It’s The Universal Translator And I’ve Got One

The app will even say your translated phrase back to you. I can assure you loving cheese in French is a lot more romantic than loving it in English!

The Foxes don’t always see eye-to-eye. I love my iPhone (and love complaining about its shortcomings). Helaine just wants a phone that can make calls. Fine.

Today there’s one more reason to love my smartphone and maybe make her a tiny bit jealous. Google has made it smarter! It is multilingual with Google’s new 50+ language translation tool.

You can type in a phrase, but that’s so 20th Century (and already available on the web). Instead just hold the cellphone up and speak.

Geoff: “I love cheese.”
Google: “J’adore le fromage.”

The app will even say your translated phrase back to you. I can assure you loving cheese in French is a lot more romantic than loving it in English!

Based on what I’ve seen with similar apps the ‘magic’ isn’t happening in my phone. Instead my digitized words are sent to a server farm for processing.

You know what? I don’t care. It works.

Of course there’s always the chance for a Jimmy Carter moment. Life is full of unforeseen perils!

This is Star Trek! I hold in my hand the Universal Translator.

It’s absolutely free!

I Almost Forgot – AT&T The Biggest Vacation Disappointment

Often my phone would show full signal yet be unable to originate or receive calls. Data was pretty spotty too.

It was my intention to totally depend on my iPhone 3Gs’s cell service for voice and data while on vacation in Las Vegas. Like everyone I’ve heard horror stories, but my service here in Connecticut is mostly good. Unfortunately, I have also documented trips to New York, Los Angeles and Boston where service was frustrating. Add Las Vegas to the list.

Often my phone would show full signal yet be unable to originate or receive calls. Stef’s BlackBerry and Helaine’s Samsung suffered a similar fate.

Data was pretty spotty too. Sometimes my phone would display “3G.” At other times it was the slower “E” or mysterious “O.” Often there was no data indicator at all! Unfortunately even seeing a data indicator didn’t mean there was access!

I ran an online speed test a few times. Once it wouldn’t work because there was no data access. Other times it was so slow as to be unusable for any purpose other than establishing how slow it was!

This is just nuts. There’s no excuse for this. Cell service is supposed to be a mature product. How can AT&T be the only company that hasn’t mastered this?

An IPhone Revisit

“Call Harold Fox home,” I’ll say. “Subway State Street work,” the phone will reply.

It’s been about a year since I got my iPhone. That’s long enough to form an opinion, right?

I love/hate the phone! No middle ground. Some things are spectacular while others leave me scratching my head.

Recently a friend told me he was shying away from a touchscreen phone because he was scared he wouldn’t be able to hit the keys correctly. That fear, which I shared before getting the iPhone, is overblown. You get used to touching correctly to achieve your goal in a hurry. Even when you miss the auto-correction is mostly good–not always!

There’s so much the phone does… so many reasons to use it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been at dinner with co-workers or even talking to a friend and pulled out the phone to find the answer to a question. That’s powerful!

I don’t own a GPS unit for my car, but the iPhone is a more than passable stand-in using free software from MapQuest.

It’s beautifully built. The iPhone is Swiss watchlike in its fit and finish.

What irks me is what the phone won’t do. I can’t sync to my laptop without getting a cable and plugging the phone in. Is the phone capable of syncing wirelessly? Yes, because apps exist to do just that with a jailbroken&#185 phone. Apple just won’t allow it!

The same goes for streaming audio. If I listen to NPR’s streaming programs Apple says they must go through the iPhone’s tiny speaker which is hardly audible in my car. I know I can stream to my Bluetooth earpiece because I have a program which does that, but only on phones which are jailbroken.

Some of Apple’s moves are unexplainable. Others are to protect its revenue stream. That seems stingy considering I’ve already bought the phone.

I like to use the handsfree dialing capability. With my earpiece in one it’s just one press of a button away. It is by far the least dependable part of the phone!

“Call Harold Fox home,” I’ll say.

“Subway State Street work,” the phone will reply.

Then I have to scramble to cancel the call before it goes through.

Once when calling my parents it couldn’t figure out which phone.

“Harold Fox, home or mobile?” it asked.

“Home,” I replied.

“Mobile,” the phone confirmed and off it went to ring up my parent’s cellphone.

I guess the true test of any product is if you’d buy another?

Yes, I would.

&#185 – Jailbreaking refers to unlocking the phone so software which hasn’t been approved by Apple can be installed.

Verizon Hasn’t Learned The Lesson Of Rickel Home Centers

As an iPhone user let me tell you simultaneous data and voice is everything the iPhone is about.

