Category: mobile

  • Phone to Desktop Computing, Nexus style

    I got a little excited by some recent experiments of folks hooking their Galaxy Nexus phones to desktop computer set-ups: big monitor, speakers, full keyboard and track pad. Pretty sure that within a few years, we’ll have just one computing device in a phone form factor that can hook up to different size screens and…

  • A true marketplace for privacy in mobile apps

    A huge controversy erupted the other day when a savvy programmer discovered that an app on the iPhone called Path was secretly uploading the entire contents of users’ address books to Path’s own servers. Then stories spread that many apps on the iPhone uploaded the contents of the address book. Turned out Apple had left the barn door…

  • Review: First 24 hours with the Amazon Kindle Fire

    It costs less than half what an iPad costs but it does more than half of what an iPad does. That’s the bottom line. The new Amazon Kindle Fire is no iPad but it is a slick little gadget that is frequently delightful and worth $199. Sure, the Fire has a smaller screen, slower processor…

  • Using an iPhone 4S without iTunes – ever!

    For reasons that shall be dealt with later, I’m the owner of a new iPhone 4S. Having had more than my fill of iTunes annoyances, delays and freezes, I’m trying to go without ever syncing my new iPhone to my Mac. In the first few days, it’s mostly gone smoothly. Email/Contacts/Calendars I’m using both Apple’s…

  • The iPad as digital library and other lessons of the first year

    Well, we’ve been very satisfied iPad owners for just over a year now so it’s a good time to look back and review. My intention is to dig a lot deeper than the usual gadget reviews and give a sense of what it’s like to have an iPad day in and day out for a…

  • Android reinstall not as easy as can be

    In the midst of a very fun evening in New York City the other day, I dropped my Nexus S in a cab and lost it forever. After a bit of research and due consideration, I decided to replace it with an identical model. The upcoming Android phones don’t have anything on the Nexus S…

  • Review: BitBop offers dream of great video on Android someday

    Have I mentioned there are a dearth of options for watching TV shows and movies on Android devices? Yeah? Well, while we wait for the possible arrival of Netflix and Hulu Plus for Android, I’m just trying out a new offering called BitBop on my T-Mobile Nexus S. It’s very early days yet but it…

  • Rock, paper scissors: Should I get a Kindle, iPad or MacBook?

    Well, we’ve been Amazon Kindle owners for almost four years now at our house, we’ve had Apple’s iPad for almost a year and we’ve had Mac laptops since too long ago to remember. So we’re getting asked a lot now: Should I buy an iPad or a Kindle? Can I use an iPad instead of…

  • The future of Apple computing isn’t all led by Apple

    There’s a great video up on Macworld’s site of a conversation between four highly knowledgeable Mac pundits about the “future of the Mac.” The participants were Daringfireball’s John Gruber and Tidbits’ Adam Engst along with Jason Snell and Dan Moren from Macworld. The discussion was interesting and worth the 48 minutes or so of my…

  • Just when I got off AT&T, Motorola’s Atrix 4G tries to lure me back

    (Update 2/3/11 — oops, Motorola seems to be way overpricing the laptop dock) Just when I thought I was out… they pull me back in -Michael Corleone, The Godfather III A couple of weeks ago, I ended a long and tortuous tenure as an AT&T mobile phone customer in the Boston area. First on a…