Posts Tagged ‘Apple’
April 4, 2010
I have a new device. No, not that device. Or that one. No, this is a Nespresso Aerocinno.
I saw one at a friend’s house on a trip to Los Angeles last winter. This thing is amazing. Usually I’m content to take my espresso or coffee straight, but every once in a while I want some foam and froth.
I have managed to steam and froth milk with various steam-shooting attachments on espresso machines over the years, but it was usually a big mess, and the results were mixed.
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Posted in Coffee! | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Blogs, NYC, technology, Apple, computers, Coffee!, drinks, Café Grumpy, Novo, Pandora, Blogging, iPad, soy, foam, cappucino, Nespresso Aeroccino
April 3, 2010
Posted in New York, Paper & Ink, iPhone Apps | 3 Comments »
Tags: NYT, Books, comics, Apple, macs, Kindle, Posterous, ebooks, iPad, Collyer brothers, Kindle for iPad, iBooks
February 1, 2010
You’ve seen the new toy. You’ve seen the experts debate: Will the Apple iPad “save” newspapers, journalism, book publishing? Will it kill the Amazon Kindle? Is this the death of the laptop, and the PC as we know it? Has Apple just signaled the death of the ultraportable MacBook Air? Will it replace smartphones like the iPhone or Nexus One? Has Apple just pwned another media marketplace — sorry Amazon, Google, Microsoft? Goodbye, netbooks? Farewell, computers?
Blah, blah, blah. Nobody knows the future, so such pronouncements are justifiably viewed as so much hype.
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Posted in Moving Images, Paper & Ink, Social Media, iPhone Apps | 7 Comments »
Tags: Amazon, Apple, Books, computers, e-books, Google, iPad, iphone, iPod, iTunes, laptops, Microsoft, Nexus One, NYT, smartphones, technology
April 11, 2009
[Update! New List! New Post! See the new list of iPhone applications I actually still use in this post, from September 2009.}
I am surprised by how well this list of iPhone apps I actually use has held up over the past few months. Most of the apps I’ve added in recent months have been games, none of them particularly amazing, although my daughter swears by one, Jelly Car. I have to admit, it is fun.
The only significant new application I’ve added is the Amazon Kindle for iPhone. It has quickly become one of my favorites. I actually find reading on it preferable to the clunky Kindle 1 in some ways. (I read most of this book on the iPhone.)
The application is free, but of course you need to own an Amazon Kindle and download some books. Kindle newspaper and magazine subscriptions don’t work, nor can you read documents you have sent to yourself or ebooks from sources other than Amazon (the original Kindle allows this). Unfortunately, Amazon and publishers have recently raised the cost of new Kindle books. The page-turning is easier than the Kindle 1, and of course the phone has a backlight, while the Kindle uses e-ink that is supposedly easier on the eyes but requires outside light. The coolest feature is the Whisper Sync: You are taken to the most recent page you read, whether on the phone or the Kindle.
Posted in iPhone Apps | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Amazon, Apple, iphone, iPhone Apps, iPhones, iPod, Kindle, Mac, NYT
January 26, 2009
This week’s installment is the Podcast Zeitgeist of second chances, and probably the last such post for a good long while. I’ll continue to listen to a few favorites, but a hiatus is in order. This started as an effort to make some notes about what worked for me as a listener. But it became an exhausting and time-consuming exercise, particularly since I sampled many more hours than I ever wrote about. It was cutting into my Twittering time. At some point I may summarize what I have learned, or not.[See all lists.]
Cranky Geeks 150: Big Wig Bailouts As tech podcasts go, this is one of the best, hosted by John C. Dvorak, with Sebastian Rupley of PC Magazine, Chris DiBonaof Google and Jason Cross of Extreme.com. Topics: Steve Jobs, Bernie Madoff, the fake Belkin reviews scam, disruptive technology like location apps and more. Dvorak keeps it moving. Good stuff. Running time: 31:40 minutes including several ads. Released: Jan. 21.
