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Grading the Pixel on a Curve
Rene Ritchie on iMore:
Google made a point of how they controlled the hardware this time, from design to features. Google could have made the Pixel look like anything — like a Galaxy S7 Edge, like an LG G5, like a Moto X, or like something completely new and refreshing. Google carefully, deliberately, chose to make
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Looking Back with Rose Colored Glasses
Check out the opening line from Engadget's review of the ASUS ZenBook 3:
Apple's tiny MacBook was a revelation when it debuted last year. It was thinner and lighter than most ultraportables on the market, and its refined design brought over some cues from Apple's mobile hardware.
You often
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No One Wants to Buy Twitter
The Verge is reporting (via Financial Times) that Salesforce has backed off on trying to buy Twitter.
The emotional roller coaster that is Twitter’s future seems to have hit a new low today as Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff tells the Financial Times his company has “walked away” from making a bid to buy it.
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The Apple Watch Needs Cellular
Bradley Chambers:
After thinking through the watch's role in our lives, I've finally settled on the fact that the Apple Watch needs cellular. iPhones are fantastic. They are great cameras, and they allow us to carry extremely powerful computer in your pocket. I do see a day coming when I would
Game
What Is a "Video Game" Again?
This is a fascinating read by Jesse Singal on some people's aversion to the "walking simulator" genre of games. The entire piece is quite lengthy, but it's worth your time.
The video-game culture wars seem to be flaring up a bit. Wednesday, Heat Street ran not one but
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Criticizing the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus Screens is a Fools Errand
I was reading The Verge's review of the Moto Z Play, Lenovo's latest phone in the Moto line, and got this this bit about how the phone was able to achieve such impressive battery life:
Lenovo found an approach that allowed the company to make a phone you can charge up
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What Happens When You Accidentally Create a "-gate"
Stephen Hackett on his recent run in with a viral video:
By Saturday night and into Sunday, I felt completely overwhelmed. A 13-second video that I recorded and uploaded in just a few minutes was suddenly bigger than any other single piece of content I’d ever created.
As a writer, I totally appreciate
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Criticizing the Things You Love
Timothy Huneycutt on what it means to love something:
Contrary to popular belief, you can enjoy something and be critical of it – whether it’s a movie or a TV show or a video game or a piece of literature. As fans, we don’t have to divorce enjoyment and critical thinking.
I really enjoy
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On Charging Your iPhone and Listening to Music Simultaneously
The Verge is really not happy about this whole headphone jack removal from the latest iPhones. I know they have smart people working there, and I honestly think they do a lot of good work, but their near-daily pieces on how this decision by Apple is an affront to simple human decency is getting
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Josh Ginter on the Apple Watch Series 2
Josh Ginter is a great writer, and I always enjoy reading his thoughts on Apple's mobile devices (see here, here, and here). Today he shared some first impressions of the Apple Watch Series 2, so of course I rushed to check them out. I agree with him on almost every point.
Originally, I
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MotionMark: The New Browser Benchmark in Town
Well there's a new tool out there for pitting our browsers against each other, and this one comes from the WebKit team. It's called Motion Mark and it's definitely the best looking speed test I've ever used.
We all know that every benchmarking tool has it'
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Performance on the iPhone 7 is Insane
Mark Spoonauer ran some tests and it looks like the iPhone 7 destroys the top of the line Android phones in all benchmarks. The biggest variance in his test is in JavaScript performance, which lines up with my subjective experience of browsing the web.
That's the Geekbench score comparison from Mark's
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Quick Take on the new Apple Watches
My buddy Michael Rockwell wrote up a great recap of yesterday's Apple event:
Apple doesn’t need to convince every existing Apple Watch owner to upgrade, they just need to continue iterating and expand the Apple Watch’s appeal. I think the water proofing improvements and GPS will do that. They’re clearly
Game
I Love That Game Developers Even Think to Do This
Polygon reporting on NBA 2K17:
Visual Concepts traveled to every NBA team’s arena to "record and analyze the different sounds exclusive to each arena,"
The authentic audio in NBA 2K17 includes the way the ball sounds when it bounces on the floor, hits the rim and backboard, and goes through the net;
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T-Mobile's Slow Descent to the Net Neutrality Nightmare
I am a T-Mobile customer, and I'm generally happy with my service. They get the basics right and they make it incredibly easy for me to keep up to date with the latest phones without breaking the bank. That said, their new plan rolling out next week, T-Mobile 1, is a
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Mike Birbiglia on Achieving Creative Success
Comedian Mike Birbiglia wrote this great little piece for The New York Times yesterday:
Sometimes people say, “One thing you have to offer in your work is yourself.” I disagree. I think it’s the only thing.
It's a simple list of 6 things he believes in that help lead to success, and
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CBS All Access Goes Commercial Free (for a Price)
CBS announced that they are adding a new tier to their All Access service today. For $9.99 per month, you can stream all your CBS shows totally commercial free.
My wife an I are cord cutters for over a year now and we're still going strong. We use Netflix, Hulu, and HBO