Is Windows Phone Committing Suicide?

Kimmo Toivanen

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I always tell people to zoom in on the central US (Iowa,Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska,Missouri, Oklahoma, etc) in a map app until you can see all the little square grids. Those are roads. Nicely evenly spaced at 1mile, not 1.6 kilometers.

I honestly thought you must be kidding... It's amazing :)
 

Noname Noname

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Verizon customer service is so rude. I had them about 4 years ago. Prepaid service. When the rep found out I had prepaid, her whole tone changed. Acted like I spit on her shoes! I moved my number to another carrier two weeks in later.
 
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iamakii

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It's time to move on guys. Im loving my high end Android phone. I have all the apps I need, less bugs and a bright future my phone will be supported.

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
 

pc2k16

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It's time to move on guys. Im loving my high end Android phone. I have all the apps I need, less bugs and a bright future my phone will be supported.

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

Dear new Google / Android user,

We thank you for allowing us to data mine, steal, and sell all your personal information and also for giving us a window into every personal aspect of your life. We look forward to exploiting you and making a fist full of money while doing it. We did enjoy what you ate for dinner two nights ago, however we were also concerned at how many times you went to the bathroom yesterday. We see you?re feeling better today. We also liked the joke you told at work and loved the gesture you gave to the driver of the car that cut you off on your way home. Taking all these things into account, we will tailor a rich bombardment of relentless advertisements to make your stay with Google even more pleasant. Again, thank you for giving up your most basic freedoms while you use our products.

Sincerely,
The Google Team
Alphabet Inc.

(Kidding of course, lol. I'm guessing you went with a Samsung, they are nice, enjoy.)
 

Raygreen3

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Have fun, hope you didn't get a Note 7. I will stick with my $40 windows phone and if there is not an app on the phone I can wait till I get home to use my android tablet. I like the way my Windows phone works with both my cars.
 

Chintan Gohel

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Dear new Google / Android user,

We thank you for allowing us to data mine, steal, and sell all your personal information and also for giving us a window into every personal aspect of your life. We look forward to exploiting you and making a fist full of money while doing it. We did enjoy what you ate for dinner two nights ago, however we were also concerned at how many times you went to the bathroom yesterday. We see you’re feeling better today. We also liked the joke you told at work and loved the gesture you gave to the driver of the car that cut you off on your way home. Taking all these things into account, we will tailor a rich bombardment of relentless advertisements to make your stay with Google even more pleasant. Again, thank you for giving up your most basic freedoms while you use our products.

Sincerely,
The Google Team
Alphabet Inc.

(Kidding of course, lol. I'm guessing you went with a Samsung, they are nice, enjoy.)

are they really that bad? :grincry:
 

pc2k16

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are they really that bad? :grincry:

Well lets be honest, Google, Apple, Microsoft all collect information, that they all say isn't used to personally identify an individual, but that's subject to interpretation. They all certainly get an idea of who you are, what you like, how you use the internet, and use that info to target ads and services to each individual. That said, Google is the king of collecting info (data mining). Their business was built on that process from the beginning when Sergey Brin and Larry Page created the search engine and became founders of Google. Apple and Microsoft always had other revenue streams and advertising wasn't the focus. To this day, most of Googles profits come from AdWords, an online advertising service that places ads in search results. In order to target ads and get people to actually click on them you have to know your customer. Google finds out who you are better than all the others. This business model is one of the reason why they bought the rights to Android, bought you tube, and created google+. This gives them more insight into who you are, what you like, and how you use the internet, which lets them target more precise ads, which generates more profits.

Many people willingly give up their personal info by adding that info to their online account profiles, such as name, birth date, location, where they work, likes, dislikes, etc, but much of the info Google uses is gathered thru tracking. Many are fine with this, many are not. I am not, and try to limit the tracking as much as possible. No social media, use IE11 and it's built in tracking blocking feature which allows you to import blocking list into IE, I use a local account on my computer, no Cortana, I don't use any Google services or their search engine, I don't use Andriod, and I limit my you tube use to mostly music videos.

It's all a personal preference and I don't think there is a right or wrong way to use the internet nor is the way Google does business right or wrong. It is what it is and Google is pretty good at what they do.
 

