Interesting iPhone Security Issues

It kinda speaks for itself... wait it's a video, it does speak for itself...

Android Smartphone

It's amazing how much my computing center of gravity has shifted to my android smartphone. I only touch my laptop when I need heavy computing tasks such as software development.

I'm quite shocked how much use can be crammed into such a small form factor as my HTC Evo.

I can't easily express how mad this makes me

BP has been photoshopping images of their oil spill response: http://www.americablog.com/2010/07/bp-photoshops-fake-photo-of-command.html

The Washington Post has an article on it too.

S. 510: FDA Food Safety Modernization Act

I recently wrote a letter to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand:

Esteemed Mrs. Gillibrand,

It has come to my attention that you are a co-sponsor of the Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510). As one of your constituents, I respectfully ask that you withdraw your support for this bill.

The language of the bill would make it difficult or impossible for farmers to set up roadside stands selling their produce. It would also imperil many farmers' markets.

If this were allowed to happen the availability of locally grown foods would be greatly reduced. The economic and environmental impact of this change would be large. As you know much of New York is rural with much farmland. Also, shipping food across the country and even around the world emits a large quantity of greenhouse gases.

I understand that the intent of this bill is to safeguard our food supply and ensure our well being. It seems, however, that our food supply is very safe as it is. I fear that this bill will only marginally improve our safety while jeopardizing both the economy of much of New York and sustainability efforts relating to the food supply around the nation.

Respectfully,

Brian Rowe

That pretty much sums up my position on this. Though those of you interested in Codex Alimentarius, and so forth, may be interested in looking here.

Android Development

So, I've decided to try my hand at developing an/some Android application(s). I've had some interesting ideas for nifty cell phone applications for a while. They range from simple to fairly ambitious. I'm hoping to make some money with them, so I'm not going to divulge any information about them yet.

I've recently acquired an HTC Evo, and I'm currently plugging along with the development of one of my simpler ideas. It's a simple application from the software engineer's perspective, but I think it'll be quite useful to a typical cell phone user. I'm cautiously optimistic about it's potential to sell on the Android Market.

Speaking of the market... In order to get a developer account, I had to create a website dedicated to my software products. For the time being, I copped out and created another blog. It's titled Brian's Android Development, and you can see it here.