Category: Tech

Apple by Joe WilcoxJun 4, 201512:15 am

Apple’s Moral Marketing Charade

Nine years ago, a NPR interviewer asked me about Google and other U.S. companies censoring search results in China. The question was one of morality—to which I gave an answer she didn’t expect. That response, or my recollection of it, is appropriate for rather ridiculous and self-serving statements that Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly made three days ago.

“We believe that people have a fundamental right to privacy”, Tim Cook said, Matthew Panzarino reports for TechCrunch. “The American people demand it, the constitution demands it, morality demands it”. Oh? What is moral? The answer I gave NPR in 2006 applies: There is no moral high ground in business. The high ground is quagmire, because all public companies—Apple surely among them—share a single, moral objective: Make profits for stockholders. Plain, pure, and simple.

Web by Joe WilcoxJun 2, 201511:16 pm

Tidal gets My Reprieve

My third month as a Tidal subscriber started yesterday, but nearly not at all. Last week I prepared to cancel the pricey, streaming service after encountering a disastrous functional flaw listening on either Nexus 6 or 9. Songs skip to the next track part way through playing, which is unacceptable behavior—made more so because of expectations that higher pricing and loftier monthly subscription fee set.

I would have stopped subscribing on May 31st, at the billing cycle’s end, if not for Tidal offering a free month of service. Whether or not our paying relationship continues depends much on the music streamer resolving an app problem. “There is a bug with Nexus and Sony phones with Android 5 unfortunately”, according to a tech support specialist, “We are working on fixing this. Mostly after 26 megabytes have been streamed, it skips. So for now we do not have a solution yet”,

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 30, 201512:22 am

Google Photos is Disruptive Innovation

Google Photos is more than an exciting—and hugely transforming—new product. The app/cloud service is a metaphor for an escalating mobile business model that, with perhaps the exception of Facebook, no competitor has the capacity to match.

Users gain tremendous time-saving utility, such as the ability to meaningfully search using innocuous terms like “dog” or “Washington”, all without the need to manually add metadata tags by way of applications like Photoshop. Meanwhile, Google gets access to quantifiable information, in the image and accompanying metadata, around which to sell advertising and related contextual content or services.

Mobility by Joe WilcoxMay 27, 20153:04 pm

Google Music tempts Me from Tidal

My love affair with Tidal nears dissolution. The second month’s renewal is five days away, and divorce is nearly certain now. Mid-month I asked: “What Good is Tidal HiFi if Content won’t Play?” Matters are better and worse since. I no longer have the song stalls in the webapp running from Chrome OS. But track jumping behavior now afflicts Nexus 6—not just its tablet sibling.

On the phablet late this morning, I switched over to Google Music for a quick refresher comparison between identical tracks. I most certainly can hear the difference between 320kbps MP3 and Tidal’s 1411kbps Free Lossless Audio Codec. But the aural benefits are valueless if I can’t listen. Google Music invited me to resubscribe, with half a year free; it’s some kind of promotion for Nexus 6 buyers. How could I refuse no billing until after Thanksgiving? November feels forever away.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 27, 20157:36 am

Flickr a Day 147: ‘Old Lady’

If you asked reasons for today’s selection, several would stand out. Top of list: Exhaustion that makes me identify with the subject. That’s how I feel after searching the photostream of Oliver Degabriele; I could choose any and most every image for the Day. Composition, color, and contrast also appeal, and I find something old-worldly and interesting about self-titled “Old Lady”.

But I like “Soundcheck” as much, but passed even though it more topically represents the photographer, who also is a musician. As the series progresses, increasingly my choices are influenced by previous picks. We bad musical performance themes on Days 12, 16, 92, and 100.

Gear by Joe WilcoxMay 26, 201510:09 pm

Nokia Lumia Icon: When Great Isn’t Good Enough

I am lucky enough to have three sisters—Laurette, the youngest, and fraternal twins Annette and Nanette—but no brother(s). Nan, who is the tech savviest, rang on May 22, 2015, saying she had reached the inflection point of frustration finding apps she wanted or absolutely needed for the Nokia Lumia Icon purchased from me during summer last.

From Day 1, she praised the utility and usability of the user interface, attractive but sturdy design, and amazing hardware capabilities, which include the quality of images produced by the camera. But pushing a year later, with Windows Phone 8.1 installed and little improvement in the selection of apps that matter, She’d sacrificed enough.