I was thinking of Rickel Home Centers this afternoon. Remember Rickel?

Rickel helps you do it better
Do it beter with Rickel!

Before the advent of big box stores Rickel was a chain of moderately large hardware stores. As Home Depot began to encroach on its territory Rickel rolled out a commercial where they made fun of Home Depot’s greatest strength–its size!

Home Depot stores were too large they implied. You’ll be confused… slowed down… need to bring provisions.

How’d that work for you Rickel? Oops.

I thought of that because of a Wall Street Journal quote from a Verizon spokesman. It was pointed out even with iPhones Verizon’s CDMA network (CDMA is Verizon’s cellphone transmission protocol) doesn’t allow for simultaneous voice and data from the same device. You can’t talk and use data at the same time.

Verizon Wireless is working on providing that capability, said Verizon executive Brian Higgins. He wouldn’t say when it will be ready, but played down the need for handling voice and data at the same time.

“I think there are fringe cases where something like that could be important,” Mr. Higgins said. “For a vast majority of customers, I don’t think it’s a terribly important use case.”

Obviously Brian never heard the “Home Depot is too big” Rickel ads.

As an iPhone user let me tell you simultaneous data and voice is everything the iPhone is about. For new iPhone users this might not be a big deal, but anyone whose already using an iPhone and is thinking of switching this could be a deal breaker.

The More Things Change The More Money Talks

If you are not paying for it, you’re not the customer; you’re the product being sold.

There is a quote attributed to Andrew Lewis (who sells t-shirts emblazoned with it):

If you are not paying for it, you’re not the customer; you’re the product being sold.

Keep that in mind. Things are changing in the tech world. They’re probably not changing for your benefit. As products evolve the user is more-and-more the product being delivered to others. You are less lkely to be in control of your digital fate.

The Times had a big article this weekend about HTML5 the new iteration of the language that runs the Worldwide Web.

In the next few years, a powerful new suite of capabilities will become available to Web developers that could give marketers and advertisers access to many more details about computer users’ online activities. Nearly everyone who uses the Internet will face the privacy risks that come with those capabilities, which are an integral part of the Web language that will soon power the Internet: HTML 5.

Marketers and advertisers are paying for access and they’ll call the shots! You are more valuable to them when they’ve probed into things you might consider private.

The same goes with your cellphone. My iPhone is jailbroken which means I’m not limited to installing programs Apple approves of and profits from. Jailbreaking is to my benefit not the benefit of the cell providers or operators of app stores.

A cautionary story circulating this weekend told the tale of T-mobile’s new tact to stop jailbreaking of its Android phones. Basically the phone will ‘cleanse’ itself of unapproved files you’ve loaded at regular intervals.

… when unsuspecting members of the public buy The “T-Mobile G2 with Google” phone at a T-Mobile store, they aren’t getting a customizable mobile computer or phone but are instead getting a device where the hardware itself dramatically limits users’ right to make changes to their computers and install the operating system of their choice.

Some tech sites have taken to calling the G2’s hidden program a ‘rootkit.’ That’s a scare tactic. However, to say this ‘feature’ acts the same way a difficult to cleanse computer virus acts isn’t far off point.

I saw early signs of this trend when I bought this Dell 640m with Windows Vista a few years ago. The ability to record audio that’s being sent to the speakers had been removed. The hardware to do it was still in the laptop (since it does it in its Windows XP version) but the functionality had been stripped from the operating system. This wasn’t done for end users but for content producers who are Microsoft’s more important customers.

If you’re used to surfing to anything on the Internet or fast forwarding your DVR through commercials be prepared to see those features fade! You’re benefitting to the detriment of those who really pay the freight.

The digital golden age might already be over.

Is This Any Way To Run A Business?

If I read this correctly at&t’s hopes for a rosy future aren’t pinned on a superior product. In large part of their future is hinged on their customer’s expense and difficulty in switching to another carrier!

I am a reasonably happy at&t customer. Yes, there are problems. About 50% of the time I speak to my child in California the call is dropped. It’s tough to make calls or use my data plan from New York City. As we found in June at&t service at Boston’s Fenway Park… oy!

For me in Connecticut mostly it’s fine and even with a love/hate relationship my iPhone is by far the best phone I’ve ever held in my sweaty hand.

That preface is necessary because I want to talk about at&t’s business a little. They have thrived with the iPhone, but it seems they’ll soon be losing their exclusivity.

If I were at&t I’d worry.

