Staying old school as smartphones take over

Not too long ago I had an exchange with a friend of mine and she said asking people to look at Internet content with computers was “ghetto.” I found that curious because, having lived in a ghetto as recently as 2008 I found that most of those residents didn’t have computers (they frequent the library if they needed one) and almost all of them relied on smart phones. My thought being: if someone is going “ghetto” with technology, then they are probably relying primarily on a smart phone for all communications and Internet activity.

Maybe the proper term would be, “old school.” But it’s really not that old of a school. The first smart phone, the Apple iPhone, didn’t roll off the Chinese assembly lines until 2006 and the complete takeover of the mobile phone world didn’t happen for another 2-3 years after that.

Personal computers have been around since Steve Wozniak wowed his friends and family in 1977 when he and Steve Jobs launched Apple. And personal computers have grown, expanded, evolved and just gotten way better since. We have desktops, towers, laptops, and now tablets, like the Apple iPad and all of its competitors.

Let’s be real clear about one thing: there’s a reason tablet and smart phone makers target Apple products in their comparison commercials: Apple makes the preeminent smart phones and tablets and are easily the most popular products in those lines.

Even the Apple iMac, the low rent version of the Apple PowerMac tower, is a dominating product. A number of Windows aficionados I know switched from their various PC’s to the iMac — simply because it’s better and far more user-friendly.

Here’s the one thing about current iMacs I don’t like: they don’t come with built-in DVD drives. WTF is up with that? The nice woman on the other end of the line explained that more and more people were relying on the Apple iCloud to store and download content like movies that DVD drives were now becoming obsolete.

So that’s their game: Apple wants me to pay them a monthly fee to use their iCloud. Hmmm … no thanks. I’ll just bop down to Best Buy and get a compatible external drive and hook it up with one of those four handy USB ports on the back of the very nice, 27-inch Hi-Def monitor, thank you.

But let’s face it: unless you work in a highly graphic arts field and need 27 or more inches of viewing to accomplish your work, there’s really very little need for an actual computer, be it a desktop or a laptop.

With the current smart phones people can do just about everything they can do with a computer … except maybe view porn — just from what I’ve heard — err, read …

Moving on …

Well, just a note: some of those porn sites are now producing photos at extremely large pixel size, 3000×2000 pixels and larger. How could anyone properly view that on a smart phone that has a screen that’s maybe 396-x264 pixels, i.e. your largest 5.5-inch smart phone screen? Not to mention they all now produce their videos in 1080p high definition mp4 format … from what I’ve read …

To carry this line of debauchery a little further (and it actually ties in with the topic): just over three years ago Playboy Enterprises, Inc. (PEI), once the proud publishers of the preeminent men’s magazine in the world (Playboy), ditched their online nude site and opted for a not-so-safe-for-work version that is free to subscribers, but filled with advertising.

• The “Playboy” nude site is now licensed to Manwin/Mindgeek and is called “Playboy Plus.” It bears very little resemblance to the PEI-produced “Cyber Club” — from what I’ve read …

In the decade prior to that PEI saw its online market share decrease while that of “laddie” magazines like Maxim increased. “But, but, but, but Maxim doesn’t have any naked women!”

Indeed they don’t! But, Maxim doesn’t get stuffed on the top shelf of the magazine rack down at the Bob’s mini-mart with a piece of stained cardboard blocking it from view. Plus the laddie magazines have a high number of women readers AND in this day and age, Maxim has an iPhone app, which Playboy didn’t have — until they put clothes on the models.

One of the requirements for having an official app for iPhone and Android (the other dominant operating system) is that the app cannot have any nudity. Apparently your content can be sexual as hell, but it can’t show any … umm … naughty bits.

• I’ve never really been able to wrap my head around this purely American … irony. We can use very sexual terms, liking “fucking” and “sucking” when talking about sex, even use very graphic terms when writing about BDSM. Describing in intimate detail what the ropes are doing to an individual tied up with them (be they male or female), but actually show any of it, or even a woman’s nipple … it is truly an unexplainable mystery to me.

