We’re the company that build Windows and Office.
This just came across as awkward. Microsoft felt like it needed to remind people that they are the ones who created Windows, and Office.
So, wait, what do I need again?
He contacted the seller and agreed to buy the phone, but not before doing his due diligence. After verifying the phone’s serial number, Laleyan met the young man on St-Jean Blvd
At first everything seemed to check out: the phone worked, and it came in its factory-issued box with the instruction manual and all the necessary bells and whistles.
The serial verification part I don’t quite understand since I don’t know the procedure of serial verification of a Samsung phone. I guess the phone must have had the serial of an actual S4 printed on the shell, and coded in the software as well…
But when Laleyan went home and tried to perform a factory reset on the device, an error message kept resurfacing. That’s when he realized he’d just been sold a knock-off.
I guess when you make cheap plastic phones that are easy to replicate, it’s not that hard to dupe the look and feel of a Samsung phone.
We’ve done this for this many years, that’s why it’s the right.
That gets me fired up and just ready to go off on a rant about everything wrong with that.
But I don’t, because I understand change is scary, unfamiliar and usually uncomfortable in the beginning. Baby steps will eventually surmount to a big change. Hopefully.
Just when I started getting into Foursquare, just when I started seeing the value of the app and it’s ecosystem–they change up the game completely.
I’m still struggling to see how these changes are improvements.
To me, Foursquare was an app that I could rely to find local gems. Places where local people are actually going to. After understanding that the metrics were build on “likes”, and check-ins I’ve built a rapport with Foursquare.
Ratings, check-ins, tips, reviews, and likes, all contained within the same app. All that information gave me a pretty good idea of what to expect from whatever establishment I was looking at.
Having those key features integrated also made it convenient for any Foursquare user contribute to the database. If you were a Foursquare user, chances are you’ve checked-in, or left a tip for someone at one point in time.
My old workflow
All of the above in the same app.
The new Foursquare
Check-in feature, and all the whole gamification system have been off-loaded to their new app, Swarm.
My new workflow if I am to stay with Foursquare
Check-in
Want to leave a tip / review at this point?
Judging from the reviews of Swarm on the AppStore, it’s probably safe to say most users either didn’t bother downloading Swarm, or downloaded it and then deleted it.
If check-ins contributions shrink, will their database slowly become outdated? I’m worried, because I’ve really grown to like Foursquare and it’s helped me discover a lot of great places both at home and on vacations.
Xiaomi Over Takes Samsung — WSJ
John Gruber’s Comment–Daringfireball
When you compete on quality, “almost the best” will often still do pretty well. When you compete on price, “almost the cheapest” always loses.
Agreed. The only thing I have to add is that, Xiaomi is in a special situation at the moment.
So at the end of the day, Xiaomi is both almost the best, and almost the cheapest option. To an everyday consumer that’s a win, whether or not it’s sustainable for these companies, we’ll have to see.
Side Note Regarding phones in China
If I lived in China and if I had to buy an android phone, there is absolutely no reason to buy a Samsung, Lenovo, LG or HTC, when you have brands like, Oppo, Oneplus, Meizu, and Xiaomi.
They’re fractions of the cost, build quality is now the same if not better than the big brands, and a lot of them come out of the box running Cyanogenmod.
(In China, having stock Google would be the worst thing possible, because you wont’ be able to use any of the Google Apps.)
I can’t think of a single reason not to buy the cheaper option.
But, recently, I’ve found features (that rely on day-in day-out), suddenly disabled.When I tried to use them I am bombarded with pop-ups and slide down banners, in various shades of red, asking for my billing information.
I figured they must have changed their pricing structure, so I emailed their support team and it was confirmed to be true.
My first reaction was to check the new pricing structure to see if I can restore the features I lost. I couldn’t find it on the website–so I sent an email to support to see if they could explain the pricing.
They sent me here: Realtime Expenses Start with a Simpler, Smaller Price
Example: Your company has 100 people, 50 of who submit expense reports every month, and 10 who approve them.
Before: 50 submitters x $6/submitter = $300
Now: 50 submitters + 10 approvers = 60 active seats x $5/seat = $300
This is the example under their first bullet point of how they have simplified the pricing.
Example: You invoice 1-2 clients a month (the common case), and they approve and pay online via credit card.
Before: You paid a flat $15/mo.
Now: On the Team plan you pay $5 for yourself, and $5 for each recipient, for a total of $10-15/mo
So before, $15/mo gave me unlimited invoicing. Now, my cost depends on the # of recipients I have. Not small business friendly.
