Call it the great Android paradox. The whole notion behind Google’s mobile operating system is to give hardware makers software that’s flexible enough to let them build an array of different handsets. But when you start to …
Reviews & Features
If Harvard Can’t Afford Academic Journal Subscriptions, Maybe It’s Time for an Open Access Model
Last week, Harvard’s Faculty Advisory Council revealed that the school now spends $3.75 million annually on academic journal subscriptions. Why so much? According to a memo the council sent out, some journals cost the school up …
Will Google Drive Snoop Inside Your Data? Google Needs to Be Clearer
Upload your private diary, novel manuscript, amateur movie or digitally crafted song to Google’s new Google Drive and it’s totally impervious to company tinkering, right? Not necessarily. In fact the way things are currently laid …
Is Apple CEO Tim Cook Right? Are Laptop-Tablet Hybrids Dead in the Water?
Apple CEO Tim Cook says the idea of a laptop-tablet hybrid is tantamount to shoving a toaster into a refrigerator. It’s a clever, sound-bite-y analogy. It’s also wrongheaded. But before we go there, let’s give Cook’s comments the …
New Study Asks Who’s to Blame When Robots Harm Us
I admit it; sometimes I yell at inanimate objects. My computer has, on several occasions, borne the brunt of my rage while spinning the dreaded pinwheel of lost productivity.
It isn’t logical to get mad at a machine, but you’d …
5 Reasons to Give Google Drive a Shot
Google Drive, the company’s answer to online storage tools like Dropbox, Box.net, SugarSync and Microsoft’s SkyDrive, arrived yesterday afternoon as forecast, though with little ceremony.
It wasn’t…then suddenly it was, …
Gear4 Renew SleepClock Review: It Knows When You’re Sleeping
Over the last six nights, I’ve learned that I’m not a great sleeper. I need at least a half hour to doze off, and I’m likely to stir from my slumber a few times or more during the night, which in turn prevents me from getting …
Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight Review: An E-Reader That’s Not Afraid of the Dark
If ever a technology was defined by its highs and lows, it’s E Ink, the monochrome screen system used in e-book readers from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Sony and other companies.
Its virtues are downright amazing. E Ink uses power …
The 10 Best New Skyrim Mods for April 2012
Want to craft weapons made of dragon bone? Fight in your own personal arena? Increase your follower count to 15? Fly a Dwemer airship? You can do that and more in our pick of April 2012’s best new Skyrim mods.
Hate the New Gmail? Here’s How to ‘Fix’ It
First, a disclaimer: I like the current version of Gmail, which Google started to preview last summer and then rolled out in November. I found the old one insufferably cramped and claustrophobic, and am positive that the airier …
FAA Reveals List of Colleges and Police Departments That Can Fly Drones
Back in February, we wrote about a new bill passed by Congress that gave private, military and commercial drones more access to U.S. airspace. Now, thanks to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit from the Electronic …
Would Apple Create a Smartwatch? If So, When?
Earlier this year, I wrote an article here suggesting four industries Apple could disrupt, and one of the industries I mentioned was the watch industry.
When Steve Jobs introduced the touchscreen iPod Nano in 2010, he …