About five years ago Playboy founder Hugh Hefner and his business partners were searching for ways to make the magazine and company relevant again and they came up with a few key ideas. Number one: branding. No, they don’t put brands on the models (you sick fucks); they license out those famous bunny ears to anyone that wants to “tastefully” exploit them for commercial gain. You can buy jewelry, clothing — everything from swimwear to lingerie to T-shirts, sleepwear, outerwear and more — accessories, you name it and there’s one with the Playboy logo on it.

But more importantly, they decided to be more like the laddie magazines, try to attract more women readers and get a big footprint in the mobile, hand-held device market.

So, now we have Playboy.com that is labeled “SFW” but not really because you can still get busted at work looking at anything sporting the bunny ears, but you get the gist. And through the Playboy apps you get all the readable content plus these small photos designed for the small screens of smart phones that are, you guessed it, SFW (but not really because …).

And the two principle MEN with the responsibility of guiding PEI and the magazine into the 21^st Century are CEO Scott Flanders and Editorial Director Jimmy Jellinek, two guys that are on the hit list of every longtime Playboy subscriber in America.

Because (because I know you’re asking) their ideas for making the magazine and the company profitable and relevant again is to make the magazine, which now includes their online and smart phone apps, more women-friendly and (gasp!) move away from nude pictorials.

“Now you’re just yanking my chain, Tim.”

I kid you not. Jellinek Explains Here and Flanders, well he just flat out said he sees the magazine Eliminating Nudity altogether in the not so distant future. “STFU!”

The kicker is Hefner and his merry band of business partners hired Flanders and Jellinek to do exactly what they are doing. Today’s Playboy magazine has fewer pages of nudity, plus the website and apps (for phones and tablets) have none at all and this has the Playboy faithful screaming bloody murder.

But it’s what the company needs to do to not only survive, but to also thrive. Their non-nude website has grown in readership by nearly 300 percent and that, you can be sure, is due to the domination of smart phones in the market.

Bet you were wondering when this was getting back to the original premise.

Smart phones are taking over. Most people with mobile phones have smart phones now. I don’t, but mine, with its pull-out QWERTY keyboard, works fine for texting and talking so it’s perfect, but in the not-so-distant future I will have an iPhone because there is so much I can do with a smart phone

This is fueled of course by the younger generations. We see comments all the time on Facebook about how young people are glued to their smart phones. I have friends my age who are glued to their smart phones — sometimes while driving! C’mon people! Put the phone down while driving!

So I randomly asked a few people, young and old, a few questions about their electronic device preference.
What do you use for perusing the Internet? A) desktop computer, B) laptop, C) iPad or other tablet or D) smart phone.
Do you own a computer? If yes: Laptop or desktop?
When you look at photos or video online, which electronic device do you use?
Do your friends prefer using their smart phones, tablets or computers, for communication, playing games, etc.
How often do you use a computer (of any type) and how often your smart phone?
What is your age range? A) 10-20, B) 21-35, C) 36-50, D) 51-above.

Just to please my editorial nature, I cleaned up the more glaring typos and grammatical … missteps … because, well it’s my post so I can.

My nephew Andrew, who is in his final year of law school, replied, “I have a smart phone (iPhone) and a laptop. I use the laptop every day, because I do my schoolwork on it and I basically have it with me everywhere. I do most of my web browsing on the laptop, though occasionally when I stumble across an article on Twitter I will read it on my phone.

“The majority of my social media interaction is on my phone, via Instagram and Twitter. I am much more active on Instagram than I am on Facebook these days. Most of my friends are probably pretty similarly split between laptop and smart phone, though my friends with tablets seem to have relaxed their home web browsing and music/video/photo streaming to the tablet.

“With the exception of my girlfriend I don’t know anyone who uses a personal desktop anymore. I am between 21-35.”

One young woman replied, “D, laptop, cell phone, my friends prefer text messaging, desktop 5 hours and cell phone 75% of my day use it for work and personal. [age] 21-35.”

