Vietnam Cracks Down on Violent Games. Is There a Middle Ground?

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Vietnam has reacted to a small but disturbing series of crimes committed by young teens by sharply limiting access to online games that contain violence or pornography. These young people, who line up outside storefronts offering online game access for a fee, evidently committed robberies and assaults — and in a few cases, murder — to get the money to play the games.
 
In the United States, that particular problem doesn't exist but we certainly have a problem with a significant amount of violent and property crimes being committed by drug addicts looking for money with which to purchase their next fix. So we make the drugs illegal even though it's not clear that does a bit of good and certainly doesn't seem to have curtailed crime very much if at all. 
 
In both cases, governments attempt to regulate a behavior by outlawing what is perceived as the underlying cause. Outlawing drives the cause underground where addicts — whether of video games or drugs — are prey to reprehensible "private enterprise" conduct that further exacerbates the problem.
 
In both cases, it seems to me the governments involved could address the problem more completely and effectively with a two-pronged approach of legalizing and regulating the perceived source of the problem while simultaneously offering free treatment programs for those addicts who want to get free of the economic and physical burdens addiction brings. Vietnam is apparently at least looking at the first step as it has ordered game parlors to close at 11 p.m. and has restricted access to such games on the nation's Internet nodes pending a review of the best way to cope with the problem. In the U.S., on the other hand, any attempt, however slight, to legalize even marijuana is met with a public hue and cry from the morally superior who think legalizing is equal to condoning.
 
On the surface, at least, it seems our former enemy's approach is more enlightened than ours and perhaps one from which we could learn.

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July 29, 2010 · Posted in Technology  
　　　　

Two Very Slick Interfaces on iPad

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The emergence of the iPad with its seductively immersive potential for user experience design has produced some brand-new approaches to interaction, some of which are remarkably cool. Sure, there's also been a fair amount of garbage and some UXes that have been designed, it seems, merely to prove that one can break all the rules. But I've found two experiences that are decidedly worth noting and emulating.

 

Pulse is a newsreader app that uses a stack of sliding image panels to present feeds horizontally and stories in each feed as separate link boxes that have images if the posts themselves do. But the quality of the Pulse UX goes beyond the main screen. Back-navigation is intuitive and smooth and it is simplicity itself to share a post and to view it either as text or as a Web page. This UX is really well suited to the touch-screen interface of the iPad. It conveys an overall sense of fluid exploration and does a fine job of maintaining your context as you move around inside the Pulse space.

 

Flipboard converts your Twitter feeds and Facebook updates from plain text into a virtual magazine layout that is stunning in its layout and inviting in its approach. It is by far the best Twitter reader I've seen yet, on any platform. A couple of the folks I follow on Twitter upload lots of photos and Flipboard sprinkles them throughout the magazine-style layout it generates so that every page looks slick and polished. Given its name, it's not surprising that it uses a page-flip paradigm for moving around inside the content, so context isn't really a major issue. This is an extremely well-executed design.

 

I'm sure there are many other iPad apps out there that have elegant interfaces perfectly suited to the iPad format. I'd love to hear about others so if you know any, please post them in response here or send me an email note.

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July 22, 2010 · Posted in Technology  
　　　　

Apple Does Right by iPhone 4 Users Despite Dismissal of Serious Problem

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Steve Jobs just finished his press conference on the iPhone 4 and its widely reported antenna problems. In essence, he said this is not an iPhone 4 specific problem, it's a widespread, perhaps universal, smartphone problem. He demonstrated several other popular models exhibiting the same behavior. Interestingly, Consumer Reports' review, which was the straw that broke the camel's back and led to this press conference, said explicitly it had tested numerous other phones and not found the same problem. 

After sharing some stats from AT&T that seemed to prove that the 4 isn't much worse than the 3GS, Jobs hinted that because far more iPhone 4 owners leave the store without buying a case, this may be the root of the perception that the 4 drops more calls than it actually does. He admits this is his "pet theory."

