Google Gets an 'F' on the Nexus One

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Not everything Google touches turns to gold. As a matter of fact, Google has had many products launches that have not been successful. They like to beta test product by the public and then if they do not succeed, they are  quietly pulled or minimized and not supported as well as their main applications. Such is the case with Google's Nexus One cell phone. Lots of hype with the announcement but little notice of its demise. As a matter of fact, Google choose to inform the public of its pulling the plug on this product on the same day that Apple's Steve Jobs held a press conference to discuss  antenna-gate!

Google has some very good Web-based products but it clearly had no idea about how to get into the cell business, making several mistakes. One of the mistakes was to align itself with a single service provider, T-Mobile, the weakest carrier in the US. It also confused the issue by branding the phone, made by HTC, and serviced by T-Mobile. With this companies involved, there was lots of finger-pointing when it came to service requests. slowing down the process with a unprepared support infrastructure. The final nail in the coffin was to offer the phone only through a Net purchase.

I'm sure that Google is licking its wounds, learn from its mistakes and try again after the Nexus One is a distance memory. After all, they already know what you are doing online but they also want to know what you are talking about.

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• Requiem for a phone: Nexus One done at Google (news.cnet.com)

Google / Apple Controlling your Cell Phone

I was surprised, and maybe I should not have been, to learn that Google can remove applications from Android-based phones. They removed an application recently because it apparently misrepresented its purpose thus wrongly encouraging user downloads (see Google Uses Kill Switch to Remove Android App) . One one hand, Google can take take of buggy and potentially dangerous apps but on the other hand, it is very scary that they have that much control of your personal device. I have read many app descriptions that have oversold themselves. If I downloaded a app that was wrongly misrepresented, I'm sure that I can figure that out fairly quickly and delete it myself. Maybe Google should be more like Apple in this regard and vet the app before they hit the Android marketplace.


The bigger question is really - what can Google do to your phone and how much information can they extract? I thought that Google was just trying to take over the Internet and now it has become obvious that they also have control over mobile devices.


I'm going to be in the market for a new cell in about a year. I was leaning to an Android-based devices but now I'm not sure. I did some digging and found out that Apple can kill iPhone apps as well. We are told to be careful with our personal information but it seems like Google and Apple have access to it whether we want them to or not.


Big Brother ... move over!! 

Exciting Technology Times Ahead

It used to be said that the only things you can be sure of in life is death and taxes. I think we need to add one more item to that list - technology changes! The next few months are going to prove to be very exciting for technology watcher and users.

On Monday, Apple announces its new iPhone. Even though some of the iPhone's features have been revealed courtesy of the Apple engineer who left a prototype at the bar, Apple will still have a few surprise features. Of course, there will be the long-awaited multi-tasking feature as well as a better and front-facing camera. The new phone will have a smaller screen but a higher resolution. The two new features I'm looking forward to is the longer batter life and the wireless syncing. Critics of the new phone say that it will be very expensive and not well designed. Also, when the iPhone was first released, it was a unique product. Since then, they are some less expensive alternatives available. Critics had some harsh word when Apple announce the iPad. As a matter of fact, Apple's stock dropped just after the announcement. The critics and the drop in stock price have not deterred consumers as apple has sold  over 2 million iPad units to date.

Turn on Your AMBER Light

Most of the press you hear about technology is bad. You hear about the tons of porn, the predators trying to get your child, hackers poisoning your computer and thieves stealing your identity. Now there is a way to use technology for the good. The Canadian federal government and the wireless providers have teamed up to send AMBER Alert signals to mobile phones. AMBER Alerts are sent when a child is suspected to be in danger. To register your phone to be part of the Amber Alert network, go to Wireless AMBER Alert Web site and enter your cell phone number as well as the region in which you live. You will then get a confirmation code sent to you phone; enter the code and you are all set.

Thanks for turning on your AMBER light. Your participation may help a child in distress.

