I too am not such a big fan of social networking. I do have a tumblr blog, but there's not a lot of socializing going on to be honest.

I remember when web forums was this newfangled thing I couldn't understand the need for, specially when there was things like usenet and IRC already... (and nikom bbs:es, etc, etc)

I would say those all are "social networks", the word just wasn't invented until "normal" people started using them and they didn't want to feel like "antisocial computer nerds".

So many hours trying in vain to explain to family that you can be quite social while at your computer.... now they all are on facebook.

I don't know if I have a point... I guess I'm getting old enough to ramble....

I seem to be in a 'unusual' scenario, I say unusual because I have no real use for mobile apps. When I am out and away from my computer the last thing I want to do is play games or use some app simply because it seems quite pointless and doesn't make my life any easier, as it makes no sense to use 'apps' outside. I am going to remove games from this problem altogether as I don't even like games on desktops anymore and never even liked oldschool games like snake and stuff.

I don't use social networking simply because my life is very static and it would result in a lot of pointless posts over and over, either about what I eat or what the cat did. Even when I did use FB I NEVER wanted to use it outside work, FB was really that thing I would go on to pass time when I was bored at work, but I never did that on a phone.

I use my phone to call, send / check e-mails and my schedule, I use an actual camera to take pictures if I need to, phone cameras are quite terrible, before iPhones or whatever came out this was also the case and equally I had no purpose or desire for apps. I am usually good at putting myself in other peoples shoes, very good I would say but I cant seem to understand why mobile apps would be popular, the way I see it, I think of apps being good when travelling away from home, or useful when 'waiting' for something. I had a look at some apps that were popular and I have to say I didn't find any use to them, even things like maps were somewhat pointless to me as I have sat nav.

Sadly this is a large market (although as days go by I am starting to feel it is smaller than it seems) and I feel I am going to have to 'get' it. I feel I am not alone in this situation either, however my life is very commercial orientated and if I ever used an app to communicate instead of a call I would probably get laughed at.

I had a look at http://www.appstoreapps.com/most-popular-apps/ to see whats popular, so far I have looked in many lists and yet to come across even one app that remotely made me interested. Now I originally thought the problem was that I had a windows phone and not an iPhone or an Android, but assuming that site is sincere, I think it is safe to say I would feel like this regardless of device.

Ok so my questions are, am I alone in feeling like this and if so what am I not getting?

I should mention I do all my work and stuff on a desktop / workstation and when travelling abroad a laptop, simply because I need a big screen and a 'real' full keyboard.

Partially i agree with that constatation - I too do not use

many apps on my weak android phone but this is probably due

to lack of time, i use the ones related to content management

- internet

- books

- photos

- music

On the pc I also do not use many programs today

I also can't understand how people can claim mobile devices are the "new gaming platform". Apps, or "games" on mobile devices are nothing more than a time filler for train trips between your house and work. They are little toys to help prevent people from dying of boredom. They cannot indulge a person into the immerse surround sound, beautiful high definition graphics and intense story driven entertainment a computer game can deliver.

Stop being so narrow minded. Not everybody gives a damn if their games have cutting edge sound or graphics. And not everybody wants story-driven entertainment either. I can be equally narrow-minded here and say that stories in computer games are extremely limited anyway. Why play a game when you want a story when you could read a book instead (or since we're talking about mobiles, read an eBook).

I use my 7" tablet quite a lot for work related tasks. It has my address book, calendar, to do lists, calculator, gross profit calculator, drop box to access documents I create in the office anywhere, mobile office software so I can do work when I'm out of the restaurant. It also conveniently fits in my inside jacket pocket. I can also use it to monitor the security footage and remotely connect to the router should their be networking issues while I'm not there. I can also use it to connect via VNC to my office machine.

As well as for work, I use it for Facebook since I live in a different country from my family and most of my friends. I do net banking on it, use it as a music player (i have my entire music collection on Google Play Music), and I play games on it while I'm traveling (I can even get most of a sudoku game in while taking the lift to/from my apartment).

