phone
All Your Loyalties Are Belong To Us: How Technology Companies Lure Us Into Walled Gardens
Five giant technology companies have set up walled gardens full of shiny devices and enticing services. All of us live in their gardens. We’re not completely locked in. We move from one walled garden to another, but each company hopes to keep you within its garden by making its services and devices work better if you stay in its embrace. […] continued
Read moreYour Neighbor Is Not Calling You: 3.4 Billion Reasons Not To Answer The Phone
It’s not your imagination. Your cell phone is ringing off the hook with automated spam calls – 3.4 billion robocalls in April alone, a 35% increase from the previous year.
Advances in call technology make it easier for the bad guys to make higher volumes of calls. VOIP calls can be placed inexpensively from anywhere in the world. […] continued
Read moreCould Microsoft Have Kept Windows Relevant?
We have arrived at a point where Microsoft no longer has a Windows division. To a generation of computer users, Windows was the product that defined Microsoft and defined our own relationship to technology. Now that defining product is a legacy, used by many but beloved by few.
In this article: Could Microsoft have done anything differently? […] continued
Read moreRules For Computer And Online Safety 2018
These are the rules for computer and online safety in 2018. You can download a copy here.
You will be safe if you are cautious. Stop and think before you click on links, before you call unfamiliar phone numbers, before you install programs, and before you fill in passwords. Only your vigilance will protect you against bad guys. […] continued
Read moreThe 2017 Bruceb News Year In Review
A year ago I wrote this prediction: “The word of the year for 2017 is “chaos.” Write it down, seal it in an envelope, open it up a year from now and see if I got it right.”
I think I get full marks. (Although Dictionary.com chose “complicit” as the word of the year, which has a certain snarky charm.)
We are in a transitional time in technology, with a handful of very large companies – Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft – accumulating power and wealth and dominating the landscape. […] continued
Read moreWhy The iPhone X Will Make Apple A Trillion Dollars
Apple will almost certainly become the first company in the world with a market capitalization of one trillion dollars, perhaps within the next year or two. The new iPhone X will help take it over that threshold. Apple continues to to exceed all expectations and to defy all naysayers.
Back in ancient times – about three months ago – it was easy to believe that Apple was about to stumble. […] continued
Read moreApple’s Security Disaster And What It Means For A Golden Key
On Tuesday, the word spread that Apple’s latest release of its operating system for Mac computers, MacOS High Sierra, had a terrible, dangerous problem. Anyone could sit down at any Mac computer and in seconds log in to an administrator account, with full permission to install programs, change passwords, read files – to do anything to the computer. […] continued
Read moreGoogle Bets That Artificial Intelligence Will Make You Buy Its New Devices
Today Google introduced eight new devices that will be released this fall – phones, home assistants, a laptop, a virtual reality headset, and more. It’s the most diverse new product lineup from a technology company in recent memory. Apple just announced three new phones, Amazon just announced a slew of new variations on the Echo, but Google outdid both of them for sheer quantity and variety. […] continued
Read moreNew Premium Phones: Samsung Galaxy S8, Google Pixel 2
Previously:
The Latest Smartphone Trends
New Premium Phones: Apple iPhone X, iPhone 8 & 8 Plus
With the announcement of the upcoming iPhone X, Apple opened the door to phones that cost a thousand dollars or more. Samsung and Google have each increased prices on the new models of their premium phones, hoping to capture profits like Apple from customers who are not particularly sensitive to price but will pay for better (and more expensive) screens, extra features, and the cachet that comes from carrying the latest and greatest. […] continued
Read moreNew Premium Phones: Apple iPhone X, iPhone 8 & 8 Plus
It’s new phone season! Here’s the view from 10,000 feet of the premium phones from Apple, Samsung, and Google.
The manufacturers spent the last few years making our phones bigger and improving the cameras. They’re about as big now as anyone reasonably wants, and the cameras of the best phones are arguably already better than most people need for casual snapshots. […] continued
Read moreFIXED: iPhone/iPad Bug With Office 365 And Outlook.com
Update 09/26/2017: Apple has released iOS 11.0.1, which fixes the problem.
Update 09/25/2017: I’ve seen reports that Microsoft was able to take steps internally to resolve this problem. No confirmation yet, but with luck your mail will work fine after the iOS 11 upgrade.
There is a bug in iOS 11 that breaks the connection between the built-in Mail app on iPhones & iPads, and Office 365 & Outlook.com mailboxes. […] continued
Read moreThe Latest Smartphone Trends
Ten years ago Apple introduced the iPhone and changed our world. Today more than three-quarters of all adults in the US carry a powerful computer – a smartphone – around with them at all times.
Phone manufacturers introduce new phones each fall. There are a few common themes this year that are worth pointing out as an overview of the industry in 2017. […] continued
Read moreCreate PDFs With Your Phone
One of the technology challenges in 2017 is simply remembering what can be done with your phone or computer. It’s easy to add apps to your phone or install programs on your computer; it’s harder to remember them a few weeks later when you have something new to do.
There are several ways to create PDFs with your phone. […] continued
Read moreiPhone Tip: How To Make Sure Your Photos Are Backed Up
Here’s a tip for iPhone users that might make you sleep more soundly.
If you rely on Google Photos, OneDrive, Dropbox or other online services to back up your photos from an iPhone, open those apps when you’re connected to Wi-Fi and make sure they have synced your photos online. Otherwise there’s a chance that some photos won’t have been uploaded when you drop the phone or lose it. […] continued
Read moreGoogle Lens Might Be The Future Of Google, The Future Of Mobile, The Future Of Everything
Google announced a number of new products and services at its developer conference last week. One of them, Google Lens, might change the world. It might be the most important technology announcement in ten years. Of course, it’s just as likely that it will turn out to be nothing important, just another bit of vaporware that is underwhelming when it appears and is abandoned two years later. […] continued
Read more