Using Tablets, Laptop Computers and Telephones on Planes during Take Off and Landing

A recent Article caught our Attention:

„EmployeeProductivity” is being lost because Airlines have Rules prohibiting the Use of Portable Electronic Devices during Take Off and Landing on Planes.

The Study documenting this was done by no less an Authority than someone at de Paul University.

http://www.nbcnews.com/travel/millions-productivity-hours-lost-due-faa-gadget-ban-6C10100962

Folks, can we get serious for a Moment about this? Is this what we want, while getting on and off a Plane, or settling for a Seat in what could be an unconfortable Flight, if flying Coach, with Goodness knows how many People around us getting out their Laptops, Tablets and iPhones and starting to furiously poke at them during Take Off and Landing?

Is it not enough the Explosion of Noises, after a Plane lands, with Cell Phones going on all around us while still others are practicing Weight Lifting trying to get out of Overhead Bins Pieces of Luggage which would have gone into the Belly of the Plane, were it not for the $ 25,00 or so Checked Baggage Fee?  You might be surprised how much less Carry on Baggage is brought on Board on an International Flight, where these Fees largely do not exist.

In the cramped, overcrowded Environment of a Plane, some where Passangers, including Women with Children and the Elderly are making the Best of trying to get from Point „A” to Point „B” with the Minimum amount of Hassle, is the Use of Electronic Devices for a few extra Minutes of such paramount Importance? Is an Argument being made here that Passengers have some Sort of Right to an „Uninterrupted Office in the Plane?”

 

This is what it looks like when you are Boarding a Plane

There seem to be enough Issues of concern to the Flying Public, Factors such as Safety and Confort, the Latter of which has suffered dismally over the Years, where focusing on something like „Employee Productivity” in order to justify unterrupted Use of Electronic Devices on Airplanes would simply distract from other more important Things; cause us to diffuse our Attention rather than to focus.

What Confidence would you have in a Company which is having its Employees make Decisions while Planes are landing and taking off?

We have a Little more to show you (but, from this Source, it is going to be for free...)

Ah, the iPhone 5.  Apple was hoping that everyone would want to have the new iPhone 5 the Moment it hit the Market.  Without doing some advanced (and totally useless) Research as to how adept Apple has become at creating percieved ,,Shortages'' we cannot know exactly what happened but, in any Event, the ,,Shortage'' of iPhone 5's did not materialize.  You can buy an iPhone 5 wherever you want, even bargain over the Price but, either Way, it is still going to mean that you will need to fork over a considerable Sum of Money which will be good only until the ,,next Generation'' iPhone 5 1/2 or iPhone 6 or who possibly knows what Number.  But, anyways...one of the Reasons why the iPhone 5 is presumably considered so ,,cool'' is because of that new Apple Clock...sleek...21st Century Design...all black with a red Second Hand which has a round little Dot on it.

iPhone 5 showing the SBB-CFF-FFS Clock designed by Swíss Electro Engineer and Inventor Hans Hilfiker in 1944

 

Folks, if that Clock was one of the main Reasons if not the main Reason why you would have wanted an Apple Clock, we have a Money Saving Solution for you.  Without interfering with any of Apple's grandiose Plans, such as the little Boat (Yacht) that Steve Jobs ordered and had built before he died.

 

,,Venus,'' the Yacht Steve Jobs ordered to be built while he was still alive and which was just recently finished, in October 2012.

 

And, without violating any of Apple's fiercely guarded Patents, either.  As a Matter of Fact, the so called ,,Apple Clock'' is not an Apple Invention at all, nor is it sleek 21st Century.  The Clock is a Railroad Station Clock, dating back to the 1940's and belonging to the Swiss National Railways (SBB-CFF-FFS).  Apple ,,mistakenly'' adopted the Design.  So much for Observing other People's Trademarks.  However, you/we need not worry.  For one Thing, apparently Apple has quickly reached a Royalty Agreement with the Swiss National Railways whereby it can use the SBB-CFF-FFS Clock by Permission.

 

 

The Good News we have to give you is, if you want an ,,Apple Clock,'' or, more correctly, an SBB-CFF-FFS Clock, developed in 1944 by Swiss Electro Engineer and Inventor Hans Hilfiker, you need not buy an iPhone 5 or even get in touch with Apple.

 

The Swiss National Railways offers one for downloading at no Cost; all you need to go is go to the following Site:

 

http://www.sbb.ch/freizeit-ferien/allgemeine-informationen/wallpaper/sbb-uhr.html

 

A large, small and even a Mac OS System Clock are available.  Keep your Money and maybe next Time when Apple will have ,,a little more to show you'' it won't be from 1944 or, who knows, may be it won't be from Apple at all.