All of the above i can do on my phone as well, and my apps sync data between both devices, though the tablet is easier to use with my big fat fingers. And while I can certainly imagine living without a smartphone or tablet, since I did so for around 35 years, they have made a lot of my life easier and more productive.

I don't get a lot of things but still if I don't embrace them I would end up falling behind the curve and becoming unemployable.

I attended Velocity last week and there was a strong focus throughout the conference showing that mobile apps and websites are taking over and in the future desktop web browsers are going to become the niche whilst a mobile web experience will be the norm.
Any company that fails to embrace mobile will fall by the wayside. There were some very interesting figures to back this up showing that a 1 sec increase in response times from Amazons mobile app was equal to an extra $17 million per quarter and Shuh were showing that 53% of all their web revenue was now from mobile devices.

There were also some comparisons of other industries that had been resistant to change such as print publishers who had failed to embrace eBooks and also the big one Blockbuster who failed to see the threat coming from Netflix.

Just because you don't "get" something doesn't mean its a thing. I don't "get" Twitter but a lot of other people do.

I also can't understand how people can claim mobile devices are the "new gaming platform". Apps, or "games" on mobile devices are nothing more than a time filler for train trips between your house and work. They are little toys to help prevent people from dying of boredom. They cannot indulge a person into the immerse surround sound, beautiful high definition graphics and intense story driven entertainment a computer game can deliver.

Stop being so narrow minded. Not everybody gives a damn if their games have cutting edge sound or graphics. And not everybody wants story-driven entertainment either. I can be equally narrow-minded here and say that stories in computer games are extremely limited anyway. Why play a game when you want a story when you could read a book instead (or since we're talking about mobiles, read an eBook).

I use my 7" tablet quite a lot for work related tasks. It has my address book, calendar, to do lists, calculator, gross profit calculator, drop box to access documents I create in the office anywhere, mobile office software so I can do work when I'm out of the restaurant. It also conveniently fits in my inside jacket pocket. I can also use it to monitor the security footage and remotely connect to the router should their be networking issues while I'm not there. I can also use it to connect via VNC to my office machine.

As well as for work, I use it for Facebook since I live in a different country from my family and most of my friends. I do net banking on it, use it as a music player (i have my entire music collection on Google Play Music), and I play games on it while I'm traveling (I can even get most of a sudoku game in while taking the lift to/from my apartment).

All of the above i can do on my phone as well, and my apps sync data between both devices, though the tablet is easier to use with my big fat fingers. And while I can certainly imagine living without a smartphone or tablet, since I did so for around 35 years, they have made a lot of my life easier and more productive.

Perhaps I formulated that wrong. I still consider games targeting the mobile platform are designed for wasting time rather than for indulging the player. I'm looking at this from a completely general point of view, not specific - of course there are exceptions of games just as indulging for the tablet as there are for the computer. What I'm saying is, the tablet is generally being targeted with simple, time wasting games.

If you had told me you get home and lay on the couch with your tablet, and played the new Battle Field 4 game, or StarCraft II with your clan, or whatever game you enjoy playing, and didn't have a computer or console because playing games on your tablet is far superior, that is when you would prove my point wrong.

And don't say that's narrow minded and claim those games are also for wasting time. Even though I would agree with you that both activities are "wasting time" in some sense, playing games on a computer at home with friends in your free time has a whole other purpose than playing games on a train on your way to work on your tablet.

With that said, I haven't been exposed to a tablet or smart phone long enough to be convinced of it. What you mentioned you do with your tablet is exactly what I am able to do with my laptop, minus the ability to be able to type quickly using the virtual screen keyboard and plus the portability. I would go into discussing the limitations of the mobile operating system (especially Apple), but considering the sheer amount of ways to hack it right, I won't attempt it.

