After having a smartphone for ~5 years - I'm growing tired of the touch screen concept. My first smartphone had a slide out keyboard - my current iPhone is 100% touch. Before that a flip phone.
Oh how I yearn for the simple "UI" of the flip phone. It rings?! flip it open. Works whether your hands are wet or dry. My slide out Palm Pre - when it was wet the touch screen didn't work well --- but okay just slide out the keyboard and it acted like a flip to answer the call. iPhone doesn't have plan B.
Last week I had an emergency and the on-call doctor called me. It was lightly raining and I couldn't swipe to answer the call. It was a panicked few minutes while I attempted to dry my fingers and screen to answer the call. Normally I can wait a few minutes for these screen problems (i.e. change my env). But in an emergency it needs to work.
Having a second dumb phone with a battery that lasts all week would be nice. Maybe I just need a "Mini" tablet and simple phone. Imagine that - a dumb phone with wifi hotspot (because two data plans are expensive).
We could create a GoFundMe for the laid off US workers to make up for lost severance. Then let them walk !!
I thought Apple just lost out that you can't patent the basic shape of the phone?! Yet in this case Typo can't copy the look of a keyboard?
Reminds me of the scene in Friend Green Tomatoes - when the younger girls steal the parking spot from the older woman. "Face it lady - I'm younger and faster"
The older lady gets her boat of a car up to Ramming speed and smashes the car. "Face it girls - I'm older and have more insurance"
While I agree that one might assume the Pedestrian detection system might be part of the City package - I have to say that the owner was a dumbass.
Did you go out and try the airbags to show them off to your friends?
As for anti-lock brakes - when I purchased a car with this feature, Yes, I did try them out. I never had them before. First I found an empty parking lot and drove slowly, tried them, drove faster, tried them again. Drove in a circle - tried them. Each time making sure there was enough room *just in case* something didn't work as expected. I did NOT drive full tilt at a wall !!!
Maybe these features are complicated enough we need training.
I remember the first time my traction control was activated in a time of need. My car has a lot of horsepower - but the Stability system turns the engine down and applies the brakes to bring the car under control. Not a wonderful feature when trying to pull into a lane and "full power" is required. The car went idle and coasted for a few seconds because the wheels spun on black-ice. Thankfully there was room for this mistake. Now I know and anticipate it. The system can't tell the difference between "I'm out of control" and "Get me out of here now!" Just need to be quick on the "ESP" on/off button.
It didn't eradicate it. However - the numbers of "users" dropped significantly. It was considered a turning point in how to deal with the problem.
The more I see this happen - the more I think we need to change the economy for stolen data. Remember when they stopped arresting prostitutes and targeted the John's ? Locks can be picked and there to keep honest people honest. Credit monitoring must be pretty cheap as more companies buy it as an insurance product. This data is going to be stolen !
Now we need to make it worthless.
In the world of digital "signup on the web" stolen data can be used pretty quickly. Like the bad checks loop hole (popular on Craigslist and others). The detection of bad id's needs to be easier and products for purchase harder to get. There are days that I believe the 3 credit reporting agencies are responsible - they created a market & product that is easy to abuse. Yes - I can flag my credit rating (even "lock" it) - but then my life becomes difficult.
Maybe a smartApp that allows easier monitoring and blocking of requests. My AMEX credit card already gives real time purchase details on my phone. This might aid in detection.
Now - how to reduce the value of the products? (or increase the cost to acquire).
And just maybe - make it expense for the companies that hold this data to the point they find another way.
New York... when civilization falls apart, remember, we were way ahead of you. - David Letterman