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Monday, December 30, 2013

U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace in Delivering Broadband Service - NYTimes.com

"San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States, a progressive and economically vibrant metropolis of 1.4 million people sprawled across south-central Texas. But the speed of its Internet service is no match for the Latvian capital, Riga, a city of 700,000 on the Baltic Sea."

What We Learned About Human Origins In 2013

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Review - Apple’s New Mac Pro Computer - NYTimes.com

"It’s Apple’s top-of-the-line desktop computer, aimed at, as the name implies, the creative professionals who have always relied on Macs for video, graphics, music and photo manipulation. It makes everything around it look vaguely slower. It also makes me want to increase my homeowner’s insurance, in case of a break-in. The Mac Pro is daring, extravagant and elite — or maybe it’s just for the elite."

Climate change by the numbers: The worst is yet to come - Salon.com

iPad takes top spot in 2013 tablet market, but MacBooks lose out to Google-powered Chromebooks

User Upgradeable Everything: The New Mac Pro Is The Most Future Proof Mac Ever | Cult of Mac

"There was a time when one of the few parts of your Mac that you could upgrade was the CPU, but recently, Apple has phased out CPU upgradeability in favor of slimmer form factors with soldered-in silicon chips.
One surprising exception to Apple’s stance against user upgradeability, however, is the 2013 Mac Pro, which is now confirmed to have a processor that can be upgraded by the user."

Read more at http://www.cultofmac.com/260048/user-upgradeable-everything-new-mac-pro-future-proof-mac-ever/#SiFxgusqGXyXGM7k.99

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Pondering the ever-bright future for Chrome OS

I think it’s going to take many years to happen, but I firmly believe Microsoft Windows will keep losing ground as more and more of what we do is Internet-based. Families that have been all-Microsoft will experiment using a cheaper Chromebook. Android customers will enjoy the natural integration of Google’s services on these products. In time, this will eat into Microsoft’s operating system share. That’s my working thesis anyway.

The Nexus 7 is better than I gave it credit for

Researchers report security flaw in Samsung's Galaxy S4 | Mobile - CNET News

An Israeli security team says a vulnerability in Samsung's Knox security platform enables malicious software to track e-mails and record data communications.

Google expands Chromebook school programme in India - The Economic Times on Mobile

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Top Ten 2013 Breakthroughs In Physical Science

Top 10 predictions for the mobile market in 2014 | Mobile - CNET News

If you're in the market for a better value for your wireless plan, 2014 should be a good year for you. AT&T recently announced a new Mobile Share plan that offers an incentive to customers who use an older phone or bring their own unlocked device to the network. It's a plan similar to one that T-Mobile started offering in March.

Under the AT&T plan, consumers can save $15 a month on every smartphone connected to their plan if they don't take a device subsidy and sign a two-year contract. This plan and T-Mobile's plan, which also offers a discount on monthly service if you already own your phone, is a positive step for consumers and shows that some major operators will be aggressively fighting for consumers looking for a better value on their wireless plans.

Monday, December 23, 2013

iPad Mini Retina vs. New Nexus 7 | CNET TV | Video Product Reviews, CNET Podcasts, Tech Shows, Live CNET Video

iPad Mini Retina vs. New Nexus 7 | CNET TV | Video Product Reviews, CNET Podcasts, Tech Shows, Live CNET Video

Nexus 10 2 Likely the 10.5-Inch AMOLED Tab from Samsung; Release Date is January via the 2014 CES – Reports - International Business Times

Is it possible that this same device is the long-delayed Nexus 10 2 from Google? The answer could be YES and there are two reasons to support this supposition.
First, it is built by Samsung and perhaps Google thought it wise to stick with the South Korean device manufacturer, contradicting earlier that the next Nexus 10 is either a handiwork by Asus and LG.
Second, the soon-to-be-launched tab is being hyped as the first AMOLED slate from Samsung after a long break. According to Gotta Be Mobile, AMOLED is a signature Samsung technology that is famed for its stunning display rendition and efficient use of battery power.
"The contract ratio, colours and brightness are stellar and unmatched, and overall they're also extremely thin. Meaning these new displays could deliver one of the best and thinnest Android tablets to date," the same GBM report stressed.

Nexus 10 2 Likely the 10.5-Inch AMOLED Tab from Samsung; Release Date is January via the 2014 CES – Reports - International Business Times

Saturday, December 21, 2013

The iPhone forced Google to start over … or not, depending who you believe

"A pithy quote from a Google engineer working on Android on the day the iPhone was launched has been doing the rounds today. As a consumer I was blown away. I wanted one immediately. But as a Google engineer, I thought ‘We’re going to have to start over. The quote, attributed to Google engineer Chris […]"

Friday, December 20, 2013

CNET hands on: Apple’s radically reimagined Mac Pro is a powerhouse performer – MacDailyNews - Welcome Home

“Apple’s new Mac Pro is a stunningly fresh take on the desktop computer. But it’s probably not for you,” Dan Ackerman reports for CNET. “It breaks the decades-long tradition of putting desktop computer components in a rectangular box, whether a massive full tower of the kind that dominated offices and dens for many years, or a small cube such as Apple’s own Mac Mini.”