Chintan Gohel

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Well lets be honest, Google, Apple, Microsoft all collect information, that they all say isn't used to personally identify an individual, but that's subject to interpretation. They all certainly get an idea of who you are, what you like, how you use the internet, and use that info to target ads and services to each individual. That said, Google is the king of collecting info (data mining). Their business was built on that process from the beginning when Sergey Brin and Larry Page created the search engine and became founders of Google. Apple and Microsoft always had other revenue streams and advertising wasn't the focus. To this day, most of Googles profits come from AdWords, an online advertising service that places ads in search results. In order to target ads and get people to actually click on them you have to know your customer. Google finds out who you are better than all the others. This business model is one of the reason why they bought the rights to Android, bought you tube, and created google+. This gives them more insight into who you are, what you like, and how you use the internet, which lets them target more precise ads, which generates more profits.

Many people willingly give up their personal info by adding that info to their online account profiles, such as name, birth date, location, where they work, likes, dislikes, etc, but much of the info Google uses is gathered thru tracking. Many are fine with this, many are not. I am not, and try to limit the tracking as much as possible. No social media, use IE11 and it's built in tracking blocking feature which allows you to import blocking list into IE, I use a local account on my computer, no Cortana, I don't use any Google services or their search engine, I don't use Andriod, and I limit my you tube use to mostly music videos.

It's all a personal preference and I don't think there is a right or wrong way to use the internet nor is the way Google does business right or wrong. It is what it is and Google is pretty good at what they do.

the real question I usually ask is, from all that info, what can they do with it? To m personally? Can they select me as an individual from the billions of internet users and target me for something personal? I've never posted banking info and in any case my bank is still analogue. They don't even know where I live exactly :wink:
 

pc2k16

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the real question I usually ask is, from all that info, what can they do with it? To m personally? Can they select me as an individual from the billions of internet users and target me for something personal? I've never posted banking info and in any case my bank is still analogue. They don't even know where I live exactly :wink:

That's a good question. Google, Apple, Microsoft, facebok, twitter, etc...... all they will really do is file that info in a database and use it to market ads and services to you. The real question you need to ask, is what can someone who doesn't have good intensions do with all that information? (ie: spammers, tele-marketers, hackers) Just about every week you hear about some major company being hacked with personal info, user names, passwords, etc being stolen. Much of that info can be used for identity theft. As careful as I am, my health insurance provider was hacked a few years back and ever since I get tele-marketing calls and just recently someone tried to buy and add a new cell phone to my cell account. ATT and LifeLock caught it though and it was denied. People with bad intensions are everywhere. There's no need to make it easier for them.
 

fatclue_98

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That's a good question. Google, Apple, Microsoft, facebok, twitter, etc...... all they will really do is file that info in a database and use it to market ads and services to you. The real question you need to ask, is what can someone who doesn't have good intensions do with all that information? (ie: spammers, tele-marketers, hackers) Just about every week you hear about some major company being hacked with personal info, user names, passwords, etc being stolen. Much of that info can be used for identity theft. As careful as I am, my health insurance provider was hacked a few years back and ever since I get tele-marketing calls and just recently someone tried to buy and add a new cell phone to my cell account. ATT and LifeLock caught it though and it was denied. People with bad intensions are everywhere. There's no need to make it easier for them.

There is a way to avoid all these issues. The question is, who among us has the constitution to do what's involved with such a decision? To disconnect from the Information Age is a scary proposition to some. Those of us who're over 50 remember the days of no ATMs. You went to the bank on Friday and made sure you kept enough cash to get you through the weekend while making sure there was enough on deposit to cover any checks out there. You paid your bills through the mail, no online banking. If you were stuck in traffic, you dealt with it and popped a Donna Summer cassette into your stereo. If you wanted to buy something, you either went to a store or waded through a Sears, JC Penney or Montgomery Ward catalog.

This was life before cell phones and computers circa 1985 and before. Who here can honestly say they could live like that again or for the first time? I could if I was forced to, but I'm spoiled now. I can't see a Millennial hacking it. This is the price for convenience.
 

tgp

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There is a way to avoid all these issues. The question is, who among us has the constitution to do what's involved with such a decision? To disconnect from the Information Age is a scary proposition to some. Those of us who're over 50 remember the days of no ATMs. You went to the bank on Friday and made sure you kept enough cash to get you through the weekend while making sure there was enough on deposit to cover any checks out there. You paid your bills through the mail, no online banking. If you were stuck in traffic, you dealt with it and popped a Donna Summer cassette into your stereo. If you wanted to buy something, you either went to a store or waded through a Sears, JC Penney or Montgomery Ward catalog.

This was life before cell phones and computers circa 1985 and before. Who here can honestly say they could live like that again or for the first time? I could if I was forced to, but I'm spoiled now. I can't see a Millennial hacking it. This is the price for convenience.
Yup, if those were the "good old days", I'm glad they're gone... for good!
 

