David Johnson

Google has finally released its iPad Pro competitor to reviewers. The Verge is one of the first to run it through its paces. Unfortunately, things don’t start well. The title of the review is simply “Slapdash.” The final rating was 5.5. For the good stuff, they listed good speakers, two USB-C ports, and a nice […]

Google employees are unhappy, and more insistent than ever that the company cease moving forward with any plans it might have to produce a China-friendly search engine that features government-sponsored censorship. In a move published by The Verge, “Google employees push to cancel Chinese search engine in new letter.” “Google employees have renewed their public […]

T-Mobile is using the Animoji and Memoji feature in their ads to sell iPhones. Two years ago, Fast Company’s Harry McCracken invented Animoji Karaoke. Indeed, many were thankful for the fun and whimsical diversion and have publicly wondered what Apple was planning next for the feature. Since the time of its release, the Animoji feature […]

Some thought it would be easy. Others knew it would be difficult, but were convinced they were up to the challenge. They couldn’t have been more wrong. WAFB9 explains that “Caravan migrants explore options after Tijuana border clash.” “Many among the more than 5,000 Central American migrants in Tijuana were urgently exploring their options amid […]

Consumers are still reeling over the latest price increases from Apple. Not long ago, the average selling price (ASP) of the iPhone was in line with the base model of the newest offering, around $649. Today, it is approaching $800. It is actually higher than the base model of the entry-level new iPhone. iPhone is […]

On Apple’s iPhone, App Store is capitalized, both words. It is not a generic app repository, or marketplace, or alternative ways in which one adds an app to the phone. No. App Store is specific, singular. It is so much the case that Apple has actually tried to sue to keep other app stores from […]

President Donald Trump is bound and determined to keep the migrant caravan from crossing into the United States, even if that means testing the extent of his presidential powers. He has already been rebuffed by the courts over the matter. But he is undaunted. His latest move is a threat to shut down the border […]

The challenge is that you need a babysitter right away. And you are rightfully concerned about bringing a stranger into your home and entrusting your baby with her. What you need is the perfect babysitter. What you are left with is the reality that there is no such thing. So you have to make the […]

If 2018 is any indication, 2019 will see AI play an even bigger role in our lives than we imagined. It will be deployed in ways we don’t realize and to do things we didn’t expect. We won’t even be aware of when it is being used for or against us. And there may not […]

The internet has been going crazy over the discovery of a new feature in iOS that allows a person to move the cursor around when writing text on an iPhone or iPad. Or as Mashable put it, “People are freaking out over this iPhone cursor trick.” “This quick trick makes texting way easier, and people […]

Huawei has had a rough time of it in the U.S. No one can say for sure if the reason for their poor performance stateside is due to something that the company has done, or if consumer skepticism comes from its nation of manufacture. The problems didn’t start with the Trump administration, and according to […]

Remember that episode of Black Mirror where the lady was obsessed with protecting and increasing her social score? It was kind of a forgettable episode except for the fact that it proved to be an accurate predictor of events taking place in China right now. China has a social credit system right now and will […]

We have been hearing about the new Palm phone for several weeks. Now, it has been reviewed by one of the major gadget sites. The idea behind this phone is that it is super small, a smartphone lite. It is the shuttlecraft to your smartphone’s starship. In the same way that the original smartphone was […]

Excitedly, Mamie made her way to the exit door of Penn Station having traveled only from Brick Church Station in East Orange New Jersey for her first ever Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. It took her only 30 minutes by train. But it was the culmination of a 50-year lifelong dream to see the parade in […]

“Hey, Mike, what happened to your arms? You’re arms disappeared!” This is something that can be heard on a regular basis at the first VR church. Sure, you will also hear prayers and blessings. But you will also hear the preacher express concerns about a member being stuck in the grass. That’s because there can […]

Hands down, the 2018 iPad Pro is one of the most controversial products Apple has ever made. Pundits are not just arguing with one another about it. They are arguing with themselves. After living with it for a few weeks, Rene Ritchie of iMore claimed he was wrong about the iPad Pro and did a […]

The USPS just made its most important delivery of the year — a fix to a vulnerability it has had on its site for some time. The Verge reports that all 60 million of its users were exposed. “The vulnerability included all 60 million user accounts on the website. It was caused by an authentication […]

