While the Apple Watch product looks fantastic, one caveat might be that there is so much new and different about its functionality and its interface that it might take time for adoption to reach critical mass. That’s where Apple has an advantage here. They have resources to throw at this and the wherewithal to integrate the Watch with all their other products and services. That’s an awesome possibility that I think may actually may pay off in really big way for them and their customers.
All in Media
We have entered a very complex computing landscape where, if you do not have an affiliation with an organization that is in a position to specify an official computing and file sharing architecture and infrastructure, things can get complicated.
Is It Possible To Have Too Much Technology and Too Much Data?
The irony is that, in experimenting with various ways to augment our attention with useful and targeted information, we may actually be reducing, not increasing, our ability to pay attention to the really useful information we need to interact with the people and the world around us.
The data presented in Kevin Roose’s The Sharing Economy Isn’t About Trust, It’s About Desperation doesn’t prove a cause-and-effect relationship between a deteriorating job situation and the rise of “sharing economy” services like Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb. Correlation isn’t the same as causation.
Why I Like the New COSMOS
I’ve seen three of the new COSMOS programs so far. I’m really enjoying them. I like the host, the graphics, and how the programs look on a large screen TV.
Why I Still Read the Newspaper
What do I like about the paper edition? I can assure you it’s not the smell of the newsprint.
Challenges Facing Small and Medium-size Government Contractors
My friend Bob Davis, interviewed by Mark Amtower recently on Federal News Radio, talked about the challenges facing small and medium-size government contractors.
Washington Post Digital Scrapes iPage Bottom
The blinking and moving banner ads at the bottom of the pages of the iPad version of the Washington Post really suck.
Eventually management notices the disparity. So it will be with Google. This will be accelerated when advertising revenue starts to flatline and pressure emerges within Google to start charging for individual services that are currently subsidized by advertising. Stuff like Glass and driverless cars won’t help the situation. Nor will a walled-garden-in-disguise that pretends to be a social networking tool.
It happened to me again last night. I was working late with my laptop set up in the kitchen. I had the small flatscreen TV tuned to Soma FM via the kitchen Roku which connects to the wireless range extender upstairs. My wife called down from upstairs but I couldn’t hear her with music on. I reached for the remote and pressed the “volume down” button.
Why I Still Use Cursive
Why do I use cursive? The answer is simple: I like to write.
Using the "Send to Kindle" Browser Extension
I don’t know if this is another sign of the “death of the PC” or if it’s evidence that the PC just needs to morph into something more specialized. But I do know that I really enjoy being able to carry hundreds of books and articles around in my pocket that I can then read just about anytime or anywhere.
Using Ubuntu Linux Instead of a Windows 8 Upgrade
Earlier this year I started thinking about what to do about my aging desktop machine and it’s Windows 7 install. My trusty Sony VAIO laptop running Windows 7 Professional had finally died. I cannibalized its hard drive for external storage. Should I now upgrade my workhorse HP desktop machine to Windows 8?
Paywalls, Online Publishing, and Link Sharing
Being paid to publish an article in a payment-required indie magazine such as The Magazine sounds like a great idea if that’s the business you’re in. But for me, I have have to balance such opportunities against the loss of potential sharable links both for my own articles and those written by others I want to link to.
Have We Already Entered a "Post-Smartphone" Era?
In the world I live in there are still a lot of people who are satisfied with having “just a phone.” Still, what passes for “just a phone” these days is more powerful than the combined computing power devoted to the Manhattan Project, the Air Force/NASA X-15 program, and the early Space Shuttle Orbiter’s primitive onboard computers.
Perspectives on the NSA and PRISM: What Dyson Missed
In NSA: The Decision Problem George Dyson lays out a credible historical view on why he thinks what Snowden revealed about the NSA and PRISM was inevitable. While it’s certainly a pleasure to read a discussion of these issues that is so thoughtful, I think he misses one major theme that helps us understand our current predicament over what to do about Snowden.
On Reading the Digital Edition of the Washington Post on the iPad Mini
I learned recently that home subscribers to the Washington Post newspaper also receive the digital edition, so I added it to my wife’s iPad Mini. What follows is a description of my initial reactions as a reader.
The Internet and the Realities of Managing Human Memories
Reading Oliver Sacks’ New York Review of Books article Speak, Memory got me thinking about how the Internet augments how humans relate to their memories, the world, and each other.
How I Speed Up Writing & Editing
Kelly Griffin’s “11 Tips For Editing Your Own Writing” is a great list. As she says, “… editing your own writing is downright painful.”
A Progress Report on Reading Electronic Books, Especially Kindle
I remember being a bit surprised at how easy it had been to “weed” the collection of harcover and paperback book we had built up over the years. Now I’m reading a book — a “real book” printed on paper — in amongst the books and various documents I’m also reading via my Kindle devices and software. Reading this physical book is a pleasure so I thought I would put some of my thoughts about the experience in writing.