GoPro captures road rage as alleged victim fights back (and wins)
Technically Incorrect: A video of a motorist getting angry at a motorcyclist depicts an instance of a man getting more than he bargained for. Almost 9 million YouTube viewers have checked it out.
Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.
Why is it that when we're behind the wheel, that's exactly when our mental wheels come off?
So what if another driver has done something we don't like? So what if cyclists exist? In seconds they will be gone.
Yet, in what is possibly the best (and even only) defense of self-driving cars, we lose our tempers and behave very badly.
One such example involves a man on a motorcycle who was accosted by an angry man in a car. We don't know what happened before the July 11 incident in Yuma, Arizona. We do know that the driver got out of his car and began to throw his weight around at the biker and his girlfriend.
The biker, though, was wearing a GoPro. (Why do people do this? I have no idea.) He captured the action as the driver stopped at a stoplight and confronted him.
There was pushing, and punches were thrown -- by the driver (identified by police, the Yuma Sun reports, as 51-year-old Lee Schismenos).
The biker, identified by ABC News as 24-year-old Cody Munoz, tried to restrain him. Simultaneously, Munoz pleaded he'd done nothing to the man. However, as he tried to defend himself, he had to pin Schismenos, whose rage was unabated, to the ground. All the time, Munoz's words sound reasonable. Still, Schismenos rages.
ABC News quotes the police report as saying that Munoz may have cut Schismenos off (though in the video Munoz says he merely drove between cars).
Regardless, is it possible to justify Schismenos' rage?
I have contacted Yuma police to ask how they will now proceed. However, the Yuma Sun says Schismenos may now face charges of disorderly conduct; endangerment; threatening and intimidating; assault; and driving under the influence. (He also wound up with a broken ankle.)
Before cameras came along, such incidents depended on reliable eyewitnesses. And such eyewitnesses didn't always want to testify in court. The simple fact that Munoz was wearing a camera means he had ready-made evidence to present to the police.
Almost 9 million people have already viewed that evidence on YouTube.
And all because someone appears to have lost their temper over something that was surely not worth it.
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Should I upgrade my iPhone 5S to iOS 9?
Patience is a virtue, and when it comes to software upgrades it might just save your sanity. In this edition of Ask Maggie, CNET's Marguerite Reardon explains why some owners should wait before they upgrade their devices to iOS 9.
The latest version of Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones and iPads is out in the wild. The early version of the software was released last week to the general public ahead of its official launch later this year. But is it really a good idea for the average Joe to download the software?
It seems that with every update of Apple's iOS software, anxious Apple fans worry about whether or when they should upgrade their devices. For the next iteration of iOS, Apple is giving the general public a peek at the next version of the software, iOS 9. At its Worldwide Developer Conference in June, the company announced that for the first time it was making the next version of iOS available early not just to software developers, but to everyone.
This early version of iOS, which may differ from the version released in the fall when the next iPhone launches, offers changes to Siri, improvements to the Maps app, and better search tools.
The changes have gotten high marks from reviewers, such as CNET's Jason Parker. But how will the upgrades fair on older devices, like the iPhone 5S? Is it a good idea to upgrade to the new software before the final version is released?
That's the question I answer in this edition of Ask Maggie.
Dear Maggie,
Is it safe to install iOS 9 on my iPhone 5s or iPad 2 or iPad Mini? I want to check out the new features, but don't want kill my devices. Let me know what you suggest.
Thanks,
Karan
Dear Karan,
I wouldn't say that upgrading to iOS 9 is "unsafe." Your devices won't explode if you update them. But there are a few things you need to keep in mind before you take the plunge.
In short, if you thought the last upgrade of iOS was too much of a headache for you to handle, then you might want to wait.
The version of iOS 9 that Apple released last week is considered a beta release of software. What that means is that it's not the final version of software. It's still in the testing phase, and Apple is using regular folks like you and me to test it out before it's tweaked and released to the public in its final version.
These beta or test versions of software are usually buggy. In fact, the whole point of releasing a "beta" version is to allow others to help find glitches so that Apple software engineers can fix the issues. My CNET Reviews colleague Jason Parker, who has been testing software for more than 15 years at CNET, has written a post specifically on this question of whether people should upgrade to iOS 9 now or wait. His suggestion is that being part of a beta trial is not for the faint of heart.
