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 Last week Steve Ballmer surprised the tech world by announcing that in 12 months he will be stepping down as CEO of Microsoft. According to the rumor mill, Ballmer is not so much retiring as being gracefully shown the door due to the failure of Microsoft’s Surface line of tablets. Having personally spent a week with a Surface RT, I wholeheartedly agree that someone needed to lose his or her job for this piece of garbage. Since taking over for Microsoft founder Bill Gates in 2000, Ballmer’s CEO tenure has seen Microsoft miss the boat on MP3 players, smartphones, Internet search and now tablets. Besides being four years late to the tablet market, the entry level “Surface RT” falls short on virtually every count to the gold-standard iPad. As far as specifications go, the Surface loses on camera quality, screen resolution and third-party application availability with slow, frustrating operating systems. When considering design, the S...

This article was first published by dmcityview.com After years of swimming against the tide, I finally broke down and bought a tablet last week. While I still feel they have little value outside of watching videos and surfing the Web, tablets are an extremely convenient way to share multimedia content and cut back on paper use. Outside of practical concerns, one perk of purchasing a tablet is Flipboard, an application that turns virtually any Web content into personalized magazines. It’s no coincidence that tablets are roughly the size of the average magazine, and reading Internet content on them is extremely easy. Flipboard takes both those virtues and turns the Internet into a bottomless pit of reading material, tailored to the reader’s interests. Plus, like the random magazines that drift into our lives, Flipboard is a great way to discover content that sits in the periphery of our interests. Launched in 2010, Flipboard allows mobile device users to search the Web and subscrib...

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...

This article was first published by dmcityview.com Gadgets and summer are two terms that generally do not go together. People are outside swimming, hiking, playing soccer and, despite what the tech giants would like us to believe, it’s hard to incorporate a smartphone or tablet into those activities. But there is one gadget that not only fits but allows users to relive those experiences with vivid detail — action cameras. Most people have already seen these little wonders and probably don’t know what to make of them. That weird guy with the aparatus strapped to his forehead? That’s his action camera. That Subaru driving down I-235 with a device mounted on the hood? That another action camera (also that was me). While everyday users are starting to adopt these gadgets, over the last few years action cameras have completely revolutionized the way thrill-seekers film and share their adventures. Through the use of high-powered, compact cameras, mountain bikers, skydivers and other adve...

Buying an iPad still makes little sense. Two years ago when the iPad was introduced I was at work with a bunch of fellow Apple fans. We were on Apple.com in a matter of seconds to check it out. Everyone was in awe of it... except me. I get that it means a lot for multi-media presentations and sales people but for the average person it's just an expensive add-on. iPhones and Androids I get; a computer in your pocket that you can use at any time to play games, access information and it allows you to keep every virtual thing you own in one place. An iPad... sure you can game on it (kind of) and you can watch movies on it (awkwardly) but for me why do you have to have an iPad? The Kindle Fire I get. It doesn't cram every little Android feature onto it. You're gonna use it to watch read books, movies, and surf the web. So it doesn't have GPS or a camera, okay... Isn't that better suited for your phone? Do you want to pull out something the size of a text...