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From my experience, “Oh that looks cool, where can I get one” doesn’t always translate into people actually buying one; this comes from working in a University electronics retail environment where we get odd goodies on occasion that fascinate people but don’t actually sell (as well as having recently been a University student). Furthermore, students aren’t the best litmus test for interest in general, even if you were focused on the younger generation. Almost anything can pique your curiosity, and your perspective is easily disconnected from reality. Wearing Glass in a University setting is nifty; wearing Glass out in most any other public setting is ridiculous-looking.

5 days ago on Will Google Glass create information heroes or new-wave Bluetooth dorks? 1 recommend

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Well, the primary distinction between a smartphone and a featurephone is a more robust firmware/OS. My last featurephone (a Sony Ericsson C905) could do nearly everything that my first smartphone (a first-generation iPhone) could. My featurephone had apps and my featurephone had GPS; hell, my featurephone could multitask and it even had Wi-Fi. Much of the device convergence/consolidation had already occurred before the iPhone hit the market.

The attributes of smartphones that really captured consumer attention came from them running on significantly more robust software (and hardware) underpinnings: (better) apps and (better) web browsing. I’m pretty sure most people weren’t aware of J2ME apps (which could run on most featurephones out there), and one of the most trumpeted features of the iPhone was its lack of a need for optimized-for-mobile websites. Apple helped define a new smartphone user paradigm, igniting consumer demand for a category of product once defined by Microsoft and Palm. I don’t believe that there was a strong inherent consumer need or demand for smartphones; a new alternative just happened to not only carry a halo effect but also be marketed effectively.

5 days ago on Will Google Glass create information heroes or new-wave Bluetooth dorks? 2 recommends

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I wouldn’t count on seeing refreshed MacBook Pros at WWDC, but I would definitely expect them before Winter. Intel hasn’t even released details on standard-voltage Haswell chips yet.

5 days ago on MacBook Pro Retina: Wait or Switch

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The issues surround Glass are, among things, the fact that there is a camera right there all the time. We live in a society that is already paranoid enough; that unease can contribute to Glass’s inability to gain traction in the mainstream marketplace. Furthermore, its reliance on being tethered to a smartphone can be limiting since it means that it’s not a technology that’s accessible to all (for instance, I use a Windows Phone, so I’m not counting on ever being able to use Glass with it). Now, I realize that Glass is still in an early phase, but it’s still clunky and conspicuous. As someone that wears glasses, I’m not going to be able to use this; as a sane member of society, I wouldn’t want to be seen walking around with the damn contraption on my head, either.

Honestly, Silicon Valley has a tendency to come up with incredible technology with no ability to get it to catch on outside of the high-tech circle jerk. Just look at the Segway or the Lytro. Both are novel ideas that also represent answers to questions that no one is asking, and both were well-received (at least initially) by high-tech observers; both were also brought to market by companies that did not know how to market what product they have. It doesn’t help that both were priced rather high. Frankly, I doubt Google’s ability to market Glass successfully (even if they manage to market this successfully to the mainstream, I doubt Google’s ability to successfully sell and distribute them), and Google’s tendency to axe products that won’t work out for them further dampens my enthusiasm for Glass.

Now, it is arguable that smartphones are also an answer to a question that no one asked. However, the smartphone ultimately spawned from the convergence of the PDA and the cellular phone; there was, indeed, a market for it, and it took a refinement of the concept (in the form of the original iPhone) before it was presented in a form that the mainstream warmed to. Will the same thing happen for wearable computing? Maybe. We’ll find out in a few years time. But I honestly do not believe that Glass, especially in its present form and in the context of our society as-is, will be mainstream any time soon.

5 days ago on Will Google Glass create information heroes or new-wave Bluetooth dorks? 1 reply 5 recommends

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Just because there’s an opportunity for Glass and other forms of wearable computing to be mainstream doesn’t mean that things will pan out that way. I don’t see the average person being particularly receptive towards Glass.

5 days ago on Will Google Glass create information heroes or new-wave Bluetooth dorks? 2 replies 6 recommends

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It means that Google is either content with maintaining inconsistency or has given up on their design guidelines.

6 days ago on This is the new Nexus: a first look at Samsung's Galaxy S4 with stock Android 1 reply 2 recommends

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The GS4 doesn’t have AOSP style buttons either since it has a hardware Action Overflow key, and that doesn’t seem to have stopped Google.

