I Told Ya' It Would Make Sense (sorta)!

Today, Moto X users found out what the seemingly force-installed Motorola Spotlight Player is all about in a fun-filled, interactive short titled "Windy Day".

  This short was created by Jan Pinkava, co-director of Pixar's "Ratatouille". Simply put, a mouse discovers a pretty red hat and he simply HAS to have it. The only problem is the annoying gusts of wind that keep snatching it from his clutches - reminiscent of the squirrel from "Ice Age" chasing the acorn.

   And that's where the fun comes in - you move your Moto X (and your whole body at times!) around to keep your view on the hat and the mouse, seeing all things around you in this make believe world as if you were there! 

    There's all types of other woodland creatures, trees, and even a cool ending scene with a view from the sky.

   Overall, I think it's a cool and interesting Easter Egg type surprise with plenty of future potential. Windy Day did get a bit, well, long-winded (it lasts for about 4 minutes) so I'm not sure if maybe making the experience a bit shorter would be more enjoyable. 

   But hey - I like goofy and fun things and this certainly falls into that category! So I say "Good job on this, Motorola!"

  If you're a Moto X user, I'd love to hear your feedback in the comments below about Windy Day, and the whole idea behind Motorola Spotlight Player.

You Get What You Pay For, But How Much Does It Cost?

It's one of the oldest of old school pieces of advice ever given -

You get what you pay for

  In fact, I've said it countless times throughout my life, and tend to follow it - especially when it comes to tech gadgets. And for the most part, it trends to hold true without fail. Recently however, I may have run into the all-important exception to the rule.

  In  The Truth About Cutting The Cord - Part 2: Equipment and Cost, I suggested the Motorola SURFboard eXtreme SB6141 (DOCSIS 3.0).I also mentioned that I had originally purchased a Netgear equivalent to this model, the CMD31T, but it kept periodically dropping the connection.

At the time, I purchased the SB6141 for $149.99 - not the most expensive modem on the market, but enough of a price that I expected top-notch performance with no hassles. In other words, I expected to get what I paid for. Unfortunately the SB6141 turned out to be anything but hassle free.

 From the onset, something seemed odd. Whenever I would log into the modem's interface, the log would have countless errors listed - some controlled, many others not. At first, this did not present an issue. But over time, many errors began showing up as critical, and the modem would reboot on its own. At first, it happened a few times so I didn't think much of it. But over time the condition got progressively worse.  Then, the oddest thing happened.One day, I was home with my sons - one taking a nap and the other on the couch with me watching a movie. It was raining pretty hard outside, but I didn't think much of it. But then, there was an earth-shattering BOOM! Yep - of all things, our house got struck by lightning. As you might imagine, there were a few electronic items that were lost. But that's what insurance is for!

  The SB6141 was still functional though, so I replaced all the other damaged items and in a day or so my network was back up and running. 


  Well, sort of....  The rebooting issue got worse and worse. The error log was multiple pages long. Finally, after day or so of hoping things would get better, and having Time Warner come out and replace the main run to our house and several inside, I decided to go ahead an replace it. Thniking it had to have been damaged by the lightning strike, I returned it and got another SB6141. Two days later, I got a text message from my wife telling me the Plex channel would not play. I established a remote connection and checked the error log of the brand new SB6141 - it was deja vu all over again...

   Fortunately, the Time Warner tech who came out was the kind of tech all techs in any industry should be - an honest one. He had told me that the SB6141 was actually known to have these issues. In fact, although it's listed in the top group of modems to buy on the Time Warner website, he said he would not recommend it. In fact, he had one at his home and had the same problems with it and got rid of it.

  Now, before anyone asks "didn't you read any reviews before you bought it?" - yes I did. However, the majority of the reviews were positive so I chose it. Plus, I'd had Motorola modems in the past that didn't give me any problems.

  So, as soon as I could, I took down the new SB6141 and headed to Best Buy for yet another warranty exchange. Oddly enough, while reading random reviews of other modems, I found one that seemed to consistently get 4 - 5 star ratings from users.- the Zoom 5341J. Better yet, this modem was only $74.

   The Zoom has turned out to be what a modem should be - a simple, working device. I've logged into the interface periodically to find what I should have found with the Motorola - 0 errors, 0 correctable, with 0 noncollectable. And, to this day, it continues to simply work, as a modem should.

   For the most part, "you get what you pay for" may ring true. But the exception to the rule is -

Higher price does not always mean higher quality

It Will All (probably) Make Sense Soon

 If you have the Moto X, and if you are like me, you're loving it. Smooth running, great battery life, etc. You may have also noticed that you got an "update" to an app you never installed and didn't even know you had - Motorola Spotlight Player.

That's because you didn't have it. There was no associated app icon or widget. When I first saw it in my notification drawer, I chuckled a bit and thought it had something to do with the recent SOAK. But then I tapped on it and immediately realized that something entirely different was going on.

  As Android Central's Jerry Hildenbrand puts it -

 "After installation (yes, you'll install it, too) you have a new 1 x 1 widget and three new activities in the software. Tapping the widget will show you two of them — the page that tells you Motorola can't wait to show you how all this works and that your Moto X loves you, and a page where you can opt in or out of the service — which Motorola swears will have no ads."

   Some people have freaked out about this. I'm not one of them. Some hate when apps force install. Me, not so much when it's an app that's installed on a device I already love, from a trusted company. Sure, it may end up being lame, but I can opt out and uninstall if I think it is.

   So sit back and relax, fellow Moto X'ers, and wait until the 29th to see what this is all about (or, "aboot" for my Canadian family and friends!). From what I've seen from Motorola thus far when it comes to all things "X", I'm banking on it being pretty awesome!

Advertise All The Things

 Today, you may have noticed an interesting banner in your browser, received an email from them, or (if you're on Google Plus) got a notification.

  Well, it seems Google is taking advertising to another level. As they put it, in simple terms, they might start including your picture and name.

From the Terms of Service update page -

• First, clarifying how your Profile name and photo might appear in Google products (including in reviews, advertising and other commercial contexts).
• You can control whether your image and name appear in ads via the Shared Endorsements setting.

  I've already seen some negative feedback about this. It seems to me that, in today's NSA paranoid society, anything that may even give the hint of personal information possibly shared without one's consent has many ready to call foul. However, as I tell people all the time - you're logged in right now, reading this blog, you've probably checked Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, or what have you...guess what? You've already given consent. YOU have already made the personal choice to share "yourself" with the world. Of course you have, and deserve, an expectation of privacy when it comes to personal emails and messages, but the things you do out in the open (especially on social media sites), are pretty much fair game.

 The fact is, it's not like Google is simply doing this, or forcing you to participate. You have the option to choose not to participate. As for me, it simply doesn't bother me. In fact, I welcome it. I would love to research an item or device and see a picture or review from someone I actually know giving their review or rating of it, as opposed to someone I don't know giving the same run-of-the-mill review as every other web site. This, I feel, is a welcomed attempt by Google to make what we may be considering to purchase an even more personal experience. 

 Others may argue that, if I were included in an actual commercial from Google, I would be getting paid so Google is basically "pimping" free advertisement. But to me, this is like arguing against being a background extra in a movie - people volunteer for that sort of thing all the time, the movie makes millions, and the background extras get $0. Again folks, you don't have to participate in this and Google has made it very simple to tell them "no".