There is no lack of hype surrounding various new digital products helping to make our lives “easier.” The manufacturers ply us with promises of faster connections, easier communication, clearer pictures and the ability to carry in our pocket every song ever written. For sure the digital age has spawned a panoply of truly awesome products. Amid these developments, it is a shame that the same amount of energy used to develop, manufacture and market these products does not go into thoughtful customer support.
A few weeks ago my wife asked me to look at her computer since she was getting a strange error message informing her that the anti virus program was not working properly. With the myriad of bad things floating around the Internet waiting to find a home on an unprotected computer, such a warning gets serious attention.
Like millions of people, my wife uses a set of software tools from a company called McAfee®. It is a leading provider of software aimed at keeping viruses at bay and spam and other irritating email junk to a minimum. It was that software that was not working properly, or that is what we thought. After spending some time trying to fix the problem she gave up and asked me to see if I could help.
I won’t bore you with the ugly details but after trying to fix the problem according to the on line help provided by McAfee®, I gave up and reinstalled the software from scratch. This too was of course at the suggestion of the McAfee® online help messages. That did not help.
OK, let’s skip to the bottom line. It seems that McAfee® had automatically updated my wife’s software (something that is done all the time on line) but this time there was a bug in the update that generated the false error message regarding the vulnerability of her computer. As it turns out millions of customers in North America were getting that same error. But how were they to know that they didn’t have a ‘real” problem?
Well, buried in the McAfee® web site there was a message that reported that the error message could be ignored. I had gone to that web site several times in my attempt to fix the problem and did not see the message. Perhaps my addled brain function clouded my observation. Nevertheless, I have one question. Why didn’t McAfee® immediately send out an email informing customers of the problem? McAfee® and other hardware and software companies often use email to hype new products or service improvements. They did send out an email a few days later explaining that they had fixed the problem.
My wife, a most intelligent and practical person who has little patience for the pocket-protector set, suggests that all software and hardware developers after they release any new product, spend a week on the other side of the screen. Not a bad idea.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Monday, August 20, 2007
Why the iPhone™ is not myPhone
OK, I admit it; I am upset with Steve Jobs. Before the iPhone™ was released last month he sent complementary phones to Walt Mosberg of the Wall Street Journal and David Pogue of the New York Times so they could write reviews. Perhaps Ollie forgot to give me the package that came from Apple but I don’t think so. I guess Steve thought that a column in the Harrison Press was just not that important! Well there is always the next model, Steve.
You have to give Apple credit. When they introduce a new product they do it right or at least loudly! There was more reporting about the iPhone™ than there was about Paris Hilton’s revolving jail door. So what is all the buzz?
Well, I have to tell you I have only had about 15 minutes of “quality time” playing with an iPhone™ but that time and a review of the documentation and other reports have given me some reactions to share with you.
First, the “Cool Factor” rating is off the charts. The sleek, compact, shiny case is enough to impress both techie and artist. The touch screen and a display that senses the orientation of the phone, changing from horizontal to vertical depending how you hold the phone, is just plain cool.
The “Swiss Army Knife” concept of adding iPod, PDA and Internet browser capacity thus making the phone do much more than make calls seems to be somewhat successful. There are some shortcomings, at least in version #1. The connection to the Internet using AT&T is very slow, the battery is sealed and can not be replaced by the user, the phone will not play Flash® videos and you must use AT&T as your carrier. In some parts of the country AT&T is reported to have spotty coverage.
There is one other factor that will keep me from contributing to the value of Apple stock in the near future and that is the price. With the introductory price of the phone set at a hefty 500 bucks and a service contract with AT&T required, you will spend the better part of $3000 for the first two years.
As much as I would like to be “cool,” I think I will just save the cool cash and stay with my three-year-old Verizon phone.
Oh yes, Steve, feel free to send the complimentary updated model of the iPhone™ to the Harrison Press office and I will pick it up.
You have to give Apple credit. When they introduce a new product they do it right or at least loudly! There was more reporting about the iPhone™ than there was about Paris Hilton’s revolving jail door. So what is all the buzz?
Well, I have to tell you I have only had about 15 minutes of “quality time” playing with an iPhone™ but that time and a review of the documentation and other reports have given me some reactions to share with you.
First, the “Cool Factor” rating is off the charts. The sleek, compact, shiny case is enough to impress both techie and artist. The touch screen and a display that senses the orientation of the phone, changing from horizontal to vertical depending how you hold the phone, is just plain cool.
