By now we’ve heard that Apple’s got a little problem with reception in their new iPhones. They say a software fix is on the way that’ll correct much of the problems with reception indicators.
After the math department at the University of Texas noticed some of its Dell computers failing, Dell examined the machines. The company came up with an unusual reason for the computers’ demise: the school had overtaxed the machines by making them perform difficult math calculations.
Now, Dell has a lawsuit on its hands after millions of PCs they sold between 2003 and 2005 had faulty capacitors, that, over time failed miserably. The funny thing is that all computer do is math. Without that, they don’t do anything.
I think Dell has a new slogan: “Dell PCs. They don’t do math, just like every other American”.
We’ve all probably seen that LG commercial for their new “projector phone”. Here’s a reviewer:
Three things.
I love how the reviewer says, “They’ve [LG] done a pretty good job of covering up the Windows Mobile interface”.
“It’s pretty thin” is laughable. That phone looks as thick as the LG QWERTY phone I had three years ago.
I’m afraid for our productivity if people buy this phone.
I hate it when people come up to me and say, “HEY! Check out this movie trailer!” That’s when they hand me their phone and I have to awkwardly hold it while pretending to be interested for three minutes. All I’m really thinking is, “Goodness. This phone feels awful. They should have got an iPhone.”
Frankly, I don’t need people coming up to me and saying, “HEY! Check out this movie trailer!” and then projecting it on the frickin’ wall.
This explains a lot about Apple. A post from kotaku.com reveals an interesting story of one developer working closely with Apple. It brought about this nugget of information:
Doom Classic was rejected twice before Apple allowed it to appear in the [App] store with some minor changes.
Carmack thinks the run-ins with Apple are because the company, the highest people in the company, look down on games. But the popularity of gaming on the iPhone has forced Apple to try and come to grips with that, even if they’re not happy about it.
“At the highest level of Apple, in their heart of hearts,” Carmack said, “they’re not proud of the iPhone being a game machine, they wish it was something else.”
I can’t say I disagree. I generally look “down” on games with the same fervor I’m sure Apple’s higher-ups do. Games are, generally, a distraction from the real work people should be doing and I don’t doubt Apple feels the same about games on the Mac, either.
I look at my Mac and my iPhone as devices designed to help me get things done, not distract me with otherwise useless games.
I cringe when I hear about people who spend much of their time, much of their adult time, playing games like World of Warcraft and Doom.
I’m reminded of a story about Steve Jobs where a new Apple employee walked into a meeting where Jobs was present and the employee asked how everyone’s weekend was. Jobs stared coldly and said something to the effect of, “Let’s bring the quality of our conversation up a notch.” Clearly, Apple’s higher-ups are workaholics working “90 minutes a week and loving every minute.”
The best way for businesses and developers to think about Government 2.0 as a platform is to look at Apple and the iPhone, according to Mr O’Reilly.
“With government procurement it’s about working with the same group of people and saying we are going to work with trusted partners and them saying here is our handful of offerings.
The iPhone has spawned thousand of apps
“The iPhone comes out and Apple turns it into a platform and two years later there is something like 70,000 applications and 3,000 written every week. They have created a framework and infrastructure and that is the right way we should be thinking about government,” said Mr O’Reilly.
He said past examples of how the government had excelled as a platform were the internet and GPS, the global positioning system, which were both government-funded projects.
I agree with him, in principal, only because I think he has a point here even if his metaphor is a little off the mark. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has repeatedly said, “Government does not create jobs, it only creates the conditions that make jobs more or less likely.” There’s truth to that and if the US Government created something more of an infrastructure than a buddy network, maybe we’d see private sector growth explode.
Then again, this could never work. All that data being hard to find and read is a feature, not a problem. At least not to the government. Making things easy to discover would keep politicians too honest and the public too informed.
I admit it: I was one of those jackasses that stood in line this weekend waiting for an iPhone. I arrived at the Apple Store at Keystone at the Crossing on Indianapolis’ northside Saturday morning. Bright an early, too. Walking in at 6:30 when security unlocked the doors, I and three other people anxiously awaited together. In fact, we pulled a bench from down the hall to sit right in front of the Apple Store.
Knowing that the store didn’t open until 9, we didn’t care. We talked about all the new features and what all we could and would do with our phones after we bought them. One buyer worked at an ad agency, the other for a healthcare company as an IT manager, another as a student employee at University Information Technology Services at IUPUI.
We talked about politics, religion, cult of Mac and more. We all even walked in together come 9 o’clock when a line out the door and around the sidewalk had already formed.
I walked into the store as the security gate opened and was greeted by an Apple Store employee who helped me quickly and I left the store with a brand-spankin’ new iPhone.
If you have not used one or feel like it’s not for you: you’re wrong. This phone is amazing. Calling it a “phone” is a bit of an understatement. It does so much more and you have no idea how useful it is to have high-speed wireless internet via AT&T’s network in your pocket. All those anecdotal bits of knowledge you and your friends debate over at dinner or wondering which turnoff you need on the highway is now right there with you.
Evidently, most everyone has caught on:
Apple® today announced it sold its one millionth iPhone™ 3G on Sunday, just three days after its launch on Friday, July 11.
…
“iPhone 3G had a stunning opening weekend,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “It took 74 days to sell the first one million original iPhones, so the new iPhone 3G is clearly off to a great start around the world.”
Without me, it would have just been 999,999 phones.
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