rahulp

What happened to Sprint’s unlimited data option that they’re usually so proud of?

That is a good point, most people are more loyal to their carrier than their phone manufacturer.

It’s not necessarily a lie, what he said is really vague a poorly worded.

All he really said is that Google releases the latest version of Android for a specific and pre-determind platform at a pre-determind time. That much is true; Google does choose a platform to release as a showcase for the latest update (aka the Nexus program). The pre-determined time part really just means they gave themselves a deadline, which is probably true.

If you don’t read the words carefully, it does sound like he’s saying that Google controls the update path for all platforms, but that is not what he said. Also, that would be a lie.

That’s a good point, I think that means the carriers need to be less involved in the development process, for both hardware and software.

Hmm, maybe it would be better if Google got early builds of the new update out to at least the top 5 manufacturers so those manufacturers can get a jump on updating their devices. So they can start adapting it to their hardware. That would hopefully lead to faster updates on most devices.

OEMs should work on making their skins less intensive, boil it down to a few APKs (launcher, dialer, camera, messaging, etc.) that would make it a lot easier for them to push out updates. It seems like they’re doing a lot under the hood that they just shouldn’t be doing. Plus if they only change a few APKs, then that should make the carrier approval process much faster.

Maybe AT&Ts CEO is saying that they want the new update before it gets released to the public.

I’m not saying I agree with that sentiment, I’m just trying to understand what the man said.

If Google did wait for carriers to approve the new update before announcing it to the public, then that would just delay the launch of the Nexus device, it wouldn’t really get the new Android update out to the public any faster. So, we wouldn’t have heard anything about ICS last year, instead Google would be announcing ICS around now. That is better for the carriers because they won’t be getting pressure from consumers to push out the update, but Google probably wouldn’t like that because it would make them seem slow even though it’s the carriers (or OEMs) causing the delay.

I think a big part of the problem is that customer friendliness doesn’t get rewarded as much as it should in this industry because it’s not as important to the consumer as coverage and data speeds. Everyone I know is perfectly willing to sign up with a company that has a reputation for treating their customers poorly if it means they’ll have bars everywhere they go.

Another big problem is the technology fragmentation. It really started becoming a problem with 3G, but it’s just getting worse as carriers move to 4G. Even if you buy an unlocked phone, you’re limited to only 2 or 3 carriers at most. We need interoperable networks in this country to give consumers the power to leave their carrier.

Who is their service provider? I might be interested in that…

slow speeds are better than data caps. I know I could live with 1.5mbps, but I don’t want to have to keep track of my data usage each month.

This is a terrible alternative to Fios, cable or even DSL. It would be so much better if they work on building out Fios instead.

yea, 1.4Mbps down sounds good to me, with only 500kbps down I can’t really watch Netflix, and streaming On The Verge was impossible (I downloaded it instead, took 3 hours). When I try to watch Netflix, it stops every couple minutes to load, so I can technically watch it, it’s just not a good experience.

I would be happy if they get me up to 1.5Mbps down.

You say it’s population density that is a factor, just curious, which way do you think that goes? Is it you’re thinking that high density populations get slower internet?

If you check around the US, you’ll find it’s actually the low density areas that have the slowest internet. But you’re right, that’s mostly because it’s not worth it for businesses to invest in low density areas. The US should treat internet the same as electricity; it’s a 21st century utility.

wow, I thought I had it bad. Caps are terrible.

I live in a rural part of the US, my only decent internet option is 768kbps with AT&T, and I really get about 500kbps down. It’s really sad. When I lived in a city, I was able to get about 18mbps thanks to Time Warner cable internet. But the local cable company doesn’t offer internet :( I’m kinda hoping TWC comes and buys the local cable company so we can get decent internet and TV services.

The site doesn’t say “beta” anywhere. In the past, Google is never been shy about stamping “beta” on their product logos for services that they consider to still be in beta. (Most notably, Gmail carried that stamp for the first 5 years of its existence)

You make excellent points, I like your solutions. I’m not totally sold on bagging at your car but I guess I could get used to it.

That does mean that the tablets and scales (in addition to the RFID/NFC) would have to go down in price, or else the supermarkets won’t want to risk them getting damaged or stolen themselves.

But I think that supermarkets have no incentive to actually use this new technology. The initial cost of investment would be high, and they wouldn’t see any benefits unless it drastically improves consumer checkout time, assuming that leads to more actual consumers using that store.

There will be no point in Hulu if they do this. You would be better off getting DVR service. At least DVR doesn’t tell you which shows you can and can’t watch on your TV (many Hulu shows are “Web only”). Plus DVR lets you skip the commercials (by fast forwarding).

That would prevent erroneous charges, but there are still other problems.

Another issue I’m finding is the lack of organization.

Many schemes are listed multiple times. This definitely needs something to discourage people from making new schemes that are copies (or misspellings) of schemes already in the system. The website does an ok job by showing a list of schemes as you enter in your new one, but it seems to be ignored by the users (or it’s missing from the app) because there are many cases of duplicate schemes.

That could be possible for a convenience store, where most customers are only buying a few items. But I don’t think that would work in a grocery store, and here’s why:

After using the service for the last 10 minutes, I think the biggest problem witch Schemer is the interface for writing a new scheme. They tried to make it really simple, but that actually makes it hard to include more details. Plus the first time I tried to create a scheme, it initially said that Scheme was deleted by the user…then it showed up a few minutes later.

The thing I don’t like is that you can’t put things back. Sounds like once you close the fridge, your sale is completed. Normally at a store, you have up until you reach the cash register to change your mind about an item, this fridge eliminates that. Also, it doesn’t make sense for a store to only have a few items in this fridge because it would make theft monitoring more challenging. So it seems kinda all or nothing for convenience stores.

This seems much better suited for hotel rooms than convenience stores or grocery stores.

Nice!

I agree, that was one of the biggest reasons to avoid Norton back in the day. Glad to hear they fixed it.

Oooh, I didn’t know that Norton did a rewrite. Thanks for the info, I’ll stop beating that drum until I hear about new problems.

And just to explain one of the major reasons that I think Norton is bad, a few years ago (before the rewrite), my friend was unable to open any MS Office files because of Norton. Word/Excel would just freeze on the splash screen and never actually open the file. Also, Norton itself wouldn’t open. The only way to fix the problem was to get rid of Norton. I realized Norton was causing the problem because the splash screen should a message at the bottom that said Norton was scanning the file for viruses.

“The PCs crash every night.”

Either your office should think about upgrading from XP or you’ve got a lot of hardware problems. Or possibly one piece of legitimate software that is bogging down the machines; I’ve seen Norton cause a lot of major problems and yet people still buy it for reasons I never understand.

Also, some key software (along with a little common sense) helps prevent malware problems. I recommend MS Security Essentials, and Google Chrome browser. Chrome for the sandboxing which has been impenetrable until recently, and Security Essentials for peace of mind that doesn’t bog down the machine (like Norton). And the common sense just boils down to don’t click links you don’t trust. Chrome helps with that by warning you before you go to a potentially dangerous website. I’ve never actually needed anti virus since about 2004.