Girls In Tech

As I reflected yesterday on the sad news of Steve Jobs’ passing, I thought about his impact on my life. Oddly enough, my first recollection was that I used to disdain Apple products and their fanatics. Just a few years ago, I was a PC person who rejected what I felt was the superfluousness of Apple’s sleek computer design. I thought, “If a computer can type and email a document, who cares how technically advanced or pretty it is?”

That changed about two years ago, when my younger brother demanded an iPhone. (“Everyone else at Palo Alto High School has one!”) I tried to convince him that the Blackberry was better, but he formed an alliance with other family members and I was outvoted. We moved to AT&T and to the iPhone tribe. (If you’re calculating, then yes, I am due for an upgrade; to 4S or not to 4S?)

I lamented over parting with my Blackberry, but within minutes of sliding, swooshing and touching, I had forgotten all about that first mobile love, and found a soulmate in Apple. Now, I have the iPhone, iPad and Macbook Pro at my side every day.

Yet while these metal boxes are neat, Steve Jobs didn’t just pioneer products; computers, the Internet and other phones existed before him. Really, he perfected distribution systems: the iPod with its iTunes store or the iPhone with its apps. Jobs gave us platforms.

It’s not actually the cool stainless steel products that I have a hard time envisioning my life without, but rather the instant connection I get through Apple’s products to the people, information and ideas I love. I carry the lightweight iPad in my purse so that I can stop into a cafe to hop on Skype with my family in California if I want. During dinner, I can open up Safari on the iPhone to find out which celebrity was in that movie about which we were talking. And, I’ve learned and engaged with ideas, either my own or those of others, from harmless fun apps, like launching angry birds at pigs, to practical ones, like the book I’m writing on the Manuscript application.

This immense new personal freedom extends to the democratization of ideas that Jobs helped to unleash in both audio and app forms. Instead of fighting fruitlessly against music industry giants to be heard, independent artists gained an audience that could be monetized. Rather than just consuming content, even kids could create it.

The hundreds of products Jobs patented are thus connection points. They’re conduits for us to share and absorb new skills and information. They help make the progress of ideas to action more efficient; just as a new lightbulb turns on, we can email it, tweet it or code it, transforming the intangible into an instant reality.

The best thing is that platforms can be built upon. I hope, and I think Jobs did too, that more great ideas will be grown from the foundation his great ideas so brilliantly delivered.

The 25 Most Influential People on the Web (images.businessweek.com)

Tags: apple, Application, blackberry, computer, Consumer Products, Doreen Bloch, iOS, iphone, iPhone application, iPhone Games, platform, platforms, Steve Jobs
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Last week, I was invited to attend Blackberry World in Orlando, Florida (which was already getting hot enough for my New York blood).  Along with a good line up of panels on subjects like social networking in the enterprise and consumer-facing mobile apps and a great party at Universal Studios, attendees were each given a Playbook (thanks Blackberry!).

I’ve been checking it out now for about a week, and thought I’d give you all some of my thoughts.  Firstly, a (big) disclaimer: I’m an Apple girl.  That being said, I did as best as I could to make an objective opinion on the Playbook and take the “but it doesn’t do it like the iPad does” out of the equation.  And so, a few notes:

Connectivity

I personally had problems connecting my device up to wireless, but I don’t think it was the device per se.  The main problem was that the Playbook needed an immediate software upgrade, and you couldn’t pass Go without it.  So between a low battery and spotty wireless connectivity, my Playbook took a while to get up and running.  Since I’m not a Blackberry user, I also couldn’t use the tethering option (Blackberry Bridge) that so many others could.

Once I got connected though, I was fine.  And it’s pretty easy to connect to wireless networks in general (auto-search, remembers past networks, etc etc).

Speaking of tethering, if you noticed at the original Playbook launch a few weeks ago, tethering was a major point of criticism, but it was quickly fixed and many considered the launch a success.

Connectivity = Great

Ease-of-Use

Again, this is where I needed to really take my mind away from iPad land.  In general, the Playbook was easy to use.  The keyboard (due to the size of the tablet) was pretty much perfect for my smaller hands, the commands are pretty straight forward when you get the hang of them, and the home page is well laid out.  I need to get used to the slightly different layout of the keyboard vs the iPad keyboard, but that’s not a fault of Blackberry.

Something that bothered me?  There is no auto-correct when you’re typing (ugh!).  I asked a Blackberry technician about this – and a few other small details – and they did mention to me that there were several features that Blackberry phone users were used to that somehow haven’t made it to the tablet yet, but they will start being implemented over the course of the next few months.