Example: You own two policies, a Team and a Corporate. Alice submits to you on a Team policy, and Bob submits to you on a Corporate policy. Cathy submits two reports, one on Team, and one on Corporate. You approve all four reports. The active seats you are billed for are:
Alice: $5 (Team)
Bob: $9 (Corporate)
Cathy: $9 (Team and Corporate, but Corporate pricing wins)
You: $9 (same as Cathy, because you’re active on both)
Total: $32
Sorry–do not comprehend.
Example: You are a company with 50 submitters and 10 approvers. You were previously on Team, but have been auto-upgraded to Corporate — and you choose not to downgrade back to Team. The cost of Expensify with the old and new pricing plan would be:
Old: 50 submitters x $6 / Team submitter + 17% for SmartScan + $15 for invoicing = $366
New: (50 submitters + 10 approvers) x $9 / Corporate submitter = $540
To avoid any pricing disruption, this example company would be given a 32% discount, which will be gradually reduced over 12 months. This means that were every month to have exactly the same number of active users, you would pay:
2014/6/1 – $366 (old price)
2014/7/1 – $540 – 32% = $366 (discounted to be same as old price)
2014/8/1 – $540 – 30% = $380 (discount is gradually reduced every month)
2014/9/1 – $540 – 27% = $395
…
2015/6/1 – $540 – 3% = $525
2015/7/1 – $540 – 0% = $540 (standard price in 12 months)
No, just NO… please stop, my brain… gaaaaaaahhh
Before I wrap things up, there is one thing they did make simpler:
Example: You SmartScan 50 receipts a month.
Before: The first 10 are free, and you pay $0.20 x 40 = $8/mo
Now: You pay $5/mo for a single active user (you) on the Team plan.
If the pricing was straightforward, and I thought it was reasonable for the way I use it, then it’s likely I would have paid to upgrade.
After reading through that monstrous blog post, I am even more confused as to what the hell it is that I am suppose to do in order to restore functionality.
I guess the only way forward is out. So I’ll have to find another way or another app(s).
I think I’m good at it–meaning I can perform, I can stay on key, and the crowds seem to enjoy my performances so far.
But I’m struggling to figure out whether I actually enjoy it or not. If you ask me any day of the week, whether I’d rather sing for an audience or do something else, I’d always choose something else.
If I am backed into a corner and I have to sing, (like at a karaoke party, it’s a friends birthday and they requested it) I would oblige and sing. When I do sing, I can get lost in it, I can escape and it feels great. Once I am back, however, I really don’t want to do it again unless I am backed into another corner.
So I like singing, but I don’t like to sing.
I’m thinking maybe I like singing, but I don’t like the feeling of nervousness, butterflies, and potential of being caught un-prepared to sing. The latter may need some explanation.
Most people that know me probably don’t know that I sing or perform. I almost never talk about it. The ones that do know, saw me from performances where I spent months doing nothing but prepare–everyday–even weekends.
I am no where at that level of professionalism any more and I am sure that no one really can tell the difference. But I can, and I don’t like to perform when I don’t have time to prepare.
Some singers are so relaxed about it. They’ll sing anywhere, any time, and with anyone. How they’ve let go in their minds is something I’m struggling to learn.
If I spent everyday singing, I don’t think I’ll be that nervous about singing.
If I think back to the days where I was singing and teaching singing everyday, I was less nervous about singing, but if you asked me to perform, I’d still rather do something else.
People watching, thoughts wandering, coffee sipping.
Good music, good food, good life.
It’s cute the first time.
(awww Windows is trying to check on a solution for me)
It’s annoying the second.
(with the vast repertoire of third-party software for Windows, how am I to expect you to find a solution, for my particular problem, in my particular version, of a particular piece of software?)
And therein after, I mutter “why do you bother?” every time this pops up.
(What is the freakin point of this? I use CTRL + ALT + DEL because I want to forcibly quit something. Not wait around for a help suggestion.)
“Wall Huggers,” a phrase first used by BlackBerry CEO John Chen
The point they’re trying to make: iPhone battery sucks, and you can’t swap it out, is old, stale, funky smelling.
Depending on the type of smartphone user you are, you may or may not need a mid-day charge, regardless of what smartphone you use.
I think whether you are destined to be a “wallhugger” or not is hugely determined by screen time, network signal strength and wifi availability.
In the days when I’m stuck at the office as a regular 9-5 cubical worker, I leave at the end of the day with my iPhone at 60%–more or less.
When I’m lucky enough to get out of the office and hit the roads, I rely mainly on network data. In which case my iPhone just squeaks by with 30% to spare at the end of the day.
30% on an iPhone is enough to last me to the end of the night unless I’m going out. In which case I’ll go hug a wall.
Glowingblue 