Thank Verizon for this mess.

Net Neutrality

The FCC did not want to upset the telecoms so it created a watered down version of Title II classifying it as a information service. The republicans liked this since they said it gave the telecoms the ability to adapt in a rapidly changing market. But the telecoms did not use the watered down rules to do anything but make us pay more for a poor service. The FCC hoped they would invest their profits into upgrading their network equipment but it just did not happen. They are a corporations and their primary purpose is to maximize the financial gain for their shareholders. Usually a company has to balance the cost of their product/service on a free demand curve. The demand curve of a monopoly or oligopoly is very different from a free market. They control the market so they can force you to pay more than a free market will allow. Therefore we have laws for monopoly or oligopoly so they don't abuse their market power.

It's not like Verizon does not know what Title II is they are a phone company and they live by the regulations. The watered down regulations where not good enough so they sued. The judge said in the results of the Verizon case that the FCC should have used Title II. Tom Wheeler is upset because POTUS and four million Americans asked him to move to adopt Title II, and he feels bad that a few lobbyist (of which he used to be one) will be upset. Tom Wheeler makes so much money he paid to make hard decisions. May be he should resign and state he has a conflict of interest.

The Oligopoly's don't like it, sure they don't like it but when you have monopoly power and historically have abused it by raising prices and not investing in infrastructure over profits. Can you be surprised that the countries asked for the laws of the land be applied properly. But may be in today's American the laws of the land don't apply to everyone.

So why does POTUS have to make a public statement to a person he appointed as a public (Tom Wheeler). That a good question for Tom Wheeler.

Can you live without an eight hundred dollar smartphone

I've posted some anti Apple stuff in the past but I've come to believe that if people love their smartphones as much as Apple fans do, then its worth it to them the nearly thousand dollars of final cost. It's like somebody who drives an Audi people will pay for what they want (i don't get it but they probably would hate my Prius each to their own).

Do you need an eight hundred dollar phone. It's amazing how we love our smartphone, at lunch today I was out walking. As I past people they were not talking, or shopping but fully engaged in their smart phone. Playing games, email, text etc. I would be a hypocrite judging them since I've been addicted to computer technology for over thirty five years. I heard a story from a co worker whose family members saw somebody murdered on a bus in East Asia for their phone proves just how important these devices have become.

Google has been working hard to bring smartphones to the masses. They have good profit reasons to do this but these are powerful tools to bring knowledge to every corner of the world. They have fully functional phones for a hundred dollars. My Moto G is great and it is just a little bit more. These phones have caused the recent market shrinkage by Samsung as their end.

These are amazing tools they can be leveraged by somebody who may not have reliable power or water. Smart people will used them to learn how to fish rather than buy fish. But as with any tool somebody can use a screwdriver to fix a car or stab their neighbor. Phones make the world a smaller place, spreading knowledge and advance mankind.

If I write a game tomorrow and drop it on the Google store it, could be being played somebody half a world away (though probably not without good marketing). The eight hundred dollar phone is first world issue. The hundred dollar (or $25 dollar smart phone tomorrow) is changing the world. Knowledge is free to travel around world.

Shouting fire in a crowded theater

One of the great thing about this country is the first amendment. But the courts have limited the first amendment particularly [Brandenburg v. Ohio in 1969].

Certain news outlets realized that they could boost rating over the Ebola crises by sensationalizing the problem. They are making good money on using fear to boost ratings. Fear is the currency of tyrants and scoundrels. People in Africa have sold worthless medical kits and profited by it. But how different is it to profit by using unscientific panic to boost ratings.

Ebola is a huge issue but creating an environment of fear may have the effect of causing people who need help not to seek it. This has happened in the effected region of Africa already. Even worse those providing medical help to the sick will be discriminated against and reducing those resources. Making it more likely to cause problems in handling this problem. At which point does it become similar to "Shouting fire in a crowded theater" or likely to incite imminent lawless action.

Time to find a cheaper phone plan.

On my never ending task to reduce my phone costs. I've move to ooma which is basically free except for taxes. This reduced my long distance bill to nil but you can't avoid taxes (unless you want to got to jail). So that leaves my mobile phone bill, I'd moved to virgin mobile two years ago then fifty five dollars a month seemed OK for unlimited text and data. Well T-mobile is advertizing a $100 plan for four lines, that's amazing. Unfortunately our country does not have a phone standard, Verizon and Sprint each use their own custom which means their phone don't work on T-Mobile even if I wanted to switch.

So it's time to buy new phones. I'm really cheap, but google has me covered with the new Moto G. Just check out those spec's.

