Editorials | Gear Diary

Do Movies Like Dr. Seuss’ ‘The Lorax’ and ‘Wall-E’ Make a Difference?

My family went to see The Lorax in 3D yesterday. It took a little bit of convincing for Kev’s almost-13-year-old to get into the spirit of seeing a “kid’s cartoon”, as she was much more interested in seeing Eddie Murphy’s 1000 Words [not happening], but the 9-year-old was eager enough. Mentioning that the movie was done by the creators of Despicable Me (a DVD go-to favorite of theirs) got everyone in a good mood, and we were off! Many of you will remember the Dr. Seuss book of the same name that this movie was based upon, but just in case you missed it — here’s…

Editorials

Why the Vere Sandal Company Kickstarter Project Needs a Kick in the Pants

UPDATED WITH A DIRECT RESPONSE FROM THE COMPANY Kickstarter is a great way to help new businesses get moving, and in the process get your hands on new products early. Judie and I have both backed numerous Kickstarter projects over the past few years, and we’ve been quite pleased with the process; until now, that is. The Vere Sandal Company has been my first encounter with a Kickstarter project that just didn’t pan out properly. It’s a long tale that goes back over a year, and it is so disappointing that even if they were to supply the sandals they promised…

Editorials

Cupertino, Start Your Photocopiers! Oh, You Already Did?

For many who have watched Apple and Microsoft for decades, the mantra of an Apple product launch leading immediately to new ‘innovations’ from Microsoft that are remarkably similar has become beyond a cliché. There are certainly inspirational elements to the point that Microsoft has even occasionally admitted to copying from Apple (legally, of course, unlike Trash/Recycle, QuickTime/Windows Media, Widgets/Gadgets, Aqua/Aero, etc), but as many also note – Apple is not immune from the occasional ‘peeking at Microsoft’s paper’. But all of that stuff is serious … and this is just fun. The Microsoft Zune – it was a ‘MP3 player’…

Editorials, Music Diary

Nick Brignola Fans Prove that the Internet Makes the World Smaller

Nearly 8 years ago I posted the following as part of a forum thread entitled ‘What concerts have you seen?’: – Nick Brignola (this one is a club show, but I enjoyed getting to see this jazz giant of the baritone sax playing ‘at home’ many Thursday nights at the Italia restaurant in Troy NY) Nick Brignola is no stranger to fans of the music generally called ‘hard bop’, straight-ahead jazz form that took the core of bebop and brought in blues and soul and other elements to form a fusion made popular by the recordings of Miles Davis’ first…

Editorials

Seeing Past the Roadblock of Technology

I’m a tech guy. I’m in a tech-related job and I love tech and gadgets and all the good things they bring to life. But sometimes, just sometimes, technology gets in the way. Sometimes we find ourselves unable to see past it and unable to function without it. And sometimes that causes us to fail to see the real problem. I was thinking about that a lot as I ran into exactly that kind of problem this weekend, and it reminded me of another, similar incident from a few years ago. So here are some of the things that happen…

Editorials

Color Blindness or Do You See What I See? Two Apps That Might Help

(Ishihara color sample from Wikipedia) I work in a company that specializes in computer graphics, animations and programming. As such, there is a large amount of visual data that I have to pore over that often deal with proper colors, because in the world of product marketing, brand colors are generally VERY specific. I have “normal” color vision and 20/20 vision (when I was younger it was around 20/10…oh for the old days!), so excellent sight has been the rule for me, and I’ve never given visual capacity much thought. Not too long ago, however, a coworker called me to…

Editorials

Should We Stay or Will We Go with Windows Phone?

Dan: This is the fourth and final part of our look at Windows Phone and the HTC Titan. In Considering the Move from an iPhone 4S to Windows Phone Titan, we talked a bit about the operating system and its history. In Comparing the iPhone 4s Hardware to the HTC Titan and Dipping into the Windows Phone User Interface, we addressed the user interface and some of Windows Phone’s key features. In Checking Out Windows Phone Speed, Apps, Camera, Music Player and Games, we looked more closely at the applications that we are using as well as the camera and a few additional aspects of the…

Editorials

Does the Concept of “Fat Books” Still Matter in an eBook World?

Photo courtesy of 3D Photoshop Actions “I never read fiction online. I read for substance, and to me there’s no substance in a pixel. ” –Jonathan Franzen, BarnesandNobleReview.com (ironically), 2008 I’m basically as different from Franzen as it is possible to be–I pretty much only read fiction (and everything else, for that matter)–online. And as I was reading yet another book review for some massive new book–I think it was the new translation of Haruki Murakami’s “1Q84”–it struck me how often in book reviews the reviewers mention the length of the book: “It’s a thick book”; “it’s a slim volume”; “Rowling’s…

Editorials

Running, Technology, and What Really Matters

(Me, 2 years ago) I fully intended this to be a post about over-reliance on technology. You see, in one week I am running my fourth half-marathon, and I really, really, really want to set a new personal record (PR). I have trained hard, and obsessed over every run, and my biggest dilemma is whether to use my Garmin Forerunner during the race, or whether it will psych me out too much to have all that data strapped to my wrist. For those who don’t live and breathe running, a Garmin Forerunner is a wristwatch with GPS that tracks your…

Editorials, Game Diary

Mass Effect 3 Has Import Issues and Reveals EA’s Untruths About DRM

The launch this week of Mass Effect 3 is a huge event in the gaming world. It is a Bioware RPG, which already makes it a big deal. But it is the end of a trilogy that has sold millions of copies across platforms and has enchanted gamers who have fallen in love once again with the same characters we find in every Bioware games, but now with different names and in a non-Star Wars sci-fi setting. But there are a couple of clouds hovering – issues with importing your existing character, and some DRM details that cast an unfavorable…

Editorials

I’m Feeling iOS Growing Pains, How About You?

