Hasta La Gadget!

Each week Joshua Fruhlinger contributes This is the Modem World, a column dedicated to exploring the culture of consumer technology.

We’re the family techies. The nerds. The ones who answer all your questions at family holiday gatherings about setting up new tablets and killing viruses. And it’s sweet of you to buy us gadgets, but the chances of you getting us something that we don’t already have and something that we actually want are, honestly, slim. So we take the gifts, say “How did you know?” and quietly return them for things we actually want. Don’t take it personally. It’s just that we kinda know what we’re doing when it comes to ones and zeros.

Therefore, I present to you the things we will be returning this week. And if you’re the friend or loved one of a propeller head, perhaps this will help you next year.

Continue reading This is the Modem World: Things we’ll be returning

Filed under: Misc

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Each week Joshua Fruhlinger contributes This is the Modem World, a column dedicated to exploring the culture of consumer technology.

I’ve been studying online communities since 1994, believe it or not. My master’s thesis was called “Escape to Cyberia: Subcultures as Agents of Change.” Go ahead, make fun of me for the title. It’s cool.

But back then, no one — or at least, very few people — studied online communities as fodder for social science. I set out to prove that people could actually form social bonds and even social structures — in this case subcultures — online. I then went on to show that what happens online can affect what happens in the “real world.” Several professors at the University of Chicago thought I was insane — “Real world vs. online? What is this, ‘Tron?!'” — but I aligned myself with a forward-thinker named David Laitin who, too, was ready to accept our future robot overlords.

At the time, Usenet wasn’t the dark, gritty back alley of the internet that it is now. Newsgroups were full of discussion, moderation and netiquette. They were, if you will, “where it was at.” I was a daily contributor and reader of alt.mountain-bike, where at least 100 new messages about trails, bike maintenance and burritos kept my attention. It was, you might say, just like Reddit. Sorta.

Continue reading This is the Modem World: We’re all a bunch of cranky old men

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At its event in San Francisco a few weeks back, Apple had more up its sleeve than just an aluminum-clad smartphone. In the latest issue of our weekly, we put both the new iPod nano and iPod touch through their paces to find out how they fare against their elder siblings. If a duo of PMP reviews doesn’t snag your attention, we also throw down the review gauntlet on Wacom’s Cintiq 24HD touch and this year’s slimmed-down PlayStation 3. Eyes-On peeks at an ultrathin ultrabook, Weekly Stat examines emoticon use and Time Machines tallies up some more gadget history. The week’s end is mere hours away and the usual download links that follow can help you settle in for a bit of leisurely gadget reading.

Distro Issue 62 PDF
Distro in the iTunes App Store
Distro in the Google Play Store
Distro APK (for sideloading)
Like Distro on Facebook
Follow Distro on Twitter

Filed under: Announcements, HD, Mobile

Distro Issue 62 arrives with Apple’s iPod duo, a superslim PS3 and Wacom’s multi-touch display originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Oct 2012 09:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Each week Joshua Fruhlinger contributes This is the Modem World, a column dedicated to exploring the culture of consumer technology.

“Give me that” I huffed, teeth clenched.

Snatching the iPhone from my friend’s hands, I swiftly pulled up directions to The Grove despite the inadequacies of Apple’s new Google Maps replacement. While I’d rather have the old Google Maps back, I was able to work around the quirks and get what I needed.

On Saturday, my fiancée and I sat down to watch a movie on Netflix. She simply handed the remote to me as she knew I’d have things set up in no time: I knew which activity to select on the Harmony One, to switch on the PS3 and how to search on the console’s version of the Netflix app (each one is bizarrely different for some reason).

Yes, she could have gotten us there, but I’m a better driver. She would have used the Netflix app on our connected TV. It works, but it uses the TV’s speakers and I need to watch things with glorious 5.1. Does she care? Not so much.

But she knows that I drive our tech better than she does and she’s happy to leave it to me.

Continue reading This is the Modem World: Give me the keys, I’ll drive!

Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, Software

This is the Modem World: Give me the keys, I’ll drive! originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Oct 2012 18:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Each week Joshua Fruhlinger contributes This is the Modem World, a column dedicated to exploring the culture of consumer technology.

There was a time — early in my computing career — that your average printer could output better results than any screen could. In the days before WYSIWYG word processors, we would guess what the printed product might look like and then let an Okidata monstrosity scream out ugly 5 x 7 dot matrix results.

When it worked, it worked well, and we were thrilled that our 16KB machines could make something real. A continuous ream of paper was fed into the printer and we’d happily tear the perforated pages apart like birthday gifts from the digital deities.

Continue reading This is the Modem World: Why are printers stuck in the 20th century?

Filed under: Desktops, Peripherals, Software

This is the Modem World: Why are printers stuck in the 20th century? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Oct 2012 18:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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