“We decided to innovate our way through this downturn, so that we would be further ahead of our competitors when things turn up.”

- Steve Jobs Tuesday, January 9, 2001

These words were cemented at the 9AM Keynote, Mac World Expo, San Francisco Moscone Center by Steve Jobs. I was not there, but I remember I watched the Keynote online. It was and still remains one of the most awe inspiring quotes that I have ever heard. When I see how far Apple has come I would dare say it was a defining moment and one of the most understated forecasts ever uttered in the business world. Its nearly unfathomable to grasp how potent this Keynote speech was until you look at it in relation to Apple’s near collapse in 1997 to them being the second most profitable and wealthiest companies in the world in 2011 .

The 1998 all-in-one color iMac’s were the turning point for Apple – it was this product that wowed people and started to bring consumer eyes back to Apple, but it wasn’t till 2001 when Apple’s most important foundations were quietly being implemented.

January 9, 2001 – iTunes was unveiled
March 24, 2001 – Mac OS X released to the public
May 19, 2001 – the first two Apple retail stores were opened
October 23, 2001 – the iPod was unveiled

I don’t think people realized the magnitude of what was going to happen at that time. Apple only had like 3% market share and were seen as the computer you used to draw pretty pictures, it wasn’t’ taken seriously. Those who did care were the ultra Mac Geeks like myself who were focused on Mac OS 9, powerful desktop enhancements and pro applications. We felt that consumer events that promoted the iMac, the iPod and the Apple store took away from the exclusivity and the pro focus. The reality is that the Apple retail stores helped to educate the base and new comers and raise the level of expectations of consumers. It is with the foundation and combination of the iPod, iTunes and Apple retail store that helped Apple to innovate way beyond its competitors and even rose the bar of their loyal followers.

I remember July 18, 2002 when the first SOHO Apple Store was opened in NYC. It was magical it was unlike any computing environment that I had ever witnessed. The store is on the corner of a super hip part of SOHO near NYU, I remember the grand opening where the line spanned in two different directions around the block. The store was remodeled out of an old Post office it looked intelligent, clean and had a presentation theater on the second floor. I remember getting permission from my employer to take a 3 hour lunch break whenever there was a live streaming Apple Events unveiling. The theater would be packed. I remember being among the first Final Cut Pro user groups and Podcast/Video Blogging groups doing monthly presentations in the theater. I remember being at the standing room only launches of Jaguar (2002) and Third Generation iPod, launches that took place at 12AM. I remember videotaping the iPhone launch on June 28, 2007.

I remember May 19, 2006 when the 5th Avenue store had its grand opening in NYC. I was there with video camera in hand capturing the historic event. I remember seeing scores of people in a line that spanned seven city blocks. Celebrity Notables Kanye West, Dave Chappel, Kevin Bacon, Spike Lee, Mos Def and our masterful leader Steve Jobs. It was the first ever 24-hour technology store and in my mind one of the most unique looking building entrances on the planet. I remember living ten blocks from this store and I would get my computer’s serviced in the A.M. hours and they would be repaired while I waited. I remember live music performances every friday by big name bands and DJ’s. I remember videotaping the iPhone launch on June 29, 2007.

For me this day is full of deep heartfelt memories more so than focusing on what the “BIG” product announcement is going to be. I mean I’m ULTRA curious and excited about the announcement today, but, I want to just stand back, absorb and enjoy the moment. I’m grateful for the services and products Apple provides, without Apple, the cellular, music, television/film and computer industries would continue to be below the bar and mediocre at best. Steve Jobs had a vision that was light years ahead of hardware and software companies, media platforms and all the starry eyed fanboys.

No one expected Apple to have such an influential impact on our culture the way that it has but I bet Steve knew. “We decided to innovate our way through this downturn, so that we would be further ahead of our competitors when things turn up.” His quote plays on rotation in my head and makes me think of that Epic moment in the Matrix when Neo realizes he is “The One”.

