Source: http://cjonline.com/news/2013-09-21/out-topeka-stories-gays-lesbians-capital
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Sunday, September 22, 2013
Out in Topeka: Stories from gays, lesbians in the capital | CJOnline ...
[unable to retrieve full-text content]She is also a lesbian.?I'm open and out,? Billings said.She is one of several Topekans who shared their stories with The Topeka Capital-Journal in the wake of the Topeka City Council's recent decision to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of classes covered by the Topeka Human Relations Commission.They talked about what it was like to be ... Billings has been in a relationship with her current partner for two years. While Billings realizes people ...
BlackBerry slashes jobs in face of $1B 2Q loss
FILE- In this Tuesday, July 9, 2013, file photo, pedestrians walk near BlackBerry's headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario, on the morning of the company's Annual General Meeting. BlackBerry said Friday, Sept. 20, 2013, it will lay off 4,500 employees, or 40 percent of its global workforce, and is announcing a nearly $1 billion second-quarter loss in a surprise early release of earnings. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Geoff Robins, File)
FILE- In this Tuesday, July 9, 2013, file photo, pedestrians walk near BlackBerry's headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario, on the morning of the company's Annual General Meeting. BlackBerry said Friday, Sept. 20, 2013, it will lay off 4,500 employees, or 40 percent of its global workforce, and is announcing a nearly $1 billion second-quarter loss in a surprise early release of earnings. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Geoff Robins, File)
TORONTO (AP) ? It was once so addictive it inspired the nickname "CrackBerry." President Barack Obama confessed to being among the millions of devotees who couldn't bear to stop tapping feverishly away on its tiny keyboard. Madonna once said she slept with hers under her pillow.
Then came the iPhone.
Users newly addicted to Facebook and photo-sharing and Angry Birds started flirting with the opposition. And as more smartphones flooded the market with their supersize Samsung screens and thousands of apps, the BlackBerry failed to keep up with the flash.
This year's launch of BlackBerry 10, its revamped operating system, and fancier new devices ? the touchscreen Z10 and Q10 for keyboard loyalists ? was supposed to rejuvenate the brand and lure customers. But the much-delayed phones have failed to turn the company around. At their peak in the fall of 2009, BlackBerry's smartphones enjoyed global market share of over 20 percent, says Mike Walkley, an analyst with Canaccord Genuity. Their piece of the pie has since evaporated to just 1.5 percent.
Now the company says it will lay off 4,500 employees, or 40 percent of its global workforce, as it tries to slash costs by 50 percent and shift its focus back to competing mainly for the business customers most loyal to its brand. A week earlier than expected, BlackBerry surprised the market by reporting Friday that it lost nearly $1 billion in the second quarter. It's booking over $900 million in charges to write down the value of its glut of unsold smartphones.
Shares were halted pending the news. They plunged as low as $8.01 when the stock reopened for trading, before closing down 17 percent at $8.72.
"This is the end of the BlackBerry as we know it," BGC analyst Colin Gillis said from New York. "This is a major pivot. They are cutting half of their employees and they're going to focus on becoming a niche player focused on the enterprise."
Gillis said he doesn't expect to see a BlackBerry advertisement on television again.
He said it might be more interesting for a prospective buyer, though, now that that it has announced the restructuring. Gillis thinks it's possible that BlackBerry could survive as a much smaller player. At the end of the second quarter, the company had total cash and investments of about $2.6 billion and no debt.
"That's probably the feedback they've been getting. They don't do all this if you have a buyer lined up," Gillis said. "Some of the actions may have been driven by feedback by potential buyers down the road. Nobody wants to come in and buy the company and hold an all hands meeting and say, 'By the way, half of you are fired.'"
Gillis said he can't understand why BlackBerry would release the earnings late Friday, a week early. "That's abysmal," he said. "Did you really need to do it 3:15 p.m. on a Friday? Couldn't you have just waited a week or done it Monday morning?"
