Modern Geek

We run down some of the apps we’ve look at lately, including MetroTwit (Juan’s new-fav Win Twitter client), Google Maps for iOS (now that we’ve had some time to use it), and the Wake ‘N Shake alarm clock (featuring a GlaDOS sound-alike not to be missed). Also, we discuss Juan’s experience with a 24-FPS Hobbit [...]

Juan offers a great solution for all those almost-empty credit-card-based gift cards you have lying around. We try to dream up use cases for Logitech’s Skype TV device. We discuss Redbox’s expansion into Canada, their upcoming streaming service, and what it all means for the Pyramid of Movie Accessibility(tm). Also: Voicemails and Christmas stories.

We wrap up Black Friday coverage with some listener calls, including a beleaguered Buy More employee. We take a look at some crazy news items, including a lost island in the South Pacific, the lost month of December on Android 4.2, and how to enable LTE on the Nexus 4 for some Canadian carriers. And we [...]

We discuss some past bad experiences with Black Friday shopping deals and offer recommendations for avoiding disappointment. We offer some suggestions for saving on holiday shipping. We dive into the world of buying holiday presents for geeks — people who are, by definition, seriously picky about what they like. And we take listener calls, including [...]

Juan tells us a bit about his recent RAID woes and offers advice for how to think about storage and backup. We take a look at the site IFTTT.com (pronounced like “gift” without the G) which helps you automate tasks between online services like Facebook, Flickr, Evernote, and Google Drive. We note the passing of [...]

We talk you (quickly) through the new Apple gear announced recently, then move on to more exciting news, like the upcoming Evernote re-design (improving sharing functionality, offering Pintrest-like views, and lots more note flexibility) and some sweet Android devices, the Nexus 10 and Nexus 4. The smartphone market is heating up, and we’re starting to [...]

This week we continue our Microsoft discussion, talking about Halo 4, XBOX Live account rights, and what you need to know with the release of Windows 8 vs. Windows RT. We take another look at the benefits and detriments of cloud-based services, and review Apple’s unfortunately disappointing Podcasts app. Plus, we read some listener feedback [...]

What a week – Microsoft decrees itself a devices and services company, Best Buy is price matching Amazon, and the Raspberry Pi now sports 512MB! We discuss the creeping migration from the “own your software” model to a “software as a service” rate plan, and start to realize that our minds may be changing on [...]

Chuck and Juan take an in-depth look at digital content rights and journalistic censorship on the internet, and how online news media is getting the short end of the ContentID stick. We also discuss the recent Skype phishing attacks, and check in with the fight against the “Microsoft Tech Support” phone scam. Also, we discuss [...]

We discuss recent bootloader changes that enable the Raspberry Pi to retain longer performance relevance — a critical change for the Pi’s low-buck education and net access purpose. We take a (verbal) look at Australia’s new “bionic eye” and how it demonstrates the power of multi-disciplinary research to change the world. We recognize the powerful [...]

With Facebook, Apple, Microsoft and Google each in the news this week for purported “tech fails”, there’s been no lack of overreaction from the technology community. Chuck and Juan take a moment to cut through the FUD and analyze what’s really going on.

It’s that time of the year again – we run through the details on the new iPhone 5 features. Also, we take a look at Google’s new YouTube app for the iPhone, the Docs app for the iPad, and the latest update to RunKeeper.

Getting into walking, running, or riding for fitness? Have a smartphone? We share some paths to connect the two, turning the gear you already own into a GPS-enabled recording device for automatically tracking your efforts and plugging into online communities for encouragement. We also delve into the world of ANT+ wireless sensors, which (with the [...]

We drool over the Galaxy Note 2, run through a few random tech articles, discuss the latest Java update, and discuss various uses for our disturbingly large stacks of old iPhones.

It’s our one year anniversary of Modern Geek, and what better way to celebrate than to go over this year’s must-have productivity and educational apps (the very same topic from Modern Geek #1). We look at what’s changed in the last year, and give our recommendations.

In honor of Juan’s upcoming trip, we take a look at one of the coolest tech backpacks we’ve seen: the North Face Surge II, which features tons of pockets, dedicated laptop and tablet storage, and a build worthy of a K2 expedition. We review two awesome travel apps: FlightTrack PRO, which provides flight tracking and [...]

Juan shares his early Mountain Lion upgrade experiences with no major issues in the first day or so of regular use. And Chuck walks us through a hard-to-find, unadvertised feature of the built-in Reminders application in OS 5.x — shared task lists! Perfect for household grocery lists and to-dos, Reminders features push-updates as well as [...]

Chuck relates the woes of a nearby electrical strike. We review the Mophie Juice Pack Plus (and Air) iPhone battery cases. And Juan shares some of his awesome solutions to little problems around his office, including a low-buck fix for Bluetooth Magic Mouse connection woes, a cheap (but awesome) wireless keyboard (the Logitech K360, $30), [...]

We speculate on the ultimate use case of Google’s Glass, and for comparison, check back with Chuck on the day-to-day use of SIRI. Also, Juan takes the plunge and logs his browser into the cloud to test tab sync with Chrome on iOS.

We continue our discussion of Google’s IO conference, discussing competition amongst manufacturers and carriers in the Android market, and speculate about the long-term strategy of Google Play, cloud-based content and set-top digital distribution.