Editorials

Editorials, Gear Bits October 4, 2012

No CW for Cablevision Subscribers!

If a network goes off the air and no one notices, do the shows still go on? Apparently my cable company is in a fight with the CW, and we haven’t been receiving it since August! I only noticed because <sob> I can’t record the premier of The Vampire Diaries if they don’t come to an agreement by next week! What caused this dispute? Money, of course. Cablevision’s statement is very clear on this: BETHPAGE, N.Y., Aug. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Cablevision Systems Corp., (NYSE: CVC) today released the following statement related to the blackout of WPIX and other Tribune…

Editorials October 2, 2012

Week Number 1 of My iPad-Only Challenge!

Welcome to the first weekly report on my quest for the 99% computer! As noted my plan was to use my iPad for as much as I possibly could, and note whatever functions required me to use a ‘real’ computer. So let’s get to it! Setup Perhaps not surprisingly, there wasn’t much for me to do. I have had my iPad loaded up with email, web, productivity, statistics, music, games, utilities and so on … so there wasn’t much to do. And in fact, I decided NOT to do anything in specific – I really wanted to know how much…

Editorials, Health and Fitness September 24, 2012

“Weight of the Nation” Documentary Series Challenges Obesity on DVD

Film documentaries can weigh heavy on our hearts with stark, realistic presentation on prevalent issues in our lives. In the Emmy nominated 2012 documentary film series The Weight of the Nation, filmmakers present individual testimonials, interviews, stories, and day-in-the-life footage through many perspectives on our obesity epidemic. Individual health narratives, economic factors, health care system, food industries, and genetic history/biological consequences from unhealthy diets provide the evidence and support that a multidimensional solution is essential to stop the “obesity epidemic” in our nation. Part 1, titled Consequences, contains many personal stories including a landmark study in a small Louisiana town….

Editorials September 21, 2012

Is iOS 6 Setting Your World on Fire?

We were all super excited here at Gear Diary to download iOS 6! Some of it has been exciting, but on the whole we have some mixed feelings about how exciting this is … read on for our thoughts! Douglas Moran: Downloaded and installed iOS 6 onto my iPhone 4S. Not much to report so far–although THANK GOD Bluetooth is now on the top-level in Settings!–but I’ve noticed that *every time* I tap the “Genius” button in the App Store, uh, app, it crashes the app. Every time. Tried rebooting my iPhone, and no joy. Anyone else seeing this? Did a…

Editorials September 20, 2012

My Quest for the 99% Computer

I have often stated that my iPad is my ‘80% computer’, meaning that I do (or can do) about 80% of my stuff on it. However, my goal has always been to find an ultraportable device to handle 99% of my non-gaming activities. This quest started with the HP200LX, where I could run Lotus 1-2-3, a great HP Calc, word processing, and so on; then the Newton MessagePad (my first was the MP2000); then Psions and HP Jornadas; then on to the Toshiba Libretto and eventually the Sony C1 Picturebook and finally netbooks … but nothing has approached the universal…

Editorials September 18, 2012

Another Step in RIM Death-Spiral As Yahoo! Offers Employees Any Smartphone EXCEPT Blackberry!

Imagine that your employer came around and told you that everyone in the company was getting their choice of smartphone! That would be so cool, and it’s something that just doesn’t happen in most companies. But it was something just done by new CEO Marisa Meyer at Yahoo!. There was just one stipulation according to an article at TechCrunch – you cannot have a Blackberry. The basic thought process behind the decision? Blackberry is for business ONLY, and as a ‘customer facing’ company, Yahoo! needs to be in touch with what people do in their ‘real life’, not just their…

Editorials September 18, 2012

Who and Where are the 47% ‘Non-Tax Payers’?