The Cell Phone Business Heats Up

First there were a few .... then more entered the market ... and soon, there will be many more! The cell phone business has been a virtual monopoly in Canada, allowing cell phone providers to charge what ever they want, raising the prices with add-ons like system access charges and forcing us into ridiculously long contracts. Because of the large amount of cell providers in the US and Europe, those citizens pay a fraction of what we pay in Canada. But the good thing is - the Canadian landscape is changing. We see it with smaller cell phone subsidiaries of large companies, like Fido and Mike, offering services at reduced rate plans. We see it with new entrants into the market like Virgin, Wind, Mobilicity and soon, Shaw.

Nokia, which dominants the European market, has just announced a partnership with Yahoo. They will be providing mapping services to Yahoo and Yahoo will be providing email and chat functionality to Nokia phones. This is a direct competitive answer to Google and their location services.

With mergers like this and new players in the market, Canadians should see a drop in prices, more availability of pricing packages, and hopefully, the removal of nonsensical user fees and long term contracts.

Cell Phone Brain Cancer and Statistics

A recent Globe and Mail article reported about a study called Interphone. It sampled 5,100 people, the supposed largest study of its kind, and claims that heavy use of cell phone may increase the risk of tumors. The point made by the study is that frequent cell phone users have a 40% higher chance of glioma, which is a type of tumor that starts in the brain or spine. Forty percent!!! That’s huge! Don’t you think that that size of increase would cause a noticeable number of people in your circle succumbing to this disease? Have you observed that to be true? After all, almost everyone and their kid has a cell phone.  To make the article scarier, it brings up the death of Edward Kennedy and asks the question whether his brain cancer was caused by excessive cell phone use.  

 

I’m sure you have heard of many similar studies with conflicting results. I am not a brain tumor expert and I’m not going to dispute the finding of this study but I want to put it into perspective as a statistics instructor. 

Statistical reports are created by researchers who make claims about the population using a analysis of a sample. For example, during elections campaigns, the public receives almost daily polls citing the  proportion of the voting population will vote for a particular political party. Do you realize that pollster base their numbers on a sample size of about 1000 people? Next time you see an election poll in print, look at the fine print to see the sample size. Statistically speaking, the larger the sample, the more sure the statisticians can be about their generalization with regard to the population. Due to lack of time, money or manpower, extremely large samples cannot be gathered but are always desired.

Getting back to the cell phone and brain cancer study, I want to alert you to another similar study.  You can read about this study at Scandinavian Study Finds No Cell Phone-Brain Cancer Link Over 9-Year Period. This study tracked 16 million people in Finland, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden over a people of 29 years. This group of researchers found no evidence that increased use of cell phones over a nine-year period led to more cases of brain cancer. Statistician or not, you know that a study using 16 million subjects would be a better than one that involved a sample size of 5,100. 

Why did the Interphone study claim that it was the largest study when there was one that was much larger? Maybe they were not aware of the other one? Maybe the two studies are so different from each other they cannot be compared. Maybe this is an example of selective journalism? Reporting on a study that does not scare people would not selling papers.

Here's what I want you to take away from this post:

1. Question statistics you read. (How large was the sample? What was the study's limitations? What was the conditions of the study?
2. Find a similar study for comparison purposes.
3. Refer to multiple sources for new reports.

  You can read both studies for yourself and decide which one you believe.

A Cellular Milestone

In a recent article in the Globe and Mail entitled "Less talk, more extra on US cellphones" claimed that, "for the first time in the U.S., the amount of data in text, e-mails, streaming video, music and other services on mobile devices in 2009 surpassed the amount of voice data in cellphone calls". I find this to be an very interested milestone as this marks the day when the cell phone transitions as a device for voice communication to one of data communication. I think this has huge implications for us as a society. The fundamental way we now communicate with a cell phone is by using data streams. One of the implications of this shift is that more people are reading cell text then talking to someone. Does that mean we need to be teaching young people how to properly text as well as properly writing?

As the number of cell providers increases in Canada, each looking for a market share, maybe they should be offering data only packages just as now they offer voice only. The smart phones are becoming more of a hand held computer rather than a voice transmission device.

This is a trend that needs to be closely monitored because this milestone may be the tipping point in the history of communications.