How It Works In The Real World

IFA is this week and there’s already been a bunch of product announcements.

Announce any damn thing you want, companies. But if you can’t get it on the shelves of a physical store, it doesn’t matter.

Here is the dream world of the so-called Rational Techie:

1) Product announcement

2) Read Internet hype

3) Compare specs to current devices

4) Decide to buy

5) Note launch date

6) Order online

7) Boom. Done.

8) Return to Amazon/vendor if disappointed

Quante Wright Out Of Jail

Being away from the notebook most of the day for two days caused me not to update until now …

Judge releases Quante Wright, former gang member, from jail

Wright must wear an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet so that federal probation officers can keep tabs on his whereabouts, Mordue ruled.

After serving six years in prison, Wright went to Bryant & Stratton, earned an associate’s degree, and got a job selling cars for Lowery Brothers Chrysler Jeep. Syracuse.com / The Post-Standard published a story about Wright’s successes on June 14. He was fired by the car dealership the next day.

The Past Casts A Long Shadow And Shit Is All Fucked Up And Still Bullshit

Previously I posted about Quante Wright, who was a natural salesman with a criminal record who turned his life around. But due to his criminal record, he was fired by a car dealership employing him after a success story about him appeared in the local media. See: The Past Casts A Long Shadow.

The story gets even worse: Quante Wright, former gang member fired by car dealer, sent back to jail

The Past Casts A Long Shadow

Who’s the speaker at his graduation? The man who sent him to prison

Wright is a fast talker and an easy smiler. He got his start in business selling M&Ms to make money for his church when he was a kid. He sold M&Ms in store parking lots. The pastor gave him a 25 percent cut.

Wright was a natural. He made enough selling M&Ms that he was able to buy a Playstation with his own money, he said. When Wright was 10, he found out who the candy distributor was, bought his own boxes and put his sisters to work for him. They said they were selling candy for the church, but they kept all the profits, Wright said.

Apple App Store: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 …

Critical Sharks Part IV: Fear of Apple

Take the Iconfactory’s app Twitteriffic. Maheux ran a test wherein he typed “Twitter” into the App Store search field. His app Twitteriffic was astoundingly listed as the 100th result. Sacha Grief experienced even worse results than Maheux: “The iOS App Store is so broken that I couldn’t find an app even when searching for its full name.”

It’s 2015.

I wrote this back in 2009: Apple’s App Store Needs Librarians

What I wrote in 2009 is still true six years later.

What a disgrace.

I want to rub Apple’s nose in this. Jack Ma created Alibaba so that small businesses could prosper from the Internet.

Apple has maintained the App Store so that Apple can prosper from it.

What an even bigger disgrace.

Sony: Still Out Of Their Damned Mind

I went to the SonyStyle Store in NYC yesterday.

I’m very curious about the Sony Xperia T2 Ultra that Best Buy is selling for US$249 (note that the website price of US$299 is incorrect).

But all they have are dummy units. I really wanted to experience that TriLuminous screen.

So, to their store.

It was a miserable experience.

The Knowledge Aristocracy

One of the greatest adversities I faced are what are called scientific paywalls. And, you see, ninety percent of all scientific articles are locked tightly behind these paywalls. And that means when you want to read them, you have to cough up thirty-five dollars. And it might not even have to do with your research.

The New Game Show: Who Wants To Apply For A Job?

Why I Won’t Go on Any More Tech-Job Interviews

I’m not a trained seal any more. I won’t go to any more demeaning, dehumanizing, pompous-nonsense interviews. Lunch? Sure. Phone interview? Yeah, of course. Tests? Maybe. I can see where an employer might want to verify, with a practicum, that I know skills applicable to the specific job at hand. Fair enough.

But sit me down in a room with some wise ass asking me how I’d determine the number of window panes in New York City, or some shit like that? F*ck the hell off. Just get the hell out.

Before that kind of bullshit, recruiters would want you to come in so they could “look you over.” As if you were a fucking car they were deciding to buy based on its appearance. I told them to shove that up their ass years ago.

I don’t play well with other people?

I don’t play well with fucking spoiled brats and morons. Life is too fucking short for that shit.

I console myself in the firm knowledge that everyone who dishes out that kind of shit is going to be on the receiving end of even worse one day.

Wannabe Neverbe “Writers” Whine Against Amazon

Amazon Offers All-You-Can-Eat Books. Authors Turn Up Noses.

Let me fix the headline: Shitheads Who Have No Business Writing Whine Their Free Ride Is Ending

On Twitter, I railed against that article.

I’m publishing those tweets here. Because fuck you.

ALERT: Don’t Ever Buy The Coolpad Brand

Manufacturer’s Backdoor Found on Popular Chinese Android Smartphone

The manufacturer has also taken steps via modifications to its version of Android to keep the backdoor hidden from users and security software that could be installed on the phone. For example, Olson said Coolpad has disabled the long-press system that allows a user to find out what application generated an pop-up advertisement or notification, for example.

Well, they just ruined their brand.

I don’t give a shit if they come out with The Return Of Jesus tablet. They are permanently banned from coverage here.

Previously here:

The China Market Has Been Lost. Thanks, NSA!
China Android Malware Alert 2
China Android Malware Alert