Blog @ MoreWhat.com

Poor Pluto. No, not the Disney character or mythological god but the planet that science demoted from its planet status. Sort of like science being demoted from its former status as something higher than current regard given the AGW scandals. And given this report from earlier in the year it should be no surprise why interest in exploration or organizations like NASA has fallen.

Hubble sees Pluto changing color, ice sheet cover

The report states ‘newly released photos’ but that is only because astronomer Marc Buie waited to announce his ‘findings.’ It is difficult to tell from the AP account if the delay was from fear of being wrong or if it took all that time to perform the analysis. Which raises the natural questions of what do scientists get paid for and how do they perform their tasks relative to the rest of us?

Yes, it’s so unfair. Wondering why photos taken in 2002 took until 2010 to be included in an astronomer’s evaluation of them? But what troubles most people about science is for all the money spent what practical solutions does it serve? Even conceding the point that scientific research is necessary and discoveries or knowledge acquired can take many years to produce, it is just as reasonable to be a little suspicious of how things are done.

For one who has been supportive of science for much of the past as well as a former fan of NASA and other scientific endeavors frequent criticism of the scientific community cannot always be ignored. One simple example should suffice.

Given health issues are dominating the public debate these days one aspect of the topic is rarely discussed. If it is true that American healthcare is the best in the world or second to none why is it that cures for disease are seldom produced yet drugs and procedures to battle human ills litter the landscape?

Although that was largely a rhetorical question here is one answer. If you cure a disease the profit potential diminishes dramatically. It is more profitable to address the symptoms and other temporary conditions than offer a one time cure.

Humans don’t take very good care of themselves and could be to blame for much of their own health problems. The medical industry often expresses prices are great in order to recoup the cost of research. Yet much of that research comes from institutions outside the corporate door. And many other factors influence the state of healthcare.

The final question of this post is for the scientific community. So where are all the cures?

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

Nothing like singleness of purpose to inspire others by demonstrating that hard work and determination lay the foundation for success. Who better to display those attributes than the King of Altruism, the man who invented the internet and is deeply devoted currently to saving our planet, Al Gore.

Last weekend with continued support from the NYT fish wrap former US Vice-President Al Gore presented an op-ed once again extolling the virtues of his own personal crusade. To express his concern for those who reject his money making venture this political doormat and newly minted snake oil salesman offered the following sentiment:

I, for one, genuinely wish that the climate crisis were an illusion.

But just as Mr Gore’s incompetence derailed his bid for President of the United States in 2000 it once again exposes his worldwide scam to profit from a crisis of his own making. Not an unusual strategy for a liberal. Attempt to create panic, fool the willing and laugh all the way to the bank in your corporate jet while criticizing others for destroying the planet.

Some more of Mr Gore’s ‘phrases’ will be supplied here demonstrating his folly. Of course libs will object to out of context use but then they are free to follow the link, search for the phrase and read the whole laughable thing for themselves. Why make everyone else suffer through Gore’s feeble pitch for his own wealth building scheme.

From Mr Gore:

-It is true that the climate panel published a flawed overestimate… (read the rest for yourself)

-But the scientific enterprise will never be completely free of mistakes.

-Because these and other effects of global warming are distributed globally, they are difficult to identify and interpret in any particular location.

In each of the examples above Mr Gore admits his case for AGW is flawed. He has drawn an absolute conclusion from vague, ambiguous or simply flawed data. And on that thin or non-existent evidence he expects the world to act on his recommendations. His position for personal gain from investments and partnerships points to the hypocrisy of his quest.

Hey Al, if you want to make a boatload of money on eco=business knock yourself out. But don’t expect the rest of us to buy what you’re selling, literally. The financial turmoil of the last few years and what may last for some time is nothing compared to the economic destruction your holy war would cause if we let it. Your money connection to your environmental crusade betrays your claim of genuine concern. As does your personal choices for producing the carbon mess you describe. You’re simply not believable. Nor are your cronies in the pseudo-science game. They’re in it for the money too.

Are there problems to solve with regard to ecology and the environment? Certainly there are. And good folks have been quietly working on them for a long time without the help from Al Gore’s personal search for the Holy Grail. Gore’s personal agenda will do more to harm those efforts than any other source. When you lose the public trust through selfish motivation support for otherwise noble endeavors declines.

Thanks for nothing, Al Gore.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

BTW, it is interesting that Gore chose the word ‘enterprise’ to describe science.

