Two Tech Geeks

ios

  • John Gruber wrote a very good piece on switching and lock-in to phone systems in response to an article by Joshua Brustein in Businessweek. Brustein: Phone manufacturers make it hard to switch on purpose: They want you locked in forever. That’s the idea behind the Apple Watch and Apple Pay, which don’t work for Android.…

  • Jean-Louis Gassé wrote about the decline of BlackBerry. In reality, RIM was much more than three years behind iOS (and, later, Android). Depending on whom we listen to, the 2007 iPhone didn’t just didn’t stand on a modern (if incomplete) OS, it stood on 3 to 5 years of development, of trial and error. BlackBerry…

  • Digital Trends reported on built-in encryption for Andriod L. The next major version of Android is going to come with one feature that will please the security-conscious: built-in encryption. It means anyone who grabs hold of your mobile device—from petty thief to law enforcement officer—will find it much more difficult to extract data from it.…

  • Ben Brooks recently wrote a good article on using an iPad as his main machine, it’s something that has been attempted by many folks in the past, but I like his take on it. As I said, this is a setup I am likely to use more and more. With iOS 8 extensions coming I…

  • My thoughts exactly. The separate release dates for the Mac and iOS app is irritating, though. Rethinking Dropbox as a photo management solution Apple has to prove to users that it can sync and stream photos, but if the system will work the way the company says it will, it looks compelling. So compelling, in…

  • Ben Thompson did a great piece on discussing the upcoming iWatch and Android Wear. Additional Thoughts on iWatch and Android Wear

  • While there were plenty of goodies to take away from WWDC, one announcement announcement in particular had me dancing for joy – iCloud Photo Library. If there was one major aspect of iOS that needed improving, it was photo management capabilities. Whether you’re an iPhoto user or not, managing photos on the iPhone is a…

  • Marco Arment comments on Google I/O focussing on design. A software platform’s UI and design ethos can’t be changed on a whim by conference sessions and a marketing push. It’s deeply ingrained, built over the platform’s entire lifespan, and very slow to change. Android’s best apps usually aren’t as good as iOS’ best apps because…

  • Ben Thompson writes about Microsoft’s business model. Farhad Manjoo named Apple, Google and Amazon as companies that he recommend relying on because of their business models. Microsoft’s chief spokesperson Frank X Shaw was annoyed by Microsoft’s omission from the recommendations: And with a cross-platform connected ecosystem that spans the workplace to the living room featuring…

  • MacRumors reports on the iOS domination of mobile device activations in Q4 2013. 73% of all enterprise mobile device activations: iOS devices accounted for 73 percent of all enterprise mobile device activations and grabbed the top ten spots for most popular devices in the fourth quarter of 2013, reports Good Technology in its Mobility Index…