Tim Cook, at Apple, Takes a Very Welcome Broadside Against Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook

Yahoo!!  (not the website).

Yes, Tim Cook, over at Apple, took this broadside at Mark Zuckerberg and his Facebook this week (from Inc. Magazine).

Tim Cook May Have Just Ended Facebook

What happens when an unstoppable force hits an immovable object?

In a recent speech at Brussels' International Data Privacy Day, Apple CEO Tim Cook went on the offensive against Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook. Cook's speech seems to be a direct response to Facebook's recent attack on Apple, in which the world's largest social network took out full-page ads in several newspapers attacking Apple's new privacy changes.

But what's most fascinating is that Cook took direct aim at Facebook without ever mentioning the company by name.

Just check out the following excerpt:

"Technology does not need vast troves of personal data stitched together across dozens of websites and apps in order to succeed. Advertising existed and thrived for decades without it, and we're here today because the path of least resistance is rarely the path of wisdom.

If a business is built on misleading users on data exploitation, on choices that are no choices at all, then it does not deserve our praise. It deserves reform.

We should not look away from the bigger picture and a moment of rampant disinformation and conspiracy theory is juiced by algorithms. We can no longer turn a blind eye to a theory of technology that says all engagement is good engagement, the longer the better, and all with the goal of collecting as much data as possible.

Too many are still asking the question, 'How much can we get away with?' When they need to be asking, 'What are the consequences?'

What are the consequences of prioritizing conspiracy theories and violent incitement simply because of the high rates of engagement?

What are the consequences of not just tolerating but rewarding content that undermines public trust in life-saving vaccinations?

What are the consequences of seeing thousands of users joining extremist groups and then perpetuating an algorithm that recommends even more?

It is long past time to stop pretending that this approach doesn't come with a cause. A polarization of lost trust, and yes, of violence.

A social dilemma cannot be allowed to become a social catastrophe."

The fact that Cook doesn't name Facebook somehow increases its impact. Because as you hear Cook's 's speech, you can't help but immediately think of the house that Zuckerberg built.

If you're wondering how Apple and Facebook ended up at odds, you can read more of the details here. But the reality is these two tech giants have been heading towards a major conflict for quite some time.

The problem is that Apple's and Facebook's business philosophies are diametrically opposed to each other:

Apple is a lifestyle brand. And part of the lifestyle Apple sells is users having more control over their privacy.

Facebook, on the other hand, is in the data business. The more data they collect on users, the more effectively they can sell targeted ads.

But collecting and selling all that data comes at great cost, as Cook highlights. "The end result of all of this is that you are no longer the customer," said Cook. "You are the product."

Cook went on to further highlight the differences in Apple's and Facebook's philosophies, in no uncertain terms.

"We believe that ethical technology is technology that works for you," said Cook. "It's technology that helps you sleep, not keeps you up. It tells you when you've had enough. It gives you space to create or draw or write or learn, not refresh just one more time."

At first glimpse, it might appear that Apple and Facebook are on diverging paths. But in reality, they're on a collision course.

So, what does happen when an unstoppable force hits an immovable object?

One of them gets destroyed.

I personally think the author is overstating the effects Tim Cook and Apple will do here to Zuckerberg and Facebook but hey, it's an attack on Facebonkers and people are paying attention so it's a good thing, for sure.

Additional link:

Mark Zuckerberg’s squabble with Tim Cook

Apple CEO Tim Cook links Facebook's business model to violence

We Join Less, Get On Technology More

The future holds very little socializing, I think. At least in person. I believe we will be a nation, if not most of the industrialized world, of people looking down, into our phones, mostly, and laptops, secondarily.

First, what we're doing.

Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital

Fewer American Workers Join Labor Unions

The military's real problem: Fewer Americans are joining

Younger Generations Less Likely to Join Boy Scouts

Masons, other service groups fight membership declines

Moose, Elk Joining The Endangered

NASCAR Is In Trouble And Nobody Wants To Talk About It

There are a lot of reasons for the NFL's ratings slide

So long, televised football: Millennials are so over you

Americans becoming less religious, especially young 

U.S. Public Becoming Less Religious | Pew Research Center

And now, for the problems...

People Spend Too Much Time on Smartphones

U.S. Young Adults Admit Too Much Time on Cell Phones

Britons spend more time on tech than asleep, study suggests

Putnam, "The Strange Disappearance of Civic America."

Amount of Time Spent Playing Video Games Influences Kids' Behavior

When Tech Is a Problem Child

How parents fight back against their kids’ obsession with smartphones and social media.

Doesn't seem like it portends good things for us, as a people, as a society, as a nation. A not very united states.

Where Is All This Technology Taking Us?