The mainstream media has fallen on hard times. You may recall it being the subject of another list of targets to ‘bailout’ as Washington politicians continue to spend money we don’t have. But it is understandable they would not want the only collective voice supporting their nonsense to disappear. How else would they be able to quote writers as their only argument in favor of that which is largely opposed?

This post is inspired by a random survey of articles in the first week of this year and has been hanging around in a bookmark file for some time. It had come to the decision point of write about it or delete it. And with a post here on the idea of using sources with no names entitled ‘Under Condition of Anonymity’ writing about it seems fitting.

The article from the LAT by James Rainey, ‘Freelance writing’s unfortunate new model’, did its job of drawing a reader’s attention. From that point it is anyone’s guess if that condition remains. His lament that tough times for the mainstream media translate into tough times for writers, freelance or otherwise, seems obvious. Talk about a case for trickle down economics. If the business supporting incomes for individuals encounters some degree of failure how are they to continue as before? If the business loses money so will those depending on it for an income. This ain’t rocket science.

After noting less than impressive opportunities for freelancers Rainey expresses the real reason this article stayed in the bookmark file this long.

What’s sailing away, a decade into the 21st century, is the common conception that writing is a profession — or at least a skilled craft that should come not only with psychic rewards but with something resembling a living wage.

Why? Where is it written that a skill you may have should provide a living wage? It is not necessarily true that if you build it they will come. And it follows that they may not be willing to pay for it. The problem may be the result of the audience or market realizing the product or service is not what it once was and are no longer as interested in paying for the privilege of using it.

Rainey suggests compensation for writing may have hit bottom. And he adds that little attention has been given to it ‘outside the trade.’ Is he aware that there has been a recession as well as troubling times for most economies around the world? His timeframe is a fair match for similar problems faced by just about everyone else. The economy stinks and money’s tight.

The last word for Rainey’s article (from here) suggests he may have it backwards. The quality and quantity of what passes for journalism in the mainstream media and elsewhere may be the real reason for hard times in the writing trade. An inability to deal effectively with a changing market and allowing public criticism of bias to be ignored may be the real cause.

As for what we will be missing if the trend he describes continues Mr Rainey might want to consider that ship has already sailed. Had journalism remained in the media hard times for the industry may have been avoided.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

An interesting slice of this video report reveals other freedoms that are abridged in the workplace. Specifically, freedom of speech disappears at the employer’s door.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

Nothin’ like celebrity damage control to demonstrate what is really important to them. Money, sex and politics may rank as the top subjects leading to a bankrupt moral compass but it seems a bankrupt financial future is more the concern of one celeb.

Money, sex and politics are featured in the trifecta of both John Edwards and Mark Sanford. Tiger Woods does not get honorable mention for excluding politics. The scheduled event described below will likely be seen for what it is. An attempt to woo advertisers who abandoned the Woods’ brand after his multiple falls from grace.

Question for the day: What is the worst thing you ever did?

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

and here’s the brief report from VOA from which the post title is taken.

The agent of world number-one Tiger Woods says the American golfer will end nearly three months of silence on Friday, when he speaks publicly for the first time since revelations of his marital infidelity.

Agent Mark Steinberg said Wednesday that Woods will speak to a small group of reporters and friends at 11 a.m. EST, at the clubhouse of the TPC Sawgrass golf course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

Woods is expected to talk about his past, his future plans and to apologize for his behavior.

The appearance will come in the middle of the first big event of the year, the Accenture Match Play Championship, which got under way Wednesday in Marana, Arizona.

Accenture was the first sponsor to drop Woods when the scandal first broke.

Even though many countries throughout the world largely blame the US for what was called the global financial crisis the greed responsible and regulatory incompetence that enabled excessive risk in financial markets has its roots where most massive failures do; the legislative halls of the US Congress and other such institutions around the planet. Those countries citing the US as responsible for their crippling losses are as guilty as anyone for gladly participating while everything was working out in that house of cards.

International criticism and commentary aside there have been other suggested culprits throughout the long history of actions leading to the economic problems Americans now face. Senator Chris ‘Countrywide’ Dodd as well as sputtering Congressman Barney Frank are but two politicians connected to the banking industry. There are many more who helped themselves to the profits available in the mortgage industry during the run up to disaster and one such person is none other than Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s Chief of Staff. The President’s choice for Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner, also has dirt on his hands from his tenure at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

During the initial reporting on such matters over the last couple of years the mortgage portion of the crisis included criticism that the Community Reinvestment Act was responsible for much of what happened. It was suggested that financial institutions were forced to extend credit for housing that borrowers were not likely to pay back.

