iPhone Design Fail

This kind of defeats the 2mm you saved in thickness

Apple has finally added a dongle with both a charging port and an earphone port, and it is ugly and stupid:

It took an entire year after the release of the iPhone 7 for Apple to start selling a dongle that lets you plug in headphones (or your car’s AUX cable) and charge at the same time. But now it’s here. Apple is just selling the thing, mind you — not making it. In September, Belkin quietly announced a new, second version of its “Rockstar” adapter that now includes both a 3.5mm jack and Lightning port. Last year’s version had two Lightning ports, so if you wanted to use wired headphones with it, you had to plug Apple’s own headphone dongle into another dongle. Going double-dongle is bad enough on a laptop, but on a phone?! Good grief.

Well, this is expected for iPhone users.

After all, you get your super thin phone, and then you put the delicate snowflake in a case that doubles its thickness because otherwise it breaks in a stiff breeze.

I Really Don't Have an Opinion about the New iPhone, but………

Randall Munroe's unintentionally disturbing cartoon is a pretty good description what one typically sees:

Throw Your Amazon Echo out the Window Now

Amazon is looking at giving app developers access to audio recordings from its Alexa.

Such a good idea to give access to every conversation in your room to Russian hackers:

The data is also kept in the event it’s request by law enforcement, however Amazon fought police over what it saw as an overly broad request for audio logs on a murder suspect last year. (The company relented in April of this year and handed over the logs when the suspect voluntarily said he was willing to provide them.)

Amazon does not hand this data over to developers, The Information says, because such a move would undermine Amazon’s commitment to user privacy. However, because Google, which makes the most popular Echo competitor currently on the market, does give developers access to this data, Amazon’s Echo and Alexa divisions feel they are at a disadvantage, the report states. Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its data-sharing policies for the Home speaker.

For instance, some developers fear that without audio logs of requests, like those related to a food delivery order, they won’t know exactly what went wrong if the order is ultimately incorrect and the customer unhappy. According to The Information, Amazon does give some data over to a select few “whitelisted” developers, though how that system works is unclear. Amazon is considering granting third-party app developers access to transcripts of audio recordings saved by Alexa-powered devices, according to a report from The Information today. The change would be aimed at enticing developers to continue investing in Alexa as a voice assistant platform, by giving those app makers more data that could help improve their software over time. Amazon’s goal, according to The Information, is to stay competitive with more recent entrants in the smart speaker market, like Apple and Google.

Amazon declined to comment on its future plans for Alexa data-sharing policies. However, a company spokesperson told The Verge, “When you use a skill, we provide the developer the information they need to process your request. We do not share customer identifiable information to third-party skills without the customer’s consent. We do not share audio recordings with developers.”

As it stands today, Amazon records audio through Alexa devices like the Echo home speaker and the new Echo Look camera and Echo Show monitor, however only after a “wake word” like “Hey Alexa” is used to prime the software. These devices send these audio clips to an Amazon-owned server where they’re analyzed to produce a near-instantaneous response from Alexa, but where they’re also stored so Amazon can improve its digital assistant through artificial intelligence training techniques.

………

Amazon does not hand this data over to developers, The Information says, because such a move would undermine Amazon’s commitment to user privacy. However, because Google, which makes the most popular Echo competitor currently on the market, does give developers access to this data, Amazon’s Echo and Alexa divisions feel they are at a disadvantage, the report states. Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its data-sharing policies for the Home speaker.

For instance, some developers fear that without audio logs of requests, like those related to a food delivery order, they won’t know exactly what went wrong if the order is ultimately incorrect and the customer unhappy. According to The Information, Amazon does give some data over to a select few “whitelisted” developers, though how that system works is unclear.

Yeah, throw out Google Home as well.

Orwell in a f%$#ing box.

Gee, Training and Valuing Employees Works

While many brick and mortar retail establishments suffering, Best Buy is thriving because it trains and values its employees:

Five years ago Best Buy Co. looked like a retail dinosaur, another victim of e-commerce juggernaut Amazon.com and other online sellers.

The big-box electronics chain was suffering dwindling sales and profits due in good part to “showrooming,” when shoppers would come in to a Best Buy store to check out televisions, computers and other items in person, and then buy them at cheaper prices at Amazon or elsewhere online.

