R.I.P. Francine’s obsession with the shiny and the new.
You can read the story of my iPhone4 disillusionment here. And this week I realized that when my MacBook Air’s business lease is up next month, I have nothing else I want to buy. I will just continue to use the Air. After all, I’m still using my old MacBook and my old Mini, which both pre-date the Air and still work just fine. The iPhones I’ve given away, however, to various needy family members like my grandson, who was too young to know an Iphone from a teething ring when he received this gift.
This morning, on the advice of Robert Scoble, who over the weekend informed the Twitterverse that he had seen the death of newspapers, I downloaded Flipboard, the new social magazine.
Um, not so fast. The interface is pretty, but the content was sucky, and I didn’t like Flipboard’s curation. And because everyone in Silicon Valley is a sheep, the site has been so overloaded that I couldn’t connect it to my Twitter and Facebook accounts, where the “good” (for me) curators already reside. So for me, Flipboard is just another pretty face. John Doerr funding it is like an old guy taking a trophy wife. Interface goes a long way, but it doesn’t replace fundamentals, like the right content curation. If I am adding Scoble’s lists to get the content I want and need, I might as well stick with Twitter. Besides, there’s no healthcare information. Even Vogue has health information. It’s not “my” social magazine without it.
Crank into this simmering stew the fact that Ben Metcalfe has an Evo with the huge screen, the fast OS, and the real ability to run apps in the background, tether, and get reception. He sat next to me at dinner last night, and I couldn’t control myself. I had buyer’s remorse for the iPhone. I should have paid a total of $60/mo for this machine, with its ability to do all the things I have ancillary equipment to do.
Ahhh, maybe I’m just getting old. But maybe, just maybe, I’m coming to my senses. I sure hope it’s the latter.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Its like all things social…. you get who you follow. The way I look at it, Flipboard doesn't really do the work for you. You still have to create your own filters… using twitter lists. Or just depend on their built-in content channels, which I'm sure will get better over time
Day 1.
I think it might be worth sticking around with Flipboard to see what they're doing in the future. Their current content curation is pretty bad, it's limited to 7 items (plus Facebook and Twitter), and it's not a full-fledged reader (only excerpts, really), but I think it'll change based on their feedback (they're still pretty early and crashed into the mainstream by Scoble, which is probably the most bittersweet way to crash into mainstream.)
But yes, I'm currently caught in the reality distortion field as well. Or maybe these bright shiny objects are really that bright and shiny. Or perhaps that's just the RDF talking. Help me, Francine.
I'd hoped that various tech champions like Robert Scoble would come to expect more from the iPad than just a more efficient way to consume content. While I certainly agree that Flipboard is slick looking, I'm looking for a better way to get good information, not a way to make any old information pretty.
The world doesn't need a better way to consumer, we need a better way to empower.
Flipboard just gives me picture in picture in picture with no way to produce.
Oh, and sorry about your iPhone 4, mine works great. Sad is the day when Apple product aren't all stellar.
Twitter list of health care policy advocates will make for some awesome content to read in flipboard ;)
Ahh, then it's what I said it was — just another pretty face:-)
Right. But I read that now on Nutshell Mail.
Francine Hardaway, PH.d
@hardaway
816.WRITTEN
http://www.Stealthmode.com
Ahh, then it’s what I said it was — just another pretty face:-)
Right. But I read that now on Nutshell Mail.rnrnFrancine Hardaway, PH.drn@hardawayrn816.WRITTENrnrnHttp://www.Stealthmode.com
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