15 Minutes a Day

Archive for the ‘Science’ Category

“When the iPhone 3G came out I could not wait to get one. I watched the demo video over and over again and could not believe what that little phone was capable of doing. My HP iPAQ was acting up and I was looking forward to getting the next coolest toy – the iPhone. Once I got my hands on it, I was IN LOVE with the iPhone! Thousands of apps available at my fingertips along with email, the web, and eventually all of my Google contacts and calendar. What was there NOT to love about this incredible piece of technology? Oh. Yeah. The company that made it.

Apple is one of the most restrictive companies I have ever purchased a piece of technology from. I can’t believe how many times I have heard Apple-lovers like Leo LaPorte and Cali Lewis extol the virtues of the Mac and other Apple products but then later add that they wish this or that worked with their Apple product, “…but Apple won’t allow that.” That phrase just irritates me to the bone!

No other technology product I have ever owned has been as restricted by the company that created it as the two Apple products I have purchased in my lifetime – the iPhone 3G and the iPod Shuffle. Here are some examples of those restrictions:

iPhone 3G

• Other makers allow tethering of smartphones to laptops for Internet access, but not the iPhone. Some blame this on AT&T, but I don’t buy that. When I had my HP iPAQ (on AT&T by the way) I was able to tether it to my laptop. Granted I got dial-up speeds, but that’s better than what I’m able to do with my iPhone.
• Applications (called apps for short) created for the iPhone are blocked by Apple for strange or non-existent or shifting reasons. I can understand blocking apps that don’t work correctly or contain viruses, but any other reason is just bogus.
• The battery is inaccessible to the customer. This was done by design and means that a customer on the go cannot swap out a drained battery for a fully charged one.
• No turn-by-turn vocal directions. I had a problem with my car’s GPS one day. It could not find the state park I wanted to visit. My iPhone’s Maps program was able to locate the park, but I had to keep looking at the phone and scrolling down the directions in order to get there because there is no vocal directions capability on the iPhone. I did not feel comfortable driving while trying to read my phone, but really had no other choice at that point.

iPod Shuffle

• I cannot listen to audio books on this device. I know most people listen to their music on shuffle and that’s why the iPod Shuffle was created. There is no screen so you just listen to whatever comes up. However, there is a switch on mine that allows me to turn off the shuffle function and just listen to things in order. However, when I unload all of the music and try to load on one section of one audio book, the iPod Shuffle does not recognize the format. It cannot play the book. All other iPods and the iPhone can, but not the Shuffle. This is my only real complaint about this product.

Now, if the functions I have listed above were outlandish or unusual I could understand Apple’s position about not making them available. However, lesser capable phones and other devices have this capability. Why not the Apple products? Simple. Apple and its leadership want to have total control over the user experience – as they think it should be. Forget about what the user thinks their experience should be. Steve Jobs and his minions know best, right? I don’t think so!

Here is what Apple will have to do to possibly get my business in the future:

• Quit limiting what its products can do. If the capability is out there in other products, then build it into yours.
• Bring prices down to compare with similar products. I know plenty of people (including myself) who make purchases based not only on what a product can do, but also on how much it costs. If I can find a PC or other product that can do the same functions as an Apple product and cost significantly less, I’ll go with that other product.
• Quit being snooty to your programming community. Protect your customers from malicious or ill-programmed apps, but otherwise do NOT restrict what goes into your app store. Let the customers decide what they put on their phone.
• Build as much flexibility into your products as possible. Restricting access to the battery, making customers buy unique power cables instead of industry standard cables, and not allowing your programs to be installed on non-Apple products is massively restricting your profits. Now, I say that knowing that Apple is a highly profitable company. However, they are less than 10% of the market right now. They could have so much more if they would stop restricting everything about their products. Your customers might get new editions of popular programs more quickly if you had a larger share of the market. Right now Linux users get new programs faster than Apple customers do. Whose fault is that? Apple’s.

I didn’t arrive at these conclusions overnight. I am coming up on the end of a two-year iPhone/AT&T contract and have had an iPod Shuffle slightly longer than that. I don’t know what my next cell phone will be yet, but I’ve already bought a Windows 7 netbook to replace my iPhone’s other capabilities. When my AT&T contract is up I will probably move over to Verizon and either get a MiFi card and a basic cell phone or I will get an Android-based phone that has the ability to tether to my netbook and laptop. Whose fault is it that my husband and I have made this decision? Apple’s.

Image Credit:

The Bad Apple image was found at The non conformer’s Canadian Weblog using Google Images.

The Rock vs. iPhone image was found at Amit Bhawani: Latest Tech Updates using Google Images.

The Lenovo S-10 photo was found at ComputerWorld Blogs using Google Images.

Comments posted on Facebook or Twitter:

• Daniel Antion commented on FaceBook on January 2, 2010:
  “I do wish I could tehter my iPhone but I think that is AT&T’s problem, not Apple’s. They (AT&T) keep saying it’s coming soon but they are also trying to reduce our data usage. I see another $19.95 in my future.

  My other complaint is lack of Flash – Now, I just need to figure out if that’s Bad Apple or Bad Adobe.”

• @BuckDaddy commented on Twitter on January 2, 2010
  @Catherine_Ford interesting, i know that about them and i am okay with it,

Google has been on my radar quite a bit lately. Every technology podcast I listen to is talking about the latest product from Google. The news media is wondering if Google is getting too big and powerful and collecting too much information. People are wondering what to expect from “our new Google overlords.”  Today I read a blog post from Google that I think tells us what we can expect…

History teaches us that closed societies are oppressive and stymie creativity and innovation. Look at North Korea, Myanmar, or Sudan where differences in politics, religious beliefs, or ideas are simply not tolerated by those in power. As a result people are raped, mutilated, and killed. The society does not advance and only those in power become wealthy; and then only for as long as they are actually in power.

Open societies allow for an exchange of ideas, encourage education and free thought, and are tolerant of the religious beliefs (or lack thereof) of others. Innovation is celebrated. Lives are improved. Everyone has a chance to flourish – whatever that means to each individual. Not everyone wants to be fabulously wealthy. Some only want the chance to study, or raise their children in a decent neighborhood, or have a chance to travel. Open societies encourage this.

If the blog post from Google is to be believed, then Google can be trusted with our information as long as they continue along the path they have tread so far. They are telling us what information they have on use via Google Dashboard. They are giving us a way to get our information out of Google through their Data Liberation Front. Finally, they are opening up many of their projects for developers to augment and improve. Examples include Chrome (browser and operating system), Android (cell phone operating system), and Google Wave (a whole new tool that I’m still trying to learn).

As long as they keep giving us value in exchange for our information the I think we can trust Google. However, once they break that trust their company is done for. So far, Google has my trust. I can’t say the same for some of their competitors in a variety of industries…

Your thoughts on this topic? Please share your ideas on this…

Image Credit: This image was retrieved on December 21, 2009 from The Bookish Dilettante using Google Images.

I am a big fan of Google and its products. I use Gmail, Google Docs, Picasa, Google Reader, YouTube, and am learning to use Google Wave, Scholar, and Books. However, until Michael Martine posted this video on his blog I didn’t realize exactly how much I didn’t know about Google. If you use any of Google’s products or do business on the web, then I encourage one and all to watch this CNBC special about Google.

The world’s smallest snowman…