Rant time

Well, I'm not usually the type to rant -- oh wait, I am! Hah...

Today, it's about Android. I love my Android phone, the T-Mobile myTouch 3G.

I received the phone as a replacement for my G1, which I had ongoing problems with. It was August 2009, right after the myTouch came out. For the most part, it was a trusty phone. Come November I had quite a few replacements, and after the 1.6 Donut update came through, it had a ton of problems. So I tried out a Cliq (returned it 2 days later due to all kinds of issues with it) and ended up with the BlackBerry Bold 9700. That has been my phone since then. I love my BlackBerry, it's the best phone I've ever had.

But recently, I've had the itch to go back to Android. 2.2 FroYo is now trickling out through the AOSP (Android Open Source Project for those unfamiliar) and most importantly, through CyanogenMod (cyanogenmod.com). It prompted me to finally update my myTouch to the new builds. I've settled with some nightly builds, but my issues are rather persistent.

My first issue is lack of memory. It's long-plagued the myTouch and G1 phones. They have a very small amount of runtime memory (RAM), the original myTouch has 192MB (IIRC) and the updated myTouch 1.2 with a 3.5mm headphone jack, has 256MB I've heard. The biggest problem I've found with the myTouch I have (the original), is that it's fast out of the box, runs great, but when you start loading up the ~230MB of application/phone storage, it slows down. More and more, it begins to crawl. I have around 50 apps installed, and I realize that's a lot. I have 130MB of free space, so I know it's not overloaded.

I've installed Apollo Software's Task Manager. With it, I can close apps much faster than trying to run through the built-in task manager (since it's buried under Settings/Applications/Manage Applications).

So, what am I getting at? Well, prior to upgrading to CM 6.0 (and previously CM 5.0.8), I noticed the phone was slow, and kinda dealt with it for as long as possible. It would make trying to type a text message impossible some days. The BlackBerry was so instant, it made me rather mad going back to the myTouch and not being able to blaze through a text message. I know that I shouldn't expect a miracle, but 2.2 has made it much better trying to text, etc. But why is it that some applications are still running after I close them?

An example (and a main reason for why I'm ranting) is Loopt. I love Loopt, it's really neat. But I try to keep it as an application I only open when I need it. In the settings for the app, I even set it to not update my location unless I have the app open.

Here's the fun part-- I check my Task Manager every 30 minutes or so, and I find Loopt running. Why? Please, tell me, why the hell you feel like the app needs to run anyway? I know it's not trying to update my location, because the GPS indicator doesn't pop up, and like I said, I don't have it set to do anything unless I have it open. Do you REALLY think I want it running in the background all the time? Do you think I'm addicted to it like a FarmVille addict needing their fix on their iOS device??

This is my call out to the Loopt developers; I became a Loopt leader last year, and did my best trying to get my friends to join. I don't have enough friends with compatible phones (Windows Mobile being the most popular platform in use by my friends), and those that do, don't use it all that much. Facebook and Twitter are the main means for people to see "what's up?" and Loopt is just a perk for using in metro areas so you can see where your friends are. Google Latitude and Foursquare have become my main location-based sharing services. I haven't checked into Foursquare in 2 months, but Latitude runs all the time because of how it's nicely integrated into Google Maps. I still keep my Loopt account obviously, and sign in every once in a while. But the fact that it chooses to launch on its own is enough reason for me to uninstall the app permanently, and only use it on either my BlackBerry or iPod touch.