"If you're an experienced developer, running beta operating systems is old hat," he writes. "But if you're just an avid user, take a breath before you go and sign up for your chance at either beta: You may not be ready to run non-final software."
The fact that Apple has opened up the software to the masses while it's still in development is unusual for the company, whose hallmark is making sure its products offer consumers a great experience. Previously, Apple only released this test software to developers. Then the company would release the final version of the software to the general public. Even these software releases were still plagued with bugs.
Remember the upgrade to iOS 7? From a security flaw that allowed potential hackers to gain access to the contents of your phone via the lock screen to a bug that caused devices to constantly reboot, the upgrade to iOS 7 from iOS 6 in 2013 was a rough ride for many consumers. To be fair, iOS 7 was not just any upgrade. It was the biggest overhaul of the mobile operating system since it had launched in 2007. Still, you get the picture. Even upgrades to a final version of software do not always go smoothly.
This leads to my next bit of advice. Even when the final version of iOS 9 is released, you still may want to wait a few days or weeks before you upgrade. This is especially true if you have an older device, like the iPhone 5S and the iPad Mini and iPad 2 you mentioned. Why? Apple fans who have older products tend to report more problems following a software update than people using new devices.
Part of the problem is that many of the new features offered in a software update are often optimized for the latest and greatest technology. If you have a device that is two or three generations old, the software may not work as well on the hardware, simply because your device is using older hardware that is not optimized for the software. That said, Apple has been pretty good about making sure that the software will work on older-generation devices.
Still, Parker recommends that you exercise patience when iOS 9 is out of beta and released to the public.
"Apple has shown us that it might be good to wait for reviews (from customers) before pulling the trigger," he said. "For the most part, a final version should be OK. But waiting just a couple of days for others to test it, especially if you have an older phone, is probably a good idea."
What if you simply can't wait? I understand that waiting is hard. You want new features that allow you to switch between apps more easily, as well as an improved keyboard and the new battery-saving mode right now. I get it. If you simply can't wait until the final version of the software is released, Parker suggests upgrading an iPad rather than your iPhone.
The reason is simple. You don't want a software bug to gum up your iPhone, which you use everyday to communicate. Assuming you don't use your iPad as often, it still offers a good place to check out the new updates in iOS 9 without risking the loss of critical functions like text messaging on a device that you need almost as much as the air you breathe. If you must upgrade early, do it on one of the two iPads you mentioned.
The bottom line:
iOS 9 isn't likely to break your phone and it certainly won't make it self-destruct. But dealing with buggy software is no fun, especially if you're not a geeky software developer. So I would wait to upgrade your devices to the next version of iOS until it's fully baked. And even then, I'd wait at least a few days or maybe longer to see if there are additional kinks that need to be worked out.
And if you completely ignore my advice and upgrade your iPhone 5S anyway and realize that it has broken something important, fear not. CNET's Dan Graziano offers some advice in his how-to-video on how to get back to iOS 8 from iOS 9.
Good luck!
Ask Maggie is an advice column that answers readers' wireless and broadband questions. If you have a question, I'd love to hear from you. Please send me an e-mail at maggie dot reardon at cbs dot com. And please put "Ask Maggie" in the subject header. You can also follow me on Facebook on my Ask Maggie page.
THIS WEEK'S MUST READS
Meet Voat, the website that wants to be the anti-Reddit
As social-news site Reddit tries to clean up its act by limiting some speech, an alternative springs up, promising to be more freewheeling.
With all the drama surrounding Reddit, from debates over free speech to its messy game of musical chairs among executives, it's understandable some users might want to leave.
Now they've found a place to go. It's called Voat (rhymes with goat), and it says it's fixed all those things people don't like about Reddit.
The site launched in April 2014 and was originally called WhoaVerse. It started as a part-time project of a third-year Swedish college student and now the site claims to be run by two students who are "currently studying computer science and economics at University of Zurich in Switzerland." One of them is called Atif, according to the "About" page on the site.
Voat users posted in relative obscurity until a month ago, when Reddit's management banned five noxious forums from its service, including one devoted to making fun of overweight people.
Fear over increasing control from Reddit's administrators, who are attempting to turn the site into a large, successful and profitable company, appears to have pushed swaths of passionate Reddit users, known as Redditors, to Voat.co. "Due to the recent interest generated by the online community," the site tells visitors, "this has evolved from hobby into full-fledged desire to create the website that will become the place where you can "have your say."
