Editorials | Gear Diary

Yo, Apple: Time for a UI Redesign!

“Where is the Bluetooth menu, again?” Really, you all can blame Thomas for this. He tweeted: Apple – Please move the Bluetooth toggle from Settings > General to Settings (w/ Wifi, Personal Hotspot & Airplane Mode) where it belongs. I usually don’t kvetch–publicly, anyway!–about the choices that user interface (UI) and operating system (OS) software designers and engineers make in these areas, because it tends to be pretty subjected. Just because I want my Bluetooth toggle on top doesn’t mean everyone does, right? Just because the way Apple has laid out its Settings choices in iOS bugs the crap out…

eBooks, Editorials

Is Barnes & Noble Gearing up to Completely Kill eReader and Fictionwise?

If you have a big eReader or Fictionwise library, I strongly encourage you to do two things. One, download any books in your library and archive them on a hard drive or SD card, and two, download and store the appropriate software to read them on your smartphone or computer. Here’s the eReader download page if you need to track down their reading software. So why am I sounding the alarm? According to Teleread, the new NOOK Simple Touch Reader does not support PDB, the eBook file format used by eReader and Fictionwise. But both of those stores are owned…

Editorials

Tablets Galore: A Quick Look at The iPad 2, HTC Flyer and Asus EEE Pad Transformer

I’ve been checking out a number of different tablets and, for a brief period, had more than usual at home at one time. Here’s a brief, biased look at three current offerings: one awesome, one quite impressive and one that did not impress at all. (Spoiler Alert/Disclaimer: the EEE Pad Transformer had not been updated to the Honeycomb 3.1 update that will be available tomorrow. It MAY improve some of the performance issues. No update, however, can fix the cheap plastic feel, the single microphone’s bad speech recognition performance and the tinny speakers.)

Editorials

“The iPod touch Effect”, or Why RIM Could Have Been a Contender… but Isn’t

Yesterday a post on Cult of Mac related some bad news for the Canadian-based RIM. They noted, “Realizing its failure, the handset maker is ready to surrender to Apple in the consumer ring, and focus on its business roots… an arena which iPhone is also increasingly dominating.” Their comment was, in part, based on a report from Wunderlich Securities analyst Matthew Robison who reported, “We no longer anticipate Research in Motion recovering to participate in the mainstream of smartphone industry growth,” As a result Robison cut RIM’s target price from $76 to $46. I expect they are correct in their…

Editorials

Bloomberg Businessweek: A More Nuanced Approach to Discussing Nuance Please

Let me begin by making it clear that I have no formal association to Nuance, the leader in voice recognition technology and innovation. I do not work for them, they do not directly advertise on Gear Diary, and I have personally paid for all of the Nuance software I have or currently use. I have, however, beta tested upcoming products for them, and I hope to continue to do so. Nuance “does” voice recognition, text-to-speech software, and much more. I have been using their products for years and, since encountering wrist issues associated to rheumatoid arthritis, have come to rely…

Editorials

Android Owners: Screenshots or Movies … Pick One

I have been reviewing games since … well, since before the advent of smartphones anyway. And yet I have always managed to be able to come up with screenshots from my chosen device -Newton, Psion, Palm, Windows Mobile, iOS … but not Android. For some mind-numbing reason Android lacks a built-in screenshot utility. No problem for many – just ‘root’ the device and install one of the many screenshot utilities on the Android Market. Heck, that almost makes it seem like it is sanctioned officially!. But it isn’t – and that is one reason I have not rooted my Android…

Editorials

Some Quick Thoughts on Judie’s Ongoing Internet Nightmare

As Judie shared last week in a post, she has been having a terrible time getting and staying connected thanks to the WildBlue, a company that makes AT&T Wireless look good! Well over a week after being throttled, Judie still has a connection speed that is at or below dial-up. Judie’s internet speeds as of 05/23/11 Because she is in a rural area that is not covered by 3G, and because she doesn’t have a phone line (and even if she did, DSL is not available), and because “beamed” broadband internet will not work due to her home’s location (she…

Editorials

The HTC Flyer: Mobile Computing Then and Now

The HTC Flyer has arrived. It is the latest device from HTC and their jump into the tablet market. This isn’t their first major move into the mobile computing world though. No, back when the UMPC was the big deal HTC brought out an innovative device that had the potential to take the world by storm. It didn’t but a quick look at the two of them together makes it clear: the Flyer is pretty much a direct descendant of… Oh just watch the video.

