My technical meanderings and other nonsense. Published since 2002. No, really. I'm *that* internet-old. I remember the days of I often get asked (from less geeky friends), “Which tablet should I get? Is there any particular one you’d recommend?” It’s hard for me to recommend anything other than the iPad, and not just because I am some Apple “fanboy.” The iPad provides the best experience possible, and the attention to detail outpaces every other [...]
Monthly Archives: November 2011
Creating a social network today
Establishing a social network today is much different than it was just a few years ago. Users are already acclimated with using social networks, so the barrier of entry is much lower than it used to be, even for non-technical users. These days a social network must capture people’s interest when attention spans are already [...]
Blog categories
I’ve grown tired of using blog categories. Although it aids with organization, I’ve always struggled with how best to apply categories. For example, should I make them specific or leave them vague? If I am writing a post about Google, should I include it in the “Google” category, or more vaguely in the “hardware” or [...]
Bookmark Google Voice contacts to text message
I mentioned that it seems Google purposely makes shitty apps for iOS (due to their stake in Android), because the Google Voice app is horrendous. I’ve heard similar sentiments regarding the Gmail app. I’ve committed to using the browser-based version of Google Voice (for text messaging) and although it could be better, it seems to [...]
Looking for a good, non-app alarm clock
I am looking for a good alarm clock. I normally don’t use an alarm clock, even though I get up very early on weekdays (around 5:45 AM the latest). I tend to wake up around that time naturally, as long as I get to sleep at a decent hour the night before. But some nights [...]
The tactile nature of hand-held devices
Some good thoughts (via Daring Fireball) on how digital devices often fall short of their three-dimensional, physical counterparts. I’ve thought a lot about this regarding tablets and e-book readers, which focus more on convenience over feeling. With my recent purchase of a Kindle device, I feel closer to paper because e-ink looks like paper, as [...]
Gmail Undo sending
I was locked out of my personal Gmail account, and since I have two-step verification turned on, I needed to receive a phone call from Google with a passcode included but my phone was not accepting calls for some reason. Luckily I saved another phone number (my wife’s) to my Google account in case of [...]
IntoNow: share what you are watching by listening
IntoNow detects what you are watching by using your device to receive audio. You simply hold up your device towards the TV and it “listens” for a few seconds and quickly finds what you are watching. I’ve tried it a few times and it worked like a charm. One time I was watching a TV [...]
Amazon Prime is a conceptual delivery method
In regards to Amazon allowing “Prime” (discount expedited shipping) subscribers access to free streaming movies and now books, David Pogue asks: “What does free shipping have to do with streaming movies? Beats me. But it must have been a delightful surprise to people who’d signed up for Prime.” Once confined to just the shipment of [...]
The new Google Reader interface
Although I use Instapaper for as much “sit down” web content reading as possible, there are some articles/feeds/items that I read right in Google Reader. Either they are too short to “save for later,” or I just want to read it right away. Google Reader recently updated their interface and I’m finding the design to [...]