Two tech geeks.

  • Time to give up on Windows?

    //

    Jenxi

    Adrian Kingsley-Hughes writes on ZDNet how he has given up on Windows.

    Troubleshooting is costly, time-consuming, and frustrating, and while I once used to relish the challenge, I now try to avoid it whenever possible.

    I found that I could do more and more with less and less. Tasks that once required a full-blown desktop or notebook PC could be carried out faster and more efficiently on a smartphone or tablet. Unless I want to use full-blown applications such as Microsoft’s Office or Adobe’s Creative Cloud suite, then I can make do with post-PC devices. What’s more, I can usually get things done faster since I’m not tied to my desk.

    Need a new app? Download it on a smartphone or tablet and leave it to install itself. Mobile apps simply work out of the box without having to worry about compatibility issues. Compare this to when you buy software for a PC. You need to check the minimum requirements needed to run it. While this applies to a certain extent for OS X, the Mac App Store has made the process of installing new apps on OS X just like on iOS.

    He also makes a point about the shift towards console gaming. Many people I know cite gaming as an important reason they still use Windows. While consoles have gobbled up a large share of the gaming pie, there are still power gamers who prefer the ability to tweak and custom their games on Windows.

    I used to be in the PC gaming camp. But the recent years of being pampered with mobile gaming that simply works, I find myself less patient when it comes fiddling with the game, preferring to just focus on playing the game. Now I find myself more inclined to invest in a PlayStation 4 instead of getting a new PC.

    The only times I use Windows nowadays is at work. When large corporations finally shift from using Windows, it could probably be the final nail in the coffin for Windows.

  • F-Secure offers online file storage, stands up for privacy?

    //

    Jenxi

    With the increased interest in privacy, it’s no surprise that new services are springing up to attract users. The question remains: How many of them actually offer true privacy?

    F-Secure Launches A Dropbox For the Dark Web And A VPN That Could Erase Content Borders Everywhere

    As well as being an online file locker, F-Secure spent a considerable amount of time securing Younited, having worked on development for a number of years now. Quite simply, everything is encrypted, with the purpose of transferring the most basic data ownership and levels of privacy back to the control of the user, even when sharing through Facebook .

  • Why did Snapchat turn down three billion dollars?

    //

    Jenxi

    Let’s not forget that Instagram was sold for “only” a billion dollars or so. So would would Snapchat turn down three times that amount?

    Why did Snapchat turn down three billion dollars?

    One of Snapchat’s investors, Institutional Venture Partners, is quite explicit that it invested in a zero-revenue company because its “growth and engagement metrics are off the charts,” and because it is used largely by the young.

  • This week’s must-reads: Apple Maps, Bill Gates, The one Coin, and more

    //

    Jenxi

    It’s been an interesting week. Aside from officially launching BakingPixel today, we’re also compiling the most interesting and popular posts from this week for you.

    Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 review: Unapologetically content-driven
    People buy the Kindle to consume content. It is no surprise that Amazon makes it the focus of the Kindle Fire HDX.

    Why an 80% market share might only represent half of smartphone users
    Charles Arthur explains on The Guardian why an 80% market share might only represent half of smartphone users.

    Thoughts on the Google Nexus 7 from the perspective of a longtime iOS user
    This pretty much sums up my experience when I switched from my iPhone 5 to a Nexus 4. There are pros and cons, but it takes a while to get used to the change, for better or worse.

    Apple maps: how Google lost when everyone thought it had won
    Charles Arthur reports on The Guardian how Google maps lost to Apple maps when everyone thought it had won.

    Bill Gates: Here’s My Plan to Improve Our World — And How You Can Help
    Bill Gates shares on Wired his plan to improve the world. The article is a very good read. Take the time to go through it. And then sit down and reflect upon yourself.

    Tired of a fat wallet? Coin lets you hold all your cards in a single, connected card
    Aside from the cheeky, and possibly misleading name, Coin is a product that could go a long way to helping us solve the issue of fat wallets. After all, why carry so many pieces of plastic when you can just carry one? It’ll have additional hurdles in countries where security chips are implemented in cards, instead of just relying on the magnetic stripe. The good news is that the folks behind Coin are already aware of this and working to offer support for chip and pin future versions.

    The Google Books decision is good for authors and readers
    Not everybody is going to be a fan of a judge’s recent decision to approve Google’s book-scanning activities, however an author has penned a short article on why he thinks that the ruling is a good one.

    Next Up for Evernote: Learning Your Habits
    This is something all apps should strive towards. Having an app that knows my habit well will make it very hard for me to want to switch to a different app. This will be great for user retention.