6 days ago on This is the new Nexus: a first look at Samsung's Galaxy S4 with stock Android 1 reply

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I’ve been using Macs for a while initially because my Windows PC died and the only spare we had in the house was an iBook. I wound up getting rather acclimated towards OS X (and developing a fondness for Apple’s hardware) and got really into using GarageBand (and, later on, Logic). That said, though, I enjoy Windows 8 a lot and, at this point, Logic is the main thing stopping me from buying a Yoga instead of another MBP this fall when I go back to school.

I use an iPad mini instead of a Nexus 7 mostly because I’m tired of Android. I mean, it’s nice that it’s flexible and whatnot, but, after a while, I just found it overwhelming and tiresome. It didn’t help that I have a lot of apps already purchased for iOS from the iPad I was using prior to the Nexus.

I don’t have an iPhone, though. So there’s that. I do have an iPod nano, and that’s primarily due to my inability to find an easily usable and robust MP3 player that’ll support AAC and drag-and-drop.

6 days ago on Do you buy Apple products because they are new and cool?

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Carrier markup? If I bought a GS4 direct from Samsung in Asia (or any region where more OEMs besides Sony and Nokia sell phones direct and unlocked), it would cost close to the equivalent of USD649. It’s likely that Samsung is holding Google to their standard retail pricing for the GS4 since, unlike Nexus devices, Google has little control over the GS4.

7 days ago on Google turns the Samsung Galaxy S4 into a Nexus phone, coming June 26th for $649 1 reply 4 recommends

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Awesome but too much money.

How is it too much money? $649 is reflective of the device’s actual retail price.

7 days ago on Google turns the Samsung Galaxy S4 into a Nexus phone, coming June 26th for $649 2 replies 37 recommends

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I go for the irony.

I really don’t know how "hipster"ism works.

8 days ago on Square introduces $299 stand aimed at replacing cash registers 1 reply

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Last I recall, Sprint tried to offer adaptable plans in a similar vein before, but ultimately gave up because of consumer feedback/disinterest.

9 days ago on Zact tries to out-uncarrier T-Mobile with customizable mobile plans

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From my understanding on how licensing for these patents work, the fact that the Nexus 4 has Qualcomm’s WTR1605 means that Google/LG has already paid the licensing costs for LTE since Qualcomm, as the vendor for the modem, is the one responsible for paying the patent holders. If Google or LG have to pay any patents, then it would fall under double recovery, which would be a no-no.

I could be wrong here, though, but I remember this subject coming up in Apple vs. Samsung.

9 days ago on The reason why the current Nexus 4 will not get LTE 1 reply

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Verizon also has some AWS licenses. The only major carrier that isn’t a part of the LTE-on-AWS bandwagon is Sprint.

12 days ago on Nokia Lumia 928 for Verizon announced, available May 16th for $99.99

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Dude, I’m Chinese. My Chinese friend and I have no idea what goddledygook they’re speaking.

13 days ago on Microsoft's crazy Windows 8 video campaign swaps watermelons for features 1 reply 3 recommends

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All AT&T LTE devices support T-Mobile’s LTE band.

15 days ago on Nobody Is Talking About The Optimus G Pro (And They Should Be) 1 reply

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then, those custom skins also make updates near impossible.

OEM skins cause minimal disruption in the Android update process. Can people please stop spreading this misconception?

19 days ago on Rant: Windows Phones is getting boring

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You do realize that Aqua has changed considerably (visually) between 10.0 and 10.9, right? If anything, we’re more likely to see a continuation of the progression away from pinstripes and gems.

20 days ago on A "very flat" OSXI?

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If you’re in any way interested in cameras, then B&H Photo is worth a visit. Pay attention to their weird basket delivery system and cashiers, it’s the only place I’ve seen like it.

I’m going to New York in July/August and I’m already planning on hitting up B&H. So stoked.

21 days ago on I'm coming to New York! What should I do?

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it was more about how android OEMs are allowed to have different look for different devices

You do realize that the demographic on forums such as these would actually prefer all OEMs to not have skins and use Google’s stock Ui, right?

22 days ago on Rant: Windows Phones is getting boring 1 recommend

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I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for the toilet seat iBook, actually.

26 days ago on Apple's Worst Designs? 1 recommend

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Windows Phone is the greatest example of Metro going awry. Most people dislike it, and even if they do like it, it’s not enough to convince them to purchase a WP over another competing device (despite top of the line hardware and “good enough” app support).

I’ve actually gotten several people interested in WP just because of Metro alone, actually. Several of these people have been cursing their blasted two year contracts for the past few months.

29 days ago on Microsoft painted itself into a corner with the Metro UI paradigm