feature
(REVISED) TLS, the June 30, 2016 Deadline, Online Payments, and You
UPDATE: The PCI compliance council has said they are pushing the deadline back to June 30, 2018, so this article is now a couple years early. It's a surprising move considering the state of TLS 1.0 security today, but that seems to be the direction they're chosen to go.
You
ios
Apple Shouldn't Copy the Surface and They're Not
Apple has learned nothing from Microsoft's Surface - The Verge
It also goes far beyond the hardware fundamentals. Apple's iPad Pro ships with a tablet operating system that doesn't have true support for a mouse and keyboard.
Look, I get it that iOS isn't caught up to traditional
goodies
Goodies: November 10
Today is my wife’s birthday, so no extensive update today. Off to work and then a night on the town. See you tomorrow!
New Games
The only games that matter this week at Fallout 4, which is out for PS4, Xbox One, and PC, and Rise of the Tomb Raider for the Xbox One.
The Apple Watch is Good, Not Great (it just needs a little zip)
It was just over a year ago that we all got our first look at the Apple Watch, and what a year it has been! We’ve all gone from excited, to disappointed, to ecstatic, and we’ve talked about everything from what a solid gold watch could cost to the very nature of a
opinion
The Days of Physical Keyboards are Numbered
As we continue to dive deeper and deeper into this post-PC world, I find myself thinking more about what things we used to find essential about computers that are being tossed aside as we hurdle towards the future. With this week’s news that Apple is working on a keyboard with literally no moving
watch
Apple Watch Sales Might have Soared Close to 7 Million
Yesterday I wrote about how much people love their Apple Watches. Now we have another bit of data (albeit another that needs to be taken with a grain of salt) about the Apple Watch, and this time it’s all about sales. Because no matter how good a product is or how useful it is
iphone
Let's Stop Calling Them "Smartphone Cameras"
Let’s not beat around the bush anymore and start calling the cameras in our phones what they really are, cameras. Yup, they’re just plain old cameras. There’s no longer a need to specify that they’re not a “real camera” anymore. I know it’s semantics, but I think it’s important
opinion
Ad Blocking is the New Pop Up Blocking
Andy Ihnatko on the impact of ad blockers:
[T]hank God that the ad industry is finally seeing large-scale pushback. That’s often what’s necessary. An industry (or a business, or even just a person) assumes that you’re OK with certain behavior and policies unless you somehow communicate that you aren’t.
watch
Apple Watch Owners Love Their Watches
I’ve written about the Apple Watch a lot this year. Like, a lot. Here’s a sampling:
* My review (May)
* Running with Apple Watch (May)
* 45 days in impressions (June)
* More impressions after 3 months (July)
* On early sales numbers (August)
* Why it will sell incredibly well this holiday (October)
In short, I really
goodies
Goodies: November 3
You can only focus on so many things before everything starts to suffer. I’ve got a little more stuff I need to balance this week, and I can’t devote quite as much time to writing as I usually do.
But that’s okay. It’s good to explore other avenues now and then
podcast
Bite Size tech #26: I Didn't Want to be Sad
Are video game consoles dying? Are they already dead?! Let's put our feelings aside and look at the numbers.
Links discussed:
* Pew Research studies tech device ownership among American adults
* GfK studies media cunsumption habits of 13-54 year olds
* Sony's Q2 2015 earnings (PDF)
* Microsoft's Q1 2016 earnings
opinion
Why Retail May be Moving Away from Truly Insane Black Friday Hours
Image via Business Insider
There are many reasons that stores encroaching in on the holidays is bad for employees, and they have been, and will continue to be discussed over the next 2 months. But sadly this discussion in't going to get anything changed. We've been having this same conversation every
opinion
Why I’m Okay with Putting My Podcast on Google Play Music
Google made some headlines this week when they announced that they will be providing podcasts as a part of their Google Play Music service. Podcasters can submit their shows today and the feature will actually go live in the coming weeks.
The big thing I have seen some people bring up is the fact that
mac
How to Max out All CPUs on a Mac (from the Terminal)
Have you ever needed to max out all your CPU cores? You landed on this page, so I suspect you have a good reason! Let’s just get right to it.
You want to open up the Terminal app (found in Applications>Utilities, or just use Spotlight) and paste this text into the console
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How People Really Shop for TVs
There's been talk of the mythical Apple TV set for years. Apple launched the first Apple TV in 2007, and people have been asking ever since if Apple intends to just make the whole damn set themselves. They’ve left us hanging year after year, defiantly refusing to make one. They seem totally
goodies
Goodies: October 27
No real update this week, everyone. It’s busy times over here at BirchTree headquarters, so we’re getting straight to the good stuff!
New Games
* Halo 5: Guardians (XBO)
* Divinity: Original Sin Deluxe (PS4/XBO/PC/Mac)
* The Park (PC)
Links of Note
In Defense of the New York Times - Stratechery
The fact of
ios
MacID Review
MacID, developed by Kane Cheshire, was released on January 15, 2015, yet it didn't make it onto my iPhone until about a month ago. Oh, how I had been missing out! MacID facilitates a very elegant way to interact with your Mac in a way that is so good, you wonder why Apple
ios
You Can't Have it All with Twitter Apps
It seems that you can never get everything you want with Twitter on the iPhone. You have a few options with the official app, Tweetbot, and Twitterrific as the 3 most obvious options. I'm not a Twitterrific guy, but I've bounced back and forth between Tweetbot and the official app for