Archive

Joy of Tech: iBacon

Sounds delicious, but expensive.

MacRumors: Square Debuts New Card Reader Developed by Former Apple Lightning Connector Designer

To develop the thinner card reader for Square, Dorogusker was forced to move away from stock components and develop proprietary hardware such as a new custom read head that is able to read two bands of data from the magnetic stripes on credit cards, resulting in greater swipe accuracy. 

Dorogusker and his team concentrated on improving the “feel” of swiping, incorporating additional tension in a spring that attaches to the read head for a more satisfying credit card swiping experience.

TechCrunch - The War For Your Wrist

I largely agree here. The smartwatch thing just isn’t there yet. I like my Pebble (I was an early Kickstarter backer) but it isn’t something I can’t live without. It is too thick, iOS is admittedly limited with these types of devices, and the 3rd party app support isn’t what I hoped it would be.  There is hope for the market, but it is going to be a while before this takes off.

Very poor decision making over at Feedly.

Services that make choices like this only exist because people keep using them. People make mistakes, I am glad they undid it, but anyone who thought this was a good idea to start with is not someone I agree with or trust.

This graphic to show which smartphones are capable of having which OS on them is eye-opening. I don’t think “average people” (in the tech savviness sense) care about this, which is unfortunate to me.

Pragmatic

Really enjoying this new podcast from John Chidgey and Ben Alexander. They discuss the practical application and use of technology. I find overlooking the frivolous yet glamorous “features” of modern technology to be a wonderful thing. It all comes down to how a technology improves your daily life.

TechCrunch: Apple Turning on iBeacons at all 254 US Stores

I’m pretty convinced this is the largest feature Apple has slipped in under the radar in recent history.

Tab Closed; Didn’t Read

Damn them. This ranks up there with link bait headlines and the related junk reporting.

Link to the article by Richard Gaywood .

2013 Nexus 7 Wiki for reference.

Richard draws some great conclusions and keeps a very open mind while explaining his biased starting point as an iOS user. A few key items for me:

Pros: #

• Emulators, app data sharing, inter-app-erability (you heard it here first… err second) open the door to complex and interesting apps and use cases.
• Changing defaults (mail, browser, keyboard) really allows the device to be tailored to fit the user.
• Voice recognition:

“It’s like night and day compared to Apple’s offering. If you’ve never seen it, find someone with an Android phone and try it out – then think about how much more often you’d reach for Siri if it was this good." 

This “blog” (I don’t like the baggage that word carries) is where I’ll be posting links I find interesting for one reason or another and my thoughts on the matter. Stay tuned.