Et tu, U2? Or, Cookin up a Kerfuffle!

Well, by now, many of you are aware of the fact that U2 released their new album this week, for free, on iTunes. That wasn't a problem. The problem is that Apple did not just make it available for users to download freely. Oh no. They distributed it automatically to all users. Yes. So millions of iTunes users were finding a new album suddenly added to their collection, want it or not.

Now of course, I don't fault U2 for this, I fault Apple. And as much as I don't like to jump on the bandwagon of comparing Tim Cook to Steve Jobs, I have to say, in this instance, Steve wouldn't have done that. How do I know? Simple. Steve was a firm believer that the customer should have to *always* confirm that they wanted to perform an action, or allow permissions or agree to terms and conditions. Steve believed that the user should always have to accept and confirm these actions, so that the user could never come back on Apple and say "Hey, I didn't know you were doing that" or "Hey, I didn't authorize that". Jony Ive has mentioned this in interviews, as has Phil Schiller. So that's how I know Steve wouldn't have done this, even though Steve was a fan of U2, and a friend of Bono.

Do we need to string Tim up for this? Of course not. He's probably learned his lesson from this little experiment, and the various dept VPs are probably giving him a lot of I told you sos.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to remove from my collection a mediocre album that I did not ask for.

~Mahalo~

Civil war in the Ukraine / Star Wars is NOT a 'reboot'!

So, the recent news out of the Ukraine is that Russian-centric rebels have shot down two Ukrainian helicopters over Slavyansk. I dunno bout you Bubba, but it sure looks like it's about damn time to call this a civil war. As I mentioned in my previous entry on this subject, there's likely nothing short of a US invasion that will stop Putin. Now of course, Moscow hasn't been directly tied to any of the current activity in the Ukraine, but no analyst could deny that Putin is behind it all. He has intentionally destabilized the area, especially with his bold move into Crimea. Putin isn't a stupid man, far from it, he's quite a shrewd manipulator. He's well aware of how his actions in Crimea would have emboldened other pro-Russia separatists. And now he's going to let them fight it out, and ensure that he gives as much unofficial support from Moscow as he can manage. And being a KGB man, he knows many ways to provide support that a standard politician would not think of. 

So now... we have civil war in the Ukraine, and possibly a precursor to rebuilding the former Soviet Union, a great dream of Putin's. 

The other half of the title of this entry? Why are so many in the media talking about the upcoming Star Wars trilogy as though it's a reboot? No. It is not. Star Wars VII - IX is simply the next trilogy in the overall saga that is Star Wars. Sure, it could be seen as a rejuvenation of the franchise, but it's not a reboot in the sense of remaking the original story, as has been done with so many movies lately, like Robocop, for example. Or the three or four variations of The Punisher. Or the Batman saga, or Spider-Man. 

J. J. Abrams is not remaking the original Star Wars saga. He is simply in charge of the next part of the story. Stop calling it a reboot. 

~Mahalo~

The O'Reilly / Beyonce Issue, in a nutshel

When did entertainers suddenly become national, or even international, parents? Yes, they are role models, in the sense that the youth look up to them, and are influenced by them. But how does that make them responsible for setting a good example? Bill O'Reilly wants to bash Beyonce because her videos are sexual in nature, and aren't setting a good example for the youth. But why is it Beyonce's responsibility to set that example? Sure, a lot of kids look up to her. Sure, she has a major influence on the youth of today. But that doesn't mean she has a responsibility to anyone, or anything. She's an entertainer. That's all. Miley Cyrus and Justin Beiber too. None of them have a responsibility to set a good example, and parents need to stop blaming entertainers.

Responsibility falls squarely on parents, to ensure that their kids know the distinctions, and know what's right in those videos, and songs, and movies, and games, and what's wrong in them. I grew up watching Ozzy Osbourne, but you don't see me biting the heads off live bats. I've watched KISS, Sabbath, Priest, Zeppelin, Tull... I've seen The Exorcist, The Shining, IT... I'm not dressing up as a killer clown, mainlining heroin, worshipping the devil or chasing my wife around a hotel maze with an axe in my hands.

