My Random Thoughts

Sometimes it’s just not worth it

Posted on October 28, 2014

Today I learned that sometimes it’s just not worth it. Actually it’s nothing new. Social media is interesting.. it brings with it so many facets.. good and bad. I, like anyone else try to engage with twitterers.. and in general even while reading what happens around me in the twitterverse it appears that tweeting something harsh or replying to a tweet in disagreement is what most often gets a response from the other end and sometimes quickly. Case in point today. I read a tweet that pointed to an article on ‘CurrentC’ and why this app is trying to snatch personal data ( http://m.imore.com/whose-interest-currentc-really-serving ) after reading it I replied to said tweet; ‘and Apple doesn’t ? ‘. I also commented that it’s humorous that words like ‘vested self interest ‘ were used. To no surprise i got a reply and in my reply I jokingly mention ‘so it takes this kind of tweet to get u to engage?…’ to which I was told my comment was strange.. I guess the ‘lol’ wasn’t clue enough I was trying to make a funny. Clearly I failed.
There’s no question that security in whatever form it takes is paramount. I definitely didn’t want to make light of that.. the deal here is that I couldn’t help but think ‘pot calling kettle black’ after reading the article. So Apple got its feelings hurt because some retailers don’t want to play nice with them and so now it retaliates.. security this, security that… Apple has had missteps in that department as well recently, no? Apple however chose to play it down because well they’re #Apple. Pictures were leaked; big deal. It wasn’t so much about a breach as it was the end users fault, ya.. that’s it and they’ll stick to that. And I do think that ‘vested self interest ‘ and #Apple go hand in hand. Hello?
So all this to say that I decided not to continue on with this twitter conversation as I know that it will be an exercise in futility.

PS: I am a damn funny guy btw. I thought using lols and 😉 are dead giveaways that what u wrote is meant in jest. I guess not.

Check out my other piece: http://bit.ly/1nO1FHY

Here’s my problem with some fanboy mindset

Posted on October 26, 2014 Updated on October 27, 2014

Twitter spats/feuds intrigue me.. one is happening this morning.. and I read and read and it captivates me. Fanboying is a great thing… and some times it isn’t. it is a great thing to be able to fanboy about just about anything.. this mornings intriguing 140 character conversation involves 2 platforms.. 2 fruits. When we are passionate about something.. sometimes our judgment gets clouded and I think that’s completely normal. You want to be as fair as possible but at times that doesn’t happen. I love @blackberry I won’t deny it but I will admit that I read and peruse a site that devotes its content to the other fruit.
For me it’s simple… it’s fantastic to be passionate … but defend with honor and with intelligence and if/when you must be critical of whatever you fanboy about, do it. That’s my issue with one particular group. I don’t want to name names but those that fanboy over, let’s refer to it as ‘apple’ reflect exactly what that company is all about. Let’s call a spade a spade.. recently this company has had missteps.. and not small ones. Every time an issue came up I went over to this site to see how they’d address it. I even watched videos. With this group of fanboys u have denial, pointing of fingers and childlike arguments over why such and such happened etc. The biggest thing as displayed this morning by the big editor in chief of iLess is the arrogance.. it’s hard to have a 140 character conversation but rather then try to engage like adults.. it’s about attacking people who ‘are bitter’.. and ‘being sad for them’. This arrogance where does it come from? The mother ship no less. It’s not about thinking of the consumer.. it’s about telling the consumer what they want. And when shit happens blame someone or something else.. and when they borrow ideas from others call it innovation don’t give credit where credit is due. Arrogance.

Here’s my problem with carrier support for the Passport

Posted on October 4, 2014 Updated on October 15, 2014

I almost feel like I have to start all my posts with ‘Here’s my problem…’ when it comes to #blackberry. I am more than a little irked with this lack of #blackberry support not only from carriers in general but Canadian ones to boot..what exactly was this @Telus exclusivity for? I am not with #telus but I happened to be at a mall and decided to go in to check the #passport out in action. Hmm, surprise, surprise.. all they have is the dummy unit. Really? Of course every flavor of the #iphone and #android all working units. I was so ticked off I left that mall and hit up another one just to see if I would get the same out of the @telus there. Exactly the same set up. What kind of support is this toward the #blackberry brand? And to make matters worse (and I could slap myself silly for not taking a picture) they surround the dummy #passport unit with older units that are not even #blackberry. They look like phones that came out circa 2009.. seriously. It’s really disgusting and shameful that this continues to happen. Honestly @blackberry needs to put their foot down and get someone out there and push these carriers to play fair.
I’ll end this post on a good note. The #passport… are you kidding me? it is even more gorgeous live 😉 and in person.. I am not a big fella and it felt fantastic in my hands.. I even tried to see how working it with one hand would be and I think it isn’t bad at all… I can’t state it enough though.. the phone is gorgeous. It truly boggles my mind when I hear or read that the #passport is ugly. Too bad I couldn’t get to work it. I am so looking forward to 10.3.1 that I really wanted to be able to use the #passport a little.