This is not meant to be a political post per se, but after the ‘leaked’ video of Mitt Romney came out this week showing him talking about the 47% of Americans who don’t pay taxes (by which he meant income taxes, not taxes in general), there has been some interesting discussion. I wouldn’t have cared much, but one of the highlighted Kindle deals yesterday was What’s the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America, which looks at the question of “Why do so many of us vote against our economic interests?” So with that as a backdrop…

Editorials, Reviews September 16, 2012

My 7-Day Nexus 7 Experiment – Quality and Service are PROBLEM #1 for Google

When the Google Nexus 7 came out, both Dan and I pre-ordered one as I noted here. We discussed it in a video chat, and from that I had committed to a ‘7 Day Nexus Challenge’. The 7 days have long since passed, but I had wanted to get to the conclusion of my ‘initial Nexus experience’ before writing about it. So, here goes … Some background My pre-order through Google was confirmed and then canceled within a few hours for unknown reasons. Perhaps I should have taken that as an omen, but instead I just did another pre-order the…

Editorials September 14, 2012

Dumped by My Technology Without a Backup

Anyone who knows me expects to see me sporting my backpack gear bag hanging on my right shoulder. I carry tons of tech in that bag whether I need it on a daily basis or not. The backbone of that backpack has been my 13″ MacBook Pro. The laptop was my dream computer, and it was basically an extension of myself. Making movies, editing photos, and writing posts; all flowed from my laptop like a master magician wowing a captivated crowd. In fact, that MacBook even made trips with me to the farm and hunting. That magic came to a…

Editorials, Vehicles & Gear September 13, 2012

Five Ways the iPhone 5 Event Disappointed, and One Sign It Started the ‘Great Apple Decline’

So we have lived through yet another iPhone announcement, the first one conducted by Tim Cook and out of the ‘shadow of Steve Jobs’. The conclusions? Some pretty sweet looking iPhone hardware, promising stuff for iOS 6, iCloud and iTunes, and a welcome refresh for the iPod line. But if you look around at tech websites there is much gnashing of teeth and hand-wringing amongst the Apple fan-sites, sneering derision from Android fan-sites, and hopes of a market share beyond 5% from the Windows Phone faithful who were just happy to see the Nokia Lumia 920 in spec line-ups with…

Editorials September 13, 2012

A Sad Milestone as Report Shows Post 9/11 Torture by Americans Much Worse Than Reported or Admitted

On September 11th, we remember all of the tragic loss of life from the 2001 terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center, Pentagon and Flight 93. We also celebrate and mourn all of those who responded to the tragedy and many who lost their lives trying to save others and still more who have lingering health issues due to their bravery. They are heroes and lost innocents, and our country has done very well by serving their memory each year. In the aftermath of the attacks, President Bush detailed that if we changed our way of life, if we altered…

Editorials, Events September 12, 2012

Did Amazon’s Kindle Announcements Out-Apple Apple?

My day job is in client facing sales and service, so I spend a great deal of time making sure I present my message correctly. First, we establish the basic facts. Then there’s a discussion of what they mean, implications, risks, etc. Finally, these all lead to the conclusion and (ideally) the implementation of whatever solution we think is best. While my presentations are far, far less flashy than a big tech announcement, I still like to see how companies hype up their products, especially since that showmanship does overlap with my own skills and job needs. Normally, Apple announcement…

Editorials September 11, 2012

Will Greed Finally Be Apple’s Undoing?

As long as I can recall – since the days when I had an Apple ][+ at least – people have been quick to call out Apple for high prices. For me as a multi-OS person who also happens to like Apple products, it has been a roller-coaster. For a long time in the 80s the utility of Apple ][ and later the Mac made it very much worthwhile – and for some things a complete necessity. Yet there have been many times – like most of the 90s – when the price to performance ratio simply wasn’t there. By…

Editorials September 11, 2012

iPhone 5 Event Rumors Makes Me Ask, Does Anyone Care About a New iPod Touch?

