Apple marked the 10th anniversary of the iPhone with the release of a new operating system including AR that could once again revolutionize the way we interact with our devices. Lost in the hype, however, is a reflection upon the millions of jobs and entire industries lost because the iPhone, like the Borg in Star Trek, destroyed and assimilated them. You don’t even need to buy a flashlight anymore! The other issue is, most of the iPhone app versions of the original products that they replaced are inferior to the originals.
IPhone and the March Toward Mediocrity
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication, WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "The Stringer."
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This device, in Swedish often known as ajFån, is further evidence (as if such were necessary !) for the fact that hype trumps (you will have to decide for yourselves if a pun is intended) reality….
Henri
I got my first smartphone a few months ago. And get this, I use it for a *phone.* My TV is better for watching videos, my desktop is better for games and writing.
I do *not* understand this culture we’ve developed where everyone is staring at their phones every waking moment. However, as a motorcyclist, I *do* understand what it’s done for distracted driving.
Funny! Wifey & I (both in our mid-seventies) were talking just this morning over breakfast: Why can’t we have a damned phone that’s just a phone? Who needs all these games and “apps” (whatever they are) and other shit? [And we could do without all these kids walking around (or driving around) with their faces stuck in their damned phones, oblivious to what’s happening around them!]
Dang kids! And get off my lawn!!
@ lburanen –
😀
It’s not just kids any more. Plus, the worst offenders end up wrapped around a tree or such.
(And my lawn is fenced in!)
😀
> the worst offenders end up wrapped around a tree or such.
“Think of it as evolution in action” (Niven/Pournelle)
I always think of Darwin.
(I haven’t seen that list this year. Does it still exist?)
«Why can’t we have a damned phone that’s just a phone?» I always recommend a mobile phone that is (almost) just a phone with good sound quality and that costs 100s of kronor rather than 1000s, to our members. Alas, their children, and especially grand children seem to think it’s mandatory to have the latest and dearest on which games can be played (which our members don’t do) and stock portfolios can be checked every 30 seconds, rather than a simple user-friendly device which can be useful in case something untoward happens while they are out and about….
Henri