I played with mercury as a child. We used to rub dimes on it, and push it around on a desk and i our hands. I had like 5 pounds of the stuff in a bottle, enough co contaminate the solar system if ne CFB contaminates 1000 gallons of water.
So I'll be dying soon, anybody want to buy a low slashdot ID?
If they assume I'm a criminal, then I feel pretty good about actually being one. That $5 would morally open the floodgates to me downloading everything my cable modem can gobble.
IT's like the "We think you are a pirate" tax on the Zune.
Treat me like a criminal and I'm much more likely to actually turn into one.
The iPhone is a great phone, and IMHO without peer in the US. But being the best cellphone in the US is like being the valedictorian of summer school.
My prediction is that the iPhone will always be more stable and have a more consistent interface and user experience. It will always be a great phone. But Apple is about giving you the core features you need and knowing what to leave out. That leaving out bit burns we basement dwelling robot building slashdotters. But Apple's brilliance is giving you a great user experience, and I don't see that ever changing. To apple the iPhone will always be a closed platform (sure you can put some apps on it, but don't try to fundamentally change it). It will always be a phone or/and ipod, not a computer.
The Android is whatever people think it should be. So it's a phone, a computer, a bottle opener. etc. It will have lots of uses in lots of arenas that apple doesn't want to play in. It will allow other countries phones to really kick ass. It will also be much less consistent as lots of people code for it. To a lot of people, this is insanely exciting, and provides the first glimpse of a unified geek tool in your pocket (are you glad to see me?).
Android being free will be super attractive to phone makers, and to consumers. It will gobble up marketshare in many markets. And I suspect that Apple is just fine with that. Apple is in a great place taking the top portion of the markets they play in.
Actually microsoft is one of the lesser "forced adoption cycle" companies.
Their deep roots into the corp world forces them to support legacy apps and interfaces. That's one of the criticisms of them when we start talking about malware and security. A company like Apple is insanely bad at the "forced adoption cycle". Look at the floppy in the 90's, Apple said "no-more" before they really were obsolete. Apple changed their processors twice, and the core OS twice. They allow compatibility for a while, but the writing is always on the wall for old code and hardware. Modern Apple hardware can't run legacy code anymore (something written 7 or more years ago) without a VM running an old version of the OS. Last I checked windows can still run DOS programs.
I love my mac, but they are one of the worst offenders in this area. IF your hardware is more than a couple years old, you start to fight against the tide of forced adoption.
In my experience with Realtors, they are very set in their ways computer wise. Of the four houses I've bought and sold in the last 15 years, I never cease to be amazed at all the pointless faxing rather than emailing. Sure there is almost a verifiable paper trail, but after the contract has been faxed 5 times, I could be signing a document to have my colon invaded weekly instead of my house sold.
they could be doing it now for all I know. Between adblock, flashblock, and spam filtering I don't see many ads at all. Actually with the DVR at home ads anywhere are a rarity in my life. Maybe they should advertise during the superbowl...
Best cell phone I've ever owned; not even close...
Can't do obvious things like MMS (thanks for that cornholing, apple), and is a step back in terms of using it without looking at it. But after living with the iPhone, a couple LG phones, several moto phones, and a Kyocera palm based smart phone. I can flatly say, the iPhone is in a class by itself.
Sure, it's not a general purpose computing platform, sure it's not open. These are potential issues. But you've got to look at the cell phone landscape (I'm in the US, so you have to understand the ass reaming we get), comparing the LG, samsung, and moto dumb phones, and the various flavors of smart phones the iPhone is outstanding in terms of usability.
The android looks great, but I can't make calls on it today. I'm carefully watching it, and hoping that it turns into something good, but needing a phone today, I got the iPhone.
As a user, I can tell you that visual voice mail is actually way less exciting in use than it seemed before I got the phone. Sure, it's cool to have a list, and I don't have to enter my password every time (thanks verizon), but I still have to listen to the message to know what it's about. The only gain from visual voice mail is knowing who called before you listen to the message list. And with traditional cell service, you have that list in your missed calls, it's just not packaged nicely for you. Knowing the skip buttons in traditional voice mail takes you 95% of the way to visual voice mail.
