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Showing posts from January, 2013

Apple Drops, the iPhone Stops, and Galaxy Pops

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Evidently I'm not the only one who was disappointed by the iPhone 5. Last year, I gave my view on why this faithful Mac user wasn't buying the iPhone 5 then or in the foreseeable future. This week, the company said it shipped 47.8 million iPhone's, a quarterly record for Apple that nonetheless disappointed many analysts accustomed to years of dominance in the smartphone industry. Wall Street was predicting more. No, it wanted gobs, and gobs more. I'd say how much more but each time I go to write this article it drops again. Now, Apple is no longer the most valuable company in the world. My problem with the iPhone was that customization was almost non-existent. That's something Microsoft customers have readily accepted over the years, but for us Mac loyalists, that kind of stuff just won't fly. But it was so darn cool and well made that Apple could do just that as the iPhone was clearly the best cell phone on the market. But then something happ

Zen of Social Media...from Cough Drops?

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It seems everyone I've spoken with this season has experienced a mega cold this New Year. If you haven't gotten yours, don't worry it probably got lost in the holiday mail but I'm sure it's on its way. I haven't had a cold in a few years but I wasn't so lucky a few weeks ago as I'm just getting over one that lasted a whopping three weeks — lasting this long mostly because of my air travel from New York to Florida which the airlines might as well rename the Influenza Express. Having a Holiday cold isn't usually worrisome but it is almost always rather annoying. Like the visiting in-laws, you know it's going to leave soon but that doesn't make it less miserable or easier to put up with. But when a cold lasts weeks instead of days it can bring down both your defenses and your spirit. It's times like these that you can use words of encouragement and I found mine in the most unlikely of places: wrapped around my cough drops.

Google Starts Happy Birthday Home Page

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My Google home page looks significantly different than yours does today. When you signed in,  you saw the standard Google logo. When I did, I was greeted with something quite different. No, I didn't customize it -- Google did it's own customization for me. You see it's my birthday today and Google customized it's home page logo with a new birthday logo for me (OK for everyone celebrating a birthday today). Rather than the red, blue and yellow Google font, I'm looking at cakes, pies, torts, all adorned with icing and lit candles shaped into the Google logo. My own Google Birthday doodle. There aren't many benefits of having the first workday of the year as a birthday. Scratch that. There are no benefits. None. Zero. The world's biggest party leaves everyone with the same New Year's resolution: no more partying. Not to mention if people somehow do remember it chances are your gift will be a regift and most assuredly wrapped in Christmas paper. So tr

Happy New Year! You've Been Dumped!

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When the ball dropped in Times Square at the stroke of midnight, so did the axe on love relationships around the world. Though two years ago an ex girlfriend chose December 7th (Pearl Harbor Day) to "drop the bomb" on me (more appropriately I suppose,) New Year's Eve remains the leader of National Get Dumped Day around the world. It's obvious why. People want to start the New Year fresh and unencumbered. My best friend is making it a bit of a tradition dumping a boyfriend on the last two New Year's Eve. Not surprisingly, the first post I saw as I signed onto Facebook while drinking my morning coffee was a friend in Asia who just went from "in a relationship" to "single." And by the time I finished the sip another from France messaged me the same on chat. She couldn't decide between the two men in her life so instead dumped them both. Ironically rather than sadness, I feel envious. Almost to the point where I feel like p