That Apple Thingy called a Pencil™

If you pay attention to all things tech, you must've heard of Apple's event yesterday where several shiny, new but overtly overpriced devices were unveiled. Most of them had an "S" suffix to their names (as in iPhone 6S), to soften the expectations of those who were on the lookout for what used to be Apple's wow factor. It meant it was going to be a lot more of the same, but I'm sure you're already aware. And you also might be aware of a new one too. They called this the Apple Pencil™. Yea?

It's nothing novel. As has been the case with the iPhone manufacturer for some years now, it's simply Apple playing catch-up with offerings from the Android ecosystem. There's been stylii from a host of OEMs using Android, the most popular being the stylus included in the largely successful Samsung Galaxy Note series (now in it's 5th iteration).

But there's something mildly discombobulating about said Pencil™. This befuddlement (like some other moves that that tech company has made to copy others it had previously sued for copying it) has to do with its founder. Or, more precisely, with views publicly expressed by Apple's eclectic founder and esteemed visionary, the late Steve Jobs.

Before we get to the Pencil™, it's beneficial to the point here to take two previous examples that solidify this position. The initial size of the iPhone which it stubbornly refused to increase for years even with Android devices growing in screen real estate is the first one. The refusal was hinged on what they claimed was the ideal size for one-handed phone use. Jobs was at the forefront of that decision. Nothing was going to change it. Not even the desire of Apple's sincerest fans for a bigger-screened phone to enjoy.

The second example was Jobs' flat out condemnation of a mini tablet. Laughing off Samsung's 7-inched device, Jobs declared that tablet size category DOA - Dead On Arrival. Not many will want it, saying nothing of buying it. And everyone and their monkey knew Jobs had an unnerving talent for seeing into tech future.

Now, zoom past Jobs' death and the dawn of reality on the Apple management. What do you see?

One, the jump to 5+ inch devices in the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6+. Talk about trying to catch up fast. And the iPad Mini is presently making cash for the tech giant already. Some claim Jobs wouldn't be resting in peace.

As if that wasn't enough of a slap, nay two slaps already, on their founder's ascetic cheeks, we now have the Pencil™. If you've been following my buildup to this point, you'd have guessed Jobs had something to say about that as well, yea? I mean, why else would I have brought in discombobulation, otherwise, no? Well, you're right. He did. And right also, it wasn't positive.

Let's go verbatim.

“We’re gonna use a stylus? No. Who wants a stylus? You have to get them, and (you have to) put them away. Yuk! Nobody wants a stylus.” And he finished saying, “We’re gonna use the best pointing device in the world […] we’re gonna use our fingers." Elsewhere, he's quoted to have quipped, "If you see a stylus, they blew it!"

Will you say Apple blew this? I'd leave that to you. But, while we admittedly can state that there's a lot more today that can necessitate bigger screens, tablet minis and the stylii enough to get Apple into reversal of several rules of thumb, it mustn't be forgotten that most of these comments were specifically targeted at disparaging Android and the speed with which it was no longer trying to compete but defining the path of progress for mobile tech.

It is that path that Apple is not just aping but is seen to be obviously copying albeit giving it a different name and repackaged slant. Wouldn't be that difficult to figure out, yea? Well, not for some who unreservedly belong to that flock of sheep that just trots along with the rest. Regardless.

Welcome to the fray, APPLE PENCIL™. Wish you well.

"Pick Your Choose"

Like the title? It's "make a choice" in local parlance. *insert laugh* Now, to the meat of the gist.

Do you ever feel inundated by the avalanche of shiny new avant garde smartphones that seem to lure you with one charming feature or the other? Even though you've only just bought that brand-new smartphone you've been eyeing for longer than you can remember? Yea. No bi only you. We plenty. It's the consequence of mobile tech that's jumping forward here and there without giving people much time to relax and enjoy their tear-rubber devices before a new slew of products hit the stands.

Sorry.

