Technology

RED Hydrogen One /  by Adrian Galli

Red Hydrogen One, Image courtesy RED.com Inc.

Red Hydrogen One, Image courtesy RED.com Inc.

RED, founded in 2005, took the digital cinema camera industry by storm releasing a relatively affordable 4K system in 2007; the RED One. Having used many of their cameras for cinema, I can attest they have made some very powerful devices over the past decade. Today they are major players in the camera industry with their Dragon, Epic, Scarlet, and other cameras but a few days ago they announced a smartphone, powered by Android, made from aluminum or titanium, and will feature an industry first holographic display. I don’t know exactly what that means or how it will look but very interesting nonetheless. 

However, that I am not writing about the phone and specifications really. I'm writing about the tech blogging industry.

BGR.com, a.k.a. Boy Genius Report, a long standing tech blog I have followed for years, like so many others, are frequently so overtly negative and catty about their reviews and discussion of new technology that one might consider them luddites. They so quickly cast judgement or make unwarranted claims about technology that it is no surprise that many people aren't excited about new technology but complain, scold, judge, or ever fear it.

To be fair, BGR has some really great tech articles. Some writers simply miss the mark too frequently. 

'Lead with negativity' must be the new mantra of tech editorials. Christ Smith of BGR.com on the RED Hydrogen One:  "PSA: Do not preorder this $1,200 holographic Android phone."

And more headlines from Chris Smith:

  1. The iPhone 8 design everyone hates just reappeared, and it’s somehow even uglier
  2. Don’t get too excited about the latest Galaxy Note 8 leak
  3. We might’ve finally figured out why the iPhone 8 is delayed

Number three is especially funny because the next generation iPhone hasn't even been announced so I'm not sure how it has been delayed but lets focus on "PSA: Do not preorder this $1,200 holographic Android phone."

“Yes, RED is an established name in the camera business. It is, however, not a smartphone maker. And just because it can make great cameras, it doesn’t mean it can also create great phones. Especially considering it has no history in the phone making business.”
— Chris Smith, BGR.com

In 2007, similar sentiments were said about Apple and iPhone. While I generally agree that the RED Hydrogen One is likely to a speciality smartphone, especially with a starting price of $1200/$1500 (at least purchased outright at that price), I admonish technology blogs for their lack of research, vision, and precision. And as my life rule #29 goes: Accuracy Matters.™ 

Everything everyone has ever done had to be done for the first time. When the RED One came out, they had no experience making anything and they changed the digital cinema camera industry over night. Don't write off the potential of others so easily.
 

 

Learn more about RED Hydrogen One.

Keep Using Periods, Learn to Assume Positve Intent /  by Adrian Galli

For years, probably decades, people have been discussing the fact that a period in a text message (iMessage, Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messaenger, etc.) suggests the one you're messaging is mad. There have been articles in the New York Times, Washington Post, Gizmodo, and many other publications surrounding this phenomenon; they've all stuck me as odd. 

While looking through my messages, many of my friends and colleagues, and not just Millenials but ages ranges from 20's to 50's, don't use periods. I still do. Mostly because I'm particular about accuracy, I like proper spelling, punctuation, and such. 

While I may be in the minority concerning periods, I rarely assume someone is mad because of a period. The context of the conversation, as with so many thing, is very important. And equally important, as anyone who knows me will attest, sometimes my disagreement with someone is simply because their argument is not valid.

I will commonly say, "I don't disagree with your conclusion, I disagree with your supporting argument." Or sometimes the argument is sound but the conclusion is not. In the case of the period, I disagree with both because it is your own internal struggle causing the miscommunication rather than then act of someone using a period.  

An old rule I have come to appreciate greatly is 'assume positive intent.' The philosophy behind that statement is most people are good and try to do good things. In other words, innocent until proven guilty. It is a guiding principle of an organization I work for and has served us well for decades. 

From Washington Post: 

“Parent: I am waiting for you in the car.

Child: r u mad?

Parent: I am not mad.

Parent: I am telling you I am waiting.

