Ajit Pai, a Republican member of the Federal Communications Commission, has become outspoken in his objections to the political imposition of Net Neutrality by what is supposed to be an independent Federal commission.
Commissioner Pai noted that: “It’s no wonder that net neutrality proponents are already bragging that
it will turn the FCC into the “Department of the Internet. For that reason, if you like dealing with the IRS, you are going to love the President’s plan."
Many progressives have rallied around the concept of Net Neutrality thinking that it is hurting corporations and encouraging competition. What Commissioner Pai points out is that applying Title II regulation to the internet, which was designed for railroads and Ma Bell, will stifle competition and favor behemoth businesses because of the regulatory burdens.
Another alarming feature of such broad regulation by the FCC is the relative obscurity in which the rules are being cobbled together. President Obama pressured the FCC in November 2014 about Net Neutrality. Chairman Tom Wheeler, who had been a big Obama fundraiser, is complying but promises to make some changes in Title II to make it better. Oh, so a regulatory schemata which was drawn up in 14 can be tweaked to apply to the internet age. Right. FCC Commissioner Mike O'Reilly warned the public about the dangers of forbearance as applied to Title II Common Carriers.
There is the larger issue, however, about whether Congress ceded its legislative mantle to the FCC to strictly regulate the internet. If we hold fast to living in a constitutional democratic Republic, shouldn't our elected representatives, not bureaucrats who are unaccountable to the people (or for that matter Men in Black) be crafting such momentous law?
UPDATE 01/23/2017 President Trump is poised to name Ajit Pai as Chairman of the FCC, replacing Democrat activist FCC Chair Tom Wheeler. Pai has been a critic of the Commission's impetus to impose net neutrality and thereby expand the FCC's role into regulating the Internet.
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?
Recently, I took a trip to a quiet rural retreat where there was no television, WiFi was non-existent and internet was iffy on my cellular phone. In times past, if one quickly finished reading the books brought on a rainy weekend, it would be time to bide time by polishing doorknobs. Instead, I was able to reach for my Kindle e-ink reader and the literary world was at my fingertips.
I have reveled over Kindles since they initially came on the market. This travel saga rekindled my appreciation for the Amazon's extraordinary e-book reader. In fact, my household is so fond of our Kindles that each of them is named. For example, my first Kindle was dubbed Isadore (named after the patron saint of libraries).
While I now own several Kindles, I brought my beloved Kindle 2 Keyboard on the get-away. The Kindle 2 series had two types of Whispernet (the complimentary Amazon 3G series). Fortunately, “Striker” was on the AT&T network, where I was getting five bars of coverage. So I downloaded a number of samples and tried to choose my next title. Several of the sample books displayed no more than the table of contents. A couple of sample choices included some of the preface and the first chapter. By surveying the samples, I could narrow down my choice. In fact, reading the samples eliminated titles from a couple of favorite authors based upon style and content.
When I made my pick, I was able to buy the book and download it in one click and read away. I was excited about a couple of key passages so I highlighted the notes and shared them via Facebook and Twitter through the Whispernet 3G connection.
Although I finished a good chunk of the new book, but my eyes were closing while my mind was still active. Fortunately, this generation of Kindles still had the text to speech option and built in speaker so a synthetic voice could read me to sleep. The next morning, my traveling companion who is a techno-luddite seem amazed that I bought and read another book even in this remote retreat.
The Kindle came in handy as I purused other books because of the built in dictionary. The Kindle 2 has a keyboard which is OK for short notetaking, but one should not expect to pen the great American novel on it, and transferring the files can be challenging.
The feature that I treasure from this version of the Kindle E-reader is the “Experimental” internet browser. Later versions of the Kindle e-reader restricted internet access to the Kindle Store and Wikipedia. The Kindle 2 allowed for some web surfing of text based websites. This was a God send for a news junkie like me.
