Interesting Theory, Mostly Correct

in reference to: Why Steve Jobs Loves Adobe Flash — RoughlyDrafted Magazine (view on Google Sidewiki)

This article depicts the author's typical "Apple reigns supreme" view. Oddly enough, I agree with the majority of his article. There's a couple false "facts" in here, including that Flash is a closed system, Flash drains battery life, and Flash doesn't support multitouch. There's a decent handful of apps already submitted and approved by Apple that prove the last two of these to be fallacies.

The main point of this article is that Jobs likes Flash on all Mobile OSs other than the iPhone because it will weaken his competition. I'd say that's probably correct, and that really is Jobs' sentiment. However, I think it's a very dangerous and risky move on his part, because the vast majority of people like freedom of choice more than anything else.

People risk their lives on a daily basis to try and get into America. Why? Freedom! Freedom of CHOICE. Freedom to become whatever you want. I don't think that the mobile platform war is going to turn out any differently, and people will flock to the competition for the freedom of choice. Will the competition be weakened? Their product may suffer, but the freedom of choice could very well outweigh that by magnitudes.

e-Cigs: The Myths and the Facts

Ok, so if you live in a city of decent proportions, watch TV, or use the internet, chances are pretty good you've seen an electronic cigarette somewhere. And if you're a smoker, you've probably thought about buying one of these gizmos. Especially if you have problems breathing, or you're a gadget collector like myself. My opinion -- GET ONE. Consider what you're buying, and shop around for a good one at a good price, but regardless of what you pay for it, it will very certainly pay off if you USE it.

Liquid

The liquid in the cartridges is rated at milligrams (1/1000 gram) of nicotine per gram. So an 11mg liquid will have 11mg/g (11 milligrams of nicotine per gram of liquid), an analog has about 1.3mg of nicotine. So to match an analog's nicotine level drag for drag, you need to buy a liquid rated at close to 30mg (I use 36mg). Lights have about 0.8mg of nicotine, and their equivalent will be somewhere between the 11mg and 16mg liquids available.

A pack a day smoker will likely go through about 10ml of liquid a week at first, although that will go down over time. It's different being able to just take a puff wherever you are, so you will. All the time. Flagrantly. You'll eventually get over this, and your consumption will decrease. I now go through about half that. I always order liquid when I get down under 10ml though, because sometimes stuff gets put on back order or shipping is delayed.

Cartridges

Most companies advertise that a cartridge will last about 300 drags, and I've never COUNTED my drags on a cartridge, but I don't think I've ever gotten anywhere near 300. I've probably gotten about 200 out of a cartridge with fresh packing and an already wet atomizer. The advertising puts a single cartridge on par with an entire pack of cigarettes, the reality of it is closer to 4 or 5 analogs per full cartridge, especially if you refill. And you should refill. Period.

If you're going to refill (and you should; it's easy, and the cheapest way to e-smoke), then you're going to need liquid, a handful of spare cartridges, and some polyester fiber packing. The cheapest I've found in the polyester is fiberfill for pillows, available at Wal-Mart for under 5 dollars for what should be a lifetime supply. Make sure you don't buy the stuff with chemicals added to it. All of it is fire-safe. If you aren't going to refill, you might want to stock up on pre-filled cartridges. Replace the packing once or twice a week to prevent bad flavors.

Atomizers

This is the heating element piece. Don't expect it to last forever. Expect it to last a month. Be happy if it lasts longer. They're not expensive, mine cost me 8 dollars. I've read and tried a LOT of ways to clean them, and thus far all attempts have failed, sometimes damaging the atomizer beyond repair. Just use a toothpick or something similar to remove visible polyester fibers from the element and mesh area. If it gets a bad taste to it, you can run water through it, but make sure it dries well before you use it, and make sure and wet it well with liquid (a drop or two of liquid in the middle of it) before you use it again, or it will pop.

If you heat the atomizer while it is dry, or drop it off a roof, or anything like that, it will very likely never work again. Always keep a spare atomizer in case you accidentally destroy one. Always test your spare when you get one in, sometimes they don't work, and no company I know of will replace them, so if you get a bad atomizer, expect to eat the cost. I buy them in five-packs, and order a new pack when I get to only two working atomizers left.

Batteries

There's really only two styles of batteries when you exclude the fact that there are different sizes, shapes, and atomizer fittings. There are automatic batteries -- turn on when you start to draw, turn off when you stop. And there are manual batteries -- come on when you push a button, go off when you let go. The batteries will only work with the atomizers they were designed for, so if you get a DSE-901, don't expect to mix parts with a 510. It won't work.

