This News Does Not Surprise Me

More People Are Now Prioritizing Their Phone Bill Over Their Car Payment

Phones are less expensive than a car, I get that, but here’s another bullet point to help illustrate the fact that more people are struggling to make their auto loan payments: Americans are prioritizing their phone bill over the car, reports Bloomberg.

“Payment priority of cell phones is higher than personal and auto loans and similar to or slightly lower than that of mortgage,” Ram Ahluwalia, the chief executive officer of PeerIQ, a New York-based provider of data and analytics for the consumer lending sector, said in an interview. “Now with Lyft and Uber, you can access transportation via cell phone. The car no longer is a central asset. Technological change is driving shifts in consumer behavior.”

I think the point here is valid. But it’s not because the car is “no longer” a central asset. Millions of people need to get around for work and errands every day. Instead of this being a sign that record amounts for loan terms, loan amounts, and 90-day delinquent borrowers, Bloomberg frames this around a sign of opportunity for investors to consider purchasing securities backed by phone bills.

(Jalopnik.com)

Go Figure

(CavemanCircus.com)

I Concur

Ditching the iPhone headphone jack is annoying for everyone except Apple

The con arguments are plentiful. For one, it probably means you have to go buy new stuff — either new headphones or a new attachment to modify your old headphones — which is never a happy thought for folks already buying a $550 phone. If Apple does this and doesn't include a set of Lightning-enabled headphones with every phone, it will look like a particularly soulless money grab.  

Secondly, it tightens Apple's control on the accessory market and possibly over digital music as well. Nilay Patel at the Verge makes the argument that these headphones would tacitly support DRM — a.k.a. digital rights management, a.k.a. the thing that keeps you from being able to freely move media files between devices. Get rid of the analog headphone jack, he argues, and you lose the motivation to support anything analog. Daring Fireball’s John Gruber isn’t so sure about that argument but does point out in his rebuttal to Patel that anyone making Lightning headphones will require certification from Apple.

Beats, one imagines, would be among the brands to support the new standard.

No matter what, that’s more control for Apple, which can be a bad thing for consumers. Moving from an open standard to a closed one often leads to confusion and higher costs for consumers.

Finally, if Apple doesn’t add a second Lightning port to the phone — an addition that seems unlikely if Apple wants to make more room inside the phone — it will also mean that you can’t charge your phone and have your headphones plugged in at the same time. Even the one-port MacBook, which has its own power port pull double duty, lets you do that.

(WashingtonPost.com) 

It Makes Sense

(Bits&Pieces.us)

It's Because They're A Big Business

The Real Reason Apple Won't Fix Its Crappy Charging Cables

When looks trump function, though, you end up with designers opting for a particular aesthetic, even when it goes against the engineers’ advice -- or massive complaints from users. Simply put: an elegant design is more important to Apple than one that prolongs the life expectancy of a product.

So that, very likely, is why the chargers fray and fall apart -- and will continue to do so. It's not just because they want us to keep sinking money into replacement cords. One former Apple employee claims on Reddit that the Industrial Design team just hates the look of popular “strained relief”-style cords, which exist specifically to prevent cords from bending at harsh angles, and they insist on sticking with the more elegant-looking white brick with USB cord.

The other obnoxious thing at play here is that all the frustrated customers like myself are left pretty much optionless -- Apple cautions against using non-Apple chargers for laptops and iPhones because they can be detrimental to the machine and fry your battery.

(Thrillist.com)

I'm Taking Advantage Of This

Hidden Cell Phone Contract Perks You Should Be Taking Advantage Of

Verizon

Push for a Loyalty Plan

• Like its competitors, Verizon's been known to pull out all the stops for customers who might walk away after their contract's up. If you're at the end of your current contract and have been a customer for years, you owe it to yourself to call them up to see what they're willing to do to keep you around. If you're lucky you might end up on the storied Loyalty Plan.

Complete list (Thrillist.com)

I'll Take The Latter S6

(CarThrottle.com)