BlackBerry had been scheduled to release earnings next week. But the Waterloo, Ontario company surprised the market late Friday afternoon by announcing that it expects to post a staggering loss of $950 million to $995 million for the quarter, including a massive $930 million to $960 million write-down of the value of its inventory. Revenue of $1.6 billion is only about half of the $3 billion that analysts expected, according to FactSet. The company's expected adjusted loss of 47 cents to 51 cents per share falls far below the loss of 16 cents per share projected by Wall Street.
BlackBerry said it wants to slash operating costs in half by the first quarter of 2015 so cutting its global headcount to 7,000 total employees is necessary. The company let 5,000 people go last year.
"We are implementing the difficult, but necessary operational changes announced today to address our position in a maturing and more competitive industry, and to drive the company toward profitability," Thorsten Heins, President and CEO of BlackBerry, said in a statement.
BlackBerry said last month that it would consider selling itself. The company reiterated Friday that a special committee of its board of directors continues to evaluate all options. The company said it plans to focus on offering only two high-end devices and two entry-level handsets going forward, with emphasis on the business market.
"Going forward, we plan to refocus our offering on our end-to-end solution of hardware, software and services for enterprises and the productive, professional end user," said Heins. "This puts us squarely on target with the customers that helped build BlackBerry into the leading brand today for enterprise security, manageability and reliability."
BlackBerry, formerly known as RIM, was once Canada's most valuable company with a market value of $83 billion in June 2008, but the stock has plummeted from over $140 share to less than $9. Its decline is evoking memories of Nortel, another Canadian tech giant, which ended up declaring bankruptcy in 2009.
Of BlackBerry's remaining employees, thousands live in Waterloo, a university town 90 minutes' drive from Toronto, where everyone seems to know someone who works for the company. Residents have said they've been talking about the company in hushed tones for the past few years.
"Our thoughts are with those who have lost their jobs at BlackBerry, it is always a cause for concern for our Government," Canadian Industry Minister James Moore said in a statement.
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Saturday, September 21, 2013
'Ambitious' plan for High Peak Moors
19 September 2013
Last updated at 21:13 ET
A 50-year conservation project, described as the "biggest and most ambitious" of its kind, aims to restore a historic part of the Peak District.
The National Trust has launched its vision to undo decades of damage on High Peak Moors and return the landscape to its former glory.
Measures include drainage removal and vegetation and woodland restoration.
The area includes Kinder Scout, the site of the 1932 mass trespass that led to the formation of National Parks.
The Trust's rural enterprises director, Patrick Begg, said restoring the vital habitat could only be tackled over the long term.
"There really is not much point committing to restore upland peat bogs over a five-year period as this just scratches the surface," he explained.
"In order to get them back into good health, we really need to be committing to [50 years]. The work we will do will take that long to bed in and for the habitat to start to turn round."
Mr Begg told BBC News that the project will focus on a number of areas.
"We will be really investing in rewetting the bogs on the tops," he said.
"That involves blocking up drainage gullies and reseeding and replanting the bogs with cotton grass, as well as laying cut heather on them.
"My nutshell phrase at the moment is turning what looks like a moonscape at the moment, because it is so eroded, back into a moor-scape. It will look very different when we are done.
"Through that vegetation work, it will also be a better home for a wide range of species, so there will be better biodiversity."
Woodland revival
Another aspect of the vision will be to develop more woodlands in the area's cloughs, which are the steep valleys that lead up to the moors, to replace the loss of tree cover in recent decades.
"If you went back in time 50 years or more, you would have seen a rich tapestry of woodlands on those valleys," Mr Begg observed.
"We want to put those back and they will help in providing homes for wildlife as well as stabilising the soil and vegetation so we don't get the kind of run-off that we see at the moment."
The Trust says its vision will be beneficial in a number of other ways, namely helping to protect water supplies into the future and storing carbon dioxide that would otherwise end up in the atmosphere.
