I have an odd issue going on, especially on Instagram and Reddit. There are some weird and wildly inaccurate ads following me around. Yes, targeted ads are how these sites make money, and I don’t begrudge their advertising. I do think they might need to tweak their algorithm because they’re a touch off in their assessment of me.
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I’m a bit of an eternal optimist, so I always try to look for the “good idea” in the pitches we receive. Even if I can’t figure out how I might use something, I can usually put myself in the shoes of someone who would. Then there’s the pitch we received for the delightful Flik Me, an LED hand that can be set to either wave at other drivers … or flip them the bird as you drive by.
I recently went digging through a junk drawer looking for some old photos; I found several USB cables, a calculator watch, some unidentified flash drives, and … an original iPhone. As in, the iPhone that I sat in line outside the Apple Store to buy on launch day back in 2007. Fourteen years have passed, and it’s honestly shocking to hold the original iPhone in one hand and my 12 Pro Max in the other!
There are plenty of good reasons people develop a fondness for a particular brand; maybe it’s because the company’s hardware is always top-notch, their pricing is reasonable, or they have excellent customer service when something goes wrong. But the singular feature that’s made it hard for me to consider using any smartphone other than a Google Pixel as my daily driver isn’t related to hardware, pricing, or customer service. As I mentioned in our Google Pixel 4, Pixel 4a, and Pixel 5 reviews, beyond Pixel’s excellent cameras and pure Android experience, their killer feature is Call Screen.
Has anyone ever really looked at their laptop and thought, “man, if only this could also be flipped into a tablet!”? I’ll admit, I’ve always seen convertible laptops as a cool idea but one that seemed to be a solution in search of a problem. But I’ve learned the error of my ways this summer, as I experienced a few times where convertible laptops offered so much flexibility that it completely changed my workflow!
Recently my attention was drawn to an issue on social media that I have a feeling many of us may have experienced. A friend of mine had reposted a statement that resonated with them on their Facebook page. Someone else attempted to rebut that statement by using a quote that they misattributed to Voltaire when in fact, the quote came from a neo-Nazi. Here’s the statement that started the exchange.
Here’s a fun fact for you: Toyota designs their Lexus and Toyota logos to be the same size; it’s so they can easily swap the designs. Yes, a Lexus will be nicer, but why design two different steering wheels if the same dimensions can work for both brands? At the same time, you’d probably feel pretty dumb and angry if you bought a Lexus from a dealer only to discover they had charged you Lexus prices for an old Corolla with a Lexus badge. And if that sounds far-fetched, well, just ask anyone who was suckered into buying a Freedom…
When Apple announced that the latest iPad Pro has the same M1 chip as the Macbook Air and Macbook Pro, I had some thoughts about that, and I figured the rest of the Gear Diary team might too. Is the iPad Pro finally ready to be a stand-alone computer or perhaps function as your only computer?
One of the things we strive for at Gear Diary is to make sure our readers are getting honest, accurate information. We do our best to be unbiased in our reviews, and we do our due diligence as best we can when new ideas get pitched to us. With all that in mind, we’re going to raise a major red flag about a pitch we received recently from a company called Qooore.
One of the most important things kids are taught these days in school is that words and emotions matter. My son was being taught as early as kindergarten about healthy ways to express how he felt and why his choice of words mattered. It appears similar training may be needed for John Matze, the CEO of Parler.
I’ve always liked is Star Trek: The Next Generation. I like the show so much that in 1991 when Pocket Books brought out the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual, I had to have it. I bought it and thumbed through it so often that I eventually wore it out. I recently ordered a replacement copy from Amazon. However, what I got was different than what I expected; it wasn’t the original book or even a proper reprint. Evidently, Amazon reprints older books themselves, and it’s not the quality you might be led to expect.
I’m going to preface this with the disclaimer that I’m typing it on a MacBook Pro and I own an iPhone, just to head off any accusations of me being an Apple-hater. But I watched Apple’s iPad announcements this week, and then I helped my son with some schoolwork, and I realized Apple is about to lose an entire generation.
Recently we have taken Apple to task for their lackluster take on racial justice and for making a tone-deaf product launch just as the pandemic was spiraling out of control in the US (and honestly since they were already leading with financial commitments, had they just said ‘we’re launching these products and are dedicating X% of every sale to COVID-19 relief efforts’ it would have made a big difference in perception).