Mark Zuckerberg = Mr. Data Accumulator?

Mark Zuckerberg, the 33 year old founder and CEO of Facebook, has developed a reputation of being stiff when forced to present himself as a typical corporate executive.

In order to prepare for the ten hours of questioning on Capitol Hill concerning data proliferation and privacy concerns in social media, Zuckerberg was prepped by K Street public relations people to look professional and less robotic.  

 


Alas, that effort was only partially  effective.   Zuckerbook lost his typical grey hoodie for a suit which helped.  But his scripted replies  seemed synthetic and akin to an android.  So much so, wags wondered if Mark Zuckerberg ought to be called Mr. Data Accumulator, an estranged relation of Data from Star Trek The Next Generation.

Mark Zuckerberg on Hate Speech

Gabbing about the Capricious Cupertino Walled Garden of Apple

Gab is a new micoblogging site which was started in the summer of 2016 as conservative voices experienced cyber-censorship about content from social media giants such as Facebook and Twitter.  Gab wants to create a cyber community which users can speak freely and exercise their own judgment to filter content. 

Gab started with a beta platform geared towards personal computers.  However, since the growth in social media is associated with mobile internet applications, Gab has sought to get approval from Apple to have their app approved to be available in Apple app store.

Because Gab encourages members to #SpeakFreely, they do not want to censor content created by Gab users, as long it conforms to US law and the Constitution regarding obscenity and pornography.  In rare instances, the Gab platform would allow for legal pornography as long as it was tagged #NSFW (not safe for work).  But this loophole created the first objection for the Apple App Review team.  To resolve this, Gab linked their EULA agreement, albeit outside of the app.  The allowed for the second rejection, which was easily abated. 

What has raised eyebrows is the tardy and hypocritical third rejection by the app team. Ordinarily, apps are evaluated within 24 hours.  For Gab's third app submission, it took 17 days. In addition, it was rejected on the grounds that "We found references to religion, race, gender, sexual orientation, or other targeted groups that could be offensive to many users."

So Gab is supposed to play nanny to user epithets and ideas which an aggrieved internet denizen could find offensive.  But Gab allows its users to filter out content which they do not want to see, but the powers that be in Cupertino do not want their i-Phone/i-Pad users to be scandalized by material in Gab (which they could filter out themselves).  

Is the same stringent Cupertino standard applied to Madonna's post Women's March musings?  

Wonder why?  Is Twitter going to have their app taken away for the rude ravings of an aged Material Girl who creates controversy on social media to seem contemporary?

Gab CEO Andrew Torba wonders if the third rejection of Gab's app was timed to coincide with President Trump's first full day in office and was meant to sent a message.  Torba asserted: 

"This clear double standard against us is potentially politically motivated and clearly targeted. When you actively search for something on a user generated website, chances are you're going to find what you are looking for."

Progressives sought to kill Gab by claiming that it was only for the alt-right and that it lacked diversity, which fails when one considers that Gabs leadership team is comprised of an American Christian, a Turkish Muslim Kurd and an Indian Hindu.  Since the slimming was unsuccessful, it seems that progressive companies are seeking to deny Gab from tools to grow their user base by any means necessary.

With the shadow-blocking and capricious shunnings by big social media, those who want to share opinions which challenge the standard assumptions of progressive elites, they may look to social media alternatives such as Gab.  Alas, Apple continues to make access restricted inside the walled garden

A Future in Which We Should Believe?

Senator Bernie Sanders (Socialist-VT) decisively won the Wisconsin Democrat Primary.  To claim victory in the land of Cheeseheads, the 74 year old Senator chose to have a bunch of young people in back of him on the dais.

During Sanders speech in Laramie, Wyoming, the candidate chose to rail against young people who are too busy with their video games.   At the same time, there was some vidiot around Sanders who was making faces on Snapchat or another video based social media.

In Sander's optimistic opinion, young people are idealistic thus progressives.  But Sander's chide about young people too busy with their video games may also reveal how there is a youthful expectation of little effort and high return.  There is also the cognitive dissonance of idealistic young 99%-ers advocating for socialism during Occupy Wall Street movement while camped out in the District of Calamity's Farragut Square or Manhattan's Zuccotti Park on their shiny new Apple i-Phones.

The question is what is the better future in which we should believe?

Anonymous on Apple Angst

Some Surveying of the Surfeit of Cheap Tablets

As Black Friday and Cyber Monday approaches, many merchants are highlighting inexpensive tablet computers as doorbusters or loss leaders to gin up overall Christmas holiday sales.  But before making impulse electronics purchases, it is wise to consider how you would use a tablet in mobile computing.  