Facial recognition is all the rage. Everyone seems to be very excited about it, that is, until it turns against them. Some have reason to believe we are pushing the technology much faster than we should. It is already being deployed before it has been proven. That leads to the sort of incident that happened […]

Back in May at Google I/O, there was a big stir about one new feature Google was planning to roll out. That feature was Duplex, an augmentation of Google Assistant. The demonstration was so good, it inspired some pundits to decry it as fake. They said that it couldn’t be done at the consumer level. […]

It’s that time of year again — Black Friday season. Amazon has declared Black Friday week, so just go with it. You have probably already mapped out your game plan. You know what time you are getting up — and where you are going. Be sure to map out alternates, in case one of the […]

Neil Kelly is one of the unluckiest people in the world. You see, over the course of the past 10 months, Kelly has been struck by a vehicle no less than three times — twice in the same intersection. To make matters worse, he was not in the wrong in either of those events, and […]

This Black Friday, you are going to spend over $9 billion. Almost half of it will be at Amazon. This, despite all the bad press that Amazon has garnered over the past few months. This has not been a good year for Amazon with regard to image. There have been a number of reports about […]

The Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL from Google have been hailed by many as the most innovated smartphones of the year. It is an amazing achievement to get such public support given that they are competing in the same category as the iPhone and Galaxy S line of phones. Unfortunately, the launch of the […]

Many people’s childhood lessons have taken a beating over the last few years. Pluto is not a planet. The earth has three moons — two of them made of dust and almost impossible to see. An apple a day may not keep the doctor away, and milk does not necessarily do the body good. Benedict […]

Royal watchers have had plenty to keep them entertained this year. But from time to time, the royals take on an important aspect of their job by championing a cause that is bigger than them and can be of benefit to all. That is exactly what Prince William was up to in London at the […]

For years, fans and detractors alike have been talking about the iPad in terms of it being a real computer. Enthusiasts suggest it is. While detractors insist it isn’t. Now, Apple has entered the fray to make their position more clear. Not only is the iPad Pro a computer, but it is also a good […]

There has always been an uneasy relationship between governments and technology – all governments, not just in the U.S. All governments want the most advanced technology working to their advantage while doing their best to keep it away from other nations. In fact, the powers that be would much prefer their own citizens not be […]

There are a few things about smartphones that will come as a surprise to no one. First, smartphones are a highly competitive market. Second, 2018 was one of the best years for smartphones. There has been a bumper crop for both iPhones and Android phones. Third, every major smartphone company has raised prices on their […]

It could be considered a common assumption that most late night comedians would share atheistic inclinations. That is likely the impression which many audience members may receive when engaging with the entertainment industry in general. There is also the strong relationship and camaraderie between big players such as Stephen Colbert and Bill Maher, the later […]

Let’s just get this out of the way: A referee was banned for using rock paper scissors in a game. But it is not nearly as bad as it sounds. Consider the fact that hundreds of referees stood behind the banned ref. The BBC provides more details. “Hundreds of referees have risked being charged with […]

One of the greatest points of anxiety when preparing for a job interview is what you are going to wear. You will be happy to know there is good news on that front. As reported by WSJ, more people are being hired by big companies without the step of requiring you to show up for […]

Once again, it is Apple vs. physics. In an outcome shocking absolutely no one, physics wins, again. We learned something about huge smartphones that were shaped like small surfboards. They bend when you put stress on them in just the right way. This is what happens when we demand everything be ever thinner, lighter, and […]

Resin spurge is the common name for an exotic plant called euphorbia resinifera, a cactus-like plant grown in Morocco. And rather than being an exotic disease — which it may phonetically conjure — it may well be a potential cure. Wired says that “this chemical is so hot it destroys nerve endings — in a […]

It is time to be thankful. This Thursday marks the last day before the official holiday madness begins. That idea is somewhat marred by Amazon declaring it Black Friday week, completely engulfing Thanksgiving into the extended shopping frenzy. But never mind that. We still have to pick out the perfect turkey and trimmings. And that […]