Best Buy also was struggling with executive turmoil and facing a buyout threat from a major stockholder. The chain in 2012 named a new chief executive, Hubert Joly, but the Frenchman came from the hospitality field and had no retail experience.

His appointment stunned analysts, with one saying that fixing Best Buy was “a herculean task even for an accomplished retail executive.”

But Joly has proved up to the task so far. Under his turnaround plan, Best Buy has rebounded to remain one major U.S. retailer that’s holding its own in the face of Amazon’s relentless growth and the conventional retail industry’s slump.

………

That’s keeping the pressure on Richfield, Minn.-based Best Buy to keep wringing more profit from each dollar of revenue if it hopes to maintain its momentum. Joly (pronounced jo-lee) already has shown it can be done.

His first move was to match any rival’s prices, especially those at Amazon, so that in-store shoppers no longer needed to buy elsewhere.

“We had no choice, we had to take price off the table and match online prices,” Joly said.

………

The company plowed a chunk of the savings into better training its employees so that they can explain products to shoppers, which Joly believed was critical because new technology often is confusing to many consumers.

Best Buy, with 125,000 employees overall, “has done an excellent job improving customer service,” [Piper Jaffray analyst Peter] Keith said in a recent note to clients.

Juan Ortiz of Glendale, who was at the Atwater Village store to buy a Nest Cam security camera, noticed the difference.

“If I’m going to spend a few hundred [dollars] on a security system, I want to talk with the employees and make sure I’m getting the best one,” Ortiz said. “It also helps that they explain everything. If I got it on Amazon, I’d be on my own.”

(emphasis mine)

The complete unwillingness of American management to invest anything in training its employees has always baffled me, particularly in retail.

My guess is that managers have been trained to treat their employees like crap, so any training serves to give them other options, which they will take, because you treat them like crap.

The result is a race to the bottom, and the commoditization of retailers, which gives you the purgatory that is Amazon.

More News from the Internet of Things

In another episode of how manufacturers are f%$#ing things making ordinary objects around your house internet enabled, now hackers can take over your dishwasher:

Don't say you weren't warned: Miele went full Internet-of-Things with a network-connected dishwasher, gave it a web server, and now finds itself on the wrong end of a security bug report – and it's accused of ignoring the warning.

The utterly predictable vulnerability advisory on the Full Disclosure mailing list details CVE-2017-7240 – aka "Miele Professional PG 8528 - Web Server Directory Traversal.” This is the builtin web server that's used to remotely control the glassware-cleaning machine from a browser.

“The corresponding embedded Web server 'PST10 WebServer' typically listens to port 80 and is prone to a directory traversal attack, therefore an unauthenticated attacker may be able to exploit this issue to access sensitive information to aide in subsequent attacks,” reads the notice, dated Friday.

………

And because Miele is an appliance company and not a pure-play IT company, it doesn't have a process for reporting or fixing security bugs. The researcher who noticed the dishwasher's web server vuln – Jens Regel of German company Schneider-Wulf – complains that Miele never responded when he contacted the biz with his findings; he says his first contact was made in November 2016.

Appliance makers: stop trying to connect stuff to networks, you're no good at it.

I would also add, regulators need to police this stuff, and civil liability law needs to be rewritten to ensure that the manufacturers, and perhaps senior management are explicitly liable for this crap, including punitively harsh mandatory penalties.

If copyright trolls can threaten 6 figure judgements against people's kids who Bit Torrent a Nickelback song,^* then these manufacturers need to face at least that much jeopardy.

^*I will note, if your kids are downloading Nickelback, I do think that a visit from Child Protective Services (CPS) might be in order, because, well, it's f%$#ing Nickelback.

This is Our Dystopian Future

Couldn't adjust my air conditioning today because my thermostat was offline. The future is amazing! pic.twitter.com/hlMgaImAiz

— Adam Driscoll (@adamdriscoll) May 31, 2016

People in tech talk about the "Internet of Things" all the time.

They think it will make our lives a paradise.

I think that it will mean that the technology will be less reliabl.

I am also not particularly keen on my regrigerator spying on me when I raid it at 1 in he morning. 

I want to be alone with my fruit stuffed pasties, thank you very much.

H/t naked capitalism.

F#$@ Autocorrect

I am sending a text to She Who Must be Obeyed about getting a dorm fridge to our daughter, and future Tony Award winning actress, Natalie.

