Filed Under Mobile Phones

The Hammer that Turned Out to Be a Boomerang

Apple imagines and builds a sad, predictable world where all apps do more or less the same things. The difference is only a matter of price. For example, you look for a customizable GPS tracker and they assume that you want to monitor your amazing sports performance, keep an eye on your employees, or look for your lost phone. Unlike Android, you are trapped in an immutable ecosystem.

Why one would ever want to freely access their app files, easily disable location tracking, or connect a wired headset? BTW, did you know that to perform many tasks you still have to use the crappy iTunes software? As in a historical nemesis, Apple’s fans today are the brainwashed viewers. So, who throws the hammer?

T&A: Do Travelers Really Need a Boring Remote Control?

To understand what most travel companies really think and expect from you, you’d better read between the lines when they are in “B2B mode”. Take for example this revealing phrase from one of EyeforTravel’s reports:

According to Reck, GetYourGuide sees the mobile phone becoming a remote control with which travelers can select whatever they want to do in a destination at any time, with instant booking available.

Exactly, be humble, sit down, and choose your fictitious experience from the menu. This is what tours and activities today are all about. It’s kind of an old dial TV with many identical channels. The Netflixization of travel is here to stay but, of course, you can always decide to turn it off until the programming changes.

Of Headphone Jacks, Pirouettes in the Snow, and Mushrooms

Apple’s main reason for eliminating the headphone jack from the iPhone 7 was to make the phone water resistant without compromising its stylish design. It’s interesting to note how a year later, with the launch of iPhone X, the company continues to praise that choice, as if the AirPods were the “final tech frontier”, able to project us into a new dimension made of pirouettes in the snow.

The truth is that now the lady can throw her smartphone in a puddle (perhaps) but will no longer be able to use Augment, a really strong argument to choose Apple over other manufacturers. The app, in fact, is only available for iOS.

According to Pharrell Williams and other testimonials, Augment’s effects are even more powerful than those shown in the commercial above. So what to do? Buy the SE if you can’t resist to “hear the world your way” (or save big money).