Claims by Google, Apple, and Microsoft may be prepping an el-cheapo smartphone. Then the post gets all weird.

I am going to start with Microsoft. ComputerWorld is betting that the first Microsoft branded phone will be a cheapy. This is not likely to win converts from other platforms. Still, it is the only well-reasoned route Microsoft can take. Way back before Amazon released pricing data for the Firephone, I had set the price then at 150USD fully unlocked. The market has changed quite dramatically since then, and with the Android One platform already launched, there is little reason to opt over to a Windows device..at nearly any price. Microsoft is likely to do Hail Mary pricing in order to get any traction in the phone market.

I really wish them well. Nadella seems to understand today's ever shifting markets, but in order for a Microsoft phone to get traction, it is going to have to be a full version of Windows. That would certainly help. Cortana is pretty interesting, but that is not going to do it.

Moving in reverse order, Apple's iOS 8 suffers from battery drain issues. Apple pay = good, battery drain = bad. Of course there are legions of Android sites reporting on this, but The Faithful are bemoaning the issue, so it is likely to be true.

Speaking of battery issues, Google, you're up.

Google confirms battery issue as reason for Android 5, but says: "This issue has been fixed in the latest builds, and this issue is now considered resolved. Thanks everyone."Sure. I will wait until the fine folks over at XDA to confirm things before I install the OTA on my Nexus 7, and side load it onto my hacked up little L34C. I have done lots of damage to that phone as I learn--or try to learn--to write good compact code in Java. Is there such a thing? Nah. I learned how to write machine and yes, mostly Assembler as it is easier to figure out where one has screwed up than by parsing binaries. Of course, PLC programming is where most hardware engineers earn the software portion of their income, so we had to learn everything from machine to high level languages, such a C, Basic, etc.

Since Java syntax is largely derived from C/C++ syntax, if you can learn one proficiently, you can learn the other. I think one can go quite a bit further and state that coders either are, or they are not. Certain types of minds do not do so well in hard logic, and these people generally make crappy coders. People like me--in true propeller hat nerd wearing fashion--do not do so well where the logical rules are fuzzy, or altogether missing. I freely admit to not getting high marks in social cuing. Here is a telling example.

My mother asked me where my "wood chopping thing was?" I asked her if she was inquiring about a hatchet or an ax. I told her that those are the only two things I possess for chopping wood. She accused me of lying. I was not. I was blinded by the lack of rigor in her query.

She was actually asking me about the whereabouts of my chipper-shredder. This was a really unusual circumstance as I have to make sense out of a great many things that are not unambiguous and do so without error. But then..

I am still looking for a blog focus.

Oh, I am most displeased with Wall Street's reaction to nVidia's quarterly report. In after-hours trading last night, the stock was up errrrm..approx. 2.5%. Today, the stock is off 2.5%. nVidia's guidance looked pretty good, so I guess this is the "buy on the rumor, sell on the news" adage that often plays out on Wall Street. Whatever. Time should favor my nVidia bet.