One new glitch from “Striker” is that it would not display Wikipedia listings neither from the experimental browser nor the automated Wikipedia search. As the weekend progressed, I was disappointed as I had grown accustomed to spot checking facts and could not do so easily with this Kindle. Perhaps on a related note, this Kindle was not recognizing the Kininstant bookmark shortener.
“Striker” is my third Kindle e-reader, as two had to be replaced because of screen problems thru Amazon’s unconditional return policy (at the time) for Kindles. The design was a marked improvement over the large cheese wedge Kindle 1. That being said, the unit did have a replaceable battery and allowed SD card storage. But the only difference that “Striker” had over my first K2 was that it was on the AT&T Whispernet which could get international 3G as opposed to just the Sprint CDMA Whispernet in the USA.
Alas, “Striker” was showing its age, as the Lithium Polymer battery could only hold a charge for several hours and then would immediately drain out. Perhaps this was due to battery memory as well as a battery which needed to be replaced. I have considered acquiring a Kindle replacement battery for around $25 but I worry about doing the installation myself and bricking it. Unfortunately, computer repair shops don’t want to take on the challenge of installation either.
Most people would be inclined just to get a new device, as surely Amazon has developed the latest and greatest e-reader. But a Thrifty Techie realizes that it ain’t necessarily so. The Kindle Voyager and Kindle Paperwhite models (7th & 6th Generations) do have lit screens for night reading and extended battery life. The Kindles has have some new features like Vocabulary Builder and X-Ray title summaries. Alas, when Amazon giveth, it has also taken away. No longer do e-readers have speakers or headphone jacks, so text to speech is out of the question (it is available on the Kindle Fire models though). If you pay $50 more, a Voyage or Paperwhite can have 3G capabilities, but that it now restricted to the Kindle Store and Wikipedia. Amazon also sells an 8 Gig Kindle Fire tablet for $49 (which has text to speech) but the color backlit screen can cause eye fatigue for prolonged reading stints and may be tough the see reading outside. From a Thrifty-Techie’s perspective, newer isn’t necessarily better.
I was resigned to make do with what I had, but an imminent Amazon Kindle software update forced my hand. As I was prepping my vintage e-readers for the mandatory download, I noticed that “Herbie 2", a Kindle Keyboard 3rd Gen (with WiFi) that I inherited from an inlaw was showing dead pixels. These e-reader screens can be quite sensitive to pressure. Herbie 1 had to be replaced when a teacup poodle sat on it. All but the top of the screen displayed correctly, but it would be maddening to use it as an e-reader.
After some investigation on E-bay, I found an upgraded used Kindle Keyboard 3rd Gen with WiFi and 3G for $32 with shipping. This means that it would have text to speech, the ungoverned experimental browser with about 4 gig of storage (enough for 3500 books). This design does not have a touch screen, which I consider is an advantage on a dedicated e-reader, so as not having fingerprints on the screen. The downsides are that it does not come with a power cord (but I already have several). Another variable is the condition of the battery.
Although I will probably have to manually do the software update, it seems like it is worth the trade off. So I am happy to include another Kindle into the Thrifty-Techie family.
