Last week, NPR released NPR One as the official National Public Radio mobile app (Android and iphone). I’ve become a big fan of theirs (David has too!) as I now spend much more time in a car than I did in Manhattan and don’t always want to hear the same five songs on repeat on the … Continue reading NPR One Review
If The Graduate is any indication, there’s a great future in plastics, and Apple seems to think so, too. In its ad for the new iPhone 5C, “Plastic Perfected,” Apple seeks to emphasize the new phone’s “unapologetic” plasticity. Continue reading “Just One Word: Plastics”
T-Mobile, in many respects, has its back to the wall. It did not carry the iPhone until this week. Its 4G network still lags behind those of Verizon and AT&T. And one year ago, AT&T dropped its $39 billion acquisition plans, in light of opposition from the Justice department. And its relatively small hold on the US phone market has meant that the T-Mobile still lags among the big four phone carriers.
There is a great metric by which companies’ success can be measured. Effectively, if the name of a corporation’s good or service becomes interchangeable with the product category as a whole, the company’s product – or at least its marketing – is probably pretty successful. Older examples would be the use of the word “Xerox” as a verb, or “Kleenex” as a catchall for tissues. In our generation, the use of “Google” as a verb is likely the best example.
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”
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 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”
We’ve employed our literary chops to write a brief, preemptive eulogy for RIM, in the style of John Milton’s Lycidas. Enjoy.
Continue reading “A Hymn for RIM: John Milton Does a Preemptive Eulogy for Blackberry”
RadioShack is an interesting sort of place. Much like your local CVS, Radio Shack sells a broad assortment of items at considerable markups, aiming at customers more interested in convenience than cost. “The Shack” has a pretty varied shelf, selling big ticket items like TVs and smartphones, as well as more mundane doodads like cables and chargers. Understandably, the business is rapidly shrinking, thanks to online behemoths like Amazon (which even has its own branded line of peripherals) and the reasonable variety of electronics now found in Costco, Walmart, and Target, wherein RadioShack operates the “Bullseye Mobile” counter.
Silicon Spatula 