The authors of the 50-year plan say water from the moors feed two reservoirs in the area and the Trust-owned part of the moors stores carbon that is equivalent to three years' worth of emissions from a city the size of Sheffield.
Mr Begg added: "These are fundamental things that society needs us to be doing, alongside providing a better future for nature. It is also about being able to connect people back to nature."
The area contains the site of a protest that has been acknowledged as being pivotal in opening up public access to many of the nation's natural landscapes.
In April 1932, hundreds of ramblers walked on to private land on Kinder Scout, Derbyshire, to assert their right to walk freely across the countryside, which they called their "right to roam".
A number of the walkers were arrested and imprisoned but the act highlighted the growing demand among people to be granted access to natural areas for leisure and recreation.
Mr Begg observed: "We are very aware of that cultural depth and we want to continue to inspire people through the direct contact with nature."
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24162587#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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Friday, September 20, 2013
Unlocking the Bootloader on the Sony Xperia Z1 breaks the camera app There have...
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Source: http://www.facebook.com/zomgitscj/posts/10151931803568223
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Thursday, September 19, 2013
5 simple ways to increase security and privacy on iOS 7
5 easy ways to lock down the information on iOS 7 and enhance your security and privacy!
With iOS 7 - see our complete iOS 7 review - Apple has made the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad more convenient than ever, but also more secure. How is that possible? Well, in most cases you - the owner of the device - have to choose which one is more important to you - the owner of the device. You can set things up so that every major setting and notification is available at the glance of an eye, the swipe of a finger, or the sound of a voice. Or you can make it so that every bit on the box is locked away behind a strong password. There's no "security flaw" that can be taken advantage of, only tools that you can choose to use, or not, to provide the right balance on your device. Now, adding security does require more time and effort than going without, but nowhere nearly as much time and effort as it takes to recover after your stuff is spied, stolen, or otherwise violated. So, weigh the options and make your choice in the eternal battle between security and convenience. Here's what you need know!
1. How to use a strong(er) Passcode lock
If you have an iPhone 5s you have Touch ID which lets you, if you choose to use it, secure your device with a biometric fingerprint identity sensor. If you have any other Apple device, you have the option of a Passcode lock, and you should absolutely use it. Not only does it protect your iPhone from casual snooping - or from people tweeting "poopin" the minute you leave it unattended - it prevents thieves from getting your data, and enables hardware encryption to make sure all your stuff is safe. While the basic 4-number pin offers that base-level of protection, there just aren't enough 4 number variations to keep your stuff really safe. For that you need a stronger Passcode. If an alphanumeric password is too annoying for you to enter on mobile, you can turn it on anyway, enter a longer (than 4) set of numbers, and get some of the benefits without making it overly arduous to enter.
2. How to keep personal notifications and system toggles off your Lock screen
What good is a super-strong Passcode lock if anyone and everyone can see your messages, Notification Center alerts, access Passbook, or use Siri or Control Center right from your Lock screen. Sure, it's incredibly convenient to be able to glance at incoming messages and quickly add things to Reminders or Notes, but for those times when you don't think you can safely leave your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad lying around without people snooping, remember you can turn all that Lock screen stuff off.
- How to disable Control Center access on the iOS 7 Lock screen
- How to disable access to Siri and Passbook on the Lock screen
- How to disable Notification Center alerts on the Lock screen
3. Turn on 2-step verification
Security works best in layers, and defensive depth means having as many layers are possible. Touch ID now provides biometrics on the iPhone 5s so "something you are", while the password is "something you know", a token is "something you have". It's not full-on multi-factor authentication, at least not yet (because it's still either or, not all), but it is 2-step verification and, when it comes to security, 2 steps really are better than one. You will have to enter an app-specific password, or an additional pincode/password the first time you set up the service on your device, but it'll make it more than twice as strong for only a minimal amount of extra effort. Do it.