One of the most precipitous declines in the race for the 2016 Republican Presidential nomination has been Senator Rand Paul (R-KY). Last year, the libertarian leaning Senator Paul was considered to be a top contender. But Paul’s campaign has faded to the point of where he may not have the 2.5% support to qualify for the big stage for the third GOP debate required by CNBC. Senator Paul wanted to do something different to attract attention, generate enthusiasm among young voters and distinguish himself. So the Paul campaign arranged for the candidate to LiveStream a day in the life. This was a thrifty way to shine a spotlight on the candidate, leverage new media to political advantage and reinforce his brand of being a different kind of Republican. Well, timing is everything. Tuesday October 13th was the date chosen for #RandLive. From the superstitious side of things, the Spanish consider Martes el trece to be a day of bad luck (akin to America’s Friday the 13th). On the more calculating side, that was the day of the first Democrat Debate so Rand was scheduling a stunt that would not draw a whole lot of attention. Perhaps it was lucky that #RandLive did not get much time in the spotlight. Senator Paul was scheduled to visit five college campus events in Iowa that day. But technical difficulties interfered with much of the livestreaming, so diehard Rand-ians were left staring at a test pattern for much of the day. These cyber glitches were unfortunate but not unforgivable as it is challenging to introduce new technology into the field of national political campaigns. What was more egregious was Senator Paul’s unscripted answers to Google questions. The third most popular question was “Are you still campaigning Senator Paul?”. The freshman Senator from Kentucky gave a sarcastic and supercilious unscripted answer. So much for appealing to the youth vote when you denounce the platform itself. Moreover, calling it “dumbassed” shows that it was a feign and not really reflecting the candidate’s true disposition. Other hopefuls used social media on that day to varying effects. Both former Governor Mike Huckabee (R-AR) and Donald Trump live-tweeted during the Democrat Debate. It looked like “the Huckster” slinged up cornpone and canned ham in his replies, while “the Donald” delivered authentic raw meat which underlined his attributes. While it is questionable if hyping a “Truman Show” for a candidate is wise, it does show innovation. But if you are on camera 24/7, one slight slip up can ruin years of work. In the film “The Truman Show” (1998), people found that they liked watching Truman because he was natural and likable. Senator Paul has developed a reputation for being prickly in uncomfortable interviews. It is telling that Senator Paul noted that you can’t edit that out when it’s being livestreamed.
The tag line from The Truman Show was “How's It Going to End?”. This may well be the same question that staffers for Rand Paul’s Presidential campaign may be asking.
Perhaps Senator Paul can take a cue from Truman Burbank.
Nor was the Clintons' insistence on exclusively relying upon their own private email servers for official State Department business a thrifty technology decision. But the fact that these email servers were conveniently wiped clean when under federal scrutiny allows inquiring minds to wonder what electronic communications were being shielded.
During Hillary Clinton's brief media appearance at the United Nations, President Obama's first Secretary of State claimed that the kerfluffle concerning Hillary's emails stemmed from the fact that she did not want to carry two smartphones to have two separate email accounts.
Syncophants in the Lamestream Media, like MSNBC's Ed Schultz, sought to sympathize with Hillary's alibi by suggesting that older people are overwhelmed by technology.
Hillary's assertion about not being able to have two email accounts on a smartphone seems silly to most Americans. Of course, the matter is not the technological capability but control. Personal emails on a work issued handset becomes the employer's property. This is why many people dual fist cell phones. For federal functionaries, the standard was a secure phone provided by the government and an unsecure phone for personal emails. That is an inconvenient truth for Madam Secretary Clinton.
But how can Hillary plausibly posit being technologically challenged when the domain Clintonemail.com was established the day Mrs. Clinton's confirmation hearings for Secretary of State began in the Senate in 2009. That sounds kind of suspicious for an official who is uncomfortable with technology.
As Mrs. Clinton questionably claimed that she had adhered to all controlling legal authority on preserving federal records, Hillary refused to surrender the server to an independent authority to vet the scrubbed email account as it contained emails from her and President Clinton.
While this press availability was meant to tamp down a scandal which was obscuring positive earned media for the Hillary 2016 proto-campaign. But the event may have multiplied the questions among ordinary Americans and intensified the political and legal pressures associated with Hillary emails.
While the Internet 2.0 has greatly increased a sense of feeling connected with others on the World Wide Web, this phenomenon has caused some quirks in communications. Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake satirized the proliferation of hashtags through a reductio ad absurdum video using the hagtags in real life dialogues.
Since short written exchanges can be misconstrued without facial cues, many internet interlocutors choose to use emoticons. To supplement these non-verbal cues, entrepreneurs Paul and Douglas J. Sak patented and sought to market new punctuation to clarify things-- the Sarcmark.