Another culprit receiving criticism in recent years was the Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC. In the past this site featured press releases from the SEC describing the results of legal action against various types of fraud in the financial markets. Almost exclusively the outcome involved what essentially was profit sharing between the offenders and the government. Rather than ever seeing jail time the perps were merely barred from engaging in business in the financial markets and paying some amount of money to the SEC that no doubt came from the ill-gotten gains.

Testimony by former Fed Chair Paul Volcker has focused attention on what may be the single largest reason for problems in banking and Wall Street. The Banking Act of 1933 also known as Glass=Steagall was enacted to avoid problems within the banking industry that occurred then and are remarkably similar to what happened lately. Over the years various parts of the ‘act’ were repealed and some are calling for restoration of those limitations now.

You can do a search on the topic at your favorite engine. You will likely find information about the original safeguards and a repeal history. In addition, HR4375 is a bill sponsored by a Democrat and co=sponsored by nine more plus a Republican. The bill seeks to restore some of Glass-Steagall. Also Senators McCain and Cantwell are in the news claiming to want the same thing or something similar.

This story and the items mentioned above point to the central theme of this post. Political rhetoric and ‘after the fact’ reactions are all too common. It is the evidence that proves what most of us already know about government and those who run it. They govern poorly allowing events to occur that could have been prevented. Where were all these people before the problems referenced here took place? Certainly most of them were in office before the so-called global financial crisis emerged.

The author of this blog supports restoring common sense in government. Like most expressing a personal preference for conservative principles and adhering to our nation’s founding documents Congress and the rest of government is encouraged to concur. And if in this particular case wisdom dictates restoring Glass-Steagall to its original form, please do.

It seems logical to accept the following idea. If the current economic turmoil is in fact the worst since the Great Depression and none has occurred since Glass-Steagall until certain portions of it were repealed then restoring the original legislation is prudent.

It would be helpful to all involved if those in government could produce a series of consecutive actions that can be applauded universally as successful and impressive. At least then citizens could be reassured that it IS possible for government to do something right. There is currently little evidence to suggest that is the case.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

Without presenting some of the information provided in an article from The Economist, to avoid having your eyes glaze over, the following excerpt may some it up.

Most troubling of all is the continued failure of economic growth to benefit the labour market. Employment fell by over 300,000 jobs during the last three months of 2009, despite strong expansion in GDP. The first quarter of 2010 is unlikely to show as big an output gain, suggesting that the pace of improvement in employment may be slowing, even as regular job growth has yet to return. And the situation may be more dire still; initial jobless claims have grown in recent weeks, indicating that what momentum there was in labour markets has been lost.

And leave it to one of Obama’s economic gurus, Larry Summers, to spin the situation in a liberal form. He says the American economy is experiencing “a statistical recovery and a human recession”.

That’s liberal-speak for we present numbers that minimize the problem and portray continued losses in employment as a ‘human recession.’ How comforting. The report indicates 41% of the unemployed have been so for 27 weeks. How does that translate into it ’s all Bush’s fault? Those losses came within Obama’s first year in office.

I can hear the liberal response already. However, libs should understand that regardless of the degree to which the previous administration or anyone else contributed to an economic downturn, then candidate Obama campaigned that his hope and change would fix what’s wrong. He knew then what he would face if elected. It is folly to now say that the failure of his agenda is someone else’s fault.

That is why the overwhelming demand from the public, aka voters, is to return to the basics. Stop spending. Stop borrowing. Live within our means and take common sense steps toward recovery. Enough with the political agenda that only serves the ambition of politicians.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

A billboard getting some attention was erected at the direction of some as yet unknown sponsors. There’s nothing like a little humor for this troubling political climate. And yes, this blogger laments the departure of Bush 43. Certainly not perfect but a preferred option over current conditions. And like most, the author of this brief post is anxiously awaiting November 2010. After that it will be anxiously awaiting November 2012.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

Could it be that foreign carmakers are developing an Achilles heel? No doubt American automakers have taken it on the chin for some time. And much of that is their own doing. But with the advent of Government Motors courtesy of the Obama administration and other related developments one thing seems clear.

Ford Motor Company has faired better than its American competitors. For a review of current accomplishments of note beyond not taking a government bailout check these links on the Ford story.

