opinion
Software
Microsoft Retail Store PCs Will Be Crapware-Free, But Still Not Happy
3:20PM Rosa Golijan | No one likes uninstalling bloatware, trialware and craplets from their freshly unboxed PCs. Microsoft finally acknowledges this by skipping the unnecessary third-party software in Microsoft retail store PCs. That’s truly great, but they should do a little more than that. More »
Computers
4:00AM John Herrman | Desktop PCs have been in decline for a decade, and countless people have said their piece about it. But new evidence suggests the desktop tower’s death spiral is underway—and we’re not too broken up about it. More »
So Long Desktop PC, You Suck
4:00AM John Herrman | Desktop PCs have been in decline for a decade, and countless people have said their piece about it. But new evidence suggests the desktop tower’s death spiral is underway—and we’re not too broken up about it. More »
Software
App Store Subscriptions Mean More Expensive IPhone Apps
11:00AM Wilson Rothman | Today people were shocked to discover that the first turn-by-turn navi iPhone app to hit the iTunes App Store cost $US9.99—per month. Well, get used to it, because there are a lot more subscription apps coming. More »
Software
Why Most Content Apps Suck (But Some Would Be Amazing)
9:15AM Wilson Rothman | Today we had a false-alarm that South Park’s rejected video-portal app hit Cydia—it was just third-party shite. But the news made us question specialty content apps: Most are worthless but a few are desperately needed.
Software
9:30AM Nick Broughall | There’s a completely BS article by Fran Foo over at Australian IT today about Google Chrome’s “failure to shine in its first 100 days”. Apparently, according to Nielsen Online statistics, less than one per cent of visitors to Fairfax and News Ltd websites in Australia use Google Chrome. For a start, since when is News.com.au or The Age a reliable metric for how a browser “shines”? I might just go out on a limb and say that the reason 70% of their audience still uses IE is because in many cases they’re completely ignorant about the superior alternatives, while many workplaces also restrict which browser can be used.
Then there’s the line, “Some argue Chrome’s languishing figures could be bolstered if it were pre-installed in computers.” Now, I don’t pretend to speak for Google at all, but considering they have 10 million active users worldwide after just 100 days, I don’t think they’d be describing Chrome as languishing. Seriously, I thought The Australian was meant to be objective. More »
Apparently Fairfax And News Websites Are The Web’s Best Metric For A Browser’s Success
9:30AM Nick Broughall | There’s a completely BS article by Fran Foo over at Australian IT today about Google Chrome’s “failure to shine in its first 100 days”. Apparently, according to Nielsen Online statistics, less than one per cent of visitors to Fairfax and News Ltd websites in Australia use Google Chrome. For a start, since when is News.com.au or The Age a reliable metric for how a browser “shines”? I might just go out on a limb and say that the reason 70% of their audience still uses IE is because in many cases they’re completely ignorant about the superior alternatives, while many workplaces also restrict which browser can be used.
Then there’s the line, “Some argue Chrome’s languishing figures could be bolstered if it were pre-installed in computers.” Now, I don’t pretend to speak for Google at all, but considering they have 10 million active users worldwide after just 100 days, I don’t think they’d be describing Chrome as languishing. Seriously, I thought The Australian was meant to be objective. More »
Gadgets
Silver-Painted Plastic Gadgets Must Die
5:40AM Brian Lam | If there’s one thing that makes me vomit in my mouth, it’s plastic gadgets painted silver. More »
Music
Second Opinion: iPod Nano Too Sharp
12:46PM Brian Lam | A few of us at Giz debated this for awhile, but using it while on the road for a month made me sure that that the new nano’s case is too sharp on the corners, compared to the old chubby one. More »
Computers
Cranky Windows Guy: Apple Laptops
4:16AM Adam Frucci | digg_skin = 'compact'; digg_bgcolor = '#f1f8fa'; digg_url = 'http://digg.com/apple/Bottom_Line_on_Apple_s_Laptops_Still_Too_Damned_Expensive';
As you may be aware, I’m a Windows guy. I’m not diehard about it, however. When the time comes for me to get a new laptop in the next year or so, I’ll be open to switching, making me Apple’s target market. But there’s one big reason that is holding me back from making that switch: price. Apple’s laptops are expensive as hell, and the prices aren’t justified.
Update: We have edited this post to reflect the real hardware/price comparison between the Dell and the Apple laptops. The bottom line: They are not comparable. Our apologies for the mistakes in the original article. –J.D.
More »
Cranky Windows Guy: Apple Laptops Still Too Damned Expensive May Not Be That Expensive After All
4:16AM Adam Frucci | digg_skin = 'compact'; digg_bgcolor = '#f1f8fa'; digg_url = 'http://digg.com/apple/Bottom_Line_on_Apple_s_Laptops_Still_Too_Damned_Expensive';
As you may be aware, I’m a Windows guy. I’m not diehard about it, however. When the time comes for me to get a new laptop in the next year or so, I’ll be open to switching, making me Apple’s target market. But there’s one big reason that is holding me back from making that switch: price. Apple’s laptops are expensive as hell, and the prices aren’t justified.
Update: We have edited this post to reflect the real hardware/price comparison between the Dell and the Apple laptops. The bottom line: They are not comparable. Our apologies for the mistakes in the original article. –J.D.
More »
Phones
Last IFA an iPhone Saved My Life
4:20AM Jesus Diaz | That avalanche of TVs, fridges, iPod docks, and iPod dock fridges that some people like to call IFA 2008 but I call Satan’s Hell on Earth, agonised to its end this week. About bloody time. To me, the star of this fair wasn’t the Sony ZX1, the Samsung X360 or even Addy’s bags, but one now-ancient gadget that saved my life not one, but two times at the show: my good old trusty iPhone.
Online
11:03AM Nick Broughall | When Google launched its StreetView service in Australia last week, I thought it was a fairly cut and dry story – street-level imaging around a large chunk of Australia, which lets you play virtual tourist and waste an afteroon browsing through addresses you know, hoping to spot yourself or some one you know.
How wrong I was.
Since the launch, there have been countless stories focusing on the privacy concerns raised by the introduction of StreetView. And while that’s not a bad thing in itself, in some (if not many) examples, the articles in question seem to be creating more controversy than there actually is.
Notes: Why Is StreetView Getting So Much Negative Press?
11:03AM Nick Broughall | When Google launched its StreetView service in Australia last week, I thought it was a fairly cut and dry story – street-level imaging around a large chunk of Australia, which lets you play virtual tourist and waste an afteroon browsing through addresses you know, hoping to spot yourself or some one you know.
How wrong I was.
Since the launch, there have been countless stories focusing on the privacy concerns raised by the introduction of StreetView. And while that’s not a bad thing in itself, in some (if not many) examples, the articles in question seem to be creating more controversy than there actually is. 