Thursday, December 19, 2013

James Madison vs. the NSA | MSNBC



James Madison vs. the NSA | MSNBC

Halley's Comet May Be Linked to Famine 1,500 Years Ago | Space.com

"A piece of the famous Halley's comet likely slammed into Earth in A.D. 536, blasting so much dust into the atmosphere that the planet cooled considerably, a new study suggests. This dramatic climate shift is linked to drought and famine around the world, which may have made humanity more susceptible to "Justinian's plague" in A.D. 541-542 — the first recorded emergence of the Black Death in Europe."

Jettison NSA phone database, panel tells Obama | Politics and Law - CNET News

Netflix Is the Breakthrough Brand of 2013

Two years ago, Netflix was all but written off for dead.

Netflix decided to split its DVD rentals and online streaming offerings in July 2011, effectively hiking the price by 60% for those accustomed to getting both. Two months later, Netflix doubled down on unpopular moves by announcing plans to split its DVD-by-mail service into a separate business that would be called Qwikster.

Customers took to social media to protest. The stock lost two-thirds of its value in a three-month period. Reed Hastings, the company's CEO, was declared the worst chief executive of the year by the New York Times and TheStreet.

See also: Netflix Knows You Better Than You Know Yourself

It was an abrupt and shocking turnaround for a company that had long been viewed as one of the savviest in the tech industry, and doubts about the company lingered long after it killed off Qwikster, apologized and started to grow its subscriber base again.

The Birth of the iPhone — Book Excerpts — Medium

Excerpt from “Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products”
lkahneylkahney in Book Excerpts

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Acer C720 Chromebook Reviews


Despite the tight pricing, the Acer C720 Chromebook has demonstrated that it's best effort to date in this space. Although we still wish there was some way to have a better screen and touchpad, Acer has packed a great deal of performance and battery life into a solid 11-inch form factor that costs the exact same as the underpowered competition. Toss in the fact that you can pick up a C720 with 2GB of RAM for $199 if you're price-sensitive, or bump up to $299 if you want a touchscreen experience, and we definitely have a winner here.

If you've been looking into getting a Chromebook, whether as a primary or secondary machine, the Acer C720 needs to be at the top of your list. The experience on offer here is exactly what using a Chromebook should be like — solid, portable, fast and inexpensive.

Tweet from @androidcentral :

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Review: Acer and Haswell give Chrome OS the battery life it deserves | Ars Technica

I personally own and like this eleven inch Chromebook.  It works well and is a significant improvement over last year's Acer and Samsung models.

LG unveils 21-inch all-in-one Chromebase desktop | Android Central

Racism linked to infant mortality, learning disabilities » State & National News » The Stanly News and Press (Albemarle, NC)

"A pair of Emory University studies released this year have connected the large share of African-American children born before term with the biologically detectable effects of stress created in women's bodies after decades of dealing with American racism. The studies' findings don't end there.

Racism, and its ability to increase the odds that a pregnant mother will deliver her child early, can kill. There is also evidence that racism can alter the capacity for a child to learn and distorts lives in ways that can reproduce inequality, poverty and long-term disadvantage, the studies found.

"Racism is an incredibly powerful force," said Elizabeth Corwin, dean of research at Emory University's Woodruff School of Nursing,"

- See more at: http://www.thesnaponline.com/statenews/x1956132289/Racism-linked-to-infant-mortality-learning-disabilities#sthash.SwegJKvR.dpuf

Monday, December 16, 2013

President Obama Meeting With Tim Cook And Other Leaders Tomorrow To Talk Tech | Cult of Mac

"President Obama Meeting With Tim Cook And Other Leaders Tomorrow To Talk Tech.

The White House has announced that President Obama is scheduled to meet with a number of top-level tech executives in the industry tomorrow, including Apple’s Tim Cook. Topics of discussion will be the recent controversy surrounding the NSA’s phone surveillance, HealthCare.Gov, and ways the government can work with tech companies to grow the economy.

Read more at http://www.cultofmac.com/258432/president-obama-meeting-tim-cook-tech-leaders-tomorrow/#DgcJkgTF9oOA16ws.99

NSA divided over possible amnesty deal for Snowden | Politics and Law - CNET News

"Whether return of that cache is worth a deal with Snowden is a contentious subject within the NSA. Rick Ledgett, who runs the NSA task force assessing the damage on the Snowden leaks, told CBS' news program "60 Minutes" during a segment aired Sunday (see below) that an amnesty deal is "worth having a conversation about. I would need assurances that the remainder of the data could be secured, and my bar for those assurances would be very high. It would be more than just an assertion on his part." (Disclosure: CBS is the parent company of CNET.)"