Thankfully, O'Reilly's target audience is his age and older. Thankfully, the youth will be making the decisions for our society, and they don't watch his drivel. Now as long as they don't try to emulate their entertainers, we might be ok.

~Mahalo~

Crimea's down, Ukraine unstable, Latvia next?

So Mr. Putin seems to be making some bold moves lately. Is it just me, or is he becoming a Bond villain? Vladimir Putin has visions of grandeur, and it may not be purely narcissistic.  He wants to be in league with the other great 'ins', Stal and Len. He's trying to rebuild the former Soviet Union, and isn't making any bones about it. What's scarier is that his popularity, among Russians, is high. The Russian people, or at least a majority of, seem to support this dream of his. 

And fuck me if I'm crazy, but he's doing a better job of Cold War politics than Mikhael Gorbachev could have ever managed. Putin's just walking in and taking what he wants, damn the rest of the world. Gotta hand it to him, he's got flaws, but he's a strong leader. I really don't like most of his social policies, and certainly not his stances on LGBT equality, or women's rights. But he is a strong leader. 

And back on this side of the pond, Obama is powerless to stop him. Many people are faulting Obama right now for being weak, but let's face it, what more can he do? Nothing short of a full invasion is going to make a difference and nobody wants that. Russia's military is much stronger than it was at the turn of the century/millennium, and they'd be able to put up much more fight than the US wants to face. Not to mention Russia's inter-continental ballistic capabilities, nuclear or other. 

No, an invasion of Russia is not a solution. Obama is not weak, he's powerless. Weak suggests that he could do something and won't, which isn't the case. He can't do any more than he already has. If sanctions aren't enough to stop Putin, we may just have to sit back and watch him rebuild the union, because the alternative may be even worse. 

~Mahalo~

Ballmer On His Way Out, Surface: One More Kick At The Can

So, in a recent interview, Ballmer says Microsoft must seize crucial opportunities in cloud computing services, online subscriptions to Office, and search engine Bing. Really? Wouldn't it be more accurate to say Microsoft should have seized those opportunities, and now is in danger of losing out in those markets? I wonder if Bill Gates is disappointed in how his company has been handled by this used car salesman who latched onto him in Harvard. One can only hope the new CEO will manage to salvage what's left.

Microsoft surface/surface2: tablet or net book with touch screen? Microsoft's engineers just can't seem to get out of the laptop paradigm. The surface is supposed to be a tablet, but is it? Let's look closely at it. First off, it comes with a keyboard as a physical component of the device, not an add-on, like with most other tablets. Now, Microsoft believes this to be a positive, because business consumers want a keyboard. But the very fact that it has a keyboard takes it out of the tablet category and puts it back in the notebook/netbook category. Second, look at the OS. It's not a true mobile OS like iOS or android. It's an adaptation of a desktop OS, designed to work with a touchscreen. Another feature that takes surface out of the tablet category and puts it back into the netbook category. Hell, it even has a trackpad. If Microsoft's marketing department thinks this is what consumers want, they should do two things: look at the success of other tablets that don't have these features, and; market the surface in the netbook category. Personally, I would think the surface's dismal sales thus far should have been enough to convince them that what they think customers want is inaccurate.

~Mahalo~

WWDC MMXIII Revisited

Well, the 2013 edition of Apple's World Wide Developer's Conference has come and gone, and left us in awe. Do I have to say I want iOS7? Of course I want it. In my previous entry, I declared my faith in Jony's vision and I have to say, it wasn't misplaced. As for Tim, as I've said in the past, and it's more evident now, he's coming into his own. He's finding his footing and I think he's doing well.

So many things to blog about. From iOS7 to the new MacBook Air, to the new Mac Pro, including a wonderful quote from Phil Schiller, to wit: "Can't innovate anymore my ass". Loved it. I'm not gonna fill the page with a whole bunch of the same old pictures that every other blog is using. You've seen them, and it just slows down the page. But I'd like to discuss some of the new things we have to look forward to.

