Dark Times Digest #5
You CAN Detect The Decline In Society -- Organizations use machines instead of humans and it shows up with phone robots -- then robot phones -- serving their masters at your expense
Return To Page Listing Dark Times Digest Subjects
1.1 Communication is the life blood of society
2.1 The search for a cell phone without fancy new features1
2.2 The search for a cell phone without fancy new features2
2.3 The search for a cell phone without fancy new features3
2.4 Consumere LIKE fancy, but don't use it -- So Basic should sell if properly promoted
2.5 Fancy Phones Sell, but Services Lag
| 1.1 |
Here is the sacredness of live communication gone south into the pit, not to be seen again. Here is an essay on communication: _______________________ |
| At This | Bill Is Looking | This Is What his Mental Picture is | Comment | |
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Here is a sober guy who is in good mental condition! |
Something happens to this guy -- we don't know what!
| At This | Bill Is Looking | This Is What his Mental Picture is | Comment | |
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Here is a guy who MAY have a problem! |
The guy drinks a small amount of alcohol -- after previously seeing a cat.
| At This | Bill Is Looking | This Is What his Mental Picture is | Comment | |
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Here is a guy who has just drunk some alcohol. You tell him there is a "cat" there and he say, "no," there is only a dog! |
The above is not likely to happen after ONE drink, but it does happen.
The guy drinks more alcohol. It is VERY unpredictable as to what he will SEE when he looks at the cat. He may see the cat, he may see Aunt Mary, he may see a tiger. He may turn in fear to escape the tiger, he may try to kiss the cat since he SEES his girlfriend.
| At This | Bill Is Looking | This Is What his Mental Picture is | Comment | |
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Here is a guy who has just drunk lots of alcohol. You tell him there is a "cat" there and he say, "no," there is a tiger -- and shoots it! Or, he runs! |
Maybe he sees only a fuzzy image, instead of a "wrong item."
| At This | Bill Is Looking | This Is What his ACTUAL Sight is | Comment | |
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Here is a guy who has just drunk lots of alcohol. He SEES that his view is fuzzy. He knows that he is under the influence. |
Here is a different phenomenon. Many people who have drunk too much alcohol have experienced that their vision gets blurred. They know they can't see straight. In many of the other examples in this series the drunk sees very clearly, but sees something that is not there. In this example he sees what is there, but the picture is blurred or fuzzy. This is common for people who take either street or medical drugs.
Business firms who hire telephone operators get this type of individual often, and "solve" the problem with a fancy answering machine. It works for a while, but eventually there will have to be some humans involved somewhere -- the company thinks they can solve the drugged problem with humans who are more like machines -- those are the ones you often talk to when you get a live person.
The type of fuzziness caused by wrong definitions or different definitions (between John and Bill) are of the same nature -- but harder to detect. If the person on the other end of the phone is on drugs, you may not know it, but soon you realize that he didn't "understand" you -- you get angry and quit trying.
Nonetheless, we seem to have SO much need to communicate, and putting our communications on paper, multiplied by the millions just makes this whole process even more problematic. Putting the words on the web, not on paper, makes the whole process more complicated with links, images that move and fancy words that few understand.
When ONE person communicates to ONE person, there is a chance, at least, that John will "notice" that Bill looks dazed, or doesn't seem to understand. There is always the chance, in live communication, that Bill can say, "I don't understand that!" When a machine says that to you, you have no choice but to repeat what you said. If YOU don't understand the machine, you have little chance to improve things other than hang up and try again.
But, communication on paper or the internet is far to huge to ever even consider trying to "go back" to the Socratic days of "one on one" tutoring. Even Socrates, of course, was subject to the same requirement for mutually agreed definitions.
Communication, whether verbally one-to-one, or multiplied by the billions on TV, the Internet or in print, is just as good, and no better, than the degree of mutual full understanding of the definitions of the words being used.
Print, TV or Internet is certainly not the same as live communication, but they have many advantages that might make up for the less-than-personal nature of the medium.
We can improve this mass communication by being sure to use commonly understood words, or by making sure that we define words in the text where they are used.
Most basically, we could improve the terrible educational system to teach students how to study. They do NOT learn to study, and thus become ignorant citizens and consumers -- making decisions on the basis of emotion rather than logic and intellect.
We can "improve" the written words by adding pictures -- so the "less-than-personal" communication becomes more personal -- more alive. Pictures are NOT prone to the same problem of needing mutually agreed-upon definitions.
