Category: Tech

Apple by Joe WilcoxDec 30, 200710:14 pm

You Phone Home, I Hang Up

Tonight, I removed Adobe’s Lightroom 1.3 from my computer. Maybe that makes me part of the so-called “tinfoil” hat crowd. I’m deeply concerned about Adobe collecting information, in apparently disguised fashion, from users of its products.

I don’t buy Adobe’s excuses. Creative Suite 3 isn’t freeware. People buying the software can pay as much as $1,800 (street price), depending on CS3 version. Adobe feels free to mine information from these customers, without even asking their permission? Shame on Adobe. I would remove Acrobat and Flash, if so many Websites didn’t use the software. I’m mad!

Apple by Joe WilcoxDec 9, 20079:00 pm

There’s a Worm in Retail Apple

My wife suggested that I read Washington Post story, “The Elite Apple Corps: A Hundred Million Strong, Every One of Them Cool.” I live in California! I don’t read the Post anymore, which is why I didn’t see it. The story appears in today’s Style section.

Reporter Hank Stuever hits on what’s wrong with the Apple retail stores. They’re too busy, and so they’re no longer fun.

Apple by Joe WilcoxOct 10, 200712:00 am

I’m DRM-free, Baby

Last week I achieved my goal of becoming DRM-free before the end of the year. I have purged all the DRM tracks from my music library and replaced what I could—thanks to the Amazon MP3 […]

Society by Joe WilcoxSep 8, 200712:00 am

Nerd Test 2.0

This afternoon, I took the revised nerd test. I scored a “0” on the original test, which indicated that I am not a nerd. I always thought that maybe the test was too limited to […]

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 5, 20077:57 pm

Moment of Second Guessing

Penn Camera called today to say that the Canon EOS 40D had arrived. I was No. 38 on a waiting list that wasn’t to be fulfilled until October. Unexpectedly, days after I sold all my […]

Photo by Joe WilcoxSep 2, 20077:19 pm

The D with One More Zero

This afternoon, I completed a 180-degree turn with respect to photo gear. I completely abandoned Canon and moved to Nikon. I had made a kind of switch before; this one is permanent. All my Canon equipment is gone. Timing is strange, because I passed up opportunity to buy new dSLR models from both companies.

I have used the Canon EOS 20D since 2004—with a break in-between with the Nikon D200. I eventually switched back to Canon, because of my daughter’s ice skating. A good friend had my old Canon f/2.8 L lenses, and he was willing to trade my Nikon gear. With the 20D’s lower noise at higher ISO and the amount of light captured by the f/2 and f/2.8, I got better pics from the ice rink than with the D200; I had f/3.5-5.6 lenses, and the Nikon camera produces more noise at higher ISOs.

Gear by Joe WilcoxAug 27, 200712:00 am

A QPC-860 Story

They don’t make cell phones like this anymore.

Yesterday, as I was cleaning the basement, I found a personal relic: A Qualcomm cell phone from, looks like, 1999. The phone carries the Bell Atlantic Mobile brand, which existed until mid 2000, when the company became Verizon following the merger with GTE.

I hit the “pwr” switch, expecting no response. But, miraculously, the phone powered up. Keep in mind, this phone has collected dust in my basement for about eight years. Disturbing, however: The phone comes up with my old phone number and it makes calls. I did one test call, then stopped. It’s not my number, anymore. I’m not sure how best to dispose of the phone, because of the active number.

Apple by Joe WilcoxAug 5, 20073:07 pm

Fake Steve Jobs is Revealed!

The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs is one acerbic—and hugely popular—Weblog. Also known as Fake Steve Jobs, the author has had quite a following over that last 14 months. There has been a concerted effort to reveal Fake Steve Jobs’ identity. No longer.

In New York Times story, “A Mystery Solved: ‘Fake Steve’ Blogger Comes Clean“, reporter Brad Stone reveals the identity as Daniel Lyons, a senior editor at Forbes. Today, Fake Steves acknowledged, “Damn, I am so busted, yo“.

Web by Joe WilcoxAug 4, 20072:03 pm

Free Themes with a Hidden Cost

About 11 years ago, I registered aroostook.org, as it derives from the name of my home county, or “The County” as Mainers call it. I later let a good friend have the domain, which I long regretted.

It’s nothing to do with him; he’s a great friend. In retrospect, I could have put the domain to good use. Today, I looked over the WHOIS record, which indicates the domain record was created in 2002. Mmmm, 1996 is more like it. He must have let the domain expire at some point.

Society by Joe WilcoxJul 29, 20074:58 pm

Nerd’s the Word

On Friday, another journalist and I chatted about the geek speak from Microsoft’s financial analyst conference, the previous day. He remarked how during their speeches, Microsoft executives “spoke a different language”—that the way they spoke was really tough to follow. But during hallway breaks and over lunch they spoke more like “normal” people.

Gear by Joe WilcoxJul 27, 200712:00 am

Best. Marketing Campaign. Ever.

Jealous Computers. They hate being replaced by the Nokia N95.

Living by Joe WilcoxJul 5, 20075:52 pm

What Will Be the Returns?

Today’s New York Times column “An iPhone Changed My Life (Briefly)” hits at the device’s fundamental problem: Hype. There was too much of it—and not really from Apple—that may have over-raised many people’s expectations. The issue Michelle Slatalla raises is one of returns. Will she return her iPhone? She writes, “I have started thinking seriously about returning the $599 phone, despite a 10 percent restocking fee. It hasn’t really changed my life in the ways I’d hoped”.

But she may have started with overly unrealistic expectations, which the runaway hype helped foster. The name includes “phone” for a reason. Apple didn’t promise a device that would cure cancer or feed the starving.