Your social status doesn't actually change when you buy and show off your Apple product.
What happens, instead, is Apple does a very good job of making people believe they are more "tuned in" or "hip" or whatever. Not everyone, of course. They attract lots of different kinds of people, but there is a certain type that you see everywhere. I think you could call them the "fanboys" or whatever. To me, they're a bunch of self-aggrandizing pricks who must have so little else going on that a portion of their identity is tied to the kind of computer they use.
I won't argue with you on the DRM and bloat - although I will say, with all that crap turned on and set to reasonable defaults - long gone are my days of trying to tweak every setting, I just don't have the time and patience for that anymore - my laptop on Windows 7 seems to get better battery life than it did on XP...
I guess I don't have good, linkable examples - just my own observations in every day life.
I am only linking the following for humor value, and I fully realize that the statements of this woman are not indicative of the opinions of the rest of the populous. It does, however, make me laugh my ass off every time I see it. Link.
That's right - I didn't mean to imply that children/teens should be expected to act responsibly all on their own. Parenting is certainly necessary, and the media is not a substitute.
It doesn't help, but parents need to do a better job teaching their kids to make their own decisions and not listen to the media. It's personal responsibility.
Actually, I guess I did miss that part, sorry about that.:)
I'm not arguing that there's a free lunch anywhere.
You're going to pay the premium whether or not your carrier subsidizes your device. I'd get no discount from AT&T for bringing my own unlocked phone.
As far as I'm concerned, the only disadvantage there is that I can't cancel my service without paying a fee. I've been an AT&T/Cingular/AT&T customer for 7 years now - I'm okay with the commitment. I'm also prepared to (reluctantly) pay the ETF if the service suddenly turns to crap.
Out of curiosity... where do you purchase your phones from?
That's good, I'm glad they got rid of the unified UI and the Bluetooth restrictions.
It should be noted that with the BlackBerrys on the Verizon network, you can also use any mapping/GPS app (my girlfriend uses Google Maps - not Google Maps navigation - on her Curve all the time).
I think the whole dropped calls/reliability thing very much depends on where you live. AT&T and VZ are the most popular carriers around here, at least among people I know. I'm in the Cleveland/Akron, Ohio area. My parents, my girlfriend, and many friends coworkers of mine who use Verizon often complain about dropped calls or areas/buildings where they don't get a signal. My girlfriend especially,
I am on AT&T, and I can't remember the last time I dropped a call. It certainly wasn't within the past few years. I do remember the last time I had no signal, I was in the middle of a large hospital building. Before that - I can't remember.
I think in that regard, it is truly a "Your Mileage May Vary" situation - by provider, by device, and by location. I've heard that AT&T absolutely blows in NYC and LA where Verizon really shines.
Ah, you're outside the U.S. Yeah. Most of our phones here are locked. That's just the reality. It's easy to get them unlocked, but certainly not ideal.
The one advantage is that if you're willing to put up with purchasing a locked phone (and a commitment to a provider), you can get a pretty deep discount. I happen to not have any problems with AT&T, so I was happy committing to them for two years.
If you purchase any phone from any provider in the U.S., it's very likely that it's subsidy locked so you can only use that provider's SIM. It doesn't matter if it's a BlackBerry or a free low-end flip phone.
I know that AT&T and T-Mobile do this, not sure how it works with the CDMA (Sprint, Verizon, etc) providers.
I've actually done that. I was out of the country on business for a few weeks last year. I got my BlackBerry's SIM unlock code from AT&T (it was actually pretty easy), and I bought a pre-paid SIM from Vodafone.
It sounds like this is the result of innovation? I imagine that these "big-block" engines will be replaced by smaller-block V8s or perhaps more powerful V6s that have similar performance?
The only bad part of this is some people are going to lose their jobs (according to the AP).
[...] the main lesson I take from this is the Blackberry is a poor choice if you want control of your own device.
