rants

Microsoft Should Have Made A Laptop

Whatever you think about Microsoft’s Surface Pro, it’s impossible to deny its beautiful design, and the quality of the the tech behind it. It’s a siren, luring you into an oddly metaphored whirlpool of unsure typing. I’ve been using it for close to two weeks now, and the entire time I couldn’t escape one feeling: Microsoft should have made a laptop.


The Perfect Definition Of This Goddamn Digital Life

Brazilian illustrator Felipe Luchi made this exquisite illustration for Go Outside Magazine. It’s the perfect definition of this digital life. We are prisoners of our phones and tablets and all our digital crap. I am. You are. We all are.


Don’t Think 4K TV Is Awesome? Something Is Wrong With You

CES is mostly useless, sure, and most of the trillion dinky things trotted out like chrome and plastic show chihuahuas will wind up in landfills. But CES is worth it just to give 4K, UltraHD TV its big debut. And if you’re not amazed by it, there is something wrong with you.


Qantas Incident Reminds Us Of The Sad State Of Air Travel

Let me tell you about the story of Wynand Mullings and his t-shirt. Mullins, a Kiwi living in Sydney, boarded a Qantas flight with a funny t-shirt that said “My name is Iñigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die”, a quote from The Princess Bride. Some people freaked out because they thought Mullins’s name was Iñigo and that he thought they killed his father and that he was going to kill them all now. True story, folks.


Why Are Headphone Jacks On The Wrong Side Of Computers?

This is a problem. It’s not the biggest problem in the world, but it’s just such a dumb, thoughtless, annoying design flaw that we need to address. Apple is doing headphone jacks wrong. Actually, no, most of them are doing it wrong.


Samsung’s New Fridge Includes Features We Don’t Need

Samsung has announced its new four-door refrigerator, the T9000. It has an LCD touchscreen, a built-in Evernote app and a baby monitor. Apparently, companies have ran out of ideas and they are now just adding crap to existing products, hoping that something will stick.


Reminder: Companies Aren’t Your Friends

Twitter. Facebook. Instagram. All of them wonderful ways to bring together people you know, care about, or just want to stalk. But it’s easy to confuse connecting friends with friendship. Don’t. All social media companies want is to make money off of you. And they’ll never stop trying to.


Today’s Awful Apple Rumour: Retina iPad Mini

There’s something in the air this week. Maybe it’s because the holidays are coming, or maybe there’s not much actual news to be had three weeks before the Consumer Electronics Show. But for some reason, the dumb Apple rumours are piling up like so many discarded MobileMe accounts.


Opinion: Hey, Can I Now Use My Phone On Planes?

I’ve travelled 29,000km on aeroplanes this year. That’s 27 flights. And on each of those 27 takeoffs and 27 landings, a hungover flight attendant has asked me and my fellow travellers to turn off our phones. I didn’t, not once. And you know what? I didn’t die. All 27 planes found the runway, none of their engines sputtered out.


Rant: Why Twitter’s Election Night Success Is Not A Success

Twitter is bragging because it didn’t go down on Election Day. The info-bloat peaked at 327,452 tweets per minute last night, and not a single Fail Whale appeared! High fives all around! Way to… work like you’re supposed to.