Might as well remind everyone of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Google_hoaxes_and_easte...
699 karma · joined October 20, 2010
http://thingist.com/item/4372/
Not exactly the same, but talks about this attitude prevalent among tech types that encourages belittling of those less experienced/knowledgable.
"Beautiful" and "awesome", however, I could do without seeing everywhere for a few months. Especially "awesome".
I have to be honest though, all of the various options are a bit overwhelming!
You're not wrong. But that's the problem - it's not enough to say "sure X is harmful, but so's Y, so it's alright". Ingesting nicotine by itself is a hell of a lot less harmful than taking it with tar and everything else that comes in a normal cigarette. But it's still a highly addictive substance, and personally, my concern is that marketing something highly addictive to the public (and, dare I say it, young people) is really seedy.
However, there's a discussion to be had here, and it's possibly more important than the one surrounding cigarettes and second-hand smoke. It's a brand new industry and a brand new habit that people are only starting to adjust to.
Ecig manufacturers are, at present, allowed to advertise their product publicly, and sell them as a lifestyle choice. They're even allowed to advertise on TV, something that the tobacco boys haven't been able to do for a very long time (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2517504/VIP-E-cigare...).
As an ecig user myself I find myself using it indoors regularly. I'm harming nobody but myself with it. But that's the problem - it's normalised the recreational ingestion of nicotine, and it's only going to become more popular.
Smokers, even reformed smokers like myself, aren't going to change their habits unless they're forced to do so. So while many people are put off by indoor ecig use, until the law changes to forbid it, you're just going to have to deal with it.
I've been using computers since I was 12, so about 17 years, and in that time I've had two hard disks break on me. I'm sure you're going to say you've had a lot more, but if your hard disks are going out of action at a rate even near to how often Google's core services drop out, well, you're doing something wrong.
"Shit happens" is never a valid excuse, even for a service provided at no cost to the user.
This is true. I could use Reader on my desktop, then use my Google account to sync other RSS readers on other devices. Now that I think about it, Google Reader might be the first time I consciously delegated a service to Google for use by other apps.
Granted, there were those problems getting the initial batch of 4s out to the public, but that's hardly grounds to say a company is incapable of making customers happy, surely.
As for Microsoft being perceived as "cooler", maybe it's because their parents are all using Apple products (mine, well into their 50s, are MacBook and iPhone users, and my 62 year old aunt is the same). Maybe it's something to do with how they get hand-me-down devices and so associate Apple with two/three-year-old tech.
Interesting though that they count 18 - 29 as "young adult". I'm 29 and consider myself well over the technological hill compared to the whippersnappers working in tech now. It also seems kind of pointless to ask 18 - 29 year olds what they consider "cool"; I'd have thought an age group like 13 - 18 would be more informative.
Conversation is not dead. People have been moaning about how we're all becoming socially isolated since the publication of the first novel. The art of socialising has been declared dying ever since the first VHS was available to buy and watch at home.
Point is, it's bullshit. People still hang out (in person, not in "hangouts"). Yeah, people have mobile phones, and sometimes when hanging out as part of a group we check them, but it's not like it kills all conversation dead. A group of three people all looking at their phones is the exception, not the rule - it's not like that's what we plan to do when we arrange to spend time together.
As for your lady friend, like you said, that's her habit to break. But you can't assume everyone who hasn't taken a vow not to use a smartphone is the same - I have a smartphone, so do all my friends, and yet we're all somehow able to communicate to one another in person. When I go out and about in town I don't see crowds of people standing around looking at their phones. I see groups of people socialising and talking - if someone is by themselves then their phone can provide some distraction/semblance of "company".
There's also a tendency for us techy types to get caught in our own little bubble - I get my news from HN Reddit and Twitter, so my view on how people use these services is clouded. It's like when a journalist starts using Twitter and writes about how "everybody is obsessed with tweeting, you can only send short messages, therefore the art of meaningful conversation is dead". They don't realise that the "everybody" they're talking about is only those people in their immediate social circle.
I've kind of gone off subject, but my main point is this: Black Mirror isn't a documentary. It's so easy to project your own worst nightmares onto new technology. It doesn't necessarily make them a reality.
For anyone missing it, "mega.co.nz" -> Mega Conz -> Mega Cons:
It's an art now though. You have to pick little tidbits that SOUND plausible but you can never really verify.
I, for example, told my (American) flatmate months ago that no living person other than current sitting monarch can appear on a British postage stamp. Had to backtrack when the Royal Mail announced every British gold medal winner at London 2012 would get their own stamp.
Also, proper URLs.
"Add your voice to the conversation! Just go to plus dot google dot com slash 114124849657167573853".
>In short, I know what I’m getting for $4 and I’m getting that same experience every time I hit the drive thru.
Drive-through Starbucks? America, you are way ahead.
Also, is $4 the norm for a cup of coffee? Is that standard filter coffee, latte, or one of their elaborate coffee-based concoctions? In the UK Starbucks will sell you a standard no-frills coffee for £1.50-ish.