If you look at most of Verizon's other phones, they all use the same user interface (look and feel, menus, etc). They also used to disable some bluetooth functionality (you couldn't transfer files, but you could use a headset), and they used to disable GPS functions for applications other than their "VZ Navigator" app.
It sounds to me like Verizon is a poor choice if you want control of your own device.
Then again, lots of carriers lock out some functionality. For example, AT&T hasn't given me the manual network selection option on any of my phones for years. It only appears when I'm outside the U.S.
I do have some comments filtered, but I haven't seen a Windows vs Linux argument spawn from this, and it's been more than twelve hours since this article was posted!
First, who cares if the apps are FOSS or not. I sure don't. I care whether the apps are good.
I'm a die-hard BlackBerry user and have been for years. In the short period of time that the iPhone has been out, a hundred thousand apps have been written for it, far more than exist for BlackBerry, which has been able to run 3rd-party apps for far longer. The problem is, I don't have any desire to buy an iPhone, for a multitude of reasons, but I've been pretty impressed with (and a little jealous of) the selection of available useful applications.
From this post, I was most impressed with the 20,000 figure. Android has not been out very long, and there's already that many apps? I don't know anything about the quality of the apps, but that impresses me. That's a lot of momentum.
Finally, a phone (platform) that has a good selection of apps that isn't the iPhone! Hooray!
You're right - it's exactly the same as with TV and Radio. The product is your eyeballs, the service is presenting advertisements to your eyeballs. The only difference is that what you get in return for your eyeballs is lots of actually useful services, not So You Think You Can Dance.
Slashdot Mirror
... 2010 is predicted to be the year of the Linux desktop.
Your social status doesn't actually change when you buy and show off your Apple product.
What happens, instead, is Apple does a very good job of making people believe they are more "tuned in" or "hip" or whatever. Not everyone, of course. They attract lots of different kinds of people, but there is a certain type that you see everywhere. I think you could call them the "fanboys" or whatever. To me, they're a bunch of self-aggrandizing pricks who must have so little else going on that a portion of their identity is tied to the kind of computer they use.
NEWMAN!!!!
RIM (the people who make BlackBerry) already had that covered. BlackBerrys were connected PDAs without phones at first. See the RIM 957.
I won't argue with you on the DRM and bloat - although I will say, with all that crap turned on and set to reasonable defaults - long gone are my days of trying to tweak every setting, I just don't have the time and patience for that anymore - my laptop on Windows 7 seems to get better battery life than it did on XP...
Apparently there's a "baddoggie" tag for that as well. Learn something new every day.
I guess I don't have good, linkable examples - just my own observations in every day life.
I am only linking the following for humor value, and I fully realize that the statements of this woman are not indicative of the opinions of the rest of the populous. It does, however, make me laugh my ass off every time I see it. Link.
That's right - I didn't mean to imply that children/teens should be expected to act responsibly all on their own. Parenting is certainly necessary, and the media is not a substitute.
I think parents have the ability to affect what their kids are passionate about.
It doesn't help, but parents need to do a better job teaching their kids to make their own decisions and not listen to the media. It's personal responsibility.
Its not the media's fault.
Damn right. There's a serious lack of personal responsibility in our culture.
Actually, I guess I did miss that part, sorry about that. :)
I'm not arguing that there's a free lunch anywhere.
You're going to pay the premium whether or not your carrier subsidizes your device. I'd get no discount from AT&T for bringing my own unlocked phone.
As far as I'm concerned, the only disadvantage there is that I can't cancel my service without paying a fee. I've been an AT&T/Cingular/AT&T customer for 7 years now - I'm okay with the commitment. I'm also prepared to (reluctantly) pay the ETF if the service suddenly turns to crap.
Out of curiosity... where do you purchase your phones from?
That's good, I'm glad they got rid of the unified UI and the Bluetooth restrictions.
It should be noted that with the BlackBerrys on the Verizon network, you can also use any mapping/GPS app (my girlfriend uses Google Maps - not Google Maps navigation - on her Curve all the time).
