The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines technology as:

1 a : the practical application of knowledge especially in a particular area

b : a capability given by the practical application of knowledge

2 a manner of accomplishing a task especially using technical processes, methods, or knowledge

3 the specialized aspects of a particular field of endeavor

In the two months since we decided to take a hiatus from writing, we have lots of conversations about what we wanted to do with this blog. We kept coming back to what kind of information about technology do we personally find most useful. As we listened to some of our favorite podcasts (This Week in Tech, MacBreak Weekly, etc.) and talked with fellow tech lovers, it became obvious. We love to hear about technology that makes something in your life easier and really works.  This is why the MacBreak Weekly Picks of the Week are usually our favorite part of that show.

So we have decided to re-launch this blog as a space to share the tech that we are using ourselves and that we love. And, while many of the things we may write about may be related to what is traditionally thought of as tech, we also plan to include other types of tech like tools for making cooking easier, tools for making fashion easier, etc. No matter what it is, you will get a discussion of the piece of technology (and why we love it) plus a link to where you can get it for yourself.

For years, Tom's e-mail signature line has been "New technologies only allow people new opportunities to be people." That's as true for us as it is anyone else. We're going to be writing about technologies we love, which means we'll really be writing about things important to us and the objects we use to help us do them. Some things we do are sort of mundane, others are more exciting. It's hard to get through the day without stuff no matter who you are, so we're going to tell you about the stuff we use.

We hope you enjoy it.

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It has become very apparent in the last few months that, when our many interests pull us in different directions, this blog is the one that suffers the most.  We love tech and always will, but blogging about tech may not be the best use of our time right now.  We're going to take a break from tech blogging and see how it goes from there.

We still think the idea of a group blogging together about their tech experiences is a good thing.  If you are interested in becoming part of the Tag Team Tech team, please contact us at tagteamtech@gmail.com or leave a comment here to this post.  Who knows? Maybe we just need some fresh blood to get us going again.

Thanks!

--Carla, Tom and Geoff

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via shoeboxblog.com

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Really looking forward to trying out this phone. Actually hoping that we get it and the iPhone 4S at the same time so we can do a true side-by-side comparison.

Today, Motorola Mobility, Inc. (NYSE: MMI) and Verizon Wireless announced DROID RAZR™ by Motorola, the world’s thinnest 4G LTE smartphone. A true marvel of design, this smartphone packs strength and smarts into a stylish package offered exclusively from Verizon Wireless.

Measuring 7.1 mm thin, made with KEVLAR® fiber for strength and Corning® Gorilla® Glass for scratch resistance, the DROID RAZR is ready to face the elements.  Speed limits are just an illusion with a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor and Verizon Wireless 4G LTE. DROID RAZR customers can expect to rip through the Web with speeds up to 10 times faster than 3G.

“DROID RAZR by Motorola combines style, performance and the power of Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network into one innovative device,” said Marni Walden, vice president and chief marketing officer for Verizon Wireless. “These are two iconic brands that separately symbolize the best technology available today. The combination will provide an unsurpassed wireless experience for customers.”

“DROID RAZR by Motorola is a testament to the innovation and design possibilities that stem from a strong partnership between Motorola Mobility and Verizon Wireless,” said Sanjay Jha, Chairman and CEO, Motorola Mobility. “We set out to design the best smartphone on the planet and delivered DROID RAZR which is thinner, smarter, stronger than any device on the market.”

Not only does DROID RAZR by Motorola deliver heart-pounding speed, but it has a mind-bending 4.3-inch hyper-vibrant display with more colors than most LCD HDTVs. The Super AMOLED™ Advanced display with qHD resolution dishes out beautiful images and smooth action so on-the-go movies and TV shows aren’t a blur, whether customers stream from Netflix™ or rent from Android Market™. It’s the first smartphone capable of streaming movies and TV shows through Netflix with up to HD resolution.

DROID RAZR customers can take advantage of the Super AMOLED Advanced display and 4G LTE speeds to stream videos with NFL Mobile, only from Verizon. Fans can stay up to date on news, schedules and scores from their favorite teams on the go. NFL Mobile is included at no additional charge for 4G LTE customers for the remainder of the 2011 season.