It used to be that tablets were the ideal media consumption device. Tablets with 7" to 10" screens allow an individual to have an almost immersive view of videos.  Applications (a.k.a. apps) generally provided shortcuts which facilitated internet interactions.  Some tablets like the Nook and the Kindle were more e-ink reading devices which could have proto-tablet functions (checking e-mail, Wikipedia, and text based websites).  But Amazon’s Kindle Fire sought to be a loss leader which was a shopping portal doubling as an entertainment device.  Samsung’s strong showing with its Galaxy Tablets as well as the “phablet” Note series sought to tie tablets to cellular carriers.

Discern what are your mobile computing needs.  If you want a communications device with a larger screen (and you don’t mind carrying a 5.5" device in a pocket or a purse), then a “phablet” like the Samsung Note may be the best choice for you.  Many retailers will be offering enticing prices for such hybrid phone/tablets, but be prepared to be locked into a cellular carrier for a year or two.  If you want to keep having the latest and greatest devices, look into the early upgrade programs from major cellular carriers. 

Tablets sales used to be driven by Apple’s i-Pad, which came out in 2010.  The i-Pad still wins 29.6% of the tablet market while asking for a premium price that is rarely discounted.  While this writer is not purposely not part of the Apple cult, if one feels compelled to buy an Apple for its reputation of ease of use, enticing design or to keep up with the Jones’, then buy an i-Pad and sleep in on Black Friday.

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There will be plenty of Black Friday sales on Android tablets.   If Android tablets have an appeal, determine which version of OS the hardware has, as earlier versions of Android  (prior to 4.0“Jelly Bean”) are not optimized to tablet proportions. Also be aware of how much storage is on the tablet.  A $40 tablet that only boasts 4GB will barely hold one movie.  That might be good enough for kinderspiel but would quickly be condemned to the land of misfit toys for most other tablet users. 

This holiday shopping season it may be easy to acquire a tablet but take the time to choose the right tablet for you. Consumers who are content to pay premium prices for an entertainment consumption device which is touted to work out of the box should opt for an i-Pad. Busy businessmen may want the Microsoft Surface to be able to do Office work while surfing the web on their tablets.  Those who want an all in one mobile communications device should consider a “phablet” like the Samsung Galaxy Note.  Avid readers who want the functionality of a tablet should lean towards the Amazon Kindle Fire.  And there are a variety of inexpensive Android tablets which may motivate impulse shoppers.

SEE MORE at DCBarroco.com 

h/t: BFAds

A Bit on Why People Don't Answer the Call to Cell Phone Savings

One of the costly monthly expenses for most households in America is their cellular phone bill.  The CTIA Wireless Association estimates that average cell phone bill was $47 in 2012 but many individuals pay double that amount.  The CTIA figures do not factor in the costs of handsets or choices for “reasonable” plans

Smart phone consumers comprise 46% of the market (including 66% of youths aged 21-30).    The CTIA figures do not factor in the costs of handsets or choices for “reasonable” plans.  So there may be a low cost plan, but if one is required to carry a data package, monthly costs precipitously increase.

Another reality is that the most of the major American cellular carriers push subsidized phones with strict two year agreements.  Few cellular consumers consider the overall costs incurred with such a subsidized cell phone contract. 

Tero Kuittinen, an independent market analyst from Alekstra, notes: "That psychology has worked for hundreds of years, and it’s still working.”   Another factor to consider is the attachment that many people feel toward their cellular purchases. [***]  It seems akin to the mentality which drives new car purchases that customers will overspend to get that “new car smell” for a durable that loses 20% immediately after purchase. 

T-Mobile took the lead among cell providers in weaning prospective customers from the subsidized cell phone model with their Simple Choice plan.  But an  alternate model which T-Mobile innovated but had more success in competitors emulating is the “Next, Edge, Jump” and “OneUp”.  

[***]

Yet, cell phone services are not fungible.  Aside from the handset cost, choice of carriers are impacted by coverage.  An inexpensive plan is worthless if one does not get range in one’s preferred calling area.  Verizon Wireless has the best coverage but people pay a premium for the extensive coverage.  But most customers may not need such extensive range.

Cost conscious consumers should know that they can cut their cellular costs in half (or more), by using Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), pre-paid cell plans and fremium cell providers like FreedomPop. But the reality is that according to Ovum, only 23% of cellular customer have opted for such frugal mobile phone service. 

 As MNVOs and the ilk do not have the deep pockets for advertising, they have a dubious reputation.  

[***]

Usually, second tier cellular carriers offer less current handsets.  Even though these cell phones may only have been on the market for six months, finicky consumers turn their noses at these out of data handsets. 

[***]

In another phase of its Un-carrier campaign, T-Mobile tried to  wreck the international roaming racket. T-Mobile stopped charging more for international text for Simple Choice customers when sending to 100+ countries.  Calls to Simple Global countries aside from the US are at $0.20 a minute.  Most importantly, there is no outrageous international data roaming charges at standard speeds.   However  there are some caveats to this International Roaming largesse.

