Letters to the Editor
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Sichuan Peppercorns
Your grocer lied to you. Sichuan peppercorns were hard to find between 2002 and 2005 when the USDA was enforcing the ban, but they changed the rules in 2005 so as to allow importation of the spice provided it's heat-sterlized to kill a bacteria potentially ruinous to the citrus industries of Florida and California.
The Chinese supermarkets in the Los Angeles area all carry Sichuan peppercorns, usually a couple different brands in packages ranging from one or two ounces to large kilogram-sized bags for restaurant use.
Oh, and you'd have been able to find most of this information yourself if you'd done a quick websearch on the topic before switching recipes.
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Cell Phone Phooey
Uh, I can imagine my life without a cell phone, because I don't have one. I gave it up 4 years ago. Phone calls don't have to be instantaneous whenever one gets the desire to make one. Yes, believe it or not, it is true.
I cannot be contacted 24 hours a day. For me, my quality of life improves because of that fact.
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Oh well
As I tell everyone I know, Mac products are pure shit...would never have any of them...sorry, not buying into the hype...congrats to Farhad...the fools who waited for this garbage are a sorry lot.
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This "may" sound self-indulgent??
Like just about everything Manjoo writes, it fairly drips with self-indulgence. I'm far from a Luddite but I'm tired of being lectured at about how much the iPhone will change my life just like the way cell phones have. (Except, of course, that cell phones haven't.) I agree with him that someday, most of us will be carrying devices that meet the iPhone's potential, because someday some manufacturer will create a product that delivers what the iPhone promises.
Sadly, of course, that manufacturer (whoever it is) won't get credit -- they'll just be "catching up" to Apple...
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Needlessly disingenuous
Farhoo admits candidly in only the third para "but I never intended to keep it", making a mockery of the headline "Why I returned my iPhone"... he was always going to return it, no matter what.
The inconsistencies make this saga more than a little ridiculous... "a $600 phone seemed at least $300 too rich" BUT "This is the story of how I came around", BUT he returned it anyway. Well, did you come around or not?
There is a story here, and he's right, it is about how a breakthrough tech device can subtly improve the way you live your life (though it's good to see above that Luddites continue to breed). A pity it was wrapped in so much BS.
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Killer app?
So, according to this article, the killer things about the iPhone appear to be its interface (touchscreen? well, my PDA does that - the "gestures" thing is admittedly a ways off), and the fact you can browse the web on it... which my non-smartphone SE K750 does just fine over a WAP or GPRS connection. I can even look up recipes on Google as well! And run the Gmail app. And play music, if I really wanted to on a phone. And so on.
Yep, paying $US600 for a pretty interface and bugger all extra functionality sounds like a poor bargain indeed. But if you want the web-browsing "feature", any mid-range and up phone in the last 5 years would give you precisely that (albeit on a smaller screen, unless you sprung for a smartphone with more real estate).
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Farhad:
What a pain in the ass that you waited in line that long for something you intended to return. I love mine, and contrary to the Apple haters, it's not a piece of crap. (neither are my other Apple products)
Either way, a small correction: You can change wallpaper! I do it all the time. You can use the ones on the phone or from any photo on your computer.
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Reading this column
makes me think of other stuff that Salon has decided is an improvement in recent years: self-involved fluff that is biased, provides no intriguing thought or analysis, and should be on Live Journal or a MySpace blog instead. Joan Walsh's column, Broadsheet, and anything ever published by Camille Paglia are in the same vein.
Shouldn't this column be more along the lines of "How the World Works"? You know, actual substance instead of poorly written prose about things like how you feel about an article you read somewhere else? Should anyone really respect a 'tech writer' who loved the iPhone, and would have been willing to pay over $2,000 for this 'revolutionary' new technology (which I'm sure Salon reimburses) that he loves, if only, IF ONLY it had voice dialing?
Salon's been making a bunch of money for a while now. Can't you afford to pick off someone at Wired or something?
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As far as I can see
cell phones haven't improved peoples' lives so much as they've altered and distorted them in ways that aren't much good at all. The degradation of public spaces, the further erosion of privacy, and the even-greater swelling of the coffers (and the political clout) of the telecom industry don't strike me as unalloyed positives. So why would I want a $600-one-of-those?
Hey! I got an idea! How about Salon initiating an automotive section? I hear Mickey Kaus is available. He and Camille could do a he-said/she-said column about the latest and hottest cars. It'd be cute!
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Well, I do not want one either but....
It is funny how criticism of a product a lot of people really like rings a bit false. As for the money, you could instead spend the same amount on an evening out with one of Americas finest family value politicans and get a dreaded disease.
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Do you actually get paid for these reviews
Mr Manjoo
Does Salon actually pay you or are you being paid under the table by rival companies?
Are you playing the media shock game that says to be successful you must write things that run counter to what people are thinking?
The iphone may not be "perfect" (are you? is any product?) but it is a giant leap beyond any existing technology - phone / music / web.
It is very disappointing that Salon allows you to write nonsense under the guise of a "tech expert".
But I do think you would be a great writer for the far right. Your techniques are identical. Reshape reality by manipulating emotions. (oh, I have to return the phone. Its forcing me to access information on the web against my will.).
Salon, are you paying attention? Are you endorsing this nonsense?