What to do? The idea is to decide what feature one wants and prefers, then go buy the device that has the best or one of the best of that feature (or features). If you do that, you'd remain pleased no matter what other devices come out with other tempting and mouthwatering features that aren't suited to your preference (no matter how glittery those other tempting new features are).

I, for instance decided on a huge battery as my preference and at a diminutive pocket friendly price. And that's what I got. Plus fast-charging thrown into the mix as a bonus. So, I see other devices and admire them from a distance without hating on my device cos I'm happy with what I got. Every once in a while I see people outside with power packs, I see people afraid to use their devices for long periods so as to conserve battery, I see some going out with extra batteries so that they can swap when one packs up on them while they're outside and far from a charging port, I see those whose phones have died as a result of exhausted batteries, I see all sorts. And these are the biggest phones around (compared to my Chinco phone). Galaxies, iPhones, Xperias, LGs, name them.

What use is a top smartphone when it's dying of battery shortage, or worse, when it's dead at a time you need it most? So, while others are saving battery, swapping battery, managing battery, helping battery with power banks, I'm out there with them playing games, browsing, watching videos and throwing everything I can at my phone and the battery is keeping up.

After a full day of wicked usage, I still get home with 20% left which, if I don't plug overnight, can still take me to at least midday the next day. The best part? With 20 mins plug-in, that 20% jumps to 70. And I can take that out for another full day.

So, you can see what I mean. I'm a power user and I need to have a device that suits that usage (without tearing a bleeding hole in my small pockets). Yes, I sometimes have to deal with perceptive software lags here and the but that is my preference and whatever else I see doesn't attract me because it doesn't fit that bill. I might admire it and love the tech, but I have my choices and I stick with them.

What are yours? Find out. Pick the device that suits those preferences and at a price range you can comfortably afford. Then, smile at these nouveau attractive products being churned out at an alarming pace. But without the urge to splurge on them. It's one of the many advantages of the Android ecosystem. And the current competition in mobile technology with Windows and BlackBerry all providing offerings that keep us from going bankrupt with Apple.

In Peril

There is no arguing about the fact that the government is merely paying lip service to the development of education. It is true that a lot of money is being spent on the education sector but with little or no impact felt by the people, except where we want to deceive ourselves.

Many schools run by the government, which were formerly known for academic excellence have suddenly lost their prestige and are living on past glories. No wonder, many parents and guardians are threateningly left with only one option, to withdraw their wards from these schools to other ones that are better managed.

The evidences to show that the government is not doing enough to assist in the development of education are many. Even pupils in both primary and secondary schools can volunteer a good list on their finger tips.

One of the numerous indications is the government’s inability to pay running cost to schools. The running cost is the token amount per pupil paid to school administrators to run the affairs of the school in a term. This has been neglected to pile up for several academic sessions.

Another one is the regular poor conduct of terminal examinations. These examinations are not usually conducted as and when due. The government may have one excuse or the other, but real educationists know that appropriate timing is a strong factor in the process of Continuous Assessment (CA) of students.

Thus, a situation, where for instance, the first term examination is shifted to second term is an outright departure from the norms and ethics of Continuous Assessment.

*********************************************

This was a section of Section C in a comprehensive passage of the English Language examination conducted by the Ogun state Ministry of Education, Science and Technology for the Unified Examination in Public Secondary Schools for the third term of the 2014/2015 academic session. The summary passage was said to have been culled from Jola Adegbenro’s "Issues on Education Today".

But for the State governor and some other top government officials, this did not go down well. They were allegedly angry with this section, which they believed made a veiled reference to what obtained in the state. Consequently, six officials of that ministry who superintended over those exam questions were invited to Abeokuta last week to face a disciplinary panel set up by the state Bureau of Establishment and Training, where they were quizzed.

Those invited were two Grade Level 17 officers, Folashade Oresegun, who was the Director, Education Support Services, and Rotimi Odunsi, who was the Director, Curriculum Development and Evaluation, and a Grade Level 16 officer, Majekodunmi Oluwole. Others were a Grade Level 10 officer, E.O. Asegbe, a Grade Level 8 officer, Taylor Damilola and an English Language teacher in Mayflower Secondary School, Ikenne, Joel Adegbenro.

