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Steve Jobs was recently quoted saying:

we do believe we have a moral responsibility to keep porn off the iPhone. Folks who want porn can buy and [sic] Android phone.

Who does he think he is?!

This statement really gets me started for a few reasons. First, since when do we believe that the hardware and OS manufacturer should control every piece of software available to our device? If anyone should be calling the shots here it should be AT&T as it is their network that is controlling the flow of data. Apple shouldn’t have a single say in anything other than how the OS and hardware will play together.

Second, who is Steve Jobs to tell me (or anyone) what content is appropriate on my phone, computer, iPod, etc.? I mean seriously would anyone accept this statement from Steve Jobs if he were talking about an iPod, or iPad, or Macbook Pro? Honestly, why is it then that we accept this for the iPhone?

Sidenote: Technically this does hold true for the iPod Touch and iPad as they run the same OS, and thus are limited to the same apps (oh and there is no option for Third Party app stores).

What if tomorrow Steve had a revelation that we should no longer have golf games on the iPhone? What if tomorrow Steve decided that we shouldn’t allow access to MySpace or Facebook on Macs?

This is where things are heading, if they aren’t already there. The iPhone users have given in to the man*. They have given all the power to a single entity.

Simply because of statements like those made by Steve I am a user of Free and Open Software. I can run what I choose, when I choose, and where I choose. If I want porn on my phone (still not sure why anyone would want this) I have that option!

I think it is time for the sheep to realize they are drinking the Kool-Aid. You are letting Apple tell you what is ok and what is not ok. You are being held back by the same people you are paying to move you toward the future.

How much did you pay for your iPhone? According to ATT.com you will pay from $200-$400 depending on the phone and plan you purchase.

Let me ask this, would you ever spend $200 on a DVD player only to be told it doesn’t play R rated movies, because Magnavox didn’t think them appropriate? What about paying $15/month for HBO and Sunday nights the screen goes blank on HBO because Comcast doesn’t like Big Love?

What I am saying is this, if you allow Apple the right to control what you can and can’t have on your device, you are throwing away all the freedom and rights our forefathers have fought their entire lives to protect.

* Sorry, couldn’t resist

I really wanted to name this article Apple is UnAmerican

All I want is my Nexus One, that’s it!

So here is the story. Google brought out this really kick butt new phone, the Nexus One; the thing is amazing sweet! I want it, so I start talking with Liz and finally convince her it is time to upgrade phones, maybe even plans.

Thursday April 8th

We are Tmobile customers already. Our contracts are over. We are free players in the cellphone world. So we head down to the local Tmobile Retail Store and look at phones. I am well aware that the Nexus One can only be purchased from Google, and that you have to have an individual rate plan to purchase the phone at a discount.

So I tell the guy at the retail store, and I am assured time and time again that I will be able to do all this and so we go ahead and purchase the phone for Liz, and break the plan to individual plans so I can go home and purchase a Nexus One. The purchase of Liz’ phone is all that happened that evening. We were told there was a system error, no one seems to know why, and that it would take 24 hours to fix it. Assuming 24 hrs is a short time to wait we went home happy with Liz’ new phone.

Friday April 9th

24 hrs later I have waited, heard nothing, so I call Tmobile customer care to find out what is going on. They inform me there is still an error in the system when trying to switch the plans and that it will take up to 72 hours to fix the problem. I am high on a cloud for my Nexus, so I can wait another weekend.

Monday April 12th

72 hours have passed, I call Tmobile. The news is the same, there is an error and they will put in a 72 hour ticket. I should be able to get my Nexus One by Thursday.

Thursday April 15th

72 hours have passed, I call Tmobile. Again the news that the error is happening, no one seems to know what is going on. I am told that I will get a phone call within 2 hrs and all will be fine and I can have my Nexus One.

No one ever called.

Friday April 16th

24hrs after the last call with Tmobile I call back, and demand an answer. I will admit the young lady who tried to help this time really seemed to try. She offered a alternate route of switching from my grandfathered family plan to a new family plan, and then to break the lines into individual plans. No dice, but a worthy effort.

The young lady then begins to break my heart, my Nexus One may have to wait up to a month, because a trouble ticket can take up to a FULL BILLING CYCLE to be resolved… what?!

The Red Rises

Sitting here before you, I am livid! I don’t know how to control myself, except to say Tmobile had better fix this, they had better fix is now, or I will be a happy Verizon, Sprint, or AT&T customer by the end of the month. I will return the Moto Cliq my wife just bought and I will take my contracts elsewhere.

This is absolutely ridiculous! To tell a customer that they can’t change their plan, they can’t get a new phone, they can’t even change the rate plan to a higher plan is insane! To lie to a customer not once, twice or three times but four or more in absolutely absurd! To think that Tmobile has a good service record (and to be fair they did in my mind until this week).

Figure It Out, NOW!

I am sure there are no Tmobile goons reading this blog, because I have low readership, but I hope the world gets to them before my fists do. I am out for blood (or a Nexus One).

firstPress Android Essentials by Apress

Apress’s firstPress books are written as short and succinct as possible to engage the reader and provide them a starting point in a given technology. They are intented to be released and read as close to the technology release as possible to gain the maxiumum experience in the shortest amount of time. Unfortunately in some cases, this rapid-release structure doesn’t pan out so well, which is a flaw that this book suffers from. Thankfully this flaw does not render the book completely useless.

From the beginning of Android Essentials, it’s clear that Chris Haseman is passionate about mobile development and very excited about Android and its possibilities. He provides clear instructions and walks the reader through each part of an Android application, as well as providing hints and tricks within the Eclipse environment to make Android development even easier. While it’s not an instuction book on how to write Java, as Chris points out early on, most developers with a basic understanding of the language should be able to power their way through the examples and concepts. Chris doesn’t hold the readers hand through Java structure or development, but he progresses at a comfortable pace that should allow for any referential reading that may be  necessary.

The example code is where the reader may experience the most frustration. All code in the book was written using the M5-RC15 version of the Android SDK, which is two steps below the current release, 1.0-R2. While it may still be possible to run the M5 version of the SDK in a currect Eclipse installation, it is much easier and recommended to use the latest release so that any applications developed will work with current handsets. This means that only the first project in the book will actually build and launch correctly and all the others require small to moderately large adjustments. Anything from ‘add a line here and change that line there’ to ‘completely re-build this function from scratch’ is needed to get each example running. From a learning standpoint, this is where the book doesn’t hold up well. It can be difficult at best to find the correct solution, and even a web search may only yield a few hand-made solutions with the tag ‘your mileage may vary’.

Interestingly, this is can also be a saving factor for this book. Not everyone prefers to read a book where all the answers are laid out and available for download. Part of the enjoyment of development is knowing that you have created something for a purpose, and using this book’s code examples and the provided instruction is a great launching pad to discover your own way to build the same applications. So while it may take some extra time to make the examples work, the personal effort will usually leave a more lasting impression than just retyping the code into your favorite editor and verifying that the application does what it should.

Overall, I think that Android Essentials is a fair starting point for the beginning Android developer. For a serious developer, it’s a good book for idea reference, and for a beginner it’s a good start to see what is possible with Android. My final recommendation would be to wait and hope for an updated release of this book, or at least the code it contains. While I do enjoy discovering my own way through a particular application, more reliable starting code would have allowed me to spend more time developing my own applications instead of repairing another developer’s.