Of course, the big one: iOS7. It's flatter, it's not skeumorphic, no virtual cows or virtual trees were harmed in its creation. I can't wait to try it, but I'm not downloading the beta. That's for app developers to test their apps against to try and have their apps ready for the iOS7 launch. It's not for the average person to run on their iPhone. So while I really want it, I'll wait until it's officially released. It looks fantastic though. It's clean, it's smooth, it's functional.

~Mahalo~

What ever became of proof reading?

When I was in high school, late 80s, in English class, I remember how much the teachers back then would hammer into us the importance of spelling and grammar. Especially, they said, if any of us wanted to be journalists, or book authors or perhaps even playwrights. (At least one of you reading this will identify).  So it was that my skills and proficiency in spelling and grammar were honed. 

Now, to be fair, I had a head start. When I was around 2 or 3 years of age, my parents started teaching me the alphabet, counting to 100, basic addition and subtraction, and spelling of basic words. By the time I was old enough to enter the state-sponsored programming institution (school, for most of you), I was already at a level a grade ahead of my classmates. I could count to 100, add and subtract single digits, recite the alphabet, spell basic words and read most one and two syllable words. As my grade school career progressed, I became known as a perfect speller, almost never seeing less than 100% on a spelling test.

When I got to high school and began taking English and creative writing courses, spelling was no issue for me, and other students often turned to me for help with that. I was also quite good at spelling words that I was unfamiliar with, by sounding them out in my head, with the rules of the English language in mind, and rarely was I wrong. Grammar was second nature, especially with an English teacher who actually knew the subject well.

Now, all of this is not to toot my own horn, as the saying goes. Rather it is written here to illustrate the schooling I received, and perhaps to investigate the differences between then and now. As I read various blogs and watch vlogs, spelling and grammar issues often jump out at me, quite glaringly. With the current state of writing technology, there should be no errors. MS Office has had spell check and grammatick since before it was even packaged as Office. Mac OS and now OSX have all had equivalents for many years as well. Heck, even iOS has it on iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad. Spell check, at least, and yet, I see so many spelling errors in works that were made on computers. I used to work with a guy whose spelling was atrocious, and he would ignore or deactivate the spell checker and grammatick in his copy of MS Office, even knowing full well that his spelling sucked.

Few things in the business world look less professional than incorrectly spelled signs and memos, especially with commas and apostrophes in places that don't require them. 

So why is it that so many people these days can't spell? Is it a schooling difference between then and now? Is it mass apathy? Mass dyslexia? Aspartame? (Yeah, I went there.) In this wonderful universe that we call the Internet, many people will often say things like "who cares about my spelling? It's the Internet, it doesn't matter". But here's something to think about: a) the Internet is simply the modern equivalent of newspapers and magazines (at least in regards to news and blogs), so if it mattered in those media, why wouldn't it matter now? And b) if so many people are slamming you for your spelling, clearly it does matter. Personally, when I encounter spelling errors in blogs, vlogs or news articles, it turns me off to the point that I may simply leave that page, and will certainly regard the author in a much less professional light. Not because the author may be dyslexic and I'm a bigot, but because even if you are dyslexic, or have other reading/writing disorders, that's no excuse, because the technology you're using has got your back, if you'll let it.

In closing, quick tips: use spell check; give grammatick a chance; research the differences between your and you're, there, their and they're, it's and its; and learn the rules for apostrophe usage. Trust me, it will make a difference in the level of professionalism your article, blog or book displays. Also, as an example of a grammatically incorrect sentence, take a look at this excerpt from a blog post I recently read: "As the quality of apps improved, as did the feature list of...". To be grammatically correct, that should read "As the quality of apps improved, so (or so too) did the feature list of...". I had another example in mind, but I've forgotten where it is now, so this will have to suffice for now.

~Mahalo~