From the Editor's Desk: Be good to your neighbor

Views: Cars and kids got in the way, but, also, wow. photosphere flood by Phil Nickinson

Another week of wicked weather reminds us that our phones are tools as well as toys ...

I'm sitting here Sunday morning with a cup of coffee, in a dry home, following last week's freak flooding. Many in my city aren't so fortunate, their homes still underwater, their neighborhoods inaccessible. Many in Arkansas and Mississippi don't even have homes anymore after the same weather system sent tornadoes crashing through. And that's to say nothing of the lives lost. So by all accounts, Northwest Florida was lucky. The east coast, and Baltimore in particular, got hammered next.

We're no stranger to natural disasters here (and the odd freak ice storm), but this one was a little different because the power loss was shorter and not as widespread. So the pictures and video came out quicker, if not in real time. Folks still need to remember to their cameras sideways.

But what really mattered was that when the rain finally stopped, we remembered to put the phones and cameras down, pick up a shovel, strip out the wet carpet and, once again, help each other rebuild and begin the recovery process. Just another somber reminder to those of us in the bubble here that there's life outside.

But let's climb down from that soapbox, shall we, and take a quick look back at the week that was. ...

• Glad to finally see the OnePlus One getting into more hands. (Especially our hands.) Keep an eye on this forum thread and Andrew's Google+ posts for the live breakdown. It definitely seems like it's a work in progress, but I still love the idea any phone that's able to circumvent the carrier process.
• And kudos to OnePlus for amending its ridiculous "Smash" contest.
• ICYMI, a great piece from Derek Kessler on net neutrality.
• Google+ is still here. And still getting better.
• I posed this question on the podcast this week: Are there really fewer than a half-million HTC One M8s out there?

That's it for this week. Be good to your neighbor.

Via: From the Editor's Desk: Be good to your neighbor