Making something "personal" is NOT a substitute for having agreed-upon definitions, but personal, live communication is so satisfying, so "good" that we think we've made tremendous progress in communication when we can take the impersonal (and "word-flawed) nature of the internet and improve it a MORE PERSONAL (but still "word-flawed") type of communication.
We can greatly improve on that communication by removing the "material aspects" of the communication while leaving the "significance" there. The "material aspects" include the paper and ink. The "significance" includes the thoughts represented by words. When you can convey the words with less paper and ink, the communication can move far more rapidly to far more people with less effort.
h writing on it, was carried by a man on a horse, relayed to another man, on another horse, and thus traversed perhaps a thousand miles on many horses. There was a certain amount of "effort" in getting that communication from John to Bill. You could measure that effort in the pounds and tons of horseflesh, rider bodies, feed and time.Contrast this with an eMail from John to Bill -- where the same thoughts, perhaps the same words, are now carried with a tiny percentage of the mass that accompanied the Pony Express communication.
One thing that is sorely lacking on that piece of paper or that eMail is "liveness!"
So, the challenge then becomes, "How can you modify that piece of paper so that someone can 'ask the paper' a question and get an answer??" Well, with Pony Express it might take the question 30 days to arrive at Bill, and another 30 days for the answer to return to John. With the eMail the question can arrive at Bill in seconds and a response be received by John in more seconds.
If Bill is absent from his computer the question may lay in his eMail basket for hours or even days before John gets his answer.
This will breed chaos in a large organization where people are loose about company purpose and use the fast and cheap method of communication to send and receive trivial messages. Many offices are paralyzed by the non-business use of the eMail system within the company, or even more by the "instant messaging" service that sneaks onto employee computers.
The number of daily e-mails in North America has tripled since 1999, to 11.9 billion, according to IDC, a Framingham, Mass., research firm. That figure doesn't include spam e-mails, which are another problem entirely.
All these messages, of course, take time to read. The ePolicy Institute, a Columbus, Ohio, consulting firm, says 48% of all office workers spend one to two hours a day on e-mail. Some 10% spend more than half the day on the stuff.
"Live Two Way Communication" is the essence of life -- John interacts with Bill, using communication.
What you need is a piece of paper with built in ability to respond to questions from John. Can you devise a piece of paper, or a web page, that emulates "John" where "John" can ask a question, without being truly alive, and Bill can answer that piece of paper and get a further response from John.
Bill comes to the shopping cart -- he knows that the "cart" is not a live being, but he still wants to "communicate" TO the cart -- he wants to convey his thoughts to the cart. He wants to ask questions of the cart. He wants to get answers to HIS questions from the cart. And, he wants that to be as instantaneous as it would be between John and himself, in the same room.
Cookies are a very important method for maintaining state on the Web. "State" in this case refers to an application's ability to work interactively with a user, remembering all data since the application started, and differentiating between users and their individual data sets.
An analogy I like to use is a laundry cleaner's shop. You drop something off, and get a ticket. When you return with the ticket, you get your clothes back. If you don't have the ticket, then the laundry man doesn't know which clothes are yours. In fact, he won't be able to tell whether you are there to pick up clothes, or a brand new customer. As such, the ticket is critical to maintaining state between you and the laundry man.
You get some "interactivity" with Java Script, but it would be "mindless" and certainly not personal interactivity. You run your mouse over a drop down menu and get the impersonal interactivity of the expanded menu -- but this interactivity is NOT personal to you.
In general, dynamic Web pages are pages that interact with users, so that each site visitor sees customized information. In the case of PHP, dynamic also means that data is pulled from a database. Dynamic Web applications are prevalent in commercial (e-commerce) sites, where the content displayed is generated from information that is accessed from a database or other external source. (Source: Front Page Help Menus)
Dream on with me a bit and look into the future.
When the teacher knows his student SO well that he can anticipate the student's every question, even if unvoiced you'd have a virtually perfect teaching system.
When you have cookies properly used then every page on any of my 100,000 pages is capturing data and "telling the teacher" just what the student has read.The web pages capture and keep a record of Bill, the student, and every page he has read (or elecotronic quizz he has taken and been graded on). This system can then DELIVER exactly the page shich is next needed in this learning experience.
