The walled garden meme is a bit specious. This is a phone. When I pick it up, I just want it to work. May smartphone is in the same category as my refrigerator or automobile, only a bit more sophisticated. I like that I bring my phone near my Mac, I can operate the phone the same way as I do my Mac. Depends on what people want to do with their phones. Some want to surf porn on a toy screen, some are addicted to social media. I fear even my wife is a little bit addicted, though to a much lesser extent - she doesn't need the validation rush so many get. Me? I just use it to get texts and phone calls.

I'm not certain what you mean by marketing pressure. Did you somehow feel the need to "keep up" with the latest gizmos?

It's all a matter of opinion and temperament. I can do many things at a high level. But messing with my smartphone to do what I consider basic things - no thanks.

And my burn rate is such that these tiny benefits you speak of are rounding errors. A 99 dollar el cheapo Android versus a iPhone 17 Pro Max at ~$1200, or the Galaxy S25 Ultra at ~ $1260 doesn't mean that much.

But 99 dollars? Dood!, you need to get this one: https://www.amazon.com/BLU-Unl.... Stop wasting your money on those overpriced 99 dollar phones, You made of money or something. 59 dollars for the win. Buy smart! The best phone is the cheapest one, You can use the money you save to buy gold or coin. And you are free. 8^)

Maybe that is why they made that Borat Manikini iSock - to hide the phone. I suppose I could go for the deep blue. But why not the black color like on the base iPhone 17?

I mean, it's a matter of personal taste, but it reminds me of attention seeking behavior. And it looks like recycled plastic from those orange traffic cones. It looks cheap.

You compose music on your phone? Sounds masochistic! 8^)

Tell me you have no knowledge of the Apple spectrum integration without saying you have no idea about the Apple spectrum integration.

As for image, or social clout, I don't give a damn. I use my Apple products because they work together. I bring my iPhone near my Mac, and suddenly I work the phone like I work the Mac. The integration into ApplePlay on my wife's Jeep, and my Jeep is tremendous. It knows who is driving and acts accordingly. I'm not certain, but it seems to know who is in the drivers seat when we are both in the car. So routes I take regularly show up with driving time and any traffic issues. I have AirTags for my wallet and all the other crud I lose regularly.

Do some people buy iPhones because they think it is a flex? Of course. The other side of that coin is those who buy Android because they think that is the only reason people buy iPhones. So it's a wash. You can like whatever you like, but no need to pre-judge those who do not have your opinion. There are reasons a lot of people prefer the iPhones.

Yup, my son's cheap androids have been more expensive than my overpriced iPhones for some time now.

But the fans like to compare the rock bottom Androids to the top level iPhones.

I still have my woodburning Android, it was good enough for great Grandpa, so it's good enough for me.

I don't replace my iPhones all that often, but updates supply me with new features in addition to bug fixes. The way they integrate between my cars, my computer, and my wife's iPhone is primo. I'll stick with them, as long as they aren't that iPhone17 orange abomination.

https://support.apple.com/guid...

The idea that people are putting so much stuff on their smartphones is scary to me. After all, they are just crappy little computers that have terrible ergonomics. Which is why I love how my iPhone can be worked from my Mac when I bring it near.

I guess I use mine differently than most. Take some images load them onto my Mac, then delete. I keep texts forever. No selfies other than one I took looking up my nose closeup. I do have a credit card on it, but otherwise, they seem like nuisances to me.

Which flies in the face of Android fans who tell us that iPhone users are all about having some kind of social status because they have the latest shiny iPhone.

Certainly in my experience, my son replaces his Android phones at twice the rate that wife and I do. And his phones aren't the cheap ones either.

What is interesting to me is that my people in emergency comms are going to fail at some point. And they wouldn't fail if they were using either Linux or MacOS.

But there is another comm mode in use that is made only for Windows. I'm going to suggest that it be abandoned. Another Cassandra moment for me - the agencys heads will asplode when I do that.

Of course not. but it is the reality. Even for highly placed people. My SO, who was the VP and highest paid person in her company, noted how she was bored at times, and didn't get to do the "exciting" things I did.

My replies have always been "All jobs have good and bad in them - you are doing better than 90 percent of everyone working"

The part I didn't say was "You would freak at some of the things I've had to do. I was on extra hazardous insurance most of the time. Worked with hazardous materials, and in extremely dangerous places. Imagine being on a tiny ship in sea state 7, or crawling out on a board over a 100 foot drop to get a documentation photo where you had to put your head and face through an opening. That one was kind of funny. Because when you can't see where your body is you need something to ground you. I told my assistant to grab my ankles and squeeze any time I shifted to remind me I was on the board. "And please don't goose me." She really enjoyed sneaking up on me and grabbing my backside. I've had to deal with chemical fires. I've had to travel on short notice with an unknown return date. That part could be stressful, the wife got kind of anxious and a bit testy with me.

Then, back in a suit and tie, and presenting the results. Even that is stressful for many folk. On new engineer once hyperventilated and fainted. I managed to catch him and spent a couple minutes calming him.

Point is my work was intensely interesting. Not too many dull moments. Even my present work, which isn't dangerous, but most find it stressful, is seriously interesting. I'm too dumb to get stressed, I suppose.

The other point is that if you are going to do really interesting work, it might just not be what you actually wanted after getting it.

We should add an obligatory Jetson's comparison in addition to the automotive comparisons! 8^)

It is much more complex than that. Temperament and drive are important, and the ability to interact with others is as well. In my present work, I'm there because I not only have the technical chops, but I am really good at interacting with people, including stressed and difficult people. I have the ability to tell people to go to hell in a way they look forward to the trip. Previous people have either had the technical chops and lacked people skills, or were very sociable and hopeless technically.

And a little while back, I received an unasked for 50 percent raise.

You have to be flexible, and never stop learning. Also helps to assess the climate in your field. The opposite end of the spectrum from my gestalt is the guy I graduated with who had a really good career going in television repair. in 72, TV sets were still almost all tube, and needed repair pretty often. Then his work just disappeared. He had no plan, and by the time his market went away, his abilities were stuck in the vacuum tube era. Never did find out what happened to him. A decent guy, but he liked his stasis.

Do you have an example we can look at? Anyhow, if no one is needed, all done by robots how does that jibe with your statement of all the sad people working in the huge Datacenters, when everything is done by robots. Did you mean to say Sad Robots?

Medical Doctors have one big issue - they are nowhere near as smart as they think they are. 8^)

Your example reminds me of Video work. Before non-linear editing, A lot of places used the Amiga with a video Toaster board. I used one. So Lightwave had a demonstration at my university. Everyone was wowed. Then someone spoke up. This is great - we need it for the PC. The Lightwave guy said, "We don't make it for the PC, because the Amiga has many custom chips inside, The PC can't do it." Our guy said "You don't understand. We are a PC university that uses Windows. We want your device, but it has to be on PC, not Amiga or whatever you call it. PC, do you understand?"

I'm sitting there laughing.

Yes, I agree. It is like so many things, if one group doesn't do it, another one will, and the competition really tends toward better. Stasis loses.

Who designs and implements the robot. Your humongous datacenter will need a lot of them. Do you design datacenters that you know the implementations?