- Bendrix

面包屑 = Breadcrumbs:
“面包屑” is the Chinese translation of “Breadcrumbs”. This link “面包屑” represents the trail of my digital realizations and residual thought bits as it relates to observations in an ever-changing digital landscape. The concept comes from the trail of breadcrumbs left by Hansel and Gretel in the popular fairytale.

It would be a massive understatement that I have nothing but contempt for the cellular networks… I’m so repelled by them in fact, that I have boycotted CDMA and GSM wireless networks for the past 3 years and not regretting a single moment without their service. I don’t expect people to be as committed as me, but surly people reading this will discover there is a huge benefit and savings to be made and that is what I want people to understand. I’m sick and tired of hearing my friends and family say that they can’t call me at this or that hour and how they can’t make calls during the day because they will use up their daytime minutes or that they have data or SMS overages or some mysterious hidden fee. I know I’m outraged and I suspect many people are…

Instead of whining about it, I want to take this time to share my knowledge and help to be part of the solution. I’ve been using GrandCentral/Google Voice since 2006. Prior to using Google Voice, I went from having an $80 monthly phone bill to practically zero. Google Voice is an Internet telephony technology that is free just like all Google applications and Google has been quietly in the background ironing out the kinks and growing awareness of the Google Voice service by offering telephone calls for free. People think there is an angle when the words “FREE” and “LEGAL” are mentioned in the same sentence, but I have no angle and I’m not selling anything. I’m just spreading the word and doing my part to offer an alternative to the cellular networks.

FOUR EASY STEPS TO MAKE FREE CALLS IN USA and CANADA.

STEP 1.. You MUST be from the USA and have a cellphone or landline number. (NOTE: It will not work if you do not have a USA cellphone, landline or a USA SIP number from a service like Skype ). I’m in Canada at the moment and for the past 3 years I have been traveling back and forth between the two countries and making calls with no issue.

STEP 2.. You MUST sign up for both a Gmail and a Google Voice account. (NOTE: it wont work if you apply from outside of the USA). Follow the on-screen instructions. First log into your Google Voice account >> once you log in, go to ‘gear’ icon  in the upper right hand corner >> in the drop-down menu go to  ”Voice Settings” >> It will bring you to the “Phones” section which will ask you to input your USA cellphone or landline number (follow the instructions) and then choose your Google Voice Number. Once approved you will now have a free Google Voice number that anyone can call or leave a message on.

STEP 3A.. On your laptop or desktop: install the Google Chat app. It will enable you to make calls from Gmail. Once installed, open Gmail. You are now able to use the app to make phone calls.

STEP 3B.. on your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch: download the Talkatone (Google Voice) app. At the time of this posting the Talkatone application is an iPhone application, but it will work on iPhone, iPad and iPod-Touch devices. Once installed, go to your desktop and open Talkatone.

STEP 4A.. On your laptop or desktop: open Gmail in a web browser. Locate  the “Call phone” feature, its usually in the middle on the left hand-side of Gmail account right below “Chat”.  Once you locate and select the “Call phone” feature a “Call” widget will pop up in the bottom far right-hand corner of the Gmail application. Now you are able to make FREE calls anywhere in the USA or Canada from your computer.

STEP 4B.. On your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch: open the “Talkatone” application located on your desktop and sign in using your Google account information. Once you are logged in you should be able to locate the dialpad icon the fourth icon from the left. Once selected you will be able to make FREE calls anywhere in the USA or Canada from your device.

Let me emphasize that Google Voice is legit and FREE, all you need is a WiFi enabled laptop, a desktop computer, an iPhone, an iPad or an iPod Touch. Eventhough I do not have any examples cited for Windows PC’s, I would gather its similar to the desktop and laptop instructions provided above. I  also do not have access to Android devices, but… seeing how Android is Google, I’m certain its much more seamless to get it to work on Android devices. At any rate, once you get your device running the Google Voice telephony application you can go anywhere in the world and make calls to any USA or Canadian landline or cellphone for FREE as long as the WiFi is enabled on your device and there is an open WiFi signal. I hope that this blog post is helpful and reaches many people. If you like what you’ve read please pass this link around and if you have any questions please feel free to email me at codedsignal@gmail.com.