She wanted to get it here, and then schlep it up.

I thought that we could find something cheaper in the greater New York City area, so while commuting, I did a web search, and found something quite competitive less than a mile from her school.

What's more, the have free delivery.

It seemed like a winner to me, but when I attempted to text her that there was a better alternative in Manhattan, what I actually sent said, "Found cheaper fridges in lesbianism."

Lesbianism?!?  Seriously?!?

I am SO ready for Babel Fish enabled cell phones.

Posted via mobile.

Damn

I just finished lugging about 30 lbs of dry ice.

Our refrigerator has stopped cooling.

The internal fan still works, so hopefully the dry ice will make everything last until the appliance guy gets in.

Not a Big Fan of Apple Products…

But I have to give props to some of the people who makes cases for the iPhone.
Here we have:

• A bottle opener.
• A severed hand.
• An Etch-a-Sketch Case. (this link applies to the rest)
• A cassette tape.
• A 1980s cell phone
• A wooden camera.

Among others.

It's amusing, but the iPhone is still an over-priced, over-restricted product of a control freak who wants to tell its user community just how they are supposed to use their own phones.

Because of the uniformity of the product, Android phones come in all shapes and sizes, it's something that you will find the variety of accessories of this type in a phone ecosystem that is freer.

Posting From the Road

In preparation for a long Thanksgiving drive, I decided to set up my new phone, a Samsung Epic 4G, to tether to my laptop.

It turns out that it's disabled by Sprint, unless you want to pay an additional $30.00/month for the privilege.

Luckily, the phone is an Android™, and not, for example, an iPhone™, so:

• I turned on USB debugging mode.
• Downloaded an application to root the phone.
• Unzipped the file.
• Ran a batch file.
• Downloaded Google's Android-Wifi-Tether to the phone, and installed it.
• Set up the name and password.
• Turned off USB debugging mode.

So, now I am posting this to you through my cell phone's WiFi connection on my laptop while on I-295.^*

In any case, this reveals how a more open architecture than the Apple/iPhone can let one take full advantage of the capabilities of the phone that you actually paid for.

Sweet, though I still think that Android's Calendar is kind of weak.

In any case, I am posting this from my laptop in  moving car, and theoretically, we could have up to 4 devices attached.

My thoughts on the phone:

• The display is positively stunning.
• The touch screen, which does not require a stylus, is still not completely comfortable to me.
• Having actual multi-tasking is useful, though one has to be careful to not allow something in the background that will kill the battery.
• The keyboard is very nice.
• The camera is nice.
• Reception is much better than my Palm.
• 4G coverage is kind of spotty, but it is still being built out by Sprint.
• Posting to the blog from the phone is still a pain, which is one of the reasons that I am tethering the laptop to the phone.  The other reason is so that we could watch Youtubes and the Macy's Parade.
• Having real GPS on the phone, as opposed to cell tower triangulation, is wonderful.
• Wifi mode chews the battery something fierce.  If you don't have it plugged in when using it, you won't get much time.

^*No, I m not driving, my wife is.  I may be crazy, but I am not stupid.

Our Annoying World

My old Palm OS™ phone is wearing out, the keyboard is no longer working, so I got an upgraded phone, a Samsung Epic.

Now I have to teach myself a completely new OS, android, for my phone, and figure out how to sync it with Outlook.

It's an impressive phone though.

It happens every time I upgrade my phone.

Stop Drinking and Watch

Jon Stewart on unforced campaigning errors.

If you drink, you will spew:

IP and Protecting the Incumbent Players

Once again, the Obama administration has gone for a maximalist position on IP, and they are looking at making radio stations start paying license fees to performers, aka a "public performance right":

The recording industry scored a significant victory today with news that the Obama administration will provide its "strong support" for the Performance Rights Act. The bill would force over-the-air radio stations to start coughing up cash for the music they play; right now, the stations pay songwriters, but not the actual recording artists.

I will say that this is a basically fair, since web broadcasters, satellite radio have to pay these fees, and the status of Radio is a historical artifact dating back something like 70 years.

The record distributors love this, and the radio stations (rather unsurprisingly) hate this law.

This, in and of itself, is neither surprising, nor particularly interesting to me.

