My Random 2014 Rewind

Normally, I match the number of noteworthy news bits from the last year to the year itself (14 for 2014, etc.) but since I'm publishing this in 2015, we'll do a plus one. So without further adieu, here is your 2014 year in review.

Hey, that rhymed! (Ficky, ficky, fresh!)

A Nightmare on Main Street – The shooting of 21-year-old Michael Brown sparked a national debate (and in many cities, outrage) over the not-guilty verdict and acquittal by a grand jury who indicted Ferugsson, MO police officer Darren Wilson for shooting an unarmed Brown seven (7!) times. Call me old fashioned–and yes, context matters–but shooting an unarmed man 7 times (he fired 9 times btw) isn’t quelling civil discord. Unfortunately, the only other person who could give this any perspective is dead. 

Gamergate – In August 2014, the debate over sexism in video games came to a head due to ongoing harassment and threats–primarily targeting women–in the video game industry. Everything from rape and death threats to bomb threats highlighted the maniacal state of ethical issues like sexism and misogyny in the video game industry. Many women in the gaming industry have been victimized by harassment and threats to themselves and their loved ones for calling out the inequities of the industry. Feminist culture and industry critic, Anita Sarkeesian who released a video manifesto on the very male-dominated face of gaming, characters, development, and propaganda was at the seething heart of this growing cultural and media scandal. Rest assured, this one is just getting started. 

Sony: The Interview and The Hack – The Christmas Day DDOS attacks on the world’s largest entertainment and media servers included spamming the servers of Amazon, Xbox Live, and Sony PlayStation as well as leaking vital Sony financial, movie and employment info. This culminated in the unauthorized release of the Sony film, The Interview online. Ultimately, this did little to motivate people to see a film that pretty much no one wanted anyway.
Computer terrorism, it appears, has arrived. 

Oh, Obamacare –Also known as the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s landmark blueprint to reform health care was plagued by technical glitches and consumer confusion. Under heavy crossfire from conservatives, the salvos are getting loaded as the real battle to keep it begins. Standby for a looming Supreme Court case that threatens the entire program.

I knew those Jell-O® pudding pops tasted funny – We really lost two great comedy minds to tragedy this year. Robin Williams (see below) and the 80’s sweater man himself, Dr. William Cosby. Creator of the Cosby kids (a.k.a. Fat Albert), I Spy co-star, and America’s perfect Dad Heathcliff Huxtable. Cosby is / was a entertainment media super-mogul—who just so happened to like drugging women and sexually molesting them ruffi style. At the time of this post some 20+ women dating nearly four decades have stepped forward with similar allegations of sexual misconduct. Since, all future projects with TV and movies and all re-runs of Fat Albert, I–Spy and The Cosby Show. “Hey, hey, hey… its a faaaaat class action suit!” Coming at ya, Cos.

Ray Rice: The Slugger Chronicles – The scathing video of Baltimore Ravens running back, Ray Rice punching his then fiancé (now wife) out in a casino elevator brought the conversation of athletes and domestic abuse to the American table of discussion once again. He is far from the only culprit but listen, a 265-lb pro football player shouldn’t be hitting ANYONE… other than other 265-lb pro football players.

Tragedy in the Far East – In February, (and then again in December in 2014) the world held its collective breath when a Malaysia Airlines flight first went way off course and then went missing, later to be declared a crash out deep over the Indian Ocean with all aboard lost. To this day no one know s why these two events occurred but it is the stuff of nightmares and not very a good year at all for Malaysia Airlines. 

I Saw What You Did Last Night  – At this point there is no understandable reason why anyone should be surprised by anything movie stars do. I mean who else has naked sexy-time pics of themselves on their phone these days? Its so 2004. Sure they were ‘deleted’ but any 4th grader knows anything that's been digitally trashed can be recovered. If you live in a world were your career is affected by technology you don’t understand, then you deserve anything that happens to you. So, J-law, calm down, those naughty-girl pics of you as a naked Catniss Everdeen only helped you. Stop pretending you’re so outraged. The real tragedy is that you took the pics in the first place. 

The Walking (Ebola) Dead – So, color me lost on this one but hasn’t Ebola been around for like, a kajillion years? How was it that this Walking Dead kind of pandemic disease made its way into the US? As a nation, this country was completely at a loss for how to deal with the mother of all viruses and several infected people in New York and Texas lost their lives. Though the CDC was Johnny on The Spot, I fear this isn’t the last of this deadly killer. 