Free spirits chafed at profiting from punctuation. A mock website "Open Sarcasm" sought to blacklist the SarcMark in favor of the temherte slaq (the inverted exclamation point) with a tongue in cheek tag line: "Sarcasmists of the World Unite!" But another reason that the SarcMark has failed to catch on was the price for being smarmy. The grammatical genius initially priced his punctuation at $1.99 for lifetime use, whereas typing ;-) was just three keystrokes and had no cost. Brilliant!
Short form social media like Twitter will not be the be all and end all in communicating complex thought. But it can attract eyeballs to see something more. h/t: Mike Keefe
British researchers defined nomophobia as for people who feel compulsion to check their mobile devices for 20 hours a day. One does not have to be that obsessed to discern that they ought to disconnect to connect.
After becoming fed up for a high cell phone bill, I researched strategies when issuing a Cellular Call for Change in saving on mobile telephony bills. Granted that people have different needs and one plan does not fit all. But while the notion of economizing on cellular charges has an abstract appeal, many are called but few choose to mitigate mobile communication costs. It was clear that one impediment from consumers heeding a call for cellular change was the US cycle of receiving subsidized handsets in exchange for an iron clad two year contract. Someone was interested in upgrading their iPhone 4S to an iPhone 5. The cellular customer would likely stay with Verizon because of their excellent coverage but she is pressed to upgrade as there is only a limited period that the “new every two” is applicable. Sometimes, the desire for a shiny new techno-toy overrides everything. A nephew got tired of using his feature phone to text so he wanted to splurge on a Google Nexus 4 from T-Mobile. But in order to satisfy this techno sweet tooth for Android Jelly Bean meant walking away from a grandfathered $25 per month pre-paid plan through Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) Virgin Mobile. After the sugar rush from Jelly Bean, he may be surprised that not only did his monthly bill double, but he also is responsible for taxes and fees which often add an additional 20%. Another friend who would be inclined to economize on cellular costs feels that switching cellular providers is impossible because of the family plan. Nights and Weekend and mobile-to-mobile minutes cut down on metered usage. And big buckets of shared data has a mystique. Sprint prides itself on truly unlimited data. But how many cell phone users consistently stream Titanic on a 4" screen? It might well be cheaper to get separate plans with an MVNO but it pays to check your usage yourself first before switching.
There is a strange bias in the cellular industry about prepaid plans, which is epitomized in a mock Apple i-phone ad. Sprint’s Customer Retention Represenatives employed a strange selling point when trying to break up with them as they denigrated Sprint’s own MVNOs of Virgin Mobile and Boost Mobile as being “just a prepaid plan” was supposed to be a selling point, when those MVNOs could cut my bill in half. In response to this built up consumer bias, some prepaid cellular providers like Cricket Mobile have migrated away from branding their handsets so that others do not look scornfully at their consumers. As I was migrating to Virgin Mobile , my beloved wife hesitated because of her love of a sliding keyboard smart-phone. Some MVNOs like Boost Mobile and Ting (both running off of the Sprint network) allow for Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) but that “white list” can be short list as new phones are excluded. Boost has since rescinded BYOD as it was not popular Alas, sliding keyboard smartphones have gone out of vogue so she will either have to adjust or lovingly cradle her handset for the foreseeable future. Aside from overcoming the unwarranted bias against prepaid plans, stifling the urge to get new subsidized phones in exchange for a two year contract and feeling that a consumer NEEDS to have unlimited minutes, the wise cell phone shopper should discern what they need based upon experience and inclinations. If you have to have coverage everyone, then pay a premium for Verizon’s excellent cellular coverage. If you find that you unlimited data is sine qua non, then look to Sprint, Other carriers claim that they have unlimited data but they have different understandings of the concept than a plain reading of the words. For instance, T-Mobile’s base smartphone plan touts “Unlimited Data at 4G speed”. But in smaller print, this unlimited 4G data is only for the first half gig, after that you are governed down to 1G speed (more or less 128kbs). For comparison purposes, think back to dial up internet, where you could surf via telephone at 54 kbs. Today, it might work at a plodding pace for e-mails, but forget about downloading graphics much less video.