If cutting-edge visuals are its beauty, apps on DROID RAZR are its brains.  Enter MotoCast™, the free Motorola app that lets you stream or download your music, pictures and more from your PC to your phone. The Smart Actions app helps automate everyday tasks and optimizes battery efficiency by letting customers create rules, such as automatically setting the phone to vibrate during work hours or dimming the display at a specific battery level. The revolutionary webtop application allows customers to combine the device with separately sold accessories, like the Lapdock™ 100 or HD Station, unleashing the power to edit documents and browse the Web with a full Firefox® browser on a larger screen – all while charging the device

Additional features:

• Powered by Android^™ 2.3.5, Gingerbread
• 1GB RAM  for a fast user interface and multi-tasking
• 8-megapixel rear camera with 1080p HD video capture and image stabilization technology for crisp and clear videos
• Front-facing HD camera for video chat over 4G LTE, 3G or Wi-Fi
• 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot capable so customers can share 4G LTE speed with up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices
• Water repellent nanocoating protects the phone, and even the inside components, against everyday spills
• Remote wipe, pin lock and government-grade encryption for email, calendar and contacts as well as voice and video chat conferencing
• Use Quickoffice® to view, create and edit Microsoft® Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents on your mobile device from anywhere at anytime
• Bluetooth 4.0 low energy
• 32 GB memory: 16 GB on board and 16 GB microSD^™ card pre-installed (actual formatted capacity is less)
• Powerful 1780 mAh battery

The DROID RAZR will be available in early November for $299.99 with a new two-year customer agreement at all Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at: www.verizonwireless.com as well as at authorized retailers. Customers can visit www.droiddoes.com/droidrazr to pre-order DROID RAZR beginning on October 27. For more information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to  www.verizonwireless.com

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From today's New York Times:

"Netflix Abandons Plan to Rent DVDs on Qwikster" http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/10/netflix-abandons-plan-to-rent-dvds-on-qwikster/

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 As of 3:01 this morning, you can now pre-order your iPhone 4S from Verizon. For more information, check out Verizon's press release below.

BASKING RIDGE, N. J. - Verizon Wireless today announced the new iPhone 4S will be available on the Verizon Wireless network beginning on Friday, October 14.  Verizon Wireless customers, as well as those who want to make iPhone 4S their reason to switch to the nation’s most reliable network, will be able to pre-order iPhone 4S online beginning on Friday, October 7 at 3:01 a.m. EDT at: www.verizonwireless.com/iPhone.  In addition, the company announced the iPhone 4 8 GB model is available now for $99.99 and has lowered pricing for iPhone 4 16 GB and 32 GB models.

iPhone 4S is the most amazing iPhone yet, packed with incredible new features including Apple’s dual-core A5 chip for blazing fast performance and stunning graphics; an all new camera with advanced optics; full 1080p HD resolution video recording; and Siri, an intelligent assistant that helps you get things done just by asking.  With the launch of iPhone 4S also comes the launch of iOS 5, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system with over 200 new features; and iCloud, a breakthrough set of free cloud services that work with your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac or PC to automatically and wirelessly store your content in iCloud and push it to all your devices.

“Verizon Wireless customers have embraced iPhone 4 on our network and we fully expect the enthusiasm will continue to grow for iPhone 4S,” said Dan Mead, president and chief executive officer for Verizon Wireless.  “With more and more customers depending on their iPhone every day, it is important that they have the device they can count on and a network that delivers.  As millions of customers can attest - reliability matters.”

Verizon iPhone 4S customers can travel globally and seamlessly in over 220 countries for voice and over 205 countries for data with 140 of those countries offering 3G data speeds. Global service at Verizon Wireless includes 24 hour customer service from trained Verizon Wireless U.S.-based employees.  Verizon Wireless global service was selected by readers of Global Traveler Magazine as the Best Wireless Service in the World in the 2010 GT Tested Reader Survey.

Pricing & Availability 

iPhone will be available starting at $199.99 for the 16 GB model, $299.99 for the 32 GB model and $399.99 for the 64 GB model with a new two-year customer agreement. 