Mork Signs Off, One Last Time – As with every year we lost a whole lot of really stellar folks in 2014 but none will eclipse the loss off comedy legend Robin Williams. Known for his campy 1970’s alien funny-man role as Mork from Ork, Williams was one of Hollywood’s most esteemed funny-men. Tragically taking his own life, we were lucky to enjoy a slew of unforgettable movies from one of the very best. So, Nanu, Nanu, Genie. Godspeed. 

Cold Days in Hell – Welcome to the SOCHI 2014 Winter Olympics. Take a region just an hour away from a savage, bloody civil war, add packs of wild dogs (in the hundreds!) and award it the largest international sports competition in the world and hi jinks ensue. What was laughable, was the Wifi didn’t work (kind of important when thousands of media correspondent from around the world will be on hand), the showers didn’t have running water and the hotel staff at the event would steal liberally from its patrons. (Sigh)

Kicking Old Habits For New – If you were near a TV set this past summer then all you heard about was the American Soccer Team during the FIFA 2014 World Cup and how this was “our year.” And by that we meant, this was our year that every sports nut who was tired of Baseball, jonesing for Football and between Golf tournaments, needed yet another reason to take a two-hour lunch and get faced while pretending to be passionate about a sport they knew nothing about. Welcome to Soccer in America. Oh, and congrats, Germany. 

I Dare You To Dare Me – You must have been on another planet this past summer if you didn’t hear or see anything about the ALS Ice Water Challenge. In the most egocentric awareness campaign of all time, throngs of well-meaning do-gooders challenge each other endlessly to dump water on each other within 48 hours or donate to the ALS foundation. I got just as caught up in this as everyone else. Maybe next time, we don’t make it about us and instead make it about the disease. The victims need financial help, not a viral campaign of do-nothing awareness. Just a thought.

Last Comet Standing – The European Space Agency's Rosetta mission achieved a first in 2014, sending a lander onto the surface of a comet. Millions of curious viewers world-wide tracked the landing on Nov. 12 in real time–on TV and online. Landing on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, was so hard that the lander’s anchoring harpoons couldn't sink in, and it bounced twice before settling down. Churyumov-Gerasimenko continues its course that rounds the sun, hopefully with more information to come.

Apple Doesn’t Miss A Beats – How’s this sound? In May of 2014, Apple writes a $3 Billion check to acquire Dr. Dre’s Beats Electronics and Beats Music — by far the largest acquisition in Apple history. Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre joined Apple. And even though the Beats brand will remain separate from Apple’s, when you think Apple, think funky Beats. 

Happy belated New Year to all my readers and a prosperous and joyous 2015 to us all! 

Top Ten iOS 7 Fails

As a lifelong Apple adopter (one could even say down to my core) I am he who hangs on every word from the voices from Cuppertino and I virally promote every new Apple software and hardware milestone. So you could imagine my personal levels of heightened shock and awe at the disappointing Apple adopter experience of the long-awaited—and long promoted—Apple iOS 7. 

For those non-Appellations or if you are one of the 143 people left in the developed world who know nothing about Apple products, iOS 7 is the operating system that runs Apple's legion of portable devices including iPads, iPods and iPhones. 

And I hate it. 

Why you ask? Well here are ten reasons I particularly loathe iOS 7 (cover your ears, kids): 

10. The User Interface – A nice light font, thin, airy look and clean design. Now where have I seen this before? Starts with "An" and ends with "Droid"? There's a name for this kind of emulation. Let's say it together; C-O-P-Y-C-A-T. 

9. Icons — The cool, graphically pleasing visual iconography of iOS 6 has gone from "Wow" to "WTF". The new icons aren't innovation, they're cheap clip art. Shame on you Apple. Shame. 

8. Peek-A--Boo see-through screens – No one needs to see through the screen they're looking at. It's annoying, it's unnecessary and it's a huge WTF to the developers. 

7. 3D Graphics Effects – When you rotate or move the screen on your device a visual 3D effect can be experienced and… wait, what? What is this, an mini IMAX movie? Why on EARTH would you spend THAT kind of development time and manpower behind… an effect. Again, WTF!? 