Jony Ive "more important to Apple now than Steve Jobs was"

Wednesday, December 04, 2013

Google Glass wearer challenges distracted driving charge | Politics and Law - CNET News

"Is Cecilia Abadie guilty of distracted driving for wearing Google Glass behind the wheel? She says no."

Light transmitted and partially absorbed - CNET News

"Using the Hubble Space Telescope's powerful Wide Field Camera 3, which is capable of peering at exoplanets trillions of miles away, two teams of scientists have found faint signatures of water in the atmospheres of five distant planets.

The strengths of the water signatures varied on the five planets WASP-17b, HD209458b, WASP-12b, WASP-19b, and XO-1b. Each orbit a star, allowing for observation. WASP-17b and HD209458b had the strongest signals, but the readings from the other three planets -- WASP-12b, WASP-19b and XO-1b -- also are consistent with evidence of water."

Monday, December 02, 2013

Amazon: In 4-5 Years, We Will Start Delivering iPhones & iPads Using Robotic Drones | Cult of Mac

"Even though Amazon has been working on drone delivery for a fair time, Bezos cautions that PrimeAir won’t debut until at least 2015, and even that’s unlikely. In fact, Bezos says that once you account for FAA approval, PrimeAir is probably four or five years out, and safety is a big concern: “This thing can’t land on someone’s head,” says Bezos.
Can you imagine ordering a new iPad and having a robot deliver it to you 30 minutes later? Welcome to the 21st Century to come, my friends."

Read more at http://www.cultofmac.com/256448/amazon-in-4-5-years-we-will-start-delivering-iphones-ipads-using-robotic-drones/#bWVqJQaICIBmW1JA.99

iPad Is The Big Winner Of Black Friday | Cult of Mac

" iPad Is The Big Winner Of Black Friday

Now, where is that 100-pound bag of dog food?
The euphoria of Black Friday is over, and like the comedown after any spend-heavy holiday it’s time to look at the receipts.
According to analytics firm InfoScout, the iPad Air and iPad mini were two of the day’s big winners.
InfoScout analzed 3,000 Target receipts and 5,000 Walmart ones to draw its conclusions: observing that the iPad Air 16GB, the iPad mini 16GB, and the iPad Air 32GB models were the three top sellers at Target, with price tags of $479, $299 and $599 respectively.
The sales of these iPads accounted for 8.2 percent, 7.5 percent and 2.4 percent of the overall sales at the chain — totaling 18.1 percent in all, which increases to 22 percent when factoring in other Apple products."

Read more at http://www.cultofmac.com/256382/ipad-is-the-big-winner-of-black-friday/#7qc4TS8I4xg4CDsg.99

Friday, November 29, 2013

Did Comet Survive After All?

STOCKHOLM (AP) — A comet that gained an earthly following because of its bright tail visible from space was initially declared dead after essentially grazing the sun. Now, there is a silver of hope that Comet ISON may have survived.

Tablets outdo phones when closing holiday-shopping deals | Internet & Media - CNET News

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Slowly but surely, Chromebooks are finding their niche | Android Central

"Today, Chrome OS hardly measures on any market share studies. But there are plenty of people talking about the potential for Chromebooks and even the "desktop" version Chromebox, which is sort of like the Mac Mini of the Chrome OS platform. I don’t think today’s market share numbers matter much. Some of the use cases are just so obvious that they speak for themselves. I think it paints a clear picture of falling market share for Microsoft while Google makes gains in the enterprise."

Canalys: Apple iPad, other tablets to make up 50% of PC market in 2014

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Amazon’s Kindle Fire HDX Has Already Been Rooted | Cult of Android

Steve Ballmer's replacement needs to make this phone call | Microsoft - CNET News

" For years, Ozzie tried to steer Microsoft into a post-PC future, predicting the emergence of Internet services and Internet devices.
But his prophecies fell Cassandra-like on deaf ears.
For those not familiar with his resume, Ozzie made a big mark with his invention of Notes, a 1990s-era collaborative groupware application that was revolutionary for the time. IBM later paid more than $3 billion to buy Lotus in order to get the program -- really big money in those days -- as well as to bring along Ozzie. Without Notes, Lou Gerstner would have never bothered with Lotus, which was getting clobbered in the market by -- you guessed it -- Microsoft."

US download speeds sluggish compared with other countries | Internet & Media - CNET News

"Does your Internet download speed seem painfully sloth-like? This could be a result of the country you live in. The US ranks a lowly 31st in the world's consumer download speeds."