The “Swiss Army Knife” concept of adding iPod, PDA and Internet browser capacity thus making the phone do much more than make calls seems to be somewhat successful. There are some shortcomings, at least in version #1. The connection to the Internet using AT&T is very slow, the battery is sealed and can not be replaced by the user, the phone will not play Flash® videos and you must use AT&T as your carrier. In some parts of the country AT&T is reported to have spotty coverage.
There is one other factor that will keep me from contributing to the value of Apple stock in the near future and that is the price. With the introductory price of the phone set at a hefty 500 bucks and a service contract with AT&T required, you will spend the better part of $3000 for the first two years.
As much as I would like to be “cool,” I think I will just save the cool cash and stay with my three-year-old Verizon phone.
Oh yes, Steve, feel free to send the complimentary updated model of the iPhone™ to the Harrison Press office and I will pick it up.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Google Earth a Real Eye Opener
Ever since I was a little kid I have been fascinated with maps. The arrival of the National Geographic Magazine was always a favorite time of the month because the magazine almost always had inserted within its shiny pages a new map of some exotic part of the globe. I vividly remember (because it is now mounted and framed in our family room) the LandSat® rendering of the United States published by National Geographic in the mid 1970s. Wow, an actual picture of our planet from space.
Before setting out on a vacation, I would spend hours pouring over maps of the intended destinations, studying the names of towns and other points of interest. When I began hiking in Red River Gorge in Kentucky, I quickly learned that topographic maps would help me select the easiest trails.
Google Earth takes mapping to a whole new level. This free service seamlessly integrates satellite imagery, high altitude aircraft photography and computer animation with a high powered database to provide a detailed aerial look at the world from as far away as outer space or as close as a few hundred feet above the ground.
Most likely you have already seen some of the Google maps on the TV news as most local and national news organizations use a commercial version of this software to help identify specific locations mentioned on air in the newscasts.
Using the Google Earth software on your home computer you can superimpose highways and roads on the screen. You can show locations of schools and municipal buildings. You can even “fly over” tourist locations like the Eifel Tower in Paris or the Great Wall in China. You can use it for directions like MapQuest® or locate specific locations based on latitude and longitude coordinates.
Some of the areas of the globe are rendered with very fine detail so that you can see your neighbor’s roof, car in the driveway and back yard pool. Other areas appear with less detailed. Some of the more sensitive areas, e.g. Washington , DC, are purposely kept less detailed in order to foil any unseemly use of the information.
To use Google Earth you must have a computer and high speed Internet connection. While there is no charge for the software, you must download it from Google. The process is easy and only needs to be done once. c.f. ( http://earth.google.com/ )
Some new GPS systems allow you to download information from a car or bike trip to Google Earth and the computer will retrace your route on the maps displayed. That has got to be a “cool factor” of 10.
I do have one warning …GOOGLE EARTH IS ADDICTIVE! You can spend hours looking at your old neighborhood or the route of last year’s vacation. It is also very educational as it can introduce kids to the concepts of longitude and latitude, topography and basic geography.
Before setting out on a vacation, I would spend hours pouring over maps of the intended destinations, studying the names of towns and other points of interest. When I began hiking in Red River Gorge in Kentucky, I quickly learned that topographic maps would help me select the easiest trails.
Google Earth takes mapping to a whole new level. This free service seamlessly integrates satellite imagery, high altitude aircraft photography and computer animation with a high powered database to provide a detailed aerial look at the world from as far away as outer space or as close as a few hundred feet above the ground.
Most likely you have already seen some of the Google maps on the TV news as most local and national news organizations use a commercial version of this software to help identify specific locations mentioned on air in the newscasts.
Using the Google Earth software on your home computer you can superimpose highways and roads on the screen. You can show locations of schools and municipal buildings. You can even “fly over” tourist locations like the Eifel Tower in Paris or the Great Wall in China. You can use it for directions like MapQuest® or locate specific locations based on latitude and longitude coordinates.
Some of the areas of the globe are rendered with very fine detail so that you can see your neighbor’s roof, car in the driveway and back yard pool. Other areas appear with less detailed. Some of the more sensitive areas, e.g. Washington , DC, are purposely kept less detailed in order to foil any unseemly use of the information.
To use Google Earth you must have a computer and high speed Internet connection. While there is no charge for the software, you must download it from Google. The process is easy and only needs to be done once. c.f. ( http://earth.google.com/ )
Some new GPS systems allow you to download information from a car or bike trip to Google Earth and the computer will retrace your route on the maps displayed. That has got to be a “cool factor” of 10.
I do have one warning …GOOGLE EARTH IS ADDICTIVE! You can spend hours looking at your old neighborhood or the route of last year’s vacation. It is also very educational as it can introduce kids to the concepts of longitude and latitude, topography and basic geography.
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