Even though the problem is, Jobs says, overstated dramatically, still Apple wants to do something to fix it. So they've:

  • released iOS 4.0.1 that fixes some of the algorithm problems that result in the display of bars updating incorrectly
  • offered a free bumper (or other selected) case to every iPhone 4 owner and a refund to those who already bought one (this was widely expected)
  • extended a full-refund offer to anyone who still isn't happy

I don't see how Apple could have done more here but I'm sure its critics will be howling about something before my blog post is even public. This blemish clearly hurt Apple a bit but it's a small bruise on a pretty largely untarnished Apple product line. (But don't get me started on Apple policies, which are a much nastier defect.)

As I said yesterday, my iPhone 4 does not seem to me to drop more calls or lose more bars than my 3G did and I just don't experience the problems others are reporting. I'll probably get a case for it on the chance it improves performance somehow. 

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July 16, 2010 · Posted in Technology  
　　　　

Should Apple Recall iPhone 4?

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Apple has announced it will hold a press conference Friday, July 16, regarding its hottest product, the iPhone 4. Speculation is rampant that the company will issue a recall notice for all of the phones due to a problem with reduced cell phone reliability and reception when it is held in certain positions. Others think the company will not recall the phones but offer a free new enclosure for it that overcomes the shortcomings of the present design.

For my part, I'm relatively unconcerned. While it is true that if I hold my iPhone 4 in a particular way — a way that is not my usual use but which I understand reflects the way many hold their cell phones — I can see a noticeable drop in the number of AT&T bars displayed and that the same action can cause calls to drop more frequently than I'm happy about, it's also true that avoiding the problem just isn't that hard for me. I'm not saying it isn't for others. Nor am I absolving Apple of any responsibility for fixing the problem, at least on request from any phone owner who is troubled by it. But it does seem to me that forcing or even expecting a mass recall of the product is a massive over-reaction. After all, nobody gets sick or dies. Children don't choke on small parts. The environment isn't damaged except possibly by the air turning slightly blue in the immediate area surrounding some users whose dropped-call frustration reaches a certain threshold.

You know that I'm a bit of an Apple apologist, though I have occasionally been harshly critical of the company and its products. For the most part, I'm a pretty big Apple fan and a serious user of their technology. I have certainly tried to be objective here and I just can't see justification for a blanket recall. Let those who have problems be given a path to their solution and let those of us who are happy just stay that way.

I mean, if you seriously think I"m sending my iPhone 4 back to Apple to wait days without it while awaiting a replacement, you're loonier than Sharron Angle. And trust me nobody's loonier than that woman.

:-)

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July 14, 2010 · Posted in Technology  
　　　　

Much Ado About Nothing

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One of my favorite thinkers and writers is Mark Hurst of Creative Good. His newsletters sparkle with wit, overflow with insight and include just enough irony to demonstrate his ability to think outside the box while acknowledging that a box does indeed exist.

In today's newsletter, though, Mark blew it. He pointed his readers to a site whose sole purpose in life seems to be to convince the world that "login" isn't a verb. That's the name of the site: http://loginisnotaverb.com/. Mark says this is one of his pet peeves (which causes me a bit of concern because normally the stuff he worries about really is important). 

The site owner, who is anonymous at least as far as I can tell, apparently is or thinks he is a grammarian. Strangely, he completely gets the noun form of the adjective "magnanimous" wrong, using "magnanimousness" when it should be "magnanimity." His explanation of the problem with "login" as a verb is rambling and obtuse. It's easy, people. "Log" is the verb. "In" is an adverb telling where to log. I can log in, log out, log a result, log an event. So I can log in, but I can't login. Strangely, he says is't OK to say "login prompt" thus giving a word he says is really a noun new status as an adjective.

And then I realized I didn't give a crap, so I stopped writing this post.