I was holding off for the #classic… i’m not so sure now anymore. Problem is, if u blink u miss out on ordering a #passport because it goes out of stock so damn quickly ! Lol

Here’s my problem with Joanna’s Passport Review

Posted on September 26, 2014 Updated on September 27, 2014

First things first.. there’s no room for numbnuts who attack someone because the review of a phone isn’t to their liking. I have no tolerance for that. I think there is room for everyone to enjoy and promote whatever ecosystem, OS, phone that is out there. I also don’t think that @JoannaStern should be putting us all in the same bucket. Now having written that, I did the unthinkable and went ahead and viewed @JoannaStern review of the #passport again. I wanted to be sure it was fresh in my mind.
I can imagine @JoannaStern gets a shitload of money to do her job.. the thing is that her review seems very amateurish. It’s clear that there isn’t much effort put behind the review and more importantly getting to know the phone. It’s also very clear that her mind set is already set.. if u know what I mean. I am not going to go on any rant.. as I believe rants are for people who are insecure and hiding something. I will point out a few things that will showcase weakness in @JoannaStern review. The fact that she is trying to work the #passport with one hand tells you already that she’s not clued in. For one, anyone who purchases a phone with a physical keyboard intends to use both hands to type. No question. I should know because I am that person. I have a #Q10 and have never, ever tried to work the phone with one hand. Secondly, the #passport is a friggin BIG phone. Weak @JoannaStern, pretty weak. I have even read/seen reviews of the #iphone6plus from #fanboys (which is rectangular btw) where the reviewer points out that it’s difficult to work it with one hand. Atleast, it’s not comfortable or ideal. Oh, and it bends too. Now, speaking of the shape… it’s square.. get over it!!!! stop dwelling on the American cheese sized shape. #Blackberry broke the mold! They meant to do this. To be different. They succeeded.
You write that you used to write 60 words/minute on a curve and now only 45… really? Were you spitting out 60 words/minute on the curve day one? Again, fairly weak. Give it time. Maybe you need more than 3 weeks.. were you on the #passport exclusively during those 3 weeks?
Lastly and more annoyingly.. the ‘stop living in the past, it’s not 2005 anymore’. SAY WHAT? The design, functionality along with the keyboard amazing touch sensitive feature to name a few makes it ‘living in the past’? Really? Oh wait,no it’s the lack of #instagram , right? WRONG! Had you spent some time u’d realize instagram is available not only as an android port but also natively with @igrann. So the native maps doesn’t do it for you? No other alternative ? Hmm.
Anyway I will leave it at this. At the end of the day the biggest issue that #blackberry continues to have is folk like @JoannaStern. Folk who, yes i’ll write it… who follow (sheepishly) rather than be open minded.

Oh, one last thing.. referring to the OS as difficult is absurd.. anyone using that as a reason not to give the phone a chance has bigger issues… granted @JoannaStern does say that once the gestures are mastered it becomes speedy.
Disclaimer: I admit that my post here is based mostly on the video. I don’t like my time being wasted and the fact I gave it a second go around says something… so I had no intention of reading thru the written article that accompanied the video.

And u know what really grinds my gears.. some of us would die to get our hands on a phone like the #passport and to see u slap cheese on the screen the way u did.. holy crap. Shame on you!

I’m afraid it IS you @JoannaStern

My Greatest Sorrow is My Greatest Joy

Posted on June 9, 2014

Ever Wished That Calvin and Hobbes Creator Bill Watterson Would Return to the Comics Page? Well, He Just Did.

Posted on June 9, 2014

Let’s Talk about This Leia Thing

Posted on June 9, 2014

WordPress android port vs. Native BlackBerry 10 app

Posted on June 9, 2014 Updated on June 9, 2014

Alright so just like instagram i’ve decided to install the android port of wordpress to see how it fairs on my bb10 vs. The native app. Although the android port of instagram worked smoothly on my blackberry… eventually I found I was missing the user experience the native app gave me and so after about 5 days I decided to delete the android port of instagram and just use @igrann… this post is being written using the android port of #wordpress and so far I will say that the response is pretty decent. A few photos to test that portion as well…