Editorials

Adventures in Cloud Computing Brought to Me by WildBlue

image courtesy of toothpaste for dinner Cloud computing. It is here. It is powerful. It is growing. It is a good thing? Had you asked me a week ago my answer would have been a resounding “Yes!” A week later, I’m not sure sure. Read on if you care to join me in my wireless nightmare … For many years, Dial-Up was the only way most people could get online reliably, and the two main sources of internet access seemed to be AOL and to a lesser degree, MSN; because I wanted to be different, I went with MSN, and…

Editorials, Game Diary

Gear Games Update: Sony’s Rollout Has PSP-Only Users Singing …

… but sadly the song of choice is ‘But not for me’. Sony has announced their restoration plans, their ‘Welcome Back’ plans – which include the PSP incidentally – and other things. I will list those details in a bit. But unless you have a PS3, you will NOT be doing anything anytime soon! How bad is it? Sony pretty much assumes that PSN = PS3, as noted in the header message on the PSN Blog Thank you for your patience and encouragement over the last few weeks. As covered in the post from earlier today, you can now update…

Editorials, Game Diary

In-Game Purchase DOES NOT Equal FREE!

When you look at the image above, what do you think? For me, when I opened AppShopper and saw the new Big Fish game Serpent of Isis for FREE I was thrilled and clicked the link to iTunes right away and grabbed the game. A few hours later I got their iSplash newsletter and saw that the game is NOT free, but in fact is a demo with a $4.99 in-app purchase of the full game. Here is the image from the newsletter: Don’t get me wrong – I love Big Fish adventure games and am sure that Serpent of…

Editorials

Sweet16 Energy Drink: Why You Should Always Read the Label

A little bit of background: In the last year, I lost around 40lbs through watching what I ate and running. So I’ve gotten very used to paying close attention to my food, and to items that “claim” to be healthy. So when this press release popped up in the Gear Diary Inbox, I couldn’t resist taking it apart piece by piece, because it is truly the poster child for unhealthy “healthy” food. So let’s dive right in! My comments are in red, so you’ll know what came from the company and what didn’t. Bonavitas Introduces The First Truly Thermogenic Energy…

Editorials, Gear Bits

Chromebooks Market Niche Still Mystifies

I’m not sure I understand the Chromebook pricing model. Acer is introducing an 11.6″ Chromebook [Ars Technica] in June, with wifi-only for $350. Samsung’s 12″ model will come with 3G wireless in addition to wifi, and cost $500. I could buy a Gateway dual-core Windows 7 11.6″ netbook today for $330 [Amazon]. The Gateway has 160 GB of hard drive space; the Chromebooks are limited to a much smaller amount of SSD space (16 GB). So, where’s the market for a notebook computer which costs as much as (or more than) a notebook with a known OS? Don’t get me…

Editorials

Pippa and the Plastic People

When you look at the image above … does something look wrong? I sure hope so! The picture shows the outcome of Hamilton College student Lisa Slayen’s project to show what a Barbie doll scaled to life-size would look like in terms of proportions. From the article: Life-size Barbie stands about 6 feet tall with a 39″ bust, 18″ waist and 33″ hips. She is made of wood, chicken wire and papier-mache, and is dressed in a size 00 skirt that was a remnant from Slayen’s one-year bout with anorexia. “I’m not blaming Barbie [for my illness] — she’s one…

Editorials

It May be an iPad World, but What of the Original Tablet PC?

