Windows 10, not Windows 9, will be the successor to Windows 8

Microsoft announced on Tuesday that the next version of the Windows operating system will not be called Windows 9, as it has been widely speculated since the last two versions are Windows 7 and Windows 8, but rather Windows 10. They are quoted as saying that calling it Windows 9 "just wouldn't be right." Microsoft also says that the successor to Windows 8, which many people had a hard time getting used to due to its new smartphone/tablet-inspired graphical interface, will mark the beginning of an all-new generation of Windows, like earlier versions with dramatic changes have been marketed as. Windows 10 is tentatively expected to drop in late 2015.

Google celebrates 16th birthday

Google celebrated 16 years on Saturday with a special doodle on their homepage depicting a birthday party with the Google letters. Google was a relative latecomer to the commercial Internet, not going online until September 27, 1998, a few years after most of today's major websites. Some argue, though, that Google's real birthday is September 7, the date it was incorporated as a company. But aside from that, it has developed a powerful online influence. What started as a simple search engine has gone on to become an Internet giant with features such as maps and news, along with its own email provider, social network and Web browser.

Atlantic hurricane season less active than in previous years

The Atlantic tropical cyclone basin has only seen five named storms so far this year, a departure from recent years which have seen periods of high activity. The season usually has its peak during the month of September, but it didn't seem to happen this year. At this point in 2008, the last time the current Atlantic naming list was used, we were up to the K storm, Kyle. This year, we are only up to Edouard, which formed in early August in 2008. This decrease in tropical activity is probably due to changing weather patterns, which are known to cycle through every few years. Meanwhile, the eastern Pacific basin is up to the R storm, Rachel, and it looks like the Pacific is more active, as it usually is.

My dad's birthday

Today is my dad's birthday and he is 56 years old. On Sunday, we went to a Japanese steakhouse for dinner (which I've been to countless times) and then ate an ice cream cake. He's never been very open about celebrating his birthday though, at least not in recent years. But he still made sure we remembered it today.

Autumn is starting

The season of autumn will start with the September equinox at 10:29 pm Eastern time this evening, and the first full day of autumn will be tomorrow. In the area where I live, most of the corn and other plants have been harvested, and the leaves on the deciduous trees are starting to change from green to red, yellow, orange and brown. Also, the temperatures are getting cooler (although it did briefly hit 80 degrees yesterday) and sunset will soon come before 7:00. This will all lead to the cold months of winter.

iOS 8 released to Apple mobile devices

Apple has released iOS 8, the successor to iOS 7, to the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. The mobile operating system was first announced a week and a half ago along with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. iOS 8 contains many improvements, including new camera features that are said to enhance the quality of pictures and videos, better hacking protection and network sharing, and better management of text and voice messages. There are also new features like QuickType and a more adaptive user interface. Of course, some people are unhappy with these changes, just like all previous versions of iOS. But others think it's another great improvement to Apple's mobile software.

A Baltimore-Washington World Series?

The Baltimore Orioles of the American League and the Washington Nationals of the National League have both clinched their respective Major League Baseball divisions, AL East and NL East, putting them in the playoffs. This is the Orioles' first division title since 1997, their last playoff berth for 15 years. The Nationals also won the NL East title two years ago, when they made the playoffs for the first time since their move from Montreal in the 2004-05 offseason. The Orioles and Nationals are both better than they were in 2012, when they both suffered divisional round losses. Some fans are even predicting that they might end up playing each other in the World Series. It would be the Orioles' first since their 1983 championship and the Nationals' first ever.

Although I live closer to Baltimore, I have been a Nationals fan since they came to Washington (but I did root for the Orioles before that). I have to go through Baltimore on my way to Washington, which involves passing by Camden Yards, home of the Orioles and football Baltimore Ravens. So it could feel awkward to me if the Nationals face the Orioles in the World Series. But I wouldn't really care who won, since I would get to be part of a championship celebration no matter what.

Hurricane Odile hits Baja California peninsula

Hurricane Odile, an eastern Pacific basin storm, struck the Mexican state of Baja California Sur Sunday night into Monday morning, bringing high winds and flooding rains to cities in the area such as the resort town of Cabo San Lucas. Vacationers in the area were forced to move to makeshift shelters set up in hotels, many of which were at higher levels in attempts to escape flooding. Odile made landfall on the southern part of the Baja California peninsula as a category 3 major hurricane, the strongest in the region's history. The eastern Pacific has unusually received a lot more attention than the Atlantic basin for its tropical cyclones this year. The Atlantic usually sees more landfalling storms, although the Pacific basins often have more activity with fewer impacts on land due to different conditions.

My teeth are going to fall out

I really like candy, soda and other sweets and I eat and drink them a lot. I also have a tendency to forget to brush my teeth. This is bad because it can and has caused major effects to my teeth. I have had three cavities in the past two years, two of which occurred simultaneously last summer. I have also been told during my last two visits to the dentist that I had gingivitis, although the last time I went it was less serious. I've been trying to remember to brush my teeth and rinse with mouthwash but I just don't do it most days. And today I ate some candy, and also drank most of a 1-liter bottle of soda. I did brush my teeth this evening, though. So I'm treating this situation like I want my teeth to fall out, but I don't want that to happen, so I need to get better with my dental hygiene.

