In the internet’s early days, bottom-of-the-barrel bauds would choke on anything bigger than a byte-sized file. Today, bandwidth has opened wide enough to gulp down gigabyte-sized games and stream movies, enabling companies to provide access to your media and work files anywhere and any time you want it. If you are curious about virtual private networks, remote file access and cloud services, here is a nice friendly article that breaks it all down for you and includes a brief tour of the more popular options available.
Tag Archives: smartphones
Wristwatches: Is it time to disband?
Every few years, someone writes an article about how kids today don’t know what a rotary phone is, or have never heard of a cassette tape, or are losing the ability to spell or write cursive. I still remember, years ago, when one study revealed that not only did today’s youth not know how to wind a watch – they didn’t know what the phrase meant.
As someone who was required to be able to understand references to technology, art and entertainment dating back to my grandmother’s time, I take these articles with a grain of salt. That includes the recent spate of pieces in blogs and news outlets declaring the death of the wristwatch. Sure, we all have cellphone, and there are as many clocks in my kitchen as appliances, but – as I point out in this misleadingly named article – the watch has yet to tick its last tock.
It’s like Dazzler and Tesla had a baby, and it was a t-shirt
The pages of ThinkGeek teem with techno-tees fitted with LEDs, speakers, DIY artwork, virtual instruments and WiFi meters. Meanwhile, companies vie to gin up greener charging methods for cell phones.
Is it time for a mashup? A cellphone-charging tee? Maybe – but good luck wearing one through airport security.
It’s the pictures that got small
When televisions first entered the marketplace, directors were faced with a challenge: How to develop a visual language that would translate to a tiny black-and-white screen. They couldn’t just borrow from film: When concentrated down to 3 – 12 inches (or, after World War II, 19 – 20), the compositions, symbols and set dressing of massive silver screen productions reduced to a muddle. The effect has only grown more pronounced in the smash-cut, hyper-kinetic summer blockbusters of today.
It would no doubt strike many movie directors as strange to see us with our heads down, staring at our hands and enjoying their bigger-than-life productions on smaller-than-your palm devices. Nevertheless, people want their movies, and they want them on their iPhones, Androids and other portable devices. Here are some of the best apps available for downloading, collecting, experiencing, sharing and playing games about your favorite movies.