Child: what?????”
— Juff Guo, Washington Post

The child assumes the parent is mad. We don't have the whole conversation or context in which this was messaged so it is harder to argue either point. But I can safely say there are other things more glaring than periods that could be interpreted as hostility. For example, the formal text 'I am' versus 'I'm' could be cause for concern. Even with the formal sound of the parent, I would suggest not being overly concerned with the period at the end. 

I tend to use emoji in texts to clarify messages. If we ere to have a face to face conversation, you would pick up on my mood much more easily partly because of tone and facial expressions/body language. The former is hard to convey in a message but the later, through an emoji or two, can greatly enhance the conversation. 

Without a psychologist or sociologist weighing in on the method to our messaging madness, the assumption of negativity in a text from a mere punctuation mark speaks more to our overall sociological state rather than the actual mean of a period which is "end statement." Assuming a person is made is no you, not the peson using the period. If you're messaging me and I am mad, you'll have little doubt in your mind. 

I'm going to keep using periods in my messages and emails but should you be messaging me, know that every single thing I say is not out of anger. That would be a false assumption of epic proportion. Learn to assume positive intent and I really think you'll find the people in your life are much kinder than the period in their text suggests. 

The New MacBook Pro Should Have Been From the Start... /  by Adrian Galli

Image courtesy of Apple, Inc.

Image courtesy of Apple, Inc.

I have worked for Apple for fourteen years. In my time I have seen the release of more products than I can count. My experience has taken me to not only share and present these new products to the public but also learn and experience them for myself. By every legal definition, I am an expert witnesss when it comes to Apple, training, and our products.

Over these many years, I also have come to understand not only what and how Apple functions but why we do what we do. And to be totally transparent, I can not share almost any of my deep knowledge. Most of what I can share may sound like a Apple-rumor-junkie's five course meal but there is and infinite amount of information I can not share.

But to be perfectly clear, I'm not writing on behalf of Apple. I am not reviewing either positively or negatively Apple products. And I not being paid to write this. This is not an official press release from Apple, Inc. This is an article about accuracy, history, research, and Apple's MacBook Pro is just a fine example for the purposes of my writing.

Anyone who knows me will testify that I am a rational and logical person; some might argue excessively logical. I also care very much for justice, science, history, and the context surrounding events for this give one that rational when it comes to why thing are the way they are. And part of why these thing are so valuable and virtuous become apparently when discussing and formulating one's opinions or arguement for said discussions. Further, those who know me also know I don't for opinions thing I know little or nothing about but ask questions in such a conversation. 

When the 2016 model of the MacBook Pro was released, Apple received a lot of heat because it had no "legacy" ports but only new USB-C (Thunderbolt 3) ports. As a colleague of mine has mentioned to many people, "it is the first port to do everything." It serves power, video output, I/O, high speeds, reversible port, small, and overall highly functions. What used to be five, six, seven ports, is not a single port with many functions. So a couple of dongles while we wait for all other devices to follow suit is not a big deal. Incidentally, people have needed adapters over the years for all sorts of things: DVI to VGA, Thunderbolt to FireWire, etc.

On the other hand, another one of the biggest criticisms of the 2016 MacBookPro was the use of the Skylake processor (Intel's 6th generation Core processor.) "This isn't a pro machine," they said. "Why did they put such old technology in these laptops," they cried.

At WWDC (Worldwide Developer Conference), a new generation MacBook Pro was announced using the 7th generation Intel Core processor known as Kaby Lake. A colleague a few days later asked, "Why didn't they just do that from the beginning?"

While I'm not about to spew the "fake news!" one-liner vitriol of current politics, I do heavily criticize tech blogs and rumor sites of the internet because they are full of mistakes, bias, lack of cited sources, and in some cases, just amateur tech-nobodies with little knowledge or understanding.  

But here is my one-liner: When the MacBook Pro 2016 was designed, produced, and shipped, there was no mobile, quad-core configuration of the Kaby Lake processor.

That's it. But you didn't hear that from the tech blogs. You didn't hear that from the "Apple is failing" or the "No innovation at Apple" crowd. You hear it here, from Adrian Galli, who took three minutes to ask, "Yeah, why did Apple not use Kaby Lake? Let's find out," and visited Intel's website to find out more.

Accuracy Matter.™