Giving up on Chrome

Chrome has been my primary browser for over five years and I love it. So why quit, since the webkit split a year ago the browser has slowly slowed to a crawl. My computer at work which only has 4GB of memory and I cannot change since it's a thirty two bit image is maxed out. I switched to firefox no problems. So why is Chrome so slow may be it's the extensions I use but the browser now used nearly a gigabyte of memory for a single page.

I will probably use chrome to debug web pages since that is its star quality but Google has a problem with its browser and they need to address it soon. May be it's extensions that are out of control or a memory usage that is crazy but I need to get work done which is not possible with Chrome.

Windows 8.1 is a good OS except for Metro.

I use windows 7 at work everyday and I use windows 8.1 at home. I prefer windows 8.1 the O/S seems to operate with less resources. The underlying features are definitely improved. The problem is that it got a big old blemish called Metro (no that name got retired). If you kill metro which is very simple then Windows 8.1 is a pleasure to use. Simply boot to desktop and install "Classic Shell" which is free. Another great open source program.

Oculus Rift Shipping numbers

Google Reader is dead, long live feedly

The problem with web based applications is that when the company kills the product it's gone. With traditional applications you can run it until your computer dies but with web applications you are dependent upon a slew of computers deep in the bowels of a data center usually in some deep rural location at somebody else owns.

Google has recently killed a bunch of applications a few of which I used regularly. They killed Google Reader, they may have felt that Flipboard was a doing a better job or so Google plus centered they decided to focus on it. I can't complain since its a free service and clearly they had a hard time monetizing it. Like delicious before it the internet is a very competitive and there are other services competing for that market. Fortunately Google is an open company so when I migrated to a new service it was not a problem.

Feedly is the one people seem to be recommending and its very nice. I prefer is interface, its more visual and less cluttered. The worry is that companies will start killing their RSS feeds since Google stopped using them. Google does not care since it scrapes the site so it does not need RSS. So a good company idea might be a psuedo RSS feed by a third party that scrapes sites and provides links to the original content.

Can you buy a nice phone at a small cost?

I finally got annoyed at my Apple 3G. It needed to be flashed with firm ware but Apple dropped support for this long ago. So I wanted a new phone

• It had to be cheap under $200
• Have ICS (Android 4.0) or greater
• Have a dual core processor at least 1Ghz
• 1GB of memory
• It would be really nice if it had a Micro SD card and replaceable battery.
• It would be nice if it had GSM sims
• Most important no contract pay as you go with a plan cost of $50

This was hard since the Nexus 4 met some of my requirements but it was sold out Cricket has a Samsung S3 for $329 but it was not available in my market since it was 4G only.

Virgin had a HTC EVO 4G for less $150 and it met 95% of my needs. So I was not GSM and the unlimited plan was $55. So I switched and I've been really happy. I dropped in a 32GB micro SD and I got a great phone. The works with the Google play store and all my music

Cost for the plan over 24 month is $1300 for unlimited everything. So I ate my own advice and went Apple free.

Buying a smart TV is a dumb idea

Buying a smart TV is a dumb move because you are locking yourself into a technology frozen at least six months ago. Here are a few points:

• It cheaper to buy a ROKU or at worst an Apple TV and it going to be cheaper than the extra you will pay for a smart TV. I picked up a HD ROKU for $38, most big box shops are going to charge you that for a HDMI cable.
• There is more to go wrong. The more complex a TV has the more components that can go bad.
• It is highly unlikely that once you buy that TV the vendor going to update the firmware. So those new services are likely never going to be available for your TV.
• Your cable box is dumb when a smart TV talks to a dumb device the TV becomes dumb. A lot of HDTV are still being feed by a coax based SD cable box.
• Unless you are hooking up a blu ray player all your sourcing device are going to look pretty much the same on a $300 HiSense verse a $800 Sony Google TV.
• This market is still in flex and no standard exist for smart TVs. The closes thing you have to Smart TV standard is a company store.

So basically buy the dumbest TV you can with as many HDMI inputs as you can find.

Why the fiscal cliff is coming and there is no stopping the insanity

Why the fiscal cliff is coming and there is no stopping the insanity.

When democracy fails why not be surprised when politicians bend to the will of those holding the money purse rather than what the voters actually want. Democracy has nothing to do with congress there are two primary reasons 1) Congressional redistricting and 2) Voter suppression.

Recently I had a horrible time getting my sons first learners permit, it took three attempts to get him a valid picture id. Why the strange difficulty in getting a valid picture id, the politicians will tell you preventing identity theft (my sons US passport was not good enough). May be but if you are somebody who does not own a home, get electrical bills etc then your a likely to be poor and vote democratic. Making it hard to get a picture ID with the new voter laws means to suppress the vote.