- How to set up 2-step verification for Apple ID
- How to set up 2-step verification for Google accounts
- How to set up 2-step verification for Dropbox
- How to set up 2-step verification for Twitter
4. How to keep your web browsing, location, social and other data private
Let's say you're not looking at porn - we don't judge! - but you still want to make sure cookies, web history, and other information about your browsing doesn't get recorded and tracked across the internet. Safari pioneered private browsing, so that's easy to do. In fact, on iOS 7 Private Browsing can be enabled from the bookmark, tabs, and smart search field screens, so it's even easier and more convenient than ever.
But what about things like location data, contacts, and other sensitive information? What if you, intentionally or simply inattentively, gave access to all off that, and more, to other apps? No worries. Again, iOS makes it easy to review and change your privacy settings. So do many online services as well. Lastly, if you're on a network you don't trust, and have access to a VPN service, that can help keep your data private as well.
- How to keep your web browsing private with Safari
- How to revoke app access to your location
- How to revoke app access to your contacts
- How to adjust privacy settings on Facebook
- How to connect to a VPN
5. How to wipe web history and other data from your device
If you didn't initially use Safari's private browsing, or you want to clear other personal, private, potentially embarrassing, compromising, or just plain awkward data on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, including messages, mail, photos, and more, you can. You even have the nuclear option of securely wiping your entire device, and killing old backups, so you can start over fresh, clean, and safe.
- How to clear website data on iOS
- How to clear messages, mail, photos, and more on iOS
- How to wipe all data on iOS
- How to delete an iCloud backup on iOS
6. Bonus tip: Use a password manager
Security is at constant war with convenience. Fortunately, in order to tip the scales slightly more towards convenience, there are password managers. Due to the lack of browser plugins on iOS, iPhone and iPad password managers aren't as well integrated as they are on Mac or Windows, but there are still many on the App Store to choose from.
- Best password manager apps for iPhone and iPad: 1Password, oneSafe, LastPass, and more!
- How we handle security at iMore: Our apps and approaches to keeping our data safe!
Post iOS 7
Every thing is a trade-off, and every choice comes with repercussions. Even if you disable Siri and Control Center on the Lock screen, a thief could still turn off the device and kill your ability to track it. Even if Apple were to force authorization (Passcode or Touch ID) to enable powering off, a thief could put the device in DFU mode. If Apple were to remove DFU mode, the legitimate trouble shooting and fixes wouldn't be possible.
Instead, we have Activation Lock, which requires an Apple ID to circumvent. The idea isn't to make a device so secure even the owner can't get into it, but to make it as unattractive as possible to pranksters, thieves, and other miscreants so they go elsewhere.
Unless you work in Enterprise or Government and have an enforced policy on your device, you probably want some balance between security and convenience.
Your top security tips?
Those are our top 5 tips for taking your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad security to the next level! If you've got any other tips, or alternate ways to keep stuff safe on iOS 7, let us know!
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/mpgSNkRY6QI/story01.htm
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JPMorgan's London Whale fine is excessive and political
Hasn't this man paid enough?
FORTUNE -- JPMorgan Chase is shelling out $800 million for punching itself in the face.
That's how much JPMorgan?is reportedly?going to pay, give or take $100 million, to the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators to settle charges that it did something wrong in connection with last year's multi-billion trading blunder that is commonly associated with a particular large sea mammal. The actual settlement has not been disclosed. Both the SEC and JPMorgan declined to comment.
It seems like a lot of money, in part because it is, but especially when you consider what JPMorgan (JPM)?actually did.
MORE: Sorry Wall Street, Janet Yellen is no dove
It certainly was something to stop and gawk at. The London Whale's $6 billion loss was big and was also made by the one of the two banks?we all thought was too smart for these types of mistakes (the other being Goldman Sachs (GS)). But let's put this in perspective: No clients were ripped off by the London Whale's $6 billion loss, or lost money. No clients were even involved. The bank lost $6 billion of its own money, or maybe money that was given to it by depositors. But depositors didn't lose any money either. Neither did the government. JPMorgan was never in danger of needing to be bailed out. The bank has $200 billion in capital to use to cover losses such as these, and it did.