I was all jazzed with visual voice mail before getting the phone, and I'm kind of suprised at what I'm jazzed about now that I have the phone.
Things that I'm surprised that I am excited about:
Google maps: This app rocks, even on cell service (edge or not). The locate me feature is good enough that I can navigate with it. Not "turn here" sort of navigation, but more a boy-scout orienteering sort of experience. The app is fast integrates with your contacts and google searches. It's sweet for doing a google search for a store, tapping the address which takes you to maps, then hit navigate from here.
iCal: I've been really using this even after having it for years on the computer and not touching it.
Things I thought I'd like and am not jazzed about:
visual voice mail: see above weather: same lame widget as in dashboard. Where are the satellite and radar maps? Calculator: damn lame dollar store calc.
In addition to the parents observation that not all phones do email gracefully; for the bulk of email users, it's a pull technology where SMS is push. This means that when my friend sends me a text it's at my phone almost instantly. with email, I either have to wait the email check period, or peck at the "get email" button like a trained chicken.
If we all had push email, then SMS would be a thing of the past.
Also try to explain to a 10 year old niece that her verizon LG phone is wrong, and the pictures of her webkins that she wants to MMS to her friends and her aunt aren't getting received by her aunt because her aunt's phone is actually more advanced and thus has forsaken the cell phone standard of MMS and picture sending.
So I'm sitting in front of my computer whining that Apple's servers have melted down and I can't get the SDK and my wife says:
wife, "you'd think they would prepare for this sort of thing. " me, "there's no preparing for the onslaught of demand" wife, "then they should setup more computers for this, they make the f'ing things."
I suspect that it will be a monitor the app after the fact type of thing. Apple and AT&T know who you are as the app author. So if your app does something funky, then they pull the plug on it. There's no way the apple folks are going to scour source for all the apps that will flow in. I suspect they have a profiling tool that checks port usage etc and off it goes. Then if it's doing something sneaky, AT&T will catch it eventually if it's popular, and pull the plug. If it's not popular (IE you and your aunt berha are exchanging chat messages over the data network not SMS) then it's really not an issue.
The cost of putting actual eyeballs on code is so high that they would never do it. But some profiling tools would be cheap to use.
The SDK is going to be HUGE for the jailbreaking community. They now have an official documented API and development environment. So there will be apps out there way earlier than 4 months.
IT sounds like the limitations on the SDK are not as drastic as I feared, but I strongly suspect that apple will limit ichat type clients though. Those would kill the golden goose that is SMS.
The more limiting the SDK is, the more vibrant the jailbroken app community will be.
I'm waiting for the Apple servers to recover from the melt-down and I'll be downloading the SDK. Looks like a geeky evening for me.
Apps the iPhone needs:
MMS: WTF apple? This was obvious... A Calculator that doesn't suck: RPN and trig functions etc. No more Dollar store Calc. Chat client that uses wifi AND wireless data.
The small screen thing is valid. I have a iPac 4800 with is 640x480 and surfing with it sucked. The iPhone has an even smaller screen, but the zoom capability is a lot better thought out and surfing is a whole lot better. I'm not saying that to be a fanboi, but I'd expect that as all mobile platforms mature, the limitations of the small screen resolution will be worked around. Apple proved it can be done effectively, and I'm sure the android folks will be equally effective.
The lack of a mouse is not a huge limitation either provided that you have another equally useful input method (touch screen for example). The keyboards on all mobile devices pretty much suck universally when compared to even a laptop. But surfing is often more reading than writing.
I used to think that I didn't need mobile web until I had it. Now I wonder what I did without it. It's just like carrying a cell phone, a decade ago I thought it too was silly.
There's certainly room for it on the iPhone as well. Safari is all nice, but I would like adblock on it, especially on the edge network when every byte counts.