Another replied: “I use an iMac – iPad – iPhone. Mostly the first … but I may have used my iPhone a time or two.” She owns a laptop and desktop computer, but, she said she and her friends, “… we use our phones the most.”

My brother Tony said he uses his iPad to peruse the Internet, although he owns a desktop computer, which he uses for watching videos and looking at photos (he’s an avid photographer), along with his iPad. He said his friends prefer using their phones for all the electronic device activities, including games.

Tony got really specific with his use if each item:
iMac for editing at home — 10 hours /week
IPad for viewing at home — 15 hours/week
iPhone when away from home — 10 hours/week

He listed his age as … I’m older than him so we’ll just say, we’re in the old people bracket.

My old college buddy Jimmy replied:

1. “A, B. D. Desk, lap and iPad. No smart phones, yet.
2. Own both desk and lap.
3. I use lap, desk and iPad for viewing vids and photos
4. Never been much of a gamer, as I peaked with Pong, PacMan and … Centipede. Mostly use our digital enhancers — desk, lap, iPad — for social media, arts, vids, info (sky’s the limit there!) and individual and small group communication via email, PM on FB, IM via iPad and phone text via dumb phone, which still has more stuff and junk on it that I’ll never fuckin use. Most all my friends use computers, and smarts to communicate.
5. My wife, Char, tells me I’m on my screens way, way too much, as she’s Googling something. And, I do have a bit of a digital addiction. But, I use computers all-day-everyday, which is part of the reasons I don’t grab a smartphone. I’m trying to balance out the virtual screen world with the meat world.
6. 51 and above. But, I have a tendency to act as if I’m 3 and 3/4, 16, 28 and, then, resignedly, my age.

Oops. Just read the email thingy at the end as I diligently answered the Qs, step by step, until, your email request. So, I’m hittin’ Reply.

Happy Spring Timothy, my friend,

Jim Bob”

Happy Spring, Jimmy!

My niece Kelsey said she uses a desktop computer and her smartphone for most everything related to the Internet, and she owns both a desktop and laptop computer. For viewing photos and video she prefers her smartphone and her friends prefer using their smartphone for just about everything electronic. She doesn’t have an Internet connection at home, so she uses her phone most of the time. Even when she did have Internet at home she used her smartphone for most of her Internet use.

Her age range is in that enviable demographic preferred by advertisers: 21-35.

The point is: more people are beginning to rely on their smartphones and tablets and less on computers. They are smaller, and with a tablet you can still get a decent-sized screen for viewing photos and video.

I forgot to ask about listening to music, which is strange because my friends with smartphones also listen to much of their music through their phones, especially if they have ear buds, those little speakers you stick in your ears.

The reason I forgot to ask is because I still use my trusty old iPod Classic, vintage 2006. It never occurred to me to ask about listening to music.

There are nearly 100 Grateful Dead and well over 50 Frank Zappa recordings on my iPod and until I can figure out a way to transfer them to my computer, I will continue to use my iPod for music.

Getting back to the point: smart phones are taking over the world and computers are becoming obsolete, if they’re not already. Of the people who answered my questionnaire, only two of us don’t have smartphones.

Moving to smartphone use is such a revolution in our culture a company like Playboy Enterprises, Inc is completely changing their product to conform to the needs and restrictions of smartphones. As is every other media company. They all have Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts and some have Snapchat. People need to access the content with a smartphone, or else. Companies will have to do it or go out of business.

That is how we will be communicating in the future and the companies that thrive will have abandoned any non-digital formats for electronic distribution of their products and services. If a company doesn’t communicate with its customers (and potential customers) through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, they will not survive.

Regardless, I still prefer my 27-inch iMac. When I watch those YouTube videos (I spend way too much time watching YouTube) I expand to fit screen, if the video quality is good enough. I don’t watch the stupid cats, but I do watch a lot of music and science-related videos — and stupid things, like most horrific car crashes or ships in big storms.

Eventually though I will own an iPhone. It’s just a matter of time.

Thank you to everyone that responded to my questionnaire.