December 3, 2012 | by: Eddie
Not much to say here. The Dodgers and there 200 million dollar payroll tanked. Though, I admit I look forward to a full season with the new parts in 2013.
Chelsea tanked. Somehow maintained first place in the EPL several weeks. Then reality set in. About the same time that they are on the teetering edge of elimination in the Champions League.
USC Football. Yeah, I've got nothing on that. I'd say "wait will next year", but that doesn't give me confidence.
USC Basketball. Actually looking at the team play, finally, I realized they are much, much improved (and deeper) than last years pathetic showing. Though, once conference play starts, they will be in the middle of the PAC 12--at best. I wonder how long Kevin O'Neill will last at the helm. I don't see him ever taking this team very far.
Well, there have been two bright sides in the Sports World around here.
The LA Galaxy just won their second MLS cup in a row. Though David Beckham has played his last game and Landon Donovan may seek greater challenges (I guess you can't blame him--the MLS is still a second rate league. So, next year does seem a bit disappointing. Though if Robbie Keane comes back, he is able to carry a team on his back.
The Clippers, despite a few setbacks, the look to have a very solid season coming up. Give me a couple months, I want to see them some more. There is no question that they are the most exciting and the most deep team in the league. That sounds weird to say. We're talking about the Clippers!
2013 in the KL Sports world leaves us with many questions. It will be interesting to see what I write next here, because at this point, I have no idea what it will be.
September 11, 2012 | by: Eddie
It's been an uneventful summer in the KL Sport's realm. The Dodgers became greedy, then tanked, USC Football was voted #3, then #1 and is now #2. (I guess the laws of averages won out.) I don't think I recognize anyone on the USC Hoops roster anymore. The one player I did know was just kicked off the team. Oh, he was their leading scorer by the way. The San Diego Chargers (yes, I occasionally monitor the NFL) won last night, and I'll take ANY win over the Raiders, but the Chargers have a past, you see, and one can never trust these guys. I do greatly anticipate the LA Clippers. But can Paul and Griffin stay healthy? Will their retooled bench, led by Lamar Odom and Grant Hill, fare better than last year's wily bunch? Will Dwight Howard's trade to the Lakers once again sink the Clippers back into irrelevance? Over in the British Isles, Chelsea has started strongly, but have played nobody.
The droll of the summer is coming to an end, and things are just about to pick up... wiht many unknowns. Stay tuned.
December 3, 2012 | by: Eddie
Ok, maybe that title is a bit harsh. But the second major release of Jelly Bean just hit devices with the release of the Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 mid-November and I believe it is disappointing. While, 4.1 may have been Android's finest update adding refining touches throughout the OS and the wonderful Project Butter, a huge boost in performance, 4.2 really took a step backwards. Or at least, it was a lateral move.
First of all, it has been known to be buggy. My Nexus 10 randomly reboots daily. Of course, being an early adopter has its drawbacks and this is one of them. Though, some QC on Google's side would have been nice. At least updates can always be pushed out. But my major gripe is features. Let's look at the more important additions.
The lockscreen was functional and worked before. Now adding lockscreen widgets and changing how camera access works is a drag, and not very intuitive. Maybe if developers slowly add widgets on the lock screen I may change my tune. The one widget per screen limitation is also perplexing. I have already seen one of my lockscreen "home screens" (is that what they are called?) contain a single icon (the flashlight widget). It looked rather lonely, not to mention the wasted space surrounding it.
The new Notification "shortcuts" menu. When we first saw this, we all said "finally!". All of the OEM's are doing it (HTC Sense, Samsung Touchwiz, even CyanagonMod). Then we realized the shortcuts were not toggles. Also the way to access the menu when swyping seem very, disjointed, to say the least (you'l just have to try it). Especially on the Nexus 7. There could have been a much better way to do this. Well, there is, those three examples listed above.
The new camera app, admittedly, is slightly better than the older one, though it takes quite a learning curve to get over it. When Android already has a bad reputation for being to difficult for the common folk, this is not the direction you want to go.
Considering these were three of the major elements, without any kind of performance boost or continued refinement, I for one was disappointing. On a positive note, Google did add some behind the scene security measures (especially for side loading apps) so it is nice to see them address at least one concern some had. Though Android security issues are greatly exaggerated.
I believe some of the above items are a good start, but executed poorly. I look forward to Key Lime Pie, most likely Android 5.0 in 2013, which should refine some of these new features and add much, much more that are useful.
