Lost Children Charity Anthology Update
It’s been a while since I’ve mentioned the Lost Children: A Charity Anthology. To be honest, it’s been a while since I’ve thought about it too. That said, I’m still proud to have contributed a bit of fiction to the project. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, all profits from the book go to a pair of children’s charities in the United States and Scotland. Despite its slipping out of my mind’s eye, the both the ebook and the print edition continue to sell at a steady click. If you haven’t picked up a copy yet, there’s no time like the present.
TabTimes Tablet Keyboard Roundup
It’s been a busy month for me in the keyboard department. With two separate looks at keyboards designed for use with tablet computers for two different websites (the second one should be published any day now), I’m feeling pretty knowledgable of what makes for a great mobile typing experience.
Today, TabTimes published my roundup of a number of tablet centric keyboards and keyboard cases for Android, iOS and QNX devices. While I’m not wild about any of them, they all serve a purpose of will meet the needs of one group of users or another. Which of the seven keyboards was my favorite? You can read up on it here.
What keyboard do I use when I’m typing on my tablet? None of the ones mentioned in the roundup. I’ll end the suspense for you in a few days.
The Wirecutter: A Great Drill for Around the House
If you rent or own your home, you likely have a few tools kicking around. Making small household repairs yourself is a load less expensive than calling in a professional, and a lot less stressful than letting your ‘expert’ pals do it for you in exchange for a case of beer that they’ll drink during the course of the repair.
If you don’t already own a drill driver, I recommend checking out the 14.4v Hitachi DS14DVF3 Cordless Drill.
Want to know what makes it so great? Head on over to The Wirecutter for my full review.
Review: Max Payne for iOS
Sometimes, running into someone you haven’t seen or thought about in years can be really awkward. That’s what playing Max Payne on the iPhone or iPad felt like for me. Back when the game was first released just over a decade ago, it was an amazing experience. Now? Not so much. Sure, it’s still bullet-riddled film-noir fun for gamers that like their pew-pew a little on the dark side, but there’s simply no getting around the graphics.
You can read my full review here, as well as in the upcoming July edition of Mac|Life Magazine.
The Wirecutter: My Favourite External Drive
I research this stuff so that you don’t have to. If you’re looking to pick up a new external hard drive for your PC or Mac, I recommend buying a Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Desk. Wanna know why? Head on over to The Wirecutter and find out.
Fiction: Swing
Time was, I was hard and lean like famine. After an hour on the heavy bag, my knuckles aching to be free of the tape that binds them and the rest of my body breaking down in a big fuck you of exhaustion, it’s dead clear that I’m far from the land of good health.
Things get worse. You hope they’ll get better. So you swing. You do it until it hurts and there’s nothing left inside of you but broken glass, vapor and disbelief that the damn bag’s still there.
It’s all you can do to raise your hands today, but tomorrow’ll be different. Most meat scars. Most meat heals. You’ll come back harder and you’ll hit that bag. You’ll sweat some. You’ll hurt and you’ll feel thunder sounding up your arm sometimes as you connect. That’s just how it is.
Some folks might say otherwise, but they’re wrong.
Just keep swinging.
Where The Chieftains’ Instruments Go into Space
These days, most of my writing is focused on technology, despite the fact that I’ve been working as a music journalist since 1997, for a traditional music publication called Irish Music Magazine. On Friday morning, my love of tunes and tech finally crossed paths, thanks to a conversation and interview with Paddy Moloney of the Chieftains.
Paddy’s son works for Nasa, and because of this, he’s known Astronaut Cady Coleman for close to twenty years. Aside from having one of the coolest jobs in the world, Coleman is also a flutist. Paddy tells me:
I get this call from her over a year ago. She was saying she was going up on the International Space Station for six months, and could she borrow a tin whistle from me for some music. Then she got a flute from Matt Molloy, a spare one that he has. They went around for 93 million miles and 156 days or something. Last March, I was in the middle of the tour, and I get this call at 10:30 on my night off. ‘This is Cady. I’m in the International Space Station and I’m just straight over you at the moment.”On St. Patrick’s Day, we were in Toronto. She sent down a whole film of herself on the internet, wishing us all a happy St. Patrick’s day, with her hair all sticking up in the air, with the flute and whistle floating around. Then she starts to play Fanny Power, an old O’Carloan tune. I used her recording of the tune and then put the band around it for the album Voice of Ages. It was to say, where are we going next with this Voice of Ages? Up into space.