Customers will need to purchase a voice plan beginning at $39.99 for 450 minutes and a data plan beginning at $30 for 2 GB monthly access.  The iPhone 4 8 GB model is available now for $99.99 with a new two-year customer agreement. iPhone 4 16 GB model is $149.99 and the 32 GB model is now $199.99 with a new two year contract.

iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 will be available at more than 2,200 Verizon Wireless Communications Stores nationwide, online at  www.verizonwireless.com/iphone and by calling 1-800-2 JOIN IN. 

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Then you redesign your product and make it harder to use. 

I'm speaking, of course, of the Netflix / Qwikster thing. It's is a great day for some grad student. He or she just got a thesis topic.

So you have this brand. It's called Netflix. Your business is delivering movies on DVDs by mail. The envelopes you use to mail them become an iconic symbol. You pour millions of dollars into promoting that red envelope with that name printed on it.

Then streaming comes along and you start delivering movies that way, too. That name you spent millions in promoting? It turns you into the 900-lb gorilla of streaming media. If YouTube was the John the Baptist of streaming, Netflix is the Touchdown Jesus of consumer acceptance. There are other streaming movie services. Lots of them. Yes, there's Blockbuster, Amazon and Google. Can you name another? Probably not. That's the point.

The biggest mistake Netflix made was probably the bundling of streaming with DVD delivery, but it sure didn't seem like it at the time. I don't think they realized that they'd never be able to back away from it. And to be fair, I'm not sure they ever thought they'd have to. Netflix streaming has been amazingly successful. I have a pretty good grasp of the economics of both delivery modes and I completely understand why they had to unbundle them. Like a lot of people we droppped the DVD delivery almost immediately, but we wound up ponying up for the one DVD plan as well. It works for us. Adding videogames to the DVD side might have even gotten more folks to come back eventually, as long as they were cheaper than Gamefly. 

The thing is, Netflix's business has never been about DVDs or streaming. It's about on-demand entertainment. It's about being a tool in the modern tool belt that allows you to watch what you want to watch when you want to watch it. "What do I want to watch? Oh, let me look on Netflix. That looks good. I'll watch that. Darn, it's not available on Instant Watch, but I really want to see that, so I'll have them mail it to me, but this other thing looks good. I'll take that now." Or "Darn, it's not on Instant Watch. I'll just watch something else that is." 

Now they're breaking that. 

The significance of that screenshot I've posted is that you rarely get to see a CEO admit that he didn't understand why people sent him money every month. As I read the e-mail and the even-longer blog post, I kept thinking "I know what this is doing for you, I can't see what it's doing for me." I'm reasonably confident that the folks who make GE lightbulbs and GE jet engines have different operational concerns, but somehow they manage to keep the same name.

And Amazon seems to have figured out how to deliver things physically and online without bothering me with their problems. And what do you know? I can get movies from them too!

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via gocomics.com

Someone on the GoComics page for this strip already commented that this sounds more like Microsoft than Apple. I'm not entirely sure about that. :)

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via gocomics.com

If you aren't reading the "New Adventures of Queen Victoria" every day, you really should be. Love their take on cloud computing today.

http://www.gocomics.com/thenewadventuresofqueenvictoria/2011/09/12/

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For the last month or so I've had the opportunity to use a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 courtesy of Verizon Wireless. It's been long enough for all tablet computers except the Apple iPad2 to be declared abject failures. Long enough for HP to become the tech industry's Gary Busey. Long enough for the Amazon Kindle tablet to be declared the best non-Apple tablet before its even been released. I shudder to think what would happen if I held onto the thing any longer.

The thing is, I like it. Despite what everyone tells me I'm supposed to think, I like it a lot. I've already addressed what I think about the charge that it's just a knockoff of the iPad2. While I appreciated the potential of the Xoom, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is a better device in many, many ways. Not perfect, mind you, but nothing ever is. And that includes products Designed by Apple in California™.

Physically the tablet weighs just over a pound and is a mere 1/3 of an inch thick. When holding it in portrait orientation it's 10.1 inches tall and 6.9 inches wide. There's a lot of evidence that the designers mean for you to hold it in its landscape orientation. The cameras, both front- and rear-facing, are placed at the center of one of the long edges. The charging port is located along the opposite edge. Orient the tablet with the camera on the top edge and you'll find the volume and power buttons located on the top left edge. Unfortunately, if you're using the tablet for reading at night as I tend to do, you can't see the camera and it's hard to tell which way you're holding it. The buttons are such low-profile you have to hunt for them a little if they're not where you expect them to be. Some reviews have complained about the plastic not feeling substantial, but I didn't find that to be the case at all. What I found it to be was easy to hold without it slipping out of my hands.

