common sense tech

The test begins: My life with four activity trackers, fitness bands

In the space of two weeks, I've gone from not tracking my steps, calories, or activities to using four different devices that do so. I'm all in! Over the coming weeks, I'm going to be sharing more about how each device works in real life.

It's been a fascinating journey so far, and I'm anxious to get into the write-ups. I'll detail what it's like with each unit, then do an overall comparison at the end. But before I start on that, I feel that an introductory piece is in order.

The devices … Read more

In T-Mobile's 'Simple Choice' plan, 'unlimited' meets limits

You got me to take a second look at you, today, T-Mobile.

Your new "Simple Choice" calling plan sounded far more attractive to me than the idea that I could buy an iPhone 5 on installments, without a contract. Unfortunately, that second look left me with a bad impression. It's all about the word "unlimited."

When I went to your "Uncarrier" page, where you talked about how you weren't going to act like a wireless carrier anymore, I was optimistic, especially about the Simple Choice calling plan:

Unlimited talk, text, and Web, … Read more

Will they switch? The Kid Test: Windows Phone vs. iPhone

"Do you have that phone," one of my boys asked me earlier this year, after a Windows Phone ad came on TV. "Yeah, and could we try it?" said the other.

Thus was born the experiment we've run over the past month. Could Windows Phone entice one or both of my kids away from the iPhone?

My boys, 14-year-old Declan and 12-year-old Rhys, were fascinated by the ad showing the distinctive "tile" home screen of Windows Phone, with application tiles being moved around and resized. It looked different, cool, and unique from the … Read more

Need that iPhone or Android photo fast? Import quickly to Mac with built-in Preview

Are you a Mac user who wants to pull a photo off your iPhone, iPad, or Android device quickly, without having to go through iPhoto? There's an easy way to do that, built into your Mac: the Preview app.

For ages, I was frustrated that the Mac wouldn't let me browse my iPhone or Android phone to drag-and-drop pictures I wanted, in the way that I could when plugging them into my Windows PC.

If only I could browse like on the PC

On the PC, my phones appear like a drive within Windows Explorer, which is wonderful:… Read more

The incredible, unscalable screen of the Chromebook Pixel

As a MacBook Pro Retina user, I can attest that Google's Chromebook Pixel rivals the quality of Apple's Retina display. But the Chromebook falls short in not allowing you to sacrifice some quality in favor of seeing more on your display.

Based on the tech specs floating out there, you might be forgiven in thinking that both the MacBook Retina and the Chromebook Pixel have similar screens. After all, Apple talks about the 13-inch Retina having "spectacular" 2,560x1,600 resolution, while Google cites the Chromebook Pixel having a 2,560x1,700 screen.

Display resolution versus … Read more

Vudu's in-home Disc to Digital service: Promising yet lacking

It sounds ideal. Take all those DVDs and Blu-rays you own and, from the comfort of your own home, effortlessly gain digital copies for a low price. That's the promise of Vudu's new "In-Home Disc to Digital" service. Vudu delivers on that promise in some cases but disappoints in other ways.

Last year, Walmart-owned Vudu launched its Disc to Digital service that required people to go into Walmart stores for the conversion. Who wants to do that? This is where the "In-Home" version of Disc to Digital comes … Read more

Turns out Verizon's Galaxy S3 isn't global ready after all

When the Galaxy S3 came to Verizon last June, those who wanted to use it globally were promised that feature would come after launch. It did, in January, six months later. But customers remain frustrated that their supposedly global-ready phones can't do data outside the U.S.

The issue is that despite the upgrade in January allowing Verizon Galaxy S3s to accept SIM cards from non-U.S. carriers, there's no way to establish a data connection on those phones through non-U.S. carriers.

In technical talk, you can't create the needed APN (Access Point Name). As one … Read more

How trapped are your digital movies and TV shows?

Have you decided to ditch DVDs and Blu-rays to instead buy movies and TV shows only in a pure digital format?

There are certainly advantages to that. But one of the biggest downsides of going all digital is that how you can view your content is largely dependent on the service you purchased it from.

Digital video providers In this column, I look at how "trapped" video content purchased from iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, Xbox and Google Play may be. The first four video marketplaces were listed yesterday by NPD as among the top ways people purchase digital video. … Read more

Off-the-beaten-track at CES 2013

LAS VEGAS--Samsung. Panasonic. Sony. Intel. Qualcomm. All have big booths pitching smartphones, smart TVs, smart tablets, smart cameras -- you name it.

But my first day at CES 2013 was spent wandering around exploring things from companies you've likely never heard of. And there's some interesting stuff out there!

Most of my time yesterday at CES was spent wandering the South Hall. What I'll cover below are things that caught my eye. Not all of these are necessarily new products, and this will be far from a comprehensive roundup within product categories. But I hope you'll find it interesting. … Read more

'After launch' update for Verizon Galaxy S3 took six months

The good news is that owners of the Samsung Galaxy S3 through Verizon now have global roaming capabilities. The bad news is that Verizon apparently believes the "sometime after launch" promise it made equals a half-year wait.

Last June, when the Galaxy S3 was about to launch, I wrote about how Verizon promised it would allow for global roaming and using any SIM card, not just one locked to a Verizon calling plan. From my column back then, Verizon said:

The Verizon model of the Galaxy S III will be global ready for GSM roaming after a software … Read more