Monthly Archives: August 2012


It was bad for consumers and technology when Microsoft was dominant and it will be…

It was bad for consumers and technology when Microsoft was dominant and it will be as bad or worse if we allow Apple, Google or any other company to dominate the future. Vote against technology monoculture with your dollars. Fragmentation is actually a good thing (more on this in the future as I work out my thoughts)

Reshared post from +Dan Gillmor

My Guardian piece on what the Apple-Samsung verdict may mean. Hint: It's very bad for competition. 

Apple crushes Samsung in quest for global tech domination
Dan Gillmor: A US jury has rubberstamped Apple’s exploitation of the patent system. But Samsung’s $1bn loss will cost consumers dear

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As he so often does, +Mike Elgan sums up the whole Apple patent argument very nicely…. 3

As he so often does, +Mike Elgan sums up the whole Apple patent argument very nicely.  I hate the fact that Apple is using the patent law system to try to suppress competition in the market segments it competes in. But I do recognize that Apple, Oracle, Google, Motorola, Intellectual Ventures and countless other tech companies and patent trolls do this because the law as it is written today allows and encourages this behavior. 

I have long criticized the current intellectual property system (both patent and copyright) as outdated and unneeded for the modern world. I criticize the companies despite the fact that they are a symptom rather than the cause because I and other consumers don't have the power to influence the politicians that generally only listen to big corporate donors. 

By refusing to spend my dollars on Apple products (despite the fact that I use existing Apple products like the Macbook Pro I'm writing this on) and encouraging others to do the same, perhaps we can influence Apple and in turn they can influence politicians to change the system.

I know I'm tilting at windmills, but it's really all I can do.  After all we are often told that the only way to influence corporate policies is with our purchasing habits. So let's change our habits until the system changes for the better.
#boycottapple   #boycottthesystem  

Reshared post from +Mike Elgan

Why Apple Sues

Apple’s critics generously assign a variety of motives to Apple for filing lawsuits.

Apple sues because it wants to control the market, overcharge for its products, exclude competitors from the market or punish competitors for daring to not think different. It’s all part of Apple’s “quest for global tech domination.

But these aren’t actual motives. These are appeals to emotion. They’re legitimate perspectives, but expressed to negatively encapsulate spectacularly complex technical, legal and ethical issues into sound bites that make you want to agree with the author that Apple is bad and wrong. 

Apple has only one motive for patent lawsuits, and I’m going to tell you what that motive is: 

http://www.cultofmac.com/187014/why-apple-sues/

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Yet another Republican demonstrates his contempt and ignorance of science 8

Democrats are far from immune from this kind of stupidity but the GOP seems to be downright proud about it. 

Reshared post from +Clayton Morris

Politicians should just stop talking about stuff they don't understand, like medicine and science. 

GOP lawmaker: Virtually impossible to get AIDS through heterosexual sex | The Raw Story
Tennessee state Sen. Stacey Campfield (R) falsely claimed on Thursday that it was nearly impossible for someone to contract AIDS through heterosexual contact. “Most people realize that AIDS came from …

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Any "reporter" that gets a no questions about 8

demand from a politician should either ask the questions anyway or walk away from the interview. It's not worth claiming you got the interview if you weren't allowed to ask the questions.

If a politician doesn't want to answer the questions, they should come right and say no comment in front of the camera or recorder. This is bullshit.

Reshared post from +Talking Points Memo

Second Local Station Says Romney Camp Asked For No Akin Questions
Before Mitt Romney appeared via satellite on an Ohio TV station WHIO Thursday, his campaign told a reporter it would prefer Romney did not get questions about Todd Akin. Fortunately for the Romney cam…

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To those that espouse the idea that government should take a completely hands off…

To those that espouse the idea that government should take a completely hands off approach and let big business do whatever it wants, consider this.

AT&T and T-Mobile again remind us of why we should grateful their merger collapsed
It wasn’t that long ago when American wireless subscribers seemed resigned to the fact that AT&T (T) was going to gobble up T-Mobile and that Sprin

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From the mid-1990s until the mid-2000s, the designers at Nokia came up with remarkably…

From the mid-1990s until the mid-2000s, the designers at Nokia came up with remarkably "innovative" (read RIDICULOUS!) phone designs, including the side-talking N-Gage and many more.

5 Tech Things I Wish The Younger Generation Had Endured
As a dude of a certain age, I’ve grown up during the speedy evolution of so many fascinating pieces of technology that went from clunky mechanical manual processes to automatic, invisible magic that…..

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