I also can't understand how people can claim mobile devices are the "new gaming platform". Apps, or "games" on mobile devices are nothing more than a time filler for train trips between your house and work. They are little toys to help prevent people from dying of boredom. They cannot indulge a person into the immerse surround sound, beautiful high definition graphics and intense story driven entertainment a computer game can deliver.

Stop being so narrow minded. Not everybody gives a damn if their games have cutting edge sound or graphics. And not everybody wants story-driven entertainment either. I can be equally narrow-minded here and say that stories in computer games are extremely limited anyway. Why play a game when you want a story when you could read a book instead (or since we're talking about mobiles, read an eBook).

I use my 7" tablet quite a lot for work related tasks. It has my address book, calendar, to do lists, calculator, gross profit calculator, drop box to access documents I create in the office anywhere, mobile office software so I can do work when I'm out of the restaurant. It also conveniently fits in my inside jacket pocket. I can also use it to monitor the security footage and remotely connect to the router should their be networking issues while I'm not there. I can also use it to connect via VNC to my office machine.

As well as for work, I use it for Facebook since I live in a different country from my family and most of my friends. I do net banking on it, use it as a music player (i have my entire music collection on Google Play Music), and I play games on it while I'm traveling (I can even get most of a sudoku game in while taking the lift to/from my apartment).

All of the above i can do on my phone as well, and my apps sync data between both devices, though the tablet is easier to use with my big fat fingers. And while I can certainly imagine living without a smartphone or tablet, since I did so for around 35 years, they have made a lot of my life easier and more productive.

Perhaps I formulated that wrong. I still consider games targeting the mobile platform are designed for wasting time rather than for indulging the player. I'm looking at this from a completely general point of view, not specific - of course there are exceptions of games just as indulging for the tablet as there are for the computer. What I'm saying is, the tablet is generally being targeted with simple, time wasting games.

If you had told me you get home and lay on the couch with your tablet, and played the new Battle Field 4 game, or StarCraft II with your clan, or whatever game you enjoy playing, and didn't have a computer or console because playing games on your tablet is far superior, that is when you would prove my point wrong.

And don't say that's narrow minded and claim those games are also for wasting time. Even though I would agree with you that both activities are "wasting time" in some sense, playing games on a computer at home with friends in your free time has a whole other purpose than playing games on a train on your way to work on your tablet.

With that said, I haven't been exposed to a tablet or smart phone long enough to be convinced of it. What you mentioned you do with your tablet is exactly what I am able to do with my laptop, minus the ability to be able to type quickly using the virtual screen keyboard and plus the portability. I would go into discussing the limitations of the mobile operating system (especially Apple), but considering the sheer amount of ways to hack it right, I won't attempt it.

The only reason that in the future it will be web based is because they want it to be web based for more control. Then it will be truly "Post PC" (Post personal computer). In other words, "Post your own private information" era.

So that all data for all people is interconnected into a web. What does this mean for the end user?

It means that if you are not linked up to the "system" you can't maintain a comfortable life in this society. Meanwhile we are thankful for the convenience of it all, not seeing we are truly giving way, in one form or another, our freedom.

It is the same epidemic I began to see when I noticed how we pay for the convenience of seedless grapes because we just hate picking out those seeds ourselves. We would rather have our pomegranates the same way. It is almost to the point that fruit doesn't have the seeds in themselves anymore.

Fast forward to a famine or severe economic situation. We go to the store to buy a fruit supposing we can grow our own fruit trees from the seeds inside. Oops! Sorry! No seeds!.

Irony?

Perhaps? Not a chance?

I don't use any of these new gadgets (SmartPhone, iThings etc) for several reasons.

