Poor HTC. The Taiwanese smartphone company released its dismal Q4 2012 results this morning, chalking up $34 million in profit, a tiny fraction compared to the $2 Billion in revenue it earned Q4 2011. Mashable reports that HTC’s share of the US smartphone market shrunk from 10.3% at this time last year to 4% today. … Continue reading HTC Could Use a Little TLC
Here at Ben & David, we’re pretty tolerant of most things. We don’t mind if you’re short or tall, Democratic or Republican, fans of Michael Bay films or just people who like movies with substance. However, we have a low tolerance for smartphone foibles, and chief among them, the Android industry’s insistence on using virtually pornographic names for their phones. Samsung, it’s been pointed out, makes great phones – Ben owns a Galaxy SII – but does an awful job naming them. In fact, the company’s greatest coup in 2012 was likely shifting their marketing parlance from”Galaxy S III” to simply “GS3.” Short, sweet, and totally appropriate for children under age 17.
Continue reading “The Samsung Galaxy Note II is So Big, It’s Stupid”
Two recent actions by the White House provide an interesting study in the expansion of executive power.
The first instance is a Federal judge’s decision that the legal reasoning behind the May 2011 drone strike that killed Anwar Al-Awlaki – an American citizen and member of Al-Qaeda – need not be released by the Justice Department. In what she called “a veritable Catch-22,” Judge Colleen McMahon noted that a combination of Constitutional contortions and executive precedent have rendered the Freedom of Information Act petition filed by The New York Times and the ACLU ineffectual. The judge skeptically quoted Attorney General Eric Holder’s assertion that assassinations like that of Al-Awlaki are befitting of “due process,” though not “judicial process.”
The saying goes “less is more.” Except, of course, in academic writing, where “more is more.” Effectively, the more verbose, wordy and academic-sounding a work reads, the better it seems, regardless of actual content. This logic has unfortunately mixed into the worlds of Literary Criticism, Gender Studies and Postcolonial Theory, with awful results. Consider titles. … Continue reading Three Little Words
My official Android gripe of the day is autocorrect. I am not sure why, after five years of development and feedback from hundreds of millions of users, Android still does not automatically correct “Its” to “It’s.” I’d wager that 70% of “its” usage is in contraction, not object-possession, form. And yet, somehow, the error persists. … Continue reading Dear Android, Its About Time We Had This Talk
In keeping with the “modern” part of its name, the Modern Language Association has instituted guidelines for citing a tweet. It’s admittedly neat that Twitter posts now have enough resonance to merit inclusion, though the Association’s example – a Pakistani man’s May 2011 observation of a helicopter carrying SEAL Team 6, who shortly thereafter killed … Continue reading The MLA Now has Guidelines for Citing Twitter
In the last year, I’ve come to love blue agave nectar. It provides a subtle sweetness that’s more liquid-y and less cloying than honey, and serves as a cheaper alternative to maple syrup on waffles and pancakes. And because it’s less viscous than its gooey cousins, the food’s flavor is augmented, rather than dominated, by … Continue reading Agave ‘n’ Mustard Dressing
In the last few months, Apple has made two critical changes that reflect a shift away from its Jobs-era stance on hardware, and a compelling reorientation of its software. Continue reading “Threats and Adaptations”
Some of you may recall our brief piece several weeks ago, where we wondered whether Microsoft is guerilla marketing the Surface. Thanks to Apple Insider, we now know that it is. Just thought we’d say “toldja so.” Continue reading Microsoft is Guerilla Marketing the Surface
Silicon Spatula 