Tech Inertia

Mainstream tech has stagnated - let's think different, let's get tech moving again.

  • Apple goes all 'Deckard'...

    • 21 Oct 2011
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    I'm going to destroy Android...

    An early sneak peek of Walter Isaacon's Steve Jobs biography, let's slip the reasoning behind Apple recent moves to sue Samsung and others.

    "I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong," Jobs said. "I'm going to destroy Android, because it's a stolen product. I'm willing to go thermonuclear war on this."

    That 'wrong' clearly being allowing Eric Schmidt on the board at all.

    It's well documented that Google did a 90 degree turn when then first saw the iPhone. Their phones up until that point were Blackberry clones, after the iPhone shook up the industry, their phones discarded the keyboard, became multi-touch capable and basically, ripped off the iPhone.

    Now, lots of people argue that this 'ripping off' is hogwash and there are numerous viewpoints that support and go against that fact.

    One thing that seems to have been forgotten, is that whilst Eric Schmidt was on the board at Apple, they hid the iPad's development from him.

    This is very significant.

    Why? Well it's also well known that Google have had a lot of trouble in re-imagining the Android OS for a tablet form-factor - it just wasn't built from the start with a tablet in mind. It has had to be hacked to get it there - and it shows.

    To me, this points towards the fact that the Android OS was built to be a phone OS, not a mobile OS that could be re-scaled easily.

    The reason for this is because when Eric Schmidt took the iPhone to Google and said "this is the future - copy it", they copied what they saw - a phone, not understanding the underlying construction to be scaled at some point into a tablet.

    That's because Eric didn't know the tablet existed.

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  • Android wallpaper app that steals your data was downloaded by millions...

    • 29 Jul 2010
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    Media_httpcdnventureb_tpvre
    via mobile.venturebeat.com

    An Android app that was uploaded to the Android Market that decorates your phone with wallpapers, is found to be collecting personal data and sending it to a website in China, according to Lookout.

    It's been downloaded anywhere from 1.1 million to 4.6 million times.

    Kevin MaHaffey, chief technology officer at Lookout said:

    “Even good apps can be modified to turn bad after a lot of people download it,” MaHaffey said. “Users absolutely have to pay attention to what they download. And developers have to be responsible about the data that they collect and how they use it.”

    So basically it's your fault, not Google's fault for setting up a totally insecure, unchecked market place for you to download apps for their phones.

    Maybe people will now be less prone to question Apple's closed, lock-down approach for downloading apps into their phone - but I doubt it.

    As a footnote, seeing as it's now legal to jailbreak your iPhone, I expect it won't be long before iPhone users too will be able to install excellent apps such as this.

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  • Google open? Yes, when it suits them...

    • 3 Jul 2010
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    Great article over at TiPb, concerning the free ride that Google is given when they say that they are 'open', in comparison to evil old Apple being 'closed'.

    Choice comment:

    Like any company, Google is open in what doesn’t make them money and proprietary as heck in what does. Android is open (under the Apache license, not GPL — which should give the philosophical FOSSies pause) but Google certainly hasn’t opened their search or AdWords platforms. Likewise Apple open sources WebKit (which Google uses for their browser) and OpenCL and Grand Central and FaceTime, but keeps their crown jewels equally closed. So enough already with the open stuff. You give me free services so you can mine my data, I sell my soul to you to use them. Deal. Just don’t insult my intelligence while doing it.

    Emphasis is mine.

    It strikes me that in recent episodes of Twit, and MacBreakWeekly, our titular host lauds Google with honour for being 'open', whilst is moving ever-increasingly away from Apple by labelling them not exactly evil, but not as soft and gooey as Google.

    I feel that this is in part because he needs to attract advertising from all areas of the tech industry, so a 'neutral' stance is what's required - which is fair enough.

    As it is said above, every company treats it's customers with care and respect, in the case of tech companies that care and respect surfaces as giving stuff away for free.

    But every company wants to make money and they will smile sweetly, right up until they take your money.

    Google have a business plan made of gold - the things they give away are very visual and apparent. But the way they make money is invisible, unless your a geek and are paying close attention to your surfing habits.

    Apple business plan is a harder sell. Apple relies on you valuing your computing experience as something worth paying for. But in essence it's the same as Google's, give away what isn't core to your business and charge for what is.

    It's nice to see that 'some' tech-pundits are paying attention.

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  • Apples and Lemons...

    • 20 May 2010
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    What happens when you upgrade an iPhone with it's latest software update?
    All your data remains intact (even backed up in iTunes), and you get lots of extra goodies.

     

    What happens if you upgrade an HTC Hero to Android 2.1?

    FROM HTC:

    TEXT AND PICTURE MESSAGES 

    Text and picture messages will be deleted with this software update. You can back up text and picture messages by forwarding them to an email address.

    Open the Messaging application

    Tap and hold on the desired text or picture message

    Tap Forward

    Enter an email address then tap Send

    APPLICATIONS 

    Applications will be deleted with this software update. You will need to re-download the desired applications from the Market after this update completes.

     

    Via the ever-excellent Daring Fireball.

    Can you imagine the fallout against Apple if they treated there users like this?

    They don't. They don't because they care about the user experience.

    This aspect of using Apple hardware and software, is the walking, talking and squawking definition of integration, of making the whole widget, of using an ecosystem that is derided in the popular geeky press.

    HTC either don't care, or more significantly are not close enough to the hardware to stop this from happening.

    Google don't care. They sold you a an OS, and that's where their involvement ends.

    A bit like Microsoft - and we all know where that lead.

    No wonder Apple share-price, growth, cash pile and sales are skyrocketing.

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  • There's Apple, then there's everyone else...