Occasionally, once in a great while, I get out of "my bubble", or am forced to, and look around at the technology and apps that are available, some for home computing but most, more and more, for our cell phones.

I tell you, it's overwhelming.

It's been fun for a while. If you realize you don't just have a TV in your pocket but a full-blown computer that can do who-knows-what-all, it's been fun. It is fun. It can be fun, anyway.

But every once in a while, I realize, how much there is out there, how much computer power is in our pockets and how dizzying it all is. It seems there are apps for so much more of the minutiae of our lives than I would think anyone could or would ever imagine.

I understand why these apps have been created, too, sure. Everyone has to "make their mark" and no less so than in computing but wow. Clearly we humans are taking all these apps and our phones way too far. In my eyes, anyway.

I think it's scary and getting scarier.

Americans Spend An Alarming 4.7 Hours 

On Their Phones

And the trend of time spent on cell phones is still increasing and the younger we are, the more it's increasing.

Yeah.  This is not your grandfather's world, that's for sure. Between these developments and humankind's rush into AI, artificial intelligence, I don't like the looks of where we're heading, as a species, as a people. I think we are, it seems, all running headlong, forward and we don't have any idea where we're going, where this is all leading us.

Y'all be nice out there.

Links:

Stephen Hawking warns of an 'intelligence explosion'

Stephen Hawking warns artificial intelligence could end mankind

Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, and Bill Gates Warn

6 Best Google Apps for Chromebook

Google Apps for Education

Google Apps for Work – Email, Collaboration Tools And More

Google Apps | Google Developers

Google Apps Marketplace

The 100 Best iPhone Apps for 2016 | Digital Trends

Corporate America, Running Amuck

If you've been paying attention at all to the news lately, especially about corporations and what they're doing and doing to us Americans, it's likely you've been disheartened. I know I have been. And I don't even have high expectations of them.

First there was this, from AT&T, last October, putting unfounded charges on their customers bills:

AT&T Fined $105 Million by FTC for 'Cramming' Charges

Then there was this, a few weeks ago, again from and about AT&T and the way they supply internet service:

AT&T Fined $100M for Throttling 'Unlimited Data'

It seems AT&T said if you got internet from them, you'd have "unlimited data." Trouble was, they didn't bother to tell those same customers that when they got to a certain level of data usage, their internet speed would slow. Nice, huh?

Then there was this, yesterday, from Google, also on computers:

Google Secretly Spying On Computer Users

Then there was this from Whole Foods last year:

Whole Foods Will Pay $800,000 for Price-Gouging

Finally, not to be done there, this came out yesterday, too:

Afternoon Bulletin: Whole Foods in Legal Trouble for Inflating Prices (Again)

So for anyone, anyone who thinks we can or should do with little or no government, when corporations and the wealthy can do these kinds of things to us, I say they must be crazy.

Or they're part of these corporations and doing these very same things to us all.

Entertainment Overnight -- And now for something completely different

Apple? That's it? That's all ya' got?

As we all know, the new Apple company--you know, the one without Steve Jobs--had yet another product release this last week.

Yes, they did.

And whoop-ti-freaking-do.

Apple unveils two new iPhones -- the 5S and 5C 

One's a cheaper model and the other offers colors.

Zounds.

Forgive me if I'm neither impressed nor dissuaded from thinking that unless things change at that company, they're going down.

Not even a bigger screen.

Seriously, Mr. Cook?

That's all y'all can come up with?

Observations, August, 2013

Observation No. 1

People punish honesty.

Observation No. 2:

Our machines, our computers, our pocket phones, more than anything, are turning us into a nation of cowards.

We don't face situations we've created or people that we ought to otherwise face. Instead, we ignore them if they call or we text back, if/when forced into a "conversation."

Where we came from, where we're going

I remember when it used to be important, really, to sit down in the evening, at the end of each work day, and watch the evening, national news.

It wasn't that long ago.

But over time, the news has gotten far more "entertaining" and so, far less and less important.

Now, the evening news is very likely to have YouTube videos, showing about what some crazy cat--literally, a feline--did in their owner's back yard recently.

And then Fox "News" came along, shortly after the Republicans did away with the "Fairness Doctrine" so we could and would hear both sides of a story and one side wouldn't do all day, inflammatory commentary as the Fox stations do now.

And the local news?

Why, it got fluffier and fluffier until now, today, it's like cotton candy--mostly air.  Air and sugar.

And where are we going now? Is there any hope of it getting and better in the future?

I think we all know the answer to that one.

The biggest trend in outgoing news and incoming "staying informed" on our part--that of the citizen in the US and world--is that we've gone from desktop computers to laptops and there was a great deal of information out there and sure, there still is.