Microsoft Takes On The iPad Yet Again With New Surface 2 Ads [Video] | Cult of Mac

In its two latest ads, Microsoft tries to convince us that the Surface 2 is better because it supports hand gestures and multiple user accounts.

Read more at http://www.cultofmac.com/255911/microsoft-takes-on-the-ipad-yet-again-with-new-surface-2-ads-video/#eo9uPuJVoLJOIIJr.99

Tablets Predicted to Make Up Half of Total PC Shipments in 2014, iPad to Fall Further Behind Android - Mac Rumors

"Canalys predicts that Apple's share of the tablet market will shrink further in 2014 under the continued onslaught of less expensive Android and Windows tablets. Apple's cheapest tablet is the original iPad mini, which is priced at $299 and still significantly more expensive than competing products like the $229 Nexus 7 from Google and the $229 Kindle Fire HDX from Amazon."

Saturday, November 23, 2013

NSA Infected 50,000 Computer Networks Worldwide With Malware: Report

Can Intel turn Android into Windows? | Mobile - CNET News

" The reality is for the last decade we've been essentially 100 percent Microsoft on the client [but] we're starting to see in emerging markets...demands for Android.
A lot of Android apps were written for a phone...in portrait mode. A significant percentage don't even exist in landscape mode, so they can't scale to large screens, whether it's a notebook or an all-in-one. So, we're going to do a number of things here. We're going to scale Android to 64-bit. We're going to allow it to scale from Atom [processors] all the way to the high-end of the Core processor family. We're going...to enable it to deliver a great experience as we go into larger scale screens, allow mutli-windowing.
We don't yet have the ability to treat it as a full-on enterprise vPro client [so] there's a significant investment as we embrace Android."

Friday, November 22, 2013

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Want to see Aereo survive? This senate bill does too | Internet & Media - CNET News

If courts decide the streamer of over-the-air TV isn't breaching copyright, proposed legislation would keep hefty content fees out of Aereo's costs. It's one facet of a bill Sen. Jay Rockefeller says will make online video more competitive.

HTC One successor could top U.S. carriers in early 2014 | Android Atlas - CNET Reviews

Monday, November 04, 2013

Comcast's Xfinity TV player updated, brings new name and live TV channels | Android Central

I am Latino. And Black - Black Listed - EBONY

iPad Air Review - Terry White's Tech Blog

Woz: If I were at Apple, we'd be partners with Google | Technically Incorrect - CNET News

Latest MacBook Pro 15 gets blazing SSD performance thanks to 4-channel PCIe | 9to5Mac

Keynote 6.0 for OS X review: Apple's presentation tool wins some, loses some | Macworld

Fact or fiction: What affects Wi-Fi speed? | Macworld

iPad Air adoption five times that of iPad 4 during first weekend | Apple - CNET News

Google Chairman Eric Schmidt Says NSA Spying Is ‘Outrageous’ If True | Cult of Android

With no new Nexus 10, iPad has few rivals in high-end tablets | Apple - CNET News

Possible Nexus 8 Tablet Appears On Official Android Website | Cult of Android

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

OS X Mavericks: A Free OS Worth Paying For [REVIEW]

Even though Mavericks may be the start of a new naming convention, make no mistake, this doesn’t feel like the beginning of a new desktop era for Apple. If anything, the refinements and features feel ever-closer to their natural end points. This isn’t to say Mavericks feels old or outdated — it doesn’t — but it also doesn’t have the same kind of freshness and paradigm shifts that we saw with OS X 10.0 back in 2001.

Still, there are new features (Apple touts 200 of them on its website) and whether this is the beginning of the end or the beginning of something else, Mavericks feels every bit as realized as it should.