There are some new and lesser known cell providers which might be the right choice. Ting is a cellular phone service by Tucows using the Sprint network has a pay for what you use approach and they allow customers to have multiple devices on the same account and to use use old Sprint devices. Another attractive feature is bundling in features like HotSpots gratis, while other carriers charge a premium (e.g. Sprint charges $19.99 for 2 GB Hotspot).
FreedomPop is another prospective MVNO celluar provider which operates on a “Fremium” model. When FreedomPop offers 200 voice minutes, unlimited texting and 500 MB of data for FREE. You can get unlimited calling for $7.99, unlimited calling and texts for $10.99 and for many of their handsets "all you can eat" voice, text and data for $20.00 a month. Moreover, FreedomPop will allow customers to use old Sprint phones.
How can FreedomPop expect to charge nothing and give away their base plan? They have found with their mobile hotspots and wireless home internet that about 40% of their customers pay for some upgrades. FreedomPop’s calls will be made using 3G VOIP, which should have good sound quality. FreedomPop’s Freemium model also relys upon social networking for advertising, so customers can earn more data or minutes by taking surveys or recommending friends. FreedomPop also economizes by not having humans staffing their customer service outreach. Several parents in “my circle” have considered getting their tween children cell phones to keep in touch after school etc.. For techie involved parents, Kajeet might be a good provider. Kajeet is a Sprint based no contract MVNO created especially with kids in mind with plenty of parental controls. While Kajeet offers pay-as-you-go plans which start at $4.99, a worried parent might want to get the $24.99 plan, which includes 300 anytime minutes a month, unlimited texting along with a GPS locator. The GPS Phone locator allows parents to find their kids at any time, as well as allowing parents to schedule e-mail updates on their childrens’ whereabouts. Kajeet allows for BYOD but only for Sprint phones. The fine print indicates that Kajeet adds a 10% transaction cost to all service plans supposedly to defray administrative costs. Another approach for kid communication might be thru a PayLo plan from Virgin Mobile, which can be as low as $20 a month for 400 minutes, but texts are 15 cents each and very expensive web access at $1.50 per MB. The PayLo $30 plan has unlimited calling and unlimited messages but the very expensive $1.50 per MB for internet. Frankly, it would make more sense to go with a low end Virgin Mobile plan which offers 300 voice minutes, but unlimited texts and unlimited internet (but after 2.5 GB, the user is throttled back to 3G speed). Virgin Mobile USA does not allow customers to port their phones. Most of Virgin Mobile’s non-subsidized phones are popularly priced (as they are older handsets) but they are currently offering their non-contract i-Phone 5c and i-Phone 5s as well as the i-Phone 4s (selling for $404.99, $489.99 and $279.99 respectively). For those who resist joining the Apple cult and still want a stylish new phone from an MVNO cellular provider, Virgin Mobile USA will soon by selling the Sharp Aquos Crystal for $149.99, which is $100 less than thru it's corporate parent Sprint.
The world is awash in technology and many ordinary people have succumbed to symptoms of technology addiction. Nomophobia is a neurosis named in a study commissioned by the UK post office to examine anxieties suffered by mobile phone users. Mashable reports that 38% of college students feel compelled to check their mobile device every TEN minutes.