[***]

As America enters harder economic times, more consumers may try to beat the high cost of living by answering the call to cheaper cellular services.

SEE MORE at DCBarroco.com 

Some Shifting Spectrums in the US Cellular Industry

Although the radio waves are not physically realigning themselves, cellular companies have been to stead themselves for the future.

T-Mobile, which escaped from an AT andT acquisition by the FCC blocking the merger, grew by acquiring MetroPCS.  Although the “T-Metro” merger added 9 million subscribers to the  Deutsches Telekom holding company’s 34 million base, it remains the  fourth largest US cellular company.  But size isn’t everything.

T-Mobile did not acquire MetroPCS just to grow. T-Mobile wanted the MetroPCS spectrum.  


***
The 78%  acquisition of Sprint by Japanese Softbank for $21.6 billion  was delayed until this June 2013 to allow  Sprint completed its acquisition of the remaining 50% of Clearwire.  There was a clear synergy when Sprint’s 4G service was premised on Wimax like Clearwire.  But Sprint clearly wanted Clearwire’s spectrum.  Clearwire’s bankruptcy would have forced Clearwire to auction its large spectrum holdings and left its partner Sprint with worthless holdings.  

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One might wonder why AT and T  was willing to pay $1.2 billion to acquire Leap Wireless subsidiary  Cricket Wireless?  AT and T  had just launched IO pre-paid phone subsidiary so it did not need another Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO).  Cricket only added 5 million subscribers to second largest US carrier’s 96 million subscriber base.  So why did AT and T  pay nearly a 90% premium for Leap Wireless stock?  Clearly, the answer is spectrum.  



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Cellular consumer activists, such as Harold Feld of Public Knowledge, condemned the proposed AT and T acquisition of Cricket Wireless, claiming that AT and T already has enough wireless capacity and thinks that low-income and poor credit customers would be adversely effected.  Perhaps it should not be surprising in the class envy age of Obama when community organizers dictate when companies "have enough" and should pay "their fair share."  But such animus is disconnected from reality.

Carriers seek more spectrum to keep up with customer demands.  The cellular industry has shifted from stingily selling voice minutes to essentially making them ubiquitous, but carriers make their money on data.  Verizon Wireless hopes to shift all of its voice calls to VoLTE by the end of 2014 as it is a more efficient conveyance of voice calls and then use the freed up spectrum to meet data needs.

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Even as the cellular industry figuratively shifts towards data spectrum, most consumers just care about getting a new handset and give little consideration to the details of a major household expense--their cellular bill.

SEE MORE at DCBarroco.com

Appreciating Apple Attitudes

Apple engenders an almost fanatical level of loyalty from its consumers.   ATT solidified its market position as a strong second in the US cell phone market by being the exclusive of the iPhone for years when it first came out.  But now, nearly every cellular carrier, including MVNOs like Virgin Mobile and Ting can offer their customers the iPhone without the iron clad two year contract, albeit without a handset subsidy. 

Admittedly, I have never owned an Apple product.  Not because I am a technological Luddite, but because I refuse to pay the stupid tax.

Since Apple is a vertically integrated company, meaning that they control the design and manufacturing of phones, the marketing of the handsets as well as vet any software on their devices, everything goes through Cupertino. So one pays a premium for an Apple device, the software tends to be more expensive (because it is programmed in house or needs to be customized for Apple).  Nearly all computer peripherals needed come from Cupertino.  Apple wants to care for its own products (with so called geniuses) with exclusive (and more costly) insurance and care programs.  In addition, they wanted to corner the market on media, by forcing media purchases through I-Tunes which used to lock it with DRM.  Now it just makes it extremely inconvenient to take it out of i-Tunes.  

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Indubitably, Apple produces or popularizes innovative products. The GUI interface was iconic (sic) in inspiring other O/S's (such as Windows). Apple may not have invented the i-Pod, but it became widespread through their product.  The i-Phone spread like wildfire amongst tech types because it was a stylish smartphone.  The SIRI interface took consumers closer to having a cyber personal assistant. But other companies have caught up and offer more economical choices with more real world flexibility than Apple offers (like replacing batteries, adding SD memory, accessing internet sites, not being forced to  buy into i-Tunes, etc..). 

It is an interesting phenomenon that those in the Apple cult not only look down upon those who refuse to join the Apple cult but they also savagely turn on Apple enthusiasts who do not have the latest and "greatest" products.

N.B.- This is a satirical advertisement

And woe be people who those who do not buy into the Book of Jobs. 




While  the parody video is a reductio ad absurdum, it typifies the mindset of many in the Apple cult, who can not appreciate that what works for them may not be alright for others.  This device devotion to the i-Phone despite better alternatives was satirized in certain scatalogical satirical videos.