Both partiers do it but the recent congressional redistricting maps if you seem them on a map looks like a 2 year olds scribble. No sane person would draw a map like that but the districts a rigged into concentrate voters on one party and spread the other parties voters out. Simple to create safe seats for a politician so he does not have to worry about the main vote just the primary.

The primary is how the democracy falls apart since only the real passonate conservatives or liberals tend to vote. So by the time the main election comes along the race is already decided. People in congress are not worried about their electorate but the people who vote in the primaries which is where the fiscal cliff comes into play. The people on the sides in the debate would rather go over the fiscal cliff due to dogma than be rational. So don't be surprised if come January 1st we go right over that cliff.

Even if we don't it not because of the will of the people but maybe in just enough congressional districts democracy still works.

Is Javascript the English Language of the computer world

Is Javascript the English Language of the computer world

English is an ugly language, it roots are in multiple countries,people to study languages prefer French. So why is English much more dominate than french (a lot of people in France might disagree.) In the end the answer is probably a mixture of politics, power and flexibility. The United States and Commonwealth two major powers across the world for the last several hundred years use it as their primary language. Its flexible in evolving rather than say French which has its government are trying keep pure. Its a language that you can use across the world since in is the second language for a lot of people. It make for a default communication.

So is Javascript the new English of the computer world. I'd say yes because it works everywhere. It didn't, it still have a hundreds of different variants based upon where it is used and that keeps evolving. But thanks to JQuery it will work across most browsers.

How to fix windows 8 on the desktop.

The big problem for windows 8 is desktops users hate it. We Just try to buy a touch base monitor for your windows 8 desktop and even if you have one it basically clumsy. Microsoft has a simple solution for the windows 8 desktop experience it called Kinect.

If you could implement the interface using the kinect style web cam that tracks you finger movement. If you could simply raise your finger (not your middle one) from your keyboard and activate the touch interface. Whats nice about this is it cheap. The kinect cost less then $50 to manufacture much less than touch screen.

The world is changing faster than I can believe

I'm a geek in remember in 1980 sitting in high school reading a book on Microprocessors. I was amazing but it was hard to get information back then. I was on holiday in San Francisco and they had books that would not be in UK stores for a few years. I was lucky to have access (thanks Mother and Father).

Now that's all changed with the internet. Youtube, Pluralsight, Lynda and google has changed all that. I feel that i'm in a wind storm of information and its hard to keep up. If you need to learn anything it is a keyword away and a 5 minute video.

It's scary how much you need to learn and thrilling too learn it.

Inspiration vs plagiarism

Could not resit a little note on the Apple vs Samsung trial. But the real issue is when does Inspiration from a third party become plagiarism. That a tough question because something similar is definitely allowed.

Function verses style is the problem here especially when the style chosen is minimalist. Clearly logos and brands are off limits but a flat touch screen with a bezel clearly points to function and there is plenty of prior art.

An area where Samsung probably was wrong was the phone icon. Apple is compulsive about art. I once saw a 60 minute video on designing app icons. They are compulsive about look and feel. Green on white phone icon looked to me like a copy.

Reality distortion field at Apple may have finally took over. Your in trouble when you start to believe your own bullshit. They truly believe that they created the iPhone from scratch, that Palm and Microsoft has nothing to do with ideas and prior art. Given how much Palm defined this field Apple should just sign over the company to HP in my humble opinion since it clearly defined the market of truly portable devices.

Apple certainly made an excellent device but they used ideas and technology from a lot of different companies. Apple has ensured that it will spend the next ten years in court. They can probably create a temporary competitive advantage doing so. But somebody is busily working away to create the next advancement and it probably a small company.

When that product hits Apple better be very careful about their inspirational because they may just loose the farm if they are locked out of that product idea.

HP Please sue Apple

It's my belief that Apple got most of their inspiration for the Ipod Touch from the PalmOne Tungsten T5.

The iPhone clearly got its inspiration from the ipod touch. The Ipod touch looks to me so much like a T5. The touch screen. The home button. But the T5 pre-dated the Ipod by over three years.

If Apple wins the suit over Samsung then HP got a hell of a case.

A little more Apple bashing

So you committed to spend $1700+ on that Apple 4s here's another ugly little secret. It probably will be worthless in less than three years. Apple has ugly habit of ending life of the their products. They drop support very rapidly meaning that you can't upgrade your App and your OS often after just three years. That window might be even smaller if you choose to get a IPhone 3GS at the lower price.

OK I admit that most Android owners are stuck on Gingerbread but the App store is full of apps that work with much older version of the OS. Most of the applications in the iTunes store required the most up to date version of the software.

There is another problem is that your phone might not even last three years. The battery if it gives out is very expensive to replace. Apple glues together it hardware meaning it is nearly impossible replace components that go bad.