This obsession with cyber space makes techno-junkies oblivious to the real world around them. Geeks will log on each morning before they brush their teeth. Stupid pedestrians cross busy streets staring at their mobile screens while being oblivious to dangerous oncoming traffic. It is sad to see adults dining in public persistently using their cell phone "phubbing" their social company in favor of connections in the cloud. For me, the depths of technology addition was witnessed at an amusement park where a young lady took her i-Phone into a wave pool. She was not just wearing a waterproof neck pouch to protect her handset from water. Nor was this techno-teen taking a quick selfie to boast on social media. This person had the intense thumb typing rhythm of a text chat while chest deep in the cresting waves. Even this Thrifty Techie finds such behavior disordered. A Thai cellular provider used an interesting ad to illustrate the dangers of technology addiction with their video "Disconnect to Connect". As wonderful as that message is, it bears consideration how I got that message. It was an intriguing post from a Facebook friend who I have only briefly met once "in real life". So in reality, I was inspired by a cyber-connection. But to use a Doug Coupland conceit from his seminal book Generation X (1991) , it would be a mistake to rely on an internet "Air Family" as opposed to maintaining real relationships So the Thrifty Techie is not a neo-Luddite, who spurns technology to live a simple life. Nor it is wise for most folks to go cold turkey, since mobile phones can bring a wealth of information and connectivity. But it is discerning what is the proper proportion of distant connectedness supplements rather than supplants your immediate circumstances and social circles. Let me offer a few out of the box ideas on weaning oneself from nomophobia. In my youth, I felt compelled to check the time every five minutes. When I became aware of this tick, I wanted to break myself of the habit. So for the better part of a year, I wore a broken watch to school every day. This definitely stopped the compulsion But it was humorously surreal when people would nudge me when they saw my watch and ask what time it was, and I would reflexively ask someone else. A side benefit was that people gave me about six watches to replace my stopped wrist-watch. In this day and age, young people rarely wear wrist watches (because they can check their phones) and many may struggling in reading an analog clock. In retrospect, I got two things out of the social experiment. I learned that I have an uncanny innate sense of time. More importantly, I reinforced the notion that it is better to have a good time enjoying the moment than fretting "What time is it?". Another inspired example of thwarting techno-addiction in order to have a good time is targeted at phubbing. When gathered together for a social meal at a restaurant, everyone should make sure that their cell phones are not muted and stack them on top of each other. Whoever reaches for their cell phone first during the meal is then obliged to pick up the check for the table. Assuredly, this Thrifty Techie would not be the first to draw for the bill. If one really felt motivated to "Disconnect to Connect", one could take a week-long silent retreat.
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. Apple is also currently engaged in an anti-trust trial for conspiring with five major publishers to raise the prices of e-books and undercut Amazon. For these reasons, I consider Apple ownership as people paying the stupid tax, however I appreciate that 18% of the cell phone market will willingly pay this premium for Apple's i-Phones because of the perception that "it just works" at practically any price. This vertical integration allows Apple to have a uniform user experience. So the home screens on every i-Phone will be the same. Steve Jobs had animus against Adobe and refused to let Flash Video on Apple devices. There may have been principled reasons about battery life which inspired Job's vendetta, but Walter Issacson's biography of Steve Jobs intimates that Jobs had sour grapes about Adobe after Adobe favored Windows based video editing products. These design decisions may have ensured the walled garden stability of the i-Phone but this forced i-Phone users to either jail break their phones or forgo many websites that use embedded Flash video. Now the internet imbroglio is a Flash in the pan as the internet has moved away from Flash video. 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. Of course, the Occupy Movement activists in 2011 exhibited quite a rarified mindset as these grungry, unlawful protesters who identified with the 98% railing against capitalism sported shiny expensive new i-Pads and i-Phones. Although Apple is a quintessentially liberal company, the powers that be in the District of Calamity (sic) gave unwarranted condemnation to Apple for legally minimized its taxes on non-US earnings by consolidating the funds in an Irish tax haven. It is a lamentable paradox that a taxpayer who is following the law is condemned by liberals enough, even though they were in legal compliance. While I choose not to pay the stupid tax by buying walled garden cellular or computing technology for a premium, I am troubled by attempts to pressure Cupertino with the power of government for not paying a stupid tax of an ambiguous "their fair share" by a Leviathan government led by showboating liberal Senate Democrats.
Even if we use Android, Blackberry or Windows products, it would serve well for consumers and citizens to "Think Different" and be the rebels against conforming to "Big Brother" as was intimated in the iconic Apple 1984 MacIntosh Superbowl ad.
