CNET’s Buzz Out Loud – the way I “watched” the Apple event
Today, two stories grabbed my attention: the “non-release” of iPhone 5 and something that could be called, “the Revolution (nonviolent, of course! 
) begins on Wall Street!” With banks (In my experience: one competent, two incompetent – YOU sort them out! ) adding fees to debit card usage, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is hitting back. AND… labor unions are now ENDORSING and will JOIN the “Occupy Wall Street” protests.
This blog entry is only tangentially about the FIRST of the two stories.
I “watched” the iPhone 4S release announcement on CNET’s Buzz Out Loud. The Buzz Out Loud “show” features Molly Wood and Brian Tong. Despite my “experience level,” I still HEAR pretty “quickly” and can still think pretty quickly, too. Molly and Brian are very refreshing, talk like a later version of some of my good friends at Netscape did, and yet have either a genuine naiveté with regard to the lack of privacy of electronic communications (they TALK as though they believe that SETTINGS actually protect the privacy of their communications! 😉 ) or at least SEEM to be naive, perhaps to keep their jobs. In contrast, I believe that once you share a thought with a “third party (PDF),” (a telecommunications carrier, a software vendor, a social network, or “the cloud”), that thought gets grabbed, diverted, and databanked forever – and shared with governments and the private sector alike. (This article makes good reading.)
I enjoyed the banter of Brian and Molly. (Yes, I kept up.) Both are very bright, insightful, and capable of simultaneously monitoring several data sources, arguing, and displaying a delightful sense of humor.
Molly, in her column “MOLLY RANTS,” reflects upon the lack of iPhone 5 and presents a very interesting and plausible explanation for the release schedule. Of COURSE it has to do with money! After reading the column, I could not believe that this was the same woman who this morning seemed to believe that settings protect her privacy. Of course she MAY never have worked for a security company. And of course, we ALL have blind spots….
Brian, for his part, displayed knowledge, protectiveness, and an inclusive atitude. He and Molly play off each other in true extravert style to examine statements and products from all angles.
Molly wraps up her column with:
“Me, personally? I had planned to be writing a blog post this week that said I’d preordered my iPhone 5 because Android had its chance and blew it. Now, I’m not so sure. But I’m still not willing to call the iPhone 4S a dropped ball. If anything, it’s just the next page in the Apple playbook, and Apple’s $90 billion in cash says its been playing pretty well up until now.”
I will probably watch Molly and Brian (and their engineer) from time to time. They seem to be analysts who both READ and THINK, while retaining their sense of humor.
Oh – I am WAY overdue for a smartphone. Based on what I learned today, I will wait to see what the NEXT version of iPhone brings.
-Bill at
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