SOMM Soapbox

I have read and heard stories of peril that stem from the dark underbelly of tech manufacturing across the global and like most Americans, have turned a blind eye to it all. That is until the name of one Chinese company kept popping up in the headlines, Foxconn. On January 25, 2012, The New York Times posted a lengthy article with insider looks into the supply channel of Apple, Inc. After reading the article, I was shocked and angry. Shortly afterwards, I read a CNET piece that tried to rationalize the entire matter in Apple’s favor and I then completely lost it. Are we really in the age when a product requires human costs?

In December of 2011, Google chairman Eric Schmidt let out a big announcement in an interview, “In the next six months we [Google] plan to market a tablet of the highest quality”. I had a long discussion awhile ago with good friend and fellow blogger (Lasha of Onefusedlife.com) during the release of the first wave of Android powered tablets that Google, itself would have to enter. Google would have to do for Android tablets, as they had with Android smartphones with their Nexus line. Do them justice.

Samsung, with its bestsellers thus far in the Galaxy S II smartphone series, is now openly mocking Apple and its sub-culture through a funny new commercial.

Amongst the news of Nintendo losing $926 million for the first half of its financial years is an underlying tone that Nintendo could perish. The sales of the Nintendo Wii, DS have slowed dramatically, compounded by the fact that the Nintendo 3DS, even after a price cut, is not doing as expected. This is leading critics and fanboys alike to claim that the demise of Nintendo is near. What if Nintendo ceases to be?

Apple, Inc has more ammo to use against Android in the mobile war and it’s a feature almost all smartphone users are familiar with, ‘Slide-to-Unlock”.

In a move that is not unexpected, Sprint (the third largest mobile company in America) has ended the all you can eat buffet of its 4G mobile plans for tablets, netbooks, USB cards, connection cards and its Mobile Hotspot service. Originally, customers had a 3G data cap of 3GB, 5GB, or 10GB respectfully, and if you had Sprint 4G in your area it was unlimited. Sprint has now combined the two technologies under the same restriction, whether it is 4G or 3G, they both count towards your data cap.

The Apple iPhone 4S has been released to much fanfare and 4 million units sold, not bad. One has to think, without the virtuoso Steve Jobs, will future iDevices still retain their top spots? According to a report from CNET, the Apple iPhone 4S was not the last iDevice Mr. Jobs worked on. Steve’s last hand’s on project is the iPhone 5. What comes after that is just “another” iPhone and without Steve’s genius at the helm, I sense trouble for Apple.

I have been untethered to a mobile contract since August of 2009. During that span, I had a Samsung A900, and then multiple flavors of Blackberries and finally, my HTC EVO 4G. My EVO has taught me to love touch based phones as I have been previously an introvert when it came to any phone without a QWERTY keyboard. Blackberry spoiled me.

Steven Paul Jobs, co-founder and master of all things Apple, has passed at the age of 56 yesterday. We at Sliceofmymind.com, want to extend our condolences to his family and friends. This is an extremely sad day for the entire tech sphere, regardless of your tech preferences or alliances.

Now it all makes sense. It is made completely clear. With the announcement of the iPhone 4S by Apple yesterday morning, we can see why Apple has gone after Samsung and its Galaxy S II (and Tab tablets) smartphones. Is it because Apple truly believes Samsung copied its designs? Or. Did the Galaxy S II surprise the hell out of Apple?

Apple is set to reveal the next iPhone today at 10:00AM PST, but rumors and reports persist that the “next” iPhone is nothing more than a minor hardware upgrade from the iPhone 4. The minor upgrade is said to be the Apple A5 processor (same processor in the iPad 2) and more RAM, noting there is nothing about a radical change in neither the phone’s screen size nor its resolution over the iPhone 4. What does this all mean?

How many features can someone put into a product before they come off as superfluous bullet points? In a new series I am dubbing the Superfluous Tech Top Five, I take a look at tech categories, single products and everything in between to find product “features” that are overwhelmingly superfluous fluff.

The product I am examining today is produced by a company that has a history of overzealously placing superfluous bullet points to “features” that are most of the time common in their competitors’ products. If you haven’t guessed the name of the company by now, it is no other than Apple Inc and the product is iOS 5.

Stop! Everyone about to purchase or thinking about purchasing a new PC, just STOP! A PC is so yesterday according to Steve Jobs of Apple, Inc. Never mind that iDevices like the iPad will never offer the same precision control as a keyboard/mouse combo in most applications. Never mind that there are hundreds of millions of smartphone users who STILL purchase and rely on notebooks and desktop computers for their everyday computing needs. Yes, stop all of your purchases of PC’s because iOS 5 with all of its revolutionary features has finally cut the need of wired connections (never mind that most phones – even featured phones – already have most of what iOS 5 offers).