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July 8, 2010 · Posted in Technology  
　　　　

Safe Boot Fixes OS X Upgrade Disaster

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Well, it only took about 15 minutes on the phone with a very knowledgeable Apple tech support person and my iMac is as good as new after yesterday’s software updater disaster. Rebooting in Safe Mode did a good job of repairing whatever the problem was, so I’m back among the happy MacCampers again.

Next time, I’ll do a Safe Reboot before I call Apple!

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July 1, 2010 · Posted in Technology  
　　　　

Mac OS Upgrade Proves Disastrous

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This afternoon I finally decided I’d upgrade my iPhone 3G to iOS4 even though I have an iPhone4 on order. So I backed up the phone, hooked up to iTunes, and began the process. Imagine my surprise when I was confronted with a list of a handful of upgrades that were necessary to my system, including, as expected iTunes 9.2. I authorized the upgrades and took a break.

When I came back, my system was running so I launched iTunes. And it promptly quit without starting. I did this two more times. Then I restarted my system. Tried again. Same result. This time when my system came back up, two other apps that depend to one degree or another on a Net connection crashed when auto-launched during the startup process. One of these is Skype. I tried all the usual remedies with Skype (removing the plist, removing the prefs, etc.) to no avail.
This is the kind of crap Windows users have to put up with all the time. But there’s nothing so non-standard about this system (10.6.4) that should cause this much disruption. Yet my quick search before I head for home hasn’t revealed any other reports of similar problems and, of course, now the Software Updater says there’s nothing I need to update. I feel hosed and not a little discouraged.
Any pointers? I’m going to look around harder on the Web when I get home and get some food in me but this is just ludicrous.

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June 30, 2010 · Posted in Technology  
　　　　

Chipp Says iPad App Quality Not What Steve Jobs Claims it Is

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In a post on his personal blog today, my business partner and friend Chipp Walters challenges Steve Jobs’ oft-asserted claim that it is only to maintain high quality that Apple refuses to allow iPad apps created with non-Apple technologies to be sold in its online monopoly store.

Chipp took a quick run through the first few pages of apps that come up in the Apple AppStore when you browse it and found quite a few that were stupid, poorly designed, overpriced or in several cases all three.
It does make me wonder what Steve means by “high quality”. Any clarification, Apple?

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June 20, 2010 · Posted in Technology  
　　　　

Inabilitiy to Order iPhone4 Results in 8-Day Delay

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Well, final chapter in the iPhone4 purchase saga, for now at least. After trying late last night and most of today I finally got my pre-order submitted for the iPhone4. But the Apple Store now says they won't ship my new phone until July 2, eight days after first eligibility. There are also no reservations left at the retail store but I'm welcome to take my chances.

What bullshit.

I'm getting really fed up with Apple on so many levels. I'm buying an HTC Incredible Android phone on June 25, which means I'm likely to have it a week before my iPhone4. It will be interesting to see if the iPhone4 can entice me away from the Incredible.

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June 15, 2010 · Posted in Technology  
　　　　

Still Can’t Pre-Order iPhone4

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I guess AT&T and Apple have never heard of virtual servers and on-demand capacity. Both of their systems appear overwhelmed this morning by people attempting to pre-order the iPhone4. It’s not a big deal, in all likelihood; the only advantage of early pre-ordering might be that if the demand greatly exceeds supply they may cut off pre-orders before I can get mine in. Given their apparent incompetence at forecasting demand, that wouldn’t surprise me.

The thing I sort of wonder about is these guys’ inability to be prepared — time after time after time — for what they had to know would be a huge onslaught of activity. This doesn’t require extra people, people! Just more bandwidth, more servers. How hard should that be for either of you, let alone both of you in tandem? This sort of thing makes you look stupid at regular intervals. You’d think Jobs would hire someone who could actually fix this problem.
Sheesh.
(BTW, neither Radio Shack nor Best Buy’s Web sites have any mention of the iPhone 4 pre-order process. Radio Shack has several accessories available for it already but on neither site can I find a link through which to pre-order. Just dumb planning.)

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June 15, 2010 · Posted in Technology  
　　　　

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