What I learned buying my daughter iPhone 5 for Christmas
In June, I boycotted Apple and completely declared independence in July. But my disdain is personal, I respect other people's fruity tastes. Thus, I found myself inside Apple Store on December 23 ready to buy my daughter her big surprise Christmas gift: white iPhone 5. But I ended up purchasing from AT&T, which experience taught valuable lessons about iPhone gifting and what the carrier can and will do that Apple Store won't or can't.
Simply stated: I wanted iPhone 5 to be a surprise. That meant purchasing the device without activating to her phone number beforehand, thus walking out of the store with an unopened box, which seal she could break on Christmas morning. At Apple Store, one of the red shirts said no way. The phone couldn't leave the premises without being activated. "You could buy an Apple gift card for the same amount", he suggested. What's the surprise in that? Would you rather get the phone or the promise of one? Geez Louise.
Samsung officially unveils Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with Premium Suite for Galaxy Note
After almost three weeks since Samsung announced the Premium Suite upgrade for the Galaxy S III, the South Korean manufacturer officially revealed that the older Galaxy Note is set to receive the same software treatment alongside the coveted Android 4.1 Jelly Bean upgrade.
The previously available leaked ROMs gave away Samsung's plans to introduce Premium Suite functionality as well the first Jelly Bean iteration for the original Galaxy Note, however details were scarce at the time. Users can now expect to take advantage of a number of new features including Multi Window, which allows to view two apps concomitantly or Popup Browser, Note and Video to display a web page, create notes and watch a video while running other apps.
Amazon boasts big holiday shopping sales
Amazon, the internet-based retailing monster, has posted its numbers for this recently passed holiday shopping season. While the company may have disrupted a few Christmas Eves by taking out Netflix when customers were ready to watch that special holiday movie, it still seems to have come out big on the retail side of things.
Of course, like any company, Amazon toots its own horn here, but still, the company must produce real numbers, even if it portrays them in advantageous ways.
Verizon slashes HTC Windows Phone 8X price, matches Lumia 822 and 920
Almost two months ago Verizon Wireless announced the HTC Windows Phone 8X, in Blue, Black and Red, for $199.99. The US carrier slashed the price of the smartphone down to a more competitive $99.99 on new two-year contracts, bringing the handset more in line with the other Windows Phone 8 device available right now at the big red, the Lumia 822.
However, the move to halve the price may add even more confusion for prospective customers looking to purchase a new Windows Phone 8 handset. At the $99.99 price point Verizon now offers two similar handsets, the Lumia 822 and the Windows Phone 8x, neither of which sets itself clearly apart from the other in the software or the hardware department.
Anvisoft releases Anvi Rescue Disk 1.0
Security vendor Anvisoft has released Anvi Rescue Disk 1.0, a free bootable Linux-based environment with tools to help detect and remove ransomware from an infected PC.
And while this isn’t exactly a new idea, the system does have a few welcome touches which make it little more appealing than some of the competition.
10 must-have apps for your new iPad
If you received an iPad or an iPad mini for Christmas, the chances are you’ve already downloaded a fair few apps and are enjoying playing around with your new tablet. To help get you started, Apple’s created a "New to the App Store?" section which offers a curated selection of the best apps. There’s an "Essentials App Collections" area too, and you can also explore the "App Store Best of 2012".
Even with all this help from Apple you’ll still be faced with a somewhat bewildering array of choices, so to simplify things further, here’s a list of ten apps (paid and free) that I think are essential.
Hooray for Hollywood, or Lost in Translation? Movie-making with the Nikon D600
There has been a great deal of enthusiasm about making indie movies on Digital SLRs (and even some television -- Joe Wilcox of this parish reminds me that an episode of “House” was filmed on a Canon 5D, as was one of the BBC’s “Wallander” episodes). There are two main reasons for this enthusiastic adoption -- firstly, both camera body and lenses are incredibly low-cost compared to a conventional digital TV or movie camcorder, and secondly, they have full-frame (35mm size) sensors to give that shallow depth of field “film-look”.
While I’ve followed all this with interest, I’ve never personally been fully convinced.
Google announces free Voice calls to continue through 2013
Google released its Voice feature back in 2010 and made the service free for the first year, but has continued to extend that offer each year since then. Google Voice allows Gmail customers to make phone calls from within their account. Not only does this provide free long-distance, but it also provides some added convenience.