But now, now we're going on to our little cell phones, with all that same capability of the bigger computers but most people just use them to entertain themselves even further. The younger the person, the more attached they are to their mobile device--mostly phones--with videos and Tweets and that's about it.

I don't hold out hope for the coming generations.

I think they look to be very well-intended, well-meaning, empathetic, open-minded people with very little awareness of what's going on in their government and so, where their country and world is headed.

I hope they can and do prove me very, very wrong.

Indicators of where technology is going

And that change--big and fast change--is overtaking some big, powerful companies in the computer industry.

There were these four headlines Friday in The New York Times.

First, this one:

Dell Buys Time to Seek Support for Sale to Its Founder

It seems owner, founder Michael Dell of the formerly huge and important Dell Computer has been trying to buy back and take back over his computer making company, in an effort to save it. With our turn away from desktop computers, world wide, the company has been in serious trouble lately.

Next there's this:

Chip Maker, Posting a Loss, Seeks to Enter Game Market

Same thing here only the company is Advanced Micro Devices but the problems are the same--fewer desktops and laptops being sold.

Weak PC Market Catches Up to Microsoft

What were some of the biggest, most powerful and seemingly forever-formidable companies in the computer business--this time, Microsoft--are simply not immune to the turn to tablets, "devices" and cell phones. It's a huge turn.

Finally, there's this one:

Google Results Show Struggle With Mobile

In this case, it seems big and, again, powerful Google, who knows just how to use information and advertising from desktops and laptops just can't translate that same power into income for itself on the cursed little cell phones.

What's it all mean, besides the obvious, besides the fact that the entire computer industry is very much changing, and rather quickly, to those same, smaller cell phones and tablets?

It seems to mean that not only is there big change on the horizon but that that very same change seems to be coming at us at ever faster rates.  More and more big change at faster and faster rates.

It's tough to keep up with it all.

If you have or get a good idea, you'd better be on it fast, ladies and gentlemen.

I love the new ad slogan for Apple Computer

That's beautiful, isn't it?

Clearly a shameless ploy to get us thinking it's all done here in the States.

The second part of the ad should closely follow with:

"...still made by near-slave labor in China."

Thank you, Tim Cook.

It's not just Apple--or GE--not paying taxes

This past week, Apple, Inc. took a beating in Washington and nationally for manipulating very legal tax laws to avoid paying any taxes.

We knew this of GE, General Electric, years ago and we've known other companies also do it but I think it's important to get out there more names of firms who do the same. Herewith, then, is a list of ten of the worst, biggest examples:

It gets worse, too, to an extent. There are companies who game our tax system so totally, WE'RE PAYING THEM TO BE IN BUSINESS, as a nation, you and me (click on picture for easier reading):

It's important to know.

I say again, companies should at least pay a minimum--say a 10% minimum, by law--for access to our markets and so we can keep up our infrastructure, whether they're from here in the US or elsewhere.

Link:  It's Not Just One Bad 'Apple'

A cousin makes an excellent point about upcoming technology

 

You have likely heard of Google's developing technology, their glasses, that are computer-equipped and -enabled.

 

As bad as American's have proven to be already, what with our cell phones and the car accidents we have wherein people have been hurt and, of course, worse yet, killed, my cousin makes the following observation yesterday on Facebook post on my page:

 

"Prepare to die in a horrible head-on crash."

 

Seriously. Can you imagine?

 

Some idiot will buy a pair of these things and feel sure he (for it will most surely be a male) can "absolutely, positively drive with these things."

 

Watch for it.

 

Congress should move immediately to simply and quickly outlaw the operation of automobiles with these things, before anyone gets remotely close to having this happen.

 

Instead, what will happen is our legislators and laws will wait, do nothing and be behind time on this. Consequently, people will be hurt, people will be killed first.

 

And then and only then will anyone in government think to react.

 

Facepalm.

 

Link:

 

6 New Google Glass Demos Worth a Watch - Mashable



I'm so old...

...I remember when the notifications, messages and friend requests on Facebook were at the left hand top of the page.

THAT old.

Beginning of the end for Apple's dominance?

Any Apple computer follower--and lots of others--heard the news last week, surely:

Apple CEO Tim Cook Apologizes for New Maps Glitches

It seems when Apple introduced its own maps feature, it didn't work.

At all.

And between this rather glaring shortcoming, combined with the last iPhone release that was, while hugely financially successful (read: they sold a lot), the phone didn't have that many new, great, new gadgets or features to it.

I think Samsung hits Apple pretty hard because of it, too, in this, their latest advertisement:



We'll see, of course.

Perhaps it's just a blip. Maybe it's not over for Apple's ascendancy.

I'm afraid, for them, it may well be.

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/apple-ceo-tim-cook-apologizes-maps-glitches-131156675--abc-news-tech.html

A new Apple iPhone charger?

