Tag: Digital Lifestyle

Gear by Joe WilcoxAug 4, 20145:11 pm

Smartphones come of Age

Wired hits a homer with an incredible August issue on smartphones. As battery life and utility expand, so does my device’s use as secondary—and sometimes primary—device. Nokia Lumia Icon is all the digital device I carried to San Diego Comic-Con 2014. Snap. Edit. Share. And I took notes during the panels. It’s not a question if my smartphone replaces a PC but when.

Five years ago (this month) I asserted, perhaps a bit prematurely, that “Your Next PC is a Smartphone“. That was before the tablet craze sidelined attention, but I’m convinced the smartphone’s day is come—and so do Wired editors.

Gear by Joe WilcoxMay 27, 20144:27 pm

I am a Chromebook Convert

Two years ago this month, I adopted Chromebook as my primary PC. Except for brief betrayal last summer, mine is the Chromie lifestyle since. “Can I use Chromebook as my primary PC?” It’s a question I see often across the Interwebs. The answer is different: You can use Chromebook as your only computer.

The only PCs in my home are Chromebooks. There are no Macs or Windows machines doing double duty. Chromebook is more than good enough. Most people will be surprised just how satisfying Chromebook can be—and how affordable. For 96 cents more than the cost of one entry-level MacBook Air, you can buy from Amazon four HP Chromebook 11s. User benefits are surprisingly similar.

Gear by Joe WilcoxMar 8, 20138:35 pm

Chromebook Pixel isn’t for Everyone, but It could be Right for You

Fourteen days using Google’s first computer, my decision is made: I would buy one and will someday (income taxes are brutal, so my options are limited short-term). I firmly believe that most buyers willing to spend $1,299 (32GB WiFi) or $1,449 (64GB 4G LTE) will be satisfied with Chromebook Pixel. That’s because I presume they wouldn’t dole out that much without really examining how the computer would fit their lifestyle; also, Google seeks the same people coming from Windows who might buy MacBook Pro 13-inch.

Seven days ago, in my hands-on review, I looked at the overall experience and price benefits from the perspective of hardware. Here, I start to answer larger question: Can Pixel be your main and only machine? For most people, the answer is an unequivocal “No”. But “most people” isn’t Google’s target market.

Gear by Joe WilcoxSep 27, 20128:59 pm

I’m a Chromie Now

Four months ago, I put aside (and later sold) MacBook Air for the Samsung Series 5 550 second-generation Chromebook and never looked back. They say three times is a charm, and that proves true with my third foray using a laptop running Chrome OS. The first two proved life-changing, as I adopted a partial cloud computing lifestyle. Now I live a vigorous, charmed cloud life, which includes Android embrace.

Chromebook isn’t easy, because it demands a thinking reset. I had to put aside concepts about everyday computing, fear of losing Internet connection and perceptions about hardware configurations and what’s good enough performance value. Something else: When I started this journey, in December 2010, Chrome OS wasn’t good enough, because there weren’t enough supporting cloud apps. That has changed dramatically, because of Chrome Web Store and how much desktop-like utility Google now brings to cloud services like G+ or YouTube.

Living by Joe WilcoxAug 2, 20122:55 pm

I'll Be Back

My daughter turns 18 today. She starts college in a few weeks and deserves my time (my wife, too). To celebrate, I take a week off from work, and really stepping back from everything. With a little […]

Society by Joe WilcoxJun 23, 20099:16 pm

Microsoft Has Lost Its Way Part 2

Microsoft has abandoned the fundamental principles that made it the most successful software company of the last decade and ensured its software would be the most widely used everywhere. But in just three years, since 2006, startups and Apple have set a new course for technology and how societies use it.

For Microsoft, this change is scarier than movie “Quarantine.” Without a course correction, Microsoft in the 2010s will be very much like IBM was in the 1990s. That’s no place Microsoft should want to be.

Living by Joe WilcoxJun 8, 20067:48 pm

Movie Time

About a month ago, we switched out the Windows Media Center PC for a TiVo. Of course, what good is a TiVo without a TV to connect to? Quite good, it turns out. Rather than go back to a PC, we returned to a projector.

I shopped around before buying the projector, for which the sale of the Dell Media Center PC paid. Choice—and not the best, but appropriate for the family’s budget: Optoma MovieTime DV10. The picture quality isn’t nearly as wow as I expected, but the overall big-screen experience is more than good enough. No means is it perfect, but perfection we demand spending heaps more money. MovieTime sells for $999.

Apple by Joe WilcoxMar 8, 20068:23 pm

Mac’s Back

The New Year started with my full-time return to Windows, so that I could test Windows Vista and Office 2007. This evening, after many days’ deliberations, I picked up a MacBook Pro from my local Apple Store. I will continue Windows Vista and Office 2007 testing, but no longer use Microsoft’s operating system on a full-time basis.

In typical fashion, I managed about two months on Windows before retreating back to the Mac. Reasons are same as always. My resolution to go back to Windows and stay there is a shambles. But that’s a good resolution to have broken.

Mobility by Joe WilcoxFeb 20, 20066:51 pm

Going Old World, Sigh

During the last seven months, I’ve taken some mighty big steps backward—and I’m none too happy about it. In early August 2005, I started using Vonage voice over IP (VoIP) service, putting a tethered phone back in the house. More than two years earlier, I pulled the landline, and we became an all-mobile family. Three cell phones.

But following carrier consolidation, I no longer could affordably purchase enough minutes for work and home needs; hence, the VoIP service. I would have expected service providers to encourage people to go only-cellular. But, NO-o-o-o.

Living by Joe WilcoxFeb 18, 20068:11 pm

How Rude!

I get so steamed sometimes by some people’s rude behavior. My daughter and I stopped into the local 7-Eleven this morning for a quick burrito. While we were standing in line, this lady jabbering Spanish over a cell phone made a huge mess at the cappuccino machine (I use lower-case “c” because 7-Eleven Cappuccino isn’t).

She used the wrong size cup, which overflowed all over the machine and made a huge puddle of milky gunk on the floor. And she didn’t care! She continued talking on the cell phone!

Society by Joe WilcoxSep 22, 20058:00 pm

Island of Islands

I spent the day in Manhattan, where I had meetings at my employer’s office. After work I walked down 33rd Street from Park Ave. South to Seventh Ave., where is Pennsylvania Station. The first day […]

Apple by Joe WilcoxMar 7, 20045:52 pm

iPod Zombies of New York?

My buddy Jim Dalrymple told me about the so-called iPod zombies of New York. He’d read a post somewhere about how so many New Yorkers used iPods that the streets had become a sea of white […]