The reason he’s quitting isn’t because of AT&Ts horrible network, which everyone with an iPhone has been begrudgingly putting up with for two years now. No, it’s the Google Voice debacle.
He really wants to use Google Voice, but in order to do so, he needs the app for it to really work. It’s not just an inconvenience; it’s seriously detracting from how he can use his cellphone. And with legit GV apps available for both BlackBerry and Android, he doesn’t have to. So he’s terminating his iPhone contract.
And really, power to him. If GV was important to me, I’d do the same. And I’m sure Arrington isn’t the only person furious enough to cancel their iPhone service over this, he’s just one of the most visible. So Apple, pay attention. Because lately your App Store nonsense has crossed from irritating to inexcusable, and that’s just not going to work in the long term. [TechCrunch]
I also hope Apple pays attention. They have handled this extremely badly, first approving several Goggle Voice apps four months ago (((I use GV Mobile, which is excellent))) and now suddenly janking them from the store. Naturally people are now demanding refunds. Problem is, refunds are not issued by Apple but by the app-makers, and from what I understand Apple gets to keep their commission, which means the app-developers are actually losing money!! In the meantime Skype, Truphone and other VOIP apps are still available! Is this specifically directed against Google? Why?
I am not updating to 3.0.1 until I know Apple won’t yank the GV Mobile app from my iPhone in the process. And, it goes without saying, I have zero loyalty to AT+T, who are probably behind this stunt.
In a letter sent Friday to Apple, the agency asked the company why Google Voice was rejected, which related applications have been rejected along with it, and what role AT&T may have played in the decision. It also asked what the difference is between Google Voice and other VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) software that has been approved for the iPhone.
Monotonous Forest: Ah, live performance Last night’s fascinating evening of music by Peter Eötvös at Zankel Hall had some unanticipated “extras,” beginning with a particularly startling cell phone going off right before Encore, a brief string quartet written for György Kurtág’s 80th birthday. The woman answered the call. As the musicians waited, the violist tried his best, grinning, “Anyone else?” By this time an usher was glaring at the offender, who apparently didn’t know how to turn off the device. After it beeped the third time, the exasperated staffer finally grabbed it, shook a finger at the woman and left, accompanied by more than a few bursts of applause.
(Via The Rest Is Noise)
“You’re never going to get a chef to sit at a desk or a computer screen all day,” he said. “But I can take this to the farmers’ market, I can take it to Italy, use it as a camera, look up the history of dishes so I can brief my servers, and make voice notes while I’m cooking,” he said. “And then do I use it to play the Macarena in the kitchen and drive everyone crazy? Yes, I do.”
National Security Council calls for nationwide bans on cell phone use while driving The National Security Council sent out a message on Monday that calls for all 50 States to implement bans on citizens using cell phones while driving. The group referred to a study done by the Harvard Center of Risk Analysis, which revealed that 6% of all automobile crashes in the U.S. are caused by cell phones.
And they mean any cellphone use: includes headsets… (((maybe even email and IM?)))
6% of all crashes, about 40,000 traffic deaths per year – does that mean that 2,400 people die every year because somebody had to be distracted by their mobile?
I get the sense that in a few years either a chip in each car will prevent a phone from identifying itself to a cell-tower while the car is moving – thus the phone won’t work – or a person applying for a driver’s license will have to master a multi-tasking test in addition to the other tests…
Self-Reliance 2008 – The Atlantic (November 2008) The postmillennial version of a LeatherÂman is the Apple iPhone. Like all digital technologies, the iPhone has yet to achieve the hard-grained, Spartan elegancies of the steely Leatherman. It makes up for this with its cannibal appetite for other tools. Leathermans will disappear—I commonly give mine away—but iPhones devour other tools, digesting them into virtualized application services: phone, camera, e-mail, Web browser, text-messaging, music and video players, whole planet-girdling sets of urban Google maps, house keys, pedometer, TV remote, seismometer, Breathalyzer, alarm clock, video games, radio, bar-code scanner … the target list grows by the day. (Via Beyond the Beyond)
There is a lot to like about the iPhone. The worst thing about it for me is how it feels in my hand. It’s slick, textureless and slippery. This is an improvement, when I am not using it. Some people will say that I should consider this or that iPhone cover, but I find that an object should feel right by itself. I mean, when you buy a hammer you don’t want to have to go out and buy a cover for the handle…