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SEE MORE at DCBarroco.com

Some Thoughts on Cellular Choosing Between a Sweet Young Ting and a Virgin Mobile

Cellular telephony allows us to always be in touch telephonically, to act as a digital music player, to have a camera and video cam at the ready, as well as potentially carrying around a computer in the deceptive disguise  of a smart-phone.  Some foolish souls will risk life and limb to keep their cell phones. But these ordinary conveniences come at a cost.  Today, a sizable major portion of Americans household budgets are dedicated to communication costs.  People become so caught up at the prospect of a shiny new telephonic toy that they lose sight of the monthly costs associated with this privilege. 

 Recently, I wrote "A Cellular Call for Change” to consider how the mobile telephony industry in America is on the cusp of shifting away from highly subsidized handsets with expensive iron clad two year contracts to more of a BYOD marketplace which offers lower rates if you foot the bill for your phone.  The article urged the savvy consumer to know yourself and investigate thoroughly.   Well, I took my own advice.  I dug deep into a spreadsheet about my household’s cell-phone usage while doing an intense analysis of cellular providers plans and quirks.  The results were somewhat surprising.



My household has been with Sprint for nearly six years.  We are well out of contract with our current smart-phones (a HTC Evo and a Samsung Epic) but we have been happy with the service, aside from the cost.  Since our handsets are in excellent condition, there is neither a need nor desire to upgrade phones, especially in return for a costly 24 month contract.
 
Even though we were initially sold on Sprint because of the 7PM Nights and Weekends, a hard nosed analysis of usage showed the most of the minutes used stemmed from free Mobile-to-Mobile calling.  Yet including the Anytime, Nights and Weekends as well as Mobile-to-Mobile minutes, we never broke the 1000 minute total threshold (and one of the handsets consistently used most of the minutes).  Our texts were under 1000 total.  Data was the variable.  While it was nice to have the certainty of Unlimited Minutes, my household was not a data hog. There were a few times over the course of the year when we used 3 Gig of data a month between the phones, most months hovered just over 2 Gigs combined.  There were few months when mobile data usage was above 3 Gig and one month at 4 Gig.  

Most of our time is in the District of Calamity (sic) or Between the Beltways.  But much of our travel takes us to southwestern Virginia where cellular service can be persnickety, and 4G coverage is virtually non-existent. Our experience is that Sprint Network voice and data in the destination area is good for us without paying the high fees for Verizon’s stellar coverage. 

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 My research led me to two potential choices–a sweet young Ting (sic) or a Virgin Mobile.   Ting.com is a  MVNO owned by Tucows which operates off of the CDMA Sprint Network. While Ting has only been offering prepaid cellular service since February 2012, their parent company Tucows has been around since 1994 which gives it some credence of stability.  Ting’s distinctive feature is use what you pay for billing.   Ting's pricing is given in tiers from XS to XXL for voice, texting and data and consumers can mix and match on a monthly basis. 

  *** 

For our household's purposes, the other cellular player is Virgin Mobile.  Virgin Mobile is a quasi-MVNO which is owned by Sprint and is their mid-ranged prepaid cellular service.  Virgin Mobile does not have the sexiest and newest smart-phones but their plans are quite attractively priced.   Virgin Mobile rates have three tiers.  

***

Thomas Sowell once opined that “There are no such thing as solutions, but only trade offs.”  So to make the right choice, a savvy consumer should run the numbers themselves, determine if their carrier gives good reception where the phone will be used the most and determine how he will use cellular service.  If you are just texting, Ting charges $9 a month with 1000 texts or an SMS happy user $17 a month for 4000 texts.

  *** 
Virgin Mobile hypnotically suggests that one should "retrain your brain."  Some might find all of the choices confusing and headache inducing.  But think about all of the aspirin one can easily afford from your monthly cell phone savings!  

  SEE MORE at DCBarroco.com 

Book Review--APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur

PE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur-How to Publish a Book (2012,  Nononina Press, 314 pages)  by Gary Kawasaki and Shawn Welch is breezy book which details the trials and tribulations of publishing a book.


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Kawasaki’s inspiration for writing APE stems from his difficulty even as an established author to get 500 promotional e-books authorized while working through a traditional publisher and the I-Tunes store.  Friends suggested that Kawasaki investigate the advantages of self-publishing.  Alas, self-publishing is not as easy as just cranking out a manuscript, uploading it to an on-line seller and raking in the profits.

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Kawasaki is an enthusiastic proponent of what he terms artisanal publishing (self-publishing).  Artisanal publishing requires greater involvement by the creator of the book but also allows for more control and greater profit potential (albeit without the traditional publishing “Advance Fee”).  

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READ MORE of this book review at DCBarroco.com