How awesome is that? I’ll save you the guess work and tell you: Very awesome.
My full interview with Paddy on the occasion of The Chieftains’s 50th anniversary will be hitting the pages of Irish Music Magazine this July.
4 Patents that Fueled the Mobile Phone Wars
A complex technological artifact, say a smartphone for example, is a collection of complex ideas made manifest. As we swipe and tap our lives away, most of us forget that a there’s a lot of brain juice squirted into each and every feature the hardware we own. Most of us, but not everyone.
Hardware manufacturers? They remember. Sometimes, they even sue other companies for daring to incorporate their ideas into their own products. That’s a patent law slap-fight, y’all, and it’s what my latest feature for Mac|Life is all about.
The Wirecutter: The Rechargeable Batteries I Would Buy
Trust me, after five hours of research and a lot of soul searching, I can say with authority that Eneloop batteries are the only rechargeable AA batteries you should consider forking over your dough for. They come in AAA sizes as well, and if you’ve got hardware that requires C or D sized batteries, you can even pick up a pack of adapters to make to accommodate your needs. You can take in why I know these bad boys are the best batteries currently on the market over at The Wirecutter.
Why Doesn’t the iPad Offer More than 64GB of Storage?
Because that’s how Apple likes it, now stop asking questions. Seriously though, there’s an excellent explanation for why the iPad currently tops out at 64GB. It’s all about the Benjamins. I briefly explore the issue over at Mac|Life. Why not take a gander?
If this is an April Fool’s joke on Criterion’s part, it’s brilliant. Akira Kurosawa visits the set of Kindergarden Cop.
A Great Bluetooth Headset: The Samsung HM7000
I don’t like bluetooth headsets. Up until six or seven years ago, watching someone talk to themselves as they walked down the street was the best tool the everyman had for gauging the sanity the person. Now? We’re working without a net. If you’d rather be part of the problem than a solution, you may as well rock the best headset out currently on the market.
After hours of research and a good deal of profanity, I can say with authority that you’d do very well to pick up Samsung’s HM7000. If you want to know why, you can read my explanation over at The Wirecutter.
What You Should Know About Your Privacy Online
Oh Hai! I’m writing for Techopedia! Trying to explain to someone you love, but have no patience for, how their private information can be exploited online? Well, you’re in luck: I’ve put together a very basic primer on the different kinds of information most of use unwittingly provide to search engines, advertisers and social media outlets on a daily basis.
Save yourself the pain of educating those you care about and let us do it for you. You’ll find the story here.
Review: Bioshock 2 for Mac
Sure it might be old hat to Windows gamers, but BioShock 2 is the new sexy for Mac gamers. While I’m not a big fan of first person shooters, I can see why the franchise is so popular with those that are: Moody, beautiful level design, challenging enemies and a great story make for a memorable gaming experience.
For my full review of the title, head on over to Mac|Life.
Four Alternatives to the New iPad
Thanks to my work for TabTimes, I own a lot of different tablets: iOS, Android, Windows 7, Windows 8, QNX—you name it and I’ve had to shell out the cash to buy it. That said, the only one that doesn’t live in a box until I need to pull it out in the name of a tutorial or an accessory review is my iPad. If it were up to me, it’d be the only tablet I owned.
Other folks don’t feel the same way. For one reason or another, they’d rather own anything but an Apple product. For you defiant few, I’ve put together a collection of four tablets that you could pick up instead of an iOS powered slab. Go check ‘em out. You know you want to.
