My Technologizer column over at TIME.com this week is about Barnes & Noble’s new Nookcolor e-reader, the first dedicated e-reader from a big company with a full-blown color touchscreen. Overall, I like it–I’ve never been as happy reading monochrome E-Ink displays such as the ones on last year’s Nook and Amazon’s Kindle as much as I’m …
Over at TIME.com, you’ll find my new Technologizer column. It’s about Bing, Blekko, and the whole idea of competing with Google–and in it, I mention how dangerous it is for a new company to set itself up as a Google rival, or to be perceived as a Google killer. I mention Cuil, the definitive failed Google killer. But there’s another …
For months, there have been rumors that Facebook was working on turning the inboxes of its 500 million-plus users into a full-blown e-mail service. Today, Facebook founder/CEO Mark Zuckerberg formally unveiled the subject of the rumors–code-named “Titan” and officially named simply “Facebook Messages”–at an event in San Francisco. And …
For this week’s Technologizer column over at TIME.com, I spent time with Samsung’s new Galaxy Tab tablet, which starts hitting US wireless carriers this week. As I say over there, it’s not an iPad killer, but it is the first post-iPad tablet from a major company that qualifies as a true iPad competitor.
The most obvious difference …
Search Engine Land’s Barry Schwartz has made an interesting discovery: Google has stopped calling the ads in its search-engine results “sponsored results.” The new label is one that should be clear to just about everybody: It’s calling the advertisements “Ads.”
As a consumer of Web sites–and an editor who’s been involved in …
For this week’s Technologizer column on TIME.com, I wrote about Microsoft’s mojo–or, more specifically, the fact that the company has had trouble translating its utter dominance of PC software into a leadership role in the most significant emerging tech categories moving forward, such as Web services and mobile operating systems.
I …
Earlier this week, Mozilla announced that it’s delaying the release of Firefox 4 until early next year. I doubt that anyone considers that to be fabulous news–except, maybe, for makers of other browsers–but it struck me as a sensible, responsible move given the state of the browser. It’s the best thing to do for Firefox users.
The …
My TIME.com Technologizer column this week is about the new direction that Apple is taking Macs–which is about bringing some of the simplicity of the iPhone and iPad to the 27-year-old Mac platform. The first chapter in that story is last week’s introduction of all-new 11.6″ and 13.3″ MacBook Air models–and the most striking thing …
For this week’s Technologizer column over at TIME.com, I wrote about how the current version of TiVo stacks up against Google TV, Apple TV, and other Internet-only newcomers. (Short version: It retains some cool advantages, but I’m rooting for TiVo to release some all-new boxes that take on the personal-TV whippersnappers more …
When I bought my first car, in 1987, I don’t think computers were involved in any way. I bought another one in 1991, and may have done some research on CompuServe–I don’t recall. By 1996, I used a couple of snazzy CD-ROMs to help me pick a ride. And in 2004, I did most of my research online and got a decent price on the car I still own …
An ancient joke (popularized if not invented by Henny Youngman) has a patient saying “Doctor, it hurts when I do this.” To which the doctor replies, of course, “Don’t do that!”
I thought of that bit this week when I compiled some tips on how to enjoy Facebook–a service which I find mostly fun, but sometimes frustrating–for my …
The Ford Motor Company may be a hundred and seven years old, but when it comes to cool gadgetry, it’s impressively spry for a company of its age. For several years, it’s poured effort into its Sync and MyFord Touch ecosystem, which puts a ton of entertainment- and information-related features into the dashboards of Fords and Lincolns, …