Gear

  • January 31, 2011

    10 Android Apps the Make my Life Easier

    It’s no secret that I love Android as a platform, and I favor Android phones over the iPhone. I did my Master’s Thesis on the G1, bought the Motorola Droid- the first Android phone available on Verizon, and recently upgraded to the HTC Droid Incredible. One of the reasons I like Android so much is because of the openness of the Market Place, and the ability to install non-market apps on your phone. Apps are very powerful for any platform because they make your phone more personal. Today I want to tell you about 10 Android apps that have made my life easier!

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  • January 26, 2011

    My Thoughts on Twitter for Mac

    I’ve been using Twitter for Mac for a few days now after TweetDeck went AWOL and started using up all of my CPU on me; I’ve got some thoughts on it. I used Tweetie (the amazing Twitter app for Macs) for a while and loved it (who didn’t?); when they stopped updating it, I stopped using it. Now that it’s back as the official Twitter app for Macs, I’m back in and have high hopes. Here’s what I think.

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  • January 4, 2011

    HTC Droid Incredible Initial Thoughts

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    I’ve had the HTC Incredible for a week now and have used it pretty rigorously, testing the battery, speed, voice dialing, etc. Here are my initial thoughts on the device.

    The Good:

    • It’s very thin and light.
    • It’s super fast (compared to the Motorola Droid).
    • Great Camera. It’s also very fast.
    • Interface is very slick.
    • Flash Light App is really cool!
    • It was free from Best Buy.
    • Integrated Facebook, Twitter, & Flickr is cool. My contacts feel more complete.
    • Battery Life is fine.
    • Voice Search seems better on this device.
    • Keyboard is very easy to use in both landscape and portrait.

    The Not So Good:

    • There’s no unified Contacts app. Each of the 4 components (Call History, People, Groups, and Online Directories) are their own apps they you can navigate between.
    • There are a lot of preinstalled apps that I cannot delete.
    • It doesn’t use the official Facebook or Twitter apps.
    • I miss the Favorite Contacts area from the Droid.
    • (this is all android phones) I wish there were a way to hide apps in the apps drawer.

    Overall, I’m very happy with the Incredible so far. It’s much faster than my old phone, the camera is much better with a faster shooting time, and everything feels very slick and cool. I can’t wait to get the dock for it!

  • December 30, 2010

    Why iTunes Proves Apple is Only in it to Make Money

    I know what you’re going to say; “All companies want to make money.”  As a red-blooded, meat-eating, American capitalist, I think that’s a good thing. But there seems to be a thought among computer nerds (and most Apple product users) that Apple is the white light to Microsoft’s Eye of Sauron (sorry…I recently watched Lord of the Rings). That simply isn’t true, and iTunes proves it.  It also proves that you don’t need to have the best, you just need to market it the right way.

    Let’s take a look at a few reasons why iTunes is the bay window looking into what Apple really cares about most (hint: it’s money).

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  • December 16, 2010

    Verizon LTE: Upgrade Now or Wait?

    At the beginning of this month, Verizon announced their brand-new “4G” LTE network, boasting speeds of up to 12mbps, or about 12x faster than their 3G network. This sounds awesome for us bandwidth hogs, but there is a bit of a trade-off. Before the announcement I was considering holding off on my end of December upgrade if it meant I’d get a shinny new LTE capable phone. Here’s why I am waiting.

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  • November 26, 2010

    Great Tech Gifts 2010

    This is something I’ve wanted to become more consistent with, as I usually post these lists sporadically and at poor times. I figure Black Friday is a good day to settle on this type of post, since it is the official start of Holiday Shopping.

    Amazon Kindle: This is number one on my list of recommendations. E-Readers have been around for a few years now and I think the Kindle has proven king. It’s a great way to read books (it’s a lot like reading a real book), it’s easy on the eyes, and with apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android, you can keep your books with you and synced at all times. Plus, they are also offering a very affordable Wifi Only version. I truly love mine, which I got last Christmas. ($189 for 3G + Wifi, $139 for Wifi only)

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  • November 5, 2010

    USA Today, WSJ, and NYT iPad Apps

    Earlier in the week I said the iPad is best for consuming information, so it only makes sense that I’d mention the top three news apps for it: USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and NY Times. I haven’t used all of  them extensively though I did want to compare some of the basic features of each. I’ll cover: how intuitive the apps are to use, how much content they make available, and how well they integrate the ability to share stores on Facebook & Twitter.

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  • November 3, 2010

    My Review on the iPad

    A couple of weeks ago I picked up the 16GB 3G iPad as sort of a birthday gift from me to me. It’s something I’ve been contemplating for a while and finally pulled the trigged. I promised quite a few people a review on the device now that I own it and while I didn’t do rigorous testing, I used it in the most common testing environments- my house, other offices, the train, meetings, and using it for travel instead of my laptop. You can see my thoughts after the jump.

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