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Showing posts from December, 2014

Why the Moto X is the Best Smartphone

As my few readers know, I used a Moto X for while - twice. The first time was the 1st gen Moto X which ended up going back to Motorola because AT&T was dumb. I then waited until the next release round as I discovered that they would be releasing a new Moto X sometime in the fall. It was released around the same time as the iPhone 6 and 6+. I got the 2nd Gen Moto X and I loved it, yet I still returned it and replaced it with the massive iPhone 6+, which is certainly no slouch. If you were just to compare the internals of the two devices you would think that the iPhone 6 and 6+ has quite an advantage over the Moto X - but as Apple liked to advertise with the release of the original iMac, specs aren't everything. It's what you do with the specs you have. So, if I'm using an iPhone 6+ why would I be saying that the Moto X is the best smartphone on the market currently? Why would I have sent that beautiful piece of technology back to Motorola instead of simply continui

MacBook, Windows 8.1, and the Trackpad

One of the best hardware features on the MacBook (Air or Pro) is the trackpad. It's likely the best one on the market. It's accurate, it supports multi-touch, and has an excellent texture. It works like a dream on the Mac side of things, supporting gestures which allow quick navigation within the operating system. On the Windows side of things, it's much different. Obviously the hardware feel doesn't change, but the way the hardware interacts with the OS is drastically different. Gone is support for gestures and multi-point input (outside of a two-finger right click). None of the Windows 8.1 specific gestures function with the Apple built driver, so you're kind of stuck in this weird limbo experience. If you don't know what the trackpad is capable of in Windows 8.1, then you don't know what you're missing out on, but if you are aware of what is possible, then you will feel a little frustrated at the lack of ability to perform the quick actions to

Get iCloud Contacts to Display as Outlook Address Book

After much searching of the interwebz and finding no easy solution, I decided to start poking around myself. So the symptom is that you're running Windows on your Mac via Boot Camp and you setup iCloud mail in Outlook 2013, but when attempting to setup the iCloud contacts folder as an Address Book the check box that says "Show this folder as an e-mail address book" is grayed out and cannot be checked. As reference, I'm running a Late 2013 15" MacBook Pro retina with a discrete graphics card (which has nothing to do with this issue, but full disclosure and all that), but I've found this issue referenced multiple systems (including non-apple systems). The solution, it turns out, is far easier than anything I found online. Perform the following: 1. Right click on the Windows button (Windows 8.1) or click on the Start Button (Windows 7). 2. Open Mail control panel. 3. Click E-mail Accounts button 4. Click the Address Book tab 5. Click "New&

Phablets Phablets Phablets

For the longest time we were fighting for the smallest, thinnest phones, laptops, and other pieces of technology. That trend appears to be reversing itself in recent years with the advent of "the phablet." When I first saw the gigantic Galaxy Note I almost lost the Coca-Cola I was drinking out my nose I thought it was so insanely huge. Now I have an iPhone 6+ and I'm officially a Phablet owner. What does this mean? For somebody who thought that the size of the Galaxy Note was obscenely over sized, I now find the size of my 6+ to be perfect for me. Perfect in ways my previous phones have been imperfect. First of all, I no longer feel as though I need to carry around a laptop and a tablet and a phone. I now have my phone, which is big enough to be a small tablet, and my laptop. It's easier to carry around than either an iPad Mini or Nexus 7 (or any of the other smaller form-factor tablets) and I find it's more useful than a tablet. I also ordered myself an iWerk