Acting on executive orders, apparently, they were all dismissed. All six.

The government's final word?

“The decision [to dismiss them] was in line with the civil service rule, due process was followed to the latter.” Latter oo, latter.

The lesson? Tell the truth at your peril. You and your career.

Progress and growth will forever elude us if those who tell the truth are sacrificed on the altar of bootlicking and eye-service. If this is the path we desire to tread, if the facts make us so perturbed that rather than work to improve, we conspire to silence truth, then perdition awaits in no distant time. Sour grapes will be the harvest. My teeth is already on edge.

#MiffedThursday

(credits to newmail-ng.com for details about the story)

Flagship Killer Alert!

The flagship killers are coming.

If you don't know what "flagships" are when talking about smartphones and their manufacturers and you have no idea how they can be "killed" and are strangely pondering what the term "flagship killer" could possibly imply, do us both a huge favour. Stop reading. Yes, at this point. Just stop.

If you stubbornly persisted though, flagship killers, as a concept, grew from an earlier development of a batch of smartphones that were expected to put to an end to the blazing market lead the revolutionary Apple iPhone had. At that point, they were tagged "iPhone Killers". They ended up being anything but. The iPhone had the first mover advantage, had patented most of the smartphone design language and predominated mobile tech. It was, in fact, in a class all by itself.

Most of that advantage would peter off with the stepping up of a worthy challenger in the Android ecosystem: Samsung. Shedding it's mediocre beginning and entering a long term project of smartphone-market domination, it aped the iPhone dress sense, cloned some of Apple's user experience and encased Android with their in-house interface called TouchWiz. Then, they sold it cheaper than Apple's offerings. Those who wanted an alternative with more openness than the iPhone had found one.

Android rode on this popularity to gain traction in the battle for supremacy in mobile tech. Apple wasn't about to let that happen without a fight. Litigations after litigations brought the duels to the courthouses. To survive, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) of Android devices were forced to differentiate themselves, in hardware and software, from everything Apple.

As always, Samsung led that drive. It increased its screen sizes and threw into its flagships all sorts of bells and whistles it felt would sway buyers its way. From sensors that tracked eyeballs to keep the screen awake while the eyes remained on it to heart-rate monitors, whatever they could think of, they jammed into devices that were constantly increasing in size. Then, they became the "Toyota" of smartphones, furnishing buyers with smartphones for all pocket sizes.

Samsung had come of age. It had become an OEM with a flagship that others had to battle. That others had to kill. The Android competition took notice. And borrowing pages from Samsung's playbook, began to develop "flagship killers" to dethrone flagships from Samsung and from Apple.

It wasn't long before the world then added the word "phablet" to it's lexicon as a result. It referred to smartphones that were too big to be called phones but not big enough to be called tablets. These devices were between a "phone" and a "tablet" hence the new classification "phablet".

The buyer-hunger for ever bigger screens was an eye opener for OEMs. Apple however resisted the urge claiming a lot of thought and research for one-handed use of touchscreen phones went into its decision to use the screen size it preferred. Larger phones made the iPhone appear toyish but Apple was obdurate.

The battle raged on. Samsung giving Apple a run for its money. BlackBerry slowly dying. Windows phones looking like relics. The dregs left for the others to contend with.

Phone components became more available and affordable. The tech finally caught up and hardware improved enough to match the processing demands of the software. With its Open Source model, Android grew in leaps and bounds and in some instances overtook Apple in functionality. Apple made do with consistency and premium quality but there came to be a plateauing of growth in what could be offered. It got to the point where the competition was just how to better, in slight incremental proportions, what was already on offer.

Concurrently, Android's conditional free OS allowed inexpensive but less-powered devices from Asian OEMs to flood the middle- and lower-income earning market. Those poorly executed products conspired to give the platform a bad reputation with many concluding that Android as a whole was a terrible OS to be involved with. Among other considerations, this led Google to place emphasis on standards and engineer Android to work as efficiently on the less-powered as it did with flagships.