The PHP and the character of the database that it works with will have a great deal to do with the quality of the communication, and the speed of an accurate response to a "question." The more personalized data you can build into the tables of the database the more alive can be the resulting communication.
Electronic communication has other dimensions of approximating "life," as seen in the amazing popularity of flat screen TVs and computer monitors:
Revenue from flat-screen production is expected to exceed $60 billion this year, 40% above last year's level and three times greater than market levels in 2001, market researchers say. That doesn't include sales of related components, manufacturing equipment or end products such as computers, cell phones and TVs. The revenue figure is around a third of the much older and more diverse semiconductor industry.
Two years ago, desktop monitors passed notebook PCs as the biggest application for flat screens. And last year, computer buyers purchased more flat-screen monitors than traditional tube-based models for the first time. (Source Restricted)
When we finally get to three-dimensional, in-the-room images (holographs ala Star Track) we will have arrived at yet another milestone on the journey to copy life with a machine.
There are "trouble shooting" help features, increasingly, in many programs -- they are wisely moving in the diection of the "machine" presents a question with, say, two possible answers. The live being chooses one of those answers, and gets the next question, with the next set of possible answers. If the designer is smart enough, the whole experience can approximate Bill asking John a fairly complex question and getting the answer.
I recall just such a scenario recently, for me, when I couldn't get my new scanner to work. I went through the trouble-shooting routine. About the first question was, "Is the scanner plugged into a live power source?" I looked. It was not. I had spent some hours trying to get a new scanner to work while it was plugged into a power strip where half of the strip was alive with power but the part I had plugged into was NOT alive.
The skill of the shopping cart designer STARTS with a full knowledge of the tools by which the shopping cart (or any web page) is constructed. For many purposes, and pages, HTML is still the sine qua non, but for the further advancement of our electronic age we need to leave the static world of HTML and find other languages which allow for "personalized interactivity."
When there is no effort to anticipate the thought processes of the visitor, the web designer feels compelled to answer ALL possible questions on every page -- so we get complex drop down menus that allow the visitor to ask ANY question -- choose any change of venue.
This whole subject gets more complicated when you figure that people don't read on the web, but scan!!
People rarely read Web pages word by word; instead, they scan the page, picking out individual words and sentences. In a recent study John Morkes and I found that 79 percent of our test users always scanned any new page they came across; only 16 percent read word-by-word. (source restricted)
Others will be doing this -- it is not a matter of "taking it easy." These concepts are too natural to the electronic era and I hold no monopoly on these concepts, but we can be among the first to recognize their validity, and to design around them.
There are some brilliant people, some "lucid minds" working on many improvements for communication on the internet, and in any other medium, but unless these brilliant people recognize, as I do here, at "Lucid Minds" the vital and basic necessity for clearing up basic communication, no matter how it is delivered, by assuring that both the originator and the recipient have the same definitions for the words being used.
Karl Loren
1 The search for a cell phone without fancy new features
by Rick Garrett
I Just Want to Buy a Phone! Is That so Hard to Understand?
Some of you might recall the untimely death of my cell phone a few days back. I was hoping it would come back to life, but, after the 3rd day, it showed no hope of rising again, so off I go to find a new phone.
WARNING>>>>RANT AHEAD.
I've come to realize I'm hard on phones. I drop them, lose them, sit on them, knock them off of my belt loop.
I catch them on the arm of my desk chair, all kinds of things.
And, I'm an old fashioned guy. If I want an MP3 player, I'll go buy one. Ditto for the camera. I keep notes on paper, not in a PDA. I keep them on paper and cram them in my wallet or desk drawer or tuck them in my sun visor, where, 3 or 4 years later, I'll find them. By then it doesn't matter anymore anyway!
But I digress. What am I looking for in a phone? I like my phones like I like my women....cheap and easy. (Ladies...it's a JOKE!)
What I am looking for in a phone, is I want to:
1)Make Phone Calls
2)Get Phone Calls.
That's it. I don't want to take anyones picture, I don't want to be able to leave myself voice memo's, I don't want a GPS, And I sure don't want blue teeth! Why is everyone at these phone stores thinking I want a Blue Tooth? A silver...no, a gold tooth might be kinda flashy once in a while, but a BLUE tooth? No, thank you.
And, those wireless things people are wearing in their ears these days? Why the HELL do I want to walk around looking somewhat like Seven of Nine? I don't want to be assimilated with my phone, for cripes sake.
