Who’s on Crack in Tech: 10.16.09

This week I was forced to get out amongst the people and away from tech. That doesn’t stop the tech world from moving on and making huge missteps and this week was no exception. Here are the moves that make me suspect narcotics might be involved. It would be worth just having the dog sniff around here, right?

• Sidekick melts down
• Openmoko rolls out web device fit for 1997
• Harnessing the power of the Sun is stupid
• Google Voice becomes “person of interest” to the feds

Sidekick brand is tarnished

If you needed a quick step program on how to tank your mobile phone brand, look no further than the great “Sidekick Fiasco of 2009.” Server issues brought the devices down for a couple of days and phones that were reset during this period had their data erased. Not cool.

What the T-Mobile Sidekick team missed is this: a golden opportunity. Had they had a new product in the wings, they could have chosen to nuke all Sidekick info, prompting an apology and a discount on new hardware that “can’t” have this horrible data problem happen to it ever again. By presenting the problem and the solution, T-Mobile would have been seen as the innovator and cashed in on a bunch of new Sidekick sales.

As it stands now, Sidekick’ers are going to find they really like the rash of Android phones headed down the pipe.

WikiReader part of new gadget-to-trash bin series

My editor hates when I do this, but I think Gadgetell writer Shawn Ingram is nuts. I am not suggesting contraband is in play here, but, well, read for yourself and remember we are talking about a monochrome device that freezes a portion of the web for offline viewing:
“Sure, those of us with smartphones could just browse to the website, provided there’s decent, reliable data service, but a dedicated device makes sense. It brings the community encyclopedia into anyone’s pocket and could prove very handy for quick references.”

I dig Openmoko’s ideas (normally) but this one is so far off the reservation, there is just no hope. Really, Wikipedia? The resource ridiculed by the Office’s Michael Scott for being his only place of real information? What is next, an offline device for Facebook so we can see what friends status was back in March? This flies in the face of the always on networks, WiFi networks and the future we see evolving in front of our eyes. Is Openmoko really inviting us to take a giant step backwards? I am passing.

LG looks to sun to recharge ebook readers, darkness is pissed

This week, our Robert Nelson told us about a new ereader that looks to alternative energy for power. Clever. Robert says, “The Solar Cell will have a 6-in TFT-LCD that can get an extra day of reading from roughly about four to five hours of sunlight. This extra juice comes by way of a thin-film 10-cm x 10-cm solar cell, … In other words, it is about as thick as a credit card and as heavy as a fountain pen.”

Sounds great right? Only what happens to readers like this and other solar powered devices when the star (that is the Sun) begins to fade? Increasing reliance on the Sun as a source of power is going to send us right back to the waiting arms of dino-flesh and the folks lucky enough to be standing above where the dinos bit it, so to speak. We know stars fade out over time and setting up an industry with an expiration date is just a temporary move at best. I can hear my great-great-great grandkids saying, “I remember when I could recharge our flying car from the sun in just an hour, now it takes a day.”

Forget the normal excuses of cloudy days, that fact that most people read on planes and in buildings (both notorious for the overhead obstructions) or even the happy-go-lucky “every little bit helps” song and dance. We consumer are being set up by an industry that is looking for a short term fix to get us out of this economy. Selling snake oil, like expiring solar power, isn’t fooling anyone.

Google Voice to get FCC scrutiny, darn

This isn’t good. Seems when Google Voice become the hot topic over the Apple/AT&T iPhone App store debacle, the FCC opened up a can of worms. Our Shawn Ingram reports, “Specifically, the FCC is interested in how Google handles phone calls to rural areas, 900 numbers, or any number that is expensive to call. For telecoms there is a rule that says they must connect every phone call possible.”

And here is the bump in the road: no one really knows what the heck Google Voice is. Is it a telecom and thus should be governed by the same rules? If not a telecom, then what?

The humor in this is some of the rural number AT&T cites that Google Voice won’t connect to are a convent of nuns (as opposed to ones filled with bagels I guess), a politician’s office and a payphone for woodland creatures. I suspect AT&T had some interns dialing numbers at random for a long time to come up with these. It is probably a “what I did on my summer internship” report somewhere.

I’ve got a sneaky suspicion things will change at Google Voice at the FCC’s hands. Which is a shame as clearly, the service has a lot of folks (who happen to make large political donations and have more than a few lobbyists on the payroll) nervous. What say you? Will Google Voice get classified as a telecom? Or will the FCC leave it alone and watch what happens? Let us know in the comments.