What that move birthed was phenomenal especially considering the need for low-priced but efficiently functional devices in many areas around the world, third-world countries inclusive. It triggered the possibility of smartphones priced at under-$50. Coupled with component-availability and affordability, it appeared the days where only the flagship assured of quality and efficiency but at high, out-of-normal-reach premium were numbered.

It appeared. At the time.

Today however, two devices have "appeared" with enough gravitas to stake their holding to that promise. I will allow readers read of the two devices, their quality (which ooze from every pore), the premium-ness, their functionalities, the possibility of personally customising both, their specs, their differentiations but more than anything else their unbelievable affordability for all the mobile-tech punch they pack.

These two
1. The OnePlus 2
2. The Moto G

Read. Then, ask yourself why anyone will spend over a 100k for a flagship when these devices are available at these price points and with these specs? That question, in its very essence is what happens when a true flagship killer is born and experienced for the first time.

For the most part, ignorance plays more than a pivotal role in the continued dominance of a flagship. Those who break their banks for flagships do so from a deep lack of the knowledge of the existence of comparative and inexpensive alternatives. Obviously, there remains the caste who do so, willingly or otherwise, for the class symbol these flagships carry. Definitely. However, knowledge is a defining characteristic in the emerging death of traditional mobile flagship.

Will this emergence hurt Apple's flagship? The jury is still out on that for now. But, can it force Apple to alter anything? Hmm...

Apple won't change their business model for anyone's sentiment. They have become the most valuable company today as a result. It's simple - control the design process and make it premium; control the software and optimise it to the fullest since you also design the hardware; control the pricing and the merchandising since you make both hardware and software; sell at a premium because you control hardware, software and merchandising, all and because you define a status and symbolise class.

With so much power and a compelling catalogue of premium products, you call the shots and no other competing manufacturer can make you sneeze or catch a cold with their attractive device releases. Mostly.

Although Android development has altered some Apple standards going forward like making phones with bigger screens and allowing permissions for some third-party applications that are favourite for smartphone users, Apple remains a stubbornly selfish yet veritable force in mobile tech. And it works for them that way. It doesn't work for their business model to sell cheap. Their iPhone C, which was supposed to have been a cheaper alternative for those who couldn't afford the flagship model, flopped spectacularly. I doubt they'd try it again.

Yet, this mobile tech market isn't entirely predictable. If clamshell phones (what we call flip phones) are making a comeback in 2015, who am I to speculate that Apple wouldn't do another cheap device tomorrow? After all, pressure from Android sales forced Apple's hand and made them enter the mini tablet market though their late visionary founder, Steve Jobs, had earlier labeled that genre of mobile devices dead on arrival.

Who knows? But, there is this certainty. The flagship killers will never be out of job. As far as flagships exist. slowly dying. Windows phones looking like relics. The dregs left for the others to contend with.

Then, phone components became more available and affordable. The tech finally caught up and hardware improved enough to match the processing demands of the software. With its Open Source model, Android grew in leaps and bounds and in some instances overtook Apple in functionality. Apple made do with consistency and premium quality but there came to be a plateauing of growth in what could be offered. The competition was how to better, in slight incremental proportions, what was already on offer.

Concurrently, Android's conditional free OS allowed inexpensive but less-powered devices from Asian OEMs to flood the middle- and lower-income earning market. Those poorly executed products conspired to give the platform a bad reputation with many concluding that Android as a whole was a terrible OS to be involved with. Among other considerations, this led Google to place emphasis on standards and engineer Android to work as efficiently on less-powered as it did with flagships.

What that move birthed was phenomenal especially considering the need for low-priced but efficiently functional devices in many areas around the world, third-world countries inclusive. It triggered the possibility of smartphones priced at under-$50. Coupled with component-availability and affordability, it appeared the days where only the flagship assured of quality and efficiency but at high, out-of-normal-reach premium were numbered.

