Twitter ramblings for 2010-08-31

Mini Mid-life Crisis — Go Fishing

The entire weekend I thought about how much I’ve been working lately. I’m out of balance, and unfortunately for those around me, I’m cranky. Tonight I sat reading (and/or looking at pictures) “50 Places to Fly Fish Before You Die,” and I realized that I’ve only been to ONE of the 50. Worse yet, I don’t know the “rules” for counting the “one” location, but since I didn’t catch a fish there, I’m not sure that I can honestly count it.

Tomorrow, if I had no responsibilities, or if l didn’t need to be at work bright and early, I’d get in my car, and drive to at least 5 of the locations within a few days journey from home. And while I’m dreaming, I’d do it in my Range Rover to enjoy the drive. :-)

Twitter ramblings for 2010-08-25

Carriers and Device Manufacturers: Consumer Enemies

Regarding Android updates to Droid owners, Jared Newman at PC World goes on to recognize other manufacturers struggling to get Froyo to consumers:

In fairness, Motorola’s not the only company to struggle with Froyo. Owners of HTC’s Droid Incredible are still waiting for their update — rumors of August 18 didn’t pan out — and the brand new Dell Streak tablet is stuck on Android 1.6 until the end of the year. Samsung’s Galaxy phones are all expected to get Froyo, but with no date announced for U.S. wireless carriers. So while Motorola gets an extra dose of shame for shutting down Droid X users, the only phone maker to truly ace the Android 2.2 launch was, of course, Google.

Motorola’s Android 2.2 Rollout: What a Mess, Jared Newman, PC World

Android is a very cool OS. I enjoy it. It has so much to offer and amazing potential. It’s available for device manufacturers, carriers, and even non-traditional or unexpected parties that want to play in the mobile game.

However, Android will continue to struggle until carriers and manufacturers get their stuff together and deliver what “consumers” want, not what they want.

I just receive the Froyo build. I still don’t have Flash. I have not “rooted” my device to get the latest goodness. I really don’t want to be a geek to use Android.

But when Google releases new “ready-for-primetime” code drops, you’re up to the mercy of your handset manufacturer and the carrier. These big titans live on their own time scale. Google will struggle to get things past these gate keepers.

Unlike Apple, who rolls out to everyone (even old handsets–within reason), Google is still strapped down by the people who implement their free software. Ultimately, the consumer will suffer.

Digital Recluse: the New Internet Famous

internet-famous.jpg
While I was reading Paul Carr‘s blog post, “Thnks Fr Th Mmrs: The Rise Of Microblogging, The Death Of Posterity,” I had a flash back. The quote the stuck out for me was this:

“… in an age when everyone and their dog is sharing every aspect of their life, being a digital recluse is the new “Internet famous”.

It reminded me of a golf outing where I was invited to play at an very exclusive club in North Scottsdale. One of the members of our foursome arrived at the course and headed to the range to warm up. While there, this player’s cell phone, that was in a pocket on his golf bag, began to ring. Of course he walked over to answer. About that time, the member who invited us quickly took action. It was against club rules to USE a cell phone on the course–and he needed to shut down this guy before things reflected badly on him. You see, in the world of exclusivity, the cell phone that once was the fashion statement for success had become commonplace–everyone had one now. The new exclusivity was to NOT be reachable–of course this was 8 years ago, way back in 2002.
Now people are beginning to feel the exhaustion of social networks. The active personal branding is now creating a compulsive need to “report” on the important things, places, and people that you near. This is the one thing about Twitter and Facebook updates and Google Buzz that drives me crazy. People are more concerned about what others might “think” about their social status. In a world where narcissism rules, Twitter is the ultimate outlet for self marketing. But as Carr mentions, it might be done in vain–Leo Laporte had thousands of people unaware of his social updates for weeks, and NO ONE missed them.
This post will be mentioned on Twitter. But to be honest, I don’t know why. Like Carr, I finding less and less value in the narcissistic posts people publish. A few–like @humancell, however, continue to be the same person I began following years ago. Others, say little about themselves UNLESS it includes other important people and places–like the where some follower mentions their @name and then RTs to show that they have important followers. Complete narcissism.
Now I don’t feel so bad for being a recluse for the past 18 months. I was just ahead of my time and didn’t realize it.

Posted via email from Brad Baldwin’s Posterous

Twitter ramblings for 2010-08-22

I agree with Dan — RIM should move to Android…Quickly!

Dan Frommer at Silicon Valley Insider hits the nail squarely on the head:  

So it's time for RIM to make a difficult, but important move: Stop wasting time developing its own operating system and apps platform, and switch the BlackBerry to Android, which is booming with success. The sooner, the better, before it's too late.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/rim-android-blackberry-2010-8

Posted via email from Brad Baldwin’s Posterous

Twitter ramblings for 2010-08-20

55 Page Agreement

Apple updated their software license for iTunes and so I was greeted
with a 55 page agreement on my iPhone. I’m guessing 95 percent just
click agree. I can’t imagine more than one (1) or two (2) percent of
people go past page page three (3).

I wonder if this makes the lawyers happy? Why not a web link to a page
for those that want to read or access it? Why not email to my iTunes
account a link that says “I agreed to the following…”.

Posted via email from Brad Baldwin’s Posterous

Twitter ramblings for 2010-08-17

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