The TechnoBuffalo Show Episode #031 – T-Mobile, CES and More!
The TechnoBuffalo Show Episode #031 – T-Mobile, CES and More!
2014-12-17
and welcome to episode 31 of the
TechnoBuffalo show I'm live your to host
for today Shawna nani editor-in-chief of
the site and i'm joined bags ticket of
editor mobile Todd Hazleton everybody
how you doing today Todd good it's an
exciting day in Mobile it is hahaha we
just had Jacob one of our writers at the
blackberry event in New York City the
event was focused on the blackberry
classic that's officially available
today in the United States 449 dollars
unlock you find it on Amazon and
blackberry site but I found it
interesting I think because the whole
time and we don't have to talk about
this too much because we have other
topics talked about but I think the
whole time you know the blackberry is
comparing it to the 9900 the bowl that
launched in 2011 and so like how this is
better than that it's like like of
course it's better it's it's you know
whatever more than three years from then
and and the other thing is like the
blackberry passport just launched I
actually really like that phone you know
for a couple reasons if you're a
blackberry user form factors a little
different but it is the blackberry
passport has better specs sort of like
across the board than the blackberry
classic and I don't know it's just weird
I know what blackberry is trying to do
they're trying to cater to their fans
that have been around for a long time
they really like the bold and not
something more that form factor but i
don't know i think they should go like
direct to enterprise if that's where
they want to go or like I just don't
know I don't see it working out it's
like this huge new flagship for you well
I think this just proves that
BlackBerry's go to party like it's 2011
yeah I I just don't I mean yeah I can
understand there's still some fans out
there of the form factor and that's fine
but I don't know when you're comparing
your newest phone to a foam from three
years ago it just seems especially if
our company that's in their financial
state yeah it's just weird because
they're like the screen is sixty percent
larger and it's like I don't know 3.47
3.5 inches big it's like what
III don't get it what we're excited to
try it out and you know give it a go but
yeah yeah we'll have it um so we'll have
plenty of coverage of it and stuff like
that we have pictures hands-on pictures
coming yeah just at first blush it's
kind of like what verizon will have it
too so we'll see what the on contract
prices maybe they'll have some kind of
you know subsidy that brings it down and
i know john chen the CEO was saying you
know we're back in the carrier's focus
you know they thanked AT&T for the
partnership eighteens he's also carrying
the passport so stuff like that which is
you know good news for blackberry yeah
exactly well we've got a question that
leads into one of the topics that we add
as we were going to discuss today from
Christopher miles thoughts on t-mobile's
new data station stash station today to
stash promotion yes it's the datastage
uh yeah go for it Todd um ok so to start
we can go with the name i read an
interesting article on Sina yesterday by
Roger Cheng had said they so they went
with stash I guess because AT&T and you
know by way of singular still owned roll
over and if you're watching from when
they had like rollover minutes with
singular it made it really popular back
in the day and if you're watching the
live webcast with David Pogue yesterday
and John ledger on the announcement
luxury kept correcting him saying no 12
data stash no it's called a stash and
then on the conference call he said well
we're calling it stash because it sounds
cool and he's like does that sounds so
much cooler like stash it some role over
roller so 90s and I guess the thing is
like 820 owns the rights to roll over so
like that so he kept correct him which I
thought was funny um but otherwise I
mean I thought it was really cool at
first I was confused the wording the
t-mobile used in its releases the Press
said like if you buy extra data that
data rules over and so I know t-mobile
has like one gigabyte three gigabyte
five gigabyte and then unlimited plans
and so to me I thought that that meant
if you had a three gigabyte plan
and you ran out of data and you bought
more high-speed data because it's all
it's all technically unlimited just saw
toes down after and you drop off LT if
you consume all that and I thought it
meant that you had to buy more and then
that data rolled over it actually it's
anybody who has a three gig plan or more
so three or five big plan with a phone
in one gig plan or more on a tablet
because 200 gigs there are 200 megabytes
rather is free with tablets so if you're
on t-mobile and you have three gigs of
data now and you use I don't know just
one gig and the rest of it rolls over
into next month and t-mobile's also
tossing in 10 gigs of free data into
everybody stash so everybody starts with
that 10 gigs that you can use and then
once that's used and you have to use it
within a year then your data start
rolling over into it's on to the stash
so it's pretty cool I mean I think it's
a great way to to attract customers it's
cool but there were so many little rules
when you got down into it oh yeah when
you look at it's like it doesn't apply
that 200 megabytes never carries over so
the free which is fine i means 200