So not are you being over charged for a phone that has a 200% sales profit and a 800% profit if you include the cell contract, they make sure you have replace it within a few years.

It reminds me a lot of the American auto manufactures in the 80's obsoleting cars after a few years. They paid for that dearly withing other taking their lunch after a people got upset for being taken for a ride.

That ATT iPhone in your friends hand cost him $1,729

I'm often wrong my Netflix post last year said that the stock markets reaction to Netflix was over played but the price is still $82.00. So given that logic Apple stock is $613 today so the stock will be $700 next year given my negative thoughts on their stock. I'm no professional.

How long can Apple maintain its profit margin. That an important point since if they have to start selling iPads and iPhones at lower. Lets compare the Galaxy Nexus for $349 to an iPhone 4S at $649 (nearly double the price.)

Hey you say I only paid $199 for that phone, guess again if you compare prepaid phone plans $50 unlimited to contract plans $120.00 with a two year commitment. So that a $70 dollar difference over 24 months (probably a lot less on family or legacy contracts). So if we factor in prepaid + full priced phone verses discount phone + 24month contract.

T-Mobile unlimited prepaid 24 months ($1,200) + Google Nexus from the Play store ($349.00) = Total of $1,549

At&t Unlimited + texting + 3G data ($120*24 = $2880) + Discount Iphone 4S ($199) = Total of $3,079

So for basically the same service unless you live in an area not covered by t-mobile at the end of two years you paid an extra $1,530 dollars for that iPhone.

But you may say that you don't have to go with an unlimited package true but you can get a $30 dollar plan verse may be $80 for a lower rate plan. Its a wash.

But the Iphone is such a better experience that Android. True if you compare Ginger Bread to IOS 4. But its a wash with Jelly Bean and IOS 6.

The App store is better at Apple than Google's Play store. Can Apple hold that $649 price point. May be?

Second given that the proposed Apple Ipad Mini will hurt sales of the Ipad with a much lower profit margin. Given a Nexus 7 ($199) verses a Ipad mini ($299). The Ipad profit margin must be higher than a iPad mini.

Given 55 million iphones and 22 million Ipads sold last year if Apple has to lower profit by $50 per device, that is $3.85 Billion in lost profit. If Apple has to lower the price $100 per device that's $7 Billion. To hurt Apple all that Google has to do is sell at cost and drive down Apples margin.

The patent war may sound stupid and Apple has all the cards with the its market dominance. Google has a lot less to lose than Apple since it makes money on a device no matter who sells it. Apple stock reminds me of 2005 house prices, they may continue to rise for the next few years but 2015 may be different.

What will be the next generation of TV.

I was listening to the latest episode of web ahead talking about Web based TV's. Even the XBOX is getting a web browser later this year. I think we are missing the point of what a TV is about here. The television is a shared experience. Even when we are using a console we are sharing the experience over the internet.

Look at a family watching TV. If somebody up and changes the channel while you are in the middle of a show. TV watching is not web surfing. The successful next generation devices are content streamers not browsers. That is because that is how a big TV is used.

Unless your the only person in the room and you using your TV as a computer monitor and that's a strange experience. Surfing the web is a personal activity like reading a book while TV is like watching a play a group activity.

Windows 8 is the New Coke of the IT industry

Geeks should be geeky

Windows 8 Release candidate is a large step backward from the consumer preview which in many ways was a step backward from the developer preview. Windows 8 is Microsoft trying to out UI Apple in the UX(user experience) and they totally failed. Think of a geek guy in high school trying to be cool. The kid who got straight A's but no girl would look at, well I've always though Microsoft as kind of that guy. So one day he wants to be cool but he can't carry it off. The cool clothes don't fit right, the $100 haircut doesn't fit his face and he just doesn't walk cool. Windows 8 release candidate is that, the Metro interface hides all the good windows features while being awkward to use of you have more than a handful of icons. They've removed all the features you like remote desktop and media center. Trying to find the calculator, notepad and control panel is just plain difficult. I've been using Windows 8 for 10 months so its not needing to learn the interface.

For all the bad press Microsoft products work well in real business and getting things done. Apple may be the darling of the media industry but if the iphone/ipad had a bad day then they would be in a world of hurt. They are a one trick pony IOS, they've put the Mac on the back burner to focus on Mobile. It's paying huge for them. Microsoft wants some of that cash Apple is getting for IOS. Even when Windows had a bad day (Vista) Microsoft kept making money. Any IT manager will NEVER want windows 8 in their organization.

Hopefully Microsoft business customers (like the principle of the geeky guy in high school), pull Microsoft aside and explain trying to be something your not is a bad idea. Even Apple is smart enough to know that IOS cannot be OSX, they are different products.