I prefer the manual battery. I like to heat it up about a half-second before I take a drag, as that gives you a little more of a hit off of it. Also, the manual batteries seem to be just fine after a ride through the laundry, whereas the automatic sensor doesn't seem to make it through. Don't ask me how I know this...

Batteries can explode when heated. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. Batteries can also contain chemicals that can damage your equipment and your clothes, so try to avoid washing them on accident, too.

Changing Over

I quit smoking analogs for my e-cig (TECC Titan 510) almost a year ago. I've since tried a few other styles (DSE-901, RN4081, etc.), and there's not just a huge difference in them as far as SMOKING goes, but there's quite a bit of difference in battery life, atomizer life, cartridge size, and look/feel of the devices. So shop around, find out what's in your price range, and read some review on that device to determine life and cartridge sizes. There's plenty of forums for this, just google the make and model and you'll find several at the top of the list most likely.

No matter what you choose to buy, there are a few things that you should follow. Number one, you're going to probably have 75 to 100 dollars in this, after you buy a spare atomizer (yes, you should always keep a spare), liquid, and some empty cartridges. Number two, if you're going to buy it, USE IT. I've seen lots of people pick these up, but "supplement" them with analogs for one reason or the other. These people seem to ALWAYS eventually put their e-cig in a drawer and go back to full time analogs. If you aren't going to use it, there's no point in wasting your money. So, when you buy one, make a one month commitment to yourself that you won't smoke an analog, and buy enough liquid to cover that month.

Analogs taste nasty after about a week of regular use of the e-cig, so if you do decide to drop it, be prepared. You'll wonder how you ever started smoking in the first place. I know, because I was stupid enough to let myself run out of liquid/atomizers a couple times over the last year, and still craved that sweet nicotine. Speaking of which, the liquid has a slightly sweet taste, and less ash taste, so it doesn't taste quite like an analog, even if you get an analog brand flavored liquid. That's not to say it tastes BAD at all, because it doesn't, it just doesn't taste the SAME.

A Few Facts

These will not help you get off of nicotine. You're still going to have to cut yourself back if that's what you're shooting for. You will still crave nicotine. It is illegal to sell these as a smoking cessation ("stop smoking") device and if anyone tries that approach, call them on it.

These do not contain the tar and cancer causing agents that cigarettes contain, except in trace amounts. And those trace amounts have been shown to be less than or equal to what you would see in medicinal uses like the patch or gum.

If you're a gadget person, you won't save much money for a while on these, since you'll be buying all those neat accessories. You'll slow down or stop that eventually.

I can't vouch for Smoking Everywhere's products, but I do use their liquid sometimes. Their liquid seems fine to me. Their prices are the highest I've found on any e-cig product or accessory anywhere. If you want cheap, they probably aren't for you. I do admire them for being the first company (that I know of) to bring the e-cigs to the general public (mall kiosks, door-to-door sales, etc.)

It's still illegal for you to supply nicotine to people under 18. It doesn't matter that it's not "tobacco".

What Draws Fanatics to Apple? A Little Fact, A Little Theory.

My Roots: Pretty Shallow

I grew up most of my childhood and early adulthood less than fifteen minutes on one side or the other of the Mason-Dixon Line. For those who don't know, this is the imaginary line that divides the North (the Yankees) from the South (the Rebels). During the Civil War, men were forced to fight their own relatives who lived just miles away on the opposite side of the line. In my few years, however, I've done a fair amount of traveling, and there's one thing that's made abundantly clear. The further you go into either side of this imaginary line, the more fanatical the people are about which side they're on, and why.

While this fact holds true on both sides of the line, the fanaticism is radically different depending upon which side of the line you currently fall. No matter whether you were born there or just simply raised there, the southern side of this line win the trophy for being the most extreme about their stance. In many of their opinions, the Civil War still isn't over, and eventually, they'll amass some troops from out of their hats and take over the country. The northerners aren't just incredibly shy about their opinions of the southern radicals -- the south lost the war a long time ago, and they need to get over it and move on.

Growing up on the line though was a bit different. Not too far to the south there were many small towns where only white people were brave enough to stop at a gas station or a cafeteria. Not too far to the north, even illegal immigrants were welcomed with open arms.

Not to get into a "race" discussion, I'm going to end this description here.

