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A while back I pointed out a few things that some websites do that are just plain wrong. Keeping with the “Seriously, don’t do this” theme, the next episode is regarding the ability and method of unsubscribing from an email.

This has been inspired by the living hell that is CBS Sports junk email thanks to filling out a March Madness bracket.

Rules of the unsubscription process #

1. Always have a clear unsubscription method in your email communications, though the myth that it is legally required has been busted, this shows you or your company have at least a shred of decency and respect for your customers. 

Make no mistake, Apple has evaluated, designed, and strongly considered variations of a smart watch, but the tech media is blowing up with absolute certainty that “the iWatch” will be released. It won’t. The is no iWatch. I’m not saying it will never be released, but not in 2014, and likely not for at least a handful of years after that, if ever.

There have been compelling discussions on this. One by Craig Hockenberry at Furbo, and another by Ben Bajarin at Techpinions - both are excellent reads. Craig’s highlights a multitude of serious concerns for entering the wearable space and poses the quintessential question for Apple:

A few points of interest from the Moto360 event going on now on YouTube.

• Wireless charging - I’m inferring this, they didn’t explicitly say it, but implied it strongly.
• 1.8" (46mm) diameter.
• Won’t comment on battery life, “but was designed with power efficiency in mind.”
• Targeting mass appeal, so not intended as a men’s watch.
• Works with all Android devices running Android 4.3 or later.
• Water resistant, details forthcoming.
• No camera embedded in the watch (thankfully).
• Genuine leather.
• “With this watch, you’ll always be able to tell what time it is.” (Subtle jab at Pebble?)

More updates posted as they’re revealed.

UPDATE #

After giving on on Google Hangouts it seems, they are now live on YouTube.

Everyone I’ve talked to trying to sign into the Moto360 event on Google Hangouts has been met with timeouts and errors, though the participants list suggests some people are able to log in. I’ve tried on 3 devices - iPhone, iPad, and a Windows PC with no luck. I’ve also tried 2 wifi networks and a strong LTE connection on both the iPad and iPhone - no luck.

News broke this morning, as reported in Haunted Empire: Apple After Steve Jobs, about Steve Jobs proclaiming confidently that Apple would not be making a television set. Specifically, when asked about Apple making a television set the conversation went like this:

Yukari says “Jobs didn’t hesitate.” He said, “No.” 

“TV is a terrible business. They don’t turn over and the margins suck,” said Jobs. (Unlike iPhones which are wildly profitable and replaced every two years, a TV gets replaced every 8 years, and isn’t all that profitable.)

Just like I, and most tech writers/bloggers with dignity that seek content quality over clicks, have been saying all along - the iPad Pro that was so highly reported as “certainly” coming out in 2014 has been shelved. Apple works with a plethora of screen sizes, always has. There might be a bigger iPad one day, but that day is not soon.

Tesla, along with Apple’s recently announced CarPlay, are positioned to have a major influence for everyone planning to be driving a car in the foreseeable future. This is independent of whether or not you’re driving a Tesla or a car equipped with CarPlay.

Stuck in the (Technology) Dark Ages #

The auto industry has managed to remain uniquely positioned with respect to technology. Low to middle-end cars are the worst offenders, but in this class cost almost always comes first. Higher end cars are still behind, but not as far. You could argue that Ford has had their voice control service for a while now, other companies are on a similar trajectory, but the offerings are entirely underwhelming at best.

Samsung isn’t exactly know for their design prowess or their honesty. They’ve been caught paying people to leave fake negative reviews on competitor’s products, they’ve been caught rigging their devices to perform better on benchmarks than they do in real life, and they’ve been caught stealing design cues from Apple (though rarely nicely implemented).

Side note: everyone in tech steals things from everyone else. There are a limited number of layouts, gestures, and features. There will be overlap. Don’t read into that one too much, I couldn’t resist posting a link to that Tumblr page.

I’m a slave to Outlook and OWA for work, no way around it. I use the native iOS email app on my (work-issued) iPhone. On my personal iPad, which is rarely used for work, I use the official Microsoft OWA (Outlook Web Access) app. I launch the app 0-4 times per day, usually 1 or 2. Approximately 10-25% of app launches result in this update state where I cannot do anything, I must wait (look at the banner along the bottom):

Time is imaginary, invented, our own making. Yet without time, life as we know it could not exist. It is part of the math and science that has given us today’s technology and so much more.

This short (6 minute) video tells us about how time is determined and how accurate it is. Our current system measures 16 decimal places; this means that in 300 million years not a single second would be lost or gained.