Bad… Spooky bad

I read this article this morning and it sent chills down my spine.

This is bad ju ju… very very bad ju ju.

Apparently in addition to having to worry about your credit score (BTW… a completely subjective, fictitious number anymore after the banking / mortgage disaster…) now you’re going to be graded, rated and judged on your influence score.

Yep, Your Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts now are going to be used to create an influence rating. That rating may be used by others to decide if you’re worthy of perks. The article suggests that perhaps even jobs would be offered or withheld based on your influence score.

Klout allows you to log in a see your score right now. I didn’t check mine…

Personally, I see this as a very good reason to delete all my social media accounts so that I’m not in the system and therefore not scored.

I could see a situation 20 years in the future… “Oh no sir we’re not allowed to perform medical procedures on you… Yes Sir, I understand you have enough cash but your influence score is just too low. You’re not relevant enough to continue to live. NEXT! Please sir, step aside for someone who is more motivational.”

After all, we all know just how well the credit scoring system worked. If your credit score is too low you couldn’t buy houses, or cars, or get credit cards. That way the financial system in the United States is protected from bad debt. YEAH RIGHT!

Folks we need to move away from shit like this!

Already some employers are asking for your social media accounts and blog addresses as part of the application process.

If an HR person doesn’t like something they see, or you don’t “friend” them fast enough you can loose job opportunities. It’s no longer about what you can do for the company…  it’s about your personal life as well.

We need to start dealing with each other Face to Face again. Arbitrary indexing and scoring is simply another way to strip us of our humanity.

Maybe I’m wrong here but this just feels like a very slippery slope.

The Beat Goes on.

 

And the car report is… NOW it’s boost faults.

Apparently, one or both turbos failed to spin up properly. 753 just to figure it out. Then whatever it costs to actually repair the problem.

Needless to say… this has not been one of my better days.

The question is does my extended warranty cover this? 2nd question is how did this happen? 3rd question is HOW long has this been going on?

Technically I’ve been chasing a gremlin problem around that car since 2009 and when ever I took the car in for routine service I was always… “We cant find any problem””

Hummmmm

Methinks there is the odor of cover-up in the air. Question is how to prove it.

Apple and Flash

I’ve been getting a kick out the recent Blackberry tablet ad. You know the one, It opens with a view of the Blackberry Playbook and the sound track is the thumping base line from Queens song Flash.

Can you see where this is going?

By now the world knows that Steve Jobs is not a fan of Flash… Well Neither am I.

I think having to use flash to VIEW a web page annoying as hell.  I miss the old “Non Flash Version” link. I don’t need to see dancing dildos or whatever when I want to get to a manual for my DVD player.

I’m REALLY annoyed by the chronic “There’s an update to Flash” dialog boxes taking up 1/3 of my screen. This is especially annoying when the update is triggered by an AD somewhere on a web page that I’m not interested in. Usually I’m just trying to READ a news article.

I read a lot, so I often have my iPad close at hand. AND THERES another problem.

I’m encountering more and more web pages that I CANNOT DISPLAY on my iPad.

The message ” You don’t have the latest version of Flash click here for a free download” has become all too familiar to me.

Don’t get me wrong, I like my iPad OK but more and more I can’t use it to look at web pages. (Don’t even talk to me about trying to print, or move files between my iPad and other devices.)

If I need to look something up on the Web,  I’ll grab one of the laptops or my Android phone. Yep you read that right… my phone surfs the web with less annoyance and interruption than my 1000.00 iPad. And I might add better than my iPhone EVER did.

For that matter my 250.00 netbook works flawlessly surfing the web.

So what does this say?

Well, I’m a long time Apple fan, and I’m buying products that don’t have the Apple logo on them. I guess that means that even among the hard core fans, Apple is loosing market share.

I can’t envision myself buying another iPhone, or iPad.

I’m spending my money on products and services that offer value, convenience, and usability.
Don’t get me wrong, If the Apple product serves the purpose and is competitively priced then I’ll buy Apple otherwise I’ll choose the other guy.

Mr. Jobs is entitled to his opinion. As are we all.

Unlike Mr. Jobs I realize that continuing to swim against the tide of ubiquity is a losing proposition. Since usability is most important to me, I’ll keep upgrading fucking flash (I don’t have to like it). And my future product purchases will be devices that include flash capability.

Perhaps it’s time for Apple to step away from Mr. Jobs famous reality distortion field and have a strong dose of wake the hell up.