One year working at ShopRite

On this day last year, I had my very first shift at the ShopRite grocery store somewhat close to my house. I started out as a cashier but now I am a porter (the guys who take the carts back). I also do other things like taking trash to the back and returning items that people don't want and the cashiers take back to customer service. Lately I've been working weekends (Sundays only for the past three weeks) in the morning and early afternoon, and getting about $40 per week. I could use some work on doing things properly in my job and I can't say I always enjoy it. Also there's a possibility that I could get moved to yet another department but that's another story. I don't know yet if I'll be working at ShopRite and I don't expect to, but it just might turn out that way.

Busy couple of days

I've been working non-stop on lots of stuff today, and I was really busy yesterday as well. Yesterday I had to finish an assignment for my college class that I had all week to do (my class is every Thursday for four hours) but kept putting off. I was also compiling, editing and rendering videos for both of my YouTube channels, but my laptop crashed 68 percent through the rendering of a video I was making in Sony Vegas. Since it was 11 minutes long and it takes more than two hours to render a video of that length in HD, and because I had to get up early for school, I decided to try again this afternoon after school and succeeded this time.

Also after my class today, I had to do a couple of errands and when I got home, I finished that Vegas video and then started on my next homework assignment. Then I recorded my next video for my main YouTube channel, and also uploaded my latest batch of pictures to my laptop, which I then put on Flickr. I also took a couple of pictures specifically for Twitter and Instagram. Hopefully tomorrow I can catch a break and have more time to just relax and do nothing.

Apple unveils iPhone 6, other gadgets

Apple revealed the much-rumored iPhone 6 on Tuesday at a highly publicized media event. It is expected to be even thinner than the iPhone 5, which quickly became known for its less rounded design compared to previous versions of the iPhone. Along with the iPhone 6 will come the iPhone 6 Plus, which will have a larger screen, 5.5 inches compared to the iPhone 6's 4.7 inches. Both versions of the iPhone 6 will feature the forthcoming iOS 8, which will also be available for some older Apple mobile devices. Apple also announced the Apple Watch, another member of the growing smartwatch trend, that has also been the subject of rumors for some time, but just now confirmed. In a tie-in with the event, the extremely popular rock band U2 surprise-released their 13th studio album, Songs of Innocence, which was a long time in the making. The album was automatically downloaded for free to most iTunes accounts around the world, surprising many people who didn't remember buying a U2 album on the iTunes Store.

YouTube's latest changes

YouTube has once again been tinkering with some changes to their layout. The latest one involves a new look to the toolbar below the video player, and above the video info. The numbers and thumbs up/down below the like/dislike color bar have gotten a bit bigger, and instead of having to click buttons on the other side of the player to like or dislike a video, users can now click right on the thumbs up and down icons. The "Add to", "share" and "more" buttons have also been placed closer together and are now in grey text instead of black. These buttons also now have their own little icons. Finally, on videos with songs identified by YouTube, the artist and purchase information has been moved to below the video description. These changes happened a few weeks ago, but I only now decided to do a post on it.

NFL regular season begins

The National Football League has started its regular season to the delight of fans across the country. NFC West team the Seattle Seahawks enter as the defending Super Bowl champions; they defeated the Green Bay Packers 36-16 in a Thursday evening game. The majority of the Week 1 games took place during the day on Sunday, at the normal times of 1 and 4:15 pm Eastern/Pacific time, with one game on Sunday evening and two Monday night games. All of me and my family and friends' favorite teams - the Washington Redskins (my team), Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New England Patriots - lost their first games, but since I'm not that much of a football fan I don't really care.

Dangerous driving at night

I went to a place 45 minutes away for a social group yesterday and when the meeting ended, it was dark. I proceeded to have an interesting drive, with people going really fast and following me really close. I kept getting almost blinded by headlights. I tried to speed up a little to satisfy them, but I kept having to slow down because it was dark and there were some curves and hills on the back roads I was taking. I would rather be safe than dead due to careless driving, but apparently other people don't see it that way, and don't realize the importance of safety while driving at night.

Back to college

I am starting the first day of my fall semester of college tomorrow. It will be the beginning of my second year since graduating from high school. The semester actually started on Tuesday but I only have classes on Thursdays this semester. My fall semester last year, which was my first ever of college, did not go as well as I had hoped, although most of that was on me. The spring semester was much better, as I learned what I had done wrong in my first few classes. Also, this post is a lot longer than last year's post I did on the eve of my very first day of college classes; it just said "tomorrow is my first day of college." So I thought it would make more sense to be detailed this time.

Labor Day

Today was Labor Day and I barely did anything today, except the usual goofing off on my laptop. For a lot of people it was a three-day weekend but I'm still on summer vacation from college, and then I still have plenty of off time every week. But for dinner we ate some steaks, chicken and loaded baked potatoes. The steaks and potatoes were given to us by our next-door neighbor. The steaks were a little small but they had plenty of flavor. The potatoes were topped with cheese, sour cream, bacon and chives. I went from starving to full in a few minutes because the food was so filling. Now we say goodbye to summer fun, and begin our descent into autumn, which will then give way to winter.