Oh hell, how can they not worry? Still their CEO was quoted today downplaying the downside of post-iPhone defections. Here’s how Electronista played it.:

These would be locked into an extended contract that would make it difficult to switch, [at&t CEO Randall] Stephenson said. The statements also gave an opportunity to reiterate beliefs that corporate and family plans would save AT&T, as 80 percent are in non-individual plans that are costlier or more impractical to leave.

If I read this correctly at&t’s hopes for a rosy future aren’t pinned on a superior product. Their business model seems predicated on their customer’s expense and difficulty in switching to another carrier!

I’m not a business person. I probably don’t see the big picture. I just wish this wasn’t how big business worked.

Crazy Phone Tricks For Stef

She doesn’t want to lose touch with her friends by changing the number. At the same time she wants people in California to know she lives there–especially potential employers.

Stef lives in Southern California, specifically the San Fernando Valley aka 818. Her 203 cellphone is still associated with life in Connecticut. It’s the number all her friends have.

She has a problem!

She doesn’t want to lose touch with her friends by changing the number. At the same time she wants people in California to know she lives there–especially potential employers.

There is a solution that’s free and (of course) it’s from Google!

She’ll be getting a Google Voice account. There are lots of ways to use it, but for Stef it will be a virtual phone number. Dial either her Connecticut or California numbers to ring her cell phone. Google Voice can be programmed to ring other phones too, but this is a start.

The number comes with free texting and nearly understandable written transcription of voicemails. Of all the things Google does transcribing voicemail is the thing it does worst!

As always I have no idea what the business model is or how Google plans on making money from this service. It’s just there.

All Stef has to do now is pick an area code (she can choose any in SoCal or nationwide) and select a number.

It seems too good to be true. It’s not.

Is The Future of Video Portable?

I am talking about watching live video on the iPhone, but any comparable device will work. The device must be fully portable.

I’m on the sofa. Just a few lights on down here. As I type on my laptop the Phillies are playing on the iPhone.

The image at the top of this entry is a real size screengrab off the iPhone. That’s how it looks. I think it’s pretty darn good on WiFi. 3G has less bandwidth so sometimes the picture gets a little blockier.

I’ve written about this before. Allow me one more shot. The portable media player is a very powerful platform.

A few definitions first.

I am talking about watching live video on the iPhone, but any comparable device will work. The device must be fully portable. I’m using my WiFi network at home, but the phone will effortlessly (though not smoothly) get its data through the cellular 3G network when needed.

What’s the right programming for these portable devices? Figure that out and win the prize. Nobody knows for sure. Sports works, but not when it’s also available on the big screen.

Portable needs content different from fixed. The standard thirty minute TV blocks don’t work here.

This would be narrowcasting as opposed to broadcasting–specialized programming to fit an occupation or hobby or locale. To thrive the programming must be short and compelling–compelling content. Production values aren’t as important when the viewer wants what’s in the show. That allows lower production costs.

I purchase a subscription to see the Phils. That’s a revenue stream legacy TV doesn’t get. Is advertiser supported also a viable option, or maybe a blend of both?

The real business model is still unwrtten.

How much of a problem is bandwidth and battery life? Video sucks batteries and bandwidth voraciously. It’s all problematic at best.

It’s just the more I use a mobile video platform the more powerful it seems. As soon as everyone else has the opportunity to use portable video this whole concept will explode.

I’ve Got No Choice With Apple’s New Terms

No negotiations. No grace period. Agree or stay away. Agree is the only choice you’re given–literally and figuratively!

I picked up a new app for my iPhone tonight. That meant going to the apps store where a new license agreement was waiting for me.

I pasted my screencap in at a larger than normal size so you could easily see what I saw. The agreement is 62 screens long!

I really had no choice. In order to properly bring my iPhone updated and enhanced software I have to agree. No negotiations. No grace period. Agree or stay away. Agree is the only choice you’re given–literally and figuratively!

That sucks.

What is it that Apple wants that takes up 62 pages? What do they want today they didn’t want yesterday? Why can they change the rule after I’ve already bought the phone and gotten locked into their system?

There’s a good reason I feel powerless.

I don’t have the answers. I wish I did.

Google, Verizon and Me (But Mostly Them)

Where’s the no evil company that previously championed net neutrality? They want to redefine net neutrality so it’s not always neutral.

Have you seen the Google/Verizon position on net neutrality? I expected Verizon’s position but Google? Where’s the no evil company that once championed net neutrality? They want to redefine net neutrality so it’s not always neutral.

I am incredibly disappointed with Google and will begin to question my extremely complex relationship with them. This is a stunning turnaround!