SO, I go to these "Technology Centers" Cripes, aren't there any freakin PHONE STORES anymore.......and when I say I want to buy "just a basic phone", they look at me like I'm an Andorian, or, worse yet, a Wookie.
And, these kids JUST WON'T FREAKING LISTEN. I tell them what I want, and IMMEDIATELY they pull out the latest bell and whistle filled phone. I swear, I was ready to grab this snot nosed youngster by the lapels and drag him over the counter and say "I WANT A BASIC PHONE OR YOUR LIFE".
Well, long story short, I FINALLY found a basic phone. It's a Samsung something or other that lets me
1)Make phone calls
2)Get phone calls.
There, was that so hard?
Well, yes it was. Gas over $2.00 a gallon and I'm in near tears just trying to find a stupid, basic phone.
But I'm happy with it. Because, today, I
1)Made a phone call
2)Received a phone call.
It also comes with voice mail........but I'm not ready to tackle that yet.
Have a good day, y'all.
Now, if I just had someone to call!
2 The search for a cell phone without fancy new features
by Andrew K. Nelsen
Although it's nice to have that gadget that's useful, sleek, and fun, sometimes it's just not practical. There's a number of reasons not to want a mobile phone with an infinite amount of possibilities. It doesn't make you "outdated" or "old"; your cellphone is your tool - not a third wheel. Whether your choice is based on price, features, or simplicity, your decision is a unique and personal preference.
Most mobile phones will require a cellular plan. This is unfortunate for those who plan on using their phone rarely, or only for emergencies. There are quite a few companies claiming to have the best plan, the best coverage, or the nicest phones. The fact of the matter is that providers enjoy selling you things you don't need. Because mobile phones and their plans go together, simplicity may manifest itself in prepaid cellular.
Step One: Estimate Your Needs.
Are you going to be using this phone every day for hours? Not likely? Don't spend your money on boatloads of minutes you couldn't possibly use. Slim down on bloat and features of the phone. Color screen? MP3 ring-tones? Camera? Text messaging? It's helpful to make a mental list of things you need; often phones will list their features in the same format.
Step Two: Shop Around.
If you plan on tying yourself down to contracts and shady user agreements, you'll want to be very careful about what provider you use. Prepaid mobile phones without commitments usually offer free basic phones - no strings attached - when you purchase minutes. Keep your eyes open for similar deals that bundle things you need with a phone you want. Consider things like battery life and the network the phone is on. Pay attention especially to unbiased consumer reports and expert reviews, both for the phone and the provider.
Step Three: Make Your Purchase.
Often times paying on-line can be as simple as a few clicks, but going into a store and talking to a representative can make things refreshingly clear. Once you have your mobile phone, make sure all features are work as promised. Does it feel right for you? Is it functional, convenient, and truly valuable to you?
Remember, don't be intimidated by your phone or it's provider. If it's not working as it should, or if you're not satisfied with your service, don't be afraid to ask questions or even return the phone.
3 The search for a cell phone without fancy new features
by Leigh Goessl
Cellular telephones used to be a convenience which gave people the capability to dial and receive phone calls from anywhere. Today they've evolved into multi-faceted gadgets to meet the needs of an on-demand and connected society.
When choosing a cell phone there are several styles and options to select from, not to mention the many functions! Functional capabilities include text messaging, games, walkie-talkie features, camera, video, and Internet and computer capabilities.
Today's cell phones are truly all-in-one devices.
Mobile phones have rapidly evolved to the point where these "perks" have become the norm. It is a rare thing to see someone carrying a phone which doesn't contain a camera embedded witin its' makeup or have text messaging capabilities.
The market has grown to a point where there is high demand for these extra capabilities, but where does that leave those consumers who prefer to own a simple functioning cell phone? A phone which performs basic tasks such as making and receiving calls, and one where you don't need to have a masters degree in cell phone operations with a concentration in text lingo to navigate one of these gadgets.
If you look at cellular phone storefronts you might speculate if you're in a wireless phone shop or if you've made a wrong turn and ended up in the home entertainment department. Mobile phones are complicated devices when you consider all you wanted was a portable telephone that would enable you to call the family to let them know you were running late and to not hold dinner.
What about cell phones for the sheer purpose of having a conversation? Rest assured "normal" mobile phones are still around. Vendors try to promote the hi-tech models to sell consumers the bells and whistles, but if you insist on a generic phone with the basics, they will show them to you.
