Connected Consumers

I hit rock bottom in April 2013. My weight had ballooned to 252 lbs., and eating had become a compulsion. I hated the way I looked and the difficulty I had moving around, and I especially hated the way I felt. I had tried everything (or so I thought) and had a 100 percent failure rate. But, luckily for me, 2013 was the height of the quantified-self hype-cycle, and there was no end to the number of fitness trackers and health and wellness apps coming to market. I started a journey. Continue Reading →

Apple says the new Apple Watch Series 4 has been "fundamentally redesigned and re-engineered to help you stay even more active, healthy, and connected." I've spent about a week with my Apple Watch Series 4 and my new iPhone XS Max. Here's what I've learned. Continue Reading →

Gamers have been pitting their wits and skill against computers since the earliest days of video games. The levels of difficulty were pre-programmed, and at a certain point in the game, the computer was simply unbeatable by all but the most gifted gamers. That was then ... Continue Reading →

Nike’s tenet “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.” is inspirational. While some are applauding Nike for standing up for what it believes, others (who disagree with Nike on this issue) find themselves torn between their love of the brand and their own beliefs. Continue Reading →

On Wednesday in Cupertino, Apple officially unveiled the worst-kept secrets in tech: the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR. Apple also announced a new Apple Watch (the Series 4, its best yet), price drops to legacy iPhones (the iPhone 7 now starts at $450), and official release dates for iOS 12 (September 17) and MacOS Mojave (September 24), but let’s talk about new iPhones. Continue Reading →

During the recent congressional hearings, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the Senate intelligence committee's vice chairman, said, "The era of the wild west in social media is coming to an end." Congress, he said, will have to take action. "Where we go from here is an open question." More hearings are clearly in the offing, and some kind of regulation is likely to follow. That's the probable future, but what would happen if the government lost its ability to control the tech industry? What if tech fought back? What if our democracy transformed into a technocracy? Continue Reading →

Google is not a search engine, it is a highly specialized direct response advertising engine purpose-built to translate the value of ‘intention’ into wealth for Google (Alphabet) shareholders. It is optimized to put the right ad in front of the right person at the right time. In other words, it is ‘rigged’ to optimize revenue - all other considerations are secondary. Let me explain... No, there is too much. Let me sum up. Continue Reading →

The velocity of data is increasing and will always increase. This is a fact of modern life. According to IBM, we create approximately 1.86EB of data every hour of every day. So it is no wonder that annual cloud storage revenue exceeds $60 billion and is trending up and to the right. There are dozens of companies offering free or close-to-free storage solutions for consumers. Here's an overview of seven excellent cloud storage choices – at least one of them will certainly fit your needs. Continue Reading →

Should you buy a cheap laptop or an expensive smartphone? Is that even a choice? They're not interchangeable, are they? Most business professionals and road warriors know that you can do a lot of business on a smartphone, but to do a deck or a report or a spreadsheet, you really need a ... wait. What do you really need? Continue Reading →

I've had my Samsung Galaxy Note 9 for a few days and I can say without hesitation that this is an awesome device. It's aesthetically beautiful, it’s fast, it’s powerful, and it's packed with small improvements that combine to make the Note 9 a best-in-class Android handheld. Continue Reading →