megabytes but it's also like doesn't
apply to any of their promotions so i
think their current one is like four
lines and a family for a hundred bucks
like doesn't apply there and a couple
others so just like there's a lot of
fine print as usual with t-mobile I
think um but you know I think for most
people it's another uncarrier step
that's really compelling for me I
actually as much as t-mobile xtube a
I really like to date a bucket like
I have 40 gigs I never yeah I don't use
it all but I like not having to worry
about using it all and that's why I paid
for it and I'm fine with that I'm fine
if I don't use it on it doesn't roll or
whatever so you know I know they like to
bash that say like but you're paying for
it well you know at the end of the day I
pay I think about 200 bucks on 18 t44
lines with 40 gigs of data that's like
50 bucks online and that's not bad to me
I mean I think that's a great deal and
you know versus i guess going with
tmobile you maybe I'd save money but
then I'm down to like three gigs align
five gigs on an awesome yeah I i did buy
an interesting that
when we were on the the press call that
it was a lot more about why does your
service still suck indoors then actually
the press asking questions about the
data stash right and you know is it
leisure look I always say Legare much
later okay so ledger kept going well you
know we're working on that and that's
old thinking but you know the truth of
the matter is yes they still do have
problems indoors and well I've enjoyed
all the uncarrier announcements I do
wonder if they wouldn't be better search
it's just like say take six months and
do nothing more than work on their
network make sure that they're getting
rid of all those old thoughts about
their network well that's what they are
doing they are doing it with morning
announcements yesterday was there
talking about cat 12 I think it's good
nope I'm sorry band 12 LTE and the 700
megahertz spectrum that they bought
because it's lower spectrum it
penetrates buildings a lot easier so
they are doing that in some areas and
they're trying to build up a lot of
their older ricci the edge networks just
to HS PAH hspa+ then spreading out but I
mean even on the press call yesterday it
was very much like a lot of people
complaining like if you're outside of an
urban area it drops off like a cliff and
like you're seeing GPRS on your t mobile
phone and that's crazy but the other end
of the spectrum you have wide band LG
rolling out just hit New York City and
apparently you know that's promising
speeds up to 100 megabits per second
which is really fast that's on the par
with um with what ents doing with their
LTE Advanced Network and what uh verizon
doing the same thing and they branded
XLT in some markets so t-mobile is not
you know it's just it's just those like
areas where there's not coverage they
need to pick up but otherwise I think
they're doing a pretty good job
expanding their network right and yeah
and I did hear that yesterday on the
call you if you're outside of an urban
area you have no luck well I live in a
rural community and we actually do have
fairly good t-mobile service here
you know we have LTE here you know I
anytime I'm in now admittedly where I
live I live out in the woods I and I
actually live a bit down in a valley no
carrier gets me here we cried we've
tried multiple carriers how could I I'm
not blaming t-mobile for my lack of
service at my house unless somebody
wants to come and build a tower like
right in the center of my property which
is not going to happen I actually I was
talking with I won't reveal who banned
somebody from a carrier that's in that
line where they're there you know they
go around put up the towers mm-hmm and
they said it was funny how everytime
that you know they get all these phone
calls every month from people well I've
got a piece of property that you could
put a tower on it's the highest point in
the county if it's amazing how many
people feel they have the highest point
in the county everybody everybody that
calls them has the highest point in the
county yeah it's not that simple
unfortunately but yeah and to be fair
t-mobile admitted that they you know
they have issues with indoors and that's
why they were doing the personal hotspot
stuff which is pretty much free now
right thank Reed $25 deposit yeah what
is equal areas for personal cell spot
yeah personal cell alone at least
they're admitting in not just being like
a network you know yeah exactly anything
because they are doing something but no
I I applaud t-mobile they are trying to
shake up the industry and the industry
definitely needed it you know for how
long did we I think pretty much
everybody now offers unlimited texting
and for how long were hill Oh 20 bucks a
month for texting yeah for wantin and
when the analysis came out they cost
them like a point zero zero one cents
per text yeah cuz they're sent over like
the package that they need to be sending
anyway exactly yeah it's a portion of
the bandwidth that is has to be there
anyway and it takes up like no space
yeah yeah I'm a much bigger texture than
I am a caller anymore so you
I always prefer in the mid text you're
right because t-mobile a lot always did
shake up things I mean you've seen
verizon 18t react i know a teensy
probably like two months ago said you
know anybody any customers are like our
plans can double their their data just
call us so i'm on a 20 gig plan i called
