I’ve had iOS 4 installed on my now-obsolete iPhone 3G S since the day it was released. I’m glad that Apple and not AT&T sends out software updates for its phones, unlike many Android-based phones whose carriers decide when and which software upgrades are issued (most trailing by several months after Google updates Android). But I digress…

I really like the Folders features in iOS 4. I also like the Wallpaper on the home screens, and can forgive Apple for not letting us have individual wallpapers for each screen (and for not being able to choose no wallpaper on the home screens).

Here’s what I hate about iOS 4: Multitasking. This feature is a joke when compared to Palm’s webOS or Google’s Android. Sure, you can run the updated-for-iOS 4 Pandora app in the background, and that’s nice.

However, other apps don’t do what you expect while they’re in the background. I decided to start opening a few Web pages in Mobile Safari (a core app) in separate pages. That worked, but then I switched away to another app and returned to Safari, all those pages had to reload before I could read them. That isn’t multitasking.

Steve Jobs introduced Apple’s multitasking by saying if software makers have to use a task manager, they “blew it.” Well, Steve, iOS 4 never closes its apps. Yep, never. When you want to switch to that other app in the background, be ready to swipe through a lot of screens, because every single app you’ve opened (ever!) is in that list. Even apps that don’t support Apple’s narrow-minded multitasking APIs are all lined up down there. That’s not convenience, it’s clutter. Meanwhile, the same iPhone paradigm exists: Go in and then back out of each app. The look and feel is the same. The convenience of multitasking and quickly switching among them is obscured by the same old iPhone GUI.

I like iOS 4, for the most part. But its multitasking is not “multitasking done right,” it’s a poorly-designed mess.

Steve Jobs’ attack on Adobe Flash was childish. And have you noticed during iPad and iPhone presentations that Jobs conveniently includes sites with Flash components conspicuously missing? I remember the NY Times site in Mobile Safari with missing Flash elements on the right column.

The Apple CEO’s mission is subtle and insidious. He has decided on your behalf that you don’t need Flash, and he’s doing all he can to move that agenda forward.

Regardless whether you champion Jobs or roll your eyes, I can’t help but wonder if he’s right.

Whenever I run across a Flash-enabled site on my iPhone, it’s more of an annoyance toward the site owner than Apple. My kids visit Flash-enabled game sites, like Disney and Fisher-Price. These sites would offer miserable experiences on an iPhone or even an iPad. So that is really a moot point. What I hate is when I visit a restaurant site on iPhone and there’s no alternative to get the information from the site other than using Flash. Shame on the site owner for that. The result: Lost business for them.

How dedicated is Adobe to Flash? Palm has had built-in support for Flash in webOS since very early 2010. The Flash plug-in for that platform is still MIA with no announcement for when it might be available. The Android plug-in is also not available. So what’s up with that?

Jobs claims that Flash is buggy. He might have exaggerated claims to support this, but in my unscientific experiences I must agree. Leave a Flash Web site open in a browser too long, and it will start to become unstable or perform poorly. You have to restart the browser to fix it. It might not be fatal, but it is buggy. Kinda like Java Runtime, but that’s a whole other rant.

I say we get rid of Flash over the next couple of years and embrace newer technologies, like H.264 video and HTML 5 feature for greater interactivity.

FoxNews.com reports that the owner of the Empire State Building in New York will not accommodate a request for it to be specially lit to honor Mother Teresa’s 100th birthday. The Catholic League has even asked twice. The management company responded by saying it “has a specific policy against any other lighting for religious figures or requests by religions and religious organizations.”

According to FoxNews, the Empire State Building has honored Pope John Paul II, Cardinal John O’Connor, and Baptist minister Martin Luther King, Jr.

I’m not saying anyone should be able to strong-arm a private landowner and business to do something it doesn’t wish to do, but this excuse is flimsy. There is precedent where other religious figures have been honored. Also worthy of note, the building was specially lit to honor the Chinese Communist Revolution. That revolution was bloody (like most wars), but has ominous effects of political oppression, enabling slave labor, and wholesale slaughter of dissident groups.

My criticism is that there doesn’t appear to be a patriotic or moral principle involved in considering requests to honor significant events or individuals.

This is unfortunate. Mother Teresa was a positive influence in the world.

