myTechFootPrint:(background)

If you’re a coder youll notice by the title of my post that I am! 🙂

Just DropBox-ed my 337MB folder and have some time to kill while it syncs…Unfortunately I took the leap while at my in-laws, who have a slow 2MB connection. This is precisely what this post is about…what is your tech footprint. What I mean is; although I might find myself waiting on a slow connection at the moment, I know better, have better and can do better, but I know im not the cream of the crop. So where do we really stand in today’s tech-life?

Ever stop to think, “Man, Ive really come a long way from when I first booted my Commodore 128 back in the 80’s! I wonder how much I know in comparison to my friends, schoolmates, coworkers or better yet, some guy in France or Japan or India or Brasil. I mean, what things do I do on my day to day life and how do I compare and more importantly, what can I learn from others?”

Quick background check: Studied Biochem, always fiddled with computers, program in asp, php, mysql, iOS, set up LAN networks, have an i4 and a mba-macbook air (plus I have an MBA from Incae-Business School).

So what do i do, what do i prefer and then I am open to suggestions:

LAPTOP – mba: I got my first mac in 1999, MBP g4. MS Compatibility was so-so back then and all the cool apps were available for mac in outdated versions. Got my mba in 2009 after years of PC-dependence and im finally able to sleep at night. To be honest, PC has caught up and they are pretty close to being the same now but I love calling 1800 MY APPLE and being able to talk to someone 🙂

Mobile – iPhone4: Its a toss up these days, what between Android and iOS. Notice thats where I draw the line because I consider RIM to be lagging considerable and Windows, well, they havent done much with their platform. I guess I have an iPhone because I happened to have an mba and I decided to program for them because of the AppStore appeal. Back before I had macs, from 1980-1999, i started programming in ASP because i already had Windows and could host the website on my own server for testing whereas setting up a linux box required a bit more knowledge. I dropped out of web programming right before PHP became huge. Otherwise I might have stayed with PCs and Id be on ASP.Net and programming for windows mobile OS.

Connection Speed – 2-4MB: In Honduras, cable companies sell 2MB. Most places with free wifi, which arent many, have 1MB or less 😦 I have 2MB at home and 4MB at the office but my parents have a 10MB connection from ATT UVerse and I love visiting 🙂 On my mobile, I barely get 500K, Claro, the iPhone carrier, Sucks. But i use a prepaid SIM chip from the other carriers to sometimes surf at faster speeds (meaning 2MB).

Other Tech Hardware: I drive a company issue Isuzu Dmax pickup. I have no real passion for cars. I dont wear a watch, i think theyre useless. I have a BB because my wife and best friend have one…no other reason. I havent gotten an iPad yet cause im waiting for mac book airs to fuse with an iPad-like device. Otherwise I much appreciate the power of an A4 processor with full keyboard and the ability to run certain apps like MS Office which i need for work, Xcode, Dreamweaver and a few others.

Day-2-Day Software: Ive dumped Outlook/Entourage altogether. I hate their slow boot-up speeds, not to mention how they freeze up my machine syncing or archiving. I love gmail so i now forward my company’s domain email to my gmail. I love having everything on the cloud. So i tried Google Docs. I love having them on the cloud but hate remembering to use the online version. So you can understand why I loved DropBox…plus there is an i4 version that i use cause i love going to a bank and being asked for my ID where i just launch DropBox and show em my cloud ID 🙂

I use twitter (hootsuite and twitter on iOS and Twitter on Mac) and facebook (app for iOS and web interface on Safari). No other social network. Had foursquare for about 4 months and stopped using it, its no fun in Honduras and dangerous due to kindappings. Decided to come up with a social-networking-gamelike-iOS app that can be fun all over the world. Ill let u know when its ready 🙂 I use twitter to inform myself and facebook to inform others of what i think is important.  I use skype on my i4 and whats app to chat with BB users.

I still use powerpoint for my presentations at work because my directors like papers to look at and write on. I wish they’d agree to getting iPads so i could present digitally and save trees. Im big on conserving natural resources. I have solar panels and a solar water heater at home.

WaitingOn: I THINK I would love to have them come up with a device that could be small enough to carry as a credit card and have it project an on-air screen and keyboard. But I think they are having trouble getting the photons of light form a projector to stop at an equal distance for that to even be a prototype. Because I believe everyone will agree with me when i say i love the power of smartphones and tablets, but hate lugging them around.

I would love to be able to code for iOS on the web like many other cloud IDEs.  I go crazy at night when i wake up with a coding idea or a possible solution to a coding problem im caught up in and having to wait til i get to the office wherever my coding computer is at.

One of the most important things im waiting on is for one of my apps to get noticed so I can make some serious money and possibly start a US tech company.