them and said I you know put me on your
40 gig plan no charge I mean that's
great and that seems like to me it
seemed like they're just trying to like
keep their customers make sure people
are leaving and apparently this quarter
will see some churn from verizon and 18
teen that customers aren't you leaving
but I'm happy where I am I think you
know it really depends on where you live
to a lot of people exactly it really
does come down to who gives you the best
service where you spend the majority of
your time right yeah and that's another
thing I I think one of the brightest
things that a tmobile did was the test
drive you know because you know there I
thought a little bit about switching to
verizon but I have no way to bring a
verizon phone out to my property and
test it yeah exactly I need to test
drive but i'm not sure like speaking of
indoor problems i'm 29 stories up and i
remember when i worked in an office in
New York it you know it's real hard for
anybody to get cell connection here my
wife is on verizon i'm on 80 just not
good service yeah exactly this high
exactly well and other topics that we
wanted to discuss today we are a little
over two weeks away from the who will
get the plague nah nobody CS where
somebody is inevitably going to get sick
i hope we skip that this year man yeah
it you know the rule of averages you
know i'm hoping I've got a couple of
years before I'm the victim again save
it yeah and you know the thing is you
get sick and hopefully it's you get sick
like when you're back and then hopefully
you know it's a slower day because
everything just happened at CES but you
never know sometimes
like Sean were what we're referencing
here so I got sick but that was two
years ago right yeah two years ago it
got the flu at CES and yeah it's the
plague there yeah it was bad I that
that's the only like the same time my
life I went to the emergency room ah
yeah and to his credit Todd and John
Koch came and retrieved me from the ER
that evening and that that was a fun
time let me tell you but no so CES is
almost upon us as our inboxes remind us
every other minute whoo-hoo for those of
you that there is one definite drawback
to being in the press and attending a
major event like CES because when we
file for our press credentials that list
is shared with all the vendors that will
be at CES and so we get this in the
stream of emails yeah I I shot I see
you're attending CES would you like to
come by and see our doo dah yep we'll
never share your phone number oh really
I don't share my phone number I you I
when I was younger oh okay I've never
shared my phone number do they call you
oh yeah oh yeah oh like the emails yeah
when I worked in an office for a
magazine I get you know non-stop phone
during it and then the voice mails to if
you're not picking up oh that's the
emails are bad enough yeah and we love
going to see us it's just it's amazing
because we only do have so much time
when we're at CES and we get these
emails that yo it would take us weeks to
get through and meet with everybody that
emails us yeah I mean there's stuff that
we don't even cover I mean that note
that you wouldn't expect us to cover it
for the emails we get like I can't even
give an example like lawn clipping smart
lawn clipping bag collector I don't you
know this is like oh I know I know other
companies we've never
heard of and that is what they there's
CES is a gigantic events and you know as
we're walking the aisles you know
sometimes you walk past a booth you're
like why is this here yeah why did you
come to CES you know it's just it's a
little confusing but you know that's the
the joys of going to events like this i
hear ups pulling up outside so i may be
interrupted here in just a moment ah yes
the joys of being the only person in my
office but anyway so yes we're deep into
our plans for CES and it's going to be a
full week as it always is is there
anything at see us that you're
particularly excited to be looking for
this year Todd um well I think if sony
has some of their I mean the problem is
you know I can't talk to what i did i
already dunno oh sure but i think sony's
might have some the experience stuff
those are rumors and i honestly don't
know right now we'll see it but xperia
for maybe the tablet maybe and holds her
like a new phablet ooh but you know I
think really i'm going to be it's a
different kind of show this year like i
said an earlier episode it's usually I
guess moral Congress is in February or
it's usually if every the sheraton March
and we just had even September and I it
sounds to me like it's going to be a
quiet show on the mobile side so I'm
excited to actually explore sort of
other areas this year if there's not a
lot of phones and tablets but just to
give everybody an idea of how crazy it
is on Monday um our day goes like this
samsung LG and then all at the same time
there's the ATT developer summit
monsters press conference shark followed
by Panasonic a sous Qualcomm Toyota
samsung again uh ZTE Sony and then
peplum so like that's just one day and
that's the press day so it's money so
that's really busy but then we go into
tuesday and wednesday and thurs
where we have meetings and we walk
around the floor and you know there are
announcements that are being made
through press releases I'll continue it
looks like Sean had to step away cuz UPS
just showed up but in general but monday
is the busiest days press conferences we