Yet more very-planned obsolescence from Apple.

According to NPR and Apple, the new Apple iPhone requires a new charger: http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2012/09/12/161013923/new-iphone-plug-spells-inconvenience-for-users-change-for-accessory-makers.

Yikes.

Here we go again.

Once more time, the Apple Company churns up more business, purchases and so, of course, money and profits for themselves by making a product of theirs obsolete. Apple becomes the only winner.

The loser?

Well, for one, their customers and users.

The biggest loser is the rest of the world, now that yet more of their products will go to local dumps.

Now those same users will have to go out and get yet another charger. There's the expense, sure, and then there's the fact that so many will end up thrown away, along with some of the earliest iPhones.

As a friend put it yesterday on Facebook: "Apple changed the charging adaptor (that's been on every iPhone, iPad, and iPod since they came out) on the new iPhone 5. If I upgrade, none of my many cables, charging docks, hotel alarm clocks, car cable, etc will work. Damn!"

That's just more for the local dumps, too.

And that's the bigger, uglier problem.

Yet more items will go to the dump, never to be recycled.

Yay, Apple.

Not.

This is just not a sustainable way to live, folks.

I'm so old...

...I remember when you could scan all of Yahoo!'s news/home page without signing in.

THAT old.

On the whole "Win an iPad!" thing

If one more organization promises me that I "...could win an Apple iPad" if I simply take their survey, I'm going to choke somebody.

I'm so old...

...I can remember when YouTube didn't have the Apple iTunes autoplay and shuffle features available on your own favorites. (Kudos to Google, too, by the way, for ripping off Apple).

Google and Kansas City: Soon to be love-hate relationship?

Sure, Google's coming to town and we fought to get them and it's supposed to bring ultra-fast data transmission to and for us but as The Star reported Sunday (and is still online now, see link below), they were fined for some of the data collection an engineer of theirs captured but just what he captured was far more revealing--and worse:

"A rogue engineer, not identified publicly by Google, wrote software aimed at tapping into transmissions known as captured payload data. That included passwords, addresses, phone numbers, medical records, emails and search history from consumers who had not sealed their private Wi-Fi networks behind some form of password protection or encryption."

A couple notes: First, they were only fined a paltry $25,000. For a firm as big and powerful--and rich--as Google, that's chicken feed. Much worse is getting caught and having this information become public.

Second is the fact that it makes me wonder if this engineer was really, in fact, "rogue." He did this of his own volition and not at the direction of his boss and the company? Right. I'm skeptical, at least.

"Google said it never intended to pile up that sort of information. Rather, Google has said it was simply logging the whereabouts of the nation’s sundry wireless Internet access locations."

Yeah, well, maybe. We'll see, huh?

More from the Star's article: "Asked Sunday about the nature of data that might be collected by its Internet service in Kansas City, a Google spokeswoman said in an email: 'We have nothing specific to announce right now about Google Fiber, but we build transparency, choice and security into our products because we believe that’s what matters to our users.'”

Right. "I love you" and "The check's in the mail", too, while we're at it.

"The FCC report, released Saturday with only names redacted, says the rogue engineer told a senior manager and one other engineer that the code he’d written was collecting the personal information."

The computer engineer wrote the program to collect the personal information for his own amusement and entertainment?

That seems suspect, at least.

Anyway, welcome to town, Google. Thanks for selecting us. We appreciate it greatly, we really do.

It reminds me of Tina Turner's song. So here, from the Kansas City metropolitan area to Google:


Link: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/04/29/3583087/fcc-report-describes-private-data.html

Another dinosaur: FM Music Radio

I've come to the conclusion that FM music radio stations are, like the US Postal Service and paper catalogs and so many other things, just one more dinosaur of the last age.

Think about it, we have our MP3 players or our iPods or iPhones or Shuffles or Android phone or Sirius XM radio or whatever. They play all our own music already, without all the talk time and commericials. Or if it isn't that, we're listening to Pandora or Spotify. It's a much better solution to our music choices, too, since we don't have to listen to some irrelevant babble from people we either don't know or don't care for and advertisements we REALLY don't want to hear.

It even, finally, applies to our cars, too, the last bastion of need for the FM music radio station. This is one more benefit of computers, too, since we get more of either our own music or new things we wouldn't otherwise hear because the radio only plays mind-numbing familiar top-40 songs. Some stations have tried to play different things over the years but it never works. It's not as though it's not some of their faults but most radio music is pretty stale if not out-and-out dreadful. No catalogs and no mail? Great. Less trees cut down. No FM music radio? Good riddance. Sorry, guys. You're outta' here. Eventually, anyway. Find new jobs now, while you can.