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.
The Thrifty Techie has assiduously avoided Apple products. As a vertically integrated business, Apple's products have always been significantly more expensive than other alternatives. Apple sold with the slogan: "It just works", which appeals to consumers who will pay for simplicity at the cost of customization. With this in mind, Apple's announcement of the iPhone 6 and iOS 8 lit up the Thrifty Techie's mental radar. Apple designers persisted through several iterations of the iPhone to insist that a 3.5" screen (with a retina display) was the perfect size for a cell phone. But the market for 4" smartphones which cost for more than $300 is shrinking. In fact, the iPhone now only occupies 32.5% of the smartphone market. So much was made about the iPhone 6 increasing its screen size to 4.7" and the iPhone6 Plus measuring 5.5". A screen larger than 4.0" seems much easier to type on a virtual QWERTY capacitive keyboard. One wonders if a 5.5" device is more a phablet which one does not pocket or clutch for prolonged period. Nonetheless, Samsung has scored with their Note line of cellphones and Apple designers look to emulate that success. What is more significant is Apple's emphasis on data security and personalization. Civil libertarians should appreciate Apple's insistence that it can no longer comply with responding to government warrants because of the iOS 8 passcode feature.
The new Apple operating system is downloadable for older devices and will also work on the iPad. This sense of personal data security should compliment the consumer acceptance of Apple Pay, an NFC powered mobile payment system. Now Apple can concentrate on selling some reluctant retailers, like Walmart and Best Buy, into paying for the expensive infrastructure to facilitate Apple Pay.
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
The Thrifty-Techie.US logo’s background befits the frugality of the Thrifty Techie. While the Thrifty Techie is not of Scottish descent, he was born a bargain hunter– hence the tartan backdrop.
One may wonder about the Springfield inspired silhouette. That shadow figure represents the everyman, to whom this website is oriented. He is happy dancing to the beat of a different drummer.
The pose is a parody of Apple’s iconic ads for the i-Pod. The MP3 player (particularly the i-Pod) marked a breakthru of digital media and handheld devices throughout society.
Yet if you look closely at the Thrifty-Techie logo, the happy dancer is listening to music just by holding a CD. How can that be?
The anachronistic image is intended as a surrealistic metaphor. Most tech sites cater to the digerati, who demand to know about the latest and greatest in technology. But many people just wants to find what works for them, particularly when it’s “popularly priced”. Kids today may consider compact disks as quaint as a Victrola. An older technology may have more value to a person than a new release which they do not understand, can not afford or requires repurchasing media in yet another format (e.g. from LPs to tapes to CDs to DRMed MP3s etc.)
While the Thrifty Techie is adept at finding a bargain, he knows that the lowest price is not always the best deal. If people can be practically happy maximizing the utility of older technologies and minimizing their frustrations then that may be the best deal for them.
The Thrifty Techie title in the masthead is hued in a neon green in homage to "P1" phosphor, which was typical of monochromatic CRT monitors in the early days of computing. Ironically, the everyman emanates a glowing green, but that may have something to do where that shadowy silhouette supposedly works.
