When I was growing up, my parents would tell me about all the ancient technologies they had to use in their youth. Whether it was a car with a manual choke, a phone that required you to ask an operator to connect you, or a record player with a hand crank, mom and dad experienced a ton of tech frustrations I would never know. More »
It’s no secret that late Apple CEO Steve Jobs was keen on bringing the company’s technology to the automotive world. In fact, according to longtime Apple board member Mickey Drexler, “Steve’s dream before he died was to design an iCar.” Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Phil Shiller, echoed those sentiments during the company’s copyright infringement trial against Samsung, saying there had been discussion of Apple making a vehicle. More »
Facebook Home, the social network’s new user interface for Android, won’t be available for download until April 12th. Even when it hits the Google Play Store, Home will only run on 7 phones, one of which is the newly-released HTC First that has it preloaded. Fortunately, you can get a more immersive Facebook experience on your Android phone today with these apps. More »
In addition to its high-end hardware, Samsung’s Galaxy S4 phone comes with a slew of proprietary apps that help improve your health, enhance your photography, control your TV and secure your business data. Though Samsung would certainly like iPhone users to switch platforms for these features, most of them are available in iOS via third-party apps. So before you run to the store to trade in your handset, check out this rundown of 7 Galaxy S4 features you can get on the iPhone today. More »
A Samsung Galaxy phone won’t go to sleep as long as you’re staring at the screen. An LG Optimus handset lets you run apps in tiny windows on top of the desktop, while Motorola RAZR devices can perform key tasks according to a schedule. Some call the proliferation of custom features Android fragmentation, but I call them innovation, as OEMs are adding functionality faster than you can say Google. More »
I call them Chromebook Pixel apologists. They’re coming out of the woodwork to defend Google’s super-expensive but flawed $1,299 laptop. You’ll hear things like “It obviously isn’t for everyone” or “You either get it or you don’t.” Count me as one of the people who don’t get it. As I say in my Chromebook Pixel review, the quality, sharper-than-Retina display, booming speakers and superior touchpad and keyboard all make this a lust-worthy machine. But the Pixel’s beauty isn’t much more than skin-deep. If Google really wants to convert more shoppers to its flagship anti-MacBook, it’s going to have to address the following issues head-on. And, yes, I’m sorry to say that some of my fixes will have to wait for Chromebook Pixel 2. More »
Whether it’s a phone carrier charging you for services you don’t need or a cashier pushing pricey protection plans for your tablet, the tech-world is filled with Mobile Madoffs trying to con you out of your hard-earned cash. Fortunately, you don’t have to be the victim of information superhighway robbery. These are the 10 worst gadget rip-offs and how to avoid them. More »
There is a disturbing trend in the gadget world, and it’s that laptop, tablet and phone makers aren’t taking battery life seriously enough. Yes, having touch on a Windows 8 notebook is great, but not if the computer lasts an hour and a half less than one without that capability. And what good is a smartphone with an HD display and superfast processor if you have to plug it in around lunchtime? We run our homemade battery test, which involves continuous Web surfing at 40 percent brightness, on every device we review. And if the endurance isn’t good enough, regardless of the gadget’s other features, we simply won’t recommend it. More »
Tweaking your Activity Log just became a necessary and tedious new part of being a Facebook user. Thanks to the service’s new Graph Search feature, all that profile info you’ve painstakingly updated over the years (employer, home town, relationship status, movie likes, etc) and all the photos you’ve added over time, are now to become data in a database of the social network’s trillion connections between a billion users. More »
Windows 8 hardware sales are off to a slow start as shoppers scratch their heads over Microsoft’s new operating system and flock to low-cost tablets instead. Could a souped-up netbook save the day? The latest hybrids powered by Intel Atom processors promise the best of both worlds: the versatility of a laptop combined with the portability of a touch screen slate. But now that we’ve tested a couple of these detachables, I’ve concluded that the folks who price these things are detached from reality. More »
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