Acer 8-inch tablet sucks balls

Written by

Even if it were, I don’t see why anyone would want to buy this tablet. The screen is so bad that I can’t recommend the device to anyone. Even if you truly must have an 8-inch Windows tablet for some reason, you shouldn’t buy the W3. You should just wait and hope that something better comes along.

Of Beards and Men

Written by

A new kickstarter project:

“Of Beards and Men” is a labor of love for graphic designer and photographer Joseph D.R. OLeary. Over the past 18 months, he’s photographed 130+ bearded men. Each portrait is an exploration into that man’s passions, personality and unique individuality.

Why wasn’t I photographed?

Troubleshooting CSS

Written by

Sometimes CSS can be frustrating. Learn about some tricky properties, the common issues they can cause and how to solve them.

As a side note: Everyone should have one of those coffee mugs.

Pro Tools PC

Written by

A PC built with the specific purpose of running Pro Tools. I can’t help thinking the new Mac Pro will eat this thing for lunch.

“Most Android phones are crap”

Written by

Farhad Manjoo for Slate:

It’s hard to call Android anything other than a resounding success.

Well, except for one small thing: Most Android phones are crap. As part of a New Year’s resolution, I promised to trade in my beloved iPhone 5 for an Android phone sometime in 2013. I reasoned that, as a tech writer, I should spend more time with the world’s most popular operating system. Phone makers and carriers have regularly sent me Android phones to test out in the past, but I’d never given most of them more than a passing look—I’d open them up, turn them on, get aggravated by their bad keyboards or poor touchscreens or frustrating add-on software, and I immediately package them up and send them back.

Pretty damning article for Android.

Breaking Bad book available exclusively on iBookstore

Written by

The end of Breaking Bad is coming in just under a month, with the final episode airing this season. To help fans celebrate the series, Sony has released what it calls “the ultimate interactive fan experience,” with a new digital book available exclusively on the iBookstore.

Apple TV’s market share

Written by

Interesting chart from Philip Elmer-Dewitt. So Apple’s hobby device is doing better than most people thought. Roku is doing very well too, but they make some great products.

Rolling Stone magazine cover sparks outrage

Written by

A Rolling Stone magazine cover featuring Boston bomb suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has caused outrage online.

Thousands of people posted on social media networks calling it “tasteless” and “disgusting”.

Tumblr asks iOS users to update and change their password

Written by

We have just released a very important security update for our iPhone and iPad apps addressing an issue that allowed passwords to be compromised in certain circumstances¹. Please download the update now.

If you’ve been using these apps, you should also update your password on Tumblr and anywhere else you may have been using the same password.

That doesn’t sound good.

Cringe-worthy work

Written by

Shawn Blanc:

If you think you’ve reached a point where you can create work that never makes you cringe again, then you’re saying that what you do today will be just as good as what you do next month, next year, and in 5 years from now.

Shawn is absolutely right. We grow everyday and our work becomes better the more we do it.

New digitally signed Mac malware

Written by

A new piece of digitally signed spyware for Mac OS X uses a special Unicode character in its file name to hide its real file extension from users and trick them into installing it.

There’s no indication how widespread this is, or even if anyone besides the researcher has even downloaded it.

Amplified: Your Mother is Average

Written by

Jim and Dan talk about Logic Pro X, Apple TV and ad skipping, insta-deleting iOS apps, the coming public freak-out about iOS 7, releasing beta software as production-ready, Smoke on The Water, and more.

Sponsored by Host Gator (use code DANSENTME for 30% off), Hover (use code DANSENTME for 10% off), and Squarespace (use code DANSENTME7 for 10% off).

Constraints

Written by

Constraints expose compromises, and we can judge products (and their designers) by the apparent wisdom of those compromises. Some are barely noticeable, like a laptop that lacks the (bizarrely prevalent) hardware wi-fi toggle switch. Some are minor inconveniences, like a badly-placed USB port. But some are thwarting. There are some compromises that sabotage the promise of the device. The ultrabook with an awkward and RSI-exacerbating keyboard. The tablet with a narrow field of view. The smartphone with a poor touch-screen.

These aren’t compromises, but rather flaws.

Great article.

Review: Logic Pro X

Written by

The day many professional audio engineers, musicians and music-making fans have been waiting for is here—Apple released Logic Pro X. I spent some time with the Logic Pro X team and have been using the software myself in my studio, so I’d like to give you a rundown of the important changes.

Apple pitches ad-skipping TV Service

Written by

For more than a year, Apple has been seeking rights from cable companies and television networks for a service that would allow users to watch live and on-demand television over an Apple set-top box or TV.

[…]

In recent discussions, Apple told media executives it wants to offer a “premium” version of the service that would allow users to skip ads and would compensate television networks for the lost revenue, according to people briefed on the conversations.

I would pay for that.

Little League World Series keeps score with iPad

Written by

Little League Baseball and Softball announces today it will use the GameChanger app and website to keep stats and stream live game updates for their nine World Series events and ten region championship tournaments. As tournament scorekeepers record every pitch using the GameChanger iPad app, Little League families and fans will be able to follow the live game action from anywhere in the world.

This is great. Pilots, business people, everyday users and even organizers of the Little League World Series—confidence is high with the iPad.