Lets show these cellular networks that we are no longer whining and taking matters into our own hands by taking our voice business elsewhere.

- Bendrix

面包屑 = Breadcrumbs:
“面包屑” is the Chinese translation of “Breadcrumbs”. This link “面包屑” represents the trail of my digital realizations and residual thought bits as it relates to observations in an ever-changing digital landscape. The concept comes from the trail of breadcrumbs left by Hansel and Gretel in the popular fairytale.

What if you subscribed to an internet service with your local cable provider and before you could get the service, they got you to sign a 3-year contract, imposed a 2 GIG a month data cap, subjected you to hidden fees and you are warned not to install any unauthorized apps or hardware to your personal computer? Here’s another scenario… you inform the local cable company that you are moving to a new city out of their jurisdiction, but instead of taking the modem back and ending your contract, they instead provide you two options – either pay an early termination fee – OR – continue paying the monthly service till the contract runs out!!! Now lets Imagine how you would feel if your provider did credit checks and the cost of setting up service would depend on your credit score and not the promoted advertised price?

This may sound like bizarro world, but its exactly what AT&T and Verizon have gotten away with year in and year out. The CDMA and GSM/UMTS cellular networks have one of the most brilliant profitable rackets on the planet, sadly we consumers have bought into it and feel we can’t do much about it. Lets face it, we live in a society where 24/7-always-on communication is practically a necessity. Twenty-five years ago cellphones and the internet (as we currently know them) did not exist and we got along fine without them; but due to the way our culture is evolving, the internet, tablets and smartphones are a huge part of our daily routine. The mobile-carriers know this and they are using abusive slap happy pimp tactics to keep us in line.

So here is the typical consumer to mobile-carrier relationship: they get you to sign a 1, 2 or 3 year contract, do a credit check and penalize those with poor or no credit history… they boast about their 3G or 4G “unlimited data” networks then provide limited and throttled data on congested sometimes unreliable networks… they also lock down the device forcing you and the manufacturers to conform to their rules and regulations – as to what hardware and software can work with that device. The sad thing is, the carriers don’t even make these devices yet they have the audacity to cripple them and lock people out from doing what they wish with their device. The mobile-carriers have convinced the public this is the only way, so either deal with it and shut up, or be disconnected from the world.

This consumer to mobile-carrier relationship works today, but I believe that the tech industry has had enough and they are taking the lead, showing us another alternative. They are sick of the mobile-carriers crippling their devices and cannibalizing additional profits. I am predicting that tech companies like Apple, Google and Microsoft-Skype will incrementally chip away at AT&T-Mobile and Verizon business, just like Apple chipped away and over-ran the music industry… and how Netflix is doing to Hollywood CD, DVD and BlueRay sales. I will even go out on a limb and say that AT&T and Verizon will be incrementally marginalized by 2015!!! Matter of fact its already begun:

June 29, 2007 iPhone debuts
July 2, 2007 Google purchases GrandCentral
May 7, 2008 Sprint Nextel, Google and Intel invest in Clearwire
July 10, 2008 the iTunes App. store debuts
October 22, 2008 T-Mobile G1 Android Debuts
August 03, 2009 Eric Schmidt resigns from Apples Board of Directors… hmmmm!?!?!
April 3, 2010 the iPad debuts
Februrary 24, 2011 Facetime debuts
March 9, 2011 AT&T to acquire T-mobile
March 30, 2011 Google fibre initiative
May 10, 2011 Microsoft buys Skype
May 11, 2011 Chromebook announced

I’ll go on record saying that I do not believe that Google and Apple are the fierce rivals that the fanboys and industry folks blindly believe. Its all a smoke-screen I tell you… A smoke-screen. Google and Apple have been intimate partners for years, I mean Eric Schmidt was an active member of Apples Board of Directors for a number of years for goodness sakes. I believe they are performing a calculated well crafted assault on the cellular industry. It seems like too much of a coincidence that all this recent Google, Apple and Microsoft activity is happening so aggressively in such a short span of time – I mean this is the slow moving tightly controlled dinosaur cellular industry after-all.

