squared99

For the past couple months I have been working with Silverstripe and I have to say I am very impressed. Anyone looking for a new CMS should definitely check it out.

It allows both front-end and back-end customization. Meaning the admin of the CMS can be customized and added to.

I have used this approach to build the new Interact CMS system which is tied into the Interact APIs. This has allowed the creation of a slick and powerful digital content management system that can be used for both web and mobile. All the bells and whistles are there including mobile delivery, e-commerce, phone data, member management etc.

I’ve also used it used on typical website projects as the more traditional CMS. Again, it is very easy to get going with the template system and build something that is familiar from a CMS point of view for the client, but also flexible enough to be extended to the specific needs of the client.

Rather than forcing the client/user to adapt to the CMS, the CMS adapts to the user.

So I read this article on the NYT last week and meant to write about it right then and there, but as usual something distracted me and I continue to struggle to maintain my ‘at least once a month’ blog promise.

The premise of the article being that giving consumers choices and creating a competitive marketplace for Android apps is a bad thing, and that a closed system with one party controlling our digital rations is a good thing.

To this I say wha!?

Is there some sort of Stockholm Syndrome thing in the US in relation to the mobile industry.
Maybe it’s more like a technology blind spot.

Since the market has historically been dominated by carriers who controlled access to all services available via mobile it seems that just like the basic assumption that the sun revolves around the earth, (it’s obvious isnt it!?) that this how things are and always will be with mobile technology.
In fact, that is how they should be gosh darn it! I don’t want to hear this poppycock about open access, dumb pipes, etc.

So Apple comes along as the new guy, maintains this paradigm and all is right in the world. See, told you, this is how it is done!

We can trust Apple to be impartial about this, right?

But wait, what is this Android thing!? What do you mean it can be installed on more than one handset, gasp! even possibly on handsets it wasnt built for specifically. ewww, and you can buy “things” for it just anywhere. How vulgar, who knows where that app has been!

Newsflash NYT writer, if online news articles operated on those principles we’d all be going to one website to read your article and you’d have to hope it met all the proper criteria and was approved by the provider of the technology on which it would be viewed.

The biggest difference in iPhone Appstore vs Google Android is that Google isn’t necessarily looking to take a piece of the pie on every sale of an app or handset. They have a very very different approach than Apple and their iPhone strategy.

They are interested in getting something out there that can be ubiquitous fast. If that is propelled along by multiple points of access, appealing to different segments and tastes, as well as by cloned handsets then all the better for them and (in my opinion) the industry

ps. voeveo is one of those back-alley dealers where you will be able to get your Android fix.

Im so poetical eh.

Many folks may have noticed the recent hullaballoo about Rogers’ (Canada) new ‘unlimited’ browsing plan. They are taking heat on some very negative feedback. I’m personally surprised they have decided to take a step back rather than forward with their data plans, it had seemed they were on track for proper mobile data plans for consumers. Perhaps someone there has decided it would be best to squeeze as much as possible while they can.

Funny related story here. My Dad pings me on messenger to tell me that Rogers has just charged him $17 on his last bill for downloading a wallpaper from us at voeveo.com.

My Dad is not exactly a techno-wiz but he has figured his way through his phone and regularly downloads stuff from us. Which I think is great, plus I have to swallow my pride and admit that he often notices things user experience wise that I cannot just chalk up to the ‘generation gap’, and so his feedback is always useful.

Anyway, we both knew we had set him up on a previous data plan rogers offered which was something like $5/month for 3mbs of data.

They tell him over the phone they never had a plan like that (huh?) and that he needs to go on this $7 ‘unlimited’ browsing plan. I check the website and I can tell you that even I was confused about what it meant in regards to when he might be charged. Would downloading an image count as a 3rd party data charge or not? I googled and immediately find all these stories about Rogers new plan and the backlash. So I let my Dad know and he calls them back, surprise surprise they suddenly found his old data plan and put him back on it.

This behavior of just pulling people off plans and hoping they don’t complain is total BS. Then to top it off they try to confuse folks when they call about what plans they offer and so on. Who works for these companies and makes these decisions? Do they pet some sort of white fluffy cat in a big swivel chair and think of the next way to screw their customers? Get real guys.