Tuesday, February 18, 2014

2165 Reign of Rip-offs


Sometimes it seems there's been a fundamental shift in our morals. Rip-offs are everywhere. But maybe not. Even in the bible there's the story of God wiping out the world with a great flood, because it was so dirty. So I guess crookedness has been around for a while. Wonder when the almighty will see fit to douche the world again.

Two stories I read recently suggest such cleansing is just around the bend. One was that wearable gadgets like Google Glass and Samsung's Gear smartwatch are probably not going to catch on. And the predictor they used to come up with this conclusion? Pirates don't want them. 

No, not shiver-me-timbers pirates, counterfeiting pirates, those legions of evildoers in China and elsewhere that knock off every popular item ad infinitum. They aren't jumping on the donable-device boat at all. That rip-off rebuff bodes ill for wearable tech. Yarr.

The other story talked about the development of a new super secure smartphone. Not because of the bad guys but because of the good guys doing bad things. NSA-holes plumbing our privacy. A joint venture in Switzerland is about to unveil a "blackphone."

It's a phone designed to "enable secure, encrypted communications, private browsing, and secure file-sharing" and built on a "security oriented" version of Android. About time. Still, a little unsettling we have to invent something to protect our privacy from the good guys.

I'm guessing it won't make much difference. The average consumer is less threatened by pirates and NSA-busers than the countless rip-offs of privacy that come every day from the makers of the free apps they eagerly lap up for their smartphones and such. 

The flood of nefarious devices used against their devices in the piracy of their privacy.

Do I feel rain?

America, ya gotta love it. 

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