This probably isn’t happening to you, but it happened to me. Most people wouldn’t notice, but hey, I’m anal. My right click menus (aka, context menus) and pull-down menus were all aligning to the left of the mouse cursor instead of the default right side.

To cure this, open REGEDIT and navigate to the following string:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows\MenuDropAlignment=0

Double-click MenuDropAlignment, then change the number from 1 to 0.

Alternately, you may choose to delete the MenuDropAlignment entry.

Log off and back on or restart your computer for the change to take effect.

Source

And he reacts well.

President Barack Obama had strong word for BP, Transocean, and Halliburton for their finger-pointing-filled testimonies during recent Congressional hearings.

Recent polls show the Gulf environmental catastrophe has had no adverse effects on Obama’s public perception. Yet, he still has voiced strong, common-sense opinions on everything from corporate hubris to dangerous relationships between government regulators and oil companies, and he has shown continued support for the country’s future energy strategy that still includes expanding off-shore drilling.

That’s effective influence from a practical leader. It’s refreshing to see a president take a level-headed view of a horrible tragedy that is still unfolding.

To stop off-shore drilling would be an over-reaction. Drilling smarter is the way to go, and Obama advocates that. Obviously, BP and its partners had no disaster recovery plan, and now over 4 million gallons (and growing) of crude are affecting the life in the Gulf and economies of Gulf states. It’s inexcusable. Federal regulators should require these contingency plans and get assurances before granting permits to drill.

Relationships among big businesses and government regulators and leaders should be closely examined. Obama called them “cozy relationships,” and he’s right. And this coziness is having a terrible ecological impact right now.

An energy plan that reduces the dependence on foreign sources while being careful to be as environmentally friendly as possible should be a paramount priority for the US. Everything from windmill farms, nuclear sources, and oil drilling in the US should be integral parts of that overall strategy. We can do this safely and cleanly, like never before. It’s the lasting stigmas dating back decades that holds us back. And that’s shameful.

I’m glad to see Obama taking such a strong and politically-centered stance on the disaster and energy production. This is what our country needs.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Apple announced earlier today that the US Patent and Trademark Office approved the company’s requests on a series of patents related to breathing in biological organisms. Dennis Freemantle, director of the Human Interface Design group within the Cupertino company, explained in detail the processes that involve the oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange within the tissues of biological organs. He said Apple’s newest patents cover terrestrial, amphibious, and aquatic organisms.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs spoke briefly at the end of the press conference saying “this is an important set of patents that Apple can add to its already substantial portfolio, and we think that’s pretty cool. Thanks for coming today.” He smiled as he began to step away from the podium only to halt and return to the microphone. “Oh, and one more thing.”

The attendees collectively leaned forward anticipating a zinger announcement.

“Everyone in the US is now officially on notice,” Jobs said bluntly, “including everyone in this room. We will vigorously enforce our patents beginning June 1st. People shouldn’t be stealing our ideas. We’re not saying you can’t breathe, you just need to come up with another way to do it. Beginning next month, we expect all US organisms to respect our intellectual property or face substantial legal consequences.”

With that, Jobs took a deep breath and teasingly exhaled slowly as he looked from side to side at the shocked faces of those in the audience. He then retreated without taking any questions.

Molly Wood from CNET was interviewed for CBS Evening News shortly following the Apple press conference. “Katie! This whole thing shows how out of control the US Patent Office is regarding its willingness to grant frivolous patents for obvious, common sense concepts even when prior art has clearly been documented. Like slide-to-unlock in Predator. We’re so screwed. Thanks, US Patent Office!”

At that point, Wood stormed off the news set growling about her plans to use her last breath for the rant segment of her popular Buzz Report.

The Apple-patented slide-to-unlock feature was apparently first shown in the Arnold Schwarzenegger film Predator when the alien antagonist used a swiping motion to initiate a countdown to detonate a bomb. Speculation has recently swirled that Jobs might be a descendant from that very alien race.

Comedy Central is considering an animated series chronicling the life of Jesus Christ as an average Person who moves to New York to escape His Father’s shadow.

Um. Wow!

Don’t these people know that Martin Scorsese took a lot of heat for creating a movie in which Christ leads an average life? [begin spoiler]Scorsese even made it very clear it was all just a consideration Christ had while He died on the cross.[end spoiler]

This is an exercise in comedy that should be nixed. The occasional blasphemy on South Park is damning enough for my soul.