[This article originally ran on DCBarroco.com in anticipation of Black Friday but has been updated for the Summer of 2014. While the prices may have passed, the advise for analyzing features is golden] 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. As an electronics consumer, I like to get the most bang for my buck with tables and not be limited by a vertical monopoly manufacturer. Currently I own a couple of Amazon Kindles and a WebOS HP Touchpad. I love to read on an e-ink device like the Kindle. Unfortunately, my Kindle 2 (with the slow but unrestricted 3G coverage) is losing its charge and computer geeks are reluctant to change out the battery. While the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite provides even better e-ink resolution, the newer model has dropped the headphones option and the text-to-speech feature. For my purposes. the text-to-speech ability is important for times which I want to enjoy books but can not have my eyes on the screen. But text-to-speech is included in the Kindle Fires. Regarding my HP Touchpad, I knew that it was a dead-end from the moment I acquired it in the HP fire-sale in the August 2011. But WebOs is an elegant operating system and the HP Touchpad had upscale features. Two years later, it is running fine and should be serviceable for the foreseeable future. Alas, there are not many new WebOs applications available. In order to use some hotspots, there are apps that are necessary and I am reluctant to make it a dual booting Android tablet. So between an ailing e-reader and a red headed stepchild tablet, I have my eye out on the surfeit of cheap tablets. Some have tried to take advantage of the slow demise of the Barnes and Noble Nook by using the SD card as an Android boot. It can work, but realize that the Nooks OS takes up nearly 3/4ths of an 8 GB e-reader. The 16 GB Nook HD tablets (list $150) offer more storage. But there are serious questions to the long term viability of the Nook. So it may only be good for reconfigured use or as a stuck in time tablet. Having owned several Kindles over the past four years, I am entrenched in Amazon’s e-reader market. The Amazon Kindle Fire HD has achieved around 5% market share, but it should suffice for my own supplemental tablet/ infotainment needs. Although a 16 GB Kindle Fire HD (list now $169) has a 7" screen is markedly smaller than the 9.7" HP Touchpad screen, it is a more manageable size for e-reading functions. Moreover, my mobile computing needs have not been as video oriented. The Kindle Fire HD has Bluetooth, which should allow a wireless keyboard for productivity. The Kindle Fire HD does allow for hotspot connection hence buying a 4G version is costly and unnecessary. For those interested in getting Black Friday bargains for the Amazon Fire, be aware that the discounts will be for the Fire HD (2nd generation) not the newer Fire HDX. If one can live without using a tablet as a camera or a phone or having the “Mayday” feature, the HD will have most of the improvements of Kindle Fire OS 3.0 “Mojito “ (a forked version of Android). Many of the cut rate Kindle Fires are 8 GB (which should leave around 6 GB for internal storage along with the cloud).
While most mobile computing people look to tablets as a media consumption device, some industrious individuals want to have a tablet that is a quasi laptop without the bulk or balking at the price of a MacBook Air (list $999). When Microsoft entered the tablet market, it tried to appeal to such customers with the Microsoft Surface RT. The price point of the Microsoft Surface 2 (list $449) rivals that of the i-Pad (list $499), but Microsoft throws in fully functioning version of Office and 200 GB of SkyDrive storage and plenty of cloud storage, features which generally cost extra elsewhere.