This post is completely and totally anecdotal but I thought it was worth sharing my experience thus far with iOS 5.1 and see if anyone else is seeing what I am seeing. I recently upgraded all of my iOS devices to Apple’s new iOS 5.1 operating system. While it isn’t as bad as the initial upgrade to iOS 2.0 (that operating system continually crashed and Apple scrambled to get out an update) this update has some significant issues that are appearing.

Editorials

Using the iPad to Generate Clicks and Create Profit on Your Site

If the recession that started in 2008 changed nothing else, it was the monetization of blogs and online review sites. I was primarily a computer and video game reviewer at that time, and many of the ‘big’ sites seemed to be doing pretty well separating content and administration. From my friends there, the attitude from the site owners was ‘you worry about writing, we’ll worry about getting the advertising dollars’. But suddenly money was scarce and advertisers wanted to see a return on their investment. Fast forward to now and you can be sure that for anyone paying for advertising,…

Editorials

Game of Thrones on iTunes Introduces New Pricing Tiers for TV Shows?

Sean Bean of HBO’s hit “Game of Thrones”–today’s bone of contention! Last week, Carly put up a very interesting post that referred to a post by the folks at The AV Club. The AV Club post talked a lot about piracy and concluded that “Be Patient” was the best solution for one’s desire to pirate content in the face of the current gallimaufry of release and pricing variations and unpredictability for electronic content, but the discussion it spawned between Carly and myself was on a more proactive, “What the heck can big media companies do while their normal channel market share…

Editorials

Built In the USA, a Kickstarter Story

“It costs too much to manufacture in the USA.” That’s what you year over and over again, it is why everyone from Apple to specialty clothing manufacturers may design their wares in the US but ultimately decide to do the actual manufacturing outside the USA (often in China). It is also why FedEx is apparently “unavailable” to many companies as their planes fly some sort of Apple product into the US in record number.

Editorials, News & Features

Google + Is Now Almost HALF as Popular as MySpace (Yes, It Still Exists)

Quick – if you want to just blast out how awesome the new Mary Halvorson CD is, where do you go? Most likely to Twitter. And if you want to see what sorts of pictures have emerged from the weekend event your kids attended? Head to Facebook. Once on Twitter you will likely check out a few feeds, click around for a minute or two before exiting. On Facebook, your engagement will turn from seconds to minutes to hours as you check out friends and photos and chat with folks and so on. For many teens and young adults, Facebook…

Editorials

The iPhone as a Visual Assistant, One Woman’s Story

The iPhone is one of those devices that prompts its fans to declare “This phone changed my life!” Yes, the apps are great and add an immense amount of convenience to everyday life. And the ease of use means just about anyone can pick one up and grasp the basics within minutes. But then there are those individuals who can say “The iPhone changed my life” without hyperbole or out of tech geek exuberance. No, these people talk about how transformative the iPhone is thanks to the accessibility features built into it. Dan has written about how voice recognition, especially using…

Editorials

10 Ways to Avoid Being an Online Idiot, a Gear Diary PSA

It’s that time again– time for your friendly neighborhood technology-obsessed Gear Diary team to offer some thoughts and suggestions in the form of a public service announcement. Today’s PSA: 10 Ways To Avoid Being An Idiot Online.

Editorials

Scott Jordan Appears on Shark Tank, but Who Was the Shark? And Who Was the Bait?

If the name Scott Jordan sounds familiar, it’s probably because you’ve seen it in the context of his clothing line, Scottevest. We’ve reviewed many of their products here, and I will say I personally use my SeV gear quite often. However, after seeing Scott on ABC’s “Shark Tank” and witnessing his attitude on the show, I can’t help but wonder how he runs his business! In case you missed it last night, here’s a shot from Scott’s segment. (The episode is available on Hulu+) To make a long story short, Scott doesn’t want to sell SEV; he just wants to…

Editorials

Random Cool Image: The Hardest Survey Question I Have Ever Faced

This morning I grabbed a free ebook I found on the ‘Free Fridays’ Nook blog called Red to Black, which sounded pretty good. After completing the ‘purchase’, I was prompted to take a survey. I will usually take surveys for tech magazines or sites I like, so I said ‘yes’ and went ahead. I made it half-way down the first page before I was halted by the image above. Can you see what is wrong?

Editorials, Reviews

‘Murder by Proxy: How America Went Postal’ is an Idea Worth Contemplating, a Documentary Worth Seeing

The phrase ‘going postal’ has become such an entrenched part of our cultural identity that it faces the possibility of losing any real meaning. Case in point: my son mentioned that his best friend’s girlfriend had broken up with him, and he ‘totally went postal’ in the locker room – which to him just meant that he flipped out. But for those of us who have been around longer, the phrase has a more specific meaning tied to workplace violence in which someone unleashes a murderous rampage. It started in the mid-1980s in a string of Post Office shootings, but…

Editorials, News & Features

Anti-Smoking Efforts Face Challenges in the Ongoing Down Economy

One of the most popular ways for governments to raise money is through so-called ‘usage taxes’. These fees are levied only on those who do a certain thing or use a certain product, such as gas taxes, liquor taxes, or cigarette taxes. The idea behind those taxes is that there are costs associated with those activities that the state bears, so by collecting the tax those costs are covered. It is similar to the theory that tolls are collected on roads to sustain creation and repair of those and other roads. Most people who live by a budget would understand…