I love my iPhone, in fact I am typing this blog on it. I use it all the time to keep up with news, family, & friends.
I have a iPhone 4 as there was really no need to go to the 4S. I can wait to meet Siri next year when she comes out of Beta.
One thing about the IOS 5 update that really bugs me is Newstand! I gave it a look on the app store, and even the subscriptions that claim to be free all have prices connected. I have deftly places the Newstand icon in another folder,(something it doesn’t like, as it is a folder itself). If you want to know how to do it just look it up on YouTube.
Of course every time I sync my phone it pops out again. I can’t delete the bloody thing. So it just sits there, empty & unwanted.
Apple is about elegance and the user experience. Steve jobs was a known minimalist!
So Apple please let me delete Newstand if I want to, make it a section in iTunes like books, podcasts! Let me have the elegant clean look I want on my $300 dollar phone with contract!
Is that too much to ask?
tech
Internet Privacy
There are things I don’t post on the internet, reason is they are personal and I don’t want everyone reading or seeing it; in other words it’s private!
I live in the digital, mobile, instant gratification age. I have access to the internet practically all the time. I can access banking and flights from my phone, (if it’s even worth calling it a phone any more)! My information is accessible to the institutions I deal with. I must quote my social security number to verify myself to fly, talk about my phone bill, Cable TV. Practically anything today requires me to verify who I am. And this revolves around one number that is on how many computer screens around the planet. I recently had to verify the last four of my social to a call center in India. I am not a privacy freak, but when information flies to other countries I am concerned. This is no reflection on India and call centers. It’s a concern that I have actually no idea where my information is and who has access to it. There are some bits of info I care about deeply, this is stuff that other institutions use to rate me in society, credit, driving record etc.
The recent hack of the Sony servers and down time of the PS3 network was a wake up call to Sony. It was also a wake up to consumers, who trust that institutions have a grasp on how to properly manage the information entrusted to them. Technology working properly is a wonderful playground where we get to play with information. We feel more in tune with society because we can venture through it with the web as our guide. Food trucks posting their local on Twitter give the faithful a feeling of club membership. I can check in my location on Facebook or Foursquare, letting my friends know where I am.
To interact I must give information about myself, I must provide enough of me to become a person online. Not a digital copy like in the Matrix; but a 2D version that people will recognize me from.
In this version what am I giving away in regards to privacy? In my zeal to be a part of the group am I too exposed? I don’t remember the exact wording, but Professor James Burke once said that information about people is power; but who controls it?
I have been quite free and easy when it came to information, I do have some caution and try to be safe. I see people, sometimes younger, and having grown up with the freedom of the web don’t question information; and in fact place things out there they really shouldn’t! It may haunt them in the future or not, but remember the web isn’t free, and it is controlled. It can also be manipulated, rules can be changed.
I am an optimist, I feel that we are in transition and that the people who control my info have a vested interest in keeping me happy. So that I will continue to give them my business. There is a element of risk in this, as I get older more of my information becomes part of the data held on servers around the globe. The only way to be private today is never to have had a bank account, credit card, telephone; pay your utilities without giving your social security number; you can do that but it’s a process. The only hope you have these days is to just manage your information, your privacy no longer exists.
I have no choice but to allow them to obtain my info and use it as they wish. And yet with all the risk involved I still love technology and give myself freely.
Go Figure!
Iphone 4
So I gave in and when Susan, (future wife), tells me she will treat me to the new phone; I am unable to refuse.
I must admit until I had the device in my hand and looked at the reception I wondered am I going to have to return this because it of the famous “Antenna-Gate.”
No problem with this phone at all, yes I have had two dropped calls, but I have had dropped calls before and this iPhone seems no different. Where it is different is in it’s speed and storage capacity.
Faster than my iPhone 3G would be understatement, it rips in comparison. Pages and applications load like a real computer and not like a phone at all. I find I am actually on my macbook computer allot less now I have the iPhone 4, never saw that coming. The Retina display is wonderful, I do watch lots of video and I am constantly amazed at the clarity of the display; Apple did a good job with this one! Only thing is that because I do watch lots of video I do have to have a charge during the day. As the Phone is that good I think it is a small price to pay, it has taken over many tasks from my macbook. Which is no mean feat by any stretch of the imagination.
I know that we shall have an iPod update very soon,(1st September I think). And there is talk of an update to the iPad line. I won’t hold my breath for that one! I think I can do without the iPad for a bit as I have the iPhone 4. Well at least until next year and I have money burning a hole in my pocket!
Tech For The Sake Of Tech
I am typing this on my Macbook, I have my iPhone to play games and maybe even make a phone call. I love tech and the way if used properly it can make our lives more connected to the things we value.
Of course there are times when tech for the sake of tech is dumb, for example!
I used to fly little airplanes, there is a system called ATIS, Airport Terminal Information Service. This is used to transmit non emergency airport info, active runways, any construction, wind and altimeter settings. It used to be a audio loop with a letter designating the most recent info, Alpha, Bravo etc. You would contact the tower letting them know your position and that you had information delta, they would know if you had the right one and you would be good to land! A few years back this was replaced by a digital recording, a bad digital recording; hard to understand. To this day I have no idea why they would do that, it wasn’t as if the person had to stand around and repeat it. Technology is a new toy and we all want to play with it, but the question should be asked. “Is this making it better or worse?”
Facebook Troubles
I have a facebook account, I have had it for about three years. I am from Europe and some of my folks never got into the e-mail thing. The nieces and nephews prefer the social network thing. This is all well and good if I am willing to have another account on Bebo, (which is a younger group network)!
So too my delight quite a few had facebook accounts, and it is great to hear about their antics way out there; I feel allot more up to date. Now we have the current concerns regarding facebook and privacy. I am a big believer in the web but that doesn’t mean I want my whole life up there. There are things that are still private and they should remain so!
Having said that I believe anything that is posted is fair game in the web scheme of things. If you don’t want some one to know a fact about you. The last thing you should do is post it on the internet. While I am conscious of this I wonder if the younger ones in the family realize that!
Facebook’s policy seems to be make it all public, and if I want I can set it to private after, this is nuts. It should be private and I should be allowed to make public what I wish; in that order please!
I know Facebook has had allot of stick for it’s policies, and the many changes that are made way too frequently.
My problem is not with facebook any more, it’s if I left facebook how would I keep in touch with the non e-mail family?
Does facebook have me by the short & curly’s?
