There has been a bunch of similar looking phones to Apple’s iPhone since the first pictures of the iPhone were released. Chinese Meizu is the company that made me smile the most. From the pictures I have seen of Meizu M8 at Gizmodo, these phones do replicate so much of Apple’s iPhone User Interface.

The Gizmodo article talks about how iPhone copy’s or clones can be a good thing for the consumers. I presume that Meizu does not have all the legalities in place, but on the other side Apple, Microsoft and many other the big names have not all played completely fair all the time either?

Even though I had personally thought about keeping away from the iPhone hype and not purchasing one when available, I must admit that the iPhone is sweet. While visiting the States I was able to try out its interface and have some fun with it. With all its PDA features as well as just being a phone it combines my necessities in a practical format. Another friend of mine, who visited another part of the US a couple days ago, purchased an iPhone while on vacation. Now I look forward to see the success or failure of the unlocking process now required to force it to work in Norway.

This new web 2.0 service, MyCyberTwin has caused some laughs and then made people think. I have even read of MyCyberTwin references to a so-called web 3.0. Basically MyCyberTwin is a bot, that can converse on various social-networking sites in your place. It has enough AI, Artificial Intelligence, to actually convey a semi-meaningful conversation.

I believe that we are definitely going to see a lot more of this sort of AI-features, as there is simply not enough time for the web 2.0 generation, bloggers and webmasters to keep up with everything. (See: First Follow-up Web 2.0 running out of time?) Also what are the ethical implications, is the “owner” held responsible etc.?

Check TechCrunch’s out write-up for some interesting example dialogues and comments.

Although there are a great deal of indications that do point in the direction that some of the traditional journalism will die, Check out Wayne Smallman’s The death of the professional photojournalist?, I believe traditional journalism will survive parallel to the amateur journalist (Work for Yahoo & Reuters Without a Salary).

I have previously thought about how difficult source verification must be, with large amounts of user submitted news material. If you consider the fact that for a site or newspaper to become one of quality and especially trustworthiness, the news has to be true, often meaning several and/or respected sources. The possibility is definitely out there, for a large amount of people to be able to fabricate stories with their camera cell phones. At the moment, since the quality is so low on video and pictures from the phones, it provides even a greater chance to give an incorrect representation of an event. However I believe the quality from cell phones will improve quickly, but I do expect some news hoax in the mean time.

I don’t normally watch much news on TV, but I happened to catch just a glimpse of a story on CNN regarding the changes in the news due to public submitted cell phone pictures and video. (I have not been able to find the story on the net.) However I heard that there is an enormous amount of pictures and videos that are submitted to CNN and similar agencies. Going through it all and finding actual newsworthy material is not always easy. This is why “editorial” services like scoopt.com are a success and will continue to thrive. Scoopt.com allows users to submit pictures, videos or blogs, they then screen it and contact established news agencies willing to pay.
In addition in the CNN report, they discussed that there can be dangers of “sneaking” camera phones with to events and happenings that might initially forbid them.

An example, perhaps not such a good one, of the product and danger can be seen in the recent leakages of Saddam Hussein’s execution, where an already tense situation between the Sunni and Shia muslims will likely only elavate following the rather shocking execution video. CNN has the story: Fallout spreads from the execution video.Another expectation is that PR companies are already or will soon submit cell phone videos or pictures to profile their customers. Back to business and money…

Some comments to my article (Laptops NOT a Microsoft Bribe?) on Digg.com made me realize that I should be a little more clear of where I stand on the issue.

Firstly Credibility
If you knew a travel operator had sponsored some journalists writing a merry story or review about a rather unknown holiday beach somewhere half around the world, the chances are you would find them slightly less credible on their review. At the same time it’s so much better for them to disclose the fact that they actually were sponsored. Because not disclosing it, would then in fact perhaps be “misinterpereted” as a bribe.

Secondly Finances
There is no doubt that the finances of an established newspaper compared to a privately financed hobby blog are going to decide what the reviewer is capable of reviewing. In that light, if a “poor” reviewer should be given the possibility to review something that he at a first glance can’t afford, that should be a good thing. Though how the product is acquired is even more importantly something that should be told during the review. However if the product is already on the market, the established newspaper should strive to self finance the products.

Thirdly Not a Perfect World
Even the established newspapers might have owners that just grant them enough cash for their survival; therefore a free product to review might be greatly appreciated. In an ideal situation, the press is supposed to be free. Not told by anybody how to write an article or review something, in that way the reader is hopefully receiving a more correct picture of reality. But again, representation of reality will always be skewed. A lot of people don’t want to lose face or credibility and therefore might not inform readers that they have received a product for free. I’m sure this is the case every single day, and we can only be glad that Microsoft’s contribution, along with the others (Acer, AMD), has been brought to our attention.

Fourthly I’m biased
I mentioned it in my last post’s edit, but I’ll mention it again. My experiences with Microsoft’s operating systems have not been all that good, along side with Internet Explorer. Where I used to spend countless hours trying to make my webdesigns work for IE, when they looked nice on all the other browsers, just because Microsoft didn’t want to follow the standards. In addition that error pages and domains that are not found, even if you just forget the www, will lead you back to Microsoft’s search pages I interpret as an attempt to generate “false” internet traffic to their own sites.

Fifthly I’m not writing more quite yet
I’m sure I could write a great deal more on this matter, and I know there are books on similar issue’s. But for readability and other things I need to get done I’ll call it a day for now. 

(This post, like many of my other posts, is just me thinking aloud, and I don’t have the facts in front of me and may be totally wrong. And if so please tell me.)

More about this in the news:
Scott Beale is donating auction proceeds to EFF: Windows Vista Laptop on eBay, Proceeds Going To EFF
Amit Agarwal: What other bloggers are doing with their Microsoft freebies
Microsoft gives laptops that are not optimal for Vista Premium(?): Microsoft Gives Bloggers Sub-Aero (2.8) Laptops
B.L. Ochman: Edelman Has New Ethics Scandal Brewing With Microsoft’s Blogger Bribe Campaign
Chris Abraham: In Defense of Edelman over Bribery Charges