Marc's Mind | Nothing to see here...Move along...

ASUS ZenBook Pro UX501VW Review

Marc Lewis
Date : February 14, 2016
Categories :
Tags : asus-zenbook ,reviews

After three years of using my trusty Vaio laptop, the time had finally come to replace it. The Vaio has been a great laptop for me, but it was starting to show its age. When I bought the Vaio, its intended use was to be a desktop replacement when I wasn’t at the office. Its large 17.3" screen suited that purpose well. At the time I bought it we weren’t living in a place where we could setup a desktop computer at home, there simply wasn’t enough space. We’ve since moved and have the space for a desktop, so my laptop requirements have changed a bit.

LUKS Encrypted SSD under Ubuntu 14.04

Marc Lewis
Date : February 11, 2016
Categories :
Tags : encryption ,luks ,ssd ,ubuntu-14-04

So, after upgrading my laptop a couple weeks ago I found myself with a “spare” 960GB SSD from my old laptop. Since the new laptop uses an M.2 PCIE SSD and has no room for expansion, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to replace the WD Black hard drive I use as secondary storage in my office workstation.

Amazon FreeTime Unlimited - Great idea, bad implementation

Marc Lewis
Date : May 21, 2015
Categories :
Tags : amazon ,freetime-unlimited ,tablets

Its no secret that I like Amazon and their services. There are a lot of things they do much better than their competition, but there are also quite a few things that could use some re-thinking.

Kindle Fire HD Kids Edition Tablet Review

Marc Lewis
Date : April 24, 2015
Categories :
Tags : amazon ,freetime-unlimited ,kindle-fire ,tablets

Last fall, Amazon introduced its new Kindle Fire lineup, and we very excited by the new Fire HD Kids Edition Tablet for our soon to be 4 year old, Alex. We ordered it immediately and tucked it away for Alex’s birthday in December.

Amazon Fire Stick vs Roku 3

Marc Lewis
Date : April 16, 2015
Categories :
Tags : amazon ,fire-stick ,roku

So back in December, Amazon was running a promo for Prime members to purchase the new Fire TV Stick for 50% off, making it just about $21 after tax. I couldn’t pass up that offer. After using it for a little while now, I figured I would give a review of it.

Software Design Principals - For Users

Marc Lewis
Date : April 15, 2015
Categories :
Tags : code ,ego ,software

I’ve been chewing on this since the latest Android update hit Jessica and my phones, and I posted about it here. Basically, software design has gotten crazy over the last few years. With technology going mainstream, and most people carrying computers in their pockets in the form of a smartphone, software design is much less of an art form than a race. The problem as I see it, though, is they don’t know what they’re racing towards, other than to be first. There is nothing wrong with that, either. Though sometimes I wish developers could be just a bit more altruistic when they make their choices.