I came across a short article describing how Apple, Microsoft, and Google are all competing hard to "own the living room". Or something.
It got me to thinking. I primarily own Apple gear at home. But, if I bought a Google TV device (should it become reality) I would not be able to access the Apple Store for movies or TV shows. If I had a Google TV, would I be able to control it with an Apple, Samsung or Microsoft device?
We seem to be moving towards an age where the content you can get is dictated by the platform you choose. This is backward. I don't need to buy a computer from NWTel to use NWTel provided internet - the content is abstracted away from the physical device. As it should be.
The content should be free of the device platform I choose. I should be able to use Android devices to buy Apple Store content. Everyone wants to have a store/marketplace/bazzar for me to spend money in, but only if I own their "preferred" device.
It's a strategy of walled gardens of content that i can only hope will fail soon.
A quick post to follow up on my tweet last night.
I went on a very wet, cold and rainy ride last night with Paul G and Mark N. It was awesome because even though the weather said "Stay at HOME!" none of us wanted to be the one to call off the ride. Man up and ride!
The trail up Rollercoaster was nasty. The combination of recent heavy rain and the large amounts of clay in Riverdale dirt meant my wheels turned into heavy, non-mobile, clay laden donuts. It was nasty and took some work in a puddle to clean off the mess. I also noticed that my brakes were acting "quirky" - still stopping, but rather less responsive than usual.
Fast forward through some more climbing/riding/descending (Red Trail -> No Shirt, No Service -> Mother T -> Go T -> bottom end of Downtown Boogaloo -> Boogaloo Heights -> Upper Boogaloo). I was beginning to notice a significant lack of stopping power though Go T. It took some serious weight shifting to make the corners.
It was at the top of the fun valley section of Upper Boogaloo that I noticed that I pretty much had no more front brakes, they kinda worked. Still, I was in the zone so I ripped it down.
... until the last hard left just before the trail crosses the powerline. My brakes were totally gone, no stopping power, no slowing. I was going pretty quick. I forgot the golden rule of mountain biking - if you look at the tree you will hit the tree - until the last second that I went to the right between the tree of tooth loosening and a big piece of deadfall. Teeth intact, I came to a stop - giggling - and walked out and called it a ride.
On the way home I figure the combination of *a lot* of descending over the past month plus the clay conspired to eat away my brake pads faster than expected. I thought I had at least the rest of the season left in my stoppers - I am glad I was just XC riding, if it was more steep I might have less teeth!
Moral of the story - stay off your brakes in Whitehorse clay!
