The Smarter the Phone The Bigger the Genie in the Bottle

Recently politicos in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced a ban on email, text messages and web surfing from all BlackBerry smart phones in their country.

UAE placed the ban on Canadian-based Research in Motion (RIM) BlackBerry smart phones, because they cannot monitor email, text or web browsing, their highly regulated digital universe.

RIM is known for producing one of the most secure networks for any mobile device -- all BlackBerry information is funnelled through RIM’s own highly encrypted and secure servers, unlike Apple’s iPhone and Google-based Android smart phones, which depend on local cell phone carriers for data transfer and encryption services.

Controversy surrounding the state and freedom is nothing new – some of the greatest thinkers of our time have had clashes on their views from the state.

Copernicus faced excommunication from the Catholic Church, when he announced his discovery that the Earth wasn’t the center of the universe as was the populist thought back in the 16th century. Although he was right that the Sun was the center of the universe, and the Earth and all the planets rotated around the Sun, Copernicus was shunned by many – if BlackBerrys existed back then, his would have probably been bugged.

These days, when governments censor digital communications, they do so at the risk of turning back time on their citizens.

Just look at Google’s battle with China over censorship. Google threatened to pull out of China completely, unless the Chinese government backed off.

For most of us in North America, we couldn’t imagine a world without Google – it is the world’s largest Internet search engine.

UAE’s attempts to control BlackBerry communications are just another attempt by an overly powerful government to keep their citizens in the Dark Ages, by keeping technological genies in bottles out of the country.

Government officials in UAE claim they put the ban on the BlackBerry – which takes effect this October – because they can’t monitor email, text messages and web surfing patterns for illegal activities on it thanks to the highly secure RIM servers.

RIM says they are working with UAE officials to minimize the effects of the ban and perhaps have the ban lifted.

Saudi Arabia announced they too are also considering a ban on smart phone communications, and who knows what other dictatorships down the road may do so as well.

There is no word yet from the Chinese government on if they too are planning bans on smart phone communications, however if their recent and very public fight with Google are any indication, chances are they will jump onto the bandwagon.

The problem here isn’t just between private corporations like RIM and governments, the problem here is a global problem of epic proportions.

Yes, here in North America, and much of the Western World, we enjoy freedom of expression thanks to our open society. But isn’t it about time our world leaders took a more aggressive stand against other countries which trump their citizens freedoms?

Isn’t it about time our politicians stood up for the rights and freedoms of those who don’t have freedom to chat, text, email – essentially the freedom to think and express those thoughts?

Our digital world is making it harder and harder for political systems which rely on fear and domination – as it should. Now that we have the technology to break down these barriers, isn’t it about time our political leaders use that as a stepping stone to do just that?

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Want to Get Laid? There’s An App for That

How far would you push the bounds of technology to get what you want? Would you go so far as to use it to select a sexually compatible partner?

Today, MEDL Mobile released an application for Apple’s iPhone to assist men and women evaluate prospective sexual partners.

Free for the first two weeks, the application – or “app” in Apple lingo – let’s you create a sexual profile based on six categories of likes, dislikes, positions, fetishes and kinks, and then compares them to other user profiles using the same application.

The application connects to other iPhones using the BUMP app, which allows iPhone users to exchange contact information by “bumping” phones.

Don’t worry about airing out your dirty laundry to complete strangers – the application keeps your preferences private, it only shares whether or not the pairing is a good sexual match, leaving you to still make the first move. Though there is an option to post the number of BUMPS you’ve participated in to social networking sites Facebook and Twitter, and you can always share your success or failure stories online.

In our ever increasingly techno-dependent world, this was just bound to happen – an application which helps the one-night stand.

Although sexual attraction forms the basis for many first and second glances, it can never replace a good meal and fine conversation to really get to know someone. So if you’re looking for applications which will help you find that long-term soul mate, this isn’t the “app” for you.

However, if you’re looking for an easy way to break the ice with someone who shares the same sexual preferences you do, you may just get lucky.

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A Computer Whiz, a Bunch of Guys in Blue Suits, and an Apple, and Why They Don’t Get Along

Imagine being rushed to the hospital with a major gash in your arm. Blood is pouring out, to say you’re in a lot of pain doesn’t even come close to reality.

Upon arriving in the emergency room, nurses and doctors rush too your aid. They prop you up, take a look at you, and then inform you they can’t help.

“We’re sorry, you’re just not compatible with our medical practices,” the lead doctor informs you. “You’ll just have to go elsewhere.”

Although slightly exaggerated, that is exactly how the big computer companies treat us when we use “the other guy’s” products and services.

At work, I’ve been asked to find a way to see if I can get a Microsoft Word document to be linked to a Lotus Notes email. Lotus Notes (made by IBM) doesn’t work well with Microsoft-made Word. To complicate matters, my suggesting of having a link to the document stored on a network drive fell flat, because we are moving towards a Microsoft-based SharePoint server (essentially a web portal for data collaboration). We’re trying to move away from using the shared network drives, to encourage use of the web-based SharePoint sites.
SharePoint and Word function like two peas in a pod – they better, they are both made by Microsoft.

