Monthly Archives: September 2014

Android Wear can be great, but immature right now

Yesterday, we reviewed the Moto 360. Please check it out if you haven’t already. Today, we take a closer look at the operating system.

The future of the smartwatch is to be the primary entry point for your digital life. The device you scan first to get an update on what’s happening, and the preferred device for quick interactions like messaging a friend. You’ll want to use your voice; when it works, it’s the most elegant way to control this small interface.

This is the future that Google has presented with Android Wear. It’s an exciting one — even more exciting than Apple’s vision — but realization remains in the horizon. Android Wear may change the future tomorrow, but today it only provides a promise for it.

Android Wear is that pimply teenager. You can see the potential, but the teenager just too annoying to be taken seriously yet.

Read Full Article

Moto 360: The things we do for beauty

There is a future where instead of a computer in your pocket, it’s the one on your wrist that you use most. Instead of your finger, you use voice to control it.

It’s the device for keeping updated on your digital life. When someone messages you — text or photo — your first preference will be to read it on your watch and reply with your voice. When someone invites you to an event, you accept or decline from your wrist while your smartphone stays in your pocket.

The smartphone is only for when voice is inconvenient, for consuming content and for bigger tasks like taking and editing photos. For everything else, especially the frequent, small interactions we have with friends, the smartwatch is our gateway.

This is the potential future of the smartwatch. Or my interpretation of it anyway.

Enter the Moto 360, powered by Android Wear. How does it deliver on that vision?

Read Full Article

Power corrupts: Google becoming the old Microsoft

There’s an interesting story on Business Insider about how Google is trying to force its partners to include more Google made apps on their Android phones.

Google is requiring one of its partners to increase the number of Google-made apps from nine in 2011 to 20 in 2014.  This year’s agreement also required that there must be a Google search widget on the default home screen of the phone along with an icon for the Google Play store and a Google icon that houses 13 apps included “Google Chrome, Google Maps, Google Drive, YouTube, and Gmail among others.

As you might have guessed, I have mixed feelings about this.

The upside is that the more Google-y the experience, the better (right now). Google apps like Maps and Chrome are better than their alternatives. Others like Google Play and Youtube have no alternatives.

The downside is that Google is acting like a monopolist — with shades of Microsoft.

Read Full Article

Ello, what’s going on here?

There’s a social network called Ello that’s buzzing. I’m not sure why.

Ostensibly, it’s because it’s seeing rapid growth, though no one can cite actual numbers. The narrative is that some are unhappy of Facebook requiring real identities, and so are migrating en masse; mostly from the LGBT community according to the Washington Post. People are migrating to Ello because, unlike Facebook, the social network doesn’t require real names.

Hmmm.

You know what other social networks don’t require real names? Google Plus, Twitter and Instagram. Which are just a little more well known than Ello. The point is that if all people wanted is a social network which doesn’t require real names, there are plenty available.

Read Full Article

What’s in my bag (and on my wrist)

I’ve always liked these kinds of stories on other tech blogs — i.e., what gadgets nerds use on a daily basis — as it gave a “bottom line” that individual reviews of products on loan can’t give. So today I’m sharing what I use and carry, and why.

Smartwatch: Pebble, Moto 360

The Pebble is a great device. Its super solid in a way that Apple is known for; it does what it’s supposed to and it does it well. There are lots of interesting watch faces for it, the battery lasts for days, and it’s good for monitoring notifications and incoming calls. The main downsides are that it’s not particularly attractive or comfortable to wear. The screen has no color and is very low resolution.

I also recently got the Moto 360. A review will go up this Monday or the following Monday, depending on how the weekend goes.

Read Full Article

So I was wrong – the iPhone 6 will likely outsell the 6 Plus

I predicted the iPhone 6 Plus would outsell the iPhone 6, and I’m man enough to admit probable error. Three reasons for it: Apple lifers need time to adjust to a bigger screen, which I overlooked; major manufacturing issues with the iPhone 6 Plus, which led to people just buying the iPhone 6 instead; and surprisingly, Apple fans not really caring that much about specs.

I expect demand (not sales) for the iPhone 6 Plus to dwarf the iPhone 6 for Asians and Android switchers — two segments used to larger phones. For them, a 5.5-inch screen is no big deal. But for someone who’ve spent their entire smartphone lives with 3.5-inch and 4-inch screens, a 5.5-inch screen will appear ENORMOUS. Many struggle even with a 4.7-inch screen.

Read Full Article

Microsoft’s answer to the Chromecast: pricier but better

I have the Chromecast and some things are awesome on it. Unfortunately, it’s a limited device in that strictly speaking, the Chromecast doesn’t mirror content, it streams from the web. This means that outside of a few phones, you can’t project games to your TV, which I’ve argued could disrupt the games industry. It also means you can’t project your PowerPoint presentation to the TV.

That changes with Microsoft’s Wireless Display Adapter (awful, awful name). It uses the Miracast standard to mirror your Windows and Android devices to the TV so you don’t even need Wi-Fi to make it work. Check out the video to see how Microsoft wants you to use it:

Read Full Article

Breaking Apple cognitive dissonance

It’s fascinating to read tech pundits around the web rationalize their cognitive dissonance in declaring the iPhone’s 3.5-inch screen size as perfect once upon a time, backtracking to 4-inches, and now praising something larger.

The most influential opinion on this seems to be Marco Arment, who explained away the logical inconsistency by characterizing phablets in 2011 as mediocre. That Apple fans confused execution with concept, that it required Apple’s flawless execution — possible only today — to reveal the concept’s true value.

It’s an interesting theory…except it’s totally wrong.

Read Full Article

Switching camps from Outlook to Gmail

Today we review something you probably already use: Gmail, but in a specific context. Let me explain.

I have active Gmail, Yahoo and Outlook accounts as well as three IMAP accounts from my start-ups. If you’re an entrepreneur, you probably have a similar set-up. I used Outlook to manage all these inboxes.

The problem was that spam became uncontrollable, specifically for my three IMAP accounts and for Yahoo. I tried putting spam assassins on the server level; local filters on the local level; all for naught. I continued to get abused by Viagra pills, Nigerian despots, lonely women and all the other clever variations spammers use. It was overwhelming.

Read Full Article