The screen is, in a word, gorgeous. I don't know what the contrast ratio of the screen actually is -- various web searches give numbers anywhere from 890:1 up to 1150:1. Whatever it is, it does a great job with wide dynamic ranges. I watched a couple movies that featured dark scenes and I had no problem with a muddy image. The screen can get quite bright and stays readable in anything that isn't direct sunlight. The auto-brightness levels are better in bright light than in dim. When reading at night I often disabled the auto-brightness feature to turn the screen down a bit more. Colors are nicely saturated no matter the brightness level.

The device ships with Android Honeycomb 3.1. As seems to be typical of all manufacturers of anything that can be updated, there's no word when or if the device will ever see a newer operating system. I can't imagine either Honeycomb 3.2 or Ice Cream Sandwich, the next version of Android, would overtax the tablet's dual processors, so its really a matter of what Samsung wants to do with it. With Ice Cream Sandwich coming in the next couple of months, I could certainly see Samsung not bother with the 3.2 update, but who knows? I don't want to single out Samsung here for bad behavior since everyone does it, but I wish some company would simply say if they intend for a product to be upgradable, then not make the upgrade process a waiting game.

Back to the device as it is. The touch screen is extremely responsive. I'm not crazy about the Samsung-supplied soft-keyboard, but the stock Honeycomb keyboard is included and it's an easy switch. I use SwiftKey X on my Android Phone (a Droid X) and would buy the tablet version if the unit I was using was actually mine. As it was, I didn't want to shell out $4.99 for something I'd only use on a review unit.

Samsung sells a WiFi-only model of the tablet, but the one I tested was from Verizon, as I mentioned before. That means it has 4G LTE. That is a very, very good thing. I took it with me on a long weekend trip to Chattanooga, TN which happens to be a city with Verizon 4G service. The hotel we stayed in had pretty good WiFi as hotel WiFi goes, but the 4G blew it away. Battery life has been an issue on the first generation of LTE phones, but I didn't observe any issues with the Galaxy Tab 10.1. The marketing blurb says 12 hours of battery with constant use. I didn't do any formal testing, but that feels a little high. With moderate use I could easily use it for a couple of days without sticking it on the charger and not worry about it running down. A streaming HD movie that was just under two hours long took the battery down by about 15%, a more than acceptable rate

The tablet I tested had 16 GB of memory, though there is a 32 GB model. I was really disappointed that there wasn't a slot for expandable memory. I also wish Samsung had opted for a mini-USB port for charging rather than a proprietary connector. (Hey, maybe they were copying Apple!). The retail price of the 16 GB unit with LTE as tested is $699.99 through Verizon. The 32 GB version is $100 more. With a two-year contract, the price is subsidized to $529 for the 16 GB and $629 for the 32 GB.

I think it's safe to say the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is the best Android tablet out there right now. If you already use an Android phone, I'd argue it's the best tablet out there, period. This isn't true for everyone, but in my life there's a place for a device that's bigger than a phone, but smaller than a laptop. I appreciate the passion of e-ink device users have for the reading experience on them, but backlit screens don't happen to bother me. Thus, for me, a tablet is great for reading, watching video and light-to-moderate computing needs like e-mail, blogging and other writing tasks.

If you've been thinking about a tablet, you owe it to yourself to check out the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

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If you love Dropbox as much as we here at Tag Team Tech do, you need to check out this article from MacWorld on all the different ways you can use it:

62 things you can do with Dropbox

http://www.macworld.com/article/161311/article.html

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I've been testing a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (and liking it a lot), so the Apple lawsuits for sales injunctions in the EU and Australia have caught my attention. It's been driving me more nuts than usual that anyone could claim with a straight face that the Galaxy Tab is a knock-off of the iPad.

I own a first generation iPad and have used my share of iPad 2s. The Galaxy Tab has cosmetic similarities  that, in my mind at least, are merely the outcome of a minimalist design philosophy and human physiology,  You need the wide black bezel to make the screen appear more vivid  by reducing peripheral visual clutter. TVs and computer monitors have been designed that way for years, so it's not like Apple invented it. You can either have a rim around that bezel or you don't.  Apple has done both in the past, so it's a no-win for Samsung on that. Otherwise, the devices are nothing alike. I'm going to do a full review (and this isn't it), but this bothers me.