  • HDmessaging helps carriers fight back against free messaging apps

    //

    Jenxi

    SMS, and the associated revenue that carriers derive from it, is facing a serious onslaught from free mobile messaging platforms such as Whatsapp, iMessage, Facebook Messenger, and even Snapchat. Now HDmessaging is offering a white-label solution for carriers to fight back.

    HDmessaging rides messaging wave to $3M funding round

    HDmessaging might have one of the most prosaic names in tech, but that doesn’t really matter to the Bay Area startup. Its chief purpose is to provide messaging services to mobile operators so they can fight what is probably a futile fight against WhatsApp and company. HD’s clients include Vodafone, Airtel, Aircel, Singtel, and T-Mobile, among others, accounting for 800 million people worldwide. HD says it processes 1 billion messages a month and is growing 200 percent quarter.

  • Daring Fireball on the Retina iPad Mini

    //

    Jenxi

    John Gruber writes about the Retina iPad Mini.

    But this new retina Mini feels like a two-year upgrade over last year’s. There is no longer any compromise over display quality or CPU performance. All of the advantages of the original Mini remain — smaller size, lighter weight — and there are no drawbacks. When the full size iPad went retina, it was a two steps forward, one step back sort of upgrade: you got the beautiful retina display, but the device got noticeably thicker and heavier to accommodate the battery that was necessary to power all those pixels and maintain 10-hour battery life.

    There is no drawback to the iPad Mini going retina. There is a negligible increase in weight, and an even more negligible increase in thickness, but the differences are so slight I honestly don’t think they matter. The old and new Minis are so close in thickness that both fit perfectly in Apple’s new leather Smart Case (and the same polyurethane Smart Covers fit both as well).

    He has some advice for you if you are undecided which iPad to go for.

    iPad Mini or iPad Air? It really just comes down to size. I think the Air is better-suited for those who use their iPad as their primary portable computer (or primary computer, period). And if you use your iPad for things where bigger is better — watching video, reading comic books or PDFs or print-derived magazine apps (where you’re better off with a screen that is closer in size to that of the printed page), or for on-screen touch typing — well, you probably want the bigger display of the iPad Air.

  • Nexus 5 is the best Android device

    //

    Jenxi

    Steve Kovach of Business Insider reviews the Nexus 5.

    Either way, the Nexus 5 is the perfect device if you want to make sure you always have the best Google has to offer with Android. It might not be much to look at, but it’s the best device you can own if you care about the experience and Google ecosystem above anything else.

    Using Android the way Google intended it to be.

  • Window’s 30 years of evolution

    //

    Jenxi

    Business Insider reports on how Windows has evolved over 30 years.

    It also shows how much technology has advanced during that period of time.

  • An author’s take on Google’s book-scanning

    //

    Jenxi

    Not everybody is going to be a fan of a judge’s recent decision to approve Google’s book-scanning activities, however an author has penned a short article on why he thinks that the ruling is a good one.

    The Google Books decision is good for authors and readers

    You’d think this process would have been improved with the advent of search engines and digitized text, but it hasn’t. Millions upon millions of books have been published over the past couple of centuries yet precious few are completely searchable. Each year in the US alone, about 350,000 books are published. While you can find a book’s title you can’t search inside the actual book without either buying or borrowing it.

    Far better would be to make a book completely searchable so whenever a user looks for a term and comes to your book, she can buy it. Otherwise it sits on a dusty library shelf or on a server somewhere, unloved and unread, like they do at NYU’s Bobst Library and other libraries across the country. It’s a colossal waste, each book a ripple in an ocean of information, very difficult to get to.

  • Android 4.4 KitKat images for suported Nexus devices released

    //

    Jenxi

    If you’re an owner of a Nexus 4, 7, or 10, and are impatient, the good news is that Google has released the official factory images for those devices. Do bear in mind that the downside of flashing these factory images, instead of waiting for an over-the-air (OTA) update from Google, is that your device will be erased.

    This is also a sad reminder that the older Galaxy Nexus won’t be part of this party. Not officially anyways.

    Android 4.4 images for the Nexus 7s, Nexus 4, and Nexus 10 now available

    The one device that won’t be joining the KitKat party is the Galaxy Nexus. The official excuse is that the Galaxy Nexus is over 18 months old, but the real reason is that Texas Instruments, the company that made the SoC in the Galaxy Nexus, quit the smartphone business about a year ago. Official support for the chip has dried up, so there won’t be a KitKat port for anything with a TI OMAP processor. A lack of official support has never stopped the modding community before, though, so if you have a Galaxy Nexus and really want KitKat, some Googling should be able to turn something up.