Now onto T-Mobile. I want to know why you guys haven't pushed the FroYo update out yet? Or at least give us an idea. I know that after the G1 Cupcake debacle, and the outcry from customers over the promise of an update that was late coming out. Sure, back then we didn't know how the update process works. Now we've realized that the source code must hit AOSP to be widely available, but even on the Android Project site, it states at the bottom of one of the pages that large OEMs and carriers are privy to the updated source well before the public unveiling. I remember last summer that The Weather Channel was working on a 2.0 compatible version when 1.6 was just starting to roll out. I'm not saying I don't agree with it, because we all get access to the source code eventually, but what irritates me is that these companies should have enough headway before the AOSP code drop to produce the updates for their devices so that when the AOSP code comes out, HTC/Google/T-Mobile (or other combinations like Moto/Google/VZW) can be like "Oh, by the way, these updates have been tested in-house and will be rolling out to customers in a just a few weeks". Sure, they pulled that with the Nexus One, it was a matter of days after Google I/O when the "beta" updates were rolling out. But that's because the N1 is Google's baby, that was their follow-up Dev phone after the ADP1 and Ion.

I would gladly pay for a Nexus One if Google would finally just toss their cards on the table and give the device to T-Mobile for them to sell directly, since they already provide support for it. It was a great phone, and just this past week they got their "last shipment of them". Wonderful, I have no chance of picking up that device. If it would have hit T-Mobile, I could have gotten it on my Even More Plus plan and paid it off over 20 payments. But no, Google didn't even think about doing it. That sucks, seriously. It would have been a great opportunity to leave my myTouch behind.

But I digress... this post has gotten long enough. It's a lot of rambling and ranting about things my closest friends really don't care about. So let me just sum it up real simply:

Google: Work with device manufacturers to get these updates out more timely. HTC promising that FroYo will hit all devices by Christmas isn't timely. By then Gingerbread will be out. Seriously now...

T-Mobile: I love you guys, your network has been awesome for 5 and a half years now, and it only gets better. I just pulled 4 MB/s the other day on a speed test with the myTouch.

And finally, Loopt: Guys, whatever you're doing that causes Loopt to continually launch (and eat up the small amount of memory I have available) even when I tell the app to not open unless I ask it to, please change that and issue an update to Loopt! Not everyone wants their battery drained to nothing by GPS apps.

Good night kids.

Matty

Port Authority Gripes

I haven't written in a while. Sorry...

Today is rant time.

My car died back in March, for those that are close to me that already knew, I'm sorry. Crankshaft had a catastrophic failure, followed by the piston rod shooting through my engine during afternoon rush hour between the Campbell's Run and PA-60 exits on the parkway west (that's Pittsburghese for I-376 on the west side of Pittsburgh).

So, in the process I was forced to withdraw from classes at Robert Morris University, and my partner, Michael, must now ride a bus to and from work (Robert Morris) which is a 34 mile journey. Might I add that the Port Authority of Allegheny County hasn't made that a very easy task in the last few months.

See, they hired some outside consultants (read: people from God only knows where, who are unfamiliar with the city of Pittsburgh and our ridership patterns) to try and make Pittsburgh's bus system more streamlined (read: cost-efficient) and serve the people better (read: live close to the city or suffer). In this process, the original 2-bus plan to get to/from work using the 56C and 28K has been completely removed. The 56C turned into the 56 back on June 13th. Complaints? None at all, I actually am happy with the fact they made the route take less side-treks. 28K, on the other hand, has become the G3, which now runs inbound only in the morning and outbound only in the afternoon. Lovely, now he (and myself as well) must ride any of a combination of buses, depending on the time of day. Typical travel time? 3 and a half hours, give or take. The alternate route was the 56C to the 28X (downtown) then the 25A to Robert Morris. The 28X runs on a very timely schedule, but as of April's changes, it no longer would stop in Robinson (G2 picked up that stop, but doesn't run nearly as often, with the exception of morning and evening rush hours).

So, the bus system now has become a mess. To make matters worse, they are complaining of a deficit of 55 million dollars. Okay, well that's a shame, I'm sorry to hear that. But at $2.75 for a 2-zone fare, it's not a cheap option for some people. That is expected to change to $6-7 if the Port Authority can't recover from the projected deficit in next year's budget. Come again? $6-7 just to ride a bus into town? Are you INSANE?! Punish those of us outside the city to make up for the fact that you guys have poor planning and ridership?

