Dont Trust This Guy why not take my word for it? A blog by Jim Jeffers

Today UIE posted a new podcast “The Book Of Face” with Phoenix’s own Robert Hoekman Jr.. The show discussed how facebook has been pretty good at “pissing their users off” and made mention of the whole newsfeed debacle. Back in September of 2006 Facebook first released the daily feed feature and as a result it caused a lot of ruckus. Shortly after the backlash came to be - I wrote a public note on Facebook about the entire situation. It was titled “Why newsfeeds are actually good and how Facebook messed up.” So here it is reposted again today on my blog:

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Daniel Day Lewis delivers a performance that is equally brilliant and psychologically disturbing. The film, based off Upton Sinclair’s “Oil!“, portrays the life of Lewis’s character, an oil tycoon: Daniel Plainview. This film is not one that clearly tells a story. Rather, it creeps under your skin and strikes you to force you’re own interpretations. As a result, the film’s chain of events and subtleties initially confused me, but after further thought I came to some of my own conclusions…

• NOTE: before reading further, know that I expose some of the plot in my interpretations.

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So I recently caved to the lower price point of the Apple iPhone and now I’ve put my self into a situation bound to be full of turbulence. Activating the phone tonight, a deceptively smooth process, abruptly came to a halt when the credit check failed. Knowing my credit score is high from quarterly credit reports Discover card sends me; I was genuinely surprised to find out my credit information was not good enough for AT&T’s standards. So I’m left here trying to rationalize the situation. I have a useless piece of expensive technology sitting next to my laptop as I type this. This is very disconcerting.

Further research on Apple’s discussion forums shows customers who have experienced similar problems. It seems like the use of any identity theft protection can cause AT&T’s credit run to fail. So even though I can get a credit card, bank account, auto loan, etc. all while having my identity theft service in action, I can’t get approved without going down to an AT&T wireless store in person. Oh what joyous time awaits me.

Update: I got the phone activated without a hitch after verifying my identity through identity theft protection. My phone number transferred in less than 15 minutes. The process is easy; so easy that I’m actually glad I have the theft protection in place. If not anyone with my social security number and street address could have activated an iPhone in 15 minutes or less and stolen my life! Oh the information age. So far I’m going ga ga ga ga for the iPhone. These things are worth the hype! I’m almost sorry I resisted for so long.

I mosied on over to the Apple store yesterday to get a glimpse at the much alluded iPhone. Some words to the wise: come the day after to avoid standing in ridiculous lines. The iPhone is surrounded by a lot of hype, which a lot of folks don’t think it can live it up to. I for one can see that it doesn’t but it does come close. When I first caught a glimpse of it in the store I saw about 6 different people surrounding the table with display models. The iPhone is spectacular to see in person. It’s probably the nicest, most intriguing little hand held gadget I’ve come across. The device is about the same size as a conventional iPod but so minimalist in design that it has a sort of mystique to it.

Don’t get me wrong, it is VERY cool. The product is amazing in many ways but at the same time it’s equally unimpressive in many ways. For instance, Safari on the iPhone, the best implementation of web browsing online in phone to date, is still not without it’s problems. Scrolling around pages was very laggy. The phone does not zoom in as fast as it does in the commercials. Zooming within the web browser is a bit of a test of patience. The animation is fluid but results in a blurry screen until the screen is redrawn. It’s a bit like zooming in and out in google maps. It’s just not conducive, but I suppose it’s better tha nothing. Additionally, developers such as Joe Hewitt are already facing problems experimenting with the iPhone. So software for the iPhone will be coming but it’s going to still be a while before we see polished products specifically for the iPhone that will ‘revolutionize’ how we do things.

Finally, the AT&T wireless plans are not that bad of a deal considering what you get. I think the price is a really good value when you consider you’re on AT&T’s Edge (premium data network) with unlimited data transfer included in every iPhone plan. Not ot mention rollover minutes. HOWEVER, AT&T’s Edge network blows. The US lacks a true 3G network and the closest carrier to providing anything comparable is Verizon. Edge currently maxes out at 80Kbps. Dialup is 56 Kbps. And while AT&T is investing in their infrastructure to increase the capabilities of Edge to hopefully achieve 200Kbps by next year, Verizon already achieves transfer rates higher than that on their own network right now.

So yeah, I’m a bit bummed but grateful at the same time. I would advise any smart consumer to hold off buying the iPhone unless you need it for testing. Let the silly early adopters spend their money on a device that is well polished for the most part but somewhat frivolous in our present day premature environment. I’m just glad Apple has done something which has put the wheels in motion to improve phones everywhere. And I am counting on it being successful, as you know, I would like to buy a second generation iPhone. One that corrects all of the mistakes from the initial product offering and has a healthy amount of web based productivity solutions and features to encourage the necessity of such a device.

I recently came accross a this great little note on Signals vs. Noise about dropping out. The article summarizes three different stories where professionals in various careers simply dropped out to lead a less complicated life. The stories spoke bounds to me. I can’t express enough how much I question what it is I do and why. I look around me and wonder the same about others sometimes. So many of us aren’t doing what we want. There tends to be a lot of focus on getting by and making more. Often it won’t be out of the norm for me to hear one of my friends say, “I want to be making X amount of dollars by the time im X years old.”

Why? Why so focused on money? Who gives a shit really. Why not say things you’d like to be doing in the future. Why don’t we set more passionate goals than financial goals. Finance in general is just a shallow cold boring and crude aspect of life. Money is a means to an end at times but it never is that ‘end’ you are so desparately looking for. If you’ve ever watched television shows such as the Sopranos or Nip/Tuck you can see a fictitious example of people who seem to have it all but lead remarkably unhappy lives. It is my belief that money is nothing more than a tool. A tool that will get you straight to nowhere, no matter how much you have, if you are not pursuing the things that truly matter to you.