Now the search giant has announced that, once again, it will extend the free service for yet another year. In a very brief post from product manager Mayur Kamat, the company states that: "Many of you call phones from Gmail to easily connect with friends and family. If you're in the US and Canada, you'll continue to be able to make free domestic calls through 2013. Plus, in most countries, you can still call the rest of the world from Gmail at insanely low rates".
InjuredPixels reveals monitor defects
Buying a monitor online has plenty of obvious plus points, with the wide choice and low prices coming very high on the list. But if you’re making a purchase in person -- maybe you’re buying a second-hand system, say – then you can at least check the display for stuck pixels or similar defects, which could save you considerable time and hassle.
And that’s where the very useful and entirely free InjuredPixels comes in.
While not exactly Apple pace, Microsoft will open six more stores in 2013
The year was a big one for Microsoft with updates to almost every website and software program, as well as the release of Surface RT. But now it is time to look ahead to 2013 and the company has not only announced the expansion of retail sales for its tablet but the next six company store locations.
Jonathan Adashek, GM of Microsoft's Communications and Strategy, Sales & Marketing Services Group, revealed today: San Antonio, Texas; Miami, Florida; Beachwood, Ohio; San Francisco, Calif.; Salt Lake City, Utah; and St. Louis, Missouri will join the current locations around the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico.
Meme of the year: Grumpy Cat
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Psy's Gangnam Style may be the most popular YouTube video of all time, with 1.05 billion views, but there are other measures of popularity that say much about other things. In the old days of comedy, being mocked by talk show hosts like Conan O`Brien is one example. But in the social era, where anyone can be a comedian and the hive mind collectively produces one, memes rule. One clearly stands above all others, at least during second half of 2012: Grumpy Cat.
Tired of the same old browser? Try SlimBoat
If you’re tired of the big-name web browsers, then there are plenty of alternatives around. Most aren’t particularly inspiring, but there are a few which try to create something new, and SlimBoat (a WebKit-based tool from the people who brought you SlimBrowser) is an especially interesting example.
That’s not to say the program offers anything particularly revolutionary, of course -- there’s no major new browsing metaphor here, no new way of working (in fact it’s essentially the same tabbed interface as offered by everybody else). Instead SlimBoat tries to win you over with its sheer weight of functionality, by simply providing more features out-of-the-box than anyone else.
10 predictions how cloud computing will transform traditional IT in 2013
Cloud computing -- the new business model for provisioning and consuming information technology -- is enabling new computing capabilities and driving process efficiencies for both businesses and government. But it’s also disrupting the entire IT industry to its core. Although the current hype around cloud computing is around expected cost savings, its true value is in greatly improving business or mission capabilities without a commensurate increase in resources (time, people or money).
Combining off-the-shelf IT components with highly automated controls is what fundamentally enables cloud computing. This combination is also what’s driving the economic model that makes this new technology force so disruptive to the status quo.
Christmas is over but not gifting -- get Ashampoo Burning Studio 2013 for free
You’ve spent a long time organizing, planning and preparing, and Christmas is finally here. And it’ll be over all too quickly, of course, but if you’d like to extend the festivities, then maybe we can help. Because after kicking off the latest Downloadcrew Giveaways last week, we’re back, with two more full commercial packages which can be yours for the very appealing price of absolutely nothing at all.
To get started, for 48 hours from midday (GMT) on December 26th we’re giving away full copies of Ashampoo Burning Studio 2013. If you’re tired of overweight, bloated disc burning suites then its feature-packed yet lightweight approach could be very interesting.
I blame Ronald Reagan
As the father of a precocious first grader I can relate somewhat to the children and parents of Newtown. My son Fallon goes to a school with no interior hallways, all exterior doorways, and literally no way to deny access to anyone with a weapon. Making this beautiful school defensible would logically begin with tearing it down. But the school design is more a nod to good weather than it is to bad defensive planning. The best such planning begins not with designing schools as fortresses or filling them with police. It doesn’t start with banning assault weapons, either, though I’m not opposed to that. The best defensive planning starts with identifying people in the community who are a threat to society and to themselves and getting them treatment. And our failure to do this I generally lay at the feet of Ronald Reagan.
I’ve written about Reagan here before. When he died in 2004 I wrote about a mildly dirty joke he told me once over dinner. It showed Reagan as everyman and explained to some extent his popularity. Also in 2004 I wrote a column that shocked many readers as it explained how Reagan’s Department of Justice built brick-by-brick the federal corrections system that it knew would do nothing but hurt America ever since, making worse both crime and poverty all in the name of punishment.
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