Category: Tech

Web by Joe WilcoxJun 17, 20104:58 am

Comments, No-Comments Debate gets Noisy

People love catfights, which perhaps explains some of the interest in the comments/no-comments debate between me and Mac blogger John Gruber. It’s a pseudo-debate, really, since the only engagement is blog posting. John and I haven’t directly communicated.

I started it all, by calling out John for not having comments on his blog. I told him to “Be a man,” which I actually meant with some backslapping good nature. But some people are morally offended. Stacia Van Doll reblogged the post as: “QUIT being a douchebag Joe Wilcox.”

Society by Joe WilcoxJun 14, 20108:46 pm

Of Course, Technology Changes You

Over the weekend, I unexpectedly read New York Times Op-Ed “Mind Over Mass Media,” by Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker. Professor Pinker rallies for the status quo, argung that “new forms of media have always caused moral panics…but such panics often fail basic reality checks.” He talks of a panic, but I don’t see one. However, there is a new book generating some debate—Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains. The Op-Ed is rebuttal without reference.

Society by Joe WilcoxJun 12, 201011:20 pm

Internet Attention Deficit Disorder

Nicholas Carr’s book, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, may be the defining manuscript of the World Wide Web era; so far. I haven’t read the book yet, but I have followed Nicholas’ writings leading up to The Shallows. I get his point, because I’ve experienced it. He merely wraps research around the experience. The point: Interaction with the Web changes how we think, in part by rewiring how we consume information. Attention spans are shorter and tasks like reading a long magazine article or book are harder.

In June 2008, I read a short post by Nicholas linking to his Atlantic story “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”

Apple by Joe WilcoxJun 7, 20108:26 pm

WWDC 2010 Keynote: A Story in Tweets

The problem with Twitter, publishing is lost content. Tweets go into the massive Twittersphere never to have meaning again. It’s kind of like chatter; people talk and it’s gone (or so most of us hope). Well, hell, I can’t let all my tweets go to waste, particularly during Apple’s developer conference keynote when Twitter was my real-time publishing platform. So I’ve painstakingly cut and paste this morning’s Twitterfest during Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ keynote for posterity’s benefit. 🙂

Mobility by Joe WilcoxJun 6, 20106:26 pm

Even Paper Is Better Than Windows Mobile

Say, does anyone remember that the Census Bureau was supposed to use HTC handsets running Windows Mobile 5 this year? I briefly blogged about the strange deal on April 6, 2006: “When New Technology is Old Again.”

HTC handsets running Windows Mobile used for the 2010 Census go oddly together—or they did four years ago. The Census Bureau had reportedly planned to buy a half-million handsets for this year’s count.

Web by Joe WilcoxMay 11, 20109:15 pm

You’re Zucked!

Perhaps I don’t pay enough attention to Mahalo founder Jason Calacanis. Something, somewhen, somehow bugged me about his blog posts—maybe it was frequency or attitude, I don’t recall—and so I nuked his RSS feed sometime ago.

But post “The Big Game, Zuckerberg and Overplaying your Hand” has me howling delight, even though Jason rambles on even more incoherently than I do. Thanks to Dare Obasanjo for tweeting the link.

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 8, 20106:56 pm

American Apparel Rummage Sale

Apple has got nothing on American Apparel. The line for the rummage sale in San Diego on May 8, 2010, made an Apple new product launch line seem tiny indeed. Both companies have strong brands—and […]

News Media by Joe WilcoxMay 5, 201010:46 am

Wall Street Journal's Pay-more Paywall demands Too Much

Do you pay Rupert Murdoch 18 bucks a month for a Wall Street Journal iPad subscription? I dare you to confess. Today, during News Corporation’s earnings call, CEO Murdoch claims that the Journal has 64,000 active users on iPad. Presumably one of them is you.

I ask because I see the Journal as having gone too far with its paywall approach. I’m testing iPhone 3GS again, and I downloaded the WSJ app last week. I logged in with my web subscription account, and the Journal let me read for a couple days. Then came the demand for more cash. Not much, just a buck a week. But I already pay for the web subscription, for which the Journal charges about $150 a year. So Murdoch wants another 52 bucks a year for iPhone and about another $215 for iPad, which I also am testing? OK, it’s only $207 a year for iPad if taking advantage of the $3.99-a-week promotion.

Apple by Joe WilcoxMay 4, 201011:33 pm

A Dating Service for Apple Fans?

My thoughts on this: Apple fans can be annoying when they’re on their own. The thought of them breeding and creating little Apple fans, a whole family of hard core hipster Apple lovers, is just not a good thing. On the other hand, making sure that Apple fans only date other Apple fans is a good way of stopping them from spreading their Apple fan genes to the general population, I guess. So maybe this site isn’t all bad.
Michael Arrington

Photo by Joe WilcoxMay 4, 20105:28 pm

Barber of Seville

Last night, while my wife and I walked in the neighborhood, I snapped a picture of the sign over the Barber of Seville shop. The barber there has cut hair for 50 years—30 in the […]

Gear by Joe WilcoxMay 3, 20108:57 pm

Turbo Charge AT&T Internet

AT&T is keeping secrets. I called to change my U-verse service and discovered 24Mbps Internet is available in my area for same price as 18Mbps. That was a brainless upgrade. AT&T calls the 24Mbps service […]

Apple by Joe WilcoxApr 27, 20109:23 pm

Editors Shrewdly Handled Gizmodo-iPhone Drama Act II

The toughest challenge for any newsroom is being the story. How should editors report about the news when they’re it, particularly if there are legal matters? That’s exactly Gizmodo‘s situation, following a Friday night police raid of editor Jason Chen’s home. Gizmodo waited until Monday to post about the search and seizure of items from Jason’s home, which included four computers and two servers. Gizmodo has responded tactfully from editorial and legal perspectives.