usually have one or two people at each
iran to offense literally run to get
back and forth roy last year another
member of the team he and i were driving
back and forth between press conferences
and then tuesday is usually meetings i
have several and set up and again it's
like running around and hopefully a lot
of the team we're going to have
everybody full-time staff a
technobuffalo there this year so they'll
all be scouring the show floor i'll be
in meetings and let's see then tuesday
night is showstoppers which is sort of
like pep com2 if you aren't familiar
showstoppers and pep calm are like mini
CES is in a room it's sort of like even
if it's like a big restaurant that's
rented out and there's just tables of
gadgets everywhere and then the press
people for them so it's only open the
press two so I'm just explaining Sean
just got back I'm sorry about that I'm
and Jose Donna first and so there's just
these rows of tables and gadgets we're
like you'll have companies like you know
Lenovo and cannon and I don't know
accessory makers like literally all the
consumer names you seem like a Best Buy
would be there they might have like
their new tablets and laptops and
printers and gadgets all over the place
so you see them you're eating your food
and that so that's showstopper some pep
com so that's Monday Tuesday night and
that's aside from the show floor um
where there's like infinite gadgets and
car tech and accessories and gaming
things everybody I remember I know I've
told this story before on a podcast
somewhere back in 2011 the iPad it was
still fairly new it so there were lots
of tablets all over CEOs and I'm just
wandering down the aisles and I spot
some tablets I just stopped to look at
him a guy comes over he's like I talk to
you about our tablets I'm like sure and
at this point it was a Windows 7 tablet
and it was horrible
yeah when 07 wasn't designed for tablets
ed so he shows me the first time he gets
to the second tablet and I I admit this
was highly unprofessional of me and
there's a part of me that regrets it and
part of me that lasts about it he gets
to the second way he goes and this is
our iPad killer oh boy I'm just like and
he looks at me eh what's the problem
sigh oh no no nothing nothing please
please keep telling me about your I bet
killer I it was some company I'd never
even heard of windows seven was not
designed to run on tablets no no hey
this guy was so this is our iPad killer
this is going to bring you were gonna be
the number one table I'm like uh-huh
okay buddy yeah that's the thing to you
I mean we see a lot of products and so I
feel like sometimes in the people were
talking to um if they're from a like a
small company in general like they're
sort of told this message they believe
this message it like this is the best
and like there's like a man like it's
not you have to stand there any way I I
know yeah because you I'd be polite and
all that but there's a lot of booths you
walk by and you make the mistake of
going yeah tell me about it yeah within
two songs you're like oh no what what
what have I done to myself but oh good
grief well let's jump into some of the
questions we have here and thank you for
punching while I was dealing with UCS
let's going over our crazy schedule got
it it's gotta be nuts man but it'll be
nice having everybody together yeah well
yeah so here technobuffalo staff all
gets together yeah this year's the first
time where I was saying when you're gone
that everybody's gonna be there all the
full time staff yep yep the only people
missing will be Eric and run from the
gaming department and Killian from the
UK although killing did say in one email
chain you know if we wanted to jump in a
cab in swing by his play
haha and you bring him over but yeah
sorry Kelly and I don't like tell me
happy I would love to see that that bill
but jumping into the questions here we
have from oh I I should have clicked on
this one because there's no way I'm
going to pronounce this name correctly
mated bojan I I hope I got close would
you recommend the Nexus 6 for a holiday
purchase is it worth it or should I look
for something better man i love the
nexus 6 when i played with it and i
still want to buy one for myself but I
can't and I was telling Sean I've called
you know I have a line that's not really
tie Danny carrier so I've called to t
mobile ATT around here I've emailed
Google's PR team like wink I but I want
how do I violent like nothing did you
just don't have them AT&T told me like
we could have won you in two or three
days but I'm impatient psychic when i'm
going to buy something i want it you
know now i want to go to store by really
yeah you know me and you know what was
like we don't you know we don't have a
when i asked their customer support they
did have a clear day so I think it's a
great phone a lot of people say it's too
big I didn't feel that way and if you
listen to this podcast you know that I
feel like it's like big phones every
time I say it um I ever tell you a lot
of people who said yeah I know I like
big butts no I like big phones and in
brandon who also reviews a lot of the
products out in irvine has said Todd
like just get the Moto X the 2014 you
know so it's like same thing a little
smaller a little more manageable but I
don't know something about it I just I
want the nexus 6 so I think it would
probably make a great holiday purchase
if that's what you're looking for you
