Rants And Raves

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LED Ice Cubes Signal It’s Time to Stop Drinking

There are many devices and tools that connect to your smartphone. Likewise, there are many fine apps that let you track your food, drink and activity. However, if you require LED ice cubes to alert you that you’re en route to a blackout, perhaps you need help, and not a text from your drink? If [...]

Low Emission Vehicles are Great but Style Still Matters

We are here at the North American International Auto Show and wandering the floor. There are some cool concept cars we’ve seen and some nice 2014 models that look great. There are also an abundance of small, highly economical cars on display. Here are a few examples. And as we have seen more and more [...]

New Poll Shows Americans Have No Clue What to Do About Obesity

Late last year we heard that obesity had replaced hunger as the world’s biggest food problem. Here is just a sample from that report: According to CNN’s analysis of the study, obesity rates have increased 82 percent worldwide over the past two decades. Obesity is now a problem in all countries except for those in [...]

Why I love my Samsung ATIV 500T enough to dump the iPad…

When the iPad first came out, I was as stunned and impressed as anyone, and anxious to have one of my own. My wife is largely supportive of my gadget addictions, but regarding the iPad, didn’t understand where it would “fit in” as a necessity when I already had an iPhone, laptop and desktop computer. [...]

Forks Go Connected with HAPILABS HAPIfork

CES 2013 is ready to kick into gear. Judie and Kevin arrive late today. Carly will be here Tuesday. This is my 4th CES and we’ll be busier than I can ever recall. That’s a good thing. I’m especially looking forward to wandering the show floor as there are always some unexpected treasures. I do [...]

Good News/Bad News with Bluebird Checking and Debit Card

We’ve been doing a series of posts about the features and use-experience of Bluebird, a joint venture of American Express and Walmart. The financial tool describes itself as “Your Checking and Debit Alternative”. We were sponsored to write a series of posts about our experience and, at least at this point, we would describe it as [...]

The Outcome of My iPad Mini Apple Support Saga

Just before Christmas, I ranted about the support I was getting from Apple on my iPad Mini WiFi issue when using the phone and their online support systems. I contrasted it with Dan’s experience, he was seeing a similar issue and had it resolved when he went to his local Apple Store. My experience at that [...]

If You Want GOOD Service, Use the Apple Store Instead of Apple Support

Apple has a reputation and standing as one of the best customer support organizations in all of the consumer world. They top the ratings each year; due to their retail stores, the ability to quickly talk to someone knowledgeable has made using Apple products easier than ever for millions of folks. Truth is, in more [...]

Apple Killing the Kickstarter ‘POP’ Project Reminds Us of Why Closed ‘Standards’ Suck

UPDATE: According to ArsTechnica, Apple has replied stating the POP didn’t meet the standards for the ‘Made for iPod’ program, but has approved the device for side-by-side (by side) Lightning/30-pin (/USB) charging. OK, first of all, the title is imprecise; Apple did NOT kill anything. However, because they hold the patents – and therefore the [...]

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Regarding FedEx Smartpost and UPS Surepost

If you have ever bought something on the internet that didn’t ship solely via USPS, then using either FedEx Smartpost or UPS Surepost was likely an option; they are both shipping options that use the United States Postal Service for the final leg. In other words, UPS or FedEx will deliver the packages to your [...]

Release Windows ARE Stupid … But They Don’t Justify Piracy

Most people know of the popular trope called ‘Step Three: Profit’, in which an idea is started, no plan is developed, but there is an expectation of profit in the end. A random example from South Park: Step 1. Collect underpants. Step 2. ? Step 3. PROFIT The reason I bring that up is that [...]

Living with the Nokia Lumia 920 – The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

A few weeks OK I bought a shiny new Red Nokia Lumia 920. Generally, I love it, although I am STILL waiting for my wireless charging base to show up. It’s not perfect, in some ways far from it, but the overall approach the OS takes to delivering apps and services is a good one [...]

Rampant Piracy Causes iOS Developer to Shut Down Online Game

I had been hearing bits of this on gaming forums for the past few days, but today it was confirmed – iOS online game ‘Battle Dungeon’ has been pulled from the App Store and the online servers shut down due to extreme levels of piracy. The developers posted about it at their site and on [...]

Is ‘Ugly Scan’ The Worst Idea EVER for an App?

I have two teenage boys who have both male and female friends, so I know that the pressures and mean-ness hasn’t abated through the years but has continued in daily life and also online. Since I keep track of my kids online, I often see them engaged in things such as ‘Like my status for [...]

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