When I heard that someone was going to be building an Android powered TV compatible HDMI stick, I knew I had to have one. I hunted down the Kickstarter page with the products information and pledged enough money to get one HDMI stick, along with an upgraded remote control with a keypad.

After the initial excitement wore off, the memory of pledging money for the Pocket TV HDMI stick quickly receded into the back of my mind. Months went by, with each few weeks bringing an update on how the product manufacturing process was coming along via Infinitec, the creators of the Pocket TV. It came as somewhat of a surprise when I finally received a box from Infinitec with my Pocket TV inside. The promise of running a fairly “stock” version of Android on a portable stick that plugs into an HDTV was finally within my grasp.

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You could describe me as a cord-cutter of sorts, although I have never really had cable to begin with. I, like growing numbers of internet savvy people everywhere, get along by watching my TV programming through services like Netflix and Hulu. Instead of cable boxes, cord-cutters end up using Roku, Google TV, or Apple TV boxes which connect our television sets to the web, streaming entertainment of our choice when, where and in some cases how we what. For the most part, internet based programming has never been easier to legitimately get and to view – but somehow providers make it still suck.

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I’ve always been told that every vote of an election matters. I have heard that phrase (or some variation thereof) all the way from grade school before I was old enough to vote, up to this morning while listening to talk radio commuting to Rocksauce’s Offices in North Austin.

While it’s both a comforting and popular thought to believe that each of our votes is critical to our American political process, the truth can be…well…a bit more complex than that.

For instance, chances are you will not vote for the President or Vice President in this election – if you have ever voted for them at all.

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(This article represents the thoughts of its author and does necessarily reflect the opinions of Rocksauce Studios.)

The modern smartphone is a wonderful thing. It’s a convenience when you need a phone, camera, and computer but don’t really feel like lugging 20 pounds of gear around with you. They can connect us with a video feed to someone on the other side of the globe in real-time or let us quickly message someone in another room of our office if we are too busy to move from our desk. But these efficiencies come at a price to the consumer who still must deal with not being able to load what they want onto a device, along with archaic, absurdly expensive and inconvenient data plans.

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As you probably know, the Android operating system was created by Google and released as open source, letting any company use it as they saw fit as long as they jumped through the required hoops. So while all of these smartphones manufactured my Motorola, Samsung, LG and the rest are Android phones, they generally don’t come with the native Android launcher.

Right now, I bet a bunch of you are thinking “What’s a launcher?” It’s a little hard to explain, but it has to do with Skins, or the general presentation of your smartphone. Stick with me here.

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For people outside of the app design process, User Experience, AKA, how the app controls in the user’s hands, can seem a little nebulous. What is it? How does it work? Why is it important? Here are a few questions solicited from around the Rocksauce Studios office to help you better understand why UX is important and what my job entails.

Why is UX an important process for creating an App? 

UX is not just an important process, it is the most important process! The UX of an application will influence everything from how a user interacts with the final product to the look and feel of the design that artist will take to create final graphics. The UX of a project defines the user flow and functionality of the final product. Without this step, a developer would not know what to build into an application. If an app was a house, the UX would be the house foundation, so to speak.

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iOS 5? LOL!

A few days ago, you may have noticed there was an Apple event going on. The tech media was, as per usual, tripping all over itself to lap up the new features with its usual sprinkling of the words “magical” and “revolutionary.” But did iOS 5 really change everything…again?

As a long time OS X user, I once watched Apple keynotes waiting to hear about the latest and greatest the computer maker had to offer. Then, I noticed something. For all of Apple’s huffing and puffing about innovation, and even more recently calling out competitors using phrases like “year of the copycats,” many times they were the pot calling the kettle black. Yes, they too stole…er…borrowed ideas from other companies. The difference seems that when Apple borrows, it’s fine, but when others copy ideas from Apple, all the warm fuzzies seem to float away.

Let’s set one thing straight right from the start, all companies borrow, or steal, or assimilate others ideas into their own work.

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