iPhone 5 Pre-Order Blues
If you’re one of the millions of people who plan on owning Apple’s latest cell phone you’ve probabbly heard that pre-orders start tomorrow, September 14th 2012. However, today I learned I fall within a very special .05% of those interested in pre-ordering the phone that are getting the short end of the stick because of the way cell phone carriers have decided to handle the upgrade eligibility. More…
Tech Hero: The Apple Text Book
Usually tech product announcements don’t spark huge political debates, but Apple’s announcement last Thursday did just that. The tech giant announced it had formed partnerships with the three largest textbook publishers, Pearson, McGraw Hill, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, which control 90% of the textbook market. The arrangement is strangely focused on K-12 education, a move that has many education officials up in arms. More…
Tech Hero: Choosing the Perfect Computer
The other week, my girlfriend excitedly emailed me about how her work had just extended to all its employees a discount to use at Dell’s website. She started asking me about what to look for in a laptop, as we both enjoy playing the game World of Warcraft, and her current laptop won’t run it.
Being the money-conscious person my girlfriend is, she immediately looked towards the deals on laptops under $500, and started texting me all the deals she found. While I appreciated her enthusiasm, I noticed the same problem that unfortunately the majority of the tech consumer population is suffering from, “dealuziam”. “Dealuziam” in the case of computer buying is caused by the trend to market very cheap products without explaining to the consumer their limitations. I focus on this when it comes to buying a computer because of the price-function discrepancy. Not many people know that an i3 processor isn’t meant to play games, or that having an integrated graphics chip is going to kill their frame rate in 3D games. This in turn hurts the company because when the consumer gets that $399 laptop and tries to play World of Warcraft the performance is horrible, and they call customer support thinking they have an issue. What’s worse is when they decide to continue to play the game despite the ho-hum performance and it taxes the system so hard it only lasts a few months to a year. More…
Tech Hero Product Review: Mophie Air iPhone case
If you own an iPhone, in particularly an iPhone 4S, you’ve probably noticed that your battery life hasn’t been as great with iOS 5. Apple has already admitted that there are bugs in the OS that are causing excessive battery drain, but so far updates haven’t solved the problem. Enter the Mophie Air iPhone case. While the case adds to the size of your iPhone it basically gives you double the battery life. The case is also extreamly well made and you can feel in your hand that the phone is very well protected against damage should it fall.
The case is easy enough to use, just slip in your iPhone and attach the bottom part of the case. The bottom also slides off whenever you need to access the 30-pin connector, and it fits securely back into place. This is a great feature for me as I can use my speaker dock without having to take the phone out of the case. More…
Tech Hero: How to safely update your iPhone to iOS 5 (Or transfer data to your new 4S)
This guide is intended to provide assistance on the basis of goodwill to the consumer. Raleighite.com, Tech Hero, and the author do not accept any responsibility for anything that happens to your device or data resulting from following this guide.
This guide is meant for two different things. Firstly this guide will show you how to update your iPhone to iOS5, and this guide will also show you how to backup your data so you can transfer it to your new iPhone 4S that you might be getting for Christmas. To all tech heads out there this will be a great article for you to have to help out family members who have iPhones as well. More…
Apple 4S Initial Thoughts and 5.0.1 iOS Update
After owning a Droid phone for three years I decided it was time for a change. The fact that Verizon finally got the iPhone also played into this decision. When the iPhone 4S was announced I guess I was one of the lucky ones. I was still impressed by the phone, but unlike many I was planning on buying the phone anyways so I wasn’t to bummed when we all learned the iPhone 5 wasn’t coming out. I’m really glad that I came into iPhone ownership with my expectations lowered because this phone blew me away! More…
Tech Hero Product Review: Lynda.com
One of the biggest challenges everyone faces is keeping up with the pace of technology. Most of us are familiar with Microsoft Office, but hardly any of us know how to use the program to its full extent. For example most users of Microsoft Word know the program is a great word-processor, but did you know it can pull data from Excel to generate well organized reports? Have you ever heard of v-lookup? Do you feel like you’re not as productive at work as some of your more technical co-workers? Then its time you met Lynda.com More…
(UPDATE) News Flash! Jawbone offers refund for UP!
Hosain Rahman, CEO of Jawbone, has emailed a letter to all JAWBONE UP customers announcing the company is offering a no questions asked refund on all Jawbone UP’s purchased in 2011. What’s more Jawbone will not only let you keep your UP band but even if you have issues with your UP you will still continue to receive support for it. More…
Tech Hero Product Review: Sodastream
You’ve probably seen this device in your local department store and shrugged it off as an expensive “As Seen On TV” gimmick, but trust me its worth a second look. I purchased the Sodastream as a gift for my parents as it seemed like a perfect match for both of them. My mom wouldn’t have to drive out to the grocery store and lug heavy soda bottles to and from the car. My dad would love the fact that he’d be saving a lot of money. More…
Tech Hero Product Review: Jawbone UP
Every month or so an interesting gadget pops up that really catches my attention. This past November that gadget was Jawbone’s UP fitness band. Priced at $99.99 the band rings in at more than a stocking stuffer price, but it has a handful of interesting features that made me fork over the cash. In the end however I can’t really recommend this product in its current state. Read on to find out why.