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I Love ‘X Factor UK’ But Must Leave It

Six months ago, nearly a year after cutting the cord, the Wilcox household reattached—to AT&T U-verse. At the time, my daughter was moving back home, and Cox cable comes into the room where she would reside. Given the importance of the Internet to my daily work,and not wanting the modem and WiFi access point to be in a place with limited access, we signed up for AT&T Internet service and television with it. The connection is in the main room of our apartment, where Cox can’t come without drilling and cabling the landlord won’t allow.

Before the Fall college semester started, Molly moved out to a group place near the ocean. Around the same time, U-verse started to behave badly. We had bandwidth, but some websites consistently hung or slowly loaded. Top of list: Anything Google. I would later learn that, coincidentally or perhaps not, Google Fiber courted San Diego County

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Flickr a Day 306: ‘I Just Have To Make One More Call, He Said’

Day of the Dead actually is a three-day celebration, ending November 2nd. I can’t resist slipping in another timely portrait, captured by Tom Waterhouse on May 10, 2008. He shot self-titled “I Just Have To Make One More Call, He Said” using Panasonic DMC-FX100. Vitals: f/4.8, ISO 80, 1/100 sec, 16.6mm. I picked the pic for being interesting and for bokeh, composition, perspective, and the photographer recognizing opportunity.

In 2015, Tom takes the Fujifilm X100T to the streets, where his focus is facial character. “I’m currently trying to make a serious attempt at becoming a credible street photographer”, he says. I say: He’s earned his street cred. 

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Nexus 9 Revised Review

My May, lukewarm assessment begins: “t want to love Google-branded, HTC-manufactured Nexus 9. But ours is a contentious relationship”. I didn’t see value for the cost, particularly comparing performance to other tabs similarly priced. On Oct. 29, 2015, Amazon delivered a new N9, and the user experience dramatically differs from the previous device—so much I must revise my review.

Days earlier, I parted with iPad Air 2 LTE. The family hopes to change cellular carriers, and there was opportunity to amicably relinquish my payment responsibility to Verizon. I would love to replace the Apple with Google Pixel C, but the tab’s forthcoming release date is uncertain. I reconsidered Nexus 9 and found the 32GB white model available from Amazon for $130 less than list price. I ordered, knowing that the device could be returned for refund if Pixel C imminently released or if N9 dissatisfied again. Lower price made buying and trying again an easy decision. 

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Flickr a Day 304: ‘Never did the Pumpkin Thing since Childhood!’

I debated long-time about what pic to pick for Halloween. Jack o’ lanterns are cliché, but Cristian Iohan Ştefănescu does them well—and I want to draw attention to his photostream, which is a real treat (no trick, promise). 🙂

One word describes Cristian’s style, whether expressed from the lens or in post-processing: Interesting. He has a terrific eye for composition and perspective. Some of his more recent art I could have featured if not for the holiday: “Study: Cats Understand Humans but don’t Really Care“; “Try walking in My Eyes!“; “Bring the Art Down on the Street and They will Come!“; “Life is a Foreign Country“; or “Hable Con Ella“.

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Flickr a Day 303: ‘Something Fishy’

I can’t get enough of portraits like this, where light pierces darkness to illuminate a child’s face. I would have composed differently until looking longer at self-titled “Something Fishy”. I like. I like. Overall quality is soft, but proves to be effective here. The hues are pleasing.

Caden Crawford captured the moment on Feb. 22, 2013, using Canon EOS Rebel T2i and EF 50mm f/1.8 II lens. Oh, baby, what a prime! Vitals: f/18, ISO 100, 1/20 sec, 50mm. From Red Lodge, Montana, he joined Flickr in May 2012. He is most active on Tumblr and keeps an (outdated) Facebook

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Android vs iPhone: When Hype Bites

The haughty headline from yesterday’s Apple fiscal fourth quarter 2015 earnings report isn’t big revenue or profit performance ($51.5 billion and $11.1 billion, respectively), but a figure given by CEO Tim Cook during the analyst call: “We recorded the highest rate on record for Android switches last quarter at 30 percent”.

Blogs, and some news sites, set the statement off like an atomic blast of free marketing for Apple. The fallout spreads across the InterWebs this fine Wednesday, largely undisputed or corroborated. Just because Cook claims something doesn’t make it true. To get some perspective, and to either correct or confirm the public record, today I asked a half-dozen analysts: “Does your analysis of the smartphone market support that assertion?”