The Electronic Freedom Foundation (and many others) chimed in. They disapprove too.

The problem is bandwidth providers like cable TV or phone and cellular companies are not dispassionate observers. Along with conserving their pipes they want to be able to monetize my surfing. I want my online requests fulfilled without worrying whether they’re also in the best interest of my carrier.

In this conflict shouldn’t I prevail? That’s what net neutrality is all about.

It’s tough for me to think companies like Verizon and now Google are operating with my best interest first. Maybe it is to be expected. That’s not evil. It’s just true.

To The Cellphone Store

At one point I asked Kim, my cell wrangler, if people yelled much. She smiled. As with the airlines low level employees are left to deal with the angst caused by confusing and misleading advertising or gotcha surprises.

We had a family conference last night after I looked at our cellphone usage. We’ve been going over our allotment the past few months saved only by rollover from earlier times.

Post-college Stef’s needs have changed. More calling. Less texting. That reflects her lack of face-to-face time with some friends.

I went to the cellphone store this afternoon. Time to rejigger the plan.

Cellphone plans need to take a page from supermarkets: unit pricing! I’d like to know what I’m really buying and how it compares. I suspect it’s not the top priority for the cell carriers. As far as I can tell none of them provide it.

In the end I cut Stef’s Internet allowance (she uses very little only checking email), left texting where it was (we use little, but the family plan favors staying unlimited) and upped our family talk minutes from 1,100 to 1,400.

Here’s the funny part. Going to 1,400 minutes makes us eligible for a plan where ten specified phone numbers can be called without using minutes… which means our current 1,100 minutes would work fine…. but you can’t get the plan at 1,100 minutes!

There’s laughter at the cell company’s home office when people discover this, right?

At one point I asked Kim, my cell wrangler, if people yelled much. She smiled. As with the airlines low level employees are left to deal with the angst caused by confusing and misleading advertising or gotcha surprises. She got no grief from me.

Bottom line I think I save $5/month though I suspect there’s not a human on Earth who could tell me that definitively.

iPhone 4 Solution: The Part That Doesn’t Make Sense

Unfortunately some of Jobs’ presentation didn’t make sense to me, specifically where he said all smartphones suffer signal degradation when you hold them the wrong way.

Steve Jobs gave another iPhone 4 presentation today. This wasn’t as joyous as his first because he was trying to undo the damage from a small technical problem that Apple milked into a large PR problem.

The solution to Apple’s iPhone 4 antenna woes is free cases for all! Even Consumer Reports was hoping for that solution. Who am I to not approve?

Unfortunately some of Jobs’ presentation didn’t make sense to me, specifically where he said all smartphones suffer signal degradation when you hold them the wrong way.

  • The iPhone’s antenna is external–actually part of the case
  • Holding the phone with your finger in the wrong spot on the antenna detunes it attenuating the signal
  • A plastic or rubber case/bumper will solve the problem by moving your finger off the antenna

But Steve, the other smartphones already have plastic around their antennas because all the other smartphones have their antennas inside the case.

Either

  • A case solves the iPhone’s problems
  • or

  • The other ‘pre-cased’ phones really don’t suffer this problem.

It doesn’t seem like it can be both. It’s not a big deal, but I still feel like I’m being spun. I hate being spun.

Oh Apple

Oh Apple. You shot yourself in the foot with your own gun. It wasn’t pretty. Even Toyota feels bad for you.

Oh Apple. You shot yourself in the foot with your own gun. It wasn’t pretty. Even Toyota feels bad for you.

To briefly recap, Apple released the iPhone 4 to uniformly rave reviews. Then people began to notice holding the phone in your hand could weaken the signal enough to disconnect your call!

PC World said,

In an e-mail Jobs downplayed users’ reception gripes as a “non-issue.” Meanwhile, others within Apple are advising iPhone 4 users to avoid gripping the device from the lower left corner.

Yeah user–it’s your fault.

Later Apple claimed there was no antenna problem. The signal bars were calculated improperly (meaning they historically made at&t’s network look better than it was!). Now Consumer Reports has burst that balloon.

When your finger or hand touches a spot on the phone’s lower left side—an easy thing, especially for lefties—the signal can significantly degrade enough to cause you to lose your connection altogether if you’re in an area with a weak signal. Due to this problem, we can’t recommend the iPhone 4.

Apple is putting on a clinic in how to kill your brand. Their strong selling points were unquestioned quality and reliability. This isn’t some Acer or Asus–it’s Apple.

Airlines walked this road. Early on the old line airlines turned up their noses at the low cost competitors. That service differential is gone. Now they compete solely on price and the legacy carriers operate from a weakened position.