Ford Market Share and Sales Increase

Ford F-Series Does It Again

Ford Sweeps Awards

Ford Wins Technology Award

2011 Ford Focus Debuts

They may not be killer but then they’re not being killed either. Can you say that about GM or Chrysler? No.

So what can be said about the recent Toyota debacle stemming from ‘foot feeds’ from CTS? While it is causing a serious setback for Toyota it would seem Ford has limited exposure.

Ford Suspends Assembly of Van in China Over CTS Pedal

CTS-built pedal assemblies were used in 1,663 Transit Classic vans made by the [Ford] venture with Jiangling Motors Corp. in Nanchang, China, said Said Deep, a spokesman for Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford. The venture began using the CTS part in December for the vans, which are sold only in China, he said today in an interview.

GM, Ford, Chrysler, Hyundai and probably others are offering incentives to lure Toyota customers to their products. It likely won’t do much for GM and Chrysler but for Ford it may be all upside.

So the question is repeated given other developments in the recent past. Are foreign carmakers developing an Achilles heel? Here are the older reports about foreign car company setbacks given the so-called global financial crisis.

Losses Strike Three Japanese Auto Makers from February 2009

Auto makers have been left with little choice but to scale down production and shed jobs as sales in the U.S., Europe and Japan stumble to lows not seen in decades.

Japan Lifts Auto Forecasts

The upgraded forecasts coincide with data from the Japan Automobile Dealers Association showing that Japan’s auto sales for October jumped 12.6%, the third straight monthly increase, highlighting the improving business environment for domestic auto industry.

Okay, so it may have been just a blip in the typically mistake-free Japanese auto industry. But to have the anomaly of this significant recall so soon after may be systemic. Failures of the American auto industry may be contagious.

A learning curve initiated by earlier American failures may give them a leg up if the Japanese companies fall victim to their own set of problems from this point forward. But these lessons are hard learned by over-confident corporate leadership in the land of golden parachutes and bailouts. Ford Motor Company may be the exception.

Stanford Mattheew
MoreWhat.com

On January 21st this blog published a post announcing the demise of liberal talk radio. Air America is no more. Perhaps Al Franken can suggest his departure was the reason. But that won’t get as many laughs as him being in the US Senate.

The post here on the 21st suggested there was no reason to comment but just mention this liberal failure. But an item in the LAT on the 23rd changes all that. It starts out well enough as shown below.

Coming only two days after the Republicans’ upset U.S. Senate victory in Massachusetts, the sudden demise of the Air America radio network — after a protracted illness — left liberals reeling and conservatives gloating over the failure of their competing ideology’s highest profile outlet.

But the end of Air America is not the end of liberal talk radio, nor should it be, according to observers.

Ya, all right, according to observers. Obviously that does not suggest ALL observers. Here’s an example of the strange clashes between liberals of various philosophies.

Two weeks after Air America went live, it got yanked off the air in Los Angeles and Chicago as part of a dispute with MultiCultural Radio Broadcasting, which owned the affiliate stations in those cities.

Who cares why? Air America gets support from Clear Channel and they still cannot make a go of it. Sort of like, I dunno, Jimmy Carter and his spectacular experience with things business or economic. Double-digit interest rates, inflation and unemployment ravaged the US. Fortunately all Air America ravaged was Air America. And if you want to point to Slick Willie’s budget surplus at the end of a second term consider this. There was a Republican Congress to balance the insanity of a liberal White House.

Besides those involved with Air America what observers did the LAT use for their condolence piece on the death of liberal talk radio? Air America was about as successful as any liberal agenda in this country or any other. That ain’t sayin’ much.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

Transparency and accountability have been a focus in the long battle to defeat liberal control of healthcare in the United States. While the antiseptic qualities apply, described in the phrase, sunshine is the best disinfectant, public demand to review healthcare reform legislation and have input is key. President Obama’s release of his budget proposal for 2011 which begins in October requires the same scrutiny and public focus.

Are you kidding me? A three point eight trillion dollar budget ($3.8 trillion) is not what the doctor ordered. Just as the Democratic party and their agenda is on life support so is the US economy. Given that the vast majority of federal budgets are entitlements and discretionary spending this budget number is preposterous. Like the stark reality being experienced by the unemployed and under-employed the White House and Congress need a wake up call.

The plan includes big increases in personal and business taxes, modest spending cuts and increased outlays for education, defense and jobs initiatives.