fine just realize it's big it's a big
device it's a big device and also good
luck trying to find one yeah good luck
charm yeah that's the hard thing but if
you can't get it i mean some of things
to stand out for me over the moto except
you know Brandon was recommending is fun
facing speakers I like dat its water
resistant stuff like that I don't know I
think in the larger display 4k display
whatever her sorry UHD 2k display
I forget but you know get sharper
definitely would go with it yeah
definitely let's see here from
Christopher miles how do you think
Windows 10 will be implemented on the
phone side so Microsoft has been pretty
forward with that at least like they
haven't been you know explaining
everything but they've said that it's
not going to be like a desktop operating
system on your phone I think what
they're trying to do is just narrow it
all down so you have you know one name
for these operating systems and in a
familiar look which makes sense so
instead of having windows phone and then
Windows you just have or Windows 8 or
8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 they just it's
one family name but I don't know how
it's gonna you know work hopefully they
have some kind of real sink but and
another thing I've talked about a lot on
this podcast is I like iOS and Android
because you know hangouts is
cross-platform largely now I'd love to
see more text messaging without just
google voice text messaging across all
platforms and an iOS same thing you know
with Yosemite now an iOS a really cross
platform and microsoft hasn't really
given me a reason to say I need a
windows phone like I used right behind
my laptop here or Windows machines and I
use them all time and I'd love to use
Windows Phone I have an xbox one more
often but there's just no reason for me
to pick up a Windows Phone really
anymore the apps are kind of hurting
hardware's great the apps are kind of
hurting and even the absent microsoft
releases so if you look at office
cross-platform it runs better and looks
better on the iOS and Android so it's
just kind of like I don't know seems
like Microsoft notice it too but
hopefully Windows 10 on the phone side
improves a lot of that and you know I
think it's a great chance for Microsoft
to show it yeah I wish them luck and
hopefully the app store will finally get
to where it needs to be I think that's
still a lot of their problem yeah it is
but yeah we'll just have to see from
Sasha Mahal thoughts on the pebble
android app 2.3 beta that supports
actionable notifications I think this is
great I
I saw it it looks neat but I didn't
install it did you install it I know you
went out not yet I I've got a notice
about new software for my pebble that
just came in a little bit ago but I
haven't updated yet yeah that's cool to
explain to people out there or listening
android air pebble just released a new
software for android that supports the
actual notification so if you get
something like a text message you can
reply but it's obviously the pebble
doesn't have a touchscreen so you have
to use the buttons on the side to kind
of like scroll through preset replies
and stuff like that but you can you can
now interact with the notifications that
you get on your wrist which is neat and
it's something that Android wear offers
so yeah exactly I wonder what pebble is
going to have at CES I mean if you
remember last year they had their the
pebble steel made its debut I think yeah
I'm curious if you have something new
coming I remember that because we ran
into a pebble employee we all knew one
day and we quickly check their wrists to
see what they were wary they're like no
no I don't have it on we all knew it was
coming yeah but we just didn't know the
the specifics of it but yeah the pebble
employees were real careful on Sunday to
not wear the new one yeah it was kind of
funny because everyone that walked by
them was like okay somewhere yeah but
then later in the show we ran in the
same person and you know we found it so
yeah yeah exactly i I haven't heard
about them introducing anything new at
mayas but wearables are definitely going
to be a major portion of the CES this
year and there's just there's no
question about it yeah it's gonna be
crazy I'm excited though um where it was
for me I just my wife had a bunch of she
had she held an event she got a bunch of
the jawbone up24 and I really liked the
original jawbone up and this one was
just like I don't know what it is maybe
now that I'm just so you sim I was like
I just don't like I wasn't crazy about
it was annoying me it was bothersome on
my wrist and so I think comforts gonna
be you know coming big into play now and
we just covered some news today the new
Fitbit charge apparently is causing some
year
issues but not the same as before with
the Fitbit force which really costs like
nasty rashes yeah so I think
functionality in the case of like
jawbone is stuff it's really great but
let's get now we're gonna work towards
comfort because now it's not just it's
not new like anything can track my steps
these days so what else can you do yeah
yeah I I totally agree with you and I I
thought about picking up a 24 but I just
I'm like I don't like I just don't want
to go down that road I know me I'll get
obsessed with how many steps I've taken
each day I saw an article today I think
it's on computer world talking about
this guy is seen thingy he started
walking and realized he was taking like
