I’m pretty sure this statement isn’t going to create a firestorm of controversy: HP’s TouchPad, in its initial form, isn’t going to keep Steve Jobs or anyone else at Apple up at night. I reviewed the tablet for this week’s Technologizer column on TIME.com, and while it has some good points–especially the WebOS interface–it’s remarkably …
Duck Duck Go, the In-N-Out Burger of Search Engines
I briefly mentioned Duck Duck Go in my new Technologizer column for TIME.com—which is mostly about Google’s bevy of new search features—but it deserves more attention. Its mascot may be a genial waterfowl, but the site is the biggest underdog in search: It’s operated by one guy, a Philadelphian named Gabriel Weinberg.
Welcome to the Post-Post-PC Era
Over at TIME.com, my Technologizer column for this week is about Microsoft’s demo of Windows 8 last week and Apple’s demos of OS X 10.7, iOS 5, and iCloud this week–how they relate to each other and what they might mean for the future of personal technology. I refused to talk about the PC dying, but I did say that we may be seeing the …
Apple’s Other Eden: iOS
If you’re absolutely positive that the recent appearance of several variants of a trojan that targets OS X in the wild is proof that Mac fans are in for nothing but misery on the security front from now on, you’re wrong.
If you’re absolutely positive that it’s a one time blip and things will shortly return to peaceable normalcy, …
Is It Even Possible to Make Windows Work Well On a Tablet?
Rumor has it that Steven Sinofsky–the guy who runs Windows for Microsoft–will show off the next version of Windows at the Wall Street Journal’s “D” conference next week. (I used that possibility as an excuse to write about the Windows 8 I’d like to see for this week’s Technologizer column over on TIME.com.)
Sinofsky will supposedly …
Infrared: Just Kill It, Already!
Over at TIME.com, my Technologizer column this week is about using smartphones as universal remote controls–and especially about using Peel, a neat software-and-hardware package that turns an iPhone into an uncommonly slick TV remote. As we move towards an era in which just about everybody has a smart phone on his or her person at all …
Android vs. Chrome: The Inevitable Showdown
I spent most of Tuesday and Wednesday this week at Google’s massive I/O developer shindig in San Francisco. And then I wrote a Technologizer column for TIME.com on the first day’s keynote, which was jam-packed with Android news. But I could just have easily written a column about day two’s keynote, which was devoted to Google’s Chrome …
Why the World Still Needs the Slingbox
My Technologizer column for TIME.com this week is about the state of cable TV channels and shows on the Internet. It’s spotty–Time Warner Cable and Cablevision have introduced apps that turn iPads into portable TVs, but the entertainment industry doesn’t appear to be thrilled with that fact. And even though a high percentage of the …
How to Tell Me You Let Somebody Steal My Personal Information
I’ve been getting a lot of urgent messages from major companies I do business with lately. Urgent messages telling me that information I gave them has been stolen by unknown parties.
Yup, I’m not only a PlayStation Network member–and therefore a victim of the current Sony security breach–but also a customer of at least three …
Even Once the PlayStation Network Is Back, This Thing Is Far from Over
This article has been cross-posted from our partner site, Technologizer.
I’m not a PlayStation Network member, or much of a gamer at all. But I’m kind of fascinated by Internet outages–and the one currently affecting Sony’s PlayStation Network and Qriocity service is one for the record books. In fact, it may be the worst one of all …
Whatever Happened to Documentation?
My TIME.com Technologizer column this week looks at RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook, a new tablet that’s frustrating in its initial incarnation: it’s full of promise, but feels like RIM simply didn’t have time to finish it before getting it out the door.
Despite the PlayBook’s software issues, the hardware is quite pleasing. With one …
Saying Apple Will Never Do Something: Always Dangerous
This is a cross post from our partner site Technologizer.
For years, there’s been a persistent, as-yet-unrealized rumor that Apple will start making HDTVs. Received wisdom, however, has generally argued that it’s not going to happen. TVs are too commoditized; TVs would have to come in too many sizes; TVs are too off message for …