Working on Thanksgiving

A few weeks ago people made a huge deal out of Costco deciding to keep their doors closed on Thanksgiving. When it happened I couldn’t believe that it was this big of a deal that people didn’t have to work on a day that is considered a national holiday. No one should have to work on Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is already bad enough that we celebrate a time where the pilgrims from the old world came to the new and slaughtered countless natives. This should definitely be one of those holidays that no one works on.

Employees not having to work on a national holiday should not be front-page news. This should be very low-key common practice. No one should have to work on a national holiday, when they could be with their friends and families.

Bringing Android back to it's roots

When Android Inc first started in 2003, Andy Rubin (founder of the small company) had a dream for a mobile phone operating system that was powerful, secure, efficient, and most importantly, open source. An open source program is one that is completely public and ready to be modified in any way that the user wants. When Google acquired Android Inc in 2005, they promised to keep Rubins dream alive. Up until recently, Google has done a great job doing just that. The problem is carriers like Verizon and AT&T locking the boot-loaders on their phones, making it impossible to change the operating system on their devices.

This may not seem like a big deal to the average consumer, but it makes enthusiasts like myself really have to fight to get what we were promised over ten years ago. Carriers locking their phones like this is one of those hidden frustrations that most people don't know about that drives me crazy. It makes me never want to use AT&T or Verizon as a mobile carrier anymore and switch to one that allows me to do what I want with the phone that I purchased. I don't blame Google for my misfortune. They have stayed true to their word and released their own line of phones and tablets called Nexus devices. These devices are completely unlocked and ready to be modified in any way, right out of the box.

Their isn't really anything that can be done to solve this issue as carriers want to maintain more and more control over how you use your phones. I guess enthusiasts like me will have to settle with Google's Nexus 6. Boo hoo.