It appeared. At the time.

Today however, two devices have "appeared" with enough gravitas to stake their holding to that promise. I will allow readers read of the two devices, their quality (which ooze from every pore), the premium-ness, their functionalities, the possibility of personally customising both, their specs, their differentiations but more than anything else their unbelievably affordability for all the mobile-tech punch they pack.

These two
1. The OnePlus 2
2. The Moto G

Read. Then, ask yourself why anyone will spend over a 100k for a flagship when these devices are available for these price points and with these specs? That question, in its very essence is what happens when a true flagship killer is born and experienced for the first time.

For the most part, ignorance plays more than a pivotal role in the continued dominance of a flagship. Those who break their banks for flagships do so for a deep lack of the knowledge of the existence of comparative and inexpensive alternatives. Obviously, there remains the caste who do so, willingly or otherwise, for the class symbol these flagships carry. Definitely. However, knowledge is a defining characteristic in the emerging death of traditional mobile flagship.

Will this emergence hurt Apple's flagship? The jury is still out on that for now. But, can it force Apple to alter anything? Hmm...

Apple won't change their business model for anyone's sentiment. They have become the most valuable company today as a result. It's simple - control the design process and make it premium; control the software and optimise it to the fullest since you also design the hardware; control the pricing and the merchandising since you make both hardware and software; sell at a premium because you control hardware, software and merchandising, all and because you define a status and symbolise class.

With so much power and a compelling catalogue of premium products, you call the shots and no other competing manufacturer can make you sneeze or catch a cold with their attractive device releases. Mostly.

Although Android development has altered some Apple standards going forward like making phones with bigger screens and allowing permissions for some third-party applications that are favourite for smartphone users, Apple remains a stubbornly selfish yet veritable force in mobile tech. And it works for them that way. It doesn't work for their business model to sell cheap. Their iPhone C, which was supposed to have been a cheaper alternative for those who couldn't afford the flagship model, flopped spectacularly. I doubt they'd try it again.

Yet, this mobile tech market isn't entirely predictable. If clamshell phones (what we call flip phones) are making a comeback in 2015, who am I to speculate that Apple wouldn't do another cheap device tomorrow? After all, pressure from Android sales forced Apple's hand and made them enter the mini tablet market though their late visionary founder, Steve Jobs, had earlier labeled that genre of mobile devices dead on arrival.

Who knows? But, there is this certainty. The flagship killers will never be out of job. As far as flagships exist.

Tolerance

I once visited a friend who lived in a compound with two other families. He always had tales of his noisy encounters with the neighbours' kids. They made me wonder, always, knowing how much he dreaded disturbance. I finally got the opportunity of a first-hand experience. That very day.

We were mid-way into an interesting topic of the duopoly in mobile phone tech when the two children of the house on the right decided we had had enough peace for the day. I couldn't believe they were just two of them. They made more noises than a packed stadium brimming with football fans. My friend took it all like a man. Not even a whimper, though I could perceive his annoyance. No, not annoyance. His ire.

"Why being so tolerant," was on the tip of my tongue, knowing who Jide was. But something about his quiet demeanour kept me tongue-tied. Well...

Since we couldn't hear each other converse any longer (it was that bad) we stopped screaming at each other and turned on the TV to watch the highlights of an old football match.

We were so engrossed in the thrilling encounter (scores of which we already knew), we didn't notice exactly when the twin devils quietened. The peace was ephemeral though. Another set of neighbour's children, four boys of differing ages from the house on the right, had come out to kick some footie.

It took less than a minute from when Jide heard them playing and running around to when he whizzed through his front door to not only seize the round leather but admonish the kids about disturbing him with their racket.

From the window, I observed the drama play out. The forlorn looks on the boys' faces, as they walked away ball-less, was touching. Just before he reentered their house, the youngest looked back at Jide's retreating figure. If looks had daggers...

I was beyond astonished at this point. They weren't making a fraction of the pandemonium those other two raised before we gave up our conversation to watch that match. Neither were we marginally disturbed by their football game. So, why the double standards?