I have watched the local buses here in Glassport. We have ONE route, formerly the 55M, now the 55. Not a lot of people ride it, and I understand why, it's a pain to have a route that only goes to McKeesport or West Mifflin (formerly stopped at the Waterfront). They run a 40-some foot long Gillig low-floor bus on that route. Occasionally they send out an antique '96 NovaBus (with no A/C) on the route. There is NO need for that big of a bus on the route! A short commuter bus (like the 60, 61, 62 routes that run in the hills behind Glassport) would be more appropriate. Sure, they're not a comfortable ride, but I'd imagine they are cheaper to run and maintain.

Then there's the issue of student discounts. University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University students get to ride "free". Okay, well it's not necessarily free, it's basically (from my understanding) a year-long subscription to bus passes, with an endorsement placed on the student ID. Lovely; for them. Pittsburgh has multiple universities, not just the big ones or the ones in Oakland (as I'm sure there are others with the option to ride free). Robert Morris University has a main campus in Moon Township, and their former main campus in downtown Pittsburgh. As an RMU student, I get NOTHING when it comes to a discount. Oh, I'm sorry, after 7pm weekdays, all day on weekends, I can ride a bus ONE ZONE for $1. You're kidding, right? I'm a commuter student. I don't live on campus. Punish me for not being able to drive to school? I understand that RMU would have to make a contract with Port Authority and pay upwards of $10 million a year for its students to have an endorsement, but RMU is a private university, they have a tight budget to begin with, and most students don't leave campus.

Now, the good news was that RMU provided a free shuttle between the 2 campuses. So that required one bus to downtown, then jump on the RMU shuttle. Perfect! Well, until they announced they are closing and selling the downtown building. There goes that free shuttle. So, I'm expected to pay full-fare to get to/from school on a weekday if it's before 7pm. After 7, I get a lowly $1 off my regular fare, since the only one-zone ride I take is the 25A from RMU to Robinson. Regular back/forth bus fare is $12.50. You have to be kidding me.

I'll admit it now, I just show every driver my ID at all times. Some don't care and count me as a student of the University of Pitt. Others let me put the dollar in. And the ones that let me put that one lonely dollar in, don't care that it's limited to one zone. In fact, a few of the drivers I see on a regular basis and if they do know about it, by now they should have said something. Then there's the die-hard rule-followers who force me to pay full fare. Yeah, I get it, I'm not following the rules if I don't. But seriously, I have no job, I receive food stamps, and finding a job is impossible! At least let someone with an EBT card ride at half fare or something!

Speaking of food stamps and EBT cards, the welfare office on this side of Pittsburgh has no limit on how long a person can receive stamps. ABAWD exempt status, for those familiar with the term, lifts all restrictions on how long an individual can receive stamps. Basically, federal law states that an Able Bodied Adult Without Dependents (ABAWD) can receive food stamps for 3 months in a 3 year time-frame. However, living in the Monongahela River Valley, we have nothing in the line of work, so we are ABAWD exempt (back in New Philadelphia, Tuscarawas County was ABAWD exempt also).

In the 80's the boro of Glassport had around 8000 people residing here. In the year 2000, that number had cut in half to 4000. I'm anxious to find out the results of the 2010 census. 2000 residents? I'm one of them. I may not have chose Glassport, because the house was cheap, but I figured it would suffice, as it's close enough without being too close, and far enough without being too far. At this point I almost feel like I'm in a worse spot than in New Philadelphia, Ohio. At least there I could get to Wal-Mart in 15 minutes, or had the option of going to the mall in a 15 minute walk. Here, both of those are so far a bus must be used to get to them.

Anyway, I've encountered quite a few problems while job-hunting here. As the economy began to rebound (or did it?), I had enrolled for spring semester at RMU. I felt that my time would be best used working on classwork, not a 9-to-5 causing my head to spin with all the coursework. Then, come March, my car dies. I've applied for jobs at the nearest fast-food restaurants that I can get access to. They ask me "how would you be getting to work?" or "do you have reliable transportation?". My answer has always been honest (since honesty is the best policy, afterall). I take Port Authority buses. Do you have ANY clue how many places don't want to hire someone because they take the transit system?! Last night I realized why, and sadly it will doom me to never have a job so long as I don't have my own vehicle.

