Year: 2016

Sam Gerstenzang: Apple is quietly getting very good at shipping very small computers that charge very rapidly, and thus can be unanchored ––unlike Google Home or Amazon Echo. Over time, as power and size requirements decrease, a direct internet connection might add value. But for now, Bluetooth allows a connection to your phone (which is […]

A bit of cleverness, not new technology: “Now when people in Egypt or the United Arab Emirates send a Signal message, it’ll look identical to something like a Google search,” Marlinspike says. “The idea is that using Signal will look like using Google; if you want to block Signal you’ll have to block Google.” This […]

John Voorhees: After a week of heavy use, the Canopy has found a permanent place in my writing kit. I won’t use it every day – many days, the Smart Keyboard will be enough – but when I’m doing a lot of writing, I’m going to carry the Canopy. This really is a lovely product. […]

Khoi Vinh: I also discovered something interesting about Google’s much vaunted strength in services: sometimes it’s no better than Apple’s. I love this comment so much because I think it so succinctly shines a light on something that drives me nuts: often the people complaining about Apple stuff has no real basis for comparison. Sure […]

This is an overall solid guide from The Wirecutter crew. I too think the CODE is one of the best mechanical keyboards you can get, especially for Mac users. I personally hate the Mathis keyboards. In a rare miss, I think they do a disservice to the Pok3r keyboard, as I find everything they say […]

When the Snowden leaks started, I spent countless hours setting up PGP (GPG on Mac) email systems so that I could email with privacy. Since then services like Protonmail have sought to make it trivial. But nothing is easier than Signal or iMessage for that matter. In fact I spend a lot of time lecturing […]

A great (and very long) wrap up from Viticci on his use of the iPad Pro over the last year. I don’t think there is a single part of this I disagree with. (Well I guess you could criticize his thinking that Scrivener is needed over Ulysses, but that seems obvious to readers of this […]

Kara Swisher: When I could get no really substantive on-the-record statements from the tech leaders, I pinged investor Chris Sacca, because I know he would not let me down. It’s funny, in every tech deal I’ve ever done, the photo op comes after you’ve signed the papers,” he said. “If Trump publicly commits to embrace […]

Good packing list for women looking to travel in one bag.

Which models? Right now it looks like Netgear R7000, R6400 and R8000 routers, but there may be more models that are vulnerable. Should you really take this seriously and unplug your router? You betcha, since US-CERT said it is “trivial” to exploit this vulnerability. Visit a booby-trapped page and whammo! An attacker would be saying […]

Matt Gemmell comparing Ulysses and Scrivener: I like them both, and they both piss me off. Scriv is somebody’s little brother, complete with second-child syndrome. Ulysses wants to go and visit the library, but won’t let itself skip the t’ai chi class. Really good comparison, and great criticisms.

Jason Fried: It’s just a simple share of a shopping experience I had recently that surprised me. Best Buy feels simple, Apple Stores feels over engineered, too sophisticated. I get why, but why doesn’t matter to the customer experience. It’s either great or it’s not — the why behind the scenes doesn’t matter. Who’s been teaching me […]