Ease-of-Use = Good

Battery Life

I messed this up when I first started using it (also the cause of some of my connectivity issues). The device has a really great battery life, but if you don’t turn it off correctly, it’ll drain.  “Sleep mode” is not the same as it is on the iPad, and if you leave something like your wireless (really, that’s the only big culprit) on and just put the device to sleep, you’ll be out of batteries in no time.

However, I heard several accounts of full 6 hour plane rides of uninterrupted video streaming and email using – with juice to spare – to consider this a user error on my part.

Battery life = Great

Size

The size of the Playbook is, well, kind of perfect.  It’s larger than a smartphone screen, which is really helpful sometimes, but it’s small enough to be REALLY portable.  My iPad is great, and certainly portable, but frankly I had been looking around for something a little bit smaller for a while.  You can hold it for a very long time and hardly feel it, you can slip into something smaller than your business bag, and it’s on the inconspicuous side.  In fact, I was eating lunch with someone at the conference, and he slipped the Playbook out of his jeans pocket (which he said was great, but looked a lot cooler when he was wearing a blazer and not sitting down…. I can imagine).

Size = Great

Applications

First thing’s first.  Blackberry has been primarily an enterprise solution.  I get that.  But I was initially really bummed about the number of applications that I would be able to use, despite the 70K+ that in are in App World. No Twitter app, no highly recommended RSS reader or news reader, no NetFlix (which would make the HDMI hookup really great!), etc etc.  HOWEVER, one of the big announcements at Blackberry World was that the Playbook will be able to run Android apps soon, which should make a big difference for individual consumers to effectively use the tablet.

Applications = Poor now for the consumer, but should be Good once Android apps can be run on the device

Email

One major downfall for me is that there’s currently no native email app, which means, unless you’re already set up on your Blackberry, you have to access email through a browser… and for someone with almost 10 email accounts, I NEED an email program.  Luckily, Blackberry has said that one is coming within 60 days.  That will make a huge difference in my book. Thanks!

Email = Poor now, but should be Good once a native email app is available

All in all, I think the tablet has a place in the line up and definitely think it has some legs.  I think it’ll be most highly used amongst current Blackberry users (of course) and likely within the enterprise (also of course), but, as soon as some of the issues above are fixed (as is the plan), it’ll also be an even more accessible tablet option for consumers in general.

Tags: blackberry, blackberry playbook, device, tablet, technology review
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Technology use in the workplace is a double-edged sword.  On the one hand, it allows for increased efficiency and flexibility because we can communicate with co-workers and clients instantly from wherever we are through numerous mediums from a single handheld.  On the other hand, it has given us all a serious case of ADD.  And more importantly, it has blurred the line between what’s personal and what’s work.

We use our Blackberries, iPhones, iPads, Droids, and HTC-2s to send an email to a client or boss on our  companies’  systems one minute, and then use the same handheld to send a personal email to a  friend,  accountant, or lawyer  on our personal email account the next minute.  The same happens from desktops and  laptops.

The privacy issue arises when that handheld, laptop, or desktop is provided by a company to one of its  employees. Do the employees have a right to privacy in their communications when they send a  personal  email  over the company’s email system? When they use a company’s computer to send an  email from a  personal account  using the company’s Internet service? When they send text messages on employer-  provided phones and handhelds?  What is considered a reasonable personal use of company-provided devices in a world when employees are expected to answer emails from home and from handhelds and when they are expected to work 10 to 12 hour days?

These are just the sort of issues that are currently making their way through the state and federal court systems.

In a recent decision involving text messages sent on government-employer owned cell phones, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to make a broad ruling on the issue of “privacy expectations vis-à-vis employer-provided technological equipment” because of thepotential future impact such a ruling could have in an area where “rapid changes in the dynamics of communications and information transmission” are affecting both the technology itself as well as “what society accepts as proper behavior.”*

Because the legal analysis in privacy cases centers on a person’s “reasonable expectation of privacy,” what we accept as a societal norm affects what is considered “reasonable” from both an objective and subjective point of view.**

Despite the Supreme Court’s refusal to provide a broad ruling on this issue, it did not find that the City violated the employee’s privacy rights when it reviewed the content of his text messages.  The factual grounds supporting this finding were that: there was a workplace policy which indicated that text messages could be reviewed; and there was a legitimate work-related purpose for the review (i.e., determining whether text message overage charges required the City to increase its phone plan).

The implications of this decision are huge – even without a broader ruling and despite the differing privacy analyses that apply to public vs. private employers – because it essentially says that so long as employers properly craft their workplace policies regarding technology use, they can significantly erode employees’ privacy rights.  This is particularly troubling in an age when technology is trending toward the increased availability of a one-size-fits-all devices and when the distinctions between one’s personal and work life are being significantly blurred.

