Let's Talk Tech
Android 12 is here for OnePlus owners!
This update brings quite a few changes, and feels a little more like an Oppo. I don’t understand why that might be a bad thing, but a LOT of Android enthusiasts seem to be upset.
Let’s take a quick look through some of the changes, new features, and some CLEAR improvements from my first day of use! Continue reading “OnePlus 9 on Android 12: What works? What doesn’t?”
Sony XPERIA 1ii Android 11 First Look!
It’s FINALLY here! Sony’s smartphones were strong performers in 2020, but the USA was one of the last regions to land the Android 11 update. What’s changed? What’s improved?
And how harsh should we judge those early benchmarks? Continue reading “Sony XPERIA 1ii on Android 11: 4K Slow-Mo, Monitor Mode, FASTER Performance! The Check Up!”
When a new phone is announced, manufacturers often point to improvements like new processors and GPUs as things consumers desire. We want more powerful gadgets, but what does that really mean? What do we actually get with these generational improvements?
More gratifying benchmark scores don’t correlate with performance improvements for your favorite services.
Continue reading “What do we really get from “more powerful” smartphone processors?”
I’ve been teasing this for a little while now, but the details are all worked out and I can officially announce some big news! What will it mean for the SomeGadgetGuy channel? How will it affect this podcast? Let’s chat change!
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I wrote a book! If you want to take your smartphone photography and video skills up a notch, you’ll want to read my book! ‘Take Better Photos: Smartphone Photography for Noobs!’ is now available – http://amzn.to/1LZMa52
Continue reading “#SGGQA 27: Big Life Changes – SomeGadgetGuy is Moving to Pocketnow!”
Phones have recently started saving RAW photos, but we didn’t have many options for editing those photos out in the field. We would have to transfer those images to a proper computer for any manipulation.
In an update today, Google has added RAW support to their popular photo editing app Snapseed!
RAW photos are just what they sound like, the RAW data captured from the camera sensor. These are very large files, chock full of info, but often don’t look that great, and the larger file sizes make them more difficult to share. Snapseed now let’s you tweak a shot from the RAW info, then compress that into a smaller JPG file to share.
The editing tools also got a small update for more precise developing, including kelvin values for exposure and white balance.
We’ve been playing with the preview builds of Android M, but of course one of the most important points of speculation is what dessert name that “M” will stand for.
Google HQ took the wraps off a new lawn statue, and now we have our answer. Android M will be Marshmallow.
Hopefully the update will be more solid than the treat it’s named after 😉
It’s been an interesting couple of weeks at Reddit. The self-proclaimed “Front Page of the Internet” has been in a state of transition, as admins and investors work towards better monetizing the service.
Ellen Pao’s brief trek as CEO was peppered with controversy. Redditors questioned her policy regarding “safe places” after the admin team banned sub-reddits like Fat People Hate, but left racist haven Coon Town intact. Reddit’s community places a fairly high value on “authenticity”, and Pao’s personal life seemed to rub many the wrong way. High profile lawsuits regarding gender discrimination, and a husband accused of millions of dollars worth of investment fraud, fed an unending examination of her actions, policy, and whether she was the right fit for CEO of a social news aggregate built on volunteer labor.
Recently, the firing of a high profile community admin, responsible for coordinating the wildly popular AMA question and answer sessions, threw more fuel on a smoldering fire. Moderators, volunteers in charge of managing individual sub-reddits, protested by blocking access to their specific forums.
Ellen Pao took to traditional media to apologize for missteps and miscommunications, but this only added to the ire, for many it was further illustration of how out of touch Pao was with the Reddit brand and community. A petition calling for her removal as CEO quickly topped 200,000 signatures. Continue reading “Ellen Pao Steps Down as Reddit Interim CEO, Which Probably Won’t Change Much…”
Services like Lyft and Uber have been disrupting the market for traditional taxi and town car service in a number of cities, thanks to lower prices and timely notifications through apps.
Today Waze took the wraps off of their solution for ride sharing named “RideWith”. Focused on reducing business commuter traffic, RideWith seeks to pair up drivers and riders who are already traveling in the same direction at the same times. It’s a 21st century version of the bulletin board a company might use for coordinating an employee carpool.
This is not a spur of the moment service, as Waze recommends passengers book a trip at least a day in advance, and the app will help calculate and pay drivers for fuel costs per ride. As Google now owns Waze, it’s no surprise that the service is launching first on Android, with iOS “coming soon”.
If you were hoping to try this out, you might have a bit of a wait. RideWith is currently in very limited BETA, only servicing Israel at the time this article was posted. You can pull up more info and an FAQ by heading to the RideWith website.
Is this the solution for alleviating traffic congestion during rush hour? Leave a comment below.