An important factor to consider as your start your hunt for a fancy-free cell is whether or not you already have a contract with a company. If you aren't already committed to a contract, the free phones typically thrown in with a new contract are often pretty basic. You can ask to take a look at one of those and chances are it may strike your fancy.
If you already have a contract, it may be a bit harder to find another phone because unfortunately the way many contracts are structured you might be subject to outrageous fees, but it can't hurt to ask anyway.
One problem is when you are locked into a contract you have less of a bargaining chip when seraching
Consumere LIKE fancy, but don't use it -- So Basic should sell if properly promoted
Consumers in both the U.S. and Europe are flocking to phones with advanced data features, but not that many are using the services operators want them to, according to a pair of recent surveys.
About 60 percent of all home broadband users in the U.S. have a mobile device that can reach the Internet, but only 5 percent actually use them for that purpose, research company Media-screen said in its Netpop Pocket survey announced Wednesday. Meanwhile, M:Metrics Inc. said phones that can play music now make up a hefty portion of sales in the U.S. and Western Europe, but few users are buying songs for them over the air.
The reports come as the mobile industry gears up for the CTIA Wireless show in Orlando next week. Carriers and other industry players are expected to promote emerging mobile data applications such as video, payments and location-based services there, with an eye to generating more revenue as voice calling minutes get cheaper.
Many U.S. mobile users steer clear of the mobile Internet because of cost, dropped connections, the size of the screen and the difficulty of finding content on the phone, said Josh Crandall, managing director of Media-Screen Consulting, in San Francisco.
One problem is that carriers make it hard for users of less-expensive limited data plans to find out how much of their monthly allocation they've used up, Crandall said. As a result, they avoid using the Internet.
"It creates an environment that is based on fear rather than interest in actually consuming services more," Crandall said.
A few music-focused phones such as the Sony Ericsson W850i have raised interest in the larger category of phones that can play music, M:Metrics said in its survey. At the high end, 40 percent of phones in the U.K. are music phones, while more than one-quarter of the handsets in Germany, Italy and Spain are, it said. In the U.S., only 17 percent of handsets can store and play music, but sales of such phones grew 385 percent in the year ended January 2007.
However, most users are "sideloading" music from their own collections into the phones rather than buying songs via the carrier. M:Metrics found 12.2 percent of mobile subscribers in the U.K. listen to sideloaded music, compared with 2.7 percent who downloaded songs from a carrier's store. Even fewer buy from carriers in Germany, France, Spain and Italy. In the U.S., 2.9 percent of subscribers listen to sideloaded music and only 0.7 percent buy from carriers.
Some carriers have frowned at sideloading, and with some justification: It's part of a trend that's cutting into their sales of personalization features such as ringtones and wallpapers, M:Metrics spokeswoman Jaimee Minney said. Thanks to Web sites that have made the process easier, many mobile users are now making ringtones out of their own music. Likewise, users with camera phones are just taking pictures and using them as wallpaper, Minney added. In the U.S., which often lags Europe in the mobile arena, ringtone and wallpaper or screensaver purchasing was up in January.
Fancy Cell Phone Services Aren't Selling
Fancy Phones Sell, but Services Lag
This shouldn't surprise anyone who has bought a fancy cell phone in the last couple of years: surveys now show that both Americans and Europeans are shunning fancy new services, including much touted music download services. Reasons? The services are costly, connection drops are too frequent, and it's a hassle dealing with phone menuing systems.
Gee, who would ever have thought cellphones would have problems like that?
These surveys, described by Stephen Lawson in this report, are coming out just as the mobile industry gears up for the CTIA Wireless show. That show, which runs next week in Orlando, Florida, will heavily showcase mobile data applications.
Based on Lawson's report, the cell phone industry has serious work ahead if it hopes to convince people they should buy music, video and other mobile services from carriers.
Given the current state of cell phones and carrier services, that could be a tough, tough sell.
A tough sell only because people need to see the mobile phone as a tool as well rather than just an entertainment device. If you're going to be at the CTIA visit the qode booth ( http://www.qode.com ) and you'll see how qode can link activated smartcodes, barcodes and keywords to the mobile Internet. A one click process. A marketer's dream for those impulse buyers. And many more!
You CAN Detect The Decline In Society -- Organizations use machines instead of humans and it shows up with phone robots -- then robot phones -- serving their masters at your expense
by Karl Loren
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