One of my best friends and bandmates had a recording studio in his house on Ambursen Street in Houston, TX. Back in 1991 I stayed there for a week while he was out of town, and recorded some of my own music there. This is one of the surviving recordings.
Day: September 20, 2018
The e foundation privacy phone & mobile OS
Recently I wrote that I was going to work on developing my own privacy-oriented, silicon-valley-free version of the Android mobile OS. Well, it turns out that a better guy than me is already way ahead of me on the same project, and he has a team. In fact the beta version of his phone is already out:
“At the end of 2017 Mandrake Linux creator Gael Duval announced an ambition to create a smartphone OS, one that didn’t rely on Apple or Google, with ‘my data is my data’ as his mantra. He saw the loss of respect for user data privacy, and the concentration of data power in the hands of a few giant corporations with its surveillance risks, and could see that something new was needed.
Today the e foundation, created to support the mission, announces the first beta of the /e/ mobile OS, for early testers to trial on a range of mobile phone models. They plan to have a stable version for general release by early 2019.”
Go to the /e/ foundation to read more.
So this obviates the need for me to develop my own Android version all by myself. I still will probably do it, just for fun, to learn, and to keep my computer skills sharp. In fact, I may just do some volunteer work for the e foundation.
My Time at Lake Tahoe is Ending
It was 4 years ago, in May 2014, that I moved from Vail, Colorado, to Stateline, Nevada on the south shore of Lake Tahoe. It’s been a tough 4 years – my wife disappeared with my son for a year, then when she made contact again it was by serving me with divorce papers. I was out on bail from a 2012 DWI arrest in Texas, my movements and behavior restricted. Then they finally adjudicated it in early 2016, when I pled guilty to a misdemeanor traffic offense and went on two years of probation, restricted to stay in Nevada, subject to random drug and alcohol tests and visits/inspections. I was the victim of two, very painful, scams during this four years. And, most difficult of all, my father passed away in December of 2016.
But now, September 2018, everything has worked out very well. My divorce was final 2 years ago, and my ex and I are both much happier, and our differences are settled. We are friends again, in fact I’ve been here helping her renovate her house. She moved back here with my son Z in 2015 and I’ve been close with my son ever since. I still miss my Dad, but I’ve gotten used to being an owner of our family businesses instead of an employee. And I’m now free to travel the world because of it. I’ve found a wonderful new girl, who is the best thing that’s happened to me since my son was born.
So, good things are happening now, as I leave Lake Tahoe, probably for a long time, and go to the Philippines to stay for a while.