Thursday took a lot of people by surprise. Anyone not following the weather closely woke up to a colder than expected morning. As night darkness begrudgingly gave way to morning light, it was clear that the daylight would be facing an uphill battle. The cautious commuter would have checked their $1,000 smartphone and noticed rain […]

Well, that didn’t take long. Someone finally took Google up on their dare and made an Android Phone with two — count them — two notches. These are not the extra notches Google’s Pixel 3 XL recently sprouted due to a software bug. These notches are intentional design choices. Thanks to Engadget, we have more […]

To date, truly ubiquitous internet access has been the stuff of science fiction. Not anymore. The Verge reports that the “FCC approves SpaceX’s plan to launch more than 7,000 internet-beaming satellites.” “Starlink is SpaceX’s ambitious project to provide constant, global internet coverage from orbit. The spacecraft in the constellation are meant to do a synchronized […]

Remember when Black Friday was just a day — the Friday after Thanksgiving? That was during a time when we used to pretend that the Christmas season started after Thanksgiving. Of course, Monday go jealous and needed its own special day. So we invented Cyber Monday. That is the Monday following Black Friday. It came […]

The corporate lottery for the new Amazon headquarters has finally come to an end. About 230 cities played and lost. The official winners have been announced. They are NYC and a little place in Northern Virginia. But instead of champagne and ticker tape parades, there are protests and calls for Amazon to kindly go someplace […]

Remember that little public spat in the media between Mark Zuckerberg and Tim Cook regarding the Cambridge Analytica scandal? Well, it didn’t end there. Mr. Zuckerberg did not appreciate being called out like a school kid being scolded by the administrator. So he went and did what any rational adult CEO would do. According to […]

Russia to Musk, “Challenge accepted!” That is the message one gets when parsing the trash-talk from Russia as reported by BGR. “Elon Musk and SpaceX won’t be leading the reusable rocket space race long, at least not if Russia has anything to say about it. Russia’s Keldysh Research Center has been working on a reusable […]

If it has been a while since you have sent a letter, you might be in for a little sticker shock – or perhaps in this case, stamp shock. That is because the price of stamps is about to get a 10 percent increase. Fox News reports on other increases that are on the way. […]

Apple has likely had enough of companies making cheap knockoffs of their new and iconic AirPods — Apple’s flagship wireless earphones. Cheaper third party alternatives have been filling a vacuum left by Apple’s failure to release the next generation of AirPods, a product line that has long been anticipated by professional pundits and anxious consumers. […]

Apple made some big noise about the performance of the new iPad Pro at this year’s November special event held in Brooklyn. One of the outlandish-sounding claims was that the new iPads were twice as fast as last year’s models. The reason this seemed like marketing speak is because models from 2017 already outpaced many […]

Are you ready for self-driving cars? According to a Bloomberg report, Google is. And they will be coming to a car service near you in as soon as next month. Engadget notes that the rollout will be limited at first. “It’s been a long time in coming, but Waymo finally appears to be on the […]

You might need to show ID before using your next Keurig instant beverage machine. That is because the company has partnered with Anheuser-Busch to form Drinkworks in an attempt to do for adult beverages what it did for coffee. The Verge had a chance to try one out. “The machine costs $299. Each cocktail pod […]

For some reason, the tech industry keeps trying to recreate the Dick Tracy watch. No one really knows all of the properties of a Dick Tracy watch. It now refers to any wrist-worn device that can make audio and video phone calls, and perhaps launch a missile in a pinch. AppleInsider reports that a new […]

It has been over a year since Amazon announced that it was looking to establish a second headquarters in a new city. Here are the specific criteria the candidate cities had to meet: Population of at least 1 million people A stable, business-friendly environment Urban or suburban location that could sustain strong, technical talent Communities […]

Before Donald Trump became president, he was best known for his role on the reality TV franchise, “The Apprentice.” At the end of each episode leading up to the season finale, at least one person would be deemed unfit to continue. Trump was branded with his catch phrase, “You’re Fired!” During his term as president, […]

Apple’s T2 chip is one of the most interesting advancements to the Mac in a long time. It is a product of Apple’s in-house chip development for iOS devices. It first made its way to the Mac last year when Apple introduced the iMac Pro starting at $5,000. This year, Apple migrated the T2 chip […]