What is interesting is that the RIAA is trying to cut a Verizon/Google type deal on this:

Music labels and radio broadcasters can't agree on much, including whether radio should be forced to turn over hundreds of millions of dollars a year to pay for the music it plays. But the two sides can agree on this: Congress should mandate that FM radio receivers be built into cell phones, PDAs, and other portable electronics.

The Consumer Electronics Association, whose members build the devices that would be affected by such a directive, is incandescent with rage. "The backroom scheme of the [National Association of Broadcasters] and RIAA to have Congress mandate broadcast radios in portable devices, including mobile phones, is the height of absurdity," thundered CEA president Gary Shapiro. Such a move is "not in our national interest."

This is really pretty absurd. If you have an MP3 player, you can play the song that you want, and not tune into the repetitive crap that comes out of the increasingly conglomerate dominated commercial FM airwaves, though I could see listening to a sporting event.

On a deeper level though, this is profoundly disturbing, because it shows how blatant the incumbents in various segments of our society have become in divvying up the spoils through as privileged participants in the legislative process.

If people really want to change the tenor of Washington, they should start by taking on this sort of corruption head on, and get to Republicans and Democrats calling each other names later.

My New Toy

Click for full size

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My new laptop, the Gateway NV7915u.

It's more of a desktop replacement that can be transported to stationary locations than a laptop per se. It's rather boat-anchorish, but that is what I am looking for.

It booted up fine, and I've been purging the crapware, particularly the Norton demo. (Friends don't let friends put Norton on their machines)

In any case, here are pictures.

How to Skip DVD Trailers

It appears that if you press, STOP, STOP, PLAY, you can skip trailers, the Blu-Ray ads, the FBI warning, and the rest of the crap that they put in front of you being able to watch your flick..

Generally we do PPV, as opposed to renting, but I will try it next we rent a DVD.

For Corporate Stress Relief

Apply to the………

I was in the drug store, and walked by where they have all those odd things that you see on afternoon TV, and saw the Thera Pen Massager.

It's a pen with a rubber cap on the end, and when pressure is applied, it vibrates, like, you know, a vibrator.

I can see it being used for stress relief, but I kind of figure that the illustrations shown here don't refer to where it might be more likely used.

BTW, if someone asks to borrow your pen, tell them to wash it before they return it.

This is Cool

Instead of trainwheels, the bike has a gyro stabilized front wheel.

There are three levels of stabilization, which helps to wean kids off of the need for assisted stabilization gradually.

Economics Update

Click for full size

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Decline in job openings since 2007
h/t Zero Hedge

The US trade deficit grew by 9.7% in November, largely on the recent run up in oil prices.

The National Federation of Independent Business's small business optimism index fell for the 2^nd straight month in December, indicating that the small business segment is still not ready to start hiring.

In central bank land, the yield on 30-year treasuries fell again, indicating an expectation that rates would remain low, while in China, the central bank raised the reserve requirement for banks by 50 basis points.

In energy, oil continues to fall on the promise of warmer weather.

In currency, the dollar rose, both on investor jitters, and on the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President being a complete moron and talking up rate hikes. (more on this later)

Neat Tech That Won't Be Going Into Aviatiion

Dyson, the company that uses a centrifugal separator in its vacuum cleaner, has another piece of neat tech, a Bladeless fan that works on the Coanda effect.

It's a really interesting concept, if you don't mind spending $299.99 for a 10" freaking table top fan.

In any case, Bill Sweetman notes that this technology might have application for a VTOL aircraft, though, as he notes this concept is very close to the ejector lift concept that has failed abysmally when it has been tried.

For quieting a fan, it might work, for generating lots of thrust for VTOL, I'd wait for more tests.

I am a Complete Moron

I spent 2 hours today trying to get a video of my daughter off a DVD that my neighbor, Michelle took of Natalie singing when she was at North Bay camp with her middle school class last year.

I kept getting parity and read errors, I tried a dozen utilities, with no luck....Then it hit me.

How about Cleaning the Fracking DVD?????

After about 30 seconds with a cloth for cleaning eyeglasses, the videos were on my hard drive.

As the saying goes, "ない愚かさはない薬です".<sup>*

*</sup>Pronounced in Japanese, "baka ni tsukeru kusuri wanai", which means, "There is no medicine for stupidity."