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Posted in Podcast Zeitgeist | 2 Comments »
Tags: Blogs, NYC, investing, iPhone Apps, technology, Podcast Zeitgeist, iTunes, Apple, computers, Twitter, Uhh Yeah Dude, Leo Laporte, MacBreak Weekly, iPods, Scott Bourne, Seth Romatelli, Jonathan Larroquette, John C. Dvorak, geeks, Andy Ihnatko, Vomitus Prime, Steve Jobs, YouTube, Daisy Whitney, podcasts, iPhones, Alex Lindsay, Geek Loves Nerd, 40-Year-Old Boy, Monty Python, Andrew Horowitz, Dr. Kiki, Pixelcorps, Lisa Bettany, Super Bowl, TiVo, economy, recession, Cranky Geeks, idiotboxradio
January 19, 2009
Welcome to the Podcast Zeitgeist list: presented in apparently random order, at inconsistent intervals, its purpose obscure, its usefulness in doubt, its taste questionable, its methods and motives suspect. [See all lists.]
This Week in Tech 177: There’s a Little Shatner in All of Us and 178: Call of Doody. I’m catching up here with two episodes. A special guest on the first of these was Star Trek’s Geordi LaForge (Levar Burton). Burton held his own as a geek on a panel with Leo Laporte, John C. Dvorak, Ryan Block, and Lisa Bettany. A lot of talk about TVs. (Block: “Plasma TVs are on the way out.”) Reviews of the “disappointing” MacWorld Expo and the Consumer Electronics Show. Whether the Palm Pre phone can save Palm (Dvorak: “They’re done.”) They end with the prospects for another Star Trek movie and a discussion of Geordi’s visor. The latest episode, recorded Sunday night, devotes 20 minutes to the news that Steve Jobs is taking a temporary leave from Apple for health reasons, with a focus on news coverage, from Ron Goldman of CNBC to this profanity-laden Gizmodo post. Dvorak predicts that Apple will go into decline in two years. This is followed bya discussion of the Downadup/Conficker worm that infected 9 million Windows computers in four days (download the security updates, people). Laporte is wiggy on this episode (“Conficker? I hardly knew her!”), perhaps because he and panelist Tom Merritt attended a concert the night before by the geek troubadour Jonathan Coulton and the improv duo Paul & Storm. (The “doody” in the podcast title refers to panelist Patrick Norton, who has to change his son’s diaper during the show and never returns.) The liquidation of Circuit City. A discussion of digital TV up-converters (Dvorak recommends a model.) Laporte recommends an audiobook: “Predictably Irrational.” United Kingdom porn filters are blocking Wikipedia and the Wayback Machine. Are Are Google layoffs and the killing of <a href="“>features like Jaiku and Dodgeball a sign of a market bottom? The episode ends with a clip of Coulton’s “Mandelbrot Set.” Running times: Both 1 hour 20 minutes, give or take a minute. Released: Jan. 11 and 18.
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Posted in Podcast Zeitgeist | 6 Comments »
Tags: Blogs, iPhone Apps, technology, Podcast Zeitgeist, movies, Apple, macs, computers, Twitter, Facebook, Uhh Yeah Dude, Leo Laporte, This Week in Tech, iPods, Seth Romatelli, Jonathan Larroquette, Andy Ihnatko, podcasts, iPhones, Alex Lindsay, Dinner Party Download, Futile Podcast, Christian Comedy Podcast, netbooks, MacWorld, Lamont Mozier, Geek Loves Nerd, 40-Year-Old Boy, Mike Schmidt, MacBreak, Weekly
January 1, 2009
There has been a lot of chatter about the podcasting business model, and whether it has been a failure. That talk intensified when a major commercial podcaster, Podango, warned recently that its death seemed to be near. None of this is of concern to me: I leave business models to the money people. My interest is content.
I had more free time than usual this week, so the list is longer than usual (in the order I listened). [See all lists.]
Grammar Girl 149: Top Five Pet Peeves of 2008 Grammar Girl (Mignon Fogarty) has a business model, or, at least, some regular advertisers and a dedicated audience of grammar enforcers. The top peeves suggested by her listeners: carelessness with language, misuse of “myself,” overuse of the word “tapped,” the phrase “baby bump,” and the use of “slay” as a noun, particularly in New York Daily News headlines. It’s an idiosyncratic list, to be sure, but all these targets are worthy of scorn. (I also listened to the slightly less interesting Episode 150, about podcasting a book. I doubt I would ever listen to a book in serialized podcast form.) Length: 8:33 minutes. Released: Dec. 19.
