"Out of clutter, find Simplicity. From discord, find Harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies Opportunity." - Albert Einstein

Apple slaps you in the face with a free rubber case

Posted: July 16th, 2010 | Author: Charles West | Filed under: Just A Thought | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments »

Can I say that with the announcement by Steve Jobs to iPhone 4 customers of giving them a free rubber casing is a slap in the face? As you can probably tell I’m really not impressed with this move by Apple only because it would have been smart business to cover up the flaw (the antenna) from the beginning by offering the cases for free.

But as we all know by now Apple waited… and waited for this issue to become a HUGE story. If Apple wasn’t so stubborn and cheap most customers would have probably dealt with the antenna issue with the free rubber bumpers if they had offered them for free earlier.

But the fact remains, Apple still rather insult your intelligence by saying “it’s not an antenna problem” but in fact it’s you and it’s the way YOU are holding it (the phone) but we’ll satisfy you by throwing you a $30 rubber casing that cost us probably less than $1 to make so you can stop complaining. I believe ultimately these past incidents with Apple whether busting down the door of a blogger or being conceivably disingenuous  to customers will cost them big in customer loyalty down the road.

What is your opinion of this latest move by Apple? Do you think their undermining the issue with the antenna?

Sound off

Should Bloggers Carry Similar Rights As Journalists?

Posted: April 27th, 2010 | Author: Charles West | Filed under: Just A Thought | Tags: , , , , , | 4 Comments »

I read a pretty disturbing blog post not on substance or content but of overall invasion of rights last night written by Jason Kincaid of TechCrunch. The base of the article covered in detail the search and seizure conducted on behalf of California’s Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team courtesy of Apple.

What’s going on?

Now let me clue those of you in who aren’t in the know of what has transpired in the past week. I learned like most of the tech world that a next generation iPhone had been recovered by someone who found it in a bar (yes a bar I couldn’t make this up). To make a long story short Engadget to my knowledge had pictures of the phone prior to Gizmodo stepping up the anti by purchasing the phone off of the person who had found it for 5 grand!

Then Gizmodo in probably the biggest blog post of the year wrote and video taped a review of this mysterious phone know one knew for sure was a next gen iPhone. Well, with a couple of obtainable resources from their buddy Apple-connected John Gruber—from Daring Fireball—they learned that Apple has indeed lost a prototype iPhone and they wanted it back.

Look at this letter Apple sent to Gizmodo asking for their property: Click here!

The legal ramifications

Gawker the parent company of Gizmodo had the COO Gaby Darbyshire respond about the legal actions that were taken he stated by citing California Penal Code 1524(g), which states that “no warrant shall issue for any items described in Section 1070 of the Evidence Code”, which protects information obtained in protection of a news organization. Darbyshire also points out that the California Court of Appeal has previously found that these protections apply to online journalists (O’Grady v. Superior Court).

During the search Chen’s door was broken open because he wasn’t home to open it then his external hard drives, four computers, two servers, phones and more were all seized.

To see the warrant Chen received from the police: Click here

A moment of clarity

So while you’re reading this you’re probably saying to yourself a couple of things:

  1. ALL OF THIS FOR A PHONE?
  2. Can they really do this?

Well, to answer those questions briefly yes they have done this over a phone and for the moment yes apparently they can do this but this is my overall point of writing this post. My thing is as a blogger I want to know hopefully along with you the reader (especially if you’re a blogger) do I have the rights that a journalist may have?

In the end

What most people don’t understand about this blogging world is that it isn’t a game and you shouldn’t take it for granted because you may think you’re doing great “journalistic work” but all it takes is a huge following and one honest opinion and a conglomerate company like an Apple or whoever may come after you legally.

The reality is most blogging companies who are small and independent much like our blog don’t have the resources or financial war chest to sustain such a legal intrusion.

But Back to the matter at hand do you think if this phone fell into the hands of a journalist from the New York Times who would have posted a full review along with exclusive pictures who then would in turn have their house seized because of it?!

I doubt it, but it is something you should think about and definitely consider because I believe not by design Gizmodo will open a whole new debate about the rights of bloggers and journalists by contesting the warrant and out right invasion their editor had to endure. All in all I hope this post sheds a different light on the pettiness of Apple.

Check out TechCrunch post that helped inspire my thoughts: Click here