The reality is, both Apple and Google have a score to settle with the cellular-carriers. AT&T, Verizon and Sprint have steamrolled over Apple and Google, keeping them out of the cellular market for years. Now that the techs are in, they are injecting FaceTime, Google Voice/Talk and Skype as ways for people to communicate cheaply. They are providing app stores and getting more products to work with their devices which takes control away from the cellular partners. Jailbreakers and hackers have been incrementally showing the world how a smart device can function without the traditional cellular carriers calling the shots.

The iPhone was a Trojan-Horse. AT&T should never have let them in. They don’t realize it yet, but all the profit made off the iPhone gave Apple supreme control. Apple was able to dictate that pre-pay unlocked iPad deal and AT&T didn’t even blink an eye when it was proposed, In their eyes its not a phone. Soon the iPhone, Android and other smart-devices on the market will follow this prepay unlocked model. AT&T’s greed made them loose focus of controlling the platform, they also lost their exclusivity deal with the iPhone and iPad and let it slip into the hands of Verizon. Soon Verizon will profit, they will see the dollar signs and gain AT&T customers… at the same time they will not upgrade their strained networks and will try to pass the blame on heavy data consumption, hoping to add larger data caps to increase profit. Little do these mobile-carriers realize, continued data caps and expensive voice plans will force customers to start seeking out more reliable cheaper alternatives to get their streaming data and communications fix.

CDMA and UMTS/GSM service is expensive and inefficient and they are on their way out the door. People don’t need separate voice and data plans they NEED VoIP. They need simultaneous voice and data technology like WiMax 2 or Advanced LTE. The mobile-carriers are greedy so they will continue to put up data caps, keep charging for voice calls and take their sweet time building out their Advanced LTE networks… AT&T will spend all its resources to acquire T-Mobile and allow their customer service and infrastructure to dwindle futher… meanwhile they will loose business to Sprint and the cable companies and CLEAR will help to give them the edge by getting WiMax and LTE to play nice together.

Telco’s BEWARE!!! PEOPLE DO NOT WANT YOUR RIGID DATA CAPS ON STRAINED 3G NETWORKS. People want to download apps, use Facetime, Skype, Google Voice, watch streaming videos and be able to purchase these devices just like a computer on the shelf at the store. Three years ago it would have been impossible to do internet telephony or video chat, but the telco’s are so sloppy with greed that they can no longer block out what has been set in motion. People want to connect to fast unlimited data service with no hassle, just like they do at a WiFi hotspot. Mobile VoIP, data and video chat are the future and once people learn there is a better and cheaper way, the inflexible cellular providers will quickly loose their grasp of the wireless market.

Keep a close eye on Clearwire (CLEAR) they will be a big part of this transition with their LTE/WiMax solution. The Cable Companies and Sprint will be providing the subscriber base. Google is another one to watch, they are planning to build fiber-to-the-home connections, delivering Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today with 1 gigabit per second!!! I firmly believe that Google, Apple and Microsoft are carefully positioned now to set the bar higher. As telephony and data service become fused with traditional cellular voice networks, the lines will blur and the mobile-carrier’s will be less relevant to the wireless market.

- Bendrix

面包屑 = Breadcrumbs:
“面包屑” is the Chinese translation of “Breadcrumbs”. This link “面包屑” represents the trail of my digital realizations and residual thought bits as it relates to observations in an ever-changing digital landscape. The concept comes from the trail of breadcrumbs left by Hansel and Gretel in the popular fairytale.