Month: August 2008

So What Does Lansing City Mayor Virg Benero Have To Hide?

I lived in Lansing, MI for 18+ years.  My parents still live in Lansing.  It’s safe to say that I was concerned when I heard about gang violence happening not far from where they live.

But… what concerned me even more was the utter silence coming from city officials in regards to giving information about what happened.

At the meeting I sternly told Mayor Benerno that me and my neighbors had a right to know in general terms what happened.  He talked about the importance of keeping details under wraps.  I said we should have access to the original police report at the very least.  I was told citizens don’t have a right to that.

People are empowered when they are provided the information they need.  Silence breeds fear and distrust.

So there is silence coming from city officials, what does this mean?  Was the gang violence worse then what was seen?  Did something happen with the gang violence that city officials don’t want folks to know about?

Congrats to Digg for NOT Making an iPhone App!

Seems like a lot of companies are jumping on the “We have to create an iPhone App bandwagon”, whether it makes sense or not.

Well I want to give my congratulations to Digg.com for resisting the urge.  They have alternatively updated their mobile Web site.

It’s even easier to access Digg on the go with the new mobile version of Digg. This enhanced version – found at m.digg.com – is perfect for phones that support the full web browsing experience, such as a Treo, Blackberry or that new iPhone you just waited in line all morning to get.

That’s right. There is one Web site that will work on a Treo, Blackberry or an iPhone.

Now don’t get me wrong.  There are definitely use cases where it makes more sense to create an iPhone app.  Due to the lack of Flash support for Safari on the iPhone, if you wanna create a game or use audio or video, it’d make more sense to create an iPhone app.

If you wanna use the GPS/Location based services, the camera, or the accelerometer, it’d make more sense to create an iPhone app.  I do ask though… couldn’t standard API calls be created that makes it possible for these to be accessed from the browser?