The only party that lost out was JPMorgan, and maybe its shareholders. But even the shareholder-as-victim scenario is debatable. JPMorgan's stock is up 35% since it revealed the losses. I guess you can argue the stock would be even higher without the losses. But the bank is trading at slightly over book value at a time when few other big banks are, and when people are still a little skeptical about the big banks books.
JPMorgan, too, is required to keep track of its traders and its money. It's also not supposed to lie to shareholders. And JPMorgan was forced to restate some of its earnings, so shareholders may have felt misled. But the Justice Department and the SEC in their cases against the traders make it clear that the government believes JPMorgan's executives were also lied to.
So yeah, JPMorgan did something wrong, but what's that worth?
MORE: Not so fabulous: SEC now 1-for-4 in financial crisis cases
I don't know the answer, and neither does anyone else. What we have are comparisons. European regulators fined UBS (UBS) $50 million for failing to supervise Kweku Adoboli, the rogue trader that cost that bank $2.3 billion. This is simple math, but $800 million is a lot more than three times $50 million. French regulators don't appear to have fined Societe Generale (SCGLF) anything for the $4.9 billion loss it had from rogue trader Jerome Kerviel.
Three years ago, the SEC charged Goldman $550 million, which at the time was the largest fine the SEC had ever imposed, for its role in selling the designed-to-fail subprime mortgage bond Abacus. But Goldman's clients were defrauded out of money in that instance. The Libor fines have been even bigger. But that was a case of manipulation of a widely traded and important interest rate. In JPMorgan's case, the SEC isn't alleging manipulation, and no one had ever heard of the IG9 before the London Whale.
Perhaps a better comparison would be to an accounting fraud, since that's basically what the SEC is alleging, that JPMorgan didn't keep its books accurately. But even in Enron, the massive accounting fraud of the early 2000s, the SEC only leveled about $350 million in fines, and much of that was paid by banks that helped Enron, not the firm itself.
"$800 million is clearly significant in a case that doesn't look like the financial crime of the century," says Columbia University law professor John Coffee. "It's more like the blunder of the decade."
MORE: Advice for JPMorgan: Split into three companies
Clearly, the SEC is trying to show that it is being tougher than it used to be. Indeed, on Tuesday the SEC fined 22 hedge funds for a trading strategy that didn't cost anyone anything. It might have actually benefited the market.
The agency is in a period of adjustment on how it administers punishment. And it's reacting to criticism in the past that its fines were too small to make banks change their behavior. And that banks were allowed to get away without admitting or denying that they did anything wrong. (JPMorgan is said to be admitting some wrongdoing here, but probably to a relatively minor offense.)
The opposite of that: Make the fines the big banks pay be really big no matter what the crime. The problem is these big fines start to look like payoffs, especially as in the case of JPMorgan, where no top executives were accused of any wrongdoing. And the payoffs are so large that only the big banks can afford them. Is that a better way for justice to be served?
Source: http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2013/09/18/jpmorgan-london-whale-fine/?section=money_termsheet
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Wednesday, September 18, 2013
JPMorgan near deal on Whale probes for about $700 mln - source
REUTERS - JPMorgan Chase & Co
Completion of the deal depends on coordinating agreements with multiple government agencies, the source said.
The source spoke after Bloomberg News and the Wall Street Journal reported that JPMorgan has agreed with regulators on how much it will pay.
The bank lost $6.2 billion last year on the trades made from its offices in London. (Reporting by David Henry in New York; Editing by Carol Bishopric)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jpmorgan-near-deal-whale-probes-700-mln-source-203101151--sector.html
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Tuesday, September 17, 2013
How Many People Have Been Killed by Guns Since Newtown?
