I recently gave my Grandma an amazing gift for her 90th birthday; I took photos from throughout her life and using a combination of Google PhotoScan, PicStitch, iMovie, and iTunes, I made a slideshow featuring friends and family. It only cost me some time, but the look on my grandma’s face when we showed it to her was priceless.
Before we get into Apple’s Keynote announcement where they didn’t announce new Airpods or the elusive AirPower (because it’s indeed in the “air” at this point), let me just say that I plan on getting the iPhone Xs Max, the 512GB version, in Gold. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way… here we go.
I stopped visiting Facebook about 2 weeks ago. It wasn’t a conscious declaration, it was just that I felt like Facebook was becoming a crutch to distract me, and it wasn’t something I enjoyed. I probably would have drifted back sooner, but Facebook has been inundating me with emails like a needy ex, and it’s starting to creep me out enough to not want to return.
There are a lot of ways to become fit and healthy, and some give your wallet as much of a workout as your body. There’s a new startup, Tonal, that aims to be the “Peloton” of strength training. But you can get the same or a better workout for significantly less.
Earlier this week, Elon Musk tweeted out that he was considering taking Tesla private and indicated he had funding available. Tesla stock flew up only to fall when it wasn’t clear if this was really happening. Within just a few days, lawsuits were filed against Musk for manipulating Tesla stock illegally. Musk’s tweet may have opened an enormous legal issue.
I was lost in Target yesterday. This is a common occurrence since they recently remodeled my local store, and apparently also rearranged the alphabet so the aisles go A, B, Q, D, C. In any case, I turned a corner in search of blenders and instead found a cassette player.
A couple of notable anniversaries have come and gone quietly this past season, the first marking 10 years that I have been here at Gear Diary. The second commemorates the 20 years I have been involved in automotive journalism, and what a “ride” it has been.
I’ve recently moved, and it taught me a very important lesson-never go anywhere without a small multitool. I used my cheap-y Craftsman 10-in-1 multitool for both normal and way out of the box solutions, and I don’t think I could have survived the moving process without it.
There is a seemingly endless list of things to teach your kids as they go through life, such as how to show kindness to others, why it’s necessary to have discipline while tackling boring tasks and of course, how to be responsible with money. People have had piggy banks for generations to help with the last necessity.
I moved recently, and let’s be honest, I wasn’t as stressed about moving my furniture as I was about getting internet and cable up and running. We had Verizon FiOS at my old place, and I was able to transfer it to my new location easily. Getting it set up was less easy, but I was blown away by Verizon FiOS customer service!
Cable and satellite television companies have long had the practice of setting high rates for their services because they had no one to compete with. But now that online streaming services are growing swiftly in popularity, the situation is changing. These trends threaten the kingdom that cable companies have reigned over for decades.
Chances are that by now you have heard the term ‘net neutrality‘ thrown around, probably alongside some apocalyptic predictions of ‘life after the free internet’. But after the FCC set aside the rules protecting ‘net neutrality’ last November, changes which have just gone into effect – you might see people online saying ‘I don’t see a difference’ and assuming there was no big deal to begin with.
It’s June. For some people, that means gearing up for summer, but you may have noticed June has recently become far more colorful for marketers, with rainbows everywhere to celebrate Pride.
I am planning to replace my beloved Prius this summer. She’s been a great car, but with over 160,000 miles on her, it’s time to move on. I’ve been combing certified pre-owned sites, but Kia just knocked themselves out of the running with four words: “Call dealer for price“.
Amazon has just announced its next step toward safe and secure package delivery via its Amazon Key services. Amazon Key In-Car has been launched in some 37 markets around the U.S. where the delivery driver will place packages inside your GM or Volvo vehicle.
ZTE might not be a household name in America, but they’re a big name around the world. They’re a China-based mobile phone manufacturer, and based purely on geography they’ve become a hot potato in a worldwide fight about global trade, privacy, and whether we can truly trust any corporation.
This week I had the pleasure of guesting on Myriam Joire’s Mobile Tech Podcast. While the emphasis of her podcast is mobile tech, trust me to go off on a tangent or five. We covered some of the latest mobile phones and touched on design … while lamenting the “evolutionary but not revolutionary” designs we’ve been seeing.
CNBC is reporting that ANOTHER data firm has been suspended for profiting off data they collected from your Facebook accounts. This is likely only the tip of the iceberg. Is it time to consider unfriending Facebook?
I don’t normally cover video games for Gear Diary; they just aren’t on my radar. But this week we received a pitch for a video game that made me so angry, I’m pretty sure my women’s studies degree became sentient, broke out of the frame in my office, and is currently trying to escape the building to protest. I’m glad it can’t, though, because then the creator of the Super Seducer video game might hit on it.
Russian Bots are working hard to shape American dissent and opinion; the indictments last week spell out their role in the 2016 election quite clearly. Just after the shooting in Parkland Florida, they went into high gear again. But how can we know who we are engaging or arguing with on Twitter? Make Adverbs Great Again is one way!
Apple’s absence from the smart speaker market is being corrected in early February with the release of the HomePod, but it won’t improve their fortunes in that market. It isn’t because HomePod is too expensive, or too late to the market, it’s because HomePod is handicapped by Siri. Sweet, but painfully useless Siri.