I don't like the hardware I own to be controlled by some other entity like any good slashdotter, but the cell phone market is a little different than traditional computers. I'm watching Android very closely, and I hope it lives up to the hype. But needing a phone NOW and looking at the smart-phone landscape (s well as the plain old phone landscape), the iPhone is so insanely better to use than anything else out there that it is a no brainer. I've tried mobile web on co-worker's phones, and it's a joke compared to mobile safari. So putting my idealism aside I got the phone that actually made my life better. And after 6 cell phones, it's the first one that doesn't piss me off.
The one thing that I think Android needs (from looking at the video demos) is the whole pinch zoom feature. I suspect that will be tough to get legitimately. It makes the iPhone usable with such a small screen. And after using an iPhone and watching the android videos it seems lie a glaring omission.
Frankly as a small time developer of largely worthless code, I wouldn't have a problem tossing apple a few dollars to host my application.
You aren't from around here are you? You see, here in the USofA we have Starbucks which has paid the US Auto industry to only sell automatic transmissions. This allows us to wrecklessly weave down our huge roads with a triple latte in one hand and a RAZR in the other. No shifting necessary unless we hit someone, then we have to shift into reverse and take another sip and tell the person on the phone to hold on for a second.
All the substantiation behind it maybe? The fact that it doesn't break laws of thermodynamics etc.
If an all-powerful god can create all of life and everything, how do you explain cancer and the other flavors of suffering god's creatures are facing? If he's involved in the day to day, he's pretty nasty, our best hope is that he's an absentee landlord.
Apple is a Hardware company, they just make and sell software to support the sales of the hardware. There is NOTHING to be gained (based on the Apple business model) by selling bargain basement hardware or the software alone, and a lot to be lost. Apparently the Apple business model is working well as they are raking in big buckets of cash.
Slashdot Mirror
Well played, I salute your scruffy beard and suspenders...
Sheldon
I played with mercury as a child. We used to rub dimes on it, and push it around on a desk and i our hands. I had like 5 pounds of the stuff in a bottle, enough co contaminate the solar system if ne CFB contaminates 1000 gallons of water.
So I'll be dying soon, anybody want to buy a low slashdot ID?
Sheldon
Tag this post: getoffmylawn
Can you hear me now?
Sorry I couldn't resist...
Sheldon
If they assume I'm a criminal, then I feel pretty good about actually being one. That $5 would morally open the floodgates to me downloading everything my cable modem can gobble.
IT's like the "We think you are a pirate" tax on the Zune.
Treat me like a criminal and I'm much more likely to actually turn into one.
Sheldon
The iPhone is a great phone, and IMHO without peer in the US. But being the best cellphone in the US is like being the valedictorian of summer school.
My prediction is that the iPhone will always be more stable and have a more consistent interface and user experience. It will always be a great phone. But Apple is about giving you the core features you need and knowing what to leave out. That leaving out bit burns we basement dwelling robot building slashdotters. But Apple's brilliance is giving you a great user experience, and I don't see that ever changing. To apple the iPhone will always be a closed platform (sure you can put some apps on it, but don't try to fundamentally change it). It will always be a phone or/and ipod, not a computer.
The Android is whatever people think it should be. So it's a phone, a computer, a bottle opener. etc. It will have lots of uses in lots of arenas that apple doesn't want to play in. It will allow other countries phones to really kick ass. It will also be much less consistent as lots of people code for it. To a lot of people, this is insanely exciting, and provides the first glimpse of a unified geek tool in your pocket (are you glad to see me?).
Android being free will be super attractive to phone makers, and to consumers. It will gobble up marketshare in many markets. And I suspect that Apple is just fine with that. Apple is in a great place taking the top portion of the markets they play in.
Sheldon
Actually microsoft is one of the lesser "forced adoption cycle" companies.
Their deep roots into the corp world forces them to support legacy apps and interfaces. That's one of the criticisms of them when we start talking about malware and security. A company like Apple is insanely bad at the "forced adoption cycle". Look at the floppy in the 90's, Apple said "no-more" before they really were obsolete. Apple changed their processors twice, and the core OS twice. They allow compatibility for a while, but the writing is always on the wall for old code and hardware. Modern Apple hardware can't run legacy code anymore (something written 7 or more years ago) without a VM running an old version of the OS. Last I checked windows can still run DOS programs.
