How far has technology made inroads into your life?

I am laying here on our back porch, a little before 10:00 on a Friday evening, my feet up, cocktail at hand, in my hammock. All non-tech so far, but I have my earplugs in, listening to a computer generated playlist of songs, coming to me wirelessly over my home wireless network connection using my cell phone to access it, typing this column on a netbook, connected through the same network back to the internet. Now, is this just a little geeky or is it the place we are all heading.

I was thinking to myself, should  I go downstairs and work on a project, finish installing my I7, or watch some HULU, or catch up on some more podcasts. Or, I could jump in the pool and just take a late night swim and then do any of the above, later… Life can be so terrible, don’t you know.

I was thinking  about how I was able to interact during a meeting I was at this morning, passing along my responses to conversations that I was having with people, doing on the spot research to questions that came up and making sure the people that needed it had the exact information we were talking about. I was able to send them the information so that when they got back to their offices after the meeting, all the information that we spoke about was already there waiting for them to work with right away.

One of the negatives with all of this is that you always want to have that technology at your finger tips, no matter where you are and what you are  doing. You begin to feel lost when you don’t have a connection to the Internet. You begin to wonder what everyone else is doing, and how on earth they are doing it without your input. Just Kidding!

So, if I were to answer the question about how technology has become a big part of my life, well, I guess I have to be honest and say that yes, it is a big part. I love to interact with it. The ease of even, writing this, knowing that with a single mouse click it becomes available for anyone who wants to read it, to read it. The ease of correcting, changing and rearranging my thoughts. The wonderful backspace key that allows me to retract a thought, a misspelling or a completely air headed thought. 

The real fun though, is that I can let it sit until tomorrow morning and say, What were you thinking or I can just let it go and pay the consequences. Or, I can come back later and alter any portion of this as I please. Is technology a big part of life, please…. How about yours?

Facebook disables rogue data-stealing, spamming apps | Tech News on ZDNet

A note from the “Your Never Safe Department”. 

Security firm Trend Micro warned on Wednesday that a handful of rogue Facebook apps are stealing login credentials and spamming victims' friends.

It is so irritating that nothing is indefinitely safe and secure. But be aware and be careful. Here is a good reason to stay away from those silly application tests to pigeon hole you into some category. Remember, we are all individuals and we the category has to be pretty broad unless you have such a narrow focus of interest. Be careful and be safe. 

Facebook disables rogue data-stealing, spamming apps | Tech News on ZDNet

FCC to take a Broad Look at the wireless industry next week!

I promise that this is my last mention today about the cell phone industry. But I thought this was a good finish to what I have pointed to in the last two blog entries. The general consensus of WHAT TOOK SO LONG is a great question. The FCC is in place to help regulate utilities… so why haven’t they been looking at the cell phone industry up to now? Hmmm. I would have thought this would have been an ongoing activity, not one that they would need to start up a special review process on. Come on guys, let’s get to work! It will be interesting what they come up with. If they are just starting now then we probably won’t know anything during this President’s term.

Now You See It, Now You Don’t… We Didn’t Make It disappear!

Both Apple and AT&T are denying that they took down Google’s Google Voice Application to the FCC. A recent article in PCWorld discusses the hearing and the results, none that the FCC commented on. Read more:

Apple Denies Rejecting Google Voice for iPhone - PC World

It amazes me how so many companies can get away with some of the things that they do and in Apple’s case not get the smear of it. However, I think that we are beginning to see some of this “Apple never does anything wrong” attitude wearing thin.

I have been reading and listening to many different comments from people who are of the same opinion that Apple has become more Monopolistic than Microsoft ever was/is. They have been able to duck under scrutiny because their market share has been so minor but in some of their products now, iPod/iPhone, they are the clear winner and have the majority of market share. If they are controlling what can be put on their products by consumers who own those products isn’t that a  little over handed?

Back to the article. AT&T denies that it has any role in Apple’s App Store products, but does concur that their “contractual agreement forbids Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) applications from reaching the App Store unless AT&T agrees.” "From time to time, AT&T has expressed concerns regarding network efficiency and potential network congestion associated with certain applications, and Apple takes such concerns into consideration," Apple said.