The answer to the simple question in that headline is surprisingly hard to come by. So Slate is collecting data for our crowdsourced interactive. This data is necessarily incomplete (click here to see why, and to learn more about @GunDeaths, the Twitter user who helped us create this interactive). But the more people who are paying attention, the better the data will be. You can help us draw a more complete picture of gun violence in America. If you know about a gun death in your community that isn?t represented here, please email a link to a news report to slatedata@gmail.com. And if you?d like to use this data yourself for your own projects, it?s open. You can download it here.
Update, June 19, 2013: As time goes on, our count gets further and further away from the likely actual number of gun deaths in America?because roughly 60 percent of deaths by gun are due to suicides, which are very rarely reported. When discussing this issue, please note that our number is by design not accurate and represents only the number of gun deaths that the media can find out about contemporaneously. Part of the purpose of this interactive is to point out how difficult it is to get accurate real-time numbers on this issue.
Using the most recent CDC estimates for yearly deaths by guns in the United States, it is likely that as of today, , roughly people have died from guns in the United States since the Newtown shootings. Compare that number to the number of deaths reported in the news in our interactive below, and you can see how undertold the story of gun violence in America actually is.
Click a marker below to filter incidents by that location. Shows only the 1,000 locations with the most deaths.
? OpenStreetMap contributors
- Any Age Group
- Adult
- Teen
- Child
?
?
Matched Deaths: or more since Newtown
Show Methodology
Each victim under 13 years of age is designated "child"; from 13 to 17: "teen"; 18 and older: "adult."
The same icons used to represent male victims is also used to represent victims of unknown gender. The same icons used to represent adult victims is also used to represent victims of unknown age group.
The yellow and blue backgrounds represent alternating days.
The information is collected by @gunDeaths from news reports about the deaths. The Slate interactives team and @gunDeaths continually manages and revises the data.
The data are not comprehensive because not all gun-related deaths are reported by the news media. For example, suicides often go unreported.
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Friday, September 13, 2013
Man Who Barricaded Himself In Home Found Dead By Family ...
Posted on: 9:51 pm, September 11, 2013, by Ashley Crockett and Eric Lipford, updated on: 05:38pm, September 12, 2013
(Memphis) A man who barricaded himself in a house located in the 4500 block of Jamaica Avenue Wednesday night was found dead Thursday morning.
Memphis police said the 36-year-old man shot at his 30-year-old girlfriend?s vehicle as she tried to leave after a fight.
The woman ran from the house and was not hit, and the man went into his home.
Officers knocked on the door and tried to call the man, but were never able to make contact.
For several hours, officers sat outside the house with guns pointed at the home waiting for the man to come out.
Around midnight, police packed up their gear and left the scene.
Police told News Channel 3 they believed the man was intoxicated and was passed out inside the house, so they would try to arrest the man during the day Thursday.
However, the man?s family arrived Thursday morning and found the man dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
It?s not clear if the man killed himself before or after police left.
Source: http://wreg.com/2013/09/11/reports-of-barricade-situation/
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Tuesday, September 10, 2013
FOR SUNDAY: Smartwatches will soon take off ? but not because they tell time
gadgets 
2 hours ago
Sean Gallup / Getty Images
Samsung's Pranav Mistry wearing the new Galaxy Gear smartwatch in Berlin last Wednesday.
I don't wear a watch. I haven't worn a watch since the aluminum band on my 1998 Swatch had a disagreement with the aluminum wrist pad on my 2008 MacBook Pro, and the MacBook won. Besides, the laptop, my cellphone, my cable box ? even our newest car ? all have clocks that set themselves. Don't get me wrong, I like watches. Watches are cool. But they're kinda ? dumb. Enter the smartwatch.
Now that Samsung's Galaxy Gear is officially on its way, along with Qualcomm's Toq and Sony's SmartWatch 2, wrist-tops suddenly have gravitas. No longer is the market just novel products from startups like Pebble and I'm Watch: Smartwatches are real, and they'll only get more real once Apple joins in. It's time to ask yourself: "Would I ever wear one?"