I love my mac, but they are one of the worst offenders in this area. IF your hardware is more than a couple years old, you start to fight against the tide of forced adoption.
Sheldon
In my experience with Realtors, they are very set in their ways computer wise. Of the four houses I've bought and sold in the last 15 years, I never cease to be amazed at all the pointless faxing rather than emailing. Sure there is almost a verifiable paper trail, but after the contract has been faxed 5 times, I could be signing a document to have my colon invaded weekly instead of my house sold.
Sheldon
they could be doing it now for all I know. Between adblock, flashblock, and spam filtering I don't see many ads at all. Actually with the DVR at home ads anywhere are a rarity in my life. Maybe they should advertise during the superbowl...
Sheldon
isn't the point of the WIKIpedia is that it's a wiki and can be edited again?
sheldon
Best cell phone I've ever owned; not even close...
Can't do obvious things like MMS (thanks for that cornholing, apple), and is a step back in terms of using it without looking at it. But after living with the iPhone, a couple LG phones, several moto phones, and a Kyocera palm based smart phone. I can flatly say, the iPhone is in a class by itself.
Sure, it's not a general purpose computing platform, sure it's not open. These are potential issues. But you've got to look at the cell phone landscape (I'm in the US, so you have to understand the ass reaming we get), comparing the LG, samsung, and moto dumb phones, and the various flavors of smart phones the iPhone is outstanding in terms of usability.
The android looks great, but I can't make calls on it today. I'm carefully watching it, and hoping that it turns into something good, but needing a phone today, I got the iPhone.
Sheldon
As a user, I can tell you that visual voice mail is actually way less exciting in use than it seemed before I got the phone. Sure, it's cool to have a list, and I don't have to enter my password every time (thanks verizon), but I still have to listen to the message to know what it's about. The only gain from visual voice mail is knowing who called before you listen to the message list. And with traditional cell service, you have that list in your missed calls, it's just not packaged nicely for you. Knowing the skip buttons in traditional voice mail takes you 95% of the way to visual voice mail.
I was all jazzed with visual voice mail before getting the phone, and I'm kind of suprised at what I'm jazzed about now that I have the phone.
Things that I'm surprised that I am excited about:
Google maps: This app rocks, even on cell service (edge or not). The locate me feature is good enough that I can navigate with it. Not "turn here" sort of navigation, but more a boy-scout orienteering sort of experience. The app is fast integrates with your contacts and google searches. It's sweet for doing a google search for a store, tapping the address which takes you to maps, then hit navigate from here.
iCal: I've been really using this even after having it for years on the computer and not touching it.
Things I thought I'd like and am not jazzed about:
visual voice mail: see above
weather: same lame widget as in dashboard. Where are the satellite and radar maps?
Calculator: damn lame dollar store calc.
Sheldon
(sheep)
And a microphone, so you'll have to YELL REALLY LOUD if you write a sound recording app.
Sheldon
In addition to the parents observation that not all phones do email gracefully; for the bulk of email users, it's a pull technology where SMS is push. This means that when my friend sends me a text it's at my phone almost instantly. with email, I either have to wait the email check period, or peck at the "get email" button like a trained chicken.
If we all had push email, then SMS would be a thing of the past.
Also try to explain to a 10 year old niece that her verizon LG phone is wrong, and the pictures of her webkins that she wants to MMS to her friends and her aunt aren't getting received by her aunt because her aunt's phone is actually more advanced and thus has forsaken the cell phone standard of MMS and picture sending.
Sheldon
So I'm sitting in front of my computer whining that Apple's servers have melted down and I can't get the SDK and my wife says:
wife, "you'd think they would prepare for this sort of thing. "
me, "there's no preparing for the onslaught of demand"
wife, "then they should setup more computers for this, they make the f'ing things."
me: speechless...
I suspect that it will be a monitor the app after the fact type of thing. Apple and AT&T know who you are as the app author. So if your app does something funky, then they pull the plug on it. There's no way the apple folks are going to scour source for all the apps that will flow in. I suspect they have a profiling tool that checks port usage etc and off it goes. Then if it's doing something sneaky, AT&T will catch it eventually if it's popular, and pull the plug. If it's not popular (IE you and your aunt berha are exchanging chat messages over the data network not SMS) then it's really not an issue.
