Category: Technology

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Life Technology

Not Going Back

App-pocalypse Now by Jeff Atwood got some play last week around the web last week (or was it the week before, I can’t keep track of these thing) and it has been sticking in my mind since then.

  • I do not want to go back to the web-centric world for all applications. The idea that every application should be and live on the web does not excite me in the least.
  • Content-only sites do not really have a need (most of the time) for a separate application. Responsive web design has allowed many sites to work really REALLY well in just the excellent browsers the main platforms have been providing. The web as a content-distribution platform for text-centrci documents is excellent. That is what it was originally made for and I think it excels in that regard. That would eliminate a huge portion of the ridiculous app banners and popups that almost every site seems to want to push on people.
  • Do not confuse what is best/easy of the developer for what is best/easy/wanted for/by the user/consumer/customer. They are not always the same.

I think that is the main gist of it. I was going to originally just tweet this out, but it would have been too much for poor Twitter and I’m sure that Phil would have complained about me spamming his timeline again.

Thanks Phil!

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Technology

Apple Soft-Launches CarPlay

CarPlay

It isn’t really a launch since the car manufacturers still need to launch it in the models themselves, but Apple has today soft-launched their CarPlay software stack for integration into your automobile. It should be included wight he iOS 7.1 update coming out later this month and then you’ll just need to purchase a multiple-thousand dollar accessory for your favorite software platform in order to use it.

Snark aside, the inclusion of Toyota, Ford, and Subaru as upcoming supporters of the platform makes me quite happy. While we won’t be looking for a new vehicle for years, it will be something I will try to watch.

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Technology

Messaging and Apple

While I’m not sure if it is an apples-to-apples comparisons, it is interesting to note nonetheless when considering iMessage and other messaging platforms like WhatsApp.

Today at its shareholder meeting, Apple released some numbers around iMessage and FaceTime calls (thanks MacRumors):

  • 40,000,000,000 iMessages/day
  • 15,000,000 – 20,000,000 FaceTime calls/day

That’s pretty incredible when the last time they released numbers was January 2013 and they were only processing 2,000,000,000 iMessages/day then.

Compared to WhatsApp’s 50,000,000,000 messages/day, Apple is a little under that but they ride on ahead when you toss in the FaceTime calls as well. It will be interesting to see what the numbers are next year, even though I can’t see them somehow increasing that number 20x again (just the law of large numbers at play there).

Messaging is the big buzz right now in some circles of the technology industry and it is interesting to see how well Apple is doing with their entry on a single, Apple-only platform.

Update: Thanks to Colin Harrington for finding my bad numbers. They have now been updated.

Categories
Life Technology

Opportunity vs. Outcome

I posted You Need a Person earlier and it focused on Steve Jobs’ thoughts on education and technology. In that same interview there was an even shorter line from Mr. Jobs that stuck in my mind as well.

I’m a very big believer in equal opportunity as opposed to equal outcome. I don’t believe in equal outcome ’cause, unfortunately, life’s not like that and it’d be a pretty boring place if it was.

I’m pretty sure everyone knew that Steve believed in meritocracy, and this is another example of him outlining that worldview. I think, though, it belies an even greater truth that I am trying to parse out in my own mind.

When we talk about equality we need to understand that in this world, things are never going to be equal for everyone when it comes to outcome. That is a road to lowered bars and stifling the individuality of everyone. When we all need to have the same outcomes, we’re all going to end up being the same.

That would be a dreadfully boring place.

You can watch the section of the interview on YouTube. The whole thing is pretty good but you’ll need to set aside a good amount of time to watch it.

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Technology

You Need a Person

I really like watching old interviews and videos of Steve Jobs. If I have a few spare minutes before my next appointment I’ll queue up some of his older stuff, or maybe the iPhone launch, and watch him “perform” while on stage just for the heck of it.

I don’t worship the man and I’ve heard many cases of the parts of his personality that I would definitely not admire, but it is fun to watch him because he seems unique in the world of public-facing executives.

Here is a quote about education from an interview done before he joined Apple again in the mid-90s. The interviewer has been asking him about his thoughts on education and he had this to say about technology in education (what is the most important thing):

As you’ve pointed out I’ve probably helped put more computers into more schools than anybody else up until this point in time and I’m absolutely convinced that that is, by no means, the most important thing. The most important thing is another person.

That’s the best transcription I can come up with and I agree with it whole heartedly. We are in the middle of everyone and their landlord talking about how technology is going to change your classroom, make your kids better learners, help improve test scores, and any list of other things … and it is all snake oil. The fundamentals of education haven’t changed and they never will and unless we keep that as the foremost idea in our minds, every single technology initiative is going to fall flat on its face because it cannot, by itself, do anything of any value.

Technology apart from people is fundamentally dead and may even be detrimental.

You can find the interview on YouTube and I’ve linked to the quote so you don’t have to hunt for it. I’ll pull out another quote from that same interview in another post.