you know 1,500 2,000 steps a day and
then got obsessed with walking
everywhere to build up like 20,000 steps
a day and I think doctors recommend
10,000 yeah much far more than I do yeah
you and I don't get anywhere close to
that from Christopher Mouse do you think
the next Galaxy S project zero will be
able to reverse Samsung's recent
troubles in market share and to an
extent mindshare yeah I mean I think
that's going to be the goal and just let
me I want to bring up that market share
because that's a big point um they just
lost big over in q3 compared to q3 of
last year let me see here the figures
right in front of me but so project zero
while bringing this up is Samsung's gold
is sort of start start fresh and try to
reverse its sort of sinking market share
and I well actually I think it's
supposed to be the galaxy s6 is project
zero but I think the overall idea is to
reverse its sinking market share and
focus on a fewer models to make sure
it's not just sort of blasting phones
out all over the place but here are the
figures um Samsung's slice of the
smartphone market is at twenty four
point four percent this is according to
gartner recently uh during the third
quarter of this year that's down from 30
2.1 percent last year so apples was up
just a hair 12.1 to 12.7 but meanwhile
you're seeing like Huawei jumped from
four step
the 5.3 and then show me xiao mi show me
jump from 1.5% 25.2 % during the same
quarter so really Samsung if you if you
look at those figures and who's eating
into its market share you're looking at
huawei and show me the Chinese
manufacturers that are actually sort of
everybody's competitors these days and
so what Samsung's recent troubles are
due to do to those two companies i would
argue do you think there's any chance
and this just crossed my mind so it may
not be a formerly fully formed thought
as of yet maybe it's not so much the
number of phones the samsung is
producing but perhaps people are really
tired of TouchWiz yeah well I wouldn't
be surprised by that either but now when
you come to I mean there's you and I and
our readers and our listeners hear that
no touch who is in either like it or
don't like it but an acting you know for
the large part of us like I know members
of our staff we aren't huge fans of
touch choice I think it feels pretty
clunky I usually just replace it right
away with another third-party launcher
and meanwhile i really like other
launchers like HTC Sense but i think if
you go out in the market nath like you
know joke consumer what do you think
about samsung touchwiz are you like I
don't know your time oh no no I fully
agree with you your average consumer
doesn't even know it's called TouchWiz
yeah but they do know that Samsung
software looks alike right and maybe
they're getting sick of it yeah that's
true exactly so yeah it's not based on
you know they know it's called TouchWiz
it's just they know Samsung you know
maybe they've picked up an HTC phone or
ZTE phone or whatever and God oh this
feels better based on the software yeah
I mean I think that's probably a huge
part of it and why Samsung dialed back
some of the options that are available
in its phones I mean like in terms of
software because there was throwing all
the options at you're like I don't want
what is this you know yeah super
confusing and I think yeah touch was to
me and I don't know if it's experience
for everybody else out there but when I
on a samsung phone or play with the
phone for a long time it's great for a
couple months and then later on just
get super super sluggish and it feels
like it's those extra things because I
don't see it on other Android devices
and so I think that you know just clean
up TouchWiz or just you know get rid of
it I'd love to see Samsung do something
like Motorola so just focus on some
small tweaks and then sell the hardware
they do and I think that would be
fantastic right right I don't know just
just a random thought that crossed my
mind you and again I agree with you your
average joe consumer doesn't know it's
called TouchWiz and they don't know that
HTC's is called sense or whatever but
they may just look at a phone and go oh
this feels a little better it feels like
it moves faster or something so just
yeah yeah just a random thought but yeah
samsung definitely needs to reverse
things the hard thing is i guess with
all of this is i also don't want samsung
to stop doing new things like obviously
the phablet they they kind of made that
really popular with the note and then
they the S Pen is great too and the note
edge just really neat I mean it's not
for everybody but it's really neat so
I'd hate to see Samsung you know dial
back too much it'd just be like oh we're
not gonna try two things anymore because
I mean I think in a lot of ways that's
that's being a huge contributor to their
success yeah yeah I totally agree from
Sasha bahal this is off topic and
directed towards me hey Shante still
read comics up so which ones you enjoy
reading I still read comics but I don't
read anything that's highly current a
couple reasons number one being the
price it's just too expensive anymore
and I no longer by can buy them at
wholesale and number two being that
they've just got like DC's gone so many
directions with the new 52 and all that
so I still read comics but I tend to
find myself either a reading
independence like I really like a
current series called letter 44 and I
also go back and read a lot of stuff
