It’s Friday! Maybe you just got paid. You could use that money for boring stuff like bills, rent, and food, or you could act like a wonderfully impulsive consumer and spend it on any number of products. Here are some ideas to get you started based on your taxable income bracket.
Gadgets
Archos Reveals Two Seriously Cheap Android Tablets
Somehow, Archos has managed to fit some powerful hardware into an Android tablet that’s just over half the price of an iPad.
The Archos G9 series tablets will come in two flavors when they launch in late September: An 8-inch model will start at $279 and have the same screen resolution as an iPad (1024-by-768), and a 10.1-inch model …
Rumor: New MacBook Airs in July, iPhone 6 in 2012, 15m iPhone 5s in First Batch
I’m ready for my upgrade, by which I mean from a well-worn early 2010 13-inch MacBook Pro to a shiny new Thunderbolt-equipped 11.6-inch MacBook Air—if Apple does right by me spec-wise with its imminent MacBook Air refresh, anyway. The latest rumors (per DigiTimes) don’t tell us much about what to expect from Cupertino’s ultraportable …
The Ultimate Guide to Staying Connected on Vacation Abroad
Does being cut off from the outside world give you the heebie jeebies?
It’s summertime, which means it’s time to hit the boarding gates of the nearest terminal and get out of town. And if you’re going somewhere exotic that requires you to dig your passport out (hey, Mexico still counts), you may be wondering what life is like when the …
LulzSec Leak Reveals iPhone Apps That Worry Police
Hacker group LulzSec has struck again, this time targeting Arizona law enforcement by releasing thousands of pages of confidential documents and communications presumably acquired in a security breach. Among those documents are several that show law enforcement’s special interest in the iPhone and other smart phones.
One document, …
Why Tablets Represent the Future of Computing
Where is personal computing headed?
As a technology industry analyst I get asked this question quite often. My answer, although it’s hard to wrap our brains around now, is that we are moving away from a keyboard- and mouse-centric computing experience to a touch computing experience. Tablets represent the beginning of that shift and …
Needed: Consistent User Interfaces for High-Tech Cars
Until last week, I’d never driven an Audi in my life. But when I got to try the new Audi A7 for my latest Technologizer column over on TIME.com, I didn’t have to learn anything new to drive it–everything from the gear shifter to the brakes to the turn signals were similar or identical to the ones in dozens of other cars I’ve driven. The …
More Bad News for 3D
A pair of new studies paint a dreary picture for 3D, both in movie theaters and at home.
First up, a survey by research firm BTIG found that only 36 percent of moviegoers chose the 3D version of The Green Lantern, accounting for 45 percent of box office revenue.
That makes The Green Lantern the third major 3D release in a row to …
Apple’s Audio Interface Patent Still Won’t Help My Running Career
I don’t know about you, but whenever I’m taking my iPhone out for a run (which happens four times a year) I’m more inclined to scroll through songs than actually, you know, move my legs. I know playlists are an option, but I’m really more of a “as the mood strikes” kind of guy, which probably explains why I can only listen to …
TWC, Viacom Call a Timeout in Legal Battle over iPad Streaming
Television companies may not have decided upon the ideal way to stream content to the increasingly popular app audience just yet, but they may at least be taking a step closer to coming to some kind of consensus on the subject. Or, at least, not suing each other about it.
Viacom and Time Warner Cable have agreed to put their current …
Apple Removes Controversial Anti-Israel App from App Store
Last night, Apple removed the controversial “The Third Intifada” app from its App Store, just one week after it first went online. The free app provided news about forthcoming Palestinian protests as well as pinpointing other anti-Israel articles and information on the web. Some of the activities it highlighted demanded violence …
Need a Clock That’ll Run for 10,000 Years?
Yes, someone’s actually building an honest-to-goodness 10,000-year clock, or a clock that’ll run for 10,000 years. If you’re a Neal Stephenson fan (like me) and you’ve read his last novel, Anathem—in which a group of cloistered monks tend an ornate millennial clock—you already know about the actual clock. It’s been around for some …