6. Non-Intuitive Functionality Changes – Did you know there more than a dozen Apps and countless YouTube videos created to SIMPLY to teach me how to do things I used to do without assistance? Closing Apps, previewing usage, Siri, and WiFi usage parameters. All new, and all for no good reason. Thanks Apple. 

5. WiFi connectivity – There are close to a dozen antennas in every model of the iPhone 4, 4S, 5, 5C and 5S. Wanna know how I know? Because nothing network-enabled works without connection to a WiFi network. No App updates, no games or video, even some calls drop like a bad college elective. Wait, did you just say your phone has trouble making and holding calls? Wha–?

4. Introducing Siri – again – Look for upgrades to the previously Beta-only Siri software. Sure, now you can chose between a male or female voice. But it still 'eff's up' when I say things like "call home" or "nearest gas station". Now there are entirely new features for us to learn that Siri is incapable of performing. 

3. Can you say………..? – Have you noticed how long it takes to download info, access the web or even access Apps now? Some Apps I have to actually re-plug in my contact information to. Oh good, because I wasn't already frustrated enough with my iPhone's new shortcomings. Now I can remind all my Apps who I am again. Thanks Apple. 

2. Technicolor Terror – Why did Apple choose to take a perfectly clean, sophisticated color palette and make it more… gross? The child-like, basic color scheme is at best unappealing, though words like repulsive and painful also come to mind. 

1. Introducing, the not-so-smart Smart Phone – All this makes for a sordid user experience. Its a sad day when Apple, for the first time in it's history, forgoes its long-standing award-winning design, architecture and experience to follow somebody else's standard. Sorry Steve. It's all falling apart… fast. 

So why should you care? 

While there are an alarming number of reports of people getting motion sickness from the new screen animations (having a hard time with that one), clearly I am not the only one contemplating a reload of iOS6. 

Hopefully you don't really care what I think but you can view some of what I have shared as a wake-up call. Apple has lead the charge for innovation and uncompromising quality for so long, now without the company's visionary leader, there is no voice, no vision. 

Not staying true to Steve Job's vision of simplicity of design and innovative forward-thinking programming architecture just may well be the greatest fail of all. 

I don't understand why you don't understand

"How do I use Apps? Is there an App for that?"

Is technology making us all dumber–or has it just passed some of us by?  

We've all seen it. You know, when someone seems lost or clueless over the latest technology. It's the first step to fossilization, the first sign of extinction. When technology baffles you and you begin to question it's purpose or value – CONGRATULATIONS! Your place has now been officially reserved at the international museum of the obsolete.

Once you start asking the fatal line of questions; "what the hell does that App do?" or "What in the world do I need THAT for?", just plan to start throwing yourself into the nearest tar pit. When you start rolling your eyes at new social networking Apps, muttering "whatever" at TV ads promoting new gadgets and electronics or when you sigh audibly when a new web site rises in popularity that everyone else knows and loves–and you've never heard of it, that's when you'll know the end is near.

Last fall, I went to visit my Mom and I got her a new digital telephone. I programmed it and got it up and running in no time. While I was there, she wanted me to "take a look" at the combo VCR/DVD Player I got her three years earlier. She said 'it's never worked right' so I went to take a look at it. I soon discovered the problem.

It wasn't even plugged in.

"That smiley-face emoticon is mocking me!!"

I'm not kidding, it felt like I was living the punchline to a bad joke. Once we figured out this bout of rocket science, I then I tried to review with her the details of her multiple remote controls. It took more time than I care to mention and I know she absorbed approximately .08 % of what I showed her.

I won't lie, my brain is still reeling.

How about the people who have iPhones, Droids and other advanced tablets and Smartphones that are continuously amazed at the device's most basic functions. "Wow, it tells you the weather?" Really? Or one of my favorites; "I really don't even use my iPhone/Droid." Why? Why did you even get it? Get off the network and let the rest of us cruise through. We got stuff to do–!

How does one function in a our world where technology is so ingrained? I mean, every event in human history and every ounce of information you could ever need is available to us via the web. We build, maintain and establish relationships with people across the globe right from the palm of our hands and every year the means to do so are better, stronger, faster.

"Now where is the 'ANY' key?"