that maybe I missed over the errors or
maybe stuff I just want to reread yeah
so I I'm still into comics just not that
current uh let's see here from
we got bunch of questions here from
Christopher miles i know i haven't
gotten the chance but has anyone on the
team tested sprints tribe and LTE oh
that's good question I haven't either
but I I I wonder if the irvine guys has
not quite sure it's good question yeah I
I would love to be able to tell you what
we think of a bad other one of those
markets market things uh sorta like team
well with everybody these days you know
the the faster LTE options so yeah yeah
exactly oh let's see here uh from sasha
hall what are your tech predictions for
2015 course of phones yeah i don't know
i think we'll see wearables become
mainstream i hope so night i think it
seems like it that Apple sword is going
to usher in more of the mobile pay
experience and I don't mean that Apple
is gonna win it by any means I'm just
saying I think they're gonna make it
more common for everybody and so that
you know on Android to it becomes more
accepted everywhere so just like oh
that's Apple pay or oh that's your you
know Google Wallet payment I think
that's going to be huge this year i hope
it really takes off because i've been
waiting since i've been covering phones
i'm in dream of like actually doing this
all over the place and i really want to
see it do well and then wearables
obviously like I was saying hopefully
the Apple watch helps bring that
mainstreaming I don't know why it seems
like to me but an Android wear hopefully
for a bit too but when you think about
it like Apple has become in a lot of
ways to transcend I'm not being a fanboy
here which people love to sounds like
boy I'm saying when you look at when you
look at the market at least when I go
out and I just talked to people like I'm
at a restaurant I talk to people they'll
say when's the Apple watch come
something like that number and I'll have
my moto 360 on right I'll be like oh
with like this is already out but it's
that kind of question that helps drive
everything because then they're like but
I want one now too like oh I can buy the
pack and go by the Moto 360 and then so
all of a sudden like people were
questioning wearables are like when can
I get aware of where can I
or and so in a lot of ways that's good
news for the whole industry and I think
that'll kick off a lot this year too
when I was on vacation I got asked two
or three times if my pebble was an Apple
watch yeah yeah because they could see
it was not a normal display there is
that Apple watch him no it's not out yet
it's called a pebble but it I think
you're a hundred percent right you know
no matter where you sit on the Apple
fence you have to realize that where
Apple goes people tend to follow and
just like the story I was telling about
in 2011 and we mean consumers by the way
exactly not saying like samsung or
motorola copy no no no no of course not
but Apple has the ability to bring a
concept into the forefront even if they
weren't the first company to do it right
yeah they were not the first company to
do a tablet I you know I I don't know
how often people oh you realize they
didn't know I know they didn't do the
first tablet I Bree I realized that
Microsoft was trying to do is far back
as daily thousands you know I still
mourn the loss of the courier haha I
wanted to try that tablet so bad did
look cool oh that thing looks so cool
but Apple has the has the mindshare to
be able to bring an idea that already
exists to the forefront and you know so
yes you can say they're not being
innovative that's fine maybe they're not
but they are able to get your average
consumer thinking about a product and
then you know people always talk about
the Apple halo effect and they mean it
in the sense of you know once you buy
one Apple product you buy other apple
products but Apple does have a halo
effect that extends to the entire
industry really you know so yes the
apple watch will come along it was not
the first wearable but it will bring
wearables to the attention of the mass
market
I think they have a tablet same thing
happen with the iphone and smartphones
boss oh I will give credit where
credit's you samsung to so people really
don't think that I'm just like we're
touting Apple when you look at phablets
right like Samsung made those popular
now you have the iphone 6 plus so it
happens in a lot of ways across the
industry but oh yeah I mean I i was with
jon rettinger when he had the galaxy no
I I know I've told this story before
when he had the Galaxy Note at CES
before it was out in the US he and I if
he pulled that out I started asking him
not to pull it out when we were walking
places because everywhere we went
somebody would stop us and want to look
at it yeah and now that phone like that
sighs my figurative lost but it's pretty
common I mean yeah like everybody else
of fun that sighs yeah exactly but no
total credit to see him something I they
completely created the the phablet
category with the Galaxy Note hmm yeah I
without question yo will you depend on
your feelings on phablet you can either
thank them or hey old Gary that go die
in a fire but ya know Samsung totally
created the phablet category without
question mm-hmm let's see what else have
we got here um I got done I'm gonna
tackle this one because it really piqued
my interest from Christopher miles do
you guys think information received from