"Jyd," I began, "what was that about?"

He looked puzzled. "What?" He was dropping the ball just behind the door and turning around to face me.

"That wasn't fair, what you did to them. And claiming they were a disturbance? Haba!!!! Jyd! What will you then say about those two in the next house who may have been possessed by a legion of noise-demons?"

Jide laughed his full-throated, heart-warming rambunctious laughter (the laugh alone could've been from another legion of demons on its own). He ended up shaking his head, as if to clear the cobwebs that laugh must've patterned in his head.

When he answered, he was serious. He said, "You haven't met the parents of the two families."

I understood.

Political "Bats"

The story broke of Boko Haram prisoners in the East. Not much facts were sought before even some seeming intelligent minds went to press. The clandestine intentions of this government's sympathetic slant with terrorism was blown up and harangued. Those who still feel deeply pained by their gargantuan loss at the last polls, bared fangs, talons and canines.

The accusations were wild and variant. Baba-Go-Slow was disingenuously charting a devious plan to allow Boko Haram make inroads into the South East for one nefarious intent or the other. It was a field day for all biased comers without restraint. All stops were pulled to cast aspersions on the government and anyone who as much as dared to counsel for caution. You were thought to be a Buhari apologist (or "Buharist" for short). And if you were of Igbo extraction, you were a sellout. Period.

Then, the wind of facts blew. Clouds of misdirection receded. Clearer skies revealed that those prisoners had been moved to the East within the life of the previous government. And just like it was in the story about El-Rufai's asset declaration, those who ran to town with the story in the morning had gone underground in the evening, seeking to be hidden under the cover of darkness, their natural and comfortable abode. Fangs covered. Talons retrieved. Canines shut.

We must of needs participate in government actively as guardians of our democratic practice. No doubts. But it is of necessity, extreme nonetheless, that such participatory activism be informed. Band-wagonism will only yield unsavoury outcomes and be as counterproductive as passivism. Crowd-thinking that isn't based on facts but on biased jerky condemnation of what we are led to believe by junk journalism and media sensationalism will not help us. We must try to avoid these political "bats" who neither help us nor themselves.

Now, they go back to lie in wait until the next series of sensationalism. Till the next season of news items that agree with their self-induced pain of biased sensibilities. Then, they'd spring out again, shouting themselves hoarse and dragging some unscrupulously naive Nigerians along for the ride. As far as it works to prove their point that Baba-Go-Slow is an accident waiting to happen, they don't care for consequences. Let the nation be wrecked as far as they're proven right, it is well. Let us all be damned so that they can be right.

And their proselytising wins converts. Until it fails again. Then, you don't hear a blip from them for a while. But it's brief. We know what will happen. Another opportunity beckons. Then, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, we know what each of them will say.

"I'd be back."

Urgency Required

At first, guerrilla tactics of moving in and tearing places apart with bombs and moving out was the modus operandi. Then, they got emboldened enough to begin to take territories. They became a ground force. It changed to moving in convoys to attack, among other places, armed forces garrisons for weapons and big towns for supplies. They also took women and children for support staff.

When the then government got serious enough to do in six weeks what it shied from doing in six years, it decimated their numbers while taking back those territories which made them  a ground force. Pushed back and with little of the bravado to operate in the open and in convoys, they have returned to the hit and run antics of guerrilla warfare.

This unconventional fare cannot be defeated by conventional tact without the backing of matching military intelligence and strategy. The old hands that have been pussyfooting while thousands of innocent and helpless Nigerians have met their untimely deaths and violent loss of body parts must be made to face the music of their recalcitrance. A more hands-on category of military eggheads with the capacity for intelligence and strategy and collaborating with the MNJTF must begin to bring an end to this insurgency with urgency.

It is nothing more than is expected of this new dispensation. The attacks are becoming too much to stomach. Their daredevilry must be checkmated by the militaristic professionalism that our men in uniform are popular for.

Enough is enough.