The 10.6" touch screen of the Microsoft Surface makes full use of Metro interface, but if one wishes to run old programs, it is necessary to buy a Microsoft Surface Pro (original MSRP at $899 but Surface Pro 3 now lists at $799), which is much pricier. The big tiles on the start screen are customizable and offer updated embedded information. The Surface RT allows multitasking. The body of the Microsoft Surface RT includes a built in kick stand. The Surface RT has micro SDSX ports allowing users to add memory. The magnetic Touch Cover is ordinarily a $119 add on which both protects the screen and can be used as a keyboard. While the Windows Apps store is not as robust as the Android or i-store, they claim that plenty of apps are free. If you have Surface appeal, it was possible to find a Surface RT for under $200 during Black Friday sales and for similar prices on Ebay. Invest in the cover as the keyboard cover is key, otherwise it is just an overpriced tablet running an apps limited version of Windows 8.1. 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. h/t: BFAds
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. One would think that cellular companies would be keen on keeping their customers, especially those customers who are not servicing a subsidized phone anymore. Both Verizon and ATT have churn rates below 1%, while Sprint has a 1.69% churn and T-Moblile sports an ugly 2.10% rate. But such competitive spirit was not shown by our current carrier, as a couple of calls to Sprint’s Customer Service proved otherwise. These Sprint Customer Service Reps were supposed to be staffing a retention line. But other than being thanked for our long time loyalty and being reminded of a current rate, we were not given any incentives to stay. Since we did not need a new low cost phone in exchange for a two year contract, they could do nothing for us. It is infuriating to pay a $10 a month surcharge per handset for smart- phones well after these extra costs were long since covered. Worse yet, the CSRs gave conflicting and incorrect information while running down their Mobile Virtual Network Operator or MVNO competition (including Boost and Virgin Mobile which Sprint owns).. The CSR insisted that we could only save $30 a month by switching to a MVNO despite my research that we could save nearly thrice that amount. 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. If one estimates too high for any given service, Ting will credit the customer for the next month. Ting does not charge for hotspots, which is a hot point for switching from Sprint which charges $29.99 per line for the privilege. One other welcomed feature from Ting is a Customer Service line which operates during extended weekday business hours based in Canada, so a customer can understand what is being said to them, eh? Ting does not subsidize handsets, but allows for BYOD (Bring Your Own Devices). Ting seems to charge full freight on the new cell phones that they sell (even compared to other prepaid cellular services), but they have links for getting refurbished handsets as well as allowing one to BYOD. While many all you can eat cellular consumers could have if they were charged based on usage, it seems that Ting has slightly higher rates for add-on data. For instance, if a consumer exceeds 3Gig of Data, more data is charged at $22 a Gig. If a consumer watches lots of mobile video or has cut the phone cord at the house, an unlimited plan may be a better way to go.
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.
•For $55 a month, one can have unlimited voice, texting and data. •The $45 a month plan has 1200 Voice minutes, unlimited Texting and Data•A $35 a month plan has 300 Voice minutes, unlimited Texing and Data.
The caveat to unlimited data is 2.5 Gig at up to 4G speed, then a consumer is throttled back to 3G speed until the next billing period. If a consumer uses a Virgin Mobile hotspot, it is an additional $15 a month. Although it is damn near impossible to speak to a human being through Virgin Mobile’s toll free number, the cyber telephone tree can yield information as well as the website. Moreover, bills can be paid at plethora of locations, including 7-11 along with the web. While there has been conflicting information, Virgin Mobile does allow some Sprint CDMA devices to be ported to their MVNO. Not all phones can be used thru Virgin Mobile as hotspots, so 4G Wimax phones are fine but the new to Sprint 4G LTE handsets can not be used in such a profligate way. Practically speaking, switching to Virgin Mobile does requiring replacing one handset and separate billing for each line. At this time, Virgin Mobile is offering the Samsung Victory– a mid ranged Galaxy class handset with 4G LTE capabilities– at a reasonable rate. Although I can conjure scenarios in which opting for Ting would save slightly more money than Virgin Mobile and offer free hotspots. But for those out of pocket times when mobile data is key, a cost effective tactic would be to use a no to low cost external hotspot from FreedomPop. It takes two for that plan to work and that may be too confusing to implement. So the lowest priced option might not be the best way for my household. Since most of the heavy mobile data usage would be in areas which only have 3G data coverage, it would not matter if the 4G was throttled back. The hotspot could be turned on for the months when significant time is spent at the rural locale. So as it stands, Virgin (Mobile) comes out on top in the head to head cellular competition against Ting. Either way, it will cut our cell phone bill in half. The costs incurred to switch to Virgin Mobile to buy a new handset would be recouped in two months of savings viz-a-viz Sprint. But I’ll still hold onto my old HTC Evo, as a backup and in case I switch again to a BYOD MVNO. 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!