First of all, tax increases are nonsense in this economy. Second, modest spending cuts are equally ignorant. As for education, sure, it is important. But the simple fact that everyone will have to suffer includes education. So your college plans are postponed for a year or two. Join the Peace Corps or something. And why do we think education can only be improved by spending money. That hasn’t improved student or teacher performance yet.

Cutting more entitlements would certainly help paying for any defense needs. And who the hell needs a jobs bill now that needs to be paid for over ten years? $80 to $100 billion over ten years for government make work jobs? That’s ridiculous.

And enough with the future timelines for reducing spending, deficits and the national debt. Do it now. Right now, in this budget in this year turn the corner and halt the damage being done by government malfeasance. As an ending note to this post Lamar Alexander put it best in describing current politics in Washington.

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.), appearing on the same program, praised Mr. Obama for talking about spending and tax cuts, but said his ideas were flawed. “I’ll give the president some credit,” he said. “He’s in the right church but the wrong pew.”

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

BTW, following links to the WSJ articles is worth the trip.  And so is the following link.

Debt deluge: Here comes the $1.6 trillion flood of red ink (Michelle Malkin) 

The New Old Way to Tote Your Beer
At Bierkraft in Park Slope, Brooklyn, customers bring their own growlers and fill them with fresh draft beer. They drink it there, or take it out.

By ROBERT SIMONSON
Published: January 26, 2010

BY midafternoon on a recent Saturday, Bierkraft, the beer emporium and grocery on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn, was half-filled with customers, many of them parents with babies or toddlers in tow. They were browsing the more than 1,000 varieties of bottled beer or surveying the listing of selections available on the 13 taps and 3 cask lines. Some carried a good-sized satchel.

Let’s see. A satchel for carrying a 64 oz glass vessel for beer called a growler. The author of the piece casually inquires if the parents with ‘babies or toddlers in tow’ are carrying this satchel as a diaper bag. Another inquiry came to mind.

Is there something odd or troubling about parents packin’ up the kids and a half-gallon container then heading for the local beer garden? Oh yes, drink it there or take it out. While I have been in places where the take it out part would be a problem, legally, there remains the good judgment part. Why are the kids going with ya to slosh beer? C’mon, a half-gallon container. We’re not talkin’ sippin’ here.

Am I too old-fashioned or is there a problem with this? You might think the half-gallon growler was being shared with others. But when the article reports couples have his and her’s growlers polite distribution seems unlikely.

Okay, in defense of this arrangement to swill it is nothing new. When Sunday was largely a time to first attend church followed by family or community activities on the day of rest similar situations developed like the Saturday story above. Consider the church picnic or local baseball game or family get together where libations were also in attendance.

Maybe it’s nothing. But it just struck me as a bad idea. Not the growler part but the parents, kids AND growler part. You tell me. Is this much ado about nothing?

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

In his own words at his own ‘unveiling’ of the iPad Jobs calls the iPad’more intimate’ than a laptop and ‘more capable’ than an iPhone. That translates to an item targeting the ultimate couch potato whose sedentary lifestyle does not even allow for the minimal effort required to operate a pc or mac. At the same time he disses his own iPhone as even less capable than this offering.

What more do you need to understand our technology wasteland?

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

When’s the last time a politician gave us what we wanted? When’s the last time your boss gave you what you wanted? To be fair, when’s the last time an employee gave you what you wanted? And finally, how often have you purchased a product or service that really impressed you in terms of utility, overall value and price or affordability?

In the ‘tech’ world there never seems to be a shortage of those willing to buy whatever is offered. Neither does there seem to be a lack of those willing to applaud the debut of each new item touted by vendors like Microsoft and Apple. This time a mild rant is presented on Apple’s latest ‘thing.’ The iPad has the same naming convention allowing a previous Apple bash on this blog indicating the ‘i’ in iPhone is for idiot.

The same applies for the iPad. Without benefit of manufactured memory this blogger’s own recalls a brief visit to Apple dot com to obtain an official press release. Would have dealt with images but Apple’s paranoia made that option excessively annoying as well. So the use of an earlier technology that has remarkable similarities to the iPad is the substitute.

Apple dot com listed a price of $499 for the iPad versus those near $700 at various sources around the net. The 500 dollar price may have been a bare bones version. And there were availability questions which caused some laughter. More laughter was generated by the details about what the fine device can do, or not. These debuts are so silly and the response to them equally bizarre it is all one can do to remain silent observing such nonsense.