Why Apple Isn’t Sabotaging Your Old iPhone [Opinion] | Cult of Mac

The more sophisticated a device is, the less repairable by amateurs it is, and because Apple is so far ahead of the competition, it is often the first accused of “planned obsolescence” for manufacturing devices using designs that will become the new benchmark for repairability in the next year. The goalpost is ever shifting. One of Apple’s industrial designers told me that the products are very carefully designed to be repaired, but by professional technicians, not consumers.
Even so, Apple does more than most companies to make sure that if your iPhone, iPad or Mac breaks, you can get it replaced. There are almost four hundred Apple Stores with fully serviced Genius Bars around the country that will repair or replace your device in the first year’s warranty, In addition, Apple sells a product called AppleCare which has set the gold standard for extended warranties in the tech industry.
Apple is also often accused of another form of planned obsolescence: systemic obsolescence.
According to critics, every time Apple releases a new version of OS X or iOS that doesn’t work with past Macs or iPhones, it’s deliberately making these devices largely obsolete. There’s nothing devious about this, though: the natural result of being quick to embrace the future is to be similarly quick to abandon the past. Microsoft, for example, has largely maintained backwards compatibility with Windows apps for the past twenty years, but the result has been an operating system that is extremely vulnerable to glitches and freezes, as well as malware and security exploits.
The move from the 30-Pin Dock Connector to Lightning might also be described as one engineered out of planned obsolescence. Because Apple changed the dock connector for its line-up of iDevices, critics argue that the hundreds of millions of accessories and cables that use the earlier 30-Pin standard have been made obsolete.
Such a criticism is unavoidable, but when accusing a company of planned obsolescence, intent matters. The 30-Pin Dock Connector was a bulky component to fit into devices that have been ever slimming. Even so, Apple used that dock connector for almost ten years, and to ease the transition continues to sell affordable 30-Pin to Lightning adapters for people who want to use their new iPhones, iPods and iPads in their old 30-pin accessories.
The truth is that critics who accuse Apple of planned obsolescence usually don’t understand the nuances of the term. In 1960, cultural critic Vance Packard divided planned obsolescence into two categories: planned obsolescence of desirability and planned obsolescence of function. These two concepts are not the same thing, and Apple is only guilty of one of them. Their goal, of course, is to make every product better than the one before, and market it as such. But if Apple is unafraid to embrace the future, that doesn’t make them underhanded: it makes them courageous. It’s a win for consumers.

Read more at http://www.cultofmac.com/251836/why-apple-is-not-guilty-of-planned-obsolescence/#suHh0Wi0cqvdRP4b.99


Why Apple Isn’t Sabotaging Your Old iPhone [Opinion] | Cult of Mac

The

iLife and iWork suites are updated and free with new iOS devices or Macs | Ars Technica

The

This Scientist Helped Save New York's Subway From Superstorm Sandy

The

The Crazy New Way Apple Will Make Billions On The New iPad Air And iPad mini | Mac360

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Keynote on Air with Eric Schmidt

Taiwan fines Samsung $340,000 for bashing HTC | Mobile - CNET News

Explore the Shocking Effects of Climate Change on 6 Continents

Eric Schmidt: The Future of Magazines Is on Tablets
Eric Schmidt has seen the future of magazines, and it's on the tablet.

At a Magazine Publishers Association conference on Wednesday, the Google chairman took the stage with Wired editor-in-chief Scott Dadich to talk about the future — it's mobile — and how magazines fit into it. The latter isn't a subject he's devoted much thought to, Schmidt admitted, but he is confident that magazines' future is not in print, but on tablets.

Mars crater might be remnant of an ancient supervolcano | Crave - CNET

Apple's new iPad pricing: A head scratcher or brilliant? | Apple - CNET News

You can spend anywhere from $299 to $929 to buy an iPad this year, but things get very muddled with a mix of old and new.

iPad Mini gets a Retina Display, for a price (hands-on)

Sunday, October 20, 2013

The Secrets of Online Money Laundering

Money laundering is increasingly becoming a cybercrime. Gone are the days when the bad guys would pop down to the casino and hope to convert their loot into a clean win on the roulette table. And less popular is the old scam of taking out an insurance policy and then redeeming it at a discount.

Instead, modern criminals are focusing on the Internet. And the opportunities for turning dirty money into a spotless shade of green are plentiful.

Apple's Media Event Predicted to See Retina iPad Mini and Thinner iPad, but No Touch ID or Gold Option - Mac Rumors

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Moto X takes Round 2 against iPhone 5S | Mobile - CNET News

Evernote CEO on how company was saved at eleventh hour | Bootstrap - CNET News

At the annual Y Combinator startup school, Phil Libin details the most important lessons he's learned from his founding of three companies -- and how Evernote stepped back from the precipice of failure.

China is home to the world's largest population of digital natives, totaling more than 75 million people — that's almost twice as many as the U.S., which has more than 41 million. India and Brazil clock in at third and fourth place, respectively.

Beautiful Picture of Saturn Taken By The Space Ship Cassini

Google's stock hits all-time high after strong earnings | Internet & Media - CNET News

Google's Third Quarter Results and Other News You Need to Know

Google announced its Q3 results — the company brought in an impressive $14.9 billion in revenue, 12% more than the third quarter of 2012.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Amazon, HTC to develop line of smartphones, report says | Mobile - CNET News

The online retail titan is working with mobile-device maker HTC to produce smartphones, according to the Financial Times.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Rupert Murdoch calls for Google to be 'exposed' | Technically Incorrect - CNET News

Utter Stupidity

"So I am imagining Rupert Murdoch on Sunday night, slurping on a glass of fine, golden beer, seated in a red velvet smoking jacket.
Clutching his phone, filled with the kind of irritating news a boss often receives, he cast his frustrations to the wind. Or, rather to the Twitterati.
For Sunday night, News Corp.'s heart and soul offered: "'Please expose Eric Schmidt, Google' etc. Just wait!"
There is so little here, and yet so much. Firstly, what secrets can possibly be hidden by the always open government of Google? What dark insinuations are being proposed here?
Is it merely to do with the alleged theft of all the world's news? Or might there be something even more menacing and filled with acronyms such as NSA, LSD, or LOL?
And why single out Executive Chairman Schmidt? Why not Google's true self-driving force, Larry Page? Is there something of a personal nature that Murdoch would like exposed?"