Perhaps the reasons behind Hewlett Packard’s $1.2 billion purchase of Palm aren’t so obvious. I’ve seen a lot of comments like “What is HP thinking?” and “There are too many smartphone platforms, already.” But I can think of two compelling reasons for HP to buy Palm.

First, Palm has been in the gadget and smartphone business since the industry took off. It was one of the pioneers of portable information management (PIM) devices and subsequently smartphones. The Treo is arguably the breakthrough device for the modern smartphone industry. Regardless of recent performance, Palm was clearly a pioneer. As a result, its portfolio of intellectual property (eg, patents) is a valuable asset to HP now. This protects HP from patent lawsuits that can arise when devices are introduced with, say, new paradigms for navigating or computing.

Second, webOS is a powerful mobile operating system that has applicability across a great many devices. HP announced its intention to have Palm’s latest operating system power a new line of slate computing devices. Previously these were to run a version of Windows 7. With webOS’s multitasking and intuitive touch interface, these upcoming slate computers could pose a significant threat to Apple’s iPad.

There’s also speculation that HP could be planning an expanded smartphone line, and they probably will. With the Palm IP portfolio behind them, HP can confidently return to this market in a meaningful way. The mobile device industry is worth about $100 billion per year, which puts the $1.2 billion purchase price for ailing Palm into a much more positive perspective.

Personally, I’m eager to see webOS on a slate device.

His name is Chris Shaw. He won the Powerball in Missouri in April 2010. He’s now got $258 million in his bank account (depending on annuity or lump-sum, of course), up from just $29 before. He’s happy he doesn’t have to worry how he’ll pay utilities or repay a friend $1,000 for a used pick-up. He plans to take his kids to DisneyWorld. There’s no word on it, but I imagine he’ll get his smile spruced up a bit, too. He also says he’ll take a few days to decide whether he’ll quit his convenience store job (you know where I’ll place my bet).

How can you not like this guy? It’s a rags to riches story. And you like to feel good for him.

But then there’s reality.

Swindlers will be all over Shaw with “no-risk” deals to double a fortune. Some schemers make a full time job out of stalking new lotto winners. Their tactics are sinister, shrewd, and convincing.

Family members will have expectations of Shaw that will be way out of line. Demands for fancy homes and luxury cars will come from even distant relatives only because “hey, you can spare it, cuz.” If he says no, then responses will eventually become violent.

And this good guy, Chris Shaw, is not at all ready for any of it.

There’s a reason there’s not a light-hearted reality show about lotto winners. It’s because a lot of them are broke and ruined within 2 years of “hitting it big.”

I wish the best for Chris. I hope he gets sound financial advice from someone with the right amount of fiduciary responsibility.

Say what you will about the recent Health Care Reform (I sure have), but I fully support Obama’s views and focus on economic overhaul.

In a speech at Cooper Union College, President Obama compared quotes from his 2008 presidential campaign speech with the disastrous economic events that unfolded later that year.

A free market was never meant to be a free license to take whatever you can get, however you can get it.

– Presidential Candidate Barack Obama, 2008

It’s clear that financial group-think in corporate boardrooms are having fundamental impacts on the well-being of most Americans. Too many creative loan schemes and money-making from non-producing financial instruments have negatively affected middle-class and poor in the United States. Interest-only loans don’t belong in the consumer markets. They turn what should be investments (peoples’ homes) into debilitating liabilities. Speculators in the commodities markets (corn, grain, oil) and derivatives (investments that base their performance on the ups and downs of other investments) tie money to investments that do not contribute to the country’s productivity.

That is what happened too often in the years leading up to the crisis. Some on Wall Street forgot that behind every dollar traded or leveraged, there is family looking to buy a house, pay for an education, open a business or save for retirement. What happens here [at Wall Street] has real consequences across our country.

– President Barack Obama, April 22, 2010

Key provisions of the bill focus on regulating derivatives trading, establishing a consumer protection agency, and creating a council to monitor threats to financial stability. New York Mayor Micheal Bloomberg supports these measures, as well.

This is the sort of leader I knew Obama could be. I hope this overhaul effort isn’t sullied by backroom deals and closed negotiations like the health care overhaul was.