The Technological "Mason-Dixon Line"

In comparison to the debates between Apple fanatics and the rest of the computing world, it's pretty much the same thing. Apple has used some pretty interesting marketing campaigns to ensure that this imaginary line is drawn between their products and the rest of the world's electronics. Those on the far spectrum of this line believe that Apple products are going to launch an assault that will take over the electronics market. People on the Apple side, but closer to the line believe that Apple makes some fine products, but their zealot brethren are a bit over the top about it. People on the other side of the line believe they won the war years ago and they just don't care.

People switch sides of this imaginary line, some moving in, others moving out. Hell, I've moved over the line once. And I'm probably going to soon cross back over again. I bought an iPhone3G... then I bought a MacBook Pro. I've been perfectly happy with both. Now, there are some advances on the other side I'd like to move to. For whatever reason though, the people on the far end of the Apple side, even when forced on the other side of the line, take the "prisoner of war" attitude -- "My company makes me use a PC, but at home I'm ALL APPLE!"

The "Far South"

The other day I made the statement that "it appears to me" that Apple's products are almost always ranked best in class, but that the class they are in is always a version or two version behind the rest of the world. Apple can squeeze more juice out of a 1GHz processor than a lot of other companies can get out a 1.3GHz. However, Apple's newest mobile product uses a 1GHz processor, while the rest of the world has moved to 1.83GHz, likely too big a chasm for Apple's best fine-tuning to hurdle. Likewise in their laptops, Apple released this year's lineup with Intel i5's, while other companies are boasting the Intel i7's.

Apple's take on this is to restrict the platform's capability to not enable users to have anything on their device which would inhibit their experience. The rest of the world's take -- if it won't handle it, people won't use it. The end users can decide if the software they're using is not performing well, and if they aren't satisfied, then they'll find a different piece of software to replace it.

One of my friends, upon hearing this statement, was immediately up in arms. His statement was that if I got the device I was contemplating, it would do more things than his Apple product, but it would do those extra things slowly. My rebuttal -- it will do everything yours will do with at least the same performance, likely with even BETTER performance... then it will do some other stuff on top of that. And I won't have to cough up the "Apple Tax". Not to be bested, he argued for as long as we had time to talk that people would be less happy with the cheaper device with more functionality, because the added functions would have sub-standard performance. His feeling was that people would be happier with the more expensive and more restricted device because it wouldn't lack performance on anything that it did.

Middle Ground

From a friend who's been on the Apple side of the line for a lot longer time, but never so deep, comes more reserved opinions about Apple's rash of app rejections, app approvals, inconsistent regulations, and EULA changes. His statement on it -- "It's like the computing line is run by an entirely different company than the mobile line. The mobile line [from Apple] is something I have no desire whatsoever to get involved in with."

I've heard similar statements from the Windows users closer to the line, things such as "I wish my computer did , but it's not worth paying an extra dollars for it."

Straw Man Defense

And the people on the Deep-Apple side of the line use some pretty vague and unverifiable arguments to stay there. My favorite line so far in all my discussions with people on both sides of the line comes from the zealot mentioned two paragraphs prior -- "Apple's core UI and kernel haven't changed in the last 10 years [...] there's a massive learning curve between Windows 98 and Windows 7." In case you're missing the irony... here's a few links (and DATES) that may clear it up:

Windows 95 (1995)
Windows 98 (1998)
Windows 2000 (2000)
Windows Me (2000)
Windows XP (2001)
Windows Vista (2006-2007)
Windows 7 (2009)

Mac OS 7.5.3 (1996)
Mac OS 8.1 (1998)
Mac OS 9 (1999)
Mac OSX 10.0 (2001)
Mac OSX 10.3 (2003)
Mac OSX 10.5 (2007)
Mac OSX 10.6 (2009)

(I don't think either of these guys have had any major redesigns in the last 15 years, but they've both been re-skinned enough times. In the middle of all this though, Apple switched architectures, which is something that pretty much BEGS some kernel changes. Windows... well, it's still pretty much up in the air.)

Conclusion

What makes Apple Fanatics... Fanatical? Well, it's that same "war-time" mentality that some people keep about them all the time. It's infectious and magnetic. People with the same over-the-top ideals will group up in droves, and like protesters, radical southerners, or any other minority group, they're going to yell at the top of their voice hoping someone hears them. Meanwhile the rest of the world will most likely just continue to ignore them as nothing more than a small nuisance. Those of you on the line who can still make rational decisions and have reasonable discussion, I applaud you. Those ignoring Apple as nothing more than a small nuisance, beware. And you over-zealous lot on the far Apple side of the line, Apple computers are just Personal Computers (PCs) no matter what you choose to call them. A rose by any other name smells just as fragrant, and a turd by any other name still stinks.