Fire-Wired Blog

This article was first published by  dmcityview.com The tablet is a quandary; it’s a stretched out smartphone that supposedly offers a computing environment similar to a laptop or desktop. Its size allows for easier reading, and its mobility offers the ability to work practically anywhere imaginable. Even with these advantages over smartphones and stationary computing systems, tablets are not tech necessities. In fact, as sales are starting to show, owning a tablet is most definitely a luxury. Even prior to its initial release in 2010, Apple’s iPad was a hot commodity. Everyone had fallen in love with the iPhone and thought a tablet version not only made sense but would revolutionize computing. Four years later, the iPad is still cool, but the revolution never came to pass. Altogether 195 million tablets were sold in 2013. But what a difference a year makes. Whereas the iPhone continues to see growth in sales, the iPad has actually seen a 10 percent sales dip over the last ni...

This article was first published by  dmcityview.com With more platforms than ever before, entertainment dollars are stretched thin these days. Everything from live entertainment and cable television to smartphones and physical media such as DVDs are fighting for a piece of your expendable income. In this entertainment tug of war, few industries are struggling to hold their ground more than consoling gaming. In reality, the gaming industry is doing gangbusters. In 2012, all arms of the gaming world raked in a cumulative $67 billion, and in 2017 it’s projected to take in $82 billion. Still, the console gaming is battling to pull its weight. Gamers might be quick to point to Nintendo’s joke of a console, the Wii U, as the offending party, but Microsoft’s XBox One and Sony’s Playstation 4 are also falling short of previous sales benchmarks. The main reason for declining console revenues is obvious, PC and mobile gaming revenues are cannibalizing console dollars. What’s worse for ...

This article was first published by  dmcityview.com Some of you are sharing far too much information online. I’m not talking about pictures of your post-workout abs or nauseating details of your child’s bowel movements. No, this over-sharing is most likely a complete oversight on your behalf. Chances are, on a routine basis you are sharing your exact GPS location, contact list, screengrabs of your smartphone and much more. How is this happening? Through the permissions and settings you agree to while downloading smartphone applications. The easiest way to test your online exposure is with Twitter. One feature many Twitter-users overlook is the tweet location setting, and, unless you’ve investigated the default GPS tweet setting, you’re sharing your exact location with the world. To test if you’re tweeting your whereabouts, visit your personal Twitter profile, click on one of your tweets and, if you see the word “from” below your tweet, then you’re found. Examples like this ar...

This article was first published by dmcityview.com A universal experience in personal computing is the moment when we sit down to do some work only to discover our computer can barely keep up. You don’t know if it’s a virus, too many programs running or old age, but whatever the reason, there is no mistaking when a computer is officially past its prime. While the thrifty user will upgrade his or her antivirus protection or computer memory, many take the nuclear option and replace their misfiring machine wholesale. Ten years ago this scenario meant an easy swap: Replace computer tower “A” with shiny, new computer tower “B.” Today, shoppers have platform options galore, and more often than not, they’re ditching their stationary setup. Compared to 2012 sales, PCs are being overlooked by consumers in record numbers with users opting for more mobile computing options, such as tablets and smartphones. In fact, desktop producing juggernauts such as Hewlett Packard and Dell have seen sal...

If Apple is truly the lion of the computing industry right now, than it seems only fitting that its most recent iteration of OS X is the thorn in its paw. Thanks to less-than-stellar reviews, one going so far as to claim OS X 10.7.3 was " Apple's Vista Moment ," I held out as long as I could to upgrade my MacBook Pro . And if it wasn't for new software requiring the operating albatross, our laptop would be roaming the computer jungle issue free as a graceful snow leopard. Everything I was worried about is true ; Preview windows takes 5+ seconds to buffer files. Finder searches, formally instantaneous, seem to have been refashioned in an homage to Microsoft. Pointless screen animations abound for fullscreens Launchpad and Dashboard continue to be a waste of computing power. Quicktime video playback is choppy. Upon upload, Preferences are rewired for no reason what-so-ever. There's plenty more to list -I could write 500 words on Finder windows alone- ...