Monday, October 14, 2013

HTC One Max is a super-sized, 'print-scanning smart phone | CNET UK

HP gets serious about Android and Chrome | Mobile - CNET News

Hewlett-Packard saw the future this week, and that future has more and more Android and Chrome devices in it.

Why You Might Want Your Face in Google’s Ads | Cult of Android

Danny Sullivan wrote a nice FAQ on “shared endorsements.”
But in a nutshell, here’s what it’s all about. On November 11, Google will start adding names, Google+ profile pictures and partial comments of over-18 users in small thumbnail size to paid advertisements and in other contexts under specific conditions. First, the user pictured in the ad must have plus-oned, positively reviewed, shared, circled a brand’s Google+ page, commented on a brand’s Google+ page or posted about that product publicly. Second, the viewer of the ad must be in at least one Google+ circle of the person shown in the ad as an endorser.

Read more at http://www.cultofandroid.com/43112/why-you-might-want-your-face-in-googles-ads/#8Z672bAuEzWJmORv.99

What former employees say about Apple’s corporate culture: The food, the secrecy and the control – MacDailyNews - Welcome Home

Broadcasters petition Supreme Court in Aereo fight | Internet & Media - CNET News

Over-the-air television networks rankled by Aereo's service are asking the US Supreme Court to weigh in, saying courts have drawn conflicting conclusions and the service threatens the broadcast industry.

Tuesday, October 08, 2013

What is Google Chrome OS? The future is here. This concept will only get better. I cannot believe how much I love my Chromebook.

Microsoft to increase its reach with remote desktop apps | Microsoft - CNET News

President Obama declines to veto ban on Samsung products | Apple - CNET News

Nexus 5 16GB version reportedly will sell for $299 | Mobile - CNET News

Google uses high-end finish for $279 HP Chromebook 11 | Internet & Media - CNET News

Apple vs. Samsung: The Secrets To Success | Mac360

One could easily argue that when it comes to premium mobile devices, Apple is Samsung’s research and development arm. I can almost picture Samsung’s R&D building as a colossal copying machine, which takes in Apple’s latest devices and spits out copies with the Samsung logo.

While Apple focuses on a limited line of products with a tightly integrated OS and ecosystem to create revenue and profits, Samsung splatters the market with dozens of devices in all shapes, sizes, colors, and capabilities, itself a somewhat profitable strategy for the technology conglomerate (they make washing machines and televisions, too).

Samsung’s early successes in the modern smartphone and tablet arena were nearly atomic level copies of Apple’s successful iPhone and iPad. That copycat gamble ranged from hardware to software to television commercials and brought about lawsuits, convictions, and fines, which have damaged Samsung’s already tattered public image as a company run by rulers without rules.

Monday, October 07, 2013

'Mulatto' Slave Traders: Who Were They?

The trans-Atlantic slave trade, as the historian David Eltis writes, "was the largest long-distance coerced movement of people in history and, prior to the mid-19th century, formed the major demographic well-spring for the re-peopling of the Americas following the collapse of the Amerindian population." In fact, we now know, thanks to Eltis' Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, that some 12.5 million Africans were captured, traded and shipped to the New World between 1501 and 1867. But what most of us don't know is how all of these Africans were captured, moved to the coast of West and Central Africa, traded and then boarded on ships destined for the New World.

A Diabolical System

No family wants to find skeletons in its closet, and no people wants to discover lives being bought and sold, especially by their own, in the past. This is especially true for people of African descent regarding the trans-Atlantic slave trade, a system of capture and trade in black human beings that was, we might say, diabolically ingenious, involving African elites, European merchants and even a class of prosperous mulatto slave traders. There's more than enough blame and guilt to be shared by all parties.

Mulatto' Slave Traders: Who Were They?

Sunday, October 06, 2013

An appreciation for the Nexus 4, the little smartphone that could | Common Sense Tech - CNET News

A Terrible, Tragic Game - NYTimes.com

That said, the speaker is wrong once again. This unfortunately is a game. It’s a game that he allowed himself to be pushed into playing and one he can find no easy way out of. It’s a game in which he thought the president would blink. But President Obama is staring straight ahead, wide-eyed like a long-haul trucker at 3 in the morning. This is a game in which the speaker cared more about keeping his job than about keeping the American government running, the people who work for it and those who depend on it.
It is most definitely a game, a terrible, tragic game that House Republicans are playing in the People’s House.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition: For Serious Users Only [REVIEW]

Bottom Line: The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition is so impressive a slab of technology it's almost overwhelming, but accessing its most interesting features is too reliant on its S Pen stylus.