I think the whole dropped calls/reliability thing very much depends on where you live. AT&T and VZ are the most popular carriers around here, at least among people I know. I'm in the Cleveland/Akron, Ohio area. My parents, my girlfriend, and many friends coworkers of mine who use Verizon often complain about dropped calls or areas/buildings where they don't get a signal. My girlfriend especially,
I am on AT&T, and I can't remember the last time I dropped a call. It certainly wasn't within the past few years. I do remember the last time I had no signal, I was in the middle of a large hospital building. Before that - I can't remember.
I think in that regard, it is truly a "Your Mileage May Vary" situation - by provider, by device, and by location. I've heard that AT&T absolutely blows in NYC and LA where Verizon really shines.
Ah, you're outside the U.S. Yeah. Most of our phones here are locked. That's just the reality. It's easy to get them unlocked, but certainly not ideal.
The one advantage is that if you're willing to put up with purchasing a locked phone (and a commitment to a provider), you can get a pretty deep discount. I happen to not have any problems with AT&T, so I was happy committing to them for two years.
Wardriving is going to become quite a bit more difficult and confusing.
Wait a second. Come to think of it... with the right kind of hacking/reverse engineering, this could be a real boon to wardriving!
Not that I condone wardriving. I'm just saying.
Sure, but it's a fact of life here.
If you purchase any phone from any provider in the U.S., it's very likely that it's subsidy locked so you can only use that provider's SIM. It doesn't matter if it's a BlackBerry or a free low-end flip phone.
I know that AT&T and T-Mobile do this, not sure how it works with the CDMA (Sprint, Verizon, etc) providers.
No, what we really need is a pizza analogy. I'm sure PizzaAnalogyGuy will have a good one for this.
I've actually done that. I was out of the country on business for a few weeks last year. I got my BlackBerry's SIM unlock code from AT&T (it was actually pretty easy), and I bought a pre-paid SIM from Vodafone.
It sounds like this is the result of innovation? I imagine that these "big-block" engines will be replaced by smaller-block V8s or perhaps more powerful V6s that have similar performance?
The only bad part of this is some people are going to lose their jobs (according to the AP).
[...] the main lesson I take from this is the Blackberry is a poor choice if you want control of your own device.
If you look at most of Verizon's other phones, they all use the same user interface (look and feel, menus, etc). They also used to disable some bluetooth functionality (you couldn't transfer files, but you could use a headset), and they used to disable GPS functions for applications other than their "VZ Navigator" app.
It sounds to me like Verizon is a poor choice if you want control of your own device.
Then again, lots of carriers lock out some functionality. For example, AT&T hasn't given me the manual network selection option on any of my phones for years. It only appears when I'm outside the U.S.
Oh man I wish I had mod points for this one. Someone mod this AC up!
I do have some comments filtered, but I haven't seen a Windows vs Linux argument spawn from this, and it's been more than twelve hours since this article was posted!
First, who cares if the apps are FOSS or not. I sure don't. I care whether the apps are good.
I'm a die-hard BlackBerry user and have been for years. In the short period of time that the iPhone has been out, a hundred thousand apps have been written for it, far more than exist for BlackBerry, which has been able to run 3rd-party apps for far longer. The problem is, I don't have any desire to buy an iPhone, for a multitude of reasons, but I've been pretty impressed with (and a little jealous of) the selection of available useful applications.
From this post, I was most impressed with the 20,000 figure. Android has not been out very long, and there's already that many apps? I don't know anything about the quality of the apps, but that impresses me. That's a lot of momentum.
Finally, a phone (platform) that has a good selection of apps that isn't the iPhone! Hooray!
Yes - you and I are the product!
You're right - it's exactly the same as with TV and Radio. The product is your eyeballs, the service is presenting advertisements to your eyeballs. The only difference is that what you get in return for your eyeballs is lots of actually useful services, not So You Think You Can Dance.