 

 



 

Google and Apple

There was some ,,terrible'' News about Google (GOOG, NASDAQ) today.  Somebody at R. R. Donnelley and Company (definitely not a ,,Star Quality'' Company, a true Has Been) seems to have made a Mistake or somebody at Google made a Mistake in reporting Google Earnings without the proper Orchestration and Google Stock immediately took a Tumble of more than 10% in Seconds.  Google, obviously a Company with Clout, was not only able to call NASDAQ and get through but also able to demand and succeed in having the Trading of the Stock suspended until it ,,corrected'' the News but not before $ 26 Billion went down the Toilet.

http://marketday.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/18/14540754-google-error-triggers-pending-larry-twitter-meme?lite

The Good News is that Google has the right Telephone Numbers and knows whom to call at NASDAQ.  The not so good News is that the Google Earnings took a Tumble and a certain Kind of Reality is setting in:  spectacular Earnings for Newstarts can often be achieved and even continue for a long Time but not forever.  By acquiring Motorola, Google has entered the ,,Mainstream'' and in the Mainstream Things are not as simple as for a Start Up; even for a giant Start Up which Google is.

Entertaining and amusing to some is that Google seemed to have used ,,Smart Phones'' for the Transmission of at least some of the Information to R. R. Donnelley and/or to the SEC; apparently, Google Higher Ups are busy using their Android Smart Phones and have fallen out of the Habit of just sitting down at some Desk and doing their Work the ,,Old Fashioned Way;''  proofing, reading and re reading something that is sent out because once it is sent out, it becomes just that; sent.  Such ,,Work'' is not for Big People; it is only for the little People, it seems.

But Google is not alone in this Stratosphere.  The Darling of the Stock Market right now is and has been for some Time, Apple Computer (AAPL, NASDAQ), not all that long ago a nearly bankrupt Company.  Apple rose from the Ashes under the masterful Hand of Steve Jobs, who backed his creative Innovations with equally creative Marketing and who went after its Competitors with ruthless Vengeance.  Trouble is, there are Dozens of Cell Phones and ,,Tablets'' which work really just as fine as Apple and one can sustain this Kind of Sizzle for only so long.  Steve Jobs masterfully maintained the Apple Legend for far longer than any savvy Marketing Executive would have thought possible but his untimely Death merely accelerated the Inevitable and Tim Cook...well, Tim Cook is no Steve Jobs and the First One who should know this and hopefully does, is Tim Cook himself.  Tim Cook overshot the Mark with the Introduction of the latest iPhone and overshot it badly; apparently the Orders for 5 Million iPhones were not 5 Million; and just because Tim Cook said there would be 5 Million iPhones sold did not cause Peopole to snatch those iPhones fast enough just to prove Tim Cook was right in predicting the Number of iPhones to be sold.  Apple Stock did not fare as badly as Google Stock did; it went down only 8,5%.  Other Warts, which were dismissed during Steve Jobs' Reign, keep raising their ugly Heads:  the Working Conditions at Foxconn which is the primary Producer of iPhones, the Lawsuits which Apple is pursuing against everybody in Sight (including the $ 1 Billion Judgment Apple was awarded against Samsung, now on Appeal) and more.

Still, none of the Above really points to the Crux of the Problem here.  With the American Economy in severe Trouble, with neither Mr. Obama or Mr. Romney having put out a credible Plan as to how they are going to pull the Economy out if its Tailspin, the more relevant Question should really have to do with just how many Jobs are these two Companies creating or even sustaining in the United States.

The Reader should be aware that we are talking here about two enormous Giants; one, Apple,the largest Company in the World in Terms of Capitalization.  Apple is bigger than General Motors although, it should be noted, General Motors is no longr General Motors but Apple is bigger than Exxon, too and, sometimes, that stretches the Limits of Credulity.

The Answer is that these two Companies employ very, very few People in the United States and, really, not that many Worldwide either.  Of Course, Investors on the Stock Market are not interested in creating Jobs; they are interested in making Money and that may not offer any Benefit to the Economy, regardless of what Mr. Bernanke thinks, but, as long as they are not breaking any Laws, there is no Choice but to tolerate their Practices.

However, the Question should be asked why the Focus of the News Media on these two Companies and, possibly, others of less Significance.  We are not talking about Trade Publications but rather, Mainstream.  These two Companies, which have amassed Billions and Zillions have not added any significant Jobs to the American Economy and they are not going to.  We, as a Nation, can be more mature.  We can pay less Importance to what Google and Apple do or think or even earn and pay more Attention how to create or ,,re-create'' Jobs which have evaporated, possibly, in Part, due to the Actions of these two Companies and focus on some of the real, acute and crucial Problems which this Country is facing today, economically.