It is just merely a matter of your perception really. Who is the more ambitious of the two? Is it the poor cabbie who simply drives around the same streets, reflects on his life, has time to see his family, and leads a simple yet enrichening life? Or is it the professional athlete under constant demand for physical performances and social appearances, driving an expensive luxury car, wearing some of the finest clothing, rolling around with more money than they know what do with? I leave it up to you to decide. Maybe you’ll have to find your way to the top to find out it might not be what you wanted afterall. Heck even I don’t really know, but I do think about these things if you can’t tell.

Tomorrow morning I will be waking up early to head out to the polls and put in my two cents on how I think things ought to be as I see it. After all it is my right. Personally, I haven’t been very unhappy with the way things have been going. Since Bush was re-elected I became totally disillusioned in our society as a whole, not because he is a republican but because of what he has done.

Often, I wonder why the majority of us can just sit back and support the leadership that has driven us into the disastrous situation we are in today. What is it that people care about? Obviously, some things must matter more to many of us than the loss of life, which has all happened for no legitimate cause or reason in Iraq. Is it preventing the gays from getting married? Is it to keep taxes low? Is it about shutting down abortion clinics? Is it to support campaign issues tied to religious values? I would like to think all of us went out to vote to protect our rights. I would hope we all took the big picture into consideration and looked at where the world is going and what we can do on an individual basis to improve it. But is that too much to ask for?

Many of my peers today seem focused on working, earning, and prospering. Money and material possessions are a key motivation amongst many. This is the result of the capitalistic society we have been born into in this country. I appreciate it in many ways but I also am disgusted by it at the same time. I think pure capitalism is inhumane. Think about companies like Wal-Mart that have become a prime example of capitalistic thinking in full strength. Making money is important, but the more you take the less everyone else gets. Where do you draw the line? When does it become inhumane to to earn that additional buck or two? What’s the human cost doing so? What’s the worldly cost of doing so?

I guess what I’m trying to say is that by our methodology we subscribe to a more cold approach to life in general. We THINK we want a world where people tell us all of the chips are in place for us to be successful. If we push harder than the rest we’ll get what others could not in life. But I don’t think we have to live in a dog eat dog world where we let healthcare run out of control and let the less fortunate sit on the street. Many citizens simply ‘play the game’. Work to spend. Work to spend. Work to spend. While my thoughts have been unclear throughout this particular writing; the main principle I had in mind while writing it was this: When you think about what you want to do, when you think about where you want to see the world headed, when you think about the changes we can make in our society… do not be influenced by the popular motto ‘Play to win.’ Instead.. play to improve, but above all, play to give. Learn from the wealthiest people in our society. Remember if you are fortunate enough to earn a great amount of money you have a gift many don’t. Be sure to take care of those who need it most. With that mind set I think we all may make clearer decisions that have more value than purely that of short-sighted self interests.

I was reading the latest issue of Marketing News journal yesterday and found an interesting article about Boba cafes. It appears to be a great opportunity as the Boba craze that hit Asia in the 90’s is relatively young out here in the US. Only in the past year or so have we seen Boba shops popping up and the drink becoming more mainstream here. This opens up two big oppourtunities…

A chance to become the dominant player.

For one, you can’t really compete with companies the likes of Starbucks. On the other hand there is no dominate franchised Boba shop that’s really settled into the US market. This is a great opportunity to build a strong brand around a new emerging product in the US. Hmmmmm.

Market towards the Asian youth.

According to marketing news the Asian youth market has been the hardest for researchers to establish a method for attracting a strong connection with. Boba cafe’s are the first major venue that specifically attracts this demographic. It’s significant because there is a tendency in Asian families to rely on the youth as the ambassadors to the family. Often it is the son or daughter who informs the parent of which cellphone to buy, what technology is hot, etc. Or at least that’s what Marketing News says. Marketers are dying to reach this demographic.

Any way, just some food for thought. Anyone want to open up a boba-bucks with me?

I think the biggest advantage to using Apple has always been the fact that you have the hardware and software provider united as one. It gives them the control to create a more polished experience since the software can be more specialized and tailored to the hardware it runs on. In contrast, a conventional PC can run on multiple operating systems which is problematic for two reasons: 1.) the OS developer must make his software more versatile so that it can work with most hardware 2.) the hardware manufacturer must work within the operating systems limitations to create custom UI functions that integrate with their technology innovations. This is where Apple has always had a clear advantage: If they want the hardware to interact with their software in a special way they can just expand the limitations of the operating system. To my knowledge, it is a luxury no other computer manufacturer has.

But this is also a problem. Apple has been silently testing Rossetta the new version of OSX that could run off X86 processors for years. Of course they had to be tight lipped about it because they didn’t want the public to know about the possible switch; but this has come at a cost to the third party developer. The dilemma now is that major vendors such as Adobe, and even Microsoft are not prepared for the early transition to Intel. So the ETA for an Intel compatible version of Adobe CS is unknown. This holds true for pretty much all major software packages presently available on Mac.

Where does this leave you and me? Well, if you’re a pro working on a Mac there is no point in upgrading yet. The software you use isn’t ready yet. Sure you can run the PowerPC versions of these packages on the Intel based macs but the benefits of the additional processing power are diminished because the OS now needs to run an emulator to simulate power pc processes. It also means if you don’t have a mac but wanted to make a switch you don’t know what to buy. Intel macs aren’t widely supported yet. Power PC macs are on the way out.. The message to the consumer is they should hold off and delay their purchase. This is just a bad business scenario. I love Apple products and I am a huge advocate of the Apple brand.

I just hope they can remedy this scenario as soon as possible.