Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 16th Oct 2012 22:11 UTC
"Rachel Crosby speaks about her BlackBerry phone the way someone might speak of an embarrassing relative. 'I’m ashamed of it,' said Ms. Crosby, a Los Angeles sales representative who said she had stopped pulling out her BlackBerry at cocktail parties and conferences. In meetings, she says she hides her BlackBerry beneath her iPad for fear clients will see it and judge her." Other products many people own but feel ashamed about: sex toys. So essentially, the BlackBerry is now the equivalent of a vibrator. In all seriousness though - why feel ashamed because of a phone? Are people really that shallow? I'm really getting too old for this stuff.
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RE: Hop on the bandwagon...
by StephenBeDoper on Wed 17th Oct 2012 17:19
in reply to "Hop on the bandwagon..."
Member since:2005-07-06
I miss Instant Messaging. It was quick, personal and far better than self-publishing every boring minutiae of your life on a site where others leave feedback by telling you if they like it. Sadly, in my nook of the world IM seems completely dead.
I couldn't agree more. In the past year or two, I've done a few installations of a PHP/MySQL app called AjaxChat - it's essentially a clone of the basic functionality of IRC. And it's always amusing to see the first reactions from people who are more accustomed/only accustomed to "modern" social media.
There's almost always someone who comments "oh wow, it's like twitter, but instant!" And occasionally, there will be someone who's slightly more tech-savvy and will instead compare it to MSN Messenger, "but with multiple people".
As they say, "everything old is new again" - at least if the majority of the audience has forgotten the "old" (or was unaware of it to begin with).
RE: Hop on the bandwagon...
by lucas_maximus on Wed 17th Oct 2012 19:18
in reply to "Hop on the bandwagon..."
Member since:2009-08-18
RE: Hop on the bandwagon...
by zima on Fri 19th Oct 2012 20:22
in reply to "Hop on the bandwagon..."
Member since:2005-07-06
I'm a dinosaur when it comes to twitter, facebook, instagram. At a certain age you stop making sense of new phenomenons.
I miss Instant Messaging. It was quick, personal and far better than self-publishing every boring minutiae of your life on a site where others leave feedback by telling you if they like it. Sadly, in my nook of the world IM seems completely dead.
I miss Instant Messaging. It was quick, personal and far better than self-publishing every boring minutiae of your life on a site where others leave feedback by telling you if they like it. Sadly, in my nook of the world IM seems completely dead.
Or you mostly try to avoid new phenomenons, them sucking out your time for little perceived gain really (as concluded after some period of more active usage) - I mean, does "making sense" requires now constant participation?*
But did IM ever really left? Well, I wouldn't know about your place, but maybe look beyond the "classic" IM networks of ICQ (which does live on in CIS), AOL, or MSN... (none of which was really very popular at my place BTW; we have our own monstrosity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadu-Gadu )
...first, there's SMS. Which is IM, really, especially considering it often has conversation view on more modern phones. On those you also have more overt "mobile IM" networks (BBM, Apple one, Whatsapp). And IM tied to other services - like FB or Gmail/Gtalk (which is also integrated into Android, and can be used from any native XMPP client). Also Skype - perhaps used mostly for voice & video, but from what I see people do use its IM capacity (at the least, when explaining why they can't do VoIP at the moment)
*and twitter & co. are a good supplement to IM & mail - a place for all the "interesting spam" people sent via mail or IM to buddies. Now, when they contact somebody directly, it's more likely to be something really pertaining to that person.
Edited 2012-10-19 20:28 UTC
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 21:33 UTC
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
Linked by David Adams on 05/16/13 4:23 UTC
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/11/13 21:41 UTC
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/08/13 14:22 UTC
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/02/13 15:28 UTC
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/29/13 21:06 UTC
Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/24/13 22:24 UTC
They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/18/13 11:21 UTC
Nokia has posted its quarterly results for the first quarter of 2013, and just like the quarters that came before, there's not a whole lot of good news in there. The rise in Lumia sales still can't even dream of making up for the sales drop in Symbian phones, and when broken down in versions, the sales figures for Windows Phone 8 Lumias in particular are very disappointing. In North America, Nokia is getting slaughtered.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/16/13 9:29 UTC
The day has finally come: Google has started shipping Google Glass to the lucky few early adopters. Now that it's shipping, Google has also unveiled a lot more about the API and the specifications of the device itself. While the company had already given out substantial details at earlier occasions, there are still a few surprises here.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/15/13 22:44 UTC
Almost exactly three years ago, I wrote about why OSNews was no longer OSNews: the alternative operating system scene had died, and OSNews, too, had to go with the times and move towards reporting on a new wave of operating systems - mobile, and all the repercussions that the explosion of smartphones and tablets have caused. Still, I was wondering something today: why aren't we seeing alternative operating systems on mobile?More Features »
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Member since:
2005-07-06
It's a sign of the times. You better speak "cool smartphone" or else you are a thing of the past. Join or be left behind.
I do speak "cool smartphone", but I'm a dinosaur when it comes to twitter, facebook, instagram. At a certain age you stop making sense of new phenomenons.
I miss Instant Messaging. It was quick, personal and far better than self-publishing every boring minutiae of your life on a site where others leave feedback by telling you if they like it. Sadly, in my nook of the world IM seems completely dead.