    • 20 May 2010
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    Google-phone-2

    Google blames third-party app developers for Android phones’ terrible battery life

    Do you know that computer you bought from Dell's website?

    That computer that ran somebody else's operating system, that worked OK for a while and looked very pretty?

    Do you know when it started to go wrong, with errors, slowing down, and then not-booting at all?

    Well the reason that happened, well, it wasn't Dell's fault you see.

    It wasn't the OS providers fault either.

    IT WAS YOUR FAULT.

    You didn't buy that anti-virus software did you?

    You didn't buy that subscription that would stop this from happening.

    You downloaded all that software, you used your computer day-in, day-out without thinking about taking those precautions, did you?

    You silly little user. Computer's are complicated things and you must not try to use them just for any purpose.

    Here, take it to your local geek, or that lovely, shiny new Microsoft store, where they'll make you part with even more money to get it working.

    Even though it cost you next to nothing, they'll make that cash back, don't you worry.

    </sarcasm>

     

    Back to a serious point, it's interesting to see Google behave exactly like the Microsoft-OEM model, where neither party take responsibility for the problems caused by that model.

    What we really need is a model where one company manage the whole widget.

    I'll let you work out the rest of that thought process yourself.

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  • Apple & Adobe - a new era?

    • 22 Apr 2010
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    Apple responds to Adobe's response...

    In order for Apple to control their own destiny, and prevent laggards like Adobe from holding them to ransom, Apple recently changed the iPhone Developer Program's small print, to specifically prevent anyone from using any other development platform other than Apple's.

    Adobe being Adobe, is not happy. Mike Chambers, Principal Product Manager for developer relations for the Flash Platform is quoted:

    "Adobe's Chambers added Google's Android OS was the platform of choice for future development, having become frustrated with Apple's iPhone restrictions. "Personally, I am going to shift all of my mobile focus from iPhone to Android based devices (I am particularly interested in the Android based tablets coming out this year) and not focus on the iPhone stuff as much anymore.""

    Note the reference to Android, a childish statement in my view. Is Adobe really going to focus all mobile development on a sector of the market that has little market share, is making little money for the developers involved and is fragmenting before our eyes?

    Yes they are, because it's the only game in town now. The only game that allows Adobe to carry on as normal with their development environment.

    A development environment that started many years ago when they thought (as did most other people), that Apple was finished. Adobe decided then, that a development structure that referenced Windows and had Apple as a 'semi-ported' afterthought would suffice. And when Apple finally shut their doors, they could continue with Microsoft.

    Well Adobe, that didn't happen. What did happen is a decade-and-a-half of half assed, 'just good enough' ports that didn't exploit Apple's technologies and allowed them to wither on the vine.

    Apple isn't going to let that happen again, and with the new iPhone OS platform (which encompasses the iPad), they want to start as they mean to go on - in control of the developers, and therefore in control of their platform.

    What will happen next? 

    I assume Apple is hoping that, sooner or later, Adobe will go where the money is. At the moment it's the iPhone/iPad AppStore. I say 'at the moment' because that may change. If the Android OS takes off, then Apple is stuck again with the same Apple vs Microsoft battle, only this time it's Google instead of Microsoft.

    If the Android platform gains traction, Adobe and others will migrate to that platform and Apple's in trouble.

    I'm worried because I always think of the future. 5-10 years from now, the mouse driven workstation will be dead. We'll all be using touch-sensitive, 7"-30" screens and pushing vectors & pixels with some serious, content-creation software.

    Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver etc will all migrate, and if Apple doesn't play this right, those screens won't have an Apple logo on them.

    It all depends on who blinks first. I understand why Apple wants to control the development environment, but they must think of the future.

    Maybe Apple's sick and tired of Adobe and is hoping that the a new 'Adobe-killer' company will come along, play ball with Apple of the 'Touch' platform and Adobe will be consigned to history.

    I don't see any new, up and coming companies though - so Apple, please think this through.

     

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  • Ballmer - "we'll beat Google, someday"...

    • 7 Mar 2010
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    Their glorious leader comments on Google - 'we'll beat them, someday'. Way back in Apple's past, when money was tight, market share was none-existent, mind-share even less, the Apple-faithful and the wider tech-press looked to Apple for a solution to their woes. Just what was Steve Jobs and Apple going to do to stop the downward spiral? Steve's answer surprised everyone, and in hindsight it's the approach that has, in part, turned the company around, and secured their future - Steve Jobs said:
    "For Apple to win, Microsoft doesn't have to lose."
    Most of the Apple faithful balked at this comment, did they here that right? What was Steve Jobs on? Did he really know what he was doing? Surely Microsoft has to be crushed, stamped upon and erased from history so that Apple can 'win'. But Steve was right. One of the problems with Apple, was that they were obsessed with Microsoft, and it damaged everything they did, every effort, every promotion was measured against the impossible goal of toppling a giant. What Steve Jobs did is refocused the company, allowed them to say to themselves, "it's perfectly OK to have a small market share, there is room in this industry for everyone." With that approach Apple could concentrate on what they were good at, and measure their success against their own watermark, not somebody elses. Which brings us back to Ballmer. Wouldn't it just be a breath of fresh air if Ballmer said:
    "We don't worry about Google - we relish competition, and there's room in this industry for everyone. We don't have to win all the time."
    I think the whole tech industry would breath a sigh of relief that at last, Microsoft was happy with it's lot and concentrated on creating great products for us all.
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  • About

    At the company I work for, there's a person that does the photography, there's a person that does the photoshop work, there's a person who designs the artwork in InDesign and there's a person that handles the marketing, manages the advertising budget and oversees the PR, and all of those people ARE ME.

    I also run 3 websites, and try to post to this one...

    Yes, I'm tired...and a bit grumpy at times...

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