Friendly Atheist

I am normally very tolerant, but now, I have to preach to you. You need to be saved from the horrible idea that is an iPhone! This phone has several misfeatures, which do not make it a viable platform. First of all, it is a DRM-infected platform and you seel your soul, so to speak to Apple because you are relying on their software instead of relying on open standards. I want you to reconsider using such a restricted, proprietary platform for communication!

The FSF gets this point across a bit more eloquently than me at: http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/5-reasons-to-avoid-iphone-3g

~Ngeli

PS: I read the German translation of your book yesterday and enjoyed it!

A similar predicament happened to me a few months ago, albeit with a group of people:

Me: So my birthday’s next week.
Girl: Oh, so you’re an Aries! [goes on to describe my "real" personality]
Me: But I don’t believe in astrology.
Girl: [continues to predict my personality]
Me: Yeah, but I don’t believe in astrology!
Girl: But I do! And it’s VERY IMPORTANT to me!

At which point I shut up in the interests of social harmony, and she continued to “analyze” everyone else at the table.

Where exactly did you find the psychic? I’m curious how you got matched up with her.

You should really look into some alternatives to the iPhone. I’ve read a couple of comparisons between the iPhone and similar devices where the iPhone consistently loses out (not that it’s a completely bad phone, my Apple hatred notwithstanding). The HTC Touch (Diamond) is one of the big ones; if you’re willing to wait a bit, Google Android phones will definitely be worth looking at, as there’ll be massive application support for it. One application (that was one of the winners in Google’s contest), for example, allows you to take a picture of a barcode and then find the item online as well as locally and find out what the best price is (or, if it’s a book or CD or something, it can also search for it at a local library). I’m looking for a new phone but I’m willing to wait on Android phones, because I love open stuff and I don’t like being tied down; so Apple is never an option for me! Also remember that there have been many complaints over Apple’s touchscreen keyboard, and people are saying that a pull-out would have been much better.

Now, I’m curious: did you actually say “CHEQUE!” that loudly? (Instead, you could have responded like you did with the cell phone dude: “I’m psychic.” “No, no you’re not.” and that way you wouldn’t have had to deal with further awkwardness.) Did she just blow right past it, and then later assume you were having a wonderful time? And did the dude actually say “Come back to us” at the end (it sounds too funny to be true)?

I’m an RSS subscriber to your blog, member of Tulsa Atheists (whose ad I notice you mentioned in an earlier entry). I also work for Sprint. Wanted to say that so this won’t seem like random spam. Just thought I’d mention Sprint has an iPhone competitor, the Instinct. Faster, less buggy, cheaper. Hardware is cheaper ($129.99 after $100 rebate) and the plan to go with it is cheaper, I believe, as well ($99.99 per month). Just FYI.

I do tech support for a Sprint call center and there is a LOT of irrational belief out there. Like that a phone can be repaired while it is being used. Or that one can ask for internet access to be blocked from a phone but then one should still be able to get to one’s MySpace. Or that one can fail to purchase insurance on a phone, then drop the phone in a toilet, dry it in a microwave, and then expect it to be repaired for free at a distance by a call center tech rather than at a repair shop “because I paid a lot of money for this phone” (actual call).

Re: psychic. At least you know she’s easy.

Re: iPhone. I also suggest an alternative: whatever $20 barebones cell phone is the cheapest one in the catalog. I already own a portable MP3 player, and I’m never away from a computer long enough to need the other features in too-small-to-be-useful form, so the hell with it. But if you really must, at least don’t endorse Apple’s monopolistic practices. I hear the Android is something.

Re: Aditya:

did you actually say “CHEQUE!” that loudly?

No, he’s American, so he said “CHECK!”

Don’t listen to them, the iPhone is awesome.

And WTF on the psychic date. Seriously, that is some stone cold crazy there.

You’d think a real psychic would know not to bother going on the date, or not to bring up the topic so soon at the very least…

Forget why you dated a psychic…why the hell would you want an iPhone???

Since she was a psychic, she knew Hemant would react react in a negative fashion when she grabbed his hand. So maybe she was just doing this to make sure she wasn’t asked out on a second date by Hemant.

I think she just wanted to touch your hand. The fact that you call her “crazy” for this doesn’t bode well for the future of the relationship… !

If she wanted to touch his hand she could have asked to or just done it. If she thinks it takes crazy BS to be able to touch a date it doesn’t bode well for her future relationships.

You should buy an iphone for yourself and then one for each of your friends and family and few to give out to passing strangers. My stock has taken a bit of a hit this week.

I like my iPhone too. Some people just hate Apple the way others hate Microsoft, only with not as many good reasons. Still, it doens’t hurt to comparison shop and see what the competition has to offer.

I am not a hater, I am against iPhones because I like free software and free standards! When MS and apple do something in that respect, I like it.

Mine wasn’t a date but an airplane ride. A well-educated guy sitting next to me said his wife could tell me my past so I offered to call her when we landed .I was polite but told him that is bunk and until she could tell me my history I didn’t think she was anything more than cold-reader like John Edwards. When I got off the plane he just looked at me and kept walking so I let it go.

Dude: [quietly] Come back to us…?

[*click*]

Breakups are so filled with emotional drama, especially when the one getting dumped just can’t stand to let go.

;^D

~David D.G.

I’ve been critical of Apple’s closed-source ways, but I’m a huge fan of the iPod touch. (Naturally, the iPhone is very very similar.) Right now there isn’t a GOOD open competitor. They either lack a quality interface (interface is key) or there is just not a wide enough selection of software! There’s a ton of good stuff on the App Store, and of course there was (and probably will be again) the Jailbreak option… And that was very open.

So Hemant, go ahead and get the iPhone. Or don’t be locked into it for two years and get an iPod Touch and a cheap phone.