Michael and I were at RMU, he was out at 6:10p from work, the 25A toward Robinson was due at 6:15p. We waited. And waited. And waited, until it was 6:40 and I was calling the Port Authority customer service line. 15 minutes on hold, and I finally got someone.

"Well, I don't see a report of a bus broken down, let me ask traffic what happened."

8 minutes on hold.

"Okay, the bus didn't have functioning A/C, so there was no bus on the route."

EXCUSE ME?! I don't care if it doesn't have A/C, put the darned thing on the route, I want to get home, not wait on a bus! As Michael said to me last night-- "What if I was heading to work? Am I to call and say the bus just didn't come? I'd be fired in a heartbeat!" And he's right.

We took the next 25A to Coraopolis (at 7:00 or so), and then walked to Neville Island to wait for the 21 inbound (not til 7:54). A hybrid bus rolled up, a beautiful, quiet, brand-spankin-new bus. Not a soul on board but the driver. Are you kidding me? I chatted with her, mentioning our wonderful luck with buses. She said that she had just come from lunch and didn't hear of any buses not going out due to A/C issues. The only problem was not enough buses for drivers to run the routes.

Not. Enough. Buses.

I've had it. The Port Authority of Allegheny County has done themselves in. For months I've heard driver after driver after driver complain about Dan Onoroto and the higher-ups (who have neither drove nor rode the buses) preparing the company to be destroyed. It will be split into many private companies and the fares will increase while service will be cut from different parts of the county.

Um. I get it, Port Authority was created in the 50's/60's by buying up over 38 private transit companies in Allegheny county, who wants go back to that. But the increase in fares/decrease in service is ALREADY HAPPENING. So really, what is there to lose?

I would save so, SO much money buying a cheap car back home in Ohio (to avoid the stupid inspections over here) and having the freedom to go where I want, when I want, all over again.

This city has slowly become my enemy. I dreamt of moving to Pittsburgh many years ago as a student in high school back in Youngstown, Ohio. I thought it was the most beautiful, scenic city. It still is, I was bewildered looking at the buildings downtown last night while waiting 45 minutes for the next 56 outbound. But the love-affair has worn off. From the local government to the transit, it's a shamble. What a shame to see all of this go to waste. In many ways, I hope that the Port Authority does go under. Maybe someone else can make things more accessible and cheaper. Hell, bring back the commuter line through McKeesport, it was only 30-some years ago that it was ripped out. I'm not saying the street cars should come back, but GOOD LORD, spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a TUNNEL under the Allegheny River so that people can go to the north shore and do one of 4 things: See the Steelers/Panthers, see the Pirates (that's a joke), visit the casino, or visit the Science Center. Do you know which of those I'd do? MAYBE the Science Center. I haven't been there in 15 years, I'm probably due, but come on-- That was a huge waste of money that could have been spent putting light rail lines back down the Monongahela River to get transit back out here where it's clearly needed, not dig a tunnel because it will "attract more people to the north shore". Sure it'll attract more people, but I bet that running a LR line out here would have had a much higher daily ridership, and some bus routes could be sacrificed to let the rails take up the slack.

But I'm not running the company, am I? Nope. I'd rather not be. I'd work in their IT department, that's my bread and butter. The only reason for me to attend RMU is so I could get the paper (degree) saying I know what I'm talking about with computers. I spend every waking minute with a computer or smartphone in hand. Even on the buses! I have a passion for computers, but I won't make any money on it living in our house out here in Glassport. At least not without a vehicle.

So, on those words I say thanks for listening.

OH, and before I hear it about bus passes and tickets, I must point out that weekly passes are currently $27.50 and monthly are over $100. Even Michael said he would be better off putting gas in a hybrid car for a month and having no restrictions on when and where we can go places. I just want to get out of the county for a day, and I can't even do THAT!

Fin.