Make-It-Green Girl 34: The Story of Stuff A sister podcast to the one from Grammar Girl, with the same “quick and dirty” preaching to the converted. Anna Elzeftaway suggests you stop buying so much stuff and suggests holiday gifts that require no products, packaging or other waste. “Make it special without making a footprint.” The smug message grates a bit. Length: 5:06 minutes. Released: Dec. 24.
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Posted in Podcast Zeitgeist | 2 Comments »
Tags: iPhone Apps, Podcast Zeitgeist, movies, Apple, macs, Uhh Yeah Dude, Leo Laporte, Twit.tv, MacBreak Weekly, This Week in Tech, Seth Romatelli, Jonathan Larroquette, Coffee!, Buddhism, Andy Ihnatko, espresso, podcasts, iPhones, Grammar Girl, grammar, ads, Alex Lindsay, advertising, Coffeegeek, Wall-E, Futile Podcast, coffee podcasts, podcasting, business models, iFart Mobile, psychics, hip-hop, WFMU, seatbelts, Oprah, Make-It-Green Girl, Lethal Weapon, Mel Gibson, Christianity, Rinzai Zen, Jun Po, Jorianne the Coffee Psychic, Barista Exchange, 2012 Mayan Prophecy, Doc Ellis, PETA, cellphones
December 5, 2008
There are 8 million podcasts on the naked Web. Each week, I listen to 10 or more of them and write some reviews. Here’s the latest survey of independent audio featuring assorted nerds, geeks, freaks, mystics, fans and experts talking about the things they love. In the order I listened this week:
“TWIT 171: Chocolate Sox” Not a great week for news and information about tech. Leo Laporte makes good on his threat that his This Week in Tech podcast is “unscripted, unplanned and sometimes completely off the hook.” He is joined by John C. Dvorak, Andrew Horowitz and Sarah Lane. They discuss Beaujolais Nouveau, insult Adam Curry, taste chocolate, reminisce about Tech TV, brag about how many Twitter followers they have, complain about AT&T customer service, plug a useful Web site (Gethuman.com), discuss the financial crisis, demonstrate an ignorance of journalistic practice and browse a few tech headlines. It’s entertaining, if not enlightening. Length: 1 hour, 42 minutes. Release date: Nov. 30.
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Posted in Podcast Zeitgeist | 2 Comments »
Tags: Podcast Zeitgeist, Apple, Uhh Yeah Dude, You Look Nice Today, Leo Laporte, Merlin Mann, Twit.tv, MacBreak Weekly, This Week in Tech, Seth Romatelli, John C. Dvorak, Buddhism, This Week in Media, Daisy Whitney, junk mail, Postal Service, Sarah Lane, Twentyhood, Lower East Side, Bob Thurman, Marvel Comics, Keith and the Girl, samadhi, Ant-Man, John Hodgeman, RIcky Gervais, Karl Pilkington, Uma Thurman, Bodhisattva, Cat Power, Coverville
November 22, 2008
{Update! New List! New Post! See the new list of iPhone applications I actually still use in this post, from September 2009.]
For 99 cents I downloaded Ocarina, an app from Smule that turns an iPhone into a version of that ancient flute-like instrument. You press glowing “finger holes” on the touchscreen and blow into the microphone to play [Video].
That’s fun, but Ocarina does more than that. The app also uses the location software and a Google-Earth style globe to let you rotate the earth and listen to others play on their phones around the world. As they play one by one, visual images of the notes stream upward, as you watch from space. Around the globe, patches of glowing white show what are apparently concentrations of signals, particularly on the coasts of the United States and in Europe. One soloist sent a lonely tune up from an island of Hawaii.
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Posted in iPhone Apps | 2 Comments »
Tags: Apple, computers, GPS, iphone, iPhone Apps, iPods, macs, music, musicians, Ocarina, Smart Playlists, Smule, software, technology
November 22, 2008
Posted in iPhone Apps | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Apple, Google Maps, Google Mobile App, Google Streetview, iphone 2.2 firmware, iPhone Apps, iPhones, software, technology, voice activation
The world probably doesn’t really need another iPad review, does it? 