Beyond the fact that this is another ‘device’ what the hell is so different about this one from all the others over decades? Oh sure, we’ve seen dial up move to broadband like they couldn’t have done that sooner. Oh my, we have wireless, sort of. The only reason there has been massive increases in memory and storage is to accommodate no technical advancements nor real reasons to purchase additional or replacement devices. Tech is stagnant.

Apple you are no more impressive than that other outfit…. Microsoft. Although you produce funnier advertisements. Speaking of humor, here’s someone else’s reaction to the news.

Tabula Rasa: Apple’s Press Release, Before the Editing
Genius Knows No Bounds
By Peter Jeffrey

For Immediate Release. (Apple employees: Thanks for keeping it under wraps. You may reclaim your first-born sons before the close of business Friday.)

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 27 — Apple Inc. announced today a revolutionary new tablet computer offering live HDTV, 3D movie downloads, 4G broadband Internet access from anywhere on Earth or low orbit, interactive multilingual color e-books, e-newspapers, e-magazines, an e-sense of purpose in life and e-anything else we have to do to blast our “competitors” back to the Sprocket Age.

And here’s a link to the Apple iPad press release, really.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

In a recent post (rant) published on this blog the target was telecom and electronics in general and specifically wireless communications e.g., cell phones and the lack of attention paid to voice service. Just as vendors ignore recent revelations of hacking encryption techniques that expose vulnerabilities customer service has been largely ignored with Google’s launch of Nexus One as the excerpt and link below indicate. But also in the previous rant on this blog the notion that fools rush in explains why the lack of due diligence by those purchasing the latest and greatest allows vendors to be so arrogant.

Customers who have already bought the Nexus One—especially an unlocked one at full price for $529—feel they should be able to call a customer support line instead of waiting on Google to respond via e-mail, whenever that may be. Google has said that it may take days to answer inquiries online, but that’s not fast enough for dissatisfied customers.

Having a small percentage of the consuming public display the gotta have it mentality in years past served the rest of us well. It was like sending up a test balloon to see if new technology delivered. But over time that small group has become large contributing to the proliferation of poor products and services.

In spite of all that Nexus One has going for it, not everything is perfect. As of this writing, there are no accessories, yet. Even though the phone supports what seems to be very robust car and home docks, there are no signs of them being sold. There’s nary a shipping screen cover or silicone case, if such things are important to you. All you have is the micro USB connector and a 3.5mm headphone jack. And for the money, Google could definitely have included a much bigger microSD card than 4GB. Even the Droid came with a 16GB card

Just a day apart the articles referenced above from Ars Technica act like good cop, bad cop. Pan the customer service and then extoll the virtues of Nexus One with a muted discussion of its shortcomings. For the price, none of those problems should exist. But again, since fools rush in, there is no pressure for vendors to offer value for the money.

News Analysis: Google is one of the most respected and admired brands in the computer industry. But glaring problems with the early stages of the Nexus One smartphone rollout betray a lack of careful planning as well as a lack of experience in handling the introduction of a major new mobile hardware product.

The appraisal by Eweek is not as soft as Ars Technica. And it includes a ten point list suggesting how this will hurt Google. Too bad it is not likely to alter the habits of the gotta have it folks that allow this situation to exist in the first place.

Google’s Nexus One phone may have been one of the most anticipated devices of the last few weeks. But since the smartphone’s launch last Tuesday, it has left a string of unhappy customers in its wake.

Nexus One has been plagued by consumer complaints including spotty 3G connectivity, a high early termination fee, poor customer support from Google and problems with the touchscreen.

The review from Wired is on point as well. And it is a reminder about this blog’s continuous and primary complaint about wireless voice services. They take a back seat to all other features offered by cell phone vendors. We all get geeky from time to time but the fact remains a cell phone is exactly that. A cell phone first where voice communication should be the first priority. And ti should not cost hundreds of dollars to get one.

Can’t exit this post without a comment on the evil tech empire to compare and contrast. The Consumer Electronics Show was held again this year and apparently the current Darth Vader of IT, Steve Ballmer picked up where Bill Gates left off.

When Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer took the stage at the Consumer Electronics Show Jan. 6, the tech world was expecting something major.

Just about every announcement Ballmer made during his keynote involved relatively minor product upgrades.

The lemmings still flock to Microsoft. And in fairness to MS, you can now find them flocking to Google and most other vendors as well. Will it ever stop?

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com