It all comes down to the aspect ratio. The Galaxy Tab has an aspect ratio (the ratio of height to width) of 1.46.  The iPad's is 1.30. There are significant usability differences as a result, and these are reflected in the Galaxy Tab's design. The "natural" orientation of the iPad is portrait. Evidence? The placement of the button and the the placement of the magnetic cover.  The natural orientation of the Tab is landscape. Evidence? The placement of the front-facing camera. It's only oriented at the top if you hold it in landscape. There are no buttons on the front. The only way to reliably find the volume rocker and power button is by locating the camera. If I produce a knock-off of a device, somebody holding the thing for the first time needs to believe (or at least be unsure) that they're not holding the real thing. You can't hold the Samsung Galaxy Tab for more than a second and not realize that it's different from the iPad. You just can't.

According to the Dutch web site WebWereld, it seems Apple noticed this too. Since the Apple reality distortion field doesn't allow thngs like Euclidean geometry to interfere with its narrative, it seems they adjusted the photo of the Galaxy Tab they submitted for a side-by-side comparison with the iPad. In Apple's opinion, the Galaxy Tab has an aspect of 1.36.  This is the graphic from WebWereld:

Who are you going to believe?  Apple, or your lying eyes?

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via shoeboxblog.com

A laugh for your Monday

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via Gothamist

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I've been having a hard time getting my head wrapped around the Google+ "real names" controversy. It doesn't affect me directly because I've never used anything other than my real name online. That's just me, though, and I don't presume to dictate to anyone else how to run their lives, whether online or otherwise.

If you aren't up to speed on what I'm talking about, Patrick Nielsen Hayden of Tor.com has written a very straightforward piece about it that he posted to Google+.  The whole piece is definitely worth a read (it's not long), but this paragraph really struck me as getting to the heart of the issue

What Google Plus actually needs is a policy that discourages identity hacking--sockpuppetry, imposter games, and other exercises in bad faith. Google needs to get out of the business of deciding, on a planet comprising nearly 200 legal jurisdictions and innumerable cultures and subcultures, what particular strings of characters constitute "real" names. Google is no more equipped to adjudicate this on a global basis than they are prepared to administer livestock inheritance law in Ulan Bator.

It's kind of funny that I identify a lot of the people I interact with on Twitter every day by their usernames.  When I first got on Google+ one of the first thing I had to do was figure out who some of the people were who were putting me in their circles. Thumbnail photos were probably the most useful, but sometimes I really had to study the profile for something that would get me to the point of recognition.

I don't have any grand answers. I'm not going to say it's no big deal because if for some reason I were to lose access to Google's services I would be screwed in a dozen different ways. I suspect the solution is going to come in increments and won't be perfect. That's the risk of running a global service.

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If you're thinking about moving everything you have online to Google, read this cautionary tale from Dylan M. (@thomasmonopoly on Twitter).  Tip of the hat to Bill Amend (@billamend on Twitter and the genius behind the "Foxtrot" comic strip) for tweeting this.

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/bt2p2o

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My contribution to the hype.

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I've been thinking for a while that Amazon is basically taking over the tech world while everyone else is focusing on Apple, Google and Facebook. Via TechCrunch, I learned that as of today Amazon is going to shake up the world of textbook publishing (again) by allowing students to rent textbooks on Kindles and Kindle applications. 

I've been out of the college teaching business for long enough now that I don't feel like I have a good handle on how disruptive this might be to the economics ot textbook publishing. It seems like this could wind up being a big deal.

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via shoeboxblog.com

Once again, the folks at Shoebox Blog (and more specifically Chuck & Beans) hit it on the head. There is a definite tendency among first adopters to not only be the first to try something, but also the first to declare it passe. Google+ seems to be a bit different in that people can't decide what it is exactly yet. Is it a Facebook killer or a Twitter replacement? Or, like the iPad, is it its own new category?

We'd love to hear your thoughts on Google+. Are you excited about it or already sick of it? Does your use of it mean that you are using some other social media site less?

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