Author: Joe Wilcox

Apple by Joe WilcoxSep 20, 201511:26 am

iOS 9 Upgrade Gone Wrong

Friday night I texted my wife: “It’s like dying and going to Hell”. That’s where I was two hours into the ordeal of recovering my nearly 94 year-old father-in-law’s iPhone 5s. There’s a 30-minute comedy show script in the experience somewhere. Not that I laughed living through it.

The drama—eh, comedy of errors—started innocently enough. Anne returned from taking her dad to Fish Friday lunch at McDonald’s. He loves the sale price filet sandwich, with two apple pies and decaf. (I wouldn’t eat the desserts, which here in San DIego are now deep fried rather than baked. Change happened a couple months back.) She reported he couldn’t use the phone: Password problem. Around 5:30 p.m., I set off to fix him up.

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 20, 20156:52 am

Flickr a Day 263: ‘Fireworks’

By including the crowd, and making it primary point of focus, Eser Aygün gives great perspective for the light show, which also appeals for color. He shot self-titled “Fireworks” on Jan. 1, 2015—Happy (belated) New […]

Apple by Joe WilcoxSep 19, 20155:44 pm

Apple Ad Blocking Blasts the Google Free Economy

On Sept. 16, 2015, Apple released iOS 9, which enables users of iPad and iPhone to disable ads. The company claims the capability improves the overall user experience. As someone covering the tech industry for more than two decades, I perceive it as something else, too: Competitive assault against Google and means of pushing publishers to iOS 9’s new News app. There is nothing friendly about Apple’s maneuver. It is aggressive and tactical. But does it really matter?

Stated simply: More than 90 percent of Google revenue comes from contextual and search-related advertising. Apple derives about the same figure from selling devices and supporting services. At the same time, mobile is the future of Internet advertising and the battleground where the two meet. The entities’ respective mobile platforms, Android and iOS, long ago put the tech titans on a collision course. Conceptually, what Apple can’t gain from iPad and iPhone sales, it can take by shaking pillars supporting its rival’s business.

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 19, 20157:04 am

Flickr a Day 262: ‘The Pleiades’

For our two-hundred-and-sixty-second selection, I take the first risk of the series, regarding copyrights. Self-titled “M45: The Pleiades” is astronomy picture book amazing, I can’t believe that Luis Argerich captured the image with telescope and […]

News Media by Joe WilcoxSep 18, 20159:00 pm

Who Mourns for the Fourth Estate? (Part 1)

April 2009, I busily bang out a news analysis for Microsoft Watch, one of two news sites I edit for Ziff Davis Enterprise. My boss sounds alarm that there is some jeopardy to my job. I earn a six-figure salary, which panics investors/creditors that recently increased involvement in editorial operations. He infers that I am the highest-paid writer on staff.

Days later, he informs me that in two weeks, ZDE will lay me off—the first time this has ever happened in my long journalist career. My last day will be April 30. As the end approaches, but I continue to produce content normally, he returns with an offer: Stay on writing news stories for eWeek, take a 36 percent reduction in pay, and agree to a 5-story-per-day quota. I politely decline but privately fume.

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 18, 20157:23 am

Flickr a Day 261: ‘10,000 Little Birds’

Selfie king—the only appropriate description—Christian Bucad is quite creative capturing himself digitally. He is no Snapchat snapper. His poses are thoughtful, well-composed, and often demand good photographic know-how. Doesn’t hurt that he is a good-looking-enough […]

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 17, 20156:59 am

Flickr a Day 260: ‘Embarcadero’

You don’t pick a Ted Lee pic. It choose you. His photostream is a marvelous mix of street art and studio portraits, and the view counts are unusually high. He shot self-titled “Embarcadero” on April […]

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 16, 201510:44 pm

Cali can’t wait for Caturday

My daughter’s cat takes possession of a tapestry; I snapped the pic using Nexus 6, which is my main smartphone again. I sold iPhone 6 Plus, and, unbelievably, the buyer shattered the screen not long later. […]

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 16, 20156:44 am

Flickr a Day 259: ‘Twist’

The photostream of Thomas Leth-Olsen is a study in objects—and perspective about them. Our Day Taker is example, from the vantage point of color rather than direction. Simplicity creates drama. He shot self-titled “Twist” on Aug. […]

Google by Joe WilcoxSep 16, 20152:30 am

Google’s European Problem

Three weeks ago, Google filed its expected rebuttal to the European Competition Commission’s statement of objections released in April 2015. The EC alleges unfair competition in online shopping services.

My missive focuses less on the “what it is” and more on the “what does it mean”. Google blogged about the filing, but I haven’t yet seen the document. I choose not to source the blog, which is more about public relations. You can read the post by Kent Walker, general counsel, for yourself or the recap somewhere else. A Google blog recapping the filing is secondary to the legal document.

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 15, 20157:36 am

Flickr a Day 258: ‘The Parade is Over’

Photojournalist Giannis Angelakis has a wicked eye. The images he captures on the streets of Greece evoke emotion, and you immediately want to know what is the backstory for each. I could fill a week’s […]

Apple by Joe WilcoxSep 14, 20153:00 pm

‘If It’s Not an iPhone…’

The first weekend of iPhone 6s and 6s Plus preorders are behind us, but Apple already looks ahead. This morning, the company presumably sought to quell last week’s Wall Street jitters in statements to CNBC, Financial Times, and MarketWatch, among other news services popular with investors. This is perception-management at Apple’s finest, and it is metaphor for success selling smartphones and why most competitors flounder by comparison.

I didn’t receive the statement and so cannot attest to its veracity. But presuming esteemed financial news services accurately report, misdirection isn’t much better than this. Apple doesn’t give an exact figure, instead stating: “We are on pace to beat last year’s 10 million unit first-weekend record when the new iPhones go on sale Sept. 25”. How circumspect is that? Ten million the first weekend two weeks later?