The bigger issue I believe is the program’s SMS capabilities that bypass AT&T’s billing mechanism which is  a huge money maker for them. PCMag repots:

AT&T seemed most concerned about revenue and network traffic issues in its reply to the FCC today. "Both parties required assurances that the revenues from the AT&T voice plans available to iPhone customers would not be reduced by enabling VoIP calling functionality on the iPhone," admitted the carrier. "AT&T's wireless service agreement prohibits subscribers from engaging in uses that cause extreme network capacity issues or interference with the network."

All of this makes more sense to me. From a business stand point I see their concerns. From a consumer, I would like my choice. We are paying for services on our phone connection, voice and data, shouldn’t I be allowed to use the data side the way that I want, as long as I am using it for legal purposes? It shouldn’t matter what the data content is, as long as it is not of illegal nature. We pay for a certain amount of bandwidth not function. And while we are on this subject, how about tethering? This is just another form of data/bandwidth usage. We shouldn’t be band from this either, should we? Sorry AT&T if you haven’t built up your infrastructure to allow function, but if you can’t provide the service then maybe you shouldn’t be selling it as a service.

I love TechCrunch’s comment:

Whatever the reasons, it sucks, and as Jason Kincaid says, what's really troubling about this rejection is that it appears that "Apple is now actively stifling innovation." And the whole black box app approval process doesn't exactly alleviate that sinking feeling either. After all, if Google doesn't stand a chance, how does anybody else?

New Tech Tool!

It seems that a new tech tool has become an indispensable part of my gear. With all the shiny surfaces, screens and touch screens I find myself constantly cleaning the smudges that occur. Oh for the days of the textured surfaces that didn’t show every single fingerprint and smudge that occurs.

Study: Facebook use fuels jealousy, hurts relationships

I thought twice, maybe even three times before I posted this. It always amazes me that people want to look everywhere but within for the solutions to the problems in their lives.  So….

This study shows that people need to stop looking for others to supply all of their self worth, and to start looking looking within themselves for this reassurance. If your relationship isn’t strong enough with your significant other to be a driving force in your relationship than maybe you are in the wrong relationship. To blame a software program for causing a relationship problem is the same as blaming any kind of distraction as the cause of the breakdown in your relationship instead of going to the source of the problem, you. You have the sole control of your side of all of your relationships. You can’t control anyone else but yourself, so do your best, put your best foot forward. and lead by example. Remember the Golden Rule. Life can be good if you work on making it so. So….

Study: Facebook use fuels jealousy, hurts relationships

Google’s Chrome OS: An ice cube's chance in Hell of succeeding | Windows - InfoWorld

Some other views from around the internet:

Find out what InfoWorld's Randall Kennedy thinks of the newly announced Google OS. |

InfoWorld's Robert X. Cringely wonders if Chrome OS will be a geeks-only thing.

Venture Beat's Dean Takahashi and Anthony Ha write

About new things and other thoughts…

I am sitting here going through my emails this evening, and it occurred to me that we have really gotten lazy or I have extremely high expectations of my fellow human beings. When I see comments come across the internet asking why companies are upgrading products and making them better, faster and more usable (my definition), I wonder just how lazy and complacent we have become. Don’t you want to progress, learn and become better at what you do? Don’t you want your tools that you use day in and day out to help you to make your job easier and more productive? I can’t understand the attitude of people that look at every possible step forward as something to disdain and fight with all their might. All that energy wasted on trying to stop normal progression when just a small amount of effort will get them to the next level. Hey! Don’t become the Neanderthal in your work group. Embrace, learn and become the better person.  Such a simple thing and so hard for some of us to do. Sorry about the Rant. but if it hits home it sure is worth it!

I look at the skill sets that we all need to have in our jobs and wonder when it was in my youth that I learned that I was going to be a student for the rest of my life. This is something that we all need to realize. In all honesty I can’t wait until the day that I retire and can begin the next part of my life. Because, you see, work sometimes gets in the way of the learning. It is funny how this can happen. There can be so much fun, amazement and improvisation with all these tools that so many magnificent minds provide us. When you begin to allow learning to become fun, then you have finally allowed all of life’s amazing wonders to fill your soul. Let it. You will be amazed at the outcome.