It's unclear how many people visit Voat. The site doesn't publish statistics about its usage, and industry tracker ComScore said its traffic is currently too small to track. What is known: The number of people who visited Reddit from a desktop or laptop computer dropped by 600,000 in the week of July 5 to 4.6 million.
So could this all lead to a MySpace-style path to Reddit's ultimate obsolescence? Could Reddit's users migrate in massive waves to Voat, as MySpace users did to Facebook a half decade ago?
Well, many of Reddit's angriest users aren't just hoping for it, they're actively encouraging an exodus. "The more people move to Voat, the better," wrote one Reddit user named TorchicBlaziken. "Voat is the evolution of reddit, so I hope that the diversity of its communities rivals that of reddit."
Experts say migrations can and do happen on the Web, particularly among the volatile user bases like those at Reddit.
"A new brand can come out of the blue in just months," said Sree Sreenivasan, chief digital officer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Loyalty is there but not guaranteed. Supremacy on the Web is not guaranteed to anyone anymore."
Or as one Voat user wrote: "It's the cycle of the internet. A website grows up and sells out then we move on to something better."
A spokesperson for Voat declined to comment for this story. "We have received too many requests from almost all major media outlets and we can no longer respond to media inquiries individually primarily because we don't have the manpower," the person wrote in an email. "We are currently fully focused on improving the technology behind Voat and that is our main priority."
Free speech: mostly or absolutely?
Voat says it promises completely unfettered free speech, "submitted, organized, moderated and voted on (ranked) by the users." "No legal subject in this universe should be out of bounds," the site says. "There's no doubt we can build a better home for those of us that enjoy aggregated content, if we simply listen to those that use it, and hold that as an ongoing priority."
That manifesto of sorts has become a rallying cry of Voat's users, frustrated with Reddit's tightening control over posts to its site.
"Voat's community already feels fresh and more respectful than Reddit's," wrote one Voat convert called boiglenoight.
Voat users' concerns over Reddit's increasing control likely won't be swayed by Steve Huffman -- a Reddit co-founder who returned as CEO on July 10 following the ouster of former chief Ellen Pao -- who plans to purge distasteful elements from the online community. On Thursday, he laid out new rules further restricting what users can post on the site.
Among the items no longer allowed: illegal activity; publication of people's private information; anything that incites violence, harassment, bullying, abuse; and anything sexually suggestive of minors.
"As Reddit has grown, we've seen additional examples of how unfettered free speech can make Reddit a less enjoyable place to visit and can even cause people harm outside of Reddit," Huffman wrote in a town hall-style meeting Thursday known as an Ask Me Anything (AMA). "Freedom of expression is important to us, but it's more important to us that we at Reddit be true to our mission."
Type Voat.co into your Web browser and you'll be transported to a website that, on its face, looks a lot like Reddit, down to the placement of buttons and the way users vote for (up) or against (down) on posts. Different forums, called subreddits on Reddit, are called "subverses" on Voat.
Some of the ways to organize Reddit posts are "Hot," "New" and "Rising." On Voat it's "Hot," "New" and "Incoming."
Voat's very existence traces back to users' frustration with Reddit, which was started in 2005 and has been a forum for a wide range of discussions in the past decade. But a shift in attitude by management toward the site -- and a $50 million investment last year by some of Silicon Valley's most prominent investors -- suggests Reddit will need to place tighter controls over its Redditors to ensure potential new users aren't rebuffed by some of the more distasteful speech and commentary on the site.
The tensions boil down to the basic question: What is Reddit?
For Redditors, the site is seen as a haven of free speech, the home of an idealistic everything-goes message board where members police one another and themselves through the site's voting system. Each article and comment is voted on, and those who receive the most votes bubble to the top.
But Reddit, the company, sees things differently. Groups that have banded together on the site who share racist and misogynistic tendencies have put pressure on the for-profit company, which is part-owned by Advance Publications, the parent of Vogue and The New Yorker publisher Conde Nast.
"We've spent the last few days here discussing and agree that an approach like this allows us as a company to repudiate content we don't want to associate with the business, but gives individuals freedom to consume it if they choose," Huffman said. "This is what we will try, and if the hateful users continue to spill out into mainstream reddit, we will try more aggressive approaches."
For Voat, that means more disenchanted or disenfranchised Redditors looking to its site as a new haven. "We are looking to expand," the site's owners wrote.
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