As Dan mentioned, Apple is rumored to be announcing several things this week, such as the iPhone 5, releasing iOS 6, and possibly the iPad Mini, new iPods, new iMacs, and who knows what else. We don’t ‘do rumors’ at Gear Diary, but of course we have heard stuff – as has everyone – and we only have a few days to find out what is real. So the question I am left asking is: who really cares about a new iPod Touch? Over the last couple of years the distinction between content creation and content consumption has become increasingly stark,…

Editorials September 10, 2012

Where Amazon and Apple Part Ways…

Apple and Amazon have emerged as the heavy-weight market-movers in the personal tech space. They are both huge companies and major innovators and, on many levels, they take almost entirely different approaches. Here’s just one example. Last week Amazon announced a new Kindle and new (multiple) Kindle Fires. Pricing was beyond aggressive, because Amazon doesn’t look to make their money on the hardware. No, instead, Amazon uses the hardware to drive its products, both digital and tangible. Apple, on the other hand, makes their money on the hardware and the digital content that runs on them is, THEY claim, close…

Editorials September 8, 2012

New iPhone and iPods Next Week? Or Perhaps iOS 6 Will Be the Biggest Star

Apple’s Special Event is scheduled for next Wednesday. At it, we assume, we will see the new iPhone (or whatever it’s called) and won’t be surprised if we see a new iPod lineup. We’re still hopeful we will see the iPad mini, but all indications are that Apple will wait a bit. After all, why would they announce two much-anticipated devices at the same time and, in the process, compete with themselves for attention. The iPhone 5, new iPod touch and nano etc are not, however, the reason for this post. No, this post is about the three features I’m…

Editorials September 7, 2012

Putting Down the iPad; Nexus 7 in Real Life

Recently I wrote a lengthy comment/review on the Skooba Weekender bag Dan reviewed last July. During that review, I mentioned that I am a road warrior and generally spend at least one or more nights out of town 40+ weeks of the year. A few weeks ago was one of those rare times where I was working in my NYC office all week. Being in the office allowed me an opportunity to spend some quality time using the Google Nexus tablet I had purchased some time ago. In the past, I’ve made an attempt at using the original Samsung Galaxy Tab,…

Editorials September 1, 2012

The Best iOS Apps for Taking Notes

We’re back with another “Best Apps for…” This time out we’re looking at the Best Apps for Taking Notes… Judie: The built-in notes app is great for quick jots, but for heavier duties, I can’t recommend AudioNote highly enough! (iPad version here.) Dan: Judie, but there is no sync except over local WiFi with Audio Note? Judie: Dan, when I’m trying to listen to a lecture, meeting or in the middle of an important interview, the audio coupled with time-stamped (in relation to the recorded audio) is invaluable. It’s not that big of a deal to me to sync later. Chris: I use…

Editorials August 31, 2012

The Most Important Lesson This Election Year

I worked for Borders in 2004 during the Bush vs Kerry presidential election. While most of our customers were polite, some took the election extremely seriously. We were sold out of a particularly incendiary title, and I had a customer get in my face to tell me he did not believe we were sold out, he believed our bookstore was “too <expletive deleted> liberal to carry it.” A coworker jumped in at that point and assured the angry man that we had cash registers, he had cash, and we would have been happy to accommodate him if we only had…

Editorials August 30, 2012

Survey Says … No One Wants a Windows Phone

For the past several years it has seemed like we have been waiting for Microsoft’s smartphone strategy to emerge and truly take form. Windows Mobile 6.5 was an unmitigated disaster, and while the initial Windows Phone 7 launch held promise there were simply too many compromises and missing features for a very late 2010 device. It was only about a year ago with the launch of Windows Phone 7.5 ‘Mango’ that things really got interesting. New ‘second generation’ phones such as the HTC Titan launched with great features and the hardware capabilities to take advantage of the updated OS. Then…

Editorials August 29, 2012

China Rebuttal of U.S. Human Rights Report is Fascinating – and Scary – Reading

And the bottom line is this – for the most part they are correct if not technically accurate. OK, let me step back for a second. This weekend I was away and traveled by air. As I was waiting for my final plane to load, I was watching CNN on a big screen, and in a ‘special report’ he was talking about the Chinese rebuttal to the US Human Rights report that was highly critical of China. The blurb was quick and due to airport noise I missed most of it, but it intrigued me enough to search it out…

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