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running this through the 'tulip credibility gauntlet . . .
How to Survive the Next Wave of Technology Extinction
Don’t mock the beleaguered Nook owner. That could have been you.
Five years ago, when the nation’s largest chain of bookstores released an e-reader that it promised would best Amazon’s Kindle, could you blame the poor souls who bought in to Barnes & Noble’s vision of the future? In 2011, Consumer Reports proclaimed the Nook the best e-reader in the land, saying it surpassed the Kindle in just about every way. Well, that sounds pretty definitive, doesn’t it? No wonder your aunt bought you one for Christmas.
Things haven’t played out well since. After failing to douse Amazon’s Kindle, Barnes & Noble has spent the last year refashioning its Nook strategy, and with its recent reductions in e-reader staff, the Nook’s end looks nigh. If you own a Nook, the fate of your books may now be up in the air. Sorry, you bet on the wrong horse.
The Nook’s fate isn’t unusual these days. Technologies have always gone belly up, but tech extinctions may become even more common over the next few years. We’re living through an exhilarating and mystifying time in the tech business, when every established brand and business model — from the Windows PC to the whole idea of selling software and hardware for a profit — is suddenly under assault.
Today, five behemoths — Amazon, Apple, Google, Facebook and Microsoft — plus a dizzying array of start-ups are competing to win every dollar and minute you spend in tech. While each of these companies offers differing sets of technologies sold under widely varying business models, they all share a common feature — trying to hook you deeply into an ecosystem of interconnected technologies. The trouble arises when you are sold on a tech ecosystem that doesn’t prosper. It’s likely that at least one, if not several, of today’s tech behemoths won’t be around a decade from now. Thus the pervasive worry of choosing tech in these uncertain days: How do you avoid betting on the wrong horse?
There is hope. By following a simple strategy, you can get the most out of the digital world while reducing the chance you’ll be burned by a single wrong move. The point is to minimize the danger of getting locked in to any one company’s ecosystem. The strategy also ensures that you can easily move from device to device without much hassle.
The key is promiscuity. When you decide what to use, you’ve got to play every tech giant against the other, to make every tech decision as if you were a cad — sample every firm’s best features and never overcommit to any one.
This sounds difficult. It isn’t. Here’s the game plan:
Apple’s hardware, including the iPad, allows you to maximize your ability to be promiscuous with software. Quinn Rooney/Getty ImagesBUY APPLE’S HARDWARE Apple’s phones, tablets and PCs are the best-designed and best-made computers on the market. They are also the easiest to learn to use and the most durable. And if you’re kind to them, they’ll carry a far higher resale value than rival devices.
I say this after having tried just about every competitor to Apple’s machines. Some non-Apple phones and tablets are nearly as nice as the iPhone and iPad (Google’s Nexus line is quite good), but I haven’t found any that beat it, and none that are as pleasurable to use.
But the best thing about Apple’s hardware is that it maximizes your ability to be promiscuous with software. Apple’s App Store is home to more programs than any other app marketplace. What’s more, the most innovative start-up firms often create apps for Apple’s platform before they bother with Android. Since software is the soul of a machine, the source of all our devices’ advancing powers, you’re best off getting the gadgets that can run the widest range of software. (A note for the sticklers: Yes, Apple restricts the ways you can tinker with the deeper parts of your mobile devices. But if you’re a tinkerer, you don’t need to read a column to decide what to buy.)
USE GOOGLE’S SERVICES My phone and tablet carry Apple’s logo, but almost everything I do with them is routed through the search company’s servers. There’s Google’s Gmail app for email, Google’s Calendar to manage your day, Google Maps to tell you where to go, Chrome to browse the Web and even the otherwise useless Google Plus social network to back up your photos.
Throwing your data at Google is a good idea for two reasons: First, the company is incredibly good at managing it; it lets you have access to stuff on pretty much any device, anywhere in the world, all the time. Its services almost never go down, its data is extremely accurate (see Maps), and, barring intrusion by the N.S.A., Google offers solid security (like two-factor authentication).
I also love the handy tricks Google adds as it learns more and more about me (yes, I’m aware I sound like a P.O.W. praising my jailers — but count my blinks, it’s true). For instance, its Google Now feature, available as part of the Google Search app on the iPhone, can automatically predict what you are doing next and show you relevant information like traffic directions and boarding passes just when you need them. It even enhances your photos, making your pretty face even prettier.
Amazon's Kindle app for the iPad. BUY MEDIA FROM AMAZON This one is a no-brainer. If you’re looking to buy a movie on your Windows laptop today, shouldn’t you get one that will also work on an Android tablet you buy tomorrow? If you buy a book to read on your iPad, shouldn’t you also make sure it works on the Kindle you’re planning to get for Christmas?
Different media providers offer different levels of such interoperability, but books, music and movies from Amazon are the most widely viewable. You can watch and read Amazon’s media on Apple devices, Google devices, Amazon’s own Kindle line and lots of other places, like cheap streaming devices for your TV. In contrast, a book from Apple’s iBookstore is probably never going to work on an Android phone, because Apple really doesn’t want you to buy an Android phone. So why bother with iBooks?
