Microsoft vs. Google: The state of first-party devices in the ecosystem
At ZDNet, Ross Rubin lays out criteria for evaluating the first-party device efforts of Google and Microsoft, contrasting the need to balance market inroads against common competitors with competition against licensees.
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Amazon’s Echo Loop discreetly wraps Alexa around your finger
Writing in ZDNet, Ross Rubin looks at the benefits and market impact of Amazon’s Echo Loop, an affordavle smart ring that puts a discreet Alexa experience on your finger.
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Apple Silicon MacBooks will be the laptops that iPads were never supposed to be
At ZDNet, Ross Rubin discusses how Apple Silicon MacBooks will relieve the pressure on #iPads to be the laptops they were never designed to be while delivering some of the tablets’ prized benefits while touching on whether Apple will...
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Pixel 5 is a reminder that Google’s phones have never been all that relevant
Ross Rubin speaks with CNET and showed off the clever Hold for Me feature, but most of the focus was on the home as the company strives to find meaningful differentiation in the handset market.
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With HP’s Reverb 2, the Omnicept edition, VR experiences you
At ZDNet, Ross Rubin looks at the forthcoming Omnicept edition of HP’s Reverb 2 VR headset, which borrows from the smartwatch in bringing physiology tracking to wearables.
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When second screens are the second priority
Phones with internal folding or dual displays dramatically increase the real estate available to work on an app or multiple apps. But in current implementations such as the Surface Duo and Galaxy Z Fold 2, these come at a...
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The Prisoner as a metaphor for the information economy
1984 is often held up as the science fiction work that best exemplifies the dystopian surveillance state. (You could certainly do worse.) But as I’ve been taking in a few episodes of the 1967 British TV classic The Prisoner,...
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The Sidekick video chat device brings cubicle culture home
In a parallel to the Garden of Eden story (one of of The Matrix‘s many religious allusions), Agent Smith reveals that the film’s humanity-conquering machines first tried to create a virtual paradise for those whose bodies they harnessed, but...
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Tearing up the Note
At Digital Trends, Samsung alum Phil Berne argues that it’s time to retire the Galaxy Note line. Phil characterizes the Note 7 exploding battery imbroglio as a turning point form which the line never recovered. He also argues that...
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Quibi needs a free tier
Vulture has an extensive, let’s call it, “pre-mortem” article on Quibi, the short-form, episodic video content service that’s gotten off to a slow start. The piece focuses a lot on Jeffrey Katzenberg’s involvement. However, this simple economic Catch-22 highlights...
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