Apple has scheduled a Friday press conference. They need to take responsibility even if they don’t feel responsible. Apple needs to finally claim some high ground.

Iphone’s Rotten Apple

We decided from the outset to set the formula for our bars-of-signal strength indicator to make the iPhone look good — to make it look as if it “gets more bars”. That decision has now bitten us on our ass.

Oh Apple. How could you take the sparkle covered unicorn of technology, the iPhone 4, and screw it up? The controversy over cell reception with the new iPhone 4 is fading away, but make no mistake you are injured. It’s not pretty.

If you’ve been under a rock for the last week or so let me set the scene.

Apple released the new iPhone 4 and almost immediately heard from users there were reception problems. Hold your hand in the wrong place (the most convenient place for your hand to be) and the incoming signal as displayed on the beautiful iPhone 4 screen would plunge. Some folks reported going from four bars to just one by merely picking up their phone.

A name was coined for the problem: Death Grip. That’s a p.r. nightmare in itself.

Steve Jobs’ rollout of the iPhone 4 played up the new ‘integrated in the case’ antenna. That means the whole hand/reception problem was more than a little embarrassing.

Last Thursday Endgadget posted this response to the antenna problem from Apple:

In essence, Apple cops to the fact there are reception issues with the new iPhone — namely, that if you cover the bottom-left corner of the phone and bridge the gap between the notch there with your naked flesh, you could see some signal degradation. Yes, you read that right: it’s not a software or production issue, simply a matter of the physical location of your hand in regards to the phone’s antenna. The company’s suggested fix? Move your hand position, or get a case which covers that part of the phone, thus breaking contact.

So Apple’s checked the problem and it’s YOU! Maybe they misread the old adage as “the customer is always right handed?”

On top of this a series of emails were circulated and attributed to Steve Jobs. In Jobs’ typically terse style they dismiss or downplay the complaints of Apple’s customers. Some took a decidedly “let them eat cake” tone.

There’s a question now whether those emails were real but no one disavowed them at the time. Disavow and undo are two separate concepts.

Finally today another announcement from Apple… a strange announcement.

Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong.

So, yes a hand in the wrong spot does reduce the signal strength, but not to the extent shown on the phone.

John Gruber at Daring Fireball rewrote Apple’s announcement to reflect what he sees as the reality of the situation:

We decided from the outset to set the formula for our bars-of-signal strength indicator to make the iPhone look good — to make it look as if it “gets more bars”. That decision has now bitten us on our ass.

This condition has existed since the iPhone was first released which means Apple and at&t have been lying about mistakenly reporting signal strength in their favor since day one! That’s a whole other can of worms.

If Apple wasn’t so secretive… if Apple hadn’t taken such a greedily protective stance toward the iPhone this might not be a big deal. But they are and it is.

Blogger’s addendum: Though my iPhone could be running iOS4 I have held back because of jailbreaking, a process which enables me to install software Apple might not approve of (on my phone). So far no reliable, simple, reversible jailbreak has been issued. I expect I won’t have long to wait.

Verizon Adds Insult To Injury For Dead Soldier’s Family

The customer service agent’s job isn’t to fix problems. The agent’s job is to make the person complaining go away! Of course something could be done and was done once this story saw the light of day.

If you’re Ivan Seidenberg, CEO of Verizon, what’s it worth to you not to see this headline on Consumerist?

Verizon: Die Fighting In Afghanistan, Pay $350 Early Termination Fee

I’ve written more than once about customer service and the value of employees being given some latitude in fixing problems. Here’s a perfect example of what I’ve been talking about.

What’s the opposite of warm and fuzzy?

The story was originally reported by CBS13 in Sacremento. Thanks to the Internet it’s been seen worldwide. Time wounds all heels!

The family says a Verizon customer service representative told them that “nothing could be done” about the termination fee.

The customer service agent’s job isn’t to fix problems. The agent’s job is to make the person complaining go away! Of course something could be done and was done once this story saw the light of day.

Is there anyone who believes any party involved in this story didn’t know the right thing to do immediately? Words like “nothing can be done” represent the training customer service agents receive and their total lack of discretionary power.

This wrong decision was the inevitable outcome of the system as it now stands.

Maybe it’s time Sprint or T-Mobile (both desperately trying to regain their footing in the cellular marketplace) gave their agents a little latitude and then screamed it in their ads? Considering the typical customer reaction to cell carriers it just might work.

The sad truth is bad customer service is not bad for business when your competitors are doing the exact same thing.