My first response, a knee-jerk one, was "Nope." Why would I put something chunky and plastic on my wrist, long after I ditched a far sleeker, more beautiful watch? Maybe the Galaxy Gear's rubber band won't scuff up my computer like my old Swatch, but it's still an encumbrance, and encumbrances are for shedding, no?
As I pondered, I pulled out my phone to check the time. Then I pulled out my phone to see who was calling. Then I pulled out my phone, while out at a business dinner, to see what my wife texted me. Then I pulled out my phone and I pulled out my phone and I pulled out my phone and ? you see where I'm going with this.
Wearing a "smartwatch means you look at your phone less," Philip Berne ? who recently started working for Samsung but has long had smart opinions on mobile products ? told me on Twitter, where I turned for?outside opinions. "Faster glance, less obvious/obtrusive."
I challenged Berne: "Yeah, but won't we just become the guys staring at our wrists all the time??" I worry that a smartwatch will be a lot harder to ignore than a stifled phone in a pocket or purse.
He replied, "As a step back from staring at phones all the time, it definitely feels like progress."
While my other Twitter commentators were divided ? traditional wristwatch lovers and those who have ditched watches were the most vocally opposed ? the enthusiasm for smartwatches was surprising. It's not necessarily a win for Samsung, though.
"If it's from Apple, yes. Samsung's offering is too expensive and limited," tweeted one friend, likely referring to the fact that the $300 Galaxy Gear, at launch, only works with the upcoming Galaxy Note 3 smartphone. "There will be newer and better ones available for less money soon," wrote another.?
The smartwatch movement may encounter a bit of a gender gap, too.
"The Samsung looks big, bulky and just ugly, regardless of strap color," wrote another Twitter friend. "The size of the Samsung is just enormous for a woman's wrist." At one point in our Twitter conversation, she said she's looking forward to Apple entering the fray.
"I'd be considering [a smartwatch] if it was even slightly appealing. Apple generally integrates form and function extremely well," she said.
Ranier Jensen / EPA
Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch, presented at an IFA show booth in Berlin last Thursday.
With all this in my head, I turned to Jeff Orr, the senior practice director of mobile devices at ABI Research. Orr's firm predicts that between 1.2 and 1.4 million smartwatches will ship worldwide by year's end, before any Apple products appear.
It's not about telling time, says Orr. "I don't think people are going to buy this product because they're suddenly interested in seeing time. It'll just be one of the many uses for a smartwatch."
And despite the price, this will not be a new kind of mobile platform, Orr explained. "Initially these smartwatch products are accessories," he said. "They're reliant on the host device, a phone, to make calls, receive alerts, etc."
Smartwatches aren't ready to be a whole new category of mobile device, like tablets, Orr says, but one day they may grow up, and even gain cellular functionality. That's a few years off ? 2015 at the earliest ? because of electronics, mainly battery and heat constraints.
For now, more companies like Samsung need to enter the business, Orr says. The best contenders would be Apple and Sony, because, like Samsung, they have the brand, the product and software ecosystem, and the sales channels to pull it off.
Perhaps the best reason for a surge in smartwatch interest is that the most cutting-edge alternative is, well, awkward. Yes, I'm talking about Google Glass.?
Not for a moment have I been interested in wearing Google Glass ? no, not despite Google's repeated, ridiculous attempts to sway the fashion industry into convincing us that we won't look like total dweebs wearing it.
Google Glass may point to the future, one where we'll probably have miniature low-cost electronics embedded in most of our personal belongings (and in most of our persons, too). But the current system is not for me, or pretty much anyone else I know.
So here I am, turning the corner on this smartwatch thing. It's not an awkward return to the wristwatch era, but rather a smart pathway to wearable computing. The current crop is a bit clunky so I can wait for cheaper models and slimmer, better designs. But I'm finally willing to admit that in the next year or two, I'll be wearing one ? and there's a good chance you will, too.
Wilson Rothman is the Technology & Science editor at NBC News Digital. Catch up with him on Twitter at @wjrothman, and join our conversation on Facebook.
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