The Cloud Is a Lie

The cloud is a lie.  John Kheit argues that if you believe in the cloud, you’re not only a sucker, you’ve been brainwashed into accepting your lot as a 2nd class digital citizen. According to him, the cloud is a lie because it convinces you of at least two Stockholm syndrome things: (1) you don’t deserve to own or control your own data, and (2) security for your data does not matter.

iOS 11 May Not Include 32-bit App Support

Apple plans to drop 32-bit app support completely in iOS 11, or at least that’s what seasoned developer Steven Troughton-Smith is hearing. That means apps that haven’t been updated with 64-bit support won’t run at all even though current iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch processors still support both 32-bit and 64-bit code.

Wi-Fi Mesh Systems Compared: eero, Orbi, AmpliFi

The future of home Wi-Fi is mesh networking, a new approach to consumer wireless networks that includes smart management and multiple radios designed to handle the load of today’s gadgets. If you’ve been fighting with range extenders and other solutions to broaden your Wi-Fi coverage and keep your streams alive, you can now stop all that silliness and blanket your home with Wi-Fi. The future is here, and that future is mesh networking.

The iPhone SE is for Power Users, Too

At the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus Apple event I asked if I could put one of each in my pocket. They obliged and I tried. Both the 4.7″ iPhone 6 and the 5.5″ iPhone 6 Plus fit just fine. Both felt quite big to me, but both fit just fine in my jeans. It…

iOS 9 Content Blockers - Bring 'Em On!

It's immediately obvious that blocking content which causes web pages to load slowly also means blocking ads. In fact, it almost primarily means blocking ads. Today's standardized web ads are delivered using a series of cascading scripts, meaning one script triggers another and then yet another until one of them has an ad to display.…

What You're Not Doing with Your Mac Matters a Lot

There is something magical about the story I'm going to reference below. I hope it will shake you out of your doldrums and inspire you. What's up here?  You'll see down below. Image credit: Shutterstock Having worked in astrophysics, then the aerospace industry and finally the computer industry, I am well aware of all the…

Your Fitness Tracker May be Wrong, but that Doesn't Make it Bad

Nike FuelBand settlement value is in education, not money. In the Nike case, consumers complained about inaccurate fitness tracking data such as calorie counts were wrong, and that the FuelBand was marketed and sold as if the information it logged was correct. They sued Nike and Apple because both companies were marketing the device. Apple…

Internet TV gets a Tentative Thumbs Up in New Court Ruling

According to Judge Wu's ruling, FilmOn should be considered the same as traditional cable television for transmission even though all of its content is delivered through broadband Internet, reports Reuters. Broadcasters have aggressively resisted giving Internet-based companies licensing even before FilmOn's case landed in Federal court. Aereo was at the center of a high profile…

The One Thing We Need in OS X El Capitan (And Didn't Get)

_______________________ We have reached an impasse. Everything with Apple must be easy and comfortable. Yet the very idea of backing up hundreds of gigabytes (or terabytes) of data is out of sync with the capabilities of HFS+ and the software technologies provided. As a result, it's easier to brush this issue under the rug than…

No, Your Next iPhone Won't Have Sapphire Glass

Don't look for sapphire glass for the next iPhone's display Apple started using Gorilla Glass with the original iPhone because it offered much better scratch resistance and strength compared to other display surface materials while at the same time being relatively thin and light weight. The relationship between the two companies paid off because Apple…

Cirque du Mac: This Party Goes to Eleven

It's that time again. Or, well, it's time to talk about Cirque du Mac, but since Macworld/iWorld is happening during a new date range for their show, it means it's technically not that time again. But that's just nitpicking, isn't it? Either way, Cirque du Mac is happening on Friday, March 28th, 2014 and this time… this…

Wearable Tech at CES: The Scent of Desperation

2014's wearable tech: Bling that knows when your phone rings Going for the Wrist The big rumor bouncing around the Internet is that Apple is hard at work on a smartwatch product that'll take the industry by storm. It was pretty clear tech gear makers were hearing those same rumors because they all rushed to…

What's the ONE New Thing You Have Time For in Your Life?

______________________ When the original iPad came out in 2010, its was after there had been a lot of discussion about how a tablet would fit in between a notebook computer and an iPhone. Some thought there was no room, but then they were proved wrong. The tablet concept, as instantiated by Apple, was so brilliant,…

Samsung's Galaxy Gear: Doomed to Fail

Samsung's new Galaxy Gear smartwatch may have had a longer life as a rumor than it will as a shipping product. Samsung jumped the gun to beat Apple to market with a serious contender in the smartwatch game, and the company made several compromised and a fatal flaw: the Galaxy Gear is a US$300 accessory.…

Samsung Should Call It the Galaxy Fear

Samsung's Galaxy Gear, the smartwatch that has been rumored for about half as long as Apple's iWatch. The company announced it today, and the biggest thing I get from it is that it should have been called the Galaxy Fear. Samsung Galaxy Gear Smartwatch Specs and Features First, the low-down. It's a smartwatch. A ginormous…

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