Hello!
And welcome to our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. There’s a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCR Wireless News to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way. We hope you enjoy it!
And without further ado:
Airports are a wonderful place. Sure they may have lost the accessibility they once had, but they are still a great place to have a drink with a pilot waiting to jet off to some exotic locale, watch people nearly undress or to view human behavior. A recent trip out of state-unfortunately not to visit a screen-door factory in Delaware-provided a great opportunity for some people-watching while waiting for my plane- more specifically, watching how people use their cellphones.
While waiting for my recent flight I noticed several general behaviors exhibited by people talking on their cellphones that I have grouped into three, easy-to-use categories:
1. There are the loud talkers. I am convinced these people do not believe that such a little device like a mobile phone can project their voice with sufficient clarity and volume to those they are calling without a little help. These people tended to talk on their cellphones while standing up, as to provide a clearer path for the massive amounts of oxygen needed to support their yelling; nearly all aimed their conversations toward the center of the room. They also occasionally moved around while yelling “how about now? Can you hear me now? Now? Now? How about now? Now? Now?” Fun stuff.
2.: Then there were the wanderers. These people seemed to lose control of their ability to control where they walked as soon as they began talking on the phone. One minute they were standing passively against a wall waiting for a flight, the next minute they were wandering into others who were running to make a connection or a group of teenagers sitting on the floor texting each other. Often, these nomads seemed to be looking where they were going only to them bump into someone or something as if that person or object appeared out of nowhere.
3. The plain crazy people. These people are a combination of the previous two with the addition of talking on a Bluetooth headset. By not holding a phone to their head (which contributes to either talking loud or bumping into walls), these people added the element of looking like crazy people to the mix. The best was if they were silent for just enough time to seem normal and thus draw others near to them. Some of these folks were even able to sneak up on people, and then let out a hardy laugh to scare the hell out of everyone standing within earshot. These people are a little harder to find, though their ranks are growing. I don’t care if you need to miss a flight, you must follow these people until the very end.
Sure, air travel itself has become a painful experience enjoyed only by those who like to sit for hours on end in a space best reserved for midgets, so it’s very important to find a silver lining whenever possible.
OK! Enough of that. Thanks for checking out this Worst of the Week column. And now, some extras:
–Well, summertime is nearly upon us, and you know what that means? Yacht time! And thankfully, our friends at Any-Port announced this week that they expanded their high-speed Internet service to the bay of Villefranche-Sur-Mer in Southern France. Any-Port claims its WiMAX equipment can provide coverage up to 5 kilometers, which I think is the equivalent to 200 pounds, offshore. Now, when I am getting some rays on the deck of my 350-foot watercraft while docked in my favorite little cove off of Southern France, I can keep up to date on my work e-mails (ha ha) or keep tabs on the party schedule of my friends Paris, Lindsey and Britney.
–A survey released last week by Anderson Analytics found that a good percentage of supposedly tech-savvy college kids were a bit confused as to where certain cellphones were from. The survey found that 42% thought Motorola was a Japanese company, and that only 4.4% of those surveyed knew that Nokia was based in Finland. Not a huge deal since most of the devices are actually made in China, and could be a bonus as most large corporations are trying to become more country-agnostic multinationals.
–Palm Inc. unveiled its Foleo mini-computer, maxi-PDA device this week. The machine includes a 10-inch screen, full keyboard and wireless connectivity using either Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Palm claims the device is a companion to smartphones, which Palm conveniently also makes, and is a compelling alternative to traditional laptop computers, which Palm does not make. For a company that was once on top of the PDA world, only to have its most recent PDA devices (LifeDrive anyone?) neglected by consumers and its bread-and-butter Treo smartphones seemingly stuck in a design hole, you have to give Palm credit for throwing more ideas against the wall. Someday, one of them might just stick.
–And, just a reminder, it was 30 years ago this week that a small film changed the world forever. No, I’m not talking about Star Wars, which as we all know changed the universe forever, but Smokey and the Bandit. That little road movie debut just two days after Star Wars and went on to be the second-highest grossing movie of the year as well as a pair of tasty sequels. 10-4.
I welcome your comments. Please send me an e-mail at dmeyer@crain.com.