• I have a bit of an OCD. I can easily fall into clicking/refreshing cycles even on PC. I don't want to do the same all the time in my life
• I'm bored of surfing on the net. It's very rare that I get into something and spend hours with it. There are times when I am bored (luckily it's very rare), but even then it's hard for me to get exited about surfing on the net. I just stare the monitor and don't know what to look for. 4chan some time ago.
• I seem to be a rare person who is not immediately bored if waiting/being on the go
• I am an employee, so all work related info will stay in the office, and I'll only handle them in the work hours
• The most important people for me can reach me on the cellphone, it's always on.
• I, unlike most people, have a bit deeper relation with music. I love it, and I want to listen to it. Which, for me, is pretty much impossible on public transport or during walking. Actually, I would be afraid that the music would steal my attention and I would get into an accident, for example because not hearing environmental noise
• FaceBook. I'm a lone person with a very few people who I want to hang out with, and fortunately we arrange everything by emailing or telephoning. So I don't miss anything by not being on FB all the time. I have an account, sometimes I browse the stuff some people are posting (most "friends" are ignored though). Obviously a PC is enough for that
• reading: my eyes get tired quickly, and screens are to small for these devices.
• games: they seem to be the most appealing thing for me, but it's just not enough to buy a gadget.
• gadgets, with all the accompanying services, are obviously much more expensive than nothing, as they don't hold a real value for me.

So I wouldn't say I don't get this whole thing, it's just not my thing. But I do think it's more of an OCD exaggerating thing than an actually useful thing.

Ah I just remembered a paper I did. Although the innovation of smaller devices doesn't seem important now, it was a huge accomplishment back in the day of cameras, before computers were common.

Now more closely fitting to this topic, extremely similar to those initial electronic development stages, we are in a constant struggle to find out exactly how and where software will apply.

Future check, when we have commonplace wrist-watches that carry our bio rhythms and perform automatic wireless uploads of our personal common software assets (picture, sound, number, settings). Wouldn't it make sense to try everything with it, including taking photos?

I attended Velocity last week and there was a strong focus throughout the conference showing that mobile apps and websites are taking over and in the future desktop web browsers are going to become the niche whilst a mobile web experience will be the norm.

Despite my comments, I and many other have said in the past without stats, that not everyone needs a desktop which tbh is fairly obvious, but this isn't about the device, I got a phone after so long simply to 'embrace' it and see if it made a difference in my life. It is to do with the apps and the drive for it, just because something is popular doesn't mean it is automatically something that needs to be 'embraced', however if it is a market then research is required and what I don't get isn't individual apps, its when and where a person would use and so far it often seems to be a case of procrastination.

There were also some comparisons of other industries that had been resistant to change such as print publishers who had failed to embrace eBooks and also the big one Blockbuster who failed to see the threat coming from Netflix.

This is completely different, we aren't talking about how the internet changed businesses or how publishers stuck (and still stick) to paper. I made this thread because researching apps failed, if you look on the internet about how apps have changed the world etc, majority of the articles happily start with positive comments like "It allows us to access information", "a new way to communicate" and "made our life easier", but then starts talking about games and social networking instead of explaining itself, seriously do a search and you will see what I am talking about, it describes the internet and somehow allows mobile apps to take the credit :S. Not only that several sites criticise mobile web and recommend mobile apps, in a sense a replacement to the internet and these arguments are similar to language wars too so that doesn't really make me anymore comfortable with apps. The internet however, it talks about information, digital storage, research, working with web APIs for education purposes, so far mobile devices have become the electronic device that people get if they have no use for a desktop, there wasn't any new doors opened for me by getting a smartphone, this isn't about embracing it is about finding a use for myself.

Let me try to get my point across a different way and in a sort of device way too, Google glass, I don't get it? Surely you aren't going to try to say I should embrace making apps for that too are you? I can imagine it being popular and full of apps but is that enough to make me want to invest time in it. As for the corporate argument, if a company wanted me to make an app, consider it done, I would never allow my personal opinions to affect my work, that doesn't mean I will use the app myself, even if it brought in millions in revenue, perhaps the reasons I don't have use for the apps is because I don't have enough free time in my life or all the tasks in my life are created statically or that I don't like games anymore, but I am not going to start conditioning myself to like apps simply because they are popular especially when most of the time they are used to waste time.

I don't even own a smart phone. Call me a Luddite, I guess.

I dont even own a cell phone, call me a cave man