whistleblowers trying to expose an
injustice and hackers trying to cause
harm should be treated differently by
the media that's a really interesting
question um question no I mean the media
is supposed to report the news as it
happens and and that's what makes it so
tough right so you can't you're not
supposed to report the news having
either side of like saying like a
whistle blowers good or bad or hackers
good or bad you're supposed to say that
like here's what happens and here are
the facts so yes one question is should
it be treated differently like no it
should be treated as news in this as you
know right what's the word I'm looking
for
it's when we're parsing a story
technically we are supposed to be
impartial a and that as hard as we try
there's always going to be a little bit
of ice that comes out one way or another
but i think it's like say we're writing
an opinion piece or an editorial i think
it comes down to intent and also the way
the information is passed along you know
I i know this is regarding the Sony hack
and the GOP and all that and probably
Snowden yeah exactly which is better
yeah exactly and that there's a really
it's certainly not a question I can
answer in a sense it's a very
interesting thought I would say there is
a vast difference you know well let's
take the whistleblower for the fifa that
supposedly there was a bribes past long
for the Russian and Qatar World Cups you
know he passed his information along to
the correct people he passed it along to
officials and then it got out to the
media if you just run to the media
immediately or you blackmail them or
blackmail whoever you have the
information from then I think it's very
different creatures yeah and I liked
anybody trying to cause harm I mean
obviously the media like whistleblowers
and who you're talking about it's gonna
very differently but if somebody's
trying to cause harm in this case
hackers and we're getting into Sony now
and and a lot of serious threats then I
think you know that has to be treated as
a threat a lot of ways and so in that
way differently in the sense that like
their security and privacy and all those
kind of things to worry about like of
innocent civilians is something I well
even if you go back to the all those
leaks celebrity nude pictures right you
know
that was a definite hacking that wasn't
a whistleblower right that provided no
no positive game whatsoever you know and
it was not exposing and injustice or yo
bringing anything to light that needed
to be brought to light yeah that was
just somebody go ahead look what I found
Frank so I think that they're there are
vast differences and there's an auslly
that that a for anyone that's interested
i'm going to promote another podcast for
just a second for anyone that's really
interested in matters of journalism
there's a great podcast produced by the
University of Missouri in Columbia its
broadcast on their NPR station kbi a and
it's called views of the news you can
find it on iTunes views like you're
viewing something views of the news
comes out every Wednesday and it's run
by their journalism school and it's a
half-hour show they go over all the big
topics and media for that week and they
discuss the morals of how it should have
been covered did it get covered
correctly so on so forth I've been
listening to it for years I love that
show that's awesome I'm really a great
show yeah definitely the best journalism
schools in the country exactly exactly
so if you're really interested in the
the mechanics of journalism and the
moralities and all that give it a listen
I love that show I have no connection to
them so totally unbiased it's just
something I've been listening to for
years but uh that is going to bring this
week's show to a close I I did look at
the calendar Todd and there will not be
a show next week because I forgot you're
out on Wednesday that's right but we
will we will try our hardest for the
following week because otherwise we're
going to have a three-week gap so no
show next week so for all the all you
who celebrate christmas merry Christmas
to you add to all of our Jewish friends
Happy Hanukkah that's going on right now
I did it do you have the holidays in
your Google
calendar Todd no I don't is so funny
because right now be the way they're
writing Hanukkah you know because it's
multiple nights right but they've got
him written as Hanukkah and then
followed by a Roman numeral so it's like
movie sequels ah Hanukkah to Annika to
the reckoning Hanukkah three I want know
who said around but let's put Roman
numerals find it yeah I'm saying like
Hanukkah night too it's Hanukkah too
it's awesome this time he wants revenge
so no show next week but we will be back
the following week that will be off
again for CES but we'll have lots of
interesting things to talk about after
that yeah as always you can find us on
iTunes by searching for the tech club
Buffalo show we do appreciate if you
rain review us that does help out the
show you can find us on Pocket cast you
can find us on stitcher which means you
can listen to us anytime anywhere you
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there are podcasts you can find the
TechnoBuffalo show i'm sean hannity I'm
the editor-in-chief of technobuffalo
I've been joined by executive editor
mobile Todd Hazleton everybody until
next time take it easy and happy
holidays everyone bye-bye
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