Lotus Notes on the other hand, isn’t very SharePoint-friendly – it’s a product from “big blue” IBM.

Ever since ex-Microsoft founder and CEO Bill Gates (he retired recently) left IBM to start his own company, the two haven’t seen eye-to-eye.

Can’t argue with Bill Gates, he originally was hired by IBM to create an operating system for their personal computers. He invented the IBM Disk Operating System (IBM-DOS), a revolutionary piece of software at the time, but the conservative blue suits at IBM didn’t like it at all.

As the legend goes, they told Bill to get lost.

So he did what any barely twenty-something computer genius would do. He stormed off, creating Microsoft, and used his cool software, wildly engaging intellect, and hatred for everything IBM to destroy any hopes of those suits and ties of having a successful career.

Oh IBM did put up a fight, first using Bill’s IBM-DOS until they came up with their own operating system in the early 1990’s called OS/2 Warp.

But by then it was too late, the real battle lines were being drawn between two completely different platforms – Apple and Microsoft-based Personal Computers. IBM wasn’t even in the game.

OS/2 Warp faded out of existence, much as most of IBM’s products for the home market did. All they really have out in the home market these days are Lexmark Printers – but that’s probably because few know Lexmark is owned by IBM.

These days, Microsoft owns the corporate and home computing markets, as 95 percent of the world’s computers run on the company’s Windows operating system.

Still, the big computer giants use us mere consumers as pawns in their battles for supremacy in the computer world. Apple, IBM and Microsoft products rarely work well – if at all -- with each other.

A friend got a new Apple iPod not all that long ago. Excited, she brought it over to my place to show it off. She plugged it into my computer, where it immediately warned that it was previously used on an Apple Mac-based computer (she’s a ‘Mac-head’), in order to use it on my Microsoft Windows-based computer it would have to be “initialized” (“formatted” in Apple lingo) and her all data would be lost!

Computer music and video files have been interchangeable on both Apple Mac and Windows-PC systems for decades. An MP3 music file on my Microsoft Windows-based PC will play exactly the same as it will on an Apple Mac-based computer.

Not so if you’re using an Apple iPod. The cute multi-colored devices will plug into a PC or a Mac – but you can’t go from one to the other without losing your music, video and other data files.

It’s like our example at the start – you are bleeding to death, but if you’re a PC and you go to a Mac hospital you’ll probably die because they won’t help you.

When will the big computer companies realize the lost revenues they could be earning by working together towards more compatible – not less – technologies?

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It’s All About the Free Munchies

I’ve admitted on this blog many times over that I’m a geek and proud of it. Some are born with a silver spoon in their mouth – must make speaking all the harder – I was born with a microchip.

One of the many things I do to keep current on some of the techy toys I use every day is attend professional development events.

Even way back when I was a newshound, I’d go to all the professional development events hosted by the professional associations.

Image by TheBeej via Flickr

The latest trend is to go to events not associated with any one specific profession or trade, but rather some sort of product or service.

Case in point, I just registered for a local Adobe InDesign User Group meeting, which takes place later this month. InDesign is a high-end desktop publishing application, used to layout everything from newspapers and magazines, to complete books, encyclopedias and more.

Can’t get more geeky than getting together with a bunch of like minded geeks, sitting in a lecture hall, and discussing shortcuts to save you time in some software application.

But the free coffee, fruit platters, and other assorted munchies they have is a big draw. Actually, the free food doesn’t draw people in, but the networking opportunities do.

During the event, and especially during the breaks when everyone can mix and mingle, you can meet all sorts of interesting characters, in fields related to the one you happen to be in.

I certainly get hounded by the younger members of the crowd, always eager to show me their latest CV, asking if I’m hiring or know someone who is.

Maybe I should stop shinning my shoes, or dress more like a kid out of college, because for some oddball reason, people often assume I’m the one to kiss up to, to get a job.

The fools.

Aside from the youngin’s drooling over the potential employment op

Image via Wikipedia

portunities that don’t really exist, I find it invigorating talking with others using the software in different fields.

After spending some time yaking with them, you quickly realize that we all encounter the same sorts of issues, but in different ways.

An advertising agency designer has to figure out how to resolve the color balances between the different hues represented on her monitor, and that of how the actual printed document will look on glossy posterboard.

A person trying to self-publish her book discovers that some of the templates for books don’t conform to standard publishing dimensions, and if she were to use these templates, she’d have to re-design her whole book should it get to a printing house.

I sit through the user group, enjoy the discussion, but not being a Mac-head (I use PCs) often scratch my head and wonder what key combination to use, whenever they demonstrate a cool feature using the “Apple” key – which my PC doesn’t have. And no, it isn’t always replaced by the “Windows” key – which you’d think makes logical sense.

Free munchies are nice, but the real draw for me, and the other ultra cool geeks in the room, is the sharing of knowledge.

And no webcams, chat rooms, or social networking sites were used either – which says something for the value of real-time, face-to-face communications.

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