Category: Articles

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How the Pixelbook Go became our Family Computer

My favorite “unnecessary” Star Trek tech is in the Holodeck.

A Starfleet officer calls out “Arch”, and an archway with a touchscreen appears in the holographic simulation. It’s an utterly silly 1990’s idea of how we’d interact with computers hundreds of years in the future. When you think about Trek Tech, there’s really no need for such an elaborate mechanism to appear. A free-standing touch panel is all you need, but you’re also standing in a holographic environment, so why not make any kind of control surface you’d want out of the same “hard light” hologram magic?

That mini-nerd rant aside, the Pixelbook Go has become our family’s “Arch”. And we love it. Continue reading “How the Pixelbook Go became our Family Computer”

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LG Velvet Desktop Mode: Better Multi-Tasking!

While many have fixated on the processor in the Velvet, it’s easy to overlook how well rounded the phone is. One example? The Velvet can drive a pretty decent consumer PC experience.

Let’s take a look at LG’s new desktop mode!

Continue reading “LG Velvet Desktop Mode: Better Multi-Tasking!”

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Pixel 4XL: The most slighted phone of 2019 is still really good.

I’ve struggled with re-visiting the Pixel 4XL.

There’s an intangible quality to every phone that can’t quite be expressed by spec sheets and benchmarks. I can TELL you about the phone, and that still won’t properly convey how I FEEL about the phone.

With the Pixel 5 in limbo, it’s important to check back in with a phone that was pretty heavily panned by critics. For all my personal preferences on beastly hardware and mobile content creation, the Pixel 4XL is still the phone I have the hardest time taking my SIM card out of when I need to move on to a new review device.

There’s just something about the Pixel… Continue reading “Pixel 4XL: The most slighted phone of 2019 is still really good.”

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OnePlus 8 Review: It all comes down to 5G!

The OP8 is a powerful phone, at a price roughly two thirds the cost of a premium Galaxy or iPhone. However, the entire phone industry is dealing with increased component, carrier, and licensing costs. Any other year, and the OP8 would be an easier recommendation, but facing the cheaper OP7T, how do we qualify the “value” of 5G? Continue reading “OnePlus 8 Review: It all comes down to 5G!”

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Ways We can Help. Some Charities and Causes to Consider.

People are hurt. People are scared. People are angry.

When I’m angry and afraid I try to remember Mr. Rogers.

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”

As I grew up, I realized that I could be one of those people helping. We can all make some effort or contribution. If you’ll pardon the diversion from my normal gadget and tech commentary, here are some causes I feel might be worth supporting.

This is a multi-faceted and complicated issue, so I’m trying to address the needs of our friends, family, and neighbors in multiple areas. Hopefully there’s a cause you will find worth supporting on this list, and if there are any you would like to share, please don’t be shy in the comments.

We really are all in this together. Let’s BE the helpers. Continue reading “Ways We can Help. Some Charities and Causes to Consider.”

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A Field Trip to Amazon 4-Star: Is the future of retail more physical stores?

Shortly before the strictest messaging came out on “social distancing”, we took a little field trip.

Amazon is opening more physical stores beyond buying Whole Foods. In our neck of the woods, an Amazon branded grocery store is being built, and recently a “4-Star” opened up in the local mall.

It’s a cute concept, trending products, with reviews above four stars on Amazon, are stocked in a physical retail location. Continue reading “A Field Trip to Amazon 4-Star: Is the future of retail more physical stores?”

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Eminem, Lil Yachty, and LG: Does V60 Product Placement Violate FTC Guidelines?

LG VS the FTC? Is there an issue with a smartphone showing up in some music videos? Should music videos from Eminem and Lil Yachty have “#AD” disclosures on YouTube?

Just WHAT ARE THE RULES???

Let’s break this down!
Continue reading “Eminem, Lil Yachty, and LG: Does V60 Product Placement Violate FTC Guidelines?”

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‘Knives Out’ and Playing by Apple’s Rules

Rian Johnson is one of my favorite current filmmakers. If his style could be summed up in a sentence, Johnson excels at deconstructing popular genres.

Want a Film Noir? He’ll set the heightened drama of a noir in high school, where kids are naturally more dramatic.

The Brothers Bloom is a fresh twist on a caper film. Looper tweaks the standard tropes of Time Cop-style time travel movies.

He’s at his best when he can take a format we’re familiar with, maybe even tired of, and he’s able to throw a tiny wrench into the machine we understand.

Even his Star Wars entry is less a good Star Wars film, and more a commentary on the most popular tropes of Star Wars films. It’s a fascinating examination of a beloved franchise, even if it doesn’t quite work as an episode of the series.

Recently we saw a handful of stories relating Rian Johnson’s experiences in using Apple branded products in his films, specifically how it impacts the story for his “whodunnit” mystery comedy Knives Out.

[SPOILER WARNING: if you haven’t seen the movie yet, there will be discussion which will totally wreck some of the most fun reveals of the movie.] Continue reading “‘Knives Out’ and Playing by Apple’s Rules”

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