Defining Our Terms The mention of the word “tablet” to most people today would conjure up an image of an iPad or a similar looking product. What they may not know is that the tablet has already been in existence for roughly a decade. The original tablet PC was Microsoft’s vision of a mobile computer that maximized productivity. It was a laptop with a swivel screen that allowed you to write on it. The term used for it describes it well, they called it a convertible-tablet PC. I believe they had some good ideas and it can be seen in…

Editorials

Apple Kills an eBookstore, Who’s Next?

Very ominous news from the iOS ebook world today. Teleread has reported that iFlowReader, a small ebook app, announced the 30% cut to Apple was too much for their tight margins and are closing their doors. Now, you might be thinking “I only use Kindle/NOOK/Kobo, why should I care?” Well, if you do any ebook reading at all on an iOS device, you should be extremely angry and concerned. iFlowReader has an open letter on their site explaining the situation, and here’s the most important part: Why Do We Have to Shutdown? The crux of the matter is that Apple…

Editorials

‘Where’s Hillary’ Update: Der Tzeitung Apologizes, Another Jumps into the Fray!

The other day I wrote about the Orthodox Hasidic Jewish newspaper Der Tzitung Photoshopping Hillary Clinton and Audrey Tomason out of the famous ‘Situation Room’ photo. The concern was that the alteration of the photo to meet their “laws of modesty” stepped all over the White House rules of usage and the fundamental rights of the individuals in the photo to … well, exist. Today there is a large apology and clarification from Der Tzitung at the Gothamist, but you can read a relevant chunk here: Publishing a newspaper is a big responsibility, and our policies are guided by a…

Editorials, Game Diary

Nintendo Says 3DS Sales Are Lagging Because Consumers ‘Don’t Get It’

One of my favorite Dilbert collections is called ‘Clues for the Clueless‘. In that book Dogbert takes the reader through a wide array of scenarios and shows you proper and improper ways of handling it. Although not specifically addressed, I think Dogbert would NOT recommend addressing lagging sales of your new product like this (emphasis mine): “The value of 3D images without the need for special glasses is hard to be understood through the existing media. However, we have found that people cannot feel it just by trying out a device, rather, some might even misestimate it when experiencing the…

Editorials, Gear Bits

You’ve Heard of ‘Where’s Waldo’, Now It’s Time for ‘Where’s Hillary’?

Remember seeing this ‘Situation Room’ image? The one from the White House released showing President Obama and members of his security team watching the situation with Osama Bin Laden unfold? Well, if you are a member of a certain Orthodox Hasidic Jewish sect, you would see it differently than the rest of us … sort of like this image from the Der Tzitung newspaper: Sites like Jezebel were quick to point out the fact that Hillary Clinton was gone. But I also noted that the OTHER woman was missing, something Jezebel added later. So I found out about Audrey Tomason…

Editorials

2000 Posts and Counting: A 2001 a Gear Odyssey

(Huge thanks to Mike for the idea and the title) Last night I posted my 2000th post on Gear Diary. Yes, since I joined the writing staff of the site in July of 2008 I have written 2000 posts. (With this one 2001.) My very first post was a review of the mStation 2.1 Stereo Tower. My second post was a brief revisit to the Beyza Thinvelope for MacBook Air, a case Judie had previously reviewed. My next posts were of iPod and iPhone cases as well as a review of an external battery for the iPhone. I mention these…

eBooks, Editorials

B&N and Amazon Planning Big eReader Hardware Refreshes?

Looks like B&N and Amazon aren’t resting on their past successes. Rumors are pegging both companies as having some refreshed hardware coming soon, possibly a tablet for Amazon and an original NOOK refresh for B&N! Let’s start with Amazon’s tablet. The rumor, admittedly unconfirmed, is that some sort of LCD-based device is coming from Amazon later this year to combat the incredible success of the NOOKcolor. Amazon has all the pieces in place for a fantastic device, with an app store, a tablet-optimized version of the Kindle app, plus the added bonus of Amazon MP3 and the new Amazon Prime…