Nan asked my advice about a replacement. Should she return to iPhone (she used the 4 before Icon) or get an Android? Her user story illuminates what can happen when someone entrenched in the Microsoft ecosystem raises his or her head above ground and sniffs the Android and Apple air.

Gear by Joe WilcoxMay 26, 20157:50 am

Don’t Talk Dumb About Smartwatches

Sunday afternoon, I cleaned out old CDs from a folder to make room for DVDs the family will keep but in more manageable storage. The things we save and forget about: install disc for the Suunto N3i MSN Direct smartwatch. The discovery is opportunity to express one of my ongoing gripes regarding news gathering today: Wild speculation about things to come that ignores context of past accomplishments.

Consider the smartphone, which you would think Apple invented based on all the blog blathering. Credit belongs to Nokia, about 20 years ago. Then there is the smartwatch. My feedbox fills with increasing speculation about when Microsoft will develop a wristwear platform or when will traditional timepiece makers produce the devices. Been there, done that.

Critters by Joe WilcoxMay 23, 20156:31 pm

Cali Relaxes

M daughter’s cat Cali assumes a rather unusual position in the custom-made tree we paid just $60 for. I love supporting a home business. I snapped the Featured Image using Nexus 6, rather than pull […]

Gear by Joe WilcoxMay 20, 20158:40 pm

Nexus 9 Review

I want to love Google-branded, HTC-manufactured Nexus 9. But ours is a contentious relationship. N9 is not a bad tablet; others offer better value and performance for the price (or less), with Apple iPad mini being high among them. That said, if pure (aka stock) Android is your thing, there is no worthy alternative. Just prepare for a few compromises, particularly if moving up from Nexus 7.

In his November 2014 review, my BetaNews colleague Brian Fagioli calls Nexus 9 “magical“. I can’t agree. During my four months using the tablet, response occasionally hesitates and WiFi too often disconnects. Last week, my N9 received the newest Android update, which somewhat resolves both problems. I purposely delayed this review, waiting for v5.1.1.

Apple by Joe WilcoxMay 19, 20158:06 pm

Whatever the Future, a Bigger Screen in Your Pocket isn’t It

I love my Nexus 6. This morning, while waking to the rush of caffeine from steaming coffee, I read headlines on the device. “I’m Phed Up With Phablets: They’re too big to prevail” caught my attention. The short commentary, by Brian Rubin for ReadWrite, rails against the bigger-is-better-smartphone trend. Screen on my cellular is massive: 6 inches, and I forever promised myself to never use a phone so large—until I did and converted. Much as I enjoy using the N6, for which I can still manage many operations one-handed, smaller would be my preference. Perhaps yours, too.

Big isn’t necessarily better and reverses a longstanding trend in the other direction. Does no one recall when using a smaller phone was chic? Consider the StarTAC, which was a huge hit for Motorola going into the late 1990s. I remember when seemingly everyone used one of the diminutive cell phones. Smaller was better—and if there was real innovation in mobile device design shrinking size would be again.

Gear by Joe WilcoxMay 18, 20159:13 pm

Meet the Fujifilm X-T10

Fujifilm’s line of cameras increasingly looks like choices among toothpastes. Do you want fluoride or gingivitis protection? Oh, this one whitens teeth, cures bad breath, and eliminates body odor. Decisions, decisions. That’s kind of my reaction to today’s debut of the X-T10 digital camera, which shouldn’t be confused with Fujifilm’s X10, X100T, or X-T1. Dyslectics and the visually impaired, beware!

As a X100T owner, I’m a Fuji fan. So, please, don’t take my criticism wrongly. It’s just this lineup is quite crowded. The company’s product website lists—count `em—18 different X-Series models. Sure, some aren’t current and not all can be confused. But many of them are close enough in actual benefits to perplex potential buyers.

News Media by Joe WilcoxMay 17, 20156:10 pm

Responsible Reporting Section 1 ‘News in Context’: Chapters V and VI

The fourth installment in the serialization of my ebook Responsible Reporting: Field Guide for Bloggers, Journalists, and Other Online News Gatherers continues the assault on Google, which provides a necessary utility that benefits all news organizations; they sacrifice content and revenue for the privilege.

Last week, Chapters 3 and 4 focused on the broken advertising-driven model in context of Google’s greater ambitions. The previous two, and the Foreward, explain what changed since 2006 and why the Fourth Estate is in crisis.