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 7 - Tablets - CNET Reviews

BlackBerry's dying, Ballmer's crying. Apple won, right? | Technically Incorrect - CNET News

" It's been a week of sick feelings.
No, I'm not talking about staring at iOS 7 and feeling like releasing one's breakfast. I'm talking about BlackBerry and Microsoft.
BlackBerry admitted that it's lost a lot of money and it's struggling to survive. Microsoft, which recently admitted that it, too, had lost a lot of money, said goodbye to its CEO with a flashdance from him to the music from "Dirty Dancing."
In the case of both companies, they stared at what Apple was doing in phones and tablets and declared: "Ach, that'll never catch on."
Yet catch on it did. It was BlackBerry and Microsoft that didn't catch on, until it was far too late.
It all seems obvious now.
Humans are lazy. The easier you can make it for them to have all their information in their pockets, handbags and manbags, the more likely they are to like that."

5 Ways Cities Are Using Big Data

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Google's dilemma: A faster but fragmented Web? | Internet & Media - CNET News

A powerful new Google+ photo app embodies a sticky situation facing Web developers: embrace the Native Client tech for high-performance Web apps and risk sites that only work for Chrome users

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Judge appears to back Google's defense of digital books project | Internet & Media - CNET News

A U.S. judge made comments Monday that suggest favor for Google's defense of its digital books project, which could hobble an authors group's effort to stop it.
The Authors Guild, which represents the interests of authors, says the project constitutes massive copyright infringement. Google, which has scanned more than 20 million books since forming partnerships with several major universities to digitize their research libraries in 2004, argues that the project is exempt under the "fair use" provision of copyright law because it shows only short "snippets" of text online.

Technology And The Cult Of Fan Boys

I am operating system agnostic.   Apple clearly makes the best laptops and has the best software developers for the desktop and laptop platforms.  Apple also had the best hardware and software for mobile.   Android clearly has caught up and passed Apple in some ways,  especially value, in the mobile sphere.   Android is more flexible than IOS. The Android share page is unequaled in IOS. Being a fan of a company is fine, but rather childish.   They, the companies, are only a fan of your money. The game is about who can push the technological envelope to make you desire their products. That is why I sold my iPad 2 and bought a Nexus 10.   That is why I have bought both generations of the Nexus 7 instead of an iPad Mini while using every generation to find iPod Touch devices with a hot spot and Jawbone headset as my phone.  I started with a paid Skype in account and moved to a paid Magic Jack account.   That saves me $1200 every two years over a regular smartphone plan from a cellular company.   It is absolutely the best technology at the best price.

John H. Armwood

Microsoft adds 200GB storage option to SkyDrive | Microsoft - CNET News

The company unveiled the 200GB plan, which costs $100 a year, on the same day it launched its Surface 2 tablets.

Monday, September 23, 2013

Microsoft Surface 2 - Tablets - CNET Reviews

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CNET Editors' Take September 23, 2013 8:00 AM PDT

Microsoft's Surface tablet was supposed to usher in a new generation of Windows RT products, targeted to compete more with iOS and Android tablets than full-featured laptops. The lukewarm reception Windows RT received meant that we've seen very few RT products since, and the Surface tablet itself was outshone by the superior Surface Pro, a slightly heftier version that ran full Windows 8 with an Intel Core i5 CPU.

Hands on with the Microsoft Surface 2 (pictures)

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Both halves of the Surface line have been refreshed just in time for the 2013 holiday season, but it's the Surface 2, still running Windows RT, that has undergone a more complete makeover.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)
This updated Windows RT version of the Microsoft Surface features a slightly slimmer body, an updated 1.7GHz Nvidia Tegra 4 processor (as first reported by CNET), and a higher-resolution screen than the original Surface. Both the Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 share the same 1,920x1,080-pixel-resolution screen now, and it's been color-tuned for greater accuracy. Surface 2 also has improved front and rear cameras (3.5MP front, 5.0MP rear) for Skype and other Webcam use.

While the Windows 8 Surface Pro 2 still comes in a slatelike black, the Windows RT Surface 2 is now a lighter color, more of a silver/magnesium (and the bodies of both are made of mostly magnesium).

Surface 2 declassified: How Microsoft made Surface into the tablet the world said it wanted | Microsoft - CNET News

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Kamikaze Congress - NYTimes.com Delay and Default

Gail Collins: Knowing When to Worry (September 21, 2013)
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That is the House Republicans’ brilliant plan in their last-ditch effort to block implementation of the Affordable Care Act. It is a plan that threatens to grind the government to a halt and wreak havoc on the economy.