BET ON CONNECTORS In our multidevice world, Amazon’s media store functions as what I like to call a “connector” — it bridges the chasm between otherwise foreign technologies.
This gets to the most important principle for dealing with an uncertain future: Invest your time and money in connectors. For instance, store all your important documents on the cloud-storage service Dropbox, because its business model depends on it working everywhere. And it does: The documents you create on any single machine are replicated on all your other machines, instantly. Similarly, when someone hands you a business card, you can snap a photo of it on the note-taking app Evernote, which also functions as a connector, letting you get at your scribbles regardless of which machine you move to next. And in a cloudy future, who knows what that could be?
This article gives me the heebie-jeebies. Cheerleading for people to enjoy the ride as they give up their privacy and their dignity. Store your data on google's servers because they "allow" you to do certain things with it. Trust the cloud. Yeah.
No business does anything for free. TINSTAAFL.
Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.
This article gives me the heebie-jeebies. Cheerleading for people to enjoy the ride as they give up their privacy and their dignity. Store your data on google's servers because they "allow" you to do certain things with it. Trust the cloud. Yeah.
running this through the 'tulip credibility gauntlet . . .
...Today, five behemoths — Amazon, Apple, Google, Facebook and Microsoft — plus a dizzying array of start-ups are competing to win every dollar and minute you spend in tech. While each of these companies offers differing sets of technologies sold under widely varying business models, they all share a common feature — trying to hook you deeply into an ecosystem of interconnected technologies.
The trouble arises when you are sold on a tech ecosystem that doesn’t prosper. It’s likely that at least one, if not several, of today’s tech behemoths won’t be around a decade from now. Thus the pervasive worry of choosing tech in these uncertain days...
...
"these uncertain days"???
Hasn't technology ALWAYS presented this issue? Apparently the author has never heard of the Betamax. Or the 8-track. Or the Walkman. Or Windows XP (now unsupported and essentially requires one to buy a new computer to run the MS replacement).
Like the Betamax, the Nook didn't die because it got beaten by a superior technology. It died because "the nation's largest chain of bookstores" couldn't compete in the game of selling books ("e" or otherwise).
Generally I can only be persuaded to buy "new" tech when the "old tech" has physically failed (e.g. the laptop died) or the new stuff is clearly so much superior to the old stuff that I cannot ignore it any longer. Example of the latter, I am just replacing my backup portable GPS (a Garmin Pilot III purchased in...wait for it...1997; and still fully capable of telling me exactly where I am) with an Apple iPad Air linked to a Garmin GLO. The improvement in situational awareness (moving map software, synthetic HSI, etc.) is so dramatic that I finally broke down and made the leap.
BTW, the iPad is the first Apple product I have ever shelled out any of my own money to purchase. The only problem with buying an Apple iPad is I ended up having to buy two of them . Mrs. GRG55 liked my iPad so much I had to give her one for Christmas...so I could get mine back.
Edit added: I should have added that I've concluded that the iPad is a fantastic device for the purposes for which I bought it but, alas, it isn't really capable of totally replacing my MS Windows 7 laptop.
2nd edit added: HSI stands for horizontal situation indicator; not Hang Seng Index!
Last edited by GRG55; February 15, 2014, 05:00 PM.
I am proud to say that I haven't ever owned, bought or even used an Apple product. And this revulsion goes back to the Apple II (or perhaps even the Apple I) days!
Currently I am using a chromebook, and Linux computers. My phone is a Moto-X with unlimited calls, texts and data, service roams in the US and Canada, and I am paying $25 per month for it. If I let go of the unlimited data, I would pay $10/month
I am proud to say that I haven't ever owned, bought or even used an Apple product. And this revulsion goes back to the Apple II (or perhaps even the Apple I) days!
Currently I am using a chromebook, and Linux computers. My phone is a Moto-X with unlimited calls, texts and data, service roams in the US and Canada, and I am paying $25 per month for it. If I let go of the unlimited data, I would pay $10/month
I resisted the urge for the longest time, but the iPad decision was driven by the software. Almost all of the primary purpose software applications I use on my iPad are available only for the iPad unfortunately (and that has nothing to do with Apple btw).
Currently I am using a chromebook, and Linux computers. My phone is a Moto-X with unlimited calls, texts and data, service roams in the US and Canada, and I am paying $25 per month for it. If I let go of the unlimited data, I would pay $10/month
Holy cow. Which carrier are you using that offers such a low price?
The company is Republic Wireless. The reason it can do this is that it relies primarily on VOIP and data over the internet to route the calls. Off the internet, it uses Sprint as the primary carrier, and it has access to all of Sprint's roaming partners. You do have to buy the Moto-X at an unsubsidized price. They will be coming out with a smartphone that is less expensive soon as well. You can read about it at their website. I have been with them since they were in beta.
The company is Republic Wireless. They will be coming out with a smartphone that is less expensive soon as well. You can read about it at their website. I have been with them since they were in beta.
Thank you o guru.
If you think knowledge is expensive, try ignorance.
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. Mrs. GRG55 liked my iPad so much I had to give her one for Christmas...so I could get mine back.
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