Dan Murphy's Blog

I decided since I have been reading a lot of books that I should start writing them down so I can point people to my blog when they are curious as to what books I have read.  We can start with one I did a while ago and then read the followup just recently.  Now that I am done with grad school I might actually be able to read again, especially with my Kindle it makes things so much easier.  And yes in case you are wondering a Kindle is much better than my iPad for reading, much clearer and easier on the eyes plus it works outside.  So back to the book reviews:

The first book I read on my Kindle was Daemon by Daniel Suarez.  This was an awesome book.  The author wrote it was a computer programmer for a number of years so he writes it from a very technical point of view which is great for me.  Also I felt that you didn’t need to be a techie to understand this book but it does help!  Basically the long and short of this one is that a computer gaming genius wrote this program to execute after his death.  This program reeks havoc on everything that is connected to data.  The character development is great and you really get into the story line.  The only issue I had with this book is that it had an abrupt ending, but that is when I found out that there was a sequel out there which is called Freedom that I read as well.

Freedom did a great job picking up where Daemon left off.  I did read a few books in between which made it a little difficult to keep the story line correct as if you read a lot all the books start to blend together or you forget the names.  This book along with Daemon kind of made me worry about how much of my life is online and available for this type of attack.  I really enjoyed the way this book and the series ended and would recommend this to anyone who like a high action book with a great developed plot.  Expect to be blown away with technology in this one which was great again for me!

Well I have been using my company issued iPad for a while now and there are a few apps that I think are great that I want to mention:

Productivity:

• Evernote – Great for taking notes and syncs across all my devices
• DropBox – the only way to move files around and keep things in sync
• FlightTracker – this little app works with Tripit and is perfect for those of us who travel a lot
• NetNewsWire – This is a Google Reader application for reading your blogs
• AppsFire – This is a streaming list of all the apps that are being searched for on iTunes, great for keeping up with what is cool
• SparkRadio – The end all app for music streaming, 1,000′s of channels available at your fingertips
• VNC Viewer – Control other computers on your network that are running VNC, very handy for your living room media center
• Atomic Web – A web browser with a adblocker built into it
• Kindle – So I can read my Kindle purchases.  Although I believe that a Kindle is still the better medium for reading than an iPad due to the glare and back-lighting that can cause a headache after a while
• GoodReader – allows you to read any type of file on your iPad and can also make it easier to put files on your iPad without tethering it
• Speedtest X HD – great for finding out how fast your internet connection really is
• SportsTap – Gives you the scores and updates on all sporting events
• Pandora – Great for streaming music to your iPad
• Keynote – app for creating PowerPoint type presentations
• Numbers – app for creating spreadsheets
• Pages – app for creating documents

Games

• Chopper 2 – a helicopter game that is very entertaining
• Real Solitaire – what gadget is complete without solitaire?
• Monkey Island – an RPG game that can destroy all your free time