This morning, a Katydid temporarily took up residence on our screen door. I used it as opportunity to test the iPhone 3GS auto-macro mode. Pics were all crap. But this one (and others) taken with […]
Category: Gear
Netbook Plague Kills 1 in 5 Notebooks
The netbook scourge continues unabated, and PC manufacturers are host on their on petard. Could anything be more putrid? DisplaySearch has ruined the last official day of summer holiday by releasing netbook shipment data. In May, I blogged that netbook US retail share approached 20 percent.
Laptop Hunter Sheila's First Post-Hunt Big Project
Say, do you remember Sheila Dvorak? The filmmaker who bought an HP HDX 16t, in one of those Microsoft “Laptop Hunters” commercials? The stereotypical filmmaker uses a Mac, running Apple’s Final Cut Studio. But not Sheila. She’s completed her first project using the HDX 16t.
My Nokia N97 is Gone
I am mad at Apple and Nokia. Apple has the best mobile software and services platform anywhere. Nokia offers the best hardware platform—granted, HTC closes in. This difference has forced me to choose one company’s smartphone over the other, leaving behind dissatisfaction with the compromise.
No Thanks: Full-Screen iPhone Ads
Look what popped up on my iPhone 3GS while reading a New York Times story. A full-screen advertisement. I would rather skip the ads and pay the Times, say, five bucks a month for content. […]
Two Tales of Windows 7 Abandon
In the interests of transparency and fair disclosure, I must make two of three confessions. Several people have asked, via comment, e-mail or tweet, whether or not my wife and daughter stuck with Windows 7. There’s appropriateness to responding the day Microsoft released the operating system to MSDN and TechNet subscribers.
My Comic-Con 2009 Gear
I spent the last two days at Comic-Con 2009 here in San Diego. I sacrificed Day 1, and not happily, to cover Microsoft’s fiscal fourth-quarter and year-end earnings. Several big Microsoft stories broke on Friday, but I refused to give up another day at Comic-Con; it’s the 40th show. Comic-Con is fun and chaotic. More importantly, for a journalist, people are willing to talk—and why not? They’re playing a role and ready to perform.
PEN E-P1: First Shots
Finally, I took some test shots with the PEN E-P1, the exciting new Olympus micro four-thirds camera; I got the camera on July 7, 2009. This camera can swap lenses. Oh, yeah. I have the […]
American Apparel Displays What?
I am a sucker for good marketing, often stopping to gawk at store display windows. Marketing displays, especially store windows, are art forms. The best combine things that seemingly go oddly together.
Spotted: Vivienne Tam Netbook
Here are a few things that go oddly together: A Mexican vacationer, Coronado Public Library and designer netbook. This picture tells a story.
Yesterday, I took my daughter over to Coronado High School, where, in other circumstances, she would attend. But we don’t live in Coronado, and San Diego School District is rumored to be resistant to transfers. We’re late trying to get in, too.
Olympus PEN E-P1
Today, I received the Olympus PEN E-P1 micro four-thirds digicam. The E-P1 continues a long tradition started with the first Pen camera released in 1959, the year of my birth. I’ve posted an unboxing set […]
How Does 'Incremental' Define Apple?
I would like to discuss how Apple innovates, which I understand very well. I posted about Apple’s incremental product strategy last September at Apple Watch: “Apple Demands a High Price to Be Cool.”
The pattern is consistent: Apple launches a “one more thing” product with modest hardware features but something else nevertheless killer—something people want. During the launch, Apple CEO Steve Jobs performs his marketing magic, demonstrating how this “one more thing” product will make peoples’ lives better.