very under utilized.  While other LBS (Location Based Services) require you to "Check In" to alert friends to where you are, Latitude doesn't do the "Check In" but instead is more akin to ongoing GPS tracking. Only, you get to decide the level of accuracy.  You can set to street, city, or blocked level access.  The feature, when enabled on mobile devices, can alert you to when your friends (who you have to accept to see) are nearby but has the ability to "learn" when those friends are only near you at uncommon times.  This means, coworkers or friends won't set off alerts if your visiting them at home or running into them at the office.

Google has made a "Badge" that you can post to websites and blogs but since a lot of social sites lack this integration - it is under looked.  This included the popular FaceBook to the up and coming Google+ social sites.  In an effort to "play" with the feature I have opened this Blogger blog to post the tracking the Badge for any and all friends (and new friends) to follow me if they do not have Android phones or don't want to activate the service on  their own.

I do advise that this is for fun so it can be stopped at any time.  I don't have a timeline on how long I'll keep this Badge active or to what level of accuracy.  However, in the meantime, enjoy following me.  *I apologize in advance if I don't run around as much as I used to.*

** Update: January 28, 2013: I have deactivated this feature for some time now but thought best to state so anyways.  I have no issues with it, but really felt the need at the time was for the blog and not so much so anyone could just track my basic to and from work.  Anyways, hope you all enjoyed it while it was active.