Meredith D. Williams is an employment lawyer in Los Angeles, California and a partner at Miller | Williams LLP, an employment litigation and counseling law firm, providing businesses of all sizes, as well as selected employees, experienced and cost-effective legal services in a wide range of employment-related litigation and counseling matters, including matters involving employee privacy, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and wage and hour issues.  Contact her: mwilliams@millerwilliamslaw.com or @MerEsqLA

*See City of Ontario v. Quon, 560 U.S. ____ (No. 08-1332, June 17, 2010).
** The “reasonable expectation of privacy” issue is relevant in the context of Fourth Amendment privacy cases involving public employers as well as in the context of common law “intrusion on seclusion” privacy cases involving private employers.  See Stengart v. Loving Care Agency, Inc., 201 NJ. 300, 990 A2d 650 (N.J. 2010).

Tags: ADD, blackberry, Droid, girls in tech, HTC-2, iphone, LA Chapter, Meredith D Williams, Miller Williams, Personal Use of Company Technology Devices, Quon, right to privacy, Supreme Court, Text Messages
Posted in All Chapters, Los Angeles | 2 Comments »

(image courtesy of Retrevo)

A new Gadgetology study by Retrevo has shown that women, in general, prefer iPhones and men prefer BlackBerries. Surprising? It may be, as it seems that the iPhone is quickly surpassing the BlackBerry by almost everyone, everywhere you go. With its various apps and functionality, one would think they were preferred by both.  However, in their recent study it was found that:

• Women prefer iPhones: at a rate of 53%, compared to 47% of men.
• Men prefer BlackBerries more.  59% of the respondents who use BlackBerries as opposed to 41% of women.
• iPhone users think they do more in life.
• iPhone users, in general, rated themselves more highly as intellectuals, extraverts, media buffs, and jocks.

Now, we know that these are all generalizations, but this study’s statistics (claiming the iPhone is used in many more ways for sport, music, and other entertainment) may show that owning an iPhone is more “fun” and a BlackBerry, more “corporate.”  You can draw your own conclusions by reading the study at the link below.  What are your thoughts?

(Using a sample size of 445 iPhone and BlackBerry owners distributed across gender, age, income & location in the United States, Retrevo completed this study on users other than their own customers.  To read more, go directly to their study at the following link:  http://www.retrevo.com/content/blog/2009/10/iPhone-vs-BlackBerry-owners)

Tags: blackberry, Christine Oneto, iphone
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We are all familiar with Research in Motion’s Blackberry smart phones and Apple’s iPhone. Apple, this past summer, released the new version of their iPhone, lowering the price, running on the fast 3G wireless network, and being available in two colors – black or white. Coming up for RIM is their Blackberry Bold and Storm. From what I have seen for both the Bold and Storm is, the Bold is a dynamically revamped version of the Curve and the Storm is a direct competitor for the iPhone in terms of aesthetics and functionality. However, that’s not all the smart phone market has to offer…

Welcome T-Mobile’s G1 phone running on Google’s new software called Android. The phone is going to debut on October 22nd, priced at $180 with a two-year contract. 

The Android software’s functionality is very similar to the iPhone’s, but certainly not as attractive. What it offers is an open applications store, a Menu button with similar functionality like right-clicking a computer mouse. You can Share and Rotate a photo you’ve just taken, Delete and Archive an email you are working on, and Mute or Hold while on a call. There’s also voice dialing, picture messaging, and built-in audio recording. However, there’s no visual voice mail, no iPod department for syncing the phone and it’s quite cumbersome. I think for the die-hard Google fans, this is the phone for them or if you have been a Sidekick user, you will also enjoy this phone’s functionality. 

I have been a Blackberry user for many years. I absolutely love the iPhone and use my husband’s all the time, except I am not a fan of the touch-screen ‘keyboard’. I am not sure what is going to be my next phone. Probably leaning towards to the Blackberry Bold over the G1, i just hope the Internet functions more like the iPhone’s . All-in-all, the smart phone war is not ending anytime soon, nor should it. The iPhone has really raised the bar for what is possible with a smart phone and all the other companies are playing catch up. Which smart phone is for you?

Here is a video from phonedog.com with HTC’s Eric giving a hands-on tour of the G1 - The T-Mobile G1

Tags: Android, apple, blackberry, Bold, Curve, G1, iphone, RIM, smartphone, software, Storm, tmobile, touchscreen
Posted in Los Angeles, San Francisco | 1 Comment »