The cost of putting actual eyeballs on code is so high that they would never do it. But some profiling tools would be cheap to use.
Sheldon
The SDK is going to be HUGE for the jailbreaking community. They now have an official documented API and development environment. So there will be apps out there way earlier than 4 months.
IT sounds like the limitations on the SDK are not as drastic as I feared, but I strongly suspect that apple will limit ichat type clients though. Those would kill the golden goose that is SMS.
The more limiting the SDK is, the more vibrant the jailbroken app community will be.
I'm waiting for the Apple servers to recover from the melt-down and I'll be downloading the SDK. Looks like a geeky evening for me.
Apps the iPhone needs:
MMS: WTF apple? This was obvious...
A Calculator that doesn't suck: RPN and trig functions etc. No more Dollar store Calc.
Chat client that uses wifi AND wireless data.
Sheldon
The small screen thing is valid. I have a iPac 4800 with is 640x480 and surfing with it sucked. The iPhone has an even smaller screen, but the zoom capability is a lot better thought out and surfing is a whole lot better. I'm not saying that to be a fanboi, but I'd expect that as all mobile platforms mature, the limitations of the small screen resolution will be worked around. Apple proved it can be done effectively, and I'm sure the android folks will be equally effective.
The lack of a mouse is not a huge limitation either provided that you have another equally useful input method (touch screen for example). The keyboards on all mobile devices pretty much suck universally when compared to even a laptop. But surfing is often more reading than writing.
I used to think that I didn't need mobile web until I had it. Now I wonder what I did without it. It's just like carrying a cell phone, a decade ago I thought it too was silly.
Sheldon
There's certainly room for it on the iPhone as well. Safari is all nice, but I would like adblock on it, especially on the edge network when every byte counts.
Sheldon
I don't like the hardware I own to be controlled by some other entity like any good slashdotter, but the cell phone market is a little different than traditional computers. I'm watching Android very closely, and I hope it lives up to the hype. But needing a phone NOW and looking at the smart-phone landscape (s well as the plain old phone landscape), the iPhone is so insanely better to use than anything else out there that it is a no brainer. I've tried mobile web on co-worker's phones, and it's a joke compared to mobile safari. So putting my idealism aside I got the phone that actually made my life better. And after 6 cell phones, it's the first one that doesn't piss me off.
The one thing that I think Android needs (from looking at the video demos) is the whole pinch zoom feature. I suspect that will be tough to get legitimately. It makes the iPhone usable with such a small screen. And after using an iPhone and watching the android videos it seems lie a glaring omission.
Frankly as a small time developer of largely worthless code, I wouldn't have a problem tossing apple a few dollars to host my application.
Sheldon
You aren't from around here are you? You see, here in the USofA we have Starbucks which has paid the US Auto industry to only sell automatic transmissions. This allows us to wrecklessly weave down our huge roads with a triple latte in one hand and a RAZR in the other. No shifting necessary unless we hit someone, then we have to shift into reverse and take another sip and tell the person on the phone to hold on for a second.
Sheldon
I blame lego and heathkit for my PhD and for enabling me to make a nice living.
Sheldon
Paypal will send you a Christmas card for that payment...
All the substantiation behind it maybe? The fact that it doesn't break laws of thermodynamics etc.
If an all-powerful god can create all of life and everything, how do you explain cancer and the other flavors of suffering god's creatures are facing? If he's involved in the day to day, he's pretty nasty, our best hope is that he's an absentee landlord.
Sheldon
Apple is a Hardware company, they just make and sell software to support the sales of the hardware. There is NOTHING to be gained (based on the Apple business model) by selling bargain basement hardware or the software alone, and a lot to be lost. Apparently the Apple business model is working well as they are raking in big buckets of cash.
Sheldon
In my experience with the product, It's "Magic" if there's "Partitions" left when it's done...
But that was with version 6.0, maybe it actually works now.
Sheldon