sense

Minding your manners when sharing in social media

Since this is a column about "Common Sense Tech," I thought I'd take that name and run with it in terms of social-media sharing. Sometimes I see a lack of common sense, politeness, and manners when it comes to personal sharing. Consider this a "things not to do" list.

Some of the suggestions below are things I personally try to follow. I love to share on social media, but I also try to be mindful of people's privacy. Some of the suggestions come from others whom I asked through... social media!

The suggestions are … Read more

Duplicate music woes? Let iTunes Match clean up the mess!

Years ago, I went digital with my music. I ripped all my CDs, bringing everything into Windows Media Player. I didn't start with the iPod. The Rio Karma was my main MP3 player. Over the years, my music library moved from computer to computer. It migrated into iTunes (and into iPods, iPhones, iPads....). It gained new music from purchases or the occasional rare CD that I'd buy. And my music got really messy.

I shouldn't really care that somehow, I ended up with two or three different copies of the same songs. What does it really matter, … Read more

Does an app store's size matter if content is the killer app?

Apple claims 500,000 apps in its App Store for the iPhone and over 700,000 when iPad apps are added in. Google Play claims 600,000 apps for Android. Windows Phone is estimated to have 100,000 apps in its marketplace.

But do the numbers really matter, especially when the "new apps" may be content like video, music, and books?

I'm not a big fan of numbers just for numbers' sake. I watched search engines play the numbers game for years, each trying to be "bigger" than their competitors by having more Web pages. … Read more

Going 'unplugged' doesn't have to lead to an e-mail meltdown

This is the story of email and two vacations. Three, really. Because I'm on vacation now, totally unplugged.

Disconnecting is a lesson I learned from my breaks last year. I found that I could indeed walk away from e-mail and not come back with an out-of-control inbox. Maybe you can, too.

Last summer, I took two separate vacations, each lasting one week. During the first, I tried to stay on top of my e-mail. I didn't want to have a relaxing time off only to find 1,000 or more emails awaiting me upon my return.

I'd … Read more

Twitter considering acquisition of Sense Networks?

Twitter is kicking the tires on geolocation startup Sense Networks, according to a TechCrunch report stamped "rumor" in the headline.

The acquisition, which would be Twitter's sixth of the year, is expected to be completed this month, according to a "good source." No estimated price or terms were revealed or suggested.

New York-based Sense Networks emerged from stealth mode in 2008 with the release of an "experimental" offering called CitySense, an urban-navigation product that put a new spin on location-based mobile networking. The company mines its database of location-based information to create both … Read more

How the Mac finally won me away from Windows

Windows 3.0, Windows 95, Windows 98, XP, Vista, Windows 7. Once I left DOS, I went Windows and kept with it, never feeling a need to jump to the Mac. I'd even enjoy some lighthearted mocking of my Mac friends about which OS was better. But a one-two combo last week of getting a new MacBook Pro Retina and trying Windows 8 is finally knocking me off Windows as my primary computing platform and over to the Mac.

Before I write any further, I'm not trying to ignite any Windows vs. Mac fanboy debates. Whatever works for you works for you, … Read more

Surface tablets: Microsoft's tabletop downsized?

Microsoft officials have been hinting for a couple of years that they hoped to someday shrink down the table-sized multitouch Surface technology and make it available in a tablet form factor.

So when Microsoft announced plans for not one, but two Surface tablets on June 18, my first thought was: Are these Surfaces in anything other than name? In other words, did Microsoft actually manage to shrink its multitouch table into a multitouch tablet?

The short answer: No.

Here's a bit of background on the Surface.

Microsoft introduced the Surface 1.0 technology, formerly codenamed "PlayTable" and then "Milan," … Read more

Forget Retina, look how much the new MacBook Pro displays!

Yes, the MacBook Pro's Retina display does deliver the clarity we've seen from Retina on the iPhone and the iPad. But what's really impressed me is how much more the new screen can actually show on a single display. Even if going big means less than "full Retina" quality, it's still a great benefit.

My new MacBook Pro Retina arrived on Friday, far faster than I expected. I immediately headed for the settings area, to better understand how much more the 15-inch Retina screen could display versus the 15-inch screen on my … Read more

I can roam the world with a Galaxy S3. So why not the U.S.?

Samsung's latest flagship phone, the Samsung Galaxy S3, is about to launch in the US. I'm excited! But I'm also confused. Is this my dream phone, one that I can use with both AT&T and Verizon? Getting a straight answer has proven tough.

In the past, swapping a phone between the two major networks had been hard because they use different technologies for their 2G and 3G networks. Verizon uses CDMA (as does Sprint), while AT&T uses GSM (as does T-Mobile).

But in the full 4G world, both are using … Read more

Android updates embarrassing, but do users notice?

It was big news this week that most Android phones haven't yet been upgraded to the latest Android operating system. Developers also seem to still prefer writing apps for Apple devices, despite Google's predictions. That's sure embarrassing for Google. But does it make that much of a difference to the Android user? I'll offer myself up as a reality check.

The statistics on the sorry situation come from Google itself. Only 7.1 percent of devices that have recently accessed Google Play are listed as using the latest Android 4 "Ice Cream Sandwich" version … Read more