Chintan Gohel

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Some of us still live in a semi analogue/semi digital age :wink:

I still go to the bank for cash deposits or withdrawals, still use cash for everything I do - I've only used debit cards a few years back to pay for application fees
Stuck in traffic- either listen to my phone music or look at the vibrant hustle and bustle outside
 

fatclue_98

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Yup, if those were the "good old days", I'm glad they're gone... for good!
I never claimed those were the good old days, that's just the way it was. My point was that if we want to live free of tracking, targeted ads or any form of "surveillance", there is a way. I just don't know if there are many who would be willing to do it.
 

pc2k16

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I'm a big tech nut and I'm in my 40's, so I remember, lived the pre-internet days. I probably could go back to those days, but honestly I wouldn't want to. I do online shopping, online banking/bill pay, forums, lots of research and knowledge gathering online, some games, things like that. Yes, convenience comes with a price, but everyone should do what they can to limit their exposure to prying minds. Don't save passwords in browsers, use upper & lower letters, numbers, special characters, get passwords as close to 128bit as possible, secure your home router, only put the info in online profiles that's required, never anything more, don't save credit cards online, use services like paypal, don't stay signed in with your MS account or Google account, use tracking blockers, etc. Things like this limit your exposure and protect yourself better. Also one of the best things you can do is get off of social media. They are an identity thief's / hackers paradise. Not to mention that study after study shows social media is self defeating, creates unneeded stress, and ultimately makes it's user less happy than non-users, not to mention less secure online. My whole point, that started with the google tracking joke, is everyone should strive to limit personal info exposure online and there are a lot of things you can do to accomplish that. No one can stop or limit all personal info exposure & tracking, but doing simple things to try to limit it is better than not. I once heard a security expert say: "A false sense of security is worse than no security at all." Remember this is just my opinion, everyone should do what they feel is right for them.

I think got a bit off topic here, but a good discussion never the less.
 

patcherd

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Like this discussion. I'm in my late 40s and I still go to the bank for transactions and I go to the stores when I have to purchase a product. Though I do find doing things electronically very convenient and time saving.

I still like the physical aspect of actually going out and interacting with people...something that i see is dying with the generations coming up.

We should thank the Lord for gifting man with the intelligence and talents that gives us the things we enjoy today to make our lives easier.

If we had to go back to writing letters on real paper and only catalogs to look through for purchases and the many other things we had to do before the computer age i could readily adapt because i lived through it and to a certain degree still do.

I came across an old phone book i had with all the numbers i used to have when i did a clean out yesterday. To think i used to know everybodys number i had by heart,..now if i lost my phone i would be up the creek because i don't memorize phone numbers any more.

Modern technology has made me in many ways lazy and that is only something i can correct .

If we are honest isn't that many of us though?
 
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Chintan Gohel

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Like this discussion. I'm in my late 40s and I still go to the bank for transactions and I go to the stores when I have to purchase a product. Though I do find doing things electronically very convenient and time saving.

I still like the physical aspect of actually going out and interacting with people...something that i see is dying with the generations coming up.

We should thank the Lord for gifting man with the intelligence and talents that gives us the things we enjoy today to make our lives easier.

If we had to go back to writing letters on real paper and only catalogs to look through for purchases and the many other things we had to do before the computer age i could readily adapt because i lived through it and to a certain degree still do.

I came across an old phone book i had with all the numbers i used to have when i did a clean out yesterday. To think i used to know everybodys number i had by heart,..now if i lost my phone i would be up the creek because i don't memorize phone numbers any more.

Modern technology has made me in many ways lazy and that is only something i can correct .

If we are honest isn't that many of us though?

I still keep all my family phone numbers in my head as well as bank, ID, passport and some few other numbers memorised. Even my IMEI number for my stolen 1020 :grincry:
 

MaskedCritic

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the real question I usually ask is, from all that info, what can they do with it? To m personally? Can they select me as an individual from the billions of internet users and target me for something personal?

I can confirm that they can. A while back I signed up for facebook for the sole purpose of getting free in-game money for a Nexon game (and I'll avoid any rants for now about how horrifyingly bad Nexon is as a company). I gave it nothing but my name. I used it all of once or twice, and never actually bothered going to anybody else's page.

Within a month it was recommending that I friend actual friends, college classmates, and family members, and none of them even knew I had a facebook.

To this day that is still the creepiest interaction I have ever had with technology.
 

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