Category: General
Podcasts: What I’m listening to (part 1)
A few years ago, the TWiT network were about the only people putting out decent tech-related Podcasts. Now though, you have to spend a lot of time going through Podcasts to weed out the bad ones, rather than find the good ones.
I listen to a lot of different types of Podcasts, but for the purpose of this article, I’ll stick with just the tech-related ones. Generally speaking, I prefer shorter podcasts – they feel more relaxing to listen to and less like a chore I must complete.
I came across the 70 Decibels network a while ago and have since subscribed to several of their podcasts. They’re very well produced, and cover a decent range of topics.
In particular, I’ve been listening to 11 Minutes, The 512 Podcast, Enough, and CMD+Space.
Many other tech-related podcasts have turned into something you might expect from a political talk show, with two or three people all talking over each other trying to get attention. None of the shows I’ve mentioned above have this problem.
Other shows available on the 70 Decibels network include cooking, freelancing, science fiction and general technology. All the 70 Decibels Podcasts offer an iTunes subscribe feed, as well as an RSS feed to stay up-to-date with newly released shows.
More…
Mac OS Ken is one of my favorite Apple-related podcasts because it’s timely, and typically only 10 to 15 minutes long – perfect for listening to during the work commute or lunch. Ken Ray’s daily podcast includes most stories directly related to Apple, many stories indirectly related to Apple that stand a chance of affecting Apple’s business or its users, and tangentially related stories that are funny. Mac OS Ken has an iTunes and RSS subscription link on the homepage.
iPhone 5 more popular than Samsung Galaxy S III on the web
Thanks again, Steve.
Rant: Shut the hell up already, you whiney little spoiled jerks
Over the course of the last year, the tech blogosphere has been a non-stop siege of iPhone 5 discussion. When Apple finally announced it a few weeks ago, I had hoped it would go away quickly. But no, thanks to the stupid Maps app and Lightning connector, it’s hanging around like a lonely hung-over friend after a Christmas party.
You can’t go to a single tech site without reading the same crap about Apple, the iPhone 5, iOS 6, Maps app, and the Lightning connector. I’ve actually been avoiding even launching my web browser for the last week as much as possible because I’ve grown so tired of it. So what happened this morning? I see an article from BGR.com titled “Apple working on wireless solution to the annoying 30-pin adapter problem.”
I should have just moved on right there, but instead I thought I would subject myself to a little self-inflicted misery by clicking the link. The first sentence in the article was enough to push me over the frigging edge. Are you ready? This is mind-blowing stuff. (more…)
If Steve Jobs were here, THIS is what would have happened
Image courtesy of Kremlin.ru
This is perhaps the first thing Apple/Tim Cook has done where I can honestly say that “this would have NEVER happened under Steve Jobs’ watch.”
Tim Cook released a public apology to Apple’s iOS 6 customers.
If Steve Jobs was still with us, this is how it would go:
- Everyone involved with the Maps app would have shrapnel from Steve’s sneakers embedded in their ass.
- Neither Steve, nor anyone else at Apple, would have any comment on Maps app; other than to say how wonderful it is, and how they hear from customers who love it.
- In six months, we would have an update to the Maps app that would greatly improve it. Still no comment from Steve or Apple on Maps app.
- At the iOS event next year, where Steve announces iOS 7, he would stand up on stage and proclaim: “Maps was gorgeous, and we’ve had an incredible response from customers about it. But we’ve made it even better, and today I’m going to show it to you. By the way, Maps 2.0 is free, and available for download… TODAY!” Giant applause from crowd would last 5 minutes.
- The Maps app development lead at Apple would soon be seen on LinkedIn listing Motel6 IT Manager as his new position.
I don’t know if Tim Cook’s apology is a good thing or a bad thing for Apple, just a different thing. And certainly something we would have never seen from Steve Jobs.
iPhone 5 first impressions: light, fast and… cheap looking!
Spent a brief few minutes on the iPhone 5 this past weekend, courtesy of a friend of my nephew who’s parents decided he absolutely had to have the iPhone 5 immediately (spoiled brats!).
My first impressions: light, fast and cheap looking.
It’s so much lighter than the iPhone 4 that it almost feels like one of those fake phones the carriers put on a shelf in their stores.
The AT&T LTE speed here in Phoenix was obscene. Easily faster than the home WiFi network my iPhone 4 was running on. But Internet speed aside, the rest of the phone felt zippier as well.
The camera’s low-light images were much improved over the iPhone 4. We’re not talking about a work of art, but definitely the difference between actually keeping an image instead of trashing it because it was too dark.
The new case design of the iPhone 5 (the black one anyway) looked cheap to me. It looked like “worn-out” plastic snap-on material I would expect from a $99 phone instead of the elegant iPhone 4 with its all glass case.
The iPhone 5 looks gorgeous in the promo photos, but I gotta say that in real life, it looked like crap to me. I mean I was REALLY disappointed in seeing it. Again, I only saw the black one, but it was enough to convince me that I’ll be getting the white version when I upgrade.
Ultimately, how it looks is largely irrelevant to me, because I’ll end up putting a case on it anyway. And every other aspect of the phone is awesome. Perhaps I just didn’t spend enough time with it to fully appreciate the appearance – but how the phone looks is something I tend to only care about for about the first day or so of owning it, anyway.
My iPhone rant from 2008
Wow. How things have changed. My frustration was more about the websites I mentioned than the iPhone itself – but boy did I unload on the iPhone, too!