You can't even apply for better-than-minimum-wage jobs without an emailed PDF of your resume. One-in-four relationships now starts online and you can buy everything from shoes to groceries on your laptop, tablet or iPhone. How can you function in the world without these tools but then turn around and complain bitterly about them? I'm at a loss. Seems like there are three classic choices here; lead, follow or get out of the way.

The conclusion? Bleeding-edge technology is not for everyone. I'm an avid Apple product enthusiast, always have been–there are none better. Yet, every time I visit the Apple store, I see and hear people complaining about how "this stupid thing doesn't work right" and how "nothing happens when I try to go online…" or "I can't get this thing to see my printer!" and always–ALWAYS–the problem is user error.

Every time.

You aren't expected to be a technology genius, but there is Google, YouTube, even (gulp!) the instruction manual. Heck, Apple even provides FREE on-site user sessions on how to use their products. I just don't understand why so many people are so confused when there's so much information available to them. If you don't understand how to learn, please just–just step away.

So here's my take, if you are not plugged in–just stay that way. Seriously, it's okay. Technology is not for everyone. The rest of us have happily moved on without you. Today's tech is more robust, easier to access and more (comparatively) affordable than ever. But if you can't bother reading a 'quick-start' guide or attend a FREE usability class or even bother to plug the damn thing in–please, stop complaining to the rest of us about how worthless the technology is.

Because the rest of us are convinced that the pointless, confused and lost part of this conversation does NOT concern the technology.

A Visionary Down to The Core

The passing this week of Steve Jobs, Apple’s iconic leader, is a disheartening and devastating loss for us all. Join me as I celebrate his fantastic life and say my goodbyes to one of the planet’s all-time greatest innovators.

It is a sad day when anyone dies, as my personal belief system informs me that we are all interconnected and sharing life’s journey together. Every person has worth, every human being has value and everybody matters. This is what I teach my children.

This week the world lost one of the 20th century’s most visionary business icons, Steve Jobs.

This tech titan envisioned a world that was computer friendly, technology savvy and made modern technology accessible to everyone. His efforts helped to make the internet universally accessible. Apple put tablet technology in the hands of the people of the world and, with the iPod, Jobs reinvented the way we listen to music, movies and streaming content; making iTunes the number music store in the world.

Steve’s road wasn’t an easy one. He dropped out of college to kick-start Apple from his garage only to be ousted from his own company years later once success was realized. Not to be denied his vision of a world where technology was accessible to anyone and improved – and embraced our lives through product like the iPad, the iPhone and the iMac. In many ways, these products have touched all our lives, even those without Macs benefit from the advantages and advancements these products have ushered in. His address to a graduating class at Stanford University is so inspiring, it sends shivers down my spine every time I watch it. View it here.

 

Though the founding of NeXT computer was not a massively successful venture, Steve was soon on the path to making entertainment history. His purchase of Pixar Animation Studios from George Lucas brought the company from a boutique SFX house to a powerhouse entertainment pillar of Hollywood. Soon after, Apple purchased NeXT computing and he was then once again at the helm of the ship he had launched. He took his genius with product marketing and coupled with some the world’s greatest product design talent and forged a culture of innovation, creativity and unique inventiveness.

APPLE at a Glance: Apple now operates more than 300 retail stores in 11 countries. The company has sold more than 275 million iPods, 100 million iPhones and 25 million iPads worldwide. iTunes is the number one music store in the world with up to 20 Billion file downloads. Apple held 6% of the world PC market five years ago. Today it commands 24%.

On Wednesday, October 5, 2011, Steve Jobs succumbed to his near decade-long battle with pancreatic cancer. No matter what else is said about his life, there is no dispute to the number and way in which he touched the lives of most of our planet.

After a super secret liver transplant in 2009 in Tennessee, he cooperated on a first-ever authorized biography, which scheduled to be published this November. Mine is already on reserve. 

Steve prioritized the importance of good design coupled with inventiveness and ergonomic principles of usability and desire. As someone with a design background and living a life that is fueled by creativity, this mantra resonates too deeply with me to put into words. My family and I are Apple adopters to the core.

I end with one of my favorite Steve Jobs quotes (and trust me there are many!), from a Fortune Magazine article;

“We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? And we’ve all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be worth it.”

 

Amen.

Goodbye, Steve... and thank you.