If they can’t take over Washington, they’ll shut it down. It’s their way or no way. All or nothing.

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Leak points to an Asus-made Nexus 10 and possible pricing

Behold! Jonathan Ive's Apple | Apple - CNET News

With iOS 7 and the iPhone 5C, Apple signals that the company belongs not just to CEO Tim Cook, but also to its world-famous head of design.

iOS 7 review: Radical redesign is more than skin-deep | Macworld

"
Design may be the watchword of iOS 7, but as Steve Jobs once noted in a sound bite destined to be repeated as long as history remembers him: “Design isn’t just how it looks. Design is how it works.” iOS had in some ways reached a plateau over the last six years, with successive updates reduced to picking off the increasingly sparse low-hanging fruit. So Apple has done more than just change the way iOS looks and feels. It has also reimagined the way iOS works."

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Obama administration petitions FCC to require carriers to unlock phones | Android Central

Apple’s new iPhone lineup pricing and positioning – MacDailyNews - Welcome Home

MacDailyNews Take: Bzzt. Android is simply not going to go 64-bit and have a working biometric security system that the world of commerce will trust within the next 6-9 months. Ain’t gonna happen.

Evans writes, “When you only make a handful of products, all of your moves are carefully considered. All of them have an agenda, and all of them are intended to achieve something. In other words, I’m cautious of applying the word ‘just’ to anything Apple does. There’s generally a plan.”

“Apple did not spend the last 12 months running advertising for the iPhone 4S. That was an “old phone”, and it was a phone you bought if you wanted an iPhone 5 but couldn’t afford it. The 5C is different. It’s a new iPhone, and indeed I think it’s the main iPhone. The iPhone 5S is the high-end one for people who want the latest tech – the 5C is the one for normal people. The same money now buys you a cool new phone, not a discounted old one,” Evan writes. “If you spend all of your time looking at this space you can miss this point. You know that the iPhone 5c is mostly the same as the 5 – ‘just’ the 5 in a new case, more or less. But consumers neither know nor care. They don’t go into the shop and ask how new the chipset is – they look at the phone itself as a buying proposition.”

Read more at http://macdailynews.com/2013/09/17/apples-new-iphone-lineup-pricing-and-positioning/#vOx4Zku7OoPekU18.99

How Apple's iTunes Radio will rock the world | Apple - CNET News

Apple just drove a wooden stake into Microsoft’s heart – MacDailyNews - Welcome Home

World's First Invisible Skyscraper Planned in South Korea

Sunday, September 15, 2013

The new 2-in-1 Windows 8 tablets look great, but will a 64-bit iPad be Apple's trump card? | TabTimes

I love Magnepan speakers!

Magnepan's ultraskinny speakers make big, fat sound

The Super MMG system ($1,199) sounds very different from any box speaker I've ever tested in this price class. The sound is more open and spacious, and vocals are incredibly natural, more human, and real-sounding; that was consistent with every reasonably good recording I tried. Then there's the Super MMG's clarity; it's a vivid sound that draws you in. Rickie Lee Jones' new CD, "The Devil You Know," sounded more fully developed and natural with the Super MMG than any other speakers you're going to hear for the price. Magnepan doesn't refer to the DWM as a subwoofer, it's a woofer that extends the system's low bass down to around 40Hz, but any decent sub will reach a lot farther down. So if you crave really deep, pants-flapping, room-shaking bass the DWM won't cut it.

Netflix follows the pirates to decide which shows to pick up

In a separate interview with Tweakers, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said the company is trying to position itself as an alternative to piracy sites that he said actually creates demand for his company's pay service.
"Certainly there's some torrenting that goes on, and that's true around the world, but some of that just creates the demand," said Hastings, who believes ease-of-use will help convert illegal downloaders. "Netflix is so much easier than torrenting. You don't have to deal with files, you don't have to download them and move them around. You just click and watch."
Hastings claimed in an interview in May that usage of the popular file-sharing protocol BitTorrent in Canada has declined significant since the streaming service's launch in that country three years ago.

Sunday, September 08, 2013

Cult of Android MobileMicrosoft Is About to Get Scroogled | Cult of Android

Microsoft has a weird business model, and a fragile one.
Their model is: Get people to need Microsoft software, then sell that software at high prices.

Contrast this with Apple’s model, which is: Get people want your consumer electronics so bad they’ll pay a lot for it, then sell the hardware, software, services and content at high prices.
And finally, Google’s model: Get people use the Internet more by making it awesome and free, and make money when people use the Internet.

All three companies make operating systems for phones, tablets and desktop computers.

But which models will succeed in the future and which